Sorbet (, ) is a frozen dessert made using ice combined with fruit juice, fruit purée, or other ingredients, such as wine, liqueur, or honey. Generally, sorbets do not contain dairy products.

Etymology
The word sorbet entered English from French, derived from Italian sorbetto, which in turn came from the Ottoman Turkish or Iranian sharbat, originally referring to a type of beverage. The word sharbat is derived from the Arabic verb shariba, which means "to drink".

Sherbet in Europe still refers to a type of flavored drink, while North American sherbet is similar to sorbet. August Escoffier describes sorbet as "very light and barely-congealed ices, served after the Entrées. They serve in freshening the stomach; preparing it to properly receive the roast. They are appetizers and help to aid digestion". Sorbet is sometimes referred to as "water ice".

History
It is believed that sorbets originated in ancient Persia as far back as 550–530 BCE.
There are a number of legendary origin myths, unsupported by any known evidence, that attribute the origins of sorbet to historical figures like the Roman Emperor Nero, Marco Polo and the Italian duchess Catherine de' Medici.

Romans did not add ice to their drinks because easily accessible ice along the lower slopes of mountains was not sanitary for use in food preparation. Iced drinks were believed to cause convulsions, colic and a host of other ailments. Hippocrates was known to have criticized chilled drinks for causing "fluxes of the stomach", while Seneca lambasted the extravagant costs associated with iced desserts. Despite this, ice and snow were prized ingredients in ancient cuisines including Japanese, Chinese, Greek and Roman cuisines.

The first Western mention of sherbet is an Italian reference to something that Turks drink. The word sherbet entered the Italian language as sorbetto, which later became sorbet in French. August Escoffier describes sorbet as "very light and barely-congealed ices, served after the Entrées. They serve in freshening the stomach; preparing it to properly receive the roast. They are appetizers and help to aid digestion". He recommends that they register 15° on the saccharometer and be of drinkable consistency.

The first recipe in French for flavored ices appears in 1674, in Nicholas Lemery's Recueil de curiositéz rares et nouvelles de plus admirables effets de la nature. Recipes for sorbetti saw publication in the 1694 edition of Antonio Latini's Lo Scalco alla Moderna (The Modern Steward). Recipes for flavored ices begin to appear in François Massialot's Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures, les Liqueurs, et les Fruits, starting with the 1692 edition. Massialot's recipes result in a coarse, pebbly texture. Latini claims that the results of his recipes should have the fine consistency of sugar and snow. When Europeans figured out how to freeze sherbet they began making sorbetto by adding fruit juices and flavorings to a frozen simple syrup base. In the US sherbet generally meant an ice milk, but recipes from early soda fountain manuals include ingredients such as gelatin, beaten egg whites, cream, or milk.

Preparation
Like granitas and other ices, sorbet can be made without an ice cream maker. Alcohol, honey or corn syrup can be added to lower the freezing point and make softer sorbets.

Sorbet is usually made with fresh fruit and simple syrup, but other types of preparations exist. Tart sorbets are served as palate cleansers between savory courses of a meal. Mulled wine sorbet can be made with red wine, orange, lemons, mulling spices, ruby port, and egg whites. Muscat sorbet is made with dessert wine, lemon juice, and egg whites.

Givré (French for "frosted") is the term for a sorbet served in a frozen coconut shell or hollowed-out fruit, such as a lemon. Agraz is a type of sorbet with an acidic flavor attributed by Larousse Gastronomique to the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is made from almonds, verjuice, and sugar.

See also

Frozen dessert
Italian ice
Ice cream
Gelato
Iranian cuisine
Sherbet (frozen dessert)

References

Bibliography

Frozen desserts
Iranian desserts
Italian cuisine
Vegan cuisine

Sorbet


Giovanni Giorgi (November 27, 1871 – August 19, 1950) was an Italian physicist and electrical engineer who proposed the Giorgi system of measurement, the precursor to the International System of Units (SI).

Early life
Giovanni Giorgi was born in Lucca on November 27, 1871.

Career
Giorgi studied engineering at the Institute of Technology of Rome, he worked at Fornaci Giorgi in Ferentino, then was the director of the Technology Office of Rome between 1905 and 1924. He also taught at the University of Rome between 1913 and 1939. During World War II he moved to Ferentino. He was an Invited Speaker of the ICM in 1924 in Toronto, in 1928 in Bologna, and in 1932 in Zurich.

Personal life
He was engaged to Laura Pisati, his former master's student who became the first woman invited to deliver a lecture at the fourth International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), but she died in 1908 shortly before both her talk and their intended wedding.

Death
Giorgi died on August 19, 1950, in Castiglioncello, Livorno at the age of 78.

The Giorgi system
Toward the end of the 19th century, after James Clerk Maxwell's discoveries, it was clear that electric measurements could not be explained in terms of the three base units of length, mass and time, and that some irrational coefficients appeared in the equations without any logical physical reason. In 1901, Giorgi proposed to the  (AEI) that the MKS system (which used the metre, kilogram and second as its base units) should be extended with a fourth unit to be chosen from the units of electromagnetism, solving also the presence of the irrational coefficients.

In 1935 this was adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as the M.K.S. System of Giorgi without specifying which electromagnetic unit would be the fourth base unit. In 1946 the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) approved a proposal to use the ampere as that unit in a four-dimensional system, the MKSA system.

The Giorgi system was thus the precursor of the International System of Units (SI) adopted in 1960, which was based on six base units: metre, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, and candela. The mole was added as a seventh base unit in 1971.

Works

Notes

References

1871 births
1950 deaths
Italian electrical engineers
20th-century Italian physicists
Metrologists

nl:Giovanni Giorgi

Giovanni Giorgi


Hastur (The Unspeakable One, The King in Yellow, Him Who Is Not to be Named, Assatur, Xastur, H'aaztre, or Kaiwan) is an entity of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Hastur first appeared in Ambrose Bierce's short story "Haïta the Shepherd" (1891) as a benign god of shepherds. Subsequently Robert W. Chambers used the name in his late 1800s stories to represent both a person and a place associated with several stars, including Aldebaran. H. P. Lovecraft was inspired by Chambers's stories and briefly mentioned Hastur in The Whisperer in Darkness (1930). Later writers have also adapted Hastur in a variety of tales.

Appearances

Hastur in the mythos

In Bierce's "Haïta the Shepherd", which appeared in the collection Can Such Things Be?, Hastur is more benevolent than he would later appear in August Derleth's mythos stories. Another story in the same collection ("An Inhabitant of Carcosa") referred to the place "Carcosa" and a person "Hali", names which later authors were to associate with Hastur.

In Chambers' The King in Yellow (1895), a collection of horror stories, Hastur is the name of a potentially supernatural character (in "The Demoiselle D'Ys"), a place (in "The Repairer of Reputations"), and mentioned without explanation in "The Yellow Sign". The latter two stories also mention Carcosa, Hali, Aldebaran, and the Hyades, along with a "Yellow Sign" and a play called The King in Yellow.

H. P. Lovecraft read Chambers' book in early 1927 and was so enchanted by it that he added elements of it to his own creations. There are two places in Lovecraft's own writings in which Hastur is mentioned:

I found myself faced by names and terms that I had heard elsewhere in the most hideous of connections—Yuggoth, Great Cthulhu, Tsathoggua, Yog-Sothoth, R'lyeh, Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, Hastur, Yian, Leng, the Lake of Hali, Bethmoora, the Yellow Sign, L'mur-Kathulos, Bran, and the Magnum Innominandum—and was drawn back through nameless aeons and inconceivable dimensions to worlds of elder, outer entity at which the crazed author of the Necronomicon had only guessed in the vaguest way.

— H. P. Lovecraft, "The Whisperer in Darkness"

It is unclear from this quote if Lovecraft's Hastur is a person, a place, an object (such as the Yellow Sign), or a deity. This ambiguity is recurrent in Lovecraft's descriptions of mythic entities.

Later in the same story, it is described that the Mi-Go have been attacked by followers of Hastur, and Hastur is an enemy of the Outer Ones whom the Mi-Go serve:

Actually, they have never knowingly harmed men, but have often been cruelly wronged and spied upon by our species. There is a whole secret cult of evil men (a man of your mystical erudition will understand me when I link them with Hastur and the Yellow Sign) devoted to the purpose of tracking them down and injuring them on behalf of monstrous powers from other dimensions. It is against these aggressors—not against normal humanity—that the drastic precautions of the Outer Ones are directed.

— H. P. Lovecraft, "The Whisperer in Darkness"

 In "Supernatural Horror In Literature" (written 1926–27, revised 1933, published in The Recluse in 1927), when telling about "The Yellow Sign" by Chambers, H. P. Lovecraft wrote:

...after stumbling queerly upon the hellish and forbidden book of horrors the two learn, among other hideous things which no sane mortal should know, that this talisman is indeed the nameless Yellow Sign handed down from the accursed cult of Hastur—from primordial Carcosa, whereof the volume treats...

 In Chambers' "The Yellow Sign" the only mentioning of Hastur is:

"...We spoke of Hastur and of Cassilda..."

Judging from these two quotes, it is quite possible that H. P. Lovecraft not only recognized Hastur as one of the mythos gods, but even made him so recalling Chambers' book.

Derleth also developed Hastur into a Great Old One, spawn of Yog-Sothoth, the half-brother of Cthulhu, and possibly the Magnum Innominandum. In this incarnation, Hastur has several Avatars:

 The Feaster from Afar: A black, shriveled, flying monstrosity with tentacles tipped with razor-sharp talons that can pierce a victim's skull and siphon out the brain.
 The King in Yellow

Anders Fager's "Collected Swedish Cults" features a Stockholm-based coterie known as "The Carcosa Foundation" that worships Hastur.

Hastur is amorphous, but he is said to appear as a vast, vaguely octopoid being, similar to his half-niece Cthylla. In the mythos, Hastur is presented as having "a strange effect on artists and playwrights".

Other appearances
Hastur has appeared in other media. In the light novel and anime series Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, which is based on the Cthulhu mythos, one of the main characters, Hastua, is a Japanized version of and direct reference to Hastur.

In Neil Gaiman's and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens Hastur is the name of a demon. In the TV series adaptation of Good Omens, Hastur is portrayed by Ned Dennehy.

Hastur is the name of a hunter in the video game Identity V who is also known as The Feaster and The King in Yellow.

Hastur is also a main ally and antagonist in the horror audio series Malevolent by Harlan Guthrie.

Hastur also appears as a character in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game

Hastur is also believed to be the King in Yellow in the video game Vampire Survivors. The player also receives the Yellow Sign from them directly.

The short story "Gramma" by Stephen King features a demonic entity named Hastur, who also appeared in the 18th episode of the 1985 "Twilight Zone" adaptation and the 2014 film adaptation, Mercy.

Though not named directly, The King in Yellow is mentioned and connected to Carcosa in the first season of the HBO series True Detective.

In the Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures novel All-Consuming Fire, Hastur the Unspeakable is either one of the names/titles belonging to or the original name of the Great Old One, Fenric.

Hastur appears in the Persona games, as both an enemy and summonable ally.

Hastur is featured on the cover of The King In Yellow in SIGNALIS.

Hastur (stylized as Hastar) is the first and most beloved offspring of the Goddess of Prosperity, in the 2019 film Tumbbad, who robbed her of her gold and was stopped while attempting to steal her grain.

Hastur the Unspeakable, god of shepherds, appears in Jonathan Maberry's Kagen the Damned series as the god of Hakkia and his chief priest the Witch-King, Gethon Heklan, the King in Yellow. The first novel of the series was published in 2022.

See also
 Cthulhu Mythos in popular culture

References

External links

 Haïta the Shepherd

Cthulhu Mythos deities
Fictional amorphous creatures
Fictional monsters
Literary characters introduced in 1891
Male literary villains

Hastur


Laxdæla saga (), also Laxdœla saga (Old Norse pronunciation ) or The Saga of the People of Laxárdalur, is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Written in the 13th century, it tells of people in the Breiðafjörður area in western Iceland from the late 9th century to the early 11th century. The saga particularly focuses on a love triangle between Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir, Kjartan Ólafsson and Bolli Þorleiksson. Kjartan and Bolli grow up together as close friends but the love they both have for Guðrún causes enmity between them.

Second only to Njáls saga in the number of medieval manuscripts preserved, Laxdæla saga remains popular and appreciated for its poetic beauty and pathos.

Authorship and sources

As is the case with the other Icelanders' sagas, the author of Laxdæla saga is unknown. Since the saga has often been regarded as an unusually feminine saga, it has been speculated that it was composed by a woman. The author's extensive knowledge of locations and conditions in the Breiðafjörður area show that the author must have lived in Western Iceland. Internal evidence shows that the saga must have been composed sometime in the period 1230–1260.

On several occasions, Laxdæla saga explicitly cites what appear to be written sources. It twice refers to the writings of Ari Þorgilsson, once to a lost Þorgils saga Höllusonar and once to a Njarðvíkinga saga, perhaps an alternative title for Gunnars þáttr Þiðrandabana. The author may also have been familiar with other written sources, but his or her main sources were probably oral traditions, which he or she shaped according to his or her taste.

Preservation
Laxdæla saga is preserved in numerous manuscripts. The oldest manuscript to contain the saga in its entirety is Möðruvallabók dating to the mid-14th century. There are also five vellum fragments, the oldest dating to ca. 1250, and numerous young paper manuscripts, some of which are valuable for textual criticism of the saga.

Scholars have divided the manuscripts into two groups: the Y group, which includes Möðruvallabók; and the Z group, which includes the oldest fragment. The greatest divergence between the groups is that the Y group contains ten additional chapters. These chapters were not written by the original author and are regarded by scholars as a separate work, Bolla þáttr Bollasonar. Another difference is that the theft of Kjartan's sword is narrated in two different ways. Most other differences between the manuscripts are minor variations in wording.

Synopsis

Prelude
Laxdæla saga begins in Norway in the late ninth century as Ketill Flatnose and his children leave Norway to escape the tyranny of Harald Fairhair. The saga focuses in particular on Ketill's daughter Unnr the Deep-Minded. Unnr leaves Norway to travel with her family to Iceland. Later in the saga when she hears that her father and her son are dead, she has a ship built so that she can take all of her surviving kinsmen as well as a great deal of wealth to safety. Unnr goes on to travel to Scotland and the Orkney and Faroe Islands before claiming lands in Breiðafjörður in Western Iceland. Later in life, Unnr decides to leave her wealth to Olaf, the youngest of Thorstein's children. She decided to leave her inheritance to him because he was very good looking and likable. The saga describes Unnr's dignified death and her ship burial.

The next principal character is Höskuldr Dala-Kollsson, great-grandson of Unnr. He is married to a woman named Jorunn. He travels to Norway to acquire wood for house-building. While abroad, he purchases a mute but beautiful and expensive slave-girl. He also meets King Hákon the Good, who gives him wood, as well as a ring and a sword. Höskuldr then travels back to Iceland. Höskuldr and the slave-girl have a child named Olaf, later nicknamed Olaf the Peacock. One day, when Olaf is two years old, Höskuldr finds Olaf and his mother talking by a stream. Höskuldr tells the slave-girl that she can no longer pretend to be mute and asks for her name. She reveals that she is Melkorka, daughter of King Mýrkjartan of Ireland, and that she was taken captive at the age of fifteen. Höskuldr also fights the reanimated Hrappr.

Olaf the Peacock grows up to be a handsome and well-mannered man. When he is eighteen years old he travels abroad. He first goes to Norway where he pays his respects to King Harald Greycloak and befriends his mother, Gunnhildr. When Gunnhildr learns that Olaf wants to travel to Ireland to seek his grandfather, she orders a ship to be made ready for him and gives him a crew of sixty men. Olaf sails to Ireland but ends up with his ship stranded in an unfavorable area, far from any port. Local Irishmen lay claim to all property on the ship, according to Irish law on ship strandings. Olaf, who is fluent in Old Irish, refuses to give up the ship. The Irish attempt to take the ship by force but Olaf and his men successfully resist.

King Mýrkjartan happens to be nearby and arrives at the scene. Olaf tells the king that he is the son of Melkorka, his daughter, and offers him a gold ring from Melkorka as proof. Mýrkjartan had given his daughter the ring as a teething present. As the king examines the ring, his face grows red and he acknowledges Olaf as his kinsman. Olaf and his men spend the winter with the king, fighting with him against raiders. Mýrkjartan offers Olaf to inherit the crown but he rejects the offer and travels back home.

Olaf's journey abroad has brought him great renown and he now settles in Iceland. He marries Þorgerðr, daughter of Egill Skallagrímsson. Olaf and Þorgerðr have a number of children, including the promising Kjartan. As Höskuldr dies, he gives Olaf, his illegitimate son, the ring and sword which King Hákon had given him. Olaf's half-brother, Þorleikr, takes offence at this. In order to make peace with his brother, Olaf offers to foster Þorleikr's son, Bolli, "as he who raises the child of another is always considered as the lesser of the two".

Love triangle

Guðrún Ósvífursdóttir is introduced as "the most beautiful woman ever to have grown up in Iceland, and no less clever than she was good-looking". Guðrún has dreams that cause her concern. A wise kinsman interprets the dreams to mean that Guðrún will have four husbands; she will divorce the first one, but the other three will die. And indeed, Guðrún marries her first husband (Þorvaldr Halldórsson) at the age of 15 and he turns out to be a man she cares little for. She makes him a shirt with a low-cut neck and then divorces him on the grounds that he wears women's clothes. Guðrún's second marriage (to Þórðr Ingunarsson) is happy but short; her husband drowns through the witchcraft of a Hebridean family, Kotkell, his wife Gríma, and their sons Hallbjörn slíkisteinsauga and Stígandi.

Kjartan and Bolli grow up together as close friends, the affection between them "such that both of them felt something was missing in the other's absence". Kjartan and Guðrún start spending time together and are considered a good match. Kjartan and Bolli decide to travel abroad. Guðrún is displeased by this and asks Kjartan to take her with him. Kjartan refuses, reminding Guðrún that she has responsibilities at home. He asks her to wait for him for three years. Guðrún refuses and they part in disagreement.

Kjartan and Bolli arrive in Norway at Nidaros and learn that there has been a change of rulers. The arch-pagan Earl Hákon has been killed and Olaf Tryggvason has ascended to the throne, eager to spread Christianity as widely as possible. A number of prominent Icelanders are docked at Nidaros, forbidden to put to sea because they refuse to adopt the new religion. Kjartan and Bolli resolve not to convert and Kjartan suggests burning down the king's quarters with the king inside. Eventually Kjartan warms to the king and relents and all the Icelanders at Nidaros are baptized.

King Olaf makes repeated attempts at converting Iceland to Christianity but meets with resistance. He decides to hold Kjartan and several other sons of prominent Icelanders as hostages in Norway to force a conversion. Bolli however, is allowed to go and sails home to Iceland. He tells Guðrún that Kjartan is held in high favor by King Olaf and she shouldn't expect him back in Iceland in the coming years. He also tells her, correctly, that Kjartan has become friendly with the king's sister, Ingibjörg. Bolli asks Guðrún's hand in marriage and although she is very reluctant the marriage eventually goes through.

News reaches Norway that Iceland has converted and King Olaf grants Kjartan leave. Kjartan visits Ingibjörg for the last time and she gives him an embroidered head-dress, saying that she hopes Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir "will enjoy winding this about her head" and that Kjartan is to give it to her as a wedding present. When Kjartan arrives in Iceland he discovers that Guðrún is already married to Bolli. When Kjartan, by coincidence, finds a beautiful woman named Hrefna trying on the headdress he tells her, "I don't think it would be a bad idea if I owned both together, the bonnet and the bonnie lass". Kjartan gives Hrefna the headdress and marries her.

Bolli attempts to mend his relationship with Kjartan and offers him some fine horses as a gift. Kjartan flatly refuses and hard feelings remain. In a subsequent feast, Kjartan insists that Hrefna sit in the high-seat. Guðrún, used to having this honor, turns red. Later in the feast, Kjartan discovers that his sword has been stolen. It is discovered in a swamp without its scabbard and Guðrún's brother is suspected of the theft. Kjartan is deeply rankled by the event but his father, Olaf, persuades him that the matter is too trivial to quarrel about. At the next feast, Hrefna's headdress disappears. When Kjartan calls Bolli out on the matter, Guðrún tells him: "And even if it were true someone here was involved in the disappearance of the head-dress, in my opinion they've done nothing but take what rightfully belonged to them."

Kjartan is now no longer able to withstand the insults. He gathers some men together and goes to Bolli's farm, stationing guards at all the doors of the farmhouse. He prevents everyone from exiting for three days and so forces them to relieve themselves indoors. Later, he further humiliates Bolli and Guðrún by preventing the sale of some land which they had intended to buy.

Death and vengeance

Guðrún goads her brothers into attacking Kjartan and they start laying plans to waylay him. Guðrún then asks Bolli to go along with them. Bolli refuses, reminding Guðrún that Olaf the Peacock had brought him up kindly and that Kjartan was his kinsman. Guðrún then tells him that she will divorce him if he does not go and he relents.

Guðrún's brothers find Kjartan with one companion and attack him while Bolli stands aside. Seeing that, despite superior numbers, they cannot overpower Kjartan, they urge Bolli to join them, pointing out that there will be dire consequences for all of them if Kjartan escapes. Bolli then draws his sword and turns toward Kjartan. Seeing that his kinsman is about to attack him, Kjartan throws away his weapon and Bolli deals him a death blow. Immediately filled with regret, Bolli holds Kjartan in his arms while he dies.

Kjartan's killers are prosecuted at the local assembly and Guðrún's brothers are exiled from Iceland. Out of affection for Bolli, Olaf the Peacock asks for him to pay a fine rather than be outlawed. Kjartan's brothers are outraged by their father's lenience and say that they will find it difficult to live in the same district as Bolli.

Olaf dies three years after Kjartan's death. His widow, Þorgerðr, then starts inciting her sons to avenge their brother. She reminds them of their great ancestors and says that their grandfather Egill would most certainly not have failed to avenge a man like Kjartan. Unable to resist their mother's taunts, the brothers start planning an attack. Riding out with a party of ten, including their mother, they find Bolli and Guðrún in a shieling. A man named Helgi Harðbeinsson deals Bolli a heavy blow with a spear and one of Kjartan's brothers then severs his head. Helgi wipes his spear clean on Guðrún's shawl and Guðrún smiles. Helgi remarks that his "own death lies under the end of that shawl".

Guðrún gives birth to a son and names him Bolli for his dead father. When Bolli is 12 years old, Guðrún shows him and his older brother the bloody garments their father was wearing when he was killed and her own bloody shawl. They start planning vengeance and some time later Bolli, wielding his father's sword, kills Helgi. Eventually the cycle of killing and vengeance peters out and Bolli and his brother make peace with Kjartan's brothers.

Aftermath
Bolli Bollason travels abroad and makes a good impression on King Olaf Haraldsson in Norway. He then travels to Constantinople where he gains renown as a member of the Varangian Guard. Guðrún marries for the fourth time but her husband drowns. In her old age she becomes a nun and an anchorite. The last chapter of the saga relates a conversation between Bolli and Guðrún. Bolli wants to know who his mother loved the most. Guðrún responds by listing her four husbands and their different qualities. Bolli says that this doesn't answer his question and presses his mother on the point. Finally Guðrún says, "To him I was worst whom I loved most."

Other people mentioned in the saga

Geirmund the Noisy
Geirmund the Noisy (Icelandic: Geirmundur Gnýr) (died c. 978) was an adventurer of the 10th century. Around 975, he hosted Olaf the Peacock during the latter's second expedition to Norway. On his return home to Iceland Olaf brought Geirmund with him and Geirmund fell in love with Olaf's daughter Thurid. Though Olaf was opposed to the match, Geirmund bribed Thorgerd to be his advocate, and Olaf relented. The marriage was an unhappy one, and after three years Geirmund decided to return home without leaving any money for the support of his ex-wife and daughter. Enraged, Thurid boarded his ship before he departed, stole his famous sword "Leg-Biter," (Icelandic: Fótbítur) and left their infant daughter Groa on the ship. Geirmund cursed the sword, and on his return to Norway he  and all of his shipmates, including little Groa, were drowned.

Characterization
Thorstein Veblen finds certain religious references in the story to be intrusive. He notes that Kjartan "comes to be depicted as a sanctimonious acolyte given to prayer, fasting and pious verbiage; instead of being a wilful spoiled child, vain and sulky, of a romantic temper and endowed with exceptional physical beauty, such as the run of the story proclaims him". Similarly, he finds it jarring that Guðrún, "a beautiful vixen, passionate, headstrong, self-seeking and mendacious, is dutifully crowned with the distinction of having been the first nun and anchorite in Iceland, having meritoriously carried penance and abnegation to the outer limit of endurance".

Ármann Jakobsson objects to interpretations that focus on Guðrún's good looks and glamour, and instead he draws attention to the emphasis that the saga places on her intellect. He points out that in the account of her dream interpretation when she is fourteen years old she carries on a lengthy conversation with a sage.

Reception
Laxdæla saga appears to have been held in high regard in medieval Iceland, as evidenced by the number of extant manuscripts — only Njáls saga is preserved in a greater number of vellum fragments. The saga's reception in modern times has also been enthusiastic. Guðbrandur Vigfússon writes that "This, the second only in size of the Icelandic Sagas, is perhaps also the second in beauty. It is the most romantic of all, full of pathetic sentiment". Similarly, Thorstein Veblen writes that the saga is conventionally regarded as "a thing of poetic beauty and of high literary merit".

There are writings from the 17th and 18th centuries "inspired by the content and characters of Laxdæla saga". One 18th-century poet, Tyrfingur Finnsson, has been described as having "an extraordinarily good grasp of dróttkvætt poetics".

Popular culture
Laxdæla saga has influenced popular culture in different ways across a variety of media. A number of modern novels draw inspiration from the saga's plot and/or characters. These include, for example, Torfhildur Hólm's Kjartan og Guðrún (1886), E. Dagobert Schoenfeld's Kjartan und Gudrun (1898), Naomi Mitchison's The Land the Ravens Found (1955), Dorothy James Roberts's Fire in the Ice (1961), Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword Song (1997), Donna Jo Napoli's Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale (2007), and Rachel Tsoumbakos's The Irish Viking Princess (2020) and The Peacock's Mother (2021). Vilborg Davíðsdóttir's Auður (2009), Vígrði (2012), Blóðug jörð (2017), and Undir Yggdrasil (2020) all draw inspiration from the saga too, and Þórunn Erlu-Valdimarsdóttir's Mörg eru ljónsins eyru (2010) adapts the saga's plot as a crime story set between 1995 and 2009.

There are also a number of poetic and dramatic works inspired by Laxdæla saga. Among the poetic works are William Morris's "The Lovers of Gudrun" from The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), Símon Dalaskáld's Ríma af Kjartani Ólafsynni (1869), and Brynjólfur Jónsson's Guðrún Ósvífsdóttir, Söguljóð (1892). Dramatic works inspired by the saga include Adam G. Oehlenschlager's Kiartan og Gudrun (1848), Júlíana Jónsdóttir's Víg Kjartans Ólafssonar (1879), Newman Howard's Kiartan the Icelander: A Tragedy (1902), John Masefield's The Locked Chest (1917), and Frank Laurence Lucas's The Lovers of Gudrun: A Tragedy in Five Acts (1935).

Editions and translations
The first edition of the saga appeared in Copenhagen in 1826, along with a Latin translation. An important critical edition by Kristian Kålund was published in 1891. The 1934 edition by Einar Ól. Sveinsson in the Íslenzk fornrit series is regarded as standard and usually used by translators. The saga has been translated into Latin, English, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Danish, Swedish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Czech, Finnish, Faroese, Japanese and Russian.

There have been six complete English translations of the saga.

 Muriel Press, Laxdæla Saga (London: Temple Classics, 1899); http://www.sagadb.org/laxdaela_saga.en; https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17803.
 Robert Proctor, The Story of the Laxdalers, 1903; http://www.sagadb.org/laxdaela_saga.en2.
 Thorstein Veblen, The Laxdæla Saga, 1925.
 Margaret Arent, The Laxdoela Saga, 1964.
 Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson, Laxdæla Saga, 1969.
 Keneva Kunz (trans.), The Saga of the People of Laxardal and Bolli Bollason's Tale. First published in The Complete Sagas of Icelanders, Including 49 Tales, ed. by Viðar Hreinsson et al. (Reykjavík: Leifur Eiríksson Publishing, 1997); repr. in The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection [ed. by Viðar Hreinsson et al.] (London: Allen Lane, 2000), pp. 270–435; repr. as The Saga of the People of Laxardal and Bolli Bollason's Tale (London: Penguin: 2008).

See also
 Guðrúnarlaug

Notes

References
 Arent, Margaret. 1964. The Laxdoela Saga. University of Washington Press.
 Ármann Jakobsson. 2008. "Laxdæla Dreaming: A Saga Heroine Invents Her Own Life". Leeds Studies in English, n. s. 39: 33-51.
 Einar Ól. Sveinsson. 1934. Laxdœla saga. Íslenzk fornrit V. Hið íslenzka fornritafélag.
 Guðbrandur Vigfússon. Sturlunga saga. 1878. Clarendon Press.
 Kunz, Keneva. 2008. The Saga of the People of Laxardal and Bolli Bollason's Tale. Penguin Books.
 Veblen, Thorstein. 1964. The Laxdoela Saga. University of Washington Press.
 Magnusson, Magnus and Hermann Palsson, transl. Laxdaela Saga. Penguin Classics, 1969.

External links

Text with modern Icelandic spelling
Text translated into English by Muriel Press, at The Medieval and Classical Literature Library
  Daniel Sävborg, "Kärleken i Laxdœla saga--höviskt och sagatypiskt", Alvíssmál 11 (2004): 75-104 (see English summary p. 104).
Proverbs in Laxdœla saga

Sagas of Icelanders
Vikings
10th-century Norwegian people

Laxdæla saga


"Sandkings" is a novelette by American writer George R. R. Martin, first published in the August 1979 issue of Omni. In 1980, it won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, the Nebula Award for Best Novelette and the Locus Award for best novelette, and was nominated for the Balrog Award in short fiction. It is the only one of Martin's stories to date to have won both the Hugo and the Nebula. It was included in the short story collection of the same name, published by Timescape Books in December 1981.

Martin was inspired by a college friend at Northwestern University who had a piranha tank and would sometimes throw goldfish into it between horror film screenings. He had planned for it to be part of a trilogy, with Wo and Shade running businesses on several worlds, but the concept fell through.

"Sandkings" is set in the same fictional "Thousand Worlds" universe as several of Martin's other works, including Dying of the Light, Nightflyers, A Song for Lya, "The Way of Cross and Dragon" and the stories collected in Tuf Voyaging.

Plot summary
Simon Kress, a wealthy playboy on the planet Baldur, loves to collect dangerous, exotic animals. When most of his pets die after being left alone during a long business trip, he ventures into the city to find replacements. He is unsatisfied by the offerings in the stores he has patronized in the past, but eventually he comes across a mysterious new establishment called Wo & Shade.

Inside, he meets one of the owners, Jala Wo. She shows him a terrarium filled with four colonies of creatures called sandkings. Each colony consists of a large female called the maw, and numerous insect-like mobiles. The maw is immobile, but controls the mobiles through telepathy. The mobiles hunt, forage, and build, and bring food back to the maw, which digests it and passes nutrients on to the mobiles. Each colony has constructed a castle out of sand around the maw, and the creatures fight coordinated wars and battles with one another. Wo also shows Kress how she has beamed a hologram of herself into the tank, and how the sandkings have decorated their castles with her likeness. Kress is mildly intrigued, but disappointed at the small size of the creatures. Wo assures him that they will grow to fill whatever environment they are kept in. Kress then agrees to purchase them. Wo assures him that they are easy to care for, and will eat anything.

Kress observes the installation of his sandkings and watches his four colonies (colored white, black, red, and orange) begin to build their castles. There is little intrigue or fighting, however, so a bored Kress begins to starve them. After that, they consistently war over the food he does provide. He also beams a hologram of his face, and they begin to decorate their castles appropriately.

After a time, Kress invites his friends, including Wo, to view a war fought by his new pets. The guests are suitably impressed, but Jala Wo worries that he is not feeding the sandkings adequately. She assures him that if they are kept comfortable, they will engage in intrigue and wars that are endlessly more entertaining than if they are made to squabble over food. Kress dismisses her complaints and resolves not to invite her any more. Cath m'Lane, a former lover, leaves in disgust.

Kress throws a series of parties and takes bets on the outcome of the sandking battles. At one, a guest brings a dangerous alien creature and suggests pitting it against the sandkings. The sandkings quickly dispatch it. This begins a series of matches: the sandkings emerge victorious in all of them.

Eventually, Kress learns that Cath has reported the sandkings to the animal control authorities. After bribing the authorities, he then films himself feeding a puppy to the sandkings and sends the footage to her. As he goes to bed, he notices his face on the castles has become twisted and sinister. Outraged, he pokes a sword into the white maw, injuring it. His intention of punishing the other maws is cut short when a sandking mobile escapes the tank. Horrified, he crushes it beneath his heel and re-seals the tank, vowing never to open it again. He then goes to bed.

Cath arrives the next day with a sledgehammer, and tries to smash the sandkings' terrarium. Trying frantically to stop her, Kress stabs her with a sword. In dying, she finally breaks the plastic, releasing the sandkings. Kress flees the house in a panic. By the time he returns, the sandkings have taken over: the black and red have built castles in the garden, while the whites have taken over the basement. He is unable to find the oranges. Freed from their container, the sandkings grow larger. After getting rid of Cath's vehicle and recovering the footage, Kress chops up Cath's body into digestible pieces to appease the sandkings. Over time, a panicked Kress empties his pantry while trying to get rid of the sandkings. Kress tries to exterminate them himself, then hires black market assassins to assist him, but he is only able to destroy the blacks and the reds, and the whites trap him in the house. He then invites several guests and locks them in the basement, where the sandkings devour them.

The next morning, the mobiles are comatose. Kress finally decides to contact Wo, who explains that as the sandkings grow larger, the maw becomes more intelligent, and eventually reaches sentience. At that point the mobiles mature into their final instar, which varies based on what form the maw believes is suitable, but is always equipped with opposable thumbs and the ability to manipulate technology. She reveals that her partner, Shade, is a mature sandking himself. Because of Kress's mistreatment, however, the white maw is unstable and dangerous. Wo tells Kress to flee, and assures him that she will take care of the sandkings.

Kress runs into the wilderness around his estate in a blind panic, trying to follow Wo's directions for a pickup. While walking in the desert, he decides to hire an assassin to kill Wo and Shade after the problem is resolved, but as he thinks about this, he realizes that either he has become lost in the desert or that Wo and Shade were eaten by the sandkings. After traveling all day without food or drink, he finally comes across a house, with children playing outside. Thinking he has found salvation, he calls out to them. As he comes closer, however, he realizes that he has reached the castle of the mature orange sandkings. As they surround him and drag him to the waiting mouth of the maw, he screams; all of them have his face.

Adaptations
In 1987, "Sandkings" was adapted as the seventh of the DC Science Fiction Graphic Novel series, by writer Doug Moench and artists Pat Broderick and Neal McPheeters.

In 1995, "Sandkings" was adapted into a television film that served as the first episode of The Outer Limits relaunch. The script was adapted by Melinda M. Snodgrass, Martin's co-editor for the Wild Cards series.

In 2021, Netflix was announced to be planning a film based on Sandkings, with Gore Verbinski directing and Dennis Kelly adapting the book.

References

External links
 Sandkings on Fictiondb

1979 short stories
Hugo Award for Best Novelette winning works
Short stories by George R. R. Martin
Nebula Award for Best Novelette-winning works
Works originally published in Omni (magazine)

Sandkings (novelette)


Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest, second-costliest, and most intense hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed at least 469 people in Haiti before it struck the United States near the border between North and South Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane. After causing 95 fatalities in the US, Hazel struck Canada as an extratropical storm, which raised the death toll by 81 people, mostly in Toronto. As a result of the high death toll and the damage caused by Hazel, its name was retired from use for North Atlantic hurricanes.

In Haiti, Hazel destroyed 40 percent of the coffee trees and 50 percent of the cacao crop, which affected the economy for several years. The hurricane made landfall near Calabash, North Carolina, and destroyed most waterfront dwellings. It then traveled north along the Atlantic coast. Hazel affected Virginia; Washington, D.C.; West Virginia; Maryland; Delaware; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; and New York. It brought gusts near  and caused $281 million (1954 USD) in damage. When it was over Pennsylvania, Hazel consolidated with a cold front and turned northwest towards Canada. When it hit Ontario as an extratropical storm, rivers and streams in and around Toronto overflowed their banks, which caused severe flooding. As a result, many residential areas in the local floodplains, such as the Raymore Drive area, were subsequently converted to parkland. In Canada alone, over C$135 million (: C$ billion) of damage was incurred.

The effects of Hazel were particularly unprecedented in Toronto because of a combination of heavy rainfall during the preceding weeks, a lack of experience in dealing with hurricanes, and the storm's unexpected retention of power despite traveling  over land. The storm stalled over the Toronto area, and although it was now extratropical, it remained as powerful as a category 1 hurricane. To help with the cleanup, 800 members of the military were summoned, and a Hurricane Relief Fund was established that distributed $5.1 million (: $ million) in aid.

Meteorological history

On October 5, a tropical wave with tropical-storm force winds was approaching the Lesser Antilles. Due to the potential for tropical storm formation, a Hurricane Hunters plane flew from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to investigate the system. When the plane reached the system, they observed a tropical cyclone about  east of the island of Grenada with winds estimated at . The United States Weather Bureau promptly classified the system as Hurricane Hazel. The Atlantic hurricane reanalysis later assessed that Hazel developed at 06:00 UTC on October 5 about  east of Grenada. Although the Hurricane Hunters observed hurricane-force winds, the storm had a small eye  in diameter and a central barometric pressure of . The  winds were therefore revised downward to  late on October 5, though it was estimated that the storm attained hurricane status at 00:00 UTC on October 6. At the same time, Hazel made landfall on Grenada with winds of .

After entering the Caribbean Sea, Hazel continued to present a small eye and wind diameter. The winds gradually increased as the storm moved westward, parallel to the northern coast of Venezuela. On October 8, the tiny eye increased to a diameter of , while the winds reached , although winds were estimated as high as . That day, the Hurricane Hunters encountered severe turbulence, which hospitalized one crew member and injured another. For the next five days, there were no further flights into the core of the hurricane; However, the planes continued to monitor the storm, with radar imagery indicating that the eye became open and ragged. Late on October 9, it is estimated Hazel intensified into a major hurricane with winds of . Originally, it was estimated that Hazel attained these winds the day prior. The intensification was confirmed on October 10, when aircraft noted a well-defined eye on radar imagery.

On October 10, Hazel slowed in the central Caribbean and turned sharply to the north-northeast toward Hispaniola, steered by an upper-level low. At 09:00 UTC on October 12, the hurricane made landfall near Chardonnières along the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. There were no strong wind readings at landfall, but based on previous radar and aircraft observations the sustained winds were officially estimated at . After moving through the Gulf of Gonâve, Hazel struck northwestern Haiti near Baie-de-Henne at 00:00 UTC on October 13, as a Category 2 hurricane with winds estimated at . Around that time, the hurricane curved more to the north and northwest due to an approaching trough, and the Hurricane Hunters resumed entering the center of Hazel, reporting an eye and hurricane force winds. At 14:00 UTC on October 13, Hazel struck Inagua in the Bahamas with winds of .

After affecting the Bahamas, Hazel accelerated northwest toward the southeastern United States, steered between a trough and a ridge. Hurricanes are generally expected to lose power after going north of Florida due to lower water temperatures. However, Hazel restrengthened as it tracked northward over the Gulf Stream. The Hurricane Hunters were unable to observe the core of the storm until it neared land, reporting an eye  in diameter on October 15. Later that day, a ship just off South Carolina reported a central pressure of , which was the lowest in association with the hurricane. At 15:30 UTC on October 15, Hazel made landfall just west of the North Carolina/South Carolina border with a  eye, slightly northeast of Myrtle Beach in the latter state. Based on the pressure, a larger than average size, and the fast forward movement, the landfall intensity was estimated at , or a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

The eye of Hazel was tracked across several towns in North Carolina as the system continued northward. At 18:00 UTC on October 15, the hurricane became extratropical near Raleigh, and within six hours had passed near Washington, D.C. Its extratropical remnants accelerated to the north through Pennsylvania and New York along an extended cold front. Despite widespread observations across the eastern United States, there continues to be uncertainty in the track of Hazel as an extratropical storm. The Canadian weather service maintains that the original circulation dissipated over western Pennsylvania and a new one formed over western New York. In contrast, the U.S. Hurricane Research Division later assessed the circulation as becoming elongated but continuous. On October 16, the storm crossed into Ontario and over the Toronto region. Shortly thereafter, the former Hurricane Hazel dropped to gale-force winds after moving almost  over land. The storm slowed and turned northward, passing over James Bay early on October 17. After turning to the northeast, into what is today known as the Kativik region of extreme northern Quebec, the remnants of Hazel were absorbed by a larger extratropical storm over Canada on October 18.

Preparations
On October 6, small craft warnings were issued for the Dutch islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, despite predictions that Hazel would pass to the north; these warnings were canceled a day later. After the storm had turned northward, tropical cyclone warnings were posted for Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the waters of the Mona Passage. Small craft near Jamaica were advised to head for port ahead of the storm. The U.S. Navy completed extensive preparations at its Guantanamo Bay base, ordering about 1,000 civilians into hardened, fortified Quonset huts, flying aircraft out of the storm's path, and positioning surface ships out at sea.

Then, on October 14, the United States Weather Bureau issued a warning for the Carolinas, with the caveat that the worst of the hurricane was expected to stay offshore. Instead, the storm took a sharp northwest turn and headed toward land. By evening of the same day, the storm was forecast to make landfall near the Carolinas border. Further forecasts expected Hazel to lose its power and dissipate over the Allegheny Mountains.

In her book Hurricane Hazel, Canadian journalist Betty Kennedy argued that in Canada, the impressions that Hazel was "the best-kept secret in town" and that it was a "fully documented meteorological event that should have taken nobody by surprise" both "paradoxically [...] contain a great deal of truth". Meteorologists predicted that if Hazel merged with the cold front, the storm would not lose intensity, but would instead potentially strengthen. Two Special Weather Bulletins were issued by the Dominion Weather Office, but since it was expected that the storm would pass east of Toronto, few other warnings were given and there were no evacuations, which increased the eventual property damage and loss of life. The forecast called for high winds between , with only occasional showers. On lakes Erie and Ontario, ships received warnings of strong winds, and the predicted wind speeds ranged from . Toronto Hydro had called in standby crews as heavy winds were forecast, although they were almost sent home at one point due to a lull in the storm.

There had been significant rainfall in the Toronto area in the two weeks prior to Hazel, so the ground was already saturated. Few people in Canada had any experience with hurricanes, since it was unheard of for them to travel as far north and inland as Toronto. Kennedy also notes that if "Toronto had been about to face a blizzard, or was threatened by a 14-inch [36-cm] snowfall, that [sic] would have been something understandable. [...] This was different. This was the unknown, the unfamiliar, the totally unexpected crisis. Hurricanes belonged in the tropics."

Impact

Caribbean
On October 8, two crew members on reconnaissance aircraft were injured due to turbulence while observing Hazel; one was severely enough injured to require hospitalisation. The ABC Islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, located north of Venezuela, received rough winds and rains of up to  when the intensifying cyclone passed to the north. Flash flooding in Aruba and Curaçao destroyed a bridge and several water dams and resulted in losses of $350,000 (1954 USD). Puerto Rico suffered its worst flooding since 1899 as a result of the hurricane. Due to timely warnings, only nine people were killed (eight by drowning and one by a landslide), but infrastructure, buildings, and agricultural areas suffered serious damage, and over 11,000 people were evacuated from flooded areas.

In Haiti, Hazel brought flash floods which destroyed numerous villages, and high winds which caused considerable damage to major cities. The death toll was estimated to be as high as 1,000 people; most of the casualties drowned when the water flowed in a flood down the mountains, some of which were as high as . The situation was exacerbated by deforestation, which lessened the ability of the soil to hold water. Haiti's South Peninsula took the brunt of the storm: the largest town, Aux Cayes, reported at least 200 casualties, while the second-largest town of Jérémie was reported to have been washed in the sea, with at least 200 more casualties. Damage in Aux Cayes was estimated to be $500,000 (1954 USD). Estimates of people left homeless in the wake of Hazel are as high as 100,000. Hazel destroyed about 40 percent of the coffee trees and 50 percent of the cacao crop, affecting the country's economy for several years. Objects from Haiti, such as bowls, were reported to have been transported by the hurricane to the Carolinian coast.

West of Haiti, the hurricane brought hurricane-force winds to Cuba. A fisherman on the eastern tip of Cuba was killed by rough seas while trying to secure his boats. Since the hurricane passed largely east of the Bahamas, only minor damage was reported there. Hazel passed directly over Inagua, where it claimed six lives when a sailboat capsized while taking shelter from the storm.

United States
In South Carolina, the storm produced  tides along the coast. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed, including about 80 percent of waterfront dwellings in Myrtle Beach. As a result of the high storm surge, the low-lying sandy barrier islands were completely flooded. Two piers in Myrtle Beach were damaged. In North Myrtle Beach, a three-story hotel and an  pier were washed out to sea. At Cherry Grove Beach, 75 residences were demolished, while at Pawleys Island, 40 homes were destroyed, while numerous others were damaged. One death occurred in South Carolina. Damage in the state totaled about $27 million.

At landfall, the hurricane brought a storm surge of over  to a large area of coastline, producing severe coastal damage; the damage was greater since the hurricane coincided with the highest lunar tide of the year. Brunswick County, North Carolina, suffered the heaviest damage, where most coastal dwellings were either destroyed or severely damaged. For example, in Long Beach, North Carolina, only five of the 357 buildings were left standing. The official report from the Weather Bureau in Raleigh, North Carolina stated that as a result of Hazel, "all traces of civilization on the immediate waterfront between the state line and Cape Fear were practically annihilated." According to NOAA, "every pier in a distance of 170 miles [270 kilometres] of coastline was demolished".

At the Raleigh-Durham Airport in North Carolina, gusts of  were recorded; in surrounding cities, including Kinston, Goldsboro, and Faison, wind gusts were estimated to have reached . With such high winds state-wide, heavy damage was caused to forests, and to property as a result of falling trees. However, since the Carolinas, like the rest of the Southeastern United States, were suffering from a severe drought, the heavy rainfall brought by Hazel was welcome. In North Carolina, the most rain was received in the interior of the state: Robbins received  of rain, and Carthage received .

Nineteen people were killed in North Carolina, with several hundred more injured; 15,000 homes were destroyed and another 39,000 were damaged. The number of people left homeless by the storm was "uncounted thousands". Damages in the Carolinas amounted to $163 million, with $61 million incurred by beachfront property. Total damage in the United States ranged from $281 million to $308 million.

While Hazel caused the most damage in the Carolinas, the storm did not lose all of its intensity. Going north, Hazel turned extratropical by midday when it merged with a cold front; however, it retained hurricane-strength winds and it continued to drop heavy rainfall.

In Virginia, wind gusts of over  were observed at the Weather Bureau office in Norfolk. Roofs were blown off, trees and power lines were toppled, windows were shattered, and awnings were torn. The naval station suffered mainly minor damage to its temporary installations. The tugboat Indian, carrying five barges, sank in the James River; four of the eight crew members drowned. One building was demolished and several others were damaged in Portsmouth. The ferry Princess Anne was beached into the docks at Kiptopeke. An unfinished vessel at the Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News broke from its moorings and was swept into the shore of the James River. The roof of the customs house was detached and landed on the street. In Richmond, 200 store fronts were damaged, while part of the steeple at Trinity Methodist Church was toppled. Additionally, a  microwave tower in Warsaw was knocked over. Approximately 50 percent of residents in Virginia lost telephone and electrical service for six days. The storm damaged approximately 18,000 homes and businesses. Overall, there were 12 deaths and about $15 million in damage.

After North Carolina, the storm went through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. In general, power was knocked out and trees were downed. Wind gusts throughout the area reached . Effects of the storm was able to break the incomplete battleship USS Kentucky from its moorings when she was based in Philadelphia Naval Shipyard as a parts ship, resulting in her running aground.

Though not near the center, a gust of  was recorded in Battery Park, the highest wind speed ever recorded within the municipal boundaries of New York City.

Rain amounts were heavier on the western side of the storm. In West Virginia, the average amount of rain received was  with localized amounts of  reported in the Appalachians. To the north in Pittsburgh, only  of rain was reported.

To the east, the Washington, D.C. area was particularly affected, and considerable flooding was reported in the Virginias and Maryland. Much of the grounds of the Naval Academy in Annapolis were flooded, putting midshipmen to work the next day to clean up the debris. New Jersey escaped major flooding as the high tide was low enough, but to the south in Chesapeake Bay, the majority of crab pots were destroyed. Hazel lost a considerable amount of moisture when crossing the Allegheny Mountains, which raised rivers and streams in the Pittsburgh area significantly above the flood mark. In Pennsylvania, the winds were still high enough to unroof several homes.

In upstate New York, the storm blocked highways and railroads. The  tower of television station WTVE in Elmira was toppled by wind gusts; the station was off the air for 19 months.

Canada

After weeks of unusually high rainfall saturated the Greater Toronto Area, Hazel dropped additional rainfall, peaking at  in Snelgrove, Ontario. In three hours, the city received  of precipitation. Most of these rains ran off into rivers and creeks of Toronto, which raised water levels by as much as . Not built to withstand heavy flooding, Toronto's infrastructure took a heavy hit: over 50 bridges, many parts of important highways, as well as numerous roads and railways were destroyed when the high water washed them out or carried debris and smashed them.

Floodwaters slowly rose in Holland Marsh – a bowl-shaped valley near Bradford – allowing people to escape to the town. Highway 400, which passes through the marsh, was under as much as  of water in some places when as much  of water backed up. Much of the crops in the area were either swept away or ruined. After the water pumps failed due to debris, better equipment allowed the Holland Marsh to be drained by November 13. The Humber River in the west end of Toronto caused the most destruction as a result of an intense flash flood after most minor rivers and creeks drained into it. A team of five volunteer firefighters were killed when their fire truck was swept away as they were responding to help a stranded motorist. Communities in the Humber floodplain were devastated. In Woodbridge, the river swelled from its usual width of  at its narrowest point to , and left hundreds homeless and nine dead. The Humber swept away  of Raymore Drive and 14 nearby homes, killing 35 people out of the 81 Canadian fatalities. The rise of the river was unprecedented and the residents did not evacuate, which led to the high death toll. The Etobicoke Creek also overflowed its banks at the village of Long Branch, killing seven people after many dwellings were swept into Lake Ontario.

The death toll of 81 people has not since been equaled by a natural disaster in Canada. In addition to the casualties, over 4,000 families were left homeless. The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada estimates the total cost of Hurricane Hazel for Canada, taking into account long-term effects such as economic disruption, the cost of lost property, and recovery costs, to be C$1.03 billion.

Aftermath

Haiti
In the aftermath of Hazel, a three-day period of national mourning was declared in Haiti for hurricane victims. With existing infrastructure already poor, the recovery was very slow since many of the few existing roads were blocked, and communications equipment was either out, damaged, or destroyed. The Haitian Red Cross appealed for assistance to the International Red Cross, while the American Red Cross made a donation of $25,000 (1954 USD). Pan American World Airways offered the use of its planes to assist with the delivery of aid, and the US aircraft carrier USS Saipan deployed 18 helicopters to help deliver supplies. Despite the relief effort, there was an outbreak of typhoid fever following Hazel due to a lack of clean water.

United States
In the Carolinas, the National Guard was mobilised by the evening of October 15 to prevent looting along affected areas of the coastline. On October 17, President Dwight D. Eisenhower declared a "major disaster" in the Carolinas, and offered "immediate and unlimited federal assistance." Recovery was quick, and by October 24, all but two units were demobilised. Another concern was the rebuilding of the sand dunes along waterfronts. An artificial sand dune barrier,  long, was completed by October 30, which in the long run led to a more rapid natural build-up of larger dunes. With Myrtle Beach a popular tourist destination, the Chamber of Commerce began an information campaign to inform the public, which might have erroneously concluded from the massive media coverage that the city had been destroyed, that the city would be ready for the coming summer. The rebuilding after the partial destruction would transform Myrtle Beach from a "quaint summer colony to a high-rise resort city".

Canada

The army sent about 800 soldiers to Toronto to assist with the cleanup, providing blankets and mattresses. Toronto residents helped out with the relief effort: the Salvation Army received so many donations of clothes, footwear, blankets, food, and money that its storage facilities were overfilled, forcing it to advise against further donations until they were needed. A Hurricane Relief Fund was established to coordinate financial donations, ultimately raising about $5.3 million (CAD). The fund received donations from organisations, companies, and individuals including Pope Pius XII, the Ford Motor Company of Canada, the United Church of Canada, Laura Secord Candy Shops, and the British-American Oil Company. A portion of the fund was set aside as a contingency reserve in the event of unresolved claims and also toward administrative expenses.

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority was created after the storm to manage the area's floodplains and rivers, such as building dams. The heavily flooded areas were expropriated and barred from having homes, and most of the land was later converted into an extensive park system along Toronto's rivers. A footbridge dedicated to the victims crosses the Humber River in Raymore Park, which was the former Raymore Drive.

Retirement

As a result of the catastrophic damage and severe death tolls in the Caribbean, United States and Canada, the name Hazel was retired, and will never again be used for an Atlantic hurricane. However, since it was retired before the inception of naming lists with the modern six-year cycle, it has not been directly replaced with any particular name.

See also

 List of North Carolina hurricanes (1950–1979)
 List of Canadian hurricanes
 Hurricane Sandy – a similar storm in 2012 with an unusual and complicated track due to baroclinic interactions
 Hurricane Matthew – a storm which took a similar track in the Caribbean in 2016
 Hurricane Fiona - a strong Category 4 storm which impacted Atlantic Canada

References

Sources

External links

CBC Digital Archives — The Wrath of Hurricane Hazel
Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University – Archival photographs of Hurricane Hazel from the Toronto Telegram fonds.

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Natural disasters in Ontario
1954 natural disasters in the United States
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History of British Grenada
1954 disasters in Canada

Hurricane Hazel


The four glasses puzzle, also known as the blind bartender's problem, is a logic puzzle first publicised by Martin Gardner in his "Mathematical Games" column in the February 1979 edition of Scientific American.

Puzzle
Four glasses or tumblers are placed on the corners of a square Lazy Susan. Some of the glasses are upright (up) and some upside-down (down). A blindfolded person is seated next to the Lazy Susan and is required to re-arrange the glasses so that they are all up or all down, either arrangement being acceptable, which will be signalled by the ringing of a bell. The glasses may be re-arranged in turns subject to the following rules. Any two glasses may be inspected in one turn and after feeling their orientation the person may reverse the orientation of either, neither or both glasses. After each turn the Lazy Susan is rotated through a random angle. The puzzle is to devise an algorithm which allows the blindfolded person to ensure that all glasses have the same orientation (either up or down) in a finite number of turns. The algorithm must be non-stochastic i.e. it must not depend on luck.

Solution
An algorithm that guarantees the bell will ring in at most five turns is as follows:

On the first turn choose a diagonally opposite pair of glasses and turn both glasses up.
On the second turn choose two adjacent glasses. At least one will be up as a result of the previous step. If the other is down, turn it up as well. If the bell does not ring, then there are now three glasses up and one down.
On the third turn choose a diagonally opposite pair of glasses. If one is down, turn it up and the bell will ring. If both are up, turn one down. There are now two glasses down, and they must be adjacent.
On the fourth turn choose two adjacent glasses and reverse both. If both were in the same orientation then the bell will ring. Otherwise there are now two glasses down and they must be diagonally opposite.
On the fifth turn choose a diagonally opposite pair of glasses and reverse both. The bell will ring.

Generalisations
The puzzle can be generalised to n glasses instead of four. For two glasses it is trivially solved in one turn by inverting either glass. For three glasses there is a two-turn algorithm. For five or more glasses there is no algorithm that guarantees the bell will ring in a finite number of turns.

A further generalisation allows k glasses (instead of two) out of the n glasses to be examined at each turn. An algorithm can be found to ring the bell in a finite number of turns as long as k ≥ (1 − 1/p)n where p is the greatest prime factor of n.

References

Logic puzzles
Recreational mathematics

Four glasses puzzle


The Secret History of Eurovision is a television documentary produced by Brook Lapping Productions and Electric Pictures in association with Screen Australia, charting the history of the Eurovision Song Contest and its impact on European political and social structure. The show features archive footage from past Eurovision competitions and archive news features, as well as recent interviews.

The show is distributed by BBC Worldwide either as a stand-alone, 90-minute documentary (without breaks) or as two one-hour documentaries. It was pitched at the Sheffield Doc/Fest's MeetMarket in 2008. The DVD of the show is distributed by Electric Pictures. Various TV networks in Europe broadcast the programme prior to the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany on 14 May 2011. In the UK, the show was televised on More4 on Saturday, 7 May. In Australia the 2 × 1 hour show was broadcast on SBS on Friday 6 May, and 13 May.

Contributors included Bob Geldof, Svante Stockselius, Dana, Dana International, Terry Wogan, Paul Jordan (Dr Eurovision), Ruslana, Bucks Fizz, Lena Meyer-Landrut, Johnny Logan, Paddy O'Connell, Lordi, Niamh Kavanagh, Dave Benton, John Kennedy O'Connor, Bill Martin, Mart Laar, Alexis Petridis, Bill Whelan and Nicole.

References

RTÉ original programming
Television shows about the Eurovision Song Contest
2010s British documentary television series
Documentary television series about music
2011 British television series debuts

The Secret History of Eurovision


Alfred Švarc or Schwarz, composer and lawyer, was born on April 24, 1907, in Križevci, Croatia, Austria-Hungary where he died on November 21, 1986.

Biography

While still a child he "discovered his musicality"  and started to learn the piano at the age of seven. While attending high school in Zagreb, he went on with his piano studies in the class of Ernest Krauth in the Music Academy's Secondary School. He attained a degree at the Law Faculty at which he got a bachelor's in 1933 and acquired a doctorate. In parallel with his studies in the law, Švarc continued to be absorbed in music, and enrolled a class of conducting at the Music Academy's College. Alfred Švarc (then spelled Schwarz) is also recorded as having been a student of composition in the class of Blagoje Bersa at the Music Academy in Zagreb, as confirmed by Bersa's diary entry for October 14, 1929.
The first presentation and reception of Alfred Švarc as a composer occurred at the 18th Public Performance of the State Music Academy in which compositions of graduates of the school of Blagoje Bersa were played. In the company of Miroslav Magdalenić and Emil Cipra, Švarc introduced himself with his First String Quartet, written in 1930. In a review of the young composers' evening, Pavao Markovac wrote that European models were to be seen in Švarc, while Božidar Širola observed: "A. Schwarz is endeavouring to become free and to create from himself, without models, or rather, according to Romantic and modern models."

Oeuvre

Alfred Švarc belongs among composers who at the time when Croatian music was dominated by the neo-national course chose his own path in composition, based on late Romantic and the then prevailing compositional and technical forms of expression. Disappointed with the composing course for the Academy did not offer him what he had imagined, Švarc got a job in 1933 in Križevci in the law, and also worked in Daruvar and Bjelovar. For almost twenty years, 1930 – 1950, he composed nothing, although during World War II, he did go in for music while imprisoned in Osnabrück, where he ran a choir of the inmates. Švarc filled the period in which he did not compose with an intensive study of melody, harmony and polyphony, their interdependence and unity. When in 1950 he went back to composing, while performing the duties of judge in Glina from 1945 to 1969, he endeavoured to make up for lost time with really vigorous creative work, building up his own composing style. His works are characterised by individually conceived melodic lines, original and specific harmony solutions, a lush polyphony and above all richness of content and profoundly felt music. The more than one hundred works in his oeuvre tend to make great demands on the performer, which is perhaps the reason that only nine works were ever presented to the public during his lifetime, including the two student works First String Quartet (1930) and Etude for Piano (1930), as well as seven works from his maturity: String Quartet in A Major (1951), Fragments from the War for choir (1955), the symphonic poem Song of the Young Hero (1958), the orchestral Overture to a Merry Play (1961),  Songs of My Grief for alto and orchestra (1962), Miniatures for Piano (1965) and Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello (1973).

Works

 Symphony No 1 "Dramatic" (1952)
 String Quartet No 2 (1951)
 String Quartet No 3 (1951)
 String Quartet No 4 "Ways of Life" (1959)
 String Quartet No 5 (1960)
 String Quartet No 6 "Two Worlds" (1961)
 String Quartet No 7 "At the Bottom" (1961)
 Bakonja fra Brne, symphonic poem (1958)
 Sleepless Night Op 56 for voice and piano
 Dundo Maroje, symphonic poem (1959)
 Eroica, symphonic poem (1956)
 Fragments from the War for choir and orchestra (1955)
 Small Town Near the River for voice and piano
 String Quartet
 One Word for voice and piano
 Kadinjača, symphonic poem, Op 25 (1954)
 Rain in the Night for voice and piano
 Chamber Symphony (1956)
 At the River for voice and piano
 King Lear, symphonic poem (1959)
 Plague's House, symphonic poem (1954)
 Lyricalf Balance for voice and piano (1955)
 Love for voice and piano
 Love Thy Neighbour, symphonic poem (1961)
 Miniatures for piano
 After a Parting for voice and piano
 Hope for voice and piano
 Hands Found for voice and piano
 Innocence of the Other Shore for voice and orchestra
 Night Op 56 for voice and piano
 Night in Tito's Užic, cantata (1956)
 About a Young Hero, symphonic poem (1958)
 Questions for voice and piano
 Song to a Mountain for voice and piano
 Songs of My Sorrow for voice and piano (1962)
 Sunken Branch of the Night for voice and piano
 The Return Without a Home, cantata (1960)
 Prelude for a Joyful Dance (1961)
 Spring for voice and piano
 One Ought to Change the Course for voice and piano
 Requiem, cantata (1963)
 On the Other Side – symphonic poem of a young hero, Op 38
 Alone for voice and piano
 Just One Wound for voice and piano
 Dream for voice and piano (1968)
 Serenade, for string orchestra
 Symphony of Peace	(1953)
 Symphony of Life (1958)
 Symphonic Variations and Fugue on a Folk Theme (1958)
 Sonata for piano (1951)
 Headquarters, cantata (1961)
 Things for voice and piano
 Twilight Op 56 for voice and piano
 All in Vain for mezzo-soprano and piano (1917)
 All the Knives in the World Op 56
 Theme, Variations and Fugue for orchestra	(1951)
 It Is Here for voice and piano
 They Are Not Angels for voice and piano
 Tragic Overture (1961)
 Three Songs for voice and piano (1955)
 The Taming of the Shrew, symphonic poem (1960)
 Variations and Fugue "Jume, Jume" for orchestra (1955)
 Variations on a Folk Theme for string quartet (1959)
 Evening for voice and piano
 The Merry Wives of Windsor, symphonic poem (1962)
 I Believe for choir and orchestra (1960)

References

1907 births
1986 deaths
20th-century Croatian people
20th-century composers
Croatian composers

Alfred Švarc


Friedrich Hohe (1802 – 7 June 1870) was a German lithographer and painter. Born in Bayreuth, Bavaria, in 1802, his first painting teacher was his father, who was himself a painter. In 1820 he entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (also known as the Munich Academy). Thereafter, from 1823 till near the end of his life, he devoted himself to lithography.

In 1826 Hohe visited Italy with landscape painter Carl Rottmann. Two years later, he undertook publication of the Leuchtenberg Gallery (1831), and subsequently collaborated with Hanfstängl in the production of the Dresden Gallery (1864–1869).

Late in life, Hohe attempted landscape painting but was not very successful in it. He died in Munich on 7 June 1870. Hohe's older brother Nikolaus Christian Hohe (1798–1868) was also a painter.

Works
Notable works by Hohe include The Entry of King Otho into Nauplia (after Peter Hess); Neue Maler Werke aus München (Works of New Painters from Munich, c. 1841), a collection of lithographs of selected paintings of living artists in Munich; illustrations of German classical ballads and romances with A. Brügger; and The Old Stag, a series of 12 plates.

Notes

References

. (The complete work consists of five volumes and was published between 1903 and 1905.)

1802 births
1870 deaths
19th-century German painters
19th-century German male artists
German male painters
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni
German lithographers
German landscape painters
People from Bayreuth
Artists from Munich

Friedrich Hohe


Jacques Antoine Bonebakker (Amsterdam, 16 November 1798 – at that place, 17 March 1868) was a Dutch goldsmith, silversmith and jeweller.

Biography
Bonebakker was the son of Adrianus Bonebakker (1767-1842) and Elisabeth du Pré (1760-1811). He married Wendelina Elisabeth van Manen (1803-1865) on 23 June 1825. Three daughters and two sons, Willem Christiaan Bonebakker (1827-1906) and Johannes Christiaan Reinier Bonebakker (1829-1883), were born from this marriage.

As Bonebakker & Zoon
His father partnered up with Diederik Lodewijk Bennewitz to take over a well-known Dutch gold, silver and jewellery shop in 1802, the Peirolet brothers' business. Initially under the brothers Peirolet, Bennewitz & Bonebakker name and later as Bennewitz & Bonebakker. The company carried out countless assignments, like the keys to the City of Amsterdam in 1806, which were to be offered to King Lodewijk Napoleon as he entered the city. The partners decided to part company in 1821 for business reasons, after which Bennewitz launched the Bennewitz & Zonen company and Bonebakker and his son continued under the As Bonebakker & Zoon name. Bonebakker settled in a building on the corner of the Leidsestraat and the Herengracht in 1822.

Jacques Antoine Bonebakker was registered as a gold and silversmith in the Guarantee Register on 28 January 1822, but probably never ended up using the Master's mark. The gold, silver and jewellery objects were outsourced to gold and silversmiths like T.G. Bentvelt, J.A. de Haas, R. Helweg, J.H. Stellingwerff and P. Pieterse.

The company was commissioned by the City of Amsterdam to produce a 94-piece silver dinner service for King Willem I's daughter, Princess Marianne van Oranje-Nassau, on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Albert van Pruisen in 1830. This cost a total of 18,837 guilders. Princess Marianne gave the City of Amsterdam a portrait of herself in 1832, to show her gratitude for the dinner service. As Bonebakker & Zoon also received a number of other special assignments in addition to commissions for the production of silverware, including the golden honorary sword for General David Hendrik baron Chassé, who commanded a Dutch division during the wars against Napoleon, including the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The golden sword was given to Chassé by a group of Tiel friends. Another golden sword was ordered shortly after the Ten Day Campaign in August 1831, this time commissioned by the Prince of Oranje. The company was commissioned by King Willem II to make the royal crown in 1840. The maker of this crown, which to this day is still being used during coronation ceremonies, was Theodorus Gerardus Bentvelt.

The house situated on the corner of the Leidsestraat and the Herengracht was the company's official residence for fifteen years, until Bonebakker was forced to move to larger premises. As Bonebakker & Zoon moved to the eighteenth century 'Het Witte Paard' canal house in 1837, now Herengracht 376, where the company stayed until its move to Rokin 88-90 in 1954. Bonebakker decided to set up his own gold and silversmith workshop in 1854. He bought the Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 51 property, attracted a skilled master and took on master silversmith Pieter Pieterse, who was put in charge of the workshop. The pieces of work which left the new workshop all bore the Bonebakker master's mark. Bonebakker's sons Willem Christiaan and Johannes Christiaan Reinier also joined the company as the third generation that same year.

Jacques Antoine Bonebakker had managed the company for forty-four years – either partly or alone – by the time he died in 1868. His sons continued the As Bonebakker & Zoon company. The company still exists today, under the Bonebakker name.

References

Dutch goldsmiths
19th-century Dutch businesspeople
Dutch silversmiths
Dutch jewellers
Businesspeople from Amsterdam
1798 births
1868 deaths

Jacques Antoine Bonebakker


Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet (21 October 1681 – 17 December 1751) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Virginia from 1727 to 1749. Technically, Gooch only held the title of Royal Lieutenant Governor, but the nominal governors, Lord Orkney and Lord Albemarle, were in England and did not exercise much authority. Gooch's tenure as governor was characterized by his unusual political effectiveness.

One of his greatest successes was the passage of the Tobacco Inspection Act of 1730. The Act called for the inspection and regulation of Virginia's tobacco, the most important crop of the colony.  Tobacco planters were required to transport their crop to public warehouses where it was inspected and stored.  The Act raised the quality of Virginia's tobacco and reduced fraud; this greatly increased the demand for Virginia tobacco in Europe. Gooch's military policy focused on protecting the western territory from Native Americans and French encroachment.

Administration of Virginia
Gooch promoted the settlement of the Shenandoah Valley in order to buffer the rest of the colony from Indian attacks, and to prevent the French from settling the land. However, in the early 1730s, Western expansion was fraught by the Iroquois invasion each spring, as settlements inevitably fell along their war-trails leading south. Gooch decided to broker peace between the Six Nations and their southern enemies, to end the warfare. He hired Conrad Weiser to negotiate in the winter of 1736 and 1737, before the war season began. Weiser was successful in negotiating an armistice, allowing Gooch to authorize settlement of the Shenandoah Valley.

He had many military credentials, including fighting under John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough in his campaigns in the Low Countries and as a colonel of Gooch's American Regiment with Admiral Edward Vernon in his expedition against Cartagena, New Grenada (now in Colombia), as part of the War of Jenkins' Ear.  During King George's War, Gooch received an appointment as brigadier-general in charge of the army raised to invade Canada, but declined.  Gooch was made a baronet in 1746 and a major general in 1747.  Also in 1747, Gooch made a speech condemning all religious groups aside from the established Church (the Church of England). However, in 1738, Gooch had given a group of Presbyterians the right to settle new territory under the conditions of the English Act of Toleration.  In 1749, Gooch left Virginia and returned to England.

Family and legacy
Gooch married Rebecca Staunton (for whom Staunton, Virginia, is named), the daughter of a squire in Middlesex, England.  The two had a son named William who grew up in Williamsburg, Virginia.  William became a naval officer, but died of the "bloody flux" at the age of 26, shortly before his parents returned to England.

Gooch honored himself with the naming of Goochland County, Virginia, in 1727. A residence hall at the College of William and Mary is also named in his honor.

Arms

Notes

References
Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,

External links
 Sir William Gooch (1681–1751) at Encyclopedia Virginia

1681 births
1751 deaths
Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain
British Army major generals
Colonial governors of Virginia
Virginia colonial people
Military personnel from Great Yarmouth
British Army personnel of the War of Jenkins' Ear
British military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession
People of the Jacobite rising of 1715

Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet


Ishbosheth was a son of Saul. After Saul's death, David went to Hebron and became king of the tribe of Judah (son of Jacob), while Ishbosheth who was a descendant of Benjamin became king of the rest of the tribes of Israel. After Ishbosheth's general Abner left him to join David, Ishbosheth's servants cut his head off and gave it to David. So David executed them for murdering their king.
Old Testament people

Ishbosheth


Dominick "Big Dom" LoFaro (1928-2003) was a small-time gambler who later became a government undercover informant.

Lofaro worked in the New York area, and was arrested for drugs. He agreed to testify against John Gotti. He had claimed to be part of gang that which specialized in labor racketeering, loan sharking, and extortion. LoFaro was a "bagman" in the Carpenters' Union rackets. LoFaro also said he transported the Gambino family share from Greek-American mobsters operating in Astoria, Queens. In 1984, LoFaro was arrested in Upstate New York trying to sell a kilogram of heroin to an undercover agent in an FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration operation. Facing over 20 years in prison for narcotics trafficking, LoFaro decided to wear a surveillance wire for the government and record mob conversations.

According to Time magazine, investigators outfitted LoFaro "with a tiny microphone taped to his chest and a miniature cassette recorder, no bigger than two packs of gum, that fitted into the small of his back without producing a bulge. Equipped with a magnetic switch on a cigarette lighter to activate the recorder, Lofaro coolly discussed Gambino family affairs with the unsuspecting Gotti brothers. Afterward he placed the tapes inside folded copies of The New York Times business section and dropped them in a preselected trash bin."

LoFaro wore a wire for the FBI for two years. One of LoFaro's primary targets was Gambino boss John Gotti. LoFaro also gathered evidence against Gambino members Mosca, Mosca's sons, and Carmine Fiore. LoFaro also produced evidence against Genovese crime family associates Attilio Bitondo and Eugene Hanley, who were leaders in the New York City Carpenters' Union. LoFaro provided information to the New York State Organized Crime Task Force that led to electronic surveillance on the offices of Carpenters' Union Locals 608 and 257 in Manhattan.

LoFaro was placed in a witness protection program. He died in 2003.

References

Further reading
Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.

External links
 Magnuson, Ed (June 24, 2001). "Hitting the Mafia". Time.

1928 births
2003 deaths
American gangsters of Italian descent
American gangsters of Sicilian descent
Drug Enforcement Administration informants
Federal Bureau of Investigation informants
Gambino crime family
People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program

Dominick LoFaro