Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person that brings about changes in what sociologists refer to as the convert's "root reality" including their social behaviors, thinking and ethics. The sociology of religion indicates religious conversion was an important factor in the emergence of civilization and the making of the modern world. Conversion is the most studied aspect of religion by psychologists of religion, but there is still very little actual data available. Neurological studies have determined that conversion is not the result of pathology.

Christianity is growing rapidly in the global South and East, primarily through conversion. Different methods of conversion have been practiced historically. There is evidence of coercion by secular leaders in the Early and Late Middle Ages, though coercion as a method has never been approved or even supported by any majority of Christian theologians.

Different Christian denominations may perform various different kinds of rituals or ceremonies of initiation into their community of believers. The primary ritual of conversion is baptism, while different denominations differ with regards to confirmation.

Individual conversion
James P. Hanigan writes that individual conversion is the foundational experience and the central message of Christianity, adding that Christian conversion begins with an experience of being "thrown off balance" through cognitive and  psychological "disequilibrium", followed by an "awakening" of consciousness and a new awareness of God. Hanigan compares it to  "death and rebirth, a turning away..., a putting off of the old..., a change of mind and heart". The person responds by acknowledging and confessing personal lostness and sinfulness, and then accepting a call to holiness thus restoring balance. This initial internal conversion is followed by practices that further the process of conversion, which according to Hanigan, will include ethical changes.

In examples of conversion from the New Testament, such as Peter's conversion and Paul's, Hanigan perceives this same common "death and rebirth" experience. He says these individuals did not respond out of a sense of guilt, but from awe, reverence, and holy fear of what they perceived as God's presence.

Comparative studies of the early twenty-first century offer the insight that religious conversion provides a new locus of self-definition, moral authority and social identity through the acceptance of religious actions that seem more fitting and true to the recipient.

Anthropologist Robert Hefner adds that "Conversion assumes a variety of forms... because it is influenced by a larger interplay of identity, politics and morality". The message of Truth, a redemptive identity, and acceptance into a social organization whose purpose is the propagation of that message has proven to be a revolutionary force in its own right.

Theology
According to sociologist Ines W. Jindra, there is  a "theological dimension" to conversion. Avery Dulles quotes Bernard Lonergan saying "The subject of theology, then, is the person undergoing conversion to God". The conversion experience is basic and has the characteristics of being "concrete, dynamic, personal, communal, and historical." Through this focus on the individual, theology of conversion is provided with the same characteristics in its foundation.

Religious historian David W. Kling's History of Christian Conversion lists nine broad themes common to conversion narratives. Jindra describes the first theme as "human cognizance of divine presence," while Kling says, "God becomes real to people" through conversion. Conversion always has "context": humans are "socially constituted" beings and religious conversion always occurs in a social context. Jindra writes that, while all conversion accounts vary, they all show evidence of being based upon personal internal experiences of crisis expressed through the specific historical context in which the converts lived.

There are aspects of both "movement and resistance" in conversion. Christianity has, from its beginnings, been an evangelical mission oriented religion which has spread through conversion. However, people naturally tend toward inertia, toward the familiar, unless otherwise motivated toward change, making conversion the exception not the rule in history.

There is both "continuity and discontinuity" in the conversion process. Conversion can be disruptive and cause a rupture with the past, but rupture is rarely complete. Aspects of the past are frequently kept, resulting in a kind of "hybrid" faith. Gender also plays a direct role in how people do or do not convert.

Testimonies and narratives provide the vocabulary of conversion.  In the more famous conversion stories, such as Augustine's and Martin Luther's, it is apparent the conversion story was later used, not only for personal insight and transformation, but also for drawing in potential converts. Kling writes that "the influence of [such] personal testimonies on the history of conversion cannot be over-estimated." Indications from Jandra's twenty-first century research indicates this is also true for more ordinary, less famous, conversions. Conversion produced change in the lives of most converts in important and positive ways: Jindra says "they became more stable, found meaning in life, tackled their former problematic biographical trajectories, and improved their relationships (Jindra, 2014)".

Conversion has historically been impacted by how personal "identity" and sense of self is defined. This can determine how much intentional action on the part of the individual convert has directed outcome, and how much outside forces may have impinged upon personal agency instead. In Christian conversion, there is nearly always a network of others who influenced the convert prior to conversion. Jindra writes that the specific context, which includes the ideology of the group being joined, the individual convert's particular crisis, "and the degree of agency vs. the influence of others" are important aspects influencing whether converts change or do not change after a conversion..

These factors overlap with research psychologist Lewis Rambo's stages of conversion. Rambo's model of conversion includes context, crisis (involving some form of searching by the prospective convert), encounter, and interaction, (with someone who believes in the new religious belief system). This is followed by commitment and its results.

Social science
In his book Sociology of Religion, German sociologist Max Weber writes that religious conversion begins with the prophet, as the voice of revelation and vision, calling others to break with tradition and bring their lives into conformity with his "world-building truth." Weber believed that prophetic ideals can become, through the conversion of a community of followers, "a force for world transformation as powerful as anything in human history.

Calling conversion and Christianization "twin phenomena", Hefner has written that religious conversion was an important factor in the emergence of civilization and the making of the modern world. According to Hefner, the "reformulation of social relations, cultural meanings and personal experience" involved in conversion carries with it an inherent "world building aspect".

In the late nineteenth century, the development of world religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism) was seen as part of the inevitable march toward human enlightenment in a linear upward evolution. Anthropology effectively demonstrated the failure of this model to provide explanation for religious variations.

The world religions developed institutions capable of standardizing knowledge and some have argued that this helped them survive while "empires and economic orders have come and gone". But in fact, only a few religions have been successful in propagating themselves over the long term, and standardized doctrine does not necessarily impact individual conversion and belief.

One of the most influential works in sociology of religion from the 1960s is Robert Bella's (1964) Religious Evolution, which argued that world religions all proclaim the existence of a transcendental realm that is superior to everyday reality, thereby legitimizing salvation/conversion experiences designed to link humans with that world. Bella describes the possibility of redemption/conversion under these terms as "world-shaking in its consequences". The tension between ordinary reality and the transcendent creates recognition of a need for social reform, driven by a redemptive vision, that remakes the world rather than passively accepting it. In this way, Hefner says, world religions loosened the grip of tradition and laid the foundation for human freedom.

Psychology
While conversion is the most studied aspect of religion by psychologists of religion, there is little empirical data on the topic, and little change in method since William James' classic Varieties of Religious Experience in 1902.  James Scroggs and William Douglas have written on seven current concerns in the psychology of conversion.

1) Definition. Calling this the "oldest issue in the field",  Scroggs and Douglas indicate psychologists ask whether conversion requires a sudden about-face or gradual change. There is no consensus. The word connotes a sudden about-face, but psychologists are unwilling to let go of the possibility of gradual conversion.

2) Pathology. Freud saw religion as a pathology, and those who follow his school of thought have continued to do so. Empirical studies indicate religion is associated with good mental health among women, that it aids with depression and overcoming serious problems like heroin addiction, and that generally, there are significant links between religion and spirituality and good physical and mental health. In Scroggs and Douglas's view, which view a psychologist takes depends on their training and personal commitment to faith or non-faith.

3) Type of person. Many wonder if there is one kind of person that is more likely to be converted than others. Sociologists stress the importance of such variables as social class, group expectations, and social change (as in American frontier society or contemporary China). According to Scroggs and Douglas, William "James regarded the sick soul as the most likely candidate for conversion. The sick soul lives 'close to the pain threshold.' He is generally introverted and pessimistic in outlook, taking the evil of the world profoundly to heart. The sick soul is brooding, steeped in existential angst. He is Kierkegaard's man who is in despair and knows he is in despair".

Trauma and existential crisis can lead to conversion. For the already converted, trauma is also often associated with "beneficial changes in self-perception, relationships, and philosophy of life, and positive changes in the realm of existential, spiritual, or religious matters" according to a study by psychologists Rosemary de Castella and Janette Simmonds.

A 2011 study indicates conversion can take either an inward form, wherein religion becomes the primary guiding principle and goal of the convert's life, or it can take an outward form where religion mostly serves other purposes, such as political or economic goals, which are more important to that individual than religion. For those who experience inward conversion, lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress are associated, while higher levels are associated with those who practice outward conversion only.

4) Age. Scroggs and Douglas say that early writers on the psychology of conversion were unanimous in regarding adolescence as the most probable age for conversion. Accordingly Ferm writes that, "It is probably fair to conclude from Erikson's theories that both the identity crisis in adolescence and the integrity crisis in the middle years constitute ripe moments for conversion".

5) Conscious or unconscious. How much of the conversion experience is brought on by conscious control, and how much by unconscious factors behind or even beyond an individual?  Forces beyond conscious control are cited by the majority of converts. "Most psychologists agree the role of unconscious factors is extensive and often decisive in conversion, and that a long period of subconscious incubation precedes sudden conversions" write Scroggs and Douglas. Allport, Maslow, Rogers, and others stress the role of conscious decision.

6) Science-versus-religion. Psychologists as social scientists tend to operate according to a nothing-but reductionism. Conversion must be described as a natural process. Theologians and others who accept the possibility of the supernatural, have tended to take a something-more, hands-off-the-sacred-preserve approach to studying conversion. Different worldviews can bias interpretations. Scroggs and Douglas write that "No solution to this very difficult problem appears in the immediate purview", but they do suggest that acknowledging bias and incorporating both views in "not only interdisciplinary but interbias research is necessary".

7) Which approach? Because there are different schools of psychology with conflicting theories, determining which is most appropriate to the study of conversion is one of the issues Scroggs and Douglas perceive. "Behaviorism, operationalism, and learning theory have rarely been applied to the study of religious conversion," and the overwhelming majority of works have been written from a single perspective: "functionalism" which defines what is true as what works.

Neurology
Kelly Bulkeley in The Oxford Handbook of Religion Conversion has written that, as of 2014, no neuro-scientific research focused specifically on religious conversion has been done. Nor is there a single consensus on how the brain/mind system works, and researchers take many different approaches.  There is controversy over the mind/body problem, as well as whether the brain is simply modular (composed of separate parts), or if that is too limited an explanation for what Bulkeley calls the complex, "global, synthetic, whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts aspects of brain function". There is disagreement over determinism vs. free will, the use of brain imaging, first-person reports of conversion, and the applications of quantum physics.

The phenomenon of conversion is based on the belief that humans have the ability to change the way they mentally perceive and experience the world. Research on the plasticity of the brain has shown that the brain's ability to create new neural  pathways remains with us throughout our lives. Bulkeley writes that "Cognitive neuroscience in relation to religious conversions, where people undergo a basic reordering of the assumptions and expectations that frame their perceptions of the world, may lead to new evidence regarding the latent potential of brain/mind development".

Studies on prayer and meditation show they alter the brain's functioning in measurable, material, ways.

Statistics
According to a 2001 study by religion professor David B. Barrett of Columbia University and historian George Thomas Kurian, approximately 2.7 million people were converted to Christianity that year from another religion, while approximately 3.8 million people overall were converting annually. In the first decades of the twenty-first century, Pentecostalism is the largest and fastest growing form of Christianity. Professor of religion Dyron B. Daughrity quotes Paul Freston: "Within a couple of decades, half the world's Christians will be in Africa and Latin America. By 2050, on current trends, there will be as many Pentecostals in the world as there are Hindus, and twice as many Pentecostals as Buddhists". This growth is primarily due to religious conversion.

Historian Philip Jenkins observes that Christianity is also growing rapidly in China and some other Asian countries. Sociologist and specialist in Chinese religion Fenggang Yang from Purdue University writes that Christianity is "spreading among the Chinese of South-East Asia", and "Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity is growing more quickly in China".  More than half of these converts have university degrees.

Social Anthropologist Juliette Koning and sociologist Heidi Dahles of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, agree there has been a "rapid expansion of charismatic Christianity from the 1980s onwards. Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia are said to have the fastest-growing Christian communities and the majority of the new believers are "upwardly mobile, urban, middle-class Chinese". Allan Anderson and Edmond Tang have reported in their book Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia that "Asia has the second largest number of Pentecostals/charismatics of any continent in the world, and seems to be fast catching up with the largest, Latin America." The World Christian Encyclopedia estimated 135 million in Asia compared to 80 million in North America.

It has been reported also that increasing numbers of young people are becoming Christians in several countries such as China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea.

The Council on Foreign Relations says the "number of Chinese Protestants has grown by an average of 10 percent annually since 1979". Award-winning historian of Christianity, Todd Hartch of Eastern Kentucky University, has written that by 2005, around 6 million Africans were converting annually to Christianity.  According to Iranian historian Ladan Boroumand "Iran today is witnessing the highest rate of Christianization in the world".

While the exact number of Dalit converts to Christianity in India is not available, religion scholar William R. Burrow of Colorado State University has estimated that about 8% of Dalits have converted to Christianity. According to a 2021 study by the Pew Research Center, Christianity has grow in India in recent years due to conversion. Most converts are former Hindus, though some are former Muslims.

Since the 1960s, there has been a substantial increase in the number of conversions from Islam to Christianity, mostly to the Evangelical and Pentecostal traditions of Christianity. The 2015 study Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census estimated that 10.2 million Muslims converted to Christianity. Countries with the largest numbers of Muslims converted to Christianity include Indonesia (6,500,000), Nigeria (600,000), Iran (500,000 versus only 500 in 1979), the United States (450,000), Ethiopia (400,000), and Algeria (380,000). Indonesia is home to the largest Christian community of converts from Islam. Since the mid and late 1960s, between 2 and 2.5 million Muslims converted to Christianity.

Methods of conversion

Coercion
While Christian theologians, such as the fourth century Augustine and the ninth century Alcuin, have long maintained that conversion must be voluntary, there are historical examples of coercion in conversion to Christianity. Constantine used both law and force to eradicate the practice of sacrifice and repress heresy though not specifically to promote conversion. Theodosius also wrote laws to eliminate heresies, but made no requirement for pagans or Jews to convert to Christianity. However, the sixth century Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I and the seventh century emperor Heraclius attempted to force cultural and religious uniformity by requiring baptism of the Jews. In 612, the Visigothic King Sisebut, prompted by Heraclius, declared the obligatory conversion of all Jews in Spain. In the many new nation-states being formed in Eastern Europe of the Late Middle Ages, some kings and princes pressured their people to adopt the new religion. And in the Northern crusades, the fighting princes obtained widespread conversion through political pressure or military coercion even though the theologians continued to maintain that conversion must be voluntary.

Baptism
In all varieties of Christianity, baptism is the initiation rite for entrance into the Christian community. Almost all baptisms share in common the use of the Trinitarian formula (in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) by the minister while baptizing the convert. Two aspects of baptism are sources of disagreement: mode and meaning. In Understanding Four Views on Baptism editors have written that Christians disagree on the meaning of baptism and whether it is a necessary aspect of conversion or simply demonstration of a conversion that has already taken place.

There are also different modes of baptism in Christianity. These include immersion (dunking), affusion (pouring), and aspersion (sprinkling). The most common practice in the ancient church was baptism by immersion of the whole head and body of an adult. It remained common into the Middle Ages and is still found in the Eastern church, the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, and in most Protestant denominations.

Historian Philip Schaff has written that sprinkling, or pouring of water on the head of a sick or dying person, where immersion was impractical, was also practiced in ancient times and up through the twelfth century, and is currently practiced in most of the West. However, according to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church affusion has become the most common practice of the Western churches.

Infant baptism was controversial for the Protestant Reformers, and remains so for some Protestants, but according to Schaff, it was practiced by the ancients and is neither required nor forbidden in the New Testament.

The mode of baptism often depends on the denomination one enters, and in some cases, personal choice. Many Anglicans and Lutherans baptize by affusion. Presbyterians and Congregationalists accept baptism by pouring or sprinkling. Steven W. Lemke writes that the Presbyterian Westminster Confession says, "Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary". Baptists disagree. Many Evangelical Protestants, such as Baptists, insist that only full immersion baptism is valid. The Second London and Philadelphia confessions of the Baptists affirm that "immersion, or dipping of the person in water, is necessary". Baptism by immersion is again affirmed in Article 7 of the BF&M [Baptist Faith and Message]". Others, like Methodists, may conduct all three forms of baptism.

Denominational switching
Switching from one Christian denomination, such as Presbyterianism, to another Christian denomination, such as Catholicism, has not generally been seen by researchers as conversion to Christianity. Mark C. Suchman says this is because most sociologists and other scientists have defined conversion as "radical personal change, particularly change involving a shift in one's sense of 'root reality'." However, in Suchman's view, this produces a form of 'selection bias' within the research. He writes that the study of "everyday" religious mobility is not a substitute for analyses of "true conversion," but the denominational switching that he refers to as "religious mobility" can be seen as an aspect of conversion.

Suchman describes six types, or causes, of "religious mobility" as a supplement and complement to the more traditionally limited concept of conversion. He draws on theories from the sociology of deviance where there is some recognition that "a change of religious affiliation generally represents a break with previous norms and a severing of social commitments - even when it does not involve a radical personality realignment".

Theories of deviance define what can be considered as the variables and determinants involved and what kind of mobility can be seen as random. "Strain theory" argues that those who are unhappy in their religious affiliation will generally "engage in deviance" from that group. Those who are not well integrated in their religious social group, those who become enmeshed in social relations outside the group with participants in deviant cultures, and those whose ethnicity and traditional background differs from their current affiliation are candidates for switching. Intermarriage, with partners of different religions and/or denominations, is also associated with religious switching.

Confirmation

Theologian Knut Alfsvåg writes that confirmation was first introduced by Pope Innocent I in the 5th century as part of the unified sacrament of baptism, chrismation (confirmation) and first communion that was commonly accepted by the 12th century. It was formally designated a sacrament in 1274 by the Council of Lyon. Baptism, along with the declaration and instruction involved in confirmation, and the Eucharist, have remained the essential elements of initiation in all Christian communities, however, Alfsvåg writes that confirmation has differing status in different denominations.

Some see baptism, confirmation, and communion as elements of a unified sacrament  through which one becomes a Christian and part of the church. Also known as Chrismation by eastern Christians, under some circumstances, confirmation may be administered immediately after baptism. When an adult decides to convert to the Catholic or Orthodox Church, they become a "catechumen" and attend classes to learn what conversion means and requires. Once classes are completed and the candidate is baptized, adults can then be confirmed immediately following baptism. A clergy member will anoint their forehead, (or in the case of Byzantine Christians, the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, breast, hands, and feet), with the chrisma (oil) calling upon the Holy Spirit to seal the convert with the gifts of the Spirit.

In Western churches that practice infant baptism, (Catholic Church, the Church of England, Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists, Nazarenes, Moravians, and United Protestants), infants who are baptized are not generally confirmed immediately except in cases of emergency such as illness or impending death. Otherwise, child candidates must wait till they are old enough to make a decision for themselves. Confirmation cannot occur until the candidate has participated in confirmation classes, demonstrated an adequate understanding of what they are agreeing to, and are able to profess "with their own mouth" their desire to be confirmed in their faith. In the Eastern Churches (Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and the Church of the East), the rite is called chrismation, and is done immediately after baptism, regardless of age.

To be fully in communion with the Catholic Church, (a phrase  used since c. 205), the Catholic Church requires a convert to have professed faith and practice the sacraments - baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist. The Orthodox Church also maintains the tradition of baptism, chrismation and first communion as a united rite till this day, referring to chrismation as "the Pentecost of the individual" (a reference to the Holy Spirit).

The practice of confirmation was criticized during the Reformation by those who do not consider confirmation a condition for conversion to Christianity or being a fully accepted member of the church. Luther saw confirmation as "a churchly rite or sacramental ceremony," but for Luther, it was baptism that was necessary and not confirmation. John Wesley removed the rite altogether leaving Methodism with no rite of confirmation from 1785 to 1965. These see confirmation as a combination of intercessory prayer and as a graduation ceremony after the period of instruction.

See also

 Christianization
 Conversion of the Jews
 Credo
 Engel Scale
 Forced conversion
 List of converts to Christianity
 Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA)

References

Bibliography

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Conversion to Christianity


The Best of Fad Gadget is a double compilation album of singles and 12" mixes released by Fad Gadget (the stage name of Frank Tovey).  The album is split between singles and B-sides on disc one, and 12" mixes and song reworkings on disc two. Mute Records released the album in December 2001, a few months before Frank Tovey's sudden death.

Track listing

Disc one
 "Back to Nature"
 "The Box" B-side of "Back to Nature"
 "Ricky's Hand"
 "Handshake" B-side of "Ricky's Hand"
 "Fireside Favourite"
 "Insecticide" B-side of "Fireside Favourite"
 "Make Room"
 "Lady Shave" Double A-side with "Make Room"
 "Saturday Night Special"
 "King of the Flies"
 "Life on the Line"
 "4M" B-side of "Life on the Line"
 "For Whom the Bells Toll"
 "Love Parasite" B-side of "For Whom the Bells Toll"
 "I Discover Love"
 "Collapsing New People"
 "One Man's Meat"
 "Luxury" Released as Frank Tovey

Disc two
 "Collapsing New People" (Berlin Mix)
 "Fireside Favourite" (Toasted Crumpet Mix)
 "Swallow It" (Regurgitated)
 "Love Parasite 2"
 "Luxury" (Remix)
 "For Whom The Bells Toll 3"
 "I Discover Love" (Extended)
 "Sleep" (Electro-induced Original)
 "Life on the Line" (Version 2)
 "One Mans Meat" (Remix)
 "Immobilise" (Foot Binding Trot Mix)
 "Collapsing New People" (London Mix)

Notes

Fad Gadget albums
Albums produced by Daniel Miller (music producer)
Albums produced by Gareth Jones (music producer)
2001 greatest hits albums
Mute Records compilation albums

The Best of Fad Gadget


Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI; ) was the national mapping agency of Ireland. It was established on 4 March 2002 as a body corporate. It was the successor to the former Ordnance Survey of Ireland. It and the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI) were themselves the successors to the Irish operations of the British Ordnance Survey. OSI was part of the Irish public service. OSI was headquartered at Mountjoy House in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, which had previously been the headquarters of the British Ordnance Survey in Ireland until 1922.

In March 2023, the Ordnance Survey was dissolved and its functions transferred to a new body called Tailte Éireann, which also incorporates the Property Registration Authority and the Valuation Office.

Organisation
Under the Ordnance Survey Ireland Act 2001, the Ordnance Survey of Ireland was dissolved and a new corporate body called Ordnance Survey Ireland was established in its place. OSI was an autonomous corporate body, with a remit to cover its costs of operation from its sales of data and derived products, which sometimes raised concerns about the mixing of public responsibilities with commercial imperatives. It employed 235 staff in the Phoenix Park and in six regional offices in Cork, Ennis, Kilkenny, Longford, Sligo and Tuam. OSI had sales of €13.3 million in 2012.

Products
The most prominent consumer publications of OSI were the Dublin City and District Street Guide, an atlas of Dublin city, and the Complete Road Atlas of Ireland which it published in co-operation with Land and Property Services Northern Ireland (formerly the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland). The board also published (jointly with OSNI) a series of 1:50000 maps of the entire island known as the Discovery Series and a series of 1:25000 maps of places of interest (such as the Aran Islands and Killarney national park) and the Geology of Ireland.

History

Thomas Colby, the long-serving Director-General of the Ordnance Survey in Great Britain, was the first to suggest that the Ordnance Survey be used to map Ireland. A highly detailed survey of the whole of Ireland would be extremely useful for the British government, both as a key element in the process of levying local taxes based on land valuations and for military planning. In 1824, a committee was established under the direction of Thomas Spring Rice, MP for Limerick, to oversee the foundation of an Irish Ordnance Survey. Spring Rice believed in the importance of Irish involvement in the mapping process but was overruled by the Duke of Wellington, who did not believe Irish surveyors were qualified for the task. Instead, the Irish Ordnance Survey was initially staffed entirely by members of the British Army.

From 1825–46, teams of surveyors led by officers of the Royal Engineers, and men from the ranks of the Royal Sappers and Miners, traversed Ireland, creating a unique record of a landscape undergoing rapid transformation. The resulting maps (primarily at 6″ scale, with greater detail for urban areas, to an extreme extent in Dublin) portrayed the country in a degree of detail never attempted before, and when the survey of the whole country was completed in 1846, it was a world first. Both the maps and surveying were executed to a high degree of engineering excellence available at the time using triangulation and with the help of tools developed for the project, most notably the strong "limelight". The concrete triangulation posts built on the summits of many Irish mountains can still be seen to this day.

The Royal Engineer officers in charge of the operation were Thomas Colby and Lieutenant Thomas Larcom. They were assisted by George Petrie, who headed the Survey's Topographical Department which employed the likes of John O'Donovan and Eugene O'Curry in scholarly research into placenames. Captain J.E. Portlock compiled extensive information on agricultural produce and natural history, particularly geology.

Despite the exclusion of Irish surveyors, this mapping scheme provided numerous opportunities for employment to Irish people, who worked as skilled or semi-skilled fieldwork labourers, and as clerks in the subsidiary Memoir project that was designed to illustrate and complement the maps by providing data on the social and productive worth of the country.

The total cost of the Irish Survey was £860,000 (adjusted for inflation, equivalent to approximately £100,000,000 in 2018). The original survey was later revisited and revised maps were issued on a number of occasions. All of these historical maps (at least up to 1922) are in the public domain and while the originals can be hard to find, they can be freely reproduced.

From 1922

The British Ordnance Survey ceased to map Ireland just before the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (the Partition of Ireland having already taken place in May 1921 upon the creation of Northern Ireland). The new Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI) officially came into existence on 1 January 1922, while the new Ordnance Survey of Ireland (OSI) came into being slightly later, on 1 April 1922.

The OSI was initially part of the Irish Army under the Department of Defence. All staff employed were military personnel until the 1970s, when the first civilian employees were recruited.

In more recent times, the Ordnance Survey of Ireland replaced traditional ground surveying with mapping based primarily on aerial photography. It has also worked with the postal service, An Post, to gather and structure geographic data.

In 2022, the Tailte Éireann Act dissolved the Property Registration Authority and OSI and transferred the functions of those bodies, along with the functions of the Commissioner of Valuation and the Boundary Surveyor, to Tailte Éireann. The dissolution and transfer took effect on 1st March 2023.

Cultural depiction
The national survey carried out between 1825 and 1846 is the focus of the 1981 play Translations by Brian Friel. The main theme is the inscription of Irish language place names in an anglicised form, using a phonetic rendering for British anglophone ears of an approximate Irish pronunciation.

See also
 Irish grid reference system
 Irish Transverse Mercator
 State Agencies of the Republic of Ireland

References

Notes

Andrews, J.H., A Paper landscape: the Ordnance Survey in nineteenth-century Ireland (Oxford, 1975).
McWilliams, P.S., "The Ordnance Survey Memoir of Ireland: Origins, Progress and Decline" (PhD thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2004).
Report on Ordnance Memoir (1843), HC 1844 (527) xxx, 259–385.
An Illustrated Record of the Ordnance Survey in Ireland (The O.S.I., Dublin, and the O.S.N.I., Belfast, 1991).

External links
 Official website of OSi
 Official website of OSNI
 Interactive Ordnance Survey Maps
 Alternative Source of Land Registry Compliant Maps
 Online Ordnance Survey Maps of County Clare
 Online Ordnance Survey Maps of County Mayo
 Online Ordnance Survey Maps of County Galway (unusable) try http://map.geohive.ie/
 Online Ordnance Survey Maps of County Sligo
 An eye on the Survey at History Ireland
 19th Century Ordnance Survey of Ireland at Translations
Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) 19th Century Historical Maps: collection of mainly 19th-century maps of almost 150 cities, towns, and villages in the Republic of Ireland. A UCD Digital Library Collection.
 Geological Survey Maps Collection. Over 200 maps of Ireland 1859-1913. A UCD Digital Library Collection.
Historic Maps Collection. 18th and 19th-century historic maps of Ireland. A UCD Digital Library Collection.
Maps of Dublin accompanying Thom's Official Directory, printed by the Ordnance Survey for the Dublin publisher Alexander Thom from the six-inch map sheets 18 and 22, and dating from the late 19th century. A UCD Digital Library Collection.

Government agencies of the Republic of Ireland
National mapping agencies
Irish toponymy
Phoenix Park
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
2002 establishments in Ireland
2023 disestablishments in Ireland

Ordnance Survey Ireland


Feminist therapy is an idea about therapy that started in the 1970s. There are different roles for men and women in society. When growing up, children are confronted with what society expects form them as an adult. The people at the time said, that most forms of therapy were developed by men, but the majority of people seeking counseling or therapy are women. Many people believing in feminist therapy say that when a woman undergoes a therapy, this therapy should also take into account that she is a woman. Feminist therapy grew out of concerns that established therapies were not helping women. Specific concerns of feminist therapists included gender bias and stereotyping in therapy; blaming victims of physical abuse and sexual abuse; and the assumption of a traditional nuclear family.

Feminism

Feminist therapy


"Brush with Greatness" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons second season. It first started on the Fox network in the United States on April 11, 1991. In this episode, Marge revives her high school-era liking in painting by enrolling in an art class after getting encouraged by Lisa. When she wins first prize in a local art competition for a painted picture of Homer on the couch in his underwear, Mr. Burns commissions her to paint a picture of him. Meanwhile, Homer is determined to lose weight after becoming stuck in a water slide at an amusement park.

Other websites

1991 television episodes
The Simpsons (season 2) episodes

Brush with Greatness


"The Testament of Athammaus" is a short story by American writer Clark Ashton Smith, part of his Hyperborean cycle. It was published in the October 1932 issue of Weird Tales.

Synopsis

The story is written from the recollection of the aged Headsman Athammaus on the events which led to the abandonment of Commoriom, the once great capital of Hyperborea, for its present capital of Uzuldaroum, of whose circumstances he considers to be in dire need of being recorded to combat the now emerging myths surrounding the reasons why the city was abandoned. Athammaus then proceeds to relate how in his lifelong career as a headsman he has failed to successfully carry out his duty but once, this one failure causing Commoriom's downfall. He tells of how news had come from the settlements near the Eiglophian Mountains of a murderous band of Voormi with their vile and bizarre hairless hybrid being named Knygathin Zhaum, who was rumored to be the product of the union of a Voormi and a being related to the deity Tsathoggua; furthermore, it was rumored that this being was invulnerable to any weapon and capable of escaping any form of imprisonment, which at the time Athammaus dismissed as only vulgar superstition. Then one day it came about that Knygathin Zhaum was successfully ambushed while alone.  To the surprise of his captors he showed no resistance and, with a sardonic expression on his face, he was led back to Commoriom, where he was convicted and sentenced to death by eight judges and Loquamethros, King of Commoriom, and held in a chamber below Commoriom's dungeons to await his fate. According to Athammaus, Knygathin Zhaum's beheading seemed to proceed successfully, although as Athammaus had suspected, Knygathin Zhaum did not bleed following decapitation but only produced a trickle of black ichor.

Following his execution, Knygathin Zhaum was buried that very day and everything went as normal; however, on the morning of the next day the citizens of Commoriom held witness with horror a resurrected Knygathin Zhaum devouring one of its inhabitants. Upon his arrest, there followed a change of law necessary to allow for someone to be executed twice. Knygathin Zhaum was sentenced again to die. His rising from the dead was rationalized by Athammaus as due to his preternatural heritage and thus alien physiology. Following his second beheading (during which Athammaus noticed disturbing distortions in Knygathin Zhaum's features, despite it only being the day after the first beheading), Knygathin Zhaum was buried beneath heavy boulders in the hope that if he were to come back to life he would not be able to escape. Yet the next morning Knygathin Zhaum was witnessed a second time by the citizens devouring one of the eight judges.  Many of the superstitious citizens left the city despite Knygathin Zhaum's third arrest and execution on the same day. This time no chances were taken; the body Knygathin Zhaum was buried in a bronze sarcophagus under heavy guard, while on the other side of the city his head was placed in a small bronze sarcophagus and placed under guard of Athammaus and his remaining men. For the first hours everything proceeded as normal, but then the men heard a banging from within each of the sarcophagi, which then burst open as from some incredible force, revealing masses of strange liquid which proceeded towards each other, then merged and once again formed Knygathin Zhaum. The monster now commits more cannibal atrocities. This was all too much for Commoriom's citizens, who immediately began to depart in a mass exodus, leaving Athammaus and his men behind to do battle with the fiend; however, they realized that the rumours of Knygathin Zhaum being both immortal and uncontainable are true. With each beheading and resurrection, Knygathin Zhaum becomes less human until he is a worse-than-formless horror filling the entire city square.  Thus Athammaus and his men were forced to leave the city.

Reception
Robert Weinberg praises the story as "a perfect example of Smith's bizarre humor". Reviewing Out of Space and Time in the 1983 book The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, E. F. Bleiler remarked "Like certain other Hyperborean stories, with touches of grisly humor."

References

Sources

External links
Text of "The Testament of Athammaus"

Cthulhu Mythos short stories
Short stories by Clark Ashton Smith
Fantasy short stories
1932 short stories
Works originally published in Weird Tales
Fiction set in prehistory

The Testament of Athammaus


Diane Colleen Lane (born January 22, 1965) is an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her film debut at age 14 in A Little Romance (1979).

The film that could have catapulted her to star status, Streets of Fire (both 1984), was both a commercial and critical failure, and her career languished as a result. After taking a break, Lane returned to acting to appear in The Big Town and Lady Beware (both 1987), but did not make another big impression on a sizable audience until the western miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Lane earned further recognition for her role in A Walk on the Moon (1999), for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. This was followed by several film roles of varying degrees of success such as My Dog Skip, The Perfect Storm (both 2000), The Glass House, and Hardball (both 2001).

Lane was especially lauded for her role in Unfaithful (2002), which earned her Satellite, New York Film Critics Circle, and National Society of Film Critics awards for Best Actress. Her performance in Unfaithful also garnered her Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Actress. She was also highly acclaimed by critics for her role in Under the Tuscan Sun (2003). For much of the rest of the decade, she alternately appeared in romances such as Must Love Dogs (2005) and Nights in Rodanthe (2008), and thrillers such as Fierce People (2005), Hollywoodland (2006), and Untraceable (2008).

She has appeared in four films directed by Francis Ford Coppola: The Outsiders, Rumble Fish (both 1983), The Cotton Club (1984), and Jack (1996), and also appeared in one film directed by his wife Eleanor Coppola: Paris Can Wait (2016). Lane had a recurring role as Martha Kent, the adoptive mother of Superman in Man of Steel (2013), and subsequent films of the DC Extended Universe.

Early life
Lane was born January 22, 1965, in New York City. Her mother, Colleen Leigh Farrington, was a nightclub singer and Playboy centerfold (Miss October 1957), who was also known as "Colleen Price". Her father, Burton Eugene Lane, was a Manhattan drama coach who ran an acting workshop with John Cassavetes, worked as a cab driver, and later taught humanities  at City College. When Lane was 13 days old, her parents separated. Lane's mother went to Mexico and obtained a divorce while retaining custody of Lane until she was six years old. Lane's father received custody of her after Lane's mother moved to the state of Georgia. Lane and her father lived in a number of residential hotels in New York City and she rode with him in his taxi.

When Lane was 15, she declared her independence from her father and flew to Los Angeles for a week with actor and friend Christopher Atkins with whom she starred in the 1981 film Child Bride of Short Creek. Lane later remarked, "It was reckless behavior that comes from having too much independence too young." She returned to New York and moved in with a friend's family, paying them rent. In 1981, she enrolled in high school after taking correspondence courses. However, Lane's mother kidnapped her and took her back to Georgia. Lane and her father challenged her mother in court, and six weeks later, she was back in New York. Lane did not speak to her mother for the next three years, but they eventually reconciled.

Career

1979–1999: Career beginnings and breakthrough
Lane's grandmother, Eleanor Scott, was a Pentecostal preacher of the Apostolic denomination, and Lane was influenced theatrically by the demonstrative quality of her grandmother's sermons. Lane began acting professionally at the age of six at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York, where she appeared in a production of Medea. When Lane was 12 years old, she had a role in Joseph Papp's production of The Cherry Orchard with Meryl Streep and Irene Worth. At this time, Lane was enrolled in an accelerated program at Hunter College High School; however, her grades suffered from her busy schedule. When Lane was 13, she turned down a role in Runaways on Broadway to make her feature-film debut opposite Laurence Olivier in A Little Romance. Lane won high praise from Olivier, who declared her "The New Grace Kelly". At the same time, Lane was featured on the cover of Time, which declared her one of Hollywood's "Whiz Kids".

In the early 1980s, Lane made a successful transition from inexperienced actress to confirmed roles. She was cast as the young female outlaw Little Britches in the 1981 Lamont Johnson film, Cattle Annie and Little Britches, with Amanda Plummer in her own debut role as Cattle Annie. She played the role of Heather (Breezy) in Six Pack (1982) with Kenny Rogers. Lane starred as Corinne Burns, leader of a punk rock band in 1982's Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, with Laura Dern and punk musicians Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, and Paul Simonon from the Clash.  The film has become a cult classic.

Lane's breakout performances came with back-to-back adaptations of novels by S. E. Hinton, adapted and directed by Francis Ford Coppola: The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, both in 1983. Both films also featured memorable performances from a number of young male actors who would go on to become leading men in the next decade (as well as members of the so-called "Brat Pack"), including Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, Mickey Rourke, Nicolas Cage, and Matt Dillon. Lane's distinction among these heavily male casts advanced her career while affiliating her with young male actors. Andy Warhol proclaimed her, "the undisputed female lead of Hollywood's new rat pack".

However, the two films that could have catapulted her to star status, Streets of Fire (she turned down Splash and Risky Business for this film) and The Cotton Club, were both commercial and critical failures, and her career languished as a result. After The Cotton Club, Lane dropped out of the movie business and lived with her mother in Georgia. According to the actress, "I hadn't been close to my mom for a long time, so we had a lot of homework to do. We had to repair our relationship because I wanted my mother back."

Lane returned to acting to appear in The Big Town and Lady Beware, but Lane had not made another big impression on a sizable audience until 1989's popular and critically acclaimed TV miniseries Lonesome Dove, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role. She came very close to being cast as Vivian Ward in 1990's blockbuster hit Pretty Woman (which had a much darker script at the time), but due to scheduling conflicts, was unable to take the role. Apparently, costume fittings were made for Lane, before the role fell to Julia Roberts. She was given positive reviews for her performance in the independent film My New Gun, which was well received at the Cannes Film Festival. She went on to appear as actress Paulette Goddard in Sir Richard Attenborough's big-budget biopic of Charles Chaplin, 1992's Chaplin. Over the next seven years Lane would star in ten movies, including Jack and Judge Dredd. It wasn't until 1999 that Lane earned further recognition for her role in A Walk on the Moon. The film also stars Liev Schreiber, Viggo Mortensen, and Anna Paquin. One reviewer wrote, "Lane, after years in post-young-career limbo, is meltingly effective." The film's director, Tony Goldwyn, described Lane as having "this potentially volcanic sexuality that is in no way self-conscious or opportunistic." Lane earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. At this time, she was interested in making a film about actress Jean Seberg in which she would play Seberg.

2000–2011: Unfaithful and further acclaim
In 2000, Lane had a supporting role as Mark Wahlberg's love interest in The Perfect Storm. In 2002, she starred in Unfaithful, a drama directed by Adrian Lyne and adapted from the French film The Unfaithful Wife. Lane played a housewife who indulges in an affair with a mysterious book dealer. The film featured several sex scenes, and Lane's repeated takes for these scenes were very demanding for the actors involved, especially for Lane, who had to be emotionally and physically fit for the duration. Unfaithful received mostly mixed reviews, though Lane earned widespread praise for her performance. Besides winning the Best Actress National Society of Film Critics Award and the New York Film Critics Circle Award, she also received Best Actress Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman stated that "Lane, in the most urgent performance of her career, is a revelation. The play of lust, romance, degradation, and guilt on her face is the movie's real story." Following Unfaithful, Lane starred in Under the Tuscan Sun, a film based on the best-selling book by Frances Mayes for which Lane won a further Best Actress Golden Globe nomination. This was followed by lead roles in Fierce People, Must Love Dogs, and Hollywoodland.

In 2008, Lane reunited with Richard Gere for the romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe. It is the third film Gere and Lane filmed together, and is based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Sparks. Lane also co-starred in Jumper and Untraceable in the same year. She then appeared in Killshot with Mickey Rourke, which was given a limited theatrical release before being released on DVD in 2009. While promoting Nights in Rodanthe, she expressed frustration with being typecast and stated that she was "gunning for something that's not so sympathetic. I need to be a bitch, and I need to be in a comedy. I've decided. No more Miss Nice Guy." Lane had even contemplated quitting acting and spending more time with her family if she is unable to get these kinds of roles. She said in an interview, "I can't do anything official. My agents won't let me. Between you and me, I don't have anything else coming out." Despite her concerns with being typecast, Lane signed on to Secretariat (2010), a Disney film about the relationship between the 1973 Triple Crown-winning racehorse and his owner, Penny Chenery, whom Lane portrayed.

Lane then starred in Cinema Verite (2011), an HBO movie about the making of the first reality television show, An American Family. Lane earned Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, Satellite, and Golden Globe award nominations for her portrayal of Pat Loud. In 2012, Lane was featured in the PBS documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (produced by Show of Force along with Fugitive Films), which showcased women and girls living under very difficult circumstances and bravely fighting to challenge them.

2013–present: Later career and return to theater
Following the success of Cinema Verite, Lane starred in Zack Snyder's Superman film Man of Steel, playing Martha Kent. Snyder said of her casting, "We are thrilled to have Diane in the role because she can convey the wisdom and the wonder of a woman whose son has powers beyond her imagination." Lane reprised her role as Martha Kent in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017).

Shortly after the release of Man of Steel, Lane was tapped to play Hillary Clinton in an NBC miniseries, Hillary, which was supposed to "start with the Monica Lewinsky morning-after ... And then continue on until she was embarking on her [2008] presidential bid." Intense media backlash ultimately caused NBC to cancel the series. In 2015, Lane appeared in the drama Every Secret Thing (alongside Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Banks), had a voice role in the Pixar animated feature Inside Out, and co-starred in the biopic Trumbo (opposite Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren), which received a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Ensemble Cast. Besides Justice League, Lane appeared in two other films in 2017: Eleanor Coppola's Paris Can Wait and Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House.

In the end of 2012, and before her divorce from Josh Brolin in early 2013, Lane returned to her theater roots and headlined a production of the David Cromer directed Sweet Bird of Youth (by Tennessee Williams) at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Lane played Princess Kosmonopolis, a fading Hollywood movie star, opposite Finn Wittrock, who portrayed Chance, her attractive gigolo. This was the first time she had done a stage play since 1989, when she played Olivia in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lane returned to theatre in the winter of 2015, starring with Tony Shalhoub in the off-Broadway original production of Bathsheba Doran's The Mystery of Love and Sex. In 2016, nearly four decades after she first appeared on Broadway, Lane starred in a play in which she previously performed: Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (1977). While Lane played a child peasant (with no lines) in Broadway's 1977 run of the play, this time she played the lead role of Madame Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya.

In 2018, Lane starred in the Amazon original miniseries The Romanoffs, which premiered in October, and as Annette Shepherd in the final season of Netflix's hit series House of Cards, which was released on the streaming service on November 2. These roles "seemingly "mark[ed] rare TV appearance[s] for Lane, who has primarily worked in film throughout her career."

In 2019, she played one of Matthew McConaughey's character's love interests in the thriller Serenity. She will also star in an untitled Reed Morano-directed film with Jeff Bridges (whom she previously worked with in Wild Bill), in addition to starring in the series on FX based on the post-apocalyptic science fiction comic book series Y: The Last Man. Lane also co-starred with Kevin Costner in the 2020 thriller Let Him Go.

Personal life

Family

Lane met actor Christopher Lambert in Paris while promoting The Cotton Club in 1984. They had a brief affair and split up. They met again two years later in Rome to make a film together, entitled Priceless Beauty, and in two weeks they were a couple again. Lane and Lambert married in October 1988 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They have a daughter, Eleanor. They divorced in March 1994.

Lane became engaged to actor Josh Brolin in July 2003 and they were married on August 15, 2004. On December 20 of that year, she called police after an altercation with him, and he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery. Lane declined to press charges, however, and the couple's spokesperson described the incident as a "misunderstanding". Lane and Brolin filed for divorce in February 2013. Their divorce was finalized on December 2, 2013.

Charity work
Lane is also involved in several charities, including Heifer International, which focuses on world hunger, Artists for Peace and Justice, a Hollywood organization that supports Haiti relief, and the BrandAID Project.

However, she tries not to draw attention to her humanitarian efforts: "Sometimes I give with my heart. Sometimes I give financially, but there's something about [helping others] that I think ought to be anonymous. I don't want it to be a boastful thing."

Lane was featured heavily in the documentary Half the Sky, based on the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The documentary had Lane and several other A-list actresses/celebrities visit Africa and other areas where women are oppressed. Lane has become an ambassador for this kind of work and charity work in general.

On August 22, 2014, Lane was honored for her work with Heifer International at its third annual Beyond Hunger: A Place at the Table gala at the Montage Beverly Hills. Lane says working with Heifer International has affected her life and nurtured the relationship she has with her daughter.

Theater
At age six, Lane landed her first acting role in La Mama Experimental Theatre Company's 1971 production of Medea in which she played Medea's daughter. From then until 1976, she performed with La MaMa, E.T.C. in New York and toured with them abroad. Some of the plays she performed in include The Trojan Women, Electra, Bertolt Brecht's The Good Woman of Szechuan, Federico García Lorca's Blood Wedding, Paul Foster's The Silver Queen, and Shakespeare's As You Like It. Most of these plays were directed and/or adapted by Andrei Șerban and Elizabeth Swados.

From 1976 to 1977, Lane appeared in The Cherry Orchard and Agamemnon at New York's Vivian Beaumont Theater. After participating in the first production of Runaways when it was off-Broadway, Lane took a decade-long hiatus from theatre. In 1989, Lane returned to the stage to play Olivia in Twelfth Night at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lane took another hiatus from theatre until 2012, when she starred opposite Finn Wittrock in Sweet Bird of Youth at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago (directed by David Cromer). Lane then returned to New York theatre and starred off-Broadway in Bathsheba Doran's The Mystery of Love and Sex in 2015 (alongside Tony Shalhoub) and in Broadway's revival of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard in 2016 (alongside Joel Grey and Harold Perrineau).

Awards and nominations

Four days before the New York Film Critics Circle's vote in 2002, Lane was given a career tribute by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. A day before that, Lyne held a dinner for the actress at the Four Seasons Hotel. Critics and award voters were invited to both. She went on to win the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Unfaithful. In 2003, she was named ShoWest's 2003 Female Star of the Year, and was a co-recipient of the Women in Film Crystal Award honoring outstanding women in entertainment.

Lane ranked at No. 79 on VH1's 100 Greatest Kid Stars. She was ranked No. 45 on AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women in 2005, No. 85 in 2006 and No. 98 in 2007.

Honors
 2003: Honored as the Female Star of the Year by the ShoWest Convention.
 2004: Received the American Riviera Award during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
 2012: Received the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award during the Savannah Film Festival.
 2017: Received the Career Achievement Award during the Sarasota Film Festival.

References

Further reading

External links

Diane Lane at Film Reference

1965 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
American child actresses
Female models from New York (state)
American film actresses
American television actresses
American stage actresses
American voice actresses
Hunter College High School alumni
Actresses from Manhattan

Diane Lane


Castle Law is a hill south west of Fairmilehead in the Pentland Hills in Midlothian, Scotland.

It is best known for the Iron Age hill fort on its slopes.

The Castlelaw Hill Fort

The Castlelaw Hill Fort is the remnant of a stronghold of the Iron Age.  When it was occupied the site consisted of three earthwork ramparts, ditches and timber palisades.  The fort contained a Souterrain for the storage of agricultural produce.  V. Gordon Childe undertook excavations at Castlelaw in 1932–33.  The work focused on the rampart, and showed that it consisted of a clay and timber filling, faced by stone.

The fort commands views over the Forth and Lothian.  Traprain Law and Berwick Law, both significant centres of power in the Iron Age, are visible from the site.

The fort is maintained by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.

Access to the site is free but, since the area is an active sheep pasture, dogs should be kept under control.
The site also neighbours an army firing range and so care should be taken not to pass into the area marked by red flags.

References

External links

Hills of the Scottish Midland Valley
Hill forts in Scotland
Archaeological sites in Midlothian
Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Midlothian
Historic Environment Scotland properties
Mountains and hills of Midlothian

Castle Law


Windfields Farm was a six square kilometre (1,500 acre) Thoroughbred horse breeding farm that was founded by businessman E. P. Taylor in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.

Origin
The first stable and breeding operation of E. P. Taylor originated with a property north of the city of Toronto on Bayview Avenue. Taylor then acquired the Parkwood Stable in Oshawa when it was offered for sale in 1950 by Colonel Sam McLaughlin (of McLaughlin Motor Car Company fame), and he named his new purchase the National Stud Farm. In 1969, the name was changed to Windfields Farm Limited, Oshawa Division. As population growth overtook the operation, it eventually expanded to include a second farm, Windfields Farm (Maryland) in Chesapeake City, Maryland, United States.

Northern Dancer

Windfields Farm in Ontario was the birthplace of racing great and champion sire Northern Dancer, winner of the 1964 Kentucky Derby (in stakes record time), the Preakness Stakes, and the Queen's Plate. Northern Dancer was retired after the 1964 racing season and started a career at stud in Ontario, before being moved in 1969 to the Maryland farm. Northern Dancer's son, the English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky, was also bred by E. P. Taylor at Windfields in Ontario, as was another Northern Dancer colt, the 1977 Epsom Derby winner The Minstrel.

Decline and closure
In 1980, E. P. Taylor was incapacitated by a stroke, and his son Charles took over management of Windfields Farm. E.P. Taylor died in 1989 and Charles died in 1997, after which his widow Noreen and sister Judith Taylor Mappin took charge of the business. The Maryland site was sold in 1988, and Roland Farm and the Northview Stallion Station now occupy the land.

The downsizing that began following the death of E. P. Taylor resulted in large portions of Windfields Farm being sold to the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and Durham College, which erected sports fields and parking lots on the farm's southeast corner. Farmlands on the east side of Simcoe Street became housing developments. By 2008, the once-vast estate (that at its peak was home to more than 600 thoroughbreds) had devolved to just a small private farm.

In November 2009, the Windfields Farm breeding operations were wound up. Its broodmares and weanlings were sent to be auctioned at the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society Winter Mixed Sale, and its remaining bloodstock was sold at the Keeneland Sales in Lexington, Kentucky. Shortly afterwards, the contents of the farm, literally to the bare walls, was auctioned and the property was effectively abandoned.

Already engulfed by urban sprawl, Windfields sold much of the non-core portions of the property to real estate developers for the purpose of residential development. Some of the farm's barns, the grave of Northern Dancer, plus a trillium forest where fifteen horses are interred, was reported to be preserved as a commemorative park, but as of the fall of 2012, these plans remained unfulfilled, and the future of the property and its historic structures and graves remained in a state of confusion. It appears that there were no firm plans put in place by the Taylor family, Durham College or UOIT before the final closure of the farm in order to ensure its preservation.

Post closure

2009–2012
After the farm's closure, the planned preservation failed to materialize. The property, buildings and graves were left instead to fall into a state of decay and disrepair. Pictures began to appear of the grave sites of world-famous Northern Dancer and other notable Windfields horses with tall weeds surrounding them, as well as the historical structures covered in overgrowth. The property and its many buildings had begun falling prey to vandals, the elements, and time.

A small group of supporters who were disappointed in the apparent near-abandonment of the property (and what appeared to be a dismal future for its structures) began to advocate for the property in late 2009, with efforts beginning in earnest in 2010. The media was contacted and several stories were published in both local television and print media during 2010, 2011, and 2012, as well as a feature article in the Toronto Star newspaper entitled "Hero Racehorse Rests Amongst The Weeds", addressing the dismal condition and lack of respect for the farm and the famous horses interred there – most notably Northern Dancer. In addition, presentations were made to the City of Oshawa Council and a letter-writing campaign was also enacted, all of which served to bring the situation to public awareness.

The negative media attention garnered from the fall 2011 Toronto Star article spurred the owners of the "Core" property (Durham College and/or The University Of Ontario Institute of Technology, UOIT) to step up maintenance of the gravesite areas and pledge to better respect the property. They made no other commitments about the property at that time.

2012
In the fall of 2012, the City of Oshawa became an ally to the cause for proper respect for the Windfields Farm property and its legacy. At the behest of the city, UOIT agreed to form a "Community Advisory Group"  to allow all interested parties to discuss the future of the farm in detail. The situation began to improve as UOIT began to exhibit a willingness to show the Windfields Farm legacy the respect it deserved.   Unfortunately there appeared to be minimal followup from the formation of this group.

2013
During 2013, grounds maintenance was stepped up, including routine grass cutting and a general cleanup of overgrowth in the vicinity of the core buildings.  Many repairs and changes were effected to the property and its buildings as well during the 2012 to 2014 period, including the following:

 Several buildings received roofing repairs (including an entire re-shingling of Barn 6) intended to halt water damage, which was causing rapid deterioration of several of the historic structures on the property.
 The heating systems in several of the remaining houses in the vicinity of the core were repaired and returned to service.
 Eaves troughs, lightning rods, and other metalwork on various buildings that had been stolen by scrap metal thieves during previous years were replaced.
 Security patrols were increased dramatically.
 Electricity was restored in many areas.
 Lighting was installed.
 Security cameras were installed in strategic locations around the property.
 Various buildings, the arena, and barns, many of which had been left unsecured for many years, were once again secured.
 Pumping systems that had failed, causing subsequent flooding of some areas, were restored to operational condition.

2014
In the late summer of 2014, the public was once again welcomed to the farm during "Doors Open Oshawa", a citywide event that allows the public to visit venues which are normally closed to public access. This was the first time since the auction in 2009 that the public was able to legally access and visit the core property area of Windfields Farm in order to see the facilities, its heritage structures, and to pay their respects at the graves of Northern Dancer and the other horses interred at the main grave site. The event was well attended.

The core of the farm showed a dramatic turnaround from previous years, with the grounds (and grave site area) appearing well kept and the repair efforts (basic and otherwise) on the many core buildings being evident to those who had followed their plight. Although many of the buildings still showed areas of concern, it appears the preservation efforts and repairs made to date had at least halted further deterioration of the buildings. During the Doors Open event, it was shared that the university has begun exploratory meetings and discussions with regards to fundraising to allow further repairs to the buildings, barns, and the arena.

2015–present
After the "Doors Open" event in 2014 to current day, the current owners of the core of the farm (The University of Ontario Institute of Technology) have taken a much less public approach to the property, having hosted no publicly accessible events since that date, although several private events have taken place.  Although photos that have appeared online show that the core of the farm remains well tended and additional structure repairs have occurred, as of January 2018 there still appears to be no firm plans to fulfil many of the earlier promises of public access to the grave sites, and the property is clearly posted as "Private Property" with no public access whatsoever.

In 2016, the city of Oshawa followed up on some earlier plans with a "Proposed Program for Honouring the Windfields Farm Legacy"  document detailing some studies funded by an earlier controversial donation of $150,000 by Minto Developments.     The results, under the banner "Program for Honouring the Windfields Farm Legacy" were adopted  on February 22, 2016, but since this date there has been little news with regards to forward progress on many of the goals.

2022-There are at least 4 plaques explaining about EP, Charles Taylor, Windfield Farms and the horse Cemetery.

These are on the west side of the new subdivision in the naturalized area.  The horse cemetery is fenced with a new iron fence, but the grounds are unkept, likely keeping with the naturalization of the area.

University re-purposing of structures
Several structures upon the core of the farm have been repurposed for use by University of Ontario Institute of Technology staff as either office space or storage. There is now increased activity on and around the core of the farm as a result, in addition to a regular security presence.

TV filming
In January 2018, an episode of the television series Taken utilized "Barn 2" upon the Windfields core property as a filming location, with the barn and its many stalls taking the place of a jail. Exact filming dates were unclear.

Former paddock lands development
In 2018, development of the majority of what used to be paddocks and open fields to the north of the core of the farm (some ) began on a new residential neighbourhood, with several streets now bordering onto the core of the farm itself. A large retail complex is also planned for the northeast portion of this section of property.

Burials at Windfields Farm
A non-exhaustive list of thoroughbred burials at Windfields Farm in Oshawa include:
 Archers Bay (1995–2002)
 Canadiana (1950–1971)
 New Providence (1956–1981)
 Northern Dancer (1961–1990)
 South Ocean (1967–1989)
 Vice Regent (1967–1995)
 Victoria Park (1957–1985)
 Windfields (1943–1969)

Numerous other lesser-known horses are buried at the separate "Trillium" grave site located slightly to the north of the core of the farm. The trillium grave site was afforded protection by the city and will be maintained as an area of importance to the history of Windfields, although its exact integration with the new housing subdivision is unclear to some.

Lesser yet known horses were also commonly buried at various other places on the once vast Windfields property, almost all in unmarked graves.

Windfields Estate

Windfields Estate was the home of E. P. Taylor and was situated at 2489 Bayview Avenue in North York, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. It now houses the Canadian Film Centre, founded by filmmaker Norman Jewison. The  estate has been preserved as a heritage site.

References

External links
 Grave Matters: Windfields Farm at the National Sporting Library's Thoroughbred Heritage website
 Windfields Farm official website - Now defunct, no longer serves website . Wayback Machine archive can be located here.
 Windfields Farm at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA)
 Major Stakes Winners/Champions bred by Windfields & E.P. Taylor

Canadian racehorse owners and breeders
Owners of King's Plate winners
Owners of Kentucky Derby winners
Breeders of Kentucky Derby winners
Owners of Preakness Stakes winners
Breeders of Preakness Stakes winners
Breeders of Epsom Derby winners
American racehorse owners and breeders
Horse farms in Canada
Estate gardens in Canada
Oshawa
1936 establishments in Ontario
2009 disestablishments in Ontario

Windfields Farm (Ontario)


The epidural venous plexus is a network of interconnecting veins located in the anterior epidural space, in the outermost part of the spinal canal.  It runs from the skull base to the sacrum.  It is surrounded by very little fat, although the levels increase towards the lower levels of the spine.

References

Spinal cord

Epidural venous plexus


A smart city uses information and communication technology (ICT) to improve operational efficiency, share information with the public and provide a better quality of government service and citizen welfare.

The main goal of a smart city is to optimise city functions and promote economic growth while also improving the quality of life for citizens by using smart technologies and data analysis. The value lies in how this technology is used rather than simply how much technology is available.

Technology

Smart city


John Bishop's Britain was a British television programme presented by comedian John Bishop. Each programme had a theme, for example food. It featured stand-up, sketches and real-life stories from celebrity guests and members of the public on that particular topic. There have been two series filmed to date. A 2011 Christmas special was filmed and broadcast around the Christmas period of that year.

The show is filmed in front of an audience, where the audience are shown the interviews via video link as part of the filming. The sketches are not shown to the audience at the time of filming but Bishop's narration of the sketch is included in the filming. In the sketches, Bishop is portrayed by model Tommy Maxwell. TV host Rylan Clark-Neal rose to fame from this show.

Episode list

Series 1 (2010)

Series 2 (2011)

References

External links

2010 British television series debuts
2011 British television series endings
British stand-up comedy television series
BBC television sketch shows
Television series by All3Media

John Bishop's Britain


The no-hiding theorem states that if information is lost from a system via decoherence, then it moves to the subspace of the environment and it cannot remain in the correlation between the system and the environment. This is a fundamental consequence of the linearity and unitarity of quantum mechanics. Thus, information is never lost. This has implications in black hole information paradox and in fact any process that tends to lose information completely. The no-hiding theorem is robust to imperfection in the physical process that seemingly destroys the original information.

This was proved by Samuel  L. Braunstein and  Arun K. Pati in 2007. In 2011, the no-hiding theorem was experimentally tested using nuclear magnetic resonance devices where a single qubit undergoes complete randomization; i.e., a pure state transforms to a random mixed state. Subsequently, the lost information has been recovered from the ancilla qubits using suitable local unitary transformation only in the environment Hilbert space in accordance with the no-hiding theorem. This experiment for the first time demonstrated the conservation of quantum information.

Formal statement
Let  be an arbitrary  quantum state in some Hilbert space and let there be a physical process that transforms  with .  If  is independent of the input state , then in the enlarged Hilbert space the mapping is of the form

where   is the initial state of the environment, 's are the orthonormal basis of the environment Hilbert space and  denotes the fact that one may augment the unused dimension of the environment Hilbert space by zero vectors.

The proof of the no-hiding theorem is based on the linearity and the unitarity of quantum mechanics. The original information which is missing from the final state simply remains in the subspace of the environmental Hilbert space. Also, note that the original information is not in the correlation between the system and the environment. This is the essence of the no-hiding theorem. One can in principle, recover the lost information from the environment by local unitary transformations acting only on the environment Hilbert space.  The no-hiding theorem provides new insights to the nature of quantum information. For example, if classical information is lost from one system it may either move to another system or can be hidden in the correlation between a pair of bit strings. However, quantum information cannot be completely hidden in correlations between a pair of subsystems.  Quantum mechanics allows only one way to completely hide an arbitrary quantum state from one of its subsystems. If it is lost from one subsystem, then it moves to other subsystems.

Conservation of quantum information
In physics, conservation laws play important roles. For example, the law of conservation of energy states that the energy of a closed system must remain constant. It can neither increase nor decrease without coming in contact with an external system. If we consider the whole universe as a closed system, the total amount of energy always remains the same.  However, the form of energy keeps changing. One may wonder if there is any such law for the conservation of information. In the classical world,  information can be copied and deleted perfectly. In the quantum world, however, the conservation of quantum information should mean that information cannot be created nor destroyed. This concept stems from two fundamental theorems of quantum mechanics: the no-cloning theorem and the no-deleting theorem. But the no-hiding theorem is a more general proof of conservation of quantum information which originates from the proof of conservation of wave function in quantum theory. It may be noted that  the conservation of entropy holds for a quantum system undergoing unitary time evolution and if entropy represents information in quantum theory, then it is believed then that information should somehow be conserved. For example, one can prove that pure states remain pure states and probabilistic combination of pure states (called as mixed states) remain mixed states under unitary evolution. However, it was never proved that if the probability amplitude disappears from one system, it will reappear in another system. Now, using the no-hiding theorem one can make a precise statement. One may say that as energy keeps changing its form, the wave function keep moving from one Hilbert space to another Hilbert space. Since the wave function contains all the relevant information about a physical system, the conservation of wave function is tantamount to conservation of quantum information.

References

Theorems in quantum mechanics
Quantum information theory
No-go theorems

No-hiding theorem


Benchill is an area in the Wythenshawe council estate  south of Manchester city centre, in England.

In 2000, Benchill was named in the Index of Multiple Deprivation as the most deprived ward in England.

Following a review by the Boundary Committee for England, Benchill was disestablished as a local government ward in 2003, and the area divided between the neighbouring wards of Sharston, Woodhouse Park, and Northenden.

Benchill gained national media attention in February 2007 when then-Leader of the Opposition David Cameron visited the estate and was targeted by a group of youths, one of whom made a gun gesture with his hand towards him. The incident was photographed by the press.

Services
Benchill tram stop, on the Airport Line, opened in 2014.

Benchill is policed by the Wythenshawe Neighbourhood Policing Team.

References

Areas of Manchester
History of Manchester
Wythenshawe

Benchill


Richardson v Schwarzenegger was an internet defamation case heard in the English High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division), on 29 October 2004.  Claimant Anna Richardson, a British television presenter, claimed to have been libelled in the 2 October 2003 issue of the US publication Los Angeles Times, which was available in print and online in the UK, as a result of statements made by the gubernatorial campaign manager of Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian-American actor and politician.

One key issue in this case was to determine the appropriate venue: Can a suit be brought before a United Kingdom jurisdiction for statements made by an American in California, US which are immune from suit under local law? The High Court ruled that the libel action could be brought in England.

Facts of the case

The claimant, Anna Richardson, made no claims against the authors of the allegedly defamatory Los Angeles Times article, nor against the publishers of the paper.  The three defendants were (1) Arnold Schwarzenegger, (2) Sean Walsh, the campaign spokesman whose application to dismiss service ultimately came before the High Court, and (3) Sheryl Main, Schwarzenegger's publicist.

Richardson had previously claimed that Schwarzenegger had "groped" her during a December 2000 interview in London. Although Walsh was not present for the interview in question, he categorically denied the allegations and suggested that they were little more than cheap political tricks.

Richardson claimed that this denial implied that she had "deliberately and dishonestly fabricated" the allegations. She further noted that the damage to her reputation caused by the statement was felt in the UK due to the availability of the LA Times both in print and online in the UK.

Walsh claimed England was an improper forum in which to litigate the case.  Walsh's attorney, Richard Spearman, described the case as follows:

Decision of the High Court
Walsh's application to set aside an order giving the claimant permission to serve her claim had previously been refused by a lower court and was the subject of the present appeal before Mr. Justice Eady of the High Court of Justice. In upholding the lower court's original order, the High Court began its analysis of the issue by noting that, as a result of Dow Jones & Co. Inc. v Gutnick, it is "...well settled now that an internet publication takes place in any jurisdiction where the relevant words are read or downloaded."

Next, the High Court reasoned similarly to the court in Calder v. Jones, 465 U.S. 783 (1984) which employs the "Effects Test" commonly used in American personal jurisdiction cases. Accordingly, the judge identified the following factors as supporting the Court's jurisdiction:

(i) The claimant was a United Kingdom citizen.

(ii) She was both resident and worked [in the UK].

(iii) She was widely known and had an established reputation in [the UK].

(iv) She had no comparable connection with any other jurisdiction, including the United States.

(v) On the basis of the presumption of damage established in Shevill v. Presse Alliance, damage to her reputation in [the UK] is presumed.

(vi) The underlying events (should there be a plea of justification) took place in London.

(vii) English law is applicable to publication in [the UK].

Unlike the Calder v. Jones test, however, the High Court did not find it necessary for Walsh to have "directly targeted" the UK, but reasoned that jurisdiction was proper because it was "arguable that the foreign politician intended or foresaw the consequences".  The suit was ultimately settled.

Holding

The High Court held that the correct forum is the one where it is just and reasonable for the defendant to answer for his alleged wrongdoing. The claimant was a UK citizen who lived and worked in the UK. She had an established reputation in the UK. She had no comparable connection with any other jurisdiction. Thus, damage was presumed to that reputation in the UK and the UK was the proper venue.

References

External links

Full Text of Judgment
How PR Can Spin Out of Control
Forum Non Conveniens Principles Upheld In Claim Against Schwarzenegger Spokesman: Anna Richardson v. Arnold Scwarzenegger And Others

Internet case law
High Court of Justice cases
2004 in United Kingdom case law
English defamation case law
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Richardson v Schwarzenegger


Hüseyin Avni Lifij (1886, Ladik - 2 June 1927, Istanbul) was a Turkish impressionist painter of Circassian origin. He is best known for landscapes with architectural features.

Biography
His family emigrated from Sochi to Ladik during the Great Circassian exile of 1864. He began his education in 1896, in Istanbul; showing special interest in the art and music classes. In 1898, he continued his studies at the "Numune-i Terakki Mektebi", a private school where he learned French. Three years later, he obtained a position in the Railways Department of the "Ottoman Ministry of Public Works". While there, he continued taking lessons to improve his French. He also audited classes at a medical school and a pharmacists' school to learn anatomy and chemistry.

In 1906, he met the French architect, Henri Prost, who liked his work and recommended that he show some of his paintings to Osman Hamdi Bey, who was impressed with Lifij's "Self-Portrait with Pipe" and, after seeing more of his work, placed him on a list of candidates for a state scholarship to study in Paris. In late 1908, he was selected and, a few months later, enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied with Fernand Cormon.

Upon returning home in 1912, he obtained a position teaching at Istanbul High School. In 1915, he began teaching French at the Kandilli Anatolian High School for Girls. The following year, he participated in the first "Galatasaray Exhibition", which would later become a major venue for new artists. In 1918, he presented 18 canvases at an exhibition in Vienna devoted to war paintings.

In 1922, he and his wife went to a teacher's conference in Bursa, where they met President Atatürk. They were invited to spend four months with the President in Ankara,  where he produced several portraits, including one of Marshall Fevzi Çakmak, and began one of his best-known paintings, "Karagün" (Black Day). In 1924, he was appointed a Professor at the "Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi" (School of Fine Arts, now part of the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University), a position he retained until his sudden death at the early age of forty-one, apparently from a heart attack.

References

Further reading
 Veysel Uğurlu, Hüseyin Avni Lifij, (exhibition ctalog), Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat Yayıncılık, 1997
 Ahmet Kâmil Gören, Avni Lifij (Vol.7 of "Turkish Painters"), Yapı Kredi yayınları 2001,

External links

 Avni Lifij website , with biography, paintings and additional references
 More paintings by Lifij @ Sergiler
 Brief biography and paintings @ e-stanbul.com
 "The Art of Avni Lifij" an appreciation by Şazi Sirel @ the Turkish Cultural Foundation

1886 births
1927 deaths
People from Lâdik
Landscape painters
Turkish people of Circassian descent
20th-century Turkish painters

Hüseyin Avni Lifij


The Jane Ross Reeves Octagon House was originally located between Wilkinson, Indiana and Willow Branch, Indiana. It was moved to its present location in 1997. It is currently located at 400 Railroad Street in Shirley, Indiana.

When Jane and Elijah first homesteaded their farm, they built a log cabin on the highest point of the land. This was later replaced by a frame house which was torn down at the time the Octagon house was built. When the log cabin was built, two trees were planted in front of the house- one on each side of the gate. These were called wedding trees and as they grew, the two became one as their branches met in the middle. The one tree represented the groom and the second represented the bride. Two new trees were planted at the current location.

The Octagon house was built in 1879. In 1876, three years after her husband's death, Jane Ross Reeves found the plans in a magazine. She liked it so much she decided she had to have one.  This house was built at a cost of somewhere between $2300 and $2500. It was built by a contracting company in Fortville, Indiana. When the house was completed, it was paid for in full from silver dollars that she (Jane Ross Reeves) had saved in a shoe box.

The house is two stories of wood frame construction with a pyramidal roof. The house has little architectural ornamentation. The house has 16 rooms and every room has a closet. There are four large rooms and four small rooms on each floor. When the house was moved, it was placed over a full basement. The basement has 10' ceilings and is 45' wide in every direction. Their  house had four chimneys. One chimney serviced 4 rooms- 2 up and 2 down. The chimneys were removed to reduce weight when being moved. Even after their removal, the house still weighed 90 tons! The chimneys were rebuilt from the floor of the attic up to their original height so the house looks the same from the outside. The chimney chases were rebuilt on the inside of the house, so it looks exactly as it was originally built. These chases now contain the utilities. (wiring, plumbing, etc.)

There are only five octagon houses left standing in the state of Indiana. The Reeves Octagon House is deemed to be the most important one as it has never been altered or changed with the exception of the porch; it now goes around the entire house.

The Jane Ross Reeves Octagon House Foundation's President, Darrell Deck is the source of the information above.

References

External links

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana
Houses completed in 1879
National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Indiana
Historic American Buildings Survey in Indiana
Houses in Hancock County, Indiana
Octagon houses in the United States

Jane Ross Reeves Octagon House


Robert Adams (1810–1870) was a 19th-century British gunsmith who patented the first successful double-action revolver in 1851.  His revolvers were used during the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, the American Civil War, and the Anglo-Zulu War.

Career

Deane and Adams

Adams was the manager for the London arms manufacturers George & John Deane. On August 22, 1851, he was granted a British patent for a new revolver design.

The .436 Deane and Adams was a five-shot percussion (cap-and-ball) revolver with a spurless hammer, and the first revolver with a solid frame. The revolver used a double-action only system in which the external hammer could not be cocked by thumbing it back, like most other pistols of the era, but instead cocked itself when the trigger was pulled.  This made it possible to fire the gun much more rapidly than contemporary single-action revolvers, such as the Colt, which had to be cocked before each shot.

Deane and Adams's revolver was shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and subsequently approved by the British Army's Small Arms Committee in addition to being adopted by the East India Company for use by their cavalry. Orders for the revolver were great enough to prompt the Deane brothers to make Adams a partner in their firm, which became Messrs. Deane, Adams, and Deane.

Although highly regarded, the hand-crafted Adams revolver was more expensive than Colt's mass-produced guns. It lacked a  recoil shield behind the cylinder, which left the shooter's hand subject to powder burns resulting from "blowback" caused by the sometimes unpredictable black powder of the era.  The lack of a hammer spur was criticized since the longer trigger pull of the Adams made it less accurate than the Colt.  Furthermore, the Adams's nipples, upon which the percussion caps were set, were unhardened and sometimes burst upon firing.

An "Improved Frame" model was offered in 1854, presenting both a sleeker look and more comfortable grip. In that same year the British Board of Ordnance reviewed the Adams together with other percussion revolvers with a view to adopting one as an official service sidearm.  Concerns about the gas escape between the cylinder  and barrel during discharge resulted in no decision being made.  Nevertheless, British officers purchased the Adams privately and the gun proved its worth in battle during the Crimean War.

Beaumont–Adams

In 1855 a veteran of the Crimean conflict, Lieutenant Frederick E.B. Beaumont, improved the gun by linking the trigger to a spurred hammer, permitting both single- and double-action fire.  A new version of the revolver, the Beaumont–Adams, was produced and became so popular that it is said Samuel Colt was forced to shut down his London manufactory as a result.

London Armoury Company
Adams had a falling out with the Deane brothers the following year and founded a new arms concern, the London Armoury Company, on February 9, 1856.  Another important stockholder was Adams's cousin, James Kerr, who later invented the Kerrs Patent Revolver.  The factory was established on the former site of the South-Eastern Railway Company in the Bermondsey section of London.

The Indian Mutiny of 1857 established the Adams as the official revolver of the British Army. In the bitter fighting it was found that rapid fire was more important than accuracy, and the man-stopping power of the Adams's large caliber bullet was also valued.

Several variations and improvements were made upon the Adams, which was manufactured in Europe and briefly in the United States under license. The majority of British-made Adams guns seem to have been in 54 bore (approximately .44 caliber), but several smaller and at least one larger bore were also offered. In 1857 the U.S. government purchased 100 revolvers in .36 caliber and another 500 from the Adams-licensed Massachusetts Arms Company. The 100 British-made guns were issued to the U.S. Army with the rest held in storage until issued at the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War. In addition Adams revolvers were purchased from the London Armoury prior to and during the war by individual states and the U.S. and Confederate governments.

The London Armoury Company flourished due to the manufacture of the Adams revolver, however, in 1859 the company's board of directors decided to increase the production of infantry rifles,  decreasing revolver production. Adams disagreed with the decision, selling his stock and leaving the company. Kerr then became the armoury's dominant figure and his revolver, together with a large number of rifles, were sold to the Confederate government which became the armoury's principal client.  With the fall of the Confederacy the fortunes of the company declined and it went into receivership in 1866.

Adams owned the rights to his revolver, which the London Armoury Company had only produced under license, and he now manufactured them in Birmingham, with minor improvements keeping his revolvers in competition with other designs.

John Adams
In 1867, Robert Adams's brother John Adams patented a breech-loading revolver which was adopted by the British government in place of the Beaumont–Adams. It was a solid frame pistol with six chambers, in .450 caliber. After official acceptance of his pistol, Adams left the London Armoury Company and established his own factory, the Adams Patent Small Arms Company. His pistol was manufactured in three distinct variations (differences related mainly to methods of spent cartridge ejection) between 1867 and about 1880. The models were tested and adopted by the British Army and Navy, with the last, the M1872 Mark III, seeing the widest use.

The John Adams revolver remained the official sidearm of the British Army until replaced by the Enfield Mark I in 1880.

Notes

External links

Adams Revolvers
REME WEAPONS COLLECTION

1810 births
1870 deaths
Firearm designers
Defunct firearms manufacturers
American Civil War industrialists
Date of death missing
Date of birth missing
People from Marldon
Defunct manufacturing companies of England

Robert Adams (handgun designer)