Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a predefined battlefield. Each player controls a single character with a set of distinctive abilities that improve over the course of a game and which contribute to the team's overall strategy. The typical ultimate objective is for each team to destroy their opponents' main structure, located at the opposite corner of the battlefield. In some MOBA games, the objective can be defeating every player on the enemy team. Players are assisted by computer-controlled units that periodically spawn in groups and march forward along set paths toward their enemy's base, which is heavily guarded by defensive structures. This type of multiplayer online video games originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy, though MOBA players usually do not construct buildings or units. Moreover, there are examples of MOBA games that are not considered real-time strategy games, such as Smite (2014), and Paragon. The genre is seen as a fusion of real-time strategy, role-playing and action games.

The first widely accepted game in the genre was Aeon of Strife (AoS), a fan-made custom map released in 2002 for StarCraft in which four players each control a single powerful unit and, aided by weak computer-controlled units, compete against a stronger computer. However, the 1998 game Future Cop: LAPD showcased an even earlier version of this style of gameplay in its 1v1 "Precinct Assault" mode. Defense of the Ancients (DotA) was created in 2003 by the Warcraft III modding community for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne, with a map based on AoS. DotA was one of the first major titles of its genre and the first MOBA for which sponsored tournaments were held. It was followed by two spiritual successors, League of Legends (2009) and Heroes of Newerth (2010), as well by a standalone sequel, Dota 2 (2013), and numerous other games in the genre, such as Heroes of the Storm (2015).

By the early 2010s, the genre had become a big part of the esports category. In 2018, prize pools reached over US$60 million, 40% of the year's total esports prize pools. Major esports professional tournaments are held in venues that can hold tens of thousands of spectators and are streamed online. A strong fanbase has opened up the opportunity for sponsorship and advertising, eventually leading the genre to become a global cultural phenomenon.

Gameplay

Each match starts with two opposing teams typically composed of five players. Players work together as a team to achieve the ultimate victory condition, which is to destroy their enemy's base whilst protecting their own. Usually, both teams have main structures, located at the opposite corners of the battlefield. The first team to destroy the opponents' main structure wins the match, though some games have the option of different victory conditions. Destroying other structures within the opposing team's base may confer other benefits. Defensive structures, which are usually automatic "towers", are in place to prevent this. Each team is assisted by relatively weak computer-controlled units, called "minions", that periodically spawn in groups at both bases, marching down predefined paths (called "lanes") toward their enemy base. While their charges are counterbalanced by the opposite team's minions, players can aid them which turns the minions into a useful army for striking the opponents' defenses. There are typically three "lanes" on the battlefield that are the main ways of getting from one base to another. The lanes are known as top, middle and bottom lane, or, in gamer shorthand – "top", "mid" and "bot". Between the lanes is an uncharted area called "jungle". The "jungle" is a residence to neutral monsters that are hostile to both teams and appear in marked locations on the map known as "camps". Defeating neutral monsters brings various benefits to the players and their team, such as growth in power, buffs, or assistance in pushing the lane.

The games are usually played on a battlefield shown from an isometric perspective, but certain MOBAs are played from a third-person or side-view perspective. The battlefield is represented in the interface by the mini-map.

A player controls a single powerful in-game unit, called a "hero" or "champion", with each utilizing a unique set of abilities and style of play. When a hero stands near a killed enemy unit or kills an enemy unit, they gain experience points and gold which allow the hero to level up and buy items at a store. When a hero levels up, they grow in power and may strengthen one of their abilities which they typically have four of. If a hero runs out of health points and consequently dies, they are removed from active play until a respawn timer counts down to zero, at which point the hero respawns in their base. The amount of time required to respawn generally increases as the game progresses and/or the players level up.

Heroes typically fall into one of several roles, such as tank, damage dealer, and support, each of which having unique designs, strengths, and weaknesses. MOBAs typically offer a large number of viable playable heroes for the player to choose from – League of Legends, for instance, began with 40, and has continued to add characters over the game's lifespan, reaching 100 in 2012 and 150 in 2020. This adds to the overall complexity of the game as players must be aware of an ever-increasing list of available characters. Choosing the correct character to play is itself a skill in the MOBA genre, as players must weigh the available options to decide which character best suits their skill set, teammates, and opponents. Players usually find at least one hero they excel at playing, often referred to as a "main", and familiarize themselves with the remaining roster. Additionally, each hero is deliberately limited in the roles they can fulfill. No single hero is supposed to be powerful enough to win the game without support from their team. This creates a strong emphasis on teamwork and cooperation. The genre rewards players that are capable of cooperating with their teammates to execute an effective strategy, enabling full potential of their individual abilities and mechanical skills.

Each player typically receives a small amount of gold per second during the course of the game. Moderate amounts of gold are rewarded for killing hostile computer-controlled units and larger amounts are rewarded for killing enemy heroes. Gold is used by heroes to buy a variety of different items that range in price and impact. For the most part, this involves improving the combat viability of the hero, although there may be other items that support the hero or team as a whole in different ways. As the heroes of each team get stronger, they can use multiple strategies to gain an advantage. These strategies can include securing objectives, killing enemy heroes and gaining levels by killing computer-controlled units. The stronger a team gets, the more capable they are at destroying the enemy team and their base, as well as protecting their own.

Character classes and roles
In most MOBAs, playable characters have assigned classes such as "tank", "bruiser", "marksman", "mage", "fighter", "assassin", "support" and "healer", with each classification denoting various different skill sets and proficiencies. During the match, characters can be played in roles such as "carry", "support" and "ganker"; however, the number and type of roles can differ depending on the game. The carry role is expected to scale and itemize themselves to do the most damage against enemy characters and objectives, but may also require protection and assistance from their team members. Supports assist their team with abilities that aid allies and disable enemies, rather than dealing damage directly. Some supports have healing abilities which can be vital factor in the team composition's success, giving health and sustenance to their allies while limiting the enemy's options in terms of play patterns. Ganker roles are flexible, as they have both carry and support skills that are used to disrupt and eliminate enemies, thus giving their teammates an advantage over their opponents. Gankers can "act as a strategist, decision-maker or supporter depending on the team's needs." Player roles can be classified by the particular lane they are focusing on, such as "top laner", "mid laner", and "bottom laner", or by their role in a teamfight, such as "frontliner", "damage dealer", "healer", "flex", and the "offlaner".

Resemblance to other genres

As a fusion of real-time strategy (RTS), role-playing, and action games, MOBAs have many elements of preexisting genres while still offering unique gameplay. In general, the design philosophy of the MOBA genre has moved away from constructing structures, army building, and controlling additional units in favor of hero-centric gameplay. However, some MOBA games have certain heroes which control a few specialized units, but not on a massive scale commonly found in RTS games. As is the case in real-time strategy games, structures and base defense are important, and destroying the main structure at the heart of the enemy base typically serves as the ultimate victory condition of a given match. Players can find various friendly and enemy units on the map at any given time assisting each team, however, these units are computer-controlled and players usually do not have direct control over their movement and creation; instead, they forward along the map's lanes.

Many defining elements of the action genre are represented in MOBA games. Players with better mechanical skills and quick reaction times typically excel relative to their peers. MOBAs often have a strong focus on micromanagement, involving mechanical abilities such as positioning, dodging, use of combo attacks, kiting, prediction and target selection. Direction-targeted abilities, or "skillshots", require precise aim and good timing in order to hit an enemy.

The MOBA genre resembles role-playing games (RPGs) in gameplay, though the MOBA genre focuses on the multiplayer battle in the arena-like environment, whereas RPGs typically revolve around a single-player story and exploration of different locations. Some key features of MOBAs, such as control over one specific character in a party, growth in power over time, learning new thematic abilities, leveling and accumulation of experience points, usage of the mana resource, equipment and inventory management, completing quests, and fighting with powerful boss monsters, are also typical of role-playing games.

History

Origins
The roots of the genre can be traced back decades to one of the earliest real-time strategy (RTS) titles, the 1989 Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game Herzog Zwei.
It has variously been cited either as a precursor to, or an early example of,
the MOBA genre. It used a similar formula, where each player controls a single command unit in one of two opposing sides on a battlefield. Herzog Zweis influence is apparent in several later MOBA games such as Guilty Gear 2: Overture (2007) and AirMech (2012).

In 1998, Future Cop: LAPD featured a strategic "Precinct Assault" mode similar to Herzog Zwei in which the players could actively fight alongside generated non-player units.
This could be regarded as the first example of MOBA gameplay, depending on the definition of the genre,
although Herzog Zwei was also cited as an inspiration to the developers of Warcraft and Starcraft.
The PC version of Future Cop: LAPD was a game that met the criteria of an online arena video game, unlike Herzog Zwei, as it allowed for online competitive play.

In the same year, computer game company Blizzard Entertainment released its best-selling real-time strategy game StarCraft (1998) with a suite of game editing tools called StarEdit. These tools allowed players to design and create custom maps with non-standard rules and gameplay. A modder known as Aeon64 made a custom map named Aeon of Strife (AoS) that became popular. Some of the key features introduced in AoS became the foundation of the newborn genre.
In the Aeon of Strife map, players controlled a single powerful hero unit fighting along three lanes which were protected by defensive towers. The terrain outside these lanes was nearly vacant. In early versions of the game, hero units didn't have any particular special abilities. Instead, players spent gold on weapon and armor upgrades.
It was rumored that the modder was attempting to create gameplay similar to that of Future Cop: LAPDs Precinct Assault mode.

Establishing the genre: 2000s
In 2002, Blizzard released Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (WC3), with the accompanying Warcraft III World Editor. Both the multiplayer online battle arena and tower defense subgenres took substantive shape within the WC3 modding community. A modder named Eul began converting Aeon of Strife into the Warcraft III engine, calling the map Defense of the Ancients (DotA). Eul substantially improved the complexity of play from the original Aeon of Strife mod. Shortly after creating the custom DotA map, Eul left the modding scene. With no clear successor, Warcraft III modders created a variety of maps based on DotA and featuring different heroes. In 2003, after the release of WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne, a map creator named Meian created a DotA variant closely modeled on Eul's map, but combining heroes from the many other versions of DotA that existed at the time. Called DotA: Allstars, it was inherited after a few months by a modder called Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, and under his guidance it became the dominant map of the genre. After more than a year of maintaining the DotA: Allstars map, with the impending release of an update that significantly changed the map layout, Guinsoo left the development to his adjutant Neichus in the year 2005. After some weeks of development and some versions released, the latter turned over responsibility to a modder named IceFrog, who initiated large changes to the mechanics that deepened its complexity and capacity for innovative gameplay. The changes conducted by IceFrog were well-received and the number of users on the Dota: Allstars forum is thought to have peaked at over one million. DotA is largely attributed to being the most significant inspiration for the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game genre in the years to come.

Mainstream popularity: 2008–present
By 2008, the popularity of DotA had attracted commercial attention. Since the format was tied to the Warcraft property, developers began to work on their own "DOTA-style" video games. A Flash web game, named Minions, was created by The Casual Collective in 2008. Gas Powered Games released the first stand-alone commercial title in the genre, Demigod (2009). In late 2009, Riot Games' debut title League of Legends was released. It was initially designed by Steve Feak, one of the original creators of DotA: Allstars, who went on to apply many of the mechanics and lessons he learned from the mod. Riot began to refer to the game's genre as a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). Also in 2009, IceFrog, who had continued to develop DotA: Allstars, was hired by Valve, in order to design a sequel to the original map.

In 2010, S2 Games released Heroes of Newerth, with a large portion of its gameplay and aesthetics based on DotA: Allstars. The same year, Valve announced Dota 2 and subsequently secured the franchise's intellectual property rights after being contested by Riot Games for the DotA trademark. In 2012, Activision Blizzard settled a trademark dispute with Valve over the usage of the DOTA name and announced their own standalone game which was eventually named Heroes of the Storm. Dota 2 was released in 2013, and was referred to by Valve as an "action real-time strategy" game. In 2014, Hi-Rez Studios released Smite, a MOBA with a third-person perspective. Heroes of the Storm was released in 2015, featuring hero characters from Warcraft III and other Blizzard's franchises. Blizzard adopted their own personal dictation for their game's genre with "hero brawler", citing its focus on action.

With the expansion of the smartphone market, numerous MOBA titles have been released for portable devices, such as Vainglory (2014), and Honor of Kings (2015). An international adaptation of Honor of Kings developed by TiMi Studios and published by Tencent Games for markets outside mainland China, rebranded as Arena of Valor (2016), was released in the western market in 2017. In 2021, the Pokémon series released its first MOBA game in Pokémon Unite.

Next-generation wave and market saturation
During the last half of the 2010s, video game developers and publishers, following the success of League of Legends and Dota 2, tried to be part of the next-generation MOBA wave by putting their own twist in the genre, releasing games such as Battlerite (2017), and AirMech (2018). After years of development, many games which were supported by large publishers have not been fully released or their servers were shut down shortly after release. The most notable examples are Dawngate (2015) by Electronic Arts, DC Comics-based Infinite Crisis (2015) by Warner Bros., Arena of Fate (2016) by Crytek, Gigantic (2017) by Perfect World Entertainment, Master X Master (2018) by NCSoft, and Paragon (2018) by Epic Games.

Impact

In the original Defense of the Ancients (DotA), each player controls one powerful unit rather than a large army. While it still kept the large scale, core mechanics, and goals of the real-time strategy games, DotA attempted to avoid "clickfest" gameplay in which high actions per minute scores are mandatory for efficient playing, changing focus to the actual teamwork, coordination, and tactics. This made the mod highly popular, as its dynamic and unpredictable fights, complex map, and hero-centric gameplay create a more competitive environment and opportunities for outplaying the enemy team. By the early 2010s, multiplayer online battle arena has become a prominent genre in esports tournaments. The genre has seen further growth in popularity since the year 2015 – among the top five esports with the largest prize pools, three have been MOBA titles for three years in row. Distributed prize money in MOBA tournaments reached over US$54 million in 2017. A year later, prize pools continued to grow reaching over US$60 million, 40% of the year's total esports prize pools. 2018 League of Legends World Championship had the biggest prize pool out of all League of Legends esports championship finals, awarding almost $6.5 million.

MOBAs are some of the most watched games in the world. Major esports professional tournaments are held in venues that can hold tens of thousands of spectators and are streamed online to millions more. A strong fanbase has opened up the opportunity for sponsorship and advertising, eventually leading the genre to become a global cultural phenomenon.

A free-to-play business model, which is used by the largest MOBA titles, have contributed to the genre's overall popularity. Players are able to download and play AAA-quality games at no cost. These games are generating revenue by selling cosmetic elements, including skins, voice lines, customized mounts and announcers, but none of these give the functional gameplay advantages to the buyer. As of 2012, free-to-play MOBAs, such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm, and Smite were among the most popular PC games. The success in the genre has helped convince many video game publishers to copy the free-to-play MOBA model. SuperData Research reported that the genre generated over $2.5 billion of revenue in 2017.

Similar to fighting games, MOBAs offer a large number of viable player characters for the player to choose from, each of which having distinctive abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. With such wide varieties available, players have numerous choices from which to find the character most aligned with their skills and preferences. Playable characters blend a variety of fantasy tropes and often feature numerous references to popular culture and mythology. One such figure commonly represented in MOBAs is Sun Wukong, a legendary mythical figure from 16th-century China. Examples of representation of Sun Wukong in MOBAs in the form of playable characters include "Wukong" in League of Legends, Samuro's "Monkey King" skin (custom outfit/costume) in Heroes of the Storm, and "Monkey King" in DotA 2.

Data analytics and match prediction
Due to the large volume of matches played on a daily basis around the world and the relatively complicated nature of the genre, MOBAs have become a popular target for the application of big data tools to predict match outcomes based on in-game factors such as hero kill/death/assist ratios, gold earned, time of a match, synergy with other players, team composition, and other, more advanced parameters.

Artificial Intelligence in MOBAs
The use of artificial intelligence in MOBAs is an ongoing topic of research. Similar to real-time strategy games, MOBAs provide a highly complex environment for AI because of their large amount of possible variables, states, and decisions. One of the first known research-based MOBA AI agents was published around 2015 for League of Legends. The agent used influence maps to navigate the map and compute positioning risk. A similar agent to assist players was published in the same year.

Two years later, artificial intelligence research laboratory OpenAI developed the AI project OpenAI Five, which was first showcased at the Dota 2 World Championship, The International 2017, during a 1v1 demonstration. In this demonstration, OpenAI Five faced off against Dendi, one of the most prolific and popular DotA players of all time. In this 1v1, OpenAI Five defeated Dendi twice in a resounding manner, with the first victory occurring before the five-minute mark and Dendi conceding before ninety seconds had passed in the second match. Open AI returned to The International 2018, this time fielding an entire team of five AI players in two games against professional players, but ultimately losing both games. Despite this loss, OpenAI continued to work to improve OpenAI Five, and the project's advancement soon became evident: one year later, at The International 2019, OpenAI Five defeated The International 2018-winner OG, becoming the first artificial intelligence system to beat the reigning world champion team at a video game.

See also
List of multiplayer online battle arena games

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Video game genres
Video game terminology

Multiplayer online battle arena


The Erasmus Programme is a European Union project to help students and university teachers move among EU countries and Turkey, Norway and Switzerland. Its name stands for "European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students". The name is also in honor of the humanist Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus.

European Union
Academia

ERASMUS programme


John Fralick (Jack) Rockart (1931 – February 3, 2014) was an American organizational theorist, and Senior Lecturer Emeritus at the Center for Information Systems Research at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Biography
Born in New York City, Rockart received his AB from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, his MBA from Harvard Business School, and in 1968 his PhD in management from MIT.

After graduation, Rockart started his academic career as Instructor in the MIT Sloan School of Management. In 1967 he was appointed Assistant Professor, in 1970 Associate Professor, and in 1974 Senior Lecturer. Since 1976 he was also Director of the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), where he was succeeded by Peter Weill in 2000.

In 1989 Rockart was awarded the Nonfiction Computer Press Association Book of the Year Award; and in 2003, the Leo Award by the Association for Information Systems.

Rockart was  founding editor-in-chief of the MIS Quarterly Executive.

Rockart's research interests focused on the "managers' usage of computer-based information with a special concentration on the need to design information flow for effective decision making... [and] the changing role of information technology and the implementation of integrated global systems."

Selected publications
Books and papers:
 Bullen, Christine V., and John F. Rockart. A primer on critical success factors. (1981).
 Rockart, John F., and David W. De Long. Executive support systems: The emergence of top management computer use. Dow Jones-Irwin, 1988.

Articles, a selection:
 Rockart, John F. "Chief executives define their own data needs." Harvard Business Review 57.2 (1979): 81.
 Rockart, John F. "The changing role of the information systems executive: a critical success factors perspective." Sloan Management Review Fall 1982; 24, pp. 3–13
 Rockart, John F., and Lauren S. Flannery. "The management of end user computing." Communications of the ACM 26.10 (1983): 776-784.
 Malone, Thomas W., and John F. Rockart. "Computers, networks and the corporation." Scientific American 265.3 (1991): 128-136.
 Rockart, John F., Michael J. Earl, and Jeanne W. Ross. "Eight imperatives for the new IT organization." Sloan management review 38.1 (1996): 43-55.

References

External links
 MIT CISR remembers Jack Rockart at cisr.mit.edu, 2014.02.05.
 Jack Rockart, 82; cofounded IT research center at MIT at bostonglobe.com 2014.02.26.
 John F. "Jack" Rockart: Obituary

1931 births
2014 deaths
American business theorists
Information systems researchers
Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni
Harvard Business School alumni
MIT Sloan School of Management alumni
MIT Sloan School of Management faculty

John F. Rockart


Jan Brett (born December 1, 1949) is an American illustrator and writer of children's picture books. Her colorful, detailed depictions of a wide variety of animals and human cultures range from Scandinavia to Africa. Her titles include The Mitten, The Hat, and Gingerbread Baby. She has adapted or retold traditional stories such as the Gingerbread Man and Goldilocks and has illustrated classics such as "The Owl and the Pussycat".

Life

Brett was born and still lives in Massachusetts. She decided to be an illustrator as a child and recalls, "I felt that I could enter the pages of my beautiful picture books. Now I try to recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists." She studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and now travels extensively to research architecture and costume for her books.

Brett's earliest book in the Library of Congress online catalog was published by Atheneum Books in 1978 under her married name: Woodland Crossings, with 43 pages of text by Stephen Krensky and drawings by Jan Brett Bowler. The Library phoned her that September and learned that she would be using her maiden name thereafter. Its catalog covers 13 books she created from 1978 to 1984, all but one as an illustrator with another writer. That one was the self-illustrated picture book Fritz and the Beautiful Horses, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1981. Beginning with Annie and the Wild Animals (Houghton Mifflin, 1985) she created numerous picture books as writer and illustrator. For a few years she continued to work with other writers, especially Eve Bunting, but she has rarely done so since 1990.

On August 18, 1980 Jan Brett married bassist Joseph Hearne, a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1962.

Brett maintains a list of books online that may be complete for her original writings and adaptations. For almost every listing she identifies a specific setting such as Salzburg, Austria, for her first book as a writer, Fritz and the Beautiful Horses (1981), and Novgorod, Russia, for her recent adaptation Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella (2013).

Selected works

Fritz and the Beautiful Horses (Houghton Mifflin, 1981)
Annie and the Wild Animals (1985)
The Twelve Days of Christmas (Dodd, Mead, 1986), an edition of the English song published 1780
Goldilocks and the Three Bears (1987)
The First Dog (1988)
The Mitten: a Ukrainian folktale (1989); issued as a board book in 1996
The Wild Christmas Reindeer (1990)
The Owl and the Pussycat (1991), an edition of the 1871 poem by Edward Lear
Berlioz the Bear (1991)
Christmas Trolls (1993)
Trouble with Trolls (1994)
Town Mouse Country Mouse (1994)
Armadillo Rodeo (1995)
The Mitten (1996)
Comets Nine Lives (1996)
Gingerbread Baby (1997)
The Hat (1997)
The Night Before Christmas (1998), an edition of the 1823 poem by Clement C. Moore
Daisy Comes Home (2002)
Hedgie's Surprise (2002)
Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? (2002)
On Noah's Ark (2003)
The Umbrella (2002)
Honey, Honey, Lion! (2005)
Hedgie Loves to Read (2006)
Hedgie Blasts Off! (2006)
The Three Snow Bears (2007)
Gingerbread Friends (2008)
The Easter Egg (2010)
The 3 Little Dassies (2010)
Home for Christmas (2011)
Mossy (2012)
Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella (2013), an adaptation of Cinderella
The Animals' Santa (2014)
The Turnip (2015), an adaptation of the Russian folk story The Gigantic Turnip
Gingerbread Christmas (2016)
The Mermaid (2017), an under the sea version of Goldilocks and The Three Bears
The Snowy Nap (2018)
The Tale of the Tiger Slippers  (2019)

Reception of works
Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella - "A captivating addition to the "Cinderella" canon"  "...the careful details Brett brings to the setting and characters give the story a true sense of enchantment.",

Mossy - "Animal lovers and Brett fans will find much to savor in this winning blend of vivid colors, unusual heroine, strong female characters, period costume and accessible ideas about nature, living things and art."  "Brett ... again lavishes attention on the delights and eccentricities of the natural world in this quiet, idiosyncratic addition to her canon of meticulously rendered picture books."

In 2021, Brett was awarded the Regina Medal from the Catholic Library Association.

References

External links

 Brett biography at Scholastic Teachers – with transcript of interview by students and teachers (no date)

1949 births
Living people
American children's book illustrators
People from Norwell, Massachusetts
American women illustrators
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni
21st-century American women
Writers who illustrated their own writing

Jan Brett


"Live Forever" is the third single off English rock band Oasis' debut studio album Definitely Maybe. The song was released on 8 August 1994.

The song was written by Noel Gallagher in 1991 before he joined Oasis. Live Forever was inspired by The Rolling Stones song Shine a Light. It featured an optimistic outlook which differed from the attitude of the grunge bands which were popular at that time. Noel Gallagher presented a fully composed "Live Forever" to the band for the first time in early 1993 during their rehearsals. According to drummer Tony McCarroll, the band were awed by it. The demo version of the song begins with an acoustic guitar intro. While recording the album version, the producer Owen Morris cut out the intro and replaced it with a drumbeat that was played by McCarroll. Morris further cut a second section in Gallagher's guitar solo. Although Gallagher was upset, Morris felt the part had sounded "a bit like fucking Slash from Guns N' Roses".

The song is understood to be an ode to Noel and Liam Gallagher's mother Peggy.In general, the lyrics to the song stress an optimistic outlook. Noel Gallagher explained that "At the time . . . it was written in the middle of grunge and all that, and I remember Nirvana had a tune called 'I Hate Myself and Want to Die', and I was like . . . 'Well, I'm not fucking having that.' As much as I fucking like him (Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain) and all that shit, I'm not having that. I can't have people like that coming over here, on smack, fucking saying that they hate themselves and they wanna die. That's fucking rubbish. Kids don't need to be hearing that nonsense." While Gallagher said that he did not intend "Live Forever" as a direct reply to Nirvana or their music (being a professed fan of the band), he differed the lives of Cobain and his band at that point, saying, "Seems to me that here was a guy who had everything, and was miserable about it. And we had fuck-all, and I still thought that getting up in the morning was the greatest fuckin' thing ever, 'cause you didn't know where you'd end up at night. And we didn't have a pot to piss in, but it was fucking great, man". Gallagher says that the line "We see things they'll never see" is the most important line of the song and explained that old friends tend to laugh at jokes and stories that "no one else gets".

References

Other websites

1994 songs
Oasis (band) songs

Live Forever (Oasis song)


Scott Summers (also known as Cyclops) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in The X-Men #1 in November 1963. He has been adapted into motion pictures and is played by James Marsden and Tye Sheridan.

Fictional History

Origin
Scott Summers is a mutant. He was orphaned as a young boy when his parents died in a plane crash. He survived with his younger brother, Alex Summers. The two brothers were then separated and sent to orphanages. When he was a teenager, Scott was adopted by Charles Xavier, the founder of the X-Men and the headmaster of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters (a school for mutants). Under Xavier, Scott learned to control his powers with special glasses, as Scott cannot control them by himself due to an injury he got in the plane crash. Xavier made Scott the first leader of the X-Men, which was made up of four other teenage mutants.

Family
Scott Summers is the son of Christopher Summers, a pilot. He has two brothers, Alex and Gabriel. Scott did not know that he had a second brother for a long time. Scott has multiple children. They are all powerful mutants. His daughter's name is Rachel. She is from an alternate future and can move things with her mind. Scott has a son named Nathan Christopher, and there are multiple versions of him because of time travel. The most well-known version is Cable, a large man with a mechanical arm. The other well-known version is Nate Grey, who is from another alternate timeline.

Relationships
Scott Summers has been in many romantic relationships. His most famous is with Jean Grey, a very powerful telepath and telekinetic. Jean is Rachel's mother. Jean and Scott have been married twice. Scott has also been married to a woman named Madelyn Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey. Scott did not know Madelyn was a clone when he married her. Madelyn is Nathan Christopher's mother, but Jean Grey helped raise him after Madelyn's first death. Scott has also been in a relationship with Emma Frost, another powerful mutant.

Scott has several close friends among the X-Men. Wolverine (also known as Logan) is one of Scott's best friends, but they tend to fight a lot over their different beliefs. Storm (also known as Ororo Munroe) is also very close with Scott. She has co-lead the X-Men with him many times. Scott considers many X-Men members to be like his family.

Scott is not friends with many superheroes outside of the X-Men because he is a mutant. The exception to this is the young team of heroes called the Champions, who befriended a teenage version of Scott who got pulled into his future for a short time. The adult version of Scott still sees the Champions as his friends in his present day.

Powers and Abilities
Scott Summers has natural superpowers because he is a mutant. His mutant power is to be able to shoot powerful red beams out of his eyes. His beams can knock down large objects, but do not produce heat like a laser. Scott needs special glasses or a visor to control his beams because of a head injury. With his visor, Scott can change the size and power of his beams, from very wide and strong to very focused. Scott is also able to do complicated math in his head to know the angles he needs to bounce his beams just right. Outside of his mutant powers, Scott is a very good tactical leader and is good with children.

Characters created by Stan Lee
Fictional characters introduced in 1963
X-Men characters

Cyclops (Marvel Comics)


A leap year is a calendar year in which an extra day is added to the Gregorian calendar, which is used by most of the world. A common year has 365 days, but a leap year has 366 days. The extra day, February 29, is added to the month of February. In a common year, February has 28 days, but in a leap year it has 29 days. The extra day, called a leap day, occurs on the same day of the week as the first day of the month, February 1. Additionally, a leap year does not begin and end on the same day of the week, as a common year does.

Leap years are evenly divisible by 4. The most recent leap year was 2020 and the next leap year will be 2024. However, any year that is evenly divided by 100 would not be a leap year unless it is evenly divided by 400. This is why 1600, 2000, and 2400 are leap years, while 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, and 2300 are common years, even though they are all divisible by 4.

We have leap years because instead of 365 days, the Earth really takes a few minutes less than 365-1/4 days (365.24219) to go completely around the Sun. Without leap years, the seasons would start one day earlier on the calendar every four years. After 360 years, spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere would begin on December 21 (which is when winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere presently begins).

A number of countries use a lunar calendar (based on the Moon, instead of the Sun, like our solar calendar is). They have leap years when they add an extra lunar month. Different calendars add the extra month in different ways. So a year which has 366 days instead of 365 days where the month of February has 29 days is called a leap year.

In a leap year, the corresponding months are January, April, and July, February and August, March and November, and September and December. No month corresponds to May, June, or October.

In the Gregorian calendar, 97 out of every 400 years are leap years. In the outdated Julian calendar, 100 years out of every 400 are leap years. All other years are common years.

Related pages
 February 29
 Common year
 Century leap year

Years

Leap year


The Most Excellent (Spanish: Excelentísimo Señor (male) or Excelentísima Señora (female), literally "Most Excellent Sir/Madam") is an honorific  prefix that is traditionally applied to certain people in Spain and certain Spanish-speaking countries. Following Spanish tradition, it is an ex officio style (the holder has it as long as they remain in office, in the most important positions of state) and is used in written documents and very formal occasions.

The prefix is similar (but not equal) to that of "His/Her Excellency", but in the 19th century "The Most Excellent" began to replace the former.

The proper use of the prefix Excellency was re-introduced in Francoist Spain by Generalísimo Francisco Franco himself, who was formally styled as Su Excelencia el Jefe del Estado ("His Excellency The Head of State"), while his ministers and senior government officials continued using the prefix "The Most Excellent".

The prefix "The Most Illustrious" (Ilustrísimo/a Señor/a) is the lower version, and is mostly used for non-Grandee titled nobles in Spain and some other officeholders.

Spanish culture

The Most Excellent


Tropical Storm Franklin was a strong tropical storm that stayed in the western Atlantic Ocean for much of its life. Franklin was the sixth named storm of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and almost became a hurricane two times.

Tropical Storm Franklin formed north of the Bahamas on July 21 and moved steadily across the western Atlantic while coming close to Bermuda on July 26. Later, Franklin became an extratropical cyclone near Newfoundland, before being absorbed by another non-tropical system. Franklin caused no damages and killed no people while it stayed in the ocean during most of its life.

Storm history

A tropical wave formed west from the African coast late on July 10. The wave entered the Bahamas on July 21 and strengthened into Tropical Depression Six while 70 miles (110 km) east of Eleuthera. Initially the storm was predicted to move in a clockwise loop and slowly move to the west in response to a high pressure system. Several models showed the possibility of the storm to change westward and move into central Florida. Anyhow, soon after the depression formed, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Franklin.

Tropical Storm Franklin suffered a lot of wind shear related with the development of Tropical Storm Gert, which made the forecasters at the National Hurricane Center to say that Franklin could be destroyed in the next few days. However the shear stopped as Franklin moved to the northeast, allowing the storm to strengthen. The forecasters now said that Franklin could "attain and maintain hurricane strength" and make a close approach to Bermuda.
Shortly after on July 23, Tropical Storm Franklin reached its strongest point with 70 mph (110 km/h) winds.

Franklin moved unevenly to the east while weakening as shear increased again. The NHC predicted that the storm would dissipate, but Frnaklin stopped weakening on July 25 with Franklin a minimal tropical storm. The storm passed to 200 miles (325 km) to the west of Bermuda on July 26 and moved slowly northwards into the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream. The shear also reduced once again allowing Franklin to re-strengthen somewhat, with winds reaching 60 mph (95 km/h) on July 28. Meanwhile, Franklin began to accelerate to the northeast becoming an extratropical cyclone on July 30 to the south of Newfoundland. The extratropical storm passed close to the southern tip of Newfoundland later that day and was absorbed by a larger system on July 31.

Impact
As Tropical Storm Franklin was forming, a tropical storm warning was issued for the northwest Bahamas, but it was cancelled as Franklin moved north and away from the islands. A tropical storm watch was given out to Bermuda on July 25 but was also cancelled a day later when Franklin moved away.

Tropical Storm Franklin developed very close to land in the Bahamas and passed close to Bermuda, but there were no reports of tropical storm force winds overland, with the strongest gust recorded on Bermuda being 37 mph (60 km/h). After Franklin became an extratropical storm, it affected parts of southeastern Newfoundland, bringing about 1 inch (25 mm) of rain to the area. There were no damages or fatalities reported from Tropical Storm Franklin.

Naming and records
When Franklin formed on July 21, it was the became earliest tropical cyclone ever in a season that the sixth tropical storm formed, breaking the previous record held by storm 6 from 1936 by 14 days. This was the first use of Franklin to name a tropical storm after the retirement of Hurricane Floyd from 1999. Because Frank filed to cause any deaths or damages, its the name was not retired by the World Meteorological Organization and will be on the list of names for the 2011 Season.

Related pages
 2005 Atlantic hurricane season

References

Other websites
 NHC's Tropical Cyclone Report on Tropical Storm Franklin
 NHC's archive on Tropical Storm Franklin

Atlantic tropical storms
Hurricanes in Bermuda
2005 Atlantic hurricane season
2005 in Bermuda
2005 in the Bahamas
2005 in Canada
July 2005 events

Tropical Storm Franklin (2005)


Paupack is a second-class township in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The township's population was 3,828 at the time of the 2010 United States Census.

History
Paupack Township, located along the northern banks of Lake Wallenpaupack, was incorporated in 1850, from part of Palmyra Township.

Lacawac was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 33.2 square miles (86.0 km2), of which 28.1 square miles (72.8 km2)  is land and 5.1 square miles (13.2 km2)  (15.36%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 3,828 people, 1,643 households, and 1,172 families residing in the township.  The population density was .  There were 4,030 housing units at an average density of 143.4/sq mi.  The racial makeup of the township was 97.3% White, 1.1% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 0.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.4% of the population.

There were 1,643 households, out of which 20.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.2% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.7% were non-families. 23.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.  The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.71.

In the township the population was spread out, with 17.1% under the age of 18, 58.2% from 18 to 64, and 24.7% who were 65 years of age or older.  The median age was 51.1 years.

The median income for a household in the township was $38,179, and the median income for a family was $41,336. Males had a median income of $31,223 versus $21,757 for females. The per capita income for the township was $18,251.  About 7.1% of families and 9.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.1% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Townships in Wayne County, Pennsylvania
Townships in Pennsylvania

Paupack Township, Pennsylvania


"Workin' Man Blues" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers.  It was released in May 1969 as the second single from the album A Portrait of Merle Haggard.  The song was released during his early peak and became one of several signature songs during his career.

Background
"Workin' Man Blues" is Haggard's tribute to a core group of his fans: The American blue-collared working man. Backed by a strong electric guitar beat that typified Haggard's signature Bakersfield Sound, he fills the role of one of those workers expressing pride in values such as hard work and sacrifice, despite the resulting fatigue and the stress of raising a large family. He admits to relaxing during the off-working hours ("I drink my beer in a tavern, sing a little bit of these workin' man's blues.") and vows that as a result of keeping his values, he will never need to go on welfare ("... cause I'll be working, long as my two hands are fit to use.").

"Workin' Man Blues" was a track on Haggard's 1969 album A Portrait of Merle Haggard. Music critic Mark Deming noted that the song was among three of Haggard's finest songs to appear on the album; "Silver Wings" and "Hungry Eyes" were the other two. "(M)ost country artists would be happy to cut three tunes this strong during the course of their career, let alone as part of one of six albums Hag would release in 1969," wrote Deming.

Chart performance
"Workin' Man Blues" was released in July 1969, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart.

Cover versions and other songs
Jerry Lee Lewis included a cover on the 1970 album She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye.

Covered often by The New Riders of the Purple Sage starting in 1970.

Lone Justice included a live cover on the 1983 'best of' album This World Is Not My Home.

Jon Wayne included a cover on the 1985 album Texas Funeral.

Gary Morris's cover was released in September 1990 as the first single from the album These Days.

Diamond Rio, along with guitarists Steve Wariner and Lee Roy Parnell, recorded a cover of the song in 1994, crediting themselves as Jed Zeppelin. This cover, included on a tribute album called Mama's Hungry Eyes: A Tribute to Merle Haggard, charted at number 48 on the Billboard country charts, and a music video was made for it.

In popular culture
The song was featured in the Simpsons episode, "Lost Verizon" while Bart collects golf balls at a country club for money.

Sources

References

1969 singles
Merle Haggard songs
Jerry Lee Lewis songs
Ricky Van Shelton songs
Gary Morris songs
Diamond Rio songs
Music videos directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions
Songs written by Merle Haggard
Song recordings produced by Ken Nelson (American record producer)
Capitol Records singles
1969 songs

Workin' Man Blues


Charles Ira Fox (born October 30, 1940) is an American composer for film and television. His compositions include the sunshine pop musical backgrounds which accompanied every episode of the 1970s ABC-TV show Love, American Style; the theme song for the late 1970s ABC series The Love Boat; and the dramatic theme music to ABC's Wide World of Sports and the original Monday Night Football; as well as the Grammy-winning hit song "Killing Me Softly with His Song", written in collaboration with Lori Lieberman and Fox's longtime writing partner, Norman Gimbel.

Early life
Fox was born in New York City, the son of Mollie and Walter Fox. Walter was a Jewish immigrant from Szydlowiec, Poland.

While still a student at the High School of Music & Art, Fox studied jazz piano with Lennie Tristano. He then continued his musical education with Nadia Boulanger, first at Fontainebleau and then privately in Paris. Following his return to the United States, he studied electronic music with Vladimir Ussachevsky at Columbia University. He married Joan Susan Redman on September 9, 1962.

Career
His career started by playing the piano for, composing and arranging for artists such as Ray Barretto, Joe Quijano and Tito Puente. He also wrote theme music and arranged for Skitch Henderson and The Tonight Show Orchestra. Fox worked under the banner of Bob Israel's Score Productions where he composed the themes for several Goodson-Todman game shows including NBC's version of the Match Game, the syndicated versions of What's My Line?, and To Tell The Truth, whose lyrics were written by Goodson-Todman director Paul Alter. He co-composed the theme song and all the original scores for Love, American Style, along with Arnold Margolin.

Fox also composed the music for "Killing Me Softly with His Song," featuring lyrics by Norman Gimbel and Lori Lieberman, in 1972. The song was inspired by Lieberman listening to Don McLean sing at a nightclub in Los Angeles. Fox and Gimbel had been managing her early career, and the song was released first by Lieberman, with writing credit assigned to Fox and Gimbel, cutting Lieberman out. Lieberman's version was only a minor hit, but the song became an international number 1 hit for Roberta Flack in 1973 and again for the Fugees in 1997. The song won the Grammy for Best Song in 1973. Fox denies Lieberman's involvement, and failed to force McLean to change his website.

Fox and Gimbel later wrote the themes for many films such as The Last American Hero ("I Got a Name", sung by Jim Croce), Foul Play ("Ready to Take a Chance Again", sung by Barry Manilow) and many television series, including The Bugaloos, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley ("Making Our Dreams Come True" sung by Cyndi Grecco), Angie ("Different Worlds" sung by Maureen McGovern), The Paper Chase ("The First Years" sung by Seals and Crofts; Emmy-nominated Best Song), and Wonder Woman. He also wrote "Together Through The Years" along with fellow composer Stephen Geyer for The Hogan Family series, sung by Roberta Flack.

In 1977, Fox composed "Love Boat", the theme to the popular TV series The Love Boat. It had lyrics by Paul Williams, and was sung by Jack Jones until the ninth and final season when Dionne Warwick was featured. The single released by Jack Jones in 1979 peaked at #37 on the Billboard US Adult Contemporary chart.

In February 1981, Fox peaked at #75 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the song, "Seasons". It was co-written and co-produced by Ed Newmark.

In 2010, Fox published his memoirs, Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music.

"The Charles Fox Singers" was the credited name for the group vocalists who performed his compositions on television and movie themes and cues; they were actually The Ron Hicklin Singers.

Film scores

In total Fox has created film scores for over 100 films including:
 Barbarella (1968)
 The Green Slime (English language version, 1969.  Stock music selection only, no composing)
 Goodbye, Columbus (1969)
 Pufnstuf (1970)
 Making It (1971)
 Star Spangled Girl (1971)
 Women in Chains (1972)
 A Separate Peace (1972)
 Dying Room Only (1973)
 The Laughing Policeman (1973)
 The Last American Hero (1973) (NY Film critics Best Song of the year "I Got a Name")
 The Stranger Within (1974)
 Bug (1975)
 The Other Side of the Mountain (1975) (Oscar and Golden Globe Nominated, Best Song "Richard's Window" and Best Score)
 The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox (1976)
 Two-Minute Warning (1976)
 Victory at Entebbe (1976)
 One on One (1977)
 Foul Play (1978) (Oscar & Golden Globe nominated, Best Song "Ready To Take A Chance Again")
 The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
 Little Darlings (1980)
 Oh, God! Book II (1980)
 9 to 5 (1980)
 Six Pack (1982)
 Strange Brew (1983)
 National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)
 Doin' Time (1985)
 Christmas Comes to Willow Creek (1987)
 Short Circuit 2 (1988)
 The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1990)
 Repossessed (1990)
 A Thousand Heroes (1992)
 Christmas in Connecticut (1992)
 Gordy (1995)

Awards and honors

 Fox was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004.
 BMI Richard Kirk Award For Outstanding Life Achievement
 Grammy Awards – Grammy Award for Song of the Year - "Killing Me Softly with His Song"
 New York Film Critics Circle – Best Film Song - "I Got a Name"
 Emmy Awards – Best Score - "Love American Style"
 Emmy Winner – Best Theme Song - "Love American Style"
 Emmy Nomination (Four Times) – Best Score, "Love American Style"
 Emmy Nomination – Best Song, "The Paper Chase"
 Academy Awards – Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Song, "Richard's Window"/The Other Side of the Mountain
 Oscar Nomination – Best Song, "Ready to Take a Chance Again"/Foul Play
 Golden Globe Awards – Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, "The Other Side of the Mountain"
 Golden Globe Nomination – Best Song, "Richard's Window"/The Other Side of the Mountain
 Golden Globe Nomination – Best Song, "Ready to Take a Chance Again"/Foul Play
 Grammy Nomination – Best Soundtrack for a film, "Nine to Five"
 Society of Composers and Lyricists, "Ambassador's Award" for Life Achievement
 Bronx Walk of Fame, inducted 2008
 Smithsonian Museum permanent exhibit, inducted 2011
Middleburg Film Festival - Legacy Composer Award, 2021

References

External links

 Songwriters Hall of Fame
 KillingMeSoftly.com

Charles Fox Interview NAMM Oral History Library (2020)

1940 births
American expatriates in France
American film score composers
American male film score composers
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
American television composers
Columbia University alumni
Composers from New York City
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni
Grammy Award winners
Jewish American film score composers
Jewish American songwriters
Jewish American television composers
Living people
Male television composers
Wide World of Sports (American TV series)

Charles Fox (composer)


The Yawalapiti (also Jaulapiti, Yaulapiti, or Yawalapití) are an indigenous tribe in the Amazonian Basin of Brazil.  The name is also spelled Iaualapiti in Portuguese. The current village Yawalapiti is situated more to the south, between the Tuatuari and Kuluene River. Their population in 2011 was 156, down from a 2010 population of 237 (2010) but up from a low of 25 in 1954.

The Yawalapiti live in the Xingu Indian Park, in Upper Xingu region along with Kiabi, Yudja and Suya tribes. The ways of life of these four tribes are quite similar despite having different languages. Their villages are situated around Lake Ipavu, which is six kilometres from the Kuluene River.

Language
The Yawalapiti language is a Central Maipuran, part of the Maipuran language family, which are Arawakan languages. Yawalapiti is related to the Waurá and Mehináku languages.

Description of villages
Typical to Upper Xingu tribes, the Yawalapiti village is circular in shape and has communal houses surrounding a square (uikúka)  cleared of vegetation. In the center of the square is the men's house: frequented only by the men and where the sacred flutes are stored and played. It is in this house, or at river banks nearby, that the men congregate to talk in the twilight and where they paint themselves for ceremonies.

The men's house is similar to the residential houses.  It only has one or two doors, always smaller than those of residences, which face the center square. The flutes are hung in the beams and during the day they may be played only in the house's interior; at night (after the women have retired) the men can play the flutes in the patio.

History
The first historical contact between the Yawalapiti and Europeans occurred in 1887, when they had been visited by Karl von den Steinen's expedition. In this period, they were located in the high course of the Tuatuari river, in a region between lagoons and quagmires identified by the Yawalapiti as a small farm. The German anthropologist's impression of these Indians was that of poverty, a people who had insufficient food to offer visitors.

Traditional rituals

The Quarup or Kuarup ritual is performed to honour the dead tribe members. It is held together with neighbouring tribes.

Notes

External links

Xingu peoples
Indigenous peoples in Brazil
Indigenous peoples of the Amazon

Yawalapiti


Paul von Jankó (June 2, 1856 – March 17, 1919) was a Hungarian pianist and engineer.

He first studied mathematics and music in Vienna, where he was a pupil of H. Schmitt, J. Krenn and Anton Bruckner. He then moved to Berlin where he during the years 1881 and 1882 studied mathematics at the city's University, and piano with H. Erlich. In 1882 Jankó invented the Janko keyboard, a 6-plus-6-keyboard with 6 rows of keys.

1856 births
1919 deaths
Hungarian pianists
Hungarian engineers

Paul von Jankó


The Heineken Cup sponsored bi Heineken (kent as the H Cup in Fraunce acause o alcohol adverteesin laws) is an annual rugby union cup wi major club, regional an provincial teams frae the Sax Nations: England, Fraunce, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, an Italy. It is ane o the maist presteegious cups in sport.

The tournament wis lenched in the European simmer o 1995 on the ineetiative o the auld Five Nations Comattee for tae mak a new level o profeesional cross mairch competeetion. The current chaimpions is the Irish rugby team, Munster that beat Biarritz in the feenal at Cardiff.

Format

Qualification

Places in the Heineken Cup is allocate tae the sax competin nations on the follaein basis:

6 Fraunce (tap 6 in Tap 14)

6 England (tap 5 in Guinness Premiership, an winner o the Anglo-Welsh Cup an aw if English)

3 Ireland (tap 3 Irish sides in the Celtic League)

3 Wales (tap 3 Welsh sides in the Celtic League)

2 Scotland (tap 2 Scots sides in the Celtic League)

2 Italy (tap 2 in Super 10)

The ither twa places in the 24 team tournament is allocate as follaes:

Ane frae Fraunce, England or Italy; the place is allocate tae the kintra that's team progressed faurer in the afore gane saison's cup.  Syne Toulouse wan the 2004-05 cup, thare wis sieven French teams in the 2005-06 competeetion. Seemilar, thare will be sieven French teams in the 2006-07 competeetion, courtesy o Biarritz makkin it tae the cup feenal agin the Irish side Munster.

The ither team is the winner o a pleyaff in Italy agin

(a) the best-placed team in the Celtic League that haesna syne qualifee'd, an

(b) the team feenishin 3rd in the Italian Super 10.

In 2005-06, this team wis Cardiff that beat Viadana in the pleyaff.

In 2006-07, this team wis Overmach Parma that beat Newport Gwent Draigons in the pleyaff.

Ilk nation sets its ain criteria for qualification for the Heineken Cup, but maun gie places tae the Cup winners an the winners o the European Chailenge Cup. Teams that daesna qualifee for the Heineken Cup can enter the European Chailenge Cup.

Frae 2005 ae team fae ilk nation will be seedit?.

Rules
Sax puils o fower teams pleys baith hame an awa gemmes. Fower pynts is awairdit for a win an twa pynts for a draw.

A bonus pynt is awairdit for a loss by sieven pynts or less, or for scorin fower tries or mair.

Quarter-feenals
The sax Puil winners (rankit 1-6 bi nummer o pynts scored) an twa best placed rinners-up (rankit 7 an 8) qualifee's for the Quarter-Feenals.

Teams rankit 1-4 haes hame advantage. The Quarter-Feenals is: Team 1 v Team 8; Team 2 v Team 7; Team 3 v Team 6; Team 4 v Team 5.

Hauf-feenals an feenal
Aw matches is pleyed at nominally neutral venues. Ilk o the twa hauf feenal venues is in the kintra o the foremaist team oot o the hat whan the draw is makkit. For example, in 2004, Munster v London Wasps wis pleyed at Lansdowne Road in Dublin, yit Stade Toulousain v Biarritz Olympique was pleyed in Bordeaux.

The hauf feenal venue maun meet the follawin addeetional criteria an aw:
 It maun be in the same kintra as the designatit "hame" team. Houaniver, the Buird o the ERC (European Rugby Cup) that organises the competeetion, micht allou exceptions. In 2005-06, Biarritz, locate in a ceety less nor 20 km fae the Spanis mairch, wis alloued tae haud a hauf feenal ower the mairch at Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastián.
 The venue maun be able tae haud at least 20,000.

The feenal is hauden at a predetermined site, neist saison it's Twickenham

2006/07 groups

Puil 1: Benetton Treviso, Perpignan, Wasps, Castres

Puil 2: Edinburgh, SU Agen, Gloucester Rugby, Leinster

Puil 3: Sale Sharks, Stade Français, Calvisano, Ospreys

Puil 4: Cardiff Blues, Bourgoin, Leicester Tigers, Munster

Puil 5: Ulster, Toulouse, London Irish, Llanelli Scarlets

Puil 6: Biarritz, Northampton Saints, Overmach Rugby Parma, Border Reivers

Winners

By year
For mair details, see Heineken Cup feenals.

See an aw
Celtic League

Rugby

Heineken Cup


Eugeniusz Rybka (6 May 1898 in Radzymin – 8 December 1988 in Wrocław), was a Polish astronomer, professor of the Lviv University (1932–1945), Wrocław University (1945–1958) and director of the Kraków Astronomical Observatory (1952–1958). Also he was deputy director of the International Astronomical Union (1952–1958).

Rybka was the son of a church organ player. In 1900 the family moved to Skierniewice, and then to Ozorków. In 1911, he started middle school in Gostynin, but outbreak of World War I caused him to continue education at home. Rybka graduated on 17 November 1917, and the following year he became commandant of the Ozorków branch of the Polish Military Organization (POW).

In the fall of 1918 Rybka went to Kraków, to study philosophy at the Jagiellonian University. In November of that year, together with a group of patriotic students, he left towards Przemyśl and Lwów, to participate in the Polish-Ukrainian fights there (see: Polish-Ukrainian War). He spent 1919 and 1920 in the Polish Army, serving, among others, in the armored train Nr 53 Smialy. In November 1920, after Polish-Soviet War, Rybka returned to the Jagiellonian University, and began working with professor of astronomy Tadeusz Banachiewicz. This is where his fascination with astronomy originated.

In the fall of 1923 Rybka, together with wife and son, moved to Warsaw, where he worked as an assistant at the Observatory. Three years later he earned a doctorate, writing thesis about observation of stars at the beginning of the twentieth century. In late 1920s, Rybka was preoccupied with examination of Cepheid variables, especially of TU Cas and XZ Cyg.

In 1930 Rybka received a scholarschip and went to Leiden, where he worked with a renowned Danish astronomer, professor Einar Hertzsprung. After returning to Poland, he worked on his habilitation, earning the title on 19 January 1932. Soon afterwards, he moved to Lwów, where took over Department of Astronomy. A skillful organizer, he wanted to purchase a 90-centimeter telescope for the school, but failed due to outbreak of World War II.

After Soviet Invasion of Poland, and capture of the city by the Red Army, Rybka continued his works at the university. He survived both Soviet and German occupations, but in January 1945 was arrested by the NKVD, together with other Polish professors of the university (Juliusz Makarewicz, Ryszard Gansiniec, Wlodzimierzem Burzynski and Marian Kamienski). Released after a few months, in August 1945 he left Lwów and went to Kraków, to finally settle in Wrocław.

In 1949 Rybka revisited Leiden, to work with Jan Oort. He also became a member of the International Astronomical Union, and during a Congress in Rome (1952), he was elected deputy of the organization. In mid-1950s his health deteriorated, he spent long months in various spas, also in 1958, after an argument, he left Wrocław University and took a job at the Jagiellonian University. Due to his involvement, the university opened in 1964 its main observatory. Four years later Rybka retired, but continued to take part in various projects, including the IAU.

1898 births
1988 deaths
People from Radzymin
Polish Military Organisation members
Academic staff of the University of Lviv
Academic staff of the University of Wrocław
Jagiellonian University alumni
20th-century Polish astronomers
Polish people detained by the NKVD

Eugeniusz Rybka


Mofu is a designation for various ethnic groups and languages they speak in northern Cameroon, near the border with Nigeria. The Mofu groups live in the Mandara Mountains of Cameroon's Far North Province.

Some of these groups accept the name "Mofu", for example the Mofu-Duvangar, Mofu-Durum, Mofu-Wazang, Mofu-Meri, and the Mofu-Gudur. Others do not use the appellation "Mofu". They use just Zulgo, Gemjek, Mbuko, or Moloko. They use those names to refer to themselves and their languages. Most of the groups with the Mofu prefix traditionally refer to themselves as "People of the Mountains" or their language as "Language of the Mountains".

The Mofu languages are separate languages of the Biu–Mandara branch of the Chadic language family.

The Mofu-Wazan were featured in the 2007 documentary Master of the Killer Ants, a Nova program episode.

References

External links
Ethnologue entry for Mofu-Gudur language

Ethnic groups in Cameroon
Languages of Cameroon

Mofu


The Botanischer Garten der Universität Ulm (28 hectares), also known as the Botanischer Garten Ulm, is a botanical garden and arboretum maintained by the University of Ulm. It is located at Hans-Krebs-Weg, Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The garden was begun in 1981 on a former shooting range southeast of the university on the Upper Eselsberg. Its first greenhouses were built in 1986, its arboretum created in the years 1992–1996, and two additional tropical greenhouses were added in 1997. A farmer's garden was created in 1998, a rose garden in 1999–2000, and in 2001 an herb garden was created in cooperation with the pharmaceutical company Ratiopharm.

Today the garden contains a medicinal garden, daylily garden, arboretum, pond, rose garden, cottage garden, and meadow. Its herbarium contains some 80,000 documents with a focus on Europe, South America, and Central America, including a tropical collection of about 50,000 specimens, about 20,000 specimens of mosses and lichens, and some 10,000 phanerogams. The garden is open to the public on weekdays at various hours.

See also
 List of botanical gardens in Germany

External links
 Botanischer Garten der Universität Ulm
 Garden map
 Garden map living link

Ulm, Botanischer Garten der Universitat
Ulm, Botanischer Garten der Universitat
University of Ulm

Botanischer Garten der Universität Ulm


The Amherst Center for Russian Culture was created by Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts after the gift of a major collection of Russian books, manuscripts, periodicals and ephemera by Thomas P. Whitney in 1991.  The Center has a particularly strong collection of works by and relating to Russian emigres.  Subsequent major gifts of material have come from Dmitri Tarasenkov and George Ivask.

The center has a gallery for the display of over 50 works of Russian art from the collection that was donated to the college by Thomas P. Whitney.

External links
Amherst Center for Russian Culture

Amherst College
Libraries in Massachusetts
Art museums and galleries in Massachusetts
Museums in Hampshire County, Massachusetts
University museums in Massachusetts
Russian-American culture in Massachusetts
Russian art
Ethnic museums in Massachusetts
Museums established in 1991
Libraries in Hampshire County, Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Amherst, Massachusetts
1991 establishments in Massachusetts

Amherst Center for Russian Culture


COX-2 inhibitors are a special type of analgesic. Cyclooxygenase (commonly abbreviated as COX) is an enzyme that has an important role in starting an inflammation and pain.  There are many different types of COX; the most common are known as COX-1 and COX-2. NSAIDs work by blocking COX. The problem with blocking all COX is that COX-1 is also used to regulate kidney function. Blocking COX-1 runs the risk of bleeding of the stomach, and reduction of the kidney function. COX-2 inhibitors only block COX-2, and do not have an effect on COX-1..  Clinical studies have shown that they increase the risk of a heart attack, and of a stroke.  Several COX-2 inhibitors have been taken off the market, because of these side-effects.

Other than as an analgesic, COX-2 inhibitors have also been used in the treatment of cancer, and of some neurological conditions, such as depression, and schizophrenia.

Because of the severe side-effects, COX-2 inhibitors are usually only available with a prescription.
Analgesics

COX-2 inhibitors


Gerard Soest ( – 11 February 1681), also known as Gerald Soest, was a portrait painter who was active in England during the late 17th century. He is most famous for his portraits of William Shakespeare and Samuel Butler, but painted many members of the English gentry.

Soest was traditionally thought to have come from Soest in Westphalia, but was probably from Soest, Netherlands, being Dutch by birth and training. He seems to have been in England by the late 1640s, and his paintings at this time show the influence of William Dobson. His earliest known work is dated 1646.

He had a moderately successful career, but was never fashionable and never managed to get commissions from courtiers and royalty.

Soest's portrait of Shakespeare was owned by Thomas Wright of Covent Garden in 1725 when it was engraved by John Simon. It was painted by Soest at least 30 years after Shakespeare's death. George Vertue states that it was based on a man who resembled Shakespeare, while the pose and costume suggest the influence of the Chandos portrait.

Notes

External links

Year of birth uncertain
1681 deaths
Dutch Golden Age painters
Dutch male painters
People from Soest, Netherlands
Portraits of William Shakespeare
17th-century Dutch people

Gerard Soest


Football Manager Live was a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) developed by Sports Interactive and released in November 2008 for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

Whilst the game was subscription-based, both major and minor updates were provided within the subscription paid by users. Subscriptions could be purchased online using debit/credit cards, or PayPal to play on a regular basis, or through boxed copies, which were released in the United Kingdom on 23 January 2009. The servers for the game shut down in May 2011.

Gameplay
Football Manager Live differed significantly from previous Football Manager titles, whilst keeping the same match engine and many of their fundamental concepts.

Users were assigned to a "Game World" of up to 1000 players and created their clubs and filled their squads with real players, similar to fantasy football. Players were signed via a proxy bidding system similar to that of eBay with the player signing with the highest-bidding club. Whilst Football Manager Live utilised a very similar database to that of Football Manager 2009 like its offline counterpart, aging players retired and younger players were randomly generated in their place within each game world, creating an increasingly fictional environment as seasons progress.

Clubs could choose a football association based on the number of matches the user wants to play ("Casual" FAs for casual players and "Xtreme" ones for more dedicated managers) and which play times were most convenient. Each FA had its own ladder system with a premier league and several lower leagues which were linked via promotion and relegation. Matchmaking for league fixtures was done through a "resolve by" system in which users have to finish a game by a certain deadline instead of having to meet online at a specific time. If a player could not meet the deadline, an AI "assistant manager" took over their team for that match.

The game also added a role playing game-like skill training system for users. Managers could improve their skills over time in coaching, physiotherapy, finance, scouting and infrastructure to become more specialised or to suit their style of play.

In order to manage the inflationary economics of the game, players were required to construct a stadium to accommodate several different fan bases to the club. These included die hards, devoted, families, glory hunters and corporates, each offering their own characteristics such as wealth and atmosphere. This took money out of club finances and was generally received negatively by players. The stadia and fan base profile had little impact on gameplay and had no impact on the appearance of stadia during gameplay.

Gameworlds
There were 12 Gameworlds in Football Manager Live.  The gameworld system was radically changed in 2010 when they were split into two types: 'Fantasy Players' and 'Returning Stars.'  Previously, as a gameworld progressed over time, 'real life' players gradually aged and retired to be replaced by generated players (or 'regens').  This remains the case with 'Fantasy Players' gameworlds, but for 'Returning Stars' the gameworld is reset sporadically back to the present day.

The first gameworld, launched on 4 November 2008 was Cantona, and this was followed by 8 other worlds until the first Pro-Gameworld, Toms, was launched on 12 January 2009. Existing users were encouraged to join the first Pro-Gameworld by having the opportunity to transfer the skills that they had gained to the new Gameworld. This had not been possible when transferring worlds previously and the challenge of playing the best was readily taken up.

Gameworlds were named after real-life ex-players.

In June 2010 the 3D match engine, first seen in Football Manager 2009 was added to Football Manager Live.

Game restructuring

On 26 November 2009, vast changes to the existing game were announced by SI. The most controversial of these changes was the announcement of the resetting of all current game worlds to their initial states, which would commence on 1 March 2010 This announcement caused controversy amongst the community as many managers were upset by the results from this decision which would include losing all progress made up until this date. SI in an attempt to make up for this action offered all current subscribers two months of free play time though this was met with relatively negative reactions.

On 18 December 2009 Sports Interactive announced that it would be extending the free time for its managers until the reset in March 2010. It was also announced following the outcry over lost skills that they would be implementing a new skills system into FML after the reset which would allow current managers to use their existing skill points after the reset. This move was met with great appreciation by the game's current subscribers. At the same time it was announced that the new version 1.4 would include youth academies and many more extras which its subscribers had been asking for many months.

References

External links
 Official site
 Football Manager Live FAQ

2008 video games
Inactive massively multiplayer online games
Live
Massively multiplayer online role-playing games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Windows games
MacOS games
Products and services discontinued in 2011

Football Manager Live


Youth for Christ (YFC) is an international Christian ministry that promotes youth evangelism and biblical Christianity. In the early 1940s, during World War II, many young men, mostly ministers and evangelists, were holding large rallies in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. In an effort to coordinate these programs Youth for Christ was started in 1944. The organization was co-founded by the Rev. Billy Graham and then-evangelist Charles Templeton.

Christian organizations

Youth for Christ


The Parliament of Victoria is a bicameral legislature that makes the laws for the state of Victoria, Australia. Its two houses are a lower house the Legislative Assembly, and an upper house, the Legislative Council. The Legislative Assembly has 88 members, and the Legislative Council has 40 members. The political party with the most members in the lower house forms the government, and is led by the Premier of Victoria. In 2014, the Labor Party won the November election, and its leader, Daniel Andrews, became the Premier. The third part of the Parliament is the Crown, Queen Elizabeth II. She is represented in Victoria by the Governor of Victoria. The current governor is Professor David de Kretser, A.C.

The parliament meets at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. This building was also the home of the Parliament of Australia from 1901 to 1927.

References

Victoria, Australia
Victoria
Victoria
Victoria

Parliament of Victoria


The Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) was a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government whose remit was to support those institutions that provide education, but which are not schools or universities. This covers a broad range of institutions, ranging from further education colleges, prison education to workplace training and various other types of education and training.

The QIA was created in March 2006 from the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA). The majority of the assets and liabilities of the Quality Improvement Agency were transferred to the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, a new not for profit, sector owned improvement body for the Further Education sector on 1 October 2008.

Staff

There was one chair of trustees during the lifetime of QIA, Sir Geoffrey Holland.

The QIA had two chief executives - Andrew Thomson and Dr Kate Anderson.

References

Article noting the passing of the QIA  http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090504182734/lsis.org.uk/aboutus/welcome.aspx

External links

Defunct non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Further education colleges in the United Kingdom

Quality Improvement Agency


Cornelis de Heem (8 April 1631 (baptized) – 17 May 1695 (buried)) was a still-life painter associated with both Flemish Baroque and Dutch Golden Age painting. He was a member of a large family of still-life specialists, of which his father, Jan Davidszoon de Heem (1606–1684), was the most significant.

Cornelis was baptised in Leiden on 8 April 1631, and moved with his family to Antwerp in 1636. He appears to have been trained by his father in Antwerp, who, like him, was born in the Dutch Republic but died in the Southern Netherlands. Jan's subsequent career, like many painters—especially after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648—moved fluidly between the two traditionally-connected areas of the north and south Low Countries. He became a member of the Antwerp painters' guild in 1660, and from 1667 until the late 1680s he was variously active in Utrecht, IJsselstein, and The Hague. It is often not easy to distinguish the works of the different members of the family, which included his brother Jan Jansz., nephew Jan Jansz. II, and son David Cornelisz. (1663–after? 1718), who all painted mostly flower and fruit pieces in a similar style and probably often collaborated. Cornelis's works, however, tend to be small, display a preference for strong blues, and, over time, shifted away from the painterly style preferred by his father. He died in Antwerp, aged 64.

References

1631 births
1695 deaths
Dutch Golden Age painters
Dutch male painters
Flemish Baroque painters
Artists from Leiden
Dutch still life painters
Painters from Antwerp
Flower artists

Cornelis de Heem


Dawn is the second studio album by Ry X, released through Infectious Records and Loma Vista Records. The album was released on 6 May 2016. The album charted at #34 in the UK Album Charts as well as charting in Germany, France, Canada and Australia. It gained favourable reception from the media, with a New York Times review saying "His voice is a pearly, androgynous tenor, a vessel for liquid melancholy that blurs words at the edges. He stretches pop structures with repetition that grows devotional, obsessive, hypnotic". In support of the album, RY X began an extensive tour across Europe and the US as well as appearing at many festival throughout 2016 such as Barn on the Farm and Montreux Jazz Festival.

Track listing

Charts

References

2016 albums
Ry X albums

Dawn (Ry X album)


New Netherland (Dutch: Nieuw-Nederland, Latin: Nova Belgica or Novum Belgium) was a colony of the Dutch Empire from 1614 through 1664 and from 1673 through 1674. It was a base for the fur trade. The capital was New Amsterdam, modern-day New York City. The other important trading post in New Netherland was Fort Orange, now called Albany, New York. Most settlers lived in these towns or between them, along the Hudson River but some lived in distant parts of the colony.

New Netherland was between English colonies which the Kingdom of England wanted to connect together. During the Anglo-Dutch Wars England sent warships to conquer New Netherland. The Dutch colonists surrendered because they were afraid the English Royal Navy would destroy their town. The Dutch traded the colony to England for Surinam in South America and Run (island) in the East Indies, which they thought were worth more. The English divided their new colony to make the English colonies of New York and New Jersey. They also gave parts to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

References

1614 establishments
17th century in the Thirteen Colonies
History of New York City
1664 disestablishments
Disestablishments in North America
1673 establishments
1670s establishments in the Thirteen Colonies
17th-century establishments in New York
1674 disestablishments
Dutch Empire
Former colonies in North America

New Netherland


Svetlana Bolshakova (; born 14 October 1984) is a Russian-born triple jumper of who competes for Belgium internationally. She married Belgian high jumper Stijn Stroobants in August 2006 and acquired the Belgian nationality in July 2008.

Bolshakova was born in Leningrad and represented Russia until 13 November 2008. As a teenager she won the silver medal at the 2001 World Youth Championships and the bronze medal at the 2003 European Junior Championships. Her personal best as a junior was 13.55 metres, achieved in June 2002 in Kazan. She had 13.64 on the indoor track, achieved in February 2003 in Moscow.

She competed at the 2009 World Championships, without reaching the final. She has a 14.28 metres personal best on the indoor track, achieved in February 2007 in Düsseldorf. In July 2010, she reached the finals of the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, where she won the bronze medal by improving her personal best and national record of 14.53 metres, which she achieved earlier that year in June at Budapest, to 14.55 metres and setting a new Belgian record for triple jump.

She improved the Belgian indoor record of 14.31 m to win on home turf at the Indoor Flanders Meeting.

References

External links

 Official website Svetlana Bolshakova & Stijn Stroobants

1984 births
Living people
Belgian female triple jumpers
Russian female triple jumpers
Athletes from Saint Petersburg
Russian emigrants to Belgium
Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes for Belgium
European Athletics Championships medalists
World Athletics Championships athletes for Belgium

Svetlana Bolshakova


Archil () (1647 – April 16, 1713), of Bagrationi dynasty, king of Imereti in western Georgia (1661–1663, 1678–1679, 1690–1691, 1695–1696, and 1698) and of Kakheti in eastern Georgia (1664–75). After a series of unsuccessful attempts to establish himself on the throne of Imereti, Archil retired to Russia where he spearheaded the cultural life of a local Georgian community. He was also a lyric poet.

Political career

Archil was the son of Vakhtang V Shahnawaz of Kartli, who, under the Persian protection, attempted to reunify a fragmented Kingdom of Georgia under his crown. Having brought the neighboring eastern kingdom of Kakheti under his control, Vakhtang marched into western Georgia in 1661, deposed King Bagrat V of Imereti, and crowned his fourteen-year-old son Archil king at Kutaisi, capital of Imereti. The Ottoman government strongly objected to what it considered a Persian-inspired incursion into the Turkish zone of influence. A Turkish ultimatum was soon received in Isfahan, threatening a declaration of war if Shahnavaz maintained his son on the throne of western Georgia. Shahnavaz was forced to recall Archil from Kutaisi in 1663 and to restore the rightful king, Bagrat. Instead, Vakhtang installed Archil as king of Kakheti in 1664. To gain the shah's consent, Archil was prevailed upon, much against his will, to become a nominal convert to Islam, assuming the title of Shah-Nazar-Khan. In 1664, Archil defeated an attempt by the rival Kakhetian prince and his brother-in-law, Erekle, to regain his father's crown, and achieved a degree of stability and prosperity in Kakheti.

In 1675, however, due largely to the intrigues by the Persian grand vizier Shaykh' Ali Khan, Archil abandoned Kakheti and, with his brother Luarsab, defected to the Turkish frontier pasha of Akhaltsikhe who promised him the crown of Imereti. He was soon reestablished in Kutaisi with the aid of the pasha of Akhaltiskhe, though without the consent of the Sublime Porte. The Ottoman agents had the pasha executed, and deposed Archil in 1679. He fled to Russia, but was not allowed to Moscow until 1686. Encouraged by his brother, King George XI of Kartli, Archil returned to Georgia in 1690 and succeeded in regaining the Imeretian throne, only to be deposed again by the local nobility in 1691. During the next few years, he made several attempts to seize the crown, waging a guerrilla war against the Turks and the aristocratic opposition led by Prince Abashidze. Eventually Archil gave up hope of reestablishing himself in Imereti and, in 1699, crossed the Caucasus Mountains once more into Russia where he settled in Vsesviatskoye near Moscow.

Life in Russia

He was on friendly terms with Peter I of Russia who gave orders to prepare an expedition to restore Archil to the throne of Imereti. However, the plan was rendered abortive on account of the defeat inflicted by the Swedes on the Russian army at Narva in 1700. This, in addition to frustrating Archil's hopes of regaining his throne, brought tragedy into his family life. Alexander, son of Archil, who commanded Russian artillery at Narva, was taken prisoner by the Swedes, and had to spend ten years in captivity. Archil attempted to achieve the release of his son through the Austrian mediation, and later sent a personal letter to Charles XII of Sweden. It was not until 1710, however, that Alexander was released. Severely ill, he died on his way back to Russia. The death of Alexander was a bitter blow to Archil, who did not long survive his son. He died in 1713 and was buried in the Donskoy Monastery at Moscow.

Most of Archil's Russian years were devoted to poetry and cultural activities. He was responsible for setting up the first printing press in the Georgian language in Russia and published The Psalms in 1705. Archil's poetry, remarkable for its diversity, heralded the beginning of the period of Revival in Georgian literature. His chief poems – The Dialogue between Teimuraz and Rustveli (გაბაასება თეიმურაზისა და რუსთველისა), The Manners of Georgia (საქართველოს ზნეობანი), and The Lay of Archil (Archiliani; არჩილიანი) are dedicated to the 17th-century misfortunes of Georgia. He strongly objected to the contemporary Persian literary influences, and called for the revival of Shota Rustaveli's traditions of Georgian poetry. Thus, Archil's poems were closer to traditional Georgian metre, and his idioms closer to Georgian speech. However, despite his efforts to "stem the tide of Persianization", Archil's poems included "conceits, forms, and themes inspired by Persia", and his own version of the Alexander romance was modeled on the versions of Nizami Ganjavi and Jami.

Family
Archil was married twice. His first wife was a daughter of Prince Nodar Tsitsishvili. He married secondly to Ketevan, daughter of Prince David of Kakheti, in 1668. The couple one daughter and three sons:
 Princess Darejan, known in Russia as Darya Archilovna (c. 1670 – 1740); she died unmarried and was buried at the Donskoy Monastery.
 Prince Aleksandre, known in Russia as Aleksandr Archilovich (1674 – 20 February 1711), a Russian army artillery commander. He was married, with one daughter.
 Prince Mamuka, known in Russia as Matfey Archilovich (1676 – 23 March 1693); he died unmarried and was buried at the Donskoy Monastery.
 Prince Davit, known in Russia as David Archilovich (2 July 1682 – 24 October 1688); he died unmarried, buried at the Novodevichy Convent, and reburied in 1711 at the Donskoy Monastery.

References

Sources
 Вахушти Багратиони (Vakhushti Bagrationi) (1745). История Царства Грузинского: Жизнь Имерети.

David Marshall Lang, The Last Years of the Georgian Monarchy, 1658-1832. New York: Columbia University Press, 1957.
Rayfield, Donald (2000), The Literature of Georgia: A History. Routledge, .

1647 births
1713 deaths
House of Mukhrani (royal line)
17th-century poets from Georgia (country)
Writers from Georgia (country)
Kings of Imereti
17th-century people from Georgia (country)
Eastern Orthodox monarchs
18th-century poets from Georgia (country)
Male poets from Georgia (country)
Safavid appointed kings of Kakheti
17th-century people from Safavid Iran

Archil of Imereti


Phaeoceros is a genus of hornworts in the family Notothyladaceae. The genus is global in its distribution.  Its name means 'yellow horn', and refers to the characteristic yellow spores that the plants produce in the horn-shaped sporophyte.  The genus Phaeoceros was first recognized in 1951 by Johannes Max Proskauer.  The type species is Phaeoceros laevis.  The genus is distinguished by having yellow spores, different chloroplast structure, relatively less frilliness of the thallus when compared to Anthoceros, and a relative lack of internal cavities in Phaeoceros.

The yellow color of the spores is the easiest way to distinguish Phaeoceros from the common genus Anthoceros, which produces spores that are dark brown to black.  Phaeoceros is often confused with Anthoceros, and dried plants are particularly difficult to distinguish in, but the two genera can always be recognized, when fertile and mature, by the spores.  When sterile, the distinguishing characteristic is the absence of lacunae (gaps within the tissue) within the thallus, which in Anthoceros are large and numerous.

References

 Proskauer, J. (1951). "Studies on Anthocerotales. III". Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 78: 331–349.

External links

 Description and photos

Hornwort genera

Phaeoceros


純粹數學(),簡稱純數,係數學嘅分支,集中研究數學本身(唔涉及到數學嘅應用),同應用數學相反。

出面網頁

What is Pure Mathematics? – Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo
 What is Pure Mathematics? by Professor P. J. Giblin The University of Liverpool
The Principles of Mathematics by Bertrand Russell
How to Become a Pure Mathematician (or Statistician), a list of undergraduate and basic graduate textbooks and lecture notes, with several comments and links to solutions, companion sites, data sets, errata pages, etc.

數學

純粹數學


Bernardo di Niccolò Machiavelli (between 1426 and 1429 – 1500) was a citizen of Florence and father to Niccolò Machiavelli. Although he was a Doctor of Law (hence, his title of Messer), debts inherited from his father and uncles limiting his career prevented him from joining the legal guild. In the year 1480, Bernardo reported being unemployed on his tax return. He is known independently for his diary or Libro di Ricordi, chronicling the years 1474–1487. The pages, housed in the Biblioteca Riccardiana in Florence, serve as a valuable window into everyday life and culture during the time and provide the only reliable information on his famous son's early youth. Bernardo Machiavelli was married to Bartolommea di Stefano Nelli. They had four children, Primavera, Margherita, Niccolò (the author of The Prince) and Totto.

References

Bibliography
 Catherine Atkinson: Debts, Dowries, Donkeys. The Diary of Niccolò Machiavelli's Father, Messer Bernardo, in Quattrocento Florence, Frankfurt am Main 2002,
 Cesare Olschki, Hrsg.: Bernardo Machiavelli, Libro di Ricordi, Florenz 1954.

1420s births
1500 deaths
Italian male writers
Writers from Florence
Niccolò Machiavelli
Italian diarists

Bernardo di Niccolò Machiavelli