Poher is an ancient principality that emerged in the Early Middle Ages in Cornouaille in west-central Brittany. Its capital was the Gallo-Roman city of Vorgium, capital of the Osismii, which became Carhaix after the fall of the Roman Empire. Archaeological excavations scheduled since 1999 show that, even if the city lost its function as capital after the 4th century, it was nonetheless a stronghold and major strategic crossroads.

Origins

Poher's name derives from Pou Kaer, Pou being a derivative of Latin pagus ("region," as in a Gallo-Roman district) and kaer being Old Breton for "fortified city."

In the Middle Ages, Carhaix was only a subdivision of the parish of Plouguer (Plou-Kaer = "parish of the city/castle"), having just one church dedicated to St. Trémeur. Plouguer, whose church is dedicated to St. Peter – circumstantial evidence of seniority – is the seat of the original parish which takes its name from the once-fortified site it encompasses. Having become communes after the French Revolution, Carhaix and Plouguer merged in 1956 under the name of Carhaix-Plouguer.

The uncertain and changing boundaries of Poher

Its boundaries have been very fluid over the course of history, its land area tending to decrease over time. Hubert Guillotel has it coinciding with the Bishopric of Cornouaille. André Chédeville goes even further, giving it a coastline on the English Channel: "It is likely that in the early centuries, this pagus was narrower in terms of longitude but extended further north, where, like other pagi, it had its coastline. When the diocesan boundaries were set in the Carolingian period, the pagus Castelli was cut into two parts, as ecclesiastical districts, expanded, one in the diocese of Quimper as we just mentioned, the other in that of Treguier."

In a pouillé (ecclesiastical register) of the 14th century, Poher remains as one of the two archdeaconates in the Bishopric of Cornouaille, the other archdeaconate also being called Cornouaille. It only included the deaneries of Cap Sizun, Cap-Caval (future Bigouden) and Fouesnant (from Gourin to Clohars-Fouesnant).

From then on, Poher is associated with the bulk of the bishopric, which leads Joëlle Quaghebeur to consider that the Carolingian name Poher succeeds the name of Cornouaille.

According to Viscount Frotier La Messelière, "occupying the high valleys of the Aulne and its tributaries, on the highest peaks of Lower Brittany, Poher extends, from east to west, about fifty kilometers, from the eastern borders of Glomel, Rostrenen, Kergrist-Moëlou and Maël-Pestivien in Côtes-du-Nord, to the western limits of Châteauneuf-du-Faou, [Plonévez-du-Faou], Loqueffret, Brennilis and Botmeur, in Finistère, and about thirty kilometers north to south, from the Monts d'Arrée to those of the Montagne Noir and the middle of the Aulne's course." This author excludes any commune of the Morbihan from Poher; however, the commune of Le Faouët is considered part of Poher.

More recently, Christiane Kerboul-Vilhon assigned fairly similar limits; for her, it corresponds to the Bassin de Châteaulin.

History

Dark legend: Conomor, bloodthirsty prince of Poher?

Poher was the seat of a powerful dynasty of counts in the Carolingian era, whose traces are scattered in very rare archives and in the Lives of the saints of Brittany.

Conomor (Kon Meur = "big dog"), denoted as Prince of Poher, is steeped in a legend which makes him the Bluebeard of sixth-century Brittany. He would have killed numerous women, one after another, not sparing the last, Saint Tryphine, and her young child, Saint Trémeur (Trec'h Meur = "great winner"), whom he would have decapitated. Saint Gildas having miraculously replaced the child's head, the child would come to taunt his father by throwing him a handful of dirt. Struck by divine vengeance, Conomor would have perished instantly.

Historical evidence

Conomor's name is mentioned many times by Gregory of Tours as a Breton count who saved Macliauus from the vengeance of his brother, Chanao. He is also an enemy of the Franks who sided with Chram in his struggle against his brother King Chlothar II.

His also appears at different times on the other side of the Channel. The discovery at Castle Dore in Cornwall of an inscription which reads "Marcus Quonomorus Drustanus" has led some historians, including Christian Kerboul, to identify the king Mark of Cornwall, whose nephew is the legendary Tristan (Drustanus?), with the Conomor of legend. This hypothesis of a principality established astride the channel in the 6th century remains unverified.

In 871, while Salomon is still king of Brittany, Judicael is indicated as princeps Poucher without anyone knowing that a brand of such dignity was uncommon at the time.

A viscount of Poher, named Bernard, appears in the 11th century, and his lineage appears to have particular significance to the Sainte-Croix abbey of Quimperié, appearing to supplant the dynasty of Cornouaille which had assumed the ducal dignity since Hoel II in 1066.

List of Viscounts and Counts of Poher
Alain de Poher
Mathuedoi I (907-930) married a daughter of Alan I, Duke of Brittany, his son was Alan II, Duke of Brittany
Alain le Renard
Bernard (11th century)

References

Breton culture
Geography of Brittany
Medieval Brittany

Poher


Jingyuan () was an armored cruiser in the late Qing Dynasty Beiyang Fleet. Her sister ship was .

Background
As part of his drive to create a modern navy following the Sino-French War, Viceroy Li Hongzhang turned to Vulcan shipyards in Stettin, Germany. Jingyuan and Laiyuan were called "gunboats" by their designers, but were referred to as "cruisers" by the Chinese. In terms of displacement, they were similar in class to the Japanese . However, in terms of weaponry, they mounted large calibre guns in the manner of a coastal defense monitor, and lacked the speed or a higher muzzle velocity main battery typical of ships designed per the tenets of the then-popular Jeune Ecole theory promoted by French naval architect Emile Bertin.

Design
Jingyuan had a steel housing, divided into 66 waterproof compartments filled with cork, two smokestacks, and single mast. Her belt armor had a thickness of , but did not extend above the waterline or to the extremities of the hull, and was  at the conning tower and barbettes. Her deck armor had a thickness of  at the extremities. The prow was reinforced for ramming. The power plant was a double expansion reciprocating steam engine with four cylindrical boilers, driving two screws.

The ship's main armament was two breech-loading 8.2-inch (209-mm) Krupp cannon, paired in the forward barbette. Provision was made for only 50 rounds of ammunition per gun. The secondary armament consisted of two 6-inch (152 mm) Krupp guns mounted on sponsons on either side of the deck. The ship also had two 47-mm long guns and five 37 mm Hotchkiss guns, as well as two torpedo tubes.

Jingyuan and Laiyuan were second in displacement after the Beiyang Fleet battleships  and , but were deficient in speed and firepower compared with contemporary vessels such as the British-built Elswick cruisers. Although its armor belt gave Jingyuan an advantage over non-protected vessels, its two-inch lacquered teak deck made it flammable in the event of a battle.

Service record
Jingyuan was laid down on 1 January 1885, launched on 25 March 1887, and completed on 1 January 1888.

On arrival in China in 1888, Jingyuan and Laiyuan were both assigned to the Beiyang Fleet. In the summer of 1889, both vessels were part of the flotilla let by Admiral Ding Ruchang, calling on the Russian naval base of Vladivostok. In early 1894, both vessels accompanied  and  on a visit to Singapore, but the flotilla was recalled to Weihaiwei on the eve of the First Sino-Japanese War with the Empire of Japan.

Jingyuan and Laiyuan were both in the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894. Early in the battle, the captain of Laiyuan moved aggressively against the Japanese squadron, pursuing and severely damaging the slower moving Japanese gunboat , but receiving considerable damage in return, which set her on fire and removed her from the combat. With Laiyuan apparently doomed, the Japanese flying squadron led by Admiral Tsuboi Kozo (, , , and ), concentrated fire on Jingyuan for over an hour. Briefly, Jingyuan appeared to be closing on Yoshino in an apparent attempt to ram, but at 16:48, lurched to the starboard and burst into flames. Soon after, with a large explosion, Jingyuan rolled over and sank. Of the 270 crewmen, only seven escaped.

References
Chesneau, Roger and Eugene M. Kolesnik (editors), All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905, Conway Maritime Press, 1979 reprinted 2002,

Cruisers of the Beiyang Fleet
Naval ships of China
Ships built in Stettin
1887 ships
First Sino-Japanese War cruisers of China
Shipwrecks in the Yellow Sea
Maritime incidents in 1894

Chinese cruiser Jingyuan (1887)


Crooked Still is an American band consisting of vocalist Aoife O'Donovan, banjo player Gregory Liszt, bassist Corey DiMario, cellist Tristan Clarridge and fiddle player Brittany Haas. They are known for their high energy, technical skill, unusual instrumentation, and innovative acoustic style.

The string band's style has been described as progressive bluegrass, folk-country, and Americana. O'Donovan states that the band is playing its "own sort of continuation" on the bluegrass tradition that began in the U.S. with Bill Monroe and Jimmy Martin.

History

2001–2008
O'Donovan and DiMario met at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in the spring of 2001. Former member Rushad Eggleston, who was studying cello at Berklee College of Music, and Liszt, a graduate student at MIT, were playing music together around the same time, and when the four met that summer, they formed a band that became Crooked Still. While its members finished school, the group played various Boston venues, growing in popularity and collecting favorable reviews from the local press.

Crooked Still went on to appear at concert halls, festivals, coffeehouses, and nightclubs in 23 states and several countries. On August 22, 2006, the group released their second album, Shaken by a Low Sound.

From 2008
Cellist Rushad Eggleston performed his last show with the band on November 18, 2007, at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Massachusetts. He parted ways with Crooked Still to pursue his own music with band Tornado Rider.  In January 2008 two new members joined the band: cellist Tristan Clarridge and fiddler Brittany Haas, both of whom have toured in Darol Anger's Republic of Strings. The Darol Anger connection goes further: Rushad Eggleston was in Fiddlers 4 in 2002.  The band released its first album with the new lineup, Still Crooked in 2008, a live album in 2009, and Some Strange Country in 2010.

2011 and beyond
In honor of their tenth anniversary together as a band, Crooked Still embarked on a major tour of the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest, and released a 7-song EP called Friends of Fall in October 2011. After the final show of their 2011 tour, Crooked Still took a three-year touring and recording hiatus (originally planned to be one year) for its members to pursue other musical projects.

Crooked Still performed at the FreshGrass festival in North Adams, Massachusetts, in September 2017.

In June 2018, Crooked Still songs "Little Sadie" and "Ecstasy" were featured in the gameplay trailer for The Last of Us Part II presented at E3 2018. These songs, along with "Ain't No Grave" were included in the final game.

Discography

Albums

Live albums

Music videos

References

External links

American folk musical groups
American bluegrass music groups
Old-time bands
Musical groups from Boston
Progressive bluegrass music groups
Signature Sounds artists

Crooked Still


"Langit Makin Mendung" ("The Sky is Increasingly Cloudy") is a controversial Indonesian short story. Published in Sastra magazine under the pen name Kipandjikusmin in August 1968, it tells the story of Muhammad descending to Earth with the angel Gabriel to investigate the decreasing number of Muslims entering heaven, only to find that Muslims in Indonesia have begun fornicating, drinking alcohol, waging war on Muslims, and otherwise going against the tenets of Islam because of nasakom, a government policy during Sukarno's administration that combined nationalism, religion, and communism. Unable to do anything to stop the rampant sinning, Muhammad and Gabriel—having taken the form of eagles—watch the political maneuvering, crime, and famine in Jakarta.

Upon publication, "Langit Makin Mendung" drew heavy criticism for its depictions of Allah, Muhammad, and Gabriel. Sastra was banned in North Sumatra, and the magazine's offices in Jakarta were attacked. Despite published apologies from the writer and publisher, the head editor of Sastra, HB Jassin, was tried for blasphemy; he was later sentenced to a one-year suspended sentence. Critical views of the story vary; the story has been compared to Dante's Divine Comedy for its depiction of a man on a spiritual quest with a spiritual companion, yet criticized for depicting Allah, Muhammad, and Gabriel in a negative light. The legal case itself has been subject to debate, with both sides arguing freedom of expression and the scope of imagination.

Background
Indonesia is the world's largest majority-Muslim country. This has had a large influence on the development of Indonesia, both in its national revolution and in modern times. However, it has been used to justify and promote political positions. The Dutch colonial government minimized the role of the religious leaders, the kyai and ulama, in an attempt to prevent them using their influence to lead resistance. Modern rulers have used it to "maintain the status quo", while those pushing for change use Islam as a means for justice or other political ends. This has led to a general fragmentation.

During the early 1960s then-President Sukarno declared a new state ideology of Nasakom, which stood for Nasionalisme, Agama, dan Komunisme (Nationalism, Religion, and Communism), which would complement the existing policy of Pancasila. This declaration, viewed as proof of increasing Indonesian Communist Party (Partai Komunis Indonesia, or PKI) power, led to conflict between the PKI and the military. In the midst of an escalating confrontation with Malaysia (1963–1966), Sukarno demoted General Abdul Haris Nasution, Commander of the Army, and promoted Ahmad Yani, while the PKI spread rumours that a CIA-sponsored board of generals (Dewan Jenderal) were plotting against the government, using the Gilchrist Document as proof. Eventually, a coup on 30 September 1965, thought to have been sponsored by the PKI, killed six generals, leading to the massacre of suspected communists and the fall of Sukarno's government over the next two years.

Plot
Muhammad and the other prophets of Islam, bored of living in jannah (heaven) and weary of singing the praises of Allah, request permission to return to Earth. Disappointed by the prophets' request, Allah calls on Muhammad to explain why he wishes to return, as Allah had already granted him many things. Muhammad replies that he wishes to conduct research, to discover why so few Muslims are coming to heaven. Allah, after removing his glasses, responds that the people had been poisoned by Sukarno's policy of Nasakom and grants Muhammad permission to investigate further.

After much fanfare, Muhammad departs jannah airport, riding a buraq, or winged horse. The Archangel Gabriel accompanies him. On the way, they encounter a Soviet spacecraft. Hearing that they are infidels, Muhammad approaches to investigate, only to crash into the spacecraft, obliterating it and the buraq and killing the three cosmonauts; Muhammad and Gabriel are able to catch a cloud. Later, they pass Jakarta, which Gabriel describes as the most sinful place on Earth. Angered by Gabriel's statement that less than a million of Indonesia's 90 million Muslims are true believers, as well as the fact that it is the birthplace of Nasakom, Muhammad declares that Islam will never die and waits on the cloud.

Meanwhile, in Jakarta, an epidemic of the flu is underway. Among those who fall ill is President Sukarno, who writes to Chairman Mao Zedong to request some doctors. Mao sends doctors, who give Sukarno poison to paralyze him and aid the 30 September Movement in overthrowing the government. The slow acting poison causes Sukarno to faint after he and his ministers have a large party with haraam events, including zina (sex outside of marriage) and the consumption of pork and frog.

Muhammad and Gabriel, having transformed into eagles to observe Jakarta, see prostitution, adultery, theft, and drinking. Muhammad is shocked that zina and theft continue unabated, calling for Gabriel to help him stone the adulterers and cut the hands off the thieves. Gabriel replies that there are not enough stones for the adulterers, and the swords have been replaced by guns bought by the "infidel" Soviets and Americans who "worship dollars". They later see a minister, referred to only as Togog, attempting to use the Gilchrist Document to overthrow Sukarno. Muhammad gives up on Indonesia, planning to install television in jannah.

Eventually, Sukarno recovers from the poison and is told about the Gilchrist Document, also being told that the Chinese are reneging on their agreement to supply nuclear weapons for Indonesia's confrontation with Malaysia. Sukarno uses the Gilchrist Document to spread rumours and distrust among the populace, demoting his commander of the military, while the Chinese ambassador is sent home.

Writing and influences
"Langit Makin Mendung" was written under the pen name Kipandjikusmin. HB Jassin, head editor of Sastra, said that Kipandjikusmin had been born to a Muslim family but educated in a Catholic junior school prior to being sent to a naval academy; Jassin noted that this Catholic education, with literature which personifies God and angels, may have influenced the author's writing style. Another influence was Javanese wayang, or shadow puppets, with stories which traditionally have a hierarchy of anthropomorphic deities. Jassin also notes influences from the culture of the Guided Democracy era, evidenced from terms like sputnik and the social commentary, with strong condemnation of prostitution in Indonesia and Sukarno's Nasakom.

Kipandjikusmin later wrote to Ekspres magazine that his goal in writing the short story was to expose the corruption in Sukarno's government, focusing on the religious leaders who had agreed with Nasakom when it was politically expedient to do so, yet turned against the PKI when the party was hunted and its members killed. He also admitted the influences proposed by Jassin, writing that he had often thought of the Catholic heaven as being similar to the Javanese Kahyangan, with God being similar to Batara Guru. His depictions of Muhammad and Gabriel transforming into eagles were influenced by images of Christ as the Lamb of God. It was originally meant to be a serial, and Jassin had already received the second instalment by the time the controversy began.

Style
"Langit Makin Mendung" has been described as being written with crude and offensive expressions. Jassin argues that the style, though direct and at times discourteous, indicates a sense of irony, humor, sarcasm, and cynicism.

Release and reception
"Langit Makin Mendung" was published in the literary magazine Sastra, headed by HB Jassin, in August 1968, under the pen name Kipandjikusmin. It became instantly controversial, with Indonesian Muslims considering it blasphemous and an insult to Islam. Among the points of contention were the anthropomorphic personification of Allah, as well as the "less than respectful" treatment of Muhammad and other Islamic figures. It was banned in North Sumatra on 12 October and groups of young Muslims attacked Sastra headquarters in Jakarta. After threats of prosecution, Jassin and his co-editor Rachman issued a public apology; despite this, the magazine was banned. On 22 or 25 October 1968, Kipandjikusmin followed suit, with a statement submitted to Kami.

In April 1969 or February 1970, the High Prosecutor's office in Medan filed blasphemy charges against Jassin after he was unwilling to divulge Kipandjikusmin's true name. At trial, Jassin argued that, as the story was a product of the author's imagination, it should not be considered an insult to Islam; he also cited physical descriptions of Allah from the Quran and Sufi literature, as well as the writer's Christian influences. A witness for the prosecution, noted ulama and writer Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah (Hamka), testified that a depiction of Allah wearing glasses implied that Allah was imperfect, as opposed to the personifications cited by Jassin, which were based on man's love for Allah. Hamka later stated that nobody had been able to incite hatred against Muhammad like Kipandjikusmin since the Crusades. Jassin was sentenced to a one-year suspended sentence.

Polemics

Literary
Jassin writes that "Langit Makin Mendung", as a result of its author's imagination, is not dogma, history, ethics, or an objective reality, but a work within its own world. As a result, Allah, Muhammad, and other religious figures are fictional characters and not representative of their counterparts. He further argues that "Langit Makin Mendung" is not written as an insult, but social criticism on perceived mistakes and corruption during the Sukarno period. He draws on parallels between "Langit Makin Mendung", Dante's Divine Comedy, and Allama Muhammad Iqbal's Javid Nama, focusing on the journey of a person and a guide, with objections being raised due to readers identifying imagination with religion.

Another critic, Bahrum Rangkuti, wrote that "Langit Makin Mendung" had to be judged based on Kipandjikusmin's intentions, which he interpreted as ridding Islam of Nasakom, which he saw as not being compatible. He noted that the Muslims criticized in the story are those who act in ways that are not permitted in Islam, such as drinking and committing zina, while other targets include inept leadership and corruption. Like Jassin, Rangkuti notes numerous instances of Allah being personified in the Quran and hadiths; he views the personification of Allah in "Langit Makin Mendung" as an attempt to draw Muslims closer to Allah.

Sukarsono argues that "Langit Makin Mendung" would have been a "monumental" critique, with a good description of degeneration and immorality in the early 1960s, if written during Sukarno's regime, like Machiavelli's The Prince was for its time, but as it was released in the New Order it lost some of its impact. He notes that in most cases the personification of Allah as being compatible with Islamic views of Allah. However, Allah's donning of gold spectacles is seen as being in contradiction to the tenets of Islam.

An opposing view, offered by Indonesian literary critic M. Jusuf Lubis, is that "Langit Makin Mendung", as it is based on actual events and dogma, including Muhammad's night journey. He rejects the view that the controversy arose from a misunderstanding of the story, writing that Indonesian Muslims reacted because they will not accept works that they see as denying the existence of Allah or comparing Pancasila to Nasakom. He notes that Jassin is inconsistent in his defense, calling the representations of Allah, Muhammad, and Gabriel figments of the author's imagination, but citing Sukarno and Nasakom as influences.

Legal

Many studies have been made pertaining to the legal aspects of the "Langit Makin Mendung" case. One opinion is that the prosecution office had no legal basis for acting as both judge and literary critic in the case, with the blasphemy laws used in prosecution not being at least government or parliamentary level. The banning of Sastra is criticized for having no legal basis, as laws pertaining to the banning of print media at the time only applied to foreign publications; per the then-applicable Press Laws, any banning of a magazine would require approval of the Press Board. The need for freedom of speech is also mentioned.

Another view is that the prosecution's actions were justified, pointing to the obscurity of the press laws, as well as the intent to publish, indicated by the story's prominent placement in the magazine. In response to arguments that the banning of Sastra was a violation of the right to freedom of speech, Sju'bah Asa argues that the public and prosecutors have the same right, which can exercised through protests or legal action. Poet Taufiq Ismail notes that most protests against the prosecution's actions were for their motion to ban Sastra, a reputable and respected publication, which does not indicate that "Langit Makin Mendung" was being supported.

Notes

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

  Note: Also contains a translation of the story

  Note: Also contains a translation of the story

1968 short stories
Censorship in Indonesia
Islam-related literature
Fiction about God
Obscenity controversies in literature
Islam-related controversies
Works published under a pseudonym
1960s in Islam

Langit Makin Mendung


Demolition waste is waste debris from destruction of buildings, roads, bridges, or other structures. Debris varies in composition, but the major components, by weight, in the US include concrete, wood products, asphalt shingles, brick and clay tile, steel, and drywall. There is the potential to recycle many elements of demolition waste.

Composition
In 2014, 505.1 million tons of demolition debris was generated in the US. Out of the 505.1 million tons, the debris was composed of 353.6 million tons of concrete, 76.6 million tons of asphalt concrete, 35.8 million tons of wood product, 12.7 million tons of asphalt shingles, 11.8 million tons of brick and clay tile, 10.3 million tons of drywall and plaster, and 4.3 million tons of steel.

Disposal
Before demolition debris is extracted, contamination from lead, asbestos or other hazardous materials must be resolved. Hazardous materials must be disposed of separately, according to federal regulation. Demolition debris can be disposed of in either Construction and Demolition Debris landfills or municipal solid waste landfills. Alternatively, debris may also be sorted and recycled. Sorting may happen as deconstruction on the demolition site, off-site at a sorting location, or at a Construction and Demolition recycling center. Once sorted, materials are managed separately and recycled accordingly.

Recycling

Concrete and Brick

Concrete and brick can be recycled by crushing it into rubble. Once sorted, screened and contaminants are removed, reclaimed concrete or brick can be used in concrete aggregate, fill, road base, or riprap. Mobile concrete crushers also allow for recycling of concrete on-site.

Wood

Wood can be reused, repurposed, recycled, or burned as bioenergy. Reused wood can eliminate the need for full-size new lumber if used for smaller building components. Repurposed or recycled wood can be used in pathways, coverings, mulches, compost, animal bedding, or particleboard. Using recycled wood as a bioenergy feedstock is advantageous because it has lower water content, about 20% water, compared to virgin lumber, about 60% water.

Drywall

Drywall is made primarily of gypsum. Once the gypsum is depapered, it can be added in cement production, as a soil amendment, used in aerated composting, or recycled into new drywall. Gypsum recycling can be particularly beneficial because in landfill conditions gypsum will release hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas.

Asphalt

Asphalt, from shingles or asphalt concrete, is typically recycled and used in pavement.

Metal

Scrap metal is an established industry focused on the collection, buying, selling, and recycling of salvaged materials.

See also

References

Waste
Demolition

cs:Suť
de:Bauschutt

Demolition waste


Donna Arlene Atwood (February 14, 1925 – December 20, 2010) was an American figure skater. She was born in Newton, Kansas, to pharmacist Chester Atwood and Allie Atwood, his wife. The family moved to Albuquerque before relocating to Los Angeles when she was 9. She died on December 30, 2010, aged 85, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

Career
Donna began taking dancing lessons at age 3. Her skating began at age 13, when she was inspired by seeing a Sonja Henie ice show, and was given her first pair of skates by her older brother. At age 15, she won two medals at the 1941 U.S. Figure Skating Championships: the senior pairs title  with partner Eugene Turner., and the junior ladies title.

That same year, John H. Harris, operating owner of the Ice Capades, offered her a contract with his show. She signed with the Ice Capades at age 16, and within a year she was its star, billed as "The Queen of the Ice". She toured with the show for fifteen years, giving over 6,000 performances in two dozen venues. She was so famous that newspaper headlines of the day referred to her only as "Donna". On her farewell tour, she starred in a production of Peter Pan, making her entrance flying above the audience. She often spoke of it as her favorite role.

Donna Atwood retired from the role of lead skater in 1956 at age 31, moving into a custom-built Beverly Hills home complete with a piano that folded into the wall. She made a single television appearance in 1961 as Phyllis Merrill in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Renegade Refugee."

In the 1970s, when her children were grown and she was "tired of doing nothing," she began coaching young figure skaters in California.

Family life
In 1949, Donna married her mentor John H. Harris, 27 years her senior, with whom she had twin sons in 1950 and a daughter in 1952.

To facilitate her travel with young children, the Ice Capades props department used a 10-foot traveling trunk to build a portable nursery that could be rolled into her hotel room. When her sons reached school age, she retired from skating. She was 31 years old, and at the peak of her career.

Atwood and Harris divorced in 1959. Donna never remarried, eventually moving to Marina del Rey and Palm Desert, California.

Results
(pairs with Eugene Turner)

References

External links

1925 births
2010 deaths
American female pair skaters
21st-century American women
20th-century American women

Donna Atwood


Richard Lawrence "Larry" Stevenson (December 22, 1930 – March 25, 2012) was the inventor of the kicktail, the bent-upwards end of a skateboard, which made most of today's skateboarding tricks possible and essentially revolutionized the sport.

Early life
Stevenson was born in 1930 in Los Angeles, California; his mother was Inez Kiem and his father was Leonard Stevenson. After high school Larry Stevenson joined the U.S. Navy as a fighter mechanic. He served for two years in the Korean War.

After that, he went on to Santa Monica College in California and became a swimmer.  He played water polo and swam for Coach John Josephs.  Stevenson won the all American award for fastest time for the breast stroke.  The record was only recently broken, and he was given a lifetime allowance into any Santa Monica College event, if he wished to attend. After SMC, Stevenson went to USC, on a swimming scholarship, where he majored in business.

During the middle to late part of the 1950s, Stevenson became a Venice Beach lifeguard for the city of Los Angeles.  While sitting watching surfers he noticed they would skate on crude skateboards back in the parking lots at the beach. This was true especially when there was no surf.  Stevenson, while visiting Hawaii en route to Korea, during the war noticed a great surfing beach called "Makaha". All those years later he remembered how much he liked the beach in Hawaii, but he also loved the name Makaha.

After a short period of time, Stevenson started MAKAHA skateboards. He is credited with being the man who made the first high-quality skateboard. He patented the double kicktail in 1969, had the first skate team in 1963, and held the first skateboard contest in 1963.  Stevenson also published Surfguide magazine during the 1960s, and Poweredge skateboarding magazine during the 1980s and 1990s. He was involved with Makaha and Poweredge; both have been reborn with new editors.

Death
Stevenson died on March 25, 2012, from complications of pneumonia due to Parkinson's disease in his Santa Monica home. He died in the age of 81.

References

External links
 Makaha Skateboards - Larry Stevenson history & information

1930 births
2012 deaths
American inventors
Sports inventors and innovators
Skateboarding equipment
Neurological disease deaths in California
Deaths from Parkinson's disease
Deaths from pneumonia in California

Larry Stevenson


Standen is an Arts and Crafts house located to the south of East Grinstead, West Sussex, England. The house and its surrounding gardens belong to the National Trust and are open to the public. It is a Grade I listed building.

House

Between 1891 and 1894 architect Philip Webb, who was a friend of William Morris, designed the house for a prosperous London solicitor, James Beale, his wife Margaret, and their family of seven children. The house is constructed in the Wealden vernacular style with sandstone quarried from the estate and locally made bricks and tiles. The interior is decorated with Morris carpets, fabrics and wallpapers, with furnishings also by Morris, and the garden complements the beauty of the house. From the start the house had electric power, originally generated by a donkey engine in a shed by the old barn. The house still has its original electric light fittings, designed by W. A. S. Benson.

After Beale's death in 1912, Margaret Beale continued to live at Standen. When she died in 1936, their unmarried daughter, Margaret, succeeded her, and after her death in 1947, Standen came into the possession of Helen, their youngest daughter, also unmarried. On Helen's death in 1972 the house passed by bequest to the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty.

Estate and garden
The estate was formed from three farms which the Beales purchased in 1890. The Beales started planting a  garden almost immediately after they had purchased the land, using the site of an 18th-century garden and orchard. In early 1891 trees were planted, a yew hedge established and the kitchen garden begun.

The Beales consulted a London landscape gardener, G.B. Simpson, who drew up a layout that assumed that the new house would be located on the line of the existing terrace. However, Webb suggested that it rather be placed further into the hillside. The proposed planting schemes were characterised by strict geometrical layouts of colourful flowerbeds and shrubs. Webb preferred something else, however: a mixture of natural styles combining old-fashioned formality and compartmentalised gardens. Webb also designed a number of elements in the garden.

The resulting Arts and Crafts garden used local materials for its formal elements, and loose plantings amongst yew hedges, trellis and pergolas, emphasising natural colour schemes and subtle combinations of colour and foliage.

Standen Wood
The National Trust acquired Standen Wood, originally part of the larger estate at the property, in 2001. The wood had been owned and managed as a nature reserve since the 1970s and is a haven for birds.

References

External links
Standen information at the National Trust
Standen Garden - designers and history
Standen House and Garden (YOSP)

Arts and Crafts architecture in England
Gardens in West Sussex
Country houses in West Sussex
East Grinstead
National Trust properties in West Sussex
1894 establishments in England
Victorian era
Historic house museums in West Sussex
Nature reserves in West Sussex
Houses decorated by Morris & Co.
Philip Webb buildings
Grade I listed buildings in West Sussex
Grade I listed houses
Houses completed in 1894

Standen


William Crooke (1848–1928) was a professional photographer with a studio in Edinburgh.
Two of the best-known portrait photographers in England [sic Britain], William Crooke of Edinburgh and Walter Barnett of London sailed on December 17 for a six weeks' tour of the United States, during which they plan to visit some of the leading professionals of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Pittsburg, St Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Rochester, Boston, and other places.

These gentlemen were asked by some of their American friends to bring collections of their portrait work.

Accordingly, Mr Crooke will have with him about sixty of his large pictures, made within the last few years, many of which have been shown at the exhibitions of the Royal Photographic Society and the Salon.

One of his subjects, Maude Hellman, commented, "He worked quickly and seemed interested in getting simple results in a striking way, however.  He has a trick of uttering half stifled exclamations of approval when he gets a pose that pleases him."

Crooke was an active member of The Photographic Convention of the United Kingdom (PCUK) and was elected its president for 1899.

Notes

Bibliography
British Journal of Photography 58 (1911): xxx–xxx.
The Practical Photographer 3 (1892): 105.
British Journal of Photography 29 (1882): 597.

External links

William Crooke — Edinburgh Photographic Society (EPS), official website, edited by Peter Stubbs
London Salon of Photography — official website

1848 births
1928 deaths
British portrait photographers
19th-century Scottish photographers

William Crooke (photographer)


Robert Edward Creech (26 September 1928 – 20 December 2019) was a Canadian french hornist, music educator, and arts administrator. He served as Director of the Canadian Music Council from 1975–1979 and Chairman of the Arts Advisory Council of the Canada Council from 1976-1978. In 1991, he was appointed the Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society.

Creech was Principal French Horn with numerous orchestras during his career, including the Victoria Symphony (1944–1946), the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (1949–1952), the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (1946–1948 and 1958–1974), the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra (1958–1976), and the Stratford Festival Orchestra (1964-1969). He also played with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1952–1955) and the CBC Symphony Orchestra (1955–1958). An active chamber musician, he notably performed and recorded with the Vancouver Woodwind Quintet from 1968–1976 and made recordings with the Baroque Strings and the Purcell String Quartet.

Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Creech attended the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Manitoba where he was an undergraduate and graduate student majoring in history and English. He was subsequently offered admission to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and studied french horn over a period of six years with Mason Jones, principal horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1959-1976, he taught on the music faculty of the University of British Columbia and from 1970-1985 he was Artistic and Executive Director of the Courtenay Youth Music Centre. During the 1960s, he was highly involved with the Vancouver Community Arts Council and was instrumental in helping establish the Vancouver Academy of Music where he occasionally taught classes. In 1973, he founded the music department at Vancouver Community College, serving as its Director through 1976. He was a Full Professor at the University of Western Ontario from 1976–1989 and served as the Vice-Principal of The Royal Conservatory of Music from 1987-1991.

Creech moved to Ireland in 1994 where he managed an international arts consultancy (Arts Services Partnership), which has prepared a number of extensive reports for the Canadian and British Columbia governments.  He was involved, as a volunteer, in music and arts projects in Ireland, including Summer Music on the Shannon/Summer Music in Galway.

He died on 20 December 2019 at the age of 91.

References

1928 births
2019 deaths
Canadian horn players
Curtis Institute of Music alumni
University of British Columbia alumni
University of Manitoba alumni
Academic staff of The Royal Conservatory of Music
Academic staff of the University of British Columbia
Academic staff of the Vancouver Academy of Music

Robert Creech


Raymond Larry Knight (June 15, 1922 – April 25, 1945) was a United States Army Air Forces officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.

Biography
Knight joined the Army Air Forces from Houston, Texas in October 1942, and by April 24, 1945, was a first lieutenant piloting a P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft. On that day and the following day, in the northern Po Valley, Italy, he repeatedly volunteered to lead attacks on enemy air bases and exposed his aircraft to intense hostile fire in low-altitude reconnaissance and strafing missions. During a mission on April 25, his airplane was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Knowing that his unit was short on aircraft, he decided against parachuting to safety and instead attempted to fly the Thunderbolt back to his home airbase, but crashed in the Apennine Mountains and was killed. For these actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor five months later, on September 24, 1945.

Knight, aged 22, died on April 25, 1945.  His remains were relocated to Houston National Cemetery on April 25, 1992.

Awards and decorations
His decorations include:

Medal of Honor citation
First Lieutenant Knight's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
He piloted a fighter-bomber aircraft in a series of low-level strafing missions, destroying 14 grounded enemy aircraft and leading attacks which wrecked 10 others during a critical period of the Allied drive in northern Italy. On the morning of 24 April, he volunteered to lead 2 other aircraft against the strongly defended enemy airdrome at Ghedi. Ordering his fellow pilots to remain aloft, he skimmed the ground through a deadly curtain of antiaircraft fire to reconnoiter the field, locating 8 German aircraft hidden beneath heavy camouflage. He rejoined his flight, briefed them by radio, and then led them with consummate skill through the hail of enemy fire in a low-level attack, destroying 5 aircraft, while his flight accounted for 2 others. Returning to his base, he volunteered to lead 3 other aircraft in reconnaissance of Bergamo airfield, an enemy base near Ghedi and 1 known to be equally well defended. Again ordering his flight to remain out of range of antiaircraft fire, 1st Lt. Knight flew through an exceptionally intense barrage, which heavily damaged his Thunderbolt, to observe the field at minimum altitude. He discovered a squadron of enemy aircraft under heavy camouflage and led his flight to the assault. Returning alone after this strafing, he made 10 deliberate passes against the field despite being hit by antiaircraft fire twice more, destroying 6 fully loaded enemy twin-engine aircraft and 2 fighters. His skillfully led attack enabled his flight to destroy 4 other twin-engine aircraft and a fighter plane. He then returned to his base in his seriously damaged plane. Early the next morning, when he again attacked Bergamo, he sighted an enemy plane on the runway. Again he led 3 other American pilots in a blistering low-level sweep through vicious antiaircraft fire that damaged his plane so severely that it was virtually nonflyable. Three of the few remaining enemy twin-engine aircraft at that base were destroyed. Realizing the critical need for aircraft in his unit, he declined to parachute to safety over friendly territory and unhesitatingly attempted to return his shattered plane to his home field. With great skill and strength, he flew homeward until caught by treacherous air conditions in the Appennines Mountains [sic], where he crashed and was killed. The gallant action of 1st Lt. Knight eliminated the German aircraft which were poised to wreak havoc on Allied forces pressing to establish the first firm bridgehead across the Po River; his fearless daring and voluntary self-sacrifice averted possible heavy casualties among ground forces and the resultant slowing on the German drive culminated in the collapse of enemy resistance in Italy.

See also

List of Medal of Honor recipients
List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II

References

1922 births
1945 deaths
United States Army Air Forces personnel killed in World War II
United States Army Air Forces Medal of Honor recipients
United States Army Air Forces officers
United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II
Burials at Houston National Cemetery
Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)
World War II recipients of the Medal of Honor
Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Italy
Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1945
Military personnel from Houston
Aviators from Texas
Recipients of the Air Medal

Raymond L. Knight


Bermet Askarevna Akayeva (Kyrgyz: Бермет Аскаревна Акаева; born June 3, 1972, in Leningrad) is a Kyrgyz politician and former MP. She is the daughter of ousted former President of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akayev. She graduated from the Frunze physics and mathematics school in 1989, studied at the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, Moscow State University from 1989 to 1992 and at the Business School of Lausanne from 1992 to 1994. After receiving her MBA in 1994 she worked in the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva as a legal assistant. In 2000, she moved to Kyrgyzstan and became involved in business there.

Bermet Akayeva ran for Parliament during the 2005 legislative election. Roza Otunbayeva, a leading opposition figure, was deregistered from the same district where Akayeva was running. The 'Alga, Kyrgyzstan' Party led by Akayeva was accused of numerous machinations and falsifications during the elections.  After fleeing during the Tulip Revolution, Bermet Akayeva returned to the Parliament on April 14, 2005, meeting a protest of around 100 people. They accused her of attempting to stir up tensions within the nation. However, Edil Baisalov of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society said her return demonstrated that she was ready to take "responsibility for numerous machinations, political as well as economic, which turned the fate of our country into a playground for the Akayev family." Bolotbek Maripov, who lost to Akayeva in a disputed parliament seat, said that her return showed courage. "I'm glad that there's at least one man in the Akayev family," he added. However, on May 16 her mandate was revoked by the Central Election Commission of Kyrgyzstan. They had undertaken an investigation into voting in Akayeva's district and ruled that the elections in the area were illegitimate.

In early August 2007, Akayeva, who had won a parliamentary mandate in by-elections in Kemin, was charged with "obstruction of justice, contempt of court, and stealing, destroying, damaging or concealing documents, stamps or seals" in connection with rioting that occurred in Chuy Province in the north of the country in April 2007.

References

External links
 Bermet Akayeva at Radio Free Europe

1972 births
Living people
Kyrgyzstani politicians
Moscow State University alumni
21st-century Kyrgyzstani women politicians
21st-century Kyrgyzstani politicians
Kyrgyzstani legislators
Children of presidents

Bermet Akayeva


The Richard Wall house, built 1682, is a historic home in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.  It had continuous Wall family residency for over 150 years, having been in the Wall family and its descendants through 1847. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as "Wall House" also known as "The Ivy".

The home has undergone numerous renovations, with a section of basement wall being the only original construction remaining.  The site of religious meetings and weddings, it is also among the earliest places of Quaker worship still standing in the United States. It is now a museum located at Church Road and Wall Park Drive in Elkins Park.

History
Richard Wall was a founder of Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania. He arrived with William Penn's group of Quakers in 1682. He and fourteen others pooled their land purchases to create the township. They named the township for the main town in Gloucestershire, England, where they apparently originated.

The Wall family was joined in marriage by the Shoemaker family. The families owned a corn grist mill on Tacony Creek. Descendants of the Walls lived in the house until 1847, followed by the Bosler family. In 1932 the township acquired the house and surrounding lands for  "Wall Park."  The house was rented from 1932 to 1979.  Harold C. Pike, (township manager) moved in 1941 and resided there until his death in 1978.  Since 1980 the house has been managed by the Cheltenham Township Historical Commission, which opened the museum and orientation center in 1993.

An original section of masonry wall can be seen in the current basement. The house was redesigned in 1730, 1760, and 1805. Later renovations added running water and electricity.

The permanent exhibits display elements of life during more than two hundred years of residence. Highlights include a fully furnished and electrified,  doll house created before 1920; and a collection of over 100 antique tools.

See also
List of the oldest buildings in Pennsylvania
List of the oldest buildings in the United States

References

Further reading
 Rothschild, Elaine W., A History of Cheltenham Township. Pennsylvania: Cheltenham Township Historical Commission, 1976.

External links

Richard Wall House Museum at CheltenhamTownship.org
Slideshow of The Richard Wall House by Russell Heimlich

Houses completed in 1682
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
Museums in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Historic house museums in Pennsylvania
Houses in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania
National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
1682 establishments in Pennsylvania

Richard Wall house


It Takes Two is a 1995 American film starring Kirstie Alley, Steve Guttenberg, Jeremy London and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Its title is taken from the song of the same name, by Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston, which is played in the closing credits.

Plot
Two unrelated young girls who happen to look identical meet by chance. Amanda Lemmon is an orphan, and she is about to be adopted by the Butkises, a family known to "collect" kids. She actually wants her child-loving social worker, Diane Barrows, to adopt her instead. Diane would like to do so, but authorities will not let her because of her low salary and unmarried status. Alyssa Callaway is coming home from her school piano recital competition, only to find that her wealthy father, Roger, is about to marry Clarice Kensington, an overbearing self-centered gold-digger socialite who plans to send both Alyssa and Thomas off to boarding school in Tibet after marrying Roger.

The identical strangers long for the other's life and decide to switch places, Alyssa and Amanda tell Thomas not to tell anyone about the two switching places and he agrees. While Amanda enjoys Alyssa's wealthy lifestyle and Alyssa gets to experience being a kid at summer camp, the two get to know the other's parental figure and discover that Roger and Diane would be perfect for each other. Desperate to set them up, the girls arrange many "chance" meetings between Diane and Roger, hoping that they fall in love.

Upon having spied Roger and Diane laughing and swimming together in a lake one afternoon, Clarice manipulates Roger into moving the wedding up from the next month to the next day. Soon after, Alyssa, while posing as Amanda, ends up being adopted by the Butkises without Diane's knowledge, and is taken away by child services. Alyssa discovers the only reason the Butkises had adopted so many kids was to put them to work in their salvage yard.

Roughly two hours before the wedding, Amanda, who poses as Alyssa, proves to the family butler, Vincenzo, that she is not Alyssa. He contacts Diane and summons to have the real Alyssa picked up from the Butkises' salvage yard. In the meantime, Vincenzo, Thomas and Amanda work to stall the wedding.

Just as Roger is about to say "I do," Diane bursts into the church with the real Alyssa behind her, and Roger falters at the sight of Diane, recalling all the good times they had together. In that moment, he realises he has fallen in love with Diane and confesses this to Clarice. Furious, she slaps him and tries to do the same to "Alyssa," blaming her for sabotaging their relationship, but is stopped by Vincenzo and Thomas. As Clarice storms down the aisle, the real Alyssa steps out from behind Diane, and Clarice claims it's a "conspiracy" that there's "two of them." She tries to take this new opportunity to slap Alyssa, but Diane steps forward in time, barking at her to "Back off, Barbie," and calmly informs her that she has something in her teeth. Humiliated, Clarice moves to storm out of the church again, but Alyssa embarrasses her even further by stepping on her wedding gown, causing the skirt to rip off.

An incredulous Roger learns that Alyssa has been with Diane all this time and it becomes apparent to them that Thomas, Amanda and Alyssa had orchestrated their meet-ups all along, about which the girls are extremely smug. After some encouragement from the girls and Thomas, Roger and Diane kiss, and the five of them board a horse-drawn carriage, driven by Vincenzo, to take a ride through Central Park.

Characters
 Diane Barrows (Kirstie Alley) is a social worker who takes care of the orphans. She especially loves Amanda and would like to adopt her but does not make enough money to be allowed to do so. Alyssa also especially likes her. She also wants to find love and thinks she might have a chance after meeting Roger.
 Roger Callaway (Steve Guttenberg) is a very wealthy widower. He owns Camp Callaway, which he founded with his late wife, and currently resides in a large home across the lake from it. He begins to have doubts about marrying Clarice after he meets Diane and they click.
 Amanda Lemmon/Betty Butkis (Mary-Kate Olsen) is an orphan. She loves to play stickball. She has the idea for herself and Alyssa to switch places for a couple of days.
 Alyssa Callaway (Ashley Olsen) is a rich girl and the younger sister of Thomas Callaway and the second child of Roger Callaway, the owner of Camp Callaway, the summer camp for the orphans. She is a prize-winning pianist and an equestrienne. She thinks her father's fiancée, Clarice Kensington, seems nice until she overhears her saying rude things about the house and her mother. She attends Camp Callaway after switching places with Amanda.
 Thomas Callaway (Jeremy London) is the older brother of Alyssa Callaway and the first child of Roger Callaway.
 Vincenzo (Philip Bosco) is Roger's butler, best friend, and right-hand man as well as a father figure to Alyssa since the day she was born.
 Clarice Kensington (Jane Sibbett) is a socialite and gold digger, the opposite of Diane. She dislikes children and baseball and only intends to marry Roger for his money. She also convinces him that Alyssa is too spoiled and gets away with bad behavior.
 Harry (Ernie Grunwald) and Fanny Butkis (Ellen-Ray Henessy) are Amanda's potential adoptive parents. Although she wants to be adopted, she dislikes them, having heard that they "collect kids" and will "take anybody".  They have several adopted children and a biological son, Harry, Jr. (Dov Tiefenbach).

Other characters
 Carmen (Michelle Grisom), Amanda's closest friend at the orphanage
 Frankie (Desmond Robertson), Amanda's friend at the orphanage, who makes fun of her for being adopted by the Butkises
 Tiny (Tiny Mills)
 Patty (Shanelle Henry)
 Anthony (Anthony Aiello)
 Wanda (La Tonya Borsay)
 Michelle (Michelle Lonsdale-Smith)
 Jerry (Sean Orr)
 Emily (Elizabeth Walsh)
 Blue Team Kid (Michael Vollans)
 Bernard Louffier (Paul O'Sullivan)
 Mr. Kensington (Lawrence Dane)
 St. Bart's Priest (Gerrard Parkes)
 Muffy Bilderberg (Gina Clayton)
 Craig Bilderberg (Doug O'Keefe)
 Waiter at Party (Mark Huisman)
 Miss Van Dyke (Marilyn Boyle)
 Brenda Butkis (Annick Obonsawin)
 Billy Butkis (Austin Pool)
 Bobby Butkis (Andre Lorant)
 Airport Tractor Driver (Philip Williams)
 Butkises' Neighbor (Vito Rezza)

References

1995 comedy movies
American comedy movies
Movies set in New York City
Movies directed by Andy Tennant

It Takes Two


The "North Dakota Hymn" is the regional anthem (or "state song") of the U.S. state of North Dakota. It was written by a poet named James Foley in 1926 in such a way that it could be sung along with the tune of "The Austrian Hymn". C. S. Putman arranged the music with distinct ragtime syncopation.

Lyrics
North Dakota, North Dakota,
With thy prairies wide and free,
All thy sons and daughters love thee,
Fairest state from sea to sea;
North Dakota, North Dakota,
Here we pledge ourselves to thee.

Hear thy loyal children singing,
Songs of happiness and praise,
Far and long the echoes ringing,
Through the vastness of thy ways;
North Dakota, North Dakota,
We will serve thee all our days.

Onward, onward, onward going,
Light of courage in thine eyes,
Sweet the winds above thee blowing,
Green thy fields and fair thy skies;
North Dakota, North Dakota,
Brave the Soul that in thee lies.

God of freedom, all victorious,
Give us Souls serene and strong,
Strength to make the future glorious,
Keep the echo of our song;
North Dakota, North Dakota,
In our hearts forever long.

1920s songs
United States state songs
North Dakota

North Dakota Hymn


The Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid) is the official home of the King of Spain. It is located in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest palaces in western Europe.

King Felipe V had the palace built to replace the Alcazar that was burned down. It is made of limestone and granite. It was supposed to look a little like the Palace of Versailles in France. Juan Bautista Sachetti was in charge of building the palace. They started to build it in 1738. Carlos III moved into the palace in 1764. It took a hundred years to decorate all the rooms.

Spanish kings lived there until 1931 when King Alfonso XIII was forced to leave Spain. The Royal Palace is still used for special ceremonies. Letizia was supposed to walk on a red carpet from the Royal Palace to the cathedral for the wedding with Prince Felipe but it rained so she was taken in car.

Fifty of the rooms in the palace are open for public visits. Visitors enter the palace from the Plaza de la Armería. Some of the rooms that can be seen are: the 'porcelain' room, 'throne' room and 'clock' room. There is a royal army museum in the palace.

Location
The Almudena Cathedral is nearby the palace.

The Royal Alcazar of Madrid was originally on the site.

References

Palaces in Spain
Buildings and structures in Madrid

Royal Palace of Madrid


Kawaiisu traditional narratives include myths, legends, tales, and oral histories preserved by the Kawaiisu people of the Tehachapi Mountains, southern Sierra Nevada, and western Mojave Desert of southern California.

Kawaiisu oral literature has been documented by Maurice Zigmond. These narratives show their closest links with the traditions of other Numic-speaking groups of the Great Basin. (See also Traditional narratives (Native California).)

References
 Zigmond, Maurice. 1977. "The Supernatural World of the Kawaiisu". In Flowers of the Wind: Papers on Ritual, Myth and Symbolism in California and the Southwest, edited by Thomas C. Blackburn, pp. 59-95. Ballena Press, Socorro, New Mexico. (Several incidental references to traditional narratives later presented in Zigmond 1980.)
 Zigmond, Maurice. 1982. Kawaiisu Mythology: An Oral Tradition of South-Central California. Ballena Press Anthropological Papers No. 18. Menlo Park, California. (Narratives collected by Theodore D. McCown in 1929, Stephen C. Cappannari in 1947-1949, and Zigmond in 1936-1940 and 1970-1974, with comparisons to Chemehuevi and other myths.)

Traditional narratives (Native California)
History of the Mojave Desert region
History of the Sierra Nevada (United States)

Kawaiisu traditional narratives


Rapidan is a small unincorporated community in the Virginia counties of Culpeper and Orange, approximately 5 miles (8 km) northeast of the Town of Orange. The community, located on both sides of the Rapidan River, was established in the late eighteenth century around the Waugh's Ford mill. The Orange and Alexandria Railroad built a line through the town in 1854, a post office was built at the river crossing, and its name was changed to Rapid Ann Station. Milling remained a major industry in the area up through the mid-twentieth century.

Its strategic location along both a railroad and a river brought about several destructive raids during the Civil War. Willis's mill (ca. 1772), which stood in the location of the current mill, was burned along with several homes and other structures, although the miller's house remained. The village of Rapid Ann Station resumed its prominence as a regional shipping point after the railroad was rebuilt following the Civil War, particularly for lumber and wood products. Its name was changed once again in 1886 to the present-day Rapidan.

In 1987, the Rapidan Historic District, encompassing 35 contributing buildings and 3 noncontributing buildings within 182 acres (74 ha), was designated a National Historic District, added to both the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Contributing buildings include the Waddell Memorial Presbyterian Church, listed separately on the VLR and NRHP. Although not within the Rapidan Historic District, the community of Rapidan is also home to an eighteenth-century middle-class farmhouse known as Locust Grove (also known as Goodwin Farm), which was listed on the VLR and NRHP in 1985.

The community and surrounding counties are served by the Rapidan Volunteer Fire Department, officially formed in 1978.

Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.  According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Rapidan has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

See also
Rapidan Passenger Depot
Battle of Brandy Station

References

Unincorporated communities in Virginia
Unincorporated communities in Culpeper County, Virginia

Rapidan, Virginia


Computability theory is part of computer science. Scientists want to know what can be computed, and what can not.

There is a model of a computer that is used for this. It is called the Turing machine. A Turing machine basically is a special typewriter with an endless ribbon. The machine is named after the mathematician Alan Turing.

A problem is computable if it can be expressed in such a way that a Turing machine can solve it.

One of the best known examples is the Halting problem. The task is to write a program which says for all programs whether they will finally stop. This is impossible to decide. Mathematicians say the problem is undecidable.

Theoretical computer science

Computability theory


Steve O'Rourke ( – ) was an English music manager and racing driver. He is known for being the manager of Pink Floyd, a position he held from 1968 until his death. Among his accomplishments was negotiating Pink Floyd's split with bass player and main songwriter Roger Waters.

Life and Pink Floyd manager
O'Rourke's father, Tommy O'Rourke, was a fisherman on the Aran Islands off the West of Ireland. He travelled to London for the premiere of the Robert Flaherty documentary film, Man of Aran, in which he appeared as a shark hunter. He settled in London, where Steve was born in the suburb of Willesden.

O'Rourke trained as an accountant and went to work with Bryan Morrison Agency, which became a part of NEMS Enterprises, as a junior agent and book keeper. Initially O'Rourke booked gigs for Pink Floyd, while the band was managed by Peter Jenner and Andrew King. When Pink Floyd parted company with Syd Barrett in 1968, King and Jenner remained with Barrett, and O'Rourke took over managing the band. In the early 1970s, O'Rourke left NEMS, and founded his own company, EMKA Productions, named after his first daughter Emma Kate. (O'Rourke subsequently fathered another daughter and three sons).

O'Rourke suffered a stroke and died in Miami, Florida, in 2003. His funeral service was held on 14 November 2003 at Chichester Cathedral in Sussex, England, where, as a tribute, Pink Floyd members David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason performed together in public for the first time since October 1994. They played "Fat Old Sun" and "The Great Gig in the Sky", with Dick Parry playing the saxophone as he followed the coffin.

David Gilmour's 2006 solo album On an Island was dedicated to O'Rourke's memory (as well as memories of tour manager Tony Howard and arranger/orchestrator Michael Kamen). Nick Mason's book Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd was also dedicated to O'Rourke.

Racing career
O'Rourke also built a highly successful parallel career as an enthusiastic gentleman racing driver – a lifelong passion which he shared with the Floyd's drummer Nick Mason and, to a lesser extent, with David Gilmour. He adored historic racing with cars of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

His ambition to compete at the Le Mans 24 Hours was realised in 1979 when he finished twelfth in his Ferrari 512 BB. He returned to Le Mans in 1980, but after a tire exploded at nearly  on the Mulsanne Straight, O'Rourke bought the spare tail of a retired sister Ferrari in the pit lane to finish. His car completed the race wearing green forward bodywork and a red tail.

In 1981 he founded EMKA Racing and began competition in a BMW M1 with Derek Bell. For Le Mans he was joined by David Hobbs and Eddie Jordan. O'Rourke left the circuit on the night of the race to oversee a Pink Floyd concert in London, then flew back the next morning and jumped straight into the car for another two-hour driving stint.

In 1982 he contested two rounds of the British Formula One Championship.

His team later became supported by Aston Martin and he assisted in the construction of a Group C sportscar for Le Mans in 1983. The car saw success by 1985, when it briefly led the 24-Hours in the hands of co-driver Tiff Needell and finished ahead of the works-backed Jaguars, to O'Rourke's great amusement. However, the team folded soon after when Aston Martin left the project.

In 1991 he and David Gilmour co-drove a Jaguar C-Type in the PanAmerican retro race through Mexico, surviving a dramatic crash with only a broken leg. The events were covered in La Carrera Panamericana—a film about the race, which included a soundtrack of previously released tracks and new tracks from Pink Floyd.

In 1991 he resurrected EMKA Racing and begin varied participation in the British GT Championship, BPR Global GT Series and FIA GT Championship. He earned the British GT GT2 class drivers championship with co-driver Tim Sugden in 1997, then again in the GT1 class in 1998. However O'Rourke's greatest racing success came while co-driving a McLaren F1 GTR at Le Mans with Tim Sugden and Bill Auberlen to finish fourth overall. Having saved money by refusing the costly update pack for the McLaren, O'Rourke typically spent as much again on a huge party for all concerned in the EMKA team's success.

From 2000 O'Rourke concentrated on the FIA GT Championship driving an until he was forced to retire from driving for health reasons; he then presided over the drivers Tim Sugden, Martin Short and factory Porsche driver Emmanuel Collard as they won at Pergusa and Anderstorp. Porsche responded by offering racing assistance to the EMKA factory for the 2004 season, to the delight of O'Rourke.

O'Rourke's death soon after the end of the 2003 season led to the shutdown of EMKA Racing.

Other artists

Other artists managed by O'Rourke include:
Chris Thomas, record producer
Kokomo, band
Heath Lefke, production manager

References

External links
 Steve O'Rourke obituary, The Telegraph

English music managers
1940 births
2003 deaths
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
British GT Championship drivers
People from Willesden
World Sportscar Championship drivers
English people of Irish descent
English racing drivers
English Formula One drivers
British Formula One Championship drivers
Pink Floyd
20th-century English businesspeople

Steve O'Rourke


Jafar is an evil character and the main antagonist of Disney's Aladdin movies. He is played by Jonathan Freeman in the 1992 movie and musical.

His life
Jafar was born in someplace of Arabia, most likely in the kingdom Agrabah.  Because he was ugly and poor, he was not happy for many years. Once, Jafar found a baston that can hypnotize people. Jafar use it to brainwash the Sultan. He became Agrabah's vizier and moved into the palace. One day, at the market, Jafar met the parrot Iago and they became friends. The two planned to take the Sultan's treasure but they found something better: a magic lamp. Inside the lamp was a genie who granted wishes. Jafar use his first wish to become the Sultan. When the royal family refused to bow to him, Jafar made a wish to become a powerful wizard. Jafar took control of Agrabah and decided to decorate the palace. He painted the throne room red and filled it with gold. He also replaced the throne which was in the shape of an elephant into a throne shaped like a snake.  Because of Jafar's bad luck, Aladdin defeated him and ended his plans for power. He returns in the sequel of the first Aladdin in Aladdin, Return of Jafar.

Aladdin (Disney) characters
Fictional Arabs
Fictional demons and devils
Fictional characters introduced in 1992
Kingdom Hearts characters

Jafar (Disney)


Up for Grabs is a 2004 comedic documentary about two men who fought over custody of a baseball. It is based on a real-life incident surrounding a record-setting Barry Bonds home run, where the ball was contested in the property law case of Popov v. Hayashi. It was directed and produced by Michael Wranovics.

Plot
The ball happened to be the one hit by San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds for his record-setting 73rd home run at the end of the 2001 MLB season.  When the ball landed in the right-field bleachers at what was then PacBell Park (San Francisco), there was a mad scramble for the precious ball, bodies piled up on the walkway above McCovey Cove. Patrick Hayashi, who stood quietly with a sheepish grin on his face as the scrum continued, eventually held the historic ball up for a TV camera to reveal that he had possession of it. MLB and Giants security grabbed Mr. Hayashi and escorted him down to the bowels of the ballpark and authenticated his baseball as the true #73.

As Hayashi prepared to be the next Bay Area millionaire, a man named Alex Popov, owner of Smart Alec's restaurant in Berkeley, California, was complaining loudly that he had caught the ball on the fly and that Patrick had stolen the ball from him at the bottom of the pile. Video footage shot by KNTV news cameraman Josh Keppel did actually show the ball land in Popov's glove, providing the key evidence that led to a trial in San Francisco Superior Court.

While the 88-minute film does tell the story from the moment the ball leaves Barry Bonds' bat all the way through the trial and to the dramatic auction where the ball was finally sold to the highest bidder, the film is more of a satire than a serious examination of what actually happened and who ultimately deserved the ball. Inspired by the mockumentary films of Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, etc.), Up for Grabs focuses on the characters involved rather than the event itself.

Awards
Up for Grabs won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival, plus Best Documentary at the Gen Art Film Festival (New York) and the Phoenix Film Festival. Its Rotten Tomatoes critical "Fresh" rating is 93%.

MLB Advanced Media released the DVD during the 2007 MLB season - which coincides with Barry Bonds' successful pursuit of Hank Aaron's lifetime home run record. Bonds hit his 756th career HR on August 7, 2007.

The film was nominated for the William Shatner Golden Groundhog Award for Best Underground Movie, other nominated films were Lexi Alexander's Green Street Hooligans, Neil Gaiman's and Dave McKean's MirrorMask, Rodrigo García's Nine Lives, and Opie Gets Laid.

See also
 List of baseball films

References

External links

Rotten Tomatoes
Up for Grabs Boston Globe Review

2004 films
2004 comedy films
2004 documentary films
2000s sports films
American sports documentary films
Documentary films about baseball
American baseball films
Documentary films about fandom
American mockumentary films
2000s mockumentary films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films

Up for Grabs (film)


West Ham is an area of East London, located  east of Charing Cross. The place name can apply to a large district forming the western part of the modern London Borough of Newham, or simply to the central locality of that district. Neither the wider nor the central district are current administrative units but there is a West Ham electoral ward covering part of the central area. West Ham lies within the traditional boundaries of the county of Essex. It became part of the London Borough of Newham in 1965.

Related pages
 West Ham station
 West Ham United F.C.

West Ham


Badimalika Temple is a Hindu temple. It is located in Triveni Municipality, Bajura district of Sudurpashchim Province. It is one of the major temples in Nepal. It is dedicated to Bhagwati. Malika Chaturdashi is its major festival. It is served by two priests, one representing the Kalikot district, and the other Bajura district .

Story

According to Hindu legend, when Sati Devi's father Daksha Prajapati was performing a yagya, he invited all the Gods except Mahadev to the ceremony. Sati went to her father's yagya ceremony and asked him why he had not invited her husband. Daksha Prajapati answered that Mahadev drank alcohol, smoked ganja, slept in cemeteries, wore a serpent around his neck, had dreadlocks, covered his body with ash, and wore tiger hide, hence he was unsuitable to attend such an important yagya. Unable to tolerate this insult to her husband, Sati jumped into the yagya fire and gave up her life.

Mahadev was so angered by her death that he sent Birbhadra and Bhoot gana to kill Daksha Prajapati and destroy the yagya. After exacting his vengeance, Mahadev started to mourn his wife. Mahadev traveled across the world carrying Sati's corpse. During this time, Vishnu released his Sudarshan chakra and wounded Sati's body so that it could be infested by insects and rot. As Sati's body started to disintegrate, the ground on which her body parts fell became Shakti Peethas, places of worship. In this process, her left shoulder fell on the Mallagiri mountain. Mallagiri was then referred to as Malika.

References

Hindu temples in Sudurpashchim Province
Buildings and structures in Bajura District

Badimalika Temple


The Pillowman is a 2003 play by British-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. It received its first public reading in an early version at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 1995, also a final and completed version of the play was publicly read in 1998 and then finished and released as a book in some places in 1999. Production started in 2000 for the eventual 2003 performance. It tells the tale of Katurian, a fiction writer living in a police state, who is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of bizarre child murders occurring in his town. The play received the 2004 Olivier Award for Best New Play, the 2004-5 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best New Foreign Play, and two Tony Awards for production. It was nominated for the 2004 Evening Standard Award for Best New Play.

Summary
Katurian, a writer of short stories that often depict violence against children, has been arrested by two detectives, Ariel and Tupolski, because some of his stories resemble recent child murders. When he hears that his brother Michal has confessed to the murders and implicated Katurian, he resigns himself to being executed but attempts to save his stories from destruction. The play contains both narrations and reenactments of several of Katurian's stories, including the autobiographical "The Writer and the Writer's Brother", which tells how Katurian developed his disturbed imagination by hearing the sounds of Michal being tortured by their parents.

Characters
 Katurian
 A writer of gruesome short stories often involving children. His disturbed imagination was the result of having heard his brother being abused when they were younger. Consequently, he killed his parents and looked after his brother. He is shocked by his arrest.
 Michal
 Katurian's brother, who is "slow to get things" following his years of abuse at the hands of his parents. He is also taken into jail along with Katurian.
 Tupolski
 The lead detective and the "good cop" in the interrogation. Cold and uncaring, he sees himself as detached from the people he aims to save, shocking his younger partner Ariel.
 Ariel
 A brutal and violent detective who has a vendetta against anyone who commits crimes against children because of abuse in his own past. He ends up being more sympathetic toward Katurian and his stories than Tupolski is.
 Father and Mother
 The parents of the young Katurian in "The Writer and The Writer's Brother," and the parents/foster parents of the girl in "The Little Jesus."
 A Boy and a Girl
 The protagonists of "The Writer and The Writer's Brother" and "The Little Jesus" respectively.

Plot

Act I
Ariel and Tupolski interrogate Katurian in a police room, adopting a good cop/bad cop routine with Ariel happily playing the bad cop. At first Katurian does not know why he is being questioned, and thinks he is under suspicion of running political messages against the totalitarian dictatorship through his stories. The detectives and Katurian discuss grisly stories involving children. Ariel leaves the room, and soon after Michal is heard screaming in the next room. Ariel returns, his hand covered in blood from apparently torturing Michal, and tells Katurian that Michal has just confessed to killing three children, in association with Katurian. The first two children were murdered according to the patterns of the stories "The Little Apple Men" and "The Tale of the Town on the River." Katurian denies the allegations, stating that although his stories are gruesome it is the job of a storyteller to tell a story.

In his own narrative, Katurian describes being raised by loving parents who encouraged him to write, and for many years he wrote very happy stories. However, at night he began to hear sounds of torture from the next room, and as a result he began to write more disturbing stories. One night, a note is slipped under the door, claiming that Katurian's brother has been tortured nightly for seven years as part of an artistic experiment to get Katurian to become a great writer. Katurian breaks down the door, only to find his parents, who were playing a trick on him, pretending to be torturing a child. However, when Katurian returns years later, he discovers his brother's dead body hidden under the mattress, clutching the manuscript of a beautiful story, better than any of Katurian's, which Katurian burns. Katurian interrupts his narrative to say that this ending was fabricated when he wrote the story: when he broke down the door, he found Michal still alive. Katurian smothered his parents with a pillow that very night in vengeance for his disabled brother and the abuse he suffered.

Act II
Katurian and Michal are together in a cell, Katurian just having been tortured. Michal reveals that he had not been tortured, but rather cooperated entirely with Ariel, even screaming when Ariel asked him to. At Michal's request, Katurian tells him the story of "The Pillowman", about a man made of pillows who convinces children to kill themselves so they can be spared a horrible future. Michal admits to having killed the children, claiming that Katurian told him to do it through his stories. Michal says that he murdered the third child after hearing Katurian's story "The Little Jesus", one of his most violent. Michal tells Katurian that he had read the written version of "The Writer and the Writer's Brother", and resented the changes from their lives, wishing that Katurian had written a happy ending for the two brothers. Katurian lulls Michal to sleep by telling him one of his happier stories, "The Little Green Pig", then smothers him to save him the pain of being executed. Katurian calls to the detectives, announcing his intention to confess to the crimes on the condition that his stories are preserved.

Katurian tells the others the story of "The Little Jesus", which was thought to inspire the third murder. A young girl believes that she is the second coming of Jesus, and blesses unsavory characters, to the dismay of her parents and annoyance of others. When her parents are killed in a horrific accident, she is sent to live with abusive foster parents. Annoyed by her pretensions, the foster parents crucify her and bury her alive so that she might rise again in three days, but she does not.

Act III
Katurian writes out a false confession and adds the names of his mother and father to the list of people he has killed. When Katurian sees how eager Ariel is to torture him, he guesses that Ariel was sexually abused by his father. Before Ariel can begin the torture, Tupolski tells them that the third child might still be alive and Ariel leaves to find her. When Ariel returns with the girl, she is not injured but covered with green paint, revealing that Michal had not reenacted the story of "The Little Jesus" but "The Little Green Pig." It is apparent to Ariel and Tupolski that Katurian was unaware of this and therefore could not have murdered the children like he confessed, but they decide to execute him anyway for murdering his parents and vow to destroy his stories. Before Ariel can execute him, Katurian tells them about the torture Michal suffered in order for Katurian to become a better writer. Tupolski shows no empathy and shoots Katurian in the head. Left alone with Katurian's stories, Ariel decides not to burn them.

Katurian's stories
 "The Little Apple Men"
 Told briefly in Act 1 scene 1, and re-enacted in the first child murder. A young girl, whose father mistreats her, carves a set of little men out of apples. She gives them to her father, telling him to save them rather than eat them. He scoffs at her, and eats several. The apple has razor blades inside, which kill the father. At night the remaining apple men accuse the girl of killing their brothers, and jump down her throat to kill her.
 "The Three Gibbet Crossroads"
 Told in Act 1 scene 1, A man wakes up in an iron gibbet, aware that he has committed the crime he is being punished for, but unaware of what the crime was. He sees two other gibbets, one marked Murderer and the other marked Rapist. Several people come by who have sympathy for the murderer and the rapist, but express disgust for the first man after reading the sign that identifies his crime. Still ignorant of his crime, the man is shot by a highwayman.
 "The Tale of the Town on the River"
 Told in Act 1 scene 1, and reenacted in the second murder. A young boy, mistreated by his parents, offers a strange dark rider a piece of his meal. Touched, the rider presents him a gift: he chops off the child's toes. The conclusion of the story relates that the rider was the Pied Piper on his way to Hamelin to take away the children. Since he crippled the boy, the latter could not keep up with the other children, and was the only child in town to survive.
 "The Pillowman"
 Told in Act 2 scene 1, The Pillowman visits people on the verge of suicide because of the tortured lives they have suffered. He travels back in time to the person's childhood and convinces them to commit suicide, thereby avoiding the life of suffering. This task saddens the Pillowman, however, and he decides to visit his own younger self, who readily commits suicide. This relieves the Pillowman's sadness, but also causes all the children he saved to live out their miserable lives and eventually die alone.
 "The Little Green Pig"
 Told in Act 2 scene 1, Katurian's most juvenile story, but also the only one devoid of violence. A green pig, who enjoys his peculiar colouring, is mocked by the other pigs. The farmers use a special permanent paint to make the pig pink just like all the others. The pig prays to God to keep his peculiarity, and can not understand why God ignored his prayers. Soon after, however, a magic green rain falls that makes all the other pigs green, and since the little pig retains his pink colour, he is once again "a little bit peculiar".
 "The Little Jesus"
 Reenacted in Act 2 scene 2, and originally thought to be the source for the third murder. A young girl believes that she is the second coming of Jesus, and goes about blessing unsavory characters, to the dismay of her parents and the annoyance of others. When her parents are killed in a horrific accident, she is sent to live with abusive foster parents. Annoyed with her pretensions of divinity, the foster parents complete her performance of Jesus' life by torturing her, crucifying her, and burying her alive so that she might rise again in three days. She does not, but three days later a man walks through the woods close to the girl's grave. He fails to hear the scratching of her nails on the wood on her coffin, and does not see the fresh grave because – like a man the girl tried to heal – he is blind.
 "The Writer and the Writer's Brother"
 This story is partially autobiographical. A boy, raised by loving parents who encouraged him to write, wrote happy stories for many years. Then, at night, he begins hearing sounds of torture from the next room, and as a result he began to write more disturbing stories. One night, a note is slipped under the door, claiming that the boy's brother has been tortured nightly for seven years as part of an artistic experiment to get the boy to become a great writer. He kicks in the door, only to find his parents, who were playing a trick on him, just pretending to be torturing a child. However, when he returns years later, he discovers his brother's dead body hidden under the mattress, clutching the manuscript of a beautiful story, better than any of his, which he burns. Later in Act 2 Katurian tells Michal that in the story, the character Michal was the true "writer" of the title, whereas his own character was merely the brother.
 "The Shakespeare Room"
 Michal mentions this story to illustrate the fact that Katurian's work, in general, tends to be dark and twisted. Unlike the others, it is not narrated, acted out, or summarized in great detail. Michal gives the following brief synopsis of the story: instead of being the literary genius the world thinks him to be, William Shakespeare does not pen his own plays; instead, whenever he wants something written, he jabs a little pygmy woman whom he keeps in a box and she, in turn, composes a play for him (Shakespeare takes the credit). This narrative was explored further by McDonagh in A Very Very Very Dark Matter, where Hans Christian Andersen takes the place of Shakespeare.
 "The Face Basement"
 An unnamed, sadistic character chops off the faces of his (undescribed) victims, puts them in a jar, and keeps them in his basement. As with "The Shakespeare Room", this story is mentioned by Michal only in passing.

Inspiration
The Pillowman stemmed in part from McDonagh's experience composing fairy tales, with names such as "The Chair and the Wolfboy", "The Short Fellow and the Strange Frog", and "The Violin and the Drunken Angel", early in his writing career. Attempting to rewrite fairy tales he remembered from childhood, he realized that "there's something dark about them that doesn't quite come through." In a conversation with Irish drama critic Fintan O'Toole in BOMB Magazine in 1998, McDonagh retold the Brothers Grimm version of Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf's stomach is filled with rocks and sewn with green wire, leading to the wolf's death. McDonagh's comment – "I would love to write something as horrific as that if I could" – indicates a potential inspiration for the story "The Little Apple Men" in The Pillowman.

Music
The original London and Broadway productions of the show featured music composed by Paddy Cunneen.

Notable productions

The play received its first public reading in an early version at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 1995 in a season that included Shopping and Fucking by Mark Ravenhill. It premiered on 13 November 2003 at the Royal National Theatre, directed by John Crowley. The original production starred David Tennant as Katurian,  Jim Broadbent as Tupolski, Nigel Lindsay as Ariel and Adam Godley as Michal  The play opened on Broadway on 10 April 2005 at the Booth Theatre and closed on 18 September 2005. Directed by John Crowley, the cast included Jeff Goldblum.

The play was revived from 10 June 2023 to 2 September 2023 at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End, directed by Matthew Dunster.

 Lily Allen - Katurian
 Steve Pemberton – Tupolski
 Paul Kaye – Ariel
 Matthew Tennyson - Michal
 Rebecca Lee - Mother
 Daniel Millar - Father

Original Broadway production

See also
 Closet Land

References

Further reading

External links

 The Insider review
 New York Times review
 Victoria Times-Colonist review

2003 plays
Black comedy plays
Broadway plays
Comedy thriller plays
Dystopian literature
Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays
Plays by Martin McDonagh
West End plays

The Pillowman


Ghassanids, are an Arab clan who came to the Levant from Yemen before Islam. Ghassanids were Christians. Some of them remain  Christians until modern days especially in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. The Ghassanids were a puppet of the Byzantine Empire during the Byzantine-Sassanid wars during the war they fought against the Lakhmids. The Ghassanids were annexed by the Muslim Caliphate in the mid 600s AD.

Ghassanids


Yawnghwe (), known as Nyaungshwe () in Burmese, was a Shan state in what is today Myanmar. It was one of the most important of the Southern Shan States. Yawnghwe state included the Inle Lake. The administrative capital was Taunggyi, located in the northern part of the state. The Agent of the British government, the Superintendent of the Southern Shan States, resided at Taunggyi and the king's palace was at Yawnghwe.

History
According to tradition in very distant antiquity there was a predecessor state in the area named Kambojaraṭṭha (ကမ္ဗောဇရဋ္ဌ).

The city of Yawnghwe, which gave name to the state, was founded in 1359 by two mythical brothers, Nga Taung and Nga Naung, who arrived from Tavoy (Dawei) and were allowed to build a capital by a prince who ruled the region. The brothers brought 36 families from Tavoy and established themselves in the new city.

Yawnghwe included the subsidiary states of Mawnang (Heho), Mawson, Loimaw, Loi-ai and Namhkai. Historically the majority of the population in the state belonged to the Intha, Pa-O, Danu, Shan and Taungyo people groups.

The state of Yawnghwe formally accepted the status of British protectorate in 1887.

Sao Shwe Thaik was the first president of the Union of Burma and the last Saopha of Yawnghwe he married Sao Nang Hearn Kham of the royal family of North Hsenwi. His residence in Yawnghwe town, the Haw, is now the "Buddha museum" and is open to the public.

Rulers
The rulers of Yawnghwe bore the title of Saopha; their ritual style was Kambojaraṭṭha Sīripavara Mahāvaṃsa Sudhammarāja. They were entitled to a 9-gun salute by the British authorities.

Saophas

 1359 - 1434 Si Hseng Hpa
 1434 - 1477 Hso Hseng Hpa
 1477 - 1518 Hso Hung Hpa
 1518 - 1557 Hso Yawk Hpa
 1557 - 1574 Sao Maw Hkam
 1574 - 1608 Kanh Ham Hpa
 1608 - 1615 Mahadevi Nang Nawn Pe
1st
 1608 - 1615 Sao Htoi
 1615 - 1646 Mahadevi Nang Nawn Pe 2nd
 1646 - 1658 Vacant
 1658 - 1663 Sao Kang Hom Hpa
 1663 - 1687 Hsu Wa
 1687 - 1695 Kyundaung Sa
 1695 - 1733 Hkam Leng
 1733 - 1737 Htawk Sha Sa
 1737 - 1746 Hsi Ton Sa
 1746 - 1758 Hke Hsa Wa
 1758 - 1758 Naw Mong 1st
 1758 - 1761 Yawt Hkam
 1761 - 1762 Hpong Hpa Ka Sa
 1762 - 1815 Sao Yun
 1815 - 1818 Sao Se U 1st
 1818 - 1821 Naw Mong 2nd
 1821 - 1852 Sao Se U 2nd
 1852 - 1858 Sao So Hom
 1858 - 1864 Sao Sa Hpa
 1864 - 1885 Sao Maung 1st
 1885 - 1889 Sao Chit Su
 1889 - 1897 Sao On
 1897 - 1926 Sao Maung 2nd
 1926 - 1952 (Yawt Hkam Serk)
 1952 - 1962 Sao Hseng Hpa

Traditional royal ceremonies
Formerly the Saopha of Yawnghwe would personally welcome the four Buddha images during the annual festival at Hpaung Daw U Pagoda, an 18-day pagoda festival, during which the Buddha images were placed on a replica of a royal barge designed as a hintha bird and taken in a procession throughout Inle Lake. The elaborately decorated barge was towed by several boats of leg-rowers rowing in unison together with other accompanying boats. The images would be taken from the royal barge and a grand procession would take them to the palace or haw of the Saopha, entering the prayer hall from the eastern entrance, where the images would be kept for a few hours.

Nowadays the festival is still held, but the images bypass the visit to the haw and are taken directly to the temple.

See also
Salute state
Hso Khan Pha

References

External links

"Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan states"
The Imperial Gazetteer of India

14th-century establishments in Burma
1359 establishments in Asia
1959 disestablishments in Burma
Gun salute princely states

ca:Yawnghwe

Yawnghwe


Yair Auron (, Ya'ir Oron; born April 30, 1945) is an Israeli historian, scholar and expert specializing  on Holocaust and Genocide studies, racism and contemporary Jewry. Since 2005 he is the head of the Department of Sociology, Political Science and Communication, The Open University of Israel, Associate Professor.

Biography
From 1974 to 1976 Auron worked as the Director of the Education Department, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, in the 1980s he was a researcher of the Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University and Academic director of European Section, The Israel Diaspora Institute, Tel-Aviv University. In 1996-1999 he was a Senior Lecturer in College of Yezreel, Head of the Division of Cultural Studies.

Books
 Jewish-Israeli Identity, Sifriat Poalim (with Kibutzim College of Education), Tel-Aviv, 1993, 204 pp. (Hebrew).
 The Banality of Indifference: The Attitude of the Yishuv and the Zionist Movement to the Armenian Genocide, Dvir (with Kibutzim College of Education), Tel-Aviv, 1995, 395 pp. (Hebrew).
 Les Juifs d'Extrême Gauche en Mai 68, Albin Michel, Paris, 1998, 335 pp.
 We are all German Jews: Jewish Radicals in France During the Sixties and Seventies, Am Oved (with Tel-Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University ), Tel-Aviv, 1999, 288 pp. (Hebrew, translation of the French edition, with revisions).
 The Banality of Indifference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide, Transaction, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 2000, 405 pp. (translation of the Hebrew edition, with revisions and adaptations). Second Edition, Transaction Publishers, 2001; Third Edition, 2003.
 The Banality of Denial, Transaction, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, 2003, 338 pp.
 Denial: Israel and the Armenian Genocide, Maba, Tel Aviv, 2005 [Hebrew edition, with revisions and adaptations].
 The Pain of Knowledge - Holocaust and Genocide issues in Education, Transaction, New Brunswick, 2005. A German edition was published by Der Schmerz des Wissens, Verlag Edition AV, Lich/Hessen, 2005.

Other websites
Prof. Yair Auron
Hebrew University Jerusalem, Israel Armenian Studies Program

1945 births
Living people
Israeli academics
Israeli historians
Jewish academics

Yair Auron


The World of Skin was a music project springing out of the American group Swans, which was a collaboration between the core Swans members Michael Gira and Jarboe. The project was initially called Skin, with the first two albums being released under that name, the last one being released under the name the World of Skin. In the UK, the first two albums were released by Product Inc., an imprint of Mute Records, while the last was released on Gira's own Young God label.

History
Swans' album Greed began a trend toward greater use of melody, and this trend continued with the later Children of God. The work performed as Skin was initially in marked contrast with the less overtly melodic but contemporaneous Swans work, but later Swans work integrated the two aspects.

Blood, Women, Roses (1987) was the project's first release and featured vocals entirely by Jarboe, who had previously mainly been performing backing vocals. Many of the tracks on this album were covers of show tunes and other popular songs (for example "Cry Me a River" and "The Man I Love").  Many of the tracks still featured the monumental use of percussion that was common in earlier Swans work, but combined this with a greater use of melody ("Red Rose" is typical of this).

Blood, Women, Roses was followed in 1988 by Shame, Humility, Revenge, which featured vocals by Michael Gira (although Jarboe did perform some backing vocals). The first two albums were released only in Europe, but most of the albums' tracks were combined in the US release World of Skin (released under the band name World of Skin), which was followed by the final World of Skin release, Ten Songs for Another World.  This album featured vocals from both performers, including a cover of Nick Drake's "Black-Eyed Dog" that was performed by Jarboe.

Group members
 Michael Gira - vocals, guitar, keyboards, samples, sounds (1987-1990)
 Jarboe - vocals, keyboards, sounds (1987-1990)
 Norman Westberg - guitar (1988)
 Harry Crosby - bass (1988)

Discography

Studio releases
 Blood, Women, Roses (1987)
 Shame, Humility, Revenge (1988)
 Ten Songs for Another World (1990)

Compilations
 The World of Skin (1988)

Singles
 Girl, Come Out 12" (1987)
 One Thousand Years  12" (1987)

References

External links
www.swans.pair.com
www.younggodrecords.com

Musical groups established in 1987
Musical groups disestablished in 1990
American experimental musical groups
Swans (band)
Mute Records artists

The World of Skin


The Great Himalayas or Greater Himalayas or Himadri is the highest mountain range of the Himalayan Range. The world's highest peak, Mount Everest, as well as other "near−highest" peaks, such as Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, and Nanga Parbat, are part of the Greater Himalayas range. The total west to east extension of the Great Himalayas is 2400 km (1500 miles) and their average elevation is 6000 m (20000 ft.).

Several glaciers are contained within the range, including Gangotri Glacier, and Satopanth Glacier.

Political entities which have territory in this range include India, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, and Tibet.

See also

References

G
Mountain ranges of China
Mountain ranges of India
Mountain ranges of Nepal
Mountain ranges of Tibet
Himalayas

Great Himalayas