The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on  by Empress Catherine I of Russia.

History
The introduction of the Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was envisioned by Emperor Peter I of Russia (r. 1682–1721) for rewarding military bravery in battle. However, he died before he could create the order. It was established by Empress Catherine I of Russia, in memory of the deeds of Saint Alexander Nevsky, patron Saint of the Russian capital of Saint Petersburg, for defending Russia against foreign invaders. The order was originally awarded to distinguished Russian citizens who had served their country with honor, mostly through political or military service.

It was first awarded on the occasion of the wedding of Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia and Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp in 1725. A dozen guests received the reward, and the order quickly fell far behind the Order of Saint Andrew and the Order of Saint Catherine in prestige.

The Empress Catherine complained about the situation and by September 1725, she took it upon herself to determine who would receive the award. The Order of Saint Alexander was granted the highest esteem and was not usually bestowed upon people below the rank of Lieutenant-General or an equal political status. It also granted hereditary nobility. Additionally it was, including Polish King Augustus II the Strong and King Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway

Legacy
The Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was abolished after the 1917 Russian Revolution, along with all other orders and titles of the Russian Empire.

In 1942, the Soviet Union revived the order as a purely military decoration and renamed it the more secular Order of Alexander Nevsky, and the Russian Federation revived it in 2010.

The heads of the Russian Imperial House in exile have continued to award the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky.  Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, a pretender to the Russian throne and to the headship of the Russian Imperial House, continues to award a Russian Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky as a dynastic order of knighthood.  These actions are disputed by some members of the Romanov family.

In 2010, researchers in Saint Petersburg and Moscow published a book of all the names of the recipients of the original order. The combined number of honorees spanning the years 1725 to 1917 totaled 3,674.

Insignia Order St Alexander Nevsky

Recipients

 Abbas II of Egypt
 Adam Olsufiev
 Count Nikolay Adlerberg
 Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg
 Afonso, Prince of Beira
 Ahmad Shah Qajar
 Albert I of Belgium
 Prince Albert of Prussia (1809–1872)
 Prince Albert of Saxe-Altenburg
 Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen
 Albert, Prince Consort
 Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev
 Alexander I of Russia
 Alexander II of Russia
 Alexander III of Russia
 Alexander Kurakin (1697)
 Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn
 Duke Alexander of Oldenburg
 Duke Alexander of Württemberg (1771–1833)
 Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia
 Alfred, 2nd Prince of Montenuovo
 Ippolit Andreev
 Ivane Andronikashvili
 Fyodor Apraksin
 Prince Arisugawa Takehito
 Prince Arisugawa Taruhito
 Prince August, Duke of Dalarna
 Prince August of Württemberg
 Prince Augustus of Prussia
 Theodor Avellan
 Karl Gustav von Baggovut
 Pyotr Bagration
 Pyotr Romanovich Bagration
 Alexander Barclay de Tolly-Weymarn
 Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly
 Joachim Otto von Bassewitz
 Vasili Bebutov
 Constantine Esperovich Beloselsky-Belozersky
 Alexander von Benckendorff (diplomat)
 Andrew Bertie
 Aleksei Birilev
 Otto von Bismarck
 Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
 Georgy Bobrikov
 Nikolai Bobyr
 Julius von Bose
 Nikolai von Bunge
 Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland
 Carlos I of Portugal
 Charles X
 Charles XIII
 Charles XV
 Zakhar Chernyshev
 Piotr Grigoryevich Chernyshev
 Christian IX of Denmark
 Andrzej Ciechanowiecki
 Mikhail Pavlovich Danilov
 Nikolay Ivanovich Demidov
 Porfirio Díaz
 Hans Karl von Diebitsch
 Dmitry Dashkov
 Dmitry Petrovich Dokhturov
 Vasily Dolgorukov-Krymsky
 Mikhail Drozdovsky
 Fyodor Dubasov
 Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan
 Alexander Alexandrovich Dushkevich
 Andrei Eberhardt
 Edward VII
 Johann Martin von Elmpt
 Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
 Vladimir Etush
 Archduke Eugen of Austria
 Aleksei Evert
 Ferdinand I of Bulgaria
 Ferdinand II of Portugal
 Ferdinand VII of Spain
 Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
 Francis IV, Duke of Modena
 Franz Joseph I of Austria
 Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
 Frederick VI of Denmark
 Frederick VII of Denmark
 Frederick VIII of Denmark
 Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden
 Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
 Frederick William III of Prussia
 Prince Frederick of the Netherlands
 Frederick Charles Louis, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck
 Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen
 Ivan Fullon
 Prince Fushimi Sadanaru
 Ivan Ganetsky
 Ivan Gannibal
 Gavriil Gagarin
 George IV
 George V
 George Mikhailovich Romanov
 Aleksandr Gerngross
 Alexander von Güldenstubbe
 August Neidhardt von Gneisenau
 Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn the Elder
 Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn the Younger
 Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz
 Nikolay Gondatti
 Gregory IV of Antioch
 Oskar Gripenberg
 Curtis Guild Jr.
 Wladyslaw Gurowski
 Gustaf V
 Gustaf VI Adolf
 Gustav, Prince of Vasa
 Haakon VII of Norway
 John Maurice Hauke
 Lodewijk van Heiden
 Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen
 Gregor von Helmersen
 Prince Henry of Prussia (1781–1846)
 Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1825–1901)
 Gavriil Ignatyev
 Illarion Illarionovich Vasilchikov
 Alexander Imeretinsky
 Ivan Cherkasov
 Archduke John of Austria
 Prince Johann of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
 John VI of Portugal
 Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
 Kyprian Kandratovich
 Prince Kan'in Kotohito
 Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern
 Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg
 Prince Karl Theodor of Bavaria
 Alexander von Kaulbars
 Paisi Kaysarov
 Amanullah Khan
 Mikhail Khilkov
 Pyotr Kikin
 Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen
 Hugo von Kirchbach
 Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa
 Johann von Klenau
 Hans von Koester
 Prince Komatsu Akihito
 Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia
 Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia
 Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst
 Johann Albrecht Korff
 Apostol Kostanda
 Wincenty Krasinski
 Mikhail Krechetnikov
 Alexey Kurakin
 Boris Kurakin (1733)
 Aleksey Kuropatkin
 Mikhail Kutuzov
 Sergey Stepanovich Lanskoy
 Mikhail Lazarev
 Leopold I of Belgium
 Leopold II of Belgium
 Leopold IV, Duke of Anhalt
 Alexander Mikhailovich Lermontov
 George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg
 Sergei Georgievich, 8th Duke of Leuchtenberg
 Levan V Dadiani
 Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse
 Louis XVIII
 Prince Louis of Battenberg
 Friedrich von Löwis of Menar
 Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria
 Luís I of Portugal
 Manuel II of Portugal
 Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia
 Mikhail Matyushkin
 Duke William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
 Duke Charles of Mecklenburg
 Samad bey Mehmandarov
 Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly
 Klemens von Metternich
 Feofil Egorovich Meyendorf
 Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia
 Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia
 Miguel I of Portugal
 Mikhail Volkonsky
 Milan I of Serbia
 Mikhail Miloradovich
 Pavel Mishchenko
 Mohammed Alim Khan
 Alexander von Moller
 Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
 Nikolay Mordvinov (admiral)
 Burkhard Christoph von Münnich
 Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov
 Valentin Musin-Pushkin
 Ivan Nabokov
 Napoleon III
 Kamran Mirza Nayeb es-Saltaneh
 Ivan Neplyuyev
 Nicholas I of Russia
 Nicholas II of Russia
 Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1831–1891)
 Arkady Nikanorovich Nishenkov
 August Ludwig von Nostitz
 Karl Nesselrode
 Peter Obolyaninov
 Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov
 Oscar II
 Fabian Gottlieb von der Osten-Sacken
 Archduke Otto of Austria (1865–1906)
 Gore Ouseley
 Fyodor Palitzin
 Duke Paul Frederick of Mecklenburg
 Pavel Yaguzhinsky
 Pedro V of Portugal
 Duke Peter of Oldenburg
 Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders
 Konstanty Ludwik Plater
 Mikhail Mikhailovich Pleshkov
 Stanislaw August Poniatowski
 Alexander Stepanovich Popov
 Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo
 Yevfimiy Putyatin
 Mohammad Shah Qajar
 Mohammad Taqi Mirza Rokn ed-Dowleh
 Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar
 Naser al-Din Shah Qajar
 Fyodor Radetsky
 Evgeny Aleksandrovich Radkevich
 Alexander Ragoza
 Henri de Rigny
 Roman Vorontsov
 Christopher Roop
 Rudolf, Prince of Liechtenstein
 Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria
 Adam Rzhevusky
 Anton Yegorovich von Saltza
 Alexander Samsonov
 Johan Eberhard von Schantz
 Sergei Sheydeman
 Yakov Schkinsky
 Alexei Senyavin
 Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia
 Ivan Shestakov
 Georg von Stackelberg
 Gustav Ernst von Stackelberg
 Curt von Stedingk
 Archduke Stephen of Austria (Palatine of Hungary)
 Vladimir Sukhomlinov
 Alexander Suvorov
 Fyodor Ushakov
 Peter Tekeli
 Alfred von Tirpitz
 Dmitry Troshchinsky
 Erast Tsytovich
 Prince Valdemar of Denmark
 Sergei Vasilchikov
 Georgy Vasmund
 Nikita Villebois
 Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
 Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia
 Sava Vladislavich
 Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov
 Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
 Wilhelm II, German Emperor
 William I of Württemberg
 William I, German Emperor
 William II of the Netherlands
 William II of Württemberg
 William IV
 Duke William of Württemberg
 Sergei Witte
 Duke Eugen of Württemberg (1788–1857)
 Sir James Wylie, 1st Baronet
 Yamagata Aritomo
 Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov
 Prince Zaitao
 Matija Zmajevic
 Dmitry Zuyev

References

St. Alexander Nevsky, Order of
Awards established in 1725
1725 establishments in the Russian Empire
Saint Alexander Nevsky, Order of
Saint Alexander Nevsky, Order of
Alexander Nevsky

Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky


Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure (or just Alpha and Omega 2) is a 2013 American computer-animated action comedy movie. It was co-produced and directed by Richard Rich. It is the sequel to the 2010 animated movie Alpha and Omega. The first announcement for the movie was in September 2012, when it was announced for a worldwide theatrical release. However, the movie faced a lot of scandals and delays during its production and was released straight-to-DVD instead on October 8, 2013 with a Christmas theme. Alpha and Omega 3: The Great Wolf Games was released on iTunes on March 4, 2014. It was released as a Walmart exclusive on March 25, 2014.

Plot
Kate and Humphrey are eager to spend the upcoming winter with their three pups, Stinky, Claudette and Runt, as it will be the first that they've spent together as a family.

While out travelling with his siblings, Runt, the only Omega offspring of Kate and Humphrey, climbs a tree and spots 3 rogue wolves in the area. After 2 of the rogue wolves save Stinky and Claudette from a grizzly, Runt suddenly disappears. Stinky and Claudette then inform Kate and Humphrey, including their relatives as they were about to have a family dinner, about Runt's disappearance. The family hurries to find Runt, and Kate sees that the rogue wolves have captured Runt and are heading to Banff National Park, home to the rogue wolf pack and south of Jasper. After being warned by Tony and Winston about how dangerous the rogues are, Kate and Humphrey still go on to find their lost pup, much to their disappointment. Meanwhile, at Banff, Runt is taken to the rogues' leader, King. He is then made as a bait, as King expects the western pack to come for Runt. Princess, King's daughter, is appointed to care for Runt and to keep the bait alive. As night falls, a storm approaches, prompting Kate and Humphrey to stop the search and wait for the storm to subside the next day. Meanwhile, at the den, Stinky and Claudette sneak out to help their parents search for Runt while everyone is asleep.

The next day, Kate and Humphrey meet Marcel and Paddy. After following what their parents did before to cross the river, Stinky and Claudette find them and go with their parents to help in the search. On the way, they meet a lost grizzly cub who was separated from his mother. At first, Humphrey refuses because of his experience with a bear cub before. He then decides to let the bear go with them. A mile away from Banff, Kate and Humphrey leave Paddy to guard the children while they and Marcel retrieve Runt. Despite this, the children manage to convince Paddy to go. While on Banff, their family also arrives and Humphrey is made to distract the rogues by acting as a gigantic "special-class alpha" named Lockjaw while Kate retrieves Runt. After finding out that it is but a trick, King orders the Alpha rogues to kill them. Winston then orders Kate and Humphrey to take the cubs to the north side in the human roads and they will rendezvous there. Fortunately, the bear cub's family arrives and helps them defeat the rogues after the cub explained how the wolves helped him. As the snow covers the lands, Humphrey and his family are lost. Runt climbs a tree and sees the human roads about ten miles away at the foot of the mountain. They then logboard their way down.

Upon reaching the same gas station and seeing Max, the same hunter they encountered before, Humphrey hesitates. They go in anyway and the man sees them. Once seeing Kate and Humphrey have pups (and him having a family of his own), Max decides to be nice this time. So, he gives them free food and leaves the door open, much to their surprise. The film ends with Kate and Humphrey deciding to settle there for the winter as they all go to sleep.

Reception

Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure received generally mixed reviews by critics, who praised the film for its improvement on the script, humor, dialogue, story and voice acting, but they also criticized the film's animation quality, short run time and rushed ending. So far, the film has a 55% in Rotten Tomatoes and a 50 out of 100 in Metacritic, indicating "mixed to average reviews". The consensus for the movie in Rotten Tomatoes is "While it suffers from sub-par animation and a rushed plot, Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure delivers enough good thrills and improvements to keep fans and audiences entertained". Just like the first movie, Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure was very successful with fans, who gave the film extremely positive reviews, despite the mixed critical reaction and gaining a 81% rating in the RT community. The movie also gained a cult following.

Soundtrack
 "Life After You" by Daughtry
 "Learn to Love Again" by Lawson
 "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" by Train
 "I Found You" by The Wanted
 "Goin' Back to Indiana" by The Jackson 5
 "They Don't Care About Us" by Michael Jackson
 "Wonderful Christmas Time" by Wings
 "I'll Never Break Your Heart" by Backstreet Boys
 "Shake Up Christmas" by Train
 "Christmas Time" by Backstreet Boys
 "What Do You Want From Me" by Adam Lambert
 "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton
 "I'm Your Angel" by Celine Dion featuring R. Kelly
 "I Don't Wanna Spend One More Christmas Without You" by 'N Sync
 "If My Heart Was a House" by Owl City

Sequels
The two other sequels of Alpha and Omega are currently in production. Alpha and Omega 3: The Great Wolf Games is set to have direct-to-DVD release on March 25, 2014 and it will be a Walmart exclusive. The plot will follow around The Great Wolf Games, which are happening in Jasper when Kate, Humphrey and the puppies arrive home. In the games, all the pups from different packs come together and compete in different games. But, something goes wrong, leaving most of the Alphas out of commission. So, it's up to Humphrey to lead the new team to victory. Alpha and Omega: The Legend of the Saw Tooth Cave will be released in October 31 2014, along with Alpha and Omega 5: Family Vacation to be released in Spring 2015.

Other websites

2013 movies
English-language movies
Sequel movies
American comedy movies
American animated movies
Movies about wolves
Movies about bears
Alpha and Omega


A vertisol is a Soil Order in the USDA soil taxonomy and a Reference Soil Group in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). It is also defined in many other soil classification systems. In the Australian Soil Classification it is called vertosol. Vertisols have a high content of expansive clay minerals, many of them belonging to the montmorillonites that form deep cracks in drier seasons or years. In a phenomenon known as argillipedoturbation, alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-ploughing, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing some vertisols to have an extremely deep A horizon and no B horizon. (A soil with no B horizon is called an A/C soil). This heaving of the underlying material to the surface often creates a microrelief known as gilgai.

Vertisols typically form from highly basic rocks, such as basalt, in climates that are seasonally humid or subject to erratic droughts and floods, or that impeded drainage. Depending on the parent material and the climate, they can range from grey or red to the more familiar deep black (known as "black earths" in Australia, "black gumbo" in East Texas, "black cotton" soils in East Africa, and "vlei soils" in South Africa).

Vertisols are found between 50°N and 45°S of the equator.  Major areas where vertisols are dominant are eastern Australia (especially inland Queensland and New South Wales), the Deccan Plateau of India, and parts of southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Chad (the Gezira), South Africa, and the lower Paraná River in South America. Other areas where vertisols are dominant include southern Texas and adjacent Mexico, central India, northeast Nigeria, Thrace, New Caledonia and parts of eastern China.

The natural vegetation of vertisols is grassland, savanna, or grassy woodland. The heavy texture and unstable behaviour of the soil makes it difficult for many tree species to grow, and forest is uncommon.

The shrinking and swelling of vertisols can damage buildings and roads, leading to extensive subsidence. Vertisols are generally used for grazing of cattle or sheep. It is not unknown for livestock to be injured through falling into cracks in dry periods. Conversely, many wild and domestic ungulates do not like to move on this soil when inundated.  However, the shrink-swell activity allows rapid recovery from compaction.

When irrigation is available, crops such as cotton, wheat, sorghum and rice can be grown. Vertisols are especially suitable for rice because they are almost impermeable when saturated. Rainfed farming is very difficult because vertisols can be worked only under a very narrow range of moisture conditions: they are very hard when dry and very sticky when wet. However, in Australia, vertisols are highly regarded, because they are among the few soils that are not acutely deficient in available phosphorus. Some, known as "crusty vertisols", have a thin, hard crust when dry that can persist for two to three years before they have crumbled enough to permit seeding.

In the USDA soil taxonomy, vertisols are subdivided into:
 Aquerts: Vertisols which are subdued aquic conditions for some time in most years and show redoximorphic features are grouped as Aquerts. Because of the high clay content, the permeability is slowed and aquic conditions are likely to occur. In general, when precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration, ponding may occur. Under wet soil moisture conditions, iron and manganese are mobilized and reduced. The manganese may be partly responsible for the dark color of the soil profile.
 Cryerts: They have a cryic soil temperature regime. Cryerts are most extensive in the grassland and forest-grassland transitions zones of the Canadian Prairies and at similar latitudes in Russia.
 Xererts: They have a thermic, mesic, or frigid soil temperature regime. They show cracks that are open at least 60 consecutive days during the summer, but are closed at least 60 consecutive days during winter. Xererts are most extensive in the eastern Mediterranean and parts of California.
 Torrerts: They have cracks that are closed for less than 60 consecutive days when the soil temperature at 50 cm is above 8 °C. These soils are not extensive in the U.S., and occur mostly in west Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and South Dakota, but are the most extensive suborder of vertisols in Australia.
 Usterts: They have cracks that are open for at least 90 cumulative days per year. Globally, this suborder is the most extensive of the vertisols order, encompassing the vertisols of the tropics and monsoonal climates in Australia, India, and Africa. In the U.S. the Usterts are common in Texas, Montana, Hawaii, and California.
 Uderts: They have cracks that are open less than 90 cumulative days per year and less than 60 consecutive days during the summer. In some areas, cracks open only in drought years. Uderts are of small extent globally, being most abundant in Uruguay and eastern Argentina, but also found in parts of Queensland and the "Black Belt" of Mississippi and Alabama.

The WRB defines the diagnostic vertic horizon. It is usually a subsoil horizon and has at least 30% clay, shrink-swell cracks and  wedge-shaped aggregates and/or slickensides.

See also
Pedogenesis
Pedology (soil study)
Soil classification

References

Further reading
 W. Zech, P. Schad, G. Hintermaier-Erhard: Soils of the World. Springer, Berlin 2022, Chapter 9.3.3.

External links
 profile photos (with classification) WRB homepage
 profile photos (with classification) IUSS World of Soils

Pedology
Types of soil
Patterned grounds

Vertisol


In international law three categories of Political status are usually recognized:

Independent countries e.g.: France, Canada
Internal independent countries which are under the protection of another country in matters of defense and foreign affairs, e.g.: Netherlands Antilles, the Faroe Islands, British Virgin Islands etc.
Colonies and other dependent political units e.g. Puerto Rico.

There are, furthermore, several unrecognized countries and independence, secessionist, autonomy and nationalist movements throughout the world. See list of unrecognized countries.

Political status in Northern Ireland
Political Status was an alternative name for Special Category Status.

Political status around the world
Constitutional status of Cornwall
Constitutional status of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles
Disputed status of Gibraltar
Disputed status of the isthmus between Gibraltar and Spain
Disputed territories of Northern Iraq
Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute
International recognition of Bangladesh
International recognition of Israel
Legal status of Alaska
Legal status of Germany
Legal status of Hawaii
Legal status of the State of Palestine
Legal status of Texas
Legal status of the Holy See
Political status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Political status of Crimea
Political status of Kosovo
Political status of Nagorno-Karabakh
Political status of Kashmir
Political status of Puerto Rico
Political status of Taiwan
Political status of the Azores
Political status of the Cook Islands and Niue
Political status of Transnistria
Political status of Western Sahara
Proposed Darfurian referendum
Secessionism in Western Australia
Status of Jerusalem
Status of territories captured by Israel
Status of the Golan Heights

International law
International relations
Diplomatic recognition
Proposed administrative territorial entities

Political status


Loewe v. Lawlor, 208 U.S. 274 (1908), also referred to as the Danbury Hatters' Case, is a United States Supreme Court case in United States labor law concerning the application of antitrust laws to labor unions. The Court's decision effectively outlawed the secondary boycott as a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, despite union arguments that their actions affected only intrastate commerce. It was also decided that individual unionists could be held personally liable for damages incurred by the activities of their union.

Facts
In 1901, D. E. Loewe & Company, a fur hat manufacturer, declared itself an open shop. It was the third open shop ever established in Danbury, Connecticut, the center of the pelt industry since 1780 (see North American fur trade). Loewe's declaration sparked a strike and a boycott by the United Hatters of North America (UHU), which had organized 70 out of 82 firms in the hat manufacturing industry. The nationwide boycott was assisted by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and was successful in persuading retailers, wholesalers and customers not to buy from or do business with Loewe. The goal of the operation was for UHU to gain union recognition as the bargaining agent for employees at Loewe & Co.

Loewe & Co. sued the union for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act, alleging that UHU's boycott interfered with Loewe's ability to engage in the interstate commerce of selling hats. The act had been adopted in 1890, with the primary purpose to control business monopolies. The appellee in the case was Martin Lawlor, the business agent for the UHU, but the list of defendants included 240 union members.

The case was handled in the first instance by the United States Circuit Court for the District of Connecticut, which dismissed the suit on the grounds that the alleged actions fell outside the scope of the Sherman Act. Loewe & Co. appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which certified the case to the Supreme Court.

Judgment
In a unanimous decision written by Chief Justice Melville Fuller, the UHU was found to have been acting in restraint of interstate commerce and to have violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. Fuller began the opinion by recounting the relevant provisions of the Sherman Act. The first, second, and seventh section of the act can be concisely described as follows:

1. Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is illegal.

2. Every person who monopolizes, or attempts to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is in violation of the statute.

3. Any person who is injured in his business or property by any other person or corporation by reason of anything forbidden or declared illegal by the act may sue in federal court in the district of the defendant and recover three fold damages.

Fuller concluded that the actions of the union did constitute unlawful combination of the type described in the act: "In our opinion, the combination described in the declaration is a combination 'in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States,' in the sense in which those words are used in the act, and the action can be maintained accordingly."

The union had raised a number of objections to the application of the act to its activities, all of which were found to be untenable by the Court. While the union had not interfered with the transportation of hats originating with Loewe & Co., a national boycott conceived on the initiative of the union that comprised vendees in other states was a violation of interstate commerce as proscribed by the statute:

If the purposes of the combination were, as alleged, to prevent any interstate transportation at all, the fact that the means operated at one end before physical transportation commenced, and at the other end after the physical transportation ended, was immaterial. And that conclusion rests on many judgments of this court, to the effect that the act prohibits any combination whatever to secure action which essentially obstructs the free flow of commerce between the States, or restricts, in that regard, the liberty of a trader to engage in business.

The fact that the union was not itself engaged in interstate commerce was irrelevant since the act did not distinguish between the types of associations involved but simply forbade every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade. Fuller underscored that no exemption had been made for organizations of laborers or farmers, despite lobbying to include such language in the statute:

The records of Congress show that several efforts were made to exempt, by legislation, organizations of farmers and laborers from the operation of the act, and that all these efforts failed, so that the act remained as we have it before us.

Consequently, while the boycott and strike action had originated in a single state, the combination efforts had to be viewed in aggregation:

(...) [T]he acts must be considered as a whole, and the plan is open to condemnation notwithstanding a negligible amount of intrastate business might be affected in carrying it out.

The judgment of dismissal was reversed, and the case was remanded for further proceedings.

Significance

In 1909, a new trial was held in the District Court to determine the outcome of the case. The presiding judge directed the jury to find for Loewe & Co., in accordance with the Supreme Court decision. The jury returned with a verdict of $74,000 in damages, which was tripled, under the Sherman Act, to $222,000. The union won on appeal but then lost on retrial in 1912. The case reached the Supreme Court in 1914, and in Lawlor v. Loewe (1915), the Court again held the union liable for damages. In 1917, the case was settled for slightly over $234,000 (approximately $3.9 million in 2009 currency) of which the AFL was able to obtain $216,000 in voluntary contributions from union members.

The ruling deprived labor unions of an important and effective union tactic, and the decision to hold individual union members personally liable for damages had an adverse impact on union organizing efforts. That led the AFL to initiate an aggressive campaign to convince Congress to address labor concerns about the Sherman Act in the reform of antitrust laws. The push culminated with the passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, which provided that "the labor of a human being is not a commodity or an article of commerce." Section 20 of the act further stated that no injunctions should be granted by federal courts in labor disputes "unless necessary to prevent irreparable injury to property, or to a property right." The provisions, however, were narrowly interpreted by the Supreme Court, which ruled, in Duplex Printing Press Company v. Deering (1921), that the exemptions in the Clayton Act did not protect secondary boycotts from judicial control.

Prosecution of labor under antitrust laws would continue until the enactment of the Norris–La Guardia Act in 1932, which included express exemptions of organized labor from antitrust injunctions. The exemptions were upheld by the Supreme Court in United States v. Hutcheson (1941), which stated that the act should be read broadly to provide a total antitrust exemption for labor unions, "so long as [the] union acts in its self-interest and does not combine with non-labor groups." The majority opinion in Hutcheson was written by Felix Frankfurter, who, before becoming a Supreme Court Justice, had served as one of the drafters of the Norris-La Guardia Act.

See also
United States labor law
 Labor history of the United States
Albany International BV v Stichting Bedrijfspensioenfonds Textielindustrie [1999] ECR I-5751 (C-67/96)
Mogul Steamship Co Ltd v McGregor, Gow & Co [1892] AC 25

Notes

References

External links

Labor disputes in the United States
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Fuller Court
United States labor case law
United States antitrust case law
1908 in United States case law
Legal history of Connecticut
UNITE HERE
Hatmaking
Danbury, Connecticut

Loewe v. Lawlor


Visit Baltimore, formerly the Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association (BACVA), is a quasi-public organization started in 1980 by then-Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer. The agency is charged with bringing in tourists and conventions into the city of Baltimore, Maryland, but does not manage the actual convention venues, hotels, or museums in the city.

History

In 2004, BACVA launched a totally redesigned website. A major event for BACVA in 2004 occurred in May when it officially opened a totally new Baltimore Visitor Center. This was radically different from the old visitor center, which was inside an antiquated modified construction trailer. The new  Baltimore Visitor Center is located next to the Light Street Pavilion of Harborplace and has a unique design. It cost $4.5 million to construct. In its first year of operation (May 7, 2004 – May 7, 2005), the center attracted nearly 390,000 visitors, which exceeded BACVA's original estimate of 250,000. Visitors to the center in its first year of operation booked 422 hotel rooms, worth $48,296, and bought 14,942 tickets worth about $223,286.

Inside the Baltimore Visitor Center are racks of brochures with information ranging from Baltimore's neighborhoods to major attractions, including the Maryland Science Center, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Power Plant Live!, and Camden Yards Sports Complex. There is also a 50-seat theater that shows an 11-minute film on Baltimore and Maryland.

In 2005, BACVA made a joint effort with the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) to pitch a controversial $305 million, 752-room Hilton Hotel to the Baltimore City Council in an attempt to bring in more conventions to the Baltimore Convention Center. In 2006, BACVA succeeded in its joint effort with the BDC to have a Hilton Hotel built directly adjacent to the Baltimore Convention Center. The hotel officially opened in August 2008 with a direct connection to the Baltimore Convention Center via  elevated skybridge crossing Howard Street.

In 2009, BACVA made a decision at its annual meeting to change its name from the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association to Visit Baltimore to make it easier for the public to recognize Baltimore's tourism agency and that it followed an industry standard at the time of having tourism agencies have a name that reflect their mission.

The 2005–2008 efforts to bring in more conventions by having the Hilton Baltimore built at a cost of $305 million – the most expensive public works project in city history – were basically a failure and the city is still losing convention business and struggling to find more business. Visit Baltimore is now supporting an estimated $900 million proposal floated by the Greater Baltimore Committee and local businessman and the current owner of the Sheraton Inner Harbor hotel in early 2011 that would build a brand-new 18,500-seat arena to replace the 1st Mariner Arena, a brand-new 500-room hotel to replace the Sheraton and demolish and rebuild the east half of the Baltimore Convention Center as an expansion of the newer, 1996 half. The hotel and arena would be funded by private-sector money while the convention center expansion would be funded by public money; it is unknown what the breakdown of costs will be as that will be determined by a second study to be conducted soon that will continue to see if construction of the entire project is feasible and exactly how much the project would cost the city and state potentially and what the next steps will be.

References
Visitor center exceeds expectations in Year 1. Baltimore Sun May 6, 2005. (Site registration required.)

External links
Visit Baltimore Official Website
Baltimore Visitor Center

Culture of Baltimore
Visitor centers in the United States
Buildings and structures in Baltimore
Tourist attractions in Baltimore
Tourism agencies

Visit Baltimore


Triodia is a large genus of grass endemic to Australia. They are often called spinifex, but they are not a part of the genus Spinifex, which is only found near the coast. There are 64 known species. Triodia is a perennial grass that grows in dry areas. They have spikey, pointed leaves, about 30-40 centimetres long.

The leaf tips can break off in people's skin, causing infections. Spinifex has been used by Australian Aborigines in many things. The seeds are collected for food. Spinifex resin is used as a glue in spear-making. The grasses were also burned to make smoke signals, to communicate with groups a long way away. Some species are used for building shelters. Others are used to make traps for catching fish.

Notes

References
Lazarides, M. (1997). "A revision of Triodia including Plectrachne (Poaceae, Eragrostideae, Triodiinae)." Australian Systematic Botany 10: 381-489.
Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1992 onwards. The grass genera of the world: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval; including synonyms, morphology, anatomy, physiology, phytochemistry, cytology, classification, pathogens, world and local distribution, and references. Version: 28 November 2005

Other websites

Macquarie University's "Hummock Grasslands in Australia"

Poaceae
Plants of Australia

Triodia


Peregrinus Proteus (; c. 95 – 165 AD) was a Greek Cynic philosopher, from Parium in Mysia. Leaving home at a young age, he first lived with the Christians in Palestine. After being expelled from that community he adopted the life of a Cynic philosopher and eventually settled in Greece. Peregrinus is most remembered for his suicide after giving his own funeral oration, cremating himself on a funeral pyre at the Olympic Games in 165. By 180 AD, a statue of Peregrinus had been erected in his home city of Parium; it was reputed to have oracular powers.

Life

Lucian's satirical biography
The only detailed account of the life of Peregrinus was recorded by Lucian in his satire, The Death of Peregrinus (). Although this account is hostile to Peregrinus, the bare facts of his life can be extracted.

Peregrinus was born in Parium, c. 95 AD. At a young age he was suspected of parricide, and was obliged to leave his native home. During his wanderings he reached Palestine, he came into close contact with the Christian community, and quickly rose to a position of authority. He suffered a term of imprisonment at the hands of the Roman authorities, during which the Christians gave him much aid. He may have expected to be martyred, but the Governor of Syria released him.

He seems to have become a Cynic at this point, because he returned home and renounced his inheritance, giving away all his money to the people of his home city. He resumed his wandering life, maintaining close relations with the Christians at first, but eventually he offended them in some way, and was expelled from the Christian community. He went to Egypt to study with the famous Cynic Agathobulus, where he learned the harsh asceticism of the sect. He made his way to Rome, where he began a campaign of abuse against the Roman authorities, and especially the emperor Antoninus Pius. He gained a following among the masses, and it may be at this point that Theagenes became his chief disciple. Although tolerated at first, he was eventually expelled by the City Prefect.

He next went to Elis in Greece, where he continued his anti-Roman preaching. At the Olympic games (either 153 or 157), Peregrinus abused the wealthy philanthropist Herodes Atticus, whereby the infuriated crowd attacked Peregrinus, and he was forced to take refuge at the altar of Zeus. In Athens, Peregrinus devoted himself to the study and teaching of philosophy, and obtained a considerable number of pupils, amongst them Aulus Gellius. At the Olympic Games of 161, he announced that he would publicly burn himself to death at the following Olympics:
He said that he wanted to put a tip of gold on a golden life; for one who had lived as Heracles should die like Heracles and be commingled with the aether. And I wish, said he, to benefit mankind by showing them the way in which one should disregard death; wherefore all men ought to play Philoctetes to my Heracles.

He carried out his promise: on the final night of the Olympic games in 165, he immolated himself on a funeral pyre located 20 stadia (3.7 km) east of Olympia. Lucian, who was present, witnessed the event, having heard Theagenes, Peregrinus' most ardent disciple, praise his master's intentions.

It is hard to reconstruct Peregrinus' own motivations for the events of his life, because Lucian, for general and personal reasons, presents a hostile view of Peregrinus. According to Lucian, Peregrinus strangled his father to death; became a Christian so that he could gain wealth; was imprisoned so that he could gain notoriety; gave his inheritance away so that he might gain favour among the people of his home town; studied under Agathobulus so that he could become more obscene; attacked the Romans to become famous; and killed himself to become infamous.

Gellius's account
Aulus Gellius provides a brief, but different, view of Peregrinus. He describes Peregrinus as "a man of dignity and fortitude," and Aulus would regularly visit him in his hut outside Athens where he would listen to things which were "helpful and noble":
He used to say that a wise man would not commit a sin, even if he knew that neither gods nor men would know it; for he thought that one ought to refrain from sin, not through fear of punishment or disgrace, but from love of justice and honesty and from a sense of duty.

Ammianus Marcellinus's allusion
Ammianus Marcellinus also refers positively to Peregrinus, albeit briefly. Describing the execution of the 4th century philosopher Simonides, burnt alive in the reign of the Emperor Valens, Ammianus compares Simonides with Peregrinus:
Simonides, ... to whom death was an escape from the grim tyrant life, and who laughed at sudden disastrous turns of fate, stood unmoved amid the flames, like the famous philosopher Peregrinus, nicknamed Proteus.
 He, having decided to leave the world, mounted a pyre which he had built himself at the quinquennial Olympic games, and was consumed by fire while the whole of Greece looked on.

Modern reconstructions

Several modern historians have attempted to outline Peregrinus' life using the works of Lucian and other sources that have fixed historical dates such as the completion of Herodes Atticus's aqueduct and the Jewish revolt in Syria. One of the more complete timelines of Peregrinus Proteus' life comes from Gilbert Bagnani. He suggests the following timeline for Peregrinus' life:

 ca. 95 birth at Parium
 114–116 in Armenia
 ca. 120 at Parium: death of his father
 120–130 goes to Palestine and Syria: joins Essene-Ebionite Church at Pella
 132 imprisoned on the outbreak of the Jewish revolt
 134 released by Julius Severus
 135 after his return to Parium resumes his travels
 ca. 140 excommunicated as an Ebionite: goes to Egypt
 ca. 150 goes to Rome
 ca. 152 expelled from Rome
 153 attacks Herodes Atticus at Olympia
 157 is reconciled to Herodes
 165 his death at Olympia.

See also
Kalanos
Zarmanochegas

References

External links

Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, xii, 11.
Lucian, The Death of Peregrinus.
Gilbert Bagnani, Peregrinus Proteus and the Christians

165 deaths
2nd-century Greek philosophers
Roman-era Cynic philosophers
Suicides by self-immolation
Roman Olympia
Roman-era philosophers in Athens
Ancient Anatolian Greeks
Christianity and Hellenistic philosophy
Year of birth unknown
Ancient suicides

Peregrinus Proteus


Monstera is a genus of flowering plants. There are about 60 species in the genus. The genus belongs to the family Araceae. Originally, the plants occur in the tropical regions of Central and South America.

The plants are herbs or evergreen vines. They climb other trees. They can grow to a height of about 20m. The plants also have aerial roots. These can act as hooks on branches of the tree that the plant is climbing. They grow down into the ground to support the plant. The leaves are leather, dark green, and often have holes in them. The flowers grow on a special inflorescence called a spadix.   Some species have edible fruit.

Many people grow some of these species (esp. Monstera deliciosa) indoors as a houseplant. Monstera deliciosa is sometimes also grown for its fruit, which tastes somewhere between a banana and a pineapple.

In some parts of the world (other than Tropical America), some plants started to grow in the wild. This is the case for example in Portugal, on Madeira, Morocco, some parts of India and Malaysia as well as in Florida.

Other websites

 Entry at GRIN Taxonomy for Plants
Classification from the International Association for Plant Taxonomy

Vines
Araceae
Epiphytes

Monstera


Kivett & Myers was a Kansas City, Missouri architecture firm that pioneered the design of modern professional sports stadiums.

Clarence Kivett (born Clarence Kivovitch) graduated from the University of Kansas in 1928 and his first big design project was the art deco design of Katz Drug (which was taken over by Osco Drug) at Main Street and Westport in 1934 in Kansas City (which was owned by his uncles Mike and Ike Katz).

He was joined by Ralph Myers in 1940.  They went on to design the Cumonow Residence in Mission Hills, the Missouri State Office Building at 13th and Holmes, the old Temple B'nai Jehudah at 69th and Holmes, Spencer Chemistry and Biological Sciences Building at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the Fairmount Hotel in the Country Club Plaza and the Mission Hills Country Club clubhouse.

The two most prominent commissions came in the late 1960s and early 1970s with terminals and control tower at Kansas City International Airport (a design layout with in "C" shape so that all gates were within a few feet of the road) and the Truman Sports Complex for Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals.

A prominent feature of the stadia design favoured by Kivett and Myers is the spiral ramps leading to the higher echelons of seating. This can be seen at Kauffman Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, as well as the now-demolished Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The initial design in 1967 called for the baseball and football stadiums to be built side by side sharing the same parking infrastructure as well as a rolling roof that was to slide from one stadium to the other.  The concepts of separate stadiums for baseball and football was revolutionary at the time when stadiums were designed as gigantic multipurpose venues.  The rolling roof was initially too expensive and too impractical in Kansas City however it was to be applied at several stadiums elsewhere in the decades that followed.

In 1978 the Kansas City civil engineering and architecture firm HNTB acquired Kivett and Myers and went on to build several professional stadiums, indoor arenas, and ballparks.  Several of the firm's architects also went on to open a sports architecture office in Kansas City for HOK in 1983, now the independent firm of Populous, with offices in Kansas City, London, and Brisbane.  In 1988 several more architects left HNTB and opened a sports architecture office in Kansas City for Ellerbe Becket (since acquired by AECOM). This practice was known primarily for professional indoor sports arenas, but was also responsible for several major stadia.

References

External links
KC Public Library History
Kansas City Biz Journal profile

Architecture firms based in Missouri
Companies based in Kansas City, Missouri

Kivett and Myers


William T. Young (February 15, 1918 – January 12, 2004) was an American businessman and major owner of thoroughbred racehorses.

William T. Young attended the University of Kentucky where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.  Young graduated with high distinction in 1939 with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering. After a short employment with Bailey Meter in Cleveland, Ohio, he served as a captain in the United States Army from 1941 to 1945.

Service In World War II
William T. Young served in World War II as a United States Army officer.

Business career
After the War he was living in Philadelphia but in 1946 returned to his native Lexington where he founded W. T. Young Foods, Inc. that made "Big Top" brand peanut butter. He developed the business into one of the leading producers of peanut butter in the United States. After he sold the company to Procter & Gamble in 1955, it was renamed Jif peanut butter. William Young continued to manage the peanut butter manufacturing operation for Procter & Gamble until 1957, at which time he founded W. T. Young Storage, Inc.

William Young joined the board of directors of Royal Crown Cola and served as its chairman from 1966 to 1984. He was also a director the Kentucky-American Water Company, and the First Security National Bank and Trust Company of Lexington. At one time, William Young was the single largest shareholder of Humana health insurance company. Through the 1960s and early 1970s, he served on the board of directors of Kentucky Fried Chicken with CEO John Y. Brown Jr. When Brown was elected governor of Kentucky in December 1979, he chose Young as chairman of the executive cabinet. Young also served as chairman of the Kentucky Economic Development Corporation, a private organization aimed at boosting economic development in the state.

Overbrook Farm
In 1972 William Young established Overbrook Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. In 1983 he bred Storm Cat, the most important horse of his career.  Storm Cat went on to become one of the world's highest priced sires and almost entirely responsible for William Young being voted the 1994 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder.

Teamed with trainer D. Wayne Lukas, in 1994 Overbrook won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies with Flanders and was a partner in Timber Country who won that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Overbrook also bred Tabasco Cat on a foal share partnership agreement with Reynolds Metals Chairman, David P. Reynolds. Tabasco Cat won the 1994 Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

Overbrook won the 1996 Kentucky Derby with the home-bred colt Grindstone and captured his second Breeders' Cup Juvenile that fall with Boston Harbor. In 1999 he won the 1999 Breeders' Cup Classic with Cat Thief.

Active in the horse racing industry, William Young served as a director of the Breeders' Cup Limited. His daughter Lucy married renowned French horse trainer François Boutin and remains active in the industry.

On June 9, 2009, William Young Jr., who assumed control of the Overbrook operation upon the death of his father, announced that his family would be selling the majority of their bloodstock. During the next few months Overbrook sold off its resident stallions then in September sold 48 yearlings for $6,644,000 and in November sold 148 horses for $31,760,000  including Honest Pursuit, a daughter of Storm Cat who sold for $3.1 million to Wertheimer et Frère.

Philanthropy
Young was a community leader in such organizations as the YMCA, Junior Achievement, Spindletop Research, the Red Cross, and the Cancer Drive. He was a University of Kentucky trustee and donated $5 million of his own money while helping raise additional funds to build a new library at the University of Kentucky that would be named the William T. Young Library in his honor. He further created a book endowment and campaigned for donations to fund it. At the time of his death the endowment was the largest of its kind in the United States. William Young was inducted into the College of Engineering Hall of Distinction in 1992.  Appointed to the board of trustees of Transylvania University in 1967, he served as its chairman for twenty-three years from 1977 to 2000 and was a most important figure in the university's expansion and betterment.

In 1985, William Young joined the board of historic Shakertown near Lexington and was appointed its chairman in 1990. In that role, he was instrumental in raising funds for important renovations needed to increase visitor revenues and as well he set up a program to insure the village's financial stability.

Overall, William Young donated more than $60 million to various causes.

His wife, the former Lucy Hilton Maddox, died in 2002 and he died in 2004. He was survived by a son, William T. Young Jr., and daughter, Lucy Young Hamilton.

External links
W.T. Young 1919–2004
UK Alumni William T. Young

References
 Bowen, Edward L. Legacies of the Turf: A Century of Great Thoroughbred Breeders (2003) Eclipse Press

1918 births
2004 deaths
University of Kentucky College of Engineering alumni
United States Army personnel of World War II
American drink industry businesspeople
Transylvania University people
American racehorse owners and breeders
Eclipse Award winners
Owners of Kentucky Derby winners
Owners of Preakness Stakes winners
Owners of Belmont Stakes winners
Businesspeople from Lexington, Kentucky
20th-century American philanthropists
20th-century American businesspeople
United States Army officers
Sigma Alpha Epsilon members

William T. Young


A brooch is a piece of jewelry that is attached to clothes. It is usually made of metal, silver or gold but sometimes bronze and decorated with gemstones.

Brooches called "fibulae" were used for many centuries to fasten clothing. In recent centuries people more often use buttons and belts for that, so brooches have become only decorative.

Jewelry

Brooch


The black caracara (Daptrius ater) is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae found in Amazonian and French Guiana lowlands, commonly along rivers. They are locally referred to as Ger' futu busikaka in the Republic of Suriname  or juápipi {nẽjõmbʌ} by the Emberá of Panama and Colombia. Both these names refer to multiple bird species within Falconidae. German-Brazilian ornithologist Helmut Sick also referred to this species as gavião-de-anta, literally translating to "tapir-hawk".

Since migration has not been observed, they are considered sedentary; remaining in the tropics year round. Its genus Daptrius is often considered monotypic today, though some also include its close relative, the red-throated caracara otherwise separated in Ibycter.

Daptrius ater are considered to be a widespread raptor, often spotted in groups of 2-5 individuals in tall trees. Nests built from sticks containing 2-3 spotted, brown eggs have been observed high up in trees, however little else is known about their breeding habits and reproduction.
Typical of caracaras, this species is an omnivore as well as an opportunistic feeder, known to be both a predator, scavenger and forager.

Taxonomy

The species Daptrius ater was first described by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1816. It previously shared its genus with the red-throated caracara, which is now known as Ibycter americanus in the monotypic genus Ibycter. The inclusion of I. americanus in the genus Daptrius was made by ornithologist Herbert Friedmann in 1950, and backed up by Dean Amadon in 1968. However, a recent mitochondrial DNA and nuclear sequence data study focusing on caracaras and allies (subfamily Polyborinae) determined that these two species not only differ in genus, but are also arranged in polyphyly, meaning that they do not share a common most recent ancestor. Additionally, it was concluded that D. ater'''s closest relative is the yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima), existing on the phylogenetic tree as a sister group.

 Description
Adult black caracara are a glossy black except for the distinctive white band on the base of the tail, and yellow to orange-red feet and face. The adults appear similar to those of their closest relative, the red-throated caracara, however they have distinctly long and narrow wings and tail, as well as a black beak. Additionally, the red-throated caracara can be distinguished from the black caracara by their red throats. The average adult length is 41-47cm. The females of this species average 350-440g and are typically larger than the males that have an average weight of 330g.
Juveniles can be identified by their dull black plumage, pale yellow face and the 3-4 black bars found on the rectrices.

When observing flight from a distance, it is notable that Daptrius ater rarely soars, but instead can be seen continuously flapping.

Habitat and distribution
It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and heavily degraded former forest. Common habitats include gallery forest and wooded savanna that are situated between altitudes of 0 to 900m. Black caracara can also be found in mangroves and disturbed forested habitats along water.

Conservation status
IUCN estimates a fluctuating population of 1000-10000 individuals, with an adult population of 670-6700. Population declines have been documented over the past 10 years, however it is not presently considered critical. The designation of least concern is attributed to their large range, ability to survive in fragmented forest, and their diverse diet.

Behavior
The black caracara are most often seen in pairs or family groups of 3-4, but can be spotted alone. They have been observed flying in straight patterns with continuous flapping, walking along rivers, and perching in tall trees. Other common sightings have famously associated them with tapir and capybara, as they have been observed picking ectoparasites from the fur. This interaction can be considered mutualistic as tapirs notably solicit nearby black caracara using a call, then lay still to facilitate tick removal.
They are also known to scavenge around human settlements and exhibit the ability to fish along rivers.

DietD. ater are known to eat almost anything from vegetation to carrion to live prey; therefore, are best described as an opportunistic feeder.  More specifically, their diet consists of nestlings and fledglings of other bird species, smaller birds such as flycatchers and pigeons, small mammals, carrion, frogs, reptiles, invertebrates, small fish, palm nuts and other fruit.
With this diverse list that makes up their diet, they have developed various foraging and hunting strategies. These include directly attacking the nests of other birds, searching the canopy foliage with their beaks for insects, and exhibiting comfort around humans when scavenging in camps.

Fishing
The diverse list of feeding strategies includes foraging small fish within their riverine habitats. D. ater make use of exposed rocks and emergent vegetation in and along rivers, walking slowly on these surfaces while peering into the water for small fish such as species of Characidae. Once the prey is spotted, they are caught using either the bill or talons then carried away from the river for consumption. Black caracara mostly fish in areas of fast moving rivers where migratory fish are forced to bottleneck and become trapped among plants or within shallow pools, reflecting their opportunistic nature.

Vocalization
This species can also be identified from other species by their harsh, piercing, single note kraaaa'' calls that usually occur during flight. This call is usually repeated several times, often ending in a decrescendo. They do not exhibit diverse vocalizations, restricted to variations in length and volume of their distinctive shriek.

Reproduction
There is only one observational record of a black caracara nest in Brazil being built from twigs 60–70 cm in length, 25m high in a tree. Little else is known about their reproductive behaviors.

References

black caracara
Birds of the Amazon rainforest
Birds of Colombia
Birds described in 1816
Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot

Black caracara


Valeriy Sokolov (born September 22, 1986) is a Ukrainian violinist.

Sokolov was born in Kharkiv.

He was awarded the Study Grant Prize at the International Pablo Sarasate Competition in Pamplona, Spain in 1999 which provided him with a scholarship to study with Natalia Boyarskaya at the Yehudi Menuhin School, England.

In September 2005, Sokolov took part in the George Enescu Festival and won the Grand Prix with a performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto; he also won Best Performance for Enescu's Violin Sonata No. 3 as well as the Enescu Foundation Prize.

In 2006 and 2007, he performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Douglas Boyd, the Bournemouth Symphony and Yan Pascal Tortelier as well as with Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur under Howard Griffiths. Elsewhere, he performed with the Bremen Philharmonic and Stefan Blunier, and the Basel Symphony Orchestra with Rumon Gamba. Sokolov made his US orchestral debut in summer 2007, performing at Aspen Music Festival and Grand Teton Music Festival, and, upon special invitation of David Zinman, at the Blossom Festival with the Cleveland Orchestra.

In February 2008, he gave the US premiere of Boris Tishchenko's Concerto for Piano and Violin at Carnegie Hall, New York and at the Library of Congress, Washington. Sokolov returned to the Aspen festival in August 2008 to perform Bartók's Violin Concerto No 2 with Peter Oundjian.

Upon Lawrence Foster's personal invitation, Sokolov recorded Enescu's Violin Sonata No 3, complementing Mr. Foster's recording of Enescu's Octet in a transcription for symphony orchestra, released on CD at the beginning of 2009 on the EMI/Virgin label.

In recent seasons he has appeared with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, and made debuts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Orchestre National de France and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Conductors with whom he has worked include David Zinman, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ivor Bolton and Ludovic Morlot. He has appeared in recital at the Wigmore Hall, the Théâtre du Châtelet and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

In March 2017 he is scheduled to perform the Bartók Violin Concerto No 2 with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under Juraj Valčuha.

Sokolov resides in Germany.

References

External links

Valeriy Sokolov
Valeriy Sokolov at Miami Piano Fest

Living people
1986 births
Ukrainian violinists
Male violinists
Alumni of the Royal College of Music
Musicians from Kharkiv
People educated at Yehudi Menuhin School
21st-century violinists
21st-century male musicians

Valeriy Sokolov


was a town located in Kami District, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan.

As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 22,160 and a density of 190.28 persons per km2. The total area was 116.46 km2.

On March 1, 2006, Tosayamada, along with the town of Kahoku, and the village of Monobe (all from Kami District), was merged to create the city of Kami and no longer exists as an independent municipality. However it is still considered a town by residents and is still used in official addresses with the post office.

Tosayamada has a sister city relationship with Largo, Florida. Yamada Senior High School and Largo High School (Florida) have an ongoing yearly exchange program.

Tosa-Yamada Station is the town's train station.

Schools
 Kochi University of Technology
 Yamada Senior High School
 Kagamino Junior High School

People from Tosayamada
 Taira Hara, manga artist
Yumiko Kurahashi, writer and translator

External links
 Official website of Kami
 Kochi University of Technology in Tosayamada
 Yamada High School Homepage

Dissolved municipalities of Kōchi Prefecture
Kami, Kōchi

Tosayamada, Kōchi


was a daimyō and official of the Tokugawa shogunate during Bakumatsu period Japan.

Biography
Inoue Masanao was the fourth son of the daimyō of Tatebayashi Domain, Inoue Masaharu, and was born before his father was transferred to Hamamatsu.  He inherited the leadership of the Inoue clan and the position of daimyō of Hamamatsu Domain on his father's death in 1847. In 1851, he was awarded Lower 5th Court Rank and the courtesy title of Kawachi-no-kami.

During the Bakumatsu period, he entered the administration of the Tokugawa shogunate, first as Sōshaban (Master of Ceremonies) in 1858, as Jisha-bugyō in 1861, then as  Rōjū (Senior Councilor) in 1862 under Shōgun Tokugawa Ienari. His court rank was correspondingly increased to Lower 4th. In 1863–1864 he participated in the discussions within Edo Castle on the ending of Japan's national isolation policy and the signing of the unequal treaties with the western powers. Dismissed as Rōjū on July 12, 1864, he was reappointed again on November 26, 1865. In 1866, he participated in the Second Chōshū expedition by the command of the shogunal deputy in Kyoto, Tokugawa Yoshinobu. He resigned again on June 17, 1867.

In 1868, despite his background as a fudai daimyō and former Rōjū, he sided with the Imperial forces in the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration.
In May 1868, Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu was forced to resign his office, and the Tokugawa clan under the new leadership of Tokugawa Iesada was given the provinces of Suruga, Tōtōmi and a portion of Mikawa Province as compensation. The Inoue clan was reassigned to a new 60,000 koku domain in Kazusa Province called Tsurumai Domain in September of the same year. In 1869, Inoue Masaharu became domain governor of Tsurumai Domain under the Meiji government. The domain was abolished in 1871 with the abolition of the han system. After the establishment of the kazoku peerage system, he became a viscount (shishaku). He later became a student of C. Carrothers at the Keio Gijuku in Tokyo.

Inoue Masaharu was married to a daughter of Matsudaira Tadakata, daimyō of Ueda Domain. He was succeeded as head of the Inoue clan by his fourth son Inoue Masanao. His grave is at the Somei Cemetery in Toshima, Tokyo.

References
 Papinot, Edmond. (1906) Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du japon. Tokyo: Librarie Sansaisha...Click link for digitized 1906 Nobiliaire du japon (2003)
 The content of much of this article was derived from that of the corresponding article on Japanese Wikipedia.

External links
Grave of Inoue Masanao

|-

Fudai daimyo
Mizuno clan
1837 births
1904 deaths
Kazoku
Rōjū
Meiji Restoration

Inoue Masanao


Paul Delaune (1584?–1654?) was an English physician, Gresham Professor of Physic during the Commonwealth.

Life
A native of London, he was related, probably, to Gideon Delaune, the wealthy apothecary, and by marriage to Dr. Argent, who was eight times president of the College of Physicians, and who died in 1642. Delaune was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1608 and M.A. in 1611. He graduated as M.D. at the University of Padua on 13 October 1614, and at the University of Cambridge on 4 November 1615. He was examined before the censors' board of the College of Physicians on 8 September 1615, admitted a candidate of the College of Physicians 25 June 1616, and became a fellow on 21 April 1618.

When Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland, Delaune accompanied him as his physician, and resided for some years in Dublin. On 24 May 1642 he was made an elect, and in 1643 senior censor, of the College of Physicians. On 13 June 1643, after the withdrawal of Dr. Thomas Winston to the continent, Delaune was appointed professor of physic in Gresham College, through the influence of Thomas Chamberlane, a member of the Mercers' Company. On 27 June 1643 he was recommended by the college, in compliance with an order of John Lenthall, speaker of the House of Commons, as one of three physicians to the parliamentary army under Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex.

In 1652 Dr. Winston returned to England and was restored to the Gresham professorship (20 August) For some time after his compulsory resignation of the chair of physic Delaune was in straitened circumstances. Ultimately he accepted from Oliver Cromwell the appointment of physician-general to the fleet, which he accompanied first to Hispaniola, and afterwards to Jamaica. He was probably present at the capture of this island in 1653, but nothing further is known of his history or fate. According to Benjamin Hamey, his death took place in December 1654.

Notes

References

1580s births
1654 deaths
17th-century English medical doctors
Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
University of Padua alumni
English expatriates in the Republic of Venice

Paul Delaune


Lapan- TUBSat is Indonesia's first remote sensing satellite, made by the experts from National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional, Lapan) and Technical University Berlin (TUB) Germany. The uses of the satellite are for Indonesian natural resources observation and weather forecast for the Indonesian area. Lapan-TUB Sat was launched on a PSLV launcher on 1 January 2007 from the Indian space centre in Sriharikota and still functioning well after the fifth birthday.

History
Lapan-TUBSat is a micro satellite, weight of 56 Kilograms, and orbit at 630 kilometers above Indonesia. This satellite passes the polar orbital (from one polar to another) and across the archipelago for two or three times each day. Image of Lapan- TUBsat, now can only be received by Lapan ground station in Rumpin, West Java, called remote sensing image for West Indonesia. Afterward, ground station in Pare Pare, South Celebes and Biak Island, Papua, will be built to receive image from remote sensing satellite for Middle and East Indonesia.

Before this discovery, image input and satellite data for the observation need, are received from other countries' natural resources satellites, such as Landsat and NOAA (United States), SPOT (France), Radarsat (Canada), JRS (Japan), and also Feng Yun (China). Lapan as the institute that is made to fulfill this need could not fix the satellites' orbital tracks, its coverage area, and time limit of the satellites rotation above Indonesia.

Now, the Lapan-TUBsat can relay topography images from several regions in Indonesia. At the test phase, the satellite was aimed to Strait of Madura, North Java, Bangka Maritime and Strait of Malaya. Those areas classified as catastrophes areas of accident and flood. This point is consistent with the Lapan-TUBsat mission, giving attention to potentially dangerous areas in Indonesia.

References

External links

 Lapan Tubsat information
 Official homepage of LAPAN-TUBSAT
 LAPAN-TUBSAT paper at small satellite conference
 Two years of Lapan Tubsat operating in orbit

Earth observation satellites
Student satellites
Spacecraft launched in 2007
Satellites of Indonesia
2007 in Indonesia

Lapan-TUBsat


Gingerbread men are cookies made of gingerbread shaped like people.

In America, they are most popular at Christmastime. Ingredients include ginger, molasses, spices, flour, butter, eggs, etc. The dough is rolled out on a flat surface, and the gingerbread man is made with a cookie cutter. The cookies can be frosted and decorated with various trims such as raisins and silver dragees.

These cookies can be made with different decorations such as chocolate chips, jelly beans, chocolate sauce etc. They can also be made in different sizes.

Cookies

Gingerbread man


Lice (singular: louse), are wingless insects that live in hair. They are all external parasites on every species of bird and most mammalian orders. They are not found on Monotremes  and a few eutherian orders, namely bats (Chiroptera), whales, dolphins and porpoises (Cetacea) and pangolins (Pholidota). There are more than 3,000 different species; three are classified as human lice.

Description
Lice spend their whole life on the host. They are adapted to keep close contact with the host. These adaptations are reflected in their size (0.5–8 mm), stout legs, and claws which are adapted to clinging tightly to hair, fur and feathers. They are also wingless and flattened.

Lice feed on skin (epidermal) debris, feather parts, sebaceous secretions and blood. A louse's color varies from pale beige to dark grey; however, if feeding on blood, it may become considerably darker.

A louse's egg is commonly called a nit. Lice attach their eggs to their host's hair with specialized saliva which results in a bond that is very difficult to separate without specialized products. Living lice eggs tend to be pale white. Dead lice eggs are more yellow. Lice are very annoying and are difficult to remove, but not impossible. The process is called nit-picking, and is often done with a close-toothed metal comb. For humans, anti-insect shampoos are available.

Classification
The order has traditionally been divided into two suborders; the sucking lice (Anoplura) and chewing lice (Mallophaga). Four suborders are now recognised:

 Anoplura: sucking lice, including head and pubic lice
 Rhyncophthirina: parasites of elephants and warthogs
 Ischnocera: avian lice
 Amblycera: chewing lice, a primitive order of lice
 Amblycera: jumping lice have very strong hind legs and can jump a distance of three feet

It has been suggested that the order is contained by the Troctomorpha suborder of Psocoptera. What this means is that lice may have evolved from free-living species of that group.

Lice and humans
Humans are unique in that they host three different species of lice: head lice, body lice (which live mainly in clothing), and pubic lice. The DNA differences between head lice and body lice provide corroborating evidence that humans started wearing clothes at approximately 70,000 BCE.

Recent DNA evidence suggests that pubic lice spread to the ancestors of humans approximately 3.3 million years ago from the ancestors of gorillas by sharing the same bed or other communal areas with them, and are more closely related to lice endemic to gorillas than to other lice species infesting humans.

Gallery

Related pages
 Pest
 Parasite

References

Other websites

 Lice Pest Control Information - National Pesticide Information Center
 Bed-hopping led humans to 3 million-year itch
 www.phthiraptera.org has extensive scientific information.
 Body and Head lice  University of Florida Featured Creatures
 Crab Louse  University of Florida Featured Creatures
 WebMD Lice Info

Insects
Parasites

Louse


Abbotsford may refer to a place in:

Australia
 Abbotsford, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia
 Abbotsford, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia

Canada
 Abbotsford, British Columbia, a city in Canada
 Abbotsford (electoral district), an electoral district surrounding the Canadian city

New Zealand
 Abbotsford, New Zealand, a suburb of Dunedin, New Zealand

South Africa
 Abbotsford, Gauteng, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa

United Kingdom
 Abbotsford, West Sussex, a village in West Sussex
 Abbotsford House, home of Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott, near Melrose, Scotland

United States of America
 Abbotsford, Wisconsin, USA
 Abbotsford (Boston, Massachusetts)

Related pages
Abbotsford, Cuddington, a house in Cheshire, England
Abbotsford furniture, a neo-Gothic furniture made during the 1820s and 30's and named after Sir Walter Scott's baronial house
Abbotsford ware, a pottery produced by the Kirkcaldy Pottery in Fife in the late 19th. and early 20th. centuries
1979 Abbotsford landslip, a major landslide which occurred in Abbotsford, New Zealand

Abbotsford


The University of Manchester is a public university in Manchester, England. From 2007 to 2008, it had over 40,000 students studying 500 academic programmes, and more than 10,000 staff and an annual income of £637 million. It is the largest single-campus University in the United Kingdom. The university was formed in 2004 by joining together the Victoria University of Manchester (founded 1851) and UMIST (founded 1824) and since then some of the buildings have been demolished and new ones built instead.

The former UMIST buildings are in the Sackville Street Campus and those of the former University of Manchester in the Oxford Road Campus. There is a residential campus further south in the suburb of Fallowfield. The earliest buildings of the university date from 1872 (west of Oxford Road) and they were occupied by Owens College in 1873. Since the 1950s the facilities for science and technology have occupied an area east of Oxford Road and the medical school was relocated there in the early 1970s.

Faculties
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
School of Medical Sciences
School of Biological Sciences
School of Health Sciences
Faculty of Science and Engineering
School of Engineering
School of Natural Sciences
Faculty of Humanities
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
School of Environment, Education and Development
School of Social Sciences
Alliance Manchester Business School

Institutions
 Jodrell Bank Observatory
 Whitworth Art Gallery
 Manchester Museum, established in 1867, the museum is sited on Oxford Road among the Gothic Revival buildings of the university. It holds about six million items which come from all the continents and serves both as a resource for academic research and teaching and as a regional public museum.
 Manchester University Press
 Contact Theatre

Library

The John Rylands University Library is the library and information service for the university. It was formed in July 1972 from the merger of the library of the Victoria University of Manchester with the John Rylands Library. On 1 October 2004 it joined the library of the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST) on the merger of the two universities.

The main library is on the Oxford Road Campus of the University and the special collections are in the John Rylands Library, Deansgate, in the city centre. The Library is a National Research Library (an award of the Higher Education Funding Council for England): the only one in the north of England.

Notes

Other websites

 http://www.manchester.ac.uk/ - Official page of the University of Manchester

University of Manchester

2004 establishments in England

University of Manchester


The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations.  It was founded in New York City in 1873 by Canadian engravers George-Édouard Desbarats and William Leggo, and began publication in March of that year.  It continued publication until September 23, 1889.

History

Flush with their printing success in Canada, Desbarats and Leggo relocated to New York in 1873 to found The Daily Graphic.  Highly illustrated, its lavish engravings included cartoons, reproductions of paintings, and illustrations of contemporary news events and notable personalities.  While pioneering, the paper was not a financial success, and Desbarats later returned to Montreal, with Leggo following at least by 1879.

The business management of the paper was initially headed up by Charles and James Goodsell.  David Croly, former managing editor of the New York World, was the initial editor of the paper, serving from 1873 through 1878.  Mark Twain wryly commented to Croly after seeing the first issue:  "I don't care much about reading ... but I do like to look at pictures, and the illustrated weeklies do not come as often as I need them."  Croly was an admirer of Walt Whitman, and published a number of his poems in the Graphic.

An early publicity stunt pulled by the Graphic in 1873 was the sponsoring of a cross-Atlantic balloon trip by Washington Donaldson.  The flight proved unsuccessful, but it did draw significant attention to the paper.

  Engraver Stephen Henry Horgan helped push the photographic printing efforts of the paper.  The paper published an image of Steinway Hall from a photograph on December 2, 1873.  And "A Scene in Shantytown, New York" appeared in the March 4, 1880 issue; the first halftone photograph ever printed by a newspaper.

The Daily Graphic was also the first American paper to print a daily weather map, which started in its May 9, 1879 edition.  The U.S. government provided the map through its Weather Services and paid the paper $10 a day to run it, which ran through September 1882 when the service ended.

Isaac M. Gregory served as editor of the paper from 1882-1885 before moving on to edit Judge magazine.

A Weekly Graphic compilation was also offered by the paper, and was available by delivery by mail.

Other papers

The London newspaper The Graphic, which was founded in 1869, commenced publication of its own "The Daily Graphic" on January 4, 1890.  It was illustrated with line drawings and woodcuts; photoengraving and halftone was considered too complex a process.

The Daily Graphic was not connected with the New York Evening Graphic, published from 1924 to 1932, and most famous for Walter Winchell's gossip column.

Reproduced from The Daily Graphic

References

External links
 Daily Graphic archives, at fultonhistory.com

Newspapers established in 1873
Defunct newspapers published in New York City
Publications disestablished in 1889
1873 establishments in New York (state)
1889 disestablishments in New York (state)
Daily newspapers published in New York City

The Daily Graphic


Chobham Common is a  biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Chobham in Surrey.  It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and a national nature reserve. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and the Thursley, Ash, Pirbright and Chobham Special Area of Conservation. It contains three scheduled monuments. Most of the site is managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust as the Chobham Common nature reserve,  but the SSSI also includes a small private reserve managed by the Trust, Gracious Pond.

Animals
 26 species of mammal have been recorded on the site including the nationally rare water vole.
 116 species of bird have been recorded. The Common is a nationally important breeding area for European nightjar, woodlark and Dartford warbler.
 9 species of reptiles and amphibians have been recorded, including adders and the nationally rare sand lizard.
 The Common is nationally important for its invertebrate fauna being the best site in the UK for spiders, hymenoptera (bees wasp and ants) and ladybirds – it is one of the last two sites on the mainland UK for the red barbed ant Formica rufibarbis.
 23 species of dragonfly
 33 species of butterfly including large colonies of the rare silver studded blue have been recorded.

Plants
 390 species of vascular plant
 A good assemblages of bryophytes, lichens and fungi have been recorded.
 Of most note are the marsh club moss (Lycopodiella inundata) and Deptford pink (Dianthus armeria)
 A good assemblages of wetland species including sundews (Drosera) and marsh gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe), and of heathland road verge species.

History
Peat and tumuli at the site suggest that, like other non-mountainous heaths, Chobham Common was transformed from to mostly shrubs, grass and bog when late paleolithic farmers and wood-gatherers cleared much of the primary woodland that before their arrival cloaked the country. This exposed and degraded the fragile topsoils of the site, creating the conditions favoured by heathland. After the initial clearance the area would have been kept free of trees by grazing and fuel gathering. The specific earliest periods of occupation were the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age; analysis of peat cores from areas with similar geology and patterns of settlement elsewhere in southern Britain would suggest the heathland on Chobham Common emerged at some time during these periods.

An Inclosure Award was made by Parliament in 1855 of part to the Earl of Onslow outright, the rest, for example, in 1911 comprising "several thousand acres of common land" was uninclosed but associated with his land, at which time Chobham remained a large parish (i.e. village or town) in southern England, covering .

In addition to the Great Camp of 1853, the Common also hosted the Battle of Chobham Common in September 1871, as part of the Autumn Manoeuvres of that year.  During the First World War, trenching exercises were held in August 1915 in advance of Kitchener's Third Army's mobilisation in France.

Chobham Common was used by the military during the 1920s and 1930s, and throughout the Second World War.  Captured enemy tanks were also tested in the Common as was equipment to detonate land mines using flails and probably caused the significant damage that lead to reseeding.

Immediately after the Second World War, the southern part was ploughed and seeded with an annual grass to allow the natural vegetation to re-establish, while the area north of Staple Hill, which was not as heavily damaged, was allowed to recover naturally. By the 1950s, plants and associated small animals were recovering well. At this time the Common was heavily grazed by rabbits with little scrub and large areas of close-cropped heather and gorse. Myxomatosis reached the area in 1955 and consequently the heather and gorse on Chobham Common grew and scrub began to develop. By the 1960s scrub including brambles was starting to become a problem.  Surrey County Council purchased the slightly reduced area comprising the common from William Onslow, 6th Earl of Onslow for £1 per acre by in 1966.

Monuments
 There are three scheduled monuments on Chobham Common: a Bronze Age barrow, and two earthworks of unknown date and origin known as "The Beegardens".
 Queen Victoria reviewed troops encamped on the Common, including the Light Brigade (famous from the "Charge of the Light Brigade"), before their departure to the Crimea during the Crimean War in 1853. The Victoria Monument erected on the site in 1901 commemorates this review.

Loss of heathlands nationally
Over 80% of the heathlands that once covered extensive areas of southern Britain have been lost, with similar losses on the near continent where the remaining lowland heathland of oceanic temperate regions occurs. This dramatic decline began during the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century as changes in agriculture, which resulted in the loss of grazing on heaths, and as the growing availability of cheap coal as an alternative to other fuels, brought traditional heathland management to an end in many areas. Large areas of heathland were lost to neglect or subjected to agricultural "improvement" and enclosure as arable farming methods advanced. During the twentieth century' 50% of the heathland that remained in 1919 was converted to commercial forestry and substantial areas have been lost to development and invading scrub.  In geology and soil, it lies on the sandy Bagshot Formation, which is named after a nearby village of Surrey, and where covered by topsoil this is accordingly naturally wet, acid heath soil, with patches of dry, acid heath soil, due to the drainage and chemistry of this material.  This accounts for which is just 1.9% of English soil and 0.2% of Welsh soil.  In wettest patches which have peat this is the best type of soil for pines and coniferous landscapes.

Maintenance
The survival of Chobham Common as an extensive area of lowland heath is largely due to the historic isolation of the Chobham area where traditional heathland management continued until the early twentieth century. While turbary (turf cutting) was still practised on a small scale at the beginning of the twentieth century it had ceased to be an important factor in the management of the Common by that time. Rough grazing and the cutting of heather, gorse and small trees began to decline after 1914 and had almost completely ended by the time of the Second World War. Photographic evidence and verbal reports indicate that during the early part of the twentieth century large tracts of Calluna vulgaris (heather) with extensive areas of wet heath and open bog dominated the Common. There was little scrub and the only trees of any great size were at the Clump on Staple Hill and the Lone Pine to the south of the Beegarden.

Management
In 1984, Surrey County Council produced the first management plan for Chobham Common which acknowledged invading scrub, fire and erosion as the main threats to the site. The Surrey Trust for Nature Conservation (now renamed the Surrey Wildlife Trust) had carried out small-scale scrub clearance work from 1974 onwards and Surrey County Council began clearing scrub on the Common from the 1970s onwards; however despite their best efforts the scrub continued to advance. While describing birch and pine invasion on the Common as "Possibly the most serious problem for nature conservation" the 1984 Management Plan states, "Widespread invasion control is difficult to justify financially. Intervention management will therefore be limited to the more significant open habitats and places where an acceptable level of tree cover can be maintained at low cost".

From the late 1980s, a more aggressive approach to scrub management was adopted together with more active conservation management starting with the large scale annual events for schools and volunteers such as "Purge the Pine" and "Free Christmas Tree" events. While these events, which involved over 1,500 volunteers in some years, dramatically reduced the threat to the Common from pine invasion, birch remained a major threat to the site.

The 1992 Management Plan took a much more positive approach to conservation management of Chobham Common. In the same year the site was proposed as a national nature reserve (NNR) and a substantial grant covering a ten-year period was awarded to Surrey County Council under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme for the management of 280 hectares of the Common. The scheme was extended to cover the whole NNR for a further ten years in October 2002. At the time of writing at least seventeen hectares of scrub management takes place each year together with at least twenty hectares of conservation mowing, and bracken control. Bare ground creation and heather cutting, and pond, scrape and pool creation are also carried out to enhance bio-diversity. The restoration of conservation grazing on Chobham Common is seen as a priority by site managers.

Fire
Fires occurred fairly regularly during the 1950s and 1960s and the whole of Chobham Common was seriously damaged by major fires in the early and mid-1970s which caused the loss of the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) and sand lizard from the site and allowed extensive areas of purple moor grass and bracken to establish. Since 1976, a network of fire tracks and firebreaks has been created and progressively upgraded. Since 1990 rangers and volunteers have fire watched during periods of high risk and in 2006 the rangers were equipped with a fire fighting system. These measures together with close liaison with the Surrey Fire Service have served to reduce both the frequency and scale of fires on the site.

The major utilities that cross Chobham Common were constructed during the 1950s and early 1960s. The M3 motorway was completed in 1974 cutting the site in half. Some attempts were made at mitigation work at the time, but with hindsight they were both inappropriate and inadequate and large blocks of gorse (Ulex europeaus) developed in the zone of disturbance on either side of the motorway creating further fragmentation of the site and causing serious fire risks. Following serious fires in 2001 and 2002 the Department for Transport provided funding for clearance of the gorse in the zone of disturbance and this area is mown annually to suppress any gorse regrowth.

Strong summer heat can occur to dry out the long grass, shrubs and trees of acidic heath soil. When a fire breaks out, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service (in the case of the major May 2010 fire attracting rubbernecking, Surrey Police and Hampshire Fire and Rescue assisted) extinguish it in a range of vehicles and teams.

In August 2020, a fire on the common spread to the golf course at the Wentworth Club causing the abandonment of the final event of the Rose Ladies Series.

Erosion mitigation
The first car parks on Chobham Common were created in 1936 at Staple Hill and south of the Monument. After the Second World War, the recreational use of the Common grew dramatically. This recreational use developed in an ad-hoc manner with walkers and horse riders creating tracks then abandoning them for new routes as they gullied and became impassable, causing wide scale erosion of the site.

It is also reported that during the 1950s and 1960s visitors regularly took vehicles onto Chobham Common further adding to the problem. An aerial photograph dated 1964 clearly shows severe erosion problems on Tank Hill and Staple Hill. By the time Surrey County Council acquired Chobham Common in 1968 there were nine car parks on the area covered by this plan. Initially the Council wished to develop a country park but these plans were soon dropped in favour of informal recreation and nature conservation.

Erosion and disturbance continued to be serious problems through the 1970s and 1980s. While attempts to restrict horse riding proved unsuccessful, by the late 1980s both walkers and riders were showing a marked preference for the growing network of high quality fire tracks.

In 1992, a consultative process began to resolve long running conflicts of interest between horse riders and other users, and to rationalise the rights of way networks in order to meet the needs of visitors while protecting sensitive habitats and species. Following a public enquiry in 1996 the present network of rights of way and agreed horse rides which incorporates the fire track network was installed. Since then there have been few serious erosion problems and disturbance has been greatly reduced.

Rail access
Longcross railway station
Very limited service at this station. Alternatives are Virginia Water and Sunningdale.

Access
Chobham Common is open to the public, has six car parks, an extensive network of footpaths, bridleways, other tracks and three self-guided trails.

References

External links
 Chobham Common (Surrey Wildlife Trust)
 Chobham Common NNR (Natural England)
 Chobham Common NNR Draft Management Plan 2007 – 2012
 Chobham Common report on public consultations and recommendations for future management
 Article on DSTL/QinetiQ Chertsey and Longcross Test Track (Chobham Tank Research Centre)
 Man's influence on Chobham Common, June 2015
 Chobham Common SSSI citation, Natural England

National nature reserves in England
Nature Conservation Review sites
Special Protection Areas in England
Special Areas of Conservation in England
Surrey Wildlife Trust

Chobham Common


Superman: Last Stand on Krypton is a comic book Elseworlds story, published by DC Comics in 2003. Written by Steve Gerber with art by Doug Wheatley. The book is the sequel to the comic book Superman: Last Son of Earth, also by Gerber and Wheatley. Last Stand on Krypton picks up 10 years after Last Son of Earth. Earth has thrived thanks to Superman and Kryptonian technology, but Lex Luthor now threatens Krypton.

Plot
In 2000, Earth has been hit with an asteroid, Superman, using Kryptonian technology, hopes to bring Earth back to its potential. In 2011, Metropolis is a paradise, but the government is corrupt. In a council meeting Superman refuses to share more Kryptonian technology, fearing Earth would suffer the same fate as Krypton. At the Daily Planet, Superman seeks the advice of Perry White, who tells him to check on Lois Lane, who is now a Captain in the military and is doing work in South America. Jimmy Olsen asks Superman about Morgan Edge calling him a traitor to humanity. At the Arkham Island, Lex Luthor bargains with Morgan Edge for freedom, and vows to take Superman down. Edge says that Superman has disappeared, Luthor tells Edge that he's the only one who could find Superman and destroy him.

Meanwhile, Superman comes out of warp near Krypton, finds Jor-El and Lara and has a happy family reunion. On Krypton Zod has takes up the mantle of General again, to defend the true Kryptonian heritage. Superman is informed how Zod would have the land reduced to a barren waste, rather than using the cloning tech to restore Krypton to its former glory. Somewhere on Krypton a spaceship crashes on the planet, Lois and Luthor in his exo-suit comes out. Robots attacks Luthor and the two are brought before Zod. Zod questions Luthor and finds out Superman is on the planet and Luthor agrees to help him. Zod's robots descend upon the New Kryptonian sanctuary, where the colonists are infected with Kryptonium, a.k.a. the green death. The animals and people in the colony die horribly. Superman pleads with Zod to avoid war, but Zod declines, and hands him over to Luthor. Luthor infects Superman with forms of the green death, which turns him into a brutish being in the process. Superman is thus rendered animalistic and unintelligible, but his motives are still pure. He takes Lois to his father, and Lois tells Jor-El that she will run his war for him.

Zod finds he has no more use for Luthor and is about to attack him, when Lex turns a red energy ray on himself. Luthor informs Zod that he now has sufficient brainpower to control Zod's army, and order Zod's soldiers to attack Zod. Luthor then gathers Zod's army to him and marches upon the colony. Lois initiates phase three using the Phantom Zone on Luthor's troops. Despite the loss of his armies, Luthor is still able to bring down the spire Superman is in. He then tries to control Superman's will but is unable to do so. They are enveloped in an energy field of their mental projection and an explosion ensues. Both burned beyond recognition and dying, Luthor tells Superman that a madman's work is never done, and unhinges Krypton. Superman tries to warn his family to leave. Lara, Jor-El and Lois run to Jor-El's lab and find a spaceship with a hyperdrive. There is only enough room for Lois and Lara, and Jor-El sends them on the spaceship as Krypton explodes.

Publication
 Superman: Last Stand on Krypton (paperback 68 page, March 2003)

See also
 Superman: Last Son of Earth
 List of Elseworlds publications

References

 Superman: Last Stand on Krypton Grand Comics Database
 Superman: Last Stand on Krypton Comic Book DB

External links
 Superman: Last Stand on Krypton at Comicvine
 Superman: Last Stand on Krypton at DC Wikia

Superman titles
Elseworlds titles
Comics by Steve Gerber
2003 comics debuts
DC Comics one-shots
Fiction set in 2000

Superman: Last Stand on Krypton