The Detroit Junior Red Wings were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League for three seasons from 1992 to 1995. The Jr. Red Wings were based in Detroit, Michigan.

History
The Compuware Ambassadors were renamed the Detroit Junior Red Wings in 1992 and played in the same arena as the NHL Detroit Red Wings. The Junior team was the most popular attraction in town during the NHL lockout of 1995, setting attendance records for the Ontario Hockey League and Canadian Hockey League.

After a failed takeover bid by Peter Karmanos to buy the NHL Red Wings from Mike Ilitch, the relationship between the two clubs soured after the season ended. The Jr. Red Wings played for three seasons before severing all ties with the NHL Red Wings and renaming themselves as the Detroit Whalers, in association with the NHL Hartford Whalers, which Karmanos bought in 1994.

1992–93
Former Windsor Compuware Spitfires coach Tom Webster was hired to coach for the 1992–93 season, with Paul Maurice as his assistant coach. Webster worked previously with Jr. Red Wings President Jim Rutherford and owner Peter Karmanos, when Windsor won the OHL title in 1987–88. Webster was returning from NHL coaching duties with the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings.

Key acquisitions made to build the team during the season were, defenceman Jamie Allison, forward Kevin Brown, and goalie Fred Brathwaite. Jim Rutherford was chosen OHL Executive of the Year in 1992–93 for role as team president and general manager in building the expansion franchise into a winning team.

The Jr. Wings played a run-and-gun style game. They were led in scoring by the Junior Production Line featuring, Pat Peake, Bob Wren and Kevin Brown. The trio combined for 163 goals on the season. Todd Harvey also scored 50 goals playing on the second line.

Detroit finished the season with 81 points, and second place in the Emms division tied with Sault Ste. Marie but had less wins with London finishing 10 points behind Detroit but the others finished with 66 points or below. The Junior Red Wings defeated the Guelph Storm in 5 games in the first round of the playoffs, but lost Pat Peake for the rest of the season when he suffered a broken collarbone.

Detroit defeated the rival London Knights in 5 games in second round to play the division champs Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the division finals. The more experienced Greyhounds team won the series in 5 games. The highlight of the round was the game three win, when with only three seconds left and the opposing net empty, goalie Fred Brathwaite set franchise history when he scored a goal.

1993–94
Before the start of the season, assistant coach Paul Maurice was promoted to head coach, when Tom Webster was relieved of his duties after a disagreement in team policies. Maurice brought along an old teammate as his new assistant, close friend Peter DeBoer. The two played together with the Windsor Compuware Spitfires in the mid to late 1980s.

Maurice and Deboer led the Junior Red Wings to their first division title after several years of chasing Sault Ste. Marie who finished with 79 points while the others in the division finished with 70 points or below. Detroit posted a franchise-best record of 42-20-4, second overall in the OHL to the North Bay Centennials. Jim Rutherford was chosen OHL Executive of the Year for the second consecutive year in 1993–94. After the trading deadline, the Junior Wings won 16 of 23 games over the last two months of the regular season to win the Emms Division title.

Detroit got a round bye for the first round but went against the Owen Sound Platers and swept them in the second round.  Detroit finally eliminated Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the division finals in 6 games during the playoffs. As Emms Division champions, they moved on to meet the North Bay Centennials in the OHL Finals. Despite leading the series 3 games to 2, Detroit came up short as North Bay came back to win the series and the J. Ross Robertson Cup. Although the team fell short of its ultimate goal, it was a breakthrough season nonetheless.

1994–95
Paul Maurice took over as general manager after Jim Rutherford moved to take over managing the NHL Hartford Whalers. Maurice would continue to serve as the coach in a dual role.

The OHL realigned into three divisions for the 1994–95 season. Detroit would now play in the West Division versus Windsor, London, Sarnia and Sault Ste. Marie. As the season unfolded, the Junior Wings quickly developed into a balanced team that could play the game in many strategic ways. The team finished with a franchise best record of 44-18-4 for 92 points a close call for Windsor who finished with 85 points. It was the best defensive year to date for the team since only Windsor finished above .500, Sarnia finished with 53 points with London finished with 40 points and Sault Ste. Marie finished with 38 points.

Junior hockey in Detroit received a boost when the National Hockey League owners locked out their players until the middle of January. The Jr. Wings set an all-time Canadian Hockey League attendance record when 19,875 packed Joe Louis Arena on February 5, 1995 in a 5-5 tie with Windsor.

NHL scouts regularly attended the OHL games as did Red Wings head coach Scotty Bowman was a regular at the games. Looking to fill gaps in coverage, Red Wing broadcasters Dave Strader and Mickey Redmond broadcast several games for PASS-TV. In addition, The Junior Wings received regular coverage in the Detroit News and Free Press and found a friend in WDIV's Van Earl Wright.

The Junior Wings rolled through the first two rounds of the playoffs, sweeping the London Knights and Peterborough Petes. In the third round versus the Sudbury Wolves, the visiting team won each of the first six games in overtime. Detroit won game seven on May 8, 1995 playing on home ice, scoring an 11-4 victory. The Junior Red Wings defeated the first place Guelph Storm in the league finals to win their first J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL Champions, and get their first berth in the Memorial Cup Tournament.

Memorial Cup 1995
The Canadian Hockey League championship in 1995 was hosted in Kamloops, British Columbia at the Riverside Coliseum. The Junior Red Wings would face off in the Memorial Cup Tournament against the QMJHL champions Hull Olympiques, the WHL finalists Brandon Wheat Kings, and the Kamloops Blazers as hosts and WHL champions.

The Junior Wings finished the round-robin in second place. They defeated Brandon again 2-1 in the semi-final game to advance to the finals against the defending champion Blazers. (Despite an online report that said that Milan Kostolny scored the winning goal, video research revealed that the game-winner was actually scored by Matthew Ball, off of Wade Redden's foot.) Detroit then started the final game versus Kamloops shorthanded, playing without Shayne McCosh (broken wrist); Bryan Berard did play, but with a bad charley horse. The Blazers blew the game open in the second period and went on to win 8-2.

Paul Maurice put the Junior Wings season in perspective:
"I have a picture hanging in my office," Maurice said. "It's not a picture of us winning the championship but a picture of the crowd the day we won (May 8, 1995). It was a real special time and I remember that fondly.

"My time with the Ambassadors and Junior Wings was one of the best times of my life, in terms of coaching. I think probably more so because a lot of people really caught on to junior hockey. I know a lot of those faces I see in the pictures and I remember the people being so loyal..."

Later years
The Detroit Compuware Ambassadors became the Detroit Jr. Red Wings in 1992, despite the fact that Jr. Wings owner Peter Karmanos had an ongoing feud with Detroit Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch. The Jr. Wings even played in the Red Wings' Joe Louis Arena—until the rivalry between Ilitch and Karmanos finally came to a head, and the junior club was evicted in 1995, right after winning the OHL crown. When Karmanos bought the Hartford Whalers, the Jr. Wings became the Detroit Whalers, and played out of the tiny Oak Park Arena. (Some home games were held in the Palace of Auburn Hills, which with a capacity of over 20,000 was big enough to host the NHL Whalers; it would become home ice the IHL Detroit Vipers later in the decade.) In 1997, Karmanos built his own arena, Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, and re-dubbed the team the Plymouth Whalers—that same year, Karmanos moved the Hartford Whalers to North Carolina, making the Plymouth club the only team to still use the name "Whalers". (In 2015, the junior team moved again, to Flint, Michigan, and is now the Flint Firebirds.)

Championships

J. Ross Robertson Cup - OHL Champion
1993–94 Finalists vs. North Bay Centennials
1994–95 Champions vs. Guelph Storm

Division Trophies
1993–94 Emms Trophy Emms Division
1994–95 Bumbacco Trophy West Division

Coaches
1992–93 Tom Webster - Won the 1967–68 OHA scoring title with the Niagara Falls Flyers. Also played for the Detroit Red Wings (NHL) and Hartford Whalers (WHA).
1993–95 Paul Maurice (2 seasons) - Played for Tom Webster as a member of the Windsor Compuware Spitfires. Later coached the Carolina Hurricanes for seven seasons.

Players
The Detroit Junior Red Wings sent 13 players onto the NHL while only operating for three seasons. Pat Peake was the first MVP for the franchise. His # 14 would be retired by the Whalers organization. Cameron Gruich was chosen 3rd in the 2nd round by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. Todd Harvey was chosen 9th overall by the Dallas Stars in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft in the first round.

Bryan Berard was the most awarded player for the 1994-95 season in the Canadian Hockey League. He was chosen 1st overall in the first round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators.

Award winners
1992–93 - Pat Peake, Canadian Hockey League Player of the Year, Red Tilson Trophy Most Outstanding Player, William Hanley Trophy Most Sportsmanlike Player
1992–93 - Kevin Brown, Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy Top Scoring Right Winger
1993–94 - Kevin Brown, Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy Top Scoring Right Winger
1994–95 - Bryan Berard, Canadian Hockey League Rookie of the Year; Emms Family Award, OHL Rookie of the Year; Max Kaminsky Trophy, Defenceman of the Year; CHL Top Draft Prospect Award
1994–95 - Jason Saal, Hap Emms Memorial Trophy Outstanding Goaltender at Memorial Cup

NHL alumni

Jamie Allison
Bryan Berard
Fred Brathwaite
Kevin Brown
Eric Cairns
Sean Haggerty
Todd Harvey
Eric Manlow
Jeff Mitchell
Pat Peake
Mike Rucinski
Derek Wilkinson
Bob Wren

Yearly results
Regular season

Playoffs
1992–93 - Defeated Guelph Storm 4 games to 1 in first round. Defeated London Knights 4 games to 1 in quarter-finals. Lost to S.S.Marie Greyhounds 4 games to 1 in semi-finals.
1993–94 - Earned first round bye. 1st place in Emms division. Defeated Owen Sound Platers 4 games to 0 in division semi-finals. Defeated S.S.Marie Greyhounds 4 games to 2 in semi-finals. Lost to North Bay Centennials in finals.
1994–95 - Defeated London Knights 4 games to 0 in division quarter-finals. Defeated Peterborough Petes 4 games to 0 in quarter-finals. Defeated Sudbury Wolves 4 games to 3 in semi-finals. Defeated Guelph Storm 4 games to 2 in finals. OHL CHAMPIONS Finished Memorial Cup round-robin in second place (2 wins, 1 loss). Defeated Brandon Wheat Kings 2-1 in semi-final game. Lost to Kamloops Blazers 8-2 in Memorial Cup championship game.

Arena
The Junior Red Wings played at Joe Louis Arena concurrently with the NHL Detroit Wings. The Junior Red Wings set OHL attendance records for three consecutive years. The Junior Wings set a Canadian Hockey League attendance record at the time, on February 5, 1995, when 19,875 fans packed Joe Louis Arena to see a 5-5 tie with the local rival Windsor Spitfires.

Joe Louis Arena The OHL Arena & Travel Guide

Defunct Ontario Hockey League teams
Ice hockey clubs established in 1992
1992 establishments in Michigan
1995 disestablishments in Michigan
Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1995
Ice hockey teams in Michigan
Defunct sports clubs and teams in Michigan
Sports in Detroit

Detroit Junior Red Wings


Brandon Roberts (born in Akron, Ohio) is a former American football player.

Early life
Roberts is the youngest son of Jerry and Constance Roberts and younger brother of Brian. He attended Akron Public Schools until he entered high school. Because of his academic achievements, he was selected to attend Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio. Roberts transferred to Archbishop Hoban High School for his junior and senior years, where he graduated in 1999.

College career
Roberts attended Washington University in St. Louis as a member of the university's John B. Ervin Scholars Program and a recipient of the School of Engineering's Stanley C. Pace Endowed Scholarship. One of the most well-balanced scholar-athletes in NCAA Division III history, Roberts earned high honors in working towards a degree in biomedical engineering, while establishing himself as one of the nation's elite linebackers. A regular dean's list selection, Roberts also earned Verizon Academic All-America honors in each of his sophomore through senior seasons. Throughout his college career, Roberts accumulated accolades including the Washington University 2003 Gwendolyn Drew Award for superior academic standing and contributing positively to varsity athletics, the 2002 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Postgraduate Scholarship Finalist Award, and the Washington University 2003 Ethan A.H Shepley Award for leadership, scholarship, and service to the campus community.

As a two-time All-Conference (UAA) First Team selection, Roberts played on a defense that ranked in the top 20 nationally in each of his last three seasons. Through six games in his senior season in 2002, Roberts led the UAA conference with 68 tackles, ranking him
19th in the nation, before suffering a season and career ending knee injury prior to beginning conference play. With 338 career tackles and 12.5 sacks, he ranks among the greatest defensive players ever to play for Washington University. He was inducted into the Washington University in St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

In December 2002, Roberts' athletic and academic careers were highlighted when he was selected as the winner of the National Football Foundation's Vincent DePaul Draddy Trophy (renamed the William V. Campbell Trophy in 2009). Often referred to as the "Academic Heisman," the award is given to the nation's top scholar-athlete and awards a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship. Roberts is the first and only non-Division I player to receive the award. The Campbell Trophy has become one of college football's most sought and competitive awards, recognizing an individual as the absolute best in the country for his combined academic success, football performance, and exemplary community leadership. The award comes with a 24-inch, 25-pound bronze trophy, which is prominently displayed in an exhibit at the New York Athletic Club's Hall of Fame.

Life after football
Although Roberts was accepted into medical school as a senior in college, he was allowed to defer his admission for a year in order to serve as an academic coach with the National Football Foundation's Play it Smart Program.  Roberts worked as an academic mentor and counselor for student athletes at Vashon High School where he conducted tutoring sessions, study halls, and ACT preparation classes, and also organized community service events.  He also volunteered as a defensive assistant for the Vashon High School junior varsity and varsity football teams, and he helped the varsity team reach and win their first state playoff game in school history.

Roberts subsequently returned to his home state of Ohio for medical school at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.  In 2008, he was awarded the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine's Dean's Award, recognizing a member of the graduating class who exemplifies outstanding service and dedication to his classmates in assisting in the achievement of their educational goals.  After graduation in 2008, Roberts returned to St. Louis' Washington University School of Medicine for his residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He is a pediatric anesthesiologist at Dayton Children's Hospital, and lives in Dayton, OH with his wife and children.

References

1981 births
Living people
William V. Campbell Trophy winners
Players of American football from Akron, Ohio
Washington University Bears football players
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine alumni
Washington University School of Medicine people

Brandon Roberts


George Gessert is one of the best-known artists in the contemporary art movement known as bio-art a/k/a BioArt. Gessert began his career as a painter and printmaker, and began breeding plants as an art form in the late 1970s. Beginning in the 1980s, Gessert's work focused on the overlap between art and genetics, and he has exhibited a series of installations of hybrids and documentation of breeding projects.

Early life

George Gessert was born in 1944 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has a BA in English from the University of California at Berkeley 1966 and an MA in Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1969.

Technique

Gessert creates his artistic irises by hybridizing wild varieties and discarding undesirable results. He is especially interested in plant aesthetics and ways that human aesthetic preferences affect evolution.  Gessert calls his practice "genetic folk art," and his work points to the way nature is interpreted—even authored—by humans.  Gessert's work mainly focuses on irises and other ornamental flowers.

Awards

Gessert's awards include the Leonardo Award for Excellence and the Pushcart prize for his essay, "Notes on Uranium Weapons and Kitsch." His article, "An Orgy of Power" was included in Best American Essays 2007.  Gessert is also an Editorial Board Member of Leonardo Journal published by MIT Press for Leonardo/ISAST, the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology.

See also
 Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology
 Art and Genetics Bibliography compiled by George Gessert for Leonardo/ISAST
 Art + Bio Gallery curated by George Gessert for Leonardo/ISAST

Citations

American artists
American male writers
Living people
BioArtists
Year of birth missing (living people)

George Gessert


Montagu Christie Butler (25 January 1884 – 5 May 1970) was a British academic, librarian, lexicographer, musician, and Esperantist. A winner of several prizes at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he was a harpist and a versatile music teacher skilled in playing various musical instruments, as well as a teacher of voice and of musical composition.

As a Quakers and absolute pacifist, Butler was classed as a conscientious objector during World War One. He served time in prison, where he met the composer and fellow prisoner Frank Merrick, helping him learn Esperanto.

From 1922, Butler was a member of the , the group tasked with preserving the fundamental principles of the Esperanto language and guiding its evolution. From 1916 to 1934, he served as secretary of the Esperanto Association of Britain, and was its honorary president from 1961 until 1970. Butler was later elected a member of the international Academy of Esperanto, where he served from 1948 until 1970.

Writing and translation
Butler served as editor of La Brita Esperantisto ("The British Esperantist") in 1931 and 1932; during his editorship the journal became known as one of the most famous Esperanto periodicals of the era. After this period he became one of 57 principal collaborators on the 1933 Esperanto Encyclopædia.

Amongst other works, he translated Caroline Emelia Stephen's Quaker Strongholds. Butler is the editor of two respected Esperanto-language anthologies, Kantaro Esperanta (a songbook with 358 songs) and Himnaro Esperanta (a hymnal with 212 hymns) and even adapted Pitman Shorthand to Esperanto, a task which he regarded as his "most important contribution to the movement.". He also compiled an English translation of the Zamenhof Proverbaro, a collection of L. L. Zamenhof's translated and original proverbs, published as Proverbs in Esperanto and English (1960).

His book Step by Step in Esperanto has for decades remained the most frequently used textbook for English speakers learning Esperanto; a ninth reprint edition, published by Esperanto-USA, appeared in 1991. Similarly successful was his book Esperanto for Beginners (last edition 1996). His First Lessons to young Children (1930) is based on his experiences teaching Esperanto to his own children, who were among the first native speakers of Esperanto. As early as 1921, Butler had published some observations on English and Esperanto language acquisition among three- to four-year-old bilingually educated English children.

Library science
For many years he was librarian of the BEA Library in London, one of the world's most well-stocked Esperanto libraries, which the magazine Esperanto (1970, p. 118) declared to be "kreaĵo de li" ("his creation.") To organize this library he modified the Universal Decimal Classification to the special needs of Esperanto libraries. Several other Esperanto libraries later adopted the system which he had elaborated.

The collection of Esperanto and Esperanto-related books he assembled during his lifetime now forms the heart of the Butler Library, which the BEA established at Wedgwood Memorial College in Staffordshire, England, and named in his honour.

Lexicography
Butler drew on his diverse musical background to compile Muzika Terminaro, (1960, reprinted 1992), an Esperanto-language music terminology dictionary. His over 60 years of linguistic experience in the Esperanto movement culminated in Butler's 1967 Vortaro Esperanto-angla (Esperanto-English Dictionary), published three years before his death at 84. Reviewing the work, the eminent phonetician John C. Wells called it simply "the best Esperanto dictionary in English," and — for lack of a more modern, comprehensive bilingual dictionary — it is still so 45 years later. Butler's reverse English-Esperanto dictionary, with approximately 32,000 headwords, remains as an unpublished 2,000-page manuscript archived in the Butler library.

Translations
 Dickens, Charles: La Vivo de nia Sinjoro Jesuo: Verkita de Charles Dickens Speciale Por Siaj Infanoj  ("The life of our Lord Jesus, Written by Charles Dickens especially for his children" (1934)
 Haggard, Henry Rider: Luno de Izrael: rakonto pri la eliro (1928) (Moon of Israel)
 Himnaro : konsistanta el cent himnoj taŭgaj por konataj melodioj (1910)
 Himnaro Esperanta (five editions, 1910–1966)
 Hyde, H. E.: Internacia parlamento: ĉu Britujo montros la vojon? (1918)
 Kantaro Esperanta (1926)
 Konsiloj kaj demandoj (1984)
 Leakey, James: Leakey's introduction to Esperanto : la lingvo internacia (1925)
 Stephen, Caroline: Fundamentoj de la kvakerismo (1916)
 Stephen, Caroline: William Penn (1930)
 Torpey, H. J.: Londonaj interesaĵoj: gvidlibro por la Esperantista vizitanto (1907)
 Zamenhof, Ludwik Lazar: Proverbs in Esperanto and English: from Zamenhof's "Proverbaro"

References

1884 births
1970 deaths
English Esperantists
Esperanto lexicographers
British music educators
Translators to Esperanto
Esperanto music
Shorthand systems
Akademio de Esperanto members
20th-century translators
20th-century lexicographers

Montagu C. Butler


John Phillip Harison Acocks (7 April 1911 – 20 May 1979) was a South African botanist noted for his publication "Veld Types of South Africa" and his extensive botanical collection of some 28 000 specimens from South Africa and Namibia. In 1938, he was seconded to go on a joint collecting trip of four months with Swedish botanist Adolf Hjalmar Frederick Hafström between Cape Town and Victoria Falls.

Early life and education

He was born in Cape Town to John Martin Acocks and Sarah Phoebe Petty. Matriculated from the South African College Schools (SACS) and attended the University of Cape Town between 1929 and 1935 obtaining a B.A. and M.Sc. He studied under Robert Stephen Adamson (1885–1965) and Margaret Levyns (1890–1975).

Career
His first appointment was in January 1936 as pasture ecologist at the Pasture Research Section, part of the Division of Plant Industry. He set out to do botanical surveys of new pasture research stations. In 1945, he was transferred to Estcourt to the Botanical Survey Section of the Division of Botany and Plant Pathology which later became the Botanical Research Institute. From 1948, he was permanently posted at the Grootfontein College of Agriculture in Middelburg.

Acocks contributed greatly to South African botany in three distinct areas. Firstly, his treatment of the vegetation regions (Veld Types) of South Africa, in which he classifies vegetation into 75 classes, continues to be a valuable reference work for researchers and is an outstanding achievement for a single individual. Secondly, his analysis of the impact of humans on vegetation has largely been revised by current research insights, specifically with regard to the effect of fire on grasslands, savannas and forests. There is, though, ample evidence showing considerable changes in Karoo fauna and flora over the last three centuries. Finally, his pioneering views on veld rehabilitation and management remain important guidelines for the farming communities of South Africa.

He was President of Section C of the SA Assoc. for the Advancement of Science in 1963, and awarded the Senior Capt. Scott Medal by the SA Biol. Soc. in 1977.

Acocks worked on a revised version of the Veld Types, which he completed shortly before his death, and which is lodged in the archives of the National Botanical Institute (NBG). His second book, Key Grasses of South Africa, was published in 1990.

Legacy

Acocks is commemorated by many specific names including Cliffortia acocksii H.Weim., Erica acocksii Compton, Restio acocksii Pillans and Diospyros acocksii De Wint. His specimens are housed at BM, BOL, Cedara College of Agriculture, Dohne Agricultural Development Institute, GRA, Grootfontein Agricultural College, K, KMG, M, MO, NH, NU, P, PRE, PREM, S, STE(NBG), Toowoomba Agricultural Development Centre.

Bibliography
 Veld Types of South Africa (with accompanying Veld Type Map) – John Phillip Harison Acocks   (Botanical Research Institute, 1975)
 Acock's Notes: Key Grasses of South Africa – (Grassland Society of South Africa, 1990)

References

1911 births
1979 deaths
Writers from Cape Town
South African people of British descent
20th-century South African botanists
Agrostologists
South African ecologists

John Phillip Harison Acocks


Saudia Flight 163 was a scheduled passenger flight from Karachi to Jeddah, via Riyadh. On August 19, 1980 the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar with 287 passengers and 14 crew members on-board, caught fire seven minutes after take-off. Although the plane made an emergency landing at Riyadh International Airport, all 301 people on-board died of smoke inhalation, with the aircraft later destroyed by the fire.

Aviation accidents and incidents in the 1980s
1980 in Asia
20th century in Saudi Arabia

Saudia Flight 163


Carved stone balls are petrospheres dated from the late Neolithic, to possibly as late as the Iron Age, mainly found in Scotland, but also elsewhere in Britain and Ireland. They are usually round and rarely oval, and of fairly uniform size at around  inches or 7 cm across, with anything between 3 and 160 protruding knobs on the surface. They range from having no ornamentation (apart from the knobs) to extensive and highly varied engraved patterns. A wide range of theories has been produced to explain their use or significance, with none gaining very wide acceptance.

They are not to be confused with the much larger smooth round stone spheres of Costa Rica.

Age and distribution
Carved stone balls date as old as 5,200 years old, coming from the late Neolithic to at least the Bronze Age.

Nearly all have been found in north-east Scotland, the majority in Aberdeenshire, the fertile land lying to the east of the Grampian Mountains. A similar distribution to that of Pictish symbols led to the early suggestion that carved stone balls are Pictish artefacts. The core distribution also reflects that of the Recumbent stone circles. As objects they are very easy to transport and a few have been found on Iona, Skye, Harris, Uist, Lewis, Arran, Hawick, Wigtownshire and fifteen from Orkney. Outside Scotland examples have been found in Ireland at Ballymena, in England at Durham, Cumbria, Lowick, and Bridlington. A single example was found in Norway in a medieval cairn. Recent theory is that the Norway example was carried home by a Viking from an expedition to Scotland. The larger (90mm diameter) balls are all from Aberdeenshire, bar one from Newburgh in Fife.

By the late 1970s, a total of 387 had been recorded. Of these, by far the greatest concentration (169) was found in Aberdeenshire. By 1983 the number had risen to 411 and by 2015 over 425 balls had been recorded. A collection of over 30 carved balls from Scotland, Ireland and northern England is held by the British Museum.

Archaeological context
Many of the balls have not had their discovery site recorded and most are found as a result of agricultural activity. Five were found at the Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae and one at the Dunadd hillfort. The distribution of the balls is similar to that of mace-heads, which were both weapons and prestige objects used in ceremonial situations. The lack of context is likely to distort the interpretation. Random finds are only likely to have been picked up and entered a collection if they were aesthetically appealing. Damaged and plain balls were less likely to find a market than decorated examples so some more decorated examples might be fraudulent.

Balls of plain sandstone with the facets from shaping still clearly visible were found at Traprain Law in East Lothian. A significant number have already been found here and are known from other southern Scottish Iron Age sites. They may date from the fourth to third centuries BC. These balls are not ornamented and do not have knobs.

In 2013, archaeologists discovered a carved stone ball at Ness of Brodgar, a rare find of such an object in situ in "a modern archaeological context". Early, undecorated, polished stone balls have also been found 'in-situ' inside a 5,500 year-old tomb at Tresness on Orkney by Professor Vicki Cummings.

Physical characteristics

Materials

Many balls are said to be made of "greenstone", but this is a general term for all varieties of dark, greenish igneous rocks, including diorites, serpentinite, and altered basalts. Including Old Red Sandstone, 43 are sandstone, 26 greenstone, 12 quartzite, and 9 were serpentinite; these had been carved. Some were made of gabbro – a difficult material to carve. Round and oval natural shaped sandstones are sometimes found.

Examples made from hornblende gneiss and granitic gneiss were noted, both very difficult stone to work. Granitic rocks were also used; and the famous Towie example from Aberdeenshire may be serpentinised picrite. The highly ornamented examples were mainly made of sandstone or serpentine. A significant number have not as yet been fully inspected or tested to ascertain their composition.

Experimental archaeology
Full replicas have been made using authentic manufacturing techniques (pecking and grinding) by A.T. Young. It was shown that they could be made using prehistoric technology with no recourse to the use of metal tools.

Size, shape, and knobs
Of the 387 carved stone balls known in 1976 (now about 425), 375 are about 70 mm in diameter, but twelve are known with diameters of 90 to 114 mm. Only 7 are oval. They are therefore about the size of tennis balls or oranges. Nearly half have 6 knobs.

{| style="text-align:right;vertical-align:bottom;"
 |+
 |-style="text-align:right;"
 ! Carvedprotrusions

 !  Numberof finds

 |-
 | 3 knobs ||  3
 |-
 | 4 knobs || 43
 |-
 | 5 knobs

 |  3

 |-
 | 6 knobs || ~240
 |-
 | 7 knobs || 18
 |-
 | 8 knobs

 |  9

 |-
 | 9 knobs ||  3
 |-
 |  10–55 knobs || 52
 |-
 | 70–160 knobs || 14
 |}

Ornamentation

The decoration used falls into three categories:
 those with spirals
 those with concentric circles
 those with patterns of straight incised lines and hatchings

More than one design is used on the same ball and the standard of artwork varies from the extremely crude to the highly expert which only an exceptionally skilled craftsman could have produced. Some balls have designs on the interspaces between the knobs which must be significant in the context of the speculated use of these artefacts.

Twenty-six of the six-knobbed balls are decorated. The Orkney examples are unusual, being either all ornamented or otherwise unusual in appearance, such as the lack, bar one example, of the frequently found six-knobbed type. Metal may have been used to work some of the designs.

The  Towie ball from Aberdeenshire has some design similarities with the carvings on the Folkton Drums. These were found in a tumulus in England and are made of chalk with elaborate carvings, among which are distinct oculi or eyes. Concentric carved lines on stone balls appear to be stylised oculi. This ball also has a roughly triangular arrangement of three dots in an interspace between the knobs.  This appears to be identical to the arrangement of dots found on the Parkhill silver chain terminal ring, found near Aberdeen, a Pictish artefact. It is possible that the dots represent a name, as some of the Pictish symbols at least are thought to represent personal names.

Spirals or plastic ornament which is similar to Grooved Ware is found on the Aberdeenshire examples, this being a type of late Neolithic pottery not known in the north-east but common in Orkney and Fife. The New Grange carvings in Ireland show strong similarities to those found on some balls. A continuous spiral is found on one and elements of chevrons, zig-zags and concentric triangles are also found, stimulating comparisons with petrosomatoglyph symbolism. Mostly the different knobs have different or sometimes no ornamentation. A 'golf-ball' variety of ornamentation is found on a few balls. The carving does not appear to have any practical purpose in general, however it has been suggested that one type, with very distinct knobs, was used for processing copper ores (see under 'Function'). Some of the bold triangles and criss-cross incisions seem to be more Iron Age in character than Neolithic or Bronze Age.

Function

Suggested ceremonial use
 The possible use of the balls as oracles has been suggested. The way in which the ball came to rest could be interpreted as a message from the gods or an answer to a question.

 An alternative or supplementary use could have been as the 'right to speak' where discussions are controlled by the requirement for the speaker to hold the carved stone ball or if not, then keep their peace and listen to the views of others. The balls are of a size that fits comfortably in one hand.

Suggested practical use
 Some of the balls have grooves or interspaces between the knobs into which leather could be tied so as to make a device such as a bolas. Their use as weapons was suggested by many researchers but in recent years this idea has fallen from favour.

 One suggestion saw the balls as movable poises on a primitive weighing machine, following the logic of the remarkable uniformity in size shown by a good number of these carefully made objects. However, it has been shown that their weights vary so considerably that mathematically they could not be considered part of a system of weight measurement.

 'Sink stones' (fishing weights) found in Denmark and Ireland have some slight similarities, these artefacts being used in conjunction with fishing nets. Similarly, they might have been used as loom weights, but neither loom weights nor fishing weights have any particular need for uniform diameter.

 Another possible use for the stones would be in the working of hides. Into the 20th century leatherworkers polished leather, parchment, and hides, by tying the skins to a frame using a ball at each corner of the hide then rubbing down material being worked with stones. The corners of the hides were wrapped around the balls which allowed the bindings to hold fast without slipping off. In more modern times, the balls were often made from scraps of the material being worked and the leather was cut away from the balls when the polishing was finished.  This caused the balls to grow in size until the process had to be started over by replacing the oversized balls with scraps and beginning a new ball.

Megalith construction aid

A theory on the movement of megalithic stones for monuments has been put forward as a result of an observed correlation between standing stone circles and a concentration of carved stone balls. The suggestion is that the stone balls might have been used like ball bearings for transporting big stones.

Many of the late Neolithic stone balls have diameters differing by only a millimetre, suggesting that uniform size was important for their purpose. This led to the suggestion that they might have been meant to be used together, or interchangeably.
By mapping find-sites in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, it can be shown that often these small stone spheres were found in the vicinity of Neolithic megalithic circles.

To test the proposal, experimental archeologists built a model system, substituting hard wooden balls made to the same size. The balls were placed into grooves cut in parallel longitudinal wooden 'sleepers'; these supported an overlying carrying-board that the giant test stone rode on. At least in the situation tested, the model showed such heavy transport to be practical.

Platonic solids
The carved stone balls have been taken as evidence of knowledge of the five Platonic solids a millennium before Plato described them. Indeed, some of them exhibit the symmetries of Platonic solids, but the extent of this and how much it depends on mathematical understanding is disputed, as configurations resembling the solids can naturally arise when fitting equal-sized knobs with minimal gaps onto the surface of a sphere. There does not appear to be much special attention given to the Platonic solid arrangements over less symmetrical arrangements of knobs over the balls, and some of the five solids do not appear.

See also
 List of prehistoric artworks
 Brain balls, in Irish archaeology proposed balls made from calcification of enemy's brains
 Dodecahedra
 Roman dodecahedron
 Marble (toy)

References

Sources

External links

Archaeological artefact types
Prehistoric art
Rock art in Europe
Ball games
Bronze Age Scotland
Archaeological sites in Aberdeenshire
Neolithic Scotland
English sculpture
Irish sculpture
Scottish sculpture

Carved stone balls


The Spectacles  is a mixed-use suburb located in the City of Kwinana within the Perth Metropolitan Region, the state capital of Western Australia. It comprises almost entirely a wetland reserve, The Spectacles Wetlands, surrounded by degraded native bushland. A small number of residential housing properties lie in the south-eastern corner of the suburb.

The Spectacles wetland area is considered to be the most valuable asset of Kwinana's natural environment, covering 3.7 square kilometres. It is named The Spectacles because it comprises two lakes connected by a drain, giving it the appearance of a pair of spectacles from an aerial perspective.

One third of The Spectacles is owned by Alcoa and was originally intended for residue disposal. As The Spectacles was not suitable for this purpose and the conservation value of the wetlands was recognised, Alcoa funded extensive rehabilitation and provided parking, picnic areas, walk trails, cycle paths, a board walk and bird hides to enable viewing of a number of species of native birds, including the rufous night heron.

The Spectacles actually contains two major wetlands, including the southernmost wetlands within Beeliar Regional Park and is surrounded by banksia woodland. To date $250,000 has been spent on many different walk trails, signage and boardwalks in this area.

References

External links

Suburbs of Perth, Western Australia
Swan Coastal Plain
Protected areas of Western Australia
Suburbs in the City of Kwinana

The Spectacles, Western Australia


Gog is a 1954 independently made American science fiction film produced by Ivan Tors, directed by Herbert L. Strock, and starring Richard Egan, Constance Dowling (in her final big-screen role), and Herbert Marshall. Gog was produced by Ivan Tors Productions and was filmed in Natural Vision 3D. The color process is credited to Color Corporation of America. The film was distributed by United Artists.

Gog is the third and final feature film in Ivan Tors' "Office of Scientific Investigation" (OSI) trilogy, following The Magnetic Monster (1953) and Riders to the Stars (1954).

Plot
Unaccountable, deadly malfunctions begin occurring at a top-secret government facility located under the New Mexico desert, where a space station is being constructed. Dr. David Sheppard, from the Office of Scientific Investigation (OSI) in Washington, D.C., is called in to investigate the mysterious deaths. Working with Joanna Merritt, another OSI agent already at the facility, Sheppard determines that the deaths among the laboratory's 150 top scientists are due to sabotage of the facility's Nuclear Operative Variable Automatic Computer (NOVAC), which controls and co-ordinates all the equipment in the underground facility.

It is far more difficult, however, to determine how the sabotage is being done. The unseen enemy strikes again and again, snuffing out the lives of five scientists and two human test subjects in quick succession, as well as Major Howard, the complex's Chief of Security. In addition, both Madame Elzevir (solar engineering scientist) and Dr. Peter Burden (chief atomic engineer) are attacked, but manage to survive, although both are injured.

Eventually, Sheppard determines that a powerful radio transmitter and receiver were secretly built into NOVAC during its construction in Switzerland, without the knowledge or consent of its designer, Dr. Zeitman. An enemy robot plane, whose fiberglass body does not register on radar, has been flying overhead, beaming precisely focused, ultra-high-frequency radio signals into the complex to control NOVAC's every function. The computer, in turn, controls Gog and Magog, two huge mobile robots with multiple arms, powerful gripping tools, and other implements.

Magog is finally directed to go to the complex's nuclear reactor control room and pull the safety rod out of the atomic pile, starting a chain reaction that will build to a nuclear explosion, which in turn will destroy the entire facility. Sheppard arrives in time to push the safety rod back into the pile, stopping the chain reaction. He then attacks the robot with a flame thrower and disables it, but Gog soon follows its twin to the reactor room to finish the job. Sheppard's flame thrower runs out of fuel as the robot advances on him. Dr. Van Ness arrives with another flame thrower, but the control valve sticks, and Gog now turns on him. Sheppard desperately begins using the nozzle of his flame thrower as a bludgeon, trying to smash the robot's electronic tubes. The now-crippled robot begins spinning back and forth, its arms thrashing about wildly. At that point, Gog suddenly comes to a halt, its metal arms falling limply to its sides. American F-86 and F-94 jet fighters have found and destroyed the enemy plane, ending NOVAC's reign of destruction. Van Ness then realizes that Sheppard and Merritt have been exposed to an overdose of radiation from the reactor.  Sheppard takes Merritt (who has fainted as a result of all the stress she has experienced) into his arms and they head for the complex hospital, where it is determined that their exposure, while causing their film badges to turn red, was not serious, and that they will both soon recover.

A few days later, Dr. Van Ness explains the situation to the Secretary of Defense, informing him that, in spite of all the setbacks, the project is still on schedule, and that a working model of the space station is about to be launched into orbit. The new "baby space station" will be equipped with telescopes and television cameras that will spot any further attempts to sabotage the complex. The Secretary notes with satisfaction: "Nothing will take us by surprise again!" The following morning, the launch goes off without a hitch.

Cast
Richard Egan as David Sheppard
Constance Dowling as Joanna Merritt
Herbert Marshall as Dr. Van Ness
John Wengraf as Dr. Zeitman
Steve Roberts as Maj. Howard
Marian Richman as Technician Helen
Phillip Van Zandt as Dr. Pierre Elzevir
Valerie Vernon as Madame Elzevir
Byron Kane as Dr. Carter
David Alpert as Dr. Peter Burden
Michael Fox as Dr. Hubertus
William Schallert as Dr. Engle
Aline Towne as Dr. Kirby
Jean Dean as Marna Roberts
Al Bayer as Helicopter Pilot
Tom Daly as Secretary
Andy Andrews as Security Guard Andy
Julian Ludwig as Security Guard Julie

Crew

Joel F. Moss as sound

Production
Gog was filmed on just two sets at Hal Roach Studios, with the exteriors shot at the former military outpost George Air Force Base, near Victorville, California; it was shot in 15 days. Gogs final cost was estimated to be $250,000.

Shortly after the filming of Gog was completed, Constance Dowling married Ivan Tors and retired from acting. Another actor in the film, William Schallert, made his debut in the science fiction genre with this low budget feature; he later appeared in other film genres, ranging from comedies to dramas and back again to science fiction. He also appeared in TV episodes, including the popular Patty Duke series.

Although shot in the 3D process, Gog was released at the tail end of the first 3D fad (1953–1954). As a result, it was often projected "flat" in its aspect ratio of 1.66:1, made standard by Hollywood the year before, despite prints being available in the stereoscopic format.

Reception
The film was previewed in 3D for the press at a United Artists' screening room. Initial critical response to the film ranged from "good" to "very good".

Critical response was generally positive, with many critics noting the story's basis in science fact, rather than science fiction; this was a staple of Tors' science fiction films. His 1955 television series Science Fiction Theatre had the same period verisimilitude, and often lifted props and some situations from Gog and the other two OSI films.

Motion Picture Herald's William R. Weaver said of Gog, "The production moves steadily forward, keeping interest growing at a steady pace, and exciting the imagination without overstraining credulity".

Home video
Gog was released by Kino International on Region A Blu-ray in 3D and contains audio commentary by Tom Weaver, Bob Furmanek, and David Schecter.

References

Bibliography
 Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties, 21st Century Edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009, (First edition 1982). .

External links

 Gog at the 3-D Film Archive

1954 films
American mystery films
1950s science fiction films
Films directed by Herbert L. Strock
Films scored by Harry Sukman
Films set in New Mexico
1954 3D films
American 3D films
United Artists films
Alien invasions in films
1950s English-language films
American science fiction films
1950s American films

Gog (film)


Overall labor effectiveness (OLE) is a key performance indicator (KPI) that measures the utilization, performance, and quality of the workforce and its impact on productivity.

Similar to overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), OLE measures availability, performance, and quality.
 Availability – the percentage of time employees spend making effective contributions
 Performance – the amount of product delivered
 Quality – the percentage of perfect or saleable product produced

OLE allows manufacturers to make operational decisions by giving them the ability to analyze the cumulative effect of these three workforce factors on productive output, while considering the impact of both direct and indirect labor.
OLE supports Lean and Six Sigma methodologies and applies them to workforce processes, allowing manufacturers to make labor-related activities more efficient, repeatable and impactful.

Measuring availability
There are many factors that influence workforce availability and therefore the potential output of equipment and the manufacturing plant. OLE can help manufacturers be sure that they have the person with the right skills available at the right time by enabling manufacturers to locate areas where providing and scheduling the right mix of employees can increase the number of productive hours. OLE also accounts for labor utilization. Understanding where downtime losses are coming from and the impact they have on production can reveal root causes—which can include machine downtime, material delays, or absenteeism—that delay a line startup.

Calculation: Availability = Time operators are working productively / Time scheduled
Example:
Two employees (workforce) are scheduled to work 8 hour (480 minutes) shifts.
The normal shift includes a scheduled 30 minute break.
The employees experience 60 minutes of unscheduled downtime.
Scheduled Time = 960 min − 60 min break = 900 Min
Available Time = 900 min Scheduled − 120 min Unscheduled Downtime = 780 Min
Availability = 780 Avail Min / 900 Scheduled Min = 86.67%

Measuring performance
When employees cannot perform their work within standard times, performance can suffer. Effective training can increase performance by improving the skills that directly impact the quality of output.  A skilled operator knows how to measure work, understands the impacts of variability, and knows to stop production for corrective actions when quality falls below specified limits.  Accurately measuring this metric with OLE can pinpoint performance improvement opportunities down to the individual level.

Calculation: Performance = Actual output of the operators / the expected output (or labor standard)
Example:
Two employees (workforce) are scheduled to work an 8-hour (480 minute) shift with a 30-minute scheduled break.
Available Time = 960 min − 60 min break − 120 min Unscheduled Downtime = 780 Min

The Standard Rate for the part being produced is 60 Units/Hour or 1 Minute/Unit
The Workforce produces 700 Total Units during the shift.
Time to Produce Parts = 700 Units * 1 Minutes/Unit = 700 Minutes
Performance = 700 minutes / 780 minutes = 89.74 %

Measuring quality
A number of drivers contribute to quality, but the effort to improve quality can result in a lowering of labor performance.  When making the correlation between the workforce and quality it is important to consider factors such as the training and skills of employees, whether they have access to the right tools to follow procedures, and their understanding of how their roles drive and impact quality. OLE can help manufacturers analyze shift productivity down to a single-shift level, and determine which individual workers are most productive, and then identify corrective actions to bring operations up to standards.

Calculation: Quality = Saleable parts / Total parts produced
Example:
Two employees (workforce) produce 670 Good Units during a shift.
700 Units were started in order to produce the 670 Good Units.
Quality = 670 Good Units / 700 Units Started = 95.71%

Calculation
Effective use of OLE uncovers the data that fuels root-cause analysis and points to corrective actions.  Likewise, OLE exposes trends that can be used to diagnose more subtle problems.  It also helps managers understand whether corrective actions did, in fact, solve problems and improve overall productivity.

Example:
Calculation: OLE = Availability x Performance x Quality
Example:
A workforce experiences...
Availability of 87%
The Work Center Performance is 89.74%.
Work Center Quality is 96%.
OLE = 86.67% Availability x 89.74% Performance x 95.71% Quality = 74.44%

Labor information tracked
The following table provides examples of the labor information tracked by overall labor effectiveness organized by its major categories. Using this labor information, manufacturers can make operational decisions to improve the cumulative effect of labor availability, performance, and quality.

See also
Lean Six Sigma
Process-centered design
Total productive maintenance

References

External links
 What is OEE?
 Lean Labor Book
 OEE Key Points

Lean manufacturing

Overall labor effectiveness


Oxcarbazepine, sold under the brand name Trileptal among others, is a medication used to treat epilepsy. For epilepsy it is used for both focal seizures and generalized seizures. It has been used both alone and as add-on therapy in people with bipolar disorder who have had no success with other treatments. It is taken by mouth.

Common side effects include nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness, double vision and trouble with walking. Serious side effects may include anaphylaxis, liver problems, pancreatitis, suicide ideation, and an abnormal heart beat. While use during pregnancy may harm the baby, use may be less risky than having a seizure. Use is not recommended during breastfeeding. In those with an allergy to carbamazepine there is a 25% risk of problems with oxcarbazepine. How it works is not entirely clear.

Oxcarbazepine was patented in 1969 and came into medical use in 1990. It is available as a generic medication. In 2020, it was the 144th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 4million prescriptions.

Medical uses
Oxcarbazepine is an anticonvulsant used to reduce the occurrence of epileptic episodes, and is not intended to cure epilepsy. Oxcarbazepine is used alone or in combination with other medications for the treatment of focal (partial) seizures in adults. In pediatric populations, it can be used by itself for the treatment of partial seizures for children 4 years and older, or in combination with other medications for children 2 years and older. There is some evidence to support its effectiveness in reducing seizure frequency when used as an add-on therapy for drug-resistant focal epilepsy but there are concerns over tolerability.

Pregnancy
There is limited data analyzing the impact of oxcarbazepine on a human fetus. Animal studies have shown increased fetal abnormalities in pregnant rats and rabbits exposed to oxcarbazepine during pregnancy. In addition, oxcarbazepine is structurally similar to carbamazepine, which is considered to be teratogenic in humans (pregnancy category D). Oxcarbazepine should only be used during pregnancy if the benefits justify the risks.

Pregnant women on oxcarbazepine should be closely monitored, as plasma levels of the active metabolite licarbazepine have been shown to potentially decrease during pregnancy.

Breastfeeding
Oxcarbazepine and its metabolite licarbazepine are both present in human breast milk and thus, some of the active drug can be transferred to a nursing infant. When considering whether to continue this medication in nursing mothers, the impact of the drug's side effect profile on the infant should be weighed against its anti-epileptic benefit for the mother.

Side effects
Side effects are dose-dependent. The most common include dizziness, blurred or double vision, nystagmus, ataxia, fatigue, headaches, nausea, vomiting, sleepiness, difficulty in concentration, and mental sluggishness. The incidence of movement disorders appears to be lower compared to carbamazepine.

Other, rare, side effects of oxcarbazepine include severe low blood sodium (hyponatremia), anaphylaxis / angioedema, hypersensitivity (especially if experienced with carbamazepine), toxic epidermal necrolysis, Stevens–Johnson syndrome, and thoughts of suicide.

Measurement of serum sodium levels should be considered in maintenance treatment or if symptoms of hyponatremia develop. Low blood sodium is seen in 20–30% of people taking oxcarbazepine, and 8–12% of those experience severe hyponatremia. Some side effects, such as headaches, are more pronounced shortly after a dose is taken and tend to fade with time (60 to 90 minutes). Other side effects include stomach pain, tremor, rash, diarrhea, constipation, decreased appetite, and dry mouth. Photosensitivity is a potential side-effect and people could experience severe sunburns as a result of sun exposure.

Oxcarbazepine may lead to hypothyroxinemia. The well-known reduction in free and total thyroxine concentration may be due to both peripheral and central mechanisms.

Interactions
Oxcarbazepine, licarbazepine and many other common drugs influence each other through interaction with the cytochrome P450 family of enzymes. This leads to a cluster of dozens of common drugs interacting with one another to varying degrees, some of which are especially noteworthy.

Oxcarbazepine and licarbazepine are potent inhibitors of CYP2C19 and thus have the potential to increase plasma concentration of drugs, which are metabolized through this pathway. Other antiepileptics, which are CYP2C19 substrates and thus may be metabolised at a reduced rate when combined with oxcarbazepine, include diazepam, hexobarbital, mephenytoin, methylphenobarbital, nordazepam, phenobarbital, phenytoin, and primidone.

In addition, oxcarbazepine and licarbazepine are CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 inducers and thus have the potential to decrease the plasma concentration of CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 substrates, including calcium channel antagonists against high blood pressure and oral contraceptives. However, whether the extent of CYP3A4/5 induction at therapeutic doses reaches clinical significance is unclear.

Pharmacology
Oxcarbazepine is a prodrug, which is largely metabolized to its pharmacologically active 10-monohydroxy derivative licarbazepine (sometimes abbreviated MHD). Oxcarbazepine and MHD exert their action by blocking voltage-sensitive sodium channels, thus leading to the stabilization of hyper-excited neural membranes, suppression of repetitive neuronal firing and diminishment propagation of synaptic impulses. Furthermore, anticonvulsant effects of these compounds could be attributed to enhanced potassium conductance and modulation of high-voltage activated calcium channels.

Pharmacokinetics
Oxcarbazepine has high bioavailability upon oral administration. In a study in humans, only 2% of oxcarbazepine remained unchanged, 70% were reduced to licarbazepine; the rest were minor metabolites. The half-life of oxcarbazepine is considered to be about 2 hours, whereas licarbazepine has a half-life of nine hours. Through its chemical difference to carbamazepine metabolic epoxidation is avoided, reducing hepatic risks. Licarbazepine is metabolised by conjugation with Glucuronic acid. Approximately 4% are oxidised to the inactive 10,11-dihydroxy derivative. Elimination is almost completely renal, with faeces accounting to less than 4%. 80% of the excreted substances are to be attributed to licarbazepine or its glucuronides.

Pharmacodynamics
Both oxcarbazepine and licarbazepine were found to show anticonvulsant properties in seizure models done on animals. These compounds had protective functions whenever tonic extension seizures were induced electrically, but such protection was less apparent whenever seizures were induced chemically. There was no observable tolerance during a four weeks course of treatment with daily administration of oxcarbazepine or licarbazepine in electroshock test on mice and rats. Most of the antiepileptic activity can be attributed to licarbazepine. Aside from its reduction in side effects, it is presumed to have the same main mechanism as carbamazepine, sodium channel inhibition, and is generally used to treat the same conditions.

Pharmacogenetics

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele B*1502 has been associated with an increased incidence of Stevens–Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis in people treated with carbamazepine, and thus those treated with oxcarbazepine might have similar risks. People of Asian descent are more likely to carry this genetic variant, especially some Malaysian populations, Koreans (2%), Han Chinese (2–12%), Indians (6%), Thai (8%), and Philippines (15%). Therefore, it has been suggested to consider genetic testing in these people prior to initiation of treatment.

Structure
Oxcarbazepine is a structural derivative of carbamazepine, with a ketone in place of the carbon–carbon double bond on the dibenzazepine ring at the 10 position (10-keto). This difference helps reduce the impact on the liver of metabolizing the drug, and also prevents the serious forms of anemia or agranulocytosis occasionally associated with carbamazepine.  Aside from this reduction in side effects, it is thought to have the same mechanism as carbamazepine — sodium channel inhibition (presumed to be the main mechanism of action) – and is generally used to treat the same conditions.

Oxcarbazepine is a prodrug which is activated to licarbazepine in the liver.

History

First made in 1966, it was patent-protected by Geigy in 1969 through . It was approved for use as an anticonvulsant in Denmark in 1990, Spain in 1993, Portugal in 1997, and eventually for all other EU countries in 1999. It was approved in the US in 2000. In September 2010, Novartis, of which Geigy are part of its corporate roots, pleaded guilty to marketing Trileptal for the unapproved uses of neuropathic pain and bipolar disorder.

Research
Antiepileptics are a key pharmacological therapy used in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Research has investigated the use of oxcarbazepine as a mood stabilizer in bipolar disorder, with further evidence needed to fully assess its suitability. Oxcarbazepine used in conjunction with lithium has been shown to be effective in the maintenance phase.

It may be beneficial in trigeminal neuralgia.

References

Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
Anticonvulsants
CYP3A4 inducers
Dibenzazepines
Embryotoxicants
Novartis brands
Ketones
Mood stabilizers
Prodrugs
Teratogens
Ureas

Oxcarbazepine


Atmaram Raoji Deshpande () (11 September 1901 – 8 May 1982) was a Marathi poet from Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, India. He wrote poems under the pen name Anil (अनिल). He was born on 11 September 1901 at Murtijapur in Akola district of Central India. He was married to Kusum Jayawant in 1929; she took the name Kusumavati Deshpande and was also a Marathi writer.

Deshpande introduced free style --Muktachhand (मुक्तछंद)-- poetry to Marathi literature. He also introduced in Marathi Dashapadi (दशपदी), a new genre of sonnets comprising ten lines. His collection of poems with the same name Dashapadi (दशपदी) received a Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977. He was elected for Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 1979.

He presided over Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (मराठी साहित्य सम्मेलन) at Malvan in 1958.

Deshpande won several international honors. He was a member of the committee of literacy experts of UNESCO. He was leader of Indian delegation of literary experts to USSR. He was awarded UNESCO fellowship for studying social education schemes in various countries.

A collection of letters between Deshpande and his wife was published under the title Kusumanil (कुसुमानिल) in 1976.

Works
The following are the titles of collections of Deshpande's  poems:

 Phulwat (फुलवात) (1932)
 Bhagnamoorti (भग्नमूर्ति) (1940)
 Nirwasit Chini Mulas (निर्वासित चिनी मुलास) (1943)
 Perte Vha (पेर्ते व्हा) (1947)
 Sangati (सांगाती) (1961)
 Dashapadi (दशपदी) (1976)

References

Marathi-language poets
1901 births
1982 deaths
Marathi-language writers
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Marathi
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship
People from Akola district
20th-century Indian poets
Indian male poets
Poets from Maharashtra
20th-century Indian male writers
Presidents of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan

Atmaram Ravaji Deshpande


Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a video game developed by BioWare. It was released in 2003. The game has a sequel, titled Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.

Description
The game, also known as KotOR, is a role-playing game. Developed using BioWare's engine Aurora, the game is set in the fictional universe of Star Wars. The story takes place four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, 40 years after the war with Exar Kun (circa 3,956 BBY).

Darth Revan has been killed by his apprentice, Darth Malak, who has taken the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith. Malak is continuing the war against the Old Republic, using numerous battleships. The Jedi Order sees its hope in Bastila Shan, a young female Jedi who is skilled in the art called Battle Meditation. With that power, she can optimize the performance of the Jedi troops and the battleships. Also, an unnamed soldier (the player chooses the name) comes under attention of the Jedi Council.

Since it is a roleplaying game, the player can choose which class he wants to be. He can choose between soldier, scout, and scoundrel. The choice affects the statistics of the character (strength, agility, etc.). Also, the player can choose their character's gender and face.
The player must follow several main objectives, with many other minor missions. The player, while travelling on several planets, will meet some people who join him in his quest. A number up to 8 companions can join the player: Trask Ulgo, Carth Onasi, Bastila Shan, Mission Vao, Zaalbar, Canderous Ordo, Juhani, Jolee Bindo.

The main goal is to find the Star Forge, a powerful battle station that builds an endless fleet, which is used against the Republic. The player also has to kill Darth Malak.

Characters
The main character (the player) is entirely customizable. Face, gender and class can be chosen from a series of menus. One later discovers that they are Darth Reven, but still go by the original own name.
The player will meet some companions (playable characters, or PCs) during the adventure.

 Carth Onasi - A Republican soldier, veteran of the Mandalorian Wars. Class: Soldier.
 Bastila Shan - A young female Jedi, who will look after the player. Class: Jedi Sentinel.
 Mission Vao - A young Twi'lek, expert hacker. Class: Scoundrel.
 Zaalbar - A Wookiee, friend of Mission. Class: Explorer.
 Canderous Ordo - A Mandalorian warrior, veteran of the Mandalorian Wars. Class: Soldier.
 Juhani - A Cathar (human with cat-like features) female Jedi. Class: Jedi Guardian.
 Jolee Bindo - An old human Jedi. Class: Jedi Consular.
 T3-M4 - An astromech droid. Class: Droid.
 HK-47 - An assassin droid. Class: Droid.
The player will also meet other minor characters (non-playable characters, or NPCs).

 Darth Malak - The Dark Lord of the Sith and true "boss" of the game.
 Darth Bandon - Malak's apprentice.
 Calo Nord - A short bounty hunter.
 Jedi Masters of the council.

Role-playing video games
Star Wars games
2003 video games

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (video game)


In Greek mythology, the Hesperides (; , ) are the nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets, who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West". They were also called the Atlantides () from their reputed father, Atlas.

Etymology
The name means originating from Hesperos (evening). Hesperos, or Vesper in Latin, is the origin of the name Hesperus, the evening star (i.e. the planet Venus) as well as having a shared root with the English word "west".

Mythology

The nymphs of the evening
Ordinarily, the Hesperides number three, like the other Greek triads (the Three Graces and the Three Fates). "Since the Hesperides themselves are mere symbols of the gifts the apples embody, they cannot be actors in a human drama. Their abstract, interchangeable names are a symptom of their impersonality", classicist Evelyn Byrd Harrison has observed.

They are sometimes portrayed as the evening daughters of Night (Nyx) either alone, or with Darkness (Erebus), in accord with the way Eos in the farthermost east, in Colchis, is the daughter of the titan Hyperion. The Hesperides are also listed as the daughters of Atlas, and Hesperis or of Phorcys and Ceto or of Zeus and Themis. In a Roman literary source, the nymphs are simply said to be the daughters of Hesperus, embodiment of the "west".

Nevertheless, among the names given to them, though never all at once, there were either three, four, or seven Hesperides. Apollonius of Rhodes gives the number of three with their names as Aigle, Erytheis, and Hespere (or Hespera). Hyginus in his preface to the Fabulae names them as Aegle, Hesperie, and Aerica. In another source, they are named Aegle, Arethusa, and Hesperethusa, the three daughters of Hesperus.

Hesiod says that these "clear-voiced Hesperides", daughters of Nyx (night), guarded the golden apples beyond Ocean in the far west of the world, gives the number of the Hesperides as four, and their names as: Aigle (or Aegle, "dazzling light"), Erytheia (or Erytheis), Hesperia ("sunset glow") whose name refers to the colour of the setting sun, red, yellow, or gold; and lastly Arethusa. In addition, Hesperia, and Arethusa, the so-called "ox-eyed Hesperethusa". Apollodorus gives the number of the Hesperides also as four, namely: Aigle, Erytheia, Hesperia (or Hesperie), and Arethusa while Fulgentius named them as Aegle, Hesperie, Medusa, and Arethusa.  However, the historiographer Diodorus in his account stated that they are seven in number with no information of their names. An ancient vase painting attests the following names as four: Asterope, Chrysothemis, Hygieia, and Lipara; on another seven names as Aiopis, Antheia, Donakis, Calypso, Mermesa, Nelisa, and Tara. A pyxis has Hippolyte, Mapsaura, and Thetis. Petrus Apianus attributed to these stars a mythical connection of their own. He believed that they were the seven Hesperides, nymph daughters of Atlas and Hesperis. Their names were: Aegle, Erythea, Arethusa, Hestia, Hespera, Hesperusa, and Hespereia. A certain Crete, possible eponym of the island of Crete, was also called one of the Hesperides.

They are sometimes called the "Western Maidens", the "Daughters of Evening", or Erythrai, and the "Sunset Goddesses", designations all apparently tied to their imagined location in the distant west. Hesperis is appropriately the personification of the evening (as Eos is of the dawn) and the Evening Star is Hesperus.

In addition to their tending of the garden, they have taken great pleasure in singing. Euripides calls them "minstrel maids"  as they possess the power of sweet song. The Hesperides could be hamadryad nymphs or epimeliads as suggested by a passage in which they change into trees: "... Hespere became a poplar and Eretheis an elm, and Aegle a willow's sacred trunk ..." and in the same account, they are described figuratively or literally to have white arms and golden heads.

Erytheia ("the red one") is one of the Hesperides. The name was applied to an island close to the coast of southern Hispania, which was the site of the original Punic colony of Gades (modern Cadiz). Pliny's Natural History (VI.36) records of the island of Gades:
 "On the side which looks towards Spain, at about 100 paces distance, is another long island, three miles wide, on which the original city of Gades stood. By Ephorus and Philistides it is called Erythia, by Timæus and Silenus Aphrodisias, and by the natives the Isle of Juno."
The island was the home of Geryon, who was overcome by Heracles.

Land of Hesperides
The Hesperides tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in North Africa at the edge of the encircling Oceanus the world ocean. According to Pliny the Elder, the garden was located at Lixus, Morocco, which was also the location where Hercules fought against Antaeus.

According to the Sicilian Greek poet Stesichorus, in his poem the "Song of Geryon", and the Greek geographer Strabo, in his book Geographika (volume III), the garden of the Hesperides is located in Tartessos, a location placed in the south of the Iberian peninsula.

Euesperides (in modern-day Benghazi) which was probably founded by people from Cyrene or Barca, from both of which it lies to the west, might have mythological associations with the garden of Hesperides.

By Ancient Roman times, the garden of the Hesperides had lost its archaic place in religion and had dwindled to a poetic convention, in which form it was revived in Renaissance poetry, to refer both to the garden and to the nymphs that dwelt there.

The Garden of the Hesperides

The Garden of the Hesperides is Hera's orchard in the west, where either a single apple tree or a grove grows, producing golden apples. According to the legend, when the marriage of Zeus and Hera took place, the different deities came with nuptial presents for the latter, and among them the goddess Gaia, with branches having golden apples growing on them as a wedding gift. Hera, greatly admiring these, begged of Gaia to plant them in her gardens, which extended as far as Mount Atlas.

The Hesperides were given the task of tending to the grove, but occasionally picked apples from it themselves. Not trusting them, Hera also placed in the garden an immortal, never-sleeping, hundred-headed dragon named Ladon as an additional safeguard. In the myth of the Judgement of Paris, it was from the Garden that Eris, Goddess of Discord, obtained the Apple of Discord, which led to the Trojan War.

In later years it was thought that the "golden apples" might have actually been oranges, a fruit unknown to Europe and the Mediterranean before the Middle Ages. Under this assumption, the Greek botanical name chosen for all citrus species was Hesperidoeidē (Ἑσπεριδοειδῆ, "hesperidoids") and even today the Greek word for the orange fruit is πορτοκάλι (Portokáli)--after the country of Portugal in Iberia near where the Garden of the Hesperides grew.

The Eleventh Labour of Heracles

After Heracles completed his first ten Labours, Eurystheus gave him two more claiming that neither the Hydra counted (because Iolaus helped Heracles) nor the Augean stables (either because he received payment for the job or because the rivers did the work). The first of these two additional Labours was to steal the apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Heracles first caught the Old Man of the Sea, the shape-shifting sea god, to learn where the Garden of the Hesperides was located. In some versions of the tale, Heracles went to the Caucasus, where Prometheus was confined. The Titan directed him concerning his course through the land of the peoples in the farthest north and the perils to be encountered on his homeward march after slaying Geryon in the farthest west.

Follow this straight road; and, first of all, thou shalt come to the Boreades, where do thou beware the roaring hurricane, lest unawares it twist thee up and snatch thee away in wintry whirlwind.

As payment, Heracles freed Prometheus from his daily torture. This tale is more usually found in the position of the Erymanthian Boar, since it is associated with Chiron choosing to forgo immortality and taking Prometheus' place.

Another story recounts how Heracles, either at the start or at the end of his task, meets Antaeus, who was immortal as long as he touched his mother, Gaia, the earth. Heracles killed Antaeus by holding him aloft and crushing him in a bearhug. Herodotus claims that Heracles stopped in Egypt, where King Busiris decided to make him the yearly sacrifice, but Heracles burst out of his chains.

Finally making his way to the Garden of the Hesperides, Heracles tricked Atlas into retrieving some of the golden apples for him, by offering to hold up the heavens for a little while (Atlas was able to take them as, in this version, he was the father or otherwise related to the Hesperides). This would have made this task – like the Hydra and Augean stables – void because he had received help. Upon his return, Atlas decided that he did not want to take the heavens back, and instead offered to deliver the apples himself, but Heracles tricked him again by agreeing to take his place on condition that Atlas relieve him temporarily so that Heracles could make his cloak more comfortable. Atlas agreed, but Heracles reneged and walked away, carrying the apples. According to an alternative version, Heracles slew Ladon instead and stole the apples.

There is another variation to the story where Heracles was the only person to steal the apples, other than Perseus, although Athena later returned the apples to their rightful place in the garden. They are considered by some to be the same "apples of joy" that tempted Atalanta, as opposed to the "apple of discord" used by Eris to start a beauty contest on Olympus (which caused "The Siege of Troy").

On Attic pottery, especially from the late fifth century, Heracles is depicted sitting in bliss in the Gardens of the Hesperides, attended by the maidens.

Argonauts' encounter
After the hero Heracles killed Ladon and stole the golden apples, the Argonauts during their journey, came to the Hesperian plain the next day. The band of heroes asked for the mercy of the Hesperides to guide them to a source of water in order to replenish their thirst. The goddesses pitying the young men, directed them to a spring created by Heracles who likewise longing for a draught while wandering the land, smote a rock near Lake Triton after which the water gushed out. The following passage recounts this meeting of the Argonauts and the nymphs:

Then, like raging hounds, they [i.e. Argonauts] rushed to search for a spring; for besides their suffering and anguish, a parching thirst lay upon them, and not in vain did they wander; but they came to the sacred plain where Ladon, the serpent of the land, till yesterday kept watch over the golden apples in the garden of Atlas; and all around the nymphs, the Hesperides, were busied, chanting their lovely song. But at that time, stricken by Heracles, he lay fallen by the trunk of the apple-tree; only the tip of his tail was still writhing; but from his head down his dark spine he lay lifeless; and where the arrows had left in his blood the bitter gall of the Lernaean hydra, flies withered and died over the festering wounds. And close at hand the Hesperides, their white arms flung over their golden heads, lamented shrilly; and the heroes drew near suddenly; but the maidens, at their quick approach, at once became dust and earth where they stood. Orpheus marked the divine portent, and for his comrades addressed them in prayer: "O divine ones, fair and kind, be gracious, O queens, whether ye be numbered among the heavenly goddesses, or those beneath the earth, or be called the Solitary nymphs; come, O nymphs, sacred race of Oceanus, appear manifest to our longing eyes and show us some spring of water from the rock or some sacred flow gushing from the earth, goddesses, wherewith we may quench the thirst that burns us unceasingly. And if ever again we return in our voyaging to the Achaean land, then to you among the first of goddesses with willing hearts will we bring countless gifts, libations and banquets.
So he spake, beseeching them with plaintive voice; and they from their station near pitied their pain; and lo! First of all they caused grass to spring from the earth; and above the grass rose up tall shoots, and then flourishing saplings grew standing upright far above the earth. Hespere became a poplar and Eretheis an elm, and Aegle a willow's sacred trunk. And forth from these trees their forms looked out, as clear as they were before, a marvel exceeding great, and Aegle spake with gentle words answering their longing looks: "Surely there has come hither a mighty succour to your toils, that most accursed man, who robbed our guardian serpent of life and plucked the golden apples of the goddesses and is gone; and has left bitter grief for us. For yesterday came a man most fell in wanton violence, most grim in form; and his eyes flashed beneath his scowling brow; a ruthless wretch; and he was clad in the skin of a monstrous lion of raw hide, untanned; and he bare a sturdy bow of olive, and a bow, wherewith he shot and killed this monster here. So he too came, as one traversing the land on foot, parched with thirst; and he rushed wildly through this spot, searching for water, but nowhere was he like to see it. Now here stood a rock near the Tritonian lake; and of his own device, or by the prompting of some god, he smote it below with his foot; and the water gushed out in full flow. And he, leaning both his hands and chest upon the ground, drank a huge draught from the rifted rock, until, stooping like a beast of the field, he had satisfied his mighty maw.
Thus she spake; and they gladly with joyful steps ran to the spot where Aegle had pointed out to them the spring, until they reached it. And as when earth-burrowing ants gather in swarms round a narrow cleft, or when flies lighting upon a tiny drop of sweet honey cluster round with insatiate eagerness; so at that time, huddled together, the Minyae thronged about the spring from the rock. And thus with wet lips one cried to another in his delight: "Strange! In very truth Heracles, though far away, has saved his comrades, fordone with thirst. Would that we might find him on his way as we pass through the mainland!

Variation of the myth
According to Diodorus' account, the Hesperides did not have the golden apples. Instead they possessed flocks of sheep which excelled in beauty and were therefore called for their beauty, as the poets might do, "golden apples", just as Aphroditê is called "golden" because of her loveliness. Others also say that it was because the sheep had a peculiar colour like gold that they got this designation. This version further states that Dracon ("dragon") was the name of the shepherd of the sheep, a man who excelled in strength of body and courage, who guarded the sheep and slew any who might dare to carry them off.

In the Renaissance
With the revival of classical allusions in the Renaissance, the Hesperides returned to their prominent position, and the garden itself took on the name of its nymphs: Robert Greene wrote of "The fearful Dragon... that watched the garden called Hesperides".  Shakespeare inserted the comically insistent rhyme "is not Love a Hercules, Still climbing trees in the Hesperides" in Love's Labours Lost (iv.iii) and John Milton mentioned the "ladies of the Hesperides" in Paradise Regained (ii.357). Hesperides (published 1647) was the title of a collection of pastoral and religious verse by the Royalist poet Robert Herrick.

Gallery

See also
 Avalon
 Cedar Forest
 Fortunate Isles
 Garden of Eden
 Golden apple
 Immortality
 Hesperis or Hesperius
 Hesperos or Hesperus
 Hesperium
 Paradise

Footnotes

Citations

General references
 Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, . "Hesperides" p. 213
 Smith, William (1873). "Hespe'rides". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London.

External links

 The Garden of the Hesperides in the Lady Lever Art Gallery
 JC Loudon on the Gardens of Hesperides, History of Garden Design and Gardening (1835)

Evening
Nymphs
Personifications in Greek mythology
Metamorphoses characters

Labours of Hercules
Conceptions of heaven
Gardens in Morocco
Gardens in Portugal
Gardens in Spain
Children of Nyx
Apples in culture
Children of Atlas
Metamorphoses into trees in Greek mythology

Hesperides


Princeton Public Library is located in Princeton, Illinois, the county seat of Bureau County.

History
In the late 19th century, it was realized that Princeton was in need of an open to public Library. The earliest loaning of books was by a private individual, Cyrus Bryant. Later organizations were begun such as The Bryant Circle and The Princeton Book Club. In the late 19th century work began on developing a public library.

1885 – The beginning of a dream
Princeton Public Library, formerly known as Matson Public Library, began as a realization of a dream of Nehemiah Matson. In 1885, anticipating a bequest, the town council adopted an ordinance accepting the legacy in trust of Nehemiah to be set apart as a library fund for the city. They provided a board of nine directors to have exclusive control of the fund for the city and the power to purchase, lease or construct a building that would be suitable for a library. The town council would have custody of the building and the grounds and they would appoint suitable librarians and assistants and decide how much they would be paid.

1885 to 1890 – Establishing Princeton's first library
On October 1, 1885, the first board of directors was appointed.

In 1886, three years after Nehemiah's death, the county court paid his bequest to the town council for the establishment of a free public library and reading room in the city of Princeton. The amount of money left to accomplish this task was $11,862.67.

In 1888, Nehemiah's legacy reached $15,000 and the board worked on finding a location for the new library.

In 1889, the board purchased a two-room structure at 529 South Main Street for $1,600 and spent an additional $655 on repair and remodeling the structure for the purpose of serving as a library. It did not have city water or a furnace. The front room was sublet and the rear room was fitted with shelves for books.

The library opened in 1890. The city council decided that its Library and Reading Room should be known as the Princeton Public Library. The first books put on the shelves were a gift from the Princeton Book Club. It was the entire collection and consisted of 800 volumes. A trained librarian, Miss Elizabeth Clark, installed the cataloging and Dewey Decimal Classification.

1890 to 1900 – Princeton Public Library receives a new name
In 1892 the name of the library was changed to The Matson Public Library after its benefactor, Nehemiah Matson. Water was put in and in 1893 a furnace was installed.

By 1896, the library collection was growing so rapidly that a 23-foot extension was added to the east side of the building. That made room for only one table seating for six readers.

1900 to 1950 – Matson Public Library gets a new home
In 1911, Samuel P. Clark offered the board the site for the library, located at 15 Park Avenue West. It was valued at $2,500. There was a stipulation that the new building had to be well under construction within a year. First National Bank donated a strip of land adjoining on the north and later Mr. Clark added a gift of $7,720 for the purchase of the lot to the east of the library property. The board was to remove an existing building and hire a landscape gardener to enhance the property.

In 1913 the library building was completed at the cost of $23,000 and was designed by the Chicago firm Patton & Miller. The Women's Club contributed $3,400 with the reservation that there be an assembly hall on the second floor for a meeting place until the amount of rent equaled their donation. The library's collection had grown from 800 to 10,760 volumes.

The library was dedicated on April 15, 1913. It was 30 years after Nehemiah Matson's death.

In 1920 the North End Library opened as a branch in the Chapter House building erected by the American Woman's League. The purpose of this addition was to provide more accessibility. In 1958, a deed was acquired to this property.

1950 to 2000 – Growing pains
In 1962, one of the largest basement rooms of the main library was converted in a children's room with its own entrance on Pleasant Street. This project was financed entirely by a private donation of $7,000.

Realizing that a day would come for possible expansion, the library acquired the house and lot adjoining the library grounds on the north side for $24,500.

In the late 1990s Matson Public Library was experiencing a shortage of space and parking. In July 1990 the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed by George Bush. and handicapped accessibility became a priority.

In September 1997 the library board made public their plans for two expansion sites under consideration: the existing building and the Transamerican Building at the corner of Pleasant and Crown Streets.

In November 1997 the board sponsored a public forum and selected the Transamerican Building as a site for a new library, pending on City Council and voter approval, but in March 1998 the referendum was defeated.

In October 1998 the board decided to proceed with expansion at the present library site.

2000 to present – Looking toward the future
In August 2000 the Building Site Committee recommended that the board pursue library expansion at a new site. Over the next two years the board would consider more than 10 sites for the new Princeton Library.

In August and September 2002 complaints were filed with Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education against the library for lack of handicapped accessibility.

In July 2004, the Matson Public Library board selected a new site for the library that consisted of five acres and was located north of East Central Avenue and east of Fifth Street. They employed Burnidge-Cassell Associates to begin preliminary drawings. Once again the referendum failed.

In March 2006, Princeton voters were once again asked to vote on a $2 million referendum which would provide money necessary to buy and remodel the former Eagles/BOGO building into a modern library.
This time the referendum passed and the bidding process began for contractors to undertake the remodeling process.

In August 2006 the library board began a capital campaign to raise $600,000 from private funds to help finance the building project that was estimated at $3 million.

On July 21, 2007 the Matson Public Library closed and reopened at its new location on Peru Street. Once again, for the second time in the history of the library, it took the name of Princeton Public Library and on August 1, 2007 the newly remodeled building opened its doors offering a fully accessible library with abundant parking space, a spacious library.

Current library
Currently, the Princeton Public Library employs one full-time Director and two full-time librarians. The Princeton Public Library also employs nine part-time librarians. The Library Board consists of nine members. Friends of the Library is a volunteer organization that both assists library staff, delivers to home-bound patrons, and raises funds to aid the library with purchases of technology, equipment, and programs. Princeton Public Library houses a collection of over 60,000 items, and is able to order from 8 million items from more than 250 library locations through PRAIRIECAT. Princeton Public Library cardholders may also check out e-books and digital audio books through Online Media of Northern Illinois.

The library offers a wide variety of services which includes lamination, microfilm readers, fax service, online catalogs, magnifying readers, free Wi-Fi throughout the building, and a drive-up book drop. The library provides federal and state tax forms.

The library has housed a wide range of programs and exhibits which includes, "Art & Architecture In Illinois Libraries","Bookstock: 6 Days of Music & Memories, "A Remembrance: Cherry Mine 1909, "From Both Sides: An Exhibit of Artists & Their Admirers, and a traveling Smithsonian exhibit, "Between Fences". From November 18 through December 29, 2012, the library hosted its second traveling Smithsonian exhibit, "Journey Stories."

In July 2010, The Library Cafe was added. The cafe employs four part-time baristas.

References

External links
 Princeton Public Library – official site

1890 establishments in Illinois
Princeton, Illinois
Public libraries in Illinois
Education in Bureau County, Illinois
Buildings and structures in Bureau County, Illinois
Libraries established in 1890
Library buildings completed in 1913

Princeton Public Library, Illinois


Ayatollah Abdul Aziz al-Hakim ( ; ; 1952 – 26 August 2009) was an Iraqi theologian and politician and the leader of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a party that has approximately 5% support in the Iraqi Council of Representatives. He also served as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq (40th Prime Minister of Iraq)

He was a member of the United States-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and served as its president in December 2003. Brother of the Shia leader Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, he replaced him as leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq when Mohammed Baqir was assassinated in August 2003 in Najaf.

Biography

Family tree
Sayyid Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was a member of the Hakim family of Shiite scholars.

Early life
He was born in 1952, the son of Grand Ayatollah Muhsin Al-Hakim. Raised in Najaf and then received his theological education through the religious school there, known as the Hawza. He was married to the daughter of Mohammed Hadi al-Sadr and he was the father of two girls and two boys. His son Muhsin Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was a political adviser for him, and his other son Ammar al-Hakim became the Secretary General of Al-Mihrab Martyr Foundation. Seven of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's brothers were killed, six of them on the orders of Saddam Hussein.

Iran and SCIRI

Al-Hakim played a leading role in the 'Safar Intifada' in Iraq in 1977 and was imprisoned by the Iraqi government in 1972, 1977 and 1979. He went into exile in Iran in 1980, where he was a founding member in 1982 of Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a group set up under Iran's auspices to bring Islamic revolution to Iraq. The group was led by Al-Hakim's brother, Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. SCIRI would later change its name to the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

Badr Brigades
Within SCIRI, al-Hakim headed its military wing, the Badr Brigades. Badr was officered by Iranians and its troops fought on Iran's side during the Iran–Iraq War.

Iraq
With the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in 2003 with the US-led invasion, Al-Hakim and SCIRI returned to Iraq where they have been major players in Iraq's politics. SCIRI's leader, Mohammed Baqir Al-Hakim, was assassinated on 29 August 2003, when a massive car bomb exploded as he left the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf. Following the murder, Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim became SCIRI's head.

Al-Hakim was the top candidate listed for the United Iraqi Coalition during the first Iraqi legislative election of January 2005 but did not seek a government post because the Alliance had decided not to include theologians in the government.

Interior Ministry
Under Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, SCIRI controlled Iraq's Interior Ministry. In 2006 according to the United Nations human rights chief in Iraq, John Pace, said that every month hundreds of Iraqis were being tortured to death or executed by the Interior Ministry under SCIRI's control. According to a 2006 report by the Independent newspaper: 'Mr Pace said the Ministry of the Interior was "acting as a rogue element within the government". It is controlled by the main Shia party, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri); the Interior Minister, Bayan Jabr, is a former leader of Sciri's Badr Brigade militia, which is one of the main groups accused of carrying out sectarian killings. Another is the Mehdi Army of the young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is part of the Shia coalition seeking to form a government after winning the mid-December election.
Many of the 110,000 policemen and police commandos under the ministry's control are suspected of being former members of the Badr Brigade. Not only counter-insurgency units such as the Wolf Brigade, the Scorpions and the Tigers, but the commandos and even the highway patrol police have been accused of acting as death squads.

The paramilitary commandos, dressed in garish camouflage uniforms and driving around in pick-up trucks, are dreaded in Sunni neighbourhoods. People whom they have openly arrested have frequently been found dead several days later, with their bodies bearing obvious marks of torture.'

U.S. visits

On 4 December 2006, al-Hakim met with George W. Bush and made a commitment to help end violence,

Al-Hakim also gave his assessment of the situation in Iraq:

On 5 December 2006, on behalf of The Catholic University of America and American University's Center for Global Peace, he spoke at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center. The title of his speech was "Freedom and Tolerance in Shi'a Islam and the Future of Iraq". Notable guests at this event included Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., and Rabbi Professor Ephraim Isaac from the Institute of Semitic Studies in Princeton, New Jersey.

Illness and death
On 16 May 2007 he flew to Houston for medical treatment. Reportedly he had lung cancer. On 20 May 2007, Hakim left the U.S. for Iran, in order to receive chemotherapy treatment. On 26 August 2009, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim died of lung cancer in a Tehran hospital. He was buried in Najaf on 29 August, on the same day and month as his brother, who was killed exactly six years earlier. Hasan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanese Shia resistance group Hizbollah issued an emotional statement regarding the death of Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim. The statement spoke of the "struggle" of Al-Hakim to "rescue" and "uplift the Iraqi people." This drew criticism and calls of sectarianism from political commentator Asad Abukhalil due to the role of Abdul Aziz Al Hakim in the US occupation of Iraq.

References and notes

External links

Background
Iraqis must enhance internal ties

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim - Daily Telegraph obituary

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1952 births
2009 deaths
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
Badr Brigade members
Deaths from cancer in Iran
Deaths from lung cancer
Iraqi dissidents
Members of the Council of Representatives of Iraq
People from Najaf
Iraqi Shia Muslims
People of the 1991 uprisings in Iraq

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim