Peștera Vântului (Wind Cave) is the largest cave in Romania, with a length of almost 52 km (total length of passages). It is situated in the Pădurea Craiului Mountains on the left bank of Crișul Repede River in the vicinity of Șuncuiuș village, Bihor County. This cave is closed and only accessible to cavers, but there are works going on to develop it as a show cave.

The cave is called Peștera Vântului (Romanian for "Wind Cave") because of the powerful draft that can be sensed at the entrance and in the far corners of the cave. The wind is bi-directional, being controlled seasonally.

The average temperature in the cave is 11.8˚C.

External links
  Peştera Vântului - Official Site (in Romanian)
 Peştera Vântului - history, geology, biology, tourism
 Pictures of Peştera Vântului
 The Cave of the Wind with pictures
 suncuius.ro - Suncuius tourism zone: photos, weather, access and housing information
  Photos from Wind Cave - Szilagyi Palko Pal CSA Cluj

Caves of Romania
Wild caves
Geography of Bihor County

Peștera Vântului


The Pointer Sisters are an American R&B girl group. They were founded in 1969 and are based out of Oakland, California who first achieved mainstream success in the 1970s and 1980s. Their genres are bebop, disco, blues, country and rock. The group were a duo when they started, though they became trio, then a quartet in the later years. The Pointer Sisters had their greatest and highest success in the 1980s. They are best known for a song called "I'm So Excited".

1969 establishments in the United States
1960s American music groups
1970s American music groups
1980s American music groups
1990s American music groups
2000s American music groups
2010s American music groups
African-American musical groups
American girl groups
American R&B bands
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups from Oakland, California
Musical quartets
Musical trios

The Pointer Sisters


Hexapawn is a deterministic two-player game invented by Martin Gardner. It is played on a rectangular board of variable size, for example on a 3×3 board or on a regular chessboard. On a board of size n×m, each player begins with m pawns, one for each square in the row closest to them.  The goal of each player is to either advance a pawn to the opposite end of the board or leave the other player with no legal moves, either by stalemate or by having all of their pieces captured.

Hexapawn on the 3×3 board is a solved game; with perfect play, White will always lose in 3 moves (1.b2 axb2 2.cxb2 c2 3.a2 c1#). Indeed, Gardner specifically constructed it as a game with a small game tree in order to demonstrate how it could be played by a heuristic AI implemented by a mechanical computer based on Donald Michie's Matchbox Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine.

A variant of this game is octopawn, which is played on a 4×4 board with 4 pawns on each side. It is a forced win for White.

Rules
As in chess, a pawn may be moved in two different ways: it may be moved one square vertically forward, or it may capture a pawn one square diagonally ahead of it.  A pawn may not be moved forward if there is a pawn in the next square.  Unlike chess, the first move of a pawn may not advance it by two spaces.  A player loses if they have no legal moves or one of the other player's pawns reaches the end of the board.

Dawson's chess
Whenever a player advances a pawn to the penultimate rank and attacks an opposing pawn, there is a threat to proceed to the final rank by capture.  The opponent's only sensible responses, therefore, are to either capture the advanced pawn or advance the threatened one, the latter only being sensible in the case that there is one threatened pawn rather than two.  If one restricts 3× hexapawn with the additional rule that capturing is always compulsory, the result is the game Dawson's chess. The game was invented by Thomas Rayner Dawson in 1935.

Dawson's chess reduces to the impartial game denoted .137 in Conway's notation.  This means that it is equivalent to a Nim-like game in which:
on a turn, the player may remove one to three objects from a heap,
removing just one object is a legal move only if the removed object is the only object in the heap, and
when removing three objects from a heap of five or more, the player may also split the remainder into two heaps.
The initial position is a single heap of size .
The nim-sequence for this game is

 0.1120311033224052233011302110452740
   1120311033224455233011302110453748
   1120311033224455933011302110453748
   1120311033224455933011302110453748
   1120311033224455933011302110453748 ...,

where bold entries indicate the values that differ from the eventual periodic behavior of the sequence.

References

Sources
 Mathematical Games, Scientific American, March 1962, reprinted in The Unexpected Hanging and Other Mathematical Diversions, by Martin Gardner, pp. 93ff

External links
 Hexapawn - an article by Robert Price.
 Hexapawn java applet - source code included.
 Hexapawn game for IOS
 Play Hexapawn - Play Online

Mathematical games
Chess variants
1962 in chess
Board games introduced in 1962
Solved games

Hexapawn


Bulgaralpine was a sports automobile produced in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and the result of a collaboration between Alpine (a French automobile firm) and ETO Bulet (a Bulgarian export trade organisation). Production lasted for three years (1967–1969).

The beginnings

In the end of 1966 the founder of the French car company Alpine – Jean Rédélé – arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria, having been invited by the ETO (export trade organisation) Bulet. Bulet was the same Bulgarian firm that had, through cooperation with Renault, already began the assembly of Bulgarrenault, and now had the same intention regarding Alpine. While in Bulgaria, Rédélé was introduced to the famed Bulgarian car racer Iliya Chubrikov, who was given the opportunity to test-drive the Alpine A110 on the Circle Highway (at that time still in construction) around Sofia. Building on the good impressions made by his car, Rédélé made an attractive offer of cooperation to the Bulgarian side, and in early 1967 sent to Bulgaria several of his 1,000-cubic centimetres-displacement engines, two of which were installed into Bulgarrenault 8 bodies. Later that year, Iliya Chubrikov won first place in the Transbalkania rally. Shortly after that, Rédélé sent his engineering team to Bulgaria to prepare the assembly of Bulgaralpine and to train a Bulgarian team of automotive specialists. Iliya Chubrikov was hired by ETO Bulet in the capacity of a production manager for sports cars.

Initial production and racing

In order to manufacture the fiberglass bodies, Bulgaria licensed the manufacturing method for a payment of 8 million French francs which secured the necessary machinery and tooling. The raw material for the manufacture of the fibreglass was initially imported from France, but later came from the GDR (East Germany) and Poland.

The first several Bulgaralpines were assembled at the end of 1967 when the stunning sports car was an absolute hit in Europe and the United States, which of course gave a great deal of pride to Bulgaria. In 1968, two Bulgaralpine race cars, driven by the teams of Iliya and Nikola Chubrikov, and Atanas Taskov and Atanas Agura, took part in the Monte Carlo Rally for the very first time. For publicity purposes, ETO Bulet created an auto racing team of its own, composed by the brothers Chubrikov, the brothers Agura, Robert Kyurkchiev, Slavcho Georgiev and Atanas Taskov. The short-lived team nonetheless proved popular both in Bulgaria and abroad. All Bulgaralpine racecars were decommissioned after 1978 and never took part in another rally again.

The production run and the end
Bulgaralpine was not intended for the mass consumer in Bulgaria, instead being aimed at sports clubs and racing teams. However, some well-to-do consumers, such as the well-known Bulgarian film director Vassil Mirchev, bought a Bulgaralpine for private use. In 1969, Mirchev attended the Cannes film festival, covering the distance between Sofia, Bulgaria, and Cannes, France, in 16 hours in his Bulgaralpine. The price of Bulgaralpine in 1969 was 8,200 Bulgarian leva.

The initial intentions were to produce one Bulgaralpine car per day, but even now it is difficult to say how many Bulgaralpines were built when production ended in 1969. Some sources state that only 60 cars were completed, others mention 120 (70 for sale in Bulgaria, and 50 - for export). The production manager and race car driver Iliya Chubrikov recalls about 100 completed cars, none of which were exported beyond Bulgaria's borders.

Links
2013-Renault - Inter Expo Center Sofia

Defunct manufacturing companies of Bulgaria
Car manufacturers of Bulgaria
Sports car manufacturers
Cars introduced in 1967
Economy of Plovdiv
History of Plovdiv
1967 establishments in Bulgaria
1969 disestablishments in Bulgaria

Bulgaralpine


Baozhong tea, sometimes romanized as pouchong, is a lightly oxidized tea, twist shape, with floral notes, and usually not roasted, somewhere between green tea and what is usually considered oolong tea, though often classified with the latter due to its lack of the sharper green tea flavours. It is produced mainly in Fujian, China and in Pinglin District, New Taipei, Taiwan.

Its name in Chinese, literally "the wrapped kind", refers to a practice of wrapping the leaves in paper during the drying process that has largely been discontinued due to advancement in tea processing.  At its best, baozhong gives off a floral and melon fragrance and has a rich, mild taste. The picking season of this famous Taiwan "spring tea" () usually begins around the end of March.

Before 1873, oolong tea was widely sold in mainland China and Taiwan, but after an economic slump, some tea companies stopped selling oolong tea because of decreasing demand. At this time, tea companies moved production from Taiwan to Fuzhou and began producing baozhong tea. Baozhong tea is referred to as "flower tea" because of its fragrant smell.

Health benefits
Together with green tea, oolong tea, and black tea, baozhong tea has been shown to have antioxidant activity and antimutagenic properties.  Tea catechins are important antioxidants and one study found baozhong tea to have over three times the amount of these compounds relative to black tea, although it was found to have less than green or oolong teas.

Baozhong tea in Taiwan
Farmers from Taiwan imported trees and growing techniques from Fujian during the nineteenth century. The name of baozhong tea means "wrapped" tea and refers to the former paper package style. The most popular kinds of baozhong tea are from the Nankang and Wenshan regions. It has been produced since about 1885, but today very little is  grown. Wenshan Baozhong Tea is also one of the ten most popular teas in Taiwan.

Characteristics
The appearance of baozhong tea is similar to a rope and is curled up. It has a deep green color with tiny grayish white spots. The oxidation is between 8 and 12%. It has a delicate fragrance similar to fresh flowers. The taste is not harsh and its sweet flavor has a moisturizing effect.

References

Green tea
Oolong tea
Chinese tea
Chinese tea grown in Fujian

Baozhong tea


The Abbey Craig is the hill upon which the Wallace Monument stands, at Causewayhead, just to the north of Stirling, Scotland.

Physical geography

The Abbey Craig is part of a complex quartz-dolerite intrusion or sill within carboniferous strata, at the western edge of the Central Coal Field, known as the Stirling Sill.

The quartz-dolerite, being much harder than the surrounding coal measures, has been exposed due to erosion, including by glaciation. The characteristic crag and tail shape of the crag reflects this glacial shaping.

Toponymy
Craig, or crag, describes a post-glacial crag and tail landscape feature. The abbey is Cambuskenneth Abbey, on the north bank of the River Forth, about 1 km to the south.

History
The hill is the site of William Wallace's HQ ahead of the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, which was part of the Scottish Wars of Independence.

The hilltop was also defended during the Early Medieval Period, and features a vitrified hillfort, destroyed by fire in the 6th or 7th centuries AD and then refortified in 8th or 9th centuries AD, as demonstrated by two phases of archaeological excavation, the first by SUAT Archaeology in 2001 and the second by Murray Cook, Stirling Council's Archaeologist in 2012.

References

External links

Hills of the Scottish Midland Valley
Geology of Scotland
Mountains and hills of Stirling (council area)

Abbey Craig


The William Rotch Jr. House, now the Rotch–Jones–Duff House and Garden Museum, is a National Historic Landmark at 396 County Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the United States. The three families whose names are attached to it were all closely tied to the city's nineteenth-century dominance of the whaling industry. Because of this, the house is part of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

Richard Upjohn built the house in the Greek Revival architectural style for William Rotch Jr. in 1834, on a New Bedford plot Rotch had inherited from his father. It was Upjohn's first house, near the beginning of a long career. Rotch also commissioned a garden in the rear, which later owners would significantly expand. The property remained private until 1981, when it was bought by local preservationists and reopened as a historic house museum. It was declared a National Historic Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. Today the museum educates visitors not only about whaling but, through its gardens and associated programs for local schools, about the environment as well.

Property

The house sits on a one-acre (4,000 m2) block of New Bedford, between County, Madison, Joli Gonsalves and Seventh streets, in the middle of the County Street Historic District, where its wealthy citizens built their mansions in the 19th century. It is a three-by-five-bay two-story yellow building with a front porch and balustraded balcony on either end and several tall chimneys emerging from the roof. Inside, many of the original mahogany doors and their walnut veneers remain. The cornerblocks and baseboards have elliptical echinus profiles of the kind commonly found in many Greek Revival interiors. The window muntins have a beaded knife blade profile and the plaster ceiling cornices and medallions also have finely carved ornamentation.

A circular driveway leads up to the house, set back a mere  from the street to allow for outbuildings and the property's garden. It includes elements of all three of its periods of private ownership: a formal boxwood rose parterre garden with tall calla lilies, boxwood specimen garden, cutting garden and Woodland Walk surrounding a 19th-century wooden latticework pergola.

History

Joseph Rotch, William's grandfather, had been one of the early settlers in New Bedford when the town began to grow in the 1760s. He had realized, along with Joseph Russell, a major area landowner, that the town was well-positioned to become a whaling center, potentially surpassing even Nantucket, then the center of the industry in the colonies. Unlike the island, it had a deep harbor where ocean-going vessels could come directly to port and unload their harvest.

Despite some setbacks during the Revolution and War of 1812, the city's whaling fleet kept growing and by the late 1820s had begun catching up to Nantucket's. Ship captains and owners grew wealthy and built themselves homes in the County Street area. "Nowhere in all America", Herman Melville later wrote in Moby-Dick, "will you find more patrician-like houses; parks and gardens more opulent, than in New Bedford ... all these brave houses and flowery gardens..." The Rotches, who practiced vertical integration and had interests at every step of the whaling process, grew very wealthy.

Joseph's son William died in 1828 and left his own son, William Jr., the plot on which the present house was built. Three years later the deed was formally transferred to the younger man, who had already distinguished himself in New Bedford's civic life by helping to found banks and schools, upon the execution of his father's estate. He hired a young English immigrant named Richard Upjohn to design a house on the plot, insisting it be more modest and restrained than its neighbors, even though he was the third-wealthiest man in the city after his late father and brother-in-law. As a founder of the New Bedford Horticultural Society, he began the specimen garden in the back of the property.

By 1851, New Bedford had completely displaced Nantucket as the center of American whaling. In that year, Edward Coffin Jones, a Nantucket native who had moved to New Bedford and become a successful ship owner, bought the house for $17,000. The Joneses expanded the garden, adding the pergola, a common Victorian touch. One of his daughters, Amelia Hickling Jones, lived there for the next 85 years, becoming a major civic benefactor as the city transitioned from whaling to textiles as the mainstay of its economy. With no heirs, the property was put up for sale when she died in 1935.

Mark Duff, a descendant of one of New Bedford's whaling families that had expanded into other businesses, bought it the following year. Under the direction of Boston landscape architect, Mrs. Helen Seymour Coolidge, they redecorated it extensively and planted 7,000 tulip bulbs in the garden, as well as adding landscaping, walkways and ornamental ponds.

The Duff family decided to sell the house in 1981, and it was bought by the Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE (WHALE), a local historic preservation group that had been instrumental in restoring, protecting and establishing the nearby New Bedford Historic District, a National Historic Landmark (NHL). WHALE's goal was to save it from commercial development and turn the house and garden into a museum, which it opened in 1983. In 1996 it became the only city property outside of the New Bedford Historic District to be included as part of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, and in 2005 the house and garden were themselves designated an NHL, as a legacy of New Bedford's whaling supremacy, an outstanding example of a Greek Revival house, and the first house built by Upjohn.

Museum

The museum and garden are open daily (except major holidays) year-round. Admission is charged except for the second Thursday evening of every month except January, when it is free.

Several educational programs are available, using the house and gardens to teach students in grades 4-6 about botany, beekeeping and whaling, with teacher support material available online. High school and college students may work as interns. The grounds and gardens are also available for weddings, wedding photos  and other ceremonies or occasions.

See also
William J. Rotch Gothic Cottage, also a National Historic Landmark
List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places listings in New Bedford, Massachusetts

References

External links

Museum website

National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
Historic house museums in Massachusetts
Richard Upjohn buildings
Houses completed in 1834
Museums established in 1983
Houses in New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
Museums in Bristol County, Massachusetts
Industry museums in Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in New Bedford, Massachusetts
Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Bristol County, Massachusetts
Greek Revival architecture in Massachusetts


Sharsted Court is a grade I listed manor house set in woodland near the village of Newnham, Kent (in the parish of Doddington) England. A house or lodge has been recorded at the site since the time of Odo de Bayeux in 1080, however the present building, exhibiting a number of later styles, principally dates from the 18th century. Earlier residents of the site may have included Iron Age settlers since excavations of earthworks on the estate in 1825 and 1880 revealed evidence of possible Belgic fortifications.

History
According to Edward Hasted, the 18th-century historian of Kent, the manor then known as Sahersted formed part of the estate of Odo de Bayeux at the time of his fall from grace in 1080. It is not known what type of structure existed on the site at that time however the building is within ancient woodland and may have been a mediaeval lodge.

The manor of Sharsted was recorded in 1174 as a subsidiary manor within the Hundred of Teynham and held directly from the Archbishop of Canterbury. During the reign of Edward I the manor was in the possession of John de Sharsted and then Sir Simon de Sharsted. A Simon de Sharsted is also noted as having been imprisoned in the Tower of London. Robert de Sharsted is recorded in the Kent Hundred Rolls of 1275 as a sheriff of the Lathe of Faversham, and an early tomb in the Sharsted Chapel in the church at Doddington) bears the name of 'Richard de Sharsted' dating his death to 1287.

Robert de Sharsted died in 1320 leaving only a daughter as an heir. The property transferred then to John de Bourne of Down Court, Doddington - whose father was Sheriff under Edward III. According to some sources, Sharsted was at that time occupied by Robert de Nottingham. It is speculated that John de Bourne was one of the knights known to have held Leeds Castle against Edward II in 1314 and, as a result, his lands were forfeited to the Crown. They were restored by Edward III in 1327 with the exception of Sharsted Court. The widow of Robert de Nottingham (who died in 1374 and is presumed to have been allowed to keep Sharsted until his death) was left a section of the house.

During the reign of Henry VI, Bartholomew de Bourne inherited Sharsted Court, which continued in the Bourne family for the next two hundred years. According to Hasted, early in the 17th century James Bourne conveyed the estate to Abraham Delaune, the son of Gideon Delaune, a Huguenot Apothecary in the service of King James I's wife, Ann of Denmark, and founding benefactor of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. Abraham's grandson, Colonel William Delaune (afterwards MP for Kent from 1715 to 1722) transformed Sharsted in 1711 adding the brick front and the gazebo at the end of the raised terrace.

Since Colonel Delaune had no children of his own, Sharsted passed to his nephew, Gideon Thornicroft, in 1739. Just three years later Thornicroft died, leaving the property to his mother. Again, just two years later,  she bequeathed the estate on her death to her two unmarried daughters, Dorcas and Elizabeth. On 1759 Dorcas left Sharsted to the great-grandson of Sir William Delaune, Alured Pincke. The property subsequently passed to Alured's wife; in 1839, Mary Pincke bequeathed Sharsted to her great-nephew, Captain Edmund Faunce, who is noted in Bernard Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain as Edmund Faunce of Sharsted. In 1864, his son Chapman Faunce added 'Delaune' to his surname and changed the spelling to Faunce-De-Laune. It is Chapman Faunce-De-Laune who is believed to have begun the yew topiary that still exists today. During the late 19th century tobacco was grown on the property, which was also depicted in prints in the Illustrated London News. By the early 20th century, Sharsted Court was recorded in the Sittingbourne, Milton and District Directory of 1908 as being "a typical English park of some 250 acres".

By 1949 however the property was empty. Alured Faunce De Laune died around that time leaving the property to a son in South Africa who declined it due to the expense of maintaining the property from afar. The Ratzer family bought it during the 1950s, but, in common with a number of large country estates which became expensive to maintain, the house was at risk of being demolished. However, in 1966 the Court came into the possession of Canon Wade and his son Anthony Wade whose family included Virginia Wade, Wimbledon tennis champion in 1977. As of 2007, the house remains in the hands of the Wade and Shepley families who have undertaken extensive restoration of the house and gardens. The house was also licensed for civil weddings in Kent and provided occasional conference facilities. Sharsted Court no longer holds these functions and the last of the weddings took place in 2008.

Architecture

Main house

The main house is built around a two-storey mediæval hall house possibly dating to the 14th century. This rectangular hall was heated by an open fireplace and features an arched roof with extensive oak beams and rafters. The south-west of the property is timber-framed and is believed to date also to the mid-14th century and possibly to have been used as a 'dowager wing' of the main hall by the widow of Robert de Nottingham.

In 1711 a brick front was added to the main hall house, and  two wings with tiled roofs, wooden cornice work and large dormers. The grand centre section of the building includes imitation battlements and a working belfry (believed to have been used previously to call workers on the estate). The pedimented entrance porch includes a coat-of-arms.

During the 19th century an additional three-storey Victorian wing was built, squaring off the existing buildings and creating a central courtyard. However this imposing structure was demolished in 1967 for aesthetic reasons; a conservatory was appended to the remaining Victorian east wing in 1987.

The house includes a so-called "drunken" staircase (on account of its unorthodox angles), which is reputedly "the 13th stairway to be constructed in the house, leading to the 79th room". In common with a number of old manor houses in England, the house also contains a "secret" passageway via a cleverly marked panel in the wainscoting of the 'Tapestry Dressing-room': "which communicates by a very narrow and steep flight of steps in the thickness of the wall with 'the Red Bedroom'." It has been speculated by the current owners that this was installed and used by one of the previous male owners to travel secretly between bed chambers for romantic liaisons.

A number of additional cottage buildings and ancillary structures (such as former stables) exist on the site and incorporate similar styles to the main house. The property is Grade I listed.

Garden and features

A feature of the house today is its grand approach. After climbing a short hill from the village of Newnham, a tree-lined avenue leads to a pair of heavy wrought iron gates designed in 1882 and supported by brick gate posts. A brick 18th century gazebo (or possibly a faux gatehouse) watches over the entrance together with two stone bulls. A gravel stone driveway leads to the main, house flanked on the south by a walled terrace from the gazebo.

 Clipped yews line the driveway and are featured in the main gardens, which are surrounded by flint and brick walls; a small maze-like topiary display section is enclosed by a low wall and principally entered through wrought iron gates guarded by stone gryphons. Side entrances to the topiary section include an extravagant archway in the south-west wall.

The garden is extensively planted with roses and traditional bedding flowers. Resting places, stepped terraces and ornate recesses are incorporated into the brick garden walls. A flint and brick circular summer house with a pointed tile roof sits in the far north corner and a raised terrace leads to a heavy wooden door in the far north wall. The north and west sides of the garden are bordered by woodland (part of Sharsted Wood) and a number of ancient trees are preserved within the grounds themselves. A small sunken pond also exists to the north of the house.

Notes

External links

Historical images of Sharsted Court. Retrieved December 28, 2007.

.

Country houses in Kent
Grade I listed houses in Kent

Sharsted Court


Multi-cellular organisms are  organisms with more than one cell. This is the case for animals, plants and most fungi. In such organisms, cells are usually specialised. All the cells with the same function work together. Such a group of cells is then called a tissue.

Multi-cellular organisms have a set of cells that specialize in reproduction. Reproduction in such organisms is usually sexual. The sex cells are either sperm or ovum (also named "egg") cells. If they are sperm cells, the organism is male, if they are egg cells it is female. If both are present, the organism is a hermaphrodite.

Evolutionary history
We know, from their cell structure, that multicellularity has evolved independently many times in Earth history, for example in plants and animals.
The earliest forms of life in the fossil record are cyanobacteria from the Archaean era at 3.5 billion years ago. They grew as single cells but lived in colonies as stromatolites.

The first multicellular fossils have been found in 2.1 billion years old Palaeoproterozoic rocks from the Gabon in Africa. These are eukaryotic cells which live colonially. The fossils are visible to the naked eye, and hence much larger than bacteria. The authors comment that one advantage of  multicellularity is larger size, and that an adequate level of oxygen is required to support this kind of life.

Consequences of multicellularity
To reproduce, multicellular organisms must solve the problem of regenerating a whole organism from germ cells (i.e. sperm and egg cells), an issue that is studied in developmental biology.

Multicellular organisms, especially long-living animals, also face the challenge of cancer, which occurs when cells fail to regulate their growth within the normal program of development.

Related pages
 Life timeline
 Metazoa
 Unicellular organism

References

Evolutionary biology
Cell biology

Multicellular organism


Echocardiography or Echocardiyogram is an ultrasound to view and hear the heart.
Echocardiography is able to view two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and Doppler ultrasound to create images and sounds of the heart.

The echocardiography machine's are mainly used in hospitals.

Echocardiography dates back to the 1950s and was invented by Carl Helmuth Hertz and Inge Edler.

Cardiology

Echocardiography


Lisa Della Casa (born Burgdorf, Switzerland, 2 February 1919 – 10 December 2012 Münsterlingen, Switzerland) was a Swiss soprano.  She was famous from the 1950s to the mid- 1970s for singing some of the great roles in the operas of Mozart and Richard Strauss.  She was known for the naturalness of her singing as well as for her beauty.

Life and career
Della Casa's father was an Italian-Swiss doctor.  Her mother came from Bavaria.
She studied singing with Margarete Häser at the Zürich Conservatory.  Her first performance in opera was singing Madame Butterfly in Puccini's Madama Butterfly at Solothurn-Biel Municipal Theater in 1940. She joined the ensemble of the Zürich Municipal Opera House in 1943 and stayed there until 1950.

In 1946 Della Casa sang the part of Zdenka in  Richard Strauss's opera Arabella in Zürich, and again the following year when she sang for the first time at the Salzburg Festival where she was to sing many times during her career. After the performance, Richard Strauss himself said: "That girl will be the Arabella someday!"  In the same year, she sang for the first time at the Vienna State Opera House, singing Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. Soon she moved to Vienna and joined the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera House. In 1949, she sang at La Scala Opera House in Milan as Sophie in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and Marcelline in Beethoven's Fidelio.  She was invited to move to Milan, but she chose to stay in Vienna.

Della Casa appeared in Britain for the first time singing the part of Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival.  She sang the part of Arabella for the first time at the Bavarian State Opera House in Munich in 1951.  She was to become most famous for this role.  She sang Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Bayreuth Festival in 1952, but she did not like the atmosphere there with all the arguments, so she never returned to Bayreuth.   From 1953 to 1968 she sang regularly at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York where she was extremely popular.

When the Vienna State Opera House was restored in 1955 there was a special performance of Der Rosenkavalier.  She sang the part of the Marschallin, so she had sung all three famous soprano roles in that opera: the Marschallin, Octavian and Sophie.

She continued to sing many great operatic roles at the Salzburg Festival, including the part of the Marschallin in 1960 under the conductor Herbert von Karajan, celebrating the newly-built Salzburg Festspielhaus.

She sang a few dramatic roles, such as Salome in Salome at the Bavarian State Opera House in Munich in 1961, but mostly she sang lyrical roles.  When the famous soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf first sang at the Met she sang the part of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier with Della Casa singing Octavian..

After singing Arabella in Salzburg in 1974, she surprised everyone by announcing her retirement.  She gave up her musical career and enjoyed a quiet, domestic life.
.

She made several complete opera recordings including her singing of Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro (Erich Kleiber conducting) and the role of Arabella in Arabella (Georg Solti conducting).  These recordings are still thought of as among the finest ever made.  She made a wonderful recording of Richard Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) (Karl Böhm conducting) in 1953.

Personal life and death
In 1947, she married Yugoslavian-born journalist Dragan Debeljevic.  They had one daughter, who became very ill when she was young.  Her daughter says that, later in life, when Lisa had her own health problems, she was able to give back to her mother some of the love and care that she herself had received as a child. Casa died on December 10, 2012 in Münsterlingen, Switzerland from natural causes, aged 93. A black flag was hung in her honor.

References

Other websites
 With several pictures

1919 births
2012 deaths
European opera singers
Sopranos
Swiss singers

Lisa Della Casa


Corrientes is a city in Argentina. It is the capital city of the province of Corrientes, on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, and about 1,000 km from Buenos Aires. According to the census of 2001, the city had 328,689 people.

As the provincial capital, Corrientes is the most important city in the province, being an economical center, and holds the authorities and governmental institutions.

Climate

The annual average temperature is 21.3 degrees celsius, with maximum and minimum averages of 33 degrees celsius and 10 degrees celsius respectively. The annual rainfall is around 1,500 millimeters.

Cities in Argentina
Capitals of Argentine provinces
Corrientes Province

Corrientes


Chita () is a city in Eastern Russia. It is the capital of the Zabaykalsky Krai of Russia. As of 2018, it has over 349,005 people.

History
Chita is founded in 1653. After 1825, the Decembrists gave exile to Chita. George Kennan said, "Among the exiles in Chita were some of the brightest, most cultivated, most sympathetic men and women that we had met in Eastern Siberia." When Richard Maack visited Chita in 1855, he saw a wooden town, with one, also wooden, church. He estimated Chita's population at under 1,000, but predicted that the Chita would soon get fast growth in population and economy, due to the upcoming annexation of the Amur valley by Russia.

Geography
Chita lies at the confluence of the Chitinka River and Ingoda Rivers, between the Yablonoi Mountains to the west and the Chersky Range to the east. It is 6,180 kilometers southeast of Moscow, 6,609 kilometers southeast of Saint Petersburg, 5,717 kilometers southeast of Nizhny Novgorod, 4,398 kilometers southeast of Yekaterinburg, and 2,863 kilometers northwest of Vladivostok.

Gallery

Capitals of krais of Russia

Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai


The New York Jewels were an American basketball team based in New York, New York that was a member of the American Basketball League.

The team was previously known as the Brooklyn Jewels. For the 2nd half of the 1936/37, the team was renamed the Brooklyn Jewels. Before the 1937/38 season, the Brooklyn Jewels became the New Haven Jewels. During the 1st half of that season, the team moved back to New York on November 30, 1937. During the 1940/41 season, the team absorbed the Jersey Reds on January 26, 1940. The team dropped out during the 1st half of the 1941/42 season, but returned for the next season.

Year-by-year

Basketball teams in New York City
Defunct basketball teams in the United States

New York Jewels


The Oort limit is a theoretical location at the outer limits of the Oort cloud, where the amount of comets and minor planets orbiting the Sun drops drastically, or drops entirely. The exact location of such a limit, if there is such one, is uncertain. About 100 comets, of 3500 known comets, come more than 5000 AU from the Sun, and a very few come as far as 20,000 AU from the Sun.

So far, it appears that rather than a sudden drop in the amount of comets orbiting the sun at about 50,000 AU, the Oort cloud rather uniformly decreases in size, the further away from the Sun it goes. As current observations indicate, the Oort limit is somewhere around 50,000 AU (0.8 LY) from the Sun.

Notes
 Of these known comets, the majority (>2000) were discovered using the SOHO telescope, and are mostly sungrazing comets from the Kreutz Sungrazers. Of the other comets, about half of them are long-period comets, orbiting several hundred Astronomical Units out or further. Considering this, Oort Cloud comets are fairly common.

See also
 Kuiper Cliff

References
 The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight

Oort cloud
Trans-Neptunian region
Jan Oort

Oort limit


William S. (Willi) Schlamm (originally Wilhelm Siegmund Schlamm, June 10, 1904 – September 1, 1978) was an Austrian-American journalist.

Biography
Schlamm was born into an upper middle class Jewish family in Przemyśl, Galicia, in the Austrian Empire.  He became a Communist early in life, and when he was 16 years old was invited to the Kremlin to meet Vladimir Lenin.  After completing secondary school, he became a writer with the Vienna Communist newspaper, Die Rote Fahne.  He left the Communist Party in 1929 and joined the left-wing magazine Die Weltbühne in 1932. His book Diktatur der Lüge: Eine Abrechnung mit Stalin (Dictatorshop of Lies: A Reckoning with Stalin) was published in Zurich in 1937. He was in correspondence with Otto Rühle and Alice Rühle-Gerstel, sending them a copy. Rühle sent a reply in August 1937.

Later, Schlamm moved to the United States, where he worked for Henry Luce, the publisher of Life, Time and Fortune magazines. He became a U.S. citizen in 1944 alongside code breaker Jeremy Spiro.

Schlamm encouraged William F. Buckley, Jr. to found the conservative magazine, National Review, with Buckley as the sole owner.  Schlamm became a senior editor but was later fired by Buckley.  He then became associate editor of the John Birch Society's journal, American Opinion.  After writing for conservative magazines, he returned to Germany in 1972, where he was a controversial columnist for Axel Springer's Die Welt am Sonntag and published the magazine Die Zeitbühne.  He died in 1978 in Salzburg.

Schlamm is remembered for having coined the saying, "The trouble with socialism is socialism.  The trouble with capitalism is capitalists." After World War II, he worked as journalist for German newspaper Die Welt.

External links
 Germany And The East West Crisis The Decisive Challenge To American Policy (1959, online)

Notes

References
 Bjerre-Poulsen, Niels. Right face: organizing the American conservative movement 1945-65. Denmark: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2002
 Bridges, Linda and Coyne, John R. Strictly Right: William F. Buckley, Jr. and the American conservative movement. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2007
 Lange, Ansgar. Eine Kassandra von rechts: William S. Schlamm und seine Fundamentalkritik der frühen Bundesrepublik ("A Cassandra from the Right: William S. Schlamm and his fundamental critique of the early Federal Republic"). In:  Eigentümlich frei, 10 April 2009.
 Regnery, Alfred S. Upstream: the ascendance of American conservatism.  New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2008

People from Przemyśl
Austrian emigrants to the United States
John Birch Society
1904 births
1978 deaths
Die Welt people

Willi Schlamm


Scrapie is a  fatal disease that affects the nervous system of sheep and goats. It is similar to Mad cow disease which affects cattle. Scrapie was first described in 1732. Much like with mad cow disease, prions seem to be involved in transmitting it.

Animal diseases

Scrapie


The deliming operation in leather processing is a drum/paddle or pit based operation where two main objectives are met:

 Removal of alkali from the pelt and the consequent deswelling of the fibres.
 Lowering of the liquor pH to the values used in the bating process.

Deliming operations of cattle hides usually last two hours and are generally associated with the alkaline phase of beamhouse operations. The progress of deliming in pelts is monitored by the checking of pH values of process liquors and in the cutting of a pelt cross-section. Phenolphthalein is used to monitor deliming pelt cross-sectional progress.

Removal of pelt alkali and deswelling
 As an acid is added it lowers the pH value of the internal pelt solution. This neutralizes the solution alkalinity. The lowering of the pH results in rapid protonation of the collagen basic groups.

Lowering of liquor pH
 The acid present in the deliming agents neutralizes the process liquor pH. Typical values after effective, thorough deliming will range from 6 to 9. Ammonium salt deliming pH values should be pH 8 to 9.

Deliming types
The deliming process can be done with acids that can be rapid in their pH adjustment. Buffering salts like ammonium salts predominated the 20th century. Ammonium sulfate and ammonium chloride can be used as deliming agents and they follow the following chemistry:

(NH4)SO4 →  (ammonium) +  (sulfate)

The ammonium ion is then free to penetrate the pelt cross-section and further ionise to act as an acid:

 (ammonium) + H2O → NH3 (ammonia) + H3O+ (hydronium)

The protons can then serve two functions, namely to protonate basic groups of the collagen and neutralize solution alkali chemicals.

Other weak acids can be used such as boric acid, acetic acid, formic acid, lactic acid, phosphoric acid and carbonic acid. Carbonic acid is used in a deliming process called carbon dioxide deliming. Strong acids such as hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid can also be used but their use is limited.

References

Leathermaking

Deliming


The word amateur is normally used to mean: somebody who does something (e.g. a job) without being paid for it.

The opposite of an amateur is a professional. He (or she) will expect to be paid a professional fee for the job.

The word "amateur" comes from a French word meaning: "lover of". An amateur is someone who does something (e.g. play the piano, football) because they enjoy doing it. They are not doing it in order to be paid. It is not how they earn money to live.

People often forget the real meaning of the word "amateur".  It is often mistakenly used to mean: someone who is not good at something.  On the other hand, an amateur might be described as having done a very "professional" job, i.e. done it as well as someone who is paid.

Although one might expect a professional to be better than an amateur, this is not always the case. Someone might be a very good amateur pianist, possibly better than some professionals.

In some jobs it would be impossible for amateurs to be allowed to work. One cannot have amateur doctors or lawyers. In some areas, however, amateurs have been very useful in fields including computer programming and astronomy and birdwatching. Wikipedia, for example, is written by amateurs.

Sport
In some sporting events, all players are professional or all are amateur. Many events mix professional and amateur participants.

In some sports (e.g. tennis or football) in the past, amateurs and professionals would not compete against one another. This was not always because amateurs were thought to be not as good as professionals. In some countries, such as Great Britain in Victorian times, this was because of social class distinction. Amateur cricketers were rich gentlemen from the upper classes who did not want to associate with people from lower classes.  This attitude slowly changed during the 20th century.

Until the 1970s most Olympic events were for amateurs. Athletes were disqualified if they received money for the event, or in some cases even if they had been paid for sporting events outside the Olympics.

Related pages
 Hobby
 Amateur radio
Volunteering

References

Hobbies
Occupations

Amateur


The Battle of Piedmont was fought June 5, 1864, in the village of Piedmont, Augusta County, Virginia. Union Maj. Gen. David Hunter engaged Confederates under Brig. Gen. William E. "Grumble" Jones north of Piedmont. After severe fighting, Jones was killed and the Confederates were routed. Hunter occupied Staunton on June 6 and soon began to advance on Lynchburg, destroying military stores and public property in his wake.

Background

The Battle of Piedmont resulted from Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 initiative to keep U.S. forces on the offensive and prevent Confederates from shuttling troops from one region to another. In the Shenandoah Valley, Grant had originally placed German-born general Franz Sigel in command, however, following Sigel's defeat at New Market on May 15, Grant relieved him and placed Maj. Gen. David Hunter in command of the United States Army of the Shenandoah on May 21.

Hunter quickly regrouped his small army and ordered his troops to live off the bountiful farms of the Shenandoah Valley. He advanced up the Valley toward Staunton on May 26 against light opposition from the Confederates. Following New Market, the majority of the Confederate forces in the Valley joined the Army of Northern Virginia, leaving only Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden's brigade and the Valley Reserves to confront Hunter. Imboden kept Robert E. Lee informed of Hunter's movements, but could do little to slow Hunter with his meager forces. Hunter set his sights on Staunton, an important railroad and logistics center for the Confederacy.

The quick Union advance upon the heels of their defeat at New Market caught the Confederates off guard. Closely engaged with the Army of the Potomac, Lee turned to Brig. Gen. William E. "Grumble" Jones, acting-commander of the Confederate Department of Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee for assistance, instructing him to open communications with Imboden. Jones soon went to the Shenandoah with roughly 4,000 infantry and dismounted cavalrymen.

By June 3, the Union Army had reached Harrisonburg. Imboden had concentrated his forces at Mount Crawford on the south bank of the North River, blocking Hunter's direct path to Staunton upon the Valley Turnpike. Imboden, a Valley native from Augusta County, established his headquarters at the Grattan House, where his force grew when the reinforcements began to arrive from Southwest Virginia.

On the morning of June 4, Hunter sent a diversionary force toward Mount Crawford while his main army headed east to Port Republic where he camped for the night. General Jones had arrived at the Grattan House and assumed command of the hastily assembled Confederate Army of the Valley District. When Confederate scouts reported Hunter's flank march, Imboden suggested that they move to Mowry's Hill in eastern Augusta to confront Hunter. According to Imboden, Jones agreed to march his infantry and dismounted cavalry to Mowry's Hill in Eastern Augusta where they would confront Hunter on June 5. Jones ordered Imboden to lead all of the mounted troops toward Mount Meridian, a few miles south of Port Republic on the Staunton or East Road. Jones added that Imboden was to delay Hunter's advance but instructed Imboden to avoid any serious confrontation when the Federals approached the next morning.

Opposing forces

Union

Confederate

Battle

After spending a rainy night encamped on the southern outskirts of Port Republic, Hunter's army marched southward on the Staunton Road toward Mount Meridian through the morning mist. Maj. Gen. Julius Stahel's cavalry led the advance, driving back Imboden's outposts. When Stahel's advance regiment reached Mount Meridian, Imboden successfully counterattacked with the 18th Virginia Cavalry. Stahel fed reinforcements into the fight and quickly overwhelmed the Virginians. Imboden barely escaped capture and only the timely charge from balance of his brigade, which included local reserves, saved the 18th Virginia from disaster. The Confederates then fell back slowly toward the village of Piedmont. Imboden expected to join forces with General Jones at Mowry's Hill but was surprised to find him at Piedmont. The two commanders debated the situation, and then Jones (who ranked Imboden) decided to stand and fight.

Jones advanced a battalion of dismounted cavalry, convalescents, and detailed men several hundred yards in front of his left wing, backed by a section of horse artillery, and Stahel's advance was stopped. Jones deployed his two brigades of infantry (his left wing) along the edge of a woodlot that ran from the Staunton (or East) Road to the high bluffs of the Middle River that anchored his left flank. He ordered Imboden to guard his extreme right flank with the cavalry. On Imboden's immediate left, Brig. Gen. John C. Vaughn's brigade of dismounted Tennessee and Georgia horsemen went into position. Vaughn's left flank rested six hundred yards to the rear of Jones's right wing, creating a gap in the center of his line. There he positioned two batteries, including Captain Marquis's reserve artillery manned by 17- and 18-year-olds of Augusta County.

Hunter's Chief of Staff, Colonel David Hunter Strother, described the battlefield:
The enemy's position was strong and well chosen. It was on a conclave of wooded hills commanding an open valley between and open, gentle slopes in front. On our right in advance of the village of Piedmont was a line of log and rail defenses very advantageously located in the edge of a forest and just behind the rise of a smooth, open hill so that troops moving over this hill could be mowed down by musketry from the works at short range and to prevent artillery from being used against them. The left flank of this palisade rested on a steep and impracticable bluff sixty feet high and washed at its base by the Shenandoah [Middle River].

At noon, Hunter's infantry under the command of Brig. Gen. Jeremiah C. Sullivan advanced. Colonel Augustus Moor's brigade drove in Jones's advance line on the west side of the Staunton (East) Road, halting along the edge of a wooded lot opposite the one Jones's Confederates were stationed in. Sullivan ordered an advance but the well-protected rebel infantry repulsed the effort. On the east side of the road, Colonel Joseph Thoburn's brigade advanced through a wooded ravine toward Imboden's position under heavy artillery fire. Thoburn withdrew to support the Union artillery when he saw Moor's repulse. During these actions, the Union artillery under Captain Henry DuPont systematically silenced most of the Confederate guns. Only a few guns with Imboden on the extreme Confederate right remained active.

At this point, Jones decided to withdraw his left wing so that it was aligned with Vaughn and Imboden, but events soon changed his mind. Sullivan reinforced Moor with two regiments and ordered another attack, but was again repulsed. This time the Confederates counterattacked, but a stand by the 28th Ohio and some dismounted horsemen armed with Spencer repeating carbines, backed by a section of artillery, forced the Southerners to fall back to their breastworks. An emboldened Jones now rearranged his forces to launch a concerted attack against Moor's battered brigade. Jones ordered Vaughn to advance the greater part of his brigade to the left wing. The 60th Virginia Infantry moved from its position in the edge of the woods covering the large gap in the center of his battle line. The Virginians ended up in a second line of battle behind the main Confederate line, leaving the gap completely undefended.

Jones's concentration of troops against Moor's brigade did not go unnoticed. The Federals spotted the gap on the right flank of Jones's left wing, and Hunter ordered Thoburn's brigade to attack the vulnerable Confederate position. Thoburn quickly advanced to within a few yards of the Confederate left before his men were spotted, and shattered the Southern flank. At the same time, Moor's brigade joined the assault against the Confederate front. Jones attempted to retrieve the situation bringing up the Valley Reserves, who slowed Thoburn's advance but were unable to throw it back. Jones dashed up to a small group of rallying Confederates and then charged toward the oncoming Union infantry. A Union bullet struck him in the head, killing Jones instantly. The Union forces drove the Confederates toward the bluffs of the Middle River, splitting the Confederate force into two halves. At the bluffs, the converging forces of Thoburn's and Moor's brigade, backed by some of Stahel's Cavalry, captured nearly 1,000 unwounded Confederates. A section of Captain John McClanahan's Virginia horse artillery stood its ground near the village of Piedmont, slowing the Union drive southward and barely evading capture.

On the Staunton (East) Road, the 1st New York Veteran Cavalry launched a vigorous pursuit of the beaten Confederates. However, another section of McClanahan's battery and elements of Vaughn's brigade not sent to the left hastily deployed along the road between the villages of Piedmont and New Hope. When the New Yorkers chased up the road after the fleeing Southerners, this Confederate rear guard opened fire devastating the Union cavalry and dampening their enthusiasm for any further pursuit. Although at least 1,500 Confederates had been lost, the rear guard action at New Hope allowed the remnants of the army to escape further damage. Vaughn learned that he was now the senior officer as a result of Jones's death, but he was unfamiliar with the Shenandoah Valley and simply adopted Imboden's recommendations. Hunter's army rounded up the prisoners and tended to the wounded at Piedmont, where the Army of the Shenandoah camped for the night, having lost nearly 900 men killed and wounded. The next day, it became the first Union army to enter Staunton.

Medal of Honor recipients

Private Thomas Evans, 54th Pennsylvania Infantry, shot a Confederate officer rallying the Confederates, battled the color bearer of the 45th Virginia, and captured the flag from him.

Musician James Snedden, 54th Pennsylvania Infantry, picked up a rifle and joined the attack, captured Colonel Beuhring Jones, commander of the 1st Confederate infantry brigade.

Maj. Gen. Julius Stahel was struck by two bullets as he led his dismounted cavalry into the fight, had the wounds dressed at a field hospital, and returned to direct the final cavalry charge.

Notes

References

 Patchan, Scott C. The Battle of Piedmont and Hunter's Campaign for Staunton: The 1864 Shenandoah Campaign. Charleston: The History Press, 2011. .
 National Park Service Battle Summary
 CWSAC Report Update

Further reading
 Brice, Marshall Moore. Conquest of a Valley. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1965. .
 Duncan, Richard R. Lee's Endangered Left: The Civil War in Western Virginia, Spring of 1864. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1998. .
 Patchan, Scott C., The Forgotten Fury: The Battle of Piedmont, Virginia. Fredericksburg, VA: Sergeant Kirkland's Museum and Historical Society, 1996. .

Valley campaigns of 1864
Battles of the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War
Union victories of the American Civil War
Battles of the American Civil War in Virginia
Augusta County, Virginia
June 1864 events

Battle of Piedmont


Carleton H. Sheets (August 25, 1939 - January 25, 2020) was a prominent real estate investor and author who was notable for television infomercials which marketed real estate business learning materials. Sheets appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows. His No Down Payment television program won numerous awards and is credited as being the longest running program of its kind- spanning 25 years.

Sheets was born in Illinois and moved to Delaware, Ohio, where his father worked for Procter & Gamble. One of his early jobs was marketing soft-drink bottle caps and later became director of marketing for a Florida company that was a major processor of orange juice. In the 1970s, he started investing in property, and in the early 1980s he worked as a pitchman for a company that represented a real estate authority, an early advocate of the "no-money-down" path to financial success.

In 1984 Sheets teamed up with businessmen from Chicago, Mark S. Holecek and Donald R. Strumillo, to form their venture "Professional Education Institute." The privately held "Professional Education Institute" is incorporated as AMS Direct, Inc. It was founded in 1983 and is based in Burr Ridge, Illinois with coaching locations and operations in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Better Business Bureau has reported hundreds of complaints from customers of Mr. Sheets and P.E.I., many of them contending that they were overbilled and had difficulties securing refunds. A few state attorney general offices say they have received a handful of similar complaints over the years.

Sheets died January 25, 2020. He was survived by a wife, two children, a stepson and one grandchild.

References

American marketing people
American investors
American real estate businesspeople
Infomercial pitchmen
1939 births
2020 deaths

Carleton H. Sheets


Michael Patrick Redmond (born May 5, 1971) is an American former professional baseball catcher and  manager. He is currently the bench coach for the Colorado Rockies. He played for 13 seasons in Major League Baseball with the Florida Marlins, Minnesota Twins, and Cleveland Indians. In 864 career games, Redmond recorded a batting average of .287 and accumulated 13 home runs, and 243 runs batted in (RBI).

Redmond batted and threw right-handed. He made his major league debut on May 31, 1998, and played his final game on July 2, 2010. He was also part of the Florida Marlins team that won the 2003 World Series. Redmond was named the manager of the Marlins on November 1, 2012. After two and a half years, he was fired on May 17, 2015. In 2017, he was then hired by the Colorado Rockies as a coach.

Early life
Redmond was born on May 5, 1971, in Seattle, five minutes after his fraternal twin brother, Patrick Michael. His father, Pat Sr., was a grocery store buyer.

Redmond grew up in Kirkland, Washington, where he played Little League baseball. His family moved to Spokane, Washington, where Mike and his brother attended Gonzaga Preparatory School, graduating in 1989. Mike, a catcher, and Patrick, a shortstop, both played baseball for the Gonzaga Prep baseball team. In his senior season at Gonzaga Prep, Mike had a .300 batting average with three home runs and 21 runs batted in. He set a single-game record for putouts by a catcher with 15, the single-season record for assists with 114.

Both Redmond brothers committed to attend Gonzaga University, where they played college baseball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs baseball team, when it competed in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10), from 1990 through 1993. Redmond was named a first team Pac-10 all-conference selection in 1991 and 1992. Redmond was invited to Homestead, Florida, where he participated in the United States national baseball team trials for the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Professional career

Minor league baseball (1993–1998)
Undrafted in the 1992 Major League Baseball draft, Redmond signed with the Florida Marlins as an undrafted free agent on August 18, 1992. He made his professional debut in minor league baseball with the Kane County Cougars of the Class A Midwest League in 1993, and also played for the Cougars in 1994. He was promoted to the Brevard County Manatees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League in 1994, and the Portland Sea Dogs of the Class AA Eastern League in 1995. After playing with Portland in 1996, he was promoted to the Charlotte Knights of the Class AAA International League in 1997. Redmond had shoulder surgery in 1997, and was presented the option of playing for Portland or remaining with the organization as a coach. Redmond opted to continue playing, returning to Portland in 1998.

Florida Marlins (1998–2004)
Redmond made his Major League debut with Florida on May 31, 1998, against the Milwaukee Brewers, receiving the opportunity after the Marlins traded Charles Johnson and Mike Piazza. In his first career game, Redmond went 3-for-3, and hit his first major league home run in the sixth inning off Brewers pitcher Scott Karl. Despite his efforts, the Marlins lost 7–6. Redmond hit .331 with two home runs and 12 RBI in 37 games that year for the Marlins. He played with the Marlins as a backup catcher, often sharing time with Johnson, Jorge Fábregas, and Paul Bako. In 2002, Redmond posted career-highs in both batting average (.305) and games played (89). In the following season, he served as the backup to Iván Rodríguez, as the Marlins won the 2003 World Series. When the Marlins fell into a slump in 2003, he would take batting practice wearing only batting gloves, socks, and shoes.

In 2004, with Rodríguez signing with the Detroit Tigers, Redmond split catching duties with Ramón Castro. However, he got injured early into the season when, while running the bases, his left pinky finger was spiked by Marcus Giles, resulting in a chipped fracture. Redmond finished the 2004 season batting .256 with two home runs and 25 RBI in 81 games.

Minnesota Twins (2005–2009)
On November 24, 2004, Redmond signed a two-year, $1.8 million contract with the Minnesota Twins to backup starting catcher Joe Mauer. His 2005 season ended prematurely due to a torn plantar fascia in his right foot. During the 2006 season, Redmond signed a two-year contract extension with a club option for the 2009 season. He played in 82 games during the 2007 season due to an injury to Mauer, though he continued to play through his own injuries, including a broken finger, bruised shoulder, and stitches in his head. During the 2008 season, Redmond frequently joined Dan Gladden on the Twins Radio Network live broadcasts prior to the game to give his insight from the dugout. After the 2008 season, the Twins exercised an option on Redmond's contract, paying him $950,000 for the 2009 season. He suffered injury in the beginning of the 2009 season in a game against the Seattle Mariners; after escaping unscathed from a hit to the shoulder by a broken bat, Redmond aggravated a groin muscle while attempting to run out a ground ball.

On May 28, 2009, Redmond was ejected from a game for the first time in his career after a furious reaction to a safe call at home plate. The call occurred in a game against the Boston Red Sox that saw both teams have their managers and catchers ejected in the same inning. Redmond successfully relayed an outfield assist from Jason Kubel and tagged Jeff Bailey out just before he reached home plate—which subsequent replays confirmed—but home plate umpire Todd Tichenor ruled that Bailey was safe. Redmond then got into a face-to-face argument with Tichenor, which led to his ejection. Tichenor also ejected Twins manager Ron Gardenhire for defending Redmond, before subsequently throwing both Terry Francona and Jason Varitek out for an unrelated matter.

Cleveland Indians (2010)
The Twins let Redmond leave after the 2009 season, opting to use Drew Butera and José Morales as their backup catchers. On January 15, 2010, Redmond signed a one-year contract with a guaranteed salary of $850,000 to play for the Cleveland Indians. The Indians credited Redmond with helping Fausto Carmona have a strong start to the 2010 season. He committed an error on May 23, 2010, which was his first error since July 22, 2004. The 253-game streak without an error set a new MLB record, besting Mike Matheny's 252 consecutive errorless games from 2002 to 2004. However, Redmond batted .206 with 5 RBI in 22 games, and was designated for assignment on July 10, 2010, to make room on the 40-man roster for catcher/outfielder Chris Gimenez. Redmond had only played in three games since June 8, and the Indians wanted to develop their younger players. On July 16, 2010, Redmond was released by the Indians.

Coaching and managing career

Redmond retired on October 4, 2010. In 2011, Redmond managed the Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League, the Class A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Lugnuts had their best record in team history under Redmond, and reached the league finals. He was named Midwest League Manager of the Year. In 2012, he managed the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League, the Blue Jays' Class A-Advanced affiliate.

On November 1, 2012, Redmond was named manager of the Miami Marlins, and given a three-year deal. After the conclusion of the 2014 season, Redmond got a contract extension until 2017.

After struggling to start the 2015 season, rumors indicated that Marlins' owner Jeffrey Loria, was considering firing Redmond. The Marlins fired Redmond on May 17, just under an hour after the Marlins lost to the Braves, leaving the team at 16–22 on the season.

On November 16, 2016, Redmond was hired as the bench coach for the Colorado Rockies.

Managerial record

Playing and managing style
As a catcher, Redmond was known for his skill in calling the right pitches for the pitcher to throw. He was also noted for his veteran leadership and clubhouse presence. He was also known for his defensive ability. He caught R. A. Dickey and Dennis Springer, who all threw a knuckleball, considered a difficult pitch to catch. Redmond is tied for fourth in career fielding percentage as a catcher, finishing with 99.6%.

Honors
In 1999, Redmond won the Charlie Hough Good Guy Award. He was inducted into the Unum Portland Sea Dogs Hall of Fame in 2010, primarily because of the stellar defensive skills he exemplified during his tenure with the team and in the major leagues. However, Redmond could not attend the induction ceremony due to his family commitments.

Personal
Mike and his wife Michele (née Rowe) have two sons, Ryan and Michael. They live in Spokane, Washington.

References

External links

<be>

1971 births
Living people
Baseball coaches from Washington (state)
Baseball players from Seattle
Baseball players from Spokane, Washington
Brevard County Manatees players
Charlotte Knights players
Cleveland Indians players
Colorado Rockies (baseball) coaches
Florida Marlins players
Gonzaga Bulldogs baseball players
Gonzaga Preparatory School alumni
Gulf Coast Marlins players
Kane County Cougars players
Major League Baseball catchers
Major League Baseball bench coaches
Miami Marlins managers
Minnesota Twins players
Minor league baseball managers
Portland Sea Dogs players

Mike Redmond


Elizabeth Barrett Browning, born on 6 March 1806, was an English poet of the Victorian era. She began writing poetry at the age of six. She was born in Kelloe, County Durham. Her parents were Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett and Mary Graham Clarke.

Her first adult collection of poems was published in 1838 and she wrote prolifically between 1841 and 1844. Elizabeth's volume Poems of Sonnets (1844) brought her great success, attracting the admiration of the writer Robert Browning, which led to their marriage. She also made efforts to abolish slavery and child labour.

She died on 29 June 1861 in Florence, Italy (where she was living with her husband) at the age of 55. She suffered from many illnesses from the age of 15.

References

1806 births
1861 deaths
English poets
People from County Durham

Elizabeth Barrett Browning


A cartoonist is a person who draws cartoons. Cartoons can be pictures on a printed page (also called comics or comic strips) or moving pictures on film (also called animation). Both kinds of cartoons can be found on the internet. Examples of some famous cartoonists are:

Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck)
Terry Gilliam (Monty Python)
Tex Avery (Looney Tunes, Droopy)
Chuck Jones (Looney Tunes, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Tom and Jerry)
Don Martin (MAD Magazine)
Bil Keane (Family Circus)
Jim Davis (Garfield, U.S. Acres)
Matt Groening (Life in Hell, The Simpsons, Futurama)
Robert Crumb (Fritz the Cat, Keep on Truckin')
Al Capp (Lil' Abner)
Hanna-Barbera (The Flintstones, Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo)
Max and Dave Fleschier (Koko The Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye)
Gary Larson (Far Side)
Mike Judge (Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill)
Chester Gould (Dick Tracy)
Jay Ward (Rocky and Bullwinkle, George of the Jungle)
Don Bluth (American Tail, The Land Before Time)
Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes)
Ub Iwerks (Mickey Mouse)
Garry Trudeau (Doonsbury)
Aaron McGruder (The Boondocks)
Jack Kirby (Marvel Comics)
Charles Schulz (Peanuts)
Sergio Aragonés (MAD Magazine, Groo the Wanderer)
Dave Berg (MAD Magazine)
John Kricfalusi (The Ren and Stimpy Show, Ripping Friends)
Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey)
Scott Adams (Dilbert)
Carl Barks (Scrooge McDuck)
Peyo (The Smurfs)
Bob Clampett (Looney Tunes, Beany and Cecil)
Bob Kane (Batman, Coragous Cat and Minute Mouse, Cool McCool)
Todd McFarlane (Spawn)
Seth McFarlane (Family Guy, American Dad)
Charles Addams (The Addams Family, The New Yorker)
Friz Freling (Looney Tunes)

Other websites
Don Markstein's Toonopedia

Entertainment occupations

Cartoonist


Museums in Georgia listed by the principal subdivisions of the country.

Tbilisi

Adjara
Adjara State Museum

Adjara State Museum of Fine Art

Kemal Turmanidze's Ethnographic Museum "Borjgalo"

Batumi Archaeology Museum

Ilia Chavchavadze Museum

Memed Abashidze House Museum

Joseph Stalin House Museum

Khelvachauri Local Museum

Machakheli Valley Ethnography Museum

Gonio-Apsaros Museum-Reserve

Khulo Local Museum

Adjaristskali Art Gallery

Sherip Khimshiashvili House Museum

Khikhani Valley Ethnography Museum

Oladauri Ethnography Museum

Petra-Tsikhisdziri Historical-Architectural Museum-Reserve

Imereti
Niko Berdzenishvili Kutaisi History Museum (web)

Kutaisi Sport History Museum

Kutaisi Museum of Zakaria Paliashvili

Kutaisi Museum of Military Glory

Kutaisi Fine Art Gallery

Kutaisi-Gelati State Museum-Reserve

Niko Nikoladze House Museum

Samtredia Picture Gallery

Akaki Shanidze House Museum

Khoni Local Museum

Polikarpe Kakabadze House-Museum

Irakli Abashidze House Museum

Giorgi Akhvlediani Tskaltubo Local Museum

Niko Lortkipanidze House Museum

Tskhaltubo Fine Art Museum

Vani Fine Art Museum

Galaktion and Titsian Tabidze House Museum

Georgian National Museum. Vani Archaeological Museum

Chiatura Local Museum

Giorgi Tsereteli House Museum

Mountain-climber Japaridze House Museum

Tkibuli Local Museum

Vladimir Mayakovsky House Museum

Chkhari Agriculture and Craft Museum

David and Sergo Kldiashvili House Museum

Shalva and Petre Amiranashvili House Museum

Zestaponi Local Museum

Ushangi Chkheidze House Museum

Kharagauli Local Museum

Ghoresha Museum of the Village History

Sachkhere Local Museum

Akaki Tsereteli State Museum

Guria

Ozurgeti History Museum

Ozurgeti Fine Art Gallery

Ekvtime Takaishvili Museum-Reserve of Gurianta-Vashnari

Lanchkhuti Local Museum

Egnate Ninoshvili House Museum

Niko Berdzenishvili Local Museum of Chokhatauri

Nodar Dumbadze House Museum

Nicholas Marr House Museum

Kakheti

Napareuli Qvevri and Qvevri Wine Museum in Twins Wine Cellar

Napareuli Qvevri and Qvevri Wine Museum

Sagarejo Local Museum

Giorgi Leonidze House Museum

David Gareja Historical-Architectural Museum-Reserve

Gurjaani Local Museum

Nato Vachnadze House Museum

Ioseb Noneshvili House Museum

Ivane Beritashvili House Museum

Museum of Military Glory

Giorgi Maisuradze Museum of Village History

Shalikashvili Brothers Museum of Georgian Army

Giorgi Chubinashvili Telavi State History and Ethnography Museum

Alexander Chavchavadze House Museum at Tsinandali

Akhmeta Local Museum

Raphael Eristavi House Museum

Omalo Ethnographic Museum

Signagi Museum

Vano Sarajishvili House Museum

Pore Mosulishvili House Museum

Irodion Evdoshvili House Museum

Sandro Akhmeteli House Museum

Vaso Godziashvili House Museum

Sandro Shanshiashvili House Museum

Ilo Mosashvili House Museum

Alexandre Gzirishvili House Museum

Sandro Mirianashvili House Museum

Dedoplistskaro Local Museum

State Museum of Niko Pirosmanashvili at Mirzaani

Museum of Friendship of Nations

Kote Marjanishvili House Museum

Ilia Chavchavadze House Museum

Gremi-Nekresi History and Architecture State Museum-Reserve

Lagodekhi Local Museum

Kvemo Kartli
Rustavi Local Museum

Gardabani Local Museum

Martkopi History Museum

Norio History Museum

Nicholas Marr Memorial Museum

Nikoloz Baratashvili House Museum

Mikheil Javakhishvili House Museum

Melik-Phashayev House Museum

Tetritskaro Local Museum

Bolnisi Local Museum

Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani Museum (Village Tandzia)

Kldekari History and Architecture Museum-Reserve

Georgian National Museum. Dmanisi History and Architecture Museum-Reserve

Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Ilia Chavchavadze Saguramo State Museum

Great Mtskheta Archaeology State Museum-Reserve

Dusheti Local Museum

Gudani Ethnography Museum

Giorgi and David Eristavi House Museum

Vazha-Pshavela House Museum

Dartlo Architectural Reserve

Tianeti Local Museum

Mirza Gelovani House Museum

Kazbegi Museum

Alexander Kazbegi Stepantsminda Local Museum

Shida Kartli
Khashuri Local Museum

Dimitri Kipiani House-Museum

Kareli Local Museum

Sergi Makalatia Gori History and Ethnography Museum

Alexander Javakhishvili House Museum (village Dzevera)

Niko Lomouri House Museum (village Arbo)

Joseph Stalin Museum in Gori

Iakob Gogebashvili House Museum

Uplistsikhe History and Architecture Museum-Reserve

Ivane Machabeli House Museum

Didi Liakhvi Gorge Museum-Reserve

Kaspi Local Museum

Jambakur-Orbeliani Palaces

Ivane Javakhisvili House Museum

Giorgi Mazniashvili House Museum

Omar Kelaptrishvili House Museum

Ksani Gorge Archaeology Museum-Reserve

Samtskhe-Javakheti
Georgian National Museum. Samtskhe-Javakheti History Museum

Vardzia History and Architecture State Museum-Reserve

Akhalkalaki Local Museum

Akhaltsikhe Museum Local Museum

Borjomi Local Museum

Vahan Terian House Museum

Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti
Lentekhi Local Museum

Tsageri Local Museum

Lado Asatiani House Museum

Tsageri Picture gallery

Racha Regional Museum in Oni

Ambrolauri Museum of Fine Arts

Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti
Mikheil Khergiani House Museum

Georgian National Museum. Svaneti History and Ethnography Museum

Dadiani Palace History and Architecture Museum

Tsalenjikha History and Ethnography Museum

Terenti Graneli House Museum

Chkhorotsku Local Museum

Khobi Local Museum

Alio Mirtskhulava House Museum

Poti Colchian Culture Museum

Senaki Museum

Nokalakevi Archaeology Museum-Reserve

Arnold Chikobava Memorial Museum

Senaki Picture Gallery

Konstantine Gamsakhurdia House Museum

Martvili Local Museum

References

Museums in Georgia. Ministry of Culture, Monuments Protection and Sport. Retrieved on December 15, 2007.

Museums
Georgia (country)

Museums
Museums
Georgia
Georgia

List of museums in Georgia (country)


Antonino Votto, sometimes spelt Antonio Votto, (30 October 1896 – 9 September 1985) was an Italian operatic conductor and vocal coach. Votto developed an extensive discography with the Teatro alla Scala in Milan during the 1950s, when EMI produced the bulk of its studio recordings featuring Maria Callas. Though Votto was a dependable conductor (and the teacher of Riccardo Muti), critics frequently faulted his recordings for their lack of emotional immediacy. This may have been an occupational hazard of working in the studio, as his live sets with Callas, including a Norma (December 1955, La Scala)  and La sonnambula (1957, Cologne) are considered to be great performances. Among his pupils was the soprano Claudia Pinza Bozzolla.

Commercial discography

 Ponchielli: La Gioconda (Callas, Barbieri, Amadini, Poggi, Silveri, Neri; 1952) Cetra
 Puccini: La bohème (Callas, Moffo, di Stefano, Panerai, Zaccaria; 1956) EMI
 Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (Callas, Ratti, Barbieri, di Stefano, Gobbi; 1956) EMI
 Bellini: La sonnambula (Callas, Ratti, Monti, Zaccaria; 1957) EMI
 Ponchielli: La Gioconda (Callas, Cossotto, Companeez, Ferraro, Cappuccilli, Vinco; 1959) EMI
 Puccini: La bohème (Scotto, Poggi, Gobbi, Modesti; 1961) Deutsche Grammophon
 Verdi: La traviata (Scotto, G.Raimondi, Bastianini; 1962) Deutsche Grammophon

References
 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West, Oxford University Press, 1996.

1896 births
1985 deaths
Italian male conductors (music)
20th-century Italian conductors (music)
20th-century Italian male musicians

Antonino Votto


1,2,4-Butanetriol trinitrate (BTTN), also called butanetriol trinitrate, is an important military propellant. It is a colorless to brown explosive liquid.

BTTN is used as a propellant in virtually all single-stage missiles used by the United States, including the Hellfire. It is less volatile, less sensitive to shock, and more thermally stable than nitroglycerine, for which it is a promising replacement.

BTTN as a propellant is often used in a mixture with nitroglycerin. The mixture can be made by co-nitration of butanetriol and glycerol. BTTN is also used as a plasticizer in some nitrocellulose-based propellants.

BTTN is manufactured by nitration of 1,2,4-butanetriol. Biotechnological manufacture of butanetriol is under intensive research.

References

External links
 WebBook page for 1,2,4-Butanetriol, trinitrate

Nitrate esters
Explosive chemicals
Liquid explosives
Propellants

1,2,4-Butanetriol trinitrate


Živojin Mišić  (; 19 July 1855 – 20 January 1921) was a Field Marshal who participated in all of Serbia's wars from 1876 to 1918. He directly commanded the First Serbian army in the Battle of Kolubara and in breach of the Thessaloniki Front was the Chief of the Supreme Command. He is the most decorated Serbian military officer in history.

Early years
Mišić's grandfather was born in Struganik near Mionica. His parents Radovan and Anđelija (born Damjanović - Koštunjić) had thirteen children.
Živojin was the youngest child, and when he was born, only eight of his brothers and sisters were still alive. When he turned 6, he became a shepherd. He finished primary school in Kragujevac. In his memories, he mentions troubles he had with the city kids that teased him because of his peasant origin. In 1868, he started his gymnasium education in Kragujevac, where he finished the 1st, 2nd, and 6th grade. He finished the third and fourth grade in Belgrade. In the first five gymnasium grades he was not a particularly good student, but he finished the 6th grade with much greater success. Because of that, he was admitted to the Military Academy in 1874, ranked 19th. On every holiday he visited his village, and often he worked in the field with his brothers. Later, on 25 November 1884, he married a German woman, Louise Krikner (1865-1956), at Ascension Church in Belgrade, and they had six children, three sons and three daughters.

He participated with distinction in the Serbo-Turkish wars of 1876 and 1878 with the rank of lieutenant JG of the infantry and in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 as a full lieutenant - a company commander in the 5th infantry regiment of Drinska division.

Sometime after the assassination of King Aleksandar Obrenović (see May Overthrow), he was forced to retire, supposedly through the influence of the "Black Hand" as he was considered too close to the Obrenović dynasty, but was reactivated on the personal insistence of the Chief of Staff of the High command of the Serbian Army, General Radomir Putnik who made him his aide.

Military career

In the Balkan wars Mišić was the assistant chief of staff of the Supreme Command of vojvode Radomir Putnik, his right-hand man.
After the Battle of Kumanovo of the First Balkan War, he was promoted to General. During the critical moments of the Bulgarian surprise offensive at the Battle of Bregalnica of the Second Balkan War, when most of the staff suggested that the Serbian army should withdraw to the second line of defence, Mišić (still the Aide of the Chief of Staff) strongly disagreed and persuaded Putnik to order the army to repel the attack on the first line, thus contributing greatly to the Serbian victory in the battle.

During the July Crisis of 1914 Mišić effectively deputised for the ailing Putnik (then recuperating at a spa in Hungary). Defending against the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia, Mišić (who had emerged from retirement to do so) was placed in command of the Serbian First Army; in December 1914, he won a decisive victory at the Battle of Kolubara that resulted in the humiliating expulsion of Austro-Hungarian forces from Serbia. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in recognition of his efforts in winning such a sweeping Serbian victory.

Although Mišić participated in the great retreat of the Serbian Army through the winter mountains of Albania during the winter of 1915–16, harried by the second combined German and Austro-Hungarian invasion force (ultimately joined by Bulgaria), he remained in favour of halting and making a final stand against Serbia's combined enemies.  He was over-ridden however by both King Peter and the other Army commanders at a meeting in Peć, and was followed by the withdrawal of the Serbian army through Montenegro and Albania.

Having suffered badly from exposure during the epic retreat, Mišić recovered.
At the Thessaloniki front in 1916, Mišić commanded the First Army, which stopped and forced the withdrawal of the Bulgarian army at the Battle of Gornicevo. Towards the end of the war in June 1918 Mišić was appointed Chief of the Supreme Command and commanded the Serbian army during the breakthrough of the Salonika front in September 1918.
He was a lecturer at the Military Academy in Belgrade, and the end of his military career was greeted in 1918 with appointment as the Chief of General Staff of Army of The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

Memoirs

During his hospitalization in France prior to his death Mišić began writing his memoirs, titled Moje uspomene ("My memories" in English). He managed to cover his entire life up to the start of the Second Balkan War but died before he could cover it and the First World War.

In his book, the famous general did not hesitate to present the reality of life in Serbia and the harsh parts of participating in war; the reality of the Serbian Army, which had mostly inexperienced peasants; and the problems Serbian peasants had at beginning of the second half of the 19th century with new laws about land peasants owned and the beginning of political life in Serbia. Notable in Mišić's book was his observation of how contemporary Serbs were naive and overly idealistic: "As the Russian lancer squadron moved into a battle, I noticed how our people are naive, since we all believed that that squadron will make miracles up on hills fighting Turks, and that we will succeed in pushing Turks out from battle. But the Russian squadron soon broke apart and they went in some other direction."

Death
Mišić died in a Belgrade hospital of lung cancer in 1921.

Legacy
He is included in The 100 most prominent Serbs.

Decorations

See also
 Petar Bojović
 Radomir Putnik
 Stepa Stepanović
 Božidar Janković
 Ilija Gojković
 Pavle Jurišić Šturm
 Ivan S. Pavlović

References

Sources

External links

1855 births
1921 deaths
People from Mionica
People from the Principality of Serbia
Serbian soldiers
People of the Serbo-Bulgarian War
Serbian people of World War I
Serbian military personnel of World War I
Serbian military personnel of the Balkan Wars
Field marshals
Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Royal Serbian Army soldiers
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)
Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)
Recipients of the Legion of Honour
Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Takovo
Foreign recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery

Živojin Mišić


Elizabeth Savage, Countess Rivers and Viscountess Savage (1581 – 9 March 1651) was an English courtier and a Royalist victim of uprisings during the English Civil War.

Early life
Born Hon. Elizabeth Darcy, she was the daughter of Thomas Darcy, 1st Earl Rivers and Mary Kitson (died 1644), a granddaughter of Thomas Kitson.

Marriage
On 14 May 1602, Elizabeth married Thomas Savage and they had eleven sons and eight daughters. He was the eldest son of Sir John Savage, 1st Baronet and his wife Mary née Allington, from whom he inherited Melford Hall in Suffolk. In 1615, he inherited his father's baronetcy and was created Viscount Savage in 1626. On his death in 1635, Elizabeth (by now Viscountess Savage) inherited Melford. This and St Osyth Priory in Essex formed her principal residences.

On the death of Lady Savage's father in 1640, the earldom of Rivers passed to her eldest son, John. As compensation for not enjoying the rank of a countess, she was created Countess Rivers for life in 1641.

Allegiances
As well as inheriting property and being raised in rank following the death of her father and husband, she also inherited their political and religious allegiances that would later lead to her downfall in the English Civil War. Both men were closely associated with Charles I, had links with George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and both had enforced the king's policies for Essex in the case of Lord Rivers and Lancashire and Cheshire in the case of Lord Savage. Lady Rivers and her husband had both served in Queen Henrietta Maria's court as a Lady of the Bedchamber and Chancellor respectively, due to the family's strong Catholic links. Lady Rivers' father had been suspected of being a Papist, but was protected against recusancy legislation, although he was excluded from the county magistracy.

Civil War
Following parliament's explanation of the ineffectual settlement with the king to have been caused by a Catholic conspiracy, local grievances heightened rumour and suspicion and Lady Rivers was presented to the Essex justices of the peace as a recusant and her home at St Osyth was searched for arms. Following the attack on Sir John Lucas at Colchester during the Stour Valley riots, St Osyth was ransacked and plundered by the crowds. Forewarned, Lady Rivers had fled to Long Melford but the crowds followed her there, attempting to also destroy that residence. According to a local story, Lady Rivers, upon also escaping Melford, threw a box with a string of pearls into a nearby pond before fleeing.

Later life
Although attacked by the public in opposition to her family's association with the king and their religious patronage, Lady Rivers secured support from those who did not share the same views. Parliament later ordered her estates to be restored to her, but her tenants subsequently refused to pay rent. After the second episode of invasion of her estates by Parliamentarian soldiers, she sought permission to go to France in May 1643. After her return, she successfully petitioned Parliament to have her estates restored again, but the attacks on them and the fines imposed upon her and her son left her penniless. On her death in 1651, she was said to have been bankrupt and was buried at St Osyth with her ancestors.

Ancestry

Notes

References

External links
St Osyth, St Peter and St Paul Church

Daughters of British earls
Savage
Life peeresses created by Charles I
1581 births
1651 deaths
Cavaliers
English countesses
17th-century English women
17th-century English nobility
People from Long Melford
Women in the English Civil War
Savage family

Elizabeth Savage, Countess Rivers


In electrical engineering, a disconnector, disconnect switch or isolator switch is used to ensure that an electrical circuit is completely de-energized for service or maintenance. They are often found in electrical distribution and industrial applications, where machinery must have its source of driving power removed for adjustment or repair. Disconnectors can be operated manually or by a motor, and may be paired with an earthing switch to ground the portion that has been isolated from the system for ensuring the safety of equipment and the personnel working on it.

High-voltage disconnectors are used in electrical substations to allow isolation of apparatus such as circuit breakers, transformers, and transmission lines, for maintenance. The disconnector is usually not intended for normal control of the circuit, but only for safety isolation. Unlike load switches and circuit breakers, disconnectors lack a mechanism for suppression of electric arcs which occur when conductors carrying high currents are mechanically interrupted. Thus, they are off-load devices, with very low breaking capacity, intended to be opened only after the current has been interrupted by some other control device. Safety regulations of the utility must prevent any attempt to open the disconnector while it supplies a circuit. Standards in some countries for safety may require either local motor isolators or lockable overloads (which can be padlocked).

IEC standard 62271-102 defines the functionality and features of a disconnector.

Disconnectors have provisions for a lockout-tagout so that inadvertent operation is not possible. In high-voltage or complex systems, these locks may be part of a trapped-key interlock system to ensure proper sequence of operation.  In some designs, the isolator switch has the additional ability to earth the isolated circuit thereby providing additional safety. Such an arrangement would apply to circuits that inter-connect power distribution systems where both ends of the circuit need to be isolated.

Types of disconnectors

Disconnectors can be classified into various types based upon their constructional features and mounting arrangement. The major types of disconnectors are:

 Centre-break disconnectors
 Double-break disconnectors
 Pantograph disconnectors
 Horizontal break knee disconnectors
 Vertical break disconnectors
 Coaxial disconnectors

These are selected based upon the sub-station layout, clearances available and space constraints.

Switch disconnector
A switch disconnector combines the properties of a disconnector and a load switch, so it provides the safety isolation function while being able to make and break nominal currents.

Integrated disconnecting switch
In a disconnecting circuit breaker the disconnectors are integrated in the breaking chamber, which eliminates the need for separate disconnectors. The intention of this combined device is to decrease maintenance and increase availability and reliability. The usage of this device instead of a disconnector is limited due to the fact that the open gap is not clearly visible and many doubts in term of safety arise during maintenance activities. Where it is adopted the earthing switch must be used and the performance must be increased by the typical value.

The open-air disconnecting switches typically need maintenance every five years (every two years under very polluted conditions), while circuit breakers have maintenance intervals of 15 years.

See also
 Kill switch
 Circuit breaker
 True DC

References

External links

 115 kV disconnector opened "hot" (video)

Electric power systems components
Safety switches

Disconnector


The genus Vampyrum contains only one species, the Spectral bat (V. spectrum). Some alternate names for this species are 'Linnaeus's False vampire bat' and the 'Spectral Vampire bat'. Confusingly, they are not related to the Old World family of large carnivorous bats to be found in the Megadermatidae that are also called false vampires. The animals occur in South America, and Trinidad and Tobago.

This species is the largest bat (Chiroptera) in the New World. Its wingspan is about 80 cm (almost 3 feet). Body length and weight are 125-35 mm and 145-190 grams respectively. Some animals reach wingspans of over a metre. The fur on the upper parts of the bat is normally brown or rust-orange and quite short. The ears are very long and rounded. The large feet are robust, with long curved claws. The muzzle is long and narrow, and the teeth are strong. The Noseleaf is shaped as in the photograph.

The bats are very good at hunting at night. They are predators. Their prey includes many vertebrates, such as amphibians, reptiles, small birds and mammals- they even hunt other bat species. Insects are also included, especially large crickets, cicadas etc. Surprisingly, a small amount of fruit is also eaten.

When hunting, this species is extremely stealthy. It will often pounce from a position on an above branch onto its prey or fly like some owls by patrolling back and forth along forest edges, suddenly dropping on something in the grass. One young or pup is produced each year, and the mother is very attentive and gentle with her offspring. The male is always in attendance too and will frequently sleep with both mother and young completely wrapped in his wings.

References

Other websites
Vampyrum spectrum

Bats
Mammals of North America
Mammals of South America

Spectral bat