Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain, KG (16 October 1863 – 17 March 1937) was a British politician.  He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.  His father was another important politician, Joseph Chamberlain, and his half-brother (they had a different mother) was Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister from 1937 to 1940.

Early life
Austen was born in Birmingham on the 16 October 1863, but two days later his mother died.  His grandparents looked after him and his sister, Beatrice.  Austen went to Rugby school, a famous private school, and then studied at the University of Cambridge.  He then studied in a political college in Paris and at a university in Berlin. He returned to Britain in 1888.

Parliament
In 1892, Chamberlain became a Member of Parliament for Worcestershire, as a member of his father's party, the Liberal Unionist Party.  The Liberal Unionists worked to keep Ireland as a part of the United Kingdom.  Chamberlain worked hard for his father, and in 1895 the prime minister gave him a job helping to run the Royal Navy.  Chamberlain became important very quickly.  In 1903 the new prime minister, Balfour gave him the job of controlling the Post Office.  Then in 1904 he became Chancellor of the Exchequer, responsible for the economy.

In 1906, the government lost the general election, and Chamberlain lost his job in the government.  When his father became ill because of a stroke, he helped his father by fighting against Home Rule, the plan to make Ireland independent.  In the First World War, Chamberlain got the job responsible for India, and after the war he became Chancellor of the Exchequer again.  Here he helped Britain to recover from the war.  He was leader of the Conservative Party from 1921 to 1922.

Foreign Secretary
In 1924, the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin gave Chamberlain the job of Foreign Secretary, working with important people from other countries.  In 1925. At this time, France and Germany were arguing about war reparations, money paid by the Germans to the countries that won the First World War. Many people were worried that war might start again.  Chamberlain met with Gustav Stresemann, the German Foreign secretary. Together with Aristide Briand, they signed the Locarno Pact, an agreement never to use the military to solve problems again. For this, all three men won the Nobel Peace Prize, Chamberlain in 1925, Briand and Stresemann in 1926.

Warnings about Hitler
After the 1929 general election, Chamberlain lost his job as Foreign Secretary. He stayed in parliament, and often argued with the government about their foreign policy (plans). From 1934 until his death in 1937, Chamberlain warned the government about the Nazi Germany, who were building a larger military. Together with Winston Churchill, he argued that Britain should build its military too.

Austen Chamberlain died on 17 March 1937, shortly before his half-brother, Neville Chamberlain became Prime Minister.

Books
 David Dutton, Austen Chamberlain – Gentleman in Politics, Bolton: R. Anderson, 1985.

Other websites
 Nobel biography

1863 births
1937 deaths
Alumni of the Institut d'études politiques de Paris
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
British Nobel Prize winners
British people of World War I
Chancellors of the Exchequer
English Christians
Conservative Party (UK) MPs
Members of the British House of Commons for English constituencies
Knights of the Garter
Leaders of the Conservative Party (UK)
Politicians from Birmingham
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Secretaries of State of the United Kingdom
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
UK MPs 1900–1906
UK MPs 1906–1910
UK MPs 1910
UK MPs 1910–1918
UK MPs 1918–1922
UK MPs 1922–1923
UK MPs 1923–1924
UK MPs 1924–1929
UK MPs 1929–1931
UK MPs 1931–1935
UK MPs 1935–1945
Unitarians

Austen Chamberlain


April Rosemary Cantelo (born 2 April 1928) is an English soprano.

Life and career
Cantelo was born in Purbrook, Hampshire in 1928. She attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls.  She studied in London under Vilém Tauský, Joan Cross, Imogen Holst and others.  She sang in the Glyndebourne Chorus and then made her debut in Edinburgh in 1950 as Barbarina and Echo. She played Rosetta in Love in a Village, the pasticcio by Arne, at Aldeburgh in June 1952. In the first half of the 1950s she sang Barbarina, Countess Ceprano and Poussette at Covent Garden.

Cantelo sang in the British premieres of Hans Werner Henze's Boulevard Solitude (Manon Lescaut) and Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Jenny).  She appeared in the world premiere of Malcolm Williamson's English Eccentrics. Among the roles she created are:
 Lady in The Grace of Todd (Gordon Crosse)
 Susan in Dinner Engagement (Lennox Berkeley)
 Orpah in Ruth (Berkeley)
 Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Benjamin Britten)
 Berthe in The Violins of Saint-Jacques (Williamson)
 Beatrice Weston in Our Man in Havana (Williamson)
 Swallow in The Happy Prince (Williamson)
 Ann in Julius Caesar Jones (Williamson)
 Semele in Semele (John Eccles).

April Cantelo made several appearances at the Henry Wood Proms between 1958 and 1973, singing in Carmina Burana, Vaughan Williams Pastoral Symphony, Berlioz Les nuits d'été, (under Basil Cameron), Malcolm Williamson's Our Man in Havana (vocal suite), Purcell's The Indian Queen, Cavalli's Messa concertata, excerpts from Monteverdi operas, Purcell odes and Haydn's Mass in D minor 'Nelsonmesse'.

Cantelo took part in the inaugural concert of the Purcell Room in London on 3 March 1967 ('Homage to Henry Purcell') with Robert Tear, Raymond Leppard and Bernard Richards.

She directed a production of Henry Purcell's The Fairy-Queen in New Zealand in 1972.

In 1974 Cantelo sang Xantippe in the first professional UK production of Telemann's Der geduldige Socrates, for Kent Opera.

Grove describes her voice as "a pure, clear lyrical soprano, not large, but capable of flexibility and variety of expression", describing her as "a very gifted singing actress". Her private pupils included Rosemary Joshua.

April Cantelo married the conductor Colin Davis in 1949.  They had two children, Suzanne and Christopher.  The marriage was dissolved in 1964 after he fell in love with their au pair Ashraf Naini, a young Persian woman who was visiting London at the time, and who became his second wife.

Recordings
Cantelo recorded widely. Among baroque works, she recorded Charpentier's Messe de minuit pour noël with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge under David Willcocks (on EMI), Handel's Messiah conducted by Walter Susskind (Pye Golden Guinea), Purcell The Indian Queen under Charles Mackerras (L'oiseau-Lyre), Purcell's Hail! Bright Cecilia (Ode for St Cecilia's Day 1692), conducted by Michael Tippett (Vanguard), and Handel and Blow anthems (Argo) as well as Handel's Ode for St. Cecilia's Day conducted by David Willcocks (Argo). In 1967 with the same conductor, he recorded for Emi records Ltd, with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge and the English Chamber Orchestra, the Charpentier's Messe de Minuit for Christmas H.9. in 1969. She recorded one solo recital program of 14 songs from the eighteenth century by various composers all using lyrics by Shakespeare with Raymond Leppard conducting the English Chamber Orchestra (L'oiseau-Lyre). She plays Servilia in the English-language performance of Mozart's The Mercy of Titus under John Pritchard, deputising for the indisposed Jennifer Vyvyan (Nimbus Prima Voce).

As well as three Haydn Masses with St. John's College, Cambridge forces and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under George Guest (on Argo), nineteenth century works included Schubert part songs (Argo), Donizetti's Emilia di Liverpool (Candida and Bettina) with Sutherland (BBC/Myto), Berlioz Béatrice et Bénédict (Héro) and mélodies (Philips), Sullivan's Iolanthe (Celia) under Sargent (HMV), and Solveig songs in Grieg's Peer Gynt with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Alexander Gibson (World Record Club).

Her 20th century recordings include excerpts from Ariadne auf Naxos by Strauss under Beecham from Edinburgh in 1950 (Beecham Society WSA), Britten's The Little Sweep (Juliet) and Albert Herring (Miss Wordsworth) under the composer (Decca), Williamson's Julius Caesar Jones (Argo) and his The Happy Prince (Swallow) (Argo) and vocal works by Williamson and Hugh Wood (Argo).

BBC studio recordings of Die Feen (Ada) and Das Liebesverbot (Isabella) by Richard Wagner have subsequently been issued commercially on DG.

She also recorded the well-loved Holly and the Ivy LP with Alfred Deller and the Deller Consort.

The sound track recording of the film The Music Lovers (recorded 1969) includes Cantelo singing part of the letter scene from Eugene Onegin, with the LSO conducted by André Previn (United Artists) and she had previously recorded Metamorphosis on a Bed-time Theme by Alistair Sampson and Joseph Horovitz at the 1958 Hoffnung Festival, and Horrortorio (Dracula's daughter) at the 1961 Hoffnung Festival.

References

External links

1928 births
English operatic sopranos
Living people
People from Purbrook
20th-century British women opera singers
Musicians from Hampshire

April Cantelo


Visvesvaraya Institute of Advanced Technology, also known as VIAT,  is a research institute being constructed near Muddenahalli, Karnataka, India. The research institute was proposed on Engineer's Day 2008 in Muddenahalli, the birthplace of legendary engineer, Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya. The foundation stone was commemorated by MP Veerappa Moily in February 2010. The institute is located on  of land nestled in the Nandi Hills and is expected to cost 600 crores.

In the initial years, VIAT will focus on research in embedded technology, software quality, agricultural engineering and bioengineering. Each department will function as a "discovery-innovation centre." The institute will offer graduate and PhD level courses in the sciences and will be starting a 50 crore joint automotive research and design centre with Bosch at Muddenahalli.

The research institute is a branch of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) one of the largest technological universities in India, having 186 colleges affiliated to it with undergraduate (UG) courses in 28 disciplines and postgraduate (PG) programs in 71 disciplines. The intake at UG level is nearly 67,100 students; at the PG level it is about 12,666 students. The University has memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with various leading organizations like IBM, Bosch, INTEL Asia Electronics Inc., Ingersoll-Rand (India) Ltd., and Microsoft. VIAT will offer diversified and advanced engineering courses, and will develop MOUs with select foreign universities to offer some of their courses. This institution will cover all three major aspects of modern higher education such as formal education leading to the award of UG and PG Degrees, sponsored R&D and industrial consultancy, continuing education, education technologies and societal interactions.

References

External links
The VTU official website

Affiliates of Visvesvaraya Technological University
Engineering colleges in Karnataka
Educational institutions established in 2009
Universities and colleges in Chikkaballapur district
2009 establishments in Karnataka


Admiral Sir Archibald Berkeley Milne, 2nd Baronet,  (2 June 1855 – 4 July 1938) was a senior Royal Navy officer who commanded the Mediterranean Fleet at the outbreak of the First World War.

Naval career
Milne was the son of distinguished admiral Sir Alexander Milne, 1st Baronet, and grandson of Vice-Admiral Sir David Milne. In 1879 he became aide-de-camp to Lord Chelmsford during the Zulu Wars, being fortunate enough to have been separated from the main army at the time of the massacre of British forces at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879.

In 1891 with the rank of captain he accepted command of HMY Osborne, despite the normal rank for the officer in charge of such a ship being only 'commander'. While some officers only accepted short postings to royal yachts, fearing the effect on their careers of sinecure postings, Milne regarded it as a career path to flag rank. After a regular command of the cruiser Venus, which served on the Mediterranean Station, he was in December 1900 appointed in command of the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Jupiter, of the Channel Fleet. In October 1902, he was appointed a Naval Aide-de-Camp to the King. He was back in royal service when he became flag officer commanding H. M. Yachts from April 1903 to 1905, being promoted to rear admiral in 1904. During this time, he became a friend of King Edward VII and of Queen Alexandra, who called him "Arky-Barky". His hobbies were described as collecting rare orchids and entertaining royal ladies. Milne enjoyed the formal atmosphere of service in the royal squadron, with its emphasis on ceremony, spit and polish.

His next posting was as second in command of the Atlantic Fleet until 1906. From 1908 to 1910 Milne commanded the 2nd Division of the Home Fleets. Milne was made a full Admiral in 1911 and made Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet in November 1912. The appointment was made by Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, taking into consideration the views of the King George V. Admiral Fisher, former First Sea Lord deplored Milne's appointment to such an important post, accusing Churchill of having betrayed the navy. At the outset of the First World War, the Mediterranean Fleet consisted of three dreadnought battle cruisers, four large armoured cruisers, four light cruisers and 16 destroyers.

The pursuit of Goeben and Breslau

On 4 August 1914, after Germany had declared war on Russia and France but before Great Britain had declared war on Germany, Milne sent his two strongest battlecruisers,  and , to seek out (as ordered) Germany's only two ships in the Mediterranean,  and , under the command of Admiral Wilhelm Souchon. The ships met as the Germans were steaming back to Messina, Italy, to refuel after bombarding the French colonial ports of Philippeville and Bône, Algeria.

The German ships steamed out of Messina harbour at midnight, 5 August, precisely as Britain officially went to war with Germany. They were headed for Turkey, to attempt to convince it to enter the war on Germany's side, by force if necessary. The heading surprised Admiral Milne who had expected them to steam west to the Straits of Gibraltar. He had only one ship, the light cruiser , in a position to follow them. The next morning (7 August), Gloucester closed in and opened fire on Breslau, which returned fire. Breslau was slightly damaged in the exchange receiving one hit at the waterline. Near the western coast of Greece, the pursuit of Goeben and Breslau was taken up by four more British ships, led by Milne's second-in-command, Rear-Admiral Sir Ernest Charles Thomas Troubridge. Troubridge's ships (the cruisers , ,  and ) were smaller and slower than Goeben; they were also substantially outgunned, and much less well-armoured. Troubridge and his gunnery officer determined they could not intercept the German ships before daylight. They concluded that the enemy battlecruiser's superior speed and range would allow it to maintain enough distance to pick off Troubridge's ships at leisure before they could ever get close enough to engage effectively.

Souchon's ships made it to Constantinople and were admitted into the harbour by the Turks. The German diplomats reminded the Turks that Great Britain had recently broken a contract to supply two new battleships to the Turkish government (which the British Admiralty had decided to keep for its own use as war loomed), and offered to sell them Goeben and Breslau. The Turks agreed on 16 August and eventually joined Germany's side on 30 October 1914. The ships were renamed Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midili, retaining their German crews; Souchon was made commander-in-chief of the Turkish Navy.

Aftermath
Afterwards, Milne served out the rest of the war on half-pay.  He was offered the three-year command at the Nore encompassing the ports of Chatham and Sheerness in 1916, but the position eventually went to another officer due to "other exigencies".  The Admiralty repeatedly emphasised that Milne had been exonerated of all blame in the affair, most significantly when announcing Milne's retirement at his own request in 1919, so as to further the promotion of other officers. In 1920 the official naval history of the war by Sir Julian Corbett was critical of Milne's handling of the affair; Milne claimed that "the book contained serious inaccuracies". Milne requested the Admiralty to act which they declined to do so, and in 1921 Milne wrote The Flight of the Goeben and the Breslau in an attempt to clear his name, which "justified the official approbation".

References

 Robert Massie, Castles of Steel, Random House 2004,
 Geoffrey Miller, Superior Force: The conspiracy behind the escape of Goeben and Breslau, pub Hull, 1996,
 Dan van der Vat, The Ship that Changed the World: The Escape of the Goeben to the Dardanelles in 1914, Bethesda, MD, Adler & Adler, 1986.
 Admiral Sir A. Berkeley Milne, Bt., The Flight of Goeben and Breslau: An Episode in Naval History, London, Eveleigh Nash Company, 1921.

|-

1855 births
1938 deaths
Milne, Archibald Berkeley, 2nd Baronet
Royal Navy personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War
Royal Navy admirals of World War I
Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath

Berkeley Milne


Adolphe-Félix Cals (17 October 1810 – 3 October 1880) was a French portrait, genre, and landscape painter.

Life and work

Adolphe–Félix Cals was born into a poor family yet his parents attempted to prevent him from performing manual labor. He initially trained as an engraver under Jean-Louis Anselin who was a family friend. After Anselin died suddenly he went on studying engraving, first with Ponce, then under Bosc, before finally entering the atelier of Léon Cogniet. Cogniet tried to mentor Cals in the direction of a more 'popular' style although Cals disagreed. Cogniet argued that Cals style would hurt his career but Cals refused to give in. He parted company with his (neoclassical-influenced) teacher, owing to his teacher's lack of appreciation for the emerging impressionist movement in art.

His career did in fact suffer and it was until he was much older that he reached any level of success. He became critically acclaimed at the 1846 Salon, despite receiving no formal award. His most productive years ended up being the last ten of his life. He exhibited multiple pieces at the 1868, 1869 and 1870 Salons. In 1863, Cals exhibited at the "Salon des Refusés", alongside works by Monet, Degas and Pissarro. Art dealer Pierre–Firmin Martin, known as "Father Martin", liked his work, and Cals went on to paint portraits of Martin and his wife (now in the "Musée Eugène Boudin" in Honfleur). So began the next phase of his career; influenced by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Johan Barthold Jongkind, he worked in more subdued, less fawn-coloured tones, more closely matching the Impressionists without adopting the "purple-violet which some painters are flooding their paintings with"—as Victor Jannesson remarked in his book on Cals (see bibliography).

Having divided his time between Paris and Honfleur since 1871, he finally decided to settle down, in 1873, in Honfleur, a port in Normandy which was home to many painters, and has been called "the cradle of impressionism". A friend of Jongkind, he regularly visited the "Saint-Simeon Farm", an inn in Honfleur, famous as a meeting place for artists and writers, such as Claude Monet, Eugène Boudin and Baudelaire, as well as Jongkind himself.

Having settled, with his daughter, in Honfleur during the last decade of his life, Cals painted the harbor, the sea and its associated human life. At the invitation of Monet, he participated in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and 1876, until 1881.

Cals died in Honfleur on 3 October 1880, aged 69.

Notes

References
Alexandre, Arsène. A.F. Cals: ou, Le bonheur de peindre (Paris: G. Petit, 1900).
Jannesson, Victor. Le Peintre A.-F. Cals (1810-1880) et son élève J.-A.-E. Bataille (1828-1911) (M. Bourges, 1913).

Attribution:
This article incorporates text from French Wikipedia, Adolphe-Félix Cals.

External links

Adolphe-Félix Cals online (Artcyclopedia)

1810 births
1880 deaths
19th-century French painters
French male painters
French genre painters
French landscape painters
French portrait painters
Painters from Paris
French Impressionist painters
19th-century French male artists

Adolphe-Félix Cals


Heavy Water and Other Stories is a collection of nine short stories by Martin Amis. It was first published in 1998 by Jonathan Cape.

Two Stories
The collection includes "Denton's Death" and "Let Me Count the Times," which comprised Amis's Two Stories, published in 1994.

Stories
 "Career Move" (first published in The New Yorker in 1992) in which the literary world is inverted; screenplay writers such as Alistair struggle to have their work published in small magazines, whilst poets such as Luke are courted by Hollywood publishing conglomerates and fly first-class around the world.
 "Denton's Death" (Encounter, 1976) in which the protagonist sits alone in his squalid room and ponders his forthcoming assassination at the hands of three hired killers using a 'machine'.
 "State of England" (The New Yorker, 1986) set at a fee-paying school, the narrator using a mobile phone to communicate with his estranged wife and reflecting on his up and down career as a bouncer.
 "Let me Count the Times" (Granta, 1981) in which a man has an obsessive and increasingly intense affair with himself and his imagination which gradually takes over from his relationship with his wife.
 "The Coincidence of the Arts" (1997) in which an English Baronet becomes entangled with an American chess hustler and aspiring novelist and has an unexpected affair with a silent Afro-Caribbean woman.
 "Heavy Water" (New Statesman, 1978) in which a working-class woman takes her mentally handicapped son on a Mediterranean cruise.
 "The Janitor on Mars" (The New Yorker, 1998) in which a robot makes contact from Mars and reveals the shocking truth of mankind's place in the Universe.
 "Straight Fiction" (Esquire, 1995) in which everyone is gay, apart from the beleaguered though increasingly vocal 'straight' community.
 "What Happened to me on Holiday" (The New Yorker, 1997) in which death rears its head in the life of a young boy.

Audio
A recording of "What Happened to Me on Holiday"—read by Martin Amis—is included in the 1998 audio collection The New Yorker Out Loud.

Reception
The book was widely praised upon publication.
In The New York Times Book Review, critic A.O. Scott wrote that "the publication of Heavy Water, a gathering of nine stories, most of them published in this decade, nearly half in The New Yorker, provides a good opportunity to state plainly what has been apparent for some time: Martin Amis is the best American writer England has ever produced." Scott praised Amis's "reckless bravado and his terrifying cleverness, both of which are abundantly evident." Commenting on the strict premises (swapped literary reputations, reversed norms), he wrote, "Some of the most interesting stories seem to have been written on a dare, or as entries in a contest to see who could get the best results from the worst ideas."
In the London Times, Russell Celyn Jones found the stories demonstrating Amis's "maturation," and called the book "highly inventive, inimitably stylish and funny, exhibiting a wider voice range than in anything he has done so far."
In The Times Literary Supplement, Tom Shone wrote, "As this collection demonstrates, Amis's own sentences could not be more different: whipping through the gearbox with seamless ease. Amis has famously said that his ambition is to write the sort of sentences that no other guy could write. The same thing applies to his work as applies to that of every other guy; when he is writing well, his sentences appear to have written themselves."
In the Evening Standard, Rachel Cusk found, "As Amis's commitment to his writing has deepened, so its critical treatment has grown more facetious. As he has become more meticulous, so his critics have grown lazier."
Michael Dirda, in The Washington Post, called the stories, "Funny, sexy, disturbing, tantalizing, sharply satirical, even wistful."

References

External links
 The Complete Review
 Complete Text of Amis' story "Career Move"
 Complete Text of "Denton's Death"

1998 short story collections
Books by Martin Amis
British short story collections
Jonathan Cape books
Harmony Books books

Heavy Water and Other Stories


Why–because analysis (WBA) is a method for accident analysis. It is independent of application domain and has been used to analyse, among others, aviation-, railway-, marine-, and computer-related accidents and incidents. It is mainly used as an after-the-fact (or a posteriori) analysis method.  WBA strives to ensure objectivity, falsifiability and reproducibility of results.

The result of a WBA is a why–because graph (WBG), a type of causal notation used to represent interdependencies within a system. The WBG depicts causal relations between factors of an accident. It is a directed acyclic graph where the nodes of the graph are factors. Directed edges denote  cause–effect relations between the factors.

WBA in detail

WBA starts with the question "What is the accident or accidents in question?". In most cases this is easy to define. Next comes an iterative process to determine causes. When causes for the accident have been identified, formal tests are applied to all potential cause-effect relations. This process can be iterated for the newfound causes, and so on, until a satisfactory result has been achieved.

At each node (factor), each contributing cause (related factor) must have been necessary to cause the accident, and the totality of causes must have been sufficient to do so.

The formal tests

The counterfactual test (CT) – The CT leads back to David Lewis' formal notion of causality and counterfactuals. The CT asks the following question: "If the cause had not been, could the effect have happened?". The CT proves or disproves that a cause is a necessary causal factor for an effect. Only if it is necessary for the cause in question then it is clearly contributing to the effect.

The causal sufficiency test – The CST asks the question: "Will an effect always happen if all attributed causes happen?". The CST aims at deciding whether a set of causes are sufficient for an effect to happen. The missing of causes can thus be identified.

Only if for all causal relations the CT is positive and for all sets of causes to their effects the CST is positive the WBG is correct: each cause must be necessary (CT), and the totality of causes must be sufficient (CST): nothing is omitted (CST: the listed causes are sufficient), and nothing is superfluous (CT: each cause is necessary).

Example

See also
 Accident
 Cause–effect graph
 Fault tree analysis
 Five whys
 Ishikawa diagram
 Issue map
 Issue tree
 Root cause analysis

References

External links
 Why-Because Analysis (WBA)

Causal diagrams
Debugging
Accident analysis
Directed graphs

Why–because analysis


The Royal Choral Society (RCS) is an amateur choir, based in London.

History
Formed soon after the opening of the Royal Albert Hall in 1871, the choir gave its first performance as the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society on 8 May 1872 – the choir's first conductor Charles Gounod included the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah in the inaugural concert. On 9 July 1891, the Royal Choral Society performed in a 'Grand Concert for the Visit of Their Imperial Majesties, The German Emperor and Empress', also attended by the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
From the beginning, performing premieres of new choral works has been a feature of the choir's repertoire.  Both Giuseppe Verdi and Antonín Dvořák conducted the choir in premières of their own works, as have Edward Roxborough, Ariel Ramírez, Raymond Premru and Geoffrey Burgon in more recent years.  The choir continued to be conducted by the most eminent musicians of the day, most notably Sir Malcolm Sargent, whose association with the choir spanned forty years.  The present Music Director, Richard Cooke, took over the baton in 1995.

Today, the choir enjoys maintaining a balance between its heritage and the opportunities on offer performing for today's music lovers.  In addition to its traditional repertoire, singers have had a chance to take part in new and unusual events, from open-air concerts in Hampton Court and Glastonbury, to singing at the launch of the Queen Mary 2, participating in the 25th anniversary ceremony for the Falklands, to performing at performances for the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall.

In 2009, the RCS celebrated the 131st anniversary performance of its Messiah on Good Friday concerts at the Royal Albert Hall; the annual Summer Concert in that year was a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil (Vespers) at St Bartholomew's Church in Brighton on 4 July. The RCS continued its annual residency at Southwark Cathedral, performing Pergolesi and Mozart's Requiem on Remembrance Day, Wednesday 11 November 2009.  The RCS was also invited twice to perform at Slovakia's equivalent to Glastonbury – Pohoda, (which means Wellbeing) where the choir closed the opening day of the festival with a candlelit midnight concert of Rachmaninoff's Vespers, followed by a performance in Bratislava.

References

External links
 Official site of Royal Choral Society

British choirs
Choral societies
Musical groups established in 1871
1871 establishments in England

Royal Choral Society


Steven Jonathan Furst (born 3 September 1967) is a British comedian, actor and writer. He appeared in the Orange mobile phone cinema adverts in the UK (with Brennan Brown), playing the role of Eliot, a spoof studio executive, and has appeared regularly in the BBC comedy television programme Little Britain as well as cabaret character Lenny Beige.

Comedy career
He first worked in comedy writing for Chris Evans's Power Up show on BSB's Power Station music channel in 1990. He then set up Britain's first comedy magazine called The Heckler. In 1992, he worked as a stand-up comedian and promoter, founding comedy nights such as The Double Six Club, The Youth Club, and The Regency Rooms.

Lenny Beige
Furst also works under the name Lenny Beige, promoted comedy nights (started on the Regency Rooms) and fought the 1997 general election in Putney under that name, and had 2 series on BBC Choice with guests including Terry Wogan, Davina McCall, Claudia Winkleman, Chas & Dave, Tony Hadley and many more.

Furst often performed (as Lenny Beige) at the Regency Rooms in London's West End which ran for a total of 10 seasons. Guy Chambers was Lenny's musical director when he also became co-writer and producer of Robbie Williams who himself made many appearances at the club. Beige also regularly appeared at Club Montepulciano; the band Hooverphonic sing about this in their song of the same name (Lenny Beige is performing spinning wheel/Club Montepulciano is what you need). After the Regency Rooms was closed in 2000, Lenny was retired. In 2006 he returned to host a series of cabaret nights at The Pigalle Club in Picadilly. His tribute show to Anthony Newley was premiered at The Pigalle Club and received 5 star reviews.

In 2012, Lenny was asked to host a residency at Mayfair's Playboy Casino which he did for over 12 months. Lenny Beige Sings Neil Diamond is Lenny's newest show which first premiered at Cafe Zédel.

Other work
Since 2012, Furst has also held a role on the judging panel for the Norwich Film Festival.
He has hosted a regular show on Soho Radio as himself, Lenny Beige and also The Mayor of Kentish Town.

Appearances

Furst made his professional television debut as a stand up in LWT's After Midnight. He has appeared on The Johnny Vaughan Tonight show on BBC Choice and BBC One, The Late Edition with Marcus Brigstocke and as the host on the British Hit Singles & Albums No.1 Music Quiz DVD. He has also appeared 3 series of CBBC sitcom called The Legend of Dick and Dom in which he starred alongside Dominic Wood, Richard McCourt and Chloe Bale. He is in 'Combat Kids', another CBBC show and The Dumping Ground. In 2018 he starred in the new CITV show Spy Kids as the villain Goldfist.

Furst starred in the Catterick series with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer as an assistant Police Officer called Sergeant Mingemungington. He has appeared in nearly 30 commercials in the cinema for Orange as the sidekick of the main male character played by Brennan Brown. He has also appeared in numerous other programmes; Bodies, Born and Bred, all three series of Little Britain, The Bill, Dick and Dom's Funny Business, Father Brown, Doc Martin and Tracey Breaks the News. He appears as DI Gary Cunningham in ITV's three part drama Manhunt.

He appeared occasionally as a contributor to The Wright Stuff on Five.

In 2018 he took a starring role as Popsy Wilson Jr in the 20th Century Fox movie Walk Like A Panther.

Theatre
In 2003, Furst appeared as Juror No.1 in 12 Angry Men at the Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Fringe.

In 2009/10, Furst starred alongside Michael Brandon in Oliver Cotton's play Wet Weather Cover at the King's Head Theatre before transferring to London's West End. He played Hymie in the 2011 production of Chicken Soup With Barley by Arnold Wesker at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by artistic director Dominic Cook.
On 27 March 2012, it was announced Furst would play the role of Mr Wormwood in Matilda the Musical, which had been playing the Cambridge Theatre in London's West End since October 2011. He replaced Paul Kaye beginning performances 17 April 2012.

Furst was scheduled to be part of the world premiere cast of Made in Dagenham from October 2014, at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End.

Personal life
In 2017, Furst married Rebecca Evans in Joshua Tree National Park in California.

On 14 October 2019, Furst was conferred an Honorary Fellowship of the University of Winchester.

Publications
 Radio Comedy 1938–68: A Guide to 30 Years of Wonderful Wireless, Virgin Books, 1996

References

External links

Male television actors from Northern Ireland
Male voice actors from Northern Ireland
Male comedians from Northern Ireland
Male video game actors from Northern Ireland
1967 births
Living people
Male actors from Belfast
Comedians from Belfast
Comedy writers from Northern Ireland
Television writers from Northern Ireland
British male television writers
20th-century comedians from Northern Ireland
21st-century comedians from Northern Ireland

Steve Furst


The Manifold Way is a footpath and cycle way in Staffordshire, England. Some  in length, it runs from Hulme End  in the north to Waterhouses  in the south, mostly through the Manifold Valley and the valley of its only tributary, the River Hamps, following the route of the former Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway, a  gauge line which closed in 1934 after a short life.

The Manifold Way was opened in July 1937 by Staffordshire County Council after the LMS handed over the trackbed to them. Tarmacked throughout, and with only a slight downhill gradient from north to south, the path is also ideal for wheelchair users, prams, etc. For about , near Wetton Mill, the original route along the former railway is shared with motor traffic where what is now a minor unclassified road has been diverted along its route. This section includes Swainsley Tunnel. However, the signed Manifold Trail is routed along the eastern bank of the river and largely avoids the on-road route.

Unlike other nearby walk- and cycleways, such as the Tissington Trail and the High Peak Trail, which cross elevated areas of the Peak District, the Manifold Way follows the valley bottoms and is altogether more sheltered. The path passes through attractive scenery, and indeed tourism was one of the reasons for the original construction of the line. Popular locations along the route include Thor's Cave, the mill at Wetton Hill and Beeston Tor. A little to the east lies Dovedale, a better-known beauty spot.

The Manifold Way does not pass through any significant centres of population; indeed it was once described by a railway worker as a line that started in the middle of nowhere, and ended up in the same place.  Whilst the railway did serve villages and hamlets along its route, these were mostly located about a mile above the valley, a fact which contributed to the railway's ultimate demise.

Whilst walking along the Manifold Way the rivers Manifold and Hamps are never far away - in fact there are dozens of small bridges crossing them. However, over the summer months the River Manifold disappears down a swallet or sink hole near Wetton Mill, to reappear some distance way, at Ilam.

In all there were ten stations and halts along the line. Most had some sort of waiting room, and also a siding, but were only small affairs. The sites of the halts can be seen today, and there is also some evidence of the loading platforms, especially at Ecton, where the dairy provided much business for the railway.

The valley-bottom nature of the Manifold Way offers much to see in the way of flora and fauna, and animal wildlife. Apart from the official Manifold Way route itself, the area also lends itself to many circular walking routes which utilize the route.

The Manifold Way passes through some areas which comprise the South Peak Estate, land holdings owned by the National Trust.

At Hulme End, the old station building has been restored as a visitor centre, and the cafe/shop at Wetton Mill is a popular spot. At Ecton Hill lie the remains of a 4,000-year-old copper mine, and the caves at Beeston Tor have revealed Neolithic and Bronze Age remains.

The trackway is well maintained and there are a number of car parks and refreshment facilities (some mobile) situated at convenient intervals along its length.

There are campsites at Hulme End and Wetton Village, and bikes can be hired at Waterhouses, at the southern end of the trail.

References

External links
 A selection of walks using the Manifold Way

Cycleways in England
Peak District
Rail trails in England
Footpaths in Staffordshire
1937 establishments in England
Tourist attractions of the Peak District

Manifold Way


The Lumberville–Raven Rock Bridge, also known as the Lumberville Foot Bridge,  is a free pedestrian bridge over the Delaware River. The bridge connects Bull's Island Recreation Area near Raven Rock, Delaware Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey to Lumberville, Solebury Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The bridge, which is one of the two exclusively pedestrian bridges over the Delaware River, is owned and operated by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.

History

The Pennsylvania and New Jersey legislatures approved the construction of a bridge at Lumberville in 1835-1836, however construction was not begun until 1853.  This delay spared the bridge the possible ravages of a major flood in 1841. The bridge, with four spans crossing the river and another crossing the Delaware Canal, was a wooden covered type, engineered by Solon Chapin of Easton, Pennsylvania and a partner, Anthony Fry.  The bridge was built by the Lumberville Delaware River Bridge Company and completed in 1856.

The original covered bridge incurred major damage in the flood of 1903 and one of the three river spans was washed away.  Repairs were made and the single missing span was replaced in 1904 by a steel truss section. The toll bridge was sold to the DRJTBC in 1932. The replacement span served until February 1944 when the remaining timber spans were declared unsafe and condemned.  The Joint Toll Bridge Commission determined at this time that there was no longer a need for a vehicular bridge at the site and in 1947 the Trenton, New Jersey firm of John A Roebling's Sons, Co. was hired to replace the structure with a pedestrian bridge.  The original 1855 piers and abutments were deemed sound and at a total cost of $75,000 the bridge was rebuilt as a five span suspension bridge.  A major flood in 1955 destroyed several Delaware River bridges but the Lumberville-Raven Rock bridge survived and remains in use today.

A major rehabilitation contract was completed in 1993. The project included a new deck, new lighting and repainting.

See also
 List of crossings of the Delaware River
 Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park (New Jersey)
 Delaware Canal State Park (Pennsylvania)

References

External links
 https://web.archive.org/web/20070210223415/http://www.njskylands.com/hsdelbridges.htm, Accessed November 2, 2009
 https://web.archive.org/web/20120223223702/http://www.pennridge.org/works/lumberville.html, Accessed (web archive) January 2. 2022

Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission
Bridges over the Delaware River
Bridges in Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Suspension bridges in New Jersey
Suspension bridges in Pennsylvania
Bridges completed in 1904
Bridges in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Road bridges in New Jersey
Road bridges in Pennsylvania
Pedestrian bridges in New Jersey
Pedestrian bridges in Pennsylvania
Covered bridges in Pennsylvania
Covered bridges in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Covered bridges in New Jersey
Covered bridges in Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Former road bridges in the United States
Former toll bridges in New Jersey
Former toll bridges in Pennsylvania
Steel bridges in the United States
Wooden bridges in Pennsylvania

Lumberville–Raven Rock Bridge


James Connolly (; 5 Juin 1868 – 12 Mey 1916) wis an Erse socialist heid yin. He wis born in the Coogate in Embra, Scotland, an spake wi a Scots accent his hail life.

Socialist activity

In Scotland
As a young loon aged 14, he jyned the Breetish Airmy, maistly sae he coud spy on the Brits an support the Erse cause during the Land War. Efter this, he jynt a mix o perties an associated wi characters lik Keir Hardie, Eleanor Marx (Karl's wean), Henry Hyndman, William Morris.

In the USA
Fae 1903 til 1910 he bided in the USA, far he wis associated wi groups led bi Daniel De Leon an Eugene Debs, sic as "the Wobblies".

In Eire
Fae 1910 til his daith in 1916 he bided in Eire, far he led the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union thegither wi Jim Larkin. Thay an aw stertit the Erse Citizen Airmy. In 1916 thay jyned up wi mair nationalist forces tae fecht the Breetish Empire in the Easter Rising in Dublin. Efter this failed revolt, Connolly wis executit, alang wi ither heidbummers o the uprising. Ultimately thir executions led onto the Irish Civil Waar, an the formation o the Irish Free State.

Influence
Influenced bi the praxis o Connolly, Scots socialist John Maclean merged socialism, republicanism an Scots nationalism.

Roddy Connolly, the son o James, wis a delegate at the Second Congress o the Third International, which teuk place in Petrograd an Moscow in the Soviet Republic during 1920.

References

1868 births
1916 daiths
Executit pairteecipants in the Easter Risin
Executit writers
Erse Esperantists
Industrial Workers of the World members
Erse anti–Warld War I activists
Erse Marxists
Erse revolutionaries
Erse socialists
Erse sodgers in the Breetish Airmy
Erse tred unionists
King's Regiment (Liverpool) sodgers
Marxist theorists
Members o the Socialist Labour Pairty o Americae
Fowk frae Edinburgh
Signatories o the Proclamation o the Erse Republic
Social Democratic Federation members
Socialist Labour Pairty (UK, 1903) members
Socialist League (UK, 1885) members
Syndicalism
Executit revolutionaries
Members o the Socialist Pairty o Americae
Erse Ceetizen Airmy members

James Connolly


Judah ben Joseph ibn Bulat was a Spanish Talmudist and rabbi; born at the end of the 15th century in Estella, Navarre; died probably in Istanbul about 1550.

He was the author of Kelal Ḳaẓer mi-Kol ha-Rashum Beketab (Short Abstract of All That Has Been Published), containing a short compendium of rabbinic theology, Halakah, morals, ethics, jurisprudence, and political science. The book appeared in manuscript in Istanbul in 1530, and could be obtained from the author only for a limited time, on the payment of one florin as a fee for perusal. Besides, Bulat published the Talmud methodology Halikot 'Olam of Joshua ben Joseph (Constantinople, 1510). Tam ibn Yaḥyah, in his work "Tummat Yesharim," and Elijah Mizraḥi, in his responsa, both colleagues of Bulat in Istanbul, cite some of his responsa.

Bulat, possessing a thorough knowledge of the Talmud, opened up new methods in Talmudic study. He decided that the method of Talmud interpretation practiced by some of his contemporaries was contradictory to the real meaning of the Talmud. It was their custom to regard every opinion, even every sentence, in the Talmud as a binding rule; and they went so far as to look upon every "poseḳ" (post-Talmudic Halakah) in the same way. Consequently, a vast number of new "ḥumrot" (intensifications of the Law) continued to be introduced; and it was considered a duty of the pious to refrain from acts tabooed by their predecessors, though only by a few of them.

Similarly, the theoretical opinions of earlier Talmud commentators were studied in a receptive, uncritical spirit. Bulat, however, returned to the Talmud itself. He distinguished between the decisions arrived at in the Talmud, that should be regarded as standard, and the opinions of individuals, which might be disregarded. He sought for the true meaning, the motives and aims of the Talmudic controversies and Halakot; and he considered needless intensifications of the Law, especially in marital and juridical questions, as criminal. He maintained that whoever was unable to find in the Talmud a true solution of new circumstances, by means of logic and analogy, was not worthy to work in the province of Halakah; and that investigations into the meaning of "posḳim" as a rule lead to nothing. "Many times," said Bulat, "the reader is perplexed because of the disagreement between the various writers; and often the different parts of a poseḳ contradict one another, thus perplexing and completely bewildering the reader. For this reason the true rendering of the text must be sought in the original source" ("Tummat Yesharim," No. 34).

It was natural that in his endeavor to carry his views into practise he should meet with the opposition of his colleagues at Constantinople (ib. No. 39). Nevertheless, it is reported that even his opponents respected him; and one of them, Tam ibn Yaḥyah, used to address him with the most flattering epithets (ib. Nos. 35, 38).

Sources

Medieval Navarrese Jews
16th-century Spanish rabbis
Talmudists

1550 deaths
Year of death uncertain
Year of birth unknown

Judah ben Joseph ibn Bulat


The M1 carbine is a short, lightweight semi-automatic rifle, or a carbine, used in the United States military from World War II until late in the Vietnam War. It was made to arm soldiers with less of a combat role and more of a support role, such as medics and radiomen. The kind of weapon the military wanted was a gun that would be more powerful and accurate than the M1911, but shorter and lighter than the M1 Garand. The M1 Garand was too long and heavy for support troops to carry, especially since combat was not their main job.

Even though the M1 carbine looks similar to the M1 Garand, the two guns are actually very different. First, the M1 carbines bullets, the .30 Carbine, are much smaller and lighter than the Garand's .30-06 bullets. Second, the gun itself is much lighter, smaller, and shorter range than the Garand. The M1 carbine weighs less than half of the Garand. Third, the M1 carbine is loaded with box magazines that holds 15 bullets, while the M1 Garand is loaded with clips that hold 8 bullets.

Even though it is not used by the military anymore, it is still popular with civilians.

The M2 carbine is a selective fire version of the M1, which means it can switch between semi-automatic and full automatic fire.

References

Rifles

M1 carbine


A black dwarf is a kind of star.  A black dwarf is made when a white dwarf star becomes too cold.  When it is cold enough, it can no longer make large amounts of heat and light. The star will get darker and become black.  Scientists are not certain if black dwarfs can exist because it takes longer than the age of the universe (13.8 billion years) for a white dwarf to become one.

Formation

A white dwarf is made from a medium or small-sized star (any star less than nine or ten times the size of the sun) when it uses all of its fuel. After the star uses its fuel, it is a very tight ball of gasses. Then, it gets colder and colder, until it stops making light and heat, when it becomes a black dwarf. Scientists are not sure how long this takes. Some think it takes 1,000,000 billion years, but others think it could be longer. Scientists do not believe that black dwarf stars can exist right now because the universe is only 13.8 billion years old.

References

Types of stars

Black dwarf


USS Merrimac was a sidewheel steamer first used in the Confederate States Navy that was captured and used in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

Merrimac was purchased in England for the Confederate government in 1862. After a successful career as a blockade runner, she was captured by USS Iroquois off the coast of Cape Fear River, North Carolina, 24 July 1863. Purchased by the Navy from New York Prize Court 10 March 1864, Merrimac commissioned at New York 1 May 1864, Acting Master William P. Rogers in command.

After joining the East Gulf Blockading Squadron in June 1864, she was ordered to cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. She captured Cuban sloop Henretta sailing from Bayport, Florida, with cotton for Havana. However, late in July, yellow fever broke out among Merrimac's crew and she sailed north to allow her crew to recover. Upon arriving New York, she debarked her sick sailors at quarantine, and got underway for a cruise in the northwest Atlantic as far as St. John's, Newfoundland.

Early in 1865 Merrimac was reassigned to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron. She got underway for the gulf early in February, but encountered extremely bad weather which forced her to stop at Beaufort, North Carolina, on the 7th and at Charleston, South Carolina on the 12th. Underway for Key West the next day, Merrimac ran into still worse weather which she fought until turning north on the 14th to seek the first port. On the afternoon of 15 February 1865, Acting Master William Earle ordered the crew to abandon ship after its tiller had broken, two boilers given out and the pumps failed to slow the rising water. That night, when the crew had been rescued by mail steamer Morning Star, Merrimac was settling rapidly as she disappeared from sight.  However, according to the Department of the Navy - Naval Historical Center, the ship sank on 15 January 1865.

References

Steamships of the United States Navy
Gunboats of the United States Navy
Ships of the Union Navy
Shipwrecks of the American Civil War
Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
Shipwrecks of the Florida coast
1864 ships
Maritime incidents in February 1865

USS Merrimac (1864)


Forsyth County, Georgia v. The Nationalist Movement, 505 U.S. 123 (1992), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court limited the ability of local governments to charge fees for the use of public places for private activities.  By a 5–4 vote, the court ruled that an ordinance allowing the local government to set varying fees for different events violated the First Amendment due to the lack of "narrowly drawn, reasonable, and definite standards" governing the amount of the fee.

Background
Prior Supreme Court opinions had held that public officials could charge fees as a pre-condition for activists to assemble in public places or march down public streets.  The rationale was that a fee to recover the costs of police protection, clean-up, and administrative costs did not violate the right to speak and assemble under the First Amendment.  The fees sometimes ranged into the millions of dollars.

On January 17, 1987 a group of ninety demonstrators conducted a "March Against Fear and Intimidation" in Cumming, Forsyth County, Georgia that was met by as many as three hundred counter-protesters including the Forsyth County Defense League (an independent affiliate of the Nationalist Movement, which advocates the expulsion of all non-whites from the United States) and the Ku Klux Klan. According to Forsyth County, Georgia at least eight counter-protesters were arrested on charges of carrying concealed weapons and trespassing. The following weekend, January 24, 1987, there was a civil rights march attended by 20,000 integrationists, including civil rights leaders, U.S. senators and other senior officials. They were met again by about counter-protesters led by The Nationalist Movement.

Sixty-six Nationalists were arrested  on charges of parading without a permit. In the aftermath, all Nationalists were acquitted. In U.S. Federal District Court in Atlanta, Judge William Clark O'Kelley dismissed the case, threatened to charge the Nationalists with perjury, fined them $8,000.00 for bringing a "frivolous" lawsuit and barred Richard Barrett, who also served as the Nationalists' attorney, from his court.

On appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, Barrett argued that no fees whatsoever could be charged; however, the court ruled for the Nationalists on the grounds that a "nominal" fee could be charged. Although there was a dispute over what was "nominal," O'Kelley was reversed and the fines were vacated. O'Kelley rescinded his ban on the Nationalists' attorney. Forsyth County appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted certiorari. Robert S. Stubbs III and Gordon A. Smith, arguing on behalf of Forsyth County, insisted that the Girl Scouts and a local track club had been charged nominal fees, so the Nationalists were being treated equally. The American Civil Liberties Union filed an amicus brief in which they contended that a nominal fee of $100.00 sufficed.

Opinion of the Court
The Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in favor of the Nationalists on the ground that the ordinance unconstitutionally permitted the county to charge differing fees to different groups without any objective standards to prevent the county from basing the fee on the political views that a group sought to express. The court held that the ordinance violated the First Amendment due to the lack of "narrowly drawn, reasonable, and definite standards" governing the amount of the fee.

Nothing in the law or its application prevents the official from encouraging some views and discouraging others through the arbitrary application of fees. The First Amendment prohibits the vesting of such unbridled discretion in a government official.

The majority rejected Forsyth County's argument that the ordinance was content-neutral because it was aimed at offsetting the cost of maintaining public order:

The costs to which petitioner refers are those associated with the public's reaction to the speech. Listeners' reaction to speech is not a content-neutral basis for regulation.

Subsequent developments
The holding immediately impacted Simi Valley, California, which had banned the Nationalists on the grounds that they did not comply with regulations mandating a thirty-day waiting-period and that providing police protection was "too costly."  The city immediately rescinded its objections and provided police-protection.

In 2000, Morris County, New Jersey, sued the Nationalists, alleging that they could not parade and rally because they refused to post a $8 million bond.  The Nationalists removed the case from state court to federal court in Newark, where Judge John W. Bissell held, in Morris County, New Jersey v. The Nationalist Movement, that although the bond was unconstitutional, officials could impose a "hold-harmless" clause, requiring the Nationalists to pay for damages caused by rioters against them.  Bissell, also, refused to award attorney fees.  On appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Bissell was reversed, all restrictions were struck down and substantial attorney fees awarded to the Nationalists.  The U.S. Park Service immediately removed its requirement for similar fees and bonds, which it had interposed for the Nationalists' rally at the Liberty Bell.  The event then proceeded, without restrictions and with full police protection.  In the end, two Nationalists, Joshua Laub and Mathew McSweeney Sheard, were arrested for knocking over a speaker.

See also
 The Nationalist Movement
 Richard Barrett (lawyer)
 List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 505
 List of United States Supreme Court cases
 Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
 List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court

References

External links

 First Amendment Library entry on Forsyth County, Georgia v. The Nationalist Movement

Race-related case law in the United States
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court
United States Free Speech Clause case law
1992 in United States case law
Ku Klux Klan
Forsyth County, Georgia
Ku Klux Klan in Georgia (U.S. state)

Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement


Eragon is a third-person video game released for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows, developed by Stormfront Studios and published by Vivendi Games. Also released are unique versions of Eragon for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and mobile phone handheld gaming systems, primarily developed by Amaze Entertainment.

The game is based upon the 2006 Eragon film, which is loosely based on the 2002 book Eragon, by Christopher Paolini. The game was released on November 14, 2006 in the United States of America, on November 24, 2006 in European countries and on November 23, 2006 in Australia in order to coincide with the release of the film. In the game the player takes on the role of the protagonist from the book and film, Eragon, and occasionally controls his dragon Saphira.

The game was generally received poorly by critics. The combined sales in North America were over 400,000 copies.

Gameplay
The majority of the game is taken up by third-person combat, usually on foot. At the start of the game the player can use four "combo" attacks. Additionally, they can use three basic magic attacks: magic push/pull (Thrysta Vindr), magic shield (Skölir), and magic fire (Brisingr). These three magic attacks can be utilised in different ways (for example, Brisingr arrows, or throwing spears in baskets magically). On the PC and console versions (excluding the Xbox 360 version) there are sixteen levels.

Some missions permit the player to use the dragon Saphira in combat. The gameplay mechanics within these levels are largely similar to those in ground-based levels, with the exception of some different attack moves (such as tail attacks). Protagonist Eragon sits on Saphira's back during these sections, and can be made to fire magic arrows. The player has no choice as to whether or not they use Saphira. Similarly, the player cannot use Saphira in ground-based levels: they can call for her and she will swoop past, but it is not possible to use this feature to ride Saphira. There is a multiplayer co-op mode which allows two people to play through the main storyline. It is possible to switch from playing a one-player game to a two-player game at any time. There are no Internet multiplayer options.

Plot
While hunting in The Spine, 15-year-old Eragon finds a mysterious blue stone. He keeps it, thinking that it can be sold or bartered. However, the stone is actually a dragon egg. Eragon names the dragon Saphira from the list of dragon names he heard from the storyteller Brom. Saphira's hatching attracts the attention of the cruel king Galbatorix. The king dispatches servants to Eragon's village to find the dragon. They are unsuccessful and Eragon's uncle is killed and his home burned down. Brom, whom Eragon considers as nothing more than an old storyteller, helps him fight his way out of the village. He then gives Eragon an old sword, known as Zar'roc in the book series.

Eragon and Saphira make their way to Daret, where they are attacked in the docks. They find the rest of the town on fire and hold off a swarm of the king's servants as the villagers try to put out these fires. After leaving Daret the three are pursued by a group of Ra'zac. The group are caught in an ambush: Saphira becomes trapped under debris and Eragon must both try to free her and hold off the Ra'zac. After defeating the nearby enemies, the group make their way to Gil'ead, where Eragon and Brom sneak through the city and keep to try and free Arya. After a lengthy battle through Durza's fortress, Eragon meets Arya and Murtagh, who now join the group. This helps alleviate the mournful situation when Brom jumps in the way of a spear intended to kill Eragon and is fatally injured and dies.

The group escape from Gil'ead on Saphira's back, but face some Kull in the ruins of Orthiad. After defeating many Kull and Urgals they make their way to the Beor Mountains, where more Urgals lie in wait. They then sneak through an Urgal encampment, and make their way through a misty gorge. The group get to the Varden's hideout and defend it against hordes of Urgals. Eragon and Saphira then face Durza a second time, mounted on the back of a huge, batlike monster, eventually killing him.

Development
On April 18, 2006 Vivendi Universal Games announced that they were to publish a video game adaptation of the Eragon film to be released in December of the same year. It was slated to appear on most of the major game platforms (PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable and PC). The console versions were set to be developed by Stormfront Studios, who had previously worked on the game adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Amaze Entertainment, who had previously worked on the game versions of Pirates of the Caribbean and Over the Hedge, were to develop the handheld versions. On the same day Vivendi announced that the first possible chance to see the game would be at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May 2006. On May 11, 2006 it was confirmed by Yahoo that the game had been in development since pre-production of the film.

The game was previewed at Comic-Con 2006, where the public was allowed to play only one level named the Daret Bridge. The enemies consisted entirely of Urgals, and the player had to overcome several obstacles using magic and Saphira. Christopher Paolini played other levels at Comic-Con, such as Spine Mountains. The game was also shown at the 2006 Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. Actress Sienna Guillory, who plays the elf Arya in the film, made personal appearances at the Vivendi stand to promote the game. In October 2006 it was announced that the actors from the Eragon film would lend their voices to the game adaptation. Specifically, Edward Speleers (playing the title character), Sienna Guillory (Arya), Garrett Hedlund (Murtagh) and Robert Carlyle (Durza) were slated to lend their voices.

Animation supervisor Wes Takahashi served as an external art director for the game.

Releases
The console and PC versions of the game are very similar, focusing on the same style of gameplay. However, the Xbox 360 edition features two exclusive levels. One is on foot as Eragon, and Saphira is controlled in the second mission. It also features the Kull: an enemy from the novels. However, there are differences between their description in the novels and their appearance in the games. In the books they are eight feet tall and wield the same weapons as other Urgals, but the game depicts them as twelve-foot-tall brutes wielding flaming clubs. The handheld games are significantly different from the PC and console versions. The Game Boy Advance game centers on role-playing rather than combat, whilst the PSP game focuses on multiplayer action and aerial dragon levels. The DS edition uses its touchscreen in the battle system.

A version was released for the mobile phone. It allows alternate control of Eragon and Saphira, but unlike the console versions it allows multiple paths to be taken whilst still following the main storyline and allows customization of the playable character (in terms of skills which can be selected). The mobile game also provides a cheat code which, when entered into the console versions, causes the "fury mode" to become available. The Official Strategy Guide was published by Primagames and authored by Eric Mylonas. On December 6, 2006 a preview of the guide was made available from the Sierra webpage.

Critical reception

Eragon received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator sites Metacritic and GameRankings.

GameSpot rated the game 4.2 out of 10, and GameSpy gave it a similar score of 2 out of 5. PC Gamer UK slated the PC version of the game, describing the plot as "thinner than hospital undies", complaining about the tedious and repetitive side-scrolling action. They ended up summarising it as "a profoundly uninspiring tie-in" and gave it 53%. IGN came to a similar conclusion, primarily criticising the poor camera, unsophisticated combat and shortness. They rated the game 4.7 out of a possible 10.

However, the handheld versions of the game generally received more positive reviews. The Nintendo DS version received a positive review from IGN, who praised it for its "solid gameplay, enjoyable quests, being long for a movie license, and having thorough menu and tutorial system". It received 7.5 out of a possible 10. IGN said that it is surprisingly well developed for a Nintendo DS game.

References

External links

Eragon at Shurtugal.com
Eragon at IGN

2006 video games
Sierra Entertainment games
Cooperative video games
Game Boy Advance games
The Inheritance Cycle
Mobile games
Nintendo DS games
PlayStation 2 games
PlayStation Portable games
Stormfront Studios games
Vivendi Games games
Windows games
Xbox 360 games
Xbox games
Video games based on films
Video games about dragons
Hack and slash games
Action-adventure games
Video games developed in the United States
Amaze Entertainment games

Eragon (video game)


The common switch interface (CSIX) is a physical interface specification between a traffic manager (network processor) and a switching fabric. It was developed by the Network Processing Forum to:

 promote development and deployment of highly scalable network switches
 permit hardware and software interoperability

References

Data transmission

CSIX


"I Am Prepared to Die" is the name given to the three-hour speech given by Nelson Mandela on 20 April 1964 from the dock of the defendant at the Rivonia Trial. The speech is so titled because it ends with the words "it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die". The speech is considered one of the great speeches of the 20th century, and a key moment in the history of South African democracy.

The trial

In July 1963, ten African National Congress (ANC) leaders were arrested in Rivonia, a suburb of Johannesburg. Along with Mandela, who had been arrested in August 1962 and was serving a five-year sentence, they were accused of counts of sabotage, furthering communism and aiding foreign powers. That included charges of recruiting persons to undertake guerrilla warfare against the South African state, conspiring to aid foreign military against the republic, and furthering acts of communism. The prosecutor Percy Yutar did not explicitly move for the death penalty, but it was generally believed that that was what the state wanted. All defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Before the trial, Mandela and the other defendants decided that instead of testifying as witnesses and submitting to cross-examination he would make a speech from the dock to put the state on trial, by pointing out the injustices of the South African society and its legal system.  They also sought to show the political and moral programme of the ANC.

Mandela worked on the speech for weeks before the trial, receiving help in editing and polishing it from author Nadine Gordimer and journalist Anthony Sampson. In writing the speech, Mandela was inspired by Fidel Castro's famous "History Will Absolve Me" defence speech. He was particularly interested in making the speech appeal to an international audience, inspiring international support for the ANC cause.

Mandela's lawyers urged him to leave out the final statement, lest it provoke the judge  sentencing him to death, but Mandela refused. He felt that he was likely to be sentenced to death regardless of his statement so that saying what he truly felt this would be the best option. Nonetheless, he did add the qualifier "if needs be".

The prosecutor Percy Yutar made a surprise objection when the defense announced that Mandela would start by giving a speech instead of facing a more conventional cross-examination: "My Lord, My Lord, I think you should warn the accused that what he said from the dock has far less weight than if he submitted himself to cross-examination." Judge de Wet over-ruled the objection saying, "I think Mr. Yutar, that counsel for the defence have sufficient experience to be able to advise their clients without your assistance." Bram Fischer the main defense lawyer added "Neither we, nor our clients are unaware of the provisions of the Criminal Code", thus subtly pointing out the fact that Mandela was himself a lawyer with experience in criminal trials. Since in South African law, a defendant may not address the court from the witness stand but only answer questions, Mandela gave the speech from the defendant's dock. He spoke for some three hours before he concluded with the often-quoted "I am prepared to die".

While delivering the last line of the speech Mandela looked the judge, Quartus de Wet, directly in the eye, the last eye contact between the two during the trial.

The speech
The speech describes why the ANC had decided to go beyond its previous use of constitutional methods and Gandhian non-violent resistance and adopt sabotage against property (designed to minimize risks of injury and death) as a part of their activism against the South African government and its apartheid policies (while also training a military wing for possible future use).

Mandela began by stating that he had been among the founders of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the ANC, and that he did not deny his involvement in planning sabotage: "I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness, nor because I have any love for violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation, and oppression of my people by the whites."

Mandela argued that all nonviolent means had been tried and that they had resulted only in mounting restrictions and reduced freedom for the African people.  Referring to the Sharpeville shootings and a number of other instances of government violence against protesters, he stated that "the government which uses force to support its rule teaches the oppressed to use force to oppose it" and that the decision to adopt selective use of violent means was "not because we desire such a course. Solely because the government left us no other choice."

Mandela also devoted significant effort to refuting the prosecution's charges that he and the ANC had acted under the domination of the Communist Party of South Africa and foreign interests. He likened the alliance between the communists and the ANC to the alliance of the US, Britain and the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany. He discussed in some detail the relationship between the ANC and the Communist Party and explained that while the two shared a commitment to action against the apartheid system, he was wedded to a model of constitutional democracy for South Africa (he singled out the British political model for particular praise) and also supported a market economy, rather than a communist economic model. He noted that while there were political differences between the Communists and the ANC, "theoretical differences among those fighting against oppression is (sic) a luxury that we cannot afford at this stage". He added that the communists had been the only political group in South Africa who had shown themselves willing to treat Africans as human beings.

Impact
Mandela's friends Anthony Sampson and Nadine Gordimer, who had both participated in reviewing the speech as written by Mandela, had contrasting reactions to its delivery. Sampson described it as the most effective speech of his career, whereas Gordimer thought the delivery to be "hesitant, parsonical" until "only at the end did the man come through and when he had spoken that last sentence the strangest and most moving sound I have ever heard from human throats, came from the 'black' side of the court audience" .

At the end of the trial, Mandela was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He served 27 years of the sentence before he was released and elected President of South Africa. Upon his release he quoted the last sentence of his speech to the awaiting press. Mandela believed that the reason Judge de Wet had not sentenced him to death was that in his speech, Mandela had "dared him to do so".

Influence
The "I am prepared to die" sentence was used by South African composer Michael Hankinson in his 2004 orchestral work "A Mandela Portrait" as the choral finale of the first movement.
The last paragraph of the speech is written on the wall of South Africa's Constitutional Court building in Johannesburg.
US President Barack Obama quoted from the speech during his tribute speech at the state memorial service for Nelson Mandela held at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on 10 December 2013.

References

External links

Audio recording of the speech

Works by Nelson Mandela
1964 in South Africa
1964 in South African law
1964 speeches
Martyrdom
1964 neologisms
Political quotes

I Am Prepared to Die


Oscar Schachter (1915–2003) was an American international law and diplomacy professor, and United Nations aide.

Schachter was a native of New York City, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from City College of New York in 1936, and from Columbia Law School, where he was a Kent scholar and first in his class of 1939. He was in private practice and worked for other federal offices before joining the United States Department of State in 1942 as an advisor on wartime economic controls and liberated European areas.

He was a counsel for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration beginning in 1944 and was sent on missions to Poland and Russia in 1945. In 1946, he joined the United Nations as a legal counselor and later served in various directorial capacities.

Schachter was a guest lecturer at Yale Law School from 1955 to 1971. He was appointed a professor at Columbia Law School in the faculty of international affairs in 1975, named Hamilton Fish professor in 1980, and given emeritus status in 1985. He taught at Columbia until 2003.

He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a past president of the American Society of International Law.

According to Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, "Professor Schachter did more than any other official of the United Nations to help shape the rule of law."

He was one of the three neutral arbitrators who rendered the decision in the 1992 Canada–France Maritime Boundary Case.

Selected works
 Schachter, Oscar, The role of international law in the practice of the United Nations, c.1950
 Schachter, Oscar, Who Owns the Universe?, Collier's, early 1950s
 Schachter, Oscar, The relation of law, politics and action in the United Nations, 1960
 Schachter, Oscar; et al., Toward wider acceptance of UN treaties, New York : Arno Press, 1971.
 Schachter, Oscar, Sharing the world's resources, New York : Columbia University Press, 1977.
 Schachter, Oscar; Hellawell, Robert, ''Competition in international business : law and policy on restrictive practices'', New York : Columbia University Press, 1981.
 Schachter, Oscar, International law in theory and practice, Dordrecht, The Netherlands ; Boston : M. Nijhoff Publishers ; Norwell, MA, U.S.A. : Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991.
 Schachter, Oscar; Joyner, Christopher C., (editors), United Nations legal order, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press ; [s.l.] : ASIL, 2 volumes, 1995.
 Schachter, Oscar. "The right of states to use armed force." Michigan Law Review 82.5/6 (1984): 1620-1646.
 Schachter, Oscar. "United Nations law in the Gulf conflict." The American Journal of   International Law 85.3 (1991): 452-473.

References

1915 births
2003 deaths
American jurists
Presidents of the American Society of International Law
American officials of the United Nations
Place of birth missing
American Journal of International Law editors

Oscar Schachter


Deism is the belief that a higher being (like God) exists, but that the only revelation of God is in nature and reason, not in sacred books or prophets. Deism says that people should rely on logic and reason, and not traditions of a religion that is based on a holy book. People who follow deism are called deists.

Deists believe that a Higher Power created the world. They do not believe that the creation of the universe happened because of a spontaneous event. They usually reject supernatural events like miracles, and believe that God has set up natural laws, which govern how the universe works and how people should act, and does not interfere with these laws. Most deists also see holy books, such as the Bible and Qur'an, as writings made by people, rather than the writings of God.

Famous deists from history include American political leader and inventor Benjamin Franklin, French conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte, French philosopher Voltaire, British philosopher Thomas Paine, and French revolutionary leader Maximilien de Robespierre. Many historians think Thomas Jefferson was a deist, though he didn't say so.

References

Other websites
 English Deism - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
 World Union of Deists

Theology

Deism


The Axis of Time trilogy is an alternative history series of novels written by Australian journalist and author John Birmingham, from Macmillan Publishing.

The novels deal with the radical alteration of the history of World War II and the socio-historical changes that result when a technologically advanced naval task force from the year 2021 is accidentally transported back through time to 1942.

The early chapters of the first book in the trilogy, Weapons of Choice, are set in the near future.

Plot
In 2021, a radical Islamic terrorist movement has declared a global jihad against the Western world and established a Caliphate in Indonesia, initiating a wholesale slaughter of Chinese nationals there. In response, a US-led multinational task force of advanced warships and submarines sails to Indonesia to launch a counterattack against the Caliphate forces and retake the archipelago. With the fleet is a research vessel, the Nagoya, which is testing top-secret weapons and stealth systems that use the latest developments in quantum physics.

As the task force lies at anchor off the coast of East Timor preparing for deployment, the Nagoya conducts a full-scale test of its new systems but there is a catastrophic accident—the experiment generates a massive rift in the time-space continuum, completely destroying the Nagoya and sending most of the fleet back in time to 1942.

Many of the 2021 ships materialize in the middle of the US fleet that is steaming to engage the Japanese at the Battle of Midway, including one vessel which materializes into the structure of a 1942 ship, with horrific results. When the mystery fleet suddenly appears, the Americans mistake them for the enemy (due to the presence of Japanese vessels in the 2021 fleet) and they begin firing on them. With the crews of the 2021 fleet rendered helpless by "transition sickness", the computerized battle systems on their ships automatically activate, inflicting heavy damage and thousands of casualties on the 1942 fleet until the two forces work out what has happened and halt the battle. As the nature of the event dawns on the two fleets, the two commanders strike an uneasy truce and the combined fleet heads back to Pearl Harbor. The Americans then launch an intensive study into the 2021 fleet's futuristic computer and weapons technology, as well as the wealth of historical information which describes their own future – although many items of technology from the future fleet are stolen by unscrupulous sailors from 1942 and sold to the criminal underworld.

Matters are further complicated by the fact that the chaotic nature of the Nagoya's "time bubble" has transported some 2021 ships to locations far from the main group, and these vessels variously fall into the hands of the Japanese, the Germans and the Soviets. After the Japanese capture an Indonesian ship from the 2021 fleet, they discover what they did not know in the conventional version of history – that the US fleet had not been crippled by the Pearl Harbor attack, as they thought, and that the Americans have broken their military codes and are fully aware of the Japanese battle plans. Acting on these revelations, Admiral Yamamoto immediately turns his fleet around, and the Battle of Midway never takes place.

Another vessel is captured by the Germans and as they learn more about the future outcome of the war they halt and abandon their ill-fated invasion of Russia and prepare for an all-out assault on the United Kingdom. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin become allies and purge their military forces of anyone they believe to be a traitor.

The series goes on to explore the far-reaching effects of the Transition, which radically alters not merely the balance of power between the Axis and the Allies, but the entire course of WWII and global history. The Soviet Union uses the treaty with Germany to assemble a powerful and massive military and launch a large scale invasion into Asia and Eastern Europe, conquering a vast amount of territory.

The plot shares a premise with the 1980 film The Final Countdown, about a modern USN aircraft carrier which travels back in time to just before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.  The plot also has similarities to that of the series Zipang, about a Japanese missile destroyer transported back in time right before the Battle of Midway.

Books in series
 World War 2.1: Weapons of Choice (2004),
 World War 2.2: Designated Targets (2005),
 World War 2.3: Final Impact (2007),
 Stalin's Hammer: Rome (2012), novella,
 Stalin's Hammer: Cairo (2016), ebook only novella
 Stalin's Hammer: Paris (2016), ebook only novella
 Stalin's Hammer: The Complete Sequence (2017), , all three novellas (Rome, Cairo and Paris) have been repackaged as a single volume
 World War 3.1 (2023), was announced on John Birmingham's blog in 2021.

Allusions
Birmingham names several minor characters after contemporary nonfictional people:
 Venero Armanno, Brisbane novelist. Appeared as Lieutenant Veni Armanno.
 Paul Brasch, Brisbane comedian. Appeared as Major Paul Brasch.
 Karen Halabi, a journalist who has written for the Sydney Morning Herald, appeared as Captain Karen Halabi, captain of HMS Trident, a major character
 Piers Akerman and Andrew Bolt, conservative Australian columnists. Appeared as SAS demolitionists.
 Dale Brown, Tom Clancy, Stephen Euin Cobb, and Garth Nix - thriller writers appearing as counterboarding specialists aboard USS Leyte Gulf.
 Eric Flint (alternate history author) appeared as a Secret Service agent. The fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia, from his 1632 series is referred to as Dan Black's home town. In addition, it was mentioned that 1632 and its sequels were turned into movies, directed by Peter Jackson.
 William R. Forstchen (sci-fi/alternate history author) referred to as a fringe 'professor' who wrote an underground bio of J. Edgar Hoover.
 Bill O'Reilly and Jerry Springer are mentioned as both being United States senators in the 21st Century.
 Matthew Reilly (Australian action/sci-fi author) appears as a lieutenant on the USS Leyte Gulf. Redshirted.
 S.M. Stirling (sci-fi/alternate history author) appeared as a Secret Service agent. His Draka series is referenced when one of the characters remarks that, with all the events of the past year, he would not be surprised to hear of a new race of super-Nazis arising in South Africa, and a second time when a character mentions that the Draka series has been turned into movies by Steven Spielberg.
 Harry Turtledove, one of the most prominent alternate history authors, appears as "Commander Turteltaub", an aide to FDR. The President at one point asks him whether the space lizards have invaded yet, a reference to Turtledove's Worldwar series.
 Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill, The Goode Family and Office Space, commanding officer of the USS Hillary Clinton.
 James H. Cobb, Robert Dessaix, and Jean-Paul Sartre are namesakes for naval ships.
 Hillary Clinton is also the namesake of a naval ship, an American aircraft carrier. From the perspective of the series' 2021 setting, Clinton is a former President who led the country during a war and was later assassinated.
 Phillip McGregor (co-author of Space Opera (FGU), Rigger Black Book #1 (FGU) and many other roleplaying games and supplements) appears as the Pilot of one of the Dakota gunships used to decimate German Paratroops taking part in Operation Sea Dragon, a thank you for helping provide the author with some historical background material as part of a discussion on the book on the soc.history.what-if usenet newsgroup.
 Tim Horan and Peter FitzSimons (former rugby union players and in 'fitzys' case also journalist and author) appear as Australian military personnel
 The French ship Robert Dessaix, actually an Australian novelist, was commanded by René Goscinny with First Officer Albert Uderzo, the creators of Asterix.
 SAS Troopers Peter Hamilton (a British science-fiction writer) and Sir Vivian Richards (one of the greatest cricketers of all time).
 Colonel Harry Windsor of the British SAS (Prince Harry) appears as himself, obviously in no need of tuckerization.
 Rosanna Natoli is a reporter/presenter for Channel Seven News Queensland Australia. Was a 21st Century reporter murdered in Hawaii by a Japanese officer.
 Gia Dimarco, a female pornographic actress. Is a lieutenant in the USN, stationed in the USN Hillary Clinton.
 Arthur Clarke, a predominant science fiction writer, is referred to as Private Clarke during the invasion of Normandy.
 Amanda Lohrey is an Australian writer and novelist - there is a Lieutenant Amanda Lohrey in the RAN - Intelligence Officer, HMAS Havoc
Birmingham names at least one place (USSR Demidenko facility) after controversial Australian journalist and author Helen Darville, who won several major literary awards for her book The Hand That Signed the Paper, written under the pseudonym Helen Demidenko. Darville initially presented herself as being of Ukrainian ancestry but this was subsequently exposed as a hoax.

Adaptation
In September 2021, it was announced Luke Sparke is developing a television adaptation through his Sparke Films banner.

See also

 List of Axis of Time characters
 The Final Countdown (film)
 Worldwar
 Zipang (manga)
 Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II – Other depictions of Nazi Germany/Axis/World War II alternate history.

References

External links
 John Birmingham's blog

 Alternate History: When You Travel From the Future to the Past by Fredric Smoler – Magazine column which discusses alternate histories involving time travelers who alter the past, with special attention given to the first two volumes of Axis of Time.

Book series introduced in 2004
Fiction set in 1942
Novels set in the 1940s
Fiction set in 2021
Novels set in the 2020s
Alternate history book series
21st-century Australian novels
Science fiction book series
Novels about time travel
Novels about World War II alternate histories
2004 Australian novels

Axis of Time


Hughes de Courson is a French musician and arranger.

The Malicorne years

Hughes de Courson is best known for being on all of the albums by Malicorne. He played electric guitar, bass, crumhorn, percussion, recorder, positive organ, piano, elka, synthesiser, glockenspiel and Hammond organ. He was producer on some of the albums. His most original track was probably "Vive La Lune" on Balançoire En Feu (1981), which is largely instrumental. It typifies the colourful, bizarre sounds that he later made as a soloist. He also wrote some songs with his school mate, famous writer Patrick Modiano.

Classical medieval techno
Hughes' albums are all large-scale works. He is an arranger rather than a soloist. On many he combines electronic effects with medieval or baroque instruments. Mozart in Egypt takes works by Mozart and emphasises the oriental elements in them. The 25th symphony is played with a much-enlarged orchestra. O'Stravaganza - Vivaldi in Ireland combines traditional Irish music with re-arranged Vivaldi works. "Lambarena, Bach to Africa" mixes African traditional music from Gabon to Johann Sebastian Bach music. Songs of Innocence combines songs by children of the world with clever classical arrangements. Unfortunately his recordings are rarely available in the English-speaking world.

Discography

Charlemagne (1993)
Lambarena - Bach to Africa (1995)
13 Croquis de Jeunes Filles As (1996)
Mozart in Egypt (1997)
Songs of Innocence (1999)
O'Stravaganza - Vivaldi in Ireland (2001)
Lux Obscura: Un Projet Electro-Medieval (2003)
Mozart in Egypt 2 (2005)
He has also produced for almost 100 albums.

In the media
Hughes' song El Vuelo, appeared in 2009, in a series of TV ads for the Canadian airline, Air Canada, promoting new features of their new airplanes. He had help recording this piece from Plovdiv's Children's Choir, of Bulgaria.

Live music

Hughes de Courson wrote 22 music pieces for contemporary ballets, performed by Philippe Decoufle, Karine Saporta, The San Francisco Ballet, and many more. He also performed "Mozart in Egypt" and "O'Stravaganza" in various festivals, and in important events like the Jeddah Islamic Economic Forum in 2008. He is now living in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, and studies Asian music. He performed an Asian version of Ravel's Bolero in Ho Chi Mihn City in 2010.
He writes music for events, mainly in Qatar (Gulf Cup opening show, Asian cup opening show in 2011, Museum of Islamic Arts opening, Mercedes class S presentation in Shanghai, other events in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, etc...).

Hughes de Courson is willing to make a cross over album based on Malaysian music. He teaches, gives lectures, and is hoping to record his latest piece: "Magic Lutes", although the record industry crisis makes it more difficult nowadays.

References

French musicians
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)

Hughes de Courson


ಜೀವಶಾಸ್ತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಣಗಳ ಕೂಟವು ತಮ್ಮ ಪ್ರಬಾವದಿಂದ ಒಟ್ಟು ಗೂಡಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಕಾರ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಾ ಜೀವದ ಗುಣಲಕ್ಷಣ ಹೊಂದುರುವುದು.

ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ ಪಾರಿಭಾಷಿಕ ಕೋಶ

 ಅಣು
 ಕಣ
 ಮಹತ್ಕಣ
 Organelle
 ಜೀವ ಕಣ
 Tissue
 ಅವಯವ
 ಅವಯವ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ
 ಸಾವಯವ

ಬಾಹ್ಯ ಸಂಪರ್ಕಗಳು
 BBCNews: 27 September 2000, When slime is not so thick Citat: "It means that some of the lowliest creatures in the plant and animal kingdoms, such as slime and amoeba, may not be as primitive as once thought"
 SpaceRef.com, July 29, 1997: Scientists Discover Methane Ice Worms On Gulf Of Mexico Sea Floor
 The Eberly College of Science: Methane Ice Worms discovered on Gulf of Mexico Sea Floor  download Publication quality photos
 Artikel, 2000: Methane Ice Worms: Hesiocaeca methanicola. Colonizing Fossil Fuel Reserves
 SpaceRef.com, May 04, 2001: Redefining "Life as We Know it"  Hesiocaeca methanicola In 1997, Charles Fisher, professor of biology at Penn State, discovered this remarkable creature living on mounds of methane ice under half a mile of ocean on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
 BBCNews, 18 December 2002, 'Space bugs' grown in lab Citat: "Bacillus simplex and Staphylococcus pasteuri...Engyodontium album The strains cultured by Dr Wainwright seemed to be resistant to the effects of UV - one quality required for survival in space"
 BBCNews, 19 June 2003, Ancient organism challenges cell evolution Citat: "It appears that this organelle has been conserved in evolution from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, since it is present in both"
 Interactive Syllabus for General Biology - BI 04, Saint Anselm College, Summer 2003
 Jacob Feldman: Stramenopila
 NCBI Taxonomy entry: root (rich)
 Saint Anselm College: Survey of representatives of the major Kingdoms  Citat: "Number of kingdoms has not been resolved...Bacteria present a problem with their diversity...Protista present a problem with their diversity...",
 Species 2000 Indexing the world's known species. Species 2000 has the objective of enumerating all known species of plants, animals, fungi and microbes on Earth as the baseline dataset for studies of global biodiversity. It will also provide a simple access point enabling users to link from here to other data systems for all groups of organisms, using direct species-links.
 The largest organism in the world may be a fungus carpeting nearly 10 square kilometers of an Oregon forest, and may be as old as 10500 years.
 The Tree of Life.
 Frequent questions from kids about life and their answers

ಜೀವಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ

ಸಾವಯವ


Holy Soap is a UK television and entertainment website founded in June 2009 by the British television company Channel 5. The website is the official UK home of the Australian soap operas Home and Away and Neighbours, which are broadcast on the channel. The site allows users to watch full episodes of the soaps on the day they are broadcast, as well as providing additional information about the cast and characters. Holy Soap also includes news and features from four British soap operas that are not broadcast on Channel 5. On 30 June 2011, Holy Soap announced that it was closing.

Format
In June 2010, Channel 5 launched Holy Soap and it became the official UK website for the two Australian soap operas, Home and Away and Neighbours. Holy Soap replaced the programmes' stand-alone sites in the UK. The website allows viewers to watch full episodes of the soaps on the day they are broadcast, as well as previous episodes up to thirty days after they have aired. The site also includes news, gossip and video spoilers from British soap operas; EastEnders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks. Links to full episodes of the British soaps are also included. Images, cast and character profiles and exclusive interviews are available on the site for each of the soaps.

The site does not have any branding, so it attracts viewers who are interested in soaps on different channels. It was designed by Taglab and developed by Unboxed Consulting. Five Sales sell the video advertising around the episodes and previews of Home and Away and Neighbours, while digital media agency Unanimis, sell the display advertising on the site. Holy Soap forms part of Five's Digital Media Group platform, which also includes FiveFwd, a website aimed at fans of cars and gadgets.

On the launch of the site, Channel 5's head of digital media, Jonathan Lewis said: "We're not precious. We know that soap fans have voracious appetites and that many of the same people who love Neighbours and Home and Away love the soaps on the other channels, too. So it makes sense to construct a destination where individuals can share their love of all the big soaps on TV".

On 30 June 2011, Holy Soap announced that it was closing that day and the Australian soap operas, Neighbours and Home and Away, were being moved to a new online home at channel5.com.

Reception
Gavin Reeder of Media Week reviewed the website and said that it "doesn't realise its potential" and that it "needs to have more personality and sense of humour". He added "There are some nice little snippets and gems about future storylines. However, it feels like it lacks the editorial investment required to become a portal for soap news and doesn't differentiate itself from the tabloids and TV mags with a range of video content or the immediacy that only online can deliver". Since its launch in 2009, between 25% and 30% of the traffic to the site is to the non-Five programmes. In December 2009, it was announced that Holy Soap, combined with FiveFwd and Five Casino, formed the "fastest growing group of websites among all major UK broadcasters".

References

External links
Press release about launch

Internet properties established in 2009
Television websites
British entertainment websites

Holy Soap