Xerochrysum bracteatum  is a flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae and comes from Australia. In English, the plant is usually called golden everlasting or strawflower. It grows as a woody or leafy perennial or annual shrub.  Depending on the type it can get up to a meter (3 ft) tall.

The golden everlasting serves as food for different kinds of larvae (caterpillars) of butterflies, moths and skippers. Adult butterflies, hoverflies, native bees, small beetles and grasshoppers visit the flower heads.

The golden everlasting is easy to grow. Annual varieties in a host of color forms are available.

Distribution and habitat
The Golden everlasting occurs in all Australian mainland states and territories as well as Tasmania. It is quite common and can be found from North Queensland across to Western Australia.

It occurs in all habitats except those that are in  dense shade. It grows as an annual in patches of red sand in Central Australia, responding rapidly to bouts of rainfall to complete its life cycle. It is common among granite outcrops in southwest Western Australia, and is found on heavier and more fertile soils in the Sydney region, such as basalt-, shale- or limestone-based soils, generally in areas with a high water table. It has been reported growing in disturbed soil, along roadsides and in fields in the New England region in the United States.

Ecology
The brightly colored bracts act as petals to attract insects such as hoverflies, native bees and small beetles that pollinate the florets. Grasshoppers also visit the flower heads. The caterpillars of Tebenna micalis have been recorded on this species, as have those of the Australian painted lady (Vanessa kershawi). The tiny fruits are dispersed by wind, and germinate and grow after fire or on disturbed ground.

The water mould (oomycete) Bremia lactucae has infected commercial crops in Italy and California. In 2002 on the Ligurian coast, widespread infection of several varieties, most severely 'Florabella Pink' and to a lesser extent 'Florabella Gold' and 'Florabella White', resulted in leaf blistering and the development of lesions on the leaves, and white patches on the undersides, particularly in areas of poor ventilation. There was an outbreak of downy mildew in a crop of the Golden everlasting in San Mateo County, California in 2006, in which the leaves developed large chlorotic lesions. A Phytoplasma infection damaged X. bracteatum crops in the Czech Republic between 1994 and 2001, causing poor growth, bronzing of the leaves and malformation of flower heads. Genetically, the pathogen was indistinguishable from the agent of aster yellows. The root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) attacks and forms galls on the roots, which leads to the death of the plant.

Farming and breeding

The Golden everlasting had been introduced to farming in England by 1791. German horticulturist Herren Ebritsch obtained material and developed it at his nursery in Arnstadt near Erfurt in Germany. He bred and sold varieties of many colors from bronze to white to purple, which spread across Europe in the 1850s. The bracts of these early forms tended to remain cupped around the flower head rather than flatten out like the native Australian forms. These were also annual rather than perennial forms. Many were given names such as 'atrococcineum' (dark scarlet flower heads), 'atrosanguineum' (dark blood-red flower heads), 'aureum' (golden yellow flower heads), 'bicolor' (red-tipped yellow flower heads), 'compositum' (large multicolored flower heads), 'macranthum' (large rose-edged white flower heads), and 'monstrosum' (flower heads with many bracts), although today they are generally sold in mixed seed for growing as annuals. Some colored forms of South African Helichrysum are thought to have been introduced to the breeding program, which resulted in the huge array of colors. The Golden everlasting was one of several species that became popular with European royalty and nobility from the early 19th century, yet were little noticed in Australia until the 1860s, when they became more prominent in Australian gardens.

Most varieties started in Australia in the latter part of the 20th century are perennials. 'Dargan Hill Monarch' was the first of these, and many more have followed. Profusely flowering, these come in many colors including white, yellow, orange, bronze, pink and red. Their commercial lifespan is generally around three years. Queensland-based company Aussie Winners has a range of compact plants ranging from orange to white known as Sundaze. Plants of this series usually have larger leaves. This range won the Gran premio d'oro at the Euroflora exposition in Geneva in 2001, for the best new plant series in the previous three years. 'Florabella Gold', a member of the Florabella series, won the award for best new pot plant (vegetative) in the Society of American Florists' competition of 1999. The Wallaby variety of the flower range of taller forms with narrow leaves and white, yellow or pink flowers. Other commercial ranges include the Nullarbor series, and Queensland Federation daisies, including 'Wanetta Sunshine' and 'Golden Nuggets'.

The Golden everlasting are easy to grow both from seeds and from cuttings, although named varieties will only grow true from cuttings. Fresh seed germinates in 3 to 20 days and requires no special care. Plants grow best in acidic, well-aerated, soils of pH 5.5 to 6.3, with low levels of phosphorus. They are sensitive to iron deficiency, which shows on the plant as yellowing (chlorosis) of the youngest leaves while the leaf veins remain green.

The Golden everlasting can be grown in large pots or window boxes. It also makes a good starting plant in the garden before other plants become more established. Lower growing varieties are suitable for hanging baskets and border plantings. The flowers attract butterflies to the garden. Dried flowers are long lasting—up to some years—and are used in floral arrangements and the cut flower industry. More robust longer stemmed forms are used for commercial cut flowers. The main factor limiting lifespan of dried flowers is the wilting of stems, so flowers are sometimes wired into arrangements. Immersing flowers in glycerol or polyethylene glycol also lengthens lifespan.

References

Other websites

ANPSA: Xerochrysum bracteatum

Asteraceae

Xerochrysum bracteatum


The Outsider is the name of three different characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

Publication history
The Pre-Crisis version of the Outsider first appeared as an unseen character in Detective Comics #334 and was created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino.

The Flashpoint version of the Outsider first appeared in Flashpoint: The Outsider #1 and was created by James Robinson and Javi Fernandez.

The Earth-3 Outsider first appeared in Justice League (vol. 2) #6 and was created by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee.

Fictional character biography

Pre-Crisis
Alfred Pennyworth was seemingly killed when he pushed Batman and Robin out of the way of a boulder. It was revealed that he had been revived by a scientist named Brandon Crawford. His attempt at regeneration resulted in a dramatic change: Alfred awoke from his apparent death sporting pasty white skin with circular markings, superhuman powers, including telekinesis, and a desire to destroy Batman and Robin. Calling himself the Outsider, he indirectly battles the Dynamic Duo. Outsider sends coffins with Batman and Robin automatons to deliver the message to Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. Tracking the delivery of the coffins, they have to battle off the Grasshopper Gang, then they find fingerprints belonging to the Outsider which shockingly belong to Alfred Pennyworth. Batman and Robin track down the Outsider to his hideout and battle him to a standstill before the strange creature can turn both Batman and Robin into coffins themselves. Knocking the Outsider out, Batman puts him on a machine which bombards him with radiation once more. This restores Alfred back to normal and in good health, but with no memory of his Outsider identity.

After this, Alfred occasionally relapsed into the Outsider identity to face down the Dynamic Duo, other members of the Batman family and the Outsiders, but has not done so since Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Flashpoint
A new version of the Outsider appears in the Flashpoint reality. Michael Desai was born in Chandigarh, India, an infant metahuman with alabaster skin and superhuman durability. When his mother died during his birth (for which Desai's father blamed him), Desai created a sinkhole with a three-mile radius which killed thousands of people and left him the only survivor. How Desai accomplished this feat (and the extent of this power) is currently unknown. Years later, Michael adopted the alias of "the Outsider" (as he is both "outside" the law and the human race) and accumulates considerable wealth through (implied) illegal activities. This allows Desai to elevate India's status as a world power, turning the country into a multinational criminal operation completely under his control. The Outsider has also made many enemies; Rising Sun and Mister and Misses Terrific tried to assassinate him after Desai framed them when they revealed some of his illegal activities. The Outsider then killed all three would-be assassins and set out for the man who hired them. Desai is also engaged in a manhunt to find (and capture) a teenage electricity-based meta-human named Blackout, whom he believes can efficiently power mainland India with his abilities. Later, the Outsider was invited by the heroes of Earth to a meeting (arranged by Cyborg) about creating a group of heroes to deal with the Amazon-Atlantean War. The Outsider's reasons for supporting the heroes revolve around maintaining his empire; he responds to the threat of war by saying: "War is bad for business. My business". When Batman refuses to join the team, the Outsider declines as well, stating "the Outsider is out". Desai is revealed to have longevity, since he is shown to be active in Indian criminal and political affairs since the late 1970s. In 1979, the Outsider quelled the Bombay riots by manipulating and subsequently killing the crime leaders responsible for the violence, uniting their organizations under his leadership. In 1996, the Outsider captured Isis in his Siberian Express on Novaya Zemlya in a bid to blackmail Black Adam into selling Desai his home country, Khandaq. When negotiating terms for Isis' release, the Outsider attacked and defeated Black Adam with Durlan technology. The Outsider then shot Adam and threw him off the Siberian Express to join Isis as his trophy-prisoner. In the present day, the Outsider is shown interrogating the warden at the prison from which the assassins escaped. Although the warden claimed to know nothing about the prisoners' breakout, the Outsider shoots him and has his family sold into slavery in retribution for his incompetence. The Outsider's investigation then leads him to Khandaq, where he uncovers an encryption key which links Blackout to the assassination attempt. Later, Desai apparently confronts Blackout, but he realizes that the man he is fighting is not Blackout but J'onn J'onzz in disguise. In 1985, the Outsider is revealed to have kept J'onn J'onzz captive in a secret research facility after stealing Doctor Erdel's teleportation device. After studying him and learning his weaknesses, the Outsider sold J'onn to Russia; he subsequently escaped and seized the country. In the present day, after the Outsider talks with J'onn about the past, J'onn admits to seeking revenge against Desai for torturing him and tries to kill him. During the battle, the Outsider uses a salvaged teleportation device to trap J'onn within the Multiverse. After unsuccessfully questioning J'onn about future assassination attempts, the Outsider closed the device with J'onn trapped inside, cutting him in half. Later, the Outsider returns to his base and contacts the heroes to join the assault on New Themyscira and arrives on the scene to attack in the Atlantean-Amazon War.

The New 52
In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe. a man known as the Outsider is introduced as the leader/benefactor of the Secret Society of Super Villains, where he was depicted as a pale man clad in purple. The Secret Society's origins are first seen in Justice League #6 when Professor Ivo and the "Outsider" meet to discuss the growing superhero community. The Secret Society is officially uncovered five years later by the Green Arrow (who is injured while trying to infiltrate the organization under the name Dark Hunter). The Outsider is seen looking to recruit members to the Secret Society, examining photographs of the different supervillains. During Catwoman's attempt to infiltrate the Society, she is captured by the Outsider, who proceeds to shoot her in the head. He also sends a message along their communication coins to Dr. Light, knocking him back in a burst of light, thus giving him his powers. It is revealed that Catwoman is actually the Martian Manhunter and the two pursue the Outsider. When they find him, the Martian Manhunter attempts to read his mind, only for the "Outsider" to block the Manhunter's access and tell him that it was nice to see him "again".

During the Trinity War storyline, The Outsider watches the news of the Justice League and the Justice League of America fighting in Kahndaq, thinking to himself that everyone will actually believe that Superman killed Doctor Light under his own power. He also states that Pandora is in the open and will soon belong to the Secret Society. The Outsider, having captured Madame Xanadu, tells her that the Justice Leagues and the Trinity of Sin are all pieces in his game, with Superman and the Question (referred to as the pawns), Batman, the Phantom Stranger, and Wonder Woman (referred to as the knights), all moving away from Pandora (referred to as the queen) leaving her unprotected. Madame Xanadu retorts that she does not need to see the future to know that the Justice League will defeat him, to which he replies that he has already won since he has a mole in the Justice League. The Outsider recounts how he arrived on Prime Earth. During the Justice League's battle with Darkseid, the barriers between universes was weakened which allowed him and another individual to escape their world, but his master did not make it. Ever since, he began recruiting many of the League's enemies to create the Secret Society in preparation for his master's arrival, searched for Pandora's Box, and planted an agent within the Justice League. He gets his hands on the box and tells the heroes that the box is not magic, but science, that was created on his world and can only be opened by someone from his world. He explains that the box opens a gateway to another universe, his homeworld; the birthplace of evil. It is revealed that the Outsider is actually from Earth-3 and is that world's version of Alfred Pennyworth who works as the butler to Owlman as he and his fellow Crime Syndicate members Ultraman, Superwoman, Power Ring, Johnny Quick, and Deathstorm arrive while Sea King didn't survive the trip.

During the "Forever Evil" storyline, Pandora tries to get answers from the Outsider on how to reopen the portal to Earth-3, but he points out that she is asking him the wrong type of questions. He then reveals to her that the Seven Deadly Sins, supposedly released when she touched the box, would have appeared on Prime Earth no matter what, meaning the Council of Eternity cursed her for no reason. The Outsider then blows up the Watchtower, as Pandora teleports away. In a flashback, it was revealed that Outsider worked with Thomas Wayne Jr. where they caused the death of Thomas Wayne Sr., Martha Wayne, and Bruce Wayne where Owlman later mentioned that his father was weak. Outsider contacts Owlman to inform him that Grid placed Nightwing in a "Murder Machine" (originally intended for Doomsday). When Grid informs the Outsider of the intrusion, he goes to protect their hooded prisoner over Nightwing. The Outsider is killed by Black Manta.

See also
 List of Batman family enemies

References

External links
 Outsider (Pre-Crisis version) at DC Comics Wiki
 Outsider (Flashpoint version) at DC Comics Wiki
 Outsider (Alfred Pennyworth of Earth 3) at DC Comics Wiki
 Outsider (Flashpoint version) at Comicvine

DC Comics supervillains
DC Comics metahumans
Comics characters introduced in 1966
Comics characters introduced in 2011
Characters created by Gardner Fox
Characters created by Geoff Johns
Characters created by Jim Lee
Characters created by Carmine Infantino

Outsider (comics)


Chinese Wand (Jiangan) Exercise or Chinese Health Wand is an obscure ancient exercise system, related to the martial art Kung Fu.  The "wand" in Chinese Wand Exercise is a 48-50" long dowel, 1" in diameter, (wood or bamboo, for example), used as a fulcrum for balance, form and posture. "It's the pyramid effect, with you as center."	"Seventeen gentle bending, twisting and lunging  movements flow in exact order, specially designed to get the blood circulating more efficiently throughout the body. These exercises are done in gradual, easy 'Stages' while using an original Chinese deep-breathing technique" and chi energy, and can be easy or more challenging as the individual chooses.

Together they exercise every major muscle in the body and take no more than 20 minutes to complete. The relative ease of the 17 moves (11 standing and six floor exercises) engage all the organs and muscles of the body together in harmony rather than separating out one part of the body from another. This produces a more efficient way of staying fit and healthy by increasing and balancing the chi energy.

"Chinese Wand prevents illness and delays the aging process of many cells." Together, they exercise the entire body safely and gently. Chinese Wand was known as a "preventive" of disease while acupuncture was the "treatment."

History in China

Although awareness of its existence is recent, Chinese Wand is said to be thousands of years old. It was passed down through Grand Masters and kept private for the use of the succeeding Chinese rulers and their families. They were devised for the emperor to slow down the aging process and maintain perfect health.

The exercises were derived from studying animals at play in nature, hence some of the names of the forms: "Springing of the Tiger," "Raising of the Bird's Wing," "Panda Rolls," to name a few. Chinese wand is not by itself taught as a method of self-defense.

The source of all current information stems from Bruce L. Johnson, who is currently the only known living Grand Master of Chinese Wand.

Coming To America

According to Johnson, when he was 19 he learned the exercises from 93-year-old Grand Master Ch'eng in 1945. He and two Navy buddies, all wrestlers, were exploring Shanghai and were amazed by an 80-year-old rickshaw man's ability to pull a wide rickshaw with the three muscular seamen up and down the steep hills of Shanghai. Johnson pursued the slight Chinese man who eventually led him to the slender, regal Grand Master. Upon meeting Dr. Ch'eng at his home in Shanghai, the tall, 235-pound 19-year-old was unable to take down the 130 lb.  Ch'eng who, seemingly inexplicably, fended him off and left him lying on the floor after each of three increasingly aggressive advances. He used an ancient "spinning" technique. Johnson, convinced that he had to learn everything this man could teach, was soon accepted as a student by Ch'eng, who was no doubt impressed and amused by the young headstrong man's potential and enthusiasm for learning all he could.  Eventually Dr. Ch'eng, having lost his sons in the war between China and Japan, trusted Johnson enough to pass on the knowledge and techniques he would need to become the next Grand Master.

Biography of Grand Master Bruce L. Johnson

Minnesota-raised Bruce Leroy Johnson, (June 21, 1926- December 11, 2014) was a sickly child who overcame his early beginnings through exercise and body-building.  Health and physical fitness became a lifelong passion, as well as a quest to stay young and embrace Nature.

After high school, during World War II,  the handsome blue-eyed, black-haired (of Swedish and Iroquois descent) Johnson became a Navy heavyweight wrestling champion who excelled in physical exploits and competitions.  He also was a navy ranger, and one of the first to reach the shores of Iwo Jima. His mother's sister was married to revered World War II journalist and author, Ernie Pyle, with whom Bruce had a close relationship and who was killed only a few miles from where Johnson was, on the island of Ie Shima. He is often called upon to accept memorial awards on behalf of his uncle.

Johnson studied at the Kodokan Institute in Tokyo, Japan where he earned three black belts in Judo.

Back in the states after World War II, Johnson tried to introduce the merits of the exercise system. But because of McCarthyism and the fear of Communism, there was little enthusiasm about anything Asian. Few showed interest in learning the unusual, oriental exercises.

Meanwhile, wanderlust led Johnson around the world finding work, often on ships. He was a bodyguard for King Farouk for a time. Wherever he went in the world, he sought out others who might have heard of Chinese Wand, even placing ads in local papers. But he never found anyone. As far as he knew, he was the only one who knew about it.  Johnson spent time in Hollywood and found a small group of health food and fitness enthusiasts such as Mae West, Jimmy Durante, and others who became students. It has been rumored that he might have been the inspiration for the song "Nature Boy" (popularized by Nat King Cole) when he claimed he spent time with the songwriter, Eden Ahbez. Later, he taught celebrities such as James Coburn who was photographed in People Magazine doing the exercises.

Johnson became friends with Bruce Lee, and the two did demonstrations of strength and speed together. "Bruce [Lee] was the only man who could ever 'handle' me - of course, he never knew Dr. Cheng." Lee was quoted in Johnson's book as saying, "All things are possible with the great Masters."

In 1965, Johnson became a hero when he rescued three children from a shark in the Bahamas by swimming out and averting its attention . A fourth child was killed. Armed with only a pointed shell he grabbed on the beach, he fought the beast a full five minutes underwater, his leg in its mouth until he jabbed its eye with the shell and was able to escape, barely making it to shore. He won international acclaim and was honored by heads of three governments.

He caused another sensation in 1966 when he and a friend (who later became his wife) volunteered to spend an unspecified amount of time on an uninhabited Fiji Island with no supplies, only bathing suits and camera equipment. Learning too late that the island was far from idyllic limited their stay to 40 days, but caused national publicity.

Dramatic adventures seemed to follow the elusive Johnson who often found himself at the right place in time to rescue others from extreme danger (over 50 documented at the risk of his own life) including fires, mangled cars, even abusive husbands.

Johnson rarely spoke of his powers as a mystic. Students would sometimes notice supernatural transformations in his appearance as he taught the class.  He was inclined to believe that Dr. Ch'eng was teaching through him. One famous psychic of his day, Peter Hurkos, upon meeting Johnson said, "Who is that beautiful Chinese man coming out of you?"

Others saw Johnson transform: after a class in Eureka, California, a young student "asked him if he knew that he had become transformed into a Chinese person while he was performing the wand exercises. . .Did you see it too?..." another classmate added.

It has also been said that the late Dr. Ch'eng's formidable, otherworldly presence was physically tangible, gentle, even erotic.

Enthusiasm for Chinese Wand was minimal until a nationwide curiosity in Eastern philosophy erupted in the 1960s, beginning with the Beatles' trip to India and the subsequent publicity. Interest in meditation techniques, yoga, martial arts, and other esoteric practices spiked.  At last, Johnson was able to develop classes. Eventually, he self-published a book in 1975.

In December 1976, Johnson, who also worked as a professional diver, was seriously injured in an underwater accident and sustained a near-fatal brain stem infarct causing stroke-like symptoms. Initially told he would never walk again, he once again defied odds and within a matter of months,  was walking and looking as healthy as ever.

Although still reeling from lingering and painful after-effects of the trauma, he managed to generate interest from a major publisher (William Morrow, New York) who published his book in hardcover in 1977.

During the time he was striving to regain his health, he underwent a  Christian "born-again" experience that eventually influenced his thinking and upended his belief system. He slowly rejected a holistic awareness of consciousness and abandoned his lifelong allegiance to preserving and re-introducing the teachings of Dr. Ch'eng and the art of Chinese Wand.  The spreading of a popular desire to learn the more violent aspects of martial arts and the potential "danger" of involvement with the supernatural conflicted with his newfound ultra-conservative Christian views. Efforts to promote Chinese Wand diminished and eventually disappeared from public view.

"--Oriental philosophy is at their [martial arts] heart," Johnson says. "These things are not from God, as God is not in the business of mystical energies or the occult. . .I no longer practice the martial arts …as a Christian, I cannot in good conscience, teach or recommend the martial arts to others."

Chinese Wand Today

Even though Johnson's book is no longer in print, the web and YouTube videos are generating a resurgence of the practice in the U.S. and the U.K. in particular. A new generation of students are learning what they can from Johnson's book, sometimes by changing the name slightly (e.g. `Chi Stix', 'Stick Yoga,' or `Jian Gan - Chinese Health Wand') to avoid copyright infringement on Johnson's original text.

It appears that Johnson did not train anyone to carry on this unique art as the next Grand Master. Because of this, apart from the basic exercises, the remaining 190 exercises, more esoteric practices and knowledge, are probably lost.

	"I am the last of the Grand Masters [of Chinese Wand]. When I go, the secret goes with me."

The Future

Although Johnson is the last Grand Master his book opened the art up to the wider population. He wanted his book to be in every nursing home, every hospital, every physical therapy room, every doctor's office for the doctor to prescribe the exercises to patients - in every home so families could practice together; he also hoped that workers in offices and factories could practice the exercises together to increase productivity and health of workforce and that physical fitness instructors in schools and colleges would adopt the system.

Some in the Chinese martial arts and Qigong community are now taking a serious interest in the Chinese Wand and promoting its use as a social exercise the way Johnson envisaged. A new book on the subject examines the esoteric aspects of the art and its origins and influences - and encourages dialogue within China itself.
The link with China was very much in Johnson's thoughts. He was curious whether someone was still practicing in a remote region of China  and intended to take the art back to China himself:-

"In China they now do Tai Chi, but my one ambition is to return there and bring their ancient Chinese exercises full circle."

Similar tools
Tai Chi Ruler and Tai Chi Bang (Stick) are similar tools that are used in Tai Chi. The Ruler and Bang Stick are considered a Yin and Yang pair. The Bang Stick is Yang. It works more on the external joints, ligaments, and muscles. The Ruler is Yin, and works on the internal. The Ruler is light, while the Bang Stick is heavy. The Bang Stick is straight, about the length of the forearm and diameter of the wrist. The Ruler is typically about 12" long with a contoured diameter largest at its ends. Both the Bang Stick and Ruler have a unique feature - a ring on the Bang Stick and a small sphere on the Ruler.
There are adaptations of those tools: the Long Bang (Tai Chidu), a two-person version of the Bang and the Bent Bang.

Taiji Zhang (杖 (zhang) lit. wand meaning cane, stick or rod) or Tai Chi Stick is another more similar tool. Used in Taiji Stick Health Preservation Exercises (Taiji Yang Sheng Zhang (太極養生杖): 太极 (Taiji), 养生 (Yangsheng "nourish life") created by Chinese Health Qigong Association in 2007.

References

Physical exercise

Chinese Wand Exercise


Wilhelm von Winthem (1799–1847) was a naturalist and entomologist from Hamburg, Germany, who was chiefly interested in Diptera and Hymenoptera. Well placed in a port city, von Winthem built a world collection.

Winthem belonged to a long-established family of Hamburg merchants. A successful merchant himself he became very wealthy. He purchased huge numbers of insects, concentrating on Diptera, Hymenoptera and Hemiptera. Johann Wilhelm Meigen worked on his European Diptera and he purchased the collection of Christian Rudolph Wilhelm Wiedemann (who had borrowed specimens from him including flies from Brazil), and many others. Thus he built the most important Diptera collection of the age.

"For almost all the Diptera described in the present paper we are indebted to Wilhelm von Winthem of Hamburg, a young man who is collecting native and exotic insects with unusual enthusiasm and who has already made many welcome discoveries." — Wiedemann, 1819, Brasilianische Zweiflügler, Zoologisches Magazin (Kiel), 1(3):40-56.

In 1852 his collection was sold to the Imperial Museum in Vienna. Kept separately until at least 1880 it was finally incorporated into the main Diptera collections of the Naturhistorisches Museum. Von Winthem's specimens are identified with a printed label "coll. Winthem", usually with the species name added and, appropriately, with Wiedemann's or Meigen's handwritten labels.

References

1799 births
1847 deaths
German entomologists
Hymenopterists
Dipterists
German naturalists

Wilhelm von Winthem


Midge is a common term for many types of small fly. They are all in a suborder, the Nematocera.

They are found on practically every land area except permanently dry deserts and the frozen zones. Some midges, such as many Phlebotominae (sand fly) and Simuliidae (black fly), are vectors of various diseases. Others are prey items for insectivores, such as various frogs and swallows.

The highland midge of Scotland (Culicoides impunctatus) is present in huge numbers. It is a significant blood-sucking pest. It is found in upland and lowland areas (fens, bogs and marshes) especially in the north west of Scotland from late spring to late summer.

The habits of midges vary greatly from species to species, though within any particular family midges commonly have similar ecological roles. Examples of families which include midges are:

 Blephariceridae, net-winged midges
 Cecidomyiidae, gall midges
 Ceratopogonidae, biting midges
also known as no-see-ums or punkies in North America, and sandflies in Australia.
 Chaoboridae, phantom midges
 Chironomidae, non-biting midges
also known as muffleheads in the Great Lakes region of North America
 Deuterophlebiidae, mountain midges
 Dixidae, meniscus midges
 Scatopsidae, dung midges
 Thaumaleidae, solitary midges

References

Flies

Midge


Mount Morris is a town in central Waushara County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,092 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated community of Mount Morris is located in the town.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 35.2 square miles (91.2 km2), of which, 34.2 square miles (88.6 km2) of it is land and 1.0 square miles (2.6 km2) of it (2.84%) is water.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,092 people, 481 households, and 344 families residing in the town. The population density was 31.9 people per square mile (12.3/km2). There were 994 housing units at an average density of 29.0 per square mile (11.2/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 98.26% White, 0.27% Native American, 0.18% Asian, and 1.28% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.82% of the population.

There were 481 households, out of which 22.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.2% were married couples living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.3% were non-families. 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.67.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 20.2% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 20.9% from 25 to 44, 32.6% from 45 to 64, and 21.2% who were 65 years of age or older.  The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $39,732, and the median income for a family was $45,114. Males had a median income of $34,861 versus $24,261 for females. The per capita income for the town was $20,713. About 5.9% of families and 7.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.0% of those under age 18 and 4.0% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

 Emil Keup, Wisconsin State Representative and businessman, lived in the town; Keup served as chairman of the Mount Morris Town Board

References

External links
 Mount Morris, Wisconsin

Towns in Waushara County, Wisconsin
Towns in Wisconsin

Mount Morris, Wisconsin


The 56th Punjabi Rifles (Frontier Force) was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1849 as the 2nd Regiment of Punjab Infantry. It was designated as the 56th Punjabi Rifles (Frontier Force) in 1906 and became 2nd Battalion 13th Frontier Force Rifles in 1922. In 1947, it was allocated to the Pakistan Army, where it continues to exist as 8th Battalion The Frontier Force Regiment.

Early history
The regiment was raised on 18 May 1849 by Lieutenant JC Johnston at Mianwali as part of the Transfrontier Brigade. In 1851, the brigade was expanded and redesignated as the Punjab Irregular Force, which later became famous as the Punjab Frontier Force or The Piffers. The Piffers consisted of five regiments of cavalry, eleven regiments of infantry and five batteries of artillery besides the Corps of Guides. Their mission was to maintain order on the Punjab Frontier; a task they performed with great aplomb. The 2nd Punjab Infantry took part in numerous frontier operations besides the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857-58, when took part in Siege of Delhi, the Siege and Capture of Lucknow, the Battle of Cawnpore, the Rohilkhand Campaign and the capture of Bareilly. During the Second Afghan War of 1878-80, the regiment fought in the Battle of Peiwar Kotal. In 1897, it took part in the Tirah Campaign.

56th Punjabi Rifles (Frontier Force)

Subsequent to the reforms brought about in the Indian Army by Lord Kitchener in 1903, the regiment's designation was first changed to 56th Infantry (Frontier Force) and then in 1906, to 56th Punjabi Rifles (Frontier Force). In 1914, the regiment's class composition was two companies each of Dogras, Pathans, Sikhs, and Punjabi Muslims. During the First World War, the regiment served throughout with the 28th Indian Brigade. In 1915, it served in Egypt and Aden (Yemen), moving to Mesopotamia in December. Here, it fought with great gallantry in the bloody battles for the Relief of Kut al Amara on the Tigris Front in 1916-17, the capture of Baghdad and in operations north of Baghdad at Istabulat, Daur and Tikrit. In 1918, the regiment moved to Palestine and took part in the Battle of Megiddo, which led to the annihilation of the Turkish Army in Palestine. It returned to India in 1920. In 1917, the 56th Punjabi Rifles raised a second battalion, which served in the Third Afghan War of 1919. The regiment's total casualties during the war were 1679, including 389 killed or died of wounds.

Subsequent History
After the First World War, the two battalions of 56th Punjabi Rifles were grouped with the 55th, 57th, 58th and 59th Scinde Rifles (Frontier Force) to form the 13th Frontier Force Rifles in 1922. The 1st Battalion 56th Punjabi Rifles became the 2nd Battalion, while 2nd Battalion 56th Punjabi Rifles became the 10th (Training) Battalion of the new regiment. During the Second World War, the battalion served with distinction in the Burma Campaign. In 1947, the Frontier Force Rifles was allotted to Pakistan Army. In 1948, 2 FF Rifles fought in the Kashmir War against India. In 1956, the Frontier Force Rifles and the Pathan Regiment were merged with the Frontier Force Regiment, and 2 FF Rifles was redesignated as 8 FF. During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, the battalion served in the Rann of Kutch and Rajasthan Sector.

Genealogy
1849 2nd Regiment of Punjab Infantry
1851 2nd Regiment of Infantry, Punjab Irregular Force
1865 2nd Regiment of Infantry, Punjab Frontier Force
1901 2nd Punjab Infantry
1903 56th Infantry (Frontier Force)
1906 56th Punjabi Rifles (Frontier Force)
1917 1st Battalion 56th Punjabi Rifles (Frontier Force)
1922 2nd Battalion 13th Frontier Force Rifles
1945 2nd Battalion The Frontier Force Rifles
1956 8th Battalion The Frontier Force Regiment

References

Further reading
 History of the 2nd Battalion 13th Frontier Force Rifles 1849-1931. (1933). Bury St Edmund's: Groom and Son.
 Condon, Brig WEH. (1953). The Frontier Force Rifles. Aldershot: Gale & Polden.
 Young, Brig WHH. (1945). Regimental History of the 13th Frontier Force Rifles. Rawalpindi: The Frontier Exchange Press.
 North, REFG. (1934). The Punjab Frontier Force: A Brief Record of Their Services 1846-1924. DI Khan: Commercial Steam Press.
 Hayauddin, Maj Gen M. (1950). One Hundred Glorious Years: A History of the Punjab Frontier Force, 1849-1949. Lahore: Civil and Military Gazette Press.
 Dey, RSBN. (1905). A Brief Account of the Late Punjab Frontier Force, From its Organization in 1849 to its Re-distribution on 31st March 1903. Calcutta.
 Attiqur Rahman, Lt Gen M. (1980). The Wardens of the Marches – A History of the Piffers 1947-71. Lahore: Wajidalis.
 Khan, Maj Muhammad Nawaz. (1996). The Glorious Piffers 1843-1995. Abbottabad: The Frontier Force Regimental Centre.
 Gaylor, John. (1991). Sons of John Company: The Indian and Pakistan Armies 1903- 1991. Stroud: Spellmount.
Barthorp, M, and Burn, J. (1979). Indian Infantry Regiments 1860-1914. London: Osprey.
Sumner, Ian. (2001). The Indian Army 1914-1947. London: Osprey.

See also
The Frontier Force Regiment
13th Frontier Force Rifles
Punjab Irregular Force

British Indian Army infantry regiments
Frontier Force Regiment
Military units and formations established in 1849
1849 establishments in British India
R

56th Punjabi Rifles (Frontier Force)


Morgane Dubled (born 1 July 1984) is a French model.

Early life
Dubled was first scouted at the age of 16 by top scout G. Simon Chafik for Elite Model Management in her hometown of Nice, France, in 2001.  After getting her Baccalauréat (scientific section), she attended the medical school Faculté de Médecine de Nice, but after one year changed direction and moved to Paris for a year in Hypokhâgne, preparing the École Normale Supérieure. She started modeling as a part-time job to pay for her studies, but soon her interest in the modeling world rose and she decided to do it full-time.

Modeling
Since her first catwalk season in 2004, she has become a popular runway model, walking for the likes of Armani, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Elie Saab, Emanuel Ungaro, Fendi, Gucci, Hermès, Jean-Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Lacoste, Lanvin, Kenzo, Marc Jacobs, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Nina Ricci, Ralph Lauren, Sonia Rykiel, Stella McCartney, Versace, and Viktor & Rolf.

She has done editorial work with notable photographers like Terry Richardson, Craig McDean, Mark Abrahams, John Akehurst, Eric Maillet, David Sims. She also appeared on the cover of Russian Vogue and has done campaign work for Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, just Cavalli,  Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Rochas (Fragrance ad for "Soleil de Rochas", directed by Bruno Aveillan).

She participated in the 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 Victoria's Secret fashion shows.

Since 2009, she has walked only for Paris Fashion Week (and Couture).

Agencies
Viva Paris (mother agency)
DNA New York
Why Not Milan

See also
List of Victoria's Secret models

References

External links

 Morgane Dubled at Viva Models
 Morgane Dubled at DNA Models
 Morgane Dubled at Why Not Models
 Morgane Dubled at style.com

1984 births
Living people
French female models

Morgane Dubled


A slingshot is a kind of projectile weapon which is used to launch small things. It is small and made to be handheld. It is made of a Y-shaped body with an elastic band such as rubber tied to the two top ends of the Y. The projectile is placed in the band, which is pulled back and let go of.

How strong and dangerous the slingshot is depends on how it is made and especially the elastic band. Although a slingshot is a type of weapon and a strong one can hurt people, they are not often used in modern war because there are many better weapons. Strong slingshots may be used to hunt small animals, or weaker ones may be used as toys.

In some places, a slingshot may be illegal because it can be a weapon.

Related pages
 Sling (weapon)

Other websites
 The Best Slingshots- Ranking the best slingshots on the market according to price, accuracy, and durability.

Weapons
Toys

Slingshot


Leaf beetles are the family Chrysomelidae. There are over 35,000 species in more than 2,500 genera, so it is one of the largest and most common of all beetle families. Many subfamilies are recognized.

Leaf beetles have a tarsal formula which appears to be 4-4-4, but is actually 5-5-5. Some are difficult to tell from long-horned beetles (family Cerambycidae): it is done by the antennae not arising from frontal tubercles.

Adult and larval leaf beetles feed on all sorts of plant tissue. Their diversity has run parallel with that of the Angiosperms. Many are serious pests of cultivated plants, for example the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), the asparagus beetle (Crioceris asparagi), the cereal leaf beetle (Oulema melanopus), and various flea beetles. A few act as vectors of plant diseases. Others can be used as biocontrol of invasive weeds. Most Chrysomelidae are conspicuously coloured, often in glossy yellow to red or metallic blue-green hues. Some (especially Cassidinae) have spectacularly bizarre shapes. They are highly popular among insect collectors.

Classification
Selection of notable sub-families:
 Subfamily Bruchinae – includes the bean weevils or seed beetles. They feed on seeds, some even on toxic seeds.
 Subfamily Cassidinae – includes the tortoise beetles and prickly leaf beetles. A recent offshoot of the Hispanae.
 Subfamily Chrysomelinae – includes the broad-bodied leaf beetles. "They defend themselves with a pot-pourri of toxins".
 Subfamily Criocerinae – includes the asparagus beetles and lily beetles
 Subfamily Cryptocephalinae – includes  cylindrical leaf beetles and warty leaf beetle. "The larvae eat dead leaves and carry a protective case made of faecal and debris particles".
 Subfamily Donaciinae – includes the longhorned leaf beetles
 Subfamily Eumolpinae – includes the oval leaf beetles
 Subfamily Galerucinae – includes the flea beetles. The former subfamily Altricinae is included.
 Subfamily Hispanae – many are leaf miners.
 Subfamily Sagrinae – frog-legged beetles or kangaroo beetles, diverse in Australia. "They have spiny hind legs built like nutcrackers that grasp and impale attackers".

Phylogeny
Records from the Cretaceous period are scarce: only three records are known. An early Cretaceous origin from a more general form is suggested by Grimaldi and Engel. Then came an Upper Cretaceous divergence of Chrysolmelid sub-groups, and adaptive radiation connected to that of the flowering plants.

References

Leaf beetle


The DW-link is a subset of the common four-bar system used widely in bicycle suspension.  The four-bar system has been used on mountain bikes since the early days of suspension.  Similar suspension systems to the DW-link have been used by Schwinn, Fisher and Karpiel.  Currently a similar system is used by Giant and named "Maestro".  DW-link gets its name from the designer and patent holder, mechanical engineer Dave Weagle. Currently the DW-link has been licensed to the following bicycle companies: PIVOT Cycles, Ibis, Independent Fabrication, Turner Suspension Bicycles, and Iron Horse Bicycles. The DW-link suspension design was used to win six Elite level UCI downhill World Championships from 2005 to 2007, the highest contested level of the sport. This winning streak made the dw-link the most successful linkage suspension platform in the history of the sport of downhill. Dave Weagle also developed the Split Pivot suspension and Delta System which are both used in cycling.

Weagle's design currently holds multiple patents, including US7128329, which is the world's first and remains to be the only published account on the method of mathematically and geometrically characterizing linkage chain/ belt-driven, and shaft-driven motorcycle and bicycle suspensions. The 7128329 introduced several new concepts and measurements to the suspension world, specifically the concept of characterizing anti-squat as a curve or area when graphed as a function of anti-squat versus compressive travel. The portfolio also proposed the same basic measurement for braking squat versus compressive travel distance. These measurements are now accepted as "anti-squat curves" and "braking squat curves" by some professionals in the field of vehicle suspension dynamics.

Development

Recreational mountain biker Dave Weagle used his background in four-wheeled vehicle suspension dynamics to investigate the linkage axle path of bicycle suspension systems. The analysis method that Weagle developed stands as the first published text on the analysis of linkage suspension systems for chain driven wheels. Weagle's research was directed towards what is known among mountain bikers as "suspension bob." Analysis revealed that the "bob" was a result of the combined effects of load transfer during acceleration and the unbalanced forces of the rider's legs moving up and down. It was realized that the use of anti-squat could counteract the load transfer and pedaling induced forces that produced "suspension bob" and limited traction.

Overview

Bicycles have a short wheelbase relative to the height of their center of mass, when compared to other vehicles such as cars. Because bicycles are pedaled, their forward acceleration tends to be in surges while each pedal is under power. Because the driving force at the rear wheel is not aligned with the center of mass, the bicycle experiences a torque, according to Euler's second law. This torque is partially responsible for the compression of the rear suspension under power known as squat.  Squat that occurs in time with pedaling is known as "suspension bob."

Suspension bob has three main causes:
 Rider weight shift due to their pedaling stroke
 The chain tension acting on the suspension
 The suspension squatting or jacking due to acceleration forces.

On bikes which are subject to bob, the following two techniques can reduce it.
 Increase the compression damping of the suspension
 Increase the spring rate of the suspension

However, neither of these solutions are ideal as they hinder the suspension's ability to absorb small bumps or low-speed impacts while the bicycle is coasting (Note: "low-speed" does not refer to the velocity at which the vehicle is traveling, but the speed at which the suspension is compressed). In the case of excessive compression damping, this problem is known as overdamping.

The DW-link uses an anti-squat suspension design to counteract forces responsible for "suspension bob" and consequently removes the need for excessive compression damping. This allows the suspension to be much more active over low-speed impacts, allowing more traction.

Mechanics

The DW-link uses anti-squat to eliminate "suspension bob." Squat is defined as the tendency of rear suspension to compress under acceleration. The anti-squat used in the DW-link system is achieved by a minimisation of torque about the centre of mass. The DW-link system has also been designed to minimise pedal feedback caused by suspension travel.

Another major advantage of the DW-link is the lack of need of a floating brake system to achieve optimum suspension performance under braking. Typically, on single pivot suspension systems, a large amount of squat is experienced under braking without a floating brake design. Subsequently, the suspension is less active under braking, resulting in a diminished amount of traction.

The dw-link design is engineered to balance the effects of acceleration and braking forces in order to improve traction and efficiency. It uses a kinematic suspension force called "position sensitive anti-squat." When a vehicle accelerates the suspension reacts (typically in the form of suspension compression) to a phenomenon called load transfer. The position-sensitive anti-squat of dw-link offsets the rearward load transfer that happens during vehicle acceleration. This unique attribute is mathematically proven to reduce efficiency losses, while improving traction, and bump sensitivity, and if properly engineered, will help minimize perceptible pedal feedback, when compared to other methods of achieving a similar offset of load transfer.

References

Ironhorse bicycle company technical information

Bicycle parts
Cycle types

DW-link


A digital pet (also known as a virtual pet or an artificial pet) are pets that exist only in computers. A good example of a game with digital pets is Nintendogs. People may keep virtual pets as a replacement for real pets.

Pets
Computer terminology

Digital pet


David Sinclair is a fictional character in the crime drama series Numb3rs, portrayed by Alimi Ballard. First introduced in the pilot episode, he has become the usual partner of FBI Special Agent Colby Granger (Dylan Bruno) and has also become the primary relief supervisor for the Supervisor of the FBI Violent Crimes squad, Don Eppes (Rob Morrow).  At first unpopular with critics, Sinclair has since been recognized as a popular character on the show.

Evolution over the series
Since Season 2, Sinclair is usually partnered with Colby Granger and tried to stick up for him in "The Mole". In fact, in the Season 3 finale, "The Janus List", when Colby is revealed to be a double agent working as a spy for the Chinese,  David reacted with deep pain and blind fury at the betrayal, tears welling in his eyes during Colby's confession just before he attempted to assault Colby in the interrogation room of the L.A. office. Even with the possibility of Colby having been a triple agent and the will to save him, David is not ready to see his partner yet, as he feels he does not really know him. Alan Eppes has given him something to think about, as Mr. Eppes had said this is a test of true friendship and that he must try to understand his motives. The two are close once more, but only after many failures to cooperate on a mission.

David was assigned to work with Don Eppes in the pilot episode, by the assistant director. By Season 3, he has been with Don three years, and there is nothing Don can not ask David to do, though, Don worries David may one day realize he has seen too much and leave the FBI. He has knowledge of bomb disposal due to his first posting overseas in Tel Aviv, Israel. In addition, David did some work for the Long Beach FBI office.

David carries a Glock 22 pistol.

David's two best friends in childhood were Ben Ellis and Earl Day, as revealed in the episode "Contenders". He grew up in the Bronx, attended Cornell University ("Black Swan"), and has mentioned growing up dodging gangs to get an education. He currently lives in Venice, California. David was upset when his sister, Linda, was divorced but went back to her ex-husband. Sinclair enjoys Alan's cooking and he is infatuated with medical examiner Claudia Gomez (Lauren Vélez).

When season five opens, David wants to consult Charlie but cannot.  During Carl McGowan's investigation into Don, McGowan tries to appeal to David's leadership qualities as a way to get David to turn Don in; David refuses.

David believes in that others were involved in the JFK assassination.  This causes an argument with Colby.

During the investigation of a train crash, David is assigned to assist with recovering victims.  He becomes impatient with the course of the recovery effort, especially with Charlie's request for patience.  David snaps at Charlie and then goes into the train crash to deliver an inhaler to one of the victims.  Colby goes in after David.  After the rescue, David apologizes to Charlie.

When Buck Williams comes after Don, David is dismayed at Don's behavior.  He confronts Don about it.  Don tells David to trust him or report him.  David decides to trust him.  Later, during another investigation, David tells Don that he (Don) is a good leader.

Toward the end of season five, David applies to be Don's primary relief supervisor.  Don first leaves the letter of recommendation on his desk for David to read.  Unbeknownst to David, Don placing David as Liz's handler served as some on-the-job training as a primary relief supervisor.  After the case is solved, Don breaks the news that the request was approved.  David is then asked to lead the team, including Don, into a home invasion in progress.  When Don is stabbed, David takes over for Don until Don returns to the office. In the sixth season finale, he leaves Don's team to take a leadership position with an anti-corruption team based in Washington, DC.

Creation
David Sinclair was a character in the original pilot of Numb3rs.  To prepare for his role as Special Agent David Sinclair, Alimi Ballard toured the FBI headquarters and spoke with members of the FBI.

Reception
Robert Bianco, of USA Today, called David "unoriginal".  Later reception of David has been more positive.  In a public service announcement, Alimi Ballard congratulated the FBI on their 100th anniversary.

References

Numbers (TV series) characters
Fictional African-American people
Fictional Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel
Television characters introduced in 2005

David Sinclair (Numbers)


The Trypanosomatida are a group of unicellular kinetoplastids. They have a single flagellum, and often live as parasites. Many trypanosomatids only live in insects. Some change hosts: one form lives in insects, the other lives inside a plant or an animal. Leishmania is a common example.

Microbiology
Protista

Trypanosomatida


I Ching (易经), also known as the Book of Changes, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts, it is used mainly for divination (fortunetelling).

Historical Background
The text was mainly written during the early Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC-771 BC). Before Zhou Dynasty, there was Shang Dynasty (1600 BC - 1046 BC). Shang Dynasty's main cultural characteristics are its divination and character (old Chinese character). We cannot say which one was first, but it is supposed that characters were made from certain need while doing divination. During Shang Dynasty, divination was done by burning animal's bone or tortoise shell. Zhou Dynasty made Shang cease to exist, but it accepted Shang's culture. In early age of Zhou Dynasty, a new way of divination appeared which was put into writing. It was advanced form of Shang Dynasty's divination, and finally, it took place instead of Shang's divination.

The Contents of I Ching
The contents of I Ching consist of 64 hexagrams and explanation for each. Hexagram is a group of six broken or unbroken lines. The broken line (the line where the middle part is missing) represents yang, and the unbroken line represents yin. From the bottom to top, six lines are gathered in parallel. There exists one different name for one hexagram. In I Ching, the name of one hexagram and the hexagram itself comes first, and after those, there are different explanations for the hexagram and the each line consisting hexagram, from bottom to top. There comes next hexagram after explanations of all lines of one hexagram.

Tools For I Ching Divination
The typical divination using I Ching needs the number of fifty thin sticks usually made from bamboo. Using those sticks with certain order, the person who wants to know the result draws hexagram and finds the explanation in the book. To make process simpler, some people use coin to know the result.

Philosophical Elements
In I Ching, the word 'Heaven'(or sky; it corresponds to the Chinese character '天') is considered as same as God or the absolute being with humane character, who decides the good and evil and makes judgements. For example, the explanation of 26th hexagram (大畜 dà chù) is "the Heaven's bliss is given, therefore, lucky."

Also, there is the idea of constantly changing world, as the explanation of 11th hexagram (泰 tài) tells, "Everything flat will be inclined, and everything gone will be come back." Similarly, the idea of endlessness can also be found. The literal meaning of 63rd hexagram (既濟 jì jì) is "already (既) finished (濟)", but the last hexagram, which is the 64th (未濟 wèi jì), means "not (未) finished (濟)" literally. This means the process of whole world and life is endless and never stops.

References

Occult

I Ching


Mary Rippon (May 25, 1850 - September 8, 1935) is believed to have been the first woman to teach at a state university. She was, however, the first female professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Rippon began teaching French and German at CU in 1878, became head of Germanic languages and literature, and served at the university until 1909.  Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre, the location of the annual Colorado Shakespeare Festival, is named in her honor.

Early life
Mary Rippon was born May 25, 1850, in Lisbon, Illinois, to Thomas Rippon and Jane Skinner, who had immigrated from England. Her father died when she was ten months old, and because he did not leave a will and Mary was his only child, she inherited his farm. After her mother abandoned her, she lived with neighbors and extended family.

She attended the high school department of Illinois State Normal University, a teacher training school. Money from the sale of the farm funded her education, and when she turned 18 she had access to the remainder of her inheritance.

After high school, Rippon spent five years studying in Germany, Switzerland, and France.

Education and career
Rippon taught German at a high school in Detroit for one school year from 1876 to 1877. In 1877, she received an offer of employment from Joseph Sewall, who had taught at Illinois Normal School and was the first president of the newly established University of Colorado. She joined the University of Colorado faculty in January 1878. Rippon arrived at the University of Colorado to teach German and French language and literature; during the first term she also taught English grammar and mathematics. In 1891 she became head of the Department of Modern Languages, which later became the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature. Mary Rippon retired from teaching in 1909.

Personal life
In 1887, at age thirty-seven, Rippon met Will Housel, a student in her German class, who was then twenty-five. The two engaged in a romantic relationship. When she became pregnant, Rippon took a year off from teaching and went to Europe, secretly marrying Housel in St. Louis on the way. When she returned to the university, her daughter Miriam remained behind, first with Housel and later in an orphanage. Housel returned to Colorado, but the two never lived together. Rippon provided financial support to Miriam and Housel, even after he remarried. Rippon occasionally visited her daughter, but Miriam believed Rippon was her aunt.

Rippon's family remained a secret, even while Miriam taught at the University of Colorado. In the 1970s, Miriam's son revealed that he was Rippon's descendant.

Posthumous honors
Mary Rippon died on September 8, 1935, from myocarditis. The Regents of the University of Colorado approved plans for an outdoor theatre named in her honor. The Mary Rippon Theatre, located on CU's campus, hosts the annual Colorado Shakespeare Festival each summer.

In 1985, Rippon was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.

Rippon was awarded posthumous honorary doctorate from the University of Colorado in May 2006.

References

University of Colorado Boulder faculty
1850 births
1935 deaths
American educators
People from Boulder, Colorado

Mary Rippon


"A Trampwoman's Tragedy" is a 1903 narrative poem in 104 lines by Thomas Hardy. Hardy ranked the poem highly amongst his works, and came to believe that it was "upon the whole his most successful poem."

Synopsis
The poem features a homeless "trampwoman" and her three companions, travelling the open road in rural England. Her companions include her lover, whom she calls her "fancy man", another man named Jeering John, and an older woman named Mother Lee. As they're walking along, the trampwoman teases her lover by allowing Jeering John to place his arm around her waist. The group comes to an inn where they stop to rest. The trampwoman continues to tease her lover by sitting next to Jeering John, and then sitting on his lap. Her lover begins to get angry and asks her if the baby she's carrying is his or Jeering John's. She nods to him as if the baby were Jeering John's in order to tease him more. Her lover goes into a rage at this, pulls out a knife, and stabs Jeering John to death. He is later hanged for the crime. On the day of his execution the trampwoman has a miscarriage. Mother Lee died before the execution, and so the trampwoman is left all alone. At the end of the poem, as the trampwoman lies under a tree, the ghost of her lover appears to her, asking whether the child was his or not. She tells him that she had never touched another man after they had sworn themselves to each other, and he disappears with a smile. The trampwoman lives on, wandering alone, "haunting the Western Moor."

Publication
The poem was written in 1902 at Max Gate. It was initially rejected by the Cornhill Magazine because the editors felt it might be found morally offensive. It was eventually published in the North American Review in November 1903.

Hardy had enthusiastically offered the poem to the editors of the Cornhill Magazine, writing to them "I send you up a rendering in ballad form of a West Country tragedy of the last century which seems to me to have a lurid picturesqueness suitable for such treatment, and to be sufficiently striking." The poem was included in the collection Time's Laughingstocks in 1909. Hardy decided not to include "A Trampwoman's Tragedy" in his Selected Poems (1916), but added it to his revised version of that collection, Chosen Poems (1929).

Critical reception
The poet David A. Munro, editor of the North American Review, which first published the poem, shared Hardy's enthusiasm for it. The critic Edmund Gosse praised the poem, and the American artist Rockwell Kent considered illustrating it, before choosing another of Hardy's poems to be published with his artwork. "A Trampwoman's Tragedy" is today one of Hardy's most popular poems.

Adaptations

The poem formed the basis of a ballet called The Vagabonds, with choreography by Anthony Burke and music by John Ireland, which was premiered at Sadler's Wells Theatre on October 29, 1946 .

References

External links

1903 poems
Poetry by Thomas Hardy

A Trampwoman's Tragedy


The term Australopithecine ('australos' for short) refers to any species in the related genera  Australopithecus or  Paranthropus. These genera occurred in the Pliocene–Pleistocene era, and were bipedal. The arrangement of their teeth, especially the dental arcade, was similar to humans. They did not have the large canine teeth characteristic of present-day apes.

They had a brain size not much larger than modern apes, lacking the large brain of the genus Homo. They were mainly bipedal, but probably capable of climbing and living at least partly in trees. Their arms were longer in proportion to their bodies, and this also suggests their inherited capacity to move above the ground. The efficiency of their walking is difficult to estimate, but they were not so well adapted to bipedalism as humans. The males were much larger than the females, which suggests a family arrangement with a dominant male and several females, as with modern apes. Nothing is known for certain about their use of tools.

They are in the hominins,and appeared in the late Miocene.

Australopithecus, about four million years ago (mya)
Paranthropus, about 2.7 mya

When used alone, the term refers to both genera together. Australopithecus is sometimes referred to as the "gracile (slender) australopithecines", while Paranthropus are also called the "robust australopithecines".

Other genera:
Kenyanthropus (3.5 to 3.2) mya is either a separate genus of australos, or a species of Australopithecus.
Ardipithecus (5.6 and 4.4) mya, is a Miocene hominin. It had a grasping big toe, and therefore could live in trees as well as on the ground. The term "facultative biped" is used.
Sahelanthropus, also a Miocene hominin, lived about seven million years ago (mya). The relationships of this species to the australos is unclear.
Orrorin, at 6.1 to 5.7 mya is known from 20 pieces of bone, and its relationships are unclear. Orrorin is both earlier, by almost 3 million years, and more similar to modern humans than is A. afarensis. The main similarity is that the Orrorin femur is morphologically closer to that of H. sapiens than is Lucy's; there is, however, some debate over this point.

A likely ancestor of the australopithecines is the Ardipithecus genus, which lived in East Africa. The genus Homo (humans), appears about 2.4 million years ago with Homo habilis. Australos moved into mixed savannah/woodland habitats as the climate cooled in the later Miocene. This explains their adaptations to walking or walking plus climbing. It also explains the changes to their diet and teeth, though not in detail. The great increase in brain size of modern man began with the genus Homo: it did not start with the australos.

The australopithecines according to Briggs & Crowther.
Australopithecina
Australopithecus
A. afarensis
A. africanus
A. anamensis
A. bahrelghazali
A. garhi
Paranthropus
P. robustus
P. boisei
P. aethiopicus
Ardipithecus
A. ramidus
Orrorin
'Orrorin tugenensis
Sahelanthropus
Sahelanthropus tchadensis

References

Miocene

Australopithecine


Henry Broderick (October 12, 1880 – October 7, 1975) was a Seattle, Washington realtor, civic leader, memoirist, and Seattle historian. He arrived in Seattle in 1901 and, in 1908, founded the real estate firm that he would turn into the city's largest.

Life and achievements
Broderick was born and raised in Minneapolis, where he attended the public schools until the financial panic of 1893 caused him to drop out at age 13. From that time, he worked to help support his family, but continued to  study informally on his own (including Greek classics). He would later describe himself as "a graduate of the Minneapolis Public Library".

After a brief stint composing advertisements for agency Lord and Thomas in Chicago, he married Mary Barclay of St. Louis, Missouri October 4, 1901; the couple moved to Seattle before the end of the year. Broderick went to work for a prominent local real estate firm, John Davis & Company. Over the next few years he worked his way up from an entry-level job posting For Sale signs to a management role. He first became a public figure in his role at Davis acquiring property for the Union Pacific Railroad.

He left Davis's employ in 1908 to found his own real estate firm, Henry Broderick, Inc.  He remained president of the company until 1965 and then served as its chairman until 1969, when the firm was sold to Coldwell Banker. Henry Broderick, Inc. became the city's largest real estate firm and one of its largest property management firms. Its role in property management proved particularly crucial to carry it successfully through the Great Depression.

From the outset of his career, Broderick, a Roman Catholic, refused to participate in real estate covenants against Jews. He adopted this policy as early as his time at John Davis and Company: around 1904 he refused to have the firm manage a large apartment complex that excluded Jews. As a result, his own firm attracted many Jewish clients.

In 1909, Broderick was youngest of 49 trustees of Seattle's Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition (A-Y-P), an unofficial world's fair. Years later, in 1962, as the only surviving A-Y-P trustee, he served as a trustee Seattle's Century 21 Exposition and, toward the end of his life as an honorary trustee of Spokane, Washington's Expo '74 world's fair.

Although Broderick was himself the youngest of 10 children born to Irish immigrants, he and his wife Mary never had any children of their own. Mary Broderick died in 1958. The Brodericks were patrons to many younger people, and their 1906 home in the Denny-Blaine neighborhood was often the scene of parties at which "High school and university students, as well as personnel of the armed forces, have enjoyed classical music or boogie-woogie in the Brodericks' music room, walked alone, in pairs, or groups over the landscaped grounds…" Broderick wrote in one of his memoirs:

… [L]ife there was influenced by the great Greek philosopher Epictetus. … Exponent of "everything in its place", he advocated the practice of the inner life, utterly divorced from externals. … We determined that No. 1717 was to be a haven untouched by the tedium of the materialistic side of life. … [W]e carefully excluded all who came with thoughts of commerce lurking in the background.

Starting with the Broadway High School group who graduated in 1908, we gathered a collection of youngsters whose lives became intertwined with our own. We called them "near-sons" and "near-daughters"…

Broderick was a member (1951–1975) of the Seattle University board of regents, and a mentor to Father A. A. Lemieux, president of the Jesuit institution from 1948 to 1965. A constant joiner and an inveterate civic leader, he was a member of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Boosters Club (and served terms as president of each), Greater Seattle, Inc., the board of the Seattle Symphony (where he also served a term as president), the Seattle Arts Commission, the Rainier Club, the Seattle Press Club, the Seattle Tennis Club, Washington Athletic Club, 101 Club, the Harbor Club, and even the Pacific Northwest International Writer's Conference..  He served on the boards of directors of The Seattle Star, the Seattle Day Nursery, as a trustee of the Seattle Chorale, and, from 1929 to 1933, the Washington Prison Parole Board. He was a founding member of the Seattle Realty Board (now the Seattle-King County Board of Realtors). In 1952 he was given the Board of Realtors' First Citizen Award (not typically awarded to one of their own members).

Broderick never drove a car, and did not fly on an airplane until he finally agreed to fly to his own 89th birthday party, hosted in San Francisco by his old associate Louis Lurie.

Although best known as a businessman and civic leader, Broderick was also a memoirist and local historian. Every year from 1932 to the end of his life, he sent out a booklet about local history at Christmas, drawing both on research and his own personal memories (though also, doubtless, passing along some apocryphal stories). Some of these writings were later published in two volumes, Timepiece and The "HB" Story.

According to Nard Jones, Broderick was among the last Seattleites who could "fully" speak Chinook Jargon.

Partial bibliography
The following is a partial bibliography of works by Broderick.
 [Christmas greetings from Henry Broderick.] Seattle: Dogwood Press (F. McCaffrey), 1933–1975.
 The command ment breakers of Walla Walla. Seattle: Dogwood Press (F. McCaffrey), 1934.
 Timepiece; being a first collection of the writings of Henry Broderick. Seattle, 1953.
 Early Seattle profiles by "HB"; some recollections. Seattle: Dogwood Press (F. McCaffrey), 1959.
 Mirrors of Seattle's old hotels. Seattle: Dogwood Press (F. McCaffrey), 1965.
 The HB story: Henry Broderick relates Seattle's yesterdays, with some other thoughts by the way. 	Seattle: F. McCaffrey, 1969.
 "HB" writes about Henry Broderick. Self-published, 1971.

Notes

References

Businesspeople from Seattle
Businesspeople from Minneapolis

1880 births
1975 deaths
20th-century American memoirists
American real estate businesspeople
American Roman Catholics
Seattle University people
20th-century American historians
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American businesspeople
American male non-fiction writers

Henry Broderick (realtor)


Croatan Beach is a residential neighborhood in the independent city of Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean south of Rudee Inlet and north of Camp Pendleton near the Virginia Beach oceanfront. It is situated in a prime location once planned as a religious and educational resort that was to be called Chautauqua-By-The-Sea.

In addition to the Atlantic Ocean, the community is on the shores of Lake Wesley and Lake Christine. There is a public parking lot with beach access on the south end of Croatan. The East Coast Surfing Championships have been held just north of Rudee Inlet for 40 years.

Nearby neighborhoods include Shadowlawn, Beach Borough, and the North End.

Surfing
"Croatan Beach is three quarters of a mile long and stretches from Rudee Inlet to Camp Pendleton.  With 2 designated surfing areas (one at the north beginning at Rudee Inlet and one at the south at Camp Pendleton), it has long been a favorite of local surfers.  Lifeguard services are now available for swimmers and surfers alike, and are situated along the entire beach front.  Summer surf camp and surfing lessons are offered at the southern designated surfing area during the months of June, July & August by Seth Broudy School of Surf.

References

Communities in Virginia Beach, Virginia
Beaches of Virginia
Surfing locations in the United States
Landforms of Virginia Beach, Virginia
Surfing in Virginia

Croatan Beach, Virginia


The western skink (Plestiodon skiltonianus) is a species of small, smooth-scaled lizard with relatively small limbs. It measures about 100 to 210 mm (about 4 to 8.25 inches) in total length (body + tail). It is one of seven species of lizards in Canada. They spend much of their day basking in the sun. Their diet ranges widely, including spiders and beetles. Western skinks will bite if grasped and will flee if they feel threatened.
It is a common but secretive species whose range extends from southern British Columbia and throughout Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming and into western Montana and northern Arizona and Missouri. They can also live in some areas of Texas It is widespread in northern California but primarily restricted to the coast in central and southern California. Found in a variety of habitats, this lizard is most common in early successional stages or open areas of late successional stages. Heavy brush and densely forested areas are generally avoided. Western skinks are found from sea level to at least 2,130 m (7,000 ft).  This diurnal reptile is active during the warm seasons.

Taxonomy
Initially described in 1852 by Baird and Girard,  the Western skink is named for Dr. Avery Judd Skilton (1802–1858), an American physician and naturalist, who collected the first specimens. Together with  Gilbert's skink (P. gilberti), the San Lucan skink (P. lagunensis), and the four-lined Asiatic skink (P. quadrilineatus), the western skink belongs to the so-called "skiltonianus group". The exact taxonomy within this group has yet to be conclusively determined, and may need revision following DNA analysis research.
There are three recognized subspecies, including the nominotypical subspecies:

Coronado skink, P.s. interparietalis (W. Tanner, 1957)Occurs in southern California and Baja California, Mexico.
Great Basin skink, P.s. utahensis (W. Tanner, 1957)Occurs in Utah.
Skilton's skink, P.s. skiltonianus Baird & Girard, 1852

The most common is Skilton's skink, which occurs throughout the western United States west of the Rocky Mountains and in southern British Columbia, Canada.

Behavior
The western skink is a secretive and very agile lizard that forages actively through leaf litter and dense vegetation, preying upon small invertebrates including spiders, a variety of insects and sow bugs. Crickets, beetles, moths, grasshoppers, and other arthropods have been found in the stomachs of skinks.  Prey is sometimes stalked and cannibalism has been reported. It is a good burrower and sometimes constructs burrows several times its own body length.

Females take great care of their eggs. Western skink females construct nest chambers that are several centimeters deep in loose moist soil. Typically these chambers are located under surface objects, especially flat stones, logs, and sometimes in or near rock outcrops. The females remain guarding the nest until the young leave the nest. Female western skinks will defend their nests from predators, repair their nests, and even bask in the sun and then return to the nest to provide additional heat.

Habitat
Found in a variety of habitats from sea level to at least 2,130 m (7,000 ft), the western skink is commonest in early successional stages or open areas within habitats in which it occurs. Heavy brush and densely forested areas are generally avoided. The western skink seems to prefer a somewhat moist environment, although it can also be found on dry hillsides.  Frequents grassland, broken chaparral, pinon-juniper and juniper-sage woodland, and open pine-oak and pine forests. The soil of its nest chambers is invariably moist. Standing water is apparently not required.

Although Western skinks avoid forests, they are found in dry areas within forested areas.

Description

Adult Western skinks have a broad brown stripe down their backs, edged with black and bordered on each side by a conspicuous whitish to beige dorsolateral stripe that begins on nose and extends over the eye and back alongside body onto the tail.   A second pale stripe, starting on upper jaw, occurs low on each side and is separated from the first by a broad dark brown or black band originating on the side of head and usually extending well out onto the tail, though this band can be disrupted if the tail is lost and regrown.  Juvenile skink's tails are bright blue, turning to grey in adulthood.  In the breeding season reddish or orange color appears on the side of head and chin, and occasionally on the sides, tip, and underside of the tail.  They usually have seven supralabial scales and four enlarged nuchals.  Young skinks' colorations are more vivid than those of adults.

Geographic Range
Western skinks can be found from southern British Columbia, Canada, to the tip of the Baja California Peninsula, and throughout most of Great Basin to extreme Northern Arizona; central Utah to the Pacific Coast.  The species is apparently absent from the floor of San Joaquin Valley (they have been observed in rural areas of southeast Lodi, CA), central Sierra Nevada (except a few scattered locations in the foothills where they are very common), and lowland deserts of California.  In Northern Baja, California the species occurs in the northwestern part at least as far south as Colonia Guerro and in the south in the cape and Comondu regions, Santa Agueda, and San Francisco de la Sierra.  On Santa Catalina, Los Coronados, and Todos Santos Island off the coast of California.

Predators and Defensive Behavior
Western skinks risk predation by virtually all mammalian, avian, and reptilian predators. In Idaho, their predators include night snakes, striped whipsnakes, and raptors. Throughout their range, they may be targeted by a range of predators, especially young animals honing their hunting skills, including black bear cubs, bobcats, coyotes, gray, red and swift foxes, least weasels and pumas, as well as domestic and feral cats and dogs. Various carnivorous birds, especially younger or smaller individuals, may hunt these skinks, such as Cooper's hawk, Harris hawks, kestrels, red-tailed hawks and shrikes ('butcherbirds'). Reptilian predators include kingsnakes and any other reptile-consuming squamates.

Against predators, a shrink's automative response is to retreat. If females are protecting their eggs, they may attempt to bite  to scare of any predators. Young western skinks have a bright blue tail with color that fades with age.  Skinks can perform autotomy; if seized by a predator its tail is deliberately cast and wriggles violently attracting attention while the lizard may escape.  The tail will grow back with time but is often darker in color and misshapen.  It will play dead, but this behavior is rarely seen.

Life History
This skink is diurnal during the period of warm-season activity. During summer most activity is concentrated in the morning and late afternoon.  Where summer temperatures are not extreme, activity extends throughout the day. Adult skinks usually become inactive by early fall but juveniles extend their period of activity several weeks. The length of time they are inactive varies depending on the climate of the area. During their hibernation period, western skinks remain in communal dens.

The reproductive season for this species varies geographically and from year to year depending on local conditions.  Mating probably occurs in the spring soon after emergence. Males turn orange on the underside when they are breeding. Females lay 2–6 eggs during June and July.

Western skinks' eggs hatch in the months of July and August; the exact time differs by geographic location. They reach sexual maturity at around 3 years, and live up to 9 years

References

Further reading
Baird SF, Girard CF (1852). "Characteristics of some New Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution". Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 6: 68–70. (Plestiodon skiltonianum, new species, p. 69).
Behler JL, King FW (1979). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. New York: Knopf. 743 pp. . (Eumeces skiltonianus, pp. 576–577 + Plates 421, 441-442).
Boulenger GA (1887). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III. ... Scincidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers.) xii + 575 pp. + Plates I-XL. (Eumeces skiltonianus, p. 373).
Smith HM (2005). "Plestiodon: a Replacement Name for Most Members of the Genus Eumeces in North America". J. Kansas Herp. (14): 15–16.
Smith HM, Brodie ED Jr (1982). Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification. New York: Golden Press. 240 pp. . (Eumeces skiltonianus, pp. 78–79).

Plestiodon
Reptiles of the United States
Reptiles of Mexico
Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands
Fauna of the San Francisco Bay Area
Lizards of North America
Reptiles described in 1852
Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird
Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard

Western skink


St. John's Priory, Viborg (), was a monastery of the Knights Hospitaller in Viborg, Denmark.

History
The principal abbey of the Knights of St. John, otherwise known as the Knights Hospitallers, at Antvorskov established several small houses in towns throughout Denmark in the late 13th century, one of them at Viborg. Apparently the first small monastic house (Johannitterbo) was built at Viborg at St. Ib's Church, which had been given to Antvorskov Abbey. Eleven years later the priory, with its church rededicated to Saint John () was founded nearby in 1285 by the Count of Everstein, who gave a property in Viborg to the Order of the Knights of St John of Malta, or Hospitallers. His widow Mariana also gave additional income property to the priory to fund its operations, especially the hospital. Subsequently, confusion has arisen between St. John's parish church and St. John's Priory church.

St. John's Priory church
The church formed the north range of a quadrangular abbey complex with refectory, dormitory, kitchens, guest house, and cellars. The church was 88 cubits long and 55 cubits wide, and was described by an observer as "grand". By 1527 a free-standing hospital (Sct. Hans Hospital) had been added to the complex. In 1458 a new larger building was constructed on the other side of St. Ib's Street.

St. John's Priory played a significant part in the Reformation in Denmark. Reform-minded Danes who had been to Germany and heard Luther or his ideas brought them back to Denmark in the mid-1520s. Among them was Hans Tausen, a Hospitaller who had studied in Germany and come back determined to spread the truth as he saw it to the people of Denmark. On Good Friday 1525 he preached Luther's ideas to the congregation at Antvorskov Abbey on Zealand, the headquarters of the Hospitallers in Scandinavia. The head of the order was scandalized by the rebellious monk and sent him to St. John's Priory in Viborg to contemplate his errors under the watchful eye of Prior Peder Jensen. Tausen eventually received permission to teach in the priory church and soon had a loyal and ardent following. His superior at St. John's protected him from the Bishop of Viborg who was prepared to arrest Tausen and put him on trial. But his ideas were too radical and he was expelled from his order and went to live with the Mayor of Viborg.

Tausen continued to preach, and the crowds who came to hear him grew so large that the prior was forced to let Tausen leave the priory. Tausen continued to preach to enormous crowds in the open. Danish weather is regularly damp and dreary and the mayor requested that Tausen be permitted to hold services in the priory church. In 1528 Bishop Jørgen Friis tried to have Tausen arrested by force but the crowds formed a cordon around him and chased away the bishop's men. They forced their way into the much larger Franciscan church to accommodate the growing numbers of people who wanted to hear Tausen and other Lutheran preachers. Less than a year later, Viborg had become mostly Lutheran and all Roman Catholic religious houses were closed. For a time Viborg became the center of the Reformation in Denmark. Monks either removed their habits and joined the reformers, or left the country.

After the Reformation
After the Reformation, the citizens of Viborg applied to King Christian III to decommission some of the town's several churches which were too costly to maintain. All churches, religious institutions, and the properties which they owned reverted to the crown in 1536. The antipathy of Viborg's Lutheran citizens against the monastery churches for their connection to the forcible attempt to suppress Hans Tausen and their fervent desire to rid themselves of Catholic custom and institutions explain why the "grand" church was chosen to be secularized. The crown gave the priory to the city of Viborg, which converted the buildings to other uses. In 1552 the priory became the location of the local court. In 1578 the court was relocated and the church was demolished and the materials used for restoration of the cathedral and the bishop's residence in Viborg.

Notes

Sources
 Viborg Historie

Christian monasteries in Denmark
Knights Hospitaller
13th-century establishments in Denmark
Christian monasteries established in the 13th century

St. John's Priory, Viborg


15 Minutes is a 2001 American satirical buddy cop action thriller film directed and written by John Herzfeld and starring Robert De Niro and Edward Burns. Its story revolves around a homicide detective (De Niro) and a fire marshal (Burns) who join forces to apprehend a pair of Eastern European murderers (Karel Roden and Oleg Taktarov) videotaping their crimes in order to become rich and famous. The title is a reference to the Andy Warhol quotation, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."

Plot
Ex-convicts Emil Slovak and Oleg Razgul arrive in the United States to claim their part of a bank heist in eastern Europe. Oleg steals a video camera from an electronics store. At the rundown apartment of their old partner, they are denied their share of the spoils, so Emil fatally stabs the partner and his wife as Oleg tapes it with the camera. Czech immigrant Daphne Handlova witnesses the murders from the bathroom, then escapes before Emil and Oleg can kill her as well. To hide the crime, Emil burns down the apartment.

Jordy Warsaw is a New York City arson investigator assigned to the case. Also at the scene is Eddie Flemming, a high-profile detective who is followed by his girlfriend Nicolette Karas, a reporter from the tabloid TV show Top Story. Flemming and Warsaw agree to work the case together. While checking out the crowd, Warsaw spots Daphne trying to get his attention, but she disappears. Meanwhile, Emil calls an escort service and asks for a "Czech girl." Oleg tapes Emil as he kills the escort and learns the address of the escort service. Oleg continually films everything, claiming he wants to be the next Frank Capra.

Flemming and Warsaw investigate this murder and visit the escort service. The madam, Rose Hearn, tells them that the girl Warsaw described doesn't work for her but rather a hairdresser. She mentions a couple of other guys having just asked her the same questions. Flemming and Warsaw arrive at the hair salon just after Emil and Oleg have warned Daphne to keep quiet. Flemming notices Oleg filming them from across the street. In the ensuing foot chase, Flemming's regular partner Leon Jackson is hit with a glass bottle and his wallet and gun are stolen. Emil finds a card with Flemming's name and address. He becomes jealous of Flemming's celebrity status and is convinced that anyone in America can get away with anything.

On the night Flemming plans to propose to Nicolette, Oleg and Emil sneak into his apartment and bind Flemming to a chair. While Oleg is recording, Emil explains that he plans to kill Flemming and sell the tape to Top Story. After getting himself committed to an insane asylum, Emil will declare that he is actually sane. Since he can't be tried again, he will get off, collecting royalties from books and movies based on his crimes. Flemming attacks them with his chair (while still taped to it), but Emil gets the upper-hand and stabs him in the chest, mortally wounding him. Emil then suffocates and kills Flemming with a pillow.

The entire city is in a state of mourning. Emil sells the tape of Flemming's murder to Top Story anchor Robert Hawkins in exchange for $1 million, outraging Warsaw and the entire police force. Emil and Oleg watch the tape's broadcast on Top Story inside a Planet Hollywood; customers realize that Emil and Oleg are sitting with them and panic. Police arrive and arrest Emil, while Oleg escapes. Warsaw takes Emil to an abandoned warehouse to kill him, but other police arrive just in time and take Emil into custody. Everything goes as planned for Emil, now a celebrity who is pleading insanity. His lawyer agrees to work for 30% of the royalties Emil will receive for his story. Meanwhile, in hiding, Oleg becomes jealous of the notoriety that Emil is receiving.

While the lawyer is leading Emil away in court, Warsaw provokes an argument, with the Top Story crew recording the whole thing. Oleg quietly approaches Hawkins and hands him the tape of Emil explaining his plan to Flemming, proving he was sane the whole time. Hawkins shouts out to Emil about the evidence in his possession. Ticked off for not getting any praise, Oleg pulls a gun and shoots a policeman. Emil then grabs the policeman's gun, shoots Oleg and grabs Nicolette, threatening to shoot her. Against orders, Warsaw shoots Emil a dozen times in the chest to avenge Flemming's murder. Hawkins rushes to Oleg's side as he dies. He attempts to get a comment from Warsaw, who punches him and walks away as the police all smile with approval.

Cast
 Robert De Niro as Detective Eddie Flemming
 Edward Burns as FDNY Fire Marshal Jordan Warsaw
 Kelsey Grammer as Robert Hawkins
 Avery Brooks as Detective Leon Jackson
 Melina Kanakaredes as Nicolette Karas
 Karel Roden as Emil Slovák
 Oleg Taktarov as Oleg Razgul
 Vera Farmiga as Daphne Handlova
 John DiResta as Bobby Korfin
 James Handy as Deputy Chief Declan Duffy
 Darius McCrary as Detective Tommy Cullen
 Bruce Cutler as himself
 Charlize Theron as Rose Hearn
 Kim Cattrall as Cassandra
 Paul Herman as Detective Paulie
 David Alan Grier as The Mugger
 Vladimir Mashkov as Milos Karlov
 Irina Gasanova as Tamina Karlova
 Noelle Evans as "Honey"
 Tygh Runyan as Stephen Geller
 Ritchie Coster as News Stand Vendor
 Gabriel Casseus as Unique
 Anton Yelchin as Boy In Burning Building

Production

The film was shot on location in New York City and Los Angeles from May to July 1999. It was originally slated to be released by New Line Cinema in the spring of 2000, with theatrical trailers appearing in late 1999. For reasons unknown, the film was pulled from the spring 2000 schedule and then delayed until the following year, on March 9, 2001.

Reception

Box office
The film grossed $24,403,552 domestically in the United States and Canada. It made a further $31,956,428 internationally, for a worldwide total of $56,359,980 against a production budget of $42 million.

Critical response
Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 32% based on reviews from 125 critics, with an average rating of 4.42/10. The site's consensus reads, "As critical as it is about sensationalism in the media, 15 Minutes itself indulges in lurid violence, and its satire is too heavy-handed to be effective." It currently holds a 34 out of 100 rating on Metacritic, based on 32 critical reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave it three out of four stars, calling it "a cynical, savage satire about violence, the media and depravity." Ebert felt "It doesn't have the polish of "Natural Born Killers" or the wit of "Wag the Dog," but it's a real movie, rough edges and all, and not another link from the sausage factory."

On the negative side, Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post wrote:

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly stated: "At the movies, we're now bamboozled into expecting not drama but sensation, and so it's no surprise that the plot of a movie like 15 Minutes is less an end in itself than an excuse, a jumping-off point for showy, contrived, borderline-exploitation sequences that fail to tie together because they're not really there to do anything but sell themselves as money-shot thrills. ... 15 Minutes is a glum and sadistic mess."

References

External links

2001 films
2001 crime thriller films
2000s American films
2000s buddy cop films
2000s English-language films
2000s German films
2000s police procedural films
2000s serial killer films
American action thriller films
American buddy cop films
American crime thriller films
American police detective films
American satirical films
American serial killer films
Camcorder films
English-language German films
Films about television
Films about firefighting
Films directed by John Herzfeld
Films scored by Anthony Marinelli
Films scored by J. Peter Robinson
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
German action thriller films
German crime thriller films
German satirical films
German serial killer films
New Line Cinema films
New York City Fire Department

15 Minutes


In medieval music theory, the terms color and coloration are used in four distinct senses, two of which relate to the notation and structuring of note durations, the third to florid ornamentation, and the fourth to the quality of chromatic music.

Coloration (mensural notation device)

As a notation device in mensural notation, the 14th–16th century system of notating musical meters and rhythms, coloration refers to the technique of marking notes as having a change in durational value—most commonly a reduction to two thirds of their normal value. It is indicated by literally coloring the note-heads in the written music differently than their normal appearance. In the 14th and early 15th century, colored notes were typically marked in red while normal notes were black; in the 16th century, the same effect was achieved by filling the note-heads in black while normal notes were hollow. Sequences of colored notes can be used to notate triplet rhythms or hemiola effects.

Color (isorhythm)

In isorhythmic compositions, a composition technique characteristic of motets in the 14th and early 15th centuries, the term color refers to a sequence of repeated notes in the cantus firmus tenor of a composition. The color is typically divided into several taleae, sequences that have the same rhythmic sequence.

Coloration (ornamentation)

In the 16th to the 18th centuries, coloration refers to florid ornamentation, written or improvised, also called diminution, as well as to passages of free ornamentation called coloratura in the 19th century.

Color (chromaticism)
In the 14th and 15th centuries, used the word "color" to refer to the beauty of the chromatic genus, for the effects of musica ficta, and the division of the whole tone into unequal parts, by which such "imperfect" intervals are "colored".

References

Medieval music theory

Color (medieval music)


Clan MacDuff is a Scots armigerous clan, which is registered wi Lyon Court, tho currently wioot a chief. Moncreiffe wrote that the Clan MacDuff wis the premier clan amang the Scots Gaels. The early chiefs o Clan MacDuff war the Earls o Fife. The day the Earls o Wemyss ar thocht tae be the direct descendants in the male line o Gille Míchéil, Earl o Fife, thocht tae be ane o the first Clan MacDuff chiefs.

MacDuff
MacDuff

Clan MacDuff