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nt of keying and key control systems most locksmiths are also involved in electronic lock servicing such as making keys for transponder equipped vehicles and the implementation and application of access control systems protecting individuals and assets for many large institutions locksmiths may be commercial working out of a storefront mobile working out of a vehicle institutional employed by an institution or investigational forensic locksmiths or may specialize in one aspect of the skill such as an automotive lock specialist a master key system specialist or a safe technician many not all are also security consultants but not every security consultant has the skills and knowledge of a locksmith locksmiths are frequently certified in specific skill areas or to a level of skill within the trade this is separate from certificates of completion of training courses in determining skill levels certifications from manufacturers or locksmith associations are usually more valid criteria than certificates of completi |
on some locksmiths decide to call themselves master locksmiths whether they are fully trained or not and some training certificates appear quite authoritative it may be noted however that in some countries a particular level of qualification or membership of an organisation is required before one can adopt the term master locksmith it is often said that a lock keeps honest people honest in the general case a lock will not keep out an absolutely determined intruder with unlimited resources skills knowledge and time however even a minimal lock can delay a typical intruder for a time and the disturbance generated in circumventing a high quality lock for example by breaking windows or doors can deter many attackers causing them to direct their attacks against weaker targets in terms of physical security a locksmith s work frequently involves making a determination of the level of risk to an individual or institution and then recommending and implementing appropriate combinations of equipment and policies to creat |
e security layers which exceed the reasonable gain to an intruder or attacker the more different security layers are implemented the more the requirement for additional skills and knowledge and tools to defeat them all but because each layer comes at an expense to the customer the application of appropriate levels without exceeding reasonable costs to the customer is often very important and requires a skilled and knowledgeable locksmith to determine when combined with secure containers or document destruction systems or electronic access or alarm systems locks can provide much higher levels of security some locksmiths possess these skills and others form business relationships with companies or individuals with these specialties locksmithing is one of the earliest forms of security engineering lock picking was one of the first methods of cracking security systems the issue of full disclosure was first raised in the context of locksmithing in a one nine th century controversy regarding whether weaknesses in l |
ock systems should be kept secret in the locksmithing community or revealed to the public according to a c hobbs a commercial and in some respects a social doubt has been started within the last year or two whether or not it is right to discuss so openly the security or insecurity of locks many well meaning persons suppose that the discussion respecting the means for baffling the supposed safety of locks offers a premium for dishonesty by showing others how to be dishonest this is a fallacy rogues are very keen in their profession and know already much more than we can teach them respecting their several kinds of roguery rogues knew a good deal about lock picking long before locksmiths discussed it among themselves as they have lately done if a lock let it have been made in whatever country or by whatever maker is not so inviolable as it has hitherto been deemed to be surely it is to the interest of honest persons to know this fact because the dishonest are tolerably certain to apply the knowledge practically |
and the spread of the knowledge is necessary to give fair play to those who might suffer by ignorance it cannot be too earnestly urged that an acquaintance with real facts will in the end be better for all parties some time ago when the reading public was alarmed at being told how london milk is adulterated timid persons deprecated the exposure on the plea that it would give instructions in the art of adulterating milk a vain fear milkmen knew all about it before whether they practiced it or not and the exposure only taught purchasers the necessity of a little scrutiny and caution leaving them to obey this necessity or not as they pleased from a c hobbs charles tomlinson ed locks and safes the construction of locks published by virtue co london one eight five three revised one eight six eight locksmithing is a traditional trade and in most countries requires completion of an apprenticeship the level of formal education required varies from country to country from a simple training certificate awarded by an e |
mployer to a full diploma from an engineering college such as in australia in addition to time spent working as an apprentice topics in locksmithing cylinder lock pin tumbler lock tubular pin tumbler lock disc tumbler lock warded lock combination lock bored cylindrical lock mortise lock lock picking lock bypassing wafer lock electronic lock safecracking technical terms in locksmithing key blank bitting change key master keying shear line selective key system angularly bitted key maison key system total position progression rotating constant raking technique technical terms in lock picking lockpick tension wrench external links the associated locksmiths of america inc international association of investigative locksmiths the alt locksmithing faq locksmiths one zero one community forum mit guide to lock picking by ted the tool bruce schneier locks and full disclosure ieee security privacy vol one no two mar apr zero three matt blaze on the discussion of security vulnerabilities downloaded october two zero zero |
five locksmithing smiths loran long range navigation is a terrestrial navigation system using low frequency radio transmitters that use the time interval between radio signals received from two or more stations to determine the position of a ship or aircraft before the popularity of the satellite based gps system it was primarily used in marine applications the current version of loran in common use is loran c which operates in the low frequency nine zero to one one zero khz band history loran was an american development of the british gee radio navigation system used during world war ii while gee had a range of about four zero zero miles six four four km early loran systems had a range of one two zero zero miles one nine three zero km loran systems were up and running during world war ii and were used extensively by the us navy and royal navy it was originally known as lrn for loomis radio navigation after millionaire and physicist alfred lee loomis who invented loran and played a crucial role in military re |
search and development during wwii principle a crude diagram of the loran principle the difference between the time of receipt of synchronized signals from radio stations a and b is constant along each hyperbolic curve the navigational method provided by loran is based on the principle of the time difference between the receipt of signals from a pair of radio transmitters a given constant time difference between the signals from the two stations can be represented by a hyperbolic line of position lop if the position of the two synchronized stations are known then the position of the receiver can be determined as being somewhere on a particular hyperbolic curve where the time difference between the received signals is constant in ideal conditions this is proportionally equivalent to the difference of the distances from the receiver to each of the two stations by itself with only two stations the two dimensional position of the receiver cannot be fixed a second application of the same principle must be used bas |
ed on the time difference of a different pair of stations by determining the intersection of the two hyperbolic curves identified by the application of this method a geographic fix can be determined loran method in the case of loran one station remains constant in each application of the principle the master being paired up separately with two other slave or secondary stations given two secondary stations the time difference td between the master and first secondary identifies one curve and the time difference between the master and second secondary identifies another curve the intersections of which will determine a geographic point in relation to the position of the three stations these curves are often referred to as td lines in practice loran is implemented in integrated regional arrays or chains consisting of one master station and at least two but often more secondary stations with a uniform group repetition interval gri defined in microseconds the master station transmits a series of pulses then pauses |
for that amount of time before transmitting the next set of pulses the secondary stations receive this pulse signal from the master then wait a preset amount of milliseconds known as the secondary coding delay to transmit a response signal in a given chain each secondary s coding delay is different allowing for separate identification of each secondary s signal though in practice modern loran receivers do not rely on this for secondary identification loran chains gris each loran chain in the world uses a unique gri which is designated by the number of microseconds divided by one zero in practice the gri delays are multiples of one zero zero microseconds loran chains are often referred to by this designation e g gri nine nine six zero the designation for the loran chain serving the northeast u s due to the nature of hyperbolic curves it is possible for a particular combination of a master and two slave stations to result in a grid where the axes intersect at acute angles for ideal positional accuracy it is de |
sirable to operate on a navigational grid where the axes are as cartesian as possible i e the axes are at right angles to each other as the receiver travels through a chain a certain selection of secondaries whose td lines initially formed a near cartesian grid can become a grid that is sharply angular as a result the selection of one or both secondaries should be changed so that the td lines of the new combination are closer to right angles to allow this nearly all chains provide at least three secondaries for use to as many as five in one chain loran charts this nautical chart of new york harbor includes td lines for the nine nine six zero gri note that the printed td lines do not extend into inland waterway areas where available common marine navigational charts include visible representations of td lines at regular intervals over water areas the td lines representing a given master slave pairing are printed with distinct colors and include an indication of the specific time difference indicated by each li |
ne due to interference and propagation issues suffered by low frequency signals from land features and man made structures the accuracy of the loran signal is degraded considerably in inland areas see limitations as a result nautical charts will not print any td lines in those areas to prevent reliance on loran for navigation in such areas traditional loran receivers generally display the time difference between each pairing of the master and one of the two selected secondary stations these numbers can then be found in relation to those of the td lines printed on the chart modern loran receivers can natively display latitude and longitude instead of signal time differences with increasing accuracy transmitters and aerials loran c transmitters transmit with power between one zero zero kilowatts and four zero zero zero kilowatts comparable to the transmission power of longwave broadcasting stations as aerials for stations below a transmission power of five zero zero kilowatts guyed masts insulated against groun |
d with a height of approximately one nine zero metres are used these masts are electrically lengthened by guy wires spanned from basements to the top one transmitter of this type is the loran c transmitter rantum on sylt in germany for loran c transmitters with transmission powers greater than one zero zero zero kilowatts guyed masts with heights of approximately four zero zero metres are used the four one two metre high mast of the former loran c station hellissandur on iceland is now used as aerial for longwave broadcasting of the icelandic broadcasting company on the frequency one eight nine khz all loran c stations uses aerials with an omnidirectional radiation pattern loran c transmitter port clarence loran c transmitter rantum longwave radio mast hellissandur former loran c transmitter now longwave broadcasting station loran c transmitter gillette limitations loran suffers from electronic effects of weather and in particular atmospheric effects related to sunrise and sunset the most accurate signal is t |
he groundwave that following the earth s surface preferably along a sea water path at night the indirect skywave taking paths bent back to the surface by the ionosphere is a particular problem as multiple signals may arrive via different paths the ionosphere s reaction to sunrise and sunset accounts for the particular disturbance during those periods magnetic storms have serious effects as with any radio based system loran requires the reception of signals from ground based transmitters and therefore the system only works in regions with loran transmitters however coverage is quite good in north america europe and the pacific rim loran a and other systems loran a was a less accurate system operating in the one seven five zero one nine five zero khz frequency band prior to deployment of the more accurate loran c system it continued in operation partly due to the economy of the receivers and widespread use in civilian recreational and commercial navigation loran b was a phase comparison variation of loran a whi |
le loran d was a short range tactical system designed for air force bombers the unofficial loran f was a drone control system none of these went much beyond the experimental stage an external link to them is listed below loran data channel ldc loran data channel ldc is a project underway between the faa and uscg to send low bit rate data using the loran system messages to be sent include station identification absolute time and position correction messages in two zero zero one data similar to wide area augmentation system waas gps correction messages were sent as part of a test of the alaskan loran chain as of november two zero zero five test messages using ldc were being broadcast from several u s loran stations for several years loran c has been used in europe to send differential gps messages using a similar method of transmission known as eurofix future many have called for the elimination of the loran system altogether critics feel that the loran system has too few users lacks cost effectiveness and that |
gps is a better alternative to loran supporters of the loran system note three primary advantages of the system first loran uses a very strong transmitted signal and is therefore very difficult to jam clearly much harder than gps second loran is an independent system and can therefore serve as a backup finally loran signals can also be combined with gps signals to produce a better estimate of location than either system acting alone recently both the us and european governments have made the political decision to maintain and upgrade their loran systems worldwide loran coverage the two zero zero five federal radionavigation plan released in febuary two zero zero six states that loran will not be deactivated without at least six months notification and that an evaluation of loran will be completed by the end of two zero zero six the results will determine the future of loran references jennet conan tuxedo park a wall street tycoon and the secret palace of science that changed the course of world war ii new yo |
rk simon f aircraft instruments radio navigation world war ii american electronics a lunatic colloquially loony is commonly used term for a person who is mentally ill dangerous foolish or unpredictable a condition once called lunacy the word is borrowed via french from latin lunaticus which gains its stem from luna for moon which denotes the traditional link made in folklore between madness and the phases of the moon this probably refers to the symptoms of cyclic mood disorders such as bipolar disorder or cyclothymia the symptoms of which may also go through phases as yet there is little evidence for any causal link between phases of the moon and the progression of mood disorder symptoms in a one nine nine nine paper raison et al put forward the interesting hypothesis that the phase of the moon may in the past have had an effect on bipolar patients by providing light during nights which would otherwise have been dark and affecting susceptible patients through the well known route of sleep deprivation with the |
introduction of electric light this effect would have gone away as light would be available every night explaining the negative results of modern studies they suggest ways in which this hypothesis might be tested mental institutions used to be called lunatic asylums or colloquially loony bins the latter term is still occasionally used both humorously and insensitively in russian a lunatic refers to a sleepwalker literally one who walks under the moon or moonwalker people can be offended by the terms loony and lunatic and euphemistic neologisms are often used instead but it can also connote flamboyance and joviality as in the popular image of screaming lord sutch of the official monster raving loony party who was bipolar see also official monster raving loony party bedlam mental health munchkin rpg a loony is one of the other rpg sterotypes loonie the nickname of the canadian one dollar coin external links does the full moon have any effects on mood cites research studies two negative one positive pejorative |
terms for people ltc is also the u s army abbreviation for lieutenant colonel linear or longitudinal timecode ltc encodes smpte timecode data as a manchester biphase encoded audio signal each frame is terminated by a sync word which has a special predefined sync relationship with any video or film content a special bit in the linear timecode frame the biphase mark correction bit ensures that there are an even number of ac transitions in each timecode frame the sound of linear timecode is a jarring and distinctive noise and has been used as a sound effects shorthand to imply telemetry or computers many professional audio engineers see this use of ltc in sound effects as an exceptionally lazy unrealistic sound design technique in the industry ltc is pronounced litsy rhymes with itsy bitsy distribution ltc timecode is essentially an audio signal around two khz in frequency this signal can be distributed by standard audio wiring connectors distribution amplifiers and patchbays and can be ground isolated with audi |
o transformers ltc can also be distributed via seven five ohm video cable and video distribution amplifiers although the voltage attenuation caused by using a seven five ohm system may cause the signal to drop to a level that can not be read by some equipment care has to be taken with analog audio to avoid audible breakthrough from the ltc track to the audio tracks longitudinal timecode data format the basic format is an eight zero bit code that gives the time of day to the second and the frame number within the second the bits of the longitudinal smpte code zero three frame units four seven user bits field one eight nine frame tens one zero one drop frame format frame zero and one omitted from first second of each minute but included when minutes divides by ten approximates two nine nine seven frame s one one one color frame i e the time code is intentionally synchronised with a color tv field sequence one two one five user bits field two one six one nine seconds units two zero two three user bits field thre |
e two four two six second tens two seven bi phase mark correction bit set or cleared so every eight zero bit word has an even number of zeros this can be used to assure that there is no net current flow in the time code system it also allows a technician to read the bi phase coding timing with an oscilloscope without the signal inverting itself continually modern equipment regenerates the time code to a fixed timing in the video vertical interval so this is far less needed than before two eight three one user bits field four three two three five minutes unit digit three six three nine user bits field five four zero four two minutes tens digit four three binary group flag bit with bit five nine four three five nine zero zero no format for user bits one zero eight bit format zero one one one are unassigned and reserved four four four seven user bits field six four eight five one hours units five two five five user bits field seven five six five seven hours tens five eight unused reserved should transmit zero an |
d ignore on receive for compatibility five nine binary group flag bit see bit four three for encoding six zero six three user bits field eight six four seven nine sync word should be zero zero one one one one one one one one one one one one zero one there are thirty two bits of user data these are usually used for a reel number and date they can be anything at all as long as bits four three and five nine are set to zero the bits are encoded as biphase a zero bit has a single transition at the start of the bit period a one bit has two transitions at the beginning and middle of the period this encoding is self clocking longitudinal smpte timecode should be played back at a middle level when recorded on an audio track too high or too low will both cause distortion see also vertical interval timecode burnt in timecode midi timecode aes ebu embedded timecode encodingssynchronization lord rayleigh the right honourable john william strutt three rd baron rayleigh one two november one eight four two three zero june on |
e nine one nine was a british physicist who with william ramsay discovered the element argon an achievement that earned him the nobel prize for physics in one nine zero four he also discovered the phenomenon now called rayleigh scattering and predicted the existence of the surface waves now known as rayleigh waves strutt was born in langford grove essex on november one two one eight four two in his early years he suffered frailty and poor health he began studying mathematics at trinity college cambridge in one eight six one and graduated in one eight six five he was subsequently elected to a fellowship of trinity college he held the post until his marriage to evelyn balfour in one eight seven one rayleigh s autograph in one eight seven three his father john james strutt died and the younger strutt inherited the barony of rayleigh he was the second cavendish professor of physics at cambridge university following james clerk maxwell in this position from one eight seven nine to one eight eight four rayleigh die |
d on june three zero one nine one nine in witham essex craters on mars and the moon are named in his honor as well as a type of surface wave known as a rayleigh wave see also rayleigh criterion rayleigh fading rayleigh number rayleigh quotient rayleigh scattering rayleigh unit named after his son rayleigh waves rayleigh jeans law rayleigh distribution external links nobel website bio of rayleigh about john william strutt mactutor biography of lord rayleigh one eight four two births one nine one nine deaths alumni of trinity college cambridge barons in the peerage of the united kingdom british physicists members of the order of merit nobel prize in physics winners old etonians discoverers of chemical elements a lunisolar calendar is a calendar whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year if the solar year is defined as a tropical year then a lunisolar calendar will give an indication of the season if it is taken as a sidereal year then the calendar will predict the constellation near |
which the full moon may occur usually there is an additional requirement that the year has a whole number of months in which case most years have one two months but every second or third year has one three months examples the hebrew hindu lunar buddhist tibetan calendars and chinese calendar used alone until one nine one two and then used along with the gregorian calendar are all lunisolar as was the japanese calendar until one eight seven three the pre islamic calendar the first century gaulish coligny calendar and the second millennium bce babylonian calendar the hebrew chinese and coligny lunisolar calendars track the tropical year whereas the buddhist and hindu lunisolar calendars track the sidereal year therefore the first two give an idea of the seasons whereas the last two give an idea of the position among the constellations of the full moon the tibetan calendar was influenced by both the chinese and hindu calendars the islamic calendar is a lunar but not lunisolar calendar because its date is not re |
lated to the sun the julian and gregorian calendars are solar not lunisolar because their dates do not indicate the moon phase however without realising it most christians do use a lunisolar calendar in the determination of easter determining leap months to determine when an embolismic month needs to be inserted some calendars rely on direct observations of the state of vegetation while others compare the ecliptic longitude of the sun and the phase of the moon on the other hand in arithmetical lunisolar calendars an integral number of synodic months is fitted into some integral number of years by a fixed rule to construct such a calendar the average length of the tropical year is divided by the average length of the synodic month which gives the number of average months in a year as one two three six eight two six six continued fractions of this decimal value give optimal approximations for this value so in the list below after the number of synodic months listed in the numerator an integer number of tropical |
years as listed in the denominator have been completed one two one two five two three seven three nine nine eight one three six one one two three five one nine four one three one three three four the eight year cycle was used in the ancient athenian calendar the one nine year cycle is the classic metonic cycle which is used in most arithmetical lunisolar calendars it is a combination of the eight and one one year period and whenever the error of the one nine year approximation has built up to a full day a cycle can be truncated to eight or one one years after which one nine year cycles can start anew the metonic cycle does not have an integer number of days but it was adapted to a mean year of three six five two five days by means of the four one nine year callipic cycle the eight year cycle was also used in early third century easter calculations in rome and alexandria rome used an eight four year cycle from the late third century until four five seven early christians in britain and ireland also used an ei |
ght four year cycle until the synod of whitby the eight four year cycle is equivalent to a callipic seven six year cycle plus an eight year cycle and so has one zero three nine lunar months the last listed approximation four one three one three three four is very sensitive to the adopted values for the lunation and year especially the year there are different possible definitions of the year other approximations may be more accurate for example four three six six three five three is more accurate for a vernal equinox tropical year and one nine seven nine one six zero is more accurate for a sidereal year calculating a leap month a rough idea of the frequency of the intercalary or leap month in all lunisolar calendars can be obtained by the following calculation using approximate lengths of months and years in days year three six five two five month two nine five three three six five two five one two two nine five three one zero three zero seven one zero zero three zero seven three two five seven common months |
between leap months three two five seven one two one one seven common years between leap years a representative sequence of common and leap years is cclcclclcclcclcclcl which is the classic nineteen year metonic cycle the hebrew and buddhist calendars restrict the leap month to a single month of the year so the number of common months between leap months is usually three six months but occasionally only two four months elapse the chinese and hindu lunisolar calendars allow the leap month to occur after or before respectively any month but use the true motion of the sun so their leap months do not usually occur within a couple of months of perihelion when the apparent speed of the sun along the ecliptic is fastest now about three january this increases the usual number of common months between leap months to roughly three four months when a doublet of common years occurs while reducing the number to about two nine months when only a common singleton occurs see also month solar calendar lunar calendar external |
links perpetual chinese lunar program lunisolar calendar calendars one nine six six leonid meteor shower the leonids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet tempel tuttle the meteor shower is visible every year around november one seven when the earth moves through the leonid meteor stream the stream comprises solid particles known as meteoroids ejected by the comet as it passes by the sun a typical particle is no bigger than fine dust and burns into oblivion with a streak of light as it hits earth s atmosphere at tremendous speed seven one km s the leonids get their name from the location of their radiant in the constellation leo the meteors appear to stream from that point in the sky the leonids are famous because their meteor showers or storms can be among the most spectacular in most years the rate at which meteors are likely to be seen is not great however years of highly elevated rates tend to follow a three three year cycle associated with the three three year orbit of comet tempel tuttl |
e storms in peak years can feature thousands of meteors per hour notable events were observed in one six nine eight one seven nine nine one eight three two one eight three three one eight six six one nine six six one nine nine nine two zero zero one and two zero zero two during a strong storm in dark viewing conditions the sky can appear to be raining stars given the size of the particles undetectable with telescopes the precise timing and rate of each year s shower is challenging to predict however a close encounter with jupiter is expected to perturb the comet s path making storms of historic magnitude unlikely for many decades see also meteor showers list of meteor showers stars fell on alabama based on the one eight three three leonid shower external links leonid history by gary w kronk nasa background facts on meteors and meteor showers nasa estimate the best viewing times for your part of the world leo constellation meteor showers the labarum an image of the labarum with the greek letters alpha and omeg |
a inscribed the roman emperor constantine i ruled three zero six three three seven created a new military standard to be carried before his army which displayed the first two greek letters of the word christ chi and rho which came to be known as the labarum constantine himself however continued to hold the title of pontifex maximus chief priest of the classical pagan roman religion many take this to mean that he was not a christian though he had an interest in the politics of christianity which has led some scholars to the conclusion that the labarum was not intended as a christian symbol previously the labarum was the monogram of chronos the god of time and an emblem of several solar deities in hebrew chi rho equates to tav resh the chi rho was used in alchemical texts to denote time the chi ro is also the origin of the tradition of abbreviating christ in christian or christmas to x the etymology of the word before constantine s usage of it is unclear according to lactantius on the deaths of the persecutors |
chapter four four constantine had dreamed of this emblem and a voice saying in this sign you shall conquer in hoc signo vinces on waking he ordered his soldiers to put the emblem on their shields that very day they fought the forces of maxentius and won the battle of the milvian bridge three one two outside rome mythology characteristically differs in the details but in every case the details are meaningful never random writing in greek eusebius of caesarea died three three nine the bishop who wrote the first surviving general history of the early christian churches gave two additional versions of constantine s famous vision according to the bishop s historia ecclesiae church history the emperor saw the vision in gaul on his way to rome long before the battle with maxentius the phrase as he gives it was literally in this win in a later hagiographic memoir of the emperor that eusebius wrote after constantine s death on the life of constantine ca three three seven three three nine the miraculous appearance came |
when the rival armies met at the milvian bridge in this later version the emperor had been pondering the logical question of misfortunes that befall armies that invoke the help of many different gods and decided to seek divine aid in the forthcoming battle from the one god at noon constantine saw a cross of light imposed over the sun attached to it was the saying in hoc signo vinces not only constantine but the whole army saw the miracle constantine s modern biographer the historian ramsey macmullen comments if the sky writing was witnessed by four zero zero zero zero men the true miracle lies in their unbroken silence about it constantine one nine six nine that night christ appeared to the emperor in a dream and told him to make a replica of the sign he had seen in the sky which would be a sure defense in battle thus the element of the public miracle reinforces the element of the private dream swedish geologist jens ormo suggests that the latter account may have had its origins in constantine witnessing the |
mushroom cloud from the meteorite impact that resulted in the sirente crater field situated in sirente velino regional park abruzzo italy in medieval art the labarum theme is conspicuous by its absence appearing suddenly in the renaissance and classical periods where the phrase is frequently shown written out in the sky eusebius may have felt that the dream mytheme on its own needed reinforcement of the miracle he wrote in the vita that constantine himself had told him this story and confirmed it with oaths late in life when i was deemed worthy of his acquaintance and company indeed says eusebius had anyone else told this story it would not have been easy to accept it among the many soldiers depicted on the arch of constantine which was erected just three years after the battle the labarum does not appear nor is there any hint of the miraculous affirmation of divine protection that had been witnessed eusebius avers by so many a grand opportunity for just the kind of political propaganda that the arch otherwi |
se was expressly built to present would have been unaccountably missed if eusebius oath confirmed account can be trusted its inscription does say that the emperor had saved the res publica instinctu divinitatis mentis magnitudine by greatness of mind and by instinct or impulse of divinity which divinity is not identified though sol invictus the invincible sun also identifiable in apollo or mithras is inscribed on constantine s coinage at this moment in his historia ecclesiae eusebius further reports that after his victorious entry into rome constantine had a statue of himself erected holding the sign of the savior the cross in his right hand there are no other reports to confirm such a conspicuous monument on the reverse of this coin struck under vetriano the emperor is holding two labara the ensigns introduced by his ancestor constantine i emperor it has since been interpreted by christians all over the world as a symbol of christianity because it is composed of the combined chi and rho it is sometimes refer |
red to as the monogram of christ protestant christians especially restorationists reject its use due to what they believe to be pagan origins specifically as a symbol of the sun god and lack of use by the earliest christians forms of it only start to appear in the three rd century mostly on sarcophagi the interpretation of its use as a specifically christian symbol is however reinforced by the fact that julian the apostate removed it from his insignia and that it was restored to use by his christian successors in unicode the chi rho symbol is u two six two seven see also alchemy christian symbolism christogram catholic encyclopedia article ancient roman christianity christian symbols lucius caelius or caecilius firmianus lactantius was an early christian author who wrote in latin c two four zero c three two zero lactantius a native of north africa was a pupil of arnobius according to methodius chastity nine two and taught rhetoric in various cities of the eastern roman empire ending in constantinople he wrote |
apologetic works explaining christianity in terms that would be palatable to educated pagans while defending it from pagan philosophers his divinae institutiones divine institutions is an early example of a systematic presentation of christian thought he was considered somewhat heretical after his death but renaissance humanists picked up renewed interest in lactantius more for his good elaborately rhetorical latin style than for his theology lactantius was born a pagan and in his early life taught rhetoric in his native place which may have been cirta in numidia where an inscription mentions a certain l caecilius firmianus lactantius had a successful public career at first at the request of emperor diocletian he became an official professor of rhetoric in nicomedia the voyage from africa described in his poem hodoeporicum having converted to christianity he would have been dismissed after the publication of diocletian s first edict against the christians february two four three zero three and as a latin rhe |
tor he lived in poverty according to jerome and eked out a living by writing until constantine became his patron the new emperor appointed the aged scholar three one one or three one three he had to find a home elsewhere the friendship of the emperor constantine raised him from penury and tutor in latin to his son crispus whom lactantius may have followed to trier in three one seven when crispus was made caesar and sent to the city crispus was put to death in three two six but when lactantius died and in what circumstances is not known like so many of the early christian authors lacantius depended on classical models and true to the requirements of his profession he is polished rather than profound he well merits the designation of the christian cicero cicero christianus bestowed on him by the humanists for he exhibits many of the shortcomings as well as the graces of his master works de opificio dei the works of god an apologetic work written in three zero three or three zero four during diocletian s persecu |
tion and dedicated to a former pupil a rich christian named demetrianius the apologetic principles underlying all the works of lactantius are well set forth in this treatise the divine institutions divinarum institutionum libri vii written between three zero three and three one one this the most important of the writings of lactantius as an apologetic treatise it was intended to point out the futility of pagan beliefs and to establish the reasonableness and truth of christianity as a response to pagan critics it was also the first attempt at a systematic exposition of christian theology in latin planned on a broad scale sufficiently broad enough to silence all opponents the catholic encyclopedia said the strengths and the weakness of lactantius are nowhere better shown than in his work the beauty of the style the choice and aptness of the terminology cannot hide the author s lack of grasp on christian principles and his almost utter ignorance of scripture an epitome of the divine institutions is a summary tre |
atment of the subject de ira dei on the wrath of god directed against the stoics and epicureans dealing with anthropomorphic deities de mortibus persecutorum has an apologetic character but has been treated as a work of history by christian writers the point of the work is to describe the frightful deaths of the persecutors of christians nero domitian decius valerian aurelian and the contemporaries of lactantius himself diocletian maximian galerius and maximus this work is taken as a chronicle of the last and greatest of the persecutions in spite of the moral point each anecdote has been arranged to tell here lactantius preserves the story of constantine i s vision of the labarum before his conversion to christianity the full text is found in only one manuscript which bears the title lucii caecilii liber ad donatum confessorem de mortibus persecutorium widely attributed to lactantius although it shows no overt sign of christianity the charming poem the phoenix de ave phoenice tells the story of the death and |
rebirth of that mythical bird that poem in turn appears to have been the principal source for the famous anglo saxon poem to which the modern title the phoenix is given references external links catholic encyclopedia one nine zero eight lactantius lactantius links to primary texts and secondary sources two four zero births three two zero deaths roman era poets latin authors ancient roman christianity laconia see also list of traditional greek place names also known as lacedaemonia was in ancient greece the portion of the peloponnese of which the most important city was sparta throughout classical antiquity the spartans held messenia whose inhabitants the helots were permanently enslaved in medieval times it was part of the byzantine empire and following the crusades it was the home of the byzantine despotate of mystra held by the penultimate byzantine ruling dynasty the palaeologi in modern times laconia has the legal status of a prefecture with sparta its administrative capital its main towns and cities are |
amyclae areopolis gytheion molaoi monemvasia mystras neapoli and sellasia it encompasses cape malea and cape tainaron and a large part of the mani peninsula the evrotas is the longest river in the prefecture the valley of the evrotas is predominantly an agricultural region that contains many citrus groves olive groves and pasture lands and most of all oranges it is the location of the largest orange production in the peloponnese and probably all of greece the brand of orange juice named after this prefecture lakonia is based in amyclae and sells fresh orange juice entirely from this region taygetus two four zero seven m known as pentadaktylos five fingers throughout the middle ages is west of sparta and the evrotas valley it is the highest mountain in laconia and the peloponnese and mostly covered with pine trees two roads connect the adjoining prefectures of messinia and laconia one is a tortuous mountain pass through taygetus and the other bypasses the mountain via the mani district to the south the other m |
ajor mountain is parnon one nine six one m to the east a stalactite cave in the southwest of the prefecture is located south of areopolis this famous cave is called dirou and is a major tourist attraction it is bounded by the taygetus mountains to the west with messenia arcadia to the north and with the parnon mountains to the northeast the myrtoan gulf to the east and the gulf of laconia and the mediterranean sea to the south the islands of cythera and antikythira lie to the south but they administratively belong to the prefecture of piraeus the word laconic is derived from the name of the region by analogy to speak in a concise way as the spartans were reputed by the athenians to do climate the area has hot summers and mild winters in most of the prefecture while in the mountains especially taygetus snow is very common throughout the winter transportation greece interstate three seven n cen s molaoi to leonidi road e ne greece interstate eight two w greece interstate eight six s e se gytheio monemvasia comm |
unications radio fly fm eight nine seven fm sparta lakonia fm nine one one fm sparta politeia fm nine zero seven fm nine one five fm radiofonias notias lakonias southern laconia radio nine three five gytheio radio sparti nine two seven fm sparta star fm nine four seven television ellada tv uhf four three sparta tv notias lakonias molaoi population history one nine zero seven eight seven one zero six one nine nine one nine five six nine six two zero zero one nine four nine one eight provinces province of epidavros limiras molai province of gytheio gytheio province of lacedaemonia sparta province of oitylo areopili municipalities and communities see also list of settlements in the laconia prefecture external links http lakonia net http www laconia org map of laconia gtp lagkadia gtp lagkadia municipality in german http www unterkunft de query region peloponnes subregion lakonien http www hochschulstellenmarkt de info l la lakonien html http www leonidion de lakonien htm in greek municipalities of laconia with c |
ommunities and settlements laconiaprefectures of greece an unrelated laocoon also spelled lacoon son of porthaon was one of the argonauts this article is about the trojan priest laoco n in the vatican museum rome laoco n greek pronounced roughly la oh koh on son of acoetes was allegedly a priest of poseidon or of apollo by some accounts at troy he is famous for warning the trojans in vain against accepting the trojan horse from the greeks and for his subsequent divine execution virgil s aeneid describes the circumstances of laoco n s death as follows laoco n warned his fellow trojans against the wooden horse presented to the city by the greeks in the aeneid virgil gives laoco n the famous line equo ne credite teucri quidquid id est timeo danaos et dona ferentes or do not trust the horse trojans whatever it is i fear the greeks even bearing gifts this line is the source of the saying beware of greeks bearing gifts the trojans disregarded his advice however and in his resulting anger laoco n threw his spear at |
the horse poseidon some say athena who was supporting the greeks subsequently sent sea serpents to strangle laoco n and his two sons antiphantes and thymbraeus another tradition states that apollo sent the serpents for an unrelated offense and only unlucky timing caused the trojans to misinterpret them as punishment for striking the horse it was the subject of sophocles lost tragedy laocoon according to the hellenistic poet euphorion of chalcis apollo was punishing laocoon for procreating upon holy ground sacred to poseidon virgil describes this scene by the lines original latin ille simul manibus tendit divellere nodos perfusus sanie vittas atroque veneno clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit qualis mugitus fugit cum saucius aram taurus et incertam excussit cervice securim literal english translation at the same time as with his hands he strives to tear away the knots his fillet soaked with slaver and dreadful poison he also raises horrifying shrieks to the stars like a bellowing bull when it flees wound |
ed from the altar bull and it shakes a badly aimed axe from its neck john dryden s poetic english translation see line two nine zero with both his hands he labors at the knots his holy fillets the blue venom blots his roaring fills the flitting air around thus when an ox receives a glancing wound he breaks his bands the fatal altar flies and with loud bellowings breaks the yielding skies the death of laoco n is depicted in the monumental statue of laoco n and his sons attributed to rhodian sculptors hegesandros athenedoros and polydoros mythology trojans front of the cathedral limburg an der lahn limburg on the lahn river is a small german town the capital of the district limburg weilburg in the west of hesse population three five five zero zero geographical position the city was first mentioned in nine one zero altstadt old town area of limburg boasts a fine ancient cathedral and is full of narrow streets with half timbered houses dating mainly from the one seven th and one eight th centuries the city is loc |
ated at the lahn river between the mountains of the westerwald and the taunus it is twinned with the city of lichfield staffordshire england limburg has a famous boys choir the limburger domsingknaben limburg has eight districts ahlbach dietkirchen eschhofen linter lindenholzhausen offheim and staffel the river lahn in limburg offheim first mentioned in historical documents in one two one seven was an independent village but in the one nine seven zero s it was incorporated into limburg there is a church tower in offheim that dates to one one five zero the current population of the district is two six four eight one three two seven male and one three two one female external links limburg limburg old city limburg cathedral boys choir in english towns in hesse lavrenty beria lavrenty pavlovich beria georgian russian two nine march one eight nine nine two three december one nine five three soviet politician and police chief beria is now remembered chiefly as the executor of joseph stalin s great purge of the one |
nine three zero s even though he actually presided only over the closing stages of the purge his period of greatest power and influence was during and immediately after world war ii after stalin s death he was removed from office and executed by stalin s successors rise to power beria was born the son of a peasant in merkheuli near sukhumi in the abkhazian region of georgia he was educated at a technical school in sukhumi and is recorded as having joined the bolshevik party in march one nine one seven while an engineering student in baku some sources say that the baku party records are forgeries and that beria actually joined the party in one nine one nine it is also alleged that beria joined and then deserted from the red army at this time but this has not been established in one nine two zero or one nine two one accounts vary beria joined the cheka all russian extraordinary commission to combat counter revolution and sabotage the original bolshevik political police at that time a bolshevik revolt supported |
by the red army occurred in the menshevik democratic republic of georgia and the vecheka was heavily involved in this conflict by one nine two two beria was deputy head of the vecheka s successor the ogpu combined state political directorate in georgia some sources allege that beria was at this time an agent of the british and or turkish intelligence services but this has never been proved beria as a fellow georgian was an early ally of joseph stalin in his rise to power within the communist party and the soviet regime in one nine two four he led the repression of nationalist disturbances in tbilisi after which it is said that up to five zero zero zero people were executed for this display of bolshevik ruthlessness beria was appointed head of the secret political division of the transcaucasian ogpu and was awarded the order of the red banner in one nine two six he became head of the georgian ogpu he was appointed party secretary in georgia in one nine three one and for the whole transcaucasian region in one n |
ine three two he became a member of the central committee of the communist party in one nine three four even after moving on from georgia he continued to effectively control the republic s communist party until it was purged in july one nine five three by one nine three five beria was one of stalin s most trusted subordinates he cemented his place in stalin s entourage with a lengthy oration on the history of the bolshevik organisations in transcaucasia later published as a book which rewrote the history of transcaucasian bolshevism to show that stalin had been its sole leader from the beginning when stalin s purge of the communist party and government began in one nine three four after the assassination of sergei kirov beria ran the purges in transcaucasia using the opportunity to settle many old scores in the politically turbulent transcaucasian republics in june one nine three seven he said in a speech let our enemies know that anyone who attempts to raise a hand against the will of our people against the |
will of the party of lenin and stalin will be mercilessly crushed and destroyed beria at the nkvd an official poster eulogising beria in august one nine three eight stalin brought beria to moscow as deputy head of the people s commissariat for internal affairs nkvd the ministry which oversaw the state security and police forces under nikolai yezhov the nkvd carried out prosecution of the perceived enemies of the state known as the great purge that affected millions of people by one nine three eight however the purge had become so extensive that it was damaging the infrastructure of the soviet state its economy and armed forces and stalin had decided to wind the purge down in september beria was appointed head of the main administration of state security gugb of the nkvd and in november he succeeded yezhov as head of nkvd yezhov was executed in one nine four zero the nkvd itself was then purged with half its personnel replaced by beria loyalists many of them from the caucasus beria s name has become closely id |
entified with the great purge as well but in fact he presided over the nkvd during an easing of the repression over one zero zero zero zero zero people were released from the labour camps and it was officially admitted that there had been some injustices and excesses during the purges which were blamed on yezhov nevertheless this liberalisation was only relative arrests and executions continued and in one nine four zero as war approached the pace of the purges again accelerated during this period beria supervised the deportations of population from poland and the baltic states following their occupation by soviet forces in march one nine four zero he prepared the order for the execution of over two seven zero zero zero polish intellectuals including more than two zero zero zero zero polish prisoners of war at katyn wood katyn near smolensk and two other mass execution sites on march five one nine four zero stalin approved it in march one nine three nine beria became a candidate member of the communist party s |
politburo although he did not become a full member until one nine four six he was already one of the senior leaders of the soviet state in one nine four one beria was made a commissar general of state security a highest military like rank within the soviet police ranking system of that time in february one nine four one he became a deputy chairman of the council of people s commissars sovnarkom and in june when nazi germany invaded the soviet union he became a member of the state defence committee gko during world war ii he took on major domestic responsibilities using the millions of people imprisoned in nkvd labour camps for wartime production he took control of production of armaments and with georgy malenkov aircraft and aircraft engines this was the beginning of beria s alliance with malenkov which later became of central importance in one nine four four as the germans were driven from soviet soil beria was in charge of dealing with the various ethnic minorities accused of collaboration with the invader |
s including the chechens the ingush the crimean tatars and the volga germans all these were deported to soviet central asia with significant loss of life see population transfer in the soviet union in december one nine four four beria was also charged with supervision of the soviet atomic bomb project in this connection he ran the successful soviet espionage campaign against united states atomic weapons programme which resulted in soviets obtaining a nuclear bomb technology building and testing a bomb in one nine four nine in july one nine four five as soviet police ranks were converted to a uniform military system beria s rank was converted to that of a marshal of the soviet union although he had never held a military command beria through his organisation of war production made a significant contribution to the soviet union s victory in world war ii postwar politics beria with stalin in background and stalin s daughter svetlana with stalin nearing seven zero the postwar years were dominated by a concealed s |
truggle for the succession among his lieutenants at the end of the war the most likely successor seemed to be andrei zhdanov party leader in leningrad during the war and placed in charge of all cultural matters in one nine four six even during the war beria and zhdanov had been rivals but after one nine four six beria formed an alliance with malenkov to block zhdanov s rise in january one nine four six beria left the post of the head of the nkvd which was soon renamed mvd while retaining general control over national security matters from his post of deputy prime minister under stalin the new head sergei kruglov was not beria s prot g in addition by the summer of one nine four six beria s loyalist vsevolod merkulov was replaced by victor abakumov as head of the mgb kruglov and abakumov then moved expeditiously to replace the security apparatus leadership with new people outside of beria s inner circle such that very soon deputy minister of mvd stepan mamulov represented the only remnant of it outside of forei |
gn intelligence on which beria kept a grip in the following months abakumov started carrying out important operations without consulting beria often working in tandem with zhdanov and sometimes on stalin s direct orders some observers argue that these operations were aimed initially tangentially but with time more directly at beria in the context of stalin s growing anti semitism one of the first such moves was the jewish anti fascist committee affair that commenced in october of one nine four six and eventually led to the murder of solomon mikhoels and the arrest of many other members the reason this campaign had negatively reflected on beria was that not only did he champion creation of the committee in one nine four two but his own entourage included a substantial number of jews zhdanov died suddenly in august one nine four eight and beria and malenkov then moved to consolidate their power with a purge of zhdanov s associates known as the leningrad affair among the more than two zero zero zero people execu |
ted were zhdanov s deputy aleksei kuznetsov the economic chief nikolai voznesensky the leningrad party head pyotr popkov and the prime minister of the russian republic mikhail rodionov it was only after zhdanov s death that nikita khrushchev a staunch anti semite himself began to be considered as a possible alternative to the beria malenkov axis zhdanov s death did not however stop the anti semitic campaign during the postwar years beria supervised the establishment of soviet style systems of secret police and hand picked the leaders in the countries of the eastern europe again a substantial number of these leaders were jews starting in one nine four eight abakumov initiated several investigations against these leaders which culminated with the arrest in november of one nine five one of rudolf sl nsk bed ich geminder and others in prague who were generally accused of zionism and cosmopolitanism but more specifically of using czechoslovakia to funnel weapons to israel from beria s standpoint this charge was ex |
tremely explosive because massive help to israel was provided on his direct orders altogether one four leaders of czechoslovakia one one of them jewish were tried convicted and executed in prague see prague trials similar investigations have concurrently proceeded in poland and other soviet satellite countries around that time abakumov was replaced by semyon ignatiev who further intensified the anti semitic campaign on january one three one nine five three the widest anti semitic affair in the soviet union that later came to be known as doctors plot was initiated with an article in pravda a number of the country s prominent jewish doctors were accused of poisoning top soviet leaders and arrested concurrently hysterical anti semitic propaganda campaign sprang in the mass media altogether three seven doctors most of them jewish were arrested and mgb on stalin s orders started to prepare for deportation of the entire jewish population to russia s far east days after stalin s death beria freed all the arrested do |
ctors announced that the entire matter was fabricated and indeed arrested the mgb functionaries directly involved after stalin on march five one nine five three stalin died four days after collapsing during the night following a dinner with beria and other soviet leaders the political memoirs of foreign minister vyacheslav molotov published in one nine nine three claim that beria boasted to molotov that he had poisoned stalin although no hard evidence has ever been produced to support this assertion there is evidence however that for many hours after stalin was found unconscious beria denied him medical help claiming that stalin was sleeping it is possible that all the soviet leaders agreed to allow stalin whom they all feared to die after stalin s death beria was appointed first deputy prime minister and reappointed head of the mvd which he merged with the mgb his close ally malenkov was the new prime minister and initially the most powerful man in the post stalin leadership beria was the second most powerfu |
l leader and given malenkov s lack of real leadership qualities was in a position to become the power behind the throne and ultimately leader himself khrushchev became party secretary which was seen as a less important post than the prime ministership despite beria s history as one of stalin s most ruthless henchmen he was at the forefront of liberalisation after stalin s death beria publicly denounced the doctors plot as a fraud investigated and solved the murder of solomon mikhoels and released over a million political prisoners from labour camps in april he signed a decree banning the use of torture in soviet prisons he also signalled a more liberal policy towards the non russian nationalities in the soviet union he persuaded the presidium as the politburo had been renamed and the council of ministers to urge the communist regime in east germany to allow liberal economic and political reforms beria manoeuvred to marginalize the role of the party apparatus in the decision making process in policy and econom |
ic matters some writers have held that beria s liberal policies after stalin s death were a tactic to manoeuvre himself into power even if he was sincere they argue beria s past made it impossible for him to lead a liberalising regime in the soviet union a role which later fell to khrushchev the essential task of soviet reformers was to bring the secret police under party control and beria could not do this since the police were the basis of his own power others have argued that he had represented a truly reformist agenda and that his eventual removal from power delayed a radical political and economic reform in the soviet union by almost forty years beria enemy of the people time magazine cover july two zero one nine five three given his record it is not surprising that the other party leaders were suspicious of beria s motives in all this the alliance between beria and malenkov was opposed by khrushchev but he was initially unable to challenge the beria malenkov axis his opportunity came in june one nine fi |
ve three when demonstrations against the communist regime in east germany broke out in east berlin see workers uprising of one nine five three in east germany there was a suspicion that the practical beria was willing to trade the reunification of germany and end the cold war for massive aid from the united states such as had been received in world war ii the east german demonstrations convinced molotov malenkov and nikolai bulganin that beria s policies were dangerous and destabilising to soviet power days after the events in germany khrushchev persuaded the other leaders to support a party coup against beria whose principal ally malenkov quickly decided to abandon him beria s fall accounts of beria s fall vary considerably according to the most recent accounts khrushchev convened a meeting of the praesidium on june two six where he launched an attack on beria accusing him of being in the pay of british intelligence beria was taken completely by surprise he asked what s going on nikita sergeyevich molotov an |
d others then also spoke against beria and khrushchev put a motion for his instant dismissal malenkov then pressed a button on his desk as the pre arranged signal to marshal georgy zhukov and a group of armed officers in a nearby room they immediately burst in and arrested beria some accounts say that beria was killed on the spot but this is incorrect beria was taken first to the lefortovo prison and then to the headquarters of general kirill moskalenko commander of moscow district air defence and a wartime friend of khrushchev s his arrest was kept secret until his principal lieutenants could be arrested the nkvd troops in moscow which had been under beria s command were disarmed by regular army units pravda announced beria s arrest only on july one zero crediting it to malenkov and referring to beria s criminal activities against the party and the state in december it was announced that beria and six accomplices in the pay of foreign intelligence agencies had been conspiring for many years to seize power in |
the soviet union and restore capitalism beria was tried by a special tribunal in the absence of the sides and no appeal when the death sentence was passed according to moskalenko s later account beria begged on his knees for mercy but he and his subordinates were immediately executed however according to other accounts including his son s beria s house was assaulted on two six june one nine five three by military units and beria himself was killed on the spot a member of the special tribunal nikolay shvernik has subsequently told beria s son that he had never seen beria alive beria s wife and son were sent to a labour camp but survived and were later released his son sergo beria is still alive and defending his father s reputation after beria s death the mgb was separated from the mvd and reduced from the status of a ministry to a committee known as the kgb and no soviet police chief ever again held the kind of power beria had wielded in may two zero zero zero the supreme court of the russian federation refu |
sed an application by members of beria s family to overturn his one nine five three conviction the application was based on a russian law that provided for rehabilitation of victims of false political accusations the court argued however that beria was the organizer of repression against his own people and therefore could not be considered a victim allegations against beria although beria was formally convicted for being a british spy the communist leadership early on sought to spice up the charges with informal accusations of a more personal nature these included allegations that he raped numerous women and that he personally tortured and killed many of his political victims charges of sexual assault and sexual deviance against beria were first made in the speech by a secretary of the central committee of the communist party nikolay shatalin at the plenary meeting of the committee on july one zero one nine five three two weeks after beria s arrest shatalin said that beria had had sexual relations with numero |
us women and that he had contracted syphilis as a result of his sex with prostitutes shatalin referred to a list kept by beria s bodyguard of over two five women with whom beria had had sex over time however the charges became more dramatic khrushchev in his posthumously published memoirs wrote we were given a list of more than a one zero zero names of women they were dragged to beria by his people and he had the same trick for them all all who got to his house for the first time beria would invite for a dinner and would propose to drink for the health of stalin and in wine he would mix in some sleeping pills by one nine eight zero s the sexual assault stories about beria included rape of teenage girls the author anton antonov ovseenko who wrote a biography of beria said in an interview at night he would cruise the streets of moscow seeking out teenage girls when he saw one who took his fancy he would have his guards deliver her to his house sometimes he would have his henchmen bring five six or seven girls t |
o him he would make them strip except for their shoes and then force them into a circle on their hands and knees with their heads together he would walk around in his dressing gown inspecting them then he would pull one out by her leg and haul her off to rape her he called it the flower game numerous stories have circulated over the years involving beria personally beating torturing and killing his victims since the one nine seven zero s muscovites have been retelling stories of bones found in either the back yard cellars or hidden inside the walls of beria s former residence currently the tunisian embassy such stories continue to re appear in the news media the london daily telegraph reported in december two zero zero three the latest grisly find a large thigh bone and some smaller leg bones was only two years ago when a kitchen was re tiled in the basement anil an indian who has worked at the embassy for one seven years showed a plastic bag of human bones he had found in the cellars such reports are treated |
with scepticism by some commentators it should be noted that despite partial opening of soviet archives since one nine nine one most of the beria related material remains classified memoirs by the people close to beria such as his son sergo beria and a former soviet foreign intelligence chief pavel sudoplatov deny these charges and draw a very different portrait of beria see also history of the soviet union list of georgians further reading antonov ovseenko anton beria moscow one nine nine nine avtorkhanov abdurahman the mystery of stalin s death novyi mir five one nine nine one pp one nine four two three three in russian beria sergo beria my father london two zero zero one knight amy beria stalin s first lieutenant princeton university press one nine nine three isbn zero six nine one zero three two five seven two khruschev nikita khruschev remembers last testament random house one nine seven seven isbn zero five one seven one seven five four seven nine stove r j the unsleeping eye secret police and their vi |
ctims encounter books san francisco two zero zero three isbn one eight nine three five five four six six x sudoplatov pavel special tasks the memoirs of an unwanted witness a soviet spymaster little brown co one nine nine four isbn zero three one six seven seven three five two two yakovlev a n naumov v and sigachev y eds lavrenty beria one nine five three stenographic report of july s plenary meeting of the central committee of the communist party of the soviet union and other documents international democracy foundation moscow one nine nine nine in russian isbn five eight nine five one one zero zero six one external links interview with sergo beria an outline of the russian supreme court decision of two nine may two zero zero zero one eight nine nine births one nine five three deaths executed politicians georgian people history of the soviet union and soviet russia marshals of the soviet union nkvd firearm deaths soviet executions soviet nuclear program soviet politicians soviet repressions stamp germany two |
zero zero two lyonel charles feininger july one seven one eight seven one january one three one nine five six was a german american painter and caricaturist feininger was born to parents of german descent and grew up in new york city he moved to berlin to study at the k nigliche akademie berlin under ernst hancke and art schools in berlin with karl schlabitz and in paris with sculptor filippo colarossi he started working as an caricaturist for several magazines including harper s round table harper s young people humoristische bl tter lustige bl tter das narrenschiff berliner tageblatt and ulk feininger married clara f rst daughter of the painter gustav f rst and they had two daughters later he had also several children together with julia berg and they later married the artist is represented with drawings at the exhibitions of the annual berlin secession in the years one nine zero one through one nine zero three feininger only started working as an artist at the age of three six after having worked as a com |
mercial caricaturist for twenty years for various newspapers and magazines in both the usa and germany he was a member of the berliner sezession in one nine zero nine was associated with expressionist group die br cke the novembergruppe gruppe one nine one nine and the blue four he also taught at the bauhaus for several years beginning one nine one nine when the nsdap came to power in one nine three three the situation became unbearable for feininger and his wife who was partly jewish they moved to america after his work was exhibited in the degenerate art entartete kunst in one nine three six but before the one nine three seven exhibition in munich feininger was one of the very few fine artists also to draw comic strips as a cartoonist his short lived strips the kin der kids and wee willie winkie s world were noted for their fey humor and graphic experimentation his son andreas feininger became famous as a photographer of new york city selected works one nine zero seven der wei e mann collection museo carmen |
thyssen bornemisza madrid one nine one zero stra e im d mmern sprengel museum hannover one nine one three gelmeroda i private collection new york one nine one three leuchtbake museum folkwang essen one nine one eight teltow ii neue nationalgalerie berlin one nine two five barf erkirche in erfurt i staatsgalerie stuttgart one nine two nine halle am tr del bauhaus archiv berlin one nine three one die t rme ber der stadt halle museum ludwig k ln one nine three six gelmeroda xiii metropolitan museum of art george a hearn see also cubism expressionism references feininger s biography at artnet external links feininger s cartoons toonopedia lyonel feininger one eight seven one births one nine five six deaths comic strip cartoonists german painters american painters modern painters bauhaus for other uses see life disambiguation and living life is a multi faceted concept that may refer to the ongoing process of which living things are a part or the period between fertilisation or mitosis and death defining the conce |
pt of life how can one tell when an entity is alive it would be relatively straightforward to offer a practical set of guidelines if one s only concern were life on earth as we know it see biosphere but as soon as one considers questions about life s origins on earth or the possibility of extraterrestrial life or the concept of artificial life it becomes clear that the question is fundamentally difficult and comparable in many respects to the problem of defining intelligence a conventional definition although there is no universal agreement on the definition of life the generally accepted biological manifestations are that life exhibits the following phenomena organization living things are comprised of one or more cells which are the basic units of life metabolism metabolism produces energy by converting nonliving material into cellular components synthesis and decomposing organic matter catalysis living things require energy to maintain internal organization homeostasis and to produce the other phenomena as |
sociated with life growth growth results from a higher rate of synthesis than catalysis a growing organism increases in size in all of its parts rather than simply accumulating matter adaptation adaptation is the accommodation of a living organism to its environment it is fundamental to the process of evolution and is determined by the individual s heredity response to stimuli a response can take many forms from the contraction of a unicellular organism when touched to complex reactions involving all the senses of higher animals plants also respond to stimuli but usually in ways very different from animals a response is often expressed by motion the leaves of a plant turning toward the sun or an animal chasing its prey reproduction the division of one cell to form two new cells is reproduction usually the term is applied to the production of a new individual either asexually from a single parent organism or sexually from two differing parent organisms although strictly speaking it also describes the productio |
n of new cells in the process of growth common features of life on earth the conventional definition of life defines the common features that life is expected to exhibit wherever it may be encountered in the universe on earth all life exhibits at least one additional common feature namely that life on this planet is based on the chemistry of carbon compounds some assert that this must be the case for all possible forms of life throughout the universe a position referred to as carbon chauvinism exceptions to the conventional definition it is important to note that life is a definition that applies at the level of species so even though many individuals of any given species do not reproduce possibly because they belong to specialised sterile castes such as ant workers these are still considered forms of life one could say that the property of life is inherited hence sterile hybrid species such as the mule are considered life although not themselves capable of reproduction it is also worth noting that non reprod |
ucing individuals may still help the spread of their genes through such mechanisms as kin selection for similar reasons viruses and aberrant prion proteins are often considered replicators rather than forms of life they cannot reproduce without very specialised substrates such as host cells or proteins respectively however most forms of life rely on foods produced by other species or at least the specific chemistry of the earth viruses reproduce flames grow some software programs mutate and evolve future software programs will probably evince even high order behavior machines move and some form of proto life consisting of metabolizing cells without the ability to reproduce presumably existed still some would not call these entities alive generally all six characteristics are required for a population to be considered a life form other definitions the systemic definition is that living things are self organizing and autopoietic self producing these objects are not to be confused with dissipative structures e g |
fire variations of this definition include stuart kauffman s definition of life as an autonomous agent or a multi agent system capable of reproducing itself or themselves and of completing at least one thermodynamic work cycle descent with modification a useful characteristic a useful characteristic upon which to base a definition of life is that of descent with modification the ability of a life form to produce offspring that are like its parent or parents but with the possibility of some variation due to chance descent with modification is sufficient by itself to allow evolution assuming that the variations in the offspring allow for differential survival the study of this form of heritability is called genetics in all known life forms assuming prions are not counted as such the genetic material is primarily dna or the related molecule rna this argument would however include viruses which have been observed to evolve another exception might be the software code of certain forms of computer viruses and prog |
rams created through genetic programming but whether computer programs can be alive even by this definition is still a matter of some contention origin of life main article origin of life there is no truly standard model of the origin of life but most currently accepted scientific models build in one way or another on the following discoveries which are listed roughly in order of postulated emergence plausible pre biotic conditions result in the creation of the basic small molecules of life this was demonstrated in the urey miller experiment phospholipids spontaneously form lipid bilayers the basic structure of a cell membrane procedures for producing random rna molecules can produce ribozymes which are able to produce more of themselves under very specific conditions there are many different hypotheses regarding the path that might have been taken from simple organic molecules to protocells and metabolism many models fall into the genes first category or the metabolism first category but a recent trend is th |
e emergence of hybrid models that do not fit into either of these categories the possibility of extraterrestrial life main articles extraterrestrial life astrobiology at this time earth is the only planet in the universe known by humans to support life the question of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe remains open but analyses such as the drake equation have been used to estimate the probability of such life existing there have been a number of claims of the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe but none of these have yet survived scientific scrutiny today the closest that scientists have come to finding extraterrestrial life is fossil evidence of possible bacterial life on mars via the alh eight four zero zero one meteorite searches for extraterrestrial life are currently focusing on planets and moons believed to possess liquid water at present or in the past recent evidence from the nasa rovers spirit and opportunity supports the theory that mars once had surface water see life on mars for |
further discussion jupiter s moons are also considered good candidates for extraterrestrial life especially europa which seems to possess oceans of liquid water other highly speculative and somewhat doubtful places for present or past life include the atmosphere of venus titan cryovolcanoes or even enceladus see also artificial life extraterrestrial life biological kingdom origin of life mimivirus is the largest known virus references kauffman stuart the adjacent possible a talk with stuart kauffman retrieved nov three zero two zero zero three from lynn margulis and doris sagan what is life one nine nine five simon in the beginning the economist the adjacent possible a talk with stuart kauffman stanford encyclopedia of philosophy entry the deep hot biosphere theory thomas gold what is life the process from birth to death life biology la espero the hope is a poem written by l l zamenhof one eight five nine one nine one seven the initiator of the esperanto language the song is often used as the anthem of esper |
anto and is now usually sung to music composed by f licien menu de m nil listen to mp three audio by the esperanto band akordo la espero en la mondon venis nova sento tra la mondo iras forta voko per flugiloj de facila vento nun de loko flugu i al loko ne al glavo sangon soifanta i la homan tiras familion al la mond eterne militanta i promesas sanktan harmonion sub la sankta signo de l espero kolekti as pacaj batalantoj kaj rapide kreskas la afero per laboro de la esperantoj forte staras muroj de miljaroj inter la popoloj dividitaj sed dissaltos la obstinaj baroj per la sankta amo disbatitaj sur ne trala lingva fundamento komprenante unu la alian la popoloj faros en konsento unu grandan rondon familian nia diligenta kolegaro en laboro paca ne laci os is la bela son o de l homaro por eterna ben efektivi os the hope into the world came a new feeling through the world goes a powerful call by means of wings of a gentle wind now let it fly from place to place not to the sword thirsting for blood does it draw the h |
uman family to the world eternally fighting it promises sacred harmony under the sacred sign of the hope the peaceful fighters gather and this affair quickly grows by the labours of those who hope the walls of millennia stand firm between the divided peoples but the stubborn barriers will jump apart knocked apart by the sacred love on a neutral language basis understanding one another the people will make in agreement one great family circle our diligent set of colleagues in peaceful labor will never tire until the beautiful dream of humanity for eternal blessing is realized esperantoesperanto musicnational anthemsanthemspatriotic songs see also loony short for lunatic which is sometimes spelled loonie loonie is the unofficial but commonly used name for canada s gold coloured bronze plated one dollar coin it bears images of a common loon a well known canadian bird on the reverse and of queen elizabeth ii on the obverse the design for the coin was meant to be a voyageur theme similar to the country s previous |
one dollar silver dollar coin but the dies were lost in transit to the royal canadian mint in winnipeg in order to avoid counterfeiting problems a different design was used the coin was released to the public on three zero june one nine eight seven and circulation of the one dollar banknote was intentionally reduced at the same time to forestall any reluctance by the public to accept the new coin as a result the introduction of the coin was successful in achieving public acceptance in a fairly smooth fashion the switch occurred when brian mulroney rhymes with loonie was prime minister hence the coin was in its early years sometimes called mulroney s loonie or the mul loonie but use of these terms has largely subsided the coin has become the symbol of its currency newspapers will often discuss the rate at which the loonie is trading against the greenback and as such loonie huard in french is a slang term for the canadian dollar in general on occasion the coin has shown other images for instance the national wa |
r memorial to commemorate ve day and in two zero zero five a portrait of terry fox it is still however referred to as a loonie special edition includes one nine nine two one two five th anniversary of the confederation showing children and the parliament building the regular loon design was also minted that year bearing the double date one eight six seven one nine nine two one nine nine four national cenotaph of ottawa canada one nine nine five canada s peacekeepers two zero zero four lucky loonie celebrating canada s olympic athletes see loonie trivia for details two zero zero five the terry a two five th anniversary of the terry fox s marathon of hope fox is the first ever canadian to be featured on a circulation coin two zero zero six another lucky loonie celebrating canada s olympic athletes the two zero zero six version was created by artist jean luc grodin and features a redesigned loon taking off in flight and the canadian olympic committee logo the coin is made of bronze electroplated nickel the total |
composition of the coin is nine one five nickel and eight five bronze the bronze is about eight eight copper and one two tin in two zero zero five the loonie gained an american neighbour when minnesota s state quarter featured a loon that state s official state bird like the canadian dollar minnesota s loon also faces right with its head raised the lucky loonie in recent years the golden colored loonie became associated with canada s winning hockey and curling teams and has been viewed as a good luck charm in international competition the legend began during the two zero zero two winter olympics when the canadian icemaking team responsible for the ice surfaces in the ice hockey tournament had buried a loonie under centre ice both the men s and women s hockey teams would win gold in the tournament the men s five zero years to the day after their last gold medal victory following the games team canada executive director wayne gretzky recovered the coin and gave it to the hockey hall of fame the legend is also |
prevalent in curling as the kevin martin rink at the same olympics had won silver medals on a sheet with silver colored quarters underneath the surface at the two zero zero six winter olympics the canadian icemakers in the curling tournament buried two loonies one at each end of the sheet coincidentially the brad gushue rink would win the gold medal there in the same olympics the icemakers at the hockey tournament announced that they would not bury a loonie under the ice consequently the men s team finished out of the medals this legend is kept alive by the royal canadian mint which has since issued specially designed lucky loonies for each year the summer and winter olympics games are held trivia when the new coin portrait of queen elizabeth ii was first issued in one nine nine zero a legend surfaced that the artist had simply added the image of the so called king s crown to a portrait of the queen and that she was never meant to be seen wearing that headgear this is patently false she posed personally for t |
he portrait wearing one of her usual crowns external links the chemistry of the loonie looney at centre ice coins of canada laminar flow bottom of pic and turbulent flow top of pic over a submarine hull laminar flow sometimes known as streamline flow is when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between the layers in fluid dynamics laminar flow is a flow regime characterized by high momentum diffusion low momentum convection and pressure and velocity independence from time it is the opposite of turbulent flow the dimensionless reynolds number characterizes whether flow conditions lead to laminar or turbulent flow for example consider the flow of air over an airplane wing the boundary layer is a very thin sheet of air lying over the surface of the wing and for that matter all other surfaces of the airplane because air has viscosity this layer of air tends to adhere to the wing as the wing moves forward through the air the boundary layer at first flows smoothly over the streamlined shape of the ai |
rfoil here the flow is called laminar or the laminar layer as the boundary layer approaches the centre of the wing it begins to lose speed due to skin friction and becomes thicker and turbulent here it is called the turbulent layer the process of a laminar boundary layer becoming turbulent is known as boundary layer transition the point at which the boundary layer changes from laminar to turbulent is called the transition point where the boundary layer becomes turbulent drag due to skin friction is relatively high as speed increases the transition point tends to move forward as the angle of attack increases the transition point also tends to move forward one way to limit the size and effect of the turbulent region is to use swept back delta wings this is particularly important in supersonic aircraft experiments a famous experiment involving laminar flow uses two concentric glass cylinders with the gap filled with glycerin and a drop of ink placed in the fluid when the outer cylinder is turned the drop is draw |
n out into a thread that eventually becomes so thin that it disappears from view at this point the ink molecules are said to be enfolded in the glycerin if the cylinder is then turned in the opposite direction the thread reforms and then becomes a drop this experiment is typically used to show implicit order but also nicely demonstrates the properties of laminar flow see also turbulent flow fluid dynamics laminar flow cabinet reynold s number fluid dynamics aerodynamics science experiments location of luanda in angola luanda formerly called loanda is the largest city and capital of angola located on the atlantic ocean it is both angola s chief seaport and administrative centre it has a population of approximately four five million un two zero zero four estimates and is the capital city of luanda province luanda is located at eight five zero one eight south one three one four four east eight eight three eight three three one three two three four four four manufactures include processed foods beverages textiles |
cement and other construction materials plastic products metalware cigarettes and shoes petroleum found nearby is refined in the city although this facility has been repeatedly damaged during the civil war luanda has an excellent natural harbour and the chief exports are coffee cotton sugar diamonds iron and salt however the economy of luanda continues to be severely disrupted by the ongoing military conflicts in angola luanda is divided into two parts the baixa old city and the cidade alta new part the baixa is situated next to the port and has narrow streets and old colonial buildings the inhabitants of luanda are primarily members of african ethnic groups including the ovimbundu kimbundu and bakongo tribes the official and the most spoken language is portuguese although many bantu related indigenous languages are spoken there is a very small population of european origin history luanda in two zero zero five luanda was founded in one five seven five by the portuguese explorer paulo dias novais as s o paulo |
de luanda in one six one eight the fortress fortaleza s o pedro da barra was built and later in one six three four a new fortress was built fortaleza de s o miguel the city has been the administrative centre of angola since one six two seven except for one six four zero one six four eight when it was occupied by the dutch and named fort aardenburgh and from c one five five zero to c one eight five zero it was the center of a large slave trade to brazil in one eight eight nine the basis for a major growth of luanda was laid as governor brito capelo opened the gates of an aqueduct which supplied the city with water a formerly scarce resource after this a good deal of unexpected growth increased dramatically towards one nine seven five with high points such as an one nine seven two report which called luanda the paris of africa for the growth that the city had shown by the time of angolan independence in one nine seven five luanda was a modern city and the majority of the city s population was of portuguese ori |
gin with very few africans permitted to live there after independence most of the portuguese left many travelling overland to south africa and some carrying out acts of sabotage before they departed there was an immediate crisis because the local african population lacked the skills and knowledge needed to run the city and maintain its infrastructure the large numbers of skilled technicians among the force of cuban soldiers sent in to support the mpla government were able to make a valuable contribution to restoring and maintaining essential services in the city luanda is the seat of a roman catholic archbishop it is also the location of the university of angola and the governor s palace luanda is sister city to the american city of houston texas transportation luanda is the starting point of a railway that goes due east to serve the interior without reaching the dr congo border the city is home to quatro de fevereiro airport february four th airport the largest one in the country cities in angola capitals in |
africa coastal cities logical positivism later referred to as logical empiricism rational empiricism and also neo positivism is a philosophy that combines positivism with a version of apriorism it originated in the vienna circle in the one nine two zero s where rudolf carnap otto neurath et al divided statements into those which are analytic true a priori and those which are synthetic verified by sensory experience this was perhaps presaged by hume s fork logical positivism holds that philosophy should aspire to the same sort of rigor as science philosophy should provide strict criteria for judging sentences true false and meaningless examples of logical positivists include moritz schlick rudolf carnap otto neurath friedrich waismann thomas kuhn john dewey bertrand russell neils bohr and a j ayer karl popper is also often associated with the vienna circle although he was never a member and he went on to become a main critic of positivism s verification with his own falsification approach otto neurath claimed |
that the most significant output produced by the logical positivist circle was the international encyclopedia of unified science published by university of chicago press in one nine three eight most of these authors contributed to this encyclopedia assertions and origins of logical positivism although the logical positivists held a wide range of beliefs on many matters they all shared an interest in science and deep skepticism of the theological and metaphysical following wittgenstein many subscribed to the correspondence theory of truth although some like neurath believed in coherentism they believed that all knowledge should be based on logical inference from simple protocol sentences grounded in observable facts hence many supported forms of realism materialism philosophical naturalism and empiricism the logical positivists were very much influenced by and were great admirers of the early ludwig wittgenstein from the period of the tractatus wittgenstein himself was not a logical positivist although he was |
on friendly terms with many members of the vienna circle while in vienna especially fellow aristrocrat moritz schlick however wittgenstein s relations were not entirely amicable after he left vienna while wittgenstein worked mostly in cooperation for nearly a decade with circle member friedrich waismann to impose form and structure on his often oracular utterances using him as a secretary and speaking of cooperating on a book with him when waismann came to cambridge in one nine three seven wittgenstein barely acknowledged him logical positivism is perhaps best known for the verifiability criterion of meaning which asserts that a statement is meaningful if and only if it is empirically verifiable one intended consequence of the verification criterion is that all non empirical forms of discourse including ethics and aesthetics are not literally or cognitively meaningful and so belong to metaphysics logical positivism was essential to the development of early analytic philosophy it was disseminated throughout t |
he european continent and later in american universities by the members of the vienna circle a j ayer is considered responsible for the spread of logical positivism to britain the term subsequently came to be almost interchangeable with analytic philosophy in the first half of the twentieth century logical positivism was immensely influential in the philosophy of language and represented the dominant philosophy of science between world war i and the cold war many subsequent commentators on logical positivism have attributed to its proponents a greater unity of purpose and creed than they actually shared overlooking the complex disagreements among the logical positivists themselves criticisms critics of logical positivism say that its fundamental tenets could not themselves be formulated in a way that was clearly consistent the verifiability criterion of meaning did not seem verifiable but neither was it simply a logical tautology since it had implications for the practice of science and the empirical truth of |
other statements this presented severe problems for the logical consistency of the theory another problem was that while positive existential claims there is at least one human being and negative universals not all ravens are black allow for clear methods of verification find a human or a non black raven negative existential claims and positive universal claims do not universal claims could apparently never be verified how can you tell that all ravens are black unless you ve hunted down every raven ever including those in the past and future this led to a great deal of work on induction probability and confirmation which combined verification and falsification see below karl popper a well known critic of logical positivism published the book logik der forschung eng the logic of scientific discovery in one nine three four in it he presented an influential alternative to the verifiability criterion of meaning defining scientific statements in terms of falsifiability first though popper s concern was not with d |
istinguishing meaningful from meaningless statements but distinguishing scientific from metaphysical statements he did not hold that metaphysical statements must be meaningless neither did he hold that a statement that in one century was metaphysical while unfalsifiable like the ancient greek philosophy about atoms could not in another century become falsifiable and thus scientific by the two zero th century atoms would become part of science about psychoanalysis he thought something similar in his day it offered no method for falsification and thus was not falsifiable and not scientific but he didn t exclude it being meaningful nor did he say psychoanalysts were necessarily wrong it only couldn t be proven either way that would have meant it was falsifiable nor did he exclude that one day psychoanalysis could evolve into something falsifiable and thus scientific he was in general more concerned with scientific practice than with the logical issues that troubled the positivists second although popper s philos |
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