Kurpie

Kurpie () is one of a number of ethnic regions in Poland, noted for its unique traditional customs, such as its own types of traditional costume, traditional dance and distinctive type of architecture and livelihoods. Kurpie is also the name of the people of this culture.
The Kurpie region is located in Poland on a lowland plain called the Mazovian Region (Mazowsze), which was once covered over by two forests known as the Puszcza Zielona (the Green Wilderness) and the Puszcza Biała (the White Wilderness).
The Green Wilderness (Puszcza Zielona) is usually associated with the White Wilderness (Puszcza Biała), and together the two forests are often referred to as the Kurpie Forest (Puszcza Kurpiowska) because the two forests were populated by inhabitants who, over the centuries of isolation, developed a unique culture of their own, called Kurpie.
On today’s map, the Kurpie region comprises Mazovia, Podlasie and, to a small extent, the Warmia and Masuria region. Populated areas in Kurpie today are generally in the towns of Myszyniec and Ostrołęka and the villages of Czarnia, Dylewo, Jednorożec, Kadzidło, Lipniki, Łyse and Zbójna.
The name Kurpie.
The people from this region were originally called people of the wilderness ("puszczaki"). However, these "puszczaki" made their shoes from fiber from the linden tree, and these bast shoes, called "kurpś", became of a name the outsiders used to describe the inhabitants of this region.
The forests.
The first people who settled there found the heavily forested area to be sandy and muddy. Beekeeping, producing pitch, and iron smelting were the principal commercial occupations with beekeeping highly regulated; however, families also hunted and fished, gathered mushrooms, collected fruits and nuts, and generally used the forests to provide them with their daily needs.
At home, amber was polished, and men used forest material to create wood products. The women became very accomplished in weaving linens and cloths.
Until the middle of the 19th century the Kurpie forests remained generally pristine. Soon afterwards, however, forested areas were cleared to allow farming, which, because of the poor soil, was found to be marginal. Cattle breeding was also introduced at this time.
Selective chronology.
The Kurpie region was part of Poland from the beginning of Polish history in the 10th century.
Kurpie traditions.
Because of their isolation, Kurpie folks—who were neither serfs nor nobles but reported directly to the king—took on a unique culture all their own.
A Kurpie house.
Kurpie homes were made out of wood and covered with straw, with a cross or flag mounted on the roof. The interior of the house was sparse, and the floor was wood. Windows in a Kurpie home always contained six panes of glass. Shutters and doors were painted. In 1927, Adam Chetnik established an open-air museum in Nowogród which showcases traditional Kurpie homes and other elements of their culture.
Traditional costume.
Although their costumes were similar, Kurpies in the north had one type of costume and Kurpies in the southern part of the region had another. For example, in the north, women wore red skirts with a green vest over a white linen blouse with some trim and always a necklace made of amber. Women in the south wore green skirts and employed more elaborate embroidery and needlework in their costume.
Kurpie men in the north wore long brown coats tied around the waist with a red sash. They wore white linen shirts and white trousers which are fastened at the bottom with straps from the Kurpie shoes which they wore. Men from the north can be distinguished from men in the south since men in the north wear dark brown top hats and men from the south wear small black caps.
There is some variation in the costume. For example, a man’s trousers could be grey or white, and women might wear a red or a white blouse.
Folk dance.
Kurpie, like other Polish regions, has its own traditional dances, such as the "horse" ("konik") where dancing men mimic a horse and rider.
Kurpie Palm Sunday.
During this season, Kurpies delighted in making tall Easter Sunday palms out of small trees and decorating them with flowers and other ornaments in order to protect their houses from ghosts.
Easter.
Kurpie women were famous for their beautifully decorated Easter eggs, and cookies made in the shape of the Easter lamb.
Cut-outs.
Kurpie women have always been famous for their paper cut-outs ("wycinanki") of animals, geometric designs, flowers, and so on.
Smigus-Dingus.
This custom was characterized by people sprinkling water over each other in celebration. The intent was to show your affection for the person being sprinkled, and therefore men generally took the lead in sprinkling women.
God’s day celebration.
A celebration which is still popular today is a religious procession to various altars, with participants wearing their traditional costumes. The leaders of the procession bless the Kurpie lands as they proceed.
Harvest celebration.
In August Kurpies collected grain and flowers and took them to church to be blessed.
Winter celebration.
On 6 December a celebration was held praising the good fortune that the cattle had not been eaten by the wolves. However, wolves have long since disappeared from Kurpie.
Christmas.
An embossed wafer (opłatek), featuring a religious scene, was shared with family members and with the cattle. Women placed hay under the table and children wandered the streets and sang Christmas carols in return for treats.
New Years celebration.
Cookies were made in the shape of animals (called "bulls") and other cookies were made in the form of a circle with a bird shown on it (called "years"). Together, these cookies were hung from the ceiling.
Kadzidlańskie Wedding.
The traditional Kurpie Kadzidlańskie Wedding is well known throughout Poland and includes dances, songs, chants and wedding ceremonies based on ancient wedding rituals.
Kurpie music.
The music of Kurpie is very different from that of its neighbors. Over one thousand original Kurpie songs were recorded by the Polish priest, Władysław Skierkowski, in his book "Puszcza Kurpiowska w pieśni".
In Henryk M. Górecki ‘s third symphony, titled "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs", the first part of the symphony was inspired by Kurpie music.
Kurpie today.
From the days of forest living to the days of marginal farming, Kurpie today is vastly different than its traditional past. Since the end of World War II, education, migration, improved methods of farming, improvement of commerce, and infrastructure growth have brought Kurpie into the modern age.
Further reading.
A vivid account of the Kurpie region and its people during the 17th-century Swedish invasion can be found in the beginning of Chapter 55 of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s "The Deluge." A brief account of the Kurpie peasant attack on the Swedish army may be found in Chapter 111 (page 554 of volume two).
Sienkiewicz dramatically describes the personal characteristics and activity of the Kurpie people in Chapters XX and XXI of his historical novel "The Teutonic Knights":


Battle Harbour

Battle Harbour (Inuttitut: "Putlavak") is a summer fishing station, formerly a permanent settlement, located on the Labrador coast in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Battle Harbour was for two centuries the economic and social centre of the southeastern Labrador coast. Mercantile saltfish premises first established there in the 1770s developed into a thriving community that was known as the "Capital of Labrador". It fell into decline following reductions in the cod fishery and a major fire in 1930, and was abandoned as a permanent settlement following government resettlement activity in the 1960s.
The Battle Harbour Historic Trust was given the fishing premises and other properties on the island, which it has preserved and operates as a museum. The facilities at Battle Harbour provide a commemoration of the life and society created there by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The site has been declared a National Historic Site of Canada.
Geography.
Battle Harbour is located on Battle Island, facing a sheltered narrow strait separating that island from Great Caribou Island. It is thought that "Battle Harbour" is derived from the Portuguese word "batal", boat as depicted on Portuguese maps c. 1560. Battle Harbour is also known as "Ca-tuc-to" by the Inuit who had inhabited this part of Labrador.
The waterfront was the setting of much bustle and activity. It was used for the landing of marine resources harvested by local fishers, the processing of cod, salmon, seals and herring, the production of barrels, the packaging of fish products, the mending of nets and the production of saltfish. The "flake" or fish drying platform at Battle Harbour was the biggest such structure in all of Labrador. The Salt Store, the area's main warehouse for the salt used in the processing of several species, could hold up to 1,500 tons. The reconstructed waterfront buildings are reminiscent of an era now past but retain the history of years gone by and they also house an impressive collection of fisheries-related artifacts.
The Battle Harbour Historic District was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1996. The ocean vistas and craggy rock outcrops are a dramatic backdrop for the small wooden church and houses that dot the landscape. Battle Harbour's "hub" is the wharf and the waterfront premises; rustic, wooden and shingle-clad buildings erected by English and Newfoundland-based merchants in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
History.
The mercantile saltfish premises at Battle Harbour were established by the firm of John Slade and Company of Poole, England in the early 1770s. Lying just north of the old French Shore, Battle Harbour served as the gateway for Newfoundlanders seeking to fish in the resource rich waters of Labrador. The local population increased rapidly after 1820 when Newfoundland fishing schooners adopted Battle Harbour as their primary port of call and made it the recognized capital of the Labrador floater fishery. Battle Harbour remained in the hands of Slade and Co. until 1871, and during this time became a settled community, dominated by the fish merchants, but with its own evolving institutions, especially schools and churches.
In 1871 the Slades sold Battle Harbour to Baine, Johnston and Company Ltd. who operated the site in much the same manner until 1955. The activity of these two firms at Battle Harbour serve as an accurate microcosm of the history of Newfoundland and Labrador's fishery over almost two centuries.
In 1955 Baine, Johnston and Company Ltd. sold the premises to The Earle Freighting Service Ltd. who continued the site's operation until the decline in the inshore fishery at the start of the 1990s. At that time the site was donated to the Battle Harbour Historic Trust. The community's permanent residents had been relocated under a government-sponsored resettlement program from 1965 to 1970, although a number of families still use the site as a seasonal home.
According to legend, Montagnais Indians, aided by the French, fought their final battle against the Inuit (c. 1760) at Battle Harbour. A burial mound is supposed to mark the site and some attribute its name from this historic event.
The exact time by which Battle Harbour became a European settlement is unknown, but it is believed that the French did not fish north of Cape Charles before 1718. Captain George Cartwright first visited Battle Harbour in May and June 1775, and recorded in his journal that a privateer had sacked Twillingate and "came to Battle Harbour on this coast and had taken a sloop of Mr. Slade's with about twenty-two tuns of seals' oil on board and destroyed his goods there". Later, in 1785, Cartwright had his provisions brought from Battle Harbour to Slink Point aboard a shallop belonging to the firm of Noble and Pinsent whose firm is believed to have had extensive fishery operations on the Labrador coast with base of operations at Chateau.
A year after Dr. Wilfred Grenfell's visit to Battle Harbour in 1892 he built a hospital there. One of the first in Labrador, it opened for year-round service with a qualified doctor and nurse on staff in 1893. In 1896 a new wing was added from the remains of two wrecked vessels.
In the fall of 1930 Battle Harbour was destroyed by fire so devastating that, Grenfell stated, "even the Marconi Pole on the top of the hill was burned". The new school and the hospital were rebuilt at Mary's Harbour.
Economy.
In 1851 Bishop Edward Field describes Battle Harbour as probably the oldest, as well as the largest settlement on the Labrador coast. The men who came and stayed there were generally from the Island of Newfoundland that used to bring with them servants from Dorset. Some of the first permanent residents were fishermen, carpenters and coopers from Poole, Dorset, Fogo Island and New World Island. As the community grew, there became an increasing need for supplies and merchants took full advantage of that where in some cases local residents paid as much as 100% beyond the regular cash price for goods. The exclusive monopoly was not challenged until 1918, when Battle Harbour's first co-operative was set up, through the initiative of Dr. Wilfred Grenfell.
In 1905 the first Newfoundland government lighthouse in Labrador, called Double Island Light, was set up at Battle Harbour, and in 1921 there was telegraph service installed.
After the devastating fire of 1930 and the drastic decline of the fishery in 1950 and the prospect of employment elsewhere led to the resettlement of Battle Harbour in Mary's Harbour, Happy Valley and Epworth under the Fisheries Household Resettlement Programme of 1966.
Since 1966 Battle Harbour has been a summer fishing station and in 1980 it was the site of a year-round government weather station.
Culture.
In 1973 the St. John Ambulance originated their successful First Level Health Care Programme at Battle Harbour. This programme, based on teaching self-help health care and life-saving techniques to the people of isolated communities, received international recognition during its brief tenure, and was used as a model programme in over thirty countries in Africa, the Caribbean, the South Pacific and the Middle East.


Salvation Joan

Salvation Joan is a lost 1916 silent film directed by Wilfrid North and starring Edna May. It was produced by the Vitagraph Company of America and released by V-L-S-E(Vitagraph, Lubin, Selig, Essanay). Though an original screen story, it bears a close resemblance to Edward Sheldon's "Salvation Nell" which was filmed several times.


Order of Friendship (Kazakhstan)

The Order of Friendship (, "Dostyq odreni") is a state award of the Republic of Kazakhstan, introduced in 1995. It is awarded to individuals for the promotion of international and civil consensus in society and the promotion of peace, friendship and cooperation between peoples.
The ribbon is red with two narrow yellow central stripes and a green edge and a blue edge. The award has two classes. Recipients of the 1st class receive a star badge and the decoration symbol fitted with a shoulder ribbon. Recipients of the 2nd class receive a medal.


Battle of Assandun

The Battle of Assandun (or Essendune) was fought between Danish and English armies on 18 October 1016. There is disagreement whether Assandun may be Ashdon near Saffron Walden in north Essex or, as long supposed, Ashingdon near Rochford in southeast Essex, England. It ended in victory for the Danes, led by Canute the Great, who triumphed over the English army led by King Edmund Ironside. The battle was the conclusion to the Danish reconquest of England.
Battle.
During the battle, Eadric Streona, the Ealderman of Mercia, left the battle allowing the Scandinavians to break through the English lines and win a decisive victory. Eadric Streona had previously defected to Canute when he landed in England but after Canute's defeat at the Battle of Otford he came back to the English, but this was a trick as he would betray them at Assandun.
The battle is mentioned briefly in "Knýtlinga saga" which quotes a verse of skaldic poetry by Óttarr svarti, one of Canute's court poets.
During the course of the battle, Eadnoth the Younger, Bishop of Dorchester, was killed by Canute's men whilst in the act of saying mass on behalf of Edmund Ironside's men. According to Liber Eliensis, Eadnoth's hand was first cut off for a ring, and then his body cut to pieces. The Ealdorman Ulfcytel Snillingr also died in the battle.
Aftermath.
Following his defeat, Edmund was forced to sign a treaty with Canute. By this treaty, all of England except Wessex would be controlled by Canute and when one of the kings should die the other would take all of England, that king's son being the heir to the throne. After Edmund's death on 30 November, Canute built a church, chapel, or holy site after winning the battle to commemorate the soldiers who died in battle. A few years later in 1020 the completion of the memorial church known as Ashingdon Minster took place, on the hill next to the presumed site of the battle in Ashingdon. The church still stands to this day. Canute attended the dedication of Ashingdon Minster with his bishops and appointed his personal priest, Stigand, to be priest there. The church is now dedicated to Saint Andrew but is believed previously to have been dedicated to Saint Michael, who was considered a military saint: churches dedicated to him are frequently located on a hill.
Battlefield location.
There is another possible location of the battle; Ashdon, also in Essex, or closer to nearby Hadstock. There have been many finds of Roman and Anglo-Saxon coins in the area and the construction of the Saffron Walden to Bartlow branch line through the 'Red Field' between Hadstock and Linton in the 1860s discovered a large number of skeletal remains. Historians have argued inconclusively over the different sites for years. Ashdon's 10th-century wooden village church, itself possibly built on the site of a pre-Christian temple, was probably rebuilt in stone in the early 11th century, about the right time for Canute's conquest. Unfortunately little remains of the earlier structures, which were largely obliterated by the construction of the current church of All Saints during the late 13th to early 15th centuries. A more likely site for Canute's church is St Botolph's Church in Hadstock, known to date from the early 11th century, still largely extant, and much closer to the likely battle site.


Lady Diana Beauclerk

Lady Diana Beauclerk ("née" Lady Diana Spencer; other married name Diana St John, Viscountess Bolingbroke; 24 March 1734 – 1 August 1808) was an English noblewoman and artist.
Early life.
She was born into the Spencer family as the daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough (1706–1758), and the Honourable Elizabeth Trevor (d. 1761). Her siblings were George, Charles, and Elizabeth. Her grandmother was the formidable Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. She was raised at Langley Park, Buckinghamshire, where she was introduced to art at an early age. Joshua Reynolds, an artist, was a family friend.
Marriages and children.
On 8 September 1757, she married Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke (1734–1787). From 1762–1768 she was Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte. She became widely known as 'Lady Di' (as did her namesake in the early 1980s, before she became Princess Di).
She had four children during this first marriage:
Finding herself in a desperately unhappy marriage to the notoriously unfaithful Viscount Bolingbroke, Lady Di overturned convention. She left her husband and maintained a secret relationship with her lover, Topham Beauclerk.
In February 1768 Bolingbroke petitioned for divorce on grounds of adultery ("criminal conversation"). The petition required an act of parliament, which was passed the next month.
Within two days, she married Topham Beauclerk of Old Windsor. They had three children:
Friends.
Their circle of friends included Samuel Johnson, Georgiana Cavendish — who maintained a glittering salon — Edward Gibbon, David Garrick, Charles Fox, James Boswell and Edmund Burke.
Fanny Burney recorded in her diary the feelings of Edmund Burke about Lady Diana after the death of Topham Beauclerk: From the window of the dining-parlour, Sir Joshua [Reynolds] directed us to look at a pretty white house which belonged to Lady Di. Beauclerk.
"I am extremely glad," said Mr. Burke, "to see her at last so well housed; poor woman! the bowl has long rolled in misery; I rejoice that it has now found its balance. I never, myself, so much enjoyed the sight of happiness in another, as in that woman when I first saw her after the death of her husband. It was really enlivening to behold her placed in that sweet house, released from all her cares, a thousand pounds a year at her own disposal, and — her husband was dead! Oh, it was pleasant, it was delightful to see her enjoyment of her situation!"
"But, without considering the circumstances" said Mr. Gibbon, "this may appear very strange, though, when they are fairly stated, it is perfectly rational and unavoidable."
"Very true," said Mr. Burke, "if the circumstances are not considered, Lady Di. may seem highly reprehensible."
He then, addressing himself particularly to me, as the person least likely to be acquainted with the character of Mr. Beauclerk, drew it himself in strong and marked expressions, describing the misery he gave his wife, his singular ill-treatment of her, and the necessary relief the death of such a man must give.
On the other hand, James Boswell records that Samuel Johnson said of her (in 1773), "The woman's a whore and there's an end on't."
Artistic work.
Diana eventually helped to support herself by painting. She was a highly gifted artist who was able to use her scandalous reputation as an adulteress, aristocratic woman to further her career as a painter and designer. She painted portraits, illustrated plays and books, provided designs for Wedgwood's innovative pottery, and decorated rooms with murals. Championed by her close friend Horace Walpole, whose letters illuminate all aspects of her life, she was able to establish herself as an admired artist at a time when women struggled to forge careers.
She illustrated a number of literary productions, including Horace Walpole's tragedy "The Mysterious Mother", the English translation of Gottfried August Bürger's "Leonora" (1796) and "The Fables of John Dryden" (1797). After 1785 she was one of a circle of women, along with Emma Crewe and Elizabeth Templetown (1746/7-1823), whose designs for Josiah Wedgwood were made into bas-reliefs on jasper ornaments.
Later life, death, and legacy.
Her second husband died in 1780 and, due to restricted finances, she began to lead a more retired life. She died in 1808 and was buried in Richmond.
In the mid-1990s a portrait of her hung in Kenwood House, on Hampstead Heath in London, with the caption: "Lady Diana Spencer, known chiefly for the unhappiness of her first marriage." Such a caption is unfair for such a remarkable, strong woman.


Daegeum

The daegeum (also spelled taegum, daegum or taegŭm) is a large bamboo flute, a transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. It has a buzzing membrane that gives it a special timbre. It is used in court, aristocratic, and folk music, as well as in contemporary classical music, popular music, and film scores. And d"aegeum" has a wide range and has a fixed pitch, so other instruments tune in to the "daegeum" when playing together.
Smaller flutes in the same family include the "junggeum" () and "sogeum" (), neither of which today have a buzzing membrane. The three together are known as "samjuk" (; literally "three bamboo"), as the three primary flutes of the Silla period.
The solo performance called "daegeum sanjo" was pronounced an Important Intangible Cultural Properties of Korea by the Cultural Heritage Administration of South Korea in 1971.
According to Korean folklore, the "daegeum" is said to have been invented when King Sinmun of Silla was informed by Park Suk Jung, his caretaker of the ocean () in 681 that a small island was floating toward a Buddhist temple in the East Sea. The king ordered his caretaker of the sun to test whether this was good luck. The caretaker replied that a dead king who turned into a sea dragon, and two great warriors are giving a gift to protect Silla, and if the king would visit the sea, he would receive a priceless gift. The king soon sent a person to look for the gift. The person replied that a bamboo tree on the top of the island becomes two in the morning and one in the night. On the next day, the world shook and it rained and wind blew, and the world was thrown into darkness for a week. When the king went to the island himself, a dragon appeared and told him that if the bamboo on the top of the island was cut down, made into a flute, and blown, the country would be peaceful. The king cut down the tree, and the flute made from the bamboo was called manpasikjeok ().


John Genest

John Genest (1764–1839) was an English clergyman and theatre historian.
Life.
He was the son of John Genest of Dunker's Hill, Devon. He was educated at Westminster School, entered 9 May 1780 as a pensioner at Trinity College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. 1784 and M.A. 1787. He took holy orders, and was for many years curate of a Lincolnshire village. Subsequently, he became private chaplain to the Duke of Ancaster.
Compelled by ill-health to retire, he went to Bath, Somerset for the benefit of the waters. Here he appears to have remained until his death, which took place, after nine years of illness, at his residence in Henry Street, 15 December 1839. He was buried in St. James's Church.
Works.
During his times in Bath he wrote "Some Account of the English Stage from the Restoration in 1660 to 1830", Bath, 10 vols. 1832. It is accurate and well-researched.


Babylonian mathematics

Babylonian mathematics (also known as "Assyro-Babylonian mathematics") denotes the mathematics developed or practiced by the people of Mesopotamia, from the days of the early Sumerians to the centuries following the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. Babylonian mathematical texts are plentiful and well edited. With respect to time they fall in two distinct groups: one from the Old Babylonian period (1830–1531 BC), the other mainly Seleucid from the last three or four centuries BC. With respect to content, there is scarcely any difference between the two groups of texts. Babylonian mathematics remained constant, in character and content, for nearly two millennia.
In contrast to the scarcity of sources in Egyptian mathematics, knowledge of Babylonian mathematics is derived from some 400 clay tablets unearthed since the 1850s. Written in Cuneiform script, tablets were inscribed while the clay was moist, and baked hard in an oven or by the heat of the sun. The majority of recovered clay tablets date from 1800 to 1600 BC, and cover topics that include fractions, algebra, quadratic and cubic equations and the Pythagorean theorem. The Babylonian tablet YBC 7289 gives an approximation to formula_1 accurate to three significant sexagesimal digits (about six significant decimal digits).
Origins of Babylonian mathematics.
Babylonian mathematics is a range of numeric and more advanced mathematical practices in the ancient Near East, written in cuneiform script. Study has historically focused on the Old Babylonian period in the early second millennium BC due to the wealth of data available. There has been debate over the earliest appearance of Babylonian mathematics, with historians suggesting a range of dates between the 5th and 3rd millennia BC. Babylonian mathematics was primarily written on clay tablets in cuneiform script in the Akkadian or Sumerian languages.
"Babylonian mathematics" is perhaps an unhelpful term since the earliest suggested origins date to the use of accounting devices, such as bullae and tokens, in the 5th millennium BC.
Babylonian numerals.
The Babylonian system of mathematics was a sexagesimal (base 60) numeral system. From this we derive the modern-day usage of 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 360 degrees in a circle. The Babylonians were able to make great advances in mathematics for two reasons. Firstly, the number 60 is a superior highly composite number, having factors of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 60 (including those that are themselves composite), facilitating calculations with fractions. Additionally, unlike the Egyptians and Romans, the Babylonians had a true place-value system, where digits written in the left column represented larger values (much as, in our base ten system, 734 = 7×100 + 3×10 + 4×1).
Sumerian mathematics.
The ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia developed a complex system of metrology from 3000 BC. From 2600 BC onwards, the Sumerians wrote multiplication tables on clay tablets and dealt with geometrical exercises and division problems. The earliest traces of the Babylonian numerals also date back to this period.
Old Babylonian mathematics (2000–1600 BC).
Most clay tablets that describe Babylonian mathematics belong to the Old Babylonian, which is why the mathematics of Mesopotamia is commonly known as Babylonian mathematics. Some clay tablets contain mathematical lists and tables, others contain problems and worked solutions.
Arithmetic.
The Babylonians used pre-calculated tables to assist with arithmetic. For example, two tablets found at Senkerah on the Euphrates in 1854, dating from 2000 BC, give lists of the squares of numbers up to 59 and the cubes of numbers up to 32. The Babylonians used the lists of squares together with the formulae:
to simplify multiplication.
The Babylonians did not have an algorithm for long division. Instead they based their method on the fact that:
together with a table of reciprocals. Numbers whose only prime factors are 2, 3 or 5 (known as 5-smooth or regular numbers) have finite reciprocals in sexagesimal notation, and tables with extensive lists of these reciprocals have been found.
Reciprocals such as 1/7, 1/11, 1/13, etc. do not have finite representations in sexagesimal notation. To compute 1/13 or to divide a number by 13 the Babylonians would use an approximation such as:
Algebra.
The Babylonian clay tablet YBC 7289 (c. 1800–1600 BC) gives an approximation of in four sexagesimal figures, 1;24,51,10, which is accurate to about six decimal digits, and is the closest possible three-place sexagesimal representation of :
As well as arithmetical calculations, Babylonian mathematicians also developed algebraic methods of solving equations. Once again, these were based on pre-calculated tables.
To solve a quadratic equation, the Babylonians essentially used the standard quadratic formula. They considered quadratic equations of the form:
where "b" and "c" were not necessarily integers, but "c" was always positive. They knew that a solution to this form of equation is:
and they found square roots efficiently using division and averaging. They always used the positive root because this made sense when solving "real" problems. Problems of this type included finding the dimensions of a rectangle given its area and the amount by which the length exceeds the width.
Tables of values of "n"3 + "n"2 were used to solve certain cubic equations. For example, consider the equation:
Multiplying the equation by "a"2 and dividing by "b"3 gives:
Substituting "y" = "ax"/"b" gives:
which could now be solved by looking up the "n"3 + "n"2 table to find the value closest to the right hand side. The Babylonians accomplished this without algebraic notation, showing a remarkable depth of understanding. However, they did not have a method for solving the general cubic equation.
Growth.
Babylonians modeled exponential growth, constrained growth (via a form of sigmoid functions), and doubling time, the latter in the context of interest on loans.
Clay tablets from c. 2000 BCE include the exercise "Given an interest rate of 1/60 per month (no compounding), compute the doubling time." This yields an annual interest rate of 12/60 = 20%, and hence a doubling time of 100% growth/20% growth per year = 5 years.
Plimpton 322.
The Plimpton 322 tablet contains a list of "Pythagorean triples", i.e., integers formula_12 such that formula_13.
The triples are too many and too large to have been obtained by brute force.
Much has been written on the subject, including some speculation (perhaps anachronistic) as to whether the tablet could have served as an early trigonometrical table. Care must be exercised to see the tablet in terms of methods familiar or accessible to scribes at the time.
[...] the question "how was the tablet calculated?" does not have to have the
same answer as the question "what problems does the tablet set?" The first can be answered
most satisfactorily by reciprocal pairs, as first suggested half a century ago, and the second
by some sort of right-triangle problems.
(E. Robson, "Neither Sherlock Holmes nor Babylon: a reassessment of Plimpton 322", "Historia Math." 28 (3), p. 202).
Geometry.
Babylonians knew the common rules for measuring volumes and areas. They measured the circumference of a circle as three times the diameter and the area as one-twelfth the square of the circumference, which would be correct if "" is estimated as 3. They were aware that this was an approximation, and one Old Babylonian mathematical tablet excavated near Susa in 1936 (dated to between the 19th and 17th centuries BCE) gives a better approximation of as 25/8 = 3.125, about 0.5 percent below the exact value.
The volume of a cylinder was taken as the product of the base and the height, however, the volume of the frustum of a cone or a square pyramid was incorrectly taken as the product of the height and half the sum of the bases. The Pythagorean theorem was also known to the Babylonians.
The "Babylonian mile" was a measure of distance equal to about 11.3 km (or about seven modern miles).
This measurement for distances eventually was converted to a "time-mile" used for measuring the travel of the Sun, therefore, representing time.
The ancient Babylonians had known of theorems concerning the ratios of the sides of similar triangles for many centuries, but they lacked the concept of an angle measure and consequently, studied the sides of triangles instead.
The Babylonian astronomers kept detailed records of the rising and setting of stars, the motion of the planets, and the solar and lunar eclipses, all of which required familiarity with angular distances measured on the celestial sphere.
They also used a form of Fourier analysis to compute ephemeris (tables of astronomical positions), which was discovered in the 1950s by Otto Neugebauer. To make calculations of the movements of celestial bodies, the Babylonians used basic arithmetic and a coordinate system based on the ecliptic, the part of the heavens that the sun and planets travel through.
Tablets kept in the British Museum provide evidence that the Babylonians even went so far as to have a concept of objects in an abstract mathematical space. The tablets date from between 350 and 50 B.C.E., revealing that the Babylonians understood and used geometry even earlier than previously thought. The Babylonians used a method for estimating the area under a curve by drawing a trapezoid underneath, a technique previously believed to have originated in 14th century Europe. This method of estimation allowed them to, for example, find the distance Jupiter had traveled in a certain amount of time.
Influence.
Since the rediscovery of the Babylonian civilization, it has become apparent that Greek and Hellenistic mathematicians and astronomers, and in particular Hipparchus, borrowed greatly from the Babylonians.
Franz Xaver Kugler demonstrated in his book "Die Babylonische Mondrechnung" ("The Babylonian lunar computation", Freiburg im Breisgau, 1900) the following: Ptolemy had stated in his "Almagest" IV.2 that Hipparchus improved the values for the Moon's periods known to him from "even more ancient astronomers" by comparing eclipse observations made earlier by "the Chaldeans", and by himself. However, Kugler found that the periods that Ptolemy attributes to Hipparchus had already been used in Babylonian ephemerides, specifically the collection of texts nowadays called "System B" (sometimes attributed to Kidinnu). Apparently, Hipparchus only confirmed the validity of the periods he learned from the Chaldeans by his newer observations.
It is clear that Hipparchus (and Ptolemy after him) had an essentially complete list of eclipse observations covering many centuries. Most likely these had been compiled from the "diary" tablets: these are clay tablets recording all relevant observations that the Chaldeans routinely made. Preserved examples date from 652 BC to AD 130, but probably the records went back as far as the reign of the Babylonian king Nabonassar: Ptolemy starts his chronology with the first day in the Egyptian calendar of the first year of Nabonassar, i.e., 26 February 747 BC.
This raw material by itself must have been hard to use, and no doubt the Chaldeans themselves compiled extracts of e.g., all observed eclipses (some tablets with a list of all eclipses in a period of time covering a saros have been found). This allowed them to recognise periodic recurrences of events. Among others they used in System B (cf. "Almagest" IV.2):
The Babylonians expressed all periods in synodic months, probably because they used a lunisolar calendar. Various relations with yearly phenomena led to different values for the length of the year.
Similarly, various relations between the periods of the planets were known. The relations that Ptolemy attributes to Hipparchus in "Almagest" IX.3 had all already been used in predictions found on Babylonian clay tablets.
All this knowledge was transferred to the Greeks probably shortly after the conquest by Alexander the Great (331 BC). According to the late classical philosopher Simplicius (early 6th century AD), Alexander ordered the translation of the historical astronomical records under supervision of his chronicler Callisthenes of Olynthus, who sent it to his uncle Aristotle. Although Simplicius is a very late source, his account may be reliable. He spent some time in exile at the Sassanid (Persian) court and may have accessed sources otherwise lost in the West. It is striking that he mentions the title "tèresis" (Greek: guard), which is an odd name for a historical work, but is an adequate translation of the Babylonian title "MassArt" meaning "guarding," but also "observing." Anyway, Aristotle's pupil Callippus of Cyzicus introduced his 76-year cycle, which improved on the 19-year Metonic cycle, about that time. He had the first year of his first cycle start at the summer solstice of 28 June 330 BC (Proleptic Julian calendar date), but later he seems to have counted lunar months from the first month after Alexander's decisive battle at Gaugamela in fall 331 BC. So Callippus may have obtained his data from Babylonian sources and his calendar may have been anticipated by Kidinnu. Also it is known that the Babylonian priest known as Berossus wrote around 281 BC a book in Greek on the (rather mythological) history of Babylonia, the "Babyloniaca", for the new ruler Antiochus I; it is said that later he founded a school of astrology on the Greek island of Kos. Another candidate for teaching the Greeks about Babylonian astronomy/astrology was Sudines who was at the court of Attalus I Soter late in the 3rd century BC.
In any case, the translation of the astronomical records required profound knowledge of the cuneiform script, the language, and the procedures, so it seems likely that it was done by some unidentified Chaldeans. Now, the Babylonians dated their observations in their lunisolar calendar, in which months and years have varying lengths (29 or 30 days; 12 or 13 months respectively). At the time they did not use a regular calendar (such as based on the Metonic cycle like they did later) but started a new month based on observations of the New Moon. This made it very tedious to compute the time interval between events.
What Hipparchus may have done is transform these records to the Egyptian calendar, which uses a fixed year of always 365 days (consisting of 12 months of 30 days and 5 extra days): this makes computing time intervals much easier. Ptolemy dated all observations in this calendar. He also writes that "All that he (=Hipparchus) did was to make a compilation of the planetary observations arranged in a more useful way" ("Almagest" IX.2). Pliny states ("Naturalis Historia" II.IX(53)) on eclipse predictions: "After their time (=Thales) the courses of both stars (=Sun and Moon) for 600 years were prophesied by Hipparchus, …". This seems to imply that Hipparchus predicted eclipses for a period of 600 years, but considering the enormous amount of computation required, this is very unlikely. Rather, Hipparchus would have made a list of all eclipses from Nabonasser's time to his own.
Other traces of Babylonian practice in Hipparchus' work are:


Architecture of Serbia

The architecture of Serbia has a long, rich and diverse history. Some of the major European style from Roman to Postmodern are demonstrated, including renowned examples of Raška, Serbo-Byzantine with its revival, Morava, Baroque, Classical and Modern architecture, with prime examples in Brutalism and Streamline Moderne.
Centuries of turbulent history of Serbia caused a great regional diversity and favored vernacular architecture. This made for a heterogeneous and diverse architectural style, with architecture differing from town to town. While this diversity may still be witnessed in small towns, the devastation of architectural heritage in the larger cities during World War II, and subsequent socialist influence on architecture resulted in specific mix of architectural styles.
Prehistory and antiquity.
The northernmost Ancient Macedonian town was Kale-Krševica, which still today have the foundations of the Ancient Greek 5th century BC town.
The Scordisci built the stone fortress of Singidunum, the Kalemegdan at Belgrade in the 3rd century BC, It has since been built on by Romans, Serbs, Turks, Austrians and show an example of continuing 2,300-year-old architecture, serving as one of the best landmarks in Belgrade.
The Romans left many traces of their six centuries of rule in the Serbian lands, including several fortifications and complexes such as the 3rd century AD Imperial palace of Galerius at Gamzigrad ("Felix Romuliana") that was built at his birthplace after the victory against the Persians, the Mediana site in Niš ("Naissus") from the 4th century, the ruins of the Moesia Superior capital Viminacium, former Roman capital and birthplace of several Roman Emperors Sirmium, and Byzantine city Justiniana Prima built by Justinian I, which was the seat of the Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima.
Medieval period.
Prohor Pčinjski Monastery was founded 1067–1071 by the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV in honor of Saint Prohor of Pčinja.
Early Church architecture.
Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is one of the few remaining building from early Middle Ages and UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. Prohor Pčinjski Monastery was founded 1067–1071 by the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV in honor of Saint Prohor of Pčinja.
Church architecture mostly developed under the patronage of the Serbian state. The most distinctive piece of medieval Serbian architecture was the Studenica monastery founded by Stefan Nemanja, the founder of medieval Serbia in c. 1190. This monastery also featured significant works of art including its Byzantine style fresco paintings. Its church also features extensive sculptures based on Psalms and the Dormition of the Theotokos. UNESCO added this monastery to its list of World Cultural Heritage sites in 1986. It was the model for other monasteries at Mileševa, Sopoćani and the Visoki Dečani.
The influence of Byzantine art became more influential after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 in the Fourth Crusade when many Greek artists fled to Serbia. Their influence can be seen at the Church of the Ascension at Mileševa as well as in the wall paintings at the Church of the Holy Apostles at Peć and at the Sopoćani Monastery. Icons also formed a significant part of church art.
The influence of Byzantine architecture reached its peak after 1300 including the rebuilding of the Our Lady of Ljeviš (c1306-1307) and Church of St. George at Staro Nagoričane as well as the Gračanica monastery. Church decorative paintings also developed further in the period.
The Visoki Dečani monastery in Metohija was built between 1330 and 1350. Unlike other Serbian monasteries of the period, it was built with Romanesque features by master-builders under the monk Vitus of Kotor. Its frescoes feature 1000 portraits portraying all of the major themes of the New Testament. The cathedral features iconostasis, hegumen's throne and carved royal sarcophagus. In 2004, UNESCO listed the Dečani Monastery on the World Heritage List.
There was a further spate of church building as the Serbian state contracted to the Morava basin in the late 14th century. Prince Stefan Lazarević was a poet and patron of the arts who founded the church at Resava at Morava with the wall paintings having a theme of parables of Christ with the people portrayed wearing feudal Serbian costumes.
Serbo-Byzantine style.
This is an ecclesiastical architectural style that flourished in the Serbian Late Middle Ages, which was developed through fusing contemporary Byzantine architecture with Raskan influences to form a new style. By the end of 13th and in the first half of 14th century the Serbian state enlarged over Macedonia, Epirus and Thessaly up to the Aegean Sea. On these new territories Serbian art was even more influenced by the Byzantine art tradition.
Gračanica, which was entirely rebuilt by King Milutin in 1321, is the most beautiful monument of Serbian architecture from the 14th century. The church of this monastery is an example of a construction that achieved the highest degree of architecture not only in the Byzantine form but in the creation of an original and freestyle exceeding its models. The wall creation in steps is one of the basic characteristics of this temple. "The Kings's Church" in Studenica, characterized as an ideal church, was built in the first decades of the 14th century.
By the end of the third decade of the 14th century the Patriarchate of Peć had finally been shaped. The exterior of the Patriarchate is a vision of shapes characteristic of contemporary Serbian architecture. On the major part of the outer walls paint decoration was used instead of stone relief and brick and stone decoration. A typical Serbo-Byzantine church has a rectangular foundation, with a major dome in the center with smaller domes around the center one. The inside of the church is covered with frescos that illustrate various biblical stories and portrays Serbian saints.
Ottoman architecture in Serbia.
The territory of what is now the Republic of Serbia was part of the Ottoman Empire throughout the Early Modern period, especially Central Serbia, unlike Vojvodina which has passed to Habsburg rule starting from the end of the 17th century (with several takeovers of Central Serbia as well).
Ottoman culture significantly influenced the region, in architecture, cuisine, language, and dress, especially in arts, and Islam.
Modernity.
Baroque.
During the short-lived Austrian rule over Belgrade, a Baroque quarter was built, with a square and several monumental buildings. After the reconquest of city by Ottoman Turks, all Baroque buildings were demolished. Most Serbian Orthodox churches were built with all the characteristics of Baroque churches built in the Austrian administered regions. The churches usually had a bell tower, and a single nave building with the iconostasis inside the church covered with Renaissance-style paintings. These churches can mostly be found in Zemun and Vojvodina province.
Serbo-Byzantine Revival.
The XIX century was a time of development of Serbian nationalism, which sought to develop a "national style" in architecture too, in line with national romanticism ideas. Within the broader movement of historicism, in parallel to neoclassical architecture, Serbia saw the development in particular of a Byzantine Revival architecture style. Other types of historicisms have had less of an impact in Serbia, though there are some examples of Gothic Revival architecture such as the Kapetanovo castle from 1904.
Serbia's modern sacral architecture got its main impetus from the dynastic burial church in Oplenac which was commissioned by member of the Karađorđević dynasty in 1909. With the arrival of Russian émigré artist after the October revolution, Belgrade's main governmental edifices were planned by eminent Russian architects trained in Russian Empire. It was King Aleksandar I. who was the patron of the neobyzantine movement. Its main proponents were Aleksandar Deroko, Momir Korunović, Branko Krstić, Petar Krstić, Grigorijji Samojlov and Nikolay Krasnov. Their main contribution were Beli dvor, the Church of Saint Sava, St. Mark's Church, Belgrade. After the communist era ended Mihailo Mitrović and Nebojša Popović were proponents of new tendencies in sacral architecture which used classic examples in the Byzantine tradition.
Art Nouveau and Secession style.
The Art Nouveau and Vienna Secession style flourished in the north of the country at the turn of the XX century, when the Vojvodina region was still part of the Hungarian kingdom under the Habsburgs. Subotica and Zrenjanin host particularly remarkable buildings from the period. Novi Sad and Belgrade were not immune from the architectural novelty either.
Royalist Yugoslav period.
Yugoslav architecture emerged in the first decades of the 20th century before the establishment of the state; during this period a number of South Slavic creatives, enthused by the possibility of statehood, organized a series of art exhibitions in Serbia in the name of a shared Slavic identity. Following governmental centralization after the 1918 creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, this initial bottom-up enthusiasm began to fade. Yugoslav architecture became more dictated by an increasingly concentrated state authority which sought to establish a unified state identity.
Beginning the 1920s, Yugoslav architects began to advocate for architectural modernism, viewing the style as the logical extension of progressive national narratives. The Group of Architects of the Modern Movement, an organization founded in 1928 by architects Branislav Kojić, Milan Zloković, Jan Dubovy, and Dušan Babić pushed for the widespread adoption of modern architecture as the "national" style of Yugoslavia to transcended regional differences. Despite these shifts, differing relationships to the west made the adoption of modernism inconsistent in Yugoslavia WWII. Of all Yugoslavian cities, Belgrade has the highest concentration of modernist structures. Air Force Command by Dragiša Brašovan is one of the biggest interwar modernist buildings in Belgrade.
Socialist Yugoslav period.
The architecture of Yugoslavia was characterized by emerging, unique, and often differing national and regional narratives. As a socialist state remaining free from the Iron Curtain, Yugoslavia adopted a hybrid identity that combined the architectural, cultural, and political leanings of both Western liberal democracy and Soviet communism.
Socialist realism (1945–48).
Immediately following the Second World War, Yugoslavia's brief association with the Eastern Bloc ushered in a short period of socialist realism. Centralization within the communist model led to the abolishment of private architectural practices and the state control of the profession. During this period, the governing Communist Party condemned modernism as "bourgeois formalism," a move that caused friction among the nation's pre-war modernist architectural elite.
Modernism (1948–92).
Socialist realist architecture in Yugoslavia came to an abrupt end with Josip Broz Tito's 1948 split with Stalin. In the following years the nation turned increasingly to the West, returning to the modernism that had characterized pre-war Yugoslav architecture. During this era, modernist architecture came to symbolize the nation's break from the USSR (a notion that later diminished with growing acceptability of modernism in the Eastern Bloc). The nation's postwar return to modernism is perhaps best exemplified in Vjenceslav Richter's widely acclaimed 1958 Yugoslavia Pavilion at Expo 58, the open and light nature of which contrasted the much heavier architecture of the Soviet Union. A number of architects from Serbia made important modernistic buildings across Africa and Middle East. Architect Mihajllo Mitrović was one of the several notable authors from the period. He is best known for modernistic buildings inspired by Art-Nouveau and Western City Gate.
Spomeniks in Serbia.
During this period, the Yugoslav break from Soviet socialist realism combined with efforts to commemorate World War II, which together led to the creation of an immense quantity of abstract sculptural war memorials, known today as "spomenik"
Brutalism.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s Brutalism began to garner a following within Yugoslavia, particularly among younger architects, a trend possibly influenced by the 1959 disbandment of the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne. Besides numerous brutalist buildings in the capital, other notable examples can be found Požarevac, Arilje, Užice, Sremska Mitrovica and other parts of the country.
Decentralization.
With 1950s decentralization and liberalization policies in SFR Yugoslavia, architecture became increasingly fractured along ethnic lines. Architects increasingly focused on building with reference to the architectural heritage of their individual socialist republics in the form of critical regionalism.
Growing distinction of individual ethnic architectural identities within Yugoslavia was exacerbated with the 1972 decentralization of the formerly centralized historical preservation authority, providing individual regions further opportunity to critically analyze their own cultural narratives.
Contemporary period.
The international style, which had arrived in Yugoslavia already in the 1980s, took over the scene in Belgrade after the wars and isolation of the 1990s. Big real estate projects, including Sava City and the redevelopment of the Ušće Towers, led the ground, with little respect for the local architecturale heritage.
Before and also after the Yugoslav wars numerous architects left Serbia and continued their work in a number of European, American and African countries, creating several hundreds of building.
In 2015, an agreement was reached with Eagle Hills (a UAE company) on the Belgrade Waterfront ("Beograd na vodi") deal, for the construction of a new part of the city on currently undeveloped wasteland by the riverside. This project, officially started in 2015 and is one of the largest urban development projects in Europe, will cost at least 3.5 billion euros.
According to Srdjan Garcevic, "Vaguely contemporary but somehow cheap-looking, it is planted illegally in the middle of the city on unstable soil – serving the interests of the anonymous lucky few."


John Matarazzo discography

This page is the discography for musician John Matarazzo. He has worked in music publishing and as a producer and composer.


List of National Historic Sites of Canada in Quebec

This is a list of National Historic Sites () in the province of Quebec. As of July 2019, there were 198 National Historic Sites designated in Quebec, 30 of which are administered by Parks Canada (identified below by the beaver icon . Sites in the province's two largest cities are listed separately at List of National Historic Sites in Montreal and List of National Historic Sites in Quebec City.
Numerous National Historic Events also occurred in Quebec, and are identified at places associated with them, using the same style of federal plaque which marks National Historic Sites. Several National Historic Persons are commemorated throughout the province in the same way. The markers do not indicate which designation—a Site, Event, or Person—a subject has been given.
This list uses names designated by the national "Historic Sites and Monuments Board", which may differ from other names for these sites.


Ewyas Harold Castle

Ewyas Harold Castle was a castle in the village of Ewyas Harold in Herefordshire, England.
History.
The first castle on the site is believed to be one of the very few which were built under the Saxons before the Norman conquest. This structure was likely raised in 1048, possibly by Osbern Pentecost, on the site of an earlier fortification. It was a motte and bailey castle overlooking the Dulas Brook. In 1052 the original castle was destroyed, either on the orders of Earl Godwin or by the Welsh in a raid.
Following the Norman conquest and invasion of the area the castle was rebuilt by William Fitz Osbern, Earl of Hereford. In 1086, the Domesday Book recorded:
In the jurisdiction of the castle of Ewyas Harold, Roger holds of Henry three churches and a priest and of land and they render two sesters of honey. In the castle he has two messuages.
In 1100 a priory was founded within the bailey of the castle.
The castle fell into partial decay until the early 15th century. It was then in the possession of William Beauchamp, Lord Abergavenny, who refortified it in the face of the threat from Owain Glyndŵr. There is no record of it being attacked at this time. Owain and his various forces focused their attention on strategies and opportunities elsewhere.
The castle again fell into ruin by 1645, and today only earthworks remain on the edge of the village to mark where it once stood.


Arion

Arion (; ) was a kitharode in ancient Greece, a Dionysiac poet credited with inventing the dithyramb: "As a literary composition for chorus dithyramb was the creation of Arion of Corinth," The islanders of Lesbos claimed him as their native son, but Arion found a patron in Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Although notable for his musical inventions, Arion is chiefly remembered for the fantastic myth of his kidnapping by pirates and miraculous rescue by dolphins, a folktale motif.
Herodotus (1.23) says "Arion was second to none of the lyre-players in his time and was also the first man we know of to compose and name the dithyramb and teach it in Corinth". However J.H. Sleeman observes of the dithyramb, or circular chorus, "It is first mentioned by Archilochus (c 665 BC) … Arion flourished at least 50 years later … probably gave it a more artistic form, adding a chorus of 50 people, personating satyrs… who danced around an altar of Dionysus. He was doubtless the first to introduce the dithyramb into Corinth". Armand D'Angour notes that Arion's contribution to the reform of the dithyramb, which was eventually performed in a circle and called "kuklios choros", was recognised by ancient sources by the fact that they named his father 'Kukleus' ('Circle-man').
Arion is also associated with the origins of tragedy: of Solon John the Deacon reports: “Arion of Methymna first introduced the drama [i.e. action] of tragedy, as Solon indicated in his poem entitled "Elegies"".
Kidnapping by pirates.
According to Herodotus' account of the Lydian empire under the Mermnads, Arion attended a musical competition in Sicily, which he won. On his return trip from Tarentum, whose onomastic founder has a similar story, avaricious sailors plotted to kill Arion and steal the rich prizes he carried home. Arion was given the choice of suicide with a proper burial on land, or being thrown in the sea to perish. Neither prospect appealed to Arion: as Robin Lane Fox observes, "No Greek would swim out into the deep from a boat for pleasure." He asked for permission to sing a last song to win time.
Playing his kithara, Arion sang a praise to Apollo, the god of poetry, and his song attracted a number of dolphins around the ship. Some argue that the Dolphins were sent by Apollo to rescue Arion. At the end of the song, Arion threw himself into the sea rather than be killed, but one of the dolphins saved his life and carried him to safety at the sanctuary of Poseidon at Cape Tainaron. When he reached land, being eager for his journey, he failed to return the dolphin to the sea and it perished there. He told his misfortunes to Periander, the Tyrant of Corinth, who ordered the dolphin to be buried, and monument raised to it. Shortly after, word came to Periander that the ship on which Arion had sailed had been brought to Corinth by a storm. He ordered the crew to be led before him, and inquired about Arion, but they replied that he had died and that they had buried him. The tyrant replied: "Tomorrow you will swear to that at the Dolphin's monument." Because of this he ordered them to be kept under guard, and instructed Arion to hide in the monument of the dolphin the next morning, attired as he was when he threw himself into the sea. When the tyrant had brought them there, and ordered them to swear by the departed spirit of the dolphin that Arion was dead, Arion came out of the monument. In amazement, wondering by what divinity he had been saved, they were silent. The tyrant ordered them to be crucified at the monument of the dolphin. Apollo, because of Arion's skill with the kithara, placed him and the dolphin among the stars. This dolphin was catasterised as the constellation Delphinus, by the blessing of Apollo.
The story as Herodotus tells it was taken up in other literature. Lucian of Samosata wittily imagined the dialogue between Poseidon and the very dolphin who bore Arion.
Augustine of Hippo asserted that pagans "believed in what they read in their own books" and took Arion to be a historical individual. "There is no historicity in this tale", according to Eunice Burr Stebbins,; Arion and the dolphins are given as an example of "a folkloristic motif especially associated with Apollo" by Irad Malkin. Erasmus instanced Arion as one of the traditional poet's topics that sound like "historia" rather than "fabulae", though he misremembered that Augustine had taken the Arion story to be historical.
Family.
From what is told in ancient Greek scripts, Arion, although favored by Apollo, is the son of Poseidon and Ino.
Mythological parallels.
The episode may be seen as a doublet of the fate of Melicertes, where the leap into the sea was that of his mother, Ino. transformed into the "white goddess" Leucothea; Melicertes was carried more dead than alive to the shores where the Isthmian Games were celebrated in his honour, as he was transformed to the hero Palaimon, who was placated with a nocturnal chthonic rite, and the whose winners were crowned with a barren wreath of spruce.
A similar story of told of the founding of Taras in Megale Hellas (Magna Graecia), modern Taranto, Apulia, Italy. When a son of Poseidon called Taras was shipwrecked, his father rescued him by sending a dolphin which he rode to traverse the sea from the promontory of Taenarum to the south of Italy. Brought ashore, Taras founded the city of the same name. According to Pausanias, he was worshiped as a hero who named both the city and the river, Taras after himself.
Another parallel is the myth of Dionysus and the sailors, related in the Homeric Hymns: Tyrrhenian pirates try to lash the god to the mast, but the wood itself starts to sprout and the mast is entwined with ivy (like the god's thyrsus); the sailors leap into the sea and are transformed into dolphins. This is especially interesting because Arion is credited with the invention of the dithyramb, a dionysiac song.
Scholarly interpretations.
In light of the above parallels, Walter Burkert interprets the story as a significant development in the history of Dionysiac cult: "Released from this gloomy background, the cheerful and liberating legend of the sixth century further developed the image of the dolphin-rider under the colors of the renewed cult of Dionysus.". C. M. Bowra tied the myth to the period following the expulsion from Corinth of the aristocratic Bacchiadae, who traced their descent from Dionysus: "the cult of the god had to develop new and more democratic forms."
Stewart Flory identified Herodotus' characteristic use of the episode in a historicising context as an example of what Flory calls his "brave gestures", a man faced with death performs with calm dignity some spirited but unnecessary gesture that demonstrates contempt for danger.
In Literature.
Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poem "Arion" examines and illustrates the story of his return to Greece.


Samir Bhamra

Samir Bhamra is a multi-faceted British artist, playwright, costume designer, producer and musical theatre director at Phizzical Productions. Samir graduated from Loughborough University with a BSc. in Mathematics and Computation where he honed in on his creativity. His contribution to the arts and cultural landscape in the UK saw him enter the Top 5 Asian Power Couples in 2020. Influenced by Indian cinema, mythologies and classic British literature, his works across multiple art forms and digital technologies. He is also the Creative Director of the world's longest running South Asian Film Festival called UK Asian Film Festival which platforms and makes independent South Asian films and talent accessible to communities across the UK. He pioneered BollyIdol, a national talent search with BBC. His writing and directing credits include Stardust, Bring on the Bollywood, Precious Bazaar and an academically acclaimed production of William Shakespeare's Cymbeline. He is currently also the 2021 Senior Producer at Belgrade Theatre Coventry producing the theatre's UK City of Culture 2021 programme.
Film and festivals.
He is the Creative Director of UK Asian Film Festival, which was previously called the London Asian Film Festival and is organised by Tongues on Fire. As part of the 17th London Asian Film Festival, he invited Tony award nominee choreographer and Bollywood film director Farah Khan to run master classes in Choreography at Southbank Centre and Directing at School of Asian and Oriental Studies.
In 2018, the festival started to tour UK wide and rebranded to become the UK Asian Film Festival. The festival marked the centenary of the Suffragette Movement, celebrating the achievements of the forgotten Indian Suffragette, Sophia Duleep Singh. Indian actress and chat show queen Simi Garewal, Pakistani actress and L'Oreal Ambassador Mahira Khan and British actress Amy Jackson who is conquering Hollywood and Bollywood were amongst the Special Guests.
The 2019 festival was themed Revolution with the opening film Hamid and closing film Pinky Memsaab. He brought legendary actors like Zeenat Aman, Shabana Azmi, Kiran Juneja and Radhika Apte to the UK. The iconic Sholay director Ramesh Sippy received a lifetime achievement award for completing 50 years in the Indian film industry.
The 2020 festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme included the opening film Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare by the acclaimed director Alankrita Srivastava. The closing film was Zindagi Tamasha by the legendary Sarmad Khoosat.
Musicals.
In 2019, he directed Stardust at Belgrade Theatre in Coventry based on songs by Robby Khela, composed by Devesh Sodha with a book co-written with hard-of-hearing writer Shahid Iqbal Khan. Stardust is a finalist for the 2020 Asian Media Awards Best Stage Production award. Samir worked with actor, singer and songwriter Robby Khela in Bring on the Bollywood, Cymbeline and previously Jean Genet's The Maids.
In 2016, he created a new musical, Bring on the Bollywood in association with Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. Bring on the Bollywood ran for 70 performances as it toured to 12 cities in 2017. It was a finalist for Best Stage Production at Asian Media Awards 2016, Best Home Production by What's On Live in 2016 as voted by the readers of What's On Midlands and three actors from this entertaining musical were the only finalists for the Best New Talent Award at Asian Media Awards in 2017. Reviewer Roderic Dunnett described it as "Phizzical easily justifies its name: it fizzes and whizzes, sizzles and bristles and teases with comedy, makes you want to laugh and sing, and tickles you with a storyline that could be a cousin of The Comedy of Errors or Twelfth Night".
His first musical was Precious Bazaar which opened in 2004 at The Y in Leicester. It launched the careers of actor Jas Binag and Bhopal: A Prayer of Rain actress Fagun Thakrar. They were among 10 talented actors and dancers who were discovered through the BollyIdol contest he developed with BBC and B4U. EastEnders actress Rakhee Thakrar played the lead role Suhani in Precious Bazaar. Precious Bazaar was nominated for a Windrush Award in 2004.
Theatre.
Samir's interest in Shakespeare stems from finding how he can make the story and themes relevant to an audience who may not understand the text. During the World Shakespeare Festival, he was seconded to the Royal Shakespeare Company from the National Theatre programme Step Change. His Bollywood styled production of Cymbeline toured for 12 weeks to 22 venues in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is considered the longest theatrical tour by any British Asian theatre company. The production was reviewed several times during its tour and received many positive reviews and is of academic interest. His thoughts about making Cymbeline feature in a new book Eating Shakespeare by academic Varsha Panjwani.
He has directed an adaptation of Layla and Majnun and Romeo and Juliet in 2006 titled Romeo + Laila written by UK based actor and playwright Omar Khan. He produced Omar Khan's adaptation of Twelfth Night titled What You Fancy which was directed by Leylah. In 2008, Samir directed the 1994 Pulitzer Prize nominated play A Perfect Ganesh written by Terrence McNally. He developed the ideas behind the play as part of in Residence at Haymarket Theatre.
Samir is currently researching and developing a production of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale set in Kashmir.
Dance.
Samir was the first judge of the UK version of Boogie Woogie and set the judging format which was followed from 2004 to 2008. He was a guest judge in the preliminary stages of Just Dance with Hrithik Roshan. Bhamra has been judging Just Bollywood, a Bollywood dance competition organised by Imperial University for students from all UK wide universities since 2015. He is a mentor to young adults to nurture their personal best.
He wrote and produced the first UK theatre dance adaptation of the classic story Umrao Jaan Ada written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa in December 2014.
Samir produced Subhash Viman's triple bill contemporary dance work Gamechanger, featuring Morphed, Fly From and Three. In 2018, he produced BBC Young Dancer finalist Anaya Vasudha's EKA which premiered at The Place.
Visual and Digital Arts.
His collaboration with Hitesh Rao and Ben-Azeera Lela for singer and songwriter Navin Kundra led to a new brand identity for the singer. He provided art direction and design in the digital visuals that feature in John Gihair's book Welcome to Earth.
Cultural Strategy.
Samir was one of many cultural leaders who developed a new cultural strategy for the City of Leicester.
Awards.
Samir Bhamra was awarded the Olwen Wymark award from the Writers Guild of Great Britain in 2021. He won several global awards for costume design and directing his first short musical film Mad About The Boy, screened in Shanghai, Manila, Toronto, Cannes, and at the Queen Palm International Film Festival in California. He won the Arts and Culture Awareness award for his extensive work at the 2016 British Indian Awards in association with BDO.
Precious Bazaar was nominated for a Windrush Arts Award in 2004.
Samir received two High Commendations at the 2003 and 2004 Windrush Awards for his pioneering work in Digital, Internet and Technology.
Personal life.
His parents were of different religious backgrounds. He uses his mixed faith up-bringing to influence his artistic work.
In 2014, Samir raised funds for Macmillan Cancer in memory of his mother and grandmother by shaving his hair. In 2020, he raised funds for Mental Health Awareness.


Until June

Until June (originally Juune) is an American alternative-rock band, from the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2001 are currently signed of Tooth and Nail Records.
They are known for their song "What I've Done", which made the top-ten songs on contemporary hit radio chart and was used for ABC's "Private Practice" television series and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" season 3 DVD. Their song "In My Head" was featured in "Grey's Anatomy" season 6 episode 3.
The band is also known for their song "Sleepless" which reached number one in Greece in June and July 2008 and number four in Norway in June 2008.
The band released their second album "Young and Foolish" on August 21, 2012, on Madison Line Records.
Background.
Josh Ballard, Dan Ballard, Chris Foley, and Justin Turley self-produced and released several EPs and played many shows in the Hollywood area, under the name Juune. To get the attention of major labels, they hopped "the fence at Capitol Records and put flyers on cars" said Josh Ballard. They set a deadline of being signed by June 2005 or they would break up.
In the spring of 2004, drummer Turley left the band to move closer to his family in Texas, and he was replaced by Jamie Pitts. The band continued to self-produce and release EPs and label interest began growing in late 2004.
In the spring of 2005, as the band was in the early stages of negotiating with several labels, Foley left the band to get married, and Pitts left to continue pursuing his academic goals. Daniel Dempsey joined the band shortly thereafter.
In August 2005, the band signed with Flicker Records of the Sony BMG's Provident Label Group. Due to legal concerns, the name Juune was changed to Until June after their original deadline.
Their self-titled debut extended play, "Until June – The EP", featuring Josh Ballard on keyboards and vocals, Dan Ballard on guitar, Dempsey on drums, and Foley on bass, was released in March 2006.
Their debut studio album, "Until June", was produced by Brian Garcia and was released on April 17, 2007.
The band's first international success was in Greece when the single, "Sleepless", topped the radio charts on May 8, 2008.
In late 2008, the band left Flicker to sign with Authentik Artists.
The band was planning on releasing their second album in 2010, which might be entitled "www". Mixing of the album was reportedly completed March 27, 2010. However, the band posted a status update on May 11, 2010, noting "Re-doing a few guitar tracks for www It's sounding quite lovely." Mariah McManus sings backing vocals on one of the songs. On May 19, 2010, the band gave an album update, stating "It's official now. Finally after two years the second full length UJ record is done.". As of June 15, 2010, the album was "coming soon".
The band's album, "Young and Foolish", was released August 21, 2012. The trio produced the album themselves, but brought in Grammy Award-winning mixer Kevin Killen, to help achieve the "atmospheric blend".
Discography.
Extended plays.
As Juune:


The Critical Review (newspaper)

The Critical Review was a British publication appearing from 1756 to 1817. It was first edited by Tobias Smollett, from 1756 to 1763. Contributors included Samuel Johnson, David Hume, John Hunter, and Oliver Goldsmith.
Early years.
The Edinburgh printer Archibald Hamilton started publishing "The Critical Review" in 1756 with Tobias Smollett as its first editor. The content was mainly book reviews, which were often long and favourable, with copious verbatim quotations. The Tory and High Church perspectives of contributors came through clearly, however. Besides Smollett, the writers of the first two volumes have been identified as John Armstrong, Samuel Derrick, Thomas Francklin, and Patrick Murdoch.
After a libel against Admiral Sir Charles Knowles in the "Review", Smollett was sentenced to a fine of £100 and three months in King's Bench Prison. In 1763 he retired from the "Review", but left it as an influential publication.


Adriaen van Cronenburg

Adriaen van Cronenburg (also Cronenburgh, Cronenburch) (Schagen, – Bergum, after 1604) was a Northern Netherlandish painter. He produced mainly portraits.
Cronenburg was active between about 1547 and 1590, working in the provinces of Friesland and Groningen. He also spent some time in Belgium, especially in Leuven and Antwerp, where he painted the portrait of Katheryn of Berain now in National Museum Cardiff.
Cronenburg's cousin married into two aristocratic families in succession, and it is likely through this connection that he became secretary of Tietjerksteradeel in 1567. Following the Union of Utrecht, Cronenburg left Friesland in 1580 due to his refusal to give up Catholicism. He was allowed to return to Friesland in 1592 and settled in Bergum. The last signed works known are from 1587 and 1590.
The identity of Adriaen van Cronenburg was established by A. Wassenbergh, formerly the director of the Fries Museum, based on his unusual signature, "A.a.a.a. van Cronenburg".
Anna van Cronenburg (1552 – ) was a documented relation of Adriaen, the daughter of a doctor whose second husband became mayor of Leeuwarden in 1579. The issue of the real identity of the artist was raised in an article in 1934 by G. Marlier.
Various works by Cronenburg are in the Fries Museum, and a group of four related portraits of women is in the Prado Museum in Spain. The Prado group are all three-quarter length standing portraits of ladies, two with daughters of perhaps ten years old. One has a skull on a table, like the Cardiff portrait. The four, plus a lost fifth work, were inventoried in the Spanish royal collection at the old royal palace, the Royal Alcazar of Madrid, in 1636, and show their subjects in front of the same background of a Renaissance blind arcade with niches and green drapery, and are virtually the same size (about 1.05 x 0.79 cm).


Przerowa coat of arms

Przerowa - is a Polish coat of arms. It was used by several szlachta families in the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Notable bearers.
Notable bearers of this coat of arms include:


List of the oldest schools in the Philippines

This is a list of educational institutions in the Philippines arranged according to the dates of their foundation. It comprises the list of the oldest schools in the Philippines sorted in various categories, and gives an overview of the development of education and higher learning in the Philippines. To be included in this list, an institution must satisfy a traditional definition of a formal educational institution at the time of its founding.
The oldest universities, colleges, vocational schools and the first modern public education system in Asia were created during the Spanish colonial period. The earliest schools were founded by Spanish Catholic missionaries. By the time Spain was replaced by the United States as the colonial power, Filipinos were among the most educated subjects in all of Asia.
Dispute over the oldest school.
The title of the oldest in the Philippines have been topic for debate between two educational institutions: the University of Santo Tomas and the University of San Carlos.
The University of Santo Tomas, established in 1611 as the Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario, is the oldest university in the Philippines. In 1935 the Commonwealth government of the Philippines through the Historical Research and Markers Committee declared that UST was "oldest university under the American flag." In the 1990s, the Intramuros Administration installed a marker on the original site of the University of Santo Tomas with the recognition that the university is the "oldest university in Asia." In 2011 Pope Benedict XVI recognized UST as "the oldest institution of Catholic higher education in the Far East," while in 2012 the National Historical Commission of the Philippines published an online article recognizing UST as "Asia’s Oldest University".
However, University of San Carlos has opposed this recognition and claims that it is older than the University of Santo Tomas by 16 years by tracing its roots to the Colegio de San Ildefonso (established 1595). In 1995, University of San Carlos celebrated its Quadricentennial (400th Anniversary).
UST as Asia's Oldest University.
Numerous scholars and official government bodies have reviewed the case. In 2010, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines installed a bronze marker declaring USC's foundation late in the 18th Century, effectively disproving any direct connection with the Colegio de San Ildefonso. According to Dr. Victor Torres of the De La Salle University, the University of San Carlos' claim dates back to 1948 only when USC was declared a university. Fidel Villarroel from the University of Santo Tomas argued that USC only took over the facility of the former Colegio de San Ildefonso and that there is no 'visible' and 'clear' link between San Carlos and San Ildefonso. Aloysius Cartagenas (a Cebuano), in a paper published by Philippiniana Sacra, stated that the correct foundation year of USC is 1867, and not 1595, while in 2012 the National Historical Commission of the Philippines cemented its previous position when it published an online article recognizing UST as "Asia’s Oldest University.


The Terrible People

The Terrible People is a 1928 American adventure silent film serial directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet, based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edgar Wallace. It was released as a 10-chapter serial. The film is now considered to be lost.
Most of the books of Edgar Wallace have been adapted into films many times over the years in both England in the 1930s, and in Germany in the 1960s in a series known as the "crimis". "The Terrible People" was remade as a German crimi film under the same title in 1960.
Plot.
An heiress is threatened by the gang of a criminal who seems to have returned from the dead. Clay Shelton was executed for his crimes, but it seems he has returned to life to exact revenge on the people responsible for his death.


Senora Lynch

Senora Richardson Lynch (born 1963) is a contemporary Native American potter and a member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe. She was a 2007 winner of the North Carolina Heritage Award, the 2013 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the River People Music and Culture Fest, and is recognized nationally for unique style of detailed, hand-coiled pottery. Lynch is a resident of Warren County, North Carolina.
Art career.
Lynch began making pottery at the age of fourteen after seeing ancient pottery shards and assisting with a pottery class for Haliwa-Saponi tribal elders. She works with red and white clay and uses a traditional hand-coiling method which she makes her own by etching geometric patterns onto the surface. Lynch's pottery has been on display at the White House and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. She has work on permanent display at the North Carolina Museum of History and in the National Museum of the American Indian's collection.
She claims that working with clay brings her back to when she was a child and played with the mud. Her inspiration for the designs she makes come from the night sky and through dreams.
Lynch teaches pottery, beading, basketry, and loom work. She also makes traditional regalia such as necklaces, earrings, chokers, leather bags, and dance sticks. She also travels throughout the state of North Carolina, teaching cultural presentations and workshops at University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and traditional pottery techniques at East Carolina University. Lynch also worked with students in Halifax County to create a mural at the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School through the North Carolina Arts Council's Traditional Arts Program (TAPS). She also does week-long residencies with fourth grade students during the winter months.
In 2004, Lynch began a brickwork piece at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that she later completed in 2014. The piece, called "The Gift" incorporates imagery from Native American storytelling and the natural world. Some of her work is in the Smithsonian Museum in D.C. The gift's imagery includes turtles, eagle feather, dogwood flowers, hills,water,and corn.
Her work is currently also marketed online in the website American Indian Made in North Carolina. Her work is now gaining international demand. She hold a year round class and she teachers her students about American Indians and about culture, but she also teachers her students to work to overcome racial stereotypes.


Panikos Panayi

Panikos Panayi (18 October 1962–) is a cultural historian known for his books on the social history of food, immigration, and inter-ethnic relations.
Biography.
Panikos Panayi was born in a Greek Cypriot family which migrated to Britain. He completed his PhD at the University of Sheffield in 1988 on "Germans in Britain during the First World War, 1914-1918" under the supervision of Professor Colin Holmes and is part of the informally recognised Sheffield School of Migration and Prejudice. He is a cultural historian and has worked at De Montfort University, Leicester since 1990, becoming professor of European history there in 1999.
He writes on the social history of food and immigration. His books have been translated into German, French, and Japanese.
In 2004 he attracted press attention, and was listed under "Know your enemy" on an extreme rightwing forum, by noting that a central element of English cuisine, fish and chips, had foreign origins, since fried fish was Jewish while chips were most likely French. Similarly, ice cream was brought to Britain by Italian street vendors in the 19th century. In his view, the popular perception that food is tied to national identity is wrong; instead, the food people eat indicates the integration of cultures. The global press reaction included the "Financial Times"'s "Kosher French Connection with Fish and Chips", and the "Daily Star" headline "Le Great Breetish Feesh and Cheeps: it's Frog Nosh Claims Prof", which according to the historian Stuart Hilton triggered the hostile reaction from extreme rightwing political parties.
Reception.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, reviewing "Spicing up Britain" in "The Independent", stated that "Panikos Panayi has written extensively about migrants. His books surprise and gratify, draw readers into the alternative history of this mongrel nation [of Britain], unmade and remade by waves of outsiders", including German, Italian, and Spanish migrants. She found however that the style and language were turgid and indigestible, and that parts that should have been fascinating were "served up unappetisingly."
"Times Higher Education" wrote of the same book that Panayi avoided the trap of over-easy ethnic generalisation, and concluded that "If Panayi has an agenda, it is to wake up ignorant Brits, to make them realise how central immigrants have been to the development of the UK's economy and culture in the last century and a half."
"The English Historical Review" described "An Immigration History of Britain" as an excellent synthesis of scholarship on immigrants' experiences.
Awards and distinctions.
Panayi has been an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the University of Osnabrück at times between 1991 and 2014. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.


Nessah Synagogue

The Nessah Synagogue is a Mizrahi synagogue in Beverly Hills, California.
History.
The synagogue was established in 1980 for the immigration of Persian Jews to Los Angeles County, shortly after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. It was founded by Rabbi David Shofet. His father, Yedidia Shofet (1908-2005), had served as the Chief Rabbi of Iran from 1922 to 1980.
Persian Jews from the congregation initially worshipped at Beth Jacob Congregation, a long-established Orthodox synagogue in Beverly Hills. Later, they met at the Saban Theatre, also in Beverly Hills. Later, they moved into a building in Santa Monica, California. The congregation moved into its current building (the former home of the First Church of Christ, Scientist that now resides across the street) in 2002. The building's remodeling was supervised by architect Hamid Gabbay. It includes "Simcha Hall", a ballroom used for weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Brit milah, fundraising events, etc.
It acts as a large religious, educational and cultural center, where Hebrew and Iranian Jewish history is taught. It organizes three weekly Torah classes, daily prayer services, lectures, and three Shabbat services. A 2011 profile of Nessah Synagogue in "Tablet Magazine" found that the congregation serves an important function as a "community center" for the Persian Jews of Los Angeles and as a bridge between traditions rooted in Iran and the mainstream American lifestyle most of them now lead, and also noted that many members maintain affiliation both with Nessah and with another congregation with a more mixed membership, such as Sinai Temple or Stephen S. Wise Temple.
Inside the synagogue, the Torah ark is a replica of the one in the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam.
In the early mornings hours of Saturday, December 14, 2019, an individual broke in and vandalized the synagogue, damaging a number of Torah scrolls, but the Torah scrolls for ritual use had been locked up and were not damaged.


In Pursuit of Polly

In Pursuit of Polly is a lost 1918 American silent comedy-drama film starring Billie Burke and Thomas Meighan. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures.
Plot.
As described in a film magazine, Polly Marsden (Burke) is told by her father Buck Marsden (Losee) that she must choose from among her three suitors. She decides to settle it by a race. She is to be given an hour head start and agrees to bestow her hand upon the first one who catches her. In trying to elude her pursuers, she is mistaken for the confederate of a German spy. When the three suitors catch her, they discover that her heart and hand have been won by secret service agent Colby Mason (Meighan).


Midnight Rose (film)

Midnight Rose is a lost 1928 American silent crime film directed by James Young and starring Lya De Putti, Kenneth Harlan and Henry Kolker.


Przykorwin coat of arms

Przykorwin - is a Polish coat of arms. It was used by several szlachta families in the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.


The Penthouse (Seattle)

The Penthouse was a jazz club in Seattle, most remembered for John Coltrane's performance there in September 1965.
The Penthouse opened in 1962 in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood, founded by Charlie Puzzo. Over the next seven years, Puzzo presented such artists as Miles Davis, Bill Evans, The Montgomery Brothers, Stan Getz, Anita O’Day, Bill Cosby, Little Richard and Aretha Franklin. The club was on the ground floor of the Kenneth Hotel at 701 First Avenue, near the corner of Cherry Street, a building originally built as the "Safe Deposit Building" after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, replacing the 1884 "Merchant’s National Bank Building" on the same site. Jim Wilke hosted Thursday night broadcasts from the club for KING radio.
The saxophonist John Coltrane performed at the club September 30, 1965, with a sextet consisting of Coltrane on tenor and soprano saxophones, Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone, Donald Garrett on bass clarinet and double bass, McCoy Tyner on piano,
Jimmy Garrison on double bass and Elvin Jones on drums. They were also joined on "Afro-Blue" by Joe Brazil and Carlos Ward and a third unidentified alto saxophonist and on another piece by an unidentified thumb pianist. Much of the session was issued 1971 in by Impulse! Records as "Live in Seattle"; other portions including Coltrane's last performance Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" appeared later on the album "The Unissued Seattle Broadcast" (RLR Records, 2011). See the Jim Wilke page for information on more recent releases from the 1960s material.
"The Penthouse" closed in 1968; the building was demolished shortly thereafter, replaced by a multi-story parking lot.
Seattle music historian Paul de Barros described The Penthouse, along with Pete's Poop Deck and Dave's Fifth Avenue as one of Seattle's "first true modern jazz clubs".


Prayoon Yomyiam

Prayoon Yomyiam (, , 30 August 1933 – 20 November 2010) was a Thai folk singer, best known for her expertise in the traditional genre of ', for which she headed the performing troupe Lamtad Mae Prayoon. She was named National Artist in performing arts (Thai performing arts) in 1994.
In 2018 on her birthday, she was honored with a Google Doodle.


Celestinian Forgiveness

The Celestinian Forgiveness (in Italian: "Perdonanza Celestiniana") is a religious and historical annual event held in L'Aquila, Italy, at the end of August. It is a catholic jubilee celebration, established in 1294 by pope Celestine V with his bull "Inter sanctorum solemnia" (also known as "Bull of Pardon" or "Bull of Forgiveness").
Since 2011 the celebration is a "Heritage of Italy for tradition" ("Patrimonio d'Italia per la tradizione") and in 2019 it was inscribed in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.


But Not in Vain

But Not in Vain (Dutch name "Niet Tevergeefs") is a 1948 Anglo-Dutch World War II drama, directed by Edmond T. Gréville and starring Raymond Lovell. The film is set in 1944 in the occupied Netherlands, and was shot at the Cinetone Studios in Amsterdam, with exterior filming taking place at locations in and around the city. The film also incorporates authentic wartime footage filmed by members of the Dutch Resistance. The Dutch version of the film was the first Dutch production of a feature film after World War II.
Plot.
In late 1944, the "Hongerwinter" famine is starting to bite in the occupied northern and western Netherlands and Nazi persecution is rife. The farm of Jan Alting (Lovell), a Dutch patriot who has disowned his son for his collaboration with the occupying German forces, is known by the Dutch Resistance as a place of refuge for those who are in danger from the Germans. With the help of his daughter Elly (Carol van Derman), Alting is currently providing shelter for Jewish couple Mark and Mary Meyer (Martin Benson and Agnes Bernelle); van Nespen (Bruce Lester), an aristocrat with active links to the underground movement, and Bakker (Julian Dallas), a Communist wanted by the Germans for sabotage. All are aware of the constant risk of betrayal and exposure.
Jan's son Anton (Jordan Lawrence) returns unexpectedly to his former home, and discovers that his father and sister are harbouring subversives. He orders his father to turn them out immediately, threatening to shoot them all if this is not done. Jan is faced with the seemingly irreconcilable demands of patriotism and responsibility for the safety of his shelterers, set against the feelings he still has for Anton, despite the latter's betrayal of all Jan stands for. He faces the stark moral choice of failing those to whom he has given refuge, or conspiring with them to kill his own son.
Origin of the name.
The film's name is derived from a wartime radio speech by the exiled Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, exhorting her people to resist the Nazi occupation and promising that their struggle and sacrifice would not be in vain.
Later history.
"But Not in Vain" was first screened in December 1948; however surviving contemporary reviews all date from early 1950, leading to the assumption that a general release was delayed until then for unknown reasons. The film received some generally favourable reviews, with "Today's Cinema" describing it as "intelligently directed, always with artistry and sometimes with real dramatic power", and the "Daily Film Renter" praising "well-drawn characters, gripping story and happy climax". The "Monthly Film Bulletin" in contrast dismissed it as "uniquely incompetent".
The British Film Institute has been unable to locate a print of the film for inclusion in the BFI National Archive, and classes it as "missing, believed lost". There is increasing interest by film historians in Gréville's directorial career, with the same year's "Noose" being particularly highly regarded. The current absence of "But Not in Vain" represents a crucial gap in Gréville's filmography, and the BFI lists the film as one of its "75 Most Wanted" missing British feature films.


Ilan (name)

Ilan ( in Hebrew) is an Israeli masculine given name and a surname which means "tree" in the Hebrew language.
Ilan also has South Indian language Tamil origin meaning “young” or “youth”.
Variants of the name include Alon and Elon. Notable people with the name include:


Decoration of the Cross of Queen Elisabeth

The Decoration of the Cross of Queen Elisabeth () was a Decoration established by Prince Carol I of Romania by Royal Decree 2270 on 6 October 1878 for his wife, Princess Elisabeth of Wied, to award Romanian women she deemed to have achieved outstanding service for caring for the wounded and sick, whether directly in ambulances and hospital campaigns, or indirectly through donations or other actions.
The Decoration was abolished during the abolishment of the Romanian Monarchy in 1947 and wasn't reinstated as a Dynastic Decoration of the Decorations of the Romanian Royal House by Former King Michael I.


Mammo Wudneh

Mammo Wudneh (1931-2012) was a playwright, journalist and President of the Ethiopian Writers' Association.He was actively involved as a peacemaker between Ethiopia and Eritrea working on an interfaith committee chaired by Abune Paulos, the Patriarch of the Tewahedo Church.
Early life.
Mammo Wudneh(ማሞ ውድነህ) was orphaned during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War when the Italians bombed his village, Bashagia in what was then Wollo Province. By chance he later met one of the pilots who took part in the raid that killed his family. In a moving encounter the playwright forgave the pilot.
Published works.
ሁለተኛው የዓለም ጦርነት
his works are more than 60 books... (book lists from bini ge'ez@facebook)
References.
Ayele Addis,(2009) profile of Ethiopian media personality, Bahir Dar Aram printing house.