Wilton-Fijenoord

Wilton-Fijenoord was a shipbuilding and repair company in Schiedam the Netherlands from 1929 to 1999. Presently, the shipyard of Wilton-Feijnoord is part of Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam.
Merger of Wilton and Fijenoord (1929).
Wilton-Fijenoord had two predecessors. Wilton's Dok- en Werf Maatschappij was the biggest predecessor of Wilton-Fijenoord, the other was the Shipyard Fijenoord. By the mid 1920s these shipyards had become rather similar. Wilton still had an advantage in ship repair, and Fijenoord was still ahead in ship construction, especially for the navy. The idea for a merger dated as far back as at least 1927. The rationale was that the still profitable Wilton company had a major overcapacity and was spread over two locations. The activities of Fijenoord could just as well be done in Schiedam. A concentration of the combined activities in Schiedam would lead to major cost savings. In 1929 talks led to an agreement for a financial merger between the companies. Shares in Wilton and shares in Fijenoord were exchanged for shares in a new united company: Dok- en Werf-Maatschappij Wilton-Fijenoord. The ratio between worth of Wilton and Fijenoord was 15.5 : 3.
A new board of directors was formed by combining the board of directors of Wilton with that of Fijenoord. It had seven members, of which three from the Wilton family. The merger had taken place by creating a new public company that got all the shares of the existing companies. This was a fast way to merge, but it also meant that the organisations themselves continued to exist from a legal as well as an organizational perspective. These had a rather different culture. Many Wilton employees thought the Fijenoord men to be too precise and arrogant. Fijenoord employees tended to look at the Wilton men as disorganized, improvising and rude.
The Great Depression.
The Great Depression that started in November 1929 came at a very bad moment for Wilton-Fijenoord. Economic activity came to an almost complete standstill with regard to orders for new ships. Massive lay-offs reduced the number of employees at the company from 7,790 at the end of 1929 to 3,849 at the end of 1930, a decrease of 50%. In this crisis Wilton-Fijenoord faced a difficult decision. Should it radically concentrate all activity in Schiedam, and hope that the high cost for the move would be earned back by cost-savings? Or, should it evade the cost of the move by continuing at multiple locations? In 1932 the board decided to close down the Fijenoord location, and to move the activities on the Westkousdijk (Delfshaven) to Schiedam as much as possible. In the end this ambition to centralize everything in Schiedam would not be realized (cf. below).
Meanwhile, the crisis grew ever darker. Dividend payments were stopped, reserves were shrinking, and even the payment of interest became doubtful. The costs of the move to Schiedam also proved higher than estimated. Of course cost cutting was somewhat effective, but it was not enough. In 1932 the order for the cruiser gave some air to the company. A few repair orders were also profitable. In 1935 the three floating dock were towed to Schiedam. Nevertheless, in 1935 the repair orders hit an absolute low, with 301 ships for 1,622,960 rtb.
On 29 January 1936 the board then proposed to postpone the repayment of part of open bonds by one year. The department of defense intervened by giving advance payments on submarine mine layers. In the end a government guarantee of a private loan of 1,500,000 guilders saved the company. A financial reorganization followed in 1936. The nominal capital of 25,000,000 guilders, which had been reduced to 15,500,000 guilders earlier, was further reduced to 4,650,000 guilders. Two old loans were repaid. It allowed the company to raise new capital of 3,900,000 in 1938. By 1938 the ship repair business had recovered. In 1928 the number of ships using the dry docks was 486 for a tonnage 2,506,609 R.T.B. In 1938 it were 463 ships with 2,590,696 R.T.B. In 1938 and 1939 the shipyard paid dividend again.
Tankers.
The construction of tankers was the only kind of civilian construction that kept the large Dutch shipyards afloat. In November 1933 the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum company (part of Royal Dutch Shell) placed an order for three tankers of 12,000 tons capacity. One at NSM, one at RDM and one at Wilton-Fijenoord. The tanker at Wilton got the name "Rapana". In the whole year 1934, Wilton-Fijenoord did not receive any order for a new ship. At the end of 1934 the work on "Rapana" was the only work on new merchant ships still ongoing.
In early 1935 the Bataafse Petroleum Maatschappij, another subsidiary of Shell, ordered six tankers for 6,000,000 guilders. The NSM would build the two largest of 12,100 tons. Wilton-Fijenoord would build two of the four ships of 9,250-ton capacity each. The order came in on 5 February 1935 and would permit Wilton to keep her slipways reasonably filled. In late 1935 Wilton-Fijenoord got another order for a 9,100 ton tanker. On 18 January 1936 "Eulota" of 9,100 tons was launched. On 25 April 1936 "Elusa" was launched. On 7 November 1936 the third 9,100-ton capacity ship "Eulima" was launched. In early November 1936 Wilton-Fijenoord got a new order for one tanker of 12,000 tons and one tanker of 9,000 tons.
The Nederlandsche Pacific Petroleum Maatschappij was active in the Dutch East Indies. It was a subsidiary of Standard Oil Company of California, later (Chevron Corporation). In May 1936 it ordered a 12,000-ton tanker at Wilton-Fijenoord. In June 1936 the Nederlandsche Pacific Petroleum Maatschappij then signed a contract for oil exploration in a big area of southern Sumatra. On 6 March 1937 the tanker called "Nederland" was launched.
Warships.
The order for two s, laid down in June 1931 was very welcome, but could not save the company. As stated above the order for the light cruiser "De Ruyter" was a more substantial 'aid'. The two mine-laying s were laid down in June 1936. At that moment the worst of the crisis was over, but the liquidity was saved by the above-mentioned advance payments on these ships. The that was later named "De Ruyter" was laid down in September 1939, too late to be launched before the Netherlands were occupied in 1940.
Cooperation in design.
A notorious problem for the Dutch yards before the Second World War, was the lack of design capabilities. Accordingly, Wilton-Fijenoord had to buy the vessel designs from independent design companies and developed only the detailed structures. By a cartel agreement, four Dutch yards including Wilton-Fijenoord formed a joint design office in 1935. As a contractor, the yard contributed mainly its expertise in organizing the construction of ships.
Another cooperation in design was that between Fijenoord and the IVS or NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw. The IVS was deeply involved in the design of "De Ruyter", and so the similarity in appearance between the s and "De Ruyter" is explained.
World War II.
During World War II Wilton-Fijenoord completed the submarine "O 25". She would serve in the German "Kriegsmarine" as and actually sink an Allied ship. During the war Fijenoord would also launch the cruiser later named "De Ruyter", but known at that moment as "KH 1" (Kreuzer Holland 1). The dry docks of the company were severely bombarded by the allies, and were almost broken up by the Germans. Next the machinery of the factory was plundered, especially late in the war.
Post World War II.
Back in business.
After the war the company faced many issues. The board of directors was accused of collaboration, and the yard itself was a ruin. The company was lucky that the old bank slope of predecessor Wilton at the Westkousdijk, and the iron foundry of predecessor Fijenoord at Feijenoord were still usable, instead of having been closed down as intended in the operation to concentrate the company at Schiedam. In spite of these challenges the yard started on its first repair order already on 19 June 1945. For this it could only use the fixed building dock, because both drydocks were broken.
In October 1945 "Annenkerk", ordered before the war, was laid down. "Westerdam", which had been laid down before the war was also finished. The cruiser "De Ruyter" would also be finished, but her plan had to be changed drastically because of the experience gained in the war. In 1946 new ships were ordered. One by the Rotterdamsche Lloyd, and two by KPM. Repair orders also increased in 1946. In March 1946 a license agreement was signed with William Doxford & Sons to produce Doxford Diesel engines.
Back to normal productivity.
After some activity had returned in 1946, the shipyard was still not at a normal level of activity. The 20,000 tons dock was fixed in 1947, and in that year 166 ships were repaired in the drydocks, double the amount of the previous year. Meanwhile, the shipyard had to catch up with the advanced welding techniques that had revolutionized British and American shipbuilding. On the Westkousdijk a gun factory had been created before the war. In cooperation with Bofors it now started the construction of armored double 15 cm turrets for the two "De Zeven Provinciën"-class cruisers, as well as armored 12 cm turrets for destroyers. The former Fijenoord terrain started a second youth when the foundry was modernized and a new model office was started. In Schiedam a testbed was realized just in time to test the first Doxford engines in 1949. On 11 April 1950 the 46,000 tons drydock had been repaired and was taken into use again. In 1952 the tonnage of ships repaired matched that of 1938.
The 1950s.
The construction of "Rijndam" (1951) and "Maasdam" (1952) probably signaled the full recovery of the company. The Korean War would give rise to an increased demand for ships, especially tankers. In the summer of 1952 the construction of the big fixed building dock started. It was to be 211 m long and 31.5 m wide. The machine factory was expanded, and so were the facilities on the Westkousdijk. The company became the chief contractor for 32 minesweepers, of which it would build three. The 1954 jubilee was celebrated with confidence.
End of Wilton-Fijenoord as an independent company.
In 1999, Wilton-Fijenoord was integrated into Rotterdam United Shipyards. In 2003, the company was acquired by Damen Group.
Ships built.
Warships.
Cruisers
Destroyers
Submarines
Frigates
Minesweepers


Coat of arms of Prague

The coat of arms of the city of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, has a lesser and a greater version.
The coat of arms was first introduced in the 15th century (when the city of Prague corresponded to what is now the Old Town district). It consisted of three silver towers on a red shield. The coat of arms was improved by Frederick III in 1462, in recognition of the service of king George of Poděbrady, by replacing the silver tincture by gold.
The full coat of arms in this period showed an imperial crown in the crest and two Bohemian lions as supporters.
In 1649, after the Thirty Years' War, Ferdinand III added an armour arm in silver holding a silver sword emerging from the city gate. This symbol represents the effective defense of the city against the Swedish army during the Thirty Years war. Ferdinand also added a crest showing the Habsburg eagle and his monogram FIII.
The coat of arms was inherited by the modern city of Prague upon its formation in 1784, when the four boroughs (Old Town, New Town, Hradčany and Lesser Town were unified.
The Habsburg eagle in the crest was replaced by a third Bohemian lion in 1918, and the motto "Praha matka měst" ("Prague, the mother of cities") was added. During the communist period, the lion in the crest was shown with a red five-pointed star instead of a crown.
The current version of the greater coat of arms, designed by Karel Pánek, was adopted in 1991. It restored the crown of the Bohemian lion in the crest and changed the motto to
PRAGA CAPUT REI PUBLICAE ("Prague, the Capital of the Republic").
The number of bricks shown corresponds to the number of cadastral subdivisions of Prague, currently 112.


Rinus Houtman

Rinus Houtman (born 6 December 1942 in Maastricht) is a Dutch politician of the Reformed Political Party (SGP). He was mayor of Nieuw-Lekkerland from 2007 to 2012, and has been mayor of Leerdam since 2013.


Humility Cooper

Humility Cooper (1619prior to 1651), of Leiden, Holland, traveled in 1620 on the voyage of the ship "Mayflower" as a one-year-old female child in the company of the Edward Tilley family. Although Edward Tilley and his wife died the first winter in the New World, Humility survived to live her young life in Plymouth Colony, returning to England possibly in her teen years. Her fate in England is unknown.
Humility was born about 1619 in Holland to Robert Cooper and his wife Joan (Gresham) of Henlow in Bedfordshire, England. They are known to have been in Leiden with English Separatists as in 1618 his name appears on a Leiden business agreement. He was a nephew of Edward Tilley's wife Ann, and with Humility's father Robert Cooper apparently being Ann's brother, who may have been a resident of Leiden, Holland at the time of Mayflower sailing.
The "Mayflower" Voyage.
Edward and Ann Tilley came aboard the Mayflower without any children of their own, but in company with two young relatives of Ann's – her sixteen-year-old nephew Henry Samson and her one-year-old niece Humility Cooper. Both children had apparently been given over to the Tilleys in Leiden, but the reason those two children were with them has never been fully explained.
Per William Bradford's later recollection of this family: "Edward Tillie, and Ann, his wife; and *2* children that were their cossens, Henery Samson and Humility Coper."
Why Humility was in the custody of the Edward Tilleys is unknown – possibly her mother was deceased, and if she was an orphan, Ann Tilley, being childless, may have assumed custody in place of the child's mother.
The "Mayflower" departed Plymouth England on September 6/16, 1620, the small 100 foot ship having 102 passengers with about 30 crew members. The first month in the Atlantic, the seas were not severe, but by the second month the ship was being hit by strong north-Atlantic winter gales causing the ship to be badly shaken with water leaks from structural damage. There were two deaths, but this was just a precursor of what happened after their Cape Cod arrival, when almost half the company would die in the first winter.
On November 9/19, 1620, after about 3 months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was Cape Cod. And after several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on November 11/21. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day. There were forty-one of the adult males, including the servants, who signed the Mayflower Compact on November 11, 1620.
Life in New England.
In the 1623 Division of Land, with the Winslow family, she was assigned one "aker" as "Humillitie Cooper" adjoining the property of Henry Samson.
In the 1627 Division of Cattle, she was in lot five with the Brewster family as "Humillyty Cooper."
Return to England.
From William Bradford's 1651 writing, she "was sent for into England" – by whom it is not known, possibly her father. Her return to England may have occurred sometime about 1638 or prior to that. She was baptized at the church of Holy Trinity Minories in London on March 17 or 19, 1638/9 with the record stating she had been born in Holland. Her baptism date would have made her age nineteen then and with the Tilleys on the Mayflower in 1620 she would have been about one year old.
The Fate of Humility Cooper.
From William Bradford's 1651 recollection, writing of the death of Humility Cooper: "……and the girle Humility, ther cousen (niece), was sent for into England, and dyed ther."
It is known that Humility Cooper returned to England unmarried some time after May 22, 1627, and if Bradford is correct in stating that she "dyed ther", she apparently died between the date of her baptism in 1638/9 and the time of Bradford's 1651 record. There is no further information about her.


Admiralty of Rotterdam

The Admiralty of Rotterdam, also called the Admiralty of de Maze, was one of the five Dutch admiralties in the Dutch Republic.
History.
The Admiralty of Rotterdam was founded in 1574 during the Dutch Revolt, when (after the Capture of Brielle) William I of Orange's supporters decided to pool their naval resources at Rotterdam. After a number of reorganisations seeking to foster cooperation between the admiralties, the structure of the five admiralties was determined and defined in a 1597 decision of the States-General of the Netherlands. The admiralty had branches for equipping warships, protecting overseas trade and traffic on the sea and rivers, collecting taxes, and jurisdiction over loot and prize-setting. This situation remained in place until the admiralties were dissolved in 1795.
This, the oldest of the admiralties, was based in the Prinsenhof (Rotterdam), the former St Agnes convent at . An "artilleriehuis" (arsenal) was built in the convent brewery, and an admiralty prison was built elsewhere in the complex. In 1644 the Prinsenhof was demolished to make way for the construction of Nieuwemarkt, with the admiralty moving to the north-west corner of Haringvliet. The "artilleriehuis" was, however, spared due to its noncentral position on the Prinsenhof site by the end of the Huibrug, but was demolished and rebuilt in 1759, probably using stone from the demolished late 16th century frontage of the admiralty building. One of these stones shows the admiralty's arms, with the crossed anchors and an abbreviation of its motto "Pugno Pro Patria" ("I fight for the fatherland").
The admiralty's new 1644 building, the "Admiraliteitshof" (its name recalling that of the Prinsenhof), was an imposing classical building with a facade showing the coat of arms, and a square plan centred on a courtyard. It was demolished in 1884. (The remains of a gate with the coat of arms can be seen in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.)
From the end of the 16th century the admiralty also owned the 's-Landswerf shipyard at the northeastern corner of the Nieuwe Haven. It was demolished and rebuilt on the same site in 1660, then extended in 1662 with a second arsenal accessed by a very wide entrance opposite the east gate. In the second half of the 17th century, the Nieuwe Haven was extended to the Buizengat harbour and in consequence the 's-Landswerf was moved to the south bank of the Buizengat in or after 1689. In 1701, a part of the complex at the Groenendaal end was destroyed by fire. The rebuilding of the affected wing was commemorated with a foundation stone laid by Diderik Hogendorp. In the 18th century the second arsenal closed and was modernised by the architect Jan Giudici. G. D. Wijckerheld Bisdom laid its first stone on 8 May 1783.
Resulting from all these extensions, a large rectangular building gradually took shape. In 1823, the second arsenal was refurbished for the marines. In 1846, the marine corps was disbanded, and in 1868 it returned. After the dissolution of the admiralties in 1795, the complex was known as the Naval Shipyard "(Marinewerf)". It closed in 1849, the last building becoming a state-run bonded warehouse in 1855.
The admiralty also had a ropewalk "(lijnbaan)" with associated buildings at the Lagendijk just outside the Oostpoort. It was used from 1697 to 1847 and was 265 metres long by 10 metres wide.
Fleet-guardians ("vlootvoogden").
Well-known fleet-guardians () of the Rotterdam Admiralty include:
Battle of Texel.
In the 1673 Battle of Texel, the last big battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Admiralty of Rotterdam provided the following ships and captains:
Ships of the line:

"De Zeven Provinciën" 80 (vlaggeschip der vloot, lieutenant-admiraal-generaal Michiel de Ruyter, vlaggekapiteins Gerard Callenburgh en Pieter de Liefde)

"Delft" 62 (Philips van Almonde)

"Ridderschap" 64 (Eland du Bois)

"Voorzichtigheid" 84 (Jan van Brakel)

"Gelderland" 63 (waarnemend schout-bij-nacht Cornelis de Liefde, dodelijk gewond)

"Vrijheid" 80 (viceadmiraal Jan Evertszoon de Liefde, gesneuveld)

"Eendracht" 72 (lieutenant-admiraal Aert Jansse van Nes)

"Maagd van Dordrecht" 68 (viceadmiraal Jan Jansse van Nes)

"Dordrecht" 44 (Frans van Nijdek)

"Zeelandia" 42 (Simon van Panhuis)

"Schieland" 58 (Adriaan Poort)

"Wassenaer" 59 (Barend Rees)

Frigates:

"Schiedam" 20 (Cornelis van der Hoevensoon)

"Utrecht" 34 (Jan Snellensoon)

"Rotterdam" 30 (Jacob Pieterszoon Swart)

"Harderwijk" 24 (MozesWichmansoon)

Adviesjachten:

"Hoop" 6 (Isaac Anteuniszoon van Anten)

"Rotterdam" 6 (Wijnand van Meurs)

Branders:

"Sint Pieter" (Gerrit Halfkaag)

"Jisper Kerk" 4 (Lens Harmenszoon)

"Blackmoor" 4 (Abraham van Koperen)

"Maria" 4 (Dirk de Munnik)

"Eenhoorn" (Willem de Rave)

"Louise" 4 (Jan Daniëlszoon van Rijn)


Michael Willems

Michael Willems (born 1959) is a Canadian photographer and photography educator who was born in the Netherlands. He is known mainly for his daily teaching blog, and for his photo series, Contact 2009 exhibit, and book "IV – Intravenous", the story of two Toronto drug users who beat their addiction.
Early life.
Willems was born in Schiedam, The Netherlands, and attended secondary school in Gouda. In 1975 he moved to the United Kingdom and attended Hurtwood House School in Holmbury St Mary, Surrey. From 1977, he attended the University of London, where in 1981 he obtained the degree of BSc(Eng) in Electronic Engineering.
Early career.
He worked as a telecommunications engineer for Philips 1980–1988. This took him to difficult to reach areas in Libya, Iraq, and Nigeria, among others: he claims to have worked in 39 countries. His active engagement in photography started at that time. From 1988 to 1995 he ran Ixonet Marketing Technology in Bussum, the Netherlands. After moving to Canada in 1995, he joined KL Group as Channel Sales Director. 2000–2010 he was Chief Technology Officer at Digital View, later EnQii. It was during this time that he started working as a newspaper photographer, and that he started teaching at Henrys School of Imaging. In 2010 he went full-time as photographer and educator.
Today.
Willems today teaches photography in the Faculty Of Professional And Continuing Studies at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. He also teaches at Vistek and privately and presents frequently to photo clubs. He photographs everything from families and executives to corporations, events and models.
His teaching blog, speedlighter.ca shows a new post almost every day. Its stated intent is to educate owners of DSLR cameras, so that they make proper use of their equipment.
Personal life.
In 1988, Willems married Nancy Jean. They have two children, Jason (1990) and Daniel (1994). In 2011, Willems and Jean separated. He now lives alone.
Controversy.
Willems was fired by Henrys School of Imaging, Canada's largest photographic school, after a client objected to a nude self-portrait he had posted. His shooting nudes costs him significant business, but he feels that North American society needs changing. He also thinks it would be dishonest not to do what he asks his models to do, so he continues to both shoot nudes and shoot nude self-portraits.
Recognition.
In 2008, he won the Halton Police Photo Award; in 2014 the Cogeco/OAC Award For Digital Arts. In 2008, he was granted a Licentiate ("LPPO") by Professional Photographers of Ontario. He is a member of Photosensitive, a collective of Canadian photojournalists who aim to engender societal change through photography. In that capacity, he was invited to take part in Photosensitive's "Picture Change" (2013) and "Aging Canada" (2014) exhibits. He is also known for his nudes, which have been widely exhibited, including in Toronto's historic Distillery District.
Books.
Willems is the author of six photography books, available as e-books:
He regularly holds solo exhibits of his work. He has been published in many newspapers and magazines, including the "National Post", the "Toronto Star", the "Toronto Sun", "The Globe and Mail"; and he has appeared on TV and radio, including CBC Radio, Sun News, Naked News, and TWIP – This Week in Photo.


Manon Fokke

Hermanna (Manon) Fokke (born 16 January 1976 in Vriezenveen) is a Dutch politician. As a member of the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid) was an MP between 20 September 2012 and 23 March 2017. Previously she was a member of the municipal council of Maastricht from 2006 to 2012.
Fokke went on maternity leave in September 2015 and was temporarily replaced by first Joyce Vermue and later Harm Brouwer. She returned in the House on 12 January 2016.


History of Molde

The History of Molde in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway can be traced back to the Middle Ages. Settlement in the area can be traced further back in time - evidence given by two rock slabs carved with petroglyphs found at Bjørset west of the center of the town of Molde in the present day Molde Municipality.
History.
Trading post.
The early medieval settlements on Veøya, an island south of the present-day town of Molde, was strategically situated at the junction where the three fjords met the large Romsdal Fjord leading westwards to the Romsdal coast and the shipping routes. Veøya was first mentioned by the historian Snorri Sturluson as the location of the "Battle of Sekken" in 1162, where King Håkon the Broad-shouldered was killed fighting the aristocrat Erling Skakke, during the Norwegian civil wars, but the settlement is known to be far older than that. The Old Veøy Church, built around 1200 AD, still stands on the island.
At the eve of the 15th century, Veøya had lost most of its influence, and the island was eventually deserted. However, commercial life in the region was not dead, and originating from the two settlements at Reknes and Molde (later Moldegård), a minor port called "Molde Fjære" ("Molde Landing") emerged, based on trade with timber and herring to mainly Dutch, but also English, Scottish and Portuguese merchants. In 1614, the town gained formal trading rights; after the decline of the nearby competing townships and trading posts of Bud and Veblungsnes.
During the Swedish occupation of Middle Norway, 1658–1660, after Denmark-Norway's devastating defeat in the first part of the Northern Wars (Treaty of Roskilde), the small town became a troublesome and resilient hub of resistance to the Swedes. After the rebellion and liberation in 1660 (Treaty of Copenhagen), Molde became the administrative headquarters of Romsdalen Amt (present day Møre og Romsdal county), and following a long commercial and administrative struggle with Trondheim and Bergen, it was finally incorporated through a royal charter in 1742.
Molde since 1742.
Molde continued to grow throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries, becoming a center for Norwegian textile and garment industry, as well as the administrative center for the region. At this point, tourism had become a major industry. This rapid development was interrupted when one third of the city, mostly its famous wooden buildings and rose gardens, was destroyed in a fire on 21 January 1916. However, Molde recovered quickly, and continued to grow in the economically difficult interbellum period.
A second fire, or series of fires, struck from the German air-raids in April and May 1940, and destroyed about two thirds of the city. German vanguards were trying to cut off and capture the king, cabinet, parliament, and national gold reserves, evacuated from Oslo following the attack on Norway on 9 April 1940. Arriving safely in Molde, the city was de facto capital of Norway from 22 April to 29 April, when the advancing German forces, combined with a failed British counter-attack, forced the Norwegian commander-in-chief, General Otto Ruge, to abandon Southern Norway and continue the fight from Tromsø. Under dramatic circumstances due to continuous German bombing, the King, Crown Prince, and government were evacuated on the British cruiser HMS Glasgow, and brought to safety.
During their time in Molde, King Haakon VII and Crown Prince Olav hid under the "Royal Birch" at Glomstua during a German bombing of the city. A famous photograph taken during this event was widely reprinted, and became a symbol of Norwegian patriotism and resistance against Nazi Germany. Close to the Royal Birch is the international Grove of Peace (see Bjørnson Festival).
Molde today.
Since World War II, Molde has experienced a tremendous growth. As the modernization of the Norwegian society accelerated in the post-reconstruction years, Molde became a center for not only administrative and public services, but also academic resources and industrial output. After a consolidation of the city and the neighboring municipality of Bolsøy and parts of the municipalities of Veøy and Nord-Aukra in 1964, Molde became a large, modern city, encompassing most branches of employment, from farming and fisheries, through industrial production, to banking, tourism, commerce, health care and civil administration.
The fjord with its islands and skerries and the mountains encircling the town, will continue to be the frame and the arena of the town's development in the years ahead.
The national poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, expresses this sentiment in his poem "Til Romsdalen":
"Everything I see has an eye, a voice"
"And the people? I know them all"
"Even those I have never met. I say:"
"If you know the fjord, you know the people"
Tourism.
Already a popular tourist destination of international fame in the second half of the 19th century, Molde saw notabilities such as the German emperor Wilhelm II of Germany and the Prince of Wales as regular summer visitors. The Kaiser referred to the city as "The Nice of the North", which gave a tremendous boost to the city's desirability as a tourist destination.
Drawn by its unique setting where visitors could enjoy a magnificent view of more than 222 rugged and partly snow-clad mountain peaks from all over the city, but preferably from the viewpoint Varden, it became a desired port of call for the yachts and cruise ships of the European gentry up until World War I.
At the time, Molde consisted of luxurious hotels surrounding an idyllic township with quaint, wooden houses, lush gardens and parks, esplanades and pavilions, earning it the nickname "the Town of Roses".
This golden era came to a sudden end with the outbreak of World War I, and the devastating fire of 1916. Although tourism has never reached the magnitude and economic importance it once had, Molde is still a major cruise ship and tourist destination.
Toponymy.
The city is named after the original settlement on the farmstead of Molde (). The name is either the plural form of "mold" which means "fertile soil" or "" which means "skull" or "mould" (thus in reference to the rounded peaks in Moldemarka).
Pronunciation varies between the standard "Molde", and the rural "Molle". A person from Molde will refer to him/herself as a "Moldenser".
Coat of arms.
The coat of arms is from 1742. It shows a whale chasing herring into a barrel, symbolizing the founding industries of the city - the export of fish and timber. Molde was never a whaling port; the whale is merely an echo of the ancient belief that whales were a good omen, chasing (and not following) the schools of fish into the fjords at certain times of the year.


Church of St. Paraskevi, Novgorod

Church of St. Paraskevi (, Tserkov Paraskevy Pyatnitsy na Torgu)
in Veliky Novgorod is one of Russia's oldest churches, dating from 1207. The church is located at the city center, at the former Yaroslav's Court and the market square. It is currently a museum.
The Church of St. Paraskevi is on the World Heritage list as a part of object 604 Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings. The building was designated an architectural monument of federal significance (#5310046012).
History.
The church was built in 1207 by Novgorod merchants. Saint Paraskevi was the patron saint of the merchants. Church of St. Paraskevi is one of the few survived churches in Russia which were built in the beginning of the 13th century. Previously, at least two different wooden Saint Paraskevi churches were standing at the same place, one constructed in 1156 and the second one in 1191.
The church was rebuilt several times. In particular, the dome was made in the 18th century. Between 1954 and the 2000s, the church was extensively restored, and the early walls were uncovered.
Architecture.
This is a small crossed dome church with three naves and four pillars. The walls are constructed of plinthite and limestone.
The church does not have close analogs with other contemporary Novgorod buildings, however, it is in many respects similar to the Saint Michael Church in Smolensk. It is presumed that the Saint Paraskevi Church was built by Smolensk masters. The decorative elements used in the design of the church were however taken over by Novgorod architects and became common in Novgorod ecclesiastical architecture of the 14th and the 15th centuries.


Elie Luzac

Elie Luzac (19 October 1721 in Noordwijk – 11 May 1796 in Leiden) was a Dutch jurist, journalist, writer of philosophical, historical and political literature, and book-seller, who was considered an important ideologue of the "democratic wing" of the Orangist movement, both after the Orangist restoration in the Dutch Republic in 1748, and during the "Patriottentijd".
Personal life.
Luzac was the son of Elie Luzac, a Huguenot from Bergererac, who had a boarding school in Noordwijk, and Anna Maria Cabrolle. He was a nephew of Etienne and Jean Luzac senior, both booksellers, and a cousin of Jean Luzac, also a publisher and journalist. He was three times married, first with Augustine Ernestine Tick in Hamburg on 3 November 1750; next to a miss Massuet; and finally to the widow Cabryn-In 't Hout.
He studied the Classics under Tiberius Hemsterhuis and mathematics and physics under Pieter van Musschenbroek and Johan Lulofs at Leiden University. During these studies he became a follower of the philosophy of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Christian Wolff, which he would remain all his life.
Career.
After he finished his formal studies he wrote a so-called "Disquisitio politico-moralis" about the question " Num civis innocens irae hostis longe potioris juste permitti possit, ut excidium totius civitatis evitetur" in 1749. But only in 1759 did he receive a law degree with the dissertation "Specimen juris inaugurale de modo procedendi extra ordinem in causis criminalibus".
He practiced law, but was more attracted to the study of jurisprudence, especially Natural law, and in 1753 he published a "Leibnizian" natural-law treatise entitled "le Bonheur ou nouveau système de jurisprudence naturelle", followed in 1756 by "Recherches sur quelques principes des connoissances humaines" along the same lines. The wish to give these ideas a wider circulation encouraged him in 1759 to found a new literary magazine, entitled the "Nederlandsche Letter Courant". This folded in 1763, but he continued writing articles in two other periodicals, the "Bibliothèque Impartiale" and the "Bibliothèque des Sciences."
In this period he also published a work on Ethics entitled " Verhandeling over de volmaking der zedeleer door de Openbaring " (1761) and commented on Montesquieu's l'Esprit des Lois in his "Remarques philosophiques et politiques d'un Anonyme sur l'Esprit des Lois" (1765). He was critical of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, with whom he conducted a polemic in his "Lettre d'un Anonyme à M.J.J. Rousseau" (opposing "Contrat Social";1766) and "Seconde lettre d'un anonyme à M.J.J. Rousseau" (opposing "Emile"; 1767).
In his "Briefwisseling van Philagathos en Philalethes over de leer van het zedelijk gevoel" (1771) he opposed "moral feeling" as the basis of ethics, and in 1772 he edited and published the works of his hero Christian Wollf under the title "Les Institutions du Droit de la Nature et des Gens de Wolff". His own ideas in this matter were laid down in "Du Droit Naturel civil et politique, en forme d'entretiens", which was only partially and posthumously published in 1802.
Starting in 1742 Luzac worked as a publisher in Leiden. He published "'L'homme machine" by the Materialist philosopher Julien Offray de La Mettrie which brought him to the unwelcome attention of the censors in the form of the Consistory of the Walloon church congregation in Leiden, that accused him of defending "materialism". He defended himself in "l'Homme plus que machine " (1748) and "l'Essai sur la liberté de produire ses sentimens " (1749) In later years, after the traditional freedom of the press in the Republic appeared under threat by a 1765 law introducing censorship, he expanded on the legal and philosophical justifications of the Freedom of speech in "Request van Cornelis van Hoogeveen ... Benevens een Memorie Tot apui van 't Request bij hetzelve gevoegd" (1770), and possibly also the anonymous pamphlet "Brief van een Regent van eene Hollandsche Stad, rakende de Drukpers", though this is not certain.
Luzac himself made good use of the freedom of expression and the press. He was an ardent partisan of the cause of the "democrats" who were in league with the Orangists during the popular revolt of 1747, but where other "democrats" were disappointed in the stadtholder William IV, he remained loyal even after the latter's death in 1751. In 1754 he anonymously published " Het gedrag der Stadhoudersgezinden, verdedigt door Mr. A.V.K. Rechtsgeleerden", a polemic against the critics of the stadtholderate. This pamphlet was banned and publicly burned in Amsterdam by the city government, and a bounty was promised for the denunciation of its author.
More publicly he polemicized with Jan Wagenaar in the so-called "Witten-Oorlog", a running battle about the history of the controversy between the stadtholders and the Dutch States Party "Regenten" like Johan de Witt. In Luzac's view the Grand Pensionary de Witt and his doctrine of the "True Freedom" that he espoused during the First Stadtholderless Period, undermined the very foundations of the Dutch state, weakening the sovereignty which in his view springs from the people, and which (he argued) in the days of the Dutch Revolt they had entrusted to the States General of the Netherlands and William the Silent, and not (as de Witt had argued) to the States of the several provinces. It was "the people" who according to Luzac had brought about the overturning of the regimes of 1572 (Spanish), 1618 and 1672 (States Party in several manifestations) and that made it "legitimate" in his view. Wagenaar ridiculed in his turn the legitimacy which the Orangists claimed for themselves, though he admitted that legitimacy ultimately derives from the people, and defended de Witt's system In the context of this polemic Luzac published " De Zugt van den ... raadpensionaris Johan de Witt, tot zijn Vaderland en deszelfs Vrijheid" (1757) and "Het Oordeel over den raadpensionaris Johan de Witt" (1757), and possibly also " Zedige Beproeving" (though this is not certain).
Like other Orangists he was in favor of the traditional alliance with Great Britain, and in 1758 he protested the anti-British mood in the Dutch Republic caused by the events of the Seven Years' War (in which the Republic remained neutral) in his "Toets voor het Onderzoek van Groot-Brittanniens Gedrag, ten opzigte van Holland". In the matter of the American Revolution Luzac was pro-British (and anti-American) also, as witnessed by his writings in the "Annales Belgiques" between 1772 and 1776. In this he went against the sense of the times, in bundled pamphlets like "Reinier Vrijaards Openhartige Brieven" (1781-1784) and "Vaderlandsche Staatsbeschouwer" (1784-1790). He also was on the side of the stadtholder William V during the political strife of the Patriottentijd and opposed the Patriots and Patriot newspapers, like the "Post van den Neder-Rhijn" and the "Gazette de Leyde", published by his cousin Jean Luzac.
However, his historical work in the field of Economic history has contributed most to his reputation. He published "La Richesse de la Hollande" by Joseph Accarias de Sérionne in 1768 and 1778, but also edited a Dutch edition of this work, entitled "Hollands Rijkdom, behelzende den oorsprong van den koophandel en van de magt van dezen staat" (1780-1783), which contained much of his own work. In 1778 he translated and published Jacob Nicolas Moireauu's "Les devoirs du Prince, ou Discours sur la justice " under the title "De Pligten der Overheden of vertoog over de Regtvaardigheid".
Luzacs final work was "Brief over het gevaar, gelegen in de verandering van de Staatsregeling van een eenmaal gevestigd Bestuur" in which he defended the stadtholderian regime that was established after the Prussian invasion of Holland and "guaranteed" by the Act of Guarantee of 1788. But he lived long enough to see the Batavian Revolution of 1795 and the foundation of the Batavian Republic, which he must have detested.
He died in 1796 in Leiden.


Willem Andriessen

Willem Andriessen (Haarlem, October 25, 1887 – Amsterdam, March 29, 1964) was a Dutch pianist and composer. His compositional output was small due to the demands of performance and teaching, but he was nonetheless awarded a number of compositional prizes in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Biography.
Andriessen studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory, completing his studies in 1906, and was awarded the school's Outstanding Achievement Prize for piano. He appeared frequently in concert performances in the Netherlands, and was noted for his interpretations of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Robert Schumann, though he also played piano pieces from contemporaries such as Debussy, Ravel, Bartók and Pijper.
Andriessen taught at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (1910–18) and following this at the Muziekschool in Rotterdam after 1924. He was appointed director of the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1937 to 1953. He also gave radio broadcasts of performances which included analyses of compositions. In 1942, following the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Andriessen and his brother Hendrik were imprisoned for a year, during which time Willem gave lecture-concerts for the prisoners.


Sjoerd Sjoerdsma

Sjoerd Wiemer Sjoerdsma (born 10 July 1981) is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 20 September 2012, after having been elected in the 2012 Dutch general election.
Early career.
Prior to being elected he worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his period as a diplomat he was posted to the Dutch Embassies in Belgium and Afghanistan and to the Permanent Representation to the Palestinian Authority.
Member of Parliament.
In parliament, Sjoerdsma serves as his party’s foreign affairs. In addition to his committee assignments, he is a member of the Dutch delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
Sjoerdsma was reelected during the 2017 Dutch general election.
Political positions.
In 2019, Sjoerdsma publicly criticized Queen Máxima of the Netherlands over a meeting she held with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the 2019 G20 Osaka summit without raising the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Sjoerdsma an outspoken critic of China's human rights abuses in Xinjiang. In March 2021, the Chinese government banned Sjoerdsma from entering mainland China and conducting business with Chinese firms in retaliation for European Union-imposed sanctions against four Chinese officials for their roles in perpetrating the Uyghur genocide.


Willem Spiekman

Willem Geert Spiekman (7 September 1899 – 3 November 1975) was a Dutch trade union leader.
Born in Rotterdam, his father, Hendrik, was prominent in the local labour movement. He worked in a number of office jobs before moving to Amsterdam in 1921, where he worked in the editorial section of "Het Volk". He then became the assistant to Roel Stenhuis, leader of the Dutch Confederation of Trade Unions and general secretary of the International Federation of Factory Workers. Spiekman devoted much of his time to the international, acting as an organiser, interpreter and minute-taker. However, declining membership of the federation led Stenhuis to make him redundant in 1923.
Spiekman briefly worked as an insurance inspector, but at the end of the year was recruited as assistant to Gerrit Smit, general secretary of the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (FIET). During this period, he joined the Independent Socialist Party, and this led the Dutch trade union movement to oppose him succeeding as general secretary of FIET on Smit's death, in 1934. However, Spiekman's profile among other members led to him defeating Cor Jacobsen for the position.
During the 1930s, the international trade union movement was increasingly disrupted by the rise of fascism. Spiekman travelled around Europe, maintain links with current and banned affiliates of FIET, although he was unable to enter Germany after 1938, when the Gestapo made plans to arrest him. By the time of the German occupation of the Netherlands, in 1940, Spiekman had transferred the federation's assets to the United Kingdom. He destroyed its archive, and went into hiding.
Spiekman hid in Ermelo, and then in Nunspeet, teaching modern languages and selling lottery tickets. His cover was so good that, after 1942, it was widely believed that he had died. On liberation, he immediately began reorganising the federation, attending the council of the International Federation of Trade Unions in London, and organising its first post-war conference in Malmo in 1946. At the conference, some delegates complained that Spiekman had invited representatives of German trade unions, even though they had been opponents of the Nazis.
Spiekman argued that the international trade secretariats should have autonomy within the new World Federation of Trade Unions, and when this seemed unobtainable, he affiliated FIET to the new International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. After Friedrich Hillegeist was elected as president of FIET, the two struggled to work together, leading Spiekman to stand down in 1958. He instead moved to work for the International Institute of Social History, and wrote his autobiography.


Benny Neyman

Wilhelmus Albertus "Benny" Neyman (9 June 1951 in Maastricht, Netherlands - 7 February 2008 in Soesterberg, Netherlands) was a Dutch singer.
Biography.
Neyman was born in Limburg. In the beginning of the 1970s, he took a course at Kleinkunst Academy in Amsterdam. Neyman's first success came in 1980 with the song "Ik weet niet hoe". Several follow up singles also became hits, like "Vrijgezel" and "Je hoeft me niet the zeggen hoe ik leven moet". In 1985 Neyman scored his biggest hit with "Waarom fluister ik je naam nog" (number 1 position in some Dutch charts). From the second half of the 1980s Neyman had no major hits. However he still released a large number of albums and had several successful musical tours. Neyman received a Golden Harp in 1996. In 1999 Benny sang a duet with Dutch country singer Toni Willé (Pussycat) "Oh, How I Miss You" and recorded the album "American Duets" with her in 2000 which was released in 2001.
Neyman had been open about his sexual orientation from an early age, and was seen as a gay icon in the Netherlands. In 2005 he performed at the celebration for the Gay Krant (a Dutch LGBT publication).
His health began to decline in 2006. After his previous manager quit, his partner Hans van Barneveld in 2006 became his new manager. In October 2007 his last album "Onverwacht" was released and his last performance, a tribute to the deceased Conny Vandenbos, took place on 2 December 2007. Neyman announced on 21 December 2007 that he suffered from an advanced form of cancer and that his prognosis was not clear. On 7 February 2008 Benny Neyman died at 56 years of age. He was cremated in Leusden, and several artists performed during the ceremony, including Lenny Kuhr.
Posthumously, his partner of 25 years, Hans van Barneveld, compiled a 5-cd and 2-DVD box set "Adieu-Oeuvre Overzicht 1974-2007" which was released by CNR Music.


Lev Kulchitsky

Lev Yakovlevich Kulchitsky (, ) was a Russian rear-admiral and the 13th governor of Taganrog, member of the Admiralty since 1856.
Biography.
Graduated from Cadet Corps in 1831. Served in the Black Sea Fleet, promoted to captain-lieutenant in 1849, captain second rank since 1855, captain first rank since 1858, rear-admiral since 1866. During Crimean War Lev Kulchitskiy commanded the paddle frigate "Gromonosets".
In 1860 he was appointed chairman of the military trial at Nikolaev port. In 1863 appointed chief of the Konstantinovskaya Navy Station in Tsemes Bay. Kulchitsky served as Governor of Taganrog from 1868 to 1873. After his death he was interred in the crypt of The All-Saints Church in Taganrog at the Taganrog Old Cemetery


SM U-6 (Austria-Hungary)

SM "U-6 or U-VI" was a "U-5"-class submarine or U-boat built for and operated by the Austro-Hungarian Navy ( or ) before and during the First World War. The submarine was built as part of a plan to evaluate foreign submarine designs, and was the second of three boats of the class built by Whitehead & Co. of Fiume after a design by Irishman John Philip Holland.
"U-6" was laid down in February 1908 and launched in June 1909. The double-hulled submarine was just over long and displaced between , depending on whether surfaced or submerged. "U-6"s design had inadequate ventilation and exhaust from her twin gasoline engines often intoxicated the crew. The boat was commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy in July 1910, and served as a training boat—sometimes making as many as ten cruises a month—through the beginning of the First World War in 1914.
The submarine had only one wartime success, which was sinking a French destroyer in March 1916. Later that year, in May, "U-6" became entangled in anti-submarine netting deployed as part of the Otranto Barrage. Coming under fire from Royal Navy's drifters running the nets, "U-6" was abandoned and sunk. All of her crewmen were rescued and were held in captivity through the end of the war.
Design and construction.
"U-6" was built as part of a plan by the Austro-Hungarian Navy to competitively evaluate foreign submarine designs from Simon Lake, Germaniawerft, and John Philip Holland. The Austro-Hungarian Navy authorized the construction of "U-6" (and sister ship, "U-5") in 1906 by Whitehead & Co. of Fiume. The boat was designed by American John Philip Holland and licensed by Holland and his company, Electric Boat. "U-6" was laid down on 21 February 1908 in the United States, partially assembled, and shipped to Whitehead's for final assembly, a process which, author Edwin Sieche notes, "caused a lot of trouble". She was launched at Fiume on 12 June 1909.
"U-6"s design featured a single-hull with a tear-drop shaped body that bore a strong resemblance to modern nuclear submarines. She was long by abeam and had a draft of . She displaced surfaced, and submerged. Her two bow torpedo tubes featured unique, cloverleaf-shaped design hatches that rotated on a central axis, and the boat was designed to carry up to four torpedoes. For surface running, "U-6" was outfitted with 2 gasoline engines, but suffered from inadequate ventilation, which resulted in frequent intoxication of the crew; her underwater propulsion was by two electric motors.
Service career.
"U-6" was commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy on 1 July 1910, with "Linienschiffsleutnant" Georg Ritter von Trapp in command. Over the next three years she served primarily as a training boat, making as many as ten training cruises per month. On 7 November 1911, she hosted a Norwegian naval delegation that inspected her. On 26 June 1912, "U-6" was accidentally rammed by the submarine tender "Pelikan" while surfacing after a deep diving trial.
At the outbreak of World War I, "U-6" was one of only four fully operational U-boats in the Austro-Hungarian Navy fleet, and was stationed at Cattaro by late 1914. "U-6"s activities over the early part of the war are not reported, but the boat's armament was augmented by a 3.7 cm/23 (1.5 in) quick-firing (QF) deck gun in December 1915. Sister boat "U-5" had her first radio receiver installed at the same time her deck gun was added, but it is not reported whether "U-6" did, too.
On 23 February 1916, "U-6" made an unsuccessful attack on an Italian , but she then managed to torpedo and sink the French destroyer "Renaudin" on 18 March off Durazzo. "Renaudin" went down with 47 of her 83-man complement.
On the night of 12 May, "U-6" headed out to try to intercept shipping between Santa Maria di Leuca and Valona. "Linienschiffsleutnant" Hugo von Falkhausen, "U-6"s commander since November 1915, attempted to pass underneath two drifters that formed a part of the Otranto Barrage. While submerged, von Falkhausen heard an unexplained noise on the hull of the boat, which was likely the sound of "U-6" fouling one of the anti-submarine nets deployed from the drifter "Calistoga". The drifter's skipper was alerted to the submarine's presence when one of the indicator buoys had fired. "Calistoga" launched signal flares that attracted the attention of two nearby drifters "Dulcie Doris" and "Evening Star II". In the meantime, von Falkhausen surfaced "U-6" to try to cut loose the buoy being dragged behind his boat. When the hatch was opened, the crew discovered the boat entangled in the net.
Though unable to submerge, von Falkhausen attempted to flee on the surface, but the port propeller shaft became fouled. Realizing that he was stuck, and with "Dulcie Doris" and "Evening Star II" beginning to shell his boat, "U-6"s captain ordered code books and confidential material thrown overboard and the submarine scuttled. "U-6"s three officers and seventeen crewmen were all rescued, but spent the remainder of the war as prisoners of the Italians. In her career, "U-6" sank one ship totaling .
Bibliography.


HNoMS Gnist (P979)


Roelof van Laar

Roelof Peter van Laar (born 19 May 1981) is a Dutch politician. As a member of the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid) he was an MP between 14 May 2013 and 23 March 2017. At first he temporarily replaced Lea Bouwmeester who was on maternity leave. From 2006 to 2010 and from 2011 to 2012, he was a member of the municipal council of Leiden.
From 2008 to 2013 he was director of a foundation involving stopping child sexual abuse. He was also co-founder of this foundation.
Van Laar studied political science at Leiden University and is studying for an MBA at Webster University.
In 2015 there were reservations about his policy because he is not asking critical questions about the output of development aid.


Solex (musician)

Liesbeth Esselink (born 14 August 1965), known by her stage name Solex, is a Dutch musician based in Amsterdam. Her music is a light-hearted amalgamation of pop music, electronica and sampling.
Overview.
After singing in a new wave band and performing as a member of the Dutch indie/noise pop group Sonetic Vet, Esselink began the Solex project in order to give herself a more complete and fulfilling musical outlet. The name is taken from the French moped manufacturer Solex.
Utilizing the records in her own record store, she assembled her music on an antique 8-track recorder, singing original lyrics over her musical creations. The first album, "Solex vs. the Hitmeister", was cobbled together using samples from albums that Esselink had been unable to sell in her store. Later albums would see her assembling tracks with samples she had informally recorded at live performances in addition to sampling records from her collection.
In 2001, Solex released the album "Low Kick And Hard Bop" on the Matador label. She appeared on Gerling's album "Head3cleaner"/"When Young Terrorists Chase the Sun" that year, and she also appeared on The Go! Team's 2007 album "Proof of Youth".
Personal life.
Esselink was raised in Voorschoten. Her father was a chemical engineer and her mother a painter.


Johan van Oldenbarnevelt

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (), Heer van Berkel en Rodenrijs (1600), Gunterstein (1611) and Bakkum (1613) (14 September 1547 – 13 May 1619) was a Dutch statesman who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain.
Van Oldenbarnevelt was born in Amersfoort. He studied law at Leuven, Bourges, Heidelberg and Padua, and traveled in France and Italy before settling in The Hague. He supported William the Silent in his revolt against Spain, and fought in William's army. In his later years he was a supporter of the Arminians, in the religious-political controversy which split the young Dutch Republic. He is the founder of the Dutch East Indies Company.
Early political life.
Van Oldenbarnevelt served as a volunteer for the relief of Haarlem (1573) and again at Leiden (1574). He was married in 1575 to Maria van Utrecht. In 1576 he obtained the important post of pensionary of Rotterdam, an office which carried with it official membership of the States of Holland. In this capacity his industry, singular grasp of affairs, and persuasive powers of speech speedily gained for him a position of influence. He was active in promoting the Union of Utrecht (1579) and the offer of the countship of Holland and Zeeland to William the Silent (prevented by William’s death in 1584). He was a fierce opponent of the policies of the Earl of Leicester, the governor‐general at the time, and instead favoured Maurice of Nassau, a son of William. Leicester left in 1587, leaving the military power in the Netherlands to Maurice. During the governorship of Leicester, Van Oldenbarnevelt was the leader of the strenuous opposition offered by the States of Holland to the centralizing policy of the governor.
Becomes Land's Advocate.
On 16 March 1586, Van Oldenbarnevelt, in succession to Paulus Buys, became Land's Advocate of Holland for the States of Holland and West Friesland, an office he held for 32 years. This great office, given to a man of commanding ability and industry, offered unbounded influence in a multi-headed republic without any central executive authority. Though nominally the servant of the States of Holland, Van Oldenbarnevelt made himself the political personification of the province which bore more than half the entire charge of the union. As mouthpiece of the "ridderschap" (College of Nobles), with one vote in the States of Holland, he practically dominated that assembly. In a brief period, he became entrusted with such large and far-reaching authority in all details of administration, that he became the virtual Prime minister of the Dutch republic.
During the two critical years following the withdrawal of Leicester, the Advocate's statesmanship kept the United Provinces from collapsing under their own inherent separatist tendencies. This prevented the United Provinces from becoming an easy conquest for the formidable army of Alexander of Parma. Also of good fortune for the Netherlands, the attention of Philip II of Spain was at its greatest weakness, instead focused on a contemplated invasion of England. Spain's lack of attention coupled with the United Province's lack of central, organized government allowed Van Oldenbarnevelt to gain control of administrative affairs. His task was made easier by receiving whole-hearted support from Maurice of Nassau, who, after 1589, held the office of Stadholderate of five provinces. He was also Captain-General and Admiral of the Union.
The interests and ambitions of Van Oldenbarnevelt and Maurice did not clash. Indeed, Maurice's thoughts were centered on training and leading armies, and he had no special capacity as a statesman or desire for politics. Their first rift came in 1600, when Maurice was forced against his will by the States-General, under the Advocate's influence, to undertake a military expedition to Flanders. The expedition was saved from disaster by desperate efforts that ended in victory at the Nieuwpoort.
In 1598, Van Oldenbarnevelt took part in special diplomatic missions to King Henry IV of France and Queen Elizabeth I of England, and again in 1605 in a special mission sent to congratulate King James I of England on his accession. He initiated and brokered the action that founded the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) amalgamating half a dozen companies that traded on the Far East (the first from 1595) into one in 1602. The VOC would trade for two centuries. In 1612 the VOC developed the model for the corporation of using joint stock ownership by share holders, who could only get their investment back by selling its shares at a stock exchange, also an Oldenbarnevelt initiative. The basic principle of the model was over time adopted worldwide.
As leader of the delegation of Holland in the States-General Oldenbarnevelt also dominated Dutch diplomacy. He led the negotiations with the Spanish Crown which led to the Twelve Years' Truce in 1609.
Religious conflict in the Netherlands.
The immediate effect of the truce was a strengthening of Van Oldenbarnevelt's influence in the government of the Dutch Republic, now recognized as a free and independent state; external peace, however, was to bring with it internal strife. For some years there had been a war of words between the religious parties, the strict Calvinist Gomarists (or Contra-Remonstrants) and the Arminians.
In 1610 the Arminians, henceforth known as Remonstrants, drew up a petition, known as the Remonstrance, in which they asked that their tenets (defined in the Five Articles of Remonstrance) should be submitted to a national synod, summoned by the civil government. It was no secret that this action of the Arminians was taken with the approval and connivance of Van Oldenbarnevelt, who was an upholder of the principle of toleration in religious opinions.
The Gomarists in reply drew up a Contra-Remonstrance in seven articles, and called for a purely church synod. The whole land was henceforth divided into Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants; the States of Holland under the influence of Van Oldenbarnevelt supported the former (Remonstrants), and refused to sanction the summoning of a purely church synod (1613). They likewise (1614) forbade the preachers in the Province of Holland to treat the disputed subjects from their pulpits.
Obedience was difficult to enforce without military help. Riots broke out in certain towns, exacerbated by social tensions due to worsening economic conditions. When Maurice was appealed to, as Captain‐General, he declined to act. Though in no sense a theologian, he then declared himself on the side of the Contra-Remonstrants, and established a preacher of that persuasion in a church in The Hague (1617).
Holland declares sovereign independence (Scherpe Resolutie).
The Advocate now took a bold step. He proposed that the States of Holland should, on their own authority, as a sovereign province, raise a local force of 4000 men ("waardgelders") to keep the peace.
The States-General, meanwhile, by a bare majority (4 provinces to 3) agreed to the summoning of a national church synod. The States of Holland, also by a narrow majority, refused their assent to this, and passed, on 4 August 1617, a strong resolution ("Scherpe Resolutie") by which all magistrates, officials and soldiers in the pay of the province were, on pain of dismissal, required to take an oath of obedience to the States of Holland and to be held accountable not to the ordinary tribunals but to the States of Holland.
The States‐General of the Republic saw it as a declaration of sovereign independence on the part of Holland and decided to take action. A commission was appointed, with Maurice at its head, to compel the disbanding of the "waardgelders". On 31 July 1618, the Stadholder, at the head of a body of troops, appeared at Utrecht, which had thrown in its lot with Holland. At his order the local militias laid down their arms.
His progress through the towns of Holland met with no military opposition. The States party was crushed without a battle being fought.
Arrest and trial.
On 29 August 1618, by order of the States-General, Van Oldenbarnevelt and his chief supporters, Hugo Grotius, Gilles van Ledenberg, and Rombout Hogerbeets, and others were arrested or lost their political positions in government.
Van Oldenbarnevelt was, with his friends, kept in strict confinement until November of that year, and then brought for examination before a commission appointed by the States-General. He appeared more than 60 times before the commissioners and the whole course of his official life was severely examined. During the period of inquest, he was neither allowed to consult papers nor put his defense in writing.
On 20 February 1619, Van Oldenbarnevelt was arraigned before a special court of twenty-four members, only half of whom were Hollanders, and nearly all of whom were personal enemies. This "ad hoc" judicial commission was necessary, because, unlike in the individual provinces, the federal government did not have a judicial branch. Normally the accused would be brought before the "Hof van Holland" or the "Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland," the highest courts in the provinces of Holland and Zeeland; however, in this case, the alleged crime was against the "Generaliteit", or federal government, and required adjudication by the States-General, acting as highest court in the land. As was customary in similar cases (for instance, the later trial of the judges in the case of the Amboyna massacre), the trial was delegated to a commission. Of course, the accused contested the competence of the court, as they contested the residual sovereignty of the States-General, but their protest was disregarded.
Death and legacy.
It was in fact, according to critics, a kangaroo court. The stacked bench of judges decided the verdict on Saturday 11 May 1619 and it was announced to the old man on Sunday afternoon. Attempts to obtain a pardon, or at least a commutation of the sentence of death, were made by Maurice's stepmother, Louise de Coligny, and the French ambassador Benjamin Aubery du Maurier, but it was in vain. On Monday, 13 May 1619, the death sentence was read to Van Oldenbarnevelt; and, therefore, on the same morning, the old statesman, at the age of seventy-one, was beheaded in the Binnenhof, in The Hague. His last words to the gathered crowd were: "Men, do not believe I am a traitor; I have acted sincerely and piously, as a good patriot, and I shall die this way." Van Oldenbarnevelt's last words to the executioner were purportedly: "Make it short, make it short." He was buried under the Court Chapel (Hofkapel) at the Binnenhof.
During Van Oldenbarnevelt's captivity, his servant Jan Francken kept a diary, forty pages long at the time of his execution; a copy was made in 1825 for wider dissemination, but the original then disappeared until it was rediscovered in 2018.
The States of Holland noted in their Resolution book, on 13 May, that Van Oldenbarnevelt had been: "…a man of great business, activity, memory and wisdom – yes, extra-ordinary in every respect." They added the sentence "Die staet siet toe dat hij niet en valle", "He who stands, let him take care that he does not fall", which is a quotation from , which probably should be understood as referring to both how Van Oldenbarnevelt ended after holding one of the highest offices in the Republic and for choosing the side of the Arminians, who were ruled to be standing outside the Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed Faith by the Synod of Dort.
Van Oldenbarnevelt left two sons: Reinier van Oldenbarnevelt, lord of Groeneveld, and Willem van Oldenbarnevelt, lord of Stoutenburg, and two daughters. A conspiracy against the life of Maurice, in which both sons of Van Oldenbarnevelt took part, was discovered in 1623. Stoutenburg, who was the chief accomplice, made his escape and entered the service of Spain; Groeneveld was executed.
In London, "The Tragedy of Sir John van Olden Barnavelt", a Jacobean play by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, was written and produced within three months of its protagonist's execution. Being controversial in terms of English as well as Dutch politics, it suffered considerable censorship before being allowed on the stage.
Namesakes.
The Nederland Line ship "Johan van Oldenbarnevelt" carried his name from 1930 to 1963. The school that he attended in Amersfoort, the former "Latin School", was also named after him, and still exists as the "Stedelijk Gymnasium Johan van Oldenbarnevelt".
The Dutch fort on the Bacan Islands in the Moluccas in the 1600s was named for him. Furthermore, several streets and squares have been named after Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. You can find these streets and squares in the following cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Middenbeemster, Bergen op Zoom, Dinteloord, Delft, Haarlem, Dordrecht, Oosterhout, Breda, Vlaardingen, Amersfoort, Tilburg, Nieuw-Beijerland, Zuid-Beijerland, Vlaardingen and Schiedam.


Kanta Dihal

Kanta Dihal is a Dutch research scientist who works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, science communication, literature, and ethics. She is currently a senior research fellow at the University of Cambridge. Dihal is co-editor of the book "AI Narratives: A History of Imaginative Thinking About Intelligent Machines".
Education.
Dihal received a Bachelor of Arts in English and Language Culture in 2011, a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Literary Studies in 2012, and a Masters of Arts in Literary Studies in 2014 from Leiden University. She completed her Ph.D. in Science Communication from the University of Oxford in 2018. Her thesis, advised by Sally Shuttleworth and Michael Whitworth, explored the communication of conflicting interpretations of quantum physics to adults and children. Dihal's Ph.D. research was cited in Australian Broadcasting Corporation's coverage of the BBC and HBO adaptation of Philip Pullman’s "His Dark Materials".
Career and research.
Dihal's research intersects the fields of AI ethics, science communication, literature and science, and science fiction.
She is currently a senior research fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge. She leads two research projects there: Global AI Narratives and Decolonizing AI. The Global AI Narratives project explores the public understanding of AI as constructed by fictional and nonfictional narratives, spanning ancient classics like the "Iliad" all the way to modern films like Steven Spielberg's "AI". With her colleagues, she is attempting to document the ways in which AI is understood and developed around the world and their consequences on diversity and equality. In her work for the Decolonizing AI project, Dihal examines how AI is portrayed in media, stock images, and dialect often with more "white" depictions and warns of the risk of creating a "homogeneous" workforce of technologists where people of colour are erased. She has co-authored a series of papers with Stephen Cave on "The Whiteness of AI".
Dihal has also advised the World Economic Forum, the UK House of Lords and the United Nations on the portrayals and perceptions of AI. She has given keynotes, lectures, and talks at academic conferences, institutions, tech conventions, science fiction conventions, corporate functions, literary festivals, and other public and private venues, including TEDxThessaloniki and CogX Festival. Her TEDx talk was on the topic “Is the Robot Rebellion Inevitable?”.
"AI Narratives: A History of Imaginative Thinking About Intelligent Machines".
Dihal is co-editor of the book, "AI Narratives: A History of Imaginative Thinking About Intelligent Machines," alongside Stephen Cave and Sarah Dillon. The book is a collection of essays examining how narrative representations of AI have shaped technological development, understanding of humans, and the social and political orders that emerge from their relationships. "The Times Literary Supplement" remarked that this book is a “compelling collection shows how AI narratives have prompted critical reflection on human-machine relations”.


Piet Souer

Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Souer (born 29 March 1948, Eindhoven) is a Dutch record producer, songwriter and arranger. His collaboration with acts (such as Luv', Mouth & MacNeal, Liesbeth List, Ramses Shaffy, American Gypsy, and Champagne) made him gain twenty two gold and platinum records', one Conamus Export Prize and one 'Outstanding Song Award', thanks to his composition "Too Young To Know", performed by Anita Meyer at World Popular Song Festival in Japan in 1981.
Debut.
Piet Souer (a guitar and keyboard player) started his career as a member of The Valiants, a rock band from Eindhoven. His breakthrough happened when he played guitar on "De troubadour", a track performed by Lenny Kuhr, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. The next year, Kuhr, bassist Paul Reekers and Souer were the supporting act of Georges Brassens during his tour in France.
A successful producer, arranger, songwriter and conductor.
In the early 1970s, he scored, as a songwriter and an arranger, moderate hits such as "I'm The Grand Pretender" and "Keep On Dancing" (performed by Cardinal Point) and "Angel Eyes" (performed by American Gypsy) as well as successful chart toppers in the Netherlands including "Te Veel Te Vaak" (by Liesbeth List) and "Samen" (by Liesbeth List & Ramses Shaffy).
In 1976, he recorded with the conductor Harry van Hoof the album "Strings by Candlelight" (certified gold in the Netherlands). Then, he produced hit records for popular Dutch acts such as Champagne (1977 Export Award), Doris D. & The Pins, Vanessa, American Gypsy, Mouth & MacNeal, Anita Meyer, Maywood, Conquistador. He also collaborated with international artists including Vicky Leandros, Helen Shapiro, Katie Kissoon and Engelbert Humperdinck.
In 1982, Sylvie Vartan sang one of his composition ("La Sortie de Secours"), which was released as a single and was a French cover version of "I'm So Sorry" (originally performed by José Hoebee). The same year, British pop group Tight Fit covered "Fantasy Island" (one of his songs originally performed by The Millionaires) which became a UK Top 5 hit and a European Top 10 hit.
Luv'.
In 1976, he teamed up with producer Hans van Hemert and manager Han Meijer (later replaced by Pim Ter Linde) to form a female pop trio: Luv'. Van Hemert and him wrote songs for the girl group (under the pseudonym Janschen & Janschens). In the late 1970s, Luv' had popular hit singles (such as "You're The Greatest Lover", "Trojan Horse" or "Casanova") in Benelux, German-speaking countries, Denmark, Spain, France, South Africa, New Zealand and Mexico. This international success made Luv' win a Conamus Export Prize in 1979. This formation sold seven million records (singles and albums).
Eurovision Song Contest.
Souer composed two songs for the Eurovision Song Contest: "Sing Me a Song" by Bernadette (in 1983) and "De eerste keer" by Maxine & Franklin Brown (in 1996). Both of them reached seventh position in the Contest.
TV jingles and film soundtracks.
Souer has composed many film soundtracks and television jingles.
Scores for TV programs including:
He composed Bel canto themes for the NCRV show "Una Voce Particolare" hosted by Ernst Daniel Smid. His collaboration with Smid includes the Top 5 album "Gevoel van Geluk".
Film soundtracks including:


Beau van Erven Dorens

Beau van Erven Dorens (born 24 December 1970) is a Dutch television presenter, actor and voice actor. He is known for presenting many television programs, including "Deal or No Deal", "RTL Boulevard", "Het Zesde Zintuig" and "Beau Five Days Inside."
Career.
He played roles in episodes of several television series, including "Goede tijden, slechte tijden" (in 1997), "Gooische vrouwen" (in 2005 and 2006), "Dokter Tinus" (in 2013) and "Bagels & Bubbels" (in 2015). In 2001, he played the role of Fraser in the film "I Love You Too". The film was a success at the box office and became the first film to receive the Golden Film award, which is awarded to films from the Netherlands once they have sold 100,000 tickets.
In 2008 and 2009, he starred as team captain in the television game show "Ik hou van Holland" for three seasons. He also appeared as contestant on the show in 2012 and 2015.
In 2009, he presented "Hole in the wall", the Dutch adaptation of the Japanese television show "Brain Wall", together with Gerard Joling. From August 2009 till April 2010 he was also one of the presenters of the Dutch adaptation of the Argentine television show "Caiga Quien Caiga" (CQC). He presented the show alongside Pieter Jouke and Daan Nieber. Unlike adaptations in many other countries, the Dutch adaptation of CQC was not very successful. In 2010, he also presented "De Zaterdagavondshow met Marc-Marie & Beau" (Dutch for "The Saturday Night Show with Marc-Marie & Beau") with Marc-Marie Huijbregts which also wasn't very successful; only four episodes were broadcast. The year was further marked by the death of his friend Antonie Kamerling who committed suicide at the age of 44.
He was the narrator in the 2014 edition of "The Passion", a Dutch Passion Play held every Maundy Thursday since 2011.
In 2018, he won the "Gouden Televizier-Ring" award for the television show "Beau Five Days Inside". That year he also won the "Zilveren Televizier-Ster" for best presenter. In 2019, he won the "Televizier-Ster" award for best presenter.
In 2019, he presented the television show "De Sleutel" ('The Key'). In the show, he shares the stories of several homeless people and he offers them a place to live. He also started presenting his own talk show "Beau" which is the successor of the previous late night talk show "RTL Late Night". He alternates every four months with Eva Jinek who makes the show "Jinek". In 2019, he also appeared in one episode of "De TV kantine" playing the character of BeaulaLinda in a parody of "RuPaul's Drag Race".
In 2021, he presents "Beau in Floradorp" in which he follows the lives of people living in Floradorp, Amsterdam, Netherlands.


Johannes Bluyssen

Johannes Willem Maria Bluyssen or Bluijssen (Nijmegen 10 April 1926 − 8 August 2013) was a Dutch Catholic bishop.
Life.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1950, Bluyssen attained a degree in theology and was professor for Spirituality at the seminary. At the age of 35, younger than any Dutchman since the Reformation, he was appointed titular bishop of "Aëtus" and auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands in 1961 and was named bishop of the diocese in 1966, after his predecessor, the outspoken bishop Willem Marinus Bekkers, died only 58 years old (brain tumor). Bluyssen resigned in 1984 due to health reasons following an open heart surgery. He died after a short illness on 8 August 2013, aged 87, in 's-Hertogenbosch.
Bluyssen was the last living Dutch bishop who actually took part in the Second Vatican Council. Furthermore he was able to celebrate his 50th anniversary of his episcopacy, a rare jubilee. At that particular time the Church in the Netherlands was heavily buried under sexual scandals by priests and religious of minors. Bluyssen called off all the already planned festivities, telling it was not a time for a feast but for shame.
In Bluyssen's years as an ordinary Bluyssen was just like his predecessor Bekkers, be it less outspoken, a strong believer in the "aggiornamento", the renewal of his Church. Rather than renewal he saw to his grief a period where many quit the priesthood and the religious life, the Church participation declined and serious discord spread among Catholics, clergy and bishops. In his almost 30 years as an emeritus he published four books, mainly in the field of his earlier profession, spirituality.


Ig Henneman

Ig Henneman (born 21 December 1945) is a Dutch composer and bandleader. She was born in Haarlem, Netherlands, and took music lessons as a child. She studied viola and violin in Amsterdam and Tilburg, and composition with Robert Heppener.
After completing her studies, Henneman worked as a violist in orchestras, and then co-founded the rock band FC Gerania where she began to compose. In 1985 she founded the Ig Henneman Quintet. She also improvises on viola with Henneman Sextet, Duo Baars-Henneman with Ab Baars and the Queen Mab Trio.
Works.
Henneman has composed for orchestras, ensembles and soloists, plus pieces for film and theater.
Her work has been recorded and issued on CD, including:


Viipurin Lauluveikot

Viipurin Lauluveikot is a Finnish male choir that was founded in Viipuri in 1897 and is one of the oldest men's choirs still active in Finland. After the Second World War, the choir moved from Viipuri to Helsinki because Finland had lost Viipuri to the USSR.
Many prominent composers and conductors and soloists have worked with Viipurin Lauluveikot. The honorary marches of Viipurin Lauluveikot were composed by Jean Sibelius in 1920 (named Kunniamarssi 1921) and 1929. Sibelius was later named as an honorary member of the choir. Viipurin Lauluveikot performs the compositions of Jean Sibelius, Oskar Merikanto and Felix Krohn, and of Bach, Lowel Manson, Händel and Beethoven for instance.
The choir is very active both in Finland and abroad. It has visited for example England, Japan, Hungary, Lithuania, China and the USA. In 2012 the choir had a 115-years anniversary tour to the previous hometown Viipuri and to St Peterburg, Russia.
One of the traditional concerts is the First Advent Sunday concert in the Johanneksenkirkko church in Helsinki. The choir performs every year in the National Independence day flagging ceremony on the sixth of December in Helsinki at Tähtitorninmäki 9.00 a.m. local time. Radio transmission of the event is sent worldwide by Finnish Broadcasting company YLE. This ceremony is the beginning of the Finnish independence day every year.


Antoniev Monastery

The Antoniev Monastery ("St Anthony's Monastery", ) rivalled the Yuriev Monastery as the most important monastery of medieval Novgorod the Great. It stands along the right bank of the Volkhov River north of the city centre and forms part of the "Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings", a World Heritage Site.
The monastery was founded in 1117 by St Anthony of Rome (Antony Rimlyanin), who, according to legend, flew to Novgorod from Rome on a rock (the alleged rock is now in the vestibule just to the right of the main door into the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God beneath a fresco of Bishop Nikita of Novgorod). Antonii was consecrated hegumen of the monastery in 1131 by Archbishop Nifont (1130–1156) and was buried beneath a large slab to the right of the altar in the same church.
The Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, like the Church of St. George in the Yuriev Monastery, is one of the few three-domed churches in Russia. It is also one of the few buildings in Russia which survived from the 12th century. It was founded by Antonii in 1117 and completed in 1119. There are some frescoes from the Middle Ages still extant, most notably in the apse, but most are from the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries and are in some disrepair.
The monastery is currently part of the Novgorod United Museum-Preserve and has not been returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.


Ufa Governorate

Ufa Governorate (, , "Öfö gubernahı") was a governorate of the Russian Empire with its capital in the city Ufa. It was created in 1865 by separation from Orenburg Governorate. On June 14, 1922 the governorate was transformed into the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. It occupied an area of 122,005 km2 and the territory of the governorate was divided to 6 uyezds.
Population.
According to the 1865 data, the population of Ufa Governorate was 1,291,018. According to the 1897 Census it was 2,220,497; urban population was 48.9%. Bashkir people constituted 41% of total population; Russian people: 38%; Tatar people: 8.4%; Mari people: 3.7%; Chuvash people: 2.8%; Mordvins: 1.7%.
Economy.
Arable lands was about 35% of the governorate's total area. Industry was based on mining and metalworking; there were also food, clothing and timber industries.


Frederik Willem van Eeden (botanist)

Frederik Willem van Eeden (26 October 1829, in Haarlem – 4 May 1901, in Haarlem) was a Dutch amateur botanist. He was the father of the writer Frederik van Eeden.
He was born in Haarlem, where he became general secretary-treasurer of the Dutch Society for the Promotion of Industry and director of the Museum of Applied Arts. From 1871 until his death he was director of the Colonial Museum (the predecessor of the Colonial Institute, later the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam), which was founded on his initiative in 1864.
F. W. van Eeden was probably the first to use the concept (not the word) natural monument (in his book "Onkruid"). In this book, he suggested the idea of preserving some parts of the Netherlands as a monument to nature.
Works.
In 1877, Van Eeden completed the 15th and final volume of the standard work "Flora Batava", which was started in 1800. In addition, he made many contributions to the "Nederlandsch Kruidkundig Archief" (Dutch Herbal Archive), the "Album der Natuur" (Album of Nature), and the "Tijdschrift der Nederlandsche Maatschappij" (Journal of the Dutch Society of Industry).


J.J. Beijnes

Johannes Jacobus, or J.J. Beijnes (Haarlem, 1814 – Haarlem, 1888) was a Dutch businessman and entrepreneur who, along with his brother Antonie Johannes (A.J.) Beijnes, was credited with growing the Haarlem factory Beijnes into an international manufacturer of train and tram wagons.
Biography.
He was the son of J.J. Beijnes the elder who had a carriage shop behind the St. Bavochurch on the Riviervischmarkt in Haarlem. Both he and his brother went to work for his father, though young A.J. became an independent smith in the Grote Houtstraat at number 179. In 1853 both companies were merged, and in 1858 the company's name was changed to "Fabriek van Rijtuigen en Spoorwagens J.J. Beijnes" when they moved premises to what is now Stationsplein, Haarlem in order to serve their largest customer, the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HIJSM). To service the trains on the rails between Haarlem and Amsterdam, the HIJSM took on the services of the Fabriek van Rijtuigen en Spoorwagens J.J. Beijnes in Haarlem as sole supplier. The locomotive engines were imported, but all of the train cars were built by Beijnes. The company grew so fast, that in 1891, the HIJSM, aided by the social activist Daniel de Clercq, began the Haarlem society called "De Ambachtsschool" to unify various city efforts to start a vocational school in Haarlem, in order to satisfy their need for workers in the booming train car business.
The J.J. Beijnes carriage factory was in operation for 125 years from 1838 to 1963, and it built and serviced horse carriages (omnibusses), trams, and trains, based at Stationsplein, Haarlem, Netherlands. Today that land is used as a bus station across from the Haarlem railway station, and all that remains is a sports hall and parking garage with the name Beijnes.


Weigh House (Leiden)

The Leiden Weigh House ("De Waag" in Dutch) is a Rijksmonument located on Aalmarkt street (nr. 21).
It was designed by Pieter Post around 1657 and opened in 1659. For centuries, merchants came here to weigh and trade a variety of goods. In addition to being a weigh house, the Leiden Weigh House has hosted a variety of engagements and stately celebrations over the centuries. Notably, Govert Bidloo converted an attic room into an autopsy room to study the human body.
The weigh house was in use as an actual weigh house until 1972, when the last unit of cheese was sold. Nowadays, the building serves as a cultural monument, houses a bar and restaurant.


Nera (company)

Nera Networks AS (part of Nera) was a Norwegian company working in the field of wireless telecommunications using microwave and satellite technology. Nera Networks AS was a subsidiary of Eltek based in Bergen, with offices in 26 countries and more than 1,500 employees. The company was acquired by Ceragon Networks in 2011
Nera was operational through its three subsidiaries:


Lucas Meijs

Lucas C.P.M. Meijs (born 27 December 1963) a Dutch organizational theorist and Professor Volunteering, Civil Society and Businesses at the department Business-Society Management of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Professor "Strategic Philanthropy" at the Erasmus Centre for Strategic Philanthropy.
Biography.
Born in Haarlem, Meijs studied Business Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam and received a Ph.D. in Business Administration in 1997. The title of his doctoral thesis was "Management of Volunteer Organizations".
In the summer of 1999, Lucas Meijs was a visiting scholar at the Department of Political Science and the School of Social Work at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA. In 2003, he was appointed Professor Volunteering, Civil Society and Businesses at the business faculty of Erasmus University Rotterdam. In addition, in 2003, Meijs was a guest researcher at the Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit studies, Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. In 2010, Meijs was appointed Professor Strategic Philanthropy at the Erasmus Centre for Strategic Philanthropy.
Since July 2010, Lucas Meijs further is editor in chief of "Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly", the journal of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). He shares this function with Femida Handy of the University of Pennsylvania and Jeffrey L. Brudney of Cleveland State University.
Work.
Meijs' research is focused on issues regarding strategic philanthropy, volunteer management, managing non-profit organizations, corporate social responsibility, relations between companies and non-profit organizations, voluntary energy, student volunteering and involved learning.
Publications.
Publications, a selection:


Oranjezaal

The Oranjezaal refers to a painted ballroom in the Royal palace Huis ten Bosch in the Hague. It was once, together with its neighboring "Chinese room", part of the first national museum of the Netherlands founded in 1800 called the "Nationale Konst-Gallery". The supervisor Cornelis Sebille Roos appointed Jan Gerard Waldorp as the first custodian and curator to receive visitors (for 6 stuivers) and explain the collection.
The Oranjezaal or "Orange room" was commissioned upon the death of Frederik Hendrik in 1647 and was built during the years 1648-1651 by Jacob van Campen under the direction of Constantijn Huygens and Amalia van Solms. The painters were chosen as the best of the Netherlands who painted in the style of Rubens, and were mostly of the Catholic faith. A total of 31 paintings were made to decorate the room from floor to ceiling and the result became part of the first national museum of the Netherlands. It is still considered one of the highlights of Dutch Golden Age painting, but is not open to the public.
Besides Jacob van Campen, the painters Theodoor van Thulden, Caesar van Everdingen, Salomon de Bray, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, Jan Lievens, Christiaen van Couwenbergh, Pieter Soutman, Gonzales Coques, Jacob Jordaens, Pieter de Grebber, Adriaen Hanneman and Gerard van Honthorst all made contributions.


Ball Lightning (film)

Ball Lightning () is a 1979 Czechoslovak comedy film. The screenplay was written by Zdeněk Svěrák, Ladislav Smoljak and Zdeněk Podskalský and the film was directed by Smoljak and Podskalský.


Herman Koch

Herman Koch (; born 5 September 1953) is a Dutch writer and actor. He has written short stories, novels, and columns. His best-selling novel "The Dinner" (2009) has been translated into 21 languages. He has acted for radio, television, and film. He co-created the long-running TV series "Jiskefet" (1990–2005).
Early life and education.
Herman Koch was born on 5 September 1953 in Arnhem, Netherlands. His family moved to Amsterdam when he was two years old. He went to the Montessori Lyceum Amsterdam from which he was expelled.
Acting.
Koch is an actor for radio, television, and film. He contributed to the comedy show "Borát" (1984–1989) for radio. Together with Kees Prins and Michiel Romeyn, Koch created the long-running absurdist and satiric series "Jiskefet" (1990–2005; "Trash Can") for television, in which he also acted. And he played minor roles in the movies "The Flying Liftboy" (1998) and "Hè, Gezellig" (2014; Hey, Cosy), and the TV series "The Flying Liftboy" (2000) and "Voetbalvrouwen" (2007; "Footballers' Wives").
Writing.
Koch is the author of short stories, novels, and columns. His debut was "De voorbijganger" (1985; "The Passerby") with short stories. His first novel was "Red ons, Maria Montanelli" (1989; "Save Us, Maria Montanelli"). In 2005, Koch wrote the text for the Grand Dictation of the Dutch Language.
His sixth novel was "Het diner" (2009; "The Dinner"), which was translated into 21 languages including English, had sold over one million copies throughout Europe, and won the 2009 NS Audience award (Dutch: "NS Publieksprijs"). A Dutch play of "The Dinner" was in theaters in 2012 and a Dutch movie of the book was released in 2013. An Italian movie adaptation, "The Dinner" (Italian: "I Nostri Ragazzi"), was released in 2014. An English-language film adaptation, "The Dinner", was released in 2017.
Koch's characters are usually highly disagreeable, distrusting and violent, and they often defend questionable morals and extreme views. Underlying themes in their narratives include happiness, mediocrity, disgust, the right to live, cynicism, violence, beauty, and the ugly. Koch's writing style is easy to follow and straight on.
Personal life.
Koch is married to Amalia, and they have a son. Koch is a half-brother of writer Els Pelgrom.


Michiel ten Hove

Michiel ten Hove (24 February 1640, The Hague – 24 March 1689, The Hague) was ad interim Grand Pensionary of Holland in 1688 and 1689.
Life.
He was a lawyer for the Dutch West Indies Company since 1664 and from 1672 pensionary of Haarlem. He was son of Nicolaas ten Hove and Cornelia Fagel, and nephew of Gaspar Fagel, who preceded him as Grand Pensionary and died in 1688. He was well appreciated by William III of Orange and probably would have succeeded his uncle formally, had he not died in office the next year.


Floods in Saint Petersburg

Floods in Saint Petersburg refer to a rise of water on the territory of St. Petersburg, a major city in Russia and its former capital. They are usually caused by the overflow of the delta of Neva River and surging water in the eastern part of Neva Bay but sometimes caused by melting snow. Floods are registered when the water rises above 160 cm with respect to a gauge at the Saint Petersburg Mining Institute. More than 300 floods have occurred since the city was founded in 1703.
The construction of Saint Petersburg Dam, started in 1978 and completed in 2011, is expected to protect the city from devastating floods. The dam is the last completed part of the Saint Petersburg Ring Road. Its first use to hold back the incoming Baltic water into Neva bay took place 28 November 2011 and had resulted in decrease of water rise to 1.3 MASL, that is below flood level equal to 1.6 masl, which prevented the 309th flood in the history of the city and saved some 1.3 billion roubles of possible damage.
Causes.
Floods in St. Petersburg are caused by several factors. Cyclones, originating in the Baltic Sea with a prevalence of west winds, induce a "slow" matched Kelvin wave to rise and move towards the delta of Neva River where it meets the natural river flow moving in the opposite direction. The water level rises because of the shallowness of Neva Bay, flatness of its bottom and the narrowing of the Gulf of Finland near the delta. Seiches, onsets and another factors also contribute to the floods. Besides flooding as a result of storm surges, in 1903, 1921 and 1956 floods were caused by the melting of snow.
History.
Prior to the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703, the largest flood occurred in 1691. Swedish annals report that the water covered the entire area of the present St. Petersburg by 25 feet (7.62 meters). Knowing about frequent floods from the locals, the Swedes laid the fortress Nyenschantz and the city of Nyen away from the delta upstream of the Neva River, at the confluence of the river Ohta to Neva.
The first flood in St. Petersburg city occurred 3 months after its founding, on the night of 19 to 20 August 1703. The water rose more than 2 meters. The water rose much higher on 20 September 1706, which in his letter to Alexander Menshikov, Peter I described as "the west-south-west wind brought the flood undescribed before. In my offices, it stood 21 inches above the floor, and people traveled by boats through the city streets. Yet it did not last long, less than 3 hours. And it was amusing to see people on the roofs and trees... Water was high, but didn't cause much harm ".
Engineering measures were instituted in the early 18th century, and the central part of the city was flooded by only 130–150 cm. Floods are registered in St. Petersburg when water rises above 160 cm at the level gauge at the Saint Petersburg Mining Institute; floods up to 210 cm are considered dangerous, up to 299 cm very dangerous and above 300 cm catastrophic. Of the 324 floods in the history of St. Petersburg, three were catastrophic.
Most floods occur in between September and December. Between 1703 and 2003, 324 floods were recorded with the height above 160 cm, of which 210 were higher than 210 cm. Some years have had several floods (five in 1752), and there are periods in which no flooding occurred (e.g. 1744–1752).
Largest floods.
The following table lists the 50 largest floods between 1703 and 2003. The largest flood occurred in 1824 and killed several hundred people. This flood inspired the poem "The Bronze Horseman" by Alexander Pushkin.
A recent large flood (239 cm) occurred on 8–9 January 2005 caused by the cyclone Erwin. Six metro stations were closed. There were three floods in 2008, all below 200 centimeters.
Protective dam.
Construction of a complex of dams protecting St. Petersburg from the floods began in 1979 but was halted in the 1990s when 60% was completed. The construction was resumed in 2005 and the completed dam was inaugurated on 12 August 2011. The dam is also the last completed part of the Saint Petersburg Ring Road, providing direct roadway access from mainland to the Kotlin Island and Kronshtadt.
The first use of the dam to hold back the incoming Baltic water into Neva bay took place 28 November 2011, when a major storm came from Scandinavia and caused a surge wave. Closing the dam had resulted in decrease of water rise to 1.3 masl, that is below flood level equal to 1.6 masl, which prevented the flood and saved some 1.3 billion roubles of possible damage. Though the 309th flood in the history of the city happened a month later at 27—28 December 2011, when despite closing the dam gates heavy cyclone forced the water to rise up to 1.7 masl which couldn't make serious damage to the city. Specialists suppose that if there were no dam, there could have been level up to 2.3 masl with serious consequences.