metadata
stringlengths 51
280
⌀ | text
stringlengths 0
328k
| id
stringlengths 36
36
|
|---|---|---|
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Booth_(actress)"} | Australian model and actress
Emma Booth is an Australian model and actress from Perth, Western Australia. The former teen model and TV actress played a significant role in the 2007 film Clubland.
TV and film career
After Clubland was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, many talent agencies solicited Booth for roles in upcoming films.
Booth appeared in the 2009 horror film Blood Creek, directed by Joel Schumacher. She worked on the unreleased 2007 production Hippie Hippie Shake, an account of the Schoolkids OZ obscenity trials in the United Kingdom. Since 2009, Booth has appeared in Underbelly: The Golden Mile and had a supporting role in the 2013 Parker. In 2017, she appeared in Hounds of Love, as the partner of a serial killer.
In July 2017, Booth joined the hit ABC series Once Upon A Time in a recurring role for its rebooted season seven. She played the main antagonist, Mother Gothel, a powerful witch who is the leader of the Coven of the Eight.[citation needed]
Modelling career
At thirteen, Booth was cast in The Adventures of the Bush Patrol, and at fourteen became a finalist in Girlfriend magazine's cover girl competition. By fifteen, Booth had modelled in Tokyo, Milan, Paris and New York. She later held the title of Western Australia's Model of the Year and Face of Fashion Week, for Sydney and Melbourne.[citation needed]
Personal life
In March 2015, Booth stated on Instagram that she had married musician Dominick Joseph Luna in 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Filmography
Film
Television | 1810eb86-d55e-40c9-a145-01c476b46e95 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qu%C5%9F%C3%A7ular,_Jabrayil"} | Place in Jabrayil, Azerbaijan
Quşçular (Gushchular) is a village in the Jabrayil District of Azerbaijan. | bd4931a0-63a4-49d9-87de-a36a74aeec55 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Park_(film)"} | 2013 American film
Highland Park is a 2013 American dramedy film directed by Andrew Meieran and starring Danny Glover, Parker Posey and Billy Burke.
Based in Detroit, it is about a high school faculty lottery pool that hopes the lucky numbers they've played for ten years will finally pay off, after discovering budget cuts have eliminated their jobs.
Plot
Set in the economically depressed Detroit suburb of Highland Park, the city’s infrastructure is crumbling and the mayor is destructive rather than constructive. Six downtrodden friends connected through the local school (teachers, admin and maintenance) play the lottery with the same numbers every week for ten years, hoping to win big and change their lives. They also hope to use some of the prize money to stop their community’s backslide into poverty.
After so many years of playing the same numbers, Principal Lloyd Howard is disillusioned and decides he is out. He can’t bear to tell his teachers and support staff that they are all about to lose their jobs. He only tells Ed, the school’s retired maintenance worker who continues to work on the furnaces, whose task it is to buy the ticket.
Ed has an epiphany about the group’s luck, on his way to get the ticket before spending the next day’s fishing. A waitress, whose nametag says ‘Destiny’, hands him a plate of fortune cookies, enticing him to grab one.
Ex-homecoming queen Shirley Paine, the Mayor of Highland Park, arrives to Principal Howard’s office to personally give him the cuts in the high school. She keeps cutting the budget in Highland Park in areas that help the community (like healthcare, firefighters, the library, education, parks, sewer cleanup) in favor of vanity projects like malls and a stadium for her rich connections.
A desperate Jess, now unemployed bus driver, tries to knock over a convenience store with a toy gun, but the clerk recognises him, turning him away. Arriving at his estranged ex’s, she refuses to let him see his kids as he’s behind on his child support payments.
When it comes out that he has had to cut jobs and programs, Howard finds himself as the bearer of bad news and is viewed as a pariah in the community. Even the butcher chews him out, as his son is a senior on the football team.
But finally the school lotto pool’s numbers are called after so many years of playing them. Lloyd Howard and the other members of the betting pool suddenly find their lives turned around. They begin making big purchases and revitalizing the local economy.
Pushing for grant money, Howard uses resources based on the promise of the winnings. He gets into a game of one-upsmanship in with Mayor Shirley Paine, spending both private and public funds to revitalize Highland Park.
When Ed returns from his time in the woods fishing, days after the winning numbers were called, and reveals that he bought the ticket with different numbers, everyone but Howard turns against him. Howard has to go up against Paine without any resources and suffers her wrath when she turns the media on him.
Ed, after realizing it’s his fault for not buying the lotto ticket that everyone planned on, gives a speech about how everyone is the same as they were before they thought they won the money, so they are not out anything.
Lloyd Howard is painted early on as an idealist and a former troublemaker who has since made good as the beleaguered school principal. His body language changes, as if he has been carrying a great weight for a long time and then his whole posture changes as he becomes more assertive. He has a kind of spiritual rebirth.
The lottery group regroups, and thanks to the mayor’s now former assistant, they are able to hack Mayor Paine’s laptop, recovering incriminating e-mails. Howard pressures the mayor, through threatening to expose her corruption, into putting the money back into Highland Park.
Hope for the future is restored, both for the community that was originally meant to be a kind of beacon for the surrounding area, as well as for the six original lottery group members.
Cast
Reception
Leonard Maltin awarded the film two and half stars. | 743fc70b-e207-4d13-b49a-2da627a9d333 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Pentyne"} | Chemical compound
1-Pentyne, an organic compound with the formula CH3CH2CH2C≡CH. It is a terminal alkyne, in fact the smallest that is liquid a room temperature. It is a colorless liquid. | 131b4256-08fa-418a-b07a-3135f93ccd38 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good-Luck_Horse"} | The Good-Luck Horse is a children's picture book illustrated by Plato Chan, adapted from a folk tale by his mother Chih-yi Chan. Plato Chan was the son of a Chinese diplomat and a child prodigy; he was twelve when he illustrated the book. The Good-Luck Horse was published by Whittlesey House in 1943. It was a 1944 Caldecott Medal honoree. This story has adventures of a horse that a boy had made out of paper and then changed into a real horse by a magician. He was named the good-luck horse because his fortunes fell and rose.
Plot
The Good-Luck Horse is based on a Chinese folk-tale. It tells the story of a paper horse that was created by a kind magician. Since the horse was magical it was able to do anything it was told to do. The horse then became a problem because it was bringing bad luck to its owner until the horse ran away. When a war broke out the horse met another horse and together they were able to end the war, earning him the name of the good-luck horse. | 0b84c696-c2f4-4cbb-86ea-c61001cbc4c8 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_gap"} | Technology Gap Theory is a model developed by M.V. Posner in 1961, which describes an advantage enjoyed by the country that introduces new goods in a market. The country will enjoy a comparative advantage as well as a temporary state of monopoly until other countries have achieved the ability to imitate the new good. Unlike the past theories which assume the market to be fixed and given, such as the Heckscher-Ohlin theory, the technology gap model addresses the technological changes. It suggests a state of economy influenced by science, politics, markets, culture and most importantly, uncertainty, which threatens the mainstream neoclassical economists as they explain economic outcomes mainly based on the natural endowment scarcity. The theory is backed up by the ideas of Joseph Schumpeter. As a result, the technology gap theory is often rejected by neoclassical economists.
The theory assumes that the two countries have similar factor endowments, demand conditions, and factor price ratios before trade. The only difference is the technique. The technology gap exists between the time the new products are imported from external markets and the substitutes are created by domestic producers. Meanwhile, according to Ponser, the gap is constituted by three lags as follows:
The total lag is calculated by subtracting the demand lag from the imitation lag. If the demand lag is longer than the imitation lag, then the domestic market will start to demand the foreign goods. The demand of imported goods overriding the domestic products will in turn leads to the erosion of the local market and deficit in the trade balance.
History
The development of an explicit technology gap model started with Ponser. The key for the theory is the rate of diffusion of technology. Moving on to 1966, Vernon further extended the technology gap model into the product life-cycle theory. The degree of maturity of the technology became the new key of the dynamic economic trade. Vernon's theory resonances with the technology gap theory. As Fig1. shows, at the new-product phase, the product is only produced and consumed in the innovating countries, usually the developed countries. But, as the product matures, the imitating countries, usually the developing countries, intervenes the market by underselling the products. The production of the product gradually gets standardized and the innovating countries can no longer monopolize the market.
In 1981, Pasinetti proposed a Ricardian comparative advantage model that emphasizes on the rate of innovation. Later, Dosi and his colleagues affirmed technology gap as the heart of absolute advantage in 1990. Moreover, Dosi et al. complicated the definition of diffusion, which makes a smooth diffusion process does not exist anymore. The new definition now writes as: the "process of learning, modification of the existing organization of production and, often, even a modification of products."
Between Countries
Technological changes is cumulative, path-dependent, and non-specific for each country. Thus, it is hardly sharable between nations. Nowadays, it can determine the competence of a nation to a great extent, and influence demand conditions and technological policies. As a result, the technology gap theory strongly emphasizes on the role of government in prompting innovations.
United States, as one of most technologically advanced nations in the world, exports a variety of new technology to conquer the global market. Most of the time, other countries acquire the same technology sooner or later. With lower labor costs, U.S. no longer hold the comparative advantage in making the same products. However, U.S. producers can keep on introducing new technology to the markets abroad and new technology gap will be formed during the process.
As long as the new technology is diffused to developing countries, the globalization will have a positive impact on them, otherwise, the domestic market will only be harmed. African countries, for example, Kenya, are currently suffering from the technology gap not only globally but also domestically. Organizations, such as the United Nations, are now working hard to bind such gaps within nations.
When comparing the technology gap between countries, let us take a look at Armenia and Belarus. One may think that they should have the same level of technology, as both are post-Soviet developing countries that have more or less the same GDP per capita. However, Belarus exported between $150 and $250 per capita in ICT services during 2017, while the same metric for Armenia was only $72. Just to compare, this number was more than $1000 for developed countries in the same time period. This shows that Armenia has still a long path to go. However, we cannot forget the fact that from 2009 to 2017, the countries exports of ICT services skyrocketed from $94 million to $212 million. Nonetheless, other high-tech exports (aerospace, electrical machinery, pharmaceuticals) accounted solely for $26 million in 2017. If looking at GDP components, Armenian ICT exports counted for 11 percent of total service exports and just 4.8 percent of goods and services exports in 2017. The above-mentioned comparison, highlights two important facts: first, two countries that can have similar histories or income per capita may still differ in their technological advancement and second, even when the country's technological advancement progresses quickly, it still needs to strive for improvement, as the world goes into new era of industrialization.
Between Companies
Unlike between countries, technological changes between firms are specific. It is can be measured by the ability of the firm to produce and innovate. Companies, such as pwc, offer surveys and solutions to help alleviate the gap between business and technology, which will also lead to enhanced communication and creativity of the whole business, and making the enterprise more competitive in the market.
The 5G is an example demonstrating impact of technology gap on and between businesses. In accordance with the theory, the vice president and global innovation officer at Cisco said that "There is not any one country, one company or one continent that’s going to own 5G...I just don’t want the focus to be all about 5G and who gets to the finish line, the sprint first, because there’s a much longer race after that.”
Let us take the example of Armenia once again. There is a high technological gap between several Armenian banks. For example, while Central Bank of Armenia has advanced ints settlement and clearing processes by introducing quality automation services, some banks still process the majority of their payments by hand. This technology gap is actually detrimental for the banks using traditional recording method, as because of this high costs are incurred, which have direct effect on bank reliability, profitability and solvency. To sum up this example, it is very important that the automation processes must be implemented in the inter-bank level, as they will first of all provide better customer experience and service by reducing errors and waiting time and secondly all companies in the industry need to be normalized and standardized in the same way. Thus, this example shows that technological gap can exist between companies in the same industry and they can present serious issues that, in some cases, can be fatal for the companies.
Limitations | 33aef9d0-c6fa-41f0-a1d6-d3576799e828 |
null | 2012 video game
2012 video game
Hauntings at Cliffhouse is a 2012 point-and-click adventure game. It was a solo project of Cindy Pondillo; the independent developer's third adventure.
Plot and gameplay
Sarah Blake travels to the Cliffhouse Bed and Breakfast resort to withdraw after the death of her husband.
Critical reception
Katie Smith of Adventure Gamers praised the artwork although deemed the characters forgettable. Avsn-Nikki of Adventurespiele wrote that Pondillo crafted a story that slowly and successfully builds in suspense. | 285775d7-2cfd-4d5f-a365-4f441a232955 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Journal_of_Entomology"} | Academic journal
The Norwegian Journal of Entomology is a biannual peer-reviewed scientific journal covering entomology, and arthropodology more in general, with an emphasis on Norway. It was established in 1920 as the Norsk Entomologisk Tidsskrift, obtaining its current title in 1974. From 1979 to 1998 it was published under the name Fauna Norvegica Serie B. The journal is published by the Norwegian Entomological Society and the editor-in-chief is Øivind Gammelmo.
History
The first issue of the journal appeared in 1921[citation needed] under the name Norsk Entomologisk Tidsskrift. The first issue bore the year 1920 as the year of publication, but it was not printed until May 1921.[citation needed] From 1921 to 1975, 21 volumes of the journal were published; some volumes were released over several years, whereas others came out at shorter intervals.[original research?]
In 1975 the journal's name was changed to Norwegian Journal of Entomology in order to attract a broader international readership.[citation needed] The journal was published with one volume per year and consisted of two issues.[original research?] Eventually there was difficulty financing the journal.[citation needed] The Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities (NAVF) withdrew its support for the journal in 1979.[citation needed]
An application for support for a new combined national zoology journal was sent to the NAVF.[citation needed] The new journal was a collaboration between the Norwegian Zoological Society and the Norwegian Ornithological Society.[citation needed] The first issue appeared in 1979 and the name of the journal was Fauna Norvegica Serie B (Series B was for arthropods, Series A was for zoology, and Series C was for ornithology). In 1993, the NAVF withdrew its support for the journal, but the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) took over responsibility.[citation needed] However, for financial reasons, NINA also terminated the agreement in 1998, and the journal's further existence was jeopardized.[citation needed]
The journal was able to continue publication in 1999, now under the aegis of the Norwegian Entomological Society, thanks to support from the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment.[citation needed] The journal's name was changed once more, back to its previously English name, Norwegian Journal of Entomology.
Editors
Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in: | e6e4a8ae-c503-4f95-9645-ec6f1e8ff4bb |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederal_militias"} | Militia formed during the Spanish Civil War
Military unit
The confederal militias were a movement of people's militia organized during the Spanish civil war by the dominant organizations of anarchism in Spain: the National Confederation of Labor (CNT) and the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI).
These militias played an important role in the Revolution of 1934. They were not the only ones, since other militias belonging to other organizations, parties and trade unions also played a role in the revolution, such as those of POUM ("Workers' Party of Marxist Unification"), those of the Syndicalist Party (PS) and those of the General Union of Workers (UGT). After the coup d'état of July 1936, armed groups of civilian volunteers organized by the parties and trade unions formed in the areas where the uprising failed, joined the remains of the regular army units and state security forces that had remained loyal to the Republic.
In these militias, the volunteers refused the uniform, salute and other marks of respect to military hierarchy. The officers, elected, could quickly succeed one another at the head of a group and the men felt they had the right to discuss the orders and only apply them if they were in agreement.
As the war progressed, the militias were progressively dissolved and assimilated into the Spanish Republican Army, in spite of many militiamen refusing the militarization.
The CNT Defense Committees
The origin of the CNT militias in the Spanish Civil War is in the Defense Committees, clandestine military organizations of the CNT that were financed by and subordinate to the unions. The essential functions of the defense committees were twofold: arms and administration. These committees were a reorganization and expansion of different affinity groups, such as Los Solidarios, who fought against the bosses' pistolerismo between 1917 and 1923.
In 1934, other factions began to organize their own clandestine militias. The Communist Party formed the Antifascist Worker and Peasant Militias. The Carlists formed the Frente Nacional de Boinas Rojas, in an attempt to create a hierarchical national Requeté structure, detached from local Carlist juntas. The newly founded Falange Española de las JONS also formed their own militia, the Primera Línea.
In October 1934, the CNT Defense Committees abandoned the old affinity group tactic in favor of serious and methodical revolutionary preparation:
There can be no revolution without preparation. We have to put an end to the prejudice in favor of improvisation. This error, involving confidence in the creative instinct of the masses, has caused us to pay a heavy price. We cannot obtain by means of a process of spontaneous generation the indispensable means necessary for waging war on a State that has experience, heavy weaponry, and a greater capacity for offensive and defensive combat.
The basic defense group had to be small in order to facilitate its secrecy. It had to be made up of six militants, with very specific functions:
To that ideal figure of six, one more member could be added to cover “high-profile” tasks. The clandestinity of the group had to be absolute. They were the basic nucleus of a revolutionary armed force, capable of mobilizing larger secondary groups, and these, in turn, the entire people.
The scope of action of each defense group was a very precise demarcation within each neighborhood, indicated on a map. The neighborhood defense committee coordinated all these defense cadres, and received a monthly report from each of the group secretaries. The defense committees were also organized at the regional and national level, due to the importance of communications and coordination in a revolutionary insurrection.
The Defense Committees were replaced, in August 1936, by the Control Patrols acting under the command of the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia. However, the defense committees were reactivated during the Barcelona May Days, when the Spanish Republic clashed with the CNT-FAI and POUM, in a dispute over the control of Revolutionary Catalonia.
Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia
On July 19, 1936 in Barcelona, the military garrison had about six thousand men, compared to almost two thousand assault guards and two hundred Mossos d'Esquadra. The Civil Guard, who were split between both sides were about three thousand. The CNT-FAI had about twenty thousand militants (among some 200,000 affiliates), organized in neighborhood defense committees. In the CNT's liaison commission with the Government of Catalonia and the loyalist military, they promised to stop the coup plotters with only a thousand armed militants.
There was a double transformation of those defense cadres. That of the popular militias, who defined the Aragon front in the first days, establishing the collectivization of land in the liberated Aragonese towns; and that of the revolutionary committees that brought about a "new revolutionary order", in every neighborhood of Barcelona and in every town in Catalonia. Their common origin in the defense cadres meant that confederal militias and revolutionary committees were always very united and interrelated. Those local committees, in some towns, were the result of the relationship of forces existing in each locality, and sometimes they were merely front-populist organs, without any revolutionary aspiration.
The revolutionary committees carried out important administrative tasks ranging from the issuance of food vouchers, safe conduct passes, wedding celebrations, supply and maintenance of hospitals, to the expropriation of food, furniture and buildings, financing of secular education and schools managed by the Libertarian Youth, payments to militiamen, or to their families, etc.
On July 21, a Plenum of Local and Regional unions of the CNT renounced the very coordination and extension of power that the revolutionary committees already exercised in the streets. It was decided to accept the creation of the Central Committee of Anti-fascist Militias of Catalonia (CCMA), an organism in which all anti-fascist organizations participated.
As of this moment, it was the CCMA and not the CNT-FAI who directed the military operations in Catalonia and, from there, the Aragon front. On July 24, the first two anarchist columns departed, under the command of Buenaventura Durruti and Antonio Ortiz Ramírez. In those same days, columns of the PSUC and the POUM were also formed. In two months, the committee managed to organize 20,000 militiamen who were spread out across a 300-kilometer front. The aforementioned defense committees ceased to operate in Barcelona since either their members were in the neighborhood committees organizing the revolution, or they were on the war fronts. They remained inactive until May 1937.
Between July 21 and mid-August 1936 the Control Patrols were established by the CCMA. Approximately half of the 700 patrollers had a CNT card, or were from the FAI; the other half was affiliated with the rest of the component organizations of the CCMA: POUM, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and PSUC. Only four section delegates, out of the eleven existing, were from the CNT: those from Poblenou, Sants, Harmonia and Clot; four others were from ERC, three from PSUC and none from POUM.
What was happening in Barcelona was of transcendental importance for the CNT in all of Spain since it was in this city where it had the most affiliates, its best militant cadres, and its most powerful and veteran organization. It was then in Barcelona where the decisions made by the CNT were going to affect the future course of the entire CNT in the country.
The columns
Origin of the column as a popular combat formation
The Castilian guerrillas of the War of Spanish Succession (1701 - 1715) and the guerrilla war on the Portuguese-Extremadura border between 1641 and 1668 were able be early examples of the use of columns in armed conflict. During the Spanish War of Independence columns were formed as conglomerates grouping together various regular military or civilian forces and services on a modest scale. The columns, due to their mobility and autonomy, constituted a basic form of organization for the guerrilla war. The national militia used them extensively throughout the 19th century.
In the Spanish Civil War, irregular military formations formed by armed volunteers mixed in with soldiers and other members of the state security forces. This situation occurred on both sides. For example, in the Nationalist faction the Requetes, Falangists and the military all formed into columns until mid-September when they were reorganized into battalions and brigades.
In the Republican faction militias are also formed from the first days of the civil war. For example, in Asturias, militant socialists formed the Asturian Miners Column on July 18, in order to counter the coup in Madrid. However, when he reached Benavente, Zamora, he turned around when news was received that the military, under the command of Antonio Aranda Mata, had revolted in Oviedo. In Huelva, the Riotinto Mining Column tried to quell the uprising in Seville, but it was betrayed by the Civil Guard which ambushed them in Camas.
Another column with similar luck would be the one organized in Valencia at the behest of the republic's Delegated Government Board, at that moment in a power dispute with the UGT-CNT's Popular Executive Committee, which had governed Valencia in the days after the uprising. The board ignored the warnings of the UGT and CNT and sent a column of about 500 civil guards and about 200 volunteer militiamen to Teruel. When they neared the city, the civil guard executed the militiamen and defected to the Nationalists, establishing a military base in Teruel during the first days of the war.
For the liberation of Albacete from control by the nationalist civil guard, two columns of soldiers, assault guards and militiamen from Alicante, Cartagena and Murcia quickly took Almansa and Hellín. Throughout their journey, they were joined by militiamen that had fled from the towns controlled by the nationalists. On the morning of July 25 they converged near Albacete and faced the rebels, liberating the city at dusk.
In the chaos of the first days of war, on 21 July a column was sent to Vitoria by the nationalist military authorities at Donostia. But, the column received news of the uprising of the Donostia garrison in Mondragón. Given the situation, the column's commander Pérez Garmendia decided to suspend the advance on the Alava capital and returned to Eibar with 30 civil guards and an ensign. The provincial authorities were concentrated in the town with the civil governor in charge.
The march to liberate Donostia was organized in Eibar. For this, a reinforcement column arrived from Bilbao, under the command of the ensign of the assault guard Justo Rodríguez Ribas, it was composed of: "three armored cars with 23 riflemen; two buses with 44 riflemen; an assault mortar car with four guards, another assault car with 30 guards and several vehicles with 57 dynamite riflemen; a health ambulance with four nurses, a doctor, a driver, and two Assault practitioners. They also had a shuttle car, manned by four militiamen. In total the column of 166 men with munitions, grenades, mortars, projectile boxes and abundant dynamite was made up"
Until October 1936 the militias on both sides were columns commanded by the military or by well-known party and union militants. In the Republican faction the military appointed a left-wing militant as a political commissar due to the great distrust generated by the Spanish military during the first months of the war. The role of the political commissariat was twofold, on the one hand trying to keep the morale of the troops high, and on the other, monitoring the actions of the military elements.
Organization
Many of the anarchist leaders in the war had been committed antimilitarists, even having to flee the country so as not to do military service. This antimilitarism permeated the discourse of many anarchist groups, and contrasted with the revolutionary spirit that also emerged from Iberian anarchism. Therefore, anarchist columns were organized under assembly principles and decisions were made through direct democracy, thus avoiding command hierarchies. The militias of the POUM — a revolutionary Marxist party that throughout the war became a tactical ally of anarchists - organized in a similar way.
The system favored the rapid formation of units.
Columns also consisted of internationalist Autonomous Groups, as well as Guerrilla Groups that were on missions behind enemy lines. These combat units were flexible, being able to vary the number of militiamen framed within them and the number of smaller units that make them up.
A war committee advised by a military-technical council coordinated the column's operations. At the head of the war committee was the general delegate of the column. All the delegates of all ranks lacked privileges and hierarchical command.
Famous columns
The most famous of the CNT columns were those that left from Barcelona to liberate Zaragoza and Huesca. They were the large columns led by known anarchist militants, which included the first groups of foreign fighters, and when they were dissolved into the republican army, they came to be led by anarchists until the end of the war.
In their attempt to take these two cities they established the Aragon front. In general, four main columns of the CNT were established: the Durruti Column, the South Ebro Column, the Ascaso Column and the Harriers Column. Apart from these, there were quite a few groups of Aragonese confederal militias, which ended up converging on these four columns. At the beginning of September 1936, the front had around 20,000 combatants, with 13,000 belonging to the CNT. The columns from Barcelona and Lérida mainly went towards Huesca and Zaragoza, the Valencian ones went towards Teruel, repeatedly besieging the three provincial capitals. Around 8,500 fighters surrounded Teruel, almost 5,000 from the CNT.
Durruti Column
The Durruti Column left Barcelona on July 24, made up of some 2,500 militiamen, and headed directly for Zaragoza, aiming at the recovery of the city. They reached barely 22 kilometers from the city. From that moment on, the column was left with scarce supplies and could not launch a new attack, so it devoted itself to the consolidation of the defensive front, as well as to tasks of propagating and building the revolution through the lands of Aragon. He installed his headquarters in the town of Bujaraloz, Zaragoza.
In November Durruti was called to collaborate in the defense of Madrid, but he was not allowed to take more than a part of the column (about 1,400 out of more than 6,000 militiamen that the column had at the time). This section of the column was decimated in Madrid, in the Battle of Ciudad Universitaria, and Durruti died there from a point-blank shot of unknown origin on November 20. He was replaced at the head of the Durruti Column in Madrid by Ricardo Sanz. In Aragon, the column was commanded by José Manzana who ended up accepting its militarization, thus becoming the 26th Division. Ricardo Sanz took command of the entire column in April 1937. Together they fought in the Battle of Belchite and in the defense of Catalonia in January 1939.
South Ebro Column
The South Ebro Column was directed by the cabinetmaker Antonio Ortiz Ramírez, with Fernando Salavera as military adviser. They left Barcelona on July 24, 1936 by train and highway, growing from 800 men at the beginning to over 2,000, quite a few of whom were soldiers. The column participated in the taking of Caspe, dominated by a company of the Civil Guard and some 200 Aragonese Falangists, under the command of Captain Negrete.
Various units were incorporated into the column. Among them, at the beginning of September, the small Carod-Ferrer column, which had just occupied Fuendetodos, was added and parapetized before Villanueva de Boil. Along with this group was another party, the Hilario-Zamora column, which was led by the anarchist Hilario Esteban, together with Santiago López Oliver. This column came from Lérida. These two groups ended up unifying with the "Ortiz" Column. Shortly after, 650 soldiers arrived from Tarragona, under the command of Martínez Peñalver, who also joined the column. They also received reinforcements from some Valencian militias.
After militarization, the South Ebro column was dissolved into the republican 25th Division. After the Battle of Belchite, the head of the Eastern Army Sebastián Pozas Perea decided to withdraw command of the 25th division from Ortiz, replacing him with Miguel García Vivancos.
Ascaso Column
The third anarcho-syndicalist column organized in Barcelona left for Aragon on July 25, with 2,000 militiamen. Somewhat better armed than the previous two, it had 4 or 6 machine guns and 3 or 4 armored trucks (Tiznaos) transformed by a Gavà metalworker. The Ascaso column included the Italian internationalist groups "Justice and Freedom" and the "Battalion of Death" (a.k.a. Centuria Malatesta). It was based in the province of Huesca, and was run by Cristóbal Alvaldetrecu, Gregorio Jover and Domingo Ascaso.
After militarization, the column became the republican 28th Division and was led by Gregorio Jover.
Harriers Column
The Harriers Column was the last of the great Catalan anarcho-syndicalist columns. Later more militias would come out of Catalonia, but they would no longer do so in the form of a column but rather as reinforcement units of the existing columns. In reality, this column had been foreseen to be a large unit - of around 10,000 combatants - but it ended up being a reinforcement of the Ascaso Column - as an autonomous column of about 1,700 militiamen. Organized in the Bakunin barracks in Barcelona, on August 28 it was sent to Grañén, on the Huesca front. García Oliver and Miguel García Vivancos came out in front of the column with José Guarner as military adviser. In September, García Vivancos agreed to the militarization of the column. Later a group had to be sent home due to their opposition to militarization. The column was incorporated into the 125th Mixed Brigade and participated in the battles of Belchite and Fuentes de Ebro, as well as in the defense of Catalonia, retreating to France after their defeat.
Iron Column
The Iron Column left Valencia with the intention of liberating Teruel from the nationalists. They left on 7–8 August 1936 with about 800 militiamen in two groups. By the end of August they had grown to about 1,600, and in September about 3,000. In the rear there was even a strong group of supporters, of up to 20,000 men and women, who were on the waiting list to join. After being militarized, it became the 83rd Mixed Brigade.
Other Columns
The CNT battalions
The CNT militias functioned in the form of columns, especially in Catalonia and Valencia. In order to operate better, they were subdivided into Groups or Divisions, which were equivalent to the battalions in Aragon and Valencia respectively. When the militarization of the columns came, they first became Mixed Brigades, and the Catalan ones, which were more numerous, directly became divisions.
Central Fronts
In other areas the form of organization of the militias took that of the battalions. Among the Madrid columns there were several battalions such as the "Free Spain", "Águilas de la Libertad", "Spartacus", "Mora", "Ferrer", "Orobón Fernández", "Juvenil Libertario", "Sigüenza" and "Toledo" battalions, which were fighting in both locations. In addition individual cenetistas would often integrate other republican columns, such as the Mangada Column which had numerous cenetistas. The CNT of the Center even organized up to 23,000 militiamen in December 1936, rivaling the numbers of the Fifth Regiment.
Southern Fronts
In Extremadura the "Pío Sopena Battalion" was formed, under the command of Olegario Pachón. In Bujalance, Córdoba, the Andalusia-Extremadura Column was organized at the end of September from the remains of the different centuries and militia columns of the Andalusian CNT such as the "Centuria de los Gavilanes" from Bujalance, the "Arcas" Battalion and the "Zimmerman" Battalion from Seville, the "Pancho Villa" Battalion from Jaén, Castro del Río and Baena , the "Alcoy Battalion" created by Levantine militiamen who had already operated in the Córdoba offensive; the "Fermín Salvochea" Battalion, from Almodóvar del Río and Villaviciosa, was formed on August 20. It was led by the brothers Juan, Francisco and Sebastián Rodríguez Muñoz known as "Los Jubiles", anarchists from Bujalance.
In Málaga there were also libertarian battalion: the "Juan Arcas", "Pedro López", "Ascaso No. 1", "Ascaso No. 2", "Raya", "Makhno", "Andrés Naranjo", "Sebastian Fauré", "Libertad" and "Fermín Salvochea" battalions. Libertarians always predominated on this front.
Northern Fronts
On the northern fronts the battalion system was implemented from September–October 1936. After operating during the first months in mixed columns, they created battalions separated by ideology. This was the case in Asturias where the following battalions were created in October:
The Asturian militias had around 10,000 militiamen in September. About a third, anarchists. However, when the fifths were recruited and the battalions were created, the CNT was assigned much fewer commanders than was proportional to their numbers. Many times out of rejection of militarism, libertarians renounced taking control of battalions, giving way to the imposition of republican or communist commanders on them. Of the 52 Asturian battalions (31,000 combatants), the CNT had 9, and the Syndicalist Party had 1. In February 1937, 22 more battalions were added to the Asturian forces, totalling 75.
In Euskadi the CNT was a minority force. But just as had happened in Madrid they saw a spectacular growth as a result of the war. Despite having less than 3,000 members in May 1936, in a few months it has 35,000 members and at the end of 1936 it mobilized around 6,000 militiamen. It had the following battalions:
In Santander the CNT forces were initially a part of the mixed battalions. However, some CNT battalions were also formed, such as the "Liberty Battalion" and the "CNT-FAI Battalion." Most of the anarchists in the city, curiously, were affiliated to the UGT unions.
Milicianas
The appearance of the militias was the result of the revolutionary situation in the republican zone during the beginning of the civil war. During the first days the libertarian, socialist and communist organizations called to arms anyone who could, and wanted to, take them up. Among the volunteers were many women. From the first days of the Civil War, the newspaper "Libertarian Front" launched a campaign for the enlistment of women in the workers' militias.
The first fighters who wore the blue jumpsuit, the uniform of the workers' militias, the barracks cap with a red tassel, and a carabiner on the shoulder, or a pistol at the belt, were the libertarian women, soon followed by the Socialists and the Communists, although the latter were not supporters of the incorporation of women into the armed struggle. In a climate of indescribable exaltation, women organized themselves into popular militias and left for the different war fronts. Among them in the Harriers Column, organized by the FAI and by the Libertarian Youth, up to 200 women participated, making it by far the republican column with the most women. The Free Women, an anarcha-feminist organization did not organize any women's unit, although it was clear that it supported the effort of the militias.
Generally it was young workers from factories, workshops, shops and offices, as well as domestic workers and students, who left their jobs to enlist. Most were teenagers, such as Victoria López Práxedes, sixteen years old, who died fighting in the Talavera sector. And Lolita Maiquez, of the same age, immortalized in the "General Chronicle of the Civil War". But old militants also joined, such as Libertad Ródenas, fifty-four years old, incorporated into the Durruti Column that left for the Aragon front. They generally came from a militant revolutionary environment, with other direct family in the militias (parents, brothers, husbands). There were also internationalists like Mary Low, Simone Weil, Clara Thalmann, and other women, who participated in the war as milicianas.
From the popular astonishment caused by women defending their freedom and that of the community, battalions began to name themselves after revolutionary women: Mariana de Pineda, Aida Lafuente, Lina Ódena, Rosa Luxemburg, La Pasionaria, Margarita Nelken ...
But not everyone approved of the mobilization of women on the fronts. Indalecio Prieto even said that women's mission was in "hospitals, kitchens and factories". The role of women in warfare was called into question, with the old recurring and discriminatory old defamatory slogans. Largo Caballero, in the late autumn of 1936, sustained the discrediting campaign by signing military decrees ordering the milicianas to leave the trenches and go to rear-guard work. Women took over the management of factories, hospitals, schools, shelters, children's camps, evacuation abroad, they also drove trams and ambulances and worked in the agricultural collectives of the countryside.
The "tiznaos"
Due to the shortage of combat means and materials, heavy vehicles such as trucks, buses or agricultural machinery were reinforced with steel plates of different thicknesses. They began to be informally known as "tiznaos" for their disparate colored camouflage. The armor of these makeshift armored vehicles was not usually very effective because the steel plates were unevenly attached, or not thick enough, to the extent that on some occasions the "tiznaos" included mattresses as a protection measure. It also happened that sometimes, when wanting to install vehicles with thicker plates to increase protection, the maneuverability and speed of the vehicle were impaired. Due to deficiencies in armor or handling, the more improvised "tiznaos" were quickly put out of action. Those that had been built with more care and with better technical means lasted longer, some of them surviving the three years of the war.
It was common that the "tiznaos" were covered in graffiti, with the name of the column to which they belonged and the initials of some party, union, or labor organization to which the militiamen who used them adhered.
Their role in the war
Michael Alpert in his book The People's Army of the Republic, 1936-1939 states that the confederal militia organization in Madrid had nothing to envy in the Fifth Regiment, and much less in warfare. The differences were mostly ideological. Ideology determined politics, and this made the communist forces have a much wider known role - diffused by propaganda - than the anarchist forces. Soon the politics of the Communist Party caused criticism from the republican press against the role that the militias were playing on the war fronts.
And yet, the popular militias (not only those of the CNT) saved the Republic between July and September 1936. They managed to defeat the uprising in numerous peninsular capitals such as Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Bilbao, Gijón. .. and the militias that would liberate Guadalajara, Cuenca, Albacete or Toledo were organized from these cities. They tried unsuccessfully to liberate Córdoba, Granada, Oviedo or Zaragoza, creating, despite their failure, stable fronts. The army, to contrast, had almost completely revolted against the Republic. And that if there were a few troops left on the republican side, on many occasions they did so without conviction, purely by chance or for fear of rebelling. The troops were at the mercy of the will of officers sympathetic to the Nationalists.
The militiamen were workers and peasants who often took up arms for the first time. They lacked military experience of any kind, which they balanced with a high morale, based on their revolutionary convictions. The troops recruited by the Falange in Castile or some troops of Requetés, as well as the militias organized by the Socialists or the Communists, faced similar difficulties. The only thing that made the difference was the quality of their weapons and command. And in these matters the anarchist militias always suffered a chronic hardship and an almost total boycott by those who controlled the arms supplies. On the nationalist side, the inexperience of the volunteers was solved by framing the Falange troops and the civil guard in secondary units, the weight being carried by the legionary or regular troops who were experienced soldiers, commanded by professional, military personnel, experienced in wartime situations. However, the Republic could not count on an experienced army, since it could not even trust its officers. The war experience had to be practically done from scratch.
It took several months for the militiamen to gain enough experience to face the other side. There was an evolution from the beginning of the war, in which several battalions fell back due to aerial bombardments in August 1936 (for example the Alcoy battalion in Córdoba or the internationalist Malatesta battalion on the Huesca front), until the time of the battles around Madrid in the winter of '36, in which the militiamen no longer retreated in the face of enemy attacks.
The militiamen (and the first soldiers, many of whom had been militiamen before) managed to counter and arrest the best-prepared army in the war, the Army of Africa. The Regulars and the Legionnaires had no rival in Spain until they reached Madrid, where they were stopped at the cost of numerous casualties. There are reports that by November 1 the militiamen had suffered no less than 35,000 casualties. In January 1937, he libertarian militiamen Cipriano Mera, converted from bricklayer to commander of the 14th Division, halted the advance of experienced Italian troops in the battle of Guadalajara.
The weakest fronts garrisoned by the militias were those of Andalusia, in which militiamen were frequently frightened by aerial bombardments. Málaga fell without having been able to organize any resistance. Given the anarchist predominance in the city, the central government of Largo Caballero chose to ignore it and marginalize it from the distribution of weapons, which would lead to its fall in February 1937. On the Extremadura front, in the Guadiana and Tajo valleys, militiamen ran away when the nationalists surrounded them, abandoning their rifles, machine guns and even cannons.
War and revolution
Behind the frontlines, a revolution swept through the republican sector. The country's economy was taken control of by the unions, agrarian communities were created and industry was socialized. There was educational reform. Rental prices were regulated or abolished. In many places the currency was even abolished. The appearance of the Free Women, an organization of anarchist women that in practice led to the emergence of women in the political-social sphere of war, also represented what they called "a revolution within the revolution".
Unlike the PCE, PSUC, PSOE and other republican forces, the war and the revolution were seen as inseparable by the CNT, FAI and POUM, as can be found in these words of Buenaventura Durruti:
Have you already organized your community? Wait no more. Occupy the lands! Organize yourself so that there are no bosses or parasites among you. If you do not do that, it is useless for us to continue forward. We have to create a new world, different from the one we are destroying. If not, then youth is not worth dying on the battlefields. Our field of struggle is revolution. "
— Buenaventura Durruti
To this end, the militias helped and promoted the formation of communes in the towns through which they passed. In Aragón 450 agricultural communes made up of 423,000 people, were formed and integrated into the Council of Aragon. These communes were a source of support in the rear for the militias, in addition to probably representing the closest approach to the ideal of anarchist life that had been fought for in Spain since the First Spanish Republic.
When the Aragonese communes were dissolved in August 1937, production collapsed. The morale of resistance that had prevailed in Aragon collapsed in such a way that the republican government itself authorized the reconstruction of the communes some time later. When the Francoists launched their offensive in the Ebro Valley (after the battle of Teruel) in the spring of 1938 the front fell apart and the nationalists reached as far as Lérida and even the Mediterranean.
Militarization of militias
The militarization of militias was a controversial issue that has been hotly debated, even within the CNT ranks themselves. Among the most authoritative voices raised against militarization and the formation of a traditional army, that of Durruti stood out, who in the summer of 1936 stated the following :
«I think –and everything that is happening around us confirms my thinking– that a worker militia cannot be led according to the classic rules of the Army. I consider, then, that discipline, coordination and the realization of a plan are indispensable things. But all that cannot be interpreted according to the criteria that were in use in the world that we are destroying. We have to build on new foundations. According to me, and according to my colleagues, solidarity between men is the best incentive to awaken individual responsibility that knows how to accept discipline as an act of self-discipline.
"The war is imposed on us, and the fight that must govern it differs from the tactic with which we have conducted the one we have just won, but the purpose of our fight is the triumph of the revolution. This means not only victory over the enemy, but it must be obtained by a radical change in man. For this change to take place, man must learn to live and conduct himself as a free man, learning in which his powers of responsibility and personality develop as the owner of his own acts. The worker at work not only changes the forms of matter, but also, through that task, modifies himself. The combatant is nothing other than a worker using the rifle as an instrument, and his actions must have the same end as the worker. In the fight he cannot behave like the soldier sent to him, but like a conscious man who knows the significance of his act. I know that obtaining this is not easy, but I also know that what is not obtained by reasoning is not obtained by force either. If our military apparatus of the revolution has to be sustained by fear, it will happen that we have not changed anything, except the color of fear. It is only by freeing oneself from fear that society can build itself in freedom ».
— Buenaventura Durruti
Cipriano Mera, on the other hand, ended up assuming an opinion fully favorable to "militarization":
"Everything that happened reaffirmed me in the idea that it was not possible to face the enemy army if we did not have another equally organized army where iron discipline prevailed. It was no longer a matter of street fights, in which enthusiasm could make up for the lack of preparation, nor was it a matter of simple skirmishes, in which everyone could do whatever they wanted. It was a war, a real war, and therefore it was essential to organize properly, with militarized units, with commanders able to plan operations against the enemy with the least possible losses of men and material. And, above all, compliance with discipline was imposed on all of us. There was no other way to win a war that had been imposed on us. "
"I always believed - and I have repeated it several times - that there was no greater force than self-discipline in free men and that the commitment acquired among all those who felt moved by an ideal was superior to any other consideration. What I experienced made me realize, in the midst of war, that convictions, great ideas, can inspire great heroic deeds and acts, guide a whole life with a commendable exemplarity; but that was not enough to obtain the necessary operational cohesion in the battle fronts, to effect a coordination of values and making possible a logical approach to the inexorable laws of war, both in terms of attack and defense. Our improvisation, our free will, we had paid for with too many lives of comrades, and it was necessary, to reduce the bloodshed, to radically change our behavior, not our ideas."
— Cipriano Mera
The assembly organization of the militias had numerous problems, since lack of discipline was frequent, as well as riots and desertions. In the toughest battles, where the nationalist armies proved to possess more and better means, routing was not uncommon. Situations like this forced military leaders to be vigilant of their soldiers, having in many cases to take the lead in the attacks if they wanted to be followed, so many of the most capable characters fell in the front.
From the autumn of 1936, the militarization of the confederal militias was carried out against the will of many of its members -with the government of Largo Caballero and its "Decree of militarization of the Popular Militias", and the approval of the CNT members in the government -, until 1937, a period in which there was no lack of numerous conflicts regarding the matter. Within the anarchist militias, people such as the founder of the Iron Column, José Pellicer Gandía, opposed militarization, but people such as Cipriano Mera, Miguel García Vivancos and the Basque CNT militias, supported a militarization controlled by the CNT-FAI, rather than by the government. But they were in favor of a militarization controlled by the CNT-FAI and not by the government. Successive decrees of the Government obligatorily restored the military discipline characteristic of the old Army, at the same time that they established logistics and supply organizations under militarized and centralist criteria. Finally, after the Battle of Madrid in November 1936, the Government denied the services of administration and ammunition to militias that resisted militarization. Thus, the militias became regiments or divisions of a regular Army - the so-called Republican People's Army -, and the militiamen became soldiers subject to traditional military discipline.
The Friends of Durruti (4th Grouping of the Durruti Column) decided to withdraw from the Aragon front, taking their weapons with them. In addition there were conflicts in the Ascaso Column. However, the tone was that of accepting militarization due to the circumstances in which the war was entering. On the northern fronts, militarization was never questioned, with confederal militias practically militarized from the beginning. On the Central front and those of Andalusia and Extremadura, militarization was imposed without great problems, except in the Maroto Column, which was dissolved by Negrinists.
According to a report of the "Peninsular Committee of the FAI" of September 30, 1938 - quoted by José Peirats - the percentage of anarchists and confederalists in the Republican Army was 33% (about 150,000 soldiers of about 450,000 soldiers republicans). The 5th, 16th, 20th, 24th, 25th, 26th, 28th, 54th, 63rd, 70th, 71st and 77th divisions had anarchist commanders. Anarchists also had command of 2 army corps. Despite appearing to be important figures, in reality there was a clear under-representation of anarchists in the republican army.
Militias in the arts
Cinema
Photography
Bibliography | fb73cc93-8e7e-4a51-899d-84a0f45676d7 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_A%27Hearn"} | American astronomer and professor (1940-2017)
Michael Francis A'Hearn (November 17, 1940 – May 29, 2017) was an American astronomer and astronomy professor at the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. He was also the principal investigator for NASA's EPOXI mission.
Career
He received his B.A. in science at Boston College and his Ph.D. in Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was the principal investigator for the NASA Deep Impact mission. He aided in the development of systems for surveying abundances in comets as well as techniques for determining the sizes of cometary nuclei which uses optical and infrared measurements.
His studies focused on comets as well as asteroids and he also supervises numerous graduate students. He was an elected fellow of the AAAS. He authored over 100 papers published in journals and was also an avid sailor who had a commercial coast guard license.
In June 1986, the main-belt asteroid 3192 A'Hearn, discovered by American astronomer Edward Bowell at Lowell's Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona, was named after him in honor of his contributions to cometary science.
In 2008, he received the Gerard P. Kuiper Prize. He died on May 29, 2017 at the age of 76.
Honors
Awards
Eponym | 892800c4-6669-443f-8592-0a4e0168551a |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adejeania_spinosa"} | Species of fly
Adejeania spinosa is a species of parasitic fly in the family Tachinidae. It is found in South America. | 7befa594-4a44-4427-bead-079d7f369195 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Ansalone"} | Italian Roman Catholic saint
Giordano di San Stefano Ansalone, OP (1598 – 17 November 1634) was an Italian Dominican missionary in Asia. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1981 and canonized in 1987 by Pope John Paul II.
Life
Ansalone was born at Santo Stefano Quisquina in Sicily. Having entered the Dominican Order and completed his studies at Salamanca, he was sent in 1625, together with many others, as a missionary to the Philippine Islands. Whilst serving as chaplain in a hospital for Chinese and Japanese at Manila he learned their languages.
In 1631, he offered to go to Japan and arrived at the outbreak of the persecution in 1632. Disguised as a bonze, he travelled over the land and administered the rites of the Catholic religion.
He was arrested 4 August 1634, and subjected to tortures that lasted seven days. He was forced to witness the beheading of his companion, Thomas of St. Hyacinth, and sixty-nine other Christians. On 18 November he was executed at Nagasaki, Japan, by being suspended till dead from a plank with his head buried in the ground.
Works
Whilst detained in Mexico, on his way to the Philippine Islands, he wrote in Latin a series of lives of Dominican saints after a similar work by Hernando del Castillo. He left at Manila an unfinished treatise on Chinese religion. | 3f0c6344-31eb-45c3-8da3-d7056f0c4297 |
null | American football player (1958–2016)
American football player
Guy Tyrone Prather (March 28, 1958 – April 18, 2016) was a linebacker in the National Football League. He played five seasons with the Green Bay Packers.
Prather died of cancer in 2016. He is buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Aspen Hill, Maryland. | 31930ef1-af35-4166-8f01-ad585918776a |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loir-et-Cher"} | Department of France
Department of France in Centre-Val de Loire
Loir-et-Cher (French pronunciation: [lwaʁ e ʃɛʁ], /lwɑːr eɪ ʃɛər/) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Its name is originated from two rivers which cross it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher in its southern part. Its prefecture is Blois. The INSEE and La Poste gave it the number 41. It had a population of 329,470 in 2019.
History
The department of Loir-et-Cher covers a territory which had a substantial population during the prehistoric period. However it was not until the Middle Ages that local inhabitants built various castles and other fortifications to enable them to withstand a series of invasions of Normans, Burgundians, the English and others.
The economy is quite flourishing: there are shops in valley, and agriculture is prominent in the region of the Beauce and the Perche to the Sologne which were prosperous until the 17th century. However, politically, the region remained quartered between the neighboring earldoms and duchies . In 1397, the House of Orleans became the possession of the Comté of Blois. In 1497, Louis d’Orleans (23rd count hereditary of Blois) was crowned with the name of Louis XII. It was the beginning of the importance of Blois and of the Blaisois in the politic life of the French, impressive especially under the last Valois. At this time, kings and important financiers competed to build castles and elegant abodes which are today an important part of the French national heritage due to their quantity, significance, and worth. (Chambord, Blois, Cheverny and so on.)
After that, there were religious wars which were extremely ferocious under Charles IX's reign. In 1576 and 1588, the General Estates convened in Blois. L’Orléanais, le Berry, la Touraine, le Perche et le Maine occupied le Loir-et-Cher and its provinces in 1970. The Loir-et-Cher's birth as a department was very difficult and laborious. On 29 September 1789, the constitution's advisory board made a report in which he wanted to attribute one of the 80 departments to Blois. However, some cities and canton capitals disagreed, such as Tours and Orleans. Inside of the department, Montrichard turns to Amboise and Tours, Saint-Aignan wants to turn to the Berry and Salbris to Vierzon.
Finally, Orleans gave Blois an important part of the Sologne except Beaugency and Tours didn't give Amboise. The department was founded 4 March 1790, in accordance with the law of 22 December 1789. It is constituted of some old provinces of the Orleanais and of the Touraine along with a Berry's plot (left bank of the Selles en Berry's Cher which becomes Selles sur Cher, to Saint-Aignan). The department's constriction in its centre and the maximum stretching out in its surface area beyond the Loir on the North and the Cher on the South is due to these tribulations. After the victory of the Coalises during the Waterloo's battle (18 June 1815), the Prussian's troops occupied the department from June 1815 to November 1818. ( to learn more about it, go on to "France’s occupation at the end of the First Empire")
The poet Pierre de Ronsard, the inventor Denis Papin, and the historian Augustin Thierry come from here. Other well-known people are also associated with this department, such as François the First, Gaston d’Orleans, the Marshall Maunoury, and the abbot Gregoire (Bishop of Blois, elected at the Constituante). In the artistic domain, there is the compositor Antoine Boesset (1587–1643), musician in the Louis XII de France's court, who was the head of the Music of the King's Bedroom from 1623 to 1643.
The Loir-et-Cher's department is a part of the Centre Region. It is adjacent of these departments : the Eure-et-Loir, the Loiret, the Cher, the Indre, the Indre-et-Loire and the Sarthe. Due to its surface area of 6 343 km2, it is the 31st largest department in the nation. It has a privileged geographical situation because it is in the center of the Centre region and near the Paris basin. An axe lively and dynamic, brings Blois closer (the department's administrative center) to both the urban conglomerations near it: Orleans and Tours. Located on the boundaries of the Perche, the Beauce, the Sologne and the Touraine, it finds its territorial identity in the diversity of its geography and its landscapes. Cut in its middle by the Loire, it shows an image of balance and diversity.
In 1989, American-based animators Andreas Deja, Glen Keane, and Tom Sito, and draftsmen Jean Gillmore, Thom Enriquez, and Hans Bacher launched an expedition to the chateau to do their research for the animated adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast".
Geography
Loir-et-Cher is a part of the modern region of Centre-Val de Loire. Adjacent departments are Eure-et-Loir to the north, Loiret to the north-east, Cher to the south-east, Indre to the south, Indre-et-Loire to the south-west, and Sarthe to the west.
The department comprises 6,314 km2, which makes it the 31st largest of the French departments in terms of area. The line of the river Loire traverses the land, ensuring easy communication between its own capital, Blois, and the vibrant cultural and commercial centres of Tours to the west and the fringes of the Seine-Paris basin at Orléans to the east.
Its main rivers are the Loire, on which its prefecture (capital) Blois is situated, the Loir and the Cher.
Principal towns
The most populous commune is Blois, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 6 communes with more than 5,000 inhabitants:
Demographics
The inhabitants of the department are called the Loir-et-Chériens.
Politics
The preseident of the Departmental Council is Philippe Gouet (UDI), elected in July 2021.
Current National Assembly Representatives
Tourism
Châteaux
Loir-et-Cher has an important number of historic châteaux, including the following: | 0dcb0308-292f-4e1c-8106-9394b092d028 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_boards_of_Staten_Island"} | Community boards of Staten Island are New York City community boards in the borough of Staten Island, which are the appointed advisory groups of the community districts that advise on land use and zoning, participate in the city budget process, and address service delivery in their district.
Community boards are each composed of up to 50 volunteer members appointed by the local borough president, half from nominations by City Council members representing the community district (i.e., whose council districts cover part of the community district). Additionally, all City Council members representing the community district are non-voting, ex officio board members.
History
The 1963 revision of the New York City Charter extended the Borough of Manhattan's "Community Planning Councils" (est. 1951) to the outer boroughs as "Community Planning Boards", which are now known as "Community Boards".
The 1975 revision of the New York City Charter set the number of Community Districts/Boards to 59, established the position of the district manager for the community districts, and created the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) which gave the community boards the authority to review land use proposals such as zoning actions, and special permits.
Community Districts
Staten Island Borough Board
The Staten Island Borough Board is composed of the borough president, New York City Council members whose districts are part of the borough, and the chairperson of each community board in the Staten Island.
The current borough board (as of June 2020) is composed of the 7 members listed in the table below:
Other areas
Within the borough of Staten Island there is one Joint Interest Area (JIA), which is outside of the jurisdiction of individual community districts, and has its own district number. The JIA in Richmond county is: | d918ddd2-3feb-44ed-982e-bf2bf18c497e |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clionella_vilma"} | Species of gastropod
Clionella vilma is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Clavatulidae.
Description
The length of the shell attains 28 mm.
The narrow shell has a high spire with evenly convex whorls and a small aperture with a shallow siphonal canal. The shell lacks a subsutural cord or a shoulder sulcus. The axial ribs (numbering 12–22 per whorl) are crossed by fine, close spiral threads. The ground colour of the shell shows various shades of orange
Distribution
This marine species occurs off the Agulhas Bank, South Africa. | c03274e1-a353-47b4-bf3e-bc605cc6f773 |
null | Swedish noble (1661–1701)
Christiana Juliana Oxenstierna (23 September 1661 – 27 February 1701) was a Swedish noble. She was the center of a great social scandal when she married a non-noble against her family's consent. Her case caused a debate about the law for marriage between nobles and non-nobles.
Biography
She was the daughter of statesman and marshal Count Gabriel Gabrielsson Oxenstierna (d. 1673) and Countess Maria Christiana von Löwenstein und Scharfeneck (d. 1672; in turn she was the only surviving daughter of Countess Elisabeth Juliana of Erbach –later wife of the Swedish Field Marshal Johan Banér– in her second marriage) and sister of Count Gustaf Adolf Oxenstierna. As an orphan, she was taken care of by her paternal aunt, Countess Anna af Dohna.
The vicar (since 1687) of the French Lutheran church in Stockholm, Nikolaus Bergius, was lodged in the palace of Dohna. Bergius suffered from severe depression and Dohna asked her niece to comfort him. Oxenstierna and Bergius fell in love and Bergius proposed, but Oxenstierna declined, as she knew she would be an outcast from her family and the nobility if she consented. Her family found out and banned every plans of a marriage. Bergius was separated from her in 1688–89. Their relationship was eventually taken up again. After a priest had agreed to conduct the ceremony, Oxenstierna and Bergius were married in 1691. The marriage was kept a secret, and she remained with her unknowing family. In 1692, she became pregnant; she moved to her spouse, and everything was made public.
It became a great scandal. Her family contested the legality of the marriage, and her brother, the count, reported them to Hovrätten, to the Swedish House of Lords and presented the monarch with an appeal to bring the couple to court for committing a criminal act by breaking:
common law, guardian law, noble privileges, the law of the church as well as Your Majesty’s law of illegal marriages", by: "having dared to harm the rank of nobility by such a illegal act, in the Kingdom as well as abroad, and damaging its privileges, of such a degree that, if it is not made an example of, would unavoidably have the scandalous effect to break the public order, that a noblewoman, regardless of what kind, should be liberated.
He also suggested that the law should be enforced against marriages between nobles and non-nobles (1693). Christiana Oxenstierna replied to her brother:
If You wish Your hatred and persecution to last as long as our lives, so it will; You will with no doubt be spared the burden soon enough and harm Yourself as much as others; I will not loose a thing thereby. If You will be as a Christian, it will be as dear to me as the wish that you will give your children treasures which rust and moths can not alter, and that we will one day meet were a Count and a master Bergius will weigh as much.
The court of the Swedish House of Lords made the verdict that a serious crime had been committed, but as the King had commented that the matter was but a private affair, the case was not pursued further.
She broke off her contact with her family and the nobility and spent the rest of her life with her spouse, spending her time as a teacher for poor children. In 1701, she died in childbirth, giving her spouse all her assets in her will, because their four children (three sons and a daughter) all died in infancy. Her family demanded she be buried discreetly, and denied her a place in her father's crypt, but as she was the only person to have repaired and taken care of the crypt, her right to be buried there could not be denied. At her funeral, "Two Countesses Oxenstierna and one Miss Banér as well as other noblewomen prepared her corpse and lifter her with their own hands in to the coffin".
In culture
In 1704, as a reply to the debate and slander which were still very much alive about her controversial person, her former spouse published her biography: Kort Beskrifning af then Högwälborna Frus, Fru Christina Juliana Oxenstiernas Lefwernes Lopp (A description of the life of the honorable lady, lady Christina Juliana Oxenstierna) (1704). It was reprinted by Pehr Adolph Sondén as: Minne af Christiana Juliana Oxenstjerna (Memory of Christina Juliana Oxenstierna) (1836). | 601bbeab-6ec1-4911-bbcc-b99ba5d26531 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad-Reza_Lotfi"} | Musical artist
Mohammad-Reza Lotfi (Persian: محمدرضا لطفی; 1 January 1947 – 2 May 2014) was an Iranian classical musician renowned for his mastery of the tar and setar. He collaborated with singers such as Mohammad-Rezā Shajarian, Hengameh Akhavan, Shahram Nazeri and Alireza Shahmohammadi.
Life and career
Encouraged by his older brother, he learned to play the tar and showed his talent by winning the first prize in Iran's Young Musicians Festival in 1964. [citation needed] The following year, he started his studies at the Persian National Music Conservatory in Tehran under Habibollah Salehi and Master Ali Akbar Shahnazi. He was a tar player for the Fine Arts Administration Orchestra (Saba Orchestra) under the direction of Hossein Dehlavi. Some of his other eminent teachers were Abdollah Davami, from whom he learned the Radif, and Master Sa'id Hormozi, who taught him the setar.
While attending the College of Fine Arts at Tehran University, Lotfi became the student of Master Nour-Ali Boroumand. He also worked at the Center for the Preservation and Propagation of Traditional Persian Music, both as a soloist and a conductor. His other accomplishments were teaching at the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents, researching folk music for National Radio and Television, and appearing at the Shiraz Arts Festival. After graduating in 1973, Lotfi joined the faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University.
He continued his collaboration with Radio and Television and co-founded the Shayda Ensemble. Between 1978 and 1980, Lotfi became the Head of the School of Music at Tehran University. He served as the director of the Center for the Preservation and Propagation of Traditional Persian Music and the "Chavosh" Center. In 1984 Lotfi was invited by Fondazione Cini to participate in a seminar and perform concerts in Italy where he resided for two years. He lived in the United States from 1986 until his death and performed widely throughout Asia, Europe, and North America.
A prolific musician, he made numerous recordings both as a solo artist and with celebrated Iranian musicians such as, Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Shahram Nazeri, Hossein Alizadeh, and Parviz Meshkatian. Lotfi is one of the greatest contemporary masters of the tar and setar. He is among the major figures who, in the past twenty years, have revolutionized the Persian traditional (classical) music. His innovative approach of combining the classical with folk elements, both in terms of music and technique, has injected a new vitality into a very old tradition. His original creativity and the deep-rooted emotional quality of his playing have made him the father of a new aesthetics in Persian music.
Selected vocal works
Mohammad Reza Lotfi, has many works with Mohammad Reza Shajarian performed in radio or in common concerts. He also has many self-vocal works. This is important that Lotfi and Shajarian, performed in the Rast-Panjgah mode in a live concert (1976), at which point no one had performed in this mode for at least 20 years.
Death
Mohammad Reza Lotfi died on 2 May 2014 (age of 67) suffering from Prostate cancer. According to Hamid Dabashi, Lotfi's death marked "a crucial turning point in the history of classical Persian music and its spectacular rise and fall as a performing public art." | f4b73d1e-4f1c-42b4-8e44-b925dfcb4f2d |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibes"} | Look up vibes in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Vibes may refer to:
Media
Music | a952bdc8-3df7-489a-85d2-d3c5adead8ca |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stealth_Key"} | 3D printed metal security key
The Stealth Key is a fully 3D metal printed security key invented by Alejandro Ojeda. It is a 3D metal printed key which hides the mechanical security features inside of the key - making it difficult to copy. Due to the unique design of the key, the locking mechanism is different than a conventional lock and key mechanism.[vague]
HistoryThe Stealth Key was conceptualized[when?] to prevent key duplication by 3D printing. With 3D printers and 3D scanners reaching the consumer market in early 2010, the key copy and patent protection of most security keys was made obsolete. Many individuals duplicated security keys and several companies offering key duplication services using smartphone images began commercial operation.
Manufacturing of keysUnlike most keys - which are produced by key blank stamping and subsequent hole drilling - the Stealth Key is manufactured by 3D printing a metal alloy into the key's shape. | 973a2059-bfee-49ff-8e2e-a31382fe5f81 |
null | Irish politician
Eoin Ryan (born 24 February 1953) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Dublin from 2004 to 2009, and also was a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin South-East from 1992 to 2007.
Ryan was born in Dublin in 1953 and educated at St. Mary's College, Rathmines; College of Commerce, Rathmines; and Kildalton Horticulture College, County Kilkenny. In 1985 he was elected to Dublin City Council. In 1989 he was nominated to Seanad Éireann by then Taoiseach Charles Haughey. Ryan was elected to Dáil Éireann for the first time at the 1992 general election. He was re-elected at the 1997 general election, topping the poll in the Dublin South-East constituency.
In February 2000 Ryan was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation. He was not re-appointed in 2002. In 2004 he was elected to the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency, sitting in the Union for Europe of the Nations group.
Ryan comes from an Irish political family. His father, Eoin Ryan Snr, was a senator in Seanad Éireann for a number of years. Ryan's grandfather was James Ryan, a founding-member of Fianna Fáil and a long-serving cabinet minister.
Ryan retired from national politics at the 2007 general election, opting to concentrate on European politics. He lost his seat at the 2009 European Parliament election. | aea2f571-e152-4787-9693-1cc656a4ece9 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faule_Grete"} | Cannon
The Faule Grete (German for Lazy Grete, alluding to the lack of mobility and slow rate of fire of such super-sized cannon) was a medieval large-calibre cannon of the Teutonic Order. The bronze bombard was cast in 1409 in the cannon foundry of the Marienburg by the gunfounder Heynrich Dumechen. According to the account books of the order, the construction costs amounted to 278.5 Mark, a sum equivalent to ca. 1160 oxen.
Borrowed by Margrave Frederick I of Brandenburg in 1413, the cannon was instrumental in breaking the opposition of the domestic knighthood within three weeks, allowing Fredrick to lay the foundation for the rise of his Hohenzollern dynasty which later came to rule Prussia and the Deutsches Reich.
Besides the Faule Grete, a number of 15th-century European large-calibre weapons are known to have been employed primarily in siege warfare, including the wrought-iron Pumhart von Steyr, Dulle Griet and Mons Meg as well as the cast-bronze Grose Bochse (also made by the Teutonic Knights) and Faule Mette.
Footnotes | 3a8a1ad0-1162-4644-86a5-f14dfd1f5d3b |
null | American college football season
The 1898 University of Utah football team was an American football team that represented the University of Utah as an independent during the 1898 college football season. Head coach Benjamin Wilson led the team to a 2–1 record.
Schedule | 0a605b2a-7729-4208-92df-ea4b754f7d59 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_World_Weightlifting_Championships"} | The Royal World Weightlifting Championships 2007 were held at the 700th Anniversary Sports Complex in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The event took place from September 17 to September 26, 2007.
Medal summary
Men
Women
Medal table
Ranking by Big (Total result) medals
Ranking by all medals: Big (Total result) and Small (Snatch and Clean & Jerk)
Team ranking
Participating nations
580 competitors from 82 nations participated. | b3ad47ee-d8a4-4c31-b536-5a44a8e938f5 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agility"} | Ability to quickly change the quantity and direction of body speed
Agility or nimbleness is an ability to change the body's position quickly and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance. More specifically, it is dependent on these six skills:
In sports, agility is often defined in terms of an individual sport, due to it being an integration of many components each used differently (specific to all of sorts of different sports). Sheppard and Young (2006) defined agility as a "rapid whole body movement with change of direction or velocity in response to a stimulus".
Agility is also an important attribute in many role playing games, both video games such as Pokémon, and tabletop games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Agility may affect the character's ability to evade an enemy's attack or land their own, or pickpocket and pick locks.
In modern-day psychology, author, psychologist, and executive coach Susan David introduces a concept that she terms “emotional agility,” defined as: “being flexible with your thoughts and feelings so that you can respond optimally to everyday situations.”
The concept has also been applied to higher education management and leadership, where it was used to accelerate slower traditional and deliberative processes and to replace them with corporate decision-making. | 7df14f0d-28f2-4c92-96bc-1f1038c5c353 |
null | French-Canadian professional wrestling family
The Vachon family is a French-Canadian family long associated with professional wrestling in Canada and the United States, headed by Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon, his brother Paul "Butcher" Vachon - both longtime NWA and AWA veterans - and their sister Vivian. At one point the Vachons were joined by a storyline brother named "Stan Vachon" who worked with Maurice and Paul Vachon in tag team matches.
In 1975, the family was the subject of a documentary The Wrestling Queen and, in 2007, was featured in World Wrestling Entertainment's The Most Powerful Families in Wrestling. The Vachons are noted to have lived in France in the 17th century. The Vachons have been noted as tough and rough family but they have a very rich history. In 2004, Maurice and Paul Vachon were inducted as a tag team into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. Vivian Vachon and Luna Vachon were inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in the Lady Wrestler category in 2015 and 2020 respectively.
Members
The Vachon family name has also been adopted by wrestlers unrelated to the family, for instances by Pierre "The Beast" Vachon and Damien "Pitbull" Vachon, Canadian independent wrestlers who present themselves as the sons of Paul Vachon and have wrestled as a tag team in CWA Montreal, Great Canadian Wrestling, the Millennium Wrestling Federation, NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, NWA: New England, and Paulie Gilmore's New World Wrestling.
The Vachons are profiled in the 2019 documentary film Mad Dog and the Butcher (Les Derniers vilains).
Media | cbabb776-520b-4669-b0fd-08e9c409f936 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Real_Housewives_of_Potomac_(season_6)"} | Television season
Season of television series
The sixth season of The Real Housewives of Potomac, an American reality television series, is broadcast on Bravo. It premiered on July 11, 2021, and is primarily filmed in Potomac, Maryland. Its executive producers are Steven Weinstock, Glenda Hersh, Lauren Eskelin, Lorraine Haughton-Lawson, Thomas Kelly and Andy Cohen. The season focuses on the lives of Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Darby, Robyn Dixon, Karen Huger, Candiace Dillard Bassett, Wendy Osefo and Mia Thornton. Additionally, Askale Davis is featured as a friend of the housewives.
Cast and synopsis
After the show's fifth season concluded, Monique Samuels revealed she would not be returning for the following season. The remaining six ladies all returned along with new housewife Mia Thornton and new friend of the housewives Askale Davis. Filming for the season began in January 2021 and concluded in May of the same year.
Taglines
The reunion was filmed on October 7, with Nicki Minaj appearing as a guest host for a segment.
Episodes | f83399be-d737-447b-b174-6a5b3a7b6165 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Edward%27s_Passage"} | Street in Cambridge, United Kingdom
St Edward's Passage, known in the 18th century as Chain Lane, is a Y-shaped alleyway in Cambridge, England, between King's Parade—opposite the main gate of King's College—and Peas Hill. It houses the entrance and churchyard of the Church of St Edward King and Martyr; the Cambridge Arts Theatre; several cottages; G. David, an independent bookshop run from the same building since 1896; a few businesses; and student accommodation. It is a narrow, dark lane, with riven-stone paving, which opens out onto the much wider and sunnier King's Parade.
Excavations on the southern side in 1995 suggested that the lane had been established by the 13th century. It is marked on Richard Lyne's map of the city from 1574, the earliest known map of Cambridge, and on John Hammond's from 1592. According to Cambridge City Council, it "preserv[es] a sense of the cheek-by-jowl nature of the early town".
Buildings
St Edward King and Martyr
The entrance of St Edward King and Martyr, which dates to the early 13th century, is on St Edward's Passage, at the Peas Hill end. Its small churchyard lies between the two arms of the alley.
Calling itself the cradle of the English Reformation—a period of religious upheaval in the 16th century, when the English Church opposed the authority of the Roman Catholic Church—the church contains the original pulpit from which the Protestant reformers Robert Barnes (1495–1540), Thomas Bilney (1495–1531) and Hugh Latimer (1487–1555) preached. During midnight mass in the church on 24 December 1525, Barnes, an Augustinian friar who became a Lutheran, gave the first sermon in which a reformer accused the Catholic Church of heresy. Historian Alec Ryrie referred to it as "the first set-piece confrontation of the English Reformation". Barnes, Bilney and Latimer were eventually burned at the stake.
Other buildings
Most of the buildings are brick fronted, date from the late 18th and early 19th century, and have vertically hung sash windows. Several (nos. 3, 4, 8–10, 12–15, 15a and 16) are Grade II-listed buildings.
The Cambridge Arts Theatre and the Venue (a restaurant) are at no. 6, the Indigo Coffee House at no. 8, and the Haunted Bookshop at no. 9. The building at no. 10 has Gothic detailing and was originally built for the Church of England's Young Men's Society; it now houses the Corpus Christi College Playroom (a theatre). The building at nos. 12–15, a lime-washed two-storey brick building dating to the late 18th and early 19th century, is used for student accommodation. G. David, established in 1896 by Gustave David (1860–1936) and known as David's bookshop, is at no. 16. There is also a row of late 18th-century two-storey cottages.
Status, age and type
Gallery | fbffce02-ffb3-43f0-81df-6c6b334ceba8 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42_(number)"} | Natural number
42 (forty-two) is the natural number that follows 41 and precedes 43.
Mathematics
Forty-two (42) is a pronic number and an abundant number; its prime factorization (
) makes it the second sphenic number and also the second of the form (
).
Additional properties of the number 42 include:
Science
Technology
Astronomy
Religion
Popular culture
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The number 42 is, in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything," calculated by an enormous supercomputer named Deep Thought over a period of 7.5 million years. Unfortunately, no one knows what the question is. Thus, to calculate the Ultimate Question, a special computer the size of a small planet was built from organic components and named "Earth". The Ultimate Question "What do you get when you multiply six by nine" was found by Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect in the second book of the series, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. This appeared first in the radio play and later in the novelization of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The fact that Adams named the episodes of the radio play "fits", the same archaic title for a chapter or section used by Lewis Carroll in The Hunting of the Snark, suggests that Adams was influenced by Carroll's fascination with and frequent use of the number. The fourth book in the series, the novel So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, contains 42 chapters. According to the novel Mostly Harmless, 42 is the street address of Stavromula Beta. In 1994, Adams created the 42 Puzzle, a game based on the number 42.
The book 42: Douglas Adams' Amazingly Accurate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything (2011) examines Adams' choice of the number 42, and contains a compendium of some instances of the number in science, popular culture, and humour.
Google also has a calculator easter egg when one searches "the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything." Once typed (all in lowercase), the calculator answers with the number 42.
In Hervé Le Tellier's novel The Anomaly, a top-secret US Government protocol receives code number 42, inspired by this source.[citation needed]
Works of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll, who was a mathematician, made repeated use of this number in his writings.
Examples of Carroll's use of 42:
Music
Television and film
Video games
Sports
Architecture
Comics
Other fields
Other languages | a507a4e9-8307-42bc-9150-db26f7688d21 |
null | The British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (BSECS) is an interdisciplinary scholarly society founded in 1971 and based in the United Kingdom which promotes the study of all aspects of eighteenth-century history and culture. Its members are both academics and members of the public from all over the world with a diverse range of interests in the history, literature, art history, architecture, music, science, and wider culture of the long eighteenth century between approximately 1660 and 1820. BSECS is an affiliate of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ISECS).
The society's official journal is The Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies (JECS). It was founded in 1974 and is currently published by Wiley-Blackwell. It is a leading scholarly journal in the field of long eighteenth-century studies, and publishes essays and reviews in eighteenth-century literature, history, and culture from scholars based across the world. It is received by all the Society's members, and is subscribed to by many individuals and institutions, including many university libraries. All volumes of JECS are available in both printed and electronic format.
The society organizes an annual three-day conference in January, normally held at St Hugh's College, Oxford, which is attended by scholars from across the world. It also offers a range of fellowships and bursaries to support research into eighteenth-century history, literature, and culture.
Presidents
The current president (from 2021) is Brycchan Carey. Past presidents include:
2018 Caroline Warman
2015 Matthew Grenby
2013 Jeremy Gregory
2010 Michael Burden
2008 Penelope Corfield
2006 John Dunkley
2004 Frank O’Gorman
2002 Derek Hughes
2000 Janet Todd
1998 Brean Hammond | c7abbfe5-b0f9-47e9-9004-f1427381627e |
null | Packetized Elementary Stream (PES) is a specification in the MPEG-2 Part 1 (Systems) (ISO/IEC 13818-1) and ITU-T H.222.0 that defines carrying of elementary streams (usually the output of an audio or video encoder) in packets within MPEG program streams and MPEG transport streams. The elementary stream is packetized by encapsulating sequential data bytes from the elementary stream inside PES packet headers.
A typical method of transmitting elementary stream data from a video or audio encoder is to first create PES packets from the elementary stream data and then to encapsulate these PES packets inside Transport Stream (TS) packets or Program Stream (PS) packets. The TS packets can then be multiplexed and transmitted using broadcasting techniques, such as those used in an ATSC and DVB.
Transport Streams and Program Streams are each logically constructed from PES packets. PES packets shall be used to convert between Transport Streams and Program Streams. In some cases the PES packets need not be modified when performing such conversions. PES packets may be much larger than the size of a Transport Stream packet.
PES packet header
Optional PES header
While above flags indicate that values are appended into variable length optional fields, they are not just simply written out. For example, PTS (and DTS) is expanded from 33 bits to 5 bytes (40 bits). If only PTS is present, this is done by catenating 0010b, most significant 3 bits from PTS, 1, following next 15 bits, 1, rest 15 bits and 1. If both PTS and DTS are present, first 4 bits are 0011 and first 4 bits for DTS are 0001. Other appended bytes have similar but different encoding. | 30e94f67-c5da-45b4-9bc7-3fe1ccf31495 |
null | The 13th Legislative Assembly of Quebec was the provincial legislature in Quebec, Canada that existed from May 15, 1912, to May 22, 1916. The Quebec Liberal Party led by Lomer Gouin was the governing party.
Seats per political party
Member list
This was the list of members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec that were elected in the 1912 election:
Other elected MLAs
Cabinet Ministers | b181ef78-c615-4ee3-82d1-08363a6704d6 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tshwane_Open"} | The Tshwane Open was a golf tournament played since 2013 in Gauteng Province, South Africa. It was played at Copperleaf Golf & Country Estate in Centurion, South Africa in 2013 and 2014 and moved to Pretoria Country Club in Waterkloof in 2015. It was a co-sanctioned event by the Sunshine Tour and the European Tour. On 30 October 2018, the European Tour released their 2019 schedule, and it was noted that the Tshwane Open was no longer a co-sanctioned event by the European Tour, with no confirmation of the event's status by the Sunshine Tour.
Winners | fa4a68c0-eac6-406e-ba00-4e9d31b6c4d3 |
null | Pinphat is a traditional Lao ensemble used to accompanied in Laotian shadow theater and masked theater Phralak Phralam, the Laotian version of Indian Ramaya. This ensemble was adopted from the Khmer orchestra.
Pinphat is analogous to Khmer Pinpeat and Thai Piphat.
Etymology
As Pinphat was adopted from the Khmer traditional ensemble called Pinpeat, the pronunciation is very similar to its Cambodian cousin and sharing the same words root from Sanskrit vînâ and vadya meaning 'musical instrument'. | 2fd1305b-36c2-4eba-bf3f-8c96d8f9094a |
null | John Whitelaw (born 1943 in New York) is an American harpsichordist and longtime faculty member of the Royal Conservatory in Ghent. After studies in Chicago, he was a student of Kenneth Gilbert in Montreal from 1967-1971. In 1970 he won the Prix d'Europe. In 1971 he won second prize at the competition Musica Antiqua Bruges and first prize at the international harpsichord competition in Paris. He has appeared as a guest artist on numerous recordings, and in 1996 released his own album dedicated to the works of William Byrd.
He has also played the clavichord, the forte-piano and the piano, in particular accompanying soprano Gerda Hartman in the repertoire of the German Lied. | 0364be69-ecef-41c6-a784-3dd502e1f07c |
null | American baseball player
Baseball player
Philip Vance Voyles (May 12, 1900 – November 3, 1972) was an outfielder in Major League Baseball. He played for the Boston Braves in 1929. | 66d063d2-e0e2-468b-a3af-110f69bac481 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillaiabrachia"} | Genus of fishes
Pillaiabrachia siniae, is a species of earthworm eels found in a small pool near Mogaung in Kachin state, northern Myanmar. This species is the only known member of its genus. | cea540c2-2271-4db8-81ab-1d51377a21a7 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyronne_Roberts-Davis"} | Australian rugby league footballer
Tyronne Roberts-Davis (born 17 August 1997) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer. He is currently on a train and trial contract for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League. His positions are fullback and wing.
He previously played for the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League.
Background
Born in Macksville, New South Wales, Roberts-Davis is of Indigenous Australian Dunghutti descent and played his junior rugby league for the Kempsey Dragons. He was then signed by the Gold Coast Titans.
Roberts-Davis is cousins with former teammate Tyrone Roberts and South Sydney Rabbitohs player James Roberts, and the nephew of former NRL player Amos Roberts.
Playing career
Early career
In 2015 and 2016, Roberts-Davis played for the Gold Coast Titans' NYC team. Late in 2015, he played for the Australian Schoolboys.
2017
In round 2 of the 2017 NRL season, Roberts-Davis made his NRL debut for the Titans against the Newcastle Knights, scoring a try. He went on to play in 6 NRL matches for the Titans in 2017, scoring 2 tries.
2018
Roberts-Davis only managed to play in 1 NRL game for the Titans in 2018.
2019
In 2019, Roberts-Davis spent the entire year playing for the Burleigh Bears in the Queensland Cup, before joining the Newcastle Knights in November for the 2020 pre-season on a train and trial deal.
2020
After playing in the 2020 NRL Nines and two trials for the Knights, Roberts-Davis secured a top 30 NRL contract for the 2020 season.
On 28 April, Roberts-Davis was fined $10,000 by the NRL after breaking social distancing rules during the Coronavirus pandemic. Roberts-Davis had gone on a camping trip with fellow NRL players Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr at Mitchell's farm near Taree.
Roberts-Davis failed to make an appearance for the Knights and was released at the end of the season. In November, he signed with Newcastle Rugby League side Cessnock Goannas for the 2021 season. | 0234b468-355a-408d-b24a-7d347fd2a052 |
null | Cameroonian footballer
Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé (born 27 September 1978) is a former footballer who played as a right-back. Born in France, he gained 20 caps for Cameroon, qualifying through heritage.
Club career
Early career
Born in Paris, Perrier-Doumbé started his career at Auxerre, making over 50 first-team appearances before moving to Rennes in 2004. He quickly became a first-team regular at the Stade de la Route de Lorient, making 27 appearances in Ligue 1 in the 2005–06 season.
However, the Cameroon international found first team opportunities limited during the first half of the 2006–07 campaign after missing the opening stages of the season due to an arm injury sustained in a pre-season friendly. The arrival of Dutch defender Mario Melchiot provided strong competition for the right-back berth and Perrier-Doumbé was linked with moves away.
Loan spell with Celtic
On 12 January 2007, it was reported that Perrier-Doumbé had been on trial with Celtic, while Premier League side Bolton Wanderers were also credited with an interest. On 25 January, it was confirmed that Perrier-Doumbé would join Celtic, initially on loan until the end of the season, with an option to sign for an additional two years after the completion of the loan.
On arrival at Celtic, Perrier-Doumbé found first team opportunities limited and began as a reserve team player. However, injuries to Mark Wilson and Gary Caldwell gave the Cameroonian a chance and he made his way into the first team, although not until after Celtic had already won the league. He scored the winning goal in the Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline Athletic on 26 May 2007, his first senior goal in club football.
In July 2007, after his contract with Rennes expired, it was reported that Perrier-Doumbé was in talks with Sheffield United on the recommendation of Celtic manager Gordon Strachan after he had refused to pay a fee for Perrier-Doumbé. Celtic were expected to sign him on a three-year deal but, due to a clause in the loan contract, the club would have had to pay £400,000; any other club was available to sign him for free.
However, after playing for the Blades in a pre-season friendly against Alfreton Town, manager Bryan Robson decided to not to offer him a contract.
Permanent deal with Celtic
On 11 August 2007, Perrier-Doumbé signed for Celtic until the end of the season. Perrier-Doumbé tore his Achilles tendon during a Champions League match against Milan on 3 October and was sidelined for nearly six months. He made his comeback for the Celtic reserve team against Gretna on 24 March 2008. Whilst out injured, the club honoured him with a year's extension on his contract, tying him up until the end of the 2008–09 season.
Toulouse
On 7 October 2009, Perrier-Doumbé returned to France and signed a two-year deal with Toulouse. He left the club in 2011.
Career statistics
Club
International
Honours
Auxerre
Celtic | f9589c15-332b-4d7c-99d4-2e1cec46405b |
null | 2005 film
Sayed El Atefy (Arabic: سيد العاطفي; English: Sayed the Romantic) is an Egyptian film about a simple woman called Um Sayed (Abla Kamel) who raises her son after his father died. She works a taxi driver and car pickups to face life's burdens. At the same time loving Al-Ahli Team so much and sponsor her son Sayed (Tamer Hosny), who is facing several problems at the university with his uncle. Um Sayed and friends try to lift the injustice done to her son in the comic style concert.
Sources | 9f1a9b33-c1f6-4d94-9c09-095b9a125e14 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo%C5%A1_Pech"} | Miloš Pech (born 22 August 1927) is a Czechoslovak sprint canoeist who competed from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s. He won two medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with a silver (K-1 10000 m: 1954) and a bronze (K-4 1000 m: 1948). Pech also competed in two Summer Olympics, earning his best finish of fifth in the K-2 1000 m event at London in 1948. | 93990a21-e7ed-4d09-a410-96772f83f37d |
null | Grunebaum is a last name, e.g.: | e6ea406f-efc0-4635-a1e1-c6d31eda35e4 |
null | Colin Robert Badger (4 December 1906 – 8 August 1993), was an Australian adult education administrator.
Career
Badger was born Robert Colin Badger in Petersburg, South Australia (now Peterborough), to Australian-born parents Herbert James Badger (c. 1867 – 14 February 1947), and Angelena "Lena" Badger ( –1961), née Nichols, who married at Burra in 1888. Herbert's father was Scots-born Baptist minister David Gibson Jude Badger, important in the development of the Baptist Church in South Australia's Mid North; Lena was daughter of William Nicholls of Booboorowie.
Badger's parents, who ran a haberdashery business, left Petersburg around 1916 and settled in the Adelaide suburb of Kent Town, around 1918 moving to 6 Fife Avenue Torrens Park. Badger attended North Adelaide Primary School 1911–17, Mitcham Primary 1918–19, and Unley High School 1920–23, when he was expelled for petty theft, and he found work as a laboratory assistant at the University of Adelaide. As a university employee he was entitled to attend lectures as a non-fee-paying "auditor", which entitled him to no qualifications but he did land a position at the library. He then decided on the ministry and enrolled at the Baptist College, meanwhile undertaking the university's degree course in history and philosophy part-time, winning the Tinline scholarship for history in 1931. He was employed as a lecturer by the Workers' Educational Association in Adelaide and Perth. He visited Italy 1934–35, studying the breakdown of parliamentary democracy. He graduated BA in 1936 and MA in 1938, following the publication of his thesis The Relation of Public Opinion and Law in South Australia. He was appointed Director of Adult Education at the University of Western Australia and in 1938 Director of Extension at the University of Melbourne, succeeding Professor J. A. Gunn.
Family
Badger married nurse Adelaide Estella Slade on 9 November 1929. Their children include:
Badger's sister Lena Jessie Badger (died 4 March 1949) qualified as a lawyer, married George Ernest Jansen. | 4702c74f-b823-4a82-963d-0c38f7082385 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Flame"} | Rocket-powered land speed racing vehicle
Blue Flame is a rocket-powered land speed racing vehicle that was driven by Gary Gabelich and achieved a world land speed record on Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah on October 23, 1970. The vehicle set the FIA world record for the flying mile at 622.407 mph (1,001.667 km/h) and the flying kilometer at 630.388 mph (1,014.511 km/h). Blue Flame's world records have since been broken.
Design and construction
Blue Flame was constructed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by Reaction Dynamics, a company formed by Pete Farnsworth, Ray Dausman and Dick Keller, who had developed the first hydrogen peroxide rocket dragster, called the X-1 and driven by Chuck Suba. The car used a combination of high-test peroxide and liquified natural gas (LNG), pressurized by helium gas. The effort was sponsored by the American Gas Association, with technical assistance from the Institute of Gas Technology of Des Plaines, IL.
The engine was designed by Reaction Dynamics and some of the components were manufactured by Galaxy Manufacturing of Tonawanda, New York.[citation needed]
Blue Flame's engine is a regeneratively cooled variable thrust liquid-propellent engine. It can operate on either a single- or dual-propellant basis. In operation, it permits natural gas use as a liquid, gas, or both with a two-stage combustion start. The oxidizer flow is established first, then LNG enters a heat exchanger where it vaporizes and is brought to combustion temperature. The gas is then injected into the combustion chamber with the oxygen provided by the hydrogen peroxide. A stable flame front is established and the remaining liquified natural gas (LNG) is injected to bring the engine to full power.
Nominal engine running time was 20 seconds at full thrust of 22,500 lbf (100 kN), the equivalent of 58,000 hp (43 MW). Keller stated[citation needed] the Goodyear Tire Company restricted their top speed to 700 mph (1,100 km/h).[citation needed] Reaction Dynamics subsequently modified the LNG flow in the two-stage injector system to almost halve the maximum thrust. The actual thrust during the record runs was between 13,000 lbf (58 kN) [equivalent of 35,000 hp (26 MW)] and 15,000 lbf (67 kN). Blue Flame's record runs involved accelerating continuously to the mile midpoint, then coasting through the mile. The peak speed, approximately 650 mph (1,050 km/h), was reached at that point and then the vehicle decelerated the rest of the way. The kilometer speed trap was biased towards one end of the mile, resulting in the 8 mph (12.9 km/h) higher speed.
Blue Flame uses an aluminum semi-monocoque with welded tubular structure in the nose section and an aluminum "skin." The vehicle is 37 ft 4.6 in (11.394 m) long, 8 ft 1.5 in (2.477 m) high to the top of the tail fin, and 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m) wide, with a wheelbase of 306 in (7.8 m). It has an empty weight of 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) and is approximately 6,600 lb (3,000 kg) fully fueled and loaded. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. designed 8:00-25 tires for the vehicle, with an outside diameter of 34.8 in (880 mm) and smooth tread surface to help prevent heat buildup, filled with nitrogen gas at 350 psi (24 bar).
Land speed record
On 23 October 1970 at Bonneville, Gary Gabelich drove Blue Flame to a new record of 622.407 mph (1,001.667 km/h) for the flying mile, 630.388 mph (1,014.511 km/h) for the flying kilometre.
Legacy
Blue Flame is now on permanent exhibition at the Auto and Technik Museum Sinsheim in Germany. | ad502546-3198-4d91-a5d1-6f6cc6d352a8 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrav%C4%81r%C4%81h%C4%AB"} | Tibetan Buddhist deity
In Tibetan Buddhism, Vajravārāhī ("The Diamond Sow", Tibetan: ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་མོ, Wylie: rdo rje phag mo Dorje Pakmo) is a wrathful form of Vajrayogini associated particularly with the Cakrasaṃvara Tantra, where she is paired in yab-yum with the Heruka Cakrasaṃvara. Judith Simmer-Brown writes that "Vajravārāhī's iconography is very similar to that of Vajrayoginī, but she often has more prominent fangs and a more wrathful expression, and she prominently displays a sow's head above her right ear."
Although there are practices of Vajravārāhī in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, she is particularly associated with the Kagyu school and is one of the main yidam practices of that school. Her tulkus, the Samding Dorje Phagmo, are associated with the Bodongpa, a little-known school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Iconography
Vajravārāhī is one of the most popular female Tantric deities in all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Although there are several forms, the basic iconography is that she has one face, (usually) two hands and two legs, is usually red in colour, and standing in a dancing posture on a human corpse. The distinguishing iconographic attribute is a sow head (varahi) placed either on the right side of her head or on the top of her head. Because of this sow's head, sometimes she is called the 'two-faced' Vajrayogini (shal nyi ma).
Outline
In Buddhist tantric texts, Vajravarahi and Cakrasamvara defeat the embodiments of ego, Bhairava and Kali, in a battle that sees each side pitting twenty-four emanations of themselves against the other in twenty-four sacred sites.
Incarnation lineages
Samding Dorje Phagmo
One tulku lineage associated with Vajravarahi is that of Samding Dorje Phagmo, who first manifested at Samding Monastery in 1717 in order to tame Yamdrok Lake, a sacred lake as well as a dangerous flashpoint for massive flooding events in Tibet.
However, her effects were said to be more practical: as abbess of Samding, it is said that she stopped the invasion of the Dzungars, who were described as terrified of her great siddhi powers. When faced with her anger - which it is said she expressed by turning the 80 śrāmaṇerīs under her care into furious wild sows - they left the goods and valuables they had plundered as offerings at her monastery and fled the region.
In 1716, when the Jungar invaders of Tibet came to Nangartse, their chief sent word to Samding to the Dorjo Phagmo to appear before him, that he might see if she really had, as reported, a pig's head. A mild answer was returned to him; but, incensed at her refusing to obey his summons, he tore down the walls of the monastery of Samding, and broke into the sanctuary. He found it deserted, not a human being in it, only eighty pigs and as many sows grunting in the congregation hall under the lead of a big sow, and he dared not sack a place belonging to pigs. When the Jungars had given up all idea of sacking Samding, suddenly the pigs disappeared to become venerable-looking lamas and nuns, with the saintly Dorje Phagmo at their head. Filled with astonishment and veneration for the sacred character of the lady abbess, the chief made immense presents to her lamasery.
Other incarnation lineages
There also is a Dorje Phagmo tulku in Bhutan recognized by the Sakya lama Rikey Jatrel, considered an incarnation of Thang Tong Gyalpo, who was a close associate of Chökyi Drönma despite his political tensions with the Bodongpa lineage heads of the time. She is currently a member of the monastic community of Thangtong Dewachen Dupthop Nunnery at Zilingkha in Thimphu, which follows the Nyingma and the Shangpa Kagyu traditions.
Footnotes | 67a0b681-4d98-4752-994a-1550dc419ec1 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_Type_B"} | Motor vehicle
The Audi Type B was introduced in 1910 as a successor to the Audi Type A, there was an overall 360 of the Type B built. It used a four-cylinder, two-block inline engine with 2.6 Litres of displacement. It developed 28 PS (21 kW; 28 hp) through a four-speed countershaft gearbox and a propeller shaft, which drove the rear wheels. The car had a ladder frame and two leaf-sprung solid axles.
Specifications
Sources | 2d548a83-92ba-456b-be0e-da654e70703b |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denys_Kostyuk"} | Ukrainian cyclist
Denys Kostyuk (born 13 March 1982) is a Ukrainian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2016. During his career, Kostyuk rode for UCI ProTeam Lampre–ISD in 2011 and 2012, and competed in the 2011 Tour de France where he finished in 153rd place.
Personal life
He is married to triple jumper Olha Saladukha.
Major results
2002
4th Gran Premio Industrie del Marmo
2003
1st Gran Premio Palio del Recioto
2nd Overall Giro delle Regioni
1st Stages 4 & 5 (ITT)
2nd Gran Premio Industrie del Marmo
2nd Giro del Belvedere
2nd Gran Premio della Liberazione
3rd Trofeo Banca Popolare di Vicenza
3rd Trofeo Alcide Degasperi
4th Giro del Mendrisiotto
2004
3rd Road race, National Road Championships
8th Druivenkoers Overijse
2005
5th Overall Tour de l'Avenir
9th Overall Tour of Belgium
2006
1st Stage 3 Tour of Qinghai Lake
2nd Overall Five Rings of Moscow
3rd Road race, National Road Championships
7th Overall Grand Prix of Sochi
10th Overall Bałtyk–Karkonosze Tour
1st Stage 5
10th Mayor Cup
2007
7th Overall Tour of Qinghai Lake
2008
National Road Championships
2nd Road race
3rd Time trial
2nd Overall Course de Solidarność et des Champions Olympiques
3rd Overall Flèche du Sud
1st Stage 3
5th Sparkassen Giro Bochum
6th Overall Grand Prix of Sochi
6th Neuseen Classics
8th La Roue Tourangelle
2009
4th Tro-Bro Léon
9th Overall Tour of Ireland
10th Overall Volta ao Alentejo
2010
7th Grand Prix de Fourmies
2013
1st
Road race, National Road Championships
1st Race Horizon Park 1
2nd Overall Five Rings of Moscow
7th Memorial Oleg Dyachenko
2014
1st Race Horizon Park 3
2nd Road race, National Road Championships
2015
2nd Road race, National Road Championships
2nd Moscow Cup
2nd Race Horizon Park Race for Peace
5th Overall Tour of Mersin
6th Grand Prix of ISD
6th Odessa Grand Prix 2
2016
3rd Road race, National Road Championships | 4167c3c2-38b0-423a-8e1a-c4d3c7687818 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_Returns"} | 1986 four-issue comic book miniseries by Frank Miller
The Dark Knight Returns (alternatively titled Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) is a 1986 four-issue comic book miniseries starring Batman, written by Frank Miller, illustrated by Miller and Klaus Janson, with color by Lynn Varley, and published by DC Comics. It tells an alternative story of Bruce Wayne, who at 55 years old returns from retirement to fight crime and faces opposition from the Gotham City police force and the United States government. The story also features the return of classic foes such as Two-Face and the Joker, and culminates with a confrontation with Superman, who is now a pawn of the government.
When originally published, the series was simply titled Batman: The Dark Knight, with a different subtitle for each issue (The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Triumphant, Hunt the Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Falls), but when the series was collected into a single volume later that year, the title of the first issue was applied to the entire series, and has remained so ever since. Some of the earliest collected editions also bore the shorter series title. The story introduces Carrie Kelley as the new Robin and the hyper-violent street gang known as the Mutants. In the Pre-Flashpoint DC Multiverse, the events of The Dark Knight Returns and its associated titles were designated to occur on Earth-31.[citation needed]
The miniseries, the first of a trilogy of limited series based on this version of Batman, was followed by The Dark Knight Strikes Again and The Dark Knight III: The Master Race.
The Dark Knight Returns is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential Batman stories ever made,[citation needed] as well as one of the greatest works of comic art in general, and has been noted for helping reintroduce a darker and more mature-oriented version of the character (and superheroes in general) to pop culture during the 1980s. Various elements of the series have since been incorporated into depictions of Batman in other media, while a direct animated adaptation of the story, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, was released as a two-part film across 2012 and 2013.
Plot
The Dark Knight Returns is set in a dystopian version of Gotham City in 1986. Bruce Wayne, aged 55, has given up the mantle of Batman after the death of Jason Todd ten years prior. Crime is running rampant throughout the city and a gang calling themselves "The Mutants" has begun terrorizing the people of Gotham. After watching news reports about the Mutants' crimes, Wayne decides to return to his role as a vigilante. On his first night as Batman, he stops multiple assaults – including one on two young girls, Carrie Kelley and her friend Michelle – and targets the Mutants.
While foiling an armed robbery, Batman learns that the criminals are working for Harvey Dent. Previously known as Two-Face, Dent underwent extensive therapy and plastic surgery to reenter society before disappearing. Batman informs nearly-retired Commissioner Gordon that Dent may be planning a larger scheme. Soon after, Dent announces his intention to hold Gotham ransom with a bomb. After Batman defeats Dent and his goons, he discovers that Dent's mind has completely warped into his Two-Face persona.
Inspired by Batman, Kelley buys an imitation Robin costume and searches for him. Batman attacks the Mutants at the city dump with the Batmobile, but the Mutant Leader goads him into a hand-to-hand fight. Batman, due to his age and a decade of physical inactivity, is beaten and almost killed. Kelley creates a diversion which allows her and Batman to return to the Batcave, where Wayne's butler Alfred Pennyworth tends to his wounds. Impressed with her bravery, Wayne decides to make Kelley his new protegee. Batman strategically defeats the Mutant Leader in a fight surrounded by the Mutants. Seeing Batman defeat their leader, some of the Mutants disband into smaller gangs. One of these gangs renames themselves the "Sons of the Batman", using excessive violence against criminals.
At the White House, Superman and current President Ronald Reagan discuss the events in Gotham, with the latter suggesting that Batman may have to be arrested. Clark Kent talks with Wayne, and is then deployed by Washington to the Latin American country of Corto Maltese, where he fights Soviet combat forces in a conflict that may escalate into World War III.
Gordon's successor as commissioner, Captain Ellen Yindel, declares Batman a wanted criminal for his vigilante activities. Batman's return stimulates his archenemy, Joker, to awaken from catatonia at Arkham Asylum. Joker manipulates his caretakers to allow him onto a television talk show, where he murders everyone with Joker venom and escapes. Batman and Robin (Kelley) track him to a county fair while evading a police pursuit. Batman fights Joker, vowing to stop him permanently, feeling responsible for every murder the villain has committed. Batman paralyzes the Joker, but is unable to take his life. Disappointed with Batman's refusal to kill him, Joker breaks his own neck and dies. Batman and Robin escape from Gotham police.
A citywide manhunt on Batman begins. Elsewhere, Superman diverts a Soviet nuclear warhead which detonates in a desert, nearly killing him in the process, and survives only by absorbing the sun's energy. The United States is hit by an electromagnetic pulse as a result and descends into chaos during the following blackout. In Gotham, Batman and Robin turn the remaining Mutants and Sons of the Batman into a non-lethal vigilante gang, making Gotham the safest city in the country. The U.S. government orders Superman to take Batman into custody. Superman demands to meet Batman, and Wayne chooses Crime Alley.
Superman tries to reason with Batman, but Batman uses his technological inventions to fight him on equal ground. During the battle, Superman compromises Batman's exoframe. However, an aging Oliver Queen manages to shoot Superman with a kryptonite-tipped arrow to weaken him. Before he can fully defeat Superman, Batman has a sudden heart attack, apparently dying. Alfred destroys the Batcave and Wayne Manor before suffering a fatal stroke, exposing Batman as Bruce Wayne, whose fortune has disappeared. After Wayne's funeral, it is revealed that his death was staged using a chemical that suspended his vital life signs. Clark attends the funeral and winks at the disguised Carrie after hearing Wayne's heartbeat. Some time afterwards, Bruce Wayne leads Robin, Queen, and the rest of his followers into the caverns beyond the Batcave and prepares to continue his war on crime.
Characters
Background and creation
Since the 1950s, when the Comics Code Authority was established, the character of Batman had drifted from his darker, more serious roots. It was not until the 1970s when the character began to feature in darker stories once again; however, Batman was still commonly associated with the campy theme of the 1960s Batman TV series, and was regarded more as a father figure to Robin rather than as his original identity as a vigilante.
In the early 1980s, DC Comics promoted Batman group editor Dick Giordano to editorial director for the company. Writer-artist Frank Miller was recruited to create The Dark Knight Returns. Giordano said he worked with Miller on the story's plot, and said, "[t]he version that was finally done was about his fourth or fifth draft. The basic storyline was the same but there were a lot of detours along the way."
"With Batman, you've got a character that you can describe in just a few seconds: His parents were murdered by criminals; he's warring on crime for the rest of his life," Miller explained in the documentary Comic Book Confidential. "He was created in 1938, and the character was just ruthless in his methods, terrifying to criminals. Over the years, that got softened and softened, because people started thinking that comics had to be just for kids... and Batman had to be made much nicer. And eventually, no kid could relate to him anymore."
During the creation of the series, fellow comics writer/artist John Byrne told Miller, "Robin must be a girl", and Miller agreed. Miller said that the comic series' plot was inspired by Dirty Harry, specifically the 1983 film Sudden Impact, in which Dirty Harry returns to crime-fighting after a lengthy convalescence.[citation needed] The series employed a 16-panel grid for its pages. Each page was composed of either a combination of 16 panels, or anywhere between sixteen and one panel per page. Giordano left the project halfway through because of disagreements over production deadlines. Comics historian Les Daniels wrote that Miller's idea of ignoring deadlines was "the culmination of the quest towards artistic independence".
While the comic's ending features Batman faking his death and leading up the Sons of Batman to continue with his crusade against crime, symbolizing that Bruce Wayne dies but Batman lives on, this wasn't the original intention. During the MCM London Comic Con 2018, Miller revealed that in his original plans for the ending of The Dark Knight Returns, Batman was going to be gunned down by the police while fighting them, but the story got away from him and changed his mind.
The issues of The Dark Knight Returns were presented in packaging that included extra pages, square binding and glossy paper to highlight the watercolor paintings by colorist Lynn Varley.
Collected editions
The entire series has been collected in trade paperbacks, hardcovers, an absolute edition, a noir edition, and a deluxe edition.
Reception
Despite the cost of the single-issue packaging, The Dark Knight Returns sold well. Pricing it at $2.95 an issue, DC Comics promoted The Dark Knight Returns as a "thought-provoking action story". Time said the series' depiction of a "semi-retired Batman [who] is unsure about his crime-fighting abilities" was an example of trying to appeal to "today's skeptical readers". More than 1 million comics in print were issued.
Retrospectively, the series is today widely considered one of the greatest works in the comics medium. IGN Comics ranked The Dark Knight Returns first on a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels and called The Dark Knight Returns "a true masterpiece of storytelling" with "[s]cene after unforgettable scene." In 2005, Time chose the collected edition as one of the 10 best English language graphic novels ever written. Forbidden Planet placed the collected issue at number one on its "50 Best of the Best Graphic Novels" list. Writer Matthew K. Manning in the "1980s" chapter of DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle (2010) called the series "arguably the best Batman story of all time." It was placed second in a poll among comic book academics conducted by the Sequart Organization.
The series also garnered some negative reviews. In April 2010, Nicolas Slayton from Comics Bulletin ranked The Dark Knight Returns second in his Tuesday Top Ten feature's Top 10 Overrated Comic Books behind Watchmen. Slayton wrote, "[t]here is no central plot to the comic, leaving only a forced fight scene between Superman and Batman as an out of place climax to the story." "Gone are the traits that define Batman," he said, also citing "misuse of the central character."
Influence
The immense popularity of The Dark Knight Returns served both to return the character of Batman to a central role in pop culture, but also (along with Watchmen) started the era known as the Dark Age of Comic Books (also known as the Modern Age and the Iron Age). The grim, seedy versions of Gotham and Batman updated the character's identity from the campy Adam West version from the 1960s Batman TV series, and proved critically and commercially successful enough that a new wave of "dark" superheroes were either created or re-popularized, and preexisting heroes were redesigned or retooled to fit this new trend.[citation needed]
The Dark Knight Returns was one of the two comic books, alongside Watchmen, that inspired designer Vincent Connare when he created the Comic Sans font.
Sequels, prequels and spin-offs
A three-issue sequel written and illustrated by Miller, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, was published in 2001. A nine-issue third installment, The Dark Knight III: The Master Race, co-written by Miller and Brian Azzarello, was published approximately bi-monthly starting in late 2015. In addition, a 64-page Prestige Format one-shot co-written by Miller and Azzarello, Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade, which serves as a prequel to the original series, was released on June 15, 2016. Additionally, Spawn/Batman was released in 1994 as a companion to The Dark Knight Returns, and, according to Miller, the unfinished series All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder can be considered a prequel, as can the four-issue story Batman: Year One.
In 1994, this version of Batman appeared in the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time crossover event playing a small role. In March 2018, he appeared in a brief cameo in the sixth and final issue of the Dark Nights: Metal event. The three-issue miniseries Superman: Year One was revealed by Frank Miller to be set in the same universe as the Dark Knight Returns series, serving as an origin story for that universe's version of Superman. Younger versions of Batman and Wonder Woman appeared in the third issue of the series, marking their first meeting with Superman.
In 2019, Miller announced the name of the fourth chapter of the series, a Prestige Format one-shot entitled Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child, released under DC Black Label. The first issue by Miller and Rafael Grampa was released December 2019.
In 2018, it was announced that this version of Robin, Carrie Kelley, would be getting a spin-off in the form of a young adult graphic novel. It will be written by Miller with art from Ben Caldwell. There was very little information until November 2021, when Miller said "[The Carrie Kelley book] is shaping up great; Ben is just a powder keg of talent. It'd probably be out now but it just keeps growing, due to his enthusiasm and output. I'm already kind of tugging at his sleeve about doing something else after this."
In other media
Television
Live action
Animation
Film
Live action
Animation
Comic books
Merchandise
In 1996, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the graphic novel, DC released a new hardcover and a later softcover release. These included original rough script text for issue #4 with some sketches by Miller. There was also a limited edition slipcased hardcover that included mini poster prints, collected media reviews, and a sketchbook by Miller. DC Direct released a limited edition statue of Batman and Robin designed by Miller. It was released in full size and then later as a mini sized statue.[unreliable source?] DC Direct released a series of Batman action figures based on The Dark Knight Returns in 2004. It included figures of Batman, Robin, Superman, and The Joker. Later, a Batman and Joker Gift Set was released, including both characters with new color schemes to reflect earlier points in the story, and a 48-page prestige format reprint of The Dark Knight Returns #1 was also released.[citation needed] An action figure of Batman as he appears in The Dark Knight Returns was released by Mattel in 2013, as part of their Batman Unlimited line of action figures.[citation needed]
In 2022, Cryptozoic Entertainment released a Batman: The Dark Knight Returns board game designed specifically for solitaire play. The game uses extensive amounts of art from the graphic novel and play follows the story of The Dark Knight Returns, including 4 games mirroring the books as a campaign.
Miscellaneous | a05b23f1-e110-4c18-be22-4fcccd2dd09f |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schonauwen"} | Schonauwen is a former castle in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located on the southern outskirts of the town of Houten, surrounded by new buildings.
Until the end of the 18th century, Schonauwen was a separate heerlijkheid (fiefdom). When the country was divided into municipalities by the French, Schonauwen was added to the municipality of Houten, but it became a separate municipality in 1818. In 1857 it was merged back into Houten.
The heerlijkheid and municipality covered an area of about 6.8 km2, and had about 240 inhabitants in the middle of the 19th century.
Castle Schonauwen
The castle is now owned by the family Schmidt. | 17a4a0ce-3e74-4ba1-832b-fcc0dded7136 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthiria"} | Genus of flies
Phthiria is a genus of 'bee flies' belonging to the family Bombyliidae.
Species
Species within this genus include: | f7d7265d-22c9-4271-86ed-10548df19394 |
null | Gaya and Uttar Gaya are famous places for Hindus. Gaya lies in the Indian state of Bihar. Uttar Gaya, more popularly called Betrawati , is in the Nuwakot District of Nepal. Betrawati is about 80 km north of Kathmandu.
Betrawati is the meeting place of three holy rivers, the Betran Ganga, Rudra Ganga, and Trishul Ganga. Betrawati is near to the way to Lang tang Mountain and the Nepal/China border at Kerung.
Creation
Lord Shiva created a small river by using a stick of bamboo, which is called Beta. Because of use of the stick of Beta, for its creation, the river has been called Betran Ganga.
Importance
Gaya is famous for offering food i.e. rice ball (PINDA) to ancestors by the living sons and daughters along a spiritual performance called Shraddha. Gaya Shradhda is a responsibility of each generation towards their ancestors who are believed to be in the heavenly place, Pitrilok. Each son or daughter performs Gaya Shradhda at least once in his/her lifetime. Nepali Hindus believe that before visiting Gaya in Patna the devotee should have visited and performed Shradhda in Betrawati, the Uttar Gaya.
Holy places
The most important place is the Triveni, the meeting place of three rivers. Nilkantha Mahadev temple was found after a search according to a divine dream to a local resident Shanta Bahadur Tamang. Sugatmuni Bihar and Ram Temple are there. | 13ce162f-fe6f-484c-a218-39198331f8e8 |
null | Sumerian person, c. 3400–3000 BCE
Kushim is the earliest known example of a named person in writing. The name "Kushim" is found on several Uruk period (c. 3400–3000 BCE) clay tablets used to record transactions of barley. It is uncertain if the name refers to an individual, a generic title of an officeholder, or an institution.
Uruk period tablets
Writing in the ancient Sumerian city Uruk was time-consuming and literacy was likely limited at the time. Therefore, writing was mainly used for essential record-keeping. A clay tablet detailing a trade transaction contains one of the first examples of rebus writing. It reads "29,086 measures barley 37 months Kushim." This may be interpreted as having been signed by "Kushim." As of 1993[update], Kushim's name was known to appear in 18 separate clay tablets from the period.
Another Uruk period clay tablet that featured names dating back to around 3100 BC includes the names of a slave owner (Gal-Sal) and Gal-Sal's two slaves (En-pap X and the woman Sukkalgir). This tablet was likely produced one or two generations after the Kushim Tablet.
Identity
Kushim is believed to have been either an individual or a generic title of an officeholder. The cuneiform characters "KU" and "ŠIM" were not presented with much context, and therefore it is difficult to determine whether such sign combinations denote a person, the person's office, or an entire institution. Kushim was responsible for the production and storage of barley. Some of the tablets charge the distribution of barley to several officials as various debits, with the summation on the reverse as a single credit for the discharge of Kushim's liability. One relatively simple account shows the charging of various amounts of barley to three officials on the obverse, while Kushim was credited for the total amount distributed to the officials on the reverse. However, the reverse could also be interpreted as Kushim's account. Other tablets are more intricate, showing the input of various ingredients on the obverse (malt, hops, etc.), while showing different kinds of beer as output on the reverse side. One tablet shows Kushim providing 14,712 liters of barley to four officials, for which they were properly discharged. | 313e2002-e7aa-4260-94f5-f9007c7c6ac6 |
null | Bulgarian rower
Nikolay Kolev (born 1 March 1950) is a Bulgarian rower. He competed in the men's coxless four event at the 1972 Summer Olympics. | a7270d69-773b-4ad7-8093-405fc7316187 |
null | Croatian footballer
Mladen Cukon (born 21 March 1946) is a former Croatian football player.
Club career
Born in Pula, as a player he spent much of his career playing in Rijeka for NK Orijent and HNK Rijeka. He also had a short and unsuccessful spell with Dinamo Zagreb playing only one game. Afterwards, he had two stints with Toronto Metros-Croatia in 1976 and 1977, also playing for NK Osijek between the two spells in Canada. | 7a6a2d72-3ea1-4142-87ae-73b424d38824 |
null | Political party
The North Dakota Democratic Party was a political party in North Dakota that existed from the state's formation in 1889 until 1956, when the party merged with the Non Partisan League to form the modern North Dakota Democratic NPL Party.
For most of its history until its merger with the NPL, the Democratic Party was a distant competitor for votes; between the founding of the state and 1956, just 3 out of 24 governors: John Burke (1907–1913), Thomas H. Moodie (1935), and John Moses (1937–1945) were Democrats. | dd338e20-301c-4169-b228-5b12eda3052d |
null | Swedish sailor
Magnus Hellström (3 November 1900 – 29 April 1980) was a sailor from Sweden, who represented his country at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Le Havre, France.
References | fb62bab9-6e8a-468a-9cf8-48bd3d87dfd1 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Beloye_(Chuvashia)"} | Body of water
Lake Beloye (Chuvash: Çуткӳл,Śutkül; Russian: Бе́лое о́зеро, IPA: [ˈbʲɛləjə ˈozʲɪrə] — literally White lake) is a lake in Yalchiksky District of Chuvashia, Russia. It is a karst lake. The length is 570 metres (1,870 ft) and width is 380 metres (1,250 ft), covering an approximate area of 17.5 hectares (43 acres). The average depth is 3 metres (9.8 ft) and maximum depth 4 metres (13 ft). | 7883ef66-7c6e-490d-9c07-27e39f593ee6 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zucaina"} | Municipality in Valencian Community, Spain
Zucaina is a municipality in the comarca of Alto Mijares, Castellón, Valencia, Spain. | 7a8c7bde-2186-4045-a2aa-1ebca0a41608 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Line_Productions"} | Adventure Line Productions (formerly Tilt Productions until 1998 and Anabase Productions), part of Banijay, is a French television production company which specialises in creating adventure gameshows (over 1,500 episodes of Fort Boyard) and adapting international formats for French television channels such as Survivor (also known as Koh-Lanta).
Adventure Line Productions has licensed many of its formats to broadcasters around the world including BBC, TV4, RTR and LBCI.
History
From 1991 to 1994, the company was part of the “Jacques Antoine et Compagnie” group (JAC) created by the famous game show producer Jacques Antoine. Between 1995 and 2003, it belonged to the Studio Expand group.
They designed programs such as Fort Boyard in 1990 for Antenne 2 and La Carte aux trésors in 1996 for France 3. The predecessor of La Carte aux trésors is La Chasse aux trésors, the French version of Treasure Hunt.
Thereafter, from February 2006 to 2010, the group Marathon Media, known for animated television series such as Totally Spies! and Marsupilami, which recovers ALP. Between 2010 and 2016, the company belonged to Zodiak Media, the third independent audiovisual group in the world.
Following the merger of Zodiak Media and Banijay Group in February 2016, Banijay Group (which then owned ALP) became one of the world's leading content producers.
Controversies and court cases
On March 22, 2013, Gerald Babin, a candidate in season 13 of Koh-Lanta in Cambodia, died of a heart attack on the set of the adventure show. A few days later the doctor of the program, Thierry Costa, commits suicide. The season being filmed is then cancelled. ALP is criticized for its failure to take care of the evacuation of the victim. In 2014, ALP reached an agreement with the family of the candidate that included a large compensation. This is the first case of death in a French reality show.
On March 10, 2015, a new tragedy tarnished ALP's image: during the filming of a new adventure game for TF1 called Dropped, the collision of two helicopters in Villa Castelli, Argentina, cost the lives of ten people, including top athletes Florence Arthaud, Camille Muffat and Alexis Vastine. The lack of preparation, the lack of training of the pilots of the two helicopters in formation flying and in-flight image capture, as well as the status of the operator of the aircraft are blamed by the investigation of the Junta de Investigación de Accidentes de Aviación Civil. These shortcomings were firmly denied by the production company, explaining that an effective briefing and preparation of the pilots for this formation flight had been carried out. But, on April 25, 2018, the ALP company was condemned in this case for "inexcusable fault" by a court in Hauts-de-Seine.
On May 11, 2018, after only four days of filming, the production makes the decision to interrupt the filming of the new season of Koh-Lanta. In a statement, the production confirms rumors in the French press, indicating that an attempted sexual assault by a candidate on a candidate is the cause.
In March 2021, the ALP company is indicted for manslaughter after the accident that took place on March 10, 2015 in Argentina. A verdict based on the findings of the investigation implicating the production company for shortcomings in the planning of the flight, the use in a commercial setting of public helicopters or carelessness in piloting for spectacular sequences. The investigation also reveals that ALP underestimated the safety budget by prioritizing its financial interests in the choice of pilots and helicopters.
On May 27, 2021, the production company ALP was ordered on appeal "for inexcusable fault" to compensate the family of a cameraman victim of the helicopter accident that occurred on the set of Dropped (TF1), in March 2015 in Argentina, by the Court of Appeal of Versailles.
Productions
Original formats
Adapted formats for French television | ed59a5ff-e0ac-4ec3-8e73-97ac8c4efb4b |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_UEFA_Women%27s_Under-17_Championship_qualification"} | 2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualifying competition
International football competition
The 2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualifying competition was a women's under-17 football competition played in 2014 and 2015 to determine the seven teams joining Iceland, who qualified automatically as hosts, in the 2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final tournament. A total of 43 UEFA member national teams entered the qualifying competition.
Each match lasted 80 minutes, consisting of two halves of 40 minutes, with an interval of 15 minutes.
Format
The qualifying competition consisted of two rounds:
Tiebreakers
If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of a mini-tournament, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
To determine the best third-placed team from the qualifying round and the best runner-up from the elite round, the results against the teams in fourth place were discarded. The following criteria were applied:
Qualifying round
Draw
The draw for the qualifying round was held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 20 November 2013 at 09:00 CET (UTC+1).
The teams were seeded according to their coefficient ranking, calculated based on the following:
Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, and two teams from Pot C.
Notes
Groups
Times up to 25 October 2014 were CEST (UTC+2), thereafter times were CET (UTC+1).
Group 1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
14:00
Albena 1, Albena
Referee: Silvia Domingos (Portugal)
14:00
Kavarna Stadium, Kavarna
Referee: Melis Özçiğdem (Turkey)
14:00
Kavarna Stadium, Kavarna
Referee: Melis Özçiğdem (Turkey)
14:00
Albena 1, Albena
Referee: Justina Lavrenovaite (Lithuania)
14:00
Albena 1, Albena
Referee: Silvia Domingos (Portugal)
14:00
Kavarna Stadium, Kavarna
Referee: Justina Lavrenovaite (Lithuania)
Group 2
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
14:00
Kadriorg Stadium, Tallinn
Referee: Beatriz Gil (Spain)
14:00
Rakvere Stadium, Rakvere
Referee: Elvira Nurmustafina (Kazakhstan)
14:00
Rakvere Stadium, Rakvere
Referee: Ivana Martinčić (Croatia)
14:00
Kadriorg Stadium, Tallinn
Referee: Elvira Nurmustafina (Kazakhstan)
14:00
Rakvere Stadium, Rakvere
Referee: Beatriz Gil (Spain)
14:00
Kadriorg Stadium, Tallinn
Referee: Ivana Martinčić (Croatia)
Group 3
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
13:30
Bük, Bük
Referee: Julia-Stefanie Baier (Austria)
13:30
Király Sportcentre, Szombathely
Referee: Eliska Kramlova (Czech Republic)
13:30
Király Sportcentre, Szombathely
Referee: Dimitrina Milkova (Bulgaria)
13:30
Bük, Bük
Referee: Eliska Kramlova (Czech Republic)
13:30
Király Sportcentre, Szombathely
Referee: Julia-Stefanie Baier (Austria)
13:30
Bük, Bük
Referee: Dimitrina Milkova (Bulgaria)
Group 4
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
14:00
Gradski Stadium, Subotica
Referee: Virginie Derouaux (Belgium)
14:00
Backa Stadium, Subotica
Referee: Irina Turovskaya (Belarus)
14:00
Backa Stadium, Subotica
Referee: Liudmyla Telbukh (Ukraine)
14:00
Gradski Stadium, Subotica
Referee: Irina Turovskaya (Belarus)
14:00
Gradski Stadium, Subotica
Referee: Liudmyla Telbukh (Ukraine)
14:00
Backa Stadium, Subotica
Referee: Virginie Derouaux (Belgium)
Group 5
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
15:00
Sportzentrum, Trumau
Referee: Sarah Garratt (England)
15:00
Lindabrunn Stadium, Enzesfeld-Lindabrunn
Referee: Vivian Peeters (Netherlands)
11:00
Lindabrunn Stadium, Enzesfeld-Lindabrunn
Referee: Viola Raudziņa (Latvia)
18:00
Sport- und Freizeitzentrum Traiskirchen, Traiskirchen
Referee: Vivian Peeters (Netherlands)
15:15
Lindabrunn Stadium, Enzesfeld-Lindabrunn
Referee: Sarah Garratt (England)
18:00
Sportzentrum, Trumau
Referee: Viola Raudziņa (Latvia)
Group 6
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
11:00
Veli Jozc, Poreč
Referee: Agnieszka Plaskocinska (Poland)
15:00
Veli Jozc, Poreč
Referee: Kseniya Goryacheva (Russia)
11:00
Veli Jozc, Poreč
Referee: Galiya Echeva (Bulgaria)
15:00
Veli Jozc, Poreč
Referee: Kseniya Goryacheva (Russia)
11:00
Stadion Lako, Novigrad
Referee: Galiya Echeva (Bulgaria)
11:00
Veli Jozc, Poreč
Referee: Agnieszka Plaskocinska (Poland)
Group 7
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
11:00
Rīgas Hanzas vidusskola, Riga
Attendance: 20
Referee: Ivana Vlaić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
15:00
Rīgas Hanzas vidusskola, Riga
Attendance: 30
Referee: Barbara Bollenberg (Austria)
11:00
Rīgas Hanzas vidusskola, Riga
Attendance: 30
Referee: Marta Frias Acedo (Spain)
15:00
Rīgas Hanzas vidusskola, Riga
Attendance: 75
Referee: Ivana Vlaić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
13:00
Olaines pilsētas stadions, Olaine
Attendance: 55
Referee: Barbara Bollenberg (Austria)
13:00
Rīgas Hanzas vidusskola, Riga
Attendance: 39
Referee: Marta Frias Acedo (Spain)
Group 8
Signe Bruun's eight goals against Kazakhstan equalled a competition record set by Vivianne Miedema against Kazakhstan as well in 2012.
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
13:30
FFM Training Centre, Skopje
Referee: Ifeoma Kulmala (Finland)
13:30
Boris Trajkovski, Skopje
Referee: Aleksandra Česen (Slovenia)
13:30
Boris Trajkovski, Skopje
Referee: Ruzanna Petrosyan (Armenia)
13:30
FFM Training Centre, Skopje
Referee: Aleksandra Česen (Slovenia)
13:30
Boris Trajkovski, Skopje
Referee: Ifeoma Kulmala (Finland)
13:30
FFM Training Centre, Skopje
Referee: Ruzanna Petrosyan (Armenia)
Group 9
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
14:00
Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn
Referee: Lois Otte (Belgium)
19:00
Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn
Referee: Tania Fernandes Morais (Luxembourg)
14:00
Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn
Referee: Irena Velevackoska (Macedonia)
19:00
Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn
Referee: Lois Otte (Belgium)
12:00
Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn
Referee: Tania Fernandes Morais (Luxembourg)
12:00
Svangaskarð, Toftir
Referee: Irena Velevackoska (Macedonia)
Group 10
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
15:00
ŠRC Bakovci Stadium, Bakovci
Referee: Lorraine Clark (Scotland)
15:00
Sportni Park, Beltinci
Referee: Valentina Garoffolo (Italy)
15:00
Sportni Park, Beltinci
Referee: Sabayel Gurbanova (Azerbaijan)
15:00
ŠRC Bakovci Stadium, Bakovci
Referee: Valentina Garoffolo (Italy)
14:00
Sportni Park, Beltinci
Referee: Lorraine Clark (Scotland)
14:00
ŠRC Bakovci Stadium, Bakovci
Referee: Sabayel Gurbanova (Azerbaijan)
Ranking of third-placed teams
To determine the best third-placed team from the qualifying round which advanced to the elite round, only the results of the third-placed teams against the first and second-placed teams in their group were taken into account.
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) drawing of lots.
Elite round
Draw
The draw for the elite round was held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on 19 November 2014 at 12:15 CET (UTC+1).
The teams were seeded according to their results in the qualifying round. Germany, France and Spain, which received byes to the elite round, were automatically seeded into Pot A. Each group contained one team from Pot A, one team from Pot B, one team from Pot C, and one team from Pot D. Teams from the same qualifying round group could not be drawn in the same group.
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) fair play ranking; 5) drawing of lots.
Groups
Times up to 28 March 2015 were CET (UTC+1), thereafter times were CEST (UTC+2).
Group 1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
13:00
Tarsus Stadium, Tarsus
Referee: Sarah Garratt (England)
13:00
Adana 5 Ocak Stadium, Adana
Referee: Barbara Bollenberg (Austria)
13:00
Tarsus Stadium, Tarsus
Referee: Eliska Kramlova (Czech Republic)
13:00
Adana 5 Ocak Stadium, Adana
Referee: Barbara Bollenberg (Austria)
13:00
Adana 5 Ocak Stadium, Adana
Referee: Sarah Garratt (England)
13:00
Tarsus Stadium, Tarsus
Referee: Eliska Kramlova (Czech Republic)
Group 2
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
16:00
St Colman's Park, Cobh
Referee: Ifeoma Kulmala (Finland)
20:00
Turners Cross, Cork
Referee: Dimitrina Milkova (Bulgaria)
16:00
Turners Cross, Cork
Referee: Ifeoma Kulmala (Finland)
19:00
St Colman's Park, Cobh
Referee: Ivana Projkovska (Macedonia)
13:00
St Colman's Park, Cobh
Referee: Dimitrina Milkova (Bulgaria)
13:00
Turners Cross, Cork
Referee: Ivana Projkovska (Macedonia)
Group 3
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
16:00
Stadio Artemio Franchi, Siena
Referee: Vivian Peeters (Netherlands)
16:00
Stadio Comunale B. Bonelli, Montepulciano
Referee: Désirée Grundbacher (Switzerland)
12:00
Stadio Comunale B. Bonelli, Montepulciano
Referee: Silvia Domingos (Portugal)
16:30
Stadio Comunale B. Bonelli, Montepulciano
Referee: Désirée Grundbacher (Switzerland)
15:00
Stadio Artemio Franchi, Siena
Referee: Vivian Peeters (Netherlands)
15:00
Stadio Comunale B. Bonelli, Montepulciano
Referee: Silvia Domingos (Portugal)
Group 4
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
10:00
Sputnik-Sport, Sochi
Referee: Ivana Vlaić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
14:00
Sputnik-Sport, Sochi
Referee: Henrikke Nervik (Norway)
10:00
Sputnik-Sport, Sochi
Referee: Elvira Nurmustafina (Kazakhstan)
14:00
Sputnik-Sport, Sochi
Referee: Ivana Vlaić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
14:00
Sochi Central Stadium, Sochi
Referee: Henrikke Nervik (Norway)
14:00
Sputnik-Sport, Sochi
Referee: Elvira Nurmustafina (Kazakhstan)
Group 5
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
11:00
Stadion Lindabrunn, Enzesfeld-Lindabrunn
Referee: Viola Raudziņa (Latvia)
18:00
Voithplatz, St Pölten
Referee: Ivana Martinčić (Croatia)
11:00
Stadion Lindabrunn, Enzesfeld-Lindabrunn
Referee: Beatriz Gil Gozalo (Spain)
18:00
Voithplatz, St Pölten
Referee: Ivana Martinčić (Croatia)
18:00
Voithplatz, St Pölten
Referee: Viola Raudziņa (Latvia)
18:00
Stadt Sportanlage, St Pölten
Referee: Beatriz Gil Gozalo (Spain)
Group 6
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
(H) Host
15:00
ZOS Bałtyk Koszalin, Koszalin
Referee: Lois Otte (Belgium)
18:00
MOSIR, Kołobrzeg
Referee: Graziella Pirriatore (Italy)
15:00
ZOS Bałtyk Koszalin, Koszalin
Referee: Lois Otte (Belgium)
18:00
MOSIR, Kołobrzeg
Referee: Melis Özçiğdem (Turkey)
15:00
ZOS Bałtyk Koszalin, Koszalin
Referee: Graziella Pirriatore (Italy)
15:00
MOSIR, Kołobrzeg
Referee: Melis Özçiğdem (Turkey)
Ranking of second-placed teams
To determine the best second-placed team from the elite round which qualified for the final tournament, only the results of the second-placed teams against the first and third-placed teams in their group were taken into account.
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) disciplinary points; 5) drawing of lots.
Qualified teams
The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament.
1 Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.
Top goalscorers
The following players scored four goals or more in the qualifying competition.
10 goals
9 goals
7 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals | eb73795c-bd10-440e-af3e-b0d4b9748ef5 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havercroft"} | Village in West Yorkshire, England
Human settlement in England
Havercroft is a small village situated on the B6428 in West Yorkshire, England, approximately 7 miles (11 km) south-east of the city of Wakefield. It forms part of the civil parish of Havercroft with Cold Hiendley, which has a population of 2,103, increasing to 2,256 at the 2011 Census.
In the last 100 years it has grown from a small collection of homes to a thriving village in its own right. For hundreds of years, Havercroft was an agricultural community and the few people who lived here worked in the fields; it does not appear in the Doomsday Book but it can be traced back on old maps and charters of 1155, when Henry the Second, father of Richard the Lionheart, was King of England. Havercroft now maintains its own school, Havercroft J & I School. The Ryhill & Havercroft Sports Centre is shared with Ryhill as is the local health centre, Rycroft Primary Care Centre. Havercroft also has a 'community hub' known as the Havercroft & Ryhill Community Learning Centre (located in Ryhill) which is also the Havercroft Parish Hall. As well as the Living Hope Community Church established in 1960 at bottom of Cow Lane, which runs a number of community projects. The Havercroft with Cold Hiendley Parish Council meets there and the Centre provides a regular calendar of educational courses & community activities for both Havercroft and its neighbour Ryhill.
Havercroft suffered from high unemployment in the 1980s due to local pit closures. Since then the village has become popular with commuters travelling to nearby towns such as Pontefract, Barnsley and Wakefield.
Havercroft is split into two undistinct sections, Newstead - occupying the higher ground of Newstead hill - and the main village of Havercroft. In terms of the built environment Havercroft is co-terminous with its Ryhill neighbour with the boundary of the two civil parishes following along streetside and garden fence rather than across open fields for much of its length.
The parish has a parish council, the lowest tier of local government. | ff28b59c-715c-4d57-94a1-a304c61f2f24 |
null | Species of ant
Dolichoderus vexillarius is an extinct species of Eocene ant in the genus Dolichoderus. Described by William Morton Wheeler in 1915, a fossilised worker was found and described from the Baltic amber. | 2876dda5-b86c-4d97-95ac-d24616657ad3 |
null | L'Etang is a village in the Loiret department in central France. It is part of the commune of Beaulieu-sur-Loire. | 5bf63c91-9b2c-4274-a73f-75707bcde3af |
null | Greek footballer
Grigoris Papazacharias (Greek: Γρηγόρης Παπαζαχαρίας; born 20 March 1985) is a Greek footballer who plays for Anagennisi Epanomi. He has represented Greece at all youth levels.
Career
Papazacharias began his career in Anagennisi Epanomis. He joined Iraklis in 1999. He stayed in Iraklis for 11 years, until 2010. He over 118 performances with blue-white jersey and he scored 6 league goals. In 2003-2004-2005 years, Iraklis was in very good form, finishing 4th behind Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and AEK Athens, with Papazaharias being in first eleven in center-back duo, with Tasos Katsabis. He appointed as Iraklis captain in 2007. He was in a special love with team's fans and was bringing very good performances. In 2010 summer, he transferred to rivals Aris, with many dreams. But he was very unlucky, because an injury was left him out for about 4 months, and in first season in Kleanthis Vikelidis, he played in only 3 matches (against Atromitos, AEL and Kerkyra In 2011–2012 season, he played first in the match against Xanthi, in Kleanthis Vikelidis, with score 0-0.
On 30 June 2019, Thyella Kamariou FC announced that they had signed Papazaharias. | f6614f2a-d89b-427a-af8a-8fd56409bd85 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Whitcroft"} | Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Ice hockey player
Frederick John Whitcroft (2 December 1882 – 9 August 1931) was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach. Whitcroft played for several notable amateur and early professional hockey squads, including the Renfrew Creamery Kings, Edmonton Eskimos and Kenora Thistles.
Hockey career
Early in his career, Whitcroft made a name for himself in hockey circles with his outstanding amateur play with the Peterborough Colts. In 1907 the Stanley Cup champion Kenora Thistles signed him to a $700 contract. While with the Thistles, the team defeated Brandon to retain the Stanley Cup. The club next played a challenge with the Montreal Wanderers. The Wanderers defeated the Thistles in a two game, total points series by the score of 12–8, avenging their loss to the Thistles earlier in the season.[citation needed]
The following year Whitcroft signed a contract to play with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Alberta Professional Hockey League. While with Edmonton, Whitcroft scored six goals in a game, five goals in a game three times and four times in a game once. Whitcroft led the league two years running in goals scored. Edmonton played in one Stanley Cup challenge in 1908, coming up against the Wanderers, losing 13-10 on goals in a two-game series. After the Edmonton team disbanded in December 1909, Whitcroft jumped back east and signed with the National Hockey Association's Renfrew Creamery Kings for $2,000. Among his teammates were Hockey Hall of Famers Cyclone Taylor, Frank Patrick, Lester Patrick, and Newsy Lalonde, on a team dubbed the Renfrew Millionaires. After one season playing for the Millionaires, Whitcroft retired from playing. He coached the Edmonton Dominions to the Alberta championship in 1913–14.[citation needed]
Taking up gold prospecting after his hockey career was over, Whitcroft died of a heart attack in northern British Columbia in August, 1931. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962. | b0d43e6e-1b3c-4c08-b692-590b5b00c2a0 |
null | Las Vegas strip club
The Palomino Club is a landmark North Las Vegas strip club. Since 2006 the club has been owned by Adam Gentile.
History
It was founded in 1969 but the building was built a couple decades prior. One of the notable differences between the Palomino and other Las Vegas strip clubs, is that it is allowed to have both a liquor license, and totally nude dancers. Other clubs with liquor licenses are restricted to topless dancers. This difference, according to 2003-2006 owner Luis Hidalgo Jr., is because the club was grandfathered until approximately 2025 with the different rules.
In 2000, a high-profile murder trial involved the Palomino Club owner's son, Jack Perry, who had shot and killed one of the employees he thought was trying to buy the club. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years to life in prison.
In 2002, the owner of the "Olympic Garden" club sued the owners of the Palomino, claiming they conspired with cabdrivers to divert customers. It was evidently a common practice for some clubs, such as Palomino and Cheetah's, to offer $5–$25 per customer to cab drivers, to encourage the drivers to bring customers to their club instead of someone else's. This put "non-kickback" clubs such as the Olympic Garden at a disadvantage. The case was eventually dropped. (Jordan, 2004)
Luis Hidalgo, Jr., took over the club in 2003. One of the changes that he instituted was to start an all-male nude act, known as the "Palomino Stallions", to try to attract female customers.
In 2005, Luis Hidalgo Jr., his son, Luis Hidalgo III. and Hidalgo, Jr.'s longtime girlfriend, Anabel Espindola, were charged - and eventually found guilty - as co-conspirators in the contract murder of a former employee who had been telling competitors that Hidalgo Jr. was still paying cabdrivers to divert customers to the Palomino Club. Their former doorman, Timothy TJ Hadland, had been found shot dead on a road near Lake Mead on May 19, 2005, just two weeks after quitting the club. Three other Palomino employees, and the actual killer, were also found guilty on charges related to Hadland's killing. Their case was later shown on the TV show The First 48 on March 31, 2011 as a "Lost Episode".
In 2007, Hidalgo sold the club to his lawyer, Dominic Gentile, in order to cover legal fees. Gentile is one of the city's more prominent defense attorneys, and received the land as payment from former Palomino owner Luis Hidalgo Jr. in exchange for Gentile's representation of Hidalgo in the investigation of the May 19, 2005, shooting death of Timothy Hadland. Dominic in turn turned the operation of the club over to his son, Adam Gentile, who had previously been the General Manager of Club Paradise.
In 2009 Gentile let cameras into the club to film King Of Clubs, a new reality series slated to premiere in Fall 2009 on Playboy TV. That same year (2009), Hidalgo, Jr. and his son were sentenced to life in prison. The son's girlfriend took a plea deal for voluntary manslaughter in exchange for her testimony. | 2c8d434f-14b1-4773-b12a-83f5330dc80e |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximiliano_Montero"} | Uruguayan footballer (born 1988)
Maximiliano Felipe Montero Rodríguez (born August 27, 1988 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan footballer currently playing for Envigado as a left back.
Teams | b98f1cd8-1f28-4532-9baa-ace07b0b1b3b |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%83tra%C8%99cu_the_Good"} | Voivode of Wallachia
Pătrașcu the Good (Romanian: Pătrașcu cel Bun), (? – 24 December 1557) was a ruler of the principality of Wallachia, between 1554 and 24 December 1557, one of many rulers of Wallachia during the 16th century. A member of the House of Drăculești, he was the son of Radu Paisie.
Reign
At the Porte's command, he goes with his army in Transylvania (1556) to restore John Sigismund who, together with his mother, Queen Isabella, had to withdraw to Poland. 14,000 soldiers flee the Carpathians, one in May, the other in July, and the great saint Socol brings the queen from Lvov. On 28 October, Pătraşcu himself was in Cluj, satisfied with the result - (to which Mr. Moldovan, Alexandru Lăpuşneanu). As silence was not yet fully restored, a new action was needed in Transylvania. Patrascu could not accompany the armies: he was ill - he was in May at Ramnic, for the air, and a doctor sent by Sibiu. On 26 of December 1557 he died. Some say that the voivode would have been poisoned even by the great governor Socol who wanted to become a ruler: that was not proven. However, it is certain that Socol, when Mircea the Shepherd returned, retreat with his son, Radu stolnic to Transylvania and took with him the coffers of the deceased: 400, 00 ducats. (Later, he promised 14,000 ducats to the Ambassador of France in Istanbul, only not be surrendered to Turks and then, killed). He governed in 1545-1557.
Family
His wife was named Voica,[citation needed] a descendant of the boyars from Slătioare. They had a daughter Maria (married in February 1555) and three sons: Peter, who was later called 'Cercel'. Some historians consider Petru Cercel, (who ruled Wallachia 1583 to 1588), to have been the son of Pătrașcu. Michael the Brave, who ruled Wallachia 1593–1601, is considered by most historians to have been a son of Pătrașcu, while others believe that he invented his descent in order to justify his rule. The two alleged sons were painted together at an inner wall of a church at Caluiu. According to official chronicles of Mihai Voda, he would have had a postum and illegitimate son Mihai Viteazul, which was denied by newer historiography, starting with Nicolae Iorga.
Death
On 24 December 1557 Pătraşcu died in unclear circumstances in Bucharest. Some historians suggest that the Voivode might have died as a result of poisoning even by the great saint Socol, who had himself thoughts of his own: it is not proven. It is only a matter of fact that Socol, when Mircea Ciobanul returns, takes refuge with his son, Radu stolnic, in Transylvania, taking with him the coffers of the deceased: 400,000 ducats. (Later promises 14,000 ducats to the ambassador of France in Istanbul, only to be taught to the Turks and killed). His domination was between 1545 and 1557. Vintilă installed by the army of John Voda the Brave in 1574 (but only four days) and Petrascu, from Cyprus Pătrașcu was buried at Dealu Monastery.
Legacy
He was called "the Good" by historians because he had a peaceful reign, without any murdering of nobility. | 4c3eaedd-0be2-4dba-a3cf-33279a5f9a64 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayons_of_Askalan"} | 2011 Lebanese film
Crayons of Askalan (Arabic: أقلام من عسقلان) is a 2011 documentary film based on the story of Palestinian artist Zuhdi Al Adawi. In 1975, at the age of fifteen Zuhdi is imprisoned in the high security Israeli jail, Askalan. With the help of his fellow prisoners and their families, he keeps his spirit alive through artistic expression, smuggling in color crayons and smuggling out his artwork, with a pillowcase as his canvas. It was selected to compete at the 2012 HOT DOCS International Documentary Festival, the 2012 CPH:Dox Festival and 2011 Doha Tribeca Film Festival, among many others. | 927ab34b-bc4a-4907-b4a2-6fa8220d3c8a |
null | Design culture is an organizational culture focused on approaches that improve customer experiences through design. In every firm, the design is significant since it allows the company to understand users and their needs. Integration of design culture in any organisation aims at creating experiences that add value to their respective users. In general, design culture entails undertaking design as the forefront of every operation in the organisation, from strategy formulation to execution. Every organisation is responsible for ensuring a healthy design culture through the application of numerous strategies. For instance, an organisation should provide a platform that allows every stakeholder to engage in design recesses. Consequently, everyone needs to incorporate design thinking, which is associated with innovation and critical thinking.
Moreover, design culture has many characteristics that create a conducive integration within that work environment. It offers freedom to fail that presents an opportunity for design experimentation. Design process entails taking risks that are mistake bounded. Therefore, individuals involving in design processes learn from their mistakes and become more innovative. Hence design culture encourages risk taking in design processes that facilitate innovation and creativity in an organisation. Proactivity in design culture has an impact on the organisation, specifically on decision making and problem-solving. Design culture allows designers to engage in constructive tasks. In the process, designers can solve problems in an organisation and make crucial decisions towards innovations of the organisation. Design culture is concerned with the human side of the respective organisation. In the recent past, organisations have been running based on data-driven mentality with the success of the organisation measured through the level of efficiency in the operations. In contrast, design culture is interested in the participation of human in determining the success of the organisation through the level of innovation facilitated by their involvement. In return, design culture concerned with improving an organisation's culture into a pleasant and change have driven culture.
Developing a design culture
Creation of a design culture for an organisation leads to a better transformation of the organisation. According to a study conducted by Forrester Research Consulting in the year 2016, to investigate whether the design-led cultures gave companies a significant advantage in the business or not, it was evident that most of the enterprises that analysed during the research had digital experiences that outpaced competition. The study proved that focusing on design strengthens an organisation from the inside as well as from the outside.
In a design-led enterprise, the design permeates the organisation beyond the product teams that embedded in the culture and such organisations; there is always an ambition to do better.
These companies typically support a variety of skills from the more oriented designers to the junior designers or the more tactical designers. The teams use collaborative processes and tools in unifying the working groups of the organisation. An organisation driven by design is more proactive rather than reactive, and they tend to confirm the next challenge rather than waiting until the challenge presents itself. This is made possible by the values that built based on, which is done through collaboration, experimentation, empathy as well as user researches.
Furthermore, developing design culture requires a definition of the design and the necessary resources that will facilitate its integration into the organisation. This follows an evaluation of the organisation's stakeholders who will be involved in the design process. The evaluation depends on the organisation's culture, which is the defining aspect of an organisation's life. Consequently, identifying the designers to be involved in the designing process requires an in-depth understanding of the purpose of the design towards the organisation's culture and innovation as well.
Additionally, building a design culture entails creating an environment that presents a platform that ensures that every individual obtains solutions to some problems present in the organisation. There exist several factors necessary for developing a design culture in any organisation. Cultivating culture is the first approach towards developing design culture. This step entails identifying individuals, their characters, and including them into the design process. The management involved in the design process needs to set the tone for the organisation's culture. Besides, design culture needs to develop an organisation's value in line with the design and ensure that every member of the design team incorporates them in the field of interest.
Developing design culture require incorporation of skilled personnel, innovative and creative individuals as well. However, identifying such individuals, it takes a process that will present an effective design process. Therefore, the management needs to integrate an effective interview process that will help in the selection of the best skills. Also, it will require motivation for the personnel involved and be in line with the organisation's values. The design culture needs to foster social capital that is responsible for higher information flow, effective collaboration and collective action of the team. Therefore, building a design culture should facilitate the creation of employees values, recognition of their achievements, enhance communication in the organisation and establish a firm organisation.
Addressing markets and society
Design culture plays a significant role in marketing systems and the surrounding society. It addresses market externalities and internalises associated with the overall performance of the organisations. In addition, design culture allows an organisation to understand users in the society and their needs hence playing a significant role in the business. Through design culture, the organisation supports more strategically oriented designers from the society that ensure effective operation in the business. A design-driven organisation tends to be more proactive in the market by defining challenges and strategically working to improve its overall performance. Design culture facilitates the growth of a firm from tiny startups to legacy enterprises. Therefore, in markets and societies, design culture aims at improving an organisation's output to the excellent quality of products, services and the overall societal relationships.
Additionally, design culture needs to consider the aspects of the surrounding society and ensure that the design process is incorporative of the values and culture that is in line with the societal culture defining the surrounding community. The society plays a significant role in the design culture by presenting skilled personnel who can be recruited into the design process. In relation to society, design culture aims at designing a brand for everyone. I. Moreover, the community presents a ready market for the brands designed by the organisation. Consequently, the branding process should consider all the necessary qualities that will maintain the brand in the market. This enhanced through consideration of the values defining the surrounding society. Moreover, the organisation's culture should be at per with the societal culture in order to promote collaboration.
Design culture aims at enhancing collaboration in the market with the respective stakeholders. Therefore, introducing design into the market requires intense research and planning that will facilitate the production of a brand that fits the requirements for all. The design process needs to be aware of the market trends and branded products with the aim of solving an existing problem in the market. In addition, the design process should involve designing a brand that provides a solution to various situations in the society. Addressing the market, design culture is concerned about developing a brand that meets the best competitive qualities. Through innovation, the organisation involved in the design process conducts research on different market trends and comes up with refined approaches to be integrated into the design process. Moreover, the organisation needs to maintain its culture that uniquely defines its operations and products in the market. Concerned about the future trend of the design, the management responsible for the design process need to ensure that necessary qualities are met in the design process
Positioning design professions
As a guiding truth towards the successful firm organisation, design culture takes a psychological approach to different operations of the business. Positioning design professions entails defining numerous approaches necessary for building a healthy design culture. In addition, it focuses on professional strategies that get prospects and customers preferences that enable a business to stand firm in a competitive market. A design-centric organisation is usually biased against leaving anything to chance. A healthy design culture applies professional not only to the product but also to the organisation itself. Products usually reflect the structure as well as the character of the organisation that is responsible for their production. A well-designed enterprise is capable of producing well-designed products and services. In a healthy design culture, everyone has a feeling of empowerment towards participation in the design process. Employees are usually encouraged to carry out experimentations with the understanding that they will often lead to mistakes, and this should not be a hindrance.
Design culture has innovation as one of the cultural traits. Therefore, the design profession is crucial in the design process as it incorporates necessary branding skills, design skills and knowledge of the design process. The process of cultivating culture requires skills necessary for analysing the surrounding society and determining the required skills for the design process. Setting the tone for an organisation is a professional approach that requires the development of an organisation's values. The design management needs to demonstrate knowledge and an understanding of the conduct of the design team and the level of innovation necessary for the design process.
Furthermore, positioning the design profession requires increased diversity that facilitates innovation. Gender diversity should be maintained in determining the team that will be involved in the design process. In addition, diversity brings individuals together who have varying skills, creativity and knowledge that help in branding different products. Branding a product for everyone in society requires extensive research. As a result, the research requires a professional approach that will help in identifying the cultural aspects defining the society. Moreover, identification of the market trends requires in-depth analysis approaches that are in line with design professions. Therefore, the design management team need to ensure an effective and strong position in the design culture that enhances innovation in the design process
Locating Design culture
Effective design culture has to be made with intention and put into practice consistently. This requires the definition of approaches necessary for locating design culture. Discovering design culture is facilitated by the need to obtain a solution to a given challenge or the need to major on problem-solving approaches. Locating design culture is done through experimentation, collaboration, user research and empathy. It is a common characteristic for many companies to build a third design culture through trial and error. For example, a company such as Apple has been fine-tuning its design culture for about three decades, a corny though a relevant adage. Locating design culture require an effective definition of the characteristics of a robust design culture. It requires frequent experimentation that allow individuals to explore numerous solutions as possible that result in successful launches. In addition, locating design culture entails implementation of a system that provides answers for questions raised concerning the design culture. Moreover, it involves locating different tools that encourage collaboration allowing a given team to formulate plans, design presentations and work together for successful design culture. Concerning idea generation, it is a norm for every organisation to keep coming up with new ideas now and then, and this allows the organisation to iterate and even receive feedback more efficiently and in a short time | 348e82cd-2b2b-494a-b59a-55cd026c5d58 |
null | American actress (1913–2001)
Joan Wheeler Ankrum (January 8, 1913 – December 20, 2001) was an American film actress and founder of the Ankrum Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Life and career
Ankrum was born Joan Natalia Wheeler on January 8, 1913, in Palo Alto, California. Ankrum was one of four siblings. She had one older sister and two younger brothers.
She got her start in acting with Pasadena Playhouse, where she met her husband, character actor Morris Ankrum. They were married on August 16, 1935, in Benbow, California, and had 2 sons, David and Cary. Morris Ankrum died in 1964.
In 1960, Ankrum founded Ankrum Gallery, which was located on La Cienega Boulevard next to a number of other galleries. Joseph Hirshhorn contributed some of the initial funding for the gallery, and would go on to be a loyal patron, along with his wife Olga Hirshhorn. Ankrum initially founded the gallery in order to show her nephew Morris Broderson's work, but the gallery would go on to handle the artwork of other California artists such as Helen Lundeberg, Richard Bauer, Hans Burkhard, Suzanne Jackson, Samella Lewis, and Lorser Feitelson. The Smithsonian Archives of American Art, which holds the gallery's archives, notes that Ankrum Gallery "was among the earliest to exhibit the work of black artists." A 1971 New York Times article about women gallery owners in Los Angeles noted that Ankrum Gallery was "the largest in sales and size in La Cienega Boulevard" at the time.
In 1984, Ankrum married co-owner and partner in Ankrum Gallery, actor William Challee.
Ankrum was a co-founder of Art Dealers Association of America, and an active member of the Black Arts Council. She also helped organize the Monday Night Art Walk program on La Cienega Boulevard.
Broadway roles
Selected filmography | ee399b82-eb14-4508-aa73-22fba5820ca9 |
null | Chinese politician
Wang Xiaoguang (simplified Chinese: 王晓光; traditional Chinese: 王曉光; pinyin: Wáng Xiǎoguāng; born October 1961) is a former Chinese politician who served as Vice Governor of Guizhou. He was dismissed from his position in March 2018 and placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission. Wang was the first high-ranking official probed since the National Supervisory Commission was established in March 2018.
Career
Wang Xiaoguang was born in October 1961, and he was entered to Guiyang Normal College in 1980. After he graduated from Guiyang Normal College, he became the instructor of Guiyang Police School in 1984.
In 1991, Wang became the Deputy Director of the Office of Guiyang Commission for Discipline Inspection. He was appointed as the Secretariat of the Office of the CPC Guiyang Committee in 1995. In 1996 he moved to Wudang District, Guiyang, and appointed as the Deputy District Governor. He promoted to the CPC Secretary in 2001.
In 2002, Wang was appointed as the Deputy Mayor of Guiyang, then he promoted to the Secretariat of the CPC Guiyang Committee in 2004.
In 2006, Wang was appointed as the Deputy Mayor of Zunyi, and he promoted to the Mayor in 2008. He was appointed as the Party Secretary of Liupanshui in 2011.
In 2013, Wang was appointed as the Party Secretary of Zunyi. He was appointed as the Vice Governor of Guizhou in June 2017, until he was resigned in January 2018.
Downfall
On April 1, 2018, Wang Xiaoguang was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party's internal disciplinary body, and the National Supervisory Commission, the highest anti-corruption agency of the People's Republic of China, for "serious violations of regulations and laws". Wang became the first official of sub-provincial rank to be investigated for corruption following the founding of the National Supervisory Commission.
Following the results of the investigation, on September 20, 2018, Wang Xiaoguang was stripped of his Party membership and barred from holding public titles. On December 20, he stood trial at the First Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing Municipality on charges of taking bribes, embezzlement and insider trading. He was accused of abusing his powers in former positions he held between 1998 and 2017 in Guizhou to seek benefits for others in shareholding transfer, obtaining projects and project funds, and personnel promotions, and in return accepting money and property worth over 48.7 million yuan ($7.1 million) personally or through his family members. Wang fabricated projects from which he illegally gained land ownership and embezzled 4.8 million yuan ($744,480) of land transfer fee when he was head of Wudang District of Guiyang between 1999 and 2000. He also illegally bought and sold shares directly or through his relatives in the stock market when he gained insider information by taking advantage of his posts or from others, illegally profiting with more than 162.69 million yuan ($24.82 million) from August 2009 to February 2016.
On April 23, 2019, Wang was sentenced on 20 years in prison and fined 173.5 million yuan ($25.8 million). Wang was charged with accepting bribes worth 48.7 million yuan. Besides, he also charged with plundering the public fund worth 4.8 million yuan and illegally making 162 million yuan of gains from insider trading, by the First Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing. | 87c06b50-bd80-4003-a93c-d8a6601f5d46 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimiidera_Athletic_Stadium"} | Kimiidera Athletic Stadium (紀三井寺運動公園陸上競技場, Kimiidera Undōkōen Rikujōkyōgijō) is an athletic stadium in Wakayama, Wakayama, Japan. | 5a9d73a8-06a5-411f-972e-bf780119dec4 |
null | Species of moth
Gypsonoma phaeocremna is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found in China (Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Gansu, Shaanxi, Ningxia). | a41e4f99-2479-4f1f-9a80-dcc7852ad0d3 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_(Kosheen_song)"} | 2002 single by Kosheen
"Hungry" is a song by British electronic music trio Kosheen. It was written by group members Sian Evans, Darren Beale, and Mark Morrison and produced by Decoder & Substance. A drum and bass track with folk-pop influences, "Hungry" was released as the fourth single (and sixth overall) from Kosheen's 2001 debut studio album, Resist, on 22 April 2002. Upon its release, the track reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Kosheen's third top-20 hit, and gave the group their highest-charting single in Finland, where it peaked at number 10.
Release and critical reception
In the United Kingdom, Arista Records and Moksha Recordings had originally scheduled the "Hungry" single release for 15 April 2002, but it was delayed a week to 22 April 2002. Three formats of the single were issued in the UK: two CDs and a 12-inch vinyl disc. The first CD and 12-inch vinyl contain remixes from producers such as Tiësto, Satoshi Tomiie, Bent, and Zed Bias, while the second CD includes B-sides "Dangerous Waters" and "Live 4 Today". Reviewing the song on 8 April 2002, British trade paper Music Week listed it as a "recommended" single, comparing the track to the folk-pop sound of singer-songwriter Dido combined with an "unfussy, accessible drum & bass musical template" and calling it an "absolute treat". In Australia, the song was released on 3 June 2002 as a CD single containing selected remixes.
Chart performance
On the week beginning 28 April 2002, "Hungry" debuted at its peak of number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Kosheen's third top-20 hit and the last single from Resist to reach the top 40; it spent four weeks on the listing. On the UK Dance Chart, the track peaked at number four the same week. In Finland, "Hungry" became Kosheen's second and final single to chart as well as their highest-peaking song, debuting at number 10 on the 22nd chart week of 2002, its only appearance in the top 20. On 8 June 2002, the song appeared on Flanders' Ultratip Bubbling Under ranking, reaching number 18. Elsewhere in Europe, "Hungry" charted for five weeks in Germany, debuting at its peak of number 79 in early September. On the Eurochart Hot 100, the single entered the ranking at number 50, it peak, on the issue date of 11 May 2002. In Australia, the song picked up support from radio and dance clubs, allowing it to reach number 53 on the ARIA Singles Chart and number seven on the ARIA Dance Singles Chart; on the former listing, it spent four weeks in the top 100, while on the latter, it accrued nine weeks in the top 25.
Track listings
Credits and personnel
Credits are lifted from the UK CD1 liner notes.
Studio
Personnel
Charts
Release history | 63679b87-b903-4a95-867c-f6763ead65a5 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CKFF-FM"} | First Nations community radio station in Kipawa, Quebec
CKFF-FM is a First Nations community radio station that operates at 104.1 MHz (FM) in Kipawa, Quebec, Canada.
Branded as Drumbeat Radio, the station airs a variety of programs, interviews, stories, culture and music including country, rock, pop and more.
History
On November 13, 2018, Kebaowek First Nation (OBCI) received approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to operate a new english-language Indigenous (Type B Native) FM radio programming in Kipawa, Quebec which would operate at 104.1 MHz (channel 281A) with an average effective radiated power (ERP) of 6,000 watts (non-directional antenna with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 55.5 metres).
The station signed on the air as Drumbeat Radio in April 2020. | aa562e91-0ade-4736-8f7a-13b5f2f43e1b |
null | Burmese politician
Mya Nyein (Burmese: မြငြိမ်း) was the Deputy Speaker of the Amyotha Hluttaw, the upper house of Burma's parliament, the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, elected to the post from 31 January 2011 to 29 January 2016. He was also the chairman of the Bills Committee in the Pyithu Hluttaw (2011–15). | bc140048-94c2-4039-9f13-b7ad749c05c5 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-acetyltransferase"} | N-acetyltransferase (NAT) is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of acetyl groups from acetyl-CoA to arylamines, arylhydroxylamines and arylhydrazines. They have wide specificity for aromatic amines, particularly serotonin, and can also catalyze acetyl transfer between arylamines without CoA. N-acetyltransferases are cytosolic enzymes found in the liver and many tissues of most mammalian species, except the dog and fox, which cannot acetylate xenobiotics.
Acetyl groups are important in the conjugation of metabolites from the liver, to allow excretion of the byproducts (phase II metabolism). This is especially important in the metabolism and excretion of drug products (drug metabolism).
Enzyme Mechanism
NAT enzymes are differentiated by the presence of a conserved catalytic triad that favors aromatic amine and hydrazine substrates. NATs catalyze the acetylation of small molecules through a double displacement reaction called the ping pong bi bi reaction. The mechanism consists of two sequential reactions. In reaction one acetyl-CoA initially binds to the enzyme and acetylates Cys68. In reaction two, after acetyl-CoA is released, the acetyl acceptor interacts with the acetylated enzyme to form product. This second reaction is independent of the acetyl donor since it leaves the enzyme before the acetyl acceptor binds. However, like with many ping pong bi bi reactions, its possible there is competition between the acetyl donor and acetyl acceptor for the unacetylated enzyme. This leads to substrate-dependent inhibition at high concentrations.
Enzyme Structure
The two NAT enzymes in humans are NAT1 and NAT2. Mice and rats express three enzymes, NAT1, NAT2, and NAT3. NAT1 and NAT2 have been found to be closely related in species examined thus far, since the two enzymes share 75-95% of their amino acid sequence. Both also have an active site cysteine residue (Cys68) in the N-terminal region. Further, all functional NAT enzymes contain a triad of catalytically essential residues made up of this cysteine, histidine, and asparagine. It has been hypothesized that the catalytic effects of the breast cancer drug Cisplatin are related to Cys68. The inactivation of NAT1 by Cisplatin is caused by an irreversible formation of a Cisplatin adduct with the active-site cysteine residue. The C-terminus helps bind acetyl CoA and differs among NATs including prokaryotic homologues.
NAT1 and NAT2 have different but overlapping substrate specificities. Human NAT1 preferentially acetylates 4-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), 4 amino salicylic acid, sulfamethoxazole, and sulfanilamide. Human NAT2 preferentially acetylates isoniazid (treatment for tuberculosis), hydralazine, procainamide, dapsone, aminoglutethimide, and sulfamethazine.
Biological Significance
NAT2 is involved in the metabolism of xenobiotics, which can lead to both the inactivation of drugs and formation of toxic metabolites that can be carcinogenic. The biotransformation of xenobiotics may occur in three phases. In phase I, reactive and polar groups are introduced into the substrates. In phase II, conjugation of xenobiotics with charged species occurs, and in phase III additional modifications are made, with efflux mechanisms leading to excretion by transporters. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified human NAT2 as the top signal for insulin resistance, a key marker of diabetes and a major cardiovascular risk factor and has been shown to be associated with whole-body insulin resistance in NAT1 knockout mice. NAT1 is thought to have an endogenous role, likely linked to fundamental cellular metabolism. This may be related to why NAT1 is more widely distributed among tissues than NAT2.
Importance in Humans
Each individual metabolizes xenobiotics at different rates, resulting from polymorphisms of the xenobiotic metabolism genes. Both NAT1 and NAT2 are encoded by two highly polymorphic genes located on chromosome 8. NAT2 polymorphisms were one of the first variations to explain this inter-individual variability for drug metabolism. These polymorphisms modify the stability and/ or catalytic activity of enzymes that alter acetylation rates for drugs and xenobiotics, a trait called acetylator phenotype. For NAT2, the acetylator phenotype is described as either slow, intermediate, or rapid. Beyond modifying enzymatic activity, epidemiological studies have found an association of NAT2 polymorphisms with various cancers, likely from varying environmental carcinogens.
Indeed, NAT2 is highly polymorphic in several human populations. Polymorphisms of NAT2 include the single amino acid substitutions R64Q, I114T, D122N, L137F, Q145P, R197Q, and G286E. These are classified as slow acetylators, while the wild-type NAT2 is classified as a fast acetylator. Slow acetylators tend to be associated with drug toxicity and cancer susceptibility. For instance, the NAT2 slow acetylator genotype is associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer, especially among cigarette smokers. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of NAT1 include R64W, V149I, R187Q, M205V, S214A, D251V, E26K, and I263V, and are related to genetic predisposition to cancer, birth defects, and other diseases. The effect of the slow acetylator SNPs in the coding region predominantly act through creating an unstable protein that aggregates intracellularly prior to ubiquitination and degradation.
50% of the British population are deficient in hepatic N-acetyltransferase. This is known as a negative acetylator status. Drugs affected by this are:
Adverse events from this deficiency include peripheral neuropathy and hepatoxicity. The slowest acetylator haplotype, NAT2*5B (strongest association with bladder cancer), seems to have been selected for in the last 6,500 years in western and central Eurasian people, suggesting slow acetylation gave an evolutionary advantage to this population, despite the recent unfavorable epidemiological health outcomes data.
Examples
The following is a list of human genes that encode N-acetyltransferase enzymes: | a500fb2d-558b-4dc2-a020-5929a60dd828 |
null | Alfred Savill (1829–1905) was the founder of Savills, one of the United Kingdom's largest estate agents.
Career
Born in Chigwell, Essex, Alfred Savill became a land agent, surveyor and auctioneer. He opened the first office of Savills in the City of London in 1855.
He commissioned the building of Chigwell Hall in 1876. He was a supporter of various charitable causes giving land away to allow the construction of a chapel at Squirrels Heath near Hornchurch in 1884. He died in 1905.
Family
Savill's practice, then known as Alfred Savill & Sons, continued to be managed by his sons and later became Savills, one of the country's largest estate agents. His grandson Sir Eric Savill, also a chartered surveyor, worked for the Crown Estate as manager of Windsor Great Park and was the creator of Savill Garden located within the park. | d45f28c8-d671-42b6-9763-5c3e18333de4 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ungoed_Jacob"} | William Ungoed Jacob (6 October 1910 – 18 December 1990) was an eminent Anglican priest and author in the 20th century.
He was born on 6 October 1910, and educated at Llandovery College and Jesus College, Oxford. He trained for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and was ordained deacon in 1934 and priest in 1935. After curacies in Aberystwyth and Lampeter he held incumbencies at Blaenau Ffestiniog and Hubberston after which he was Archdeacon of Carmarthen and then Dean of Brecon. | 7891bb98-5edd-4400-a933-7b0e56737d9b |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietz_%26_Watson"} | Dietz & Watson is an American preparer of delicatessen foods, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
Dietz & Watson was founded by Gottlieb Dietz, a German sausage maker, who developed his skills while working at a meatpacking plant for almost two decades. In 1939, he purchased the Watson Meat Company and combined his name with Walter Watson, the former owner, who stayed on as the sales manager.
When Gottlieb passed, his daughters Lore and Ruth Dietz took over the family company. Under Lore and Ruth, the company expanded to become the largest deli meat purveyor in Philadelphia. Ruth continued to offer guidance to the company until her death at age 94. The grandchildren of Gottlieb now run the business, including Louis Eni (President and CEO), Chris Eni (COO), and Cindy Eni Yingling (CFO).
The company prepares deli meats, franks, sausages, cheeses and condiments using Gottlieb’s original family recipes and cooking techniques. They are the first to introduce a No-Salt Added Turkey Breast to their product lineup, starting in 1978, when their CEO, Louis Sr., needed a low-sodium product to follow his strict lower sodium diet. They are also the first company to introduce Buffalo Chicken Breast and Santa Fe Turkey in 1997.
Dietz & Watson has facilities in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Corfu NY, and their products are distributed to national retailers, independent grocers, as well as online retailers such as Amazon Fresh. They currently employ over 1,000 people nationwide.
Currently, the company's television advertising campaign features actress/model Brooklyn Decker and her husband, tennis player Andy Roddick in domestic settings talking about the company's products.
Products
Dietz & Watson prepares over 700 products for supermarkets and delis made from chicken, ham, beef, turkey, and artisan cheese. The company also sells its own line of condiments. Dietz & Watson sources beef from the Midwest and pork imported from Canada. The company only sources their meat from farms that practice strict humanely raised standards while raising animals, and does not use artificial flavors, colors, fillers, extenders, MSG, or hormones. All of the company’s poultry comes from a family owned co-op in the Shenandoah Valley, VA. In 2015, they launched Dietz & Watson Originals, a collection of “no antibiotics ever” deli meats, organic deli meats, rBGH-free cheeses and organic beef hot dogs.
In June 2017, Dietz & Watson introduced “no antibiotics ever” snack items, including over 25 different varieties of salami, cheese, and cracker snack packs, individually packaged meats and cheeses, and assorted organic beef jerky.
In early 2019, Dietz and Watson began marketing Dietz Nuts, a landjaeger cut into small pieces. The Office star Craig Robinson is their commercial spokesman.
Fire
On September 1, 2013, an 11-alarm fire that lasted over 72 hours burned through Dietz & Watson's Delanco, New Jersey distribution center, destroying the 266,000 square foot facility. Firefighters were hampered by thousands of solar panels on the roof, which officials said posed a risk of electrocution. There were also water supply issues at the location. More than 300 firefighters from 60 to 70 municipalities and multiple counties were called to aid in fighting the blaze. After considering options, Dietz & Watson decided to move their distribution to the Tacony section of Philadelphia, next door to their other facility.
Charity work
Dietz & Watson is actively involved in charity work, contributing to local charities such as the Police and Fire Departments, Philabundance, the Dietz & Watson Philadelphia Half Marathon, National Night Out, and the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial. Nationally, they contribute to the Susan G. Komen organization and (in partnership with the USO, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Baltimore Ravens) the Hometown Heroes program. They also work with many charities and foods banks in partnership with local markets and delis across the country. | 63d8e4fd-8b90-4136-9bd6-4ae39f1984a9 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A8re_Jacques_in_popular_culture"} | The song "Frère Jacques" often appears in popular culture.
| In the television film Billy and Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure, the character Fred Fredburger sings a variation of the song which goes: “Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, I gotta poo, I gotta poo, blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah, ding dong Fred Fredburger yes!” | c2e3494f-6c37-45c3-bcd3-58839beec252 |
null | Sachsenspiegel is a news programme on MDR Fernsehen, the regional television station of the German Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk.
The programme is shown from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. and has been transmitted in the German state of Saxony since January 1992. For the first few years, the programme was only shown from Monday to Saturday but since 1997 it has also been on Sunday.
Sachsenspiegel features daily regional news on the topics of politics, the economy, sport, science and culture. Major national or international news is also reported at the beginning of the programme. The thirty-minute programme usually has three or four major items as well as additional minor items and an overview of the news. There is a separate sports section, which precedes the weather report. The predecessor of Sachsenspiegel was Bei uns in Sachsen, which, from 1988 to 1991, used to air at 6:45 to 7:00 p.m. on the former East German station Deutscher Fernsehfunk.
The programme is produced in the Saxon capital of Dresden. Since 21 July 2008, the programme has been made completely in a "virtual studio". The installation of the necessary tracking and rendering technology and the creation of the virtual studio world took almost one year to complete. The programme is repeated during the night.
MDR Sachsenspiegel can be received via the following systems: DVB-T, on the Internet via Zattoo, analog by cable and digital by cable and DVB-S. When Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk is received analog by satellite [needs update], the MDR news programme Länderzeit, transmitted from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. includes a number of items from the regional programmes Sachsenspiegel, Sachsen-Anhalt heute and Thüringen Journal. Sachsenspiegel is transmitted via DVB-S on the regional channel MDR Sachsen. It is also streamed live on the MDR Web site.
Presenters
Over the last 15 years, the studios and the presenters have changed. Beate Werner, who presented Sachsenspiegel for many years, as well as presenting its predecessor, is the most famous presenter of the show.
The current presenters are: | fcdd330f-1b02-4b43-98d3-eb2619a05ae7 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravahere"} | Atoll in French Polynesia
Ravahere is an atoll of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia. It is located 53 km northwest of Nengonengo Atoll and it is separated by a 2 km sound from Marokau Atoll, its closest neighbor to the north.
Marokau and Ravahere form a minor subgroup of the Tuamotus known as the Two Groups Islands.
Ravahere Atoll is roughly boomerang-shaped. It measures 20 km in length with a maximum width of 9.5 km. The shallow lagoon has a surface area of 57.5 km2, but there is no pass to enter it.
Ravahere is permanently uninhabited.
History
The first recorded European who sighted the two neighboring atolls of Marokau and Ravahere was Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1768.
Administration
Ravahere belongs to the commune of Hikueru, which consists of the atolls of Hikueru, Marokau, Ravahere, Reitoru and Tekokota.
Gallery | 108e9281-0b63-42bc-8a1a-72f8bd728370 |
null | Data center in Washington, United States
Columbia Data Center is Microsoft's data center in Quincy, Washington. Property at Quincy was purchased in 2006; the building opened in April, 2007; and the data center reached operational status in May, 2007. It was said to be the largest data center in the world as of 2015. The company located there due to low land costs, abundant data fiber, and extremely low cost electricity provided by Grant County PUD for as little as 1.9 or 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Building began with a 500,000-square-foot (46,000 m2) facility in 2006 and several expansions followed, occupying with 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) of floorspace in two buildings on a 270-acre (110 ha) complex by 2016. The data center consumed 30 to 50 megawatts in 2012 and employs 50 people. | 06904160-3170-4462-9dfa-f6f710839e60 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglanin"} | Chemical compound
Juglanin is a flavonol found in Polygonum aviculare. | e0f10eeb-8fd3-4b0a-bb4a-009660d70702 |
null | Populated place in Arizona, United States
Huk Ovi is a populated place situated in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. It has an estimated elevation of 6,361 feet (1,939 m) above sea level. | 5071d2e7-6bf5-4b2e-9f53-763b199fbb82 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_di_Giacomo_Cataneo"} | Pietro di Giacomo Cataneo (c. 1510 in Siena-c. 1574) was a 16th-century Italian architect.
He is principally remembered for his I Quattro Primi Libri di Architettura (1554), a set of four books on architectural theory. In order, the books cover the design of fortified cities, materials, ecclesiastical architecture and domestic architecture. His work on the design of cities was influential, having been cited by Andrea Palladio and elaborated on by Scamozzi and Vasari. His plan for an 'ideal city' is said to have influenced Richard Newcourt's proposal for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire, as well as the design of cities such as Philadelphia and Savannah. The plan also bears a strong resemblance to the CBD of Adelaide. | 2bf55871-7304-4bed-ad9a-b36db51f9e06 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Helsingborgs_IF_season"} | Helsingborgs IF 2006 football season
Helsingborgs IF had a successful season with the return of Henrik Larsson from Barcelona putting the club into international spotlight. Following a dire start to the season, coach Peter Swärdh was sacked and replaced by Stuart Baxter, the Englishman's first Swedish job for five years. A strong end to the season saw Helsingborg briefly go into title contention, but that was not to be. Instead, Helsingborg beat Gefle 2-0 in the cup final, qualifying for the UEFA Cup as an effect.
Squad
Goalkeepers
Defenders
Midfielders
Attackers
Allsvenskan
Matches
Topscorers | ef2c945d-6ff7-48c3-ba1e-d69b51e1f68d |
null | Mazlum (maẓlūm) is an Arabic term for "oppressed, ill-treated, injured, sinned-against" (the antonym being ẓālim "oppressor"; root ẓlm "to oppress").
In Shiism, the term adopted a meaning of "pietistic" tolerance, given as a byname to Husayn ibn Ali, who was killed in the Battle of Karbala. The term is used for a person who is unwilling to act against an injustice not out of cowardice but out of generosity or forbearance.
It came to be used as a male given name in the Perso-Arabic cultural sphere (and later also in Turkish, pronounced [ˈmazɫum]).
People named Mazlum include: | cdf09018-55f5-4439-a816-2872f3089505 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedral_pyramid"} | In 4-dimensional geometry, the dodecahedral pyramid is bounded by one dodecahedron on the base and 12 pentagonal pyramid cells which meet at the apex. Since a dodecahedron's circumradius is greater than its edge length, the pentagonal pyramids require tall isosceles triangle faces.
The dual to the dodecahedral pyramid is an icosahedral pyramid, seen as an icosahedral base, and 20 regular tetrahedra meeting at an apex. | b8ef46e2-e996-455b-82d4-fe4dbceafaaa |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadon_of_Ancient_Opar"} | 1974 novel by Philip José Farmer
Hadon of Ancient Opar is a fantasy novel by American writer Philip José Farmer, first published in paperback by DAW Books in April 1974, and reprinted three times through 1983. The first British edition was published by Magnum in 1977; it was reprinted by Methuen in 1993. The first trade paperback edition was published by Titan Books in 2013. The work has also been translated into French. It was later gathered together with its sequels Flight to Opar and The Song of Kwasin into the omnibus collection Gods of Opar: Tales of Lost Khokarsa (2012). It and its sequels purport to fill in some of the ancient prehistory of the lost city of Opar, created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a setting for his Tarzan series.
Plot
In the plot of the novel, Hadon journeys to Khokarsa to compete in the "Great Games", in which he triumphs. The prize being that he is entitled to marry the ruling high priestess, should she choose to accept him, and thus become high priest and king of the Khokarsa. However, King Minruth is unwilling to relinquish power and schemes to be rid of Hadon.
The novel deals with the expedition of Hadon, a young Oparian warrior, to the Wild Lands and as far as the mysterious Ringing Sea, which would one day be called the Mediterranean, with the strange woman whom he meets and brings with him, and with the cataclysmic civil war which breaks out on his return and which he partly (and completely unintentionally) helps touch off.
The ancient Khokarsan society of which Opar is a part is a matriarchy (a reasonable inference from the culture of the later-day Opar encountered by Tarzan). A delicate balance between the genders is maintained, symbolized by the co-rule of the high priestess and the king (whose main authority is command of the army), which corresponds to some theories of sociologists and historians on the way actual matriarchal societies may have worked. The same scheme is repeated on a smaller scale on the local level, where towns are co-governed by a local priestess and the commander of the local garrison.
The current king, Minruth, tries to subvert this immemorial system and establish exclusive male power, which incidentally would force an incestuous relationship upon the current high priestess, Awineth, who happens to be his daughter. Lalila, the foreign "White Witch from the Sea," whom Hadon brings with him and with whom he falls in love, is used as a pawn in King Minruth's power game; the xenophobic suspicions aroused about her are used in an attempt to undermine the position of women in general.
Hadon and his male and female friends rally to the high priestess' banner against the king's evil schemes.
Setting
Opar is the first and most frequently re-visited of the many lost cities and cultures which Tarzan discovers in Africa. As portrayed by Burroughs, Opar is ruled by the high priestess La, with whom Tarzan develops a prolonged love/hate relationship. The city itself is a decayed remnant of ancient greatness; it is suggested, though not conclusively, that it is a cut-off colony of Atlantis.
Farmer seizes on Burroughs' ambiguity over the issue to recast Opar as a member city of an otherwise unknown local civilization that flourished in central Africa during the last ice age. It was supposedly based on a pair of now vanished inland seas connected by a narrow strait, with a surface roughly equivalent to the Mediterranean. The two seas facilitated the appearance of a mercantile culture, technologically similar to Ancient Greece, while the rest of the world was still deep in the Stone Age.
Farmer shows this culture at or near the peak of its ancient glory, more than 10,000 years ago. It comprises numerous thriving (and sometimes warring) city states and empires, one of which is Opar. Opar is, in fact, far from the most important of these cities. The Opar described in the Tarzan novels is depicted as a "former colony of Atlantis" and this is adhered to by Farmer, though "Atlantis" in this context—the capital of the empire of which Opar is a province—is located on an island in the African inland sea, not in the Atlantic Ocean.
Eventually, subsequent to the period of his story, the two seas drain off into the Atlantic and the culture dependent on them decays and disappears, leaving only the remnant of Opar forgotten in the jungles where Tarzan will discover it. The seas' modern remnants are represented to be the much-shrunken Lake Chad and the Congo River basin.
While originally derived from the Tarzan series, the world created by Farmer is given its own independent literary existence, with the sociological and cultural aspects worked out in meticulous detail, and a long historical annex added at the end.
Reception
Lester del Rey found the novel to be "good fun" and noted that Farmer was not imitating Burroughs either in storytelling or characterization, although he faulted Farmer for providing an installment in a longer story rather than one with a dramatic resolution. Commenting on the novel for The New York Times, Theodore Sturgeon described Farmer as "tireless and astonishing". | fab19985-202d-49f9-892a-c3a91bb19da8 |
null | Jane Murphy may refer to: | 0a0b78bd-cda9-4bd4-992e-eb23f0859b0f |
null | Diane Powell Murray is an American software engineer and program manager. In 2006 she received Computerworld's Premier 100 Technology Leadership Award, and in 1982 the Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.
Education
In 1974, Murray graduated Spelman College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics. She earned a Master of Science degree in operations research from Cornell University in 1976.
Career
After graduating with her master's degree, Murray went to work for the Eastman Kodak Company from January 1976 to June 1977. In August 1977, she began to work for TRW Inc., where she remains. She does work related to systems and software engineering, as well as product management. She was part of TRW's Missile Application Program from 1977 to 1980. From 1981 to 1986, she worked on strategic and space defense projects, as well as on projects related to a subcontracted, synthetic seismogram generator. In 1982, she appeared in the film Science: Women's Work that was produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Foundation, and TRW, Inc. She became a manager to over 60 people in 1986. In 1990, she provided technical support for the Earth Observing System Satellite and Information System. Since then, she has worked on a variety of projects, and has also worked on programs related to United States government intelligence. When TRW was bought by the Northrop Grumman Corporation, she continued her employment there. By 2005, she was the Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Mission Systems Sector. In 2006 Northrop Grumman appointed her Sector Vice President for Mission Assurance. After 32 years of service at TRW/Northrop Grumman, Diane Murray retired in 2009.
Public service
Murray has worked as a district coordinator for the Boy Scouts of America. She was also appointed by TRW to be a member of the Carson California Child Guidance Advisory Committee. She has also participated in the Los Angeles Upward Bound Program, where she taught mathematics. She has also served on TRW's Advisory Board of Women and on its Affirmative Action Committee. She also served as a member of the Diversity Advisory Board for Penn State University's School of Engineering.
Awards
Murray received the Candace Award in 1982 from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. She has also received an award from the Spelman College Alumnae Association for excellence in science and technology. TRW named her Outstanding Woman of the Year in 1996. In 2005, she was honored with the National Woman of Color Technology Award. In 2006, she received Computerworld's Premier 100 Technology Leadership award. | 06be0c67-3589-40c7-b518-31fe89108196 |
null | Building in Trelech, Wales
The Larches (Welsh: Bryngaer Coed y Mynydd) near Trellech is a Celtic Iron Age hillfort. OS reference: SO492037.
This fort was registered by Cadw and is identified with the number SAM: MM069. There are approximately 300 hillforts in Cadw's list of monuments, although archaeologists believe there were nearly 600 in total. | c599e139-3adb-4315-a23e-1f858597ba32 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galambok"} | Place in Zala, Hungary
Galambok is a village in Zala County, Hungary. | ca78def9-8f76-4b90-87eb-88b18b3d9a32 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Hold_On"} | 1989 single by Coldcut
"People Hold On" is a song by British band Coldcut and singer-songwriter Lisa Stansfield, released as the first single from the band's debut album, What's That Noise? (1989). It was written by Matt Black, Jonathan More and Stansfield, and produced by Coldcut. The song received positive reviews from music critics and became a commercial success. It was released as a single on 13 March 1989 and reached number eleven on the UK Singles Chart and number six on the US Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The song was remixed by Blaze, Juan Atkins, Dimitri from Paris, Mark Saunders, Eric Kupper, Tyrone Perkins and Masters At Work.
In 2003, "People Hold On" was included on Stansfield's compilation, Biography: The Greatest Hits. In 2006, Casuals Remix by Ceri Evans was included on Coldcut's album, Sound Mirrors (Videos & Remixes). In 2014, Full Length Disco Mix of "People Hold On" was included on Stansfield's People Hold On ... The Remix Anthology (also on The Collection 1989–2003).
Chart performance
"People Hold On" managed to make some impact on the charts in several countries. It peaked within the top 20 in the UK, where it made it to number eleven on 9 April 1989, in its fourth week at the UK Singles Chart. Additionally, the song was a top 30 hit in West Germany (24), a top 40 hit in Belgium (32) and the Netherlands (37), and a top 50 hit in France (45). On the Eurochart Hot 100, "People Hold On" reached its best position as number 26 in April 1989. Outside Europe, it peaked at number six on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, while reaching number 37 in New Zealand and number 78 in Australia.
Critical reception
Matthew Hocter from Albumism described "People Hold On" as "an innovative dance track". Greg Kot from Chicago Tribune noted Stansfield's "elastic" voice on it. Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger complimented her "as a house vocalist". He added, "Lisa Stansfield was a terrific find: she could play the belter with the best of them, but also provide a calm centre for Coldcut’s gleeful cut-and-mix pyrotechnics and pianos. Best of all, she sounded like she was having a tremendous time." A reviewer from Music & Media wrote, "An effective mixture of Stansfield's soul voice and a rare groove/house backing. Great dance track with a strong melody." Edward Hill from The Plain Dealer praised the song as "fabulous". Marisa Fox from Spin complimented it as a "catchy hit". Joe Brown from The Washington Post described it as "propulsive".
Music video
A music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Big TV!. It was later published on Stansfield's official YouTube channel in March 2012, and had generated more than 1.1 million views as of April 2022.
Impact and legacy
British music publication Fact ranked "People Hold On" number 11 in their list of "21 Diva-House Belters That Still Sound Incredible" in 2014, writing,
Yeah it’s cheesy and loved up and utopian – and what? It really hit the spot back then, find yourself in the right situation now and it still does. Also the a cappella has found its way over so many different beats in bootlegs and DJ sets over the years, this track is woven into the very fabric of things.
Electronic dance and clubbing magazine Mixmag ranked it as one of the 20 best songs in their "The 20 Best Diva House Tracks" list in 2019, adding,
The tune put the pair on the map and influential producers like Juan Atkins, Dimitri from Paris and Masters At Work, took notice of the UK duo's talent and each took shots at remixing the track. It's a clean and powerful dance track with a strong melody that marked the beginning of Coldcut's iconic career.
Track listings
Charts
"People Hold On" (The Bootleg Mixes)
In 1996, "People Hold On" was remixed by British producers Dan Bewick and Matt Frost as the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The CD single with these Bootleg Mixes was released on 6 January 1997 and charted higher than the original version of the song in 1989, peaking at number four on the UK Singles Chart and topping the UK Dance Singles Chart as well as the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels took their cue from Armand Van Helden's radical reworking of Tori Amos' "Professional Widow", which topped the UK chart the week that the bootleg mixes debuted.
Because of this success, "People Hold On" (Bootleg Mix) was included on Stansfield's eponymous album (1997) as a bonus track. The music video, directed by Max Abbiss-Biro, does not include any new footage of Stansfield but uses small fragments taken from "Change" and "Someday (I'm Coming Back)" videos. Later, "People Hold On" (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Mix) was also featured on The Remix Album (1998) and a limited edition of Biography: The Greatest Hits (2003). On 24 October 2006, Dance Vault Mixes of "People Hold On" were released digitally. In 2014, Jon Is the Don Mix of "People Hold On" was included on the deluxe 2CD + DVD re-release of Lisa Stansfield (also on The Collection 1989–2003).
Critical reception
Scottish Aberdeen Press and Journal wrote, "This bootleg is only going to be available for one week at the start of the New Year and can be expected to do big things. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Armand Van Helden’s remix of Tori Amos’ excellent Professional Widow, except featuring vocals from Lisa's classic". The newspaper added that "the rush to get a copy will probably see it in the Top Ten. Not bad at all, even if a tad unoriginal."
Track listings
Charts | e47a57e5-9841-41ff-b030-8c5d66f45589 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_North_Texas_State_Mean_Green_football_team"} | American college football season
The 1978 North Texas State Mean Green football team represented North Texas State University—now known as the University of North Texas—during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. In its sixth and final season under head coach Hayden Fry, the team compiled a 9–2 record. The team played its home games at Fouts Field in Denton, Texas.
Schedule
FB #28 Kevin Adkisson
Game summaries
Mississippi State
Oklahoma State
at Texas
Team players in the 1979 NFL Draft | fb481d76-97db-479c-ae18-9ac7f0e489da |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redemptioner"} | European indentured labourers
Redemptioners were European immigrants, generally in the 18th or early 19th century, who gained passage to American Colonies (most often Pennsylvania) by selling themselves into indentured servitude to pay back the shipping company which had advanced the cost of the transatlantic voyage. British indentured servants generally did not arrive as redemptioners after the early colonial period due to certain protections afforded them by law. Redemptioners were at a disadvantage because they negotiated their indentures upon arrival after a long and difficult voyage with no prospect to return to their homelands.
History
Up until the American Revolutionary War, some convicts from the United Kingdom were transported to the American Colonies and served out their time as indentured servants before receiving an official pardon. Labor was in demand in North America and so free persons were also recruited. Those who could not afford to pay their own way, came under indentures which obligated them to work for no wages until their land and sea transportation and other expenses had been covered. Because of abuse of the system, which included lying to recruits and even shanghaiing them, the British Parliament enacted laws protecting British subjects from the worst abuses. The law required that the specific terms and conditions of servitude be approved by a magistrate in Great Britain, and that any indentures not bearing a magistrate's seal were unenforceable in the colonies. This resulted in British indentured servants becoming less attractive to potential colonial masters. A similar law was passed in Ireland in an act of Parliament whereby in return for passage to America, the servant gave the purchaser of his indenture all rights to his labour for an agreed period of time, usually four years. Once a candidate for indentured servitude was identified, the emigration agent or visiting ship captain negotiated a binding contract detailing the terms and benefits, and the contract presented before a local magistrate.
Non-British immigrants had no such protections. If they used the redemptioner system, they were forced to negotiate their indentures with their future master at the worst possible time, before they were allowed to leave a stinking, vermin-infested ship at the end of a long voyage.
A few early 18th-century Europeans, typically German-speaking immigrants to the American Colonies, later sent for family members in the old world by agreeing with the shipping companies to "redeem" their loved ones off the arriving vessel by paying the passage —more or less a form of COD for human cargo. Ships' owners soon saw this as a lucrative opportunity. They recruited Europeans to emigrate without payment up front and allowed anyone in the new world to redeem the travelers. The fare was set by the shipping company and the prospective master bargained directly with the immigrant to determine how many years he or she would work to pay off the "loan" of the fare.
More than half of 18th- and early 19th-century German-speaking immigrants came as redemptioners[citation needed].
To fill empty holds, poor Europeans were recruited onto ships in Rotterdam by “Neulaender” (singular = Neulander) or “new worlders” who had worked out their time as indentured servants in the colonies. Neulaender received a commission for each person they brought to the ship so they were not always a trustworthy source of information about how the program would work for the emigrant. The Neulaender were dressed in fancy clothes to impress the peasants as they wandered about Germanic countries to begin recruiting.
The vast majority of these poor go-now-pay-later travelers were not redeemed by family members, so the term is misleading in that most paid for their emigration with their own toil, tears, and sometimes their life. In America their labour was considered a good to be lawfully bought and sold until their indentures matured. The big differences between redemptioners and African slaves, were that redemptioners came of their own accord (even if misinformed) and that they had some legal rights and an “out of indentures” date to look forward to. An example of how the indentured servant was viewed is the 1662 Virginia law that forced both slave and indentured servant females who bore children by their masters to serve after their indentures for an additional two years for the local churchwardens [citation needed] no penalty was specified for their masters. On the other hand, a Virginia law of the same year stipulated that "any servant giving notice to their masters (having just cause of complaint against them) for harsh and bad usage, or else for want of diet or convenient necessaries... [shall] have remedy for his grievances."
Abuse of redemptioners on board ship is well documented. If a person died after half way across the Atlantic, the surviving family members had to pay the deceased’s fare as well as their own. Their baggage was often pilfered by the crew. Many travelers started their journey with sufficient funds to pay their way but were overcharged so that they arrived with a debt to settle and they also had to be redeemed. If the ship needed to sail before some of the passengers’ indentures had been sold, an agent in the American port kept them confined until a buyer presented himself.
The redemptioners who became indentured servants ended up working as farm laborers, household help, in workshops, and even as store clerks. They were typically prevented from marrying until after their term of service. Often, the terms of separation after the contract stipulated that the servant receive a suit of clothing and sometimes a shovel and/or an axe. Also, some contracts required the master to teach the servant to read and write from the Bible. Conditions were sometimes harsh as evidenced by the lists and paid announcements for the return of escaped servants in contemporary newspapers.
The Rotterdam ships always stopped first in the U.K. (often at Cowes) to clear British customs, before proceeding to the Colonies. A list of indenture registrations in Philadelphia from 1772 to 1773 survives and reveals that most worked five to seven years to pay their masters off (The Bible allowed no more than seven years term of any contract, and this influenced both the law and public opinion).
Accounts
The only two surviving first-person accounts by redemptioners were published in September 2006 in the book Souls for Sale: Two German Redemptioners Come to Revolutionary America. By coincidence, they both arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Sally in the fall of 1772. John Frederick Whitehead and Johann Carl Buettner were recruited in Baltic cities and shipped as virtual prisoners to Rotterdam, originally to be delivered to ships of the Dutch East India Company departing for Indonesia. Their handlers missed that opportunity so they settled for handing them over to a ship bound for Pennsylvania.
Over time, Germans out of indentures formed German-American societies and one important activity for them was to lobby for humane regulations and policing of the shipping companies.
The German immigrant to Missouri, Gottfried Duden, whose published letters (1829) did much to encourage German-speaking emigration to the U.S. in the 1800s wrote about the redemptioners. “The poor Europeans who think they have purchased the land of their desires by the hardships endured during the journey across the sea are enslaved for five, seven, or more years for a sum that any vigorous day laborer earns within six months. The wife is separated from the husband, the children from their parents, perhaps never to see each other again.”
By the time Duden published his letters, the redemptioner system was all but dead. As many as 50% to 70% of Germans coming to America in the 1700s came as redemptioners.[citation needed] | 0bd8d66f-a51c-4c01-bea5-7302fc919dc4 |
{"document_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Little_League_World_Series_qualification"} | Qualification for the 2021 Little League World Series took place across eight United States regions. The first regional tournament began on August 5 and the final tournament concluded on August 14. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Little League Baseball made the decision to hold the tournament without teams from outside of the United States for the first time since 1975. Instead, the top two teams from each U.S. region qualified for the final tournament. In all, 53 teams were invited to the regional tournaments; two from California, two from Texas, one each from the other 48 states, and one from the District of Columbia.
Great Lakes
The tournament took place in Whitestown, Indiana, during August 8–14. On August 11, the team from Kentucky was removed from tournament play due to having at least one positive COVID-19 test.
Mid-Atlantic
The tournament took place in Bristol, Connecticut, during August 8–14.
Midwest
The tournament took place in Whitestown, Indiana, during August 7–14.
New England
The tournament took place in Bristol, Connecticut, during August 8–14.
Northwest
The tournament took place in San Bernardino, California, during August 8–14. On August 7, the team from Alaska was removed from tournament play due to having at least one positive COVID-19 test.
Southeast
The tournament took place in Warner Robins, Georgia, during August 6–11. On August 7, the team from North Carolina was removed from further tournament play due to having at least one positive COVID-19 test.
Southwest
The tournament took place in Waco, Texas, during August 5–10. On August 6, the teams from Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Texas East were all removed from further tournament play due to each team having at least one positive COVID-19 test. This resulted in a reworking of the schedule, causing the championship game to be moved up a day from its originally planned date of August 11.
West
The tournament took place in San Bernardino, California, during August 8–14. On August 10, the team from Arizona was removed from tournament play due to having at least one positive COVID-19 test. | 127eb1d7-c943-4fb8-ae3b-53aea101f960 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.