Crow Island School

Crow Island School in Winnetka, Illinois, is an elementary school significant for its progressive philosophy and its International Style architecture. The design of its building was a collaboration between the Chicago firm of Perkins, Wheeler and Will and Eero Saarinen.  It currently serves kindergarten through fourth grade students. The school was established in 1940-41.   The original jungle gym is located here, having been moved from Horace Mann School in 1940. The school was awarded the Twenty-five Year Award by the American Institute of Architects in 1971. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1990. In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, Crow Island School was selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places  by the American Institute of Architects Illinois component (AIA Illinois).

Background
Progressive education flourished in the 1920s and continued to develop in the 1930s. However, because of economic hardship during the Great Depression, few new schools had been built to accommodate the movement. Carleton Washburne was a regional leader in progressive thought and, as superintendent of schools in Winnetka, Illinois, sought to establish a new school.

Larry Perkins, Philip Will, Jr., and Todd Wheeler had recently formed the architectural firm and this was one of their first commissions. Perkins was the son of Dwight H. Perkins, the former Chief Architect for the Chicago Board of Education; the elder Perkins designed two schools in Winnetka. The Perkins family had connections on the Winnetka School Board as well as superintendent Washburne. Although Washburne was interested in the firm's modern approach to architecture, he was concerned about their lack of experience. He changed his mind when Larry Perkins suggested a collaboration with Eliel and Eero Saarinen. The Saarinens, who were interested in an innovative educational project, agreed for the two firms to collaborate.

Design
Perkins, Wheeler & Will was responsible for the bulk of the early design. They interviewed students and teachers about the project and sat in on classes. They had to design the building for the modest sum of $287,000 in construction cost. A site for the school was selected on Crow Island, a high spot in the Skokie Marsh bordering the Crow Island Woods. The swamp was filled with landfill from two Works Progress Administration projects in the area: the Skokie Lagoons Project and a track depression for the Chicago and North Western Railway. John McFadzean and Robert Everly were consulted to design a park-like atmosphere for the school grounds.

The school has four wings emerging from a central building with common rooms. This design allows each classroom to have its own outdoor courtyard. Each wing also has its own playground, two of which feature experimental examples of a jungle gym. The Saarinens designed a hexagonal sandbox for the northwest wing. The main entrance is under a chimney overhang on the west, with an additional entrance for the kindergarten on the east. The one-story building is flat with the exception of a  chimney emerging from the north face, providing a "fifth wing" stretching vertically.

The school was one of the first to be designed in the international style of architecture in North America.  Its aesthetics and form, although not its planning or educational model, soon became a template for mid-century and factory model schools.

Perkins, Wheeler & Will used the profits from the design to commission Hedrich Blessing Photographers to photograph the building. Perkins & Will would go on to design over five hundred schools.

References

External links

 List of awards
 National Register of Historic Places - Crow Island School registration form with detailed description
 Chicago Reader article with detailed history and description
 Crow Island School's virtual tour
 Illinois Great Places - Crow Island School
Society of Architectural Historians SAH ARCHIPEDIA entry on Crow Island School

Category:National Historic Landmarks in Illinois
Category:Winnetka, Illinois
Category:School buildings completed in 1940
Category:Eero Saarinen structures
Category:Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Cook County, Illinois
Category:Public elementary schools in Cook County, Illinois
Category:School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois


Mudflat hiking

Mudflat hiking (, , West Frisian: Waadrinnen, ) is a recreation enjoyed in the Netherlands, northwest Germany and in Denmark. Mudflat hikers are people who, with the aid of a tide table, use a period of low water to walk and wade on the watershed of the mudflats, especially from the Frisian mainland coast to the Frisian islands.

The Wadden Sea, a belt of the North Sea, is well suited to this traditional practice.  Belts of this shallow sea lie off the mainland of the Netherlands, between Friesland and the Frisian Islands; off the coast of northwestern Germany; and off the coast of southwest Jutland in Denmark.

In the Netherlands, mudflat hikers can walk from the mainland to Terschelling, Ameland, Engelsmanplaat, Schiermonnikoog, Simonszand, and Rottumeroog.  Other mudflat hiking routes are known but are not recommended, either because of their inherent dangers (the correct path is difficult to follow and/or there are insufficient margins of error in timing the trip) or for the minimization of ecological disturbance, or both.
In Germany, mudflat hikers can walk to the East Frisian Islands of Norderney, Baltrum, Langeoog, Spiekeroog, Minsener-Oldoog and Neuwerk. The North Frisian Halligen Süderoog, Südfall, Oland, Langeneß, Gröde, and Nordstrandischmoor as well as the island Föhr can also be reached from the mainland. There is also a connection between the islands Amrum and Föhr. For this specific route, a guide is mandatory.

In Denmark, mudflat hikers can walk to Mandø, Fanø, and Langli.

The same activity is occasionally practiced in England, most commonly making use of abandoned sub-tidal carriage roads once used by horse-drawn traffic. The best-known example is the crossing of Morecambe Bay, where guided walks along the 11km route are led by the current holder of the ancient office of Queen's Guide to the Sands. Another is The Broomway in Essex. Both routes pose severe potential dangers and walkers are usually led by experienced guides.

Regulation

In Dutch waters, mudflat hiking is only allowed with an appropriate license or under the supervision of a licensed guide, and only on recognized routes. In the Netherlands, Wadloopcentrum Fryslân in Holwerd, Wadloopcentrum Pieterburen Pieterburen, Dijkstra's Wadlooptochten Pieterburen, Stichting Uithuizerwad Uithuizen, Wadloopvereniging Arenicola Groningen, Wadgidsengroep Noord Nederland, and the Fryske Waedrinners are organisations for the training of mudflat hiking guides and the preservation of the sport.

Though the tides change in very regular cycles, anyone can easily misjudge the situation and find themselves quickly surrounded by the rising water on all sides, far away from the beaches. A guide should be hired to prevent any mishaps.

References

Category:Frisian Islands
Category:Hiking
Category:Dutch culture
Category:German culture
Category:Danish culture


Helen Nearing

Helen Knothe Nearing (February 23, 1904 – September 17, 1995) was an American author and advocate of simple living.

Biography
Helen Knothe was born on February 23, 1904 in Ridgewood, New Jersey as the daughter of Frank Knothe, who had a clothing business. She grew up in an economically comfortable family of Theosophists. She graduated from Ridgewood High School and studied the violin internationally. As a young woman, she had a romantic relationship with Jiddu Krishnamurti.

She and Scott Nearing started a relationship in 1928 and married nearly 20 years later, on December 12, 1947 when she was 43 and he was 64. In 1934, the couple left New York City for Winhall in rural Vermont, where they had purchased a rather large forest tract for $2200 and a moderate-sized farm for $2500. They aspired to live a more “purposeful” life and improve their health while disassociating from modern society. At the homestead, they lived a largely ascetic and self-reliant life, growing much of their own food and putting up nine stone buildings over the course of two decades. Cash was earned from producing maple syrup and maple sugar from the trees on their land and from Scott Nearing's occasional paid lectures. However, in her book Meanwhile, Next Door to the Good Life, Jean Hay Bright documents that the Nearings were both heavily subsidized by substantial inheritances which supported their forest farm. In 1934, around the time they purchased the Vermont property, Helen inherited between $30,000–$40,000 from former suitor J. J. van der Leeuw (). Scott received an inheritance from his father that was said to be "at least a million dollars" in 1940 according to Nearing's son Robert. Hay Bright's calculations make clear that while very hard working homesteaders, the Nearings never came close to supporting themselves on their "cash crops" as they state.

The Nearings left the Vermont homestead in 1952 after the area saw an increase in ski tourism, moving to a homestead in Brooksville, Maine, on Cape Rosier, where they continued growing much of their own food. They cultivated blueberries as a cash crop. In 1954, the couple published Living the Good Life which inspired many young, educated Americans to create simpler, rural lifestyles and the back-to-the-land movement of the 1960s and 70s.

In the summer of 1991, Helen and Scott were inducted into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame of the North American Vegetarian Society.

Death and legacy
Helen Nearing died in 1995 as the result of a single-car accident in Harborside, Maine. The Maine estate was left for The Trust for Public Land which established the Good Life Center to continue the Nearing's legacy. The Thoreau Institute acquired the papers of the couple.

Published works
 The Good Life Picture Album (1974)
 Simple Food for the Good Life (1980)
 Wise Words for the Good Life (1980)
 Our Home Made of Stone (1983)
 Loving and Leaving the Good Life (1992)
 Light on Aging and Dying (1995)

Co-authored with Scott Nearing
 The Maple Sugar Book: being a plain practical account of the Art of Sugaring designed to promote an acquaintance with the Ancient as well as the Modern practise, together with remarks on Pioneering as a way of living in the twentieth century. New York: John Day Co., 1950.
 Living the Good Life (1954)
 Socialists Around the World (1958)
 Building and Using Our Sun-Heated Greenhouse (1977)
 Continuing the Good Life (1979)
 The Good Life (1989)

References

External links

The Good Life Center

Category:1904 births
Category:1995 deaths
Category:American tax resisters
Category:Simple living advocates
Category:Writers from New Jersey
Category:Writers from Vermont
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers
Category:People from Brooksville, Maine
Category:People from Ridgewood, New Jersey
Category:Ridgewood High School (New Jersey) alumni
Category:American women non-fiction writers


Sondina

Sondina  is a village in the Bassar Prefecture in the Kara Region  of north-western Togo.

References

Category:Populated places in Kara Region
Category:Bassar Prefecture


Water in Africa

Overall, Africa has about 9% of the world's fresh water resources and 16% of the world's population.
However, there is very significant inter-and intra-annual variability of all climate and water resources characteristics, so while some regions have sufficient water, Sub-Saharan Africa faces numerous water-related challenges that constrain economic growth and threaten the livelihoods of its people. African agriculture is mostly based on rain-fed farming, and less than 10% of cultivated land in the continent is irrigated. The impact of climate change and variability is thus very pronounced. The main source of electricity is hydropower, which contributes significantly to the current installed capacity for energy. Continuing investment in the last decade has increased the amount of power generated.

Solutions to the challenges of water for energy and food security are hindered by shortcomings in water infrastructure, development, and management capacity to meet the demands of a rapidly growing population. This is compounded by the fact the Africa has the fastest urbanization rates in the world. Water development and management are much more complex due to the multiplicity of trans-boundary water resources (rivers, lakes and aquifers). Around 75% of sub-Saharan Africa falls within 53 international river basin catchments that traverse multiple borders. This particular constraint can also be converted into an opportunity if the potential for trans-boundary cooperation is harnessed in the development of the area’s water resources. A multi-sectoral analysis of the Zambezi River, for example, shows that riparian cooperation could lead to a 23% increase in firm energy production without any additional investments. A number of institutional and legal frameworks for transboundary cooperation exist, such as the Zambezi River Authority, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol, Volta River Authority and the Nile Basin Commission. However, additional efforts are required to further develop political will, as well as the financial capacities and institutional frameworks needed for win-win multilateral cooperative actions and optimal solutions for all riparians.

Water, jobs and the economy

Africa has recently undergone its best decade (2005-2015) for economic growth since the post-independence period. The growth, however, has neither been inclusive or equitable. According to the World Bank, GDP growth in sub-Saharan Africa averaged 4.5% in 2014, up from 4.2% in 2013, supported by continuing infrastructure investment, increased agricultural production and buoyant services.

Africa’s population surpassed the 1 billion mark in 2010 and is projected to double by 2050. Demographically, it is expected to be the fastest growing region in the world with the growth varying depending on sub region. Furthermore, the growth is skewed to the young and that component of the population that will need jobs is expected to increase rapidly and comprise 910 million out of the projected two billion total population by 2050. Most of the growth in workforce will be in Sub-Saharan Africa (about 90%). Hence, the demand for jobs will be a major policy issue across the continent, which is already experiencing high unemployment and underemployment; moreover, the latter is driving both migration within the region and emigration towards Europe and other regions.

Job creation for this anticipated growth in population is set to be the major challenge for Africa’s structural economic and social transformation. It is estimated that in 2015, 19 million young people will be joining the sluggish job market in Sub-Saharan Africa and four million in North Africa. The demand for jobs is expected to increase to 24.6 million annually in Sub-Saharan Africa and 4.3 million in North Africa by 2030, representing two thirds of global growth in demand for jobs. Youth unemployment has been the trigger for uprisings, notably in North Africa, and has led to social and security instability.

The key water-dependent or related sectors with the potential for meeting part of the current and projected demand for jobs in Africa are social services, agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, retail and hospitality, manufacturing, construction, natural resources exploitation (including mining) and energy production (including hydro, geothermal and expected fracking for oil and natural gas). All these sectors depend to a varying extent on the availability of, access to, and reliability of water resources. Irresponsible water use by some sectors can create short-term employment, but result in negative impacts on the availability of water resources and jeopardize future jobs in other water-dependent sectors. Climate change, water scarcity and variability have direct impact on the major sector outputs and thus ultimately on the overall economy of most African countries.

Jobs in water-dependent sectors
Currently, the most important water-dependent sector in Africa is agriculture, which forms the bedrock of most economies of African states. Both rain-fed and irrigated agriculture are important job-providing sectors in all African countries.

Agriculture
The role of agriculture as the main source of employment is decreasing in many African countries as a sustained growth in many economies is leading to increasing standards of living, improved education and the occurrence of rapid rural-urban migration of educated youth in search of white collar jobs. However, for the foreseeable future agriculture will still be a major source of employment, especially in non-oil producing African states. There is a rising paradox of increasing unemployment in the rapidly urbanizing cities and towns of Africa: labour shortages in rural areas are leading to significant reduction in food production and increased dependence of many African countries on food imports.

Based on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations statistics, agriculture was the source of employment for 49% of Africans by 2010 and is a reflection of a gradual decline from 2002 to 2010,which coincides with the period of sustained GDP growth in most African countries. In spite of this decline, agriculture is expected to create eight million stable jobs by 2020 based on the trends from the McKinsey Global Institute analysis. If the continent accelerates agricultural development by expanding large scale commercial farming on uncultivated land and shifts production from low-value grain production to more labour-intensive and higher value-added horticultural and bio fuel crops (a good example is Ethiopia), as many as six million additional jobs could be created continent-wide by 2020. However, such estimates do not take account of the potential displacement or disappearance of existing jobs. These would need to be carefully assessed in terms of social, economic and environmental impacts in the overall context of responsible agricultural investment.

Fisheries
The African fisheries and aquaculture sector employed12.3 million people in 2014 and contributed US $24 billion or 1.26% of the GDP of all African countries, which improved food security and nutrition. About half of the workers in the sector were fishers and the rest were processors (mainly women) or aquaculturists.

Fisheries and aquaculture contribution to GDP in Africa by sub-sector

Employment by subsector

Manufacturing and industry
Many manufacturing industries in Africa are water-dependent. The share of jobs is lower than in agriculture, even though the industries cited are considered as water intensive. In 2011, Ghana’s economy grew at 14% with the onset of its first production of oil. However, in 2015 the growth rate was expected to be only 3.9%. This can be attributed to a great extent to the failure to provide the basic water and energy infrastructure to meet the needs of a rapidly growing economy. Ghana is mainly dependent on the Akosombo hydroelectric dam on the Volta River for electricity. Due to reduced inflows from low rainfall, the hydroelectric dam was operating merely at half of its capacity in 2015. This was exacerbated by disruptions mainly in geothermal plants. In June 2015, all electricity was being rationed at 12 hours on, and 24 hours off. Though this is extreme, it reinforces the need for water infrastructure to sustain production and jobs in the nascent African economies. Anecdotal evidence from trade unions and employers in Ghana indicate that tens of thousands of stable jobs were lost in 2015 and the investment climate has turned sour, forcing Ghana to seek International Monetary Fund macro-economic support again. These policy instruments are underpinned by strategies and programmes, including the New Partnership for African Development Program (NEPAD), Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and many others, which include the integrated development of Africa’s water resources for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation and eradication. The AU Agenda 2063, for example, aspires to a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development. It specifically aims for an Africa that shall have equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for socio-economic development, regional cooperation and the environment, and calls for the following action among others. ‘Support Young people as drivers of Africa’s renaissance, through investment in their health,education and access to technology, opportunities and capital, and concerted strategies to combat youth unemployment and underemployment. Encourage exchange and Pan-Africanism among young people through the formation of African Union Clubs in all schools, colleges and universities. Ensure faster movement on the harmonization of continental admissions, curricula, standards, programmes and qualifications and raising the standards of higher education to enhance the mobility of African youth and talent across the continent by 2025’.

Expected future developments
For Africa to be able to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and maintain the impressive growth rates of the last 10 years, the basic infrastructures of water, electricity and transportation are prerequisites. Without these basics, the African economies will lose the momentum of the last decade, which will lead to not only loss of direct water jobs, but also jobs in all the other sectors dependent on water. An illustrative example is the case of Ghana which is often cited as one of the best examples of economic recovery in Africa.

African Water Policy Framework and impact on jobs
The African Policy Framework for the water sector comprise a series of high-level declarations,resolutions and programmes of action on the development and use of the continent’s water resources for socio-economic development, regional integration and the environment. These include the African Water Vision 2025 and its Framework of Action, the African Union (AU) Extraordinary Summit on Water and Agriculture, the AU Sharm El Sheikh Declaration on Water and Sanitation, and most importantly, the Agenda 2063 –The Africa We Want.

These policy instruments are underpinned by strategies and programmes, including the New Partnership for African Development Program (NEPAD), Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and many others, which include the integrated development of Africa’s water resources for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation and eradication.

The AU Agenda 2063, for example, aspires to a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development. It specifically aims for an Africa that shall have equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for socio-economic development, regional cooperation and the environment, and calls for the following action among others. ‘Support Young people as drivers of Africa’s renaissance, through investment in their health,education and access to technology, opportunities and capital, and concerted strategies to combat youth unemployment and underemployment. Encourage exchange and Pan-Africanism among young people through the formation of African Union Clubs in all schools, colleges and universities. Ensure faster movement on the harmonization of continental admissions, curricula, standards, programmes and qualifications and raising the standards of higher education to enhance the mobility of African youth and talent across the continent by 2025’.

Sources

References

Category:Water in Africa
Category:Water conservation
A


Chapel of St Mary and St Nathalan

The Chapel of St. Mary and St. Nathalan is a ruined chapel overlooking the North Sea immediately north of Stonehaven, in the Mearns of Scotland, along the northern shoreline of Stonehaven Bay. (Watt, 1985)  The founding of this Christian place of worship is associated with St. Nathalan. who lived circa 650 AD.  The structure is alternatively known as Cowie Chapel.
The chapel is at the point where the Highland Boundary Fault meets the sea and so is on the dividing line between the highlands and lowlands of Scotland.

Area history
The Chapel of St. Mary and St. Nathalan is one of the oldest surviving structures in Kincardineshire.  About one kilometre to the west is the ancient Causey Mounth trackway, which was constructed on high ground to make passable this only available medieval route from coastal points south of Stonehaven into Aberdeen. This route specifically connected the River Dee crossing (where the present Bridge of Dee is situated) via Muchalls Castle and Cowie Castle from the south. (Hogan, 2007) The route was that taken by William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal and the Marquess of Montrose when they led a Covenanter army of 9000 men in the battle of the Civil War in 1639.

See also
Doonie Point
Limpet Burn
Red Cloak

References
 Archibald Watt, Highways and Byways around Kincardineshire, Stonehaven Heritage Society (1985)
 C.Michael Hogan, Causey Mounth, Megalithic Portal, ed. by A. Burnham(2007)

Category:Churches in Aberdeenshire
Category:History of Aberdeenshire
Category:Category B listed buildings in Aberdeenshire
Category:Listed churches in Scotland
Category:Roman Catholic chapels in Scotland
Category:Highland Boundary Fault
Category:Stonehaven


WeirFoulds LLP

WeirFoulds LLP is a Canadian law firm based in Toronto, Ontario. The firm specializes in litigation, corporate, property and government law. It is one of Canada's oldest law firms.

History
In 1860, Theodore H. Spencer, LL.B., began his practice and opened the firm's first office at 20 Toronto Street, site of the Masonic Temple, built in 1858 by William Kaufman.

WeirFoulds is deeply rooted in Canadian history, stretching back to when Toronto became the industrial center of Ontario in the late 1800s. The firm was founded initially as Spencer and MacDonald in 1870. The firm is currently located in the Toronto-Dominion Bank Tower, at 66 Wellington Street West, in Toronto, Ontario.

In 1883, partner John Rose became the first of 13 lawyers from the firm to be appointed as a federal judge, in the court of Common Pleas. Eight of these judges were appointed to courts of appeal in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada.

A number of other WeirFoulds partners became judges. These include former Ontario Chief Justice George Alexander Gale; former SCC justice Roy Kellock; former Ontario Court of Appeal justices John Arnup, who was also a treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada, James Carthy and Allan McNiece Austin; Canadian Supreme Court Justice Thomas Cromwell (Canadian jurist); and Ontario Superior Court justices Joan Lax and Paul Perell.

In 1966, the firm prevailed in Leitch Gold Mines v. Texas Gulf, a dispute over vast mineral wealth. At the time, it was the longest civil trial in Commonwealth history. The firm's corporate practice represented the T. Eaton Company in 1920 to develop what was then the largest department store in Canada, beginning a long relationship with the company that lead the firm, in 1965, to act on its behalf to assemble the land for the Eaton Centre in Toronto, the largest urban redevelopment project in Canada at the time. In 2003, Derry Millar of the firm was appointed lead counsel in the Ipperwash Inquiry concerning the events surrounding the death of Dudley George who died in 1995 during a First Nations protest at Ipperwash Provincial Park, see Ipperwash Crisis.

In 2009, the firm was criticized by a judge for spending "excessive" time when acting for the Ontario government in a case involving allegations of corruption at Ontario's real estate arm.

The current executive partner (and previous managing partner) of WeirFoulds, Lisa Borsook, was one of the few women managing partners of any of Canada's major law firms.

Notable members and alumni
John Arnup, 1970–1985 Court of Appeal, LSUC Treasurer (1963–1966) (see List of Treasurers of the Law Society of Upper Canada)
Thomas Cromwell, 1997 Appointed to Nova Scotia Court of Appeal,  2008 Appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada
George Alexander Gale, 1946–1963 High Court of Justice, 1963–1964 Court of Appeal, 1964–1967 Chief Justice of High Court of Justice, 1967–1976 Chief Justice of Ontario
Roy Kellock, 1942–1944 Court of Appeal, 1944–1958 Supreme Court of Canada

References

External links
 weirfoulds.com
 Canadian Lawyer Magazine - From Good to Great: Ontario's mid-size business firms are thriving
 Canadian Lawyer Magazine - Lisa Borsook: Managing Success

Category:Law firms of Canada
Category:Companies based in Toronto
Category:Law firms established in 1860
Category:1860 establishments in Canada


Aleutian Islands campaign

The Aleutian Islands campaign was a military campaign conducted by the United States and Japan in the Aleutian Islands, part of the Territory of Alaska, in the American theater and the Pacific theater of World War II starting on 3 June 1942. In the only two invasions of the United States during the war, a small Japanese force occupied the islands of Attu and Kiska, where the remoteness of the islands and the challenges of weather and terrain delayed a larger U.S.-Canadian force sent to eject them for nearly a year. The islands' strategic value was their ability to control Pacific transportation routes, which is why U.S. General Billy Mitchell stated to the U.S. Congress in 1935, "I believe that in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world. I think it is the most important strategic place in the world." The Japanese reasoned that control of the Aleutians would prevent a possible U.S. attack across the Northern Pacific. Similarly, the U.S. feared that the islands would be used as bases from which to carry out a full-scale aerial attack on U.S. West Coast cities like Anchorage, Seattle, Portland, or Los Angeles.

A battle to reclaim Attu was launched on May 11, 1943, and completed following a final Japanese banzai charge on May 29.  On August 15, 1943, an invasion force landed on Kiska in the wake of a sustained three-week barrage, only to discover that the Japanese had withdrawn from the island on July 29.

The campaign is known as the "Forgotten Battle", due to its being overshadowed by the simultaneous Guadalcanal Campaign (7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943). Military historians believe it was a diversionary or feint attack during the Battle of Midway, meant to draw out the U.S. Pacific Fleet from Midway Atoll, as it was launched simultaneously under the same commander, Isoroku Yamamoto. Some historians have argued against this interpretation, believing that the Japanese invaded the Aleutians to protect their northern flank, and did not intend it as a diversion.

Japanese attack

Before Japan entered World War II, its Navy had gathered extensive information about the Aleutians, but it had no up-to-date information regarding military developments on the islands. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto provided the Japanese Northern Area Fleet, commanded by Vice-Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya, with a force of two non-fleet aircraft carriers, five cruisers, twelve destroyers, six submarines, and four troop transports, along with supporting auxiliary ships. With that force, Hosogaya was first to launch an air attack against Dutch Harbor, then follow with an amphibious attack upon the island of Adak,  to the west. Hosogaya was instructed to destroy whatever American forces and facilities were found on Adak—the Japanese did not know the island was undefended. Hosogaya's troops were to return to their ships and become a reserve for two additional landings: the first on Kiska,  west of Adak, the other on the Aleutians' westernmost island, Attu,  west from Kiska.

Because United States Naval Intelligence had broken the Japanese naval codes, Admiral Chester Nimitz had learned by May 21 of Yamamoto's plans, including the Aleutian invasion, the strength of both Yamamoto's and Hosogaya's fleets, and that Hosogaya would open the fight on June 1 or shortly thereafter.

As of June 1, 1942, United States military strength in Alaska stood at 45,000 men, with about 13,000 at Cold Bay (Fort Randall) on the tip of the Alaskan Peninsula and at two Aleutian bases: the naval facility at Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island,  west of Cold Bay, and the recently built Fort Glenn Army Airfield  west of the naval station on Umnak Island. Army strength, less air force personnel, at those three bases totaled no more than 2,300, composed mainly of infantry, field and antiaircraft artillery troops, and a large construction engineer contingent, which was used in the construction of bases. The Army Air Force's Eleventh Air Force consisted of 10 B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers and 34 B-18 Bolo medium bombers at Elmendorf Airfield, and 95 P-40 Warhawk fighters divided between Fort Randall AAF at Cold Bay and Fort Glenn AAF on Umnak. The naval commander was Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald, commanding Task Force 8 afloat, who as Commander North Pacific Force (ComNorPac) reported to Admiral Nimitz in Hawaii. Task Force 8 consisted of five cruisers, thirteen destroyers, three tankers, six submarines, as well as naval aviation elements of Fleet Air Wing Four.

When the first signs of a possible Japanese attack on the Aleutians were known, the Eleventh Air Force was ordered to send out reconnaissance aircraft to locate the Japanese fleet reported heading toward Dutch Harbor and attack it with bombers, concentrating on sinking Hosogaya's two aircraft carriers. Once the enemy planes were removed, Naval Task Force 8 would engage the enemy fleet and destroy it. On the afternoon of 2 June, a naval patrol plane spotted the approaching Japanese fleet, reporting its location as  southwest of Dutch Harbor. Eleventh Air Force was placed on full alert. Shortly thereafter bad weather set in, and no further sightings of the fleet were made that day.

Prior to the attack on Dutch Harbor, the Army's 4th Infantry Regiment, under command of Percy E. LeStourgeon, were established at Fort Richardson.  Col. LeStourgeon had previously designed a layout of base facilities—such as isolation of weapons and munitions depots—so as to protect against enemy attack.

Attack on Dutch Harbor

According to Japanese intelligence, the nearest field for land-based American aircraft was at Fort Morrow AAF on Kodiak, more than  away, and Dutch Harbor was a sitting duck for the strong Japanese fleet, carrying out a coordinated operation with a fleet that was to capture Midway Island.

Making use of weather cover, the Japanese made a two-day aerial bombing of the continental United States for the first time in history on Dutch Harbor in the city of Unalaska, Alaska on June 3, 1942. The striking force was composed of Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bombers from the carriers  and . However, only half of the striking force reached their objective. The rest either became lost in the fog and darkness and crashed into the sea or returned to their carriers. Seventeen Japanese planes found the naval base, the first arriving at 05:45. As the Japanese pilots looked for targets to engage, they came under intense anti-aircraft fire and soon found themselves confronted by Eleventh Air Force fighters sent from Fort Glenn Army Air Field on Umnak. Startled by the American response, the Japanese quickly released their bombs, made a cursory strafing run, and left to return to their carriers. As a result, they did little damage to the base.

On June 4, the Japanese returned to Dutch Harbor. This time, the Japanese pilots were better organized and prepared. When the attack ended that afternoon Dutch Harbor oil storage tanks were burning, the hospital partly demolished, and a beached barracks ship damaged. Although American pilots eventually located the Japanese carriers, attempts to sink the ships failed due to bad weather setting in that caused the U.S. pilots to completely lose contact with the Japanese fleet. However, the foul weather caused the Japanese to cancel plans to invade Adak with 1,200 men.

Invasion of Kiska and Attu
Main articles: Japanese occupation of Kiska and Japanese occupation of Attu

The Japanese invasions and occupations of Kiska on June 6 and Attu on June 7 shocked the American public, as the continental United States was invaded for the first time since the War of 1812. The invading forces initially met little resistance from the local Unangax, also known as Aleuts. Though the U.S. Navy had offered to evacuate Attu in May 1942, the Attuan Unangax chief declined. Little changed for the Unangax under Japanese occupation until September 1942 when Japan's Aleutian strategy shifted. It was at this point that the Unangax were taken to Hokkaido, Japan and placed in an internment camp.

The invasion of Attu and imprisonment of the local Unangax became the justification for the United States' own policy of forcible evacuation of the Unangax in the Aleutian Islands. Unangan civilians were placed in internment camps in the Alaska Panhandle.

Allied response

Many Americans feared that the Japanese would use the islands as bases to strike within range along the rest of the United States West Coast. Although the U.S. West Coast was subject to attack several times in the past six months (including unrestricted submarine warfare in coastal waters and the bombardment of Ellwood in Santa Barbara, California), the Aleutians Islands Campaign of June 1942 was the first major operation by a foreign enemy in the American Theater of the war. Lieutenant Paul Bishop of the 28th Bombardment Group once recalled that:

Lt. Bob Brocklehurst of the 18th Fighter Squadron also said that:

In August 1942, the USAAF established an air base on Adak Island and began bombing Japanese positions on Kiska. U.S. Navy submarines and surface ships also began patrolling the area. Kiska Harbor was the main base for Japanese ships in the campaign and several were sunk there, some by warships but mostly in air raids. On 5 July, the submarine , under command of Lieutenant Commander Howard Gilmore, attacked three Japanese destroyers off Kiska. He sank one and heavily damaged the others, killing or wounding 200 Japanese sailors. Ten days later,  was attacked by three Japanese submarine chasers in Kiska Harbor, with two of the patrol craft sunk and one other damaged. On 12 May 1943, the Japanese submarine  was sunk in a surface action with the destroyer   northeast of Chichagof Harbor.

Komandorski Islands

A cruiser and destroyer force under Rear Admiral Charles "Soc" McMorris was assigned to eliminate the Japanese supply convoys. They met the Japanese fleet in the naval Battle of the Komandorski Islands in March 1943. One American cruiser and two destroyers were damaged, with seven U.S. sailors killed. Two Japanese cruisers were damaged, with 14 men killed and 26 wounded. Japan thereafter abandoned all attempts to resupply the Aleutian garrisons by surface vessels, and only submarines would be used.

Attu Island

On 11 May 1943, American forces commenced an operation to recapture Attu ("Operation Landcrab"). The invasion force included scouts recruited from Alaska, nicknamed Castner's Cutthroats. A shortage of landing craft, unsuitable beaches, and equipment that failed to operate in the appalling weather made it difficult for the Americans to exert force against the Japanese.

Adding to problems for the U.S. forces, soldiers suffered from frostbite because essential cold-weather supplies could not be landed, nor could soldiers be relocated to where they were needed, because vehicles could not operate on the tundra. The Japanese defensive strategy against the American attacks included Colonel Yasuyo Yamasaki having his forces engage the Americans not where they landed, as might have been expected, but rather, the Japanese dug into high ground far from the shore.  This resulted in fierce combat, with a total of 3,929 U.S. casualties: 549 men were killed, 1,148 were wounded, with another 1,200 men suffering severe injuries from the cold weather. In addition, 614 Americans died from disease, and 318 from miscellaneous causes, mainly Japanese booby traps or friendly fire.

On May 29, 1943, without warning the remainder of Japanese forces attacked near Massacre Bay. This was recorded as one of the largest banzai charges of the Pacific campaign. Led again by Colonel Yamasaki, the attack penetrated so deep into U.S. lines that Japanese soldiers encountered rear-echelon units of the Americans. After furious, brutal, often hand-to-hand combat, the Japanese force was virtually exterminated. Only 28 Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner, none of them officers. American burial teams counted 2,351 Japanese dead, but it was thought that hundreds more Japanese bodies had been buried by bombardment during the battle.

Kiska Island

On 15 August 1943, an invasion force of 34,426 Canadian and American troops landed on Kiska. Castner's Cutthroats were part of the force, but the invasion consisted mainly of units from the U.S. 7th Infantry Division. The force also included about 5,300 Canadians, mostly from the 13th Canadian Infantry Brigade of the 6th Canadian Infantry Division, and the 1st Special Service Force, later known as the "Devil's Brigade," a 2,000-strong Canadian-American commando unit formed in 1942 in Montana and trained in winter warfare techniques. The Brigade included three regiments: the 1st was to go ashore in the first wave at Kiska Harbor, the 2nd was to be held in reserve to parachute where needed, and the 3rd was to land on the north side of Kiska on the second day of the assault.
The 87th Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, the only major U.S. force specifically trained for mountain warfare, was also part of the operation.

Royal Canadian Air Force No. 111 and No. 14 Squadrons saw active service in the Aleutian skies and scored at least one aerial kill on a Japanese aircraft. Additionally, three Canadian armed merchant cruisers and two corvettes served in the Aleutian campaign but did not encounter enemy forces.

The invaders landed to find the island abandoned; the Japanese forces had left two weeks earlier. Under the cover of fog, the Japanese had successfully removed their troops on 28 July. Despite US military command having access to Japanese ciphers and having decoded all the Japanese naval messages, the Army Air Forces chose to bomb abandoned positions for almost three weeks. The day before the withdrawal, the U.S. Navy fought an inconclusive and possibly meaningless Battle of the Pips  to the west.

Although the Japanese troops had gone, Allied casualties on Kiska numbered 313. They were the result of friendly fire, booby traps, disease, mines, timed bombs set by the Japanese, vehicle accidents or frostbite. Like Attu, Kiska offered an extremely hostile environment.

Aftermath

Although plans were drawn up for attacking northern Japan, they were not executed. Over 1,500 sorties were flown against the Kuriles before the end of the war, including the Japanese base of Paramushir, diverting 500 Japanese planes and 41,000 ground troops.

The battle also marked the first time Canadian conscripts were sent to a combat zone in World War II. The government had pledged not to send draftees "overseas", which it defined as being outside North America. The Aleutians were considered to be North American soil, thus enabling the Canadian government to deploy conscripts without breaking its pledge. There were cases of desertion before the brigade sailed for the Aleutians. In late 1944, the government changed its policy on draftees and sent 16,000 conscripts to Europe to take part in the fighting.

The battle also marked the first combat deployment of the 1st Special Service Force, though they also did not see any action.

In the summer of 1942, the Americans recovered the Akutan Zero, an almost intact Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighter. This enabled the Americans to test-fly the Zero and contributed to improved fighter tactics later in the war.

Killed in action
During the campaign, two cemeteries were established on Attu to bury those killed in action: Little Falls Cemetery, located at the foot of Gilbert Ridge, and Holtz Bay Cemetery, which held the graves of Northern Landing Forces. After the war, the frozen tundra began to take back the cemeteries, so in 1946 all American remains were relocated as directed by the soldier's family or to Fort Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska. On May 30, 1946, a Memorial Day address was given by Captain Adair with a 21-gun salute and the sounding of Taps. The Decoration of Graves was performed by Chaplains Meaney and Insko.

Veterans
The 2006 documentary film Red White Black & Blue features two veterans of the Attu Island campaign, Bill Jones and Andy Petrus. It is directed by Tom Putnam and debuted at the 2006 Locarno International Film Festival in Locarno, Switzerland, on August 4, 2006.

Dashiell Hammett spent most of World War II as an Army sergeant in the Aleutian Islands, where he edited an Army newspaper. He came out of the war suffering from emphysema. As a corporal in 1943, he co-authored The Battle of the Aleutians with Cpl. Robert Colodny under the direction of Infantry Intelligence Officer Major Henry W. Hall.

Legacy
Many of the United States locations involved in the campaign, either directly or indirectly, have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and several have been designated National Historic Landmarks.  The battlefield on Attu and the Japanese occupation site on Kiska are both National Historic Landmarks and are included in the Aleutian Islands World War II National Monument.  Surviving elements of the military bases at Adak, Umnak, and Dutch Harbor are National Historic Landmarks.  The shipwrecked SS Northwestern, badly damaged during the attack on Dutch Harbor, is listed on the National Register, as is a crash-landed B-24D Liberator on Atka Island.

See also
Aleut Restitution Act of 1988
American Theater (World War II)
Castner's Cutthroats
Japanese occupation of Attu
Japanese occupation of Kiska
Military history of the Aleutian Islands
Organization of the Imperial Japanese Navy Alaskan Strike Group
Paul Nobuo Tatsuguchi, Japanese doctor stationed on Attu
Report from the Aleutians, a 1943 American documentary propaganda film about the campaign, directed by John Huston

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading
 Vidal, Gore (1946), Williwaw, New York: E. P. Dutton.

External links

Logistics Problems on Attu by Robert E. Burks.

Aleutian Islands Chronology
Aleutian Islands War
Red White Black & Blue – feature documentary about The Battle of Attu in the Aleutians during World War II
PBS Independent Lens presentation of Red White Black & Blue – The Making Of and other resources
”Attu: North American Battleground of World War II”, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
Animated Maps of the Aleutians Campaign
Attu, Aleutian Islands, Alaska WW-II KIA
US losses at Kiska

Category:Aleutian Islands Campaign
Category:1942 in Alaska
Category:1943 in Alaska
Category:Aleutian Islands
Category:American Theater of World War II
Category:Campaigns of World War II
Category:Invasions of the United States
Category:History of Alaska
Category:History of the West Coast of the United States
Category:World War II sites in the United States
Category:Battles and operations of World War II involving Canada


Robert Eberle

Robert Eberle (1815–1862), a German animal painter, was born at Meersburg, on Lake Constance, July 22. 1815, died at Eberingg, near Munich, Sept. 19th, 1862. He was first instructed by J.J. Bidermann at

Constance, and afterwards went to Munich in 1830, where he studied from nature and the works of Van de Velde and Du Jardin. He spent three months in America (1848), and then settled at Eberfing, near Munich, where he died from an accidental pistol shot. He especially excelled in painting sheep, and there is a Shepherdess by him in the Modern Gallery at Munich.

Works : Shepherd with Herd Returning Home (1840) ; Grain Harvest (1848) ; Morning at Weinheim, Leaving the Alp (1849) ; Frightened Sheep, Cattle Returning Home, Sheep Resting (1850) ;

Return from the Fields (1851) ; Alp on Benedicten Wall, Goats Starting for Pasture, Sheep Resting at Noon, Evening in Pasture, Sheep Resting and Shepherd Boy (1852) ; Sheep During Storm, Early Snow (1853) ; Shepherd and Sheep (1854) ; Shepherd's Dinner (1855) ; Sheep Driven by Dog (1850) ; Village; in the Morning, Peasant and Shepherd (1857) ; Sheep Driven over Precipice by an Eagle (1858), Carlsrube Gallery ; Village Scene (1859) ; Suabian Shepherd with Herd (1860), New Pinakothek, Munich ; Cows returning from Pasture (1861).

See also
 List of German painters

References

Category:1815 births
Category:1859 deaths
Category:19th-century German painters
Category:German male painters
Category:Animal artists
Category:People from Bodenseekreis


Stephen Lee (ice hockey)

Stephen Lee (born 1 October 1990) is a British ice hockey player for the Guildford Flames and the British national team. Lee previously played for Nottingham Panthers for a decade.

He represented Great Britain at the 2019 IIHF World Championship.

References

External links

Category:1990 births
Category:English ice hockey defencemen
Category:Guildford Flames players
Category:Hull Stingrays players
Category:Living people
Category:Nottingham Panthers players
Category:Sportspeople from Kingston upon Hull


Château La Tour du Pin Figeac (Moueix)

Château La Tour du Pin Figeac (Moueix), later Château La Tour du Pin for a brief period, is a former Bordeaux wine estate in the  appellation Saint-Émilion which produced wine up until 2011.  The estate was purchased by owners of neighbouring Château Cheval Blanc in 2006, who managed the estate as a separate property up until 2011.  The estate in effect ceased to exist after this, being absorbed into its grander neighbour.

History
Until 1879, this property was a part of the Figeac estate, acquired to form Château La Tour Figeac, half of which was further sold and divided into two parts, this property and that of Château La Tour du Pin Figeac (Giraud-Bélivier). This estate, the smallest of the three, was bought in 1947 by Antoine Moueix, cousin of J. P. Moueix. The property remained in the hands of the Moueix family until 2006, when it was bought by the owners of Château Cheval Blanc, who adopted the name Château La Tour du Pin. The last vintage made was 2011.  The best area of the vineyard (3.5ha) has been absorbed into the Château Cheval Blanc vineyard, and the remainder is currently used to make generic Saint-Émilion.

The estate was rated Grand Cru Classé in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine, but lost this status in 2006, only to have the verdict reversed in 2008.  The estate did not re-apply for the 2012 classification.

Production
The vineyards extended , and was considered the more gravelly of the three La Tour properties, closer to the conditions of neighbours Figeac and Cheval Blanc.

The Grand vin was typically a blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc, as was the estate's second wine, Clos La Fleur Figeac.

References

External links
La Tour du Pin Figeac official site

Category:Bordeaux wine producers


Staten Island Advance

The Staten Island Advance is a daily newspaper published in the borough of Staten Island in New York City. The only daily newspaper published in the borough, and the only borough to have its own major daily paper, it covers news of local and community interest, including borough politics. As of April 25, 2007, Monday-Friday circulation was down 3.9% from the previous year, to 59,461. Sunday dropped 4.6% to 73,203.  It is the namesake and nominal flagship publication of Advance Publications.

History

The Advance was created in 1886  by printer John J. Crawford and businessman James C. Kennedy as the Richmond County Advance. The name was changed to the Daily Advance before it was changed to its current name. When the Advance began, there were nine competing daily newspapers in Staten Island. The circulation of the Advance surpassed these early competitors. Its circulation grew from 4,500 in 1910 to over 80,000 by the mid 1990s.

In 1908, Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. started working for New Jersey Democratic machine politician, Bayonne Times newspaper owner, and Judge Hyman Lazarus's law office as an office-boy, bookkeeper and rent-collector. By the time Samuel Newhouse Sr. was 21 in 1916, his boss, Judge Lazarus rewarded him with a salary of around $30,000 per year, and 25 percent ownership of the Bayonne Times, for loyal service.

Newhouse purchased the Staten Island Advance with Judge Lazarus in 1922. This was one of the first newspapers he acquired. When Lazarus died in 1924, Newhouse bought his family's share of Staten Island Advance stock.

During the 1920s, the Newhouse family loaned money to Henry Garfinkle, which enabled him to open newsstands that increased sales of the Newhouse family's Staten Island Advance at the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island, and later opened newsstands throughout Manhattan, as well as LaGuardia Airport, Newark Airport, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal (the world's largest and most lucrative newsstand).

Even during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Newhouse family had enough money to buy the Long Island Press in Jamaica and competitors Long Island Star, North Shore Journal and Nassau Journal, as well as the Newark Ledger, the Newark Star and newspapers in Syracuse. The Newhouse family paid its non-unionized newsroom employees at the Long Island Press, one third less than the unionized New York Times and New York Daily News paid its reporters for similar work in the 1930s. Newhouse paid himself a salary greater than the total of all the salaries paid to the 65 newsroom employees there.

The Newhouse family purchased newspapers in Syracuse, Jersey City and Harrisburg in the 1940s, and in St. Louis, Oregon and Alabama in the 1950s. Some began to wonder how the Newhouse family obtained so much money. The Newhouse family's wealth approached $200 million in the late 1950s, enabling it to purchase Vogue and other Conde Nast magazines. Author Richard Meeker describes the mounting suspicions about the Newhouse family's source of wealth in "Newspaperman: S.I. Newhouse And The Business Of News":

"Newspaper analysts were so suspicious of the source of Newhouse's funds that they discussed openly the possibility that he was laundering money...Some went so far as to suggest that his newspaper operations had been used as a front for the notorious Reinfeld mob, a group of booze-peddling hoodlums whose boss had made millions during prohibition."

One way the Newhouse family apparently was able to accumulate so much money so rapidly during the 20th century was by hiring accountants and lawyers who figured out unique ways for the Newhouse dynasty to avoid paying a fair share of taxes on their rapidly growing family wealth. As Newspaperman reported:

"‘They played every tax game there was’, recalled one man who once served as publisher for several Newhouse newspapers.  That meant that every cost that could conceivably be written off as a business deduction was, that assets were depreciated as rapidly as possible, and that new acquisitions were ‘written up’ as high as the law allowed... Where Newhouse developed a special advantage was in the way he avoided paying taxes for the profits that remained to him after the payment of corporate taxes...

"Thanks to an ingenious device created by his accountant, Louis Glickman, and implemented by his attorney, Charles Goldman, Newhouse was able to avoid paying taxes on accumulated earnings and, thus, to multiply the value of his earnings several times.  Doing so involved the creation of a special corporate structure for the various newspapers... Because the Goldman-Glickman construct kept the various enterprises separate--for tax purposes at least--each could claim the right to its own surplus.  Taken together, the accumulation that resulted was many times what the IRS would have allowed had Newhouse simply treated all of his operations as a single corporation."

Meeker characterized the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation as "a charity his Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr.'s lawyers had created as an additional tax dodge", and charged that Newhouse Foundation funds were used by the Newhouse family to finance its $18 million purchase of Alabama's Birmingham News in 1955.

After Samuel Newhouse Sr. died in 1979, his two sons, Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr. and Donald Newhouse, were accused of tax evasion by the IRS in 1983. While the IRS dropped tax fraud charges against them in the 1980s, it increased the Newhouse family tax delinquency bill to $1.2 billion, asserting that the Newhouse estate was actually worth $2.2 billion—not $1.2 billion—when Samuel Newhouse Sr. died in 1979, according to the March 13, 1989 issue of The Nation.

One year after Newhouse's death in 1979, the Advance Group purchased Random House, but sold it to Bertelsmann in 1998.

The original office of the Staten Island Advance was located on Castleton Avenue in the West Brighton neighborhood. In 1960, the paper moved to the current office on West Fingerboard Road in Grasmere.  This is also nominally the headquarters for Advance Publications, though the company has never had a formal headquarters.

Writers

 Tracey Porpora
 Kristin Dalton
 Paul Liotta
 Kyle Lawson
 Frank Donnelly
 Erik Bascome
 Joseph Ostapiuk
 Annalise Knudson
 Maura Grunlund

See also
Media of New York City

References

External links
SILive.com (Advance news portal)
Published articles of former FL!P writer, Brandon S. Touhey

Category:Newspapers published in New York City
Category:Staten Island
Category:Publications established in 1886
Category:Advance Publications
Category:1886 establishments in New York (state)


Georgios Vafeiadis

Georgios Vafeiadis (born 1894, date of death unknown) was a Greek sports shooter. He competed in the 25 m rapid fire pistol event at the 1924 Summer Olympics.

References

Category:1894 births
Category:Year of death missing
Category:Greek male sport shooters
Category:Olympic shooters of Greece
Category:Shooters at the 1924 Summer Olympics
Category:People from Volos


Krystian Miś

Krystian Miś (born 12 April 1996) is a Polish footballer who plays for MKS Piast Żmigród.

Career

Piast Żmigród
On 23 August 2019 it was confirmed, that Miś had joined Polish club MKS Piast Żmigród.

References

External links
Krystian Miś at 90minut

Category:Polish footballers
Category:1996 births
Category:Living people
Category:Korona Kielce players
Category:Wisła Płock players
Category:Ekstraklasa players
Category:II liga players
Category:Association football defenders


HMS Wild Goose (U45)

HMS Wild Goose, pennant number U45, was a  sloop of the Royal Navy. She was one of several ships of that class that took part in the famous "six in one trip" in 1943 (in which six U-boats were sunk in one patrol).

Service history
She was built at Yarrow shipyards in Scotstoun, Glasgow. She was launched on 14 October 1942. She was adopted by the civil community of Worsley, Lancashire, as part of the Warship Week savings campaign in 1942.

On 22 May 1943, she was deployed on her first mission along with fellow sloops , , ,  and  on anti-submarine operations supporting the outward passage of Atlantic Convoy ONS 8.

On 18 December 1943, she was taken in hand for repair in Liverpool, redeploying at the end of January 1944.

On 31 January 1944, she sank  with Starling and , and later joined Woodpecker and Kite, taking part in the sinking of the German submarines  (8 February 1944),  &  (9 February 1944),  (11 February 1944) and  (15 March 1944)

At the end of May 1944, she returned to Liverpool for more repairs, whilst here she was selected to take part in Operation Neptune to prevent U-Boat attacks on the D-Day invasion convoys. On 1 July 1944, she was released from Neptune and dispatched to Belfast for refit, completing in September 1944.

During February and March 1945, she was deployed to the English Channel, taking part in the sinking of  by the frigate  and sinking  herself. Following VE day, on 6 May 1945, she was nominated for transfer to the British Pacific Fleet following her second refit. By the time the refit had completed in September 1945 the Japanese had surrendered and Wild Goose was therefore surplus to requirements and was Paid off and reduced to reserve status.

She was later recommissioned in 1946 and deployed to the Persian Gulf, spending the rest of her service career in the Middle East before finally decommissioning in 1955.

Wild Goose was sold for breaking up in February 1956, and arrived at the breakers at Bo’ness on the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh on 26 February 1956.

Today
The ships badge was saved from the breakers yard and donated to Liverpool National Maritime Museum.

References

Publications

External links
 Mike Kemble's Walker site
 Naval-History.net HMS Wild Goose

Category:Black Swan-class sloops
Category:World War II sloops of the United Kingdom
Category:Sloops of the United Kingdom
Category:Ships built on the River Clyde
Category:1942 ships


Andrzej Kot

Andrzej Kot (21 November 1946-2015) was a Polish designer, calligrapher, typesetter, typographer, book illustrator.

Participated since 1978 (Brno Graphic Biennial) in many world graphic events. In 1981 received a gold medal International Biennial Bookplate in Malbork.  In professional press for the first time in the Project of May 1980, with a text by Anna Jasińska.  Kot promoted the work of designers such as Jan Młodożeniec, Leon Urbanski, Jerzy Jaworowski and Janusz Stanny.  The court engraver for the Kingdom of Sweden, creator of hundreds of postage stamps and banknotes, Czeslaw Slania (d. 2005), corresponded with Kot for 15 years.

Dzięki Słani interested the Japanese in publishing Idea – writings on contemporary graphic design.  The Japanese released their first album with the work of Andrzej Kot at the end of the 1980s.  In Poland, Leo Urbański published .  In 2007 a student of Kot and graphic designer, Jacek Wałdowski, published in Lublin two collections of his drawings (third in preparation).

Kot published in Germany Scriptura, in Hungary Magyar Grafika, in New York Upper &LowerCase, in California Fried Caligrafic, Sarmatian Houston and the aforementioned Idea in Tokyo.  He was the only Polish artist mentioned in .  The Germans appreciated his typefaces Ot-Kot, Lot-Kot, Iza and Kozina.

He contributed a rendering of II Kings 3:16 to , while enduring censorship and hardships in Poland.

The author defines his own work as "play-graphic mess without limitation, in connection with a literary text".  Weimar, London and St. Petersburg devoted Kot special congresses.  There is a permanent exhibition of his work in the Gutenberg Museum, Mainz.  From time to time Kot virtual galleries appear on the Internet (e.g., ). He publishes since 2002 in .  January 27, 2008 he was awarded the Angelus in the category Artist of the Year 2007.

Bibliography
 .

Footnotes

External links
 .
 .

Category:Polish illustrators
Category:Polish typographers
Category:1946 births
Category:2015 deaths
Category:People from Lublin


Land of the Rising Sun (disambiguation)

Land of the Rising Sun is a popular Western name for Japan.

Land of the Rising Sun may also refer to:

Land of the Rising Sun (national anthem), of the secessionist African state of Biafra
Land of the Rising Sun (role-playing game), a 1980 samurai game

See also
Arunachal Pradesh, a state of India known as "Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains"
Greater Khorasan (the literal translation of "Khorasan" is "sunrise"), a historical region of Persia
Rising Sun (disambiguation)


Knights of the Round Table (film)

Knights of the Round Table is a 1953 British-American historical Technicolor film made by MGM in England and Ireland. Directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman, it was the first film in CinemaScope made by that studio. The screenplay was by Talbot Jennings,  and Noel Langley from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, first published in 1485 by William Caxton.

The film was the second in an unofficial trilogy made by the same director and producer and starring Robert Taylor, coming between Ivanhoe (1952) and The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955). All three were made at MGM's British studios at Borehamwood, near London and partly filmed on location. The cast included Robert Taylor as Sir Lancelot, Ava Gardner as Queen Guinevere, Mel Ferrer as King Arthur, Anne Crawford as Morgan Le Fay, Stanley Baker as Modred and Felix Aylmer as Merlin. The film uses the Welsh spelling for Arthur's nemesis, Modred, rather than the more common Mordred.

In addition to the same producer, director and star, the first two films in the trilogy had the same cinematographer (F. A. Young), composer (Miklos Rozsa), art director (Alfred Junge) and costume designer (Roger Furse). The costumes for this film were executed by Elizabeth Haffenden. In 1955 she would take over from Furse as costume designer for the final film in the trilogy, Quentin Durward. Alfred Junge remained as art director.

Plot

Arthur removes the sword from the anvil
With the land in anarchy, warring overlords, Arthur Pendragon (Mel Ferrer) and his half-sister Morgan LeFay (Anne Crawford) meet as arranged by the sorcerer Merlin (Felix Aylmer) to discuss how to end the bloodshed. Morgan maintains that as she is the only legitimate offspring of the late king, the throne belongs to her, but Merlin puts the adversaries to a test to determine England's rightful ruler. Merlin leads them to Excalibur, a sword embedded in an anvil, and says that according to legend, whoever can remove the sword shall be England's true sovereign. Morgan's knight champion and lover Modred (Stanley Baker) tries in vain to extract the sword, but Arthur removes it easily. Modred accuses Merlin of witchcraft, and a hearing is arranged with the Council of Kings at the circle of the stone. After advising Arthur that he must prove himself worthy of the throne by his deeds, Merlin instructs him to return the sword to the anvil.

Lancelot encounters Elaine, Arthur, Modred and Guinevere
Meanwhile, the French Knight Lancelot (Robert Taylor) and his men ride toward the circle of stone, hoping to offer their services to Arthur. On the road, Lancelot encounters a young woman named Elaine (Maureen Swanson), who quickly falls in love with him. They are waylaid by Modred's men, and Lancelot bravely does battle with all of them. Arthur arrives and joins in the battle. Lancelot, claiming he needed no help, challenges Arthur, unaware of his identity. After a long, exhausting fight, Lancelot finally asks his opponent's name, and when he learns that it is Arthur, he breaks his sword against a tree and kneels before him. They are joined by Elaine's brother Percival (Gabriel Woolf), who asks to be Arthur's knight errant.

Later, at the circle of stone, Arthur and Modred debate before the Council of Kings. When the crowd turns against Arthur and Lancelot, they are forced to flee, vowing to take the kingdom on the battlefield. Arthur and his men lie low throughout the cruel winter, then launch their attack against Modred's men in the spring. Despite being greatly outnumbered, Arthur's men win and he is crowned the King of England. In the interest of peace, Arthur immediately pardons all his former enemies, but when Lancelot objects to Modred's pardon, the two men angrily part ways.

Following the battle, Lancelot discovers that the lovely Guinevere (Ava Gardner) has been kidnapped and rescues her, unaware that she is Arthur's fiancée. Following Arthur and Guinevere's wedding, the king's joy is complete when Lancelot arrives at Camelot and pledges his allegiance anew. Arthur swears to join the select group of knights at the Round Table and England enjoys a period of peace and prosperity. One day, Percival brings Elaine to court and asks Guinevere to make her a lady-in-waiting.

Morgan and Modred plot against Arthur and Lancelot
Meanwhile, Morgan and Modred continue to harbor ill feelings against Arthur, and note with interest the growing warmth between Lancelot and Guinevere. Merlin privately warns Guinevere that Morgan will   tell Arthur of her suspicions about Guinevere's love for Lancelot. Because of this, Guinevere tells Lancelot she knows of his secret love for her and urges him to marry Elaine. Lancelot proposes to Elaine and asks Arthur to let him go to fight the Picts on the Scottish borders.

One night, Lancelot and Elaine are visited by Percival, who relates how a heavenly vision instructed him to go on a quest for the Holy Grail, the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper.

Modred calls a meeting of Arthur's enemies in Scotland and urges them to make peace so that Lancelot will be forced to return to Camelot, where he will eventually be exposed as Guinevere's lover. Word of peace reaches Arthur at Camelot at the same time that Lancelot's infant son Galahad, whose mother, Elaine, died in childbirth, is brought to court with instructions that he be sent to Lancelot's father. Sensing a plot, Merlin argues against bringing Lancelot back to Camelot, but Morgan poisons him, and the knight returns amid great fanfare.

Late one night, jealous after seeing Lancelot kiss another woman (Lady Vivien), Guinevere goes to his rooms, unaware that she is being spied on by Morgan and Modred. Lancelot angrily denounces Guinevere's folly in coming to him, and Modred's men soon arrive to arrest them for high treason. Lancelot fights them off and flees with Guinevere.

Lancelot and Guinevere are tried in absentia at the Round Table and declared guilty. Lancelot suddenly walks in and surrenders, and when he confesses his chaste love for Guinevere, Arthur revokes their death sentence. Over Modred's protest, Arthur orders that Guinevere be confined and banishes Lancelot from England.

Civil war, death of Arthur and Modred, vision of the Holy Grail
Outraged at this show of mercy, Modred succeeds in turning the other knights against Arthur, and civil war returns to the land. Arthur meets with Modred and agrees to his terms for ending the war, which include disbanding the Round Table. When one of Arthur's men draws his sword to kill a snake, however, the battle cry is sounded.

Arthur is mortally wounded, and Lancelot returns from exile to be at his side. With his dying breath, Arthur commands Lancelot to destroy Modred and give Guinevere his love and forgiveness. Lancelot fulfills Arthur's dying wish to hurl Excalibur into a lake.  He calls on Guinevere at the convent and conveys Arthur's message, then finally kills Modred after a fierce one-on-one battle.

Lancelot meets Percival at the Round Table and weeps, blaming himself for the noble fellowship's demise. Percival receives another holy vision of the Grail and  hears a divine voice telling him that Lancelot's son Galahad will be a worthy knight, and that Lancelot is forgiven and will now know peace.

Cast

 Robert Taylor as Lancelot
 Ava Gardner as Guinevere
 Mel Ferrer as King Arthur
 Anne Crawford as Morgan Le Fay
 Stanley Baker as Modred
 Felix Aylmer as Merlin
 Maureen Swanson as Elaine
 Gabriel Woolf as Percival
 Anthony Forwood as Gareth
 Robert Urquhart as Gawaine
 Niall MacGinnis as Green Knight
 Ann Hanslip as Nan
 Jill Clifford as Bronwyn
 Stephen Vercoe as Agravaine
 Howard Marion-Crawford as Simon *
 John Brooking as Bedivere *
 Peter Gawthorne as Bishop *
  Alan Tilverne as Steward *
 John Sherman as Lambert *
 Dana Wynter as Morgan Le Fay's servant [as Dagmar Wunter] *
 Mary Germaine as Brigid *
 Martin Wyldeck as John *
 Barry MacKay as Green Knight's first squire *
 Derek Tansley as Green Knight's second squire *
 Roy Russell as Leogrance *
 Gwendoline Evans as Enid *
 Michel de Lutry as Dancer *

All names with an asterisk (*) are credited on the "Cast" page (p62) of Knights of the Round Table: A Story of King Arthur - Text based on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film (Ward, Lock • London and Melbourne) [1954]

Cast notes
A number of notable performers - the first two here appearing in several scenes and with several lines to speak - were uncredited. These include: Ralph Truman as King Marr of the Picts, Henry Oscar as King Mark of Cornwall, Desmond Llewelyn as a herald, and Patricia Owens as Lady Vivien. Valentine Dyall spoke the opening narration. Laurence Harvey was included as a cast member in an early edit of this article - and also on IMDb - but his participation in this film remains unconfirmed.

Filming
The film had some sequences shot near Tintagel Castle, Cornwall, with local people as extras. Scenes for the first battle were shot at Luttrellstown Castle Estate in Co. Dublin, Ireland. Woodland scenes and the hawking scenes were shot at Ashridge Forest, Herts. The Torquilstone Castle set designed by Alfred Junge for Ivanhoe (1952) was expanded and re-dressed as Camelot. Most of the indoor filming was at MGM-British Studios, Borehamwood, Herts.

George Sanders was originally cast as Modred but fell ill prior to shooting and was replaced by Stanley Baker, who had just made an impression in The Cruel Sea (1953).

The film was apparently shot on Eastmancolor stock, like Quentin Durward (1955), but it was advertised only as being 'in COLOR magnificence'. [See poster on Infobox above.] The film itself credits no color process. IMDb attributes the prints to Technicolor's laboratory, but it is not listed as one of the corporation's film prints in Fred E Basten's book Glorious Technicolor.

Film reception

Box office
According to MGM records, the film earned $4,518,000 in the US and Canada and $3,578,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $1,641,000.

Critical

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, gives Knights of the Round Table reports that 67% of six surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 6/10.

Moreover, Knights of the Round Table has received mixed reviews from the majority of critics. The New York Times Bosley Crowther found Knights of the Round Table to be a refreshing, enjoyable film that resembled "a spectacular, richly costumed Western film", stating that the new CinemaScope technology brought the film to life. Decent Films Guide reviewer Steven D. Greydanus gave the film a "B", stating, "a solid adaptation of the King Arthur legend, Knights of the Round Table benefits from its colorful pageantry and strongly Christian milieu, including a royal Catholic wedding and a transcendent moment of revelation involving the Holy Grail."

Awards and nominations
Knights of the Round Table was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color (Alfred Junge, Hans Peters, John Jarvis) and Sound Recording (A. W. Watkins). It was also nominated for the Grand Prix at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.

Bibliography
Knights of the Round Table: A Story of King Arthur - Text based on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer CinemaScope film (Ward, Lock • London and Melbourne) [1954]

Both the crew and cast credits published at the front (crew) and back (cast) of the book are much fuller than those in the U.S. prints. They appear to come from variant U.K. prints prepared for British cinemas. It's known that contractual obligations required that Miklos Rozsa's score had to be recorded in England (by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Muir Mathieson) as well as being recorded in Hollywood by Rozsa himself. This version of the score may have been used in British prints. Currently (2018) only a U.S. print is available on DVD.

Comic book adaption
 Dell Four Color #540 (March 1954). Full-color photo-cover • 34 pages, 33 in full-color • Drawn by Dick Rockwell • Copyright 1954 by Loew's Incorporated [Authorised movie tie-in]

References

External links

Category:1953 films
Category:1950s adventure films
Category:American films
Category:Arthurian films
Category:British films
Category:English-language films
Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Category:Films directed by Richard Thorpe
Category:Films scored by Miklós Rózsa
Category:Films adapted into comics


ITV Thames Valley

ITV Thames Valley was a non-franchise ITV news region covering the Thames Valley area of the United Kingdom from 4 December 2006 until 8 February 2009. It served the south/south-eastern area of the legal Central franchise and the north/north-western area of the legal Meridian franchise. In its first year, its flagship news programme Thames Valley Tonight won the Royal Television Society's Southern Centre Award for News Magazine Programme of the Year for its coverage of the 2007 summer floods.

The service began broadcasting 4 December 2006 merging the news assets of the two former sub-regions, and its newsrooms were officially opened on 26 January 2007 by ITV executive chairman, Michael Grade.

It was operated by ITV plc, and the main news programme in the area was Thames Valley Tonight.

Launch
Initially, ITV Thames Valley was to be launched on 4 November 2006. However, due to transmitter realignment, the date was finally set to 4 December; four weeks later than planned. It was expected the merging of the two sub-regions was originally expected to make over 40 workers redundant in editorial and production positions in Central South due to the favouring of Meridian's Whiteley base for production. However this number was reduced to around 10 by re-organisation of staffing roles. Central South's old newsroom at Abingdon was retained as the main newsgathering base for ITV Thames Valley.

The launch was successful in ratings terms. Although initially, ITV Thames Valley's flagship news programme, Thames Valley Tonight, received some minor criticism by viewers due to its lack of locality of news items in some areas due to the much larger geographical coverage area compared to its sub-regional predecessors.

Central and Meridian are both owned by ITV plc, which holds all the ITV franchise licences in England and Wales, so this change amounts simply to an internal organisation. Meridian classed the ITV Thames Valley service as "a third semi-independent sub-region for the Thames Valley", and stated its headquarters were in Abingdon. The service was known to be branded as both "ITV Thames Valley" and also "Meridian Thames Valley".

Merger with Meridian
In June 2007, ITV plc executive chairman Michael Grade hinted at a possible re-structure of the ITV regional layout, stating the existence of smaller regional services "no longer makes sense" relative to the regional audience they serve.

 The move is expected to give ITV plc "greater value for money", however will be subject to Ofcom approval.

The plan was confirmed in September 2007, and would reduce the number of regional news programmes from 17 to just 9 in early 2009, saving around £35 to £40 million each year. Under these proposals, all sub-regions, including Thames Valley, were axed for larger regions only. ITV Thames Valley's service merged with Meridian, enabling a single live regional news programme to cover the whole of the Meridian franchise area (including the ex-Central part of the ITV Thames Valley patch), with recorded opt-outs for sub-regional news.

The last broadcast date of the main weekday evening edition of Thames Valley Tonight was on Friday 6 February 2009 with the very last Thames Valley news bulletin broadcast on Sunday 8 February 2009. The main presenters of the pan-regional successor service are Fred Dinenage and Sangeeta Barbra, both of Meridian.

A reduced Thames Valley service was reinstated in September 2013 as part of an expansion of sub-regional news services on ITV. The area now receives a ten-minute opt out within the 6pm edition of ITV News Meridian for the South of England and a full late night bulletin after News at Ten on weeknights.

Sub-regions
The ITV Thames Valley news-gathering area itself was divided into two distinct north/south sub-regions for advertising and non-news regional programming only, on the ITV1 service:
Thames Valley North (Ex-Central South): Carried Central's non-news regional programmes with the Thames Valley Tonight news programme
Thames Valley South (Ex-Meridian North): Carried Meridian's non-news regional programmes with the Thames Valley Tonight news programme

Regional area changes
No legal franchise area boundaries were altered between Central and Meridian; only the visual appearance of the service has changed. ITV Thames Valley was not perceived as a legal Channel 3 entity with regulator Ofcom. However, as a consequence of the changes, the ITV contractor for the West of England, ITV West, was unofficially extended to cover the Gloucester and Cheltenham areas, previously served by Central South. This was achieved by an additional set of aerials fitted on the Ridge Hill transmitter broadcasting ITV West on analogue UHF 30 alongside Central West on UHF 25. However, the DTT coverage of Multiplex 2 from the transmitter (which contains the regional ITV service), will not be altered to accommodate these changes, and will solely broadcast the West subregion of Central. This complication will be resolved with digital switchover; and until then, both regions available from the Ridge Hill transmitter will provide regional news for Gloucester and Cheltenham. However, as the Ridge Hill transmitter will continue to broadcast Central, the digital switchover date for that transmitter will be unaffected, switching with the rest of the Central region in 2011, despite the fact it also carries ITV West which should be switching a year earlier.

The BBC made no changes to its regional service supplied by the Ridge Hill, Oxford or Hannington transmitters.

Programming
All programming for the ITV Thames Valley region was produced from Meridian's Whiteley studios, with Central South's Abingdon base retained as a newsgathering centre only. ITV Thames Valley did not produce any non-news programming; the north of the region continued to receive Central's non-news regional programmes (as that was the ITV franchisee) and the south continued to receive Meridian's.

Following a selection process involving Central South and Meridian West staff, Robin Britton was appointed Head of News for ITV Thames Valley.

The News Executive team included:
Producer: Kim Hewitt
News editor: Jim Stevens
Features producer: Reshma Rumsey
Forward planning: Kate Taylor
Newsroom Journalist:Gaggan Sabherwal
Assistant producer: Janet Hayman
Technical co-ordinator: Steve Atkey
Graphic designer: Blue Hall
Output producers: Caroline Asker and Caroline Ferguson
Programme presenters: Mary Green, Hannah Shellswell and Wesley Smith
Sports presenters Chris Maugahan, Victoria Bennett and David Reilly
Studio director: Keith Peries

The service did not extend to breakfast bulletins (i.e. during GMTV), however, viewers receives "GMTV News" at this time, which was a service covering the Thames Valley and the rest of the Meridian franchise area. ITV Thames Valley did however have its own weekend bulletins.

Notes and references

References

External links
UKfree.TV ITV Thames Valley map
MediaGuardian Article (free subscription required)
Digital Spy Discussion Thread

Thames Valley
Category:Television channels and stations established in 2006
Category:Television channels and stations disestablished in 2009


Krtovce

Krtovce is a municipality in the Topoľčany District of the Nitra Region, Slovakia. In 2011 it had 303 inhabitants.

OFK Krtovce, local football team, is playing the sixth tier football league of Slovakia.

References

External links
https://www.krtovce.sk/
http://www.citypopulation.de/php/slovakia-nitrianskykraj.php?cityid=543110

Category:Villages and municipalities in Topoľčany District


Macartney baronets

The Macartney Baronetcy, of Lish in the County of Armagh, is a title in the Baronetage of Ireland. It was created on 4 January 1799 for Sir John Macartney, Member of the Irish House of Commons for Fore and Naas. He had been knighted in 1796 for promoting inland navigation in Ireland. Macartney was the younger son of William Macartney, who represented Belfast in the Irish Parliament. The family have lived in Australia since the emigration of the third Baronet in the 19th century.

Macartney baronets, of Lish (1799)
Sir John Macartney, 1st Baronet (died 1812)
Sir William Isaac Macartney, 2nd Baronet (1780–1867)
Sir John Macartney, 3rd Baronet (1832–1911)
Sir William Isaac Macartney, 4th Baronet (1867–1942)
Sir Alexander Miller Macartney, 5th Baronet (1869–1960)
Sir John Barrington Macartney, 6th Baronet (1917–1999)
Sir John Ralph Macartney, 7th Baronet (born 1945)

References

Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.

Macartney
Category:1799 establishments in Ireland


FCS Network

The FCS Network - (Future Combat Systems) Brigade Combat Team (BCT) Network consists of five layers that combine to provide seamless delivery of data to forward-deployed Army units.

When fully adopted by the Army over the next two decades, the FCS (BCT) Network will possess the adaptability and management functionality required to maintain pertinent services, while the assigned FCS Brigade Combat Team fights on a rapidly shifting battlespace. The FCS (BCT) network will provide the FCS Family of Systems (FoS) the advantage to see first, understand first, act first, and finish decisively in the battlespace against both conventional and non-conventional enemy forces. The FCS (BCT) network will also dispatch targeting and other coordinating data to Navy and Air Force components for total force integration in the battlespace.

Sensors and Platforms Layer
Sensors are the hardware and software that will provide FCS with the ability to "see first" and achieve situational awareness and understanding of the battlefield. Sensor layer allows soldiers to detect, identify, and track both enemy and friendly systems and to survey the terrain around them. The intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors will be integrated onto all manned and unmanned ground vehicles, and will be capable of accomplishing a variety of missions. The unmanned aerial vehicles will be able to maneuver to an area of attack and the onboard sensors will provide surveillance of targets and terrain, among other functions. In addition, FCS has two types of unattended ground sensor systems, Tactical-Unattended Ground Sensors (T-UGS) and Urban-Unattended Ground Sensors (U-UGS). T-UGS provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance awareness to the BCTs, while U-UGS support clearing operations in confined spaces or urban chokepoints. All sensors are connected to the Common Operational Picture. The Common Operational Picture (COP) gives the Soldier a good overview and understanding of their battlespace.

Applications Layer
The applications layer is responsible for providing the integrated ability to assess, plan, and execute network-centric mission operations using a common interface. It consists of 10 software packages known as Battle Command applications. The combined capabilities of the Battle Command software packages enable full interaction among the FCS (BCTs), and provide the ability to understand the battle situation first. Understanding first is the ability to see the patterns, understand the enemy's concept of operations, his scheme of maneuver, and then exploit his decisive points and vulnerabilities. The applications layer provides the ability for cross Battlefield Functional Area (BFA) problem solving and decision aiding capability for all brigades and below echelons.

Services Layer
The services layer is commonly referred to as System-of-Systems Common Operating Environment (SoSCOE). SoSCOE provides interoperability with existing systems, intra and inter platform networking (including e-mail and web services), data services and information assurance, and search capabilities. The Services Layer also contains administrative applications that provide capabilities including login service, startup, logoff, erase, alert/emergency restart and monitoring control. It enables straightforward integration of separate software packages, independent of their location, connectivity mechanism and the technology used to develop them. SoSCOE has three different variants: Micro Edition, Realtime Edition, Standard Edition. Multiple editions allow SoSCOE to meet performance, scalability, portability, and interoperability requirements of FCS platforms.

Transport Layer
The transport layer is the telecommunications layer. It provides the radios and computers to process information. It improves current force communication limitations because it is primarily embedded in the mobile platforms and moves with the combat formations. The transport layer provides ground, aerial, and space communications across the battlefield. It allows information to move seamlessly between FCS variants and Soldiers. The FCS communications network consists of a three tiered transport layer; terrestrial, airborne, and space. The terrestrial tier is based on the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Ground Mobile Radio (GMR) and Handheld, Manpackable, Small Form Factor (HMS) radios running two transformational waveforms, the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW), and the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW). Both radios will also run select legacy waveforms to provide current force and Joint interoperability.

Standards Layer
The standards layer is the foundation of the FCS (BCT) network. This layer provides the governance for the implementation of the network (i.e. rules the soldier has to accommodate). It also describes how sensor data from non-FCS sources can be used by the FCS network. This ensures that FCS components will work together properly. Conformance to these standards permits seamless interoperability with combined and coalition forces for all National Security Systems (NSS) and Information Technology (IT) systems.

See also
Global Information Grid
LandWarNet

References

 US Army : Future Combat Systems : Network
 SOSCOE Home Page
 US Army : Future Combat Systems : FCS White Paper: Systems Overview

Category:Military equipment of the United States
Category:United States Army equipment
Category:Applications of distributed computing


Pleopeltis polypodioides

Pleopeltis polypodioides (syn. Polypodium polypodioides), also known as the resurrection fern, is a species of creeping, coarse-textured fern native to the Americas and Africa.

Description

The evergreen fronds of this fern are 25 cm high by 5 cm wide and monomorphic. The leathery, yellow-green pinnae (leaflets) are deeply pinnatifid, oblong to narrowly lanceolate, usually widest near middle, occasionally at or near base. It attaches to the limbs of its host plant with a branching, creeping, slender rhizome, which grows to 2 mm in diameter. The scales are lanceolate, with light brown base and margins, and having a dark central stripe.

The gametophytes (the haploid gamete producers) of this plant develop from very small spores that float in the air and are deposited on moist tree branches. These spores are produced in sporangia that develop on the leaves of the fern's sporophyte. The fern can also reproduce by the division of its rhizomes.

On the underside of the blades, the sori (reproductive clusters) are round, discrete, and sunken. Their outline can be seen as raised dimples on the upper surface. They are typically near the outer edge, and occur on all but the lowest pinnae of fertile fronds. Indusium is absent. Sporangia are yellow to brown at maturity. Spores are produced from summer to fall.

Habitat and water absorption

This fern is an epiphyte, or air plant, which means it attaches itself to other plants and gets its nutrients from the air and from water and nutrients that collect on the outer surface of bark. The resurrection fern lives on the branches of large trees such as cypresses and can often be seen carpeting the shady areas on limbs of large oak trees. However, it is known to grow on the surfaces of rocks and dead logs as well. It is often found in the company of other epiphytic plants such as Spanish moss.

The P. polypodioides resides in the hardwood forests of southeastern United States in areas including Delaware, Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. This fern can also be found in areas such as subtropical America and parts of southern Africa.

The resurrection fern gets its name because it can survive long periods of drought by curling up its fronds and appearing desiccated, grey-brown and dead. However, when just a little water is present, the fern will uncurl and reopen, appearing to "resurrect" and restoring itself to a vivid green color within about 24 hours. It has been estimated that these plants could last 100 years without water and still revive after a single exposure.

When the fronds "dry", they curl with their bottom sides upwards. In this way, they can rehydrate the quickest when rain comes, as most of the water is absorbed on the underside of the leaf blades. Experiments have shown that they can lose almost all their free water—up to 97%--and remain alive, though more typically they only lose around 76% in dry spells. For comparison, most other plants would die after losing only 8-12%. This fern can lose almost all the water not hydrating the cells in its leaves and survive. When drying, the plant synthesizes dehydrins, which allow the cell walls to fold in a way which can be reversed later.

At least one study has shown association between P. polypodioides and moss, indicating that this fern may rely on moss for some of its water needs.

The farthest known existing colony of this fern grows on the rock called Leaning Lena in Clear Creek Metro Park in Hocking County, Ohio.

Reproduction

The fern  has spores on the bottom of the fronds, contained in sori. The fern sporulates in Summer and early Fall. Rhizome sections are also viable offspring and can root themselves in new medium.

Of note

The resurrection fern is also known by the common names of Lazarus fern, little gray polypod, scaly polypody and miracle fern.

This plant has been taken on a space shuttle mission to watch its resurrection in zero gravity. (reference needed)
There are two main species, Pleopeltis michauxiana which may be found throughout the State of Florida. Pleopeltix polypodioides is much less common and is only found in Key Largo in the Florida Keys.

See also
Resurrection plant

References

Flora of North America: Pleopeltis polypodioides var. michauxiana
USDA Plants Profile: Pleopeltis polypodioides
Flora of Zimbabwe: Polypodium polypodioides subsp. ecklonii
Polypodium polypodioides from the Hardy Fern Library.
Moran, Robbin C., A Natural history of Ferns. Timber Press (2004).
The Relationship Between Pleopeltis polypodioides (Polypodiaceae) and Associated Mosses By John W. Story II
 Florida Plant Atlas Pleopeltis michauxiana
 Florida Plant Atlas Pleopeltis polypodioides
 NASA mission that took Resurrection Fern into space.

polypodioides
Category:Epiphytes
Category:Ferns of the Americas
Category:Ferns of Africa
Category:Ferns of the United States
Category:Flora of North America
Category:Flora of South America


John Wells (MP for Maidstone)

John Wells (1761 – 22 November 1848) was an English Tory politician  who sat in the House of Commons from 1820 to 1830.

He was born in Malling, Kent the second son of William Wells, of Bickley Hall, Bromley in Kent and Holme Hall, Huntingdonshire, by his wife Elizabeth, sister of Sir Richard Neave, 1st Baronet, Governor of the Bank of England.

He married in Rochester in 1796 Esther daughter of John Puget, a London banker, by his wife, Esther, daughter of James Dunn, MP for Dublin 1758-62. Esther's siblings included John Puget, of Pointer's Grove, near Totteridge, Hertfordshire, Director of the Bank of England, and Rear-Admiral Peter Puget, CB, who explored with Captain George Vancouver and after whom Puget Sound is named. The family lived at Bickley Hall, built for his uncle John Wells by Robert Mylne in 1780, and extended to a design by Sir Robert Smirke in 1810.

He also owned the Malling Heath estate in Kent [East and West Malling Tithe Award Schedules 1842].  He was among the leading shipbuilders on the River Thames, a partner in yards at Deptford, Rotherhithe and Blackwall. He served as High Sheriff of Kent for 1812 and then stood unsuccessfully for parliament at Maidstone in 1818. He was elected as the Tory Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone at the general election in March 1820 and held the seat until 1830, when he did not stand again in Maidstone.

Wells was a strong opponent of the Catholic Emancipation Bill in 1828, declaring that he would fight to defend the Protestant Constitution "until he was up to his knees in blood". He increasingly moved towards the Whigs and was very much his own man.

Wells died two weeks after his wife when he was aged 87. They had three sons and five daughters, of whom one son and three daughters predeceased him. His daughter Eleanor married James Browne, MP for Mayo 1818-31, and his daughter Elizabeth married Sir Percyval Hart Dyke, 6th Bt.  His great-great-great-nephew, Sir John Wells, was MP for Maidstone 1959-87.

References

External links

Category:1761 births
Category:1848 deaths
Category:People from Kent
Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Category:UK MPs 1820–1826
Category:UK MPs 1826–1830
Category:Tory MPs (pre-1834)
Category:High Sheriffs of Kent