a/c 11-04, 111 Esquadrón, Ala 11, Free Spanish Air Force

Al Mahbes, Spanish Sahara, March, 1972

Personal mount of Captain Raúl Jiménez (pilot) and Lieutenant Janner Corozo (observer/ECM operator)

The Spanish Republic maintained a neutral stance when WW3 broke out in mid-1950. However, in December Spain joined the Moscow Pact as the European Red Revolutions culminated in the ousting of US forces from mainland Europe. Ejected from the UN, Spain was now at war. In response, the US occupied Spain's Atlantic territories, including the Canary Islands, and Free French troops based in Morocco took control over Spain's northern and southern Moroccan protectorates and its Spanish Sahara colony. A Free Spanish government was established at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in February 1951, which subsequently resumed authority over Spain's Atlantic and African territories. As a result, Free Spanish forces would see considerable combat against the Reds until 1980.

The colonial administration of Spanish Sahara was propped up by UN troops and funding, by the active support of the Spanish diaspora and the recruitment of foriegn mercenaries. After the Reds liberated northern Morocco in 1954, Free Spain and its UN allies defended Spanish Sahara until the colony was liberated in August 1980. Enemies included the Red Army and the insurgencies of the Moroccan Liberation Army and later the Polisario Front. It was the latter that established full control over the former colony as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in August 1980.

The air war over Spanish Sahara was fought in two distinct arenas. Peer operations saw several campaigns of attrition fought between Red and UN airpower. Meanwhile, UN air forces maintained an ongoing COIN effort against insurgents and the Trotsky Trail, the latter forming the routes through which the Reds supported anti-UN forces in sub-Saharan Africa. While fast jets used Spanish Saharan air bases to engage the enemy up-north, those same airfields hosted a range of slow movers mounting tactical COIN missions across the broad swathe of the western Sahara.

In the late 1950s the UN established a series of defensive lines south of the Maghreb, from the Atlantic in the west to the border of neutral Libya in the west. Characterised by minefields, berms, fortifications, artillery fire bases, airfields and extensive surface and air patrolling, this forward positioning was expensive to maintain and constantly proved to be porous. With the growing prowess and reach of Red airpower, UN airpower within and to the north of these lines became increasingly challenged during the late 60s and into the 70s. By 1969, it had become apparent that the UN's nocturnal campaigns against Red movements in the Maghreb, collectively actioned under the umbrella of the DAMIT (Denied Area Mobile Interdiction Techniques) program, was unsustainable. To stem crippling losses, senior UN officers concluded that new systems and tactics were needed. A call went out for innovative solutions.

111 Esquadrón of the Free Spanish Air Force was formed in July 1953 at Laayoune as the first flying squadron of Ala 11. Flying US surplus North American AT-6D Texans, 111 Esq deployed detachments to forward airfields to conduct FAC and light attack missions throughout the colony, into southern Morocco and western Algeria. As with its sister squadron, 112 Esq (formed in 1954), the unit drew heavily on the Spanish diaspora for its personnel. The Texans were replaced by North American T-28D Nomads in 1962. In 1968, another North American product was introduced, the OV-10A Bronco. By then, most of the aircrew were foreigners from throughout the Hispanosphere.

Consulted on DAMIT's issues and informed of the funding available for new proposals, the personnel of Ala 11 responded with a novel concept. They noted that a critical problem was deteriorating situational awareness during DAMIT missions. This, they argued, was due to the loss rate of fast FAC aircraft being higher than the loss rate of the slow FACs they replaced. The failings and increasing timidity of the fast FAC force was compounded by DAMIT's standoff surveillance and EW platforms being forced to fly further south than was useful for effective support. The solution, the Free Spanish personnel figured, was to replace these planes with ones that flew slow and low. They knew from experience that a low flying Bronco was hard to shoot down with a fighter, even in daylight, but what the OV-10A didn't have was the range of targeting sensors and ECM to fulfil DAMIT night FAC missions alone. What was needed, they suggested, were Broncos with LLLTV, FLIR, ground mapping/MTI radar, Elint and ECM capabilities. As the OV-10 had a cargo and passenger compartment in the rear fuselage, Ala 11 argued that the Bronco could feasibly (if uncomfortably) accommodate a third crew member and their black boxes if needed.

When the Ala 11's proposal (The Multispectral OV-10 DAMIT FAC) was considered by UN brass, it was warmly received by Canadian officers, but not the Americans. Although all were aware of the USMC's recently let contract for 2 of the complementary YOV-10D NOGS (Night Observation Gun Ship), the relevant US officers failed to see the potential synergies. Instead, the US focus was on stealth (specifically the Lockheed YO-3A Quiet Star), special forces, RPVs and precision guided weapons. Nethertheless, UN funding was made available and Canada and the Free Spanish collaborated to define a new Bronco variant, to be manufactured by North American Rockwell as the YOV-10D NEWT (Night Electronic Warfare & Targeting).

Given access to the NOGS program and a commitment for the supply of 6 NOGS for combat testing on DAMIT missions, the Free Spanish Air Force ordered 6 NEWTS from North American Rockwell. Intending to use the two types as a DAMIT FAC and attack team, NEWT required a ground mapping radar with MTI, plus a sufficiently powerful ECM suite to provide joint protection. Not limited to using American equipment, NEWT featured the Turquoise Oval SLAR in an elongated nose and the Heliotrope Sail escort ECM suite, which included a ventrally mounted pod. Both systems were produced by the Canadian Marconi company. At the tip of the nose was an internally mounted AAA-4B Pave Mouse IR/UV beacon detector, while under the fuselage was a fairing housing the Pave Bounce direction finding radar receiver. LORAN-C provided both navigation and geolocation data for third-party targeting. Both versions of the YOV-10D were issued to 111 Esq, while 112 Esq upgraded to the OV-10F (which, like the NEWT, featured 4 .50 cal Brownings, more powerful engines and upgraded air-conditioning).

NEWT external loadout options included CBUs (4 Mk.20 Rockeye IIs are seen here), rocket pods, Mk.82s and GBU-12s. SideARMs or AGM-45B Shrikes were carried for SEAD, with a Phillips Canada Sable Latch chaff/flare dispenser mounted on each tail boom as standard. The NEWT's capabilities and weapons complimented the FLIR, laser designator and turreted 20mm M197 cannon of the NOGS.

The airfield adjacent to the northern Spanish Saharan town of Al Mahbes was one of 112 Esq's forward positions. This aircraft, 11-04, was photographed there in April 1972, alongside a NOGS, prior to a night FAC team mission. Seen beside the NEWT Bronco was its crew, pilot Captain Raúl Jiménez (a former Mexican Air Force C-130B pilot) and systems (radar and ECM) operator Lieutenant Janner Corozo (a former electronic warfare operator with the Ecuadorian Navy). According to the article in Soldier of Fortune magazine that accompanied the photo (DAMIT! Hispanic NEWTS and NOGS, September 1972), neither men had seen combat before recruitment to the Free Spanish Air Force. They were said to have volunteered for "the adventure and to kill Commies." Capt. Jiménez was quoted as saying they flew "CSAR FAC and DAMIT kill box FAC patrols, SEAD, heckler diversion and harassment raids and special forces support." According to the story, their "memorable missions" included "successful CSAR efforts" (one to save a downed USAF F-111A crew and another to rescue a Canadian F-4M crew) and a "particularly productive sortie where they busted a pair of BTR-60s, took out a BMP-1 and flamed a few trucks." Both men were killed on 3 November 1972, when 11-04 was shot down by an FLIR-assisted, radar guided ZSU-23-4 Shilka mobile AAA system near Fam El Hisn in Morocco. Their loss brought an end to YOV-10D operations.

Both the NEWT and NOGS versions of the YOV-10D were experimental and no more were built. The Free Spanish YOV-10D DAMIT teams achieved limited success and after 10 months of combat were withdrawn. By then, only 3 NOGS and 2 NEWT YOV-10Ds remained to be sent to the boneyard. Of the 2 USMC NOGS, both saw service in SEA during 1972's Operation Half Back Flanker, where they were shot down. Production OV-10Ds were built to an entirely different standard and delivered to 111 Esq in 1974.

The maintainer uses a brand new BNSF 2012 Ford F-350 while checking out the signal box at 24th Street in Rock Island, IL.

November 11, 2011.

shelters for all competition, Capron entry for the “SheltersForAll” competition, SheltersForAll, “SheltersForAll”, sheltersforall.org, Shelters For All, Shelters for the poorest, Shelters For All competition, Shelters For All competition entry, Shelters For All competition entry Greg Capron, “Shelters For All competition” realistic architecture, architecture for the poorest , realistic architecture, arche17.com, , Gregoire Capron, greg_capron@me.com, greg.capron@arche17.com, long lasting shelters for the poorest, green architecture, sustainable architecture, use local materials and skills, simple architecture, shelters for local communities, simple to build and simple to maintain

Dedicated to the men and women of the Strategic Air Command who flew and maintained the B-52D throughout its 26 year history in the command. Aircraft 55,003, with over 15,000 flying hours, is one of two B-52's credited with a confirmed MIG kill during the Vietnam conflict.

Flying out of Utapao Royal Thai Naval Airfield in southeast Thailand, the crew of "Diamond Lil" shot down a MIG northeast of Hanoi during "Linebacker II" action on Christmas eve 1972.

The particular feat was accomplished by Airman First Class Albert E. Moore, who brought down a MiG-21 which was closing to attack 'Diamond Lil.' The reason its MiG kill was so celebrated was that a B-52 which got within range of a fighter almost always lost the fight. B-52s were built on the assumption that enemy fighters would be kept at bay by their own fighter escort, and so they had minimal defensive guns.

Source: www.hardylaw.net/B52.html

WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. – Hanger doors are opened as 509th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron maintainers begin performing maintenance on a B-2 Spirit Oct 29, 2009. 509th AMXS crew chiefs and maintainers work around the clock with B-2 pilots training and staying prepared for real world missions. Twenty B-2 Spirit aircrafts are assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing. The B-2's primary mission is to attack time-critical targets early in a conflict to minimize an enemy's war-making potential. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Kenny Holston)(Released)

#BridesmaidDresses - Red and gold bridesmaid dresses are trends in store 2015. The bridesmaids have an increasingly important role among the new generation wedding. The bridesmaids do not have to dress alike, although they keep some coordination either colors such as cuts or forms. Ideally: maintain color palette...

goo.gl/KBFmqi

W. Patrick McCray, Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA speaking during the Session "Maintaining Innovation" at the Annual Meeting 2017 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 20, 2017. .Copyright by World Economic Forum / Manuel Lopez

Not even Chairman Mao would have imagined that his iconic statement would become the raison d'être for the Naxals in India...

Ofcourse more than any communist literature or jihadi propaganda - its the AK47 that does their bidding. Light, accurate and easy to maintain this one weapon has spawned a thousand insurgencies....

The nictitating membrane of a red-tailed hawk. The membrane protects and moisten the eye while maintaining vision. Cooper Mountain, Washington USA

The Thomas Plains Primitive Methodist Church building is a very well maintained building with new roof work and electrical work.

The tennis courts are also well maintained, with clear markings and good quality cyclone wire surround.

The grounds are generally well kept and clean.

The Thomas Plains Tennis Club is obviously well established here and is a frequent user of the property.

Reverend Buchanan of the Greens Plains Congregational Church conducted the earliest church services at Thomas Plains in 1877. The Primitive Methodists of Greens Plains East and West discussed the construction of a church at Greens Plains East in 1883. Services were first held by the Primitive Methodists in Mr T Rodda's House, Section 13, Hundred of Ninnes at Thomas Plains on 23 September 1883, and continued there for the next 17 years.

Mr Skipworth, a mason from Kadina, began construction of a new church at Thomas Plains on 24 October 1900. The church, located on the south-east comer of Section 17, Hundred of Ninnes, was to cost £180 and was to be completed within eight weeks.

Members of the Pearce, Ramsay and Rodda families donated bags of wheat towards fund raising for the construction work and the new church, measuring 40 feet by 20 feet was opened on Sunday 18 February 1901.

Services on this day were conducted by the Reverends A J Finch and Jackson.

Although occasions such as weddings and baptisms were seldom held in the little church, due to its isolation and lack of a font, church services continued to be conducted regularly at Thomas Plains until the 1920s when changes to the demography of the district, created by improved farming methods and transportation, reduced attendances at the church. Ref: Yorke Peninsula Heritage Survey 1997.

Thomas Plains, March 18

Sunday, March 15th, dawned bright and clear of the delight of Thomas Plains, who were that day to witness the re-opening of the church after a month’s interval, during which time it has been renovated and beautified.

The old lath and plaster ceiling has been replaced by a beautiful steel one, tastefully painted. The woodwork has also been painted, the seats varnished, and a coat of putty plaster adorns the walls.

All connected with the church felt justly proud of the sacred edifice, and as the occasion was also the anniversary of the church the people gathered from far and near, and expressed their admiration of the improvements made.

Two services were conducted by Rev H T Rush, who delivered earnest and appropriate addresses. The choir, which had recently laboured under many difficulties, acquitted themselves creditably.

Unfortunately the weather conditions did not continue favourable and those who had come from a distance no doubt failed to enjoy the drive home.

On Monday a public tea was held at 5pm and was well patronised. It was followed by a public meeting able presided over by Mr R Spry. After The Chairman’s address the visitors from Kadina entertained the audience with the rendering of songs and a violin solo with credit to themselves and pleasure to the audience. The proceeds, which were in aid of church renovations, were very satisfactory, being about £22.

On Tuesday evening the many friends of our highly respected teacher, Miss Fox, met to say goodbye, prior to her leaving the district, to take charge of a school near Nairne. She has been teaching at the Thomas Plains School for four years, and during that time has won the love of the children and respect and goodwill of the neighbourhood. She will be much missed by the tennis club, the literary society, and the Sunday School. Mr Spry presided over a large gathering. After a number had spoken of the high qualities of Miss Fox and expressed their sorrow at her leaving the district, she was presented with a beautiful dressing case as a token of the high esteem in which she is held. Miss Fox, who was taken by surprise, feelingly replied and expressed the hope that at some future time she may be found among them again. Refreshments brought the evening to a close. Ref: Kadina and Wallaroo Times (SA) 21-3-1908.

A school concert was held in the Thomas Plains Methodist Church on Wednesday, November 24. The Rev Allanson presided over a crowded home, many travelling long distances. Miss Laurel Ramsey supplied appropriate music. The children rendered patriotic songs.

A tableaux entitled 'Australia Will be There,' with Master Stan Olsen as a wounded soldier, resulted in 4/5 in pennies being thrown on the stage, and this soon will be handed over to the Wounded Soldiers' Fund.

A comprehensive vote of thanks was moved by Mr J Reid to the teacher (Miss Hooper), to whom great credit is due for her ntiring efforts to make the concert a success. The creditable sum of £6 2s was raised for the Red Cross Fund. A splendid supper was provided by the parents and was heartily partaken of. The concert was a big success from every standpoint. Ref: Kadina and Wallaroo Times (SA) 27-11-1915.

On Saturday evening last, at the Thomas Plains Church, a very successful farewell social was tendered Sergeant Gordon Rodda, who has enlisted for active service, by the residents of the district.

Sergt Rodda is the youngest son of Mr T H Rodda, of Kadina, and is a very popular young man.

All present realised that Sergt Rodda had obeyed the call of duty and their prayers for his safety were coupled with the heartiest wishes for his safe return at no distant date. Rev Clark then, on behalf of the Kadina Willing Workers' League, presented Sergt. Rodda with a parcel of woollen comforts. Ref: Kadina & Wallaroo Times (SA) 21-1-1917.

THOMAS PLAINS' TENNIS

VICTORY DINNER

Thomas Plains, premiers of the Central Mid-Northern YP Tennis Association for 1952, held a victory dinner at the hall on the evening of. the 26th April. Local club members and two members representing each of the other clubs, the Association president (Mr W Currnow) and wife, and the Association secretary (Mr M K Lamming) and wife, numbering, in all about 60, partook of a sumptuous dinner. The president of Thomas Plains tennis club (Mr B.Harris), welcomed all of the visitors.

The toast list was in the hands of the club secretary (Mr C N McKay) and Mr I Spry proposed the Loyal toast. In proposing the toast of “The Association,” Mr B Harris congratulated the president and secretary for carrying out their duties during the year, also the clubs for their co-operation. Mr W Curnow, president, responded on behalf of the Association.

Selections were given by Mr Rowan on his piano accordion. Mr C Coote proposed the toast of "The Thomas Plains Tennis Team” and congratulated them on their victory. On behalf of his team Mr D Ramsey, vice-captain, replied. The vice-president of the Association, Mr H McKay, gave the toast of the runners-up, the Cunliffe team, and Mr Curnow responded. The Association secretary (Mr M K Lamming), in proposing the toast of the ladies, thanked them for their excellent spread, and Mrs E Ramsey replied.

The evening was spent in table tennis and euchre. Winners of the table tennis were Miss I Ramsey and Mr Graham Daniel, whilst Mrs and Mr Reg Millard were the euchre winners.

The evening concluded with supper. Ref: Kadina and Wallaroo Times (SA) 1 May 1952.

Keeping one foot on the ground can help, but why not take a risk?

"To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself."

~ Soren Kierkegaard

An undated snapshot I bought on eBay that provoked a little Sunday philosophy.

All the Christian Holy Sites are covered by churches of all denominations: Greek Orthodox, Coptic, Catholic, and others. Sometimes with significant debates about who can best maintain and care for the sites. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, is these days a predominately Moslem area in Israel and as a "B" area it is noticeably different from the "C" (Israeli controlled) areas. For one, instead of signs in Hebrew, Arabic and English, the signage is only in Arabic and English. Israeli tour guides are prohibited (by rules) from entering B areas, so when we went to Bethlehem, we had a different - Palestinian - guide.

Economically the difference is tangible, too. Our Palestinian guide and hosts were very friendly. The nature of the conflicts between Arabs (and Palestinians) and Jews is something that I must admit typical American ignorance in.

In some areas of Israel there are big concrete walls separating Palestinian controlled areas from Israeli controlled areas. Apparently due to hostilities. They resemble sound walls around our freeways, but extend far from the freeways. It reminds me of Berlin and saddens me.

During a trip in Jordan to the Karek Castle, I had an eye-opening encounter with a Palestinian who explained that it was actually American soldiers who were "responsible for planting 80% of the bombs on the cars of unsuspecting locals who are stopped at checkpoints and remotely detonating them". Our Jordanian bus driver, Mahmud, agreed with him heartily. While I am 99.5% sure the US is not perpetuating such attacks, it's not surprising that this type of skewed bias arises - look at how Mubarak was blaming the uprising in Egypt on US interests and orchestration.\

© Copyright 2011, Steven Christenson

TheAmusing.com

All rights reserved. Curious what "all rights reserved means?" it means that without written permission you may not: copy, transmit, modify, use, print or display this image in any context other than as it appears in Flickr.

The 16th Street Circle is unique in many ways. The border between Washington, DC, and Maryland runs diagonallly through the middle of it. The intersection is therefore maintained separately by two different entities -- the Maryland State Highway Administration (MSHA) and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT).

To the north is MD 390 (16th Street) and to the northeast is MD 384 (Colesville Road), both maintained by MSHA. To the southeast is Eastern Avenue, to the south is 16th Street, and to the southwest is North Portal Drive NW -- all three of which are maintained by DDOT. Furthermore, to the northwest is a privately-maintained apartment building with an access onto the circle.

The geometry of the circle is a mix of traffic circle, roundabout, and siganlized couplet. On the Maryland side, MD 384 approaches as if approaching a roundabout -- they yield to traffic within the circle. However, MD 390 approaches as if a traffic circle -- traffic within the circle must yield to entering traffic. To further complicate things, the District side has signalized each of its approaches.

Pedestrian accommodations were at one time non-existent on the Maryland side, though concrete refuges have since been installed across the MD 384 and MD 390 legs. The Maryland crossings themselves remain unmarked. The District provides marked and signal-controlled crossings across Eastern Avenue, 16th Street, and North Portal Drive NW. The 16th Street pedestrian crossing includes a pedestrian signal to stop outbound traffic, with the pedestrian movement functioning as a two-stage pedestrian crossing.

The junction has been a source of complaints for a long time. MSHA is currently developing plans to signalise its two approaches, akin to the DDOT side. This would address safety concerns as well as provide for marked and signal-controlled pedestrian crossings, of which the MD 390 crossing is anticipated to include an outbound signal as per its 16th Street counterpart on the DDOT side.

No pedestrian crossings are anticipated to the central island, though such movements are not inherently infeasible. Additionally, due to terrain limitations and a desire to pursue the aforementioned modifications at an expedited pace, at this time the sidewalk on the northwest side will not be extended between North Portal Drive NW and the west side of MD 390. A schedule for all these modifications is not available as of writing.

The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft originally designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-range strategic airlift capability, one that can carry outsize and oversize loads, including all air-certifiable cargo. The Galaxy has many similarities to its smaller Lockheed C-141 Starlifter predecessor, and the later Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. The C-5 is among the largest military aircraft in the world.

The C-5 Galaxy's development was complicated, including significant cost overruns, and Lockheed suffered significant financial difficulties. Shortly after entering service, cracks in the wings of many aircraft were discovered and the C-5 fleet was restricted in capability until corrective work was completed. The C-5M Super Galaxy is an upgraded version with new engines and modernized avionics designed to extend its service life beyond 2040.

The USAF has operated the C-5 since 1969. In that time, the airlifter supported US military operations in all major conflicts including Vietnam, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, as well as allied support, such as Israel during the Yom Kippur War and operations in the Gulf War. The Galaxy has also been used to distribute humanitarian aid and disaster relief, and supported the US Space Shuttle program.

The Lockheed Martin HC-130J Hercules The Combat King II is the U.S. Air Force's only dedicated fixed-wing personnel recovery platform and is flown by the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) and Air Combat Command (ACC). This C-130J variation specializes in tactical profiles and avoiding detection and recovery operations in austere environments. The HC-130J replaces HC-130P/Ns as the only dedicated fixed-wing Personnel Recovery platform in the Air Force inventory. It is an extended-range version of the C-130J Hercules transport. Its mission is to rapidly deploy to execute combatant commander directed recovery operations to austere airfields and denied territory for expeditionary, all weather personnel recovery operations to include airdrop, airland, helicopter air-to-air refueling, and forward area ground refueling missions. When tasked, the aircraft also conducts humanitarian assistance operations, disaster response, security cooperation/aviation advisory, emergency aeromedical evacuation, and noncombatant evacuation operations.

Features

Modifications to the HC-130J have improved navigation, threat detection and countermeasures systems. The aircraft fleet has a fully-integrated inertial navigation and global positioning systems, and night vision goggle, or NVG, compatible interior and exterior lighting. It also has forward-looking infrared, radar and missile warning receivers, chaff and flare dispensers, satellite and data-burst communications, and the ability to receive fuel inflight via a Universal Aerial Refueling Receptacle Slipway Installation (UARRSI).

The HC-130J can fly in the day; however, crews normally fly night at low to medium altitude levels in contested or sensitive environments, both over land or overwater. Crews use NVGs for tactical flight profiles to avoid detection to accomplish covert infiltration/exfiltration and transload operations. To enhance the probability of mission success and survivability near populated areas, crews employ tactics that include incorporating no external lighting or communications, and avoiding radar and weapons detection.

Drop zone objectives are done via personnel drops and equipment drops. Rescue bundles include illumination flares, marker smokes and rescue kits. Helicopter air-to-air refueling can be conducted at night, with blacked out communication with up to two simultaneous helicopters. Additionally, forward area refueling point operations can be executed to support a variety of joint and coalition partners.

Background

The HC-130J is a result of the HC/MC-130 recapitalization program and replaces Air Combat Command's aging HC-130P/N fleet as the dedicated fixed-wing personnel recovery platform in the Air Force inventory. The 71st and 79th Rescue Squadrons in Air Combat Command, the 550th Special Operations Squadron in Air Education and Training Command, the 920th Rescue Group in Air Force Reserve Command and the 106th Rescue Wing, 129th RQW and 176th Wing in the Air National Guard will operate the aircraft.

First flight was 29 July 2010, and the aircraft will serve the many roles and missions of the HC-130P/Ns. It is a modified KC-130J aircraft designed to conduct personnel recovery missions, provide a command and control platform, in-flight-refuel helicopters and carry supplemental fuel for extending range or air refueling.

In April 2006, the personnel recovery mission was transferred back to Air Combat Command at Langley AFB, Va. From 2003 to 2006, the mission was under the Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Previously, HC-130s were assigned to ACC from 1992 to 2003. They were first assigned to the Air Rescue Service as part of Military Airlift Command.

General Characteristics

Primary function: Fixed-wing Personnel Recovery platform

Contractor: Lockheed Aircraft Corp.

Power Plant: Four Rolls Royce AE2100D3 turboprop engines

Thrust: 4,591 Propeller Shaft Horsepower, each engine

Wingspan: 132 feet, 7 inches (40.4 meters)

Length: 97 feet, 9 inches (29.57 meters)

Height: 38 feet, 9 inches (11.58 meters)

Operating Weight: 89,000 pounds (40,369 kilograms)

Maximum Takeoff Weight: 164,000 pounds (74,389 kilograms)

Fuel Capacity: 61,360 pounds (9,024 gallons)

Payload: 35,000 pounds (15,875 kilograms)

Speed: 316 knots indicated air speed at sea level

Range: beyond 4,000 miles (3,478 nautical miles)

Ceiling: 33,000 feet (10,000 meters)

Armament: countermeasures/flares, chaff

Basic Crew: Three officers (pilot, co-pilot, combat system officer) and two enlisted loadmasters

Unit Cost: $66 million (fiscal 2010 replacement cost)

Initial operating capability: 2013

Built in 1901, this Hawaiian Gothic-style hotel, mixing elements of the Queen Anne, Classical Revival, Beaux Arts, and Renaissance Revival styles, was designed by Oliver G. Traphagen and built by the Lucas Brothers for Walter Chamberlain Peacock as the first large hotel on Waikiki. Expanded in 1918 with the addition of two six-story concrete wings and a large rooftop addition on the original building, the hotel has changed scale and massing considerably from its original design, but maintains its original facade, roof, and decorative trim and ornament. The first hotel on Waikiki, the Moana featured 75 guest rooms with bathrooms and telephone service, a main parlor, salon, billiard room, and library, and a main reception area on the first floor, a grand staircase, ionic fluted columns inside the main lobby, an electric elevator, and an open two-story portion of the lobby ringed by balustrades on the second floor, with the hotel being considered very modern and luxurious for its time. In 1904, a banyan tree was planted in the courtyard on the ocean side of the hotel by Jared Smith, Director of the Department of Agriculture Experiment Station, which has since grown to be 75 feet tall and 150 feet wide. The hotel proved a bit too ambitious for the investment Peacock had put into it, and it was sold to Alexander Young in 1905 after encountering financial difficulties. Following Young’s death in 1910, the building became the property of the Territorial Hotel Company, founded by Young, which expanded the hotel with two wings in 1918, but went bankrupt during the Great Depression, with ownership then coming under the Matson Navigation Company. Various famous guests stayed at the hotel over the years, including the Prince of Wales and future King Edward VIII in 1920, author Agatha Christie and her husband in 1922, and Jane Stanford, co-founder of Stanford University, whom mysteriously died of strychnine poisoning in the hotel, though her murder remains unsolved. The original building features lots of classical Ionic columns, a hipped roof with broad overhanging eaves and brackets, clapboard siding, arched openings at the lanais with fleur-de-lis motif panels between them and supported by doric columns, decorative balustrades, one-over-one double-hung windows in singles and groups. In the center of the building is a tower with oxeye windows below the main roofline, doric pilasters on the corners, a lanai on the sixth floor with arched openings and a long row of french doors, and a tall porte cochere in the center of the first and second floors of the tower with fluted ionic columns, a roofline wrapped with a decorative balustrade, and an architrave featuring festoons, dentils, and brackets. The building also features lanais on the fifth floor below the roofline with decorative columns and sawn balustrades supported by brackets and featuring decorative trim, lanais with arched openings and sawn balustrades on the ends of the fifth floor of the original side wings, large arched openings at the base of the original side wings with large windows and juliet balconies, accented with circular panels featuring fleur-de-lis motifs, and crowned with another juliet balcony supported by columns, hipped dormers, and a multi-tier lanai on the rear of the building facing the ocean. The hotel was expanded with two Renaissance Revival-style six-story wings on either side in 1918, which featured concrete construction and stucco-clad exteriors with arched and rectangular double-hung one-over-one windows with decorative trim surrounds, open staircases on the front and rear facades with arched exterior openings, juliet balconies, small ionic columns, brackets, and corner pilasters, a hipped roof with broad overhanging bracketed eaves, small rooftop towers with hipped roofs, and arched vents, and pilasters at the corners of the wings themselves, dividing the side facades into three segments. After the construction of the wings in 1918, a large breezeway with double-hung windows making up most of the exterior was constructed across the ridge of the hipped roof of the original hotel building, running straight through the original building’s tower in the middle, which saw the addition of a similar rooftop tower with arched vents to the two 1918 wings. The hotel was renovated multiple times in the 20th Century, with the loss of the original porte cochere, reconfiguration of the interior, and the addition of bungalows across Kalakaua Avenue in 1925, which led to the hotel becoming known as the Moana-Seaside Hotel & Bungalows during the period between the 1920s and 1950s. A new hotel, known as the Surfrider, was built immediately Diamond Head of the Moana Hotel by the Matson Navigation Company in 1952, which stood 8 stories tall, towering over the older hotel next door. The hotel’s bungalows were demolished the following year and replaced by the Princess Kaiulani Hotel, with the Moana Hotel, Surfrider Hotel, and Princess Kaiulani Hotel being sold to Sheraton Hotels and Resorts in 1959. The Moana Hotel and Surfrider Hotel were sold to the Kyo-Ya Company, led by Japanese industrialist Kenji Osano, in 1963, but remained under the Sheraton banner. In 1969, a new and much taller Surfrider Hotel was built immediately Ewa of the Moana Hotel, with a new taller tower being added to the Princess Kaiulani Hotel in 1970. After the completion of the new Surfrider Hotel, the old Surfrider, built in 1952, became the Moana Ocean Lanai, and later, the Diamond Head Tower of the Moana Hotel. The Moana Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In 1989, the Moana Hotel was restored under the direction of architect Virginia D. Murison to its 1920s exterior appearance, with the restoration of deteriorated exterior elements, interior common spaces, and reconstruction of the original porte cochere, as well as better integration of the historic hotel with the adjacent 1952 and 1969 buildings on either side. Now known as the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, the resort maintained the historic charm of the original Moana Hotel and conserved the hotel’s iconic banyan tree, while boasting 793 modern guest rooms, a new pool, with the project winning many preservation awards. The hotel has since been rebranded as the Westin Moana Surfrider Hotel.

Durga

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In Hinduism, Durga one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress; is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having ten arms, riding a lion or a tiger, carrying weapons and a lotus flower, maintaining a meditative smile, and practising mudras, or symbolic hand gestures.

An embodiment of creative feminine force (Shakti), Durga exists in a state of tantrya (independence from the universe and anything/anybody else, i.e., self-sufficiency) and fierce compassion. Kali is considered by Hindus to be an aspect of Durga. Durga is also the mother of Ganesha and Kartikeya. She is thus considered the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Shiva's wife, goddess Parvati. Durga manifests fearlessness and patience, and never loses her sense of humor, even during spiritual battles of epic proportion.

The word Shakti means divine feminine energy/force/power, and Durga is the warrior aspect of the Divine Mother. Other incarnations include Annapurna and Karunamayi. Durga's darker aspect Kali is represented as the consort of the god Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing.

Durga Slays Mahishasura, Mahabalipuram sculpture.

As a goddess, Durga's feminine power contains the energies of the gods. Each of her weapons was given to her by various gods: Rudra's trident, Vishnu's discus, Indra's thunderbolt, Brahma's kamandalu, Kuber's Ratnahar, etc.

According to a narrative in the Devi Mahatmya story of the Markandeya Purana text, Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight an asura (an inhuman force/demon) named Mahishasura. He had unleashed a reign of terror on earth, heaven and the nether worlds, and he could not be defeated by any man or god, anywhere. The gods went to Brahma, who had given Mahishasura the power not to be defeated by a man. Brahma could do nothing. They made Brahma their leader and went to Vaikuntha — the place where Vishnu lay on Ananta Naag. They found both Vishnu and Shiva, and Brahma eloquently related the reign of terror Mahishasur had unleashed on the three worlds. Hearing this Vishnu, Shiva and all of the gods became very angry and beams of fierce light emerged from their bodies. The blinding sea of light met at the Ashram of a priest named Katyan. The goddess Durga took the name Katyaayani from the priest and emerged from the sea of light. She introduced herself in the language of the Rig-Veda, saying she was the form of the supreme Brahman who had created all the gods. Now she had come to fight the demon to save the gods. They did not create her; it was her lila that she emerged from their combined energy. The gods were blessed with her compassion.

It is said that upon initially encountering Durga, Mahishasura underestimated her, thinking: "How can a woman kill me, Mahishasur — the one who has defeated the trinity of gods?" However, Durga roared with laughter, which caused an earthquake which made Mahishasur aware of her powers.

And the terrible Mahishasur rampaged against her, changing forms many times. First he was a buffalo demon, and she defeated him with her sword. Then he changed forms and became an elephant that tied up the goddess's lion and began to pull it towards him. The goddess cut off his trunk with her sword. The demon Mahishasur continued his terrorizing, taking the form of a lion, and then the form of a man, but both of them were gracefully slain by Durga.

Then Mahishasur began attacking once more, starting to take the form of a buffalo again. The patient goddess became very angry, and as she sipped divine wine from a cup she smiled and proclaimed to Mahishasur in a colorful tone — "Roar with delight while you still can, O illiterate demon, because when I will kill you after drinking this, the gods themselves will roar with delight".[cite this quote] When Mahashaur had half emerged into his buffalo form, he was paralyzed by the extreme light emitting from the goddess's body. The goddess then resounded with laughter before cutting Mahishasur's head down with her sword.

Thus Durga slew Mahishasur, thus is the power of the fierce compassion of Durga. Hence, Mata Durga is also known as Mahishasurmardhini — the slayer of Mahishasur. According to one legend, the goddess Durga created an army to fight against the forces of the demon-king Mahishasur, who was terrorizing Heaven and Earth. After ten days of fighting, Durga and her army defeated Mahishasur and killed him. As a reward for their service, Durga bestowed upon her army the knowledge of jewelry-making. Ever since, the Sonara community has been involved in the jewelry profession [3].

The goddess as Mahisasuramardhini appears quite early in Indian art. The Archaeological Museum in Matura has several statues on display including a 6-armed Kushana period Mahisasuramardhini that depicts her pressing down the buffalo with her lower hands [4]. A Nagar plaque from the first century BC - first century AD depicts a 4-armed Mahisamardhini accompanied by a lion. But it is in the Gupta period that we see the finest representations of Mahisasuramardhini (2-, 4-, 6-, and at Udayagiri, 12-armed). The spear and trident are her most common weapons. a Mamallapuram relief shows the goddess with 8 arms riding her lion subduing a bufalo-faced demon (as contrasted with a buffalo demon); a variation also seen at Ellora. In later sculptures (post-seventh Century), sculptures show the goddess having decapitated the buffalo demon

Durga Puja

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Durga puja is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi , Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and Bijoya Dashami. The dates of Durga Puja celebrations are set according to the traditional Hindu calendar and the fortnight corresponding to the festival is called Devi Paksha and is ended on Kojagori Lokkhi Puja

Durga Puja is widely celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Orissa and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday.In West Bengal and Tripura which has majority of Bengali Hindus it is the Biggest festival of the year. Not only is it the biggest Hindu festival celebrated throughout the State, but it is also the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengali society. Apart from eastern India, Durga Puja is also celebrated in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala. Durga Puja is also celebrated as a major festival in Nepal and in Bangladesh where 10% population are Hindu. Nowadays, many diaspora Bengali cultural organizations arrange for Durgotsab in countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Singapore and Kuwait, among others. In 2006, a grand Durga Puja ceremony was held in the Great Court of the British Museum.

The prominence of Durga Puja increased gradually during the British Raj in Bengal. After the Hindu reformists identified Durga with India, she became an icon for the Indian independence movement. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the tradition of Baroyari or Community Puja was popularised due to this. After independence, Durga Puja became one of the largest celebrated festivals in the whole world.

Durga Puja also includes the worship of Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Saraswati and Kartikeya. Modern traditions have come to include the display of decorated pandals and artistically depicted idols (murti) of Durga, exchange of Bijoya Greetings and publication of Puja Annuals.

Any ideas as to identity greatly appreciated! (I should've paid more attention!)

"The original village [of Oradour] was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company. A new village was built after the war on a nearby site but on the orders of the then French president, Charles de Gaulle, the original has been maintained as a permanent memorial and museum.

"In February 1944, 2nd SS Panzer Division ("Das Reich") was stationed in the Southern French town of Valence-d'Agen, north of Toulouse, waiting to be resupplied with new equipment and freshly trained troops. After the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the division was ordered to make its way across the country to stop the Allied advance. One of the division's units was the 4th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment ("Der Führer"). Its staff included SS-Standartenführer Sylvester Stadler as regimental commander, SS-Sturmbannführer Adolf Diekmann as commander of the regiment's 1st Battalion and SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Weidinger, who was designated Stadler's successor as regimental commander and was with the regiment for familiarisation purposes. Command of "Der Führer" passed from Stadler to Weidinger on 14 June.

"Early on the morning of 10 June 1944, Diekmann informed Weidinger at regimental headquarters that he had been approached by two members of the Milice; a paramilitary force belonging to the Vichy Regime. They claimed that a Waffen-SS officer was being held by the Resistance in Oradour-sur-Vayres, a nearby village. The captured German was alleged to be SS-Sturmbannführer Helmut Kämpfe, commander of the 2nd SS Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion (another unit of the "Das Reich" division), who may have been captured by the Maquis du Limousin the day before.

"On 10 June, Diekmann's battalion sealed off Oradour-sur-Glane, having confused it with nearby Oradour-sur-Vayres, and ordered all the townspeople – and anyone who happened to be in or near the town – to assemble in the village square, ostensibly to have their identity papers examined. In addition to the residents of the village, the SS also apprehended six people who did not live there but had the misfortune to be riding their bikes through the village when the Germans arrived.

All the women and children were locked in the church while the village was looted. Meanwhile, the men were led to six barns and sheds where machine guns were already in place.

"According to the account of a survivor, the soldiers began shooting at them, aiming for their legs so that they would die slowly. Once the victims were no longer able to move, the soldiers covered their bodies with fuel and set the barns on fire. Only six men escaped; one of them was later seen walking down a road heading for the cemetery and was shot dead. In all, 190 men perished.

"The soldiers proceeded to the church and placed an incendiary device there. After it was ignited, women and children tried to escape through the doors and windows of the church, but they were met with machine-gun fire. A total of 247 women and 205 children died in the carnage. Only 47-year-old Marguerite Rouffanche survived. She slid out by a rear sacristy window, followed by a young woman and child. All three were shot; Marguerite Rouffanche was wounded and her companions were killed. She crawled to some pea bushes behind the church, where she remained hidden overnight until she was rescued the following morning. Another group of about twenty villagers had fled Oradour-sur-Glane as soon as the soldiers had appeared. That night, the village was partially razed.

"A few days later, survivors were allowed to bury the dead. 642 inhabitants of Oradour-sur-Glane had been murdered in a matter of hours. Adolf Diekmann claimed that the episode was a just retaliation for partisan activity in nearby Tulle and the kidnapping of Helmut Kämpfe."

Source: Wikipedia

Highgrove California 24th Feb 2016

A coalition force member maintains security during a presence patrol in Farah province, Afghanistan, Dec. 9, 2012. Coalition forces were conducting a patrol to assess the Afghan Local Police in the village. Afghan Local Police complement counterinsurgency efforts by assisting and supporting rural areas with limited Afghan National Security Forces presence, in order to enable conditions for improved security, governance and development. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Pete Thibodeau/Released)

Maintaining the Centennial Trail at the Fort Meade Recreation Area. Photo credit: South Dakota Field Office

Yeh Hai Mohabbatein 22 April 2015, episode 424 starts with Rinki being angry. Mrs. Bhalla asks her to say what happened. Rinki says Mihika always comes in between me and Mihir, she should know Mihir is married and she should maintain distance. Ishita hears this. Raman says what nonsense, no one knows Mihir more well than me, you did not et sense to understand relations, every relation is not black and white, it has colors, how can Mihika come between you, don’t doubt, bring love and friendship in it to make it strong. Mrs. Bhalla asks her not to be annoyed with his past, else how will she build her future. Rinki leaves. Ishita looks on and thinks to explain Mihika. She sees Mihir and Mihika talking like friends, and just deciding about Rinki’s choices. Ishita smiles. Mihika greets her and Ishita says its time for Adi’s film.

They all get ready. Adi says he has to talk to Mihir and Mihika. He asks them to act bad. Mihir says why, I did rehearsals and I did not do any bad work in my life. Mihika asks the plan. Adi says Raman and Ishita will not see and then act here, and also say I love you as its in script. Mihir and Mihika agree. Rinki asks whats Adi saying. Mihir says director and actors are talking, don’t interfere in between. She gets sad. Mihir and Mihika act badly.

Raman asks him to act well, he knows him well, does he talk like this. Adi and his teacher ask him to act well. Mihir and Mihika fight. Adi says don’t fight. Mihir says I can’t act. Mihika says even I don’t want to. Raman says Adi’s project will get bad. Mihir asks him to act. Adi smiles and asks what will happen now. Mrs. Bhalla says Raman and Ishita will do their roles. Raman says I can’t. Adi requests them. She looks at Raman. Raman says father is father, give me the script. They get glad and give them the script.

The teacher asks them to express their love in best way. Simmi says it should look real. Ruhi laughs and says Adi is best, now Papa will say I love to Ishi Maa. Adi records. Raman says we are together and Ishita says we are for Ruhi, and we have to understand each other with feelings, not by words. They smile. Adi says its not in script. Raman says when people don’t need words, then it becomes a strong relation. They hold hands and smile. The teacher says great, I m happy with this. Adi says it was good, but you both will never change.

Ruhi tells Adi that our plan flopped, Papa changed the lines, cheater Papa. Adi says don’t worry, we will see how long he cheats. They talk to Mr and Mrs. Bhalla, and Simmi. They plan to make them say again. Simmi says we will get Mihir in this plan too. Its morning, Mihir talks to Simmi and says I m full on, this plan sounds perfect, there is someone who can give sense to Raman and Ishita. He tells this to Rinki, it will be romantic. I knew Adi can do this, being Raman’ son. Mihir thinks about Mihika’s words and says I m freein from office soon, so I was thinking to go to travel agent and you can pick your holiday destination. She says glad and says wow, lets go today. He says no, I have meeting. She says thanks and kisses him. He says she is not less than Adi and Ruhi.

Raman brings Ishita for breakfast while family is busy planning. Ishita asks Neelu not to cook her dinner, as she is going in seminar. Mr. Bhalla tells Neelu that she makes good tea, I love you. Adi says Dadu.. He says I mean I love this tea. Simmi says Ishita makes good coffee, I love you for the coffee. Raman says what happened to them. Mrs. Bhalla says Mr. Bhalla is looking good in purple shirt, I love you. Raman says dad wore this shirt 100 times, see button is off, stitch it first.

Mr. Bhalla also tells his wife I love you. Ruhi asks Raman what he loves. He says Aloo paratha, my family, my father, mother, sister, son, daughter and looks at Ishita. He says I love my work. They all get sad. He says I love my neighbor. Ruhi says enough. They all leave. Ishita smiles. Adi and Ruhi ask them to come along. They ask Raman why did he not say I love you to Ishi Maa, shame shame, he said I love you to Aloo paratha too. Raman says so they planned this, Ishita also did not say I love you. Ruhi says first boys say, then girls.

They insist him to say. Raman says give me time. Ruhi says no more time, your first anniversary also passed, say today. Adi says say it now. Raman agrees and says come. Shagun talks to Ashok and asks how can I go Australia without kids. He asks her to take them along. She says how will they allow. He says he will get the kids, and she should get passport and visa. She asks is that possible. He says yes, we will make it possible. She says if we fail, Ruhi and Adi will be away from me. He says don’t worry. She says she will see Ishita after this. He says I want revenge, we can’t wait more to take revenge from Ishita and Mihika. She smiles.

Ishita talks to Subbu and says presentation is well, where is the patient. He says its there, who needed the procedure. She waits for Raman. He asks what will he do here. She says he said he will come, to know whether I know my work or not. Ishita and Subbu are called next and given 10 mins time. Raman waits for Ishita. Ruhi calls him and asks did he do what she told. He says yes. She says did he book table for two, candles, white flowers. He says I said all. She says south Indian dishes in Punjabi taste. He says fine. She asks did he send car for her. He says yes sent. She says don’t fight with her, don’t call her Madrasan and Jhansi ki rani. He says fine. She says yes to what she says. He says okay yes. She says best of luck. Raman smiles.

Precap: Ishita says Subbu will show demo of the procedure, may we have the patient. Raman comes there and she is stunned. He asks her to be quiet. She says what. He lies there and she asks Subbu whats this.

Video: Yeh Hai Mohabbatein 22nd April 2015 Full Episode

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I revisited this magnificent site today Saturday 22nd September 2018, a mile or so from my home and always worth a visit.

Historic Environment Scotland maintain the site, it is steeped in Scottish History and visited by thousands of tourists and locals each year .

St Machar's Cathedral (or, more formally, the Cathedral Church of St Machar) is a Church of Scotland church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen. Technically, St Machar's is no longer a cathedral but rather a high kirk, as it has not been the seat of a bishop since 1690.

St Machar is said to have been a companion of St Columba on his journey to Iona. A fourteenth-century legend tells how God (or St Columba) told Machar to establish a church where a river bends into the shape of a bishop's crosier before flowing into the sea.

The River Don bends in this way just below where the Cathedral now stands. According to legend, St Machar founded a site of worship in Old Aberdeen in about 580. Machar's church was superseded by a Norman cathedral in 1131, shortly after David I transferred the See from Mortlach to Aberdeen.

Almost nothing of that original cathedral survives; a lozenge-decorated base for a capital supporting one of the architraves can be seen in the Charter Room in the present church.

After the execution of William Wallace in 1305, his body was cut up and sent to different corners of the country to warn other dissenters. His left quarter ended up in Aberdeen and is buried in the walls of the cathedral.

At the end of the thirteenth century Bishop Henry Cheyne decided to extend the church, but the work was interrupted by the Scottish Wars of Independence. Cheyne's progress included piers for an extended choir at the transept crossing. These pillars, with decorated capitals of red sandstone, are still visible at the east end of the present church.

Though worn by exposure to the elements after the collapse of the cathedral's central tower, these capitals are among the finest stone carvings of their date to survive in Scotland.

Bishop Alexander Kininmund II demolished the Norman cathedral in the late 14th century, and began the nave, including the granite columns and the towers at the western end. Bishop Henry Lichtoun completed the nave, the west front and the northern transept, and made a start on the central tower.

Bishop Ingram Lindsay completed the roof and the paving stones in the later part of the fifteenth century. Further work was done over the next fifty years by Thomas Spens, William Elphinstone and Gavin Dunbar; Dunbar is responsible for the heraldic ceiling and the two western spires.

The chancel was demolished in 1560 during the Scottish Reformation. The bells and lead from the roof were sent to be sold in Holland, but the ship sank near Girdle Ness.

The central tower and spire collapsed in 1688, in a storm, and this destroyed the choir and transepts. The west arch of the crossing was then filled in, and worship carried on in the nave only; the current church consists only of the nave and aisles of the earlier building.

The ruined transepts and crossing are under the care of Historic Scotland, and contain an important group of late medieval bishops' tombs, protected from the weather by modern canopies. The Cathedral is chiefly built of outlayer granite. On the unique flat panelled ceiling of the nave (first half of the 16th Century) are the heraldic shields of the contemporary kings of Europe, and the chief earls and bishops of Scotland.

The Cathedral is a fine example of a fortified kirk, with twin towers built in the fashion of fourteenth-century tower houses. Their walls have the strength to hold spiral staircases to the upper floors and battlements. The spires which presently crown the

Though worn by exposure to the elements after the collapse of the cathedral's central tower, these capitals are among the finest stone carvings of their date to survive in Scotland.

Bishop Alexander Kininmund II demolished the Norman cathedral in the late 14th century, and began the nave, including the granite columns and the towers at the western end. Bishop Henry Lichtoun completed the nave, the west front and the northern transept, and made a start on the central tower.

Bishop Ingram Lindsay completed the roof and the paving stones in the later part of the fifteenth century. Further work was done over the next fifty years by Thomas Spens, William Elphinstone and Gavin Dunbar; Dunbar is responsible for the heraldic ceiling and the two western spires.

The chancel was demolished in 1560 during the Scottish Reformation. The bells and lead from the roof were sent to be sold in Holland, but the ship sank near Girdle Ness.

The central tower and spire collapsed in 1688, in a storm, and this destroyed the choir and transepts. The west arch of the crossing was then filled in, and worship carried on in the nave only; the current church consists only of the nave and aisles of the earlier building.

The ruined transepts and crossing are under the care of Historic Scotland, and contain an important group of late medieval bishops' tombs, protected from the weather by modern canopies. The Cathedral is chiefly built of outlayer granite. On the unique flat panelled ceiling of the nave (first half of the 16th Century) are the heraldic shields of the contemporary kings of Europe, and the chief earls and bishops of Scotland.

Bishops Gavin Dunbar and Alexander Galloway built the western towers and installed the heraldic ceiling, featuring 48 coats of arms in three rows of sixteen. Among those shown are:

* Pope Leo X's coat of arms in the centre, followed in order of importance by those of the Scottish archbishops and bishops.

* the Prior of St Andrews, representing other Church orders.

* King's College, the westernmost shield.

* Henry VIII of England, James V of Scotland and multiple instances for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was also King of Spain, Aragon, Navarre and Sicily at the time the ceiling was created.

* St Margaret of Scotland, possibly as a stand-in for Margaret Tudor, James V's mother, whose own arms would have been the marshalled arms of England and Scotland.

* the arms of Aberdeen and of the families Gordon, Lindsay, Hay and Keith.

The ceiling is set off by a frieze which starts at the north-west corner of the nave and lists the bishops of the see from Nechtan in 1131 to William Gordon at the Reformation in 1560. This is followed by the Scottish monarchs from Máel Coluim II to Mary, Queen of Scots.

Notable figures buried in the cathedral cemetery include the author J.J. Bell, Robert Brough, Gavin Dunbar, Robert Laws, a missionary to Malawi and William Ogilvie of Pittensear—the ‘rebel professor’.

There has been considerable investment in recent years in restoration work and the improvement of the display of historic artefacts at the Cathedral.

The battlements of the western towers, incomplete for several centuries, have been renewed to their original height and design, greatly improving the appearance of the exterior. Meanwhile, within the building, a number of important stone monuments have been displayed to advantage.

These include a possibly 7th-8th century cross-slab from Seaton (the only surviving evidence from Aberdeen of Christianity at such an early date); a rare 12th century sanctuary cross-head; and several well-preserved late medieval effigies of Cathedral clergy, valuable for their detailed representation of contemporary dress.

A notable modern addition to the Cathedral's artistic treasures is a carved wooden triptych commemorating John Barbour, archdeacon of Aberdeen (d. 1395), author of The Brus.

Maintained by Drew Expositions and appearing at the 2006 Williamson County Fair, this Antique Band Organ was built in 1892 in Germany by Ruth Organs. Early in the 20th century, it was converted to play automatically by the Wurlitzer company. In addition to the organ, it plays chimes, bells, bass and snare drums, wood block, triangle, cymbal, timpani and crash cymbal.

The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is a popular natural-history museum for the size and quality of its educational and scientific programs, as well as due to its extensive scientific-specimen and artifact collections. The permanent exhibitions, which attract up to two million visitors annually, include fossils, current cultures from around the world, and interactive programming demonstrating today's urgent conservation needs. The museum is named in honor of its first major benefactor, the department-store magnate Marshall Field. The museum and its collections originated from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the artifacts displayed at the fair.

The museum maintains a temporary exhibition program of traveling shows as well as in-house produced topical exhibitions. The professional staff maintains collections of over 24 million specimens and objects that provide the basis for the museum's scientific-research programs. These collections include the full range of existing biodiversity, gems, meteorites, fossils, and rich anthropological collections and cultural artifacts from around the globe. The museum's library, which contains over 275,000 books, journals, and photo archives focused on biological systematics, evolutionary biology, geology, archaeology, ethnology and material culture, supports the museum's academic-research faculty and exhibit development. The academic faculty and scientific staff engage in field expeditions, in biodiversity and cultural research on every continent, in local and foreign student training, and in stewardship of the rich specimen and artifact collections. They work in close collaboration with public programming exhibitions and education initiatives.

The Field Museum and its collections originated from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the artifacts displayed at the fair. In order to house for future generations the exhibits and collections assembled for the Exposition, Edward Ayer convinced the merchant Marshall Field to fund the establishment of a museum. Originally titled the Columbian Museum of Chicago in honor of its origins, the Field Museum was incorporated by the State of Illinois on September 16, 1893, for the purpose of the "accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, and the preservation and exhibition of artifacts illustrating art, archaeology, science and history". The Columbian Museum of Chicago occupied the only building remaining from the World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park, the Palace of Fine Arts. It is now home to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

In 1905, the museum's name was changed to Field Museum of Natural History to honor its first major benefactor and to reflect its focus on the natural sciences. During the period from 1943 to 1966, the museum was known as the Chicago Natural History Museum. In 1921, the Museum moved from its original location in Jackson Park to its present site on Chicago Park District property near downtown. By the late 1930s the Field had emerged as one of the three premier museums in the United States, the other two being the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

The museum has maintained its reputation through continuous growth, expanding the scope of collections and its scientific research output, in addition to its award-winning exhibitions, outreach publications, and programs. The Field Museum is part of Chicago's lakefront Museum Campus that includes the John G. Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium.

In 2015, it was reported that an employee had defrauded the museum of $900,000 over a seven-year period to 2014.

Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388 in the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. As the seat of Cook County, the second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, which is often colloquially called "Chicagoland".

Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but Chicago's population continued to grow. Chicago made noted contributions to urban planning and architecture, such as the Chicago School, the development of the City Beautiful Movement, and the steel-framed skyscraper.

Chicago is an international hub for finance, culture, commerce, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, and transportation. It has the largest and most diverse derivatives market in the world, generating 20% of all volume in commodities and financial futures alone. O'Hare International Airport is routinely ranked among the world's top six busiest airports by passenger traffic, and the region is also the nation's railroad hub. The Chicago area has one of the highest gross domestic products (GDP) of any urban region in the world, generating $689 billion in 2018. Chicago's economy is diverse, with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce.

Chicago is a major tourist destination. Chicago's culture has contributed much to the visual arts, literature, film, theater, comedy (especially improvisational comedy), food, dance, and music (particularly jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop, gospel, and electronic dance music, including house music). Chicago is home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, while the Art Institute of Chicago provides an influential visual arts museum and art school. The Chicago area also hosts the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois Chicago, among other institutions of learning. Chicago has professional sports teams in each of the major professional leagues, including two Major League Baseball teams.

In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by the Potawatomi, an indigenous tribe who had succeeded the Miami and Sauk and Fox peoples in this region.

The first known permanent settler in Chicago was trader Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African descent, perhaps born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), and established the settlement in the 1780s. He is commonly known as the "Founder of Chicago."

In 1795, following the victory of the new United States in the Northwest Indian War, an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over to the U.S. for a military post by native tribes in accordance with the Treaty of Greenville. In 1803, the U.S. Army constructed Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed during the War of 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn by the Potawatomi before being later rebuilt.

After the War of 1812, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the 1833 Treaty of Chicago and sent west of the Mississippi River as part of the federal policy of Indian removal.

On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 6,000 people. On June 15, 1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as Receiver of Public Monies. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837, and for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city.

As the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicago's first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal opened in 1848. The canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River.

A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad. Manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade (established 1848) listed the first-ever standardized "exchange-traded" forward contracts, which were called futures contracts.

In the 1850s, Chicago gained national political prominence as the home of Senator Stephen Douglas, the champion of the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the "popular sovereignty" approach to the issue of the spread of slavery. These issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage. Lincoln was nominated in Chicago for U.S. president at the 1860 Republican National Convention, which was held in a purpose-built auditorium called the Wigwam. He defeated Douglas in the general election, and this set the stage for the American Civil War.

To accommodate rapid population growth and demand for better sanitation, the city improved its infrastructure. In February 1856, Chicago's Common Council approved Chesbrough's plan to build the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system. The project raised much of central Chicago to a new grade with the use of jackscrews for raising buildings. While elevating Chicago, and at first improving the city's health, the untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into the Chicago River, and subsequently into Lake Michigan, polluting the city's primary freshwater source.

The city responded by tunneling two miles (3.2 km) out into Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs. In 1900, the problem of sewage contamination was largely resolved when the city completed a major engineering feat. It reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that the water flowed away from Lake Michigan rather than into it. This project began with the construction and improvement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and was completed with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal that connects to the Illinois River, which flows into the Mississippi River.

In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed an area about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 1-mile (1.6 km) wide, a large section of the city at the time. Much of the city, including railroads and stockyards, survived intact, and from the ruins of the previous wooden structures arose more modern constructions of steel and stone. These set a precedent for worldwide construction. During its rebuilding period, Chicago constructed the world's first skyscraper in 1885, using steel-skeleton construction.

The city grew significantly in size and population by incorporating many neighboring townships between 1851 and 1920, with the largest annexation happening in 1889, with five townships joining the city, including the Hyde Park Township, which now comprises most of the South Side of Chicago and the far southeast of Chicago, and the Jefferson Township, which now makes up most of Chicago's Northwest Side. The desire to join the city was driven by municipal services that the city could provide its residents.

Chicago's flourishing economy attracted huge numbers of new immigrants from Europe and migrants from the Eastern United States. Of the total population in 1900, more than 77% were either foreign-born or born in the United States of foreign parentage. Germans, Irish, Poles, Swedes, and Czechs made up nearly two-thirds of the foreign-born population (by 1900, whites were 98.1% of the city's population).

Labor conflicts followed the industrial boom and the rapid expansion of the labor pool, including the Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886, and in 1894 the Pullman Strike. Anarchist and socialist groups played prominent roles in creating very large and highly organized labor actions. Concern for social problems among Chicago's immigrant poor led Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr to found Hull House in 1889. Programs that were developed there became a model for the new field of social work.

During the 1870s and 1880s, Chicago attained national stature as the leader in the movement to improve public health. City laws and later, state laws that upgraded standards for the medical profession and fought urban epidemics of cholera, smallpox, and yellow fever were both passed and enforced. These laws became templates for public health reform in other cities and states.

The city established many large, well-landscaped municipal parks, which also included public sanitation facilities. The chief advocate for improving public health in Chicago was John H. Rauch, M.D. Rauch established a plan for Chicago's park system in 1866. He created Lincoln Park by closing a cemetery filled with shallow graves, and in 1867, in response to an outbreak of cholera he helped establish a new Chicago Board of Health. Ten years later, he became the secretary and then the president of the first Illinois State Board of Health, which carried out most of its activities in Chicago.

In the 1800s, Chicago became the nation's railroad hub, and by 1910 over 20 railroads operated passenger service out of six different downtown terminals. In 1883, Chicago's railway managers needed a general time convention, so they developed the standardized system of North American time zones. This system for telling time spread throughout the continent.

In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition on former marshland at the present location of Jackson Park. The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered the most influential world's fair in history. The University of Chicago, formerly at another location, moved to the same South Side location in 1892. The term "midway" for a fair or carnival referred originally to the Midway Plaisance, a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus and connects the Washington and Jackson Parks.

During World War I and the 1920s there was a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from the Southern United States. Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population of Chicago increased dramatically, from 44,103 to 233,903. This Great Migration had an immense cultural impact, called the Chicago Black Renaissance, part of the New Negro Movement, in art, literature, and music. Continuing racial tensions and violence, such as the Chicago race riot of 1919, also occurred.

The ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution in 1919 made the production and sale (including exportation) of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. This ushered in the beginning of what is known as the gangster era, a time that roughly spans from 1919 until 1933 when Prohibition was repealed. The 1920s saw gangsters, including Al Capone, Dion O'Banion, Bugs Moran and Tony Accardo battle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago during the Prohibition era. Chicago was the location of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, when Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran.

Chicago was the first American city to have a homosexual-rights organization. The organization, formed in 1924, was called the Society for Human Rights. It produced the first American publication for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom. Police and political pressure caused the organization to disband.

The Great Depression brought unprecedented suffering to Chicago, in no small part due to the city's heavy reliance on heavy industry. Notably, industrial areas on the south side and neighborhoods lining both branches of the Chicago River were devastated; by 1933 over 50% of industrial jobs in the city had been lost, and unemployment rates amongst blacks and Mexicans in the city were over 40%. The Republican political machine in Chicago was utterly destroyed by the economic crisis, and every mayor since 1931 has been a Democrat.

From 1928 to 1933, the city witnessed a tax revolt, and the city was unable to meet payroll or provide relief efforts. The fiscal crisis was resolved by 1933, and at the same time, federal relief funding began to flow into Chicago. Chicago was also a hotbed of labor activism, with Unemployed Councils contributing heavily in the early depression to create solidarity for the poor and demand relief; these organizations were created by socialist and communist groups. By 1935 the Workers Alliance of America begun organizing the poor, workers, the unemployed. In the spring of 1937 Republic Steel Works witnessed the Memorial Day massacre of 1937 in the neighborhood of East Side.

In 1933, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was fatally wounded in Miami, Florida, during a failed assassination attempt on President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1933 and 1934, the city celebrated its centennial by hosting the Century of Progress International Exposition World's Fair. The theme of the fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding.

During World War II, the city of Chicago alone produced more steel than the United Kingdom every year from 1939 – 1945, and more than Nazi Germany from 1943 – 1945.

The Great Migration, which had been on pause due to the Depression, resumed at an even faster pace in the second wave, as hundreds of thousands of blacks from the South arrived in the city to work in the steel mills, railroads, and shipping yards.

On December 2, 1942, physicist Enrico Fermi conducted the world's first controlled nuclear reaction at the University of Chicago as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. This led to the creation of the atomic bomb by the United States, which it used in World War II in 1945.

Mayor Richard J. Daley, a Democrat, was elected in 1955, in the era of machine politics. In 1956, the city conducted its last major expansion when it annexed the land under O'Hare airport, including a small portion of DuPage County.

By the 1960s, white residents in several neighborhoods left the city for the suburban areas – in many American cities, a process known as white flight – as Blacks continued to move beyond the Black Belt. While home loan discriminatory redlining against blacks continued, the real estate industry practiced what became known as blockbusting, completely changing the racial composition of whole neighborhoods. Structural changes in industry, such as globalization and job outsourcing, caused heavy job losses for lower-skilled workers. At its peak during the 1960s, some 250,000 workers were employed in the steel industry in Chicago, but the steel crisis of the 1970s and 1980s reduced this number to just 28,000 in 2015. In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Raby led the Chicago Freedom Movement, which culminated in agreements between Mayor Richard J. Daley and the movement leaders.

Two years later, the city hosted the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention, which featured physical confrontations both inside and outside the convention hall, with anti-war protesters, journalists and bystanders being beaten by police. Major construction projects, including the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower, which in 1974 became the world's tallest building), University of Illinois at Chicago, McCormick Place, and O'Hare International Airport, were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure. In 1979, Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected. She was notable for temporarily moving into the crime-ridden Cabrini-Green housing project and for leading Chicago's school system out of a financial crisis.

In 1983, Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. Washington's first term in office directed attention to poor and previously neglected minority neighborhoods. He was re‑elected in 1987 but died of a heart attack soon after. Washington was succeeded by 6th ward alderperson Eugene Sawyer, who was elected by the Chicago City Council and served until a special election.

Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1989. His accomplishments included improvements to parks and creating incentives for sustainable development, as well as closing Meigs Field in the middle of the night and destroying the runways. After successfully running for re-election five times, and becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley declined to run for a seventh term.

In 1992, a construction accident near the Kinzie Street Bridge produced a breach connecting the Chicago River to a tunnel below, which was part of an abandoned freight tunnel system extending throughout the downtown Loop district. The tunnels filled with 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m3) of water, affecting buildings throughout the district and forcing a shutdown of electrical power. The area was shut down for three days and some buildings did not reopen for weeks; losses were estimated at $1.95 billion.

On February 23, 2011, Rahm Emanuel, a former White House Chief of Staff and member of the House of Representatives, won the mayoral election. Emanuel was sworn in as mayor on May 16, 2011, and won re-election in 2015. Lori Lightfoot, the city's first African American woman mayor and its first openly LGBTQ mayor, was elected to succeed Emanuel as mayor in 2019. All three city-wide elective offices were held by women (and women of color) for the first time in Chicago history: in addition to Lightfoot, the city clerk was Anna Valencia and the city treasurer was Melissa Conyears-Ervin.

On May 15, 2023, Brandon Johnson assumed office as the 57th mayor of Chicago.

Illinois is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Great Lakes to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash and Ohio rivers to its south. Its largest metropolitan areas are Chicago and the Metro East region of Greater St. Louis. Other metropolitan areas include Peoria and Rockford, as well as Springfield, its capital, and Champaign-Urbana, home to the main campus of the state's flagship university. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the fifth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), the sixth-largest population, and the 25th-largest land area.

Illinois has a highly diverse economy, with the global city of Chicago in the northeast, major industrial and agricultural hubs in the north and center, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south. Owing to its central location and favorable geography, the state is a major transportation hub: the Port of Chicago has access to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway and to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River via the Illinois Waterway. Chicago has been the nation's railroad hub since the 1860s, and its O'Hare International Airport has been among the world's busiest airports for decades. Illinois has long been considered a microcosm of the United States and a bellwether in American culture, exemplified by the phrase Will it play in Peoria?.

Present-day Illinois was inhabited by various indigenous cultures for thousands of years, including the advanced civilization centered in the Cahokia region. The French were the first Europeans to arrive, settling near the Mississippi and Illinois River in the 17th century in the region they called Illinois Country, as part of the sprawling colony of New France. Following U.S. independence in 1783, American settlers began arriving from Kentucky via the Ohio River, and the population grew from south to north. Illinois was part of the United States' oldest territory, the Northwest Territory, and in 1818 it achieved statehood. The Erie Canal brought increased commercial activity in the Great Lakes, and the small settlement of Chicago became one of the fastest growing cities in the world, benefiting from its location as one of the few natural harbors in southwestern Lake Michigan. The invention of the self-scouring steel plow by Illinoisan John Deere turned the state's rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmland, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. In the mid-19th century, the Illinois and Michigan Canal and a sprawling railroad network greatly facilitated trade, commerce, and settlement, making the state a transportation hub for the nation.

By 1900, the growth of industrial jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Illinois became one of America's most industrialized states and remains a major manufacturing center. The Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans, particularly in Chicago, who founded the city's famous jazz and blues cultures. Chicago became a leading cultural, economic, and population center and is today one of the world's major commercial centers; its metropolitan area, informally referred to as Chicagoland, holds about 65% of the state's 12.8 million residents.

Two World Heritage Sites are in Illinois, the ancient Cahokia Mounds, and part of the Wright architecture site. Major centers of learning include the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, and Northwestern University. A wide variety of protected areas seek to conserve Illinois' natural and cultural resources. Historically, three U.S. presidents have been elected while residents of Illinois: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Barack Obama; additionally, Ronald Reagan was born and raised in the state. Illinois honors Lincoln with its official state slogan Land of Lincoln. The state is the site of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield and the future home of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

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Enrico Cecchetti's presence in Diaghilev's Ballets Russes was very important. He maintained the technical level of the dancers through his daily classes, enabling the dancers to cope with the physical and dramatic challenges of the company's demanding choreographers. He created a ballet technique still popular with ballet teachers today, known as the Cecchetti method.

The Firebird [L'Oiseau de Feu] premiered in Paris on June 25, 1910, and it was revived in London on November 25, 1926. The choreography was by Michel Fokine. Designs for the 1910 premiere were by Aleksandr Golovin and Leon Bakst. Natalia Goncharova did the design for the 1926 revival.

The Firebird is based on a Russian folk tale. Prince Ivan climbs into the garden of the evil wizard Kostchei during a night-time hunt near Kostchei’s castle. Ivan surprises and captures the enchanted Firebird who is half woman and half bird. Ivan agrees to release her in exchange for one of her feathers and a pledge that she will come to his aid if he ever needs it. Twelve young princesses enslaved by Kostchei come into the garden and revel in their one hour of freedom each dawn. Ivan is entranced by Tsarevna, one of the princesses. On her return to the castle, he attempts to follow her through the castle gates when Kostchei’s evil followers attack him. Ivan confronts the wizard who tries to turn him into stone but Ivan remembers the Firebird’s feather which he brandishes to bring her forth. The Firebird forces them all to dance till they are exhausted. Together Ivan and the Firebird destroy Kostchei and his followers. The ballet ends with an extravagant wedding, where Prince Ivan marries Tsarevna and is crowned king.

If you would like to view the ballet, you’re in luck. Two fine productions of the Firebird are on Youtube, one by the Kirov and the other by the Royal Ballet.

Kirov Ballet

Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6YGQdTWn_E

Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds2NKFsSzIw

Part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2CoYv6koMU

Part 4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=howmtJqlzbg

Royal Ballet, 2001

Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8fURctDHhE

Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=no2aPVEe0mA

Part 3: www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9F9xEsFris

Part 4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOg5Q9fcHGo

Part 5: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxisXNdnRiA

Part 6: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCLIt40fZn8

Hajvery University has a good culture of organizing seminars, conferences and workshops for its graduate and postgraduate students and faculty. Maintaining this habit, one day seminar on “Drug Act and Future Health Care Challenges” was organized at euro campus of Hajvery University, Lahore on 21st January 2014. The students and faculty of Pharmacy were actively involved in in organizing and managing this seminar. Stall of alternative medicines was exhibited by BM (private) Ltd. Live coverage of the whole seminar was done by Pharmanews.

Many speakers and guests from Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan and Pharmaceutical Industries were present on that day. Invited speakers of the day include Mr. Saleem Khan (Director, OTC and Health Products), Mr. Abdul Sattar Surani (Deputy Director, OTC and Health Products), Mr. Ayaz Ali Khan (Chief Drug Controller, Lahore), Dr. Zeba Ahmed Shuja (Director Technical, Shazoo Zaka pvt Ltd), Mr. Amanullah Bismil (CEO, BM private Ltd), Mr. Zia Husain (Federal Inspector of Drugs, Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan, Lahore), Mr. Noor Mohammad Mahar (Technical Member, European Nutraceutical Associate Switzerland/Media Secretary Pakistan Pharmacist Association), Mr. Syed Alvi (CEO, Calgan Phytopharma). All these guests were warmly welcomed by the reception team comprising of pharmacy faculty and students.

The seminar was started by the hosts Miss Hira Seerat and Saira Sami Khan by welcoming all the respected speakers and guests. Recitation of Holy Quran was done by Hafiz Hafeez Ullah. Prof. Then, Prof. Dr. Khaild Pervaiz, Rector of Hajvery University has formally welcomed all the speakers and guests in his address. Then the hosts, Tayyaba Riaz and Hina Khalid invited and introduced the respected speakers on the stage one by one. The first speaker of the day was Mr. Saleem Khan and delivered his presentation addressing the topic Alternative System of Medicines. The hosts thanked him and invited Dr. Zeba Ahmed Shuja, she told about The Active Ingredients. The next speaker, Mr. Amanullah Bismil came and told the audience about Quality Assurance Parameters for Manufacturing. After him, Mr. Abdul Sattar Surani came and shared his data related to Drug Control then Mr. Zia Husnain came and done his presentation on Use of Complementary and Alternative Medication. The next speaker was Mr. Noor Muhammad Mahar and told the listeners about Pharma Business Future and Health Laws. After him, Mr. Ayaz Ali Khan came and shared his awareness and discussed about Drug Control Management in Punjab while he was delivering his knowledge, the Chief Guest of the day, Mr. Rana Iqbal (Speaker of Punjab Assembly) came. All the students, teachers and guests warmly welcomed him and give standing ovation. Rector of Hajvery University gave the short introduction of speaker of Punjab Assembly and welcomed him. After that, Speaker Assembly was invited on the stage to say few words related to the seminar and efforts of Hajvery University. He thanked and was very happy for having him on the seminar. He gave very powerful and devotional speech on the pharmacist’s role and future. Then the souvenir were represented to the sespected speakers of the seminar by the Chief Guest. Chairman, Board of Governors, Mr. Atif Mushtaq has offered memento to the honor able chief guest. In last Director Foreign Affairs and Planning, Mr. Fahad Sheikh gave a speech thanking all the guests and chief guest and shared the importance of Drug Act. In the last, a group photo was taken and the seminar was ended with that. We really appreciate the efforts of our management and faculty for organizing such an informative session for students.

Affordable, well-maintained, remodeled, and offering a great location, this home offers a lot! Large living area with cathedral ceiling and fireplace. Three bedrooms and two baths. Large master suite. Fenced yard and two car garage. Did we mention affordable! You'll want to see this one. Roof replaced in 2014. Recent paint and 40 gallon water heater, Frigidaire smooth top stove, stainless sink and faucet with sprayer, tile backsplash, cabinets refinished, Vinyl plank flooring in kitchen, dining, hall, & hall bathroom. The hall bath has new tile counter top with decorative glass tile accent, and refinished cabinets. All bedrooms have new closet doors and new carpet. Low E vinyl single-hung windows have been installed.

There are currently about 320 deer and their grazing is essential to maintain the high wildlife value of the park's grasslands. Unlike cutting, grazing creates more variation in structure and plant diversity and does not damage the anthills, which add further diversity and character to the grassland.

The herds are kept out of the Woodland Gardens and other protected plantations in order to protect the trees and shrubs there. The Red Deer are the largest mammal native to the British Isles and in the summer their coats are glossy red. Fallow deer, introduced by the Romans, are smaller and their summer coats, usually spotted, vary from a cream to darkish brown colour.

During the autumn the deer 'rut' (breeding season) takes place. The Red stags and Fallow bucks compete for females (known as hinds and does respectively). At this time, the large males roar, bark and clash antlers in a spectacular way in an attempt to fight off rivals and attract as many females as possible. The young are born May - July and are hidden by their mothers amongst the bracken and long grass. The young are very vulnerable at this time and their mothers, being sensitive to disturbance, will defend their babies

Durga

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In Hinduism, Durga one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress; is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having ten arms, riding a lion or a tiger, carrying weapons and a lotus flower, maintaining a meditative smile, and practising mudras, or symbolic hand gestures.

An embodiment of creative feminine force (Shakti), Durga exists in a state of tantrya (independence from the universe and anything/anybody else, i.e., self-sufficiency) and fierce compassion. Kali is considered by Hindus to be an aspect of Durga. Durga is also the mother of Ganesha and Kartikeya. She is thus considered the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Shiva's wife, goddess Parvati. Durga manifests fearlessness and patience, and never loses her sense of humor, even during spiritual battles of epic proportion.

The word Shakti means divine feminine energy/force/power, and Durga is the warrior aspect of the Divine Mother. Other incarnations include Annapurna and Karunamayi. Durga's darker aspect Kali is represented as the consort of the god Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing.

Durga Slays Mahishasura, Mahabalipuram sculpture.

As a goddess, Durga's feminine power contains the energies of the gods. Each of her weapons was given to her by various gods: Rudra's trident, Vishnu's discus, Indra's thunderbolt, Brahma's kamandalu, Kuber's Ratnahar, etc.

According to a narrative in the Devi Mahatmya story of the Markandeya Purana text, Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight an asura (an inhuman force/demon) named Mahishasura. He had unleashed a reign of terror on earth, heaven and the nether worlds, and he could not be defeated by any man or god, anywhere. The gods went to Brahma, who had given Mahishasura the power not to be defeated by a man. Brahma could do nothing. They made Brahma their leader and went to Vaikuntha — the place where Vishnu lay on Ananta Naag. They found both Vishnu and Shiva, and Brahma eloquently related the reign of terror Mahishasur had unleashed on the three worlds. Hearing this Vishnu, Shiva and all of the gods became very angry and beams of fierce light emerged from their bodies. The blinding sea of light met at the Ashram of a priest named Katyan. The goddess Durga took the name Katyaayani from the priest and emerged from the sea of light. She introduced herself in the language of the Rig-Veda, saying she was the form of the supreme Brahman who had created all the gods. Now she had come to fight the demon to save the gods. They did not create her; it was her lila that she emerged from their combined energy. The gods were blessed with her compassion.

It is said that upon initially encountering Durga, Mahishasura underestimated her, thinking: "How can a woman kill me, Mahishasur — the one who has defeated the trinity of gods?" However, Durga roared with laughter, which caused an earthquake which made Mahishasur aware of her powers.

And the terrible Mahishasur rampaged against her, changing forms many times. First he was a buffalo demon, and she defeated him with her sword. Then he changed forms and became an elephant that tied up the goddess's lion and began to pull it towards him. The goddess cut off his trunk with her sword. The demon Mahishasur continued his terrorizing, taking the form of a lion, and then the form of a man, but both of them were gracefully slain by Durga.

Then Mahishasur began attacking once more, starting to take the form of a buffalo again. The patient goddess became very angry, and as she sipped divine wine from a cup she smiled and proclaimed to Mahishasur in a colorful tone — "Roar with delight while you still can, O illiterate demon, because when I will kill you after drinking this, the gods themselves will roar with delight".[cite this quote] When Mahashaur had half emerged into his buffalo form, he was paralyzed by the extreme light emitting from the goddess's body. The goddess then resounded with laughter before cutting Mahishasur's head down with her sword.

Thus Durga slew Mahishasur, thus is the power of the fierce compassion of Durga. Hence, Mata Durga is also known as Mahishasurmardhini — the slayer of Mahishasur. According to one legend, the goddess Durga created an army to fight against the forces of the demon-king Mahishasur, who was terrorizing Heaven and Earth. After ten days of fighting, Durga and her army defeated Mahishasur and killed him. As a reward for their service, Durga bestowed upon her army the knowledge of jewelry-making. Ever since, the Sonara community has been involved in the jewelry profession [3].

The goddess as Mahisasuramardhini appears quite early in Indian art. The Archaeological Museum in Matura has several statues on display including a 6-armed Kushana period Mahisasuramardhini that depicts her pressing down the buffalo with her lower hands [4]. A Nagar plaque from the first century BC - first century AD depicts a 4-armed Mahisamardhini accompanied by a lion. But it is in the Gupta period that we see the finest representations of Mahisasuramardhini (2-, 4-, 6-, and at Udayagiri, 12-armed). The spear and trident are her most common weapons. a Mamallapuram relief shows the goddess with 8 arms riding her lion subduing a bufalo-faced demon (as contrasted with a buffalo demon); a variation also seen at Ellora. In later sculptures (post-seventh Century), sculptures show the goddess having decapitated the buffalo demon

Durga Puja

----------

Durga puja is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi , Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and Bijoya Dashami. The dates of Durga Puja celebrations are set according to the traditional Hindu calendar and the fortnight corresponding to the festival is called Devi Paksha and is ended on Kojagori Lokkhi Puja

Durga Puja is widely celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Orissa and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday.In West Bengal and Tripura which has majority of Bengali Hindus it is the Biggest festival of the year. Not only is it the biggest Hindu festival celebrated throughout the State, but it is also the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengali society. Apart from eastern India, Durga Puja is also celebrated in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala. Durga Puja is also celebrated as a major festival in Nepal and in Bangladesh where 10% population are Hindu. Nowadays, many diaspora Bengali cultural organizations arrange for Durgotsab in countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Singapore and Kuwait, among others. In 2006, a grand Durga Puja ceremony was held in the Great Court of the British Museum.

The prominence of Durga Puja increased gradually during the British Raj in Bengal. After the Hindu reformists identified Durga with India, she became an icon for the Indian independence movement. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the tradition of Baroyari or Community Puja was popularised due to this. After independence, Durga Puja became one of the largest celebrated festivals in the whole world.

Durga Puja also includes the worship of Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Saraswati and Kartikeya. Modern traditions have come to include the display of decorated pandals and artistically depicted idols (murti) of Durga, exchange of Bijoya Greetings and publication of Puja Annuals.

U.S. Marines and Sailors perform maintenance and clean equipment in the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) after returning from missions ashore April 5, 2010, in Djibouti. Ashland is part of the Nassau Amphibious Ready Group supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason R. Zalasky/Released)

Durga

------

In Hinduism, Durga one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress; is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having ten arms, riding a lion or a tiger, carrying weapons and a lotus flower, maintaining a meditative smile, and practising mudras, or symbolic hand gestures.

An embodiment of creative feminine force (Shakti), Durga exists in a state of tantrya (independence from the universe and anything/anybody else, i.e., self-sufficiency) and fierce compassion. Kali is considered by Hindus to be an aspect of Durga. Durga is also the mother of Ganesha and Kartikeya. She is thus considered the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Shiva's wife, goddess Parvati. Durga manifests fearlessness and patience, and never loses her sense of humor, even during spiritual battles of epic proportion.

The word Shakti means divine feminine energy/force/power, and Durga is the warrior aspect of the Divine Mother. Other incarnations include Annapurna and Karunamayi. Durga's darker aspect Kali is represented as the consort of the god Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing.

Durga Slays Mahishasura, Mahabalipuram sculpture.

As a goddess, Durga's feminine power contains the energies of the gods. Each of her weapons was given to her by various gods: Rudra's trident, Vishnu's discus, Indra's thunderbolt, Brahma's kamandalu, Kuber's Ratnahar, etc.

According to a narrative in the Devi Mahatmya story of the Markandeya Purana text, Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight an asura (an inhuman force/demon) named Mahishasura. He had unleashed a reign of terror on earth, heaven and the nether worlds, and he could not be defeated by any man or god, anywhere. The gods went to Brahma, who had given Mahishasura the power not to be defeated by a man. Brahma could do nothing. They made Brahma their leader and went to Vaikuntha — the place where Vishnu lay on Ananta Naag. They found both Vishnu and Shiva, and Brahma eloquently related the reign of terror Mahishasur had unleashed on the three worlds. Hearing this Vishnu, Shiva and all of the gods became very angry and beams of fierce light emerged from their bodies. The blinding sea of light met at the Ashram of a priest named Katyan. The goddess Durga took the name Katyaayani from the priest and emerged from the sea of light. She introduced herself in the language of the Rig-Veda, saying she was the form of the supreme Brahman who had created all the gods. Now she had come to fight the demon to save the gods. They did not create her; it was her lila that she emerged from their combined energy. The gods were blessed with her compassion.

It is said that upon initially encountering Durga, Mahishasura underestimated her, thinking: "How can a woman kill me, Mahishasur — the one who has defeated the trinity of gods?" However, Durga roared with laughter, which caused an earthquake which made Mahishasur aware of her powers.

And the terrible Mahishasur rampaged against her, changing forms many times. First he was a buffalo demon, and she defeated him with her sword. Then he changed forms and became an elephant that tied up the goddess's lion and began to pull it towards him. The goddess cut off his trunk with her sword. The demon Mahishasur continued his terrorizing, taking the form of a lion, and then the form of a man, but both of them were gracefully slain by Durga.

Then Mahishasur began attacking once more, starting to take the form of a buffalo again. The patient goddess became very angry, and as she sipped divine wine from a cup she smiled and proclaimed to Mahishasur in a colorful tone — "Roar with delight while you still can, O illiterate demon, because when I will kill you after drinking this, the gods themselves will roar with delight".[cite this quote] When Mahashaur had half emerged into his buffalo form, he was paralyzed by the extreme light emitting from the goddess's body. The goddess then resounded with laughter before cutting Mahishasur's head down with her sword.

Thus Durga slew Mahishasur, thus is the power of the fierce compassion of Durga. Hence, Mata Durga is also known as Mahishasurmardhini — the slayer of Mahishasur. According to one legend, the goddess Durga created an army to fight against the forces of the demon-king Mahishasur, who was terrorizing Heaven and Earth. After ten days of fighting, Durga and her army defeated Mahishasur and killed him. As a reward for their service, Durga bestowed upon her army the knowledge of jewelry-making. Ever since, the Sonara community has been involved in the jewelry profession [3].

The goddess as Mahisasuramardhini appears quite early in Indian art. The Archaeological Museum in Matura has several statues on display including a 6-armed Kushana period Mahisasuramardhini that depicts her pressing down the buffalo with her lower hands [4]. A Nagar plaque from the first century BC - first century AD depicts a 4-armed Mahisamardhini accompanied by a lion. But it is in the Gupta period that we see the finest representations of Mahisasuramardhini (2-, 4-, 6-, and at Udayagiri, 12-armed). The spear and trident are her most common weapons. a Mamallapuram relief shows the goddess with 8 arms riding her lion subduing a bufalo-faced demon (as contrasted with a buffalo demon); a variation also seen at Ellora. In later sculptures (post-seventh Century), sculptures show the goddess having decapitated the buffalo demon

Durga Puja

----------

Durga puja is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi , Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and Bijoya Dashami. The dates of Durga Puja celebrations are set according to the traditional Hindu calendar and the fortnight corresponding to the festival is called Devi Paksha and is ended on Kojagori Lokkhi Puja

Durga Puja is widely celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Orissa and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday.In West Bengal and Tripura which has majority of Bengali Hindus it is the Biggest festival of the year. Not only is it the biggest Hindu festival celebrated throughout the State, but it is also the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengali society. Apart from eastern India, Durga Puja is also celebrated in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala. Durga Puja is also celebrated as a major festival in Nepal and in Bangladesh where 10% population are Hindu. Nowadays, many diaspora Bengali cultural organizations arrange for Durgotsab in countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Singapore and Kuwait, among others. In 2006, a grand Durga Puja ceremony was held in the Great Court of the British Museum.

The prominence of Durga Puja increased gradually during the British Raj in Bengal. After the Hindu reformists identified Durga with India, she became an icon for the Indian independence movement. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the tradition of Baroyari or Community Puja was popularised due to this. After independence, Durga Puja became one of the largest celebrated festivals in the whole world.

Durga Puja also includes the worship of Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Saraswati and Kartikeya. Modern traditions have come to include the display of decorated pandals and artistically depicted idols (murti) of Durga, exchange of Bijoya Greetings and publication of Puja Annuals.

Durga

------

In Hinduism, Durga one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress; is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having ten arms, riding a lion or a tiger, carrying weapons and a lotus flower, maintaining a meditative smile, and practising mudras, or symbolic hand gestures.

An embodiment of creative feminine force (Shakti), Durga exists in a state of tantrya (independence from the universe and anything/anybody else, i.e., self-sufficiency) and fierce compassion. Kali is considered by Hindus to be an aspect of Durga. Durga is also the mother of Ganesha and Kartikeya. She is thus considered the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Shiva's wife, goddess Parvati. Durga manifests fearlessness and patience, and never loses her sense of humor, even during spiritual battles of epic proportion.

The word Shakti means divine feminine energy/force/power, and Durga is the warrior aspect of the Divine Mother. Other incarnations include Annapurna and Karunamayi. Durga's darker aspect Kali is represented as the consort of the god Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing.

Durga Slays Mahishasura, Mahabalipuram sculpture.

As a goddess, Durga's feminine power contains the energies of the gods. Each of her weapons was given to her by various gods: Rudra's trident, Vishnu's discus, Indra's thunderbolt, Brahma's kamandalu, Kuber's Ratnahar, etc.

According to a narrative in the Devi Mahatmya story of the Markandeya Purana text, Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight an asura (an inhuman force/demon) named Mahishasura. He had unleashed a reign of terror on earth, heaven and the nether worlds, and he could not be defeated by any man or god, anywhere. The gods went to Brahma, who had given Mahishasura the power not to be defeated by a man. Brahma could do nothing. They made Brahma their leader and went to Vaikuntha — the place where Vishnu lay on Ananta Naag. They found both Vishnu and Shiva, and Brahma eloquently related the reign of terror Mahishasur had unleashed on the three worlds. Hearing this Vishnu, Shiva and all of the gods became very angry and beams of fierce light emerged from their bodies. The blinding sea of light met at the Ashram of a priest named Katyan. The goddess Durga took the name Katyaayani from the priest and emerged from the sea of light. She introduced herself in the language of the Rig-Veda, saying she was the form of the supreme Brahman who had created all the gods. Now she had come to fight the demon to save the gods. They did not create her; it was her lila that she emerged from their combined energy. The gods were blessed with her compassion.

It is said that upon initially encountering Durga, Mahishasura underestimated her, thinking: "How can a woman kill me, Mahishasur — the one who has defeated the trinity of gods?" However, Durga roared with laughter, which caused an earthquake which made Mahishasur aware of her powers.

And the terrible Mahishasur rampaged against her, changing forms many times. First he was a buffalo demon, and she defeated him with her sword. Then he changed forms and became an elephant that tied up the goddess's lion and began to pull it towards him. The goddess cut off his trunk with her sword. The demon Mahishasur continued his terrorizing, taking the form of a lion, and then the form of a man, but both of them were gracefully slain by Durga.

Then Mahishasur began attacking once more, starting to take the form of a buffalo again. The patient goddess became very angry, and as she sipped divine wine from a cup she smiled and proclaimed to Mahishasur in a colorful tone — "Roar with delight while you still can, O illiterate demon, because when I will kill you after drinking this, the gods themselves will roar with delight".[cite this quote] When Mahashaur had half emerged into his buffalo form, he was paralyzed by the extreme light emitting from the goddess's body. The goddess then resounded with laughter before cutting Mahishasur's head down with her sword.

Thus Durga slew Mahishasur, thus is the power of the fierce compassion of Durga. Hence, Mata Durga is also known as Mahishasurmardhini — the slayer of Mahishasur. According to one legend, the goddess Durga created an army to fight against the forces of the demon-king Mahishasur, who was terrorizing Heaven and Earth. After ten days of fighting, Durga and her army defeated Mahishasur and killed him. As a reward for their service, Durga bestowed upon her army the knowledge of jewelry-making. Ever since, the Sonara community has been involved in the jewelry profession [3].

The goddess as Mahisasuramardhini appears quite early in Indian art. The Archaeological Museum in Matura has several statues on display including a 6-armed Kushana period Mahisasuramardhini that depicts her pressing down the buffalo with her lower hands [4]. A Nagar plaque from the first century BC - first century AD depicts a 4-armed Mahisamardhini accompanied by a lion. But it is in the Gupta period that we see the finest representations of Mahisasuramardhini (2-, 4-, 6-, and at Udayagiri, 12-armed). The spear and trident are her most common weapons. a Mamallapuram relief shows the goddess with 8 arms riding her lion subduing a bufalo-faced demon (as contrasted with a buffalo demon); a variation also seen at Ellora. In later sculptures (post-seventh Century), sculptures show the goddess having decapitated the buffalo demon

Durga Puja

----------

Durga puja is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi , Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and Bijoya Dashami. The dates of Durga Puja celebrations are set according to the traditional Hindu calendar and the fortnight corresponding to the festival is called Devi Paksha and is ended on Kojagori Lokkhi Puja

Durga Puja is widely celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Orissa and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday.In West Bengal and Tripura which has majority of Bengali Hindus it is the Biggest festival of the year. Not only is it the biggest Hindu festival celebrated throughout the State, but it is also the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengali society. Apart from eastern India, Durga Puja is also celebrated in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala. Durga Puja is also celebrated as a major festival in Nepal and in Bangladesh where 10% population are Hindu. Nowadays, many diaspora Bengali cultural organizations arrange for Durgotsab in countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Singapore and Kuwait, among others. In 2006, a grand Durga Puja ceremony was held in the Great Court of the British Museum.

The prominence of Durga Puja increased gradually during the British Raj in Bengal. After the Hindu reformists identified Durga with India, she became an icon for the Indian independence movement. In the first quarter of the 20th century, the tradition of Baroyari or Community Puja was popularised due to this. After independence, Durga Puja became one of the largest celebrated festivals in the whole world.

Durga Puja also includes the worship of Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Saraswati and Kartikeya. Modern traditions have come to include the display of decorated pandals and artistically depicted idols (murti) of Durga, exchange of Bijoya Greetings and publication of Puja Annuals.

2007 4-Season Nash Trailer. Meticulously maintained and working well. Call 509.308.5513 for details.

We were a mom and dad and 5 kids and the 7 of us would fit in this trailer to include a ton of ski, snowboard and winter gear. We are selling because 2 of our kids are now on their own and the next 2 are almost on their own so we are looking to downsize.

There is a triple bunk, the kitchen table can sleep two, the couch will sleep one or two and the master bed would sleep two or three.

We use the trailer mainly in the winter and where other folks would have their lines freeze up ours wouldn't. Stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

To the best of our knowledge everything works.

Patio Awning, Mud Flaps, Solar Panel Ready, Enclosed Tanks, 30 Amp Service, 3 - Fantastic Fans, Hide-a-Bed, Microwave Oven, Gas Oven, 6 Cubic Ft. Fridge, One Slide, 6 Gallon Water Heater, Outside Shower, Manual Leveling Jacks, Basement Storage, TV Antenna, 15" Tires, Kenwood Stereo with CD Player, Speakers in Ceiling. Air Conditioner, Central Heat, 4-Season All Weather Trailer.

Korean Air maintained a monopoly on South Korea’s domestic and international airline services, much to the chagrin of other Korean consortiums that wished to start their own airline and provide competition. South Korea’s booming economy in the 1980s provided the pressure that finally allowed one of these consortiums, the Kumho Group, to start planning a new airline. Originally known as Seoul Air International, Kumho changed the new startup’s name to Asiana Airlines before scheduled operations began in December 1988. Asiana’s ownership was divided between Kumho and private investors.

Operations started small, with Boeing 737 service between Seoul and Busan, but rapidly expanded, as Kumho had planned. Scheduled routes to Japan began in 1990, by which time Asiana’s fleet had grown to 27 aircraft, mostly 747s and 767s. By the end of 1991, Asiana was flying to Hong Kong, Singapore and Los Angeles. The airline has since done well, weathering both the late 1990s Asian currency crisis and the post-9/11 airline downturn, and today maintains worldwide routes from its base at Seoul-Incheon. It also diversified into air cargo, serving nearly as many destinations with that service as its scheduled passenger routes. Asiana’s fleet today consists mostly of Airbus A321s for Asian routes and Boeing 777s for service to North America and Europe. Asiana’s reputation as one of the world’s finest airlines was slightly marred by a fatal crash of one of its 777s at San Francisco in 2013, but it continues to win awards as one of the

finest airlines in service.

This aircraft, HL-7268, was delivered to Asiana in 1992, and was sold to LAN Chile in 2004. After flying with LAN Chile and GOL, it was converted to a freighter and today flies with Atlas Air.

Today 2nd September 2018 I visited this magnificent site, a few miles from Mintlaw Aberdeenshire Scotland.

This Abbey founded back in 1219 is well maintained and perfect for historians to visit, I enjoyed my day , just perfect .

Deer Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in Buchan, Scotland.

] It was founded by 1219 AD with the patronage William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan, who is also buried there. There was an earlier community of Scottish monks or priests.

The notitiae on the margins of the Book of Deer record grants made to the Scottish religious community in the 12th century and a claim that it was founded by Saint Columba and Saint Drostan.

The old religious community was probably absorbed by the new foundation. The history of the abbey after the 1210s is obscure until the 16th century, when it was beginning to be secularized.

The abbey was turned into a secular lordship for Commendator Robert Keith II (becoming Lord Altrie) in 1587.

The Abbey was included in the lands obtained by Lord Pitfour and became part of the Pitfour estate in 1766. His son, the third laird built the 5 metres (16 ft) high enclosing wall in 1809 and used the grounds as an orchard. He also discovered some of the graves but did not disturb them.

The fifth laird had the site cleared and used the stones from the Abbey building to have a mausoleum constructed in which to bury his daughter when she died aged 21 years in 1851. The only other person buried in the mausoleum was Ferguson's mother-in-law.

The mausoleum was destroyed in the 1930s when the Abbey was transferred to Roman Catholic ownership and parts of it were used to build an entrance; however this was undertaken without disturbing the graves of Lady Langford and Ferguson's daughter, Eliza.

Reference (1952)

The Cistercian Abbey of Deer was founded in 1219. The secularization of the abbey began in 1543 and its lands erected into a barony in 1587.

The dismantling of the buildings seems to have begun about 1590. They have been reduced to little more than foundations except for the south range which still remains to a considerable height, although they were partly rebuilt in 1809.

W D Simpson 1952

Excavation (1986)

An application to develop the land between the guardianship site and the estate wall prompted a small excavation to estimate the extent of medieval activity in that area. Some medieval features were found, particularly to S of the Abbey buildings and to W, where the line of the main drain was identified. To E of the Abbey there was no trace of structures, and it seemed that burials may have been confined to the guardianship area.

J A Stones 1986.

Watching Brief (April 2002)

NJ 968 481 Archaeological monitoring was undertaken in April 2002 at Old Deer Abbey during the initial phase of construction of a new wooden porch. Nothing of archaeological significance was found.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor:HS

G Ewart and D Stewart 2002.

Excavation (24 June 2017 - 2 July 2017)

NJ 9672 4819 (Deer Abbey NJ94NE 5) The 24 June – 2 July 2017 season of research digs focused on the fields around Deer Abbey, and Rose Geophysical Consultants also carried out survey work.

Four trenches targeted possible structures in the field to the W of the Abbey. The two northern trenches were located on higher ground above South Ugie Water and both contained remains of circular structures. Structure 1 was a series of postholes with a raft of stone on top. Pottery from the raft included 12th–14th-century medieval pottery and a group of hand-made pottery sherds. Residue on one of the hand-made sherds was dated 1276–1395AD. Structure 2 included a hearth dated 1147–1250AD from charcoal. On the N side of the hearth was a shallow ditch, which contained a number of stakeholes suggesting a wattle structure or windbreak had been located to protect the hearth. It is hoped to return in 2018 and further excavate Structure 1 to get dating evidence for the earlier building. These structures may be associated with the monastery where the Book of Deer was annotated in early Gaelic around 1000AD or may

be structures associated with the abbey which was founded in 1219AD. School classes, local volunteers, students and archaeologists participated in this dig. The whole excavation was filmed by Midas Media for BBC Alba.

Archive: NRHE

Funder: The Book of Deer Project

Alison Cameron - Cameron Archaeology

(Source: DES Volume 18)

Geophysical Survey (27 March 2017 - 5 April 2017)

NJ 96855 48107 (NJ94NE 5) A programme of geophysical survey was undertaken, 27 March – 5 April 2017, within and around Deer Abbey, a Cistercian establishment founded in 1219. The abbey’s history is not well understood but the community could never have been large. In 1544 an abbot and 11 monks were recorded. The abbey fell into disrepair in the late 16th century, being partially dismantled from c1590. In 1809 the ruins were cleared of rubbish and repaired by James Ferguson of Pitfour with the S range being partially rebuilt. In 1854 this was largely destroyed by Admiral Ferguson in order to build a mausoleum in the grounds. In 1930, the remains were bought by the Roman Catholic Church who gave custody to the Ministry of Works. The mausoleum was removed and the abbey repaired and laid out as it is seen today.

The survey was undertaken in two stages. Stage one within the HES PIC boundary which covers the 0.64ha area of the extant remains of Deer Abbey. Stage two over the c3.5ha of adjacent fields, which lie within boundary walls erected by Ferguson. The resistance and GPR survey of the HES PIC area identified several anomalies of possible archaeological

interest, with data from both surveys dominated by paths dating from the late 1700s. There is some correlation between the resistance and the GPR data particularly within the SE of the survey area where anomalies suggestive of buried remains associated with the abbey have been detected. Anomalies and trends have been noted within the church which may be of archaeological interest, although interpretation is tentative given the past excavation at the site.

Within the wider area of the orchard and gardens the resistance survey data are dominated by responses from the 1700s paths. Additional anomalies have also been noted, particularly in the N of the area, some of which show some correlation with buildings depicted on plans from the late 1700s/early 1800s. Additional anomalies are also evident in the NE of the orchard area.

Archive: Rose Geophysical Consultants

Funder: Cameron Archaeology/Book of Deer Project

Susan Ovenden – Rose Geophysical Consultants

External Reference

(Location cited as NJ 9685 4810: nominated as Site of Regional Significance). Remains of Deer Abbey; Cistercian, founded in 1219. The abbey's history is obscure and, judging from the remains, the community could never have been large. In 1544 an abbot and eleven monks were recorded. The abbey fell into disrepair in the late 16th century, being partially dismantled from c. 1590.

In 1809 the ruins were cleared of rubbish and repaired by the then proprietor, James Ferguson of Pitfour (the S range being partially rebuilt), but in 1854 it was practically destroyed by Admiral Ferguson in order to build a mausoleum in the grounds. In 1930, the remains were bought by the Roman Catholic Church who gave custody to the Ministry of Works. The mausoleum was removed and the Abbey repaired and laid out as it is today.

The remains of the church and cloister can be seen along with the domestic W and S range with the kitchen and refectory, also the chapter-house, toilets, abbot's house and infirmary.

A symbol stone, sculptured on both sides, stood some years ago at the E end of a range of buildings, but there is now no trace of it.

Finds from Stones' excavations of 1985 are held in Aberdeen [City] Museum.

I have done, still do, and will forever maintain that talking is hard. The alternative may be even harder as I can't write that fast or legibly and my hands aren't dextrous enough for sign language. Of all the forms of communications available the typing is currently on top while the talking is somewhere in a hole where I've tried burying it but it still keeps making its way to the surface.

I suppose it's necessary. It's just a bit frustrating when your brain thinks up the most amazing piece of verbal gymnastics that will wow the crowd only for your mouth to have the linguistic skills of a newly born giraffe that's had it's shoelaces tied together. Giraffes can wear shoes. You don't know what they get up to when those nature documentary people are hanging about waiting for them to do something.

I have however tried talking on purpose. It was hard. Even though I was reading the words what I wrote it did no go at all smoothly. It did not beat me. Though it would take a very determined person to get to the end of the audio version of all the little stories that accompanied the "33 Days of Halloween".

May the deity of your choosing look favourably on you if you try.

"33 Days of Halloween" on Soundcloud

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Burkina Faso has always maintained good relations with Cuba. In honour of Commander Fidel Castro, this baobab was planted in Bangr-Wéogo Park, a botanical reserve within the city of Ouagadougou.

Le Burkina Faso a toujours entretenu de bonnes relations avec Cuba. En l'honneur du Commandante Fidel Castro, ce baobab a été planté au sein du Parc Bangr-Wéogo qui est une réserve botanique au sein de la ville de Ouagadougou.

I'm not sure what each of these contraptions was for, but they were at the forefront of a series of specialized equipment for fixing or maintaining the tracks. We have quite a few non-passenger trains coming through Montana's Gallatin Valley daily. In addition to typical freight there are also massive tons of coal moving from regional mines to Pacific coast ports for shipment to China and other customers around the world.

Taken at the Kelly Canyon Road crossing.

1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI) mechanics help maintain mission readiness during Covid-19 by maintaining generators and humvees, April 20, 2020, Fort Drum, N.Y.

I have not seen CAMC before. It is a Chinese manufacturer. Double-A Paper have a large fleet of well-maintained trucks. They are a prestigious customer for a new manufacturer to the Thai market.

It is powered by natural gas: 4 large tanks behind the cab.

I saw 10 examples of them this weekend; only one had a license plate. They must be brand new.

Sudeley Castle is located in the Cotswolds near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. The present structure was built in the 15th century and may have been on the site of a 12th-century castle. The castle has a notable garden, which is designed and maintained to a very high standard. The chapel, St. Mary's Sudeley, is the burial place of Queen Catherine Parr (1512–1548), the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, and contains her marble tomb. Unusually for a castle chapel, St Mary's of Sudeley is part of the local parish of the Church of England. Sudeley is also one of the few castles left in England that is still a residence. As a result, the castle is only open to visitors on specific dates, and private family quarters are closed to the public. It is a Grade I listed building,[1] and recognised as an internationally important structure.

History

The Queen's Gardens at Sudeley Castle

A castle may have been built on the site during the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154).[3] In 1442, Ralph Boteler, who was created Baron Sudeley by King Henry VI of England, inherited Sudeley Castle and built the current castle on its present site, using what he had earned fighting in the Hundred Years' War. He built quarters for servants and men at arms on the double courtyard that was surrounded by a moat. He also added state and family apartments on the second courtyard. The Chapel, which would become St. Mary's, and the tithe barn were also built under Boteler. Unfortunately, Boteler failed to gain royal permission to crenellate the castle, and had to seek King Henry VI's pardon.[4]

Due to his support for the Lancastrian cause, King Edward IV of England confiscated the castle from Boteler in 1469, and gave it to his brother, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, who later became King Richard III of England. Richard used the castle as a base for the Battle of Tewkesbury. He later exchanged this property for Richmond Castle, making Sudeley property of the crown. Ownership of the castle returned to Richard when he became king in 1483. During his reign, the Banqueting Hall, with oriel windows, and the adjoining state rooms, now in ruins, were built in place of the eastern range of Boteler’s inner court as part of a royal suite.

After King Richard's death at the Battle of Bosworth, Sudeley passed to the new king, Henry VII of England, who then gave it to his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford. By the time King Henry VIII of England succeeded to the throne, the castle was the property of the Crown again. In 1535, King Henry VIII and his second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn, visited the castle, which had been empty and unattended for some time.

When King Henry VIII died, the castle became the property of his son, King Edward VI of England, who gave it to his uncle, Thomas Seymour, whom he made Baron of Sudeley. In early Spring 1547, Lord Seymour married King Edward's stepmother, the Dowager Queen Catherine Parr. At the announcement of her pregnancy in late 1547, Seymour began to renovate the castle for Catherine's use, but only one room that he built remains today. Lord Seymour and Catherine decided that she should move to Sudeley for the final months of her pregnancy. At about six months, Catherine was accompanied by Lady Jane Grey and a large retinue of ladies to attend on her, as well as over one hundred gentlemen of the household and Yeomen of the guard. Catherine's sister Anne, Countess of Pembroke, also came and attended upon her as her chief lady and groom of the stool. Catherine gave birth to her daughter, Lady Mary Seymour, on 30 August 1548, only to die on 5 September of that year. She was buried in the Chapel. Her grave was later discovered in 1782, after the castle and the chapel had been left in ruins by the English Civil War. She was later reinterred by the Rector of Sudeley in 1817, and an elaborate tomb was erected in her honour.

In 1549, Lord Seymour's ambitions led him to be arrested and beheaded; after which, Sudeley Castle became the property of Catherine's brother, William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton. After Parr's involvement with the plot to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, he was stripped of his property and title by Queen Mary I of England. Parr would regain his titles later on under Queen Elizabeth I of England, but the Castle remained property of the Crown.

In 1554, Queen Mary I gave Sudeley Castle to John Brydges, 1st Baron Chandos, and it remained his property throughout her reign and the reign of Queen Elizabeth I as well. It was at Sudeley that Queen Elizabeth was entertained three times. Also, a spectacular three-day feast was held there to celebrate the anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1592. He is buried in the chapel, as well, as was Giles Brugge, 6th Baron Chandos.

n 1877, the then owner described the castle thus:

Few residences can boast a greater antiquity, or have witnessed more striking changes. A mansum, or manor-house, before the Conquest, a baronial castle in the time of Stephen, then alternately going to decay, or rising into additional magnificence, with stately towers to overlook the vale — again suffering from neglect, and once more right royally restored and beautified to receive the widowed Queen as Seymour s Bride, with all her lordly retinue.][5]

Current ownership

The current owners are Elizabeth, Lady Ashcombe, widow of Henry Cubitt, 4th Baron Ashcombe, and her two children: Henry Dent-Brocklehurst and Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst. After the death of Lady Ashcombe's husband Mark Dent-Brocklehurst in 1972, she owns 50 percent of the equity, while her children each own 25 percent.

Mark inherited Sudeley in 1949 after the death of his father. His mother decided to stay at the castle though until 1969. It was at this time that Mark and his American-born wife, Elizabeth, decided to open up the castle to the public.[6] It took two years to convert the home into a tourist attraction, but Mark died in 1972, leaving a large amount of both debts and death duties. Lady Ashcombe married Baron Ashcombe, and the couple made major renovations.[7] Lady Ashcombe and her children have since taken over the management of the castle as a visitor attraction.[8]

BBC Four featured an investigation into the castle on 27 June 2007 titled Crisis At The Castle.[9] This detailed the turmoil associated with managing the castle within three sets of owners and their families.[10] Closing the castle to the general public on some weekdays meant that visitors were disheartened when embarking on their day trips, and resulted in a dramatic fall in visitor numbers in the three years leading up to the creation of the programme.

The castle is sometimes used for high-profile events, such as the 2007 wedding of English actress Elizabeth Hurley to Indian textile heir Arun Nayar, which took place in the private chapel.

Twikipedia

Out of the Archives: Responsibility for maintaining and operating the completed water supply systems was transferred from the Board of Water Supply to the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, which also took over the responsibility for sanitary inspections. DWSGE's duty was to keep the City’s water supply “pure and wholesome and free from contamination and pollution.” The city intentionally employed Sanitary Inspectors from the watershed communities that they patrolled. (Image ID: d026397)

This aqueduct is near Gazicoy on the old Nicosia - Famagusta road, a couple of miles beyond Ercan airport. The aqueduct stretches for several hundred yards on the left of the road, before heading for the hills.

The water channel was carried on low arches, sixty nine of which remain in good condition. During Ottoman times this part of Cyprus saw extensive farming, which required a good supply of water.

This aqueduct was built in the 18th century, and is thought to have brought water to a large farm called, or owned by, Arif Pasha and was situated near the present day village of Tymbou.

Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.

Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.

A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.

Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.

Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.

Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.

The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.

Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.

Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.

By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.

EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.

However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.

On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.

In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.

By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.

In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.

The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.

After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".

As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.

Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.

The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.

Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.

The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.

Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.

Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria

An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."

In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.

Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.

In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.

Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.

Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.

Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:

UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.

The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.

By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."

After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.

On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.

The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.

During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.

In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.

Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.

A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.