Earthquake.

The magnitude 6.9 (M) earthquake occurred inland at 18:10 IST on 18 September 2011, about 68 km (42 mi) northwest of Gangtok, Sikkim at a shallow depth of 19.7 km (12.2 mi). At its location, the continental Indian and Eurasian Plates converge with one another along a tectonic boundary beneath the mountainous region of northeast India near the Nepalese border. Although earthquakes in this region are usually interplate in nature, preliminary data suggests the Sikkim earthquake was triggered by shallow strike-slip faulting from an intraplate source within the over-riding Eurasian Plate. Initial analyses also indicate a complex origin, with the perceived tremor likely being a result of two separate events occurring close together in time at similar focal depths.

Intensity.

Located at a shallow depth beneath the surface, the earthquake caused strong shaking in many areas adjacent to its epicenter reportedly lasting 30 – 40 seconds. The strongest shaking occurred to the west in Gangtok and further south in Siliguri, although similar ground motions registering at MMVI (strong) on the Mercalli scale were recorded in many smaller towns such as Mangan across elevated regions. Lighter tremors (MMIV – III) spread southward through populous regions, with these motions reported in the Patna capital of Bihar and as far southwest as Bihar Sharif. In all, the earthquake was felt in Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and China. Tremors were felt in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, parts of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and Delhi states of India. In Tibet, the earthquake was felt in Shigatse and Lhasa.

Aftershocks.

Sikkim experienced three aftershocks since the earthquake, occurring at magnitudes of 5.7, 5.1, and 4.6 (M) within 30 minutes of the initial earthquake. Kathmandu experienced two aftershocks that both had a magnitude of 4.8 M. The aftershocks had no serious impact in the region. At least 20 aftershocks back-to-back throughout the night created panic in the Gangtok. On 19 September, tremors shook some parts of Maharashtra measuring 3.9 () at around 06:30 IST including Latur, Osmanabad and Solapur districts, all of which had already suffered the 1993 earthquake. However, no loss of life or property was reported.

Impact.

The earthquake struck near a mountainous, albeit very populous region near the Sikkim–Nepal border; most of the structures were reported to be highly vulnerable to earthquake shaking. Upon impact, tens of thousands of residents evacuated their homes, and many areas suffered from communication and power outages. The strong shaking caused significant building collapse and mudslides; at least 111 people were confirmed killed by the effects of the earthquake, and hundreds of others sustained injuries. As the earthquake occurred in the monsoon season, heavy rain and landslides rendered rescue work more difficult.

India.

Northern India suffered the most from the earthquake, with at least 75 people killed. 60 people were reportedly killed in Sikkim alone. At least 7 people have died in Bihar, while 6 deaths have been reported from West Bengal. Power supply was disrupted in areas near Sikkim, including Kalimpong of Darjeeling district, and adjoining Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts; the outages were in part blamed on an affected electric substation in Siliguri. Water supply was interrupted in Sikkim. National Highway 31, the major highway linking Sikkim to the rest of India, was damaged. Ten of the dead were workers at a hydroelectric project on the Teesta River.  In India, property damage is estimated to be around with the actual report yet to come.

Sikkim.

Two buildings of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police in the Pegong areas of North Sikkim collapsed. In Gangtok, many government offices and hospitals were left unusable. The heavy shaking destroyed the villages of Lingzya, Sakyong, Pentong, Bay and Tholong.

Nepal.

In the capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu, damage from the earthquake was comparatively limited. Three people were killed when a wall at the British Embassy collapsed, and many others suffered injuries. The shaking effects were more severe in eastern Nepal, which is closer to the epicenter. There, hundreds of homes sustained significant damage, and due to saturated soil from preceding heavy rains widespread mudslides impacted the region. Sunsari experienced power and telephone communication outages. Two people were killed in the eastern city of Dharan. Overall, in Nepal 6 people died due to the earthquake.

Bangladesh.

The earthquake was felt most strongly in northern Bangladesh. The quake was also felt in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Mymensingh, Barisal, Faridpur, Jessore, Khulna, Pabna, Bogra, Comilla, Noakhali, Chittagong and as far as Cox's Bazar. Panicked people rushed out of their homes and offices, but the only damage seems to be tilted and cracked buildings; no casualties were reported. Cell phone lines were also down for a few minutes during the quake.

China.

In Tibet, building collapse was reported in Yadong, Dinggyê and Gamba. At least seven people were reported dead in Yadong. Telephone service was interrupted in the seat of Yadong County.

Bhutan.

There were no reports of casualties in Bhutan, although cracks on walls and ceilings of houses were reported in Wangthangkha village, Lango and the town area in Paro. There were also reports of a landslide right after crossing the Isuna Bridge from Paro towards Thimphu, and falling boulders after crossing Chundzom Bridge. Citizens were asked to avoid traveling on the Paro-Thimphu highway. Telecommunications networks were disrupted, with cellular networks unavailable after the quake.  Prime Minister of Bhutan Jigmi Thinley updated in his status as "Phone lines remains clogged reflecting our caring and close knit society. No damage reported from East Bhutan. Four road blocks caused by falling debris are reported on the Chukha – Phuntsholing road. Two homes in Haa report damage with 3–4 people having suffered minor injury. Thimphu Dzong has sustained some cracks in the Utse and one of the four corner towers. Occupants have been moved out to safer parts. Please remain calm and alert."

Rescue operations and compensation.

Early rescue operations included four teams of National Disaster Response Force been rushed to Sikkim and five more teams were being sent from Kolkata. However, South and West Sikkim remained inaccessible delaying rescue operations owing to landslides caused by rainfall. A group of 14 tourists were rescued by the army from north Sikkim. The army had deployed 72 columns including infantry troops, combat engineers, four Dhruv and five Cheetah helicopters. Rain and landslides had hampered the rescue efforts of workers searching for survivors.  Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, on 19 September, announced as ex-gratia to a family member of those killed in the earthquake and for seriously injured. for those grievously injured and for those with minor injuries was announced by Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling. Rescue and relief operations resumed in Sikkim since early in the morning on Tuesday with the weather showing signs of improvement. Road opening parties succeeded in restoring communication along NH31A and work was continuing to repair the North Sikkim Highway to Mangan and Chungthang. Fifteen helicopters have been pressed into service to evacuate casualties and deploy rescue and relief columns in the affected areas of north and west Sikkim.  Lt Gen Bikram Singh, GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, also visited the earthquake-affected areas and met his senior staff officers to discuss the progress of Operation Trishakti Madad, the massive operation launched by the Army's 33 Corps to provide relief to those affected by Sunday's earthquake.  According to the Army, nearly 2,000 civilians are being provided shelter at eight Army relief camps at Gangtok, Chungthang, Pegong and Darjeeling. There are 400 others who have sought shelter at relief camps set up by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Several children from these camps even returned home on Tuesday and attended school  On Monday, when weather improved, Special Forces personnel slithered from helicopters into affected villages. Medical camps were set up and arrangements were made for casualty evacuation  21 engineering columns of the Army succeeded in restoring partial road connectivity to parts of north Sikkim on Tuesday. Telecommunications and power lines, that snapped due to the earthquake, were also restored.  In spite off all efforts, the highway to Gangtok remained badly affected due to landslides

The 2011 Sikkim earthquake (also known as the 2011 Himalayan earthquake) occurred with a moment magnitude of 6.9 and was centered within the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, near the border of Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim, at on Sunday, 18 September. The earthquake was felt across northeastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and southern Tibet.

2011年锡金地震()或称2011年喜马拉雅地震,震央位于尼泊尔及锡金邦交界的干城章嘉峰保护区内,地震规模为6.9,发生于当地时间2011年9月18日18时10分(UTC12时40分),于印度北部、尼泊尔、不丹、孟加拉及中国西藏南部皆可感受到震动。


勿忘我 (黛咪·洛瓦托专辑)

Background.

Lovato was discovered by Disney Channel during an open call audition in her hometown of Dallas, Texas and made her debut on the short series "As the Bell Rings" in 2007. She subsequently auditioned for a role on the television series "Jonas", but did not get the part. Instead, she received the lead role in the musical film "Camp Rock" after she impressed network executives. Later, she auditioned for a role on the series "Sonny with a Chance", which she also received. For "Camp Rock", she submitted an audition tape and Gary Marsh, Disney's president of entertainment, asked her to sing. Lovato recalled that "They kind of put me on the spot. I don't mind it. When people put me on the spot, it's kind of like, 'Hey, I'm not going to get nervous. I'm just going to do what I do.' So I did what I did." Lovato performed Christina Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man" and Hollywood Records senior vice president Bob Cavallo said that their "jaws just dropped". The stunt resulted in Lovato receiving the lead role in "Camp Rock", and a record deal with the label in early 2008.  Lovato enlisted her "Camp Rock" co-stars the Jonas Brothers to work with her on the album. She said that it was "important" to include them on her album as she "would love to have their input anytime". She felt that she needed help with the writing process as she tended to write songs that were "a little bit more intense and less catchy". With the album, she wanted to establish herself as a musician; she did not just want to be known as "the girl from "<nowiki>Camp Rock'</nowiki>"". Lovato explained that her goal was to have fun with the album and that she would include deeper themes on her sophomore effort, stating: "You won't necessarily find a lot of [dark songs] on the album, but hopefully you will on the next album. It's my first one, so I wanted it to be fun – stuff you can drive around in your car to and jam out to."

Development.

In September 2007, Lovato began writing the songs with the Jonas Brothers, during filming of "Camp Rock". In early 2008, they co-wrote ten songs in a week during the band's Look Me in the Eyes Tour. Lovato said, "I wrote it with them and they helped me. They obviously knew the situation, and then we got on the bus one night — songs just started pouring out." Before the tour's European leg, they went to the studio where the band co-produced the songs with John Fields. Speaking of the experience of co-producing, Nick Jonas said: "Being able to co-produce was really cool and definitely something we'll be doing a lot more of." Nick also complimented working with Lovato. The album was recorded in ten and a half days.  The inspiration behind "Get Back", a Jonas-penned track, was Lovato not wanting to write a mean or heartbroken song as she felt that there was enough of them. Instead, she wanted to write about getting back together with an old boyfriend. "It's kind of a fun, upbeat song and it's kind of just fun to sing to the person that I wrote it about", she said of the song. "La La Land" was written by Lovato and the Jonas Brothers about "the pressures of fame". Lovato said, "You get to Hollywood and a lot of times people can try to shape you and mould you into what they want you to be. The song is just about keeping it real and trying to stay yourself when you're out in Hollywood". "Don't Forget", was written by Lovato and the Jonas Brothers, the song is about Lovato's experience of falling in love with someone who "just walks away and goes somewhere else". "I went through an experience like that and wanted to write about it. I got over it, and now a year later I don't have those feelings about that person anymore", Lovato said. Musical influences for the album included Paramore, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Billy Gillman, Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight.  The album's final track listing consisted of six songs co-written by the Jonas Brothers, including the duet "On the Line". The remainder of the album was produced by Fields. Lovato enlisted Rooney frontman Robert Coppola Schwartzman for the track "Party", stating that she put her "musical input and lyrics" into the song and Schwartzman helped her, mainly on the hook. Lovato wrote the song "Trainwreck" on her own and co-wrote most of the remaining tracks, except for "The Middle", written by Fields, Kara DioGuardi and Jason Reeves, and "Until You're Mine", written by Andy Dodd and Adam Watts.

Composition.

The songs of "Don't Forget" draws from power pop and pop rock music genres. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic wrote that it includes "bright, sugary, snappy power pop, fueled by big, fuzzy guitars and big, muscular hooks." As most of the album was co-written and co-produced by the Jonas Brothers, critics noted a similar sound between the artists. Erlewine noted that, unlike the Jonas Brothers' album "A Little Bit Longer", the album does not attempt to draw an audience broader than the tween demographic, calling it "pure, unapologetic bubblegum". The lyrics of the songs deal with teen issues, such as being independent or heartbroken. Digital Spy's Nick Levine wrote that recurring themes include; "staying true to yourself, making up and breaking up, [and] lusting over someone unattainable." The opening track, "La La Land", is about Lovato feeling "out of place" in Hollywood, demonstrated in the verses, "Who said I can't wear my Converse with my dress?", and "I'm not a supermodel, I still eat McDonald's."  The next track, "Get Back", is a guitar-driven upbeat 1980s power pop song. The track speaks of wanting to get back together with an old boyfriend. "On the Line", a duet with the Jonas Brothers, is a breakup song described as bubblegum with a "fizzy" singalong hook. "Don't Forget", shows a transition from the album's tween pop into more mature glam rock. The song is a midtempo power ballad and features Lovato singing with breathy vocals in a falsetto tone. According to Joey Guerra of "Houston Chronicle", "Trainwreck" and "Gonna Get Caught" include Beatles-esque melodies. "Trainwreck" contains references to medication. "Two Worlds Collide" is about a young couple who finds strength from their shared dreams. The ninth track, "The Middle", is about Lovato being eager to go for a ride with a guy, and willing to "crash" and "fall" just for the thrill of it. In "Until You're Mine", Lovato is desperate to "fill an emotional vacancy with a boy". Michael Slezak of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that the closing track, "Believe in Me", includes "platitudes that might as well have been penned by "Dora the Explorer"."

Promotion.

As a part of promotion, Lovato performed tracks from the album on several televised appearances and occasions. Lovato performed "Get Back" for the first time at the 2008 Disney Channel Games on May 3, 2008. Later, she performed the same song in "Good Morning America" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show". Later on January 19, 2009, she performed "Get Back" and "La La Land" at the event on January 19, 2009, in Washington D.C. at the Verizon Center. The event was held to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States. On April 7, 2009, she performed "La La Land" on the eighth season of "Dancing with the Stars". The same month, she also performed "Don't Forget" on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show". On April 25, 2009, she appeared on the final episode of singing competition "My Camp Rock", where she presented the award to the winner and performed "La La Land".  Apart from the live performances, Lovato embarked on her first headlining tour Demi Live! Warm Up Tour in 2008 and continued with in 2009, with dates in North America. After days of speculation on blogs and fansites, it was confirmed on April 15, 2009 that David Archuleta would serve as the tour's opening act. Lovato announced it on her Myspace blog, where she also wrote, "I'm so excited about headlining my own tour. I love life on the road. I'm in a different city every night, and it never gets old." Songstress Jordan Pruitt and girl group KSM joined on select dates. Tickets for the tour went on sale on April 25, 2009, and a special pre-sale offer was made available through Lovato's newly-launched official fan club on April 15. Lovato said of the tour, "I've always dreamed of headlining my own tour, and it's so exciting to have that dream come true. I'm looking forward to seeing all my incredible and supportive fans, and play new music for them." The tour launched on June 21, 2009 at XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut and was originally supposed to run forty-seven dates through August. The last three dates were rescheduled for October and November 2009, and three others dates were canceled completely, making it forty-four concerts in total. The tour was produced by AEG Live and sponsored by AT&T and Choice Hotels.

Singles.

"Get Back" was released on August 12, 2008, as the lead single from the album, through digital distribution. It received positive reviews from critics, who compared it to works by Tommy Tutone and Greg Kihn. "Get Back" enjoyed little chart success, reaching number 43 in the United States and 93 in Canada. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Philip Andelman and shows Lovato and her band performing the song on top of an abandoned building with Manhattan Bridge in the background. The song has sold over 560,000 copies in the United States.  "La La Land" was released on December 18, 2008, as the second single from the album. The song received positive reviews from critics, who noted it as one of the album's top tracks. "La La Land" reached number 52 in the United States and cracked the top 40 in Ireland and the United Kingdom. The music video was directed by Brendan Malloy and Tim Wheeler and was used to promote Lovato's sitcom "Sonny with a Chance", featuring appearances by her co-stars.  "Don't Forget" was released on March 16, 2009 as the third and final single from the album. It debuted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number sixty-eight on October 11, 2008 and fell off the chart the following week. On April 4, 2009, it re-entered the chart at number eighty-four. The song steadily ascended the chart for three weeks, before eventually reaching a peak of number forty-one on its fifth week on the chart. It was Lovato's best performing solo song on the chart until "Here We Go Again" reached number fifteen on August 8, 2009. In Canada, "Don't Forget" debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 at number eighty-two on May 2, 2009. The next week, it reached seventy-six, which became its peak. The song also reached number sixty-two on the now defunct Pop 100 chart.

Critical reception.

"Don't Forget" was met with generally positive reviews from critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote a positive review of album, calling it "pure pop for tween people". He said that the "parade of urgent, insistent guitar pop" is what makes the album memorable, stating, "the kind of pop that feels disposable but winds up sticking around longer than its more considered cousins. This kind of trashy fun was missing on "A Little Bit Longer," so it's nice to find that it surfaces proudly on "Don't Forget"." Nick Levine of Digital Spy noted that the album sounds "like a female-fronted Jonas Brothers". Levine was positive regarding Lovato's vocals on the album, saying that "she's certainly a stronger singer than the Jonases. In fact, her full-bodied vocal performances are consistently impressive." He noted that the album's "relatively risqué moments [...] come on the tracks that the Jonases have nothing to do with." Levine rated the album three out of five stars and wrote "None of its eleven songs is terrific, but none is terrible either, and Lovato makes a good first impression, coming off like a more innocent, less try-hard Katy Perry."  Joey Guerra of "Houston Chronicle" stated that the album "casts Lovato as a female counterpart to the Jonas Brothers". Guerra was mixed regarding Lovato's vocal delivery on the album, calling it "at times too earnest". He also noted that "her rock tendencies sometimes dwindle into unmelodic misses". He concluded his review, writing, "at 16 years old, Lovato should be allowed some wide-eyed wiggle room. "Don't Forget" does its job and leaves her room to grow." Michael Slezak of "Entertainment Weekly" graded the album a C and wrote, "The "Camp Rock" star Demi Lovato's debut album might be an indication that today's crop of rocker "grrrls" are taking their inspiration from Ashlee Simpson rather than, say, Janis Joplin."

Commercial performance.

"Don't Forget" debuted at number two on the US "Billboard" 200, selling 89,000 copies in its first week of release. The following week, the album descended to number 16. It spent a total of 45 weeks on the "Billboard" 200 chart. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States.  In Canada, the album debuted at number nine on the Canadian Albums Chart on October 11, 2008, and spent two weeks on the chart. On April 26, 2009, "Don't Forget" entered the Spanish Albums Chart at number 13. The album spent a total of 23 weeks on the chart and its last appearance was on the issue dated September 27, 2009. The album debuted at number 34 on the New Zealand Albums Chart on February 23, 2009 and spent remained at the same position for another week before falling off. On May 2, 2009, "Don't Forget" made its debut at number 192 on the UK Albums Chart.

Personnel.

Credits adapted from the liner notes of "Don't Forget".

Don't Forget is the debut studio album by American singer Demi Lovato. It was released on September 23, 2008, by Hollywood Records. Lovato started working on the album in September 2007, during filming of her Disney Channel television film "Camp Rock". Lovato co-wrote most of the songs with American boy band the Jonas Brothers, who produced the album alongside record producer John Fields. The album also includes Kara DioGuardi, Jason Reeves and Rooney frontman Robert Schwartzman, who collaborated from the album. "Don't Forget" features primarily a pop rock sound, with the lyrical content dealing with various adolescent topics.

《勿忘我》("Don't Forget")为美国歌手黛咪·洛瓦托的第1张专辑。专辑于2008年9月23日由好莱坞唱片发行。洛瓦托与强纳斯兄弟合写并制作了大部分的歌曲。该专辑的音乐风格为流行摇滚和动力摇滚,歌词涉及各种青少年相关话题。


额我略·伯多禄二十世·盖布洛扬

Biography.

Gabroyan felt a vocation for the priesthood and studied at Bzommar Patriarchal Monastery continuing at the Collège des frères maristes de Jounieh (Lebanon). He was sent to Italy to continue his higher studies at the Armenian Leonine Pontifical College in Rome and graduate studies in Philosophy and Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Upon successful graduation, he returned to Lebanon and was ordained priest on 28 March 1959.  Gabroyan became an instructor in Bzommar Monastery School in 1960 and from 1962 to 1996 served as principal of the Armenian Catholic Mesrobian Secondary School in Bourj Hammoud and from 1969 to 1975 as head of the Bzommar Convent School and secretary to the Convent's executive council.  In 1976, he was appointed for serving the Armenian Catholics in France and was ordained as bishop on 13 February 1977 on the hand of Armenian Catholic Catholicos-Patriarch Hemaiag Bedros XVII Ghedighian serving as Apostolic Exarch in France from 1977 to 1986 and as Primate and Armenian Catholic Eparch and Bishop of France at the Éparchie Sainte-Croix-de-Paris des Arméniens, from 1986 to April 2013 date of his retirement from his duties. Upon the death of Armenian Catholic Patriarch Catholicos of Cilicia Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni on 25 June 2015, he served as administrator of the Church until election of a new Patriarch. The Armenian Catholic Holy Synod of Bishops convened starting 14 July 2015 and elected Gabroyan as Catholicos-Patriarch on 24 July 2015 under the name of Krikor Bedros XX Gabroyan.  He was officially enthroned on 9 August 2015 in Bzommar, Lebanon.

Krikor Bedros XX Gabroyan, I.P.C.B. ( also known in English as Gregory Peter XX Gabroyan and in French as Grégoire Pierre XX Ghabroyan born in Aleppo, Syria on 14 November 1934) is the Catholicos-Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholic Church after his election on 24 July 2015 and the necessary concession of the ecclesiastical full communion by Pope Francis one day later. He was officially enthroned on 9 August 2015.

额我略·伯多禄二十世·盖布洛扬(;1934年-11月14日)是亚美尼亚籍天主教亚美尼亚礼宗主教及第二十任亚美尼亚礼天主教基里基雅宗主教区宗主教。


History.

Silicon Image, one of the founding companies of the HDMI standard, originally demonstrated a mobile interconnect at the January 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), based on its transition-minimized differential signaling (TMDS) technology. This interface was termed "Mobile High Definition Link" at the time of the demonstration, and is a direct precursor of the implementation announced by the MHL Consortium. The company is quoted as saying it did not ship that original technology in any volume, but used it as a way to get a working group started.  The working group was announced in September 2009, and the MHL Consortium founded in April 2010 by Nokia, Samsung, Silicon Image, Sony and Toshiba. The MHL specification version 1.0 was released in June 2010, and the Compliance Test Specification (CTS) was released in December 2010. May 2011 marked the first retail availability of MHL-enabled products.  The first mobile device to feature the MHL standard was the Samsung Galaxy S II, announced at the 2011 Mobile World Congress. MHL announced in 2014 that more than half a billion MHL-capable products had been shipped since the standard was created.

Overview.

MHL is an adaptation of HDMI intended for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Unlike DVI, which is compatible with HDMI using only passive cables and adapters, MHL requires that the HDMI socket be MHL-enabled, otherwise an active adapter is required to convert the signal to HDMI. It has several aspects in common with HDMI, such as the ability to carry uncompressed HDCP encrypted high-definition video, eight-channel surround sound, and control remote devices with Consumer Electronics Control (CEC).  There are a total of five pins used in MHL rather than the 19 used in HDMI, namely: a differential pair for data, a bi-directional control channel (CBUS), power charging supply, and ground. This permits a much lighter cable and a much smaller connector on the mobile device, as a typical MHL source will be shared with USB 2.0 on a standard 5-pin Micro-USB receptacle. (Although MHL ports can be dedicated to MHL alone, the standard is designed to permit port sharing with the most commonly used ports.) The USB port switches from USB to MHL when it recognizes an MHL-qualified sink (e.g., a TV) detected on the control wire. A typical MHL sink will be shared with HDMI on a standard 19-pin HDMI receptacle.  Because the same five-pin Micro-USB port is also typically used for charging the device, the sink is required to provide power to maintain the state of charge (or even recharge) while it is being used (although this is dependent on the power available being sufficient e.g., MHL 2 & 3 provide a minimum of 4.5 W / 900 mA, while superMHL can provide up to 40 W). The use of the power line in this way differs from HDMI, which expects the source to provide 55 mA for the purpose of reading the EDID of a display.  Due to the low pin count of MHL versus HDMI, the functions that are carried on separate dedicated pins on HDMI, namely: the Display Data Channel (DDC) (pins 15 & 16) and CEC (pin 13) are instead carried on the bi-directional control bus (CBUS). The CBUS both emulates the function of the DDC bus and also carries an MHL sideband channel (MSC), which emulates the CEC bus function, and allows a TV remote to control the media player on a phone with its Remote Control Protocol (RCP).

Bandwidth.

MHL uses the same Transition-minimized differential signaling (TMDS) as HDMI to carry video, audio, and auxiliary data. However, MHL differs from HDMI in that there is only one differential pair to carry the TMDS data lane, compared to HDMI's four (three data lanes, plus the clock). Therefore these three logical data channels are instead time-division multiplexed into the single physical MHL data lane (i.e., with the logical channels sent sequentially), and the clock signal carried as a common mode signal of this pair. From MHL 3 onwards, the method for carrying the clock signal changed to being carried separately on the MHL CBUS pin instead.  The normal (24 bit) mode operates at 2.25 Gbit/s, and multiplexes the same three channel, 24 bit color signal as HDMI, at a pixel clock rate of up to 75 MHz, sufficient for 1080i and 720p at 60 Hz. One period of the MHL clock equals one period of the pixel clock, and each period of the MHL clock transmits three 10-bit TMDS characters (i.e., a 24-bit pixel, where each 10-bit TMDS character represents an encoded byte – 8-bits).  MHL can also operate in PackedPixel mode at 3 Gbit/s, catering for 1080p, in this case only two channels are multiplexed, as the color signal is changed to a chroma subsampled (YCbCr 4:2:2) pair of adjacent 16-bit pixels (i.e., where two adjacent pixels share chroma values and are represented with only 36-bits), and the pixel clock is doubled to 150 MHz. In this mode, one clock period of the MHL clock now equals two periods of the pixel clock, so each period of the MHL clock transmits twice the number of channels i.e., four 10-bit TMDS characters (a pair of 16-bit pixels).  Version 3 of MHL changed from being frame-based to a packet-based technology, and operates at 6 Gbit/s. superMHL extends this by carrying the data signal over more than one differential pair (up to four with USB Type-C, or a total of six using a superMHL cable) allowing up to 36 Gbit/s.

Versions.

All MHL specifications are backward compatible to previous versions of the standard. MHL is connection agnostic (i.e., not tied to a specific type of hardware connector). The first implementations used the 5-pin MHL-USB connector described below, and all are supported over USB Type-C MHL Alternate Mode. Other proprietary and custom connections are also allowed.

MHL 1.

Version 1.0 was introduced in June 2010, supporting uncompressed HD video up to 720p/1080i 60 Hz (with RGB and YCbCr 4:2:2/4:4:4 pixel encoding). Support for 1080p 60 Hz (YCbCr 4:2:2) was introduced in version 1.3. The specification supports standard SD (Rec. 601) and HD (Rec. 709) color spaces, as well as those introduced in HDMI 1.3 and 1.4 (xvYCC, sYCC601, Adobe RGB, and AdobeYCC601). Other features include 192 kHz 24-bit LPCM 8-channel surround sound audio, HDCP 1.4 content protection, and a minimum of 2.5 W (500 mA) power between sink (e.g., TV) and source (e.g., mobile phone) for charging. The MHL sideband channel (MSC) includes a built-in Remote Control Protocol (RCP) function allowing the remote control of the TV to operate the MHL mobile device through TV's Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) function, or allowing a mobile device to manage the playback of its content on the TV.

MHL 2.

Version 2.0 was introduced in April 2012, and raised the minimum charging supply to 4.5 W (900 mA), with an optional 7.5 W (1.5 A) maximum allowed. Support for 3D video was also introduced, permitting 720p/1080i 60 Hz, and 1080p 24 Hz 3D video modes. The specification also included additional MHL sideband channel (MSC) commands.

MHL 3.

Version 3.0 was introduced in August 2013, and added support for 4K Ultra HD (3840 × 2160) 30 Hz video, increasing the maximum bandwidth from 3 Gbit/s to 6 Gbit/s. An additional YCbCr 4:2:0 pixel encoding for 4K resolution was also introduced, while the maximum charging supply was increased to 10 W (2 A). Support for compressed lossless audio formats was added with support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.  The specification increased the speed of the bi-directional data channel from 1 Mbit/s to 75 Mbit/s to enable concurrent 4K video and human interface device (HID) support, such as mice, keyboards, touchscreens, and game controllers. Other features include support for simultaneous multiple displays, improved Remote Control Protocol (RCP) with new commands, and HDCP 2.2 content protection.

superMHL.

superMHL 1.0 was introduced in January 2015, supporting 8K Ultra HD (7680 × 4320) 120 Hz High Dynamic Range (HDR) video with wide color gamut (Rec. 2020) and 48-bit deep color. Support for object-based audio formats were added, such as Dolby Atmos and, with an audio-only mode also available. The Remote Control Protocol (RCP) was also extended to link multiple MHL devices together (e.g., TV, AVR, Blu-ray Disc player) and control them via one remote.  The specification introduces a reversible 32-pin superMHL connector, which (along with USB Type-C) supports a higher charging power of up to 40 W (20 V / 2 A), and is designed for future bandwidth expansion. The increase in bandwidth over previous MHL versions is achieved by using multiple A/V lanes, each operating at 6 Gbit/s, with a maximum of six A/V lanes supported depending on device and connector type. For example, Micro-USB and HDMI Type-A support one A/V lane, USB Type-C supports up to four A/V lanes, and the superMHL connector supports up to six A/V lanes (36 Gbit/s).  In addition to supporting a variable number of lanes, the specification supports VESA Display Stream Compression (DSC) 1.1, a "visually lossless" (but mathematically lossy) video compression standard. In cases when the bandwidth of the available lane(s) is unable to meet the rate of the uncompressed video stream, bandwidth savings of up to 3:1 can be achieved with a DSC compression rate of 3.0×. For example, 4K 60 Hz is possible using a single lane (e.g., Micro-USB / HDMI Type-A) with a DSC rate of 3.0×.  superMHL can use a variety of source and sink connectors with certain limitations: micro-USB or proprietary connectors can be used for the source only, HDMI Type-A for the sink only, while the USB Type-C and the superMHL connectors can be used for the source or sink.

Connectors.

Micro-USB-to-HDMI (five-pin).

The first implementations use the most common mobile connection (Micro-USB) and the most common TV connection (HDMI). There are two types of connection, depending on whether the display device directly supports MHL.

Passive cable.

Passive cables allow MHL devices to connect directly to MHL-enabled TVs (i.e. display devices or AV receivers with an MHL-enabled HDMI port) while providing charging power upstream to the mobile device. Other than the physical connectors, no USB or HDMI technology is being used. Exclusively MHL signaling is used through the connectors and over the cable.

Active adapter.

With an active adapter, MHL devices are able to connect to HDMI display devices that do not have MHL capability by actively converting the signal to HDMI. These adapters often feature an additional Micro-USB port on them to provide charging power to the mobile device because standard HDMI ports do not supply sufficient current.

Samsung Micro-USB-to-HDMI adapter and tip (eleven-pin).

The Samsung Galaxy S III, and later Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S4, use an 11-pin connector and the six additional connector pins in order to achieve functional improvements over the 5-pin design (like simultaneous USB-OTG use). However, if consumers have a standard MHL-to-HDMI adapter all they need to purchase is a tip. With the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung also released MHL 2.0 smart adapter with a built-in 11-pin connector. The first Samsung MHL 1.0 smart adapter released with the Galaxy S III requires external power and is able to work with HDMI TVs at 1080p at 24 Hz. The MHL 2.0 adapter released with the Galaxy S4 can output 1080p at 60 Hz and does not need external power.

USB Type-C (MHL Alternate Mode).

The MHL Alternate Mode for USB 3.1 specification allows MHL enabled source and display devices to be connected through a USB Type-C port. The standard was released on November 17, 2014, and is backward compatible with existing MHL specifications: supporting MHL 1, 2, 3 and superMHL. The standard supports the simultaneous transfer of data (at least USB 2.0, and depending on video resolution: USB 3.1 Gen 1 or 2) and power charging (up to 40 W via USB Power Delivery), in addition to MHL audio/video. This allows the connection to be used with mobile/laptop docks, allowing devices to connect to other peripherals while charging. The use of passive cables is possible when both devices support the standard, e.g., when connecting to superMHL, USB Type-C, and MHL-enabled HDMI, otherwise, an active cable adapter is necessary to connect to standard HDMI devices.  Depending on the bandwidth requirement, the standard makes use of a variable number of USB Type-C's four SuperSpeed differential pairs to carry each TMDS lane: a single lane is required for resolutions up to 4K/60 Hz, two lanes for 4K/120 Hz, and all four lanes for 8K/60 Hz. The MHL eCBUS signal is sent over a side-band (SBU) pin on the USB Type-C connector. When one or two lanes are used, USB 3.1 data transfer is supported. In common MHL Alt Mode implementations on mobile/tablet/laptops, the video from the GPU will be converted to MHL signal by using a MHL transmitter chip. The transmitter chips often accept video in MIPI (DSI/DPI) or HDMI format and convert it to MHL format. The USB Type-C port controller functions as a switch/mux, passing through the MHL signal to the external devices. The dock/display devices may use an MHL bridge chip to convert the MHL signal to HDMI signal format.

superMHL (32-pin).

In conjunction with the release of the superMHL specification in January 2015, MHL introduced a reversible 32-pin superMHL connector. The connector can carry six A/V lanes over six differential pairs, catering for the full 36 Gbit/s bandwidth available from the superMHL standard. The connector also enables 40 W of charging power at a higher voltage and current.

Comparison with SlimPort / Mobility DisplayPort (MyDP).

SlimPort is a proprietary alternative to MHL, based on the DisplayPort standard integrated into common microUSB ports and supports up to 1080p60 or 1080p30 with 3D content over HDMI 1.4 (up to 5.4 Gbit/s of bandwidth), in addition to support for DVI, VGA (up to 1920 x 1080 at 60 Hz), and DisplayPort.

Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) is an industry standard for a mobile audio/video interface that allows the connection of smartphones, tablets, and other portable consumer electronics devices to high-definition televisions (HDTVs), audio receivers, and projectors. The standard was designed to share existing mobile device connectors, such as Micro-USB, and avoid the need to add additional video connectors on devices with limited space for them.

移动高清连结技术(MHL, Mobile High-Definition Link)是由移动高清连结技术联盟(MHL Consortium)推出的直接连接移动电话或便携式电子消费产品(CE)和高清晰度电视(HDTV)。MHL的标准功能是通过单电缆与低引脚数接口来实现输出高达1080p高清(HD)视频和数字音频,同时为设备充电。


Background.

When an asteroid enters the planet's atmosphere it becomes known as a'meteor'; those that survive and fall to the Earth's surface are then called'meteorites'. While basketball-sized meteors occur almost daily, and compact car-sized ones about yearly, they usually burn up or explode high above the Earth as bolides, (fireballs), often with little notice. During an average 24-hour period, the Earth sweeps through some 100 million particles of interplanetary dust and pieces of cosmic debris, only a very minor amount of which arrives on the ground as meteorites.  The larger in size asteroids or other near-Earth objects (NEOs) are, the less frequently they impact the planet's atmosphere — large meteors seen in the skies are extremely rare, while medium-sized ones are less so, and much smaller ones are more commonplace. Although stony asteroids often explode high in the atmosphere, some objects, especially iron-nickel meteors and other types descending at a steep angle, can explode close to ground level or even directly impact onto land or sea. In the U.S. State of Arizona, the Meteor Crater (officially named Barringer Crater) formed in a fraction of a second as nearly 160 million tonnes of limestone and bedrock were uplifted, creating its crater rim on formerly flat terrain. The asteroid that produced the Barringer Crater was only about in size; however it impacted the ground at a velocity of and struck with an impact energy of — about 625 times greater than the bomb that destroyed the city of Hiroshima during World War II. Tsunamis can also occur after a medium-sized or larger asteroid impacts an ocean surface or other large body of water.  The probability of a mid-sized asteroid (similar to the one that destroyed the Tunguska River area of Russia in 1908) hitting Earth during the 21st century has been estimated at about 30%. Since the Earth is currently more populated than in previous eras, there is a greater risk of large casualties arising from a mid-sized asteroid impact. However, as of the early 2010s, only about a half of one per cent of Tunguska-type NEOs had been located by astronomers using ground-based telescope surveys.  The need for an asteroid detection program has been compared to the need for monsoon, typhoon, and hurricane preparedness. As the B612 Foundation and other organizations have publicly noted, of the different types of natural catastrophes that can occur on our planet, asteroid strikes are the only one that the world now has the technical capability to prevent.  B612 is one of several organizations to propose detailed dynamic surveys of NEOs and preventative measures such as asteroid deflection. Other groups include Chinese researchers, NASA in the United States, NEOShield in Europe, as well as the international Spaceguard Foundation. In December 2009 Roscosmos Russian Federal Space Agency director Anatoly Perminov proposed a deflection mission to the asteroid 99942 Apophis, which at the time had been thought to pose a risk of collision with Earth.

B612 Project and Foundation.

The October 2001 asteroid deflection workshop participants created the "B612 Project" to further their research. Schweickart, along with Drs. Hut, Lu and Chapman, then formed the B612 Foundation on October 7, 2002, with its first goal being to "significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner". Schweickart became an early public face of the foundation and served as Chair on its board of directors. In 2010, as part of an "ad hoc" task force on planetary defense, he advocated increasing NASA's annual budget by $250M–$300 million over a 10-year period (with an operational maintenance budget of up to $75 million per year after that) in order to more fully catalog the near-Earth objects (NEOs) that can pose a threat to Earth, and to also fully develop impact avoidance capabilities. That recommended level of budgetary support would permit up to 10–20 years of advance warning in order to create a sufficient window for the required trajectory deflection.  Their recommendations were made to a NASA Advisory Council, but were ultimately unsuccessful in obtaining Congressional funding due to NASA, lacking a legislated mandate for planetary protection, not being permitted to request it. Feeling it would be imprudent to continue waiting for substantive government or United Nations action, B612 began a fundraising campaign in 2012 to cover the approximate US$450 million cost for the development, launch and operations of an asteroid-finding space telescope, to be called Sentinel, with a goal of raising $30 to $40 million per year. The space observatory's objective would be to accurately survey NEOs from an orbit similar to that Venus, creating a large dynamic catalog of such objects that would help identify dangerous Earth-impactors, deemed a necessary precursor to mounting any asteroid deflection mission.  In March and April 2013, several weeks after the Chelyabinsk meteor explosion injured some 1,500 people, the U.S. Congress held hearings for "...the Risks, Impacts and Solutions for Space Threats". They received testimony from B612 head Ed Lu (see video at right), as well as Dr. Donald K. Yeomans, head of NASA's NEO Program Office, Dr. Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland and co-chair of a 2009 U.S. National Research Council study on asteroid threats, plus others. The difficulty of quickly intercepting an imminent asteroid threat to Earth was made apparent during the testimony:  As a result of a set of hearings by the NASA Advisory Committee following the Chelyabinsk explosion in 2013, in conjunction with a White House request to double its budget, NASA's Near Earth Object Program funding was increased to $40.5 M/year in its FY2014 (Fiscal Year 2014) budget. It had previously been increased to $20.5 M/year in FY2012 (about 0.1% of NASA's annual budget at the time), from an average of about $4 M/year between 2002 and 2010.

Sentinel Mission.

The Sentinel Mission program was the cornerstone of the B612 Foundation's earlier efforts, with its preliminary design and system architecture level reviews planned for 2014, and its critical design review to be conducted in 2015. The infrared telescope would be launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, to be placed into a Venus-trailing Heliocentric orbit around the Sun. Orbiting between the Sun and Earth, the Sun's rays would always be behind the telescope's lens and thus never inhibit the space observatory's ability to detect asteroids or other near-Earth objects (NEOs). From the vantage of its inner-solar system orbit around the Sun, Sentinel would be able to "pick up objects that are currently difficult, if not impossible, to see in advance from Earth", such as occurred with the Chelyabinsk meteor of 2013 that went undetected until its explosion over Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. The Sentinel Mission was planned to provide an accurate dynamic catalog of asteroids and other NEOs made available to scientists worldwide from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, the data collected would calculate the risk of impact events with our planet, allowing for asteroid deflection by the use of gravity tractors to divert their trajectories away from Earth.  In order to communicate with the spacecraft while it is orbiting the Sun (at about the same distance as Venus), which can be at times as far as 270 million kilometres (170 million miles) from Earth, the B612 Foundation entered into a Space Act Agreement with NASA for the use of their deep space telecommunication network.

Design and operation.

Sentinel was designed to perform continuous observation and analysis during its planned -year operational life, although B612 anticipates it may continue to function for up to 10 years. Using its telescope mirror with sensors built by Ball Aerospace (makers of the Hubble Space Telescope's instruments), its mission would be to catalog 90% of asteroids with diameters larger than. There were also plans to catalog smaller Solar System objects as well.  The space observatory would measure by with a mass of and would orbit the Sun at a distance of approximately the same orbital distance as Venus, employing infrared astronomy to identify asteroids against the cold of outer space. Sentinel would scan in the 7- to 15-micron wavelength band across a 5.5 by 2-degree

Mission funding.

B612 was attempting to raise approximately $450M to fund the development, launch and operational costs of the telescope, about the cost of a complex freeway interchange, or approximately $100M less than a single Air Force Next-Generation Bomber. The $450 million cost estimate is composed of $250 million to create Sentinel, plus another $200 million for 10 years of operations. In explaining the Foundation's bypassing of possible governmental grants for such a mission, Dr. Lu stated their public fundraising appeal is being driven by "[t]he tragedy of the commons: When it's everybody's problem, it's nobody's problem", referring to a lack of ownership, priority and funding that governments have assigned to asteroid threats, also stating on a different occasion "We're the only ones taking it seriously." According to another B612 board member, Rusty Schweickart, "The good news

Staff.

Leadership.

In 2014 eight key staff positions were designated, covering the offices of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), Sentinel Program Architecture (SPA), Sentinel Mission Direction (SMD), Sentinel Program Management (SPM), Sentinel Mission Science (SMS) and the Sentinel Standing Review Team (SSRT), plus Public Relations.

Ed Lu, co-founder and CEO.

Edward Tsang "Ed" Lu (; b. July 1, 1963) is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of the B612 Foundation, and as well, a U.S. physicist and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions and an extended stay aboard the International Space Station which included a six-hour spacewalk outside the station performing construction work. During his three missions he logged a total of 206 days in space.  His education includes an electrical engineering degree from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford University. Lu became a specialist in solar physics and astrophysics as a visiting scientist at the High Altitude Observatory based in Boulder, Colorado, from 1989 until 1992. In his final year, he held a joint appointment with the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics

Tom Gavin, Chairman, Sentinel Standing Review Team.

Thomas R. Gavin is the chairman of the B612 Foundation's Sentinel Standing Review Team (SSRT), and a former executive-level manager at NASA. He served with NASA for 30 years, including his position as Associate Director for Flight Programs and Mission Assurance at their Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) organization, and "has been at the forefront in leading many of the most successful U.S. space missions, including Galileo's mission to Jupiter, Cassini–Huygens mission to Saturn, development of Genesis, Stardust, Mars 2001 Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rovers, SPITZER and Galaxy Evolution Explorer programs."  In 2001 he was appointed associate director for flight projects and mission success for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in May 2001. This was a new position created to provide the JPL Director's Office with oversight of flight projects. He later served as interim director

Scott Hubbard, Sentinel Program Architect.

Dr. G. Scott Hubbard is the B612 Foundation's Sentinel Program Architect, as well as a physicist, academic and a former executive-level manager at NASA, the U.S. space agency. He is a professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University and has been engaged in space-related research as well as program, project and executive management for more than 35 years including 20 years with NASA, culminating his career there as director of NASA's Ames Research Center. At Ames he was responsible for overseeing the work of some 2,600 scientists, engineers and other staff. Currently on the SpaceX Safety Advisory Panel, he previously served as NASA's sole representative on the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board, and also as their

Marc Buie, Sentinel Mission Scientist.

Dr. Marc W. Buie (b. 1958) is the foundation's Sentinel Mission Scientist, and as well a U.S. astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Buie received his B.Sc. in physics from Louisiana State University in 1980 and earned his Ph.D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona in 1984. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Hawaii from 1985 to 1988. From 1988 to 1991, he worked at the Space Telescope Science Institute where he assisted in the planning of the first planetary observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope.  Since 1983, Pluto and its moons have been

Harold Reitsema, Sentinel Mission Director.

Dr. Harold James Reitsema (b. January 19, 1948, Kalamazoo, Michigan) is the foundation's Sentinel Mission Director and a U.S. astronomer. Reitsema was formerly Director of Science Mission Development at Ball Aerospace & Technologies, the B612 Foundation's prime contractor for designing and building its space telescope observatory. In his early career during the 1980s he was part of the teams that discovered new moons orbiting Neptune and Saturn through ground-based telescopic observations. Using a coronagraphic imaging system with one of the first charge-coupled devices available for astronomical use, they first observed Telesto in April 1980, just two months after being one of the first groups to observe Janus, also a moon of Saturn. Reitsema, as part of a different team of astronomers, observed Larissa in May 1981, by watching the occultation of a star by the Neptune

John Troeltzsch, Sentinel Program Manager.

John Troeltzsch is the B612 Foundation's Sentinel Program Manager, a senior U.S. aerospace engineer and as well a program manager with Ball Aerospace & Technologies. Ball Aerospace is the Sentinel's prime contractor responsible for its design and integration, to be later launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into a Venus-trailing heliocentric orbit around the Sun. Troeltzsch's responsibilities include overseeing all requirements for the observatory's detailed design and build at Ball. As part of his 31 years of service with them, he helped create three of the Hubble Space Telescope's instruments and also managed the Spitzer

David Liddle, Chair, Board of Directors.

Dr. David Liddle is the foundation's Board Chair and a former technology industry executive and professor of computer science. He also holds the Chair of many boards of directors, including research institutes, in the United States.  Liddle is a partner at the venture capital firm U.S. Venture Partners, and is a co-founder and former CEO of both the Interval Research Corporation and Metaphor Computer Systems, plus a consulting professor of computer science at Stanford University, credited with heading development of the Xerox Star computer system. He served as an executive at the Xerox Corporation and

Board of directors.

As of 2014 the B612 Foundation's board includes Geoffrey Baehr (formerly with Sun Microsystems and U.S. Venture Partners), plus Doctors Chapman, Piet Hut, Ed Lu (also CEO, see Leadership, above), David Liddle (Chair, see Leadership, above), and Dan Durda, a planetary scientist.

Rusty Schweickart, co-founder and Chair Emeritus.

Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart (b. October 25, 1935) is a co-founder of the B612 Foundation and chair emeritus of its board of directors. He is also a former U.S. Apollo astronaut, research scientist, Air Force pilot, plus business and government executive. Schweickart, chosen in NASA's third astronaut group, is best known as the lunar module pilot on the Apollo 9 mission, the spacecraft's first manned flight test on which he performed the first in-space test of the portable life support system used by the Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon. Prior to joining NASA, Schweickart was a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Experimental Astronomy Laboratory, where he researched upper atmospheric physics and became an expert in star tracking and the stabilization of stellar images, a crucial requirement for space navigation. Schweickart's education includes a B.Sc. in aeronautical engineering and an M.Sc. in Aeronautics–Astronautics, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in 1956 and 1963 respectively. His Master's thesis

Clark Chapman, co-founder and board member.

Clark Chapman is a B612 Board Member and "a planetary scientist whose research has specialized in studies of asteroids and cratering of planetary surfaces, using telescopes, spacecraft, and computers. He is a past Chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society and was the first editor of the "Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets".

Dan Durda, board member.

Dr. Daniel David "Dan" Durda (b. October 26, 1965, Detroit, Michigan), is a B612 Board Member and "a principal scientist in the Department of Space Studies of the Southwest Research Institute's (SwRI) Boulder Colorado. He has more than 20 years experience researching the collisional and dynamical evolution of main-belt and near-Earth asteroids, Vulcanoids, Kuiper belt comets, and interplanetary dust." He is the author of 68 journal and scientific articles and has presented his reports and findings at 22 professional symposiums. He

Strategic advisers.

As of July 2014, the Foundation has taken on over twenty key advisers drawn from the sciences, the space industry and other professional fields. Their goals are to provide both advice and critiques, and assist in several other facets of the Sentinel Mission. Included among them are: Dr. Alexander Galitsky, a former Soviet computer scientist and B612 Founding Circle adviser; British Astronomer Royal, cosmologist and astrophysicist Lord Martin Rees, the Baron Rees of Ludlow; U.S. "Star Trek" director Alexander Singer; U.S. science journalist and writer Andrew Chaikin; British astrophysicist and songwriter Dr. Brian May; U.S. astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker; U.S. astrophysicist Dr. David Brin; Romanian cosmonaut Dumitru Prunariu; U.S. physicist and mathematician Dr. Freeman Dyson; U.S. astrophysicist and former Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics head Dr. Irwin Shapiro; U.S. film director Jerry Zucker; British-U.S. balloonist Julian Nott; Dutch astrophysist and B612 co-founder Dr. Piet Hut; former U.S. Ambassador Philip Lader; British cosmologist and astrophysicist Dr. Roger Blandford; U.S. writer and Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand; U.S. media head Tim O'Reilly; and former U.S. NASA astronaut Dr. Tom Jones.

Tom Jones, strategic adviser.

Dr. Thomas David "Tom" Jones (b. January 22, 1955) is a strategic adviser to B612, member of the NASA Advisory Council and a former U.S. astronaut and planetary scientist who has studied asteroids for NASA, engineered intelligence-gathering systems for the CIA, and helped develop advanced mission concepts to explore the Solar System. In his 11 years with NASA he flew on four space shuttle missions, logging a total of 53 days in space. His flight time included three spacewalks to install the centerpiece science module of the International Space Station (ISS). His publications include "Planetology: Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System."  After graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy where he received his B.Sc. in 1977, Jones earned a Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from the University of Arizona in 1988. His research interests included the remote sensing of asteroids, meteorite spectroscopy,

Piet Hut, co-founder and strategic adviser.

Dr. Piet Hut (b. September 26, 1952, Utrecht, The Netherlands) is a co-founder of the B612 Foundation, one of its strategic advisers, and a Dutch astrophysicist, who divides his time between research in computer simulations of dense stellar systems and broadly interdisciplinary collaborations, ranging from fields in natural science to computer science, cognitive psychology and philosophy. He is currently Program Head in Interdisciplinary Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, former home to Albert Einstein.  Hut's specialization is in "stellar and planetary dynamics; many of his more than two hundred articles are written in collaboration with colleagues from different fields, ranging from particle physics, geophysics and paleontology to computer science, cognitive psychology

Dumitru Prunariu, strategic adviser.

Dr. Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu (, b. 27 September 1952) is a retired Romanian cosmonaut and a strategic advisor to the B612 Foundation. In 1981 he flew an eight-day mission to the Soviet Salyut 6 space station where he and his crewmates completed experiments in astrophysics, space radiation, space technology, and space medicine. He received the Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania, the Hero of the Soviet Union, the "Hermann Oberth Gold Medal", the "Golden Star Medal" and the Order of Lenin.  Prunariu is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, the Romanian National COSPAR Committee, and the Association of Space Explorers (ASE). In 1993, until 2004, he was the

Deflection methods.

A number of methods have been devised to 'deflect' an asteroid or other NEO away from an Earth-impacting trajectory, so that it can entirely avoid entering the Earth's atmosphere. Given sufficient advance lead time, a change to the body's velocity of as little as one centimetre per second will allow it to avoid hitting the Earth. Proposed and experimental deflection methods include ion beam shepherds, focused solar energy and the use of mass drivers or solar sails.  Initiating a nuclear explosive device above, on, or slightly beneath, the surface of a threatening NEO is a potential deflection option, with the optimal detonation height dependent upon the NEO's composition and size. In the case of a threatening "rubble pile", the stand off, or detonation height above the surface configuration has been put forth as a means to prevent the potential fracturing of the rubble pile. However, given sufficient advance warning of an asteroid's impact, most scientists avoid endorsing explosive deflection due to the number of potential issues involved. Other methods that can accomplish NEO deflections include:

Gravity tractor.

An alternative to an explosive deflection is to move a dangerous asteroid slowly and consistently over time. The effect of a tiny constant thrust can accumulate to deviate an object sufficiently from its predicted course. In 2005 Drs. Ed Lu and Stanley G. Love proposed using a large, heavy unmanned spacecraft hovering over an asteroid to gravitationally pull the latter into a non-threatening orbit. The method will function due to the spacecraft's and asteroid's mutually gravitational attraction. When the spacecraft counters the gravitational attraction towards the asteroid by the use of, for example, an ion thruster engine, the net effect is that the asteroid is accelerated, or moved, towards the spacecraft and thus slowly deflected from the orbital path that will lead it to a collision with Earth.  While slow, this method has the advantage of working irrespective of an asteroid's composition. It would even be effective on a comet, loose rubble pile, or an object

Kinetic impact.

When the asteroid is still far from Earth, a means of deflecting the asteroid is to directly alter its momentum by colliding a spacecraft with the asteroid. The further away from the Earth, the smaller the required impact force becomes. Conversely, the closer a dangerous near-Earth Object (NEO) is to Earth at the time of its discovery, the greater the force that is required to make it deviate from its collision trajectory with the Earth. Closer to Earth, the impact of a massive spacecraft is a possible solution to a pending NEO impact.  In 2005, in the wake of the successful U.S. mission that crashed its Deep Impact probe into Comet Tempel 1, China announced its plan for a more advanced version: the landing of a spacecraft probe on a small NEO in order to push it off course. In the 2000s the European Space Agency (ESA) began studying the design of a

Funding status.

The B612 Foundation is a California 501(c)(3) non-profit, private foundation. Financial contributions to the B612 Foundation are tax-exempt in the United States. Its principal offices are in Mountain

Foundation name.

The B612 Foundation is named in tribute to the home asteroid of the eponymous hero of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's best-selling philosophical fable of "Le Petit Prince" ("The Little Prince"). In aviation's early pioneer years of the 1920s, Saint-Exupéry made an emergency landing on top of an African mesa covered with crushed white limestone seashells. Walking around in the moonlight he kicked a black rock and soon deduced it was a meteorite that had fallen

References.

Notes

The B612 Foundation is a private nonprofit foundation headquartered in Mill Valley, California, United States, dedicated to planetary science and planetary defense against asteroids and other near-Earth object (NEO) impacts. It is led mainly by scientists, former astronauts and engineers from the Institute for Advanced Study, Southwest Research Institute, Stanford University, NASA and the space industry.

B612基金会(B612 Foundation)是一个致力于避免小行星撞击地球的私人基金会。该基金会的近期目标是在2015年找到可显著改变小行星轨道的方式。


Discovery.

Megavirus was isolated from a water sample collected in April 2010 off the coast of Chile, near the marine station in Las Cruces, by Prof. Jean-Michel Claverie and Dr. Chantal Abergel from the Structural & Genomic Information laboratory (IGS, CNRS and Aix-Marseille University). Researchers from this laboratory were already involved in the characterization of Mimivirus, the first described giant T2 Virus. Megavirus was isolated by co-cultivation with a variety of "Acanthamoeba" laboratory strains ("A. polyphaga", "A. castellanii", "A. griffini") following a protocol pioneered by Dr. Timothy Rowbotham for isolating intracellular parasitic bacteria. Megavirus infects amoebas.

Classification.

Megavirus is not yet classified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, but will be proposed as a member of the Megaviridae, a new family constituted of the large DNA viruses the genome of which is around a million base pairs in length. Members of this new family defined by a number of common specific features (Table 1 and 2) will include various viruses likely to share a common ancestor with Mimivirus and Megavirus, although their present genome size was reduced below 1 Mb. Megavirus also joins a group of large viruses known as nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV), although this term appears increasingly inappropriate to designate viruses replicating entirely within the cytoplasm of their hosts through the de novo synthesis of large virion factories. Megavirus and Mimivirus share 594 orthologous genes, mostly located within the center segment of their genomes. At the amino-acid sequence level, the corresponding proteins share an average of 50% identical residues.

Structure.

The Megavirus particle exhibits a protein capsid diameter of 440 nanometres (as seen by electron microscopy on thin sections of epoxy resin inclusions), enclosed into a solid mesh of bacterial-like capsular material 75 nm to 100 nm thick. The capsid appears hexagonal, but its icosahedral symmetry is imperfect, due to the presence of the “stargate”, at a single specific vertex of the icosahedron. The stargate is a five-pronged star structure forming the portal through which the internal core of the particle is delivered to the host's cytoplasm. This core is enclosed within two lipid membranes in the particle, also containing a large and diverse complement of viral proteins (e.g. the all transcriptional complex). Surprisingly, the Megavirus is larger than some bacteria, particularly the ones it preys on.

Genome.

The Megavirus chilensis genome is a linear, double-stranded molecule of DNA with 1,259,197 base pairs in length. This makes it the second largest viral genome deciphered so far (after Pandoraviridae), outstripping the next-largest virus genome of Mamavirus by 67.5 kb. Prior validation of its transcriptome, it is predicted to encode 1,120 protein-coding genes, a number largely above the one exhibited by many bacteria.  However, beyond an incremental change in size, the Megavirus genome exhibits 7 aminoacyl tRNA synthetases (Table 2), the archetypes of enzymes previously thought only to be encoded by cellular organisms. While 4 of these enzymes were known to be present in Mimivirus and Mamavirus (for tyrosine, arginine, cysteine, and methionine), Megavirus exhibits three more (for tryptophan, asparagine, and isoleucine). The unique aminoacyltRNA synthetase encoded by Cafeteria roenbergensis virus corresponds to the one for isoleucine. Megavirus also encodes a fused version of the mismatch DNA repair enzyme MutS, uniquely similar to the one found in the mitochondrion of octocorals. This puzzling MutS version appears to be a trademark of the family Megaviridae. Like Mimivirus and CroV, Megavirus contains many genes for sugar, lipid and amino acid processing, as well as some metabolic genes not found in any other virus.

Replication.

Megavirus replication stages closely follows the one already described for Mimivirus. Following rapid engulfing by phagocytosis, and the delivery of the particle core to the cytoplasm, begins the eclipse phase. A closer examination indicates the presence of cytoplasmic “seeds”, of sizes comparable to the most internal membrane-enclosed core of the Megavirus particle. These seeds then develop in full bloomed virion factory over the following 14 hours. The full course of infection (until the complete lysis of the amoebal cells) takes 17 hours on average, compared to 12 hours for Mimivirus. The average number of released Megavirus particles (i.e. the “burst size”) is about 500, half the thousand released by Mimivirus.  As expected from a virus encoding its own complete DNA replication, repair, and transcription machinery, the host nucleus does not appear to be involved in any of Megavirus replication stages, as already seen for Mimivirus.

Table 1: Largest giant viruses with complete sequenced genomes.

The whole list is in the Giant Virus Topist created by the Giant Virus Finder software.

Megavirus is a viral genus containing a single identified species named Megavirus chilensis, phylogenetically related to Acanthamoeba polyphaga Mimivirus (APMV). In colloquial speech, Megavirus chilensis is more commonly referred to as just “Megavirus”. Until the discovery of pandoraviruses in 2013, it had the largest capsid diameter of all known viruses, as well as the largest and most complex genome among all known viruses.

巨大病毒("Megavirus")是继拟菌病毒和马赛病毒后,于智利海岸水域中发现的又一种巨大病毒,因为该病毒是当时发现的最大的病毒,且该病毒株发现于智利海域,因此该病毒株被命名为 "Megavirus chiliensis"。


Etymology.

The name Macedonia (, "") comes from the ethnonym Μακεδόνες ("Makedónes"), which itself is derived from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός ("makednós"), meaning "tall, slim", also the name of a people related to the Dorians (Herodotus), and possibly descriptive of Ancient Macedonians. It

History.

Early history and legend.

The Classical Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides reported the legend that the Macedonian kings of the Argead dynasty were descendants of Temenus, king of Argos, and could therefore claim the mythical Heracles as one of their ancestors as well as a direct lineage from Zeus, chief god of the Greek pantheon. Contradictory legends state that either Perdiccas I of Macedon or Caranus of Macedon were the founders of the Argead dynasty, with either five or eight kings before AmyntasI. The assertion that the Argeads descended from Temenus was accepted by the "Hellanodikai" authorities of the Ancient Olympic Games, permitting Alexander I of Macedon () to enter the competitions owing to his perceived Greek heritage. Little is known about the kingdom before the reign of AlexanderI's father Amyntas I of Macedon () during the Archaic period.  The kingdom of Macedonia was situated along the Haliacmon and Axius rivers in Lower Macedonia, north of Mount Olympus. Historian Robert Malcolm Errington suggests that one of the earliest Argead kings established Aigai (modern Vergina) as their capital in the mid-7th centuryBC. Before the 4th centuryBC, the kingdom covered a region corresponding roughly to

Involvement in the Classical Greek world.

Although initially a Persian vassal, AlexanderI of Macedon fostered friendly diplomatic relations with his former Greek enemies, the Athenian and Spartan-led coalition of Greek city-states. His successor PerdiccasII () led the Macedonians to war in four separate conflicts against Athens, leader of the Delian League, while incursions by the Thracian ruler Sitalces of the Odrysian kingdom threatened Macedonia's territorial integrity in the northeast. The Athenian statesman Pericles promoted colonization of the Strymon River near the Kingdom of Macedonia, where the colonial city of Amphipolis was founded in 437/436BC so that it could provide Athens with a steady supply of silver and gold as well as timber and pitch to support the Athenian navy. Initially Perdiccas II did not take any action and might have even welcomed the Athenians, as the Thracians were foes to both of them. This changed due to an Athenian alliance with a brother and cousin

Rise of Macedon.

Philip II was twenty-four years old when he acceded to the throne in 359BC. Through the use of deft diplomacy, he was able to convince the Thracians under Berisades to cease their support of Pausanias, a pretender to the throne, and the Athenians to halt their support of another pretender. He achieved these by bribing the Thracians and their Paeonian allies and establishing a treaty with Athens that relinquished his claims to Amphipolis. He was also able to make peace with the Illyrians who had threatened his borders.  Philip II spent his initial years radically transforming the Macedonian army. A reform of its organization, equipment, and training, including the introduction of the Macedonian phalanx armed with long pikes (i.e. the "sarissa"), proved immediately successful when tested against his Illyrian and Paeonian enemies. Confusing accounts in ancient sources have led modern scholars to debate how much PhilipII's royal predecessors may have contributed to these reforms and the extent to which his ideas were influenced by his adolescent years of captivity in Thebes as a political hostage during the Theban hegemony, especially after meeting with the general Epaminondas.  The Macedonians, like the other Greeks, traditionally practiced monogamy, but PhilipII practiced polygamy and married seven wives with perhaps only one that did not involve the loyalty of his aristocratic subjects or new

Empire.

Modern scholars have argued over the possible role of AlexanderIII "the Great" and his mother Olympias in the assassination of PhilipII, noting the latter's choice to exclude Alexander from his planned invasion of Asia, choosing instead for him to act as regent of Greece and deputy "hegemon" of the League of Corinth, and the potential bearing of another male heir between PhilipII and his new wife, Cleopatra Eurydice. AlexanderIII () was immediately proclaimed king by an assembly of the army and leading aristocrats, chief among them being Antipater and Parmenion. By the end of his reign and military career in 323BC, Alexander would rule over an empire consisting of mainland Greece, Asia Minor, the Levant, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and much of Central and South Asia (i.e. modern Pakistan). Among his first acts was the burial of his father at Aigai. The members of the League of Corinth revolted at the news of PhilipII's death, but were soon quelled by military force alongside persuasive diplomacy, electing Alexander as "hegemon" of the league to carry out the planned invasion of Achaemenid Persia.  In 335 BC, Alexander fought against the Thracian tribe of the Triballi at Haemus Mons and along the Danube, forcing their surrender on Peuce Island. Shortly thereafter, the Illyrian king Cleitus of the Dardani threatened to attack Macedonia, but Alexander took the initiative and besieged the Dardani at Pelion (in modern Albania). When Thebes had once again revolted from the League of Corinth and was

Hellenistic era.

The beginning of Hellenistic Greece was defined by the struggle between the Antipatrid dynasty, led first by Cassander (), son of Antipater, and the Antigonid dynasty, led by the Macedonian general Antigonus I Monophthalmus () and his son, the future king DemetriusI (). Cassander besieged Athens in 303BC, but was forced to retreat to Macedonia when Demetrius invaded Boeotia to his rear, attempting to sever his path of retreat. While Antigonus and Demetrius attempted to recreate PhilipII's Hellenic league with themselves as dual hegemons, a revived coalition of Cassander, Ptolemy I Soter () of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty, Seleucus I Nicator () of the Seleucid Empire, and Lysimachus (), King of Thrace, defeated the Antigonids at the Battle of Ipsus in 301BC, killing Antigonus and forcing Demetrius into flight.  Cassander died in 297 BC, and his sickly son PhilipIV died the same year, succeeded by Cassander's other sons Alexander V of Macedon () and Antipater II of Macedon (), with their mother Thessalonike of Macedon acting as regent. While Demetrius fought against the Antipatrid forces in Greece, AntipaterII killed his own mother to obtain power. His desperate brother AlexanderV then requested aid from Pyrrhus of Epirus (), who had fought alongside Demetrius at the Battle of Ipsus, but was sent to Egypt as a hostage as part of an agreement between Demetrius and PtolemyI. In exchange for defeating

Conflict with Rome.

In 215 BC, at the height of the Second Punic War with the Carthaginian Empire, Roman authorities intercepted a ship off the Calabrian coast holding a Macedonian envoy and a Carthaginian ambassador in possession of a treaty composed by Hannibal Barca declaring an alliance with PhilipV. The treaty stipulated that Carthage had the sole right to negotiate the terms of Rome's hypothetical surrender and promised mutual aid in the event that a resurgent Rome should seek revenge against either Macedonia or Carthage. Although the Macedonians were perhaps only interested in safeguarding their newly conquered territories in Illyria, the Romans were nevertheless able to thwart whatever grand ambitions PhilipV had for the Adriatic region during the First Macedonian War (214–205BC). In 214BC, Rome positioned a naval fleet at Oricus, which was assaulted along with Apollonia by Macedonian forces. When the Macedonians captured Lissus in 212BC, the Roman Senate responded by inciting the Aetolian League, Sparta, Elis, Messenia, and Attalus I () of Pergamon to wage war against PhilipV, keeping him occupied and away from Italy.  The Aetolian League concluded a peace agreement with PhilipV in 206BC, and the Roman Republic negotiated the Treaty of

Institutions.

Division of power.

At the head of Macedonia's government was the king ("basileus"). From at least the reign of PhilipII, the king was assisted by the royal pages ("basilikoi paides"), bodyguards ("somatophylakes"), companions ("hetairoi"), friends ("philoi"), an assembly that

Kingship and the royal court.

The earliest known government of ancient Macedonia was that of its monarchy, lasting until 167BC when it was abolished by the Romans. The Macedonian hereditary monarchy existed since at least the time of Archaic Greece, with Homeric aristocratic roots in Mycenaean Greece. Thucydides wrote that in previous ages, Macedonia was divided into small tribal regions, each having its own petty king, the tribes of Lower Macedonia eventually coalescing under one great king who exercised power as an overlord over the lesser kings of Upper Macedonia. The direct line of father-to-son succession was broken after the assassination of Orestes of Macedon in 396BC (allegedly by his regent and successor Aeropus II of Macedon), clouding the issue of whether primogeniture was the established custom or if there was a constitutional right for an assembly of the army or of the people to choose another king. It is unclear if the male offspring of Macedonian queens or consorts were always preferred over others given the accession of Archelaus I of Macedon, son of Perdiccas II of Macedon and a slave woman, although Archelaus succeeded the throne after murdering his

Royal pages.

The royal pages were adolescent boys and young men conscripted from aristocratic households and serving the kings of Macedonia perhaps from the reign of PhilipII onward, although more solid evidence dates to the reign of Alexander the Great. Royal pages played no direct role in high politics and were conscripted as a means to introduce them to political life. After

Bodyguards.

Royal bodyguards served as the closest members to the king at court and on the battlefield. They were split into two categories: the "agema" of the "hypaspistai", a type of ancient special forces usually numbering in the hundreds, and a smaller group of

Companions, friends, councils, and assemblies.

The companions, including the elite companion cavalry and "pezhetairoi" infantry, represented a substantially larger group than the king's bodyguards. The most trusted or highest ranking companions formed a council that served as an advisory body to the king. A small amount of evidence suggests the existence of an assembly of the army during times of war and a people's assembly during times of peace.  Members of the council had the right to speak freely, and although there is no direct evidence that they voted on affairs of state, it

Magistrates, the commonwealth, local government, and allied states.

Antigonid Macedonian kings relied on various regional officials to conduct affairs of state. This included high-ranking municipal officials, such as the military "strategos" and the politarch, i.e. the elected governor ("archon") of a large city ("polis"), as well as the politico-religious office of the "epistates". No evidence exists about the personal backgrounds of these officials, although they may have been chosen among the same group of aristocratic "philoi" and "hetairoi" who filled vacancies for army officers. In ancient Athens, the Athenian democracy was restored on three separate occasions following the initial conquest of the city by Antipater in 322BC. When it fell repeatedly under Macedonian rule it was governed by a Macedonian-imposed oligarchy composed of the wealthiest members of the city-state. Other city-states were handled quite differently and were allowed a greater degree of autonomy. After PhilipII conquered Amphipolis in 357BC, the city was allowed to retain its democracy, including its constitution, popular assembly, city council ("boule"), and yearly elections for new officials, but a Macedonian garrison was housed within the city walls along with a Macedonian royal commissioner ("epistates")

Military.

Early Macedonian army.

The basic structure of the Ancient Macedonian army was the division between the companion cavalry ("hetairoi") and the foot companions ("pezhetairoi"), augmented by various allied troops, foreign levied soldiers, and mercenaries. The foot companions existed perhaps since the reign of Alexander I of Macedon. Macedonian cavalry, wearing muscled cuirasses, became renowned in Greece during and after their involvement in the

Philip II and Alexander the Great.

After spending years as a political hostage in Thebes, PhilipII sought to imitate the Greek example of martial exercises and the issuing of standard equipment for citizen soldiery, and succeeded in transforming the Macedonian army from a levied force of unprofessional farmers into a well-trained, professional army. PhilipII adopted some of the military tactics of his enemies, such as the "embolon" (flying wedge) cavalry formation of the Scythians. His infantry wielded "peltai" shields that replaced the earlier "hoplon"-style shields, were equipped with protective helmets, greaves, and either cuirasses breastplates or "kotthybos" stomach bands, and armed with "sarissa" pikes and daggers as secondary weapons. The elite "hypaspistai" infantry, composed of handpicked men from the ranks of the "pezhetairoi", were formed during the reign of PhilipII and saw continued use during the reign of Alexander the Great. PhilipII was also responsible for the establishment of the royal bodyguards ("somatophylakes"). For his lighter missile troops, Philip II employed mercenary Cretan archers as well as Thracian, Paeonian, and Illyrian javelin throwers, slingers, and archers. He hired

Antigonid period military.

The Macedonian army continued to evolve under the Antigonid dynasty. It is uncertain how many men were appointed as "somatophylakes", which numbered eight men at the end of Alexander the Great's reign, while the "hypaspistai" seem to have morphed into assistants of the "somatophylakes". At the Battle of Cynoscephalae in 197BC, the Macedonians commanded some 16,000 phalanx pikemen. Alexander the Great's royal squadron of companion cavalry contained 800 men, the same number of cavalrymen in the sacred squadron (Latin: "sacra ala"; Greek: "hiera ile") commanded by Philip V of Macedon during the Social War of 219BC. The regular Macedonian cavalry numbered 3,000 at Callinicus, which was separate from the sacred squadron and royal cavalry. While Macedonian cavalry of the 4th century BC had fought without shields, the use of shields by cavalry was adopted from the Celtic invaders of the 270s BC who settled in Galatia, central Anatolia.  Thanks to contemporary inscriptions from Amphipolis and Greia dated 218 and 181BC, respectively, historians have been able to partially piece together the organization of

Society and culture.

Language and dialects.

Following its adoption as the court language of Philip II of Macedon's regime, authors of ancient Macedonia wrote their works in Koine Greek, the "lingua franca" of late Classical and Hellenistic Greece. Rare textual evidence indicates that the native Macedonian language was either a dialect of Greek similar to Thessalian Greek and Northwestern Greek, or a

Religious beliefs and funerary practices.

By the 5th century BC, the Macedonians and the southern Greeks worshiped more or less the same deities of the Greek pantheon. In Macedonia, political and religious offices were often intertwined. For instance, the head of state for the city of Amphipolis also served as the priest of Asklepios, Greek god of medicine; a similar arrangement existed at Cassandreia, where a cult priest honoring the city's founder Cassander was the nominal head of the city. The main sanctuary of Zeus was maintained at Dion, while another at Veria was dedicated to Herakles and was patronized by Demetrius II Aetolicus (). Meanwhile, foreign cults from Egypt were fostered by the royal court, such as the temple of Sarapis at Thessaloniki. The Macedonians also had relations with "international"

Economics and social class.

Young Macedonian men were typically expected to engage in hunting and martial combat as a by-product of their transhumance lifestyle of herding livestock such as goats and sheep, while horse breeding and raising cattle were other common pursuits. Some Macedonians engaged in farming, often with irrigation, land reclamation, and horticulture activities supported by the Macedonian state. The Macedonian economy and state finances were mainly supported by logging and by mining valuable minerals such as copper, iron, gold, and silver. The conversion of these raw materials into finished products and the sale of those products encouraged the growth of urban centers and a gradual

Visual arts.

By the reign of ArchelausI in the 5th century BC, the ancient Macedonian elite was importing customs and artistic traditions from other regions of Greece while retaining more archaic, perhaps Homeric, funerary rites connected with the symposium that were typified by items such as the decorative metal kraters that held the ashes of deceased Macedonian nobility in their tombs. Among these is the large bronze Derveni Krater from a 4th-centuryBC tomb of Thessaloniki, decorated with scenes of the Greek god Dionysus and his entourage and belonging to an aristocrat who had had a military career. Macedonian metalwork usually followed Athenian styles of vase shapes from the 6thcenturyBC onward, with drinking vessels, jewellery, containers, crowns, diadems, and coins among the many metal objects found in Macedonian tombs. Surviving Macedonian painted artwork includes frescoes

Theatre, music and performing arts.

Philip II was assassinated in 336 BC at the theatre of Aigai, Macedonia, amid games and spectacles celebrating the marriage of his daughter Cleopatra of Macedon. Alexander the Great was allegedly a great admirer of both theatre and music. He was especially fond of the plays by Classical Athenian tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, whose works formed part of a proper Greek education for his new eastern subjects alongside studies in the Greek language, including the epics of Homer. While

Literature, education, philosophy, and patronage.

Perdiccas II of Macedon was able to host well-known Classical Greek intellectual visitors at his royal court, such as the lyric poet Melanippides and the renowned medical doctor Hippocrates, and Pindar's "enkomion" written for Alexander I of Macedon may have been composed at his court. ArchelausI received many more Greek scholars, artists, and celebrities at his court than his predecessors. His honored guests included the painter Zeuxis, the architect Callimachus, the poets Choerilus of Samos, Timotheus of Miletus, and Agathon, as well as the famous Athenian playwright Euripides. The philosopher Aristotle, who studied at the Platonic Academy of Athens and established the Aristotelian school of thought, moved to Macedonia, and is said to have tutored the young Alexander the Great, as well as serving as an esteemed diplomat for PhilipII. Among Alexander's retinue of artists, writers, and philosophers was Pyrrho of Elis,

Sports and leisure.

When Alexander I of Macedon petitioned to compete in the foot race of the ancient Olympic Games, the event organizers at first denied his request, explaining that only Greeks were allowed to compete. However, AlexanderI produced proof of an Argead royal genealogy showing ancient Argive Temenid lineage, a move that ultimately convinced the Olympic "Hellanodikai" authorities of his Greek descent and ability to compete. By

Dining and cuisine.

Ancient Macedonia produced only a few fine foods or beverages that were highly appreciated elsewhere in the Greek world, including eels from the Strymonian Gulf and special wine produced in Chalcidice. The earliest known use of flat bread as a plate for meat was made in Macedonia during the 3rdcenturyBC, which perhaps influenced the later trencher bread of medieval Europe. Cattle and goats were consumed, although there was no notice of Macedonian mountain cheeses in literature until the Middle Ages. The comedic playwright Menander wrote that Macedonian dining habits penetrated Athenian high society; for

Ethnic identity.

Ancient authors and modern scholars alike disagree about the ethnic identity of the ancient Macedonians. Ernst Badian notes that nearly all surviving references to antagonisms and differences between Greeks and Macedonians exist in the written speeches of Arrian, who lived at the time of the Roman Empire, when any notion of an ethnic disparity between Macedonians and other Greeks was incomprehensible. Hatzopoulos argues that there was no real ethnic difference between Macedonians and Greeks, only a political distinction contrived after the creation of the League of Corinth in 337BC (which was led by Macedonia through the league's elected "hegemon" PhilipII, when he was not a member of the league itself), N. G. L. Hammond asserts that ancient views differentiating Macedonia's ethnic identity from the rest of the Greek-speaking world should

Technology and engineering.

Architecture.

Macedonian architecture, although utilizing a mixture of different forms and styles from the rest of Greece, did not represent a unique or diverging style from other ancient Greek architecture. Among the classical orders, Macedonian architects favored the Ionic order, especially in the peristyle courtyards of private homes. There are several surviving examples, albeit in ruins, of Macedonian palatial architecture, including a palace at the site of the capital Pella, the summer residence of Vergina near the old capital Aigai, and the royal residence at Demetrias near modern Volos. At Vergina, the ruins of three large banquet halls with marble-tiled floors (covered in the debris of roof tiles) with floor plan dimensions measuring roughly 16.7 x 17.6

Military technology and engineering.

By the Hellenistic period, it became common for Greek states to finance the development and proliferation of ever more powerful torsion siege engines, naval ships, and standardized designs for arms and armor. Under PhilipII and Alexander the Great, improvements were made to siege artillery such as bolt-shooting ballistae and siege engines such as huge rolling siege towers. E.W.Marsden and M.Y.Treister contend that the Macedonian rulers Antigonus I Monophthalmus and his successor Demetrius I of Macedon had the most powerful siege artillery of the Hellenistic world at the end of the 4thcenturyBC. The siege of Salamis, Cyprus, in 306BC necessitated the building of large siege engines and drafting of craftsmen from parts of West Asia. The siege tower commissioned by DemetriusI

Other innovations.

Although perhaps not as prolific as other areas of Greece in regards to technological innovations, there are some inventions that may have originated in Macedonia aside from siege engines and artillery. The rotary-operated olive press for producing olive oil may have been invented in ancient Macedonia or another part of Greece, or even as far

Currency, finances, and resources.

The minting of silver coinage began during the reign of AlexanderI as a means to pay for royal expenditures. ArchelausI increased the silver content of his coins as well as minting copper coins to promote foreign and domestic commerce. The minting of coinage significantly increased during the reigns of PhilipII and Alexander the Great, especially after the increase in state revenues following the seizure of the Pangaion Hills. During the Hellenistic period the royal houses of Macedonia, Ptolemaic Egypt, and the Kingdom of Pergamon exercised full monopolistic control over mining activities, largely to ensure the funding of their armies. By the end of the conquests of Alexander the Great, nearly thirty mints stretching from Macedonia to Babylon produced standard coins. The right to mint coins was shared by central and some local governments, i.e. the autonomous municipal governments of Thessaloniki, Pella, and Amphipolis within the Macedonian commonwealth. The Macedonians were also the first to issue different coins for internal and external circulation.  State revenues

Legacy.

The reigns of Philip II and Alexander the Great witnessed the demise of Classical Greece and the birth of Hellenistic civilization, following the spread of Greek culture to the Near East during and after Alexander's conquests. Macedonians then migrated to Egypt and parts of Asia, but the intensive colonization of foreign lands sapped the available manpower in Macedonia proper, weakening the kingdom in its fight with other Hellenistic powers and contributing to its downfall and conquest by the Romans. However, the diffusion of Greek culture and language cemented by Alexander's conquests in West Asia and North Africa served as a "precondition" for the later Roman expansion into these territories and entire basis for the Byzantine Empire, according to Errington. The ethnic Macedonian rulers of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid successor states accepted men from all over the Greek world as their "hetairoi" companions and did not foster a national identity like the Antigonids. Modern scholarship has focused on how these Hellenistic successor kingdoms were influenced more by their Macedonian origins than Eastern or southern Greek traditions. While Spartan society remained

References.

Sources.

Macedonia (;, '), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal Argead dynasty, which was followed by the Antipatrid and Antigonid dynasties. Home to the ancient Macedonians, the earliest kingdom was centered on the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, and bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south.

马其顿王国(古希腊语:)是古希腊西北部的王国。其史上最辉煌的时期即为亚历山大大帝开创的亚历山大帝国(马其顿帝国)。