Development.

Background.

In the early stages of the Second World War, the German military demonstrated its role as a pioneer in the deployment of airborne operations. These forces had conducted several successful operations during the Battle of France in 1940, including the use of glider-borne troops during the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael. Having been impressed by the performance and capabilities of German airborne operations, the Allied governments decided that they would form their own airborne formations as well. As a result of this decision, the creation of two British airborne divisions came about, as well as a number of smaller-scale units. On 22 June 1940, the British airborne establishment was formally initiated when the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, directed the War Office in a memorandum to investigate the possibility of creating a corps of 5,000 parachute troops. During 1941, the United States also embarked on a similar programme.  While the equipment for the airborne forces was under development, it was decided by War Office officials that gliders would be an integral component of such a force. It was initially thought that gliders would be used to deliver paratroops. Transport aircraft would both carry paratroops and tow a glider with a second party of troops. The idea arose as a response to the severe shortage of transport aircraft in the early part of the war, as in this way the number of troops that could be dropped in an operation by a given number of transport aircraft would be greatly enhanced. The empty gliders would be towed back to base.  However, thinking eventually evolved into using gliders to land both troops and heavy equipment in the theatre of operations. The first glider to be designed and produced was the General Aircraft Hotspur, the first prototype of which flew on 5 November 1940. However, it was soon determined that there were several problems with the Hotspur's design, the principal of these being that the glider was incapable of carrying sufficient troops. Tactically, it was believed that airborne troops should be landed in groups far larger than the maximum of eight fully equipped paratroopers that the Hotspur could transport, and also that the number of aircraft required to tow the gliders needed to carry larger groups would be impractical. There were also concerns that the gliders would have to be towed in tandem if used operationally, which would be extremely difficult during nighttime and through cloud formations.  Accordingly, it was decided that the Hotspur would be used only as a training glider, while British industry continued with the development of several different glider designs, including a larger 25-seater assault glider, which would become the "Airspeed Horsa". On 12 October 1940, Specification "X.26/40" was issued, calling for a large assault glider. Amongst the requirements given on the specification was that the aircraft should make use of wood construction where possible in order to conserve critical supplies of metal. Airspeed was amongst those aviation companies to receive Specification X.26/40; The Horsa, which was later given the designation of "AS 51", would be developed out of the company's efforts to meet these requirements.  Airspeed assembled a design team, headed by aircraft designer Hessell Tiltman. Tiltman's design efforts were initially carried out at the de Havilland technical school at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, before relocating to Salisbury Hall, London Colney. Initially, it was planned that the Horsa would have been used to transport paratroopers, who would jump from doors installed on either side of the fuselage, while remaining under tow throughout; under this concept, the use of the type for actual landings would have been a secondary role. The widely set doors enabled simultaneous egress to be conducted, as well as for troops on board to fire upon nearby hostiles from within the glider; for the latter purpose, they were also provisioned with several purpose-built firing points located in the roof and tail. However, the idea was soon dropped, and it was decided to simply have the glider land airborne troops.

Production.

In February 1941, an initial order was placed for 400 of the gliders; it was estimated that Airspeed should be able to complete the order by July 1942. Early on, inquiries were made into the possibility of a further 400 being manufactured in India for the use of Indian airborne forces; however, this plan was abandoned when it was discovered the required wood would have to be imported into India at a prohibitive cost. A total of seven prototypes were ordered; Fairey Aircraft produced the first two prototypes, which were used for flight testing, while Airspeed completed the remaining prototypes, that were used in equipment and loading tests. On 12 September 1941, the first prototype (DG597), towed by an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, performed its maiden flight with George Errington at the controls, 11 months after the specification had originally been issued. As specified in Specification "X3/41", 200 "AS 52" Horsas were also to be constructed to carry bombs. A central fuselage bomb bay holding four 2,000 lb or two 4,000 lb bombs was fitted into the standard Horsa fuselage. The concept of towing bombs was dropped as other bombers became available, resulting in the order for the AS 52 being cancelled.  In early 1942, production of the Horsa commenced; by May 1942, some 2,345 had been ordered by the Army for use in future airborne operations. The glider was designed from the outset to be constructed using components and a series of 30 sub-assemblies required to complete the manufacturing process. Manufacturing was intended primarily to use woodcrafting facilities, which were not needed for more urgent aviation production, and as a result, production was spread across separate factories, which consequently limited the likely loss in case of German attack. The designer A. H. Tiltman said that the Horsa "went from the drawing board to the air in ten months, which was not too bad considering the drawings had to be made suitable for the furniture trade who were responsible for all production."  The initial 695 gliders were manufactured at Airspeed's factory in Christchurch, Hampshire; production of the remainder was performed by an assortment of subcontractors. These included Austin Motors, and a production group coordinated by the furniture manufacturers Harris Lebus. These same contractors would produce an improved model of the glider, designated as the "AS.53 Horsa Mk II", while none would be manufactured by Airspeed themselves. The Horsa Mk II had been specifically designed for the carriage of vehicles, featuring a reinforced floor and a hinged nose section in order to accommodate such use. Other changes included the adoption of a twin nosewheel arrangement, a modified tow attachment and an increased all-up weight of.  As a consequence of the majority of subcontractors not having available airfields from which to deliver the gliders, they sent the sub-assemblies to RAF Maintenance Units (MUs), who would perform final assembly themselves; this process has been attributed as being responsible for the widely varying production numbers recorded of the type. Between 3,799 and 5,000 Horsas had been completed by the time production ended.

Design.

The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a sizable troop-carrying glider. It was capable of transporting a maximum of 30 seated fully equipped troops; it also had the flexibility to carry a Jeep or an Ordnance QF 6-pounder anti-tank gun. The Horsa Mark I had a wingspan of and a length of, and when fully loaded weighed. The later "AS 58 Horsa II" featured an increased fully loaded weight of along with a hinged nose section, reinforced floor and double nose wheels to support the extra weight of vehicles. The tow cable was attached to the nose wheel strut, rather than the dual wing points of the Horsa I. The Horsa was composed largely of wood; it was described by aviation author H. A. Taylor as being: "the most wooden aircraft ever built. Even the controls in the cockpit were masterpieces of the woodworker's skill".  It was considered to be sturdy and very manoeuvrable for a glider. The design of the Horsa adopted a high-wing cantilever monoplane configuration, being equipped with wooden wings and a wooden semi-monocoque fuselage. The fuselage was built in three sections bolted together, the front section held the pilot's compartment and main freight loading door, the middle section was accommodation for troops or freight, the rear section supported the tail unit.  The fuselage joint at the rear end of the main section could be broken on landing to facilitate the rapid unloading of troops and equipment, for which ramps were provided. Initially the tail was severed by detonating a ring of Cordtex around the rear fuselage. But this was thought to be hazardous, especially if detonated prematurely by enemy fire. In early 1944, a method of detaching the tail was devised that used eight quick-release bolts, and wire-cutters to sever the control cables.  The wing carried large "barn door" flaps which, when lowered, made a steep, high rate-of-descent landing possible—this performance would allow the pilots to land in constricted spaces. By employing a combination of the flaps and pneumatic brakes, the glider could be brought to a stop within relatively short distances. The Horsa was equipped with a fixed tricycle landing gear and it was one of the first gliders equipped with a tricycle undercarriage for take off. On operational flights, the main gear could be jettisoned and landing was then made on the castoring nose wheel and a sprung skid set on the underside of the fuselage.  The pilot's compartment had two side-by-side seats and dual controls, all of which being contained within a large Plexiglas nose section. Initially, the cockpit would be outfitted with internal telephone systems that allowed for communication between the pilots of the glider and tug aircraft while connected; however, this was replaced on later-built models by radio sets instead, which had the advantage of being able to maintain contact after detaching. Aft of the pilot's compartment was the freight loading door on the port side; the hinged door could also be used as a loading ramp. The main compartment could accommodate 15 troops on benches along the sides with another access door on the starboard side. Supply containers could also be fitted under the centre-section of the wing, three on each side.  During March 1942, the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment and 1st Airlanding Brigade commenced loading trials using several of the prototypes, but immediately ran into problems. During an attempt to load a jeep into a prototype, Airspeed personnel present informed the evaluation staff that to do so would break the glider's loading ramp, as it had been designed to hold only a single motorbike. With this lesson learnt, 1st Airlanding Brigade subsequently began sending samples of all equipment required to go into Horsas to Airspeed, and a number of weeks were spent ascertaining the methods and modifications required to fit the equipment into a Horsa. Even so, the loading ramp continued to be considered to be fragile and prone to damage, which would ground the glider if sustained during loading.

Operational history.

Wartime use.

The Horsa was first deployed operationally on the night of 19/20 November 1942 in the unsuccessful attack on the German Heavy Water Plant at Rjukan in Norway (Operation Freshman). The two Horsa gliders, each carrying 15 sappers, and one of the Halifax tug aircraft crashed in Norway due to bad weather. All 23 survivors from the glider crashes were executed on the orders of Adolf Hitler, in a flagrant breach of the Geneva Convention which protects prisoners of war (POWs) from summary execution.  In preparation for further operational deployment, 30 Horsa gliders were air-towed by Halifax bombers from bases in Great Britain to North Africa; three of these aircraft were lost in transit. On 10 July 1943, the 27 surviving Horsas were used during Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, which was the type's first large-scale operation.  The Horsa was deployed in large numbers (estimated to be in excess of 250) during Battle of Normandy; specifically in the British Operation Tonga and American operations. The first unit to land in France during the Battle of Normandy was a "coup-de-main" force, carried by six Horsas, that captured Pegasus Bridge in Operation Deadstick over the Caen canal and a further bridge over the River Orne. During the opening phase of the operation, 320 Horsas were used to perform the first lift, while a further 296 Horsas participated in the second lift. Large numbers of both American and British forces were deployed using the Horsa during the opening phase of the battle.  The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) acquired approximately 400 Horsas in a form of reverse Lend-Lease. Capable of accommodating up to 30 troop seats, the Horsa was much bigger than the 13-troop American Waco CG-4A (known as the "Hadrian" by the British), and thus offered greater carrying capacity.  In British service, the Horsa was a major component during several major offensives that followed the successful Normandy landings, such as Operation Dragoon and Operation Market Garden, both in 1944, and Operation Varsity during March 1945. The latter was the final operation for the Horsa, and had involved a force of 440 gliders carrying soldiers of the 6th Airborne Division across the Rhine.  Operationally, the Horsa was towed by various aircraft: four-engined heavy bombers displaced from operational service such as the Short Stirling and Handley Page Halifax, the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley twin-engined bombers, as well as the US Douglas C-47 Skytrain/Dakota (not as often due to the weight of the glider). In Operation Market Garden, however, a total of 1,336 C-47s along with 340 Stirlings were employed to tow 1,205 gliders,) and Curtiss C-46 Commando. The gliders were towed with a harness that attached to points on both wings and also carried an intercom between tug and glider. The glider pilots were usually from the Glider Pilot Regiment, part of the Army Air Corps (AAC), although Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots were used on occasion.

Postwar use.

A small number of Horsa Mk IIs were obtained by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and participated in evaluation trials which were held at CFB Gimli, Manitoba. Three of these survivors were purchased as surplus in the early 1950s and ended up in Matlock, Manitoba, where they were eventually scrapped. India also acquired a small number of Horsas for their own evaluation purposes. Due to low surplus prices in the UK, many were bought and converted to travel trailers and vacation cottages.  On 5 June 2004, as part of the 60th anniversary commemoration of D-Day, Prince Charles unveiled a replica Horsa on the site of the first landing at Pegasus Bridge and talked with Jim Wallwork, the first pilot to land the aircraft on French soil during D-Day.  Ten replicas were built for the 1977 film "A Bridge Too Far", mainly for static display and set-dressing, although one Horsa was modified to make a brief "hop" towed behind a Dakota at Deelen, the Netherlands. During the production, seven of the replicas were damaged in a wind storm; the contingent were repaired in time for use in the film. Five of the Horsa "film models" were destroyed during filming with the survivors sold as a lot to John Hawke, aircraft collector in the UK. Another mock-up for close-up work came into the possession of the Ridgeway Military & Aviation Research Group and is stored at Welford, Berkshire.

Surviving aircraft.

An Airspeed Horsa Mark II (KJ351) is preserved at the Museum of Army Flying in Hampshire, England. The Assault Glider Trust built a replica at RAF Shawbury using templates made from original components found scattered over various European battlefields and using plans supplied by BAE Systems (on the condition that the glider must not be flown). The replica was completed in 2014 and then stored at RAF Cosford until it was transferred to the Oorlogsmuseum in Overloon, the Netherlands in June 2019.  A fuselage section displayed at the Traces of War museum at Wolfheze, Netherlands, was retrieved from Cholsey, Oxfordshire, where it had served as a dwelling for over 50 years. It was recovered around 2001 by the de Havilland Aircraft Museum, of London Colney, where it was stored until being bought by museum owner Paul Hendriks. The airframe is believed not to have seen active service.  BAPC.232 Horsa I/II Composite – Nose & Fuselage sections is on display in the Robin hangar at the de Havilland Aircraft Museum. A full-sized replica stands close to Pegasus Bridge, Normandy, as part of the Memorial Pegasus museum.

External links.

[[Category:1940s British military gliders]] [[Category:Airspeed aircraft|Horsa]] [[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1941]]

The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century conqueror of southern Britain.

Airspeed Horsa byl britský vojenský kluzák užívaný v druhé světové válce. První prototyp tohoto celodřevěného větroně byl zalétán 12. září 1941 a téměř okamžitě byla zahájena sériová výroba. Poprvé byl v akci využit koncem roku 1942 při výsadkové akci v Norsku. Jako vlečné stroje se používaly letouny Handley Page Halifax, Short Stirling a Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. Kluzáky se účastnily vylodění na Sicílii i v Normandii. Celkem bylo vyrobeno v různých podnicích dřevozpracujícího průmyslu 3799 kusů.


Floating point.

In floating-point calculations, NaN is not the same as infinity, although both are typically handled as special cases in floating-point representations of real numbers as well as in floating-point operations. An invalid operation is also not the same as an arithmetic overflow (which might return an infinity) or an arithmetic underflow (which would return the smallest normal number, a denormal number, or zero).  IEEE 754 NaNs are encoded with the exponent field filled with ones (like infinity values), and some non-zero number in the significand field (to make them distinct from infinity values); this allows the definition of multiple distinct NaN values, depending on which bits are set in the significand field, but also on the value of the leading sign bit (but applications are not required to provide distinct semantics for those distinct NaN values).  For example, a bit-wise IEEE floating-point standard single precision (32-bit) NaN would be where "s" is the sign (most often ignored in applications) and the "x" sequence represents a non-zero number (the value zero encodes infinities). The first bit from "x" is used to determine the type of NaN: "quiet NaN" or "signaling NaN". The remaining bits encode a "payload" (most often ignored in applications).  Floating-point operations other than ordered comparisons normally propagate a quiet NaN ("qNaN"). Most floating-point operations on a signaling NaN ("sNaN") signal the invalid operation exception; the default exception action is then the same as for qNaN operands and they produce a qNaN if producing a floating-point result.  The propagation of quiet NaNs through arithmetic operations allows errors to be detected at the end of a sequence of operations without extensive testing during intermediate stages. For example, if one starts with a NaN and adds 1 five times in a row, each addition results in a NaN, but there is no need to check each calculation because one can just note that the final result is NaN. However, depending on the language and the function, NaNs can silently be removed from a chain of calculations where one calculation in the chain would give a constant result for all other floating-point values. For example, the calculation "x" may produce the result 1, even where "x" is NaN, so checking only the final result would obscure the fact that a calculation before the "x" resulted in a NaN. In general, then, a later test for a set "invalid" flag is needed to detect all cases where NaNs are introduced (see Function definition below for further details).  In section 6.2 of the old IEEE 754-2008 standard, there are two anomalous functions (the codice_2 and codice_3 functions, which return the maximum of two operands that are expected to be numbers) that favor numbers — if just one of the operands is a NaN then the value of the other operand is returned. The IEEE 754-2019 revision has replaced these functions as they are not associative (when a signaling NaN appears in an operand).

Comparison with NaN.

A comparison with a NaN always returns an "unordered result" even when comparing with itself. The comparison predicates are either signaling or non-signaling on quiet NaN operands; the signaling versions signal the invalid operation exception for such comparisons. The equality and inequality predicates are non-signaling so "x" = "x" returning false can be used to test if "x" is a quiet NaN. The other standard comparison predicates are all signaling if they receive a NaN operand. The standard also provides non-signaling versions of these other predicates. The predicate codice_4 determines if a value is a NaN and never signals an exception, even if "x" is a signaling NaN.

Operations generating NaN.

There are three kinds of operations that can return NaN:  NaNs may also be explicitly assigned to variables, typically as a representation for missing values. Prior to the IEEE standard, programmers often used a special value (such as −99999999) to represent undefined or missing values, but there was no guarantee that they would be handled consistently or correctly.  NaNs are not necessarily generated in all the above cases. If an operation can produce an exception condition and traps are not masked then the operation will cause a trap instead. If an operand is a quiet NaN, and there is also no signaling NaN operand, then there is no exception condition and the result is a quiet NaN. Explicit assignments will not cause an exception even for signaling NaNs.

Quiet NaN.

Quiet NaNs, or qNaNs, do not raise any additional exceptions as they propagate through most operations. The exceptions are where the NaN cannot simply be passed through unchanged to the output, such as in format conversions or certain comparison operations.

Signaling NaN.

Signaling NaNs, or sNaNs, are special forms of a NaN that, when consumed by most operations, should raise the invalid operation exception and then, if appropriate, be "quieted" into a qNaN that may then propagate. They were introduced in IEEE 754. There have been several ideas for how these might be used:  When encountered, a trap handler could decode the sNaN and return an index to the computed result. In practice, this approach is faced with many complications. The treatment of the sign bit of NaNs for some simple operations (such as absolute value) is different from that for arithmetic operations. Traps are not required by the standard. There are other approaches to this sort of problem that would be more portable.

Function definition.

There are differences of opinion about the proper definition for the result of a numeric function that receives a quiet NaN as input. One view is that the NaN should propagate to the output of the function in all cases to propagate the indication of an error. Another view, and the one taken by the ISO C99 and IEEE 754-2008 standards in general, is that if the function has multiple arguments and the output is uniquely determined by all the non-NaN inputs (including infinity), then that value should be the result. Thus for example the value returned by and is +∞.  The problem is particularly acute for the exponentiation function The expressions 0, ∞ and 1 are considered indeterminate forms when they occur as limits (just like ∞ × 0), and the question of whether zero to the zero power should be defined as 1 has divided opinion.  If the output is considered as undefined when a parameter is undefined, then should produce a qNaN. However, math libraries have typically returned 1 for for any real number "y", and even when "y" is an infinity. Similarly, they produce 1 for even when "x" is 0 or an infinity. The rationale for returning the value 1 for the indeterminate forms was that the value of functions at singular points can be taken as a particular value if that value is in the limit the value for all but a vanishingly small part of a ball around the limit value of the parameters. The 2008 version of the IEEE 754 standard says that and should both return 1 since they return 1 whatever else is used instead of quiet NaN. Moreover, ISO C99, and later IEEE 754-2008, chose to specify instead of qNaN; the reason of this choice is given in the C rationale: "Generally, C99 eschews a NaN result where a numerical value is useful.... The result of is +∞, because all large positive floating-point values are even integers."  To satisfy those wishing a more strict interpretation of how the power function should act, the 2008 standard defines two additional power functions: where the exponent must be an integer, and which returns a NaN whenever a parameter is a NaN or the exponentiation would give an indeterminate form.

Integer NaN.

Most fixed-size integer formats cannot explicitly indicate invalid data. In such a case, when converting NaN to an integer type, the IEEE 754 standard requires that an invalid operation be signaled. For example in Java, such operations throw instances of codice_8. In C, they lead to undefined behavior, but if annex F is supported, the operation yields an "invalid" floating-point exception (as required by the IEEE standard) and an unspecified value.  Perl's codice_9 package uses "NaN" for the result of strings that do not represent valid integers.  > perl -mMath::BigInt -e "print Math::BigInt->new('foo')" NaN

Display.

Different operating systems and programming languages may have different string representations of NaN.  Since, in practice, encoded NaNs have a sign, a quiet/signaling bit and optional 'diagnostic information' (sometimes called a "payload"), these will often be found in string representations of NaNs, too, for example:  (other variants exist).

Encoding.

In IEEE 754 standard-conforming floating-point storage formats, NaNs are identified by specific, pre-defined bit patterns unique to NaNs. The sign bit does not matter. Binary format NaNs are represented with the exponential field filled with ones (like infinity values), and some non-zero number in the significand field (to make them distinct from infinity values). The original IEEE 754 standard from 1985 (IEEE 754-1985) only described binary floating-point formats, and did not specify how the signaling/quiet state was to be tagged. In practice, the most significant bit of the significand field determined whether a NaN is signaling or quiet. Two different implementations, with reversed meanings, resulted: The former choice has been preferred as it allows the implementation to quiet a signaling NaN by just setting the signaling/quiet bit to 1. The reverse is not possible with the latter choice because setting the signaling/quiet bit to 0 could yield an infinity.  The 2008 revision of the IEEE 754 standard (IEEE 754-2008) makes formal recommendations for the encoding of the signaling/quiet state.  For IEEE 754-2008 conformance, the meaning of the signaling/quiet bit in recent MIPS processors is now configurable via the NAN2008 field of the FCSR register. This support is optional in MIPS Release 3 and required in Release 5.  The state/value of the remaining bits of the significand field are not defined by the standard. This value is called the 'payload' of the NaN. If an operation has a single NaN input and propagates it to the output, the result NaN's payload should be that of the input NaN (this is not always possible for binary formats when the signaling/quiet state is encoded by an codice_11 flag, as explained above). If there are multiple NaN inputs, the result NaN's payload should be from one of the input NaNs; the standard does not specify which.

In computing, NaN, standing for Not a Number, is a member of a numeric data type that can be interpreted as a value that is undefined or unrepresentable, especially in floating-point arithmetic. Systematic use of NaNs was introduced by the IEEE 754 floating-point standard in 1985, along with the representation of other non-finite quantities such as infinities.

NaN jako zkratka z („nečíslo“) je v číslicové technice termín pro hodnotu, která nereprezentuje (konečné) číslo. S NaN počítají návrhy numerických koprocesorů, vyskytuje se též jako rezervovaná hodnota v některých programovacích a skriptovacích jazycích (např. JavaScript) a někdy přímo tato zkratka může být zobrazena na displeji některých starších kalkulaček, měřicích přístrojů apod.


History.

In the first years of the 13th century, already before the arrival of the Fourth Crusade in the Byzantine Empire, Argos and Nauplia became the centre of an independent domain under the Greek lord Leo Sgouros. Sgouros had exploited the feebleness of imperial authority, and like many other provincial magnates proceeded to carve out his own principality. From his hometown Nauplia, he seized Argos and Corinth, and attacked Athens, although he failed to take the Acropolis of Athens. By early 1205, Sgouros had advanced into Boeotia and Thessaly, but was forced to abandon his conquests in the face of the Crusaders under Boniface of Montferrat, who advanced south from Thessalonica. Boniface overran Thessaly, Boeotia and Attica, where he installed his followers as barons, and his men invaded the Morea. Sgouros and his men held out in the citadels of Argos, Nauplia and Corinth, however, even after both Boniface and Sgouros died, in 1207 and 1208 respectively. The three fortresses were kept under siege by the Crusaders until the fall of Acrocorinth in 1210, followed by Nauplia and finally by Argos in 1212. The Lord of Athens, Otto de la Roche (), played a major role in their capture, and as a reward the Prince of Achaea Geoffrey I of Villehardouin () gave him Argos and Nauplia as a fief, along with an income of 400 "hyperpyra" from Corinth. The area of Damala (Troezen) in the Argolid was also given to the de la Roche, but soon passed to a cadet branch of the family, which assumed the Barony of Veligosti. Despite the establishment of a Frankish lordship in the southern Argolid, however, the Franks were never numerous in the district. Much as happened elsewhere in the Morea, the local Greek magnates simply submitted to their new Frankish lords, but kept their possessions and Orthodox faith, as well as a typically Byzantine culture, as evidenced by the continued construction of Byzantine-style churches during the period.

Under the de la Roche family.

After the death of Otto I, some time between 1225 and 1234, Argos and Nauplia were inherited by his son, while Athens went to Guy I de la Roche (). In April 1251, Otto II sold his Greek possessions to his brother Guy I in exchange of 15,000 gold "hyperpyra" and the latter's lands and claims in France.  Following the fall of Boniface's Kingdom of Thessalonica to the Greek Despotate of Epirus in 1224, the Principality of Achaea emerged as the most powerful and pre-eminent among the Latin states of southern Greece. Inevitably, the other Latin lordships began to be drawn into the orbit of Achaea, which during the early reign of William II of Villehardouin () reached the height of its power and prosperity. Guy I de la Roche was one of William's feudatories, both for Argos and Nauplia, as well as for his possession of one half of Thebes As a result he participated in the siege and conquest of the last Greek stronghold in the Morea, the fortress city of Monemvasia (1246–1248), alongside William. At about the same time, William received from the Latin Emperor the suzerainty over the Duchy of Naxos, Negroponte (Euboea), and possibly over the Marquisate of Bodonitsa as well, while the County of Cephalonia also recognized his overlordship. William's hegemonic ambitions worried many of the other Latin rulers and barons, however, resulting in the War of the Euboeote Succession (1256–1258). Guy de la Roche fought against William in the conflict, but it ended in a complete victory for William and Guy's submission to the Prince of Achaea.  Following the capture of William II by the Byzantines in the Battle of Pelagonia (1259), in 1261 the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos () received a number of fortresses in the southeastern Morea (Monemvasia, Mystras and Grand Magne, possibly also Geraki) as a ransom for the Prince's release. According to George Pachymeres, Argos and Nauplia were also demanded by Palaiologos, but in the event they remained in Latin hands. In the 1270s, with the rise of the Latin renegade Licario, who became a Byzantine admiral, the Argolid suffered repeated raids at the hands of Licario's corsairs.

Under the Brienne family.

In 1309, Walter I of Brienne succeeded to the Duchy of Athens, but he and many of the most important lords of Frankish Greece fell in the Battle of Halmyros in March 1311 against the Catalan Company. In its aftermath, the Catalans took over the Duchy of Athens and, with the military capacity of the remaining Latin states of Greece crippled, threatened to invade the Morea and take over Argos and Nauplia as well. After briefly holding Athens against the Catalans, Walter's widow, Joanna of Châtillon, went to France to solicit aid from her father, the Constable of France Gaucher V de Châtillon, whom she appointed "bailli" in her name on 22 November 1312.  Over the next few years, with support from the Angevin Kingdom of Naples and the Papacy, Joanna dispatched men and provisions to the Argolid, which was administered in her name by the local Frankish brothers Walter and Francis of Foucherolles. The steadfast loyalty of the Foucherolles to the Briennist claimants was instrumental in keeping the lordship under their control over the next decade, when the Argolid was ravaged by Catalan raids. The lordship's maintenance necessitated continuous expense, however, which forced Joanna to undertake large debts. When Joanna's son Walter II of Brienne came of age in January 1321, he initially refused to take over his mother's debts. King Philip V of France adjudicated between them and decided that Walter had to pay off the sum of 7,000 livres tournois and his mother the rest.  The Briennist claims were upheld by Pope Clement V and Pope John XXII, who took a firm stance against the Catalan Company: the Catalans were excommunicated, their attacks on fellow Christians excoriated, and attacks on them by the other Latin powers of Greece encouraged. Clement sought the intercession of King James II of Aragon to get the Catalans to abandon Athens, but the King's appeal to that effect was ignored. Clement further ordered the Knights Hospitaller to provide three or four galleys and men to defend the Brienne lands, and in 1314 commanded all Templar properties in the Duchy of Athens to be placed under the control of Gaucher V de Châtillon and to be used against the Catalans. The Briennist cause was undermined, however, by the persistent refusal of the Republic of Venice to support anti-Catalan ventures. Although the Venetians were often at odds with the Catalans over their claims to various fiefs in Euboea, in 1319 an accord was reached established generally peaceful relations between the two over the next few decades.  After 1321, Walter II repeatedly announced his intention to campaign in Greece and recover the Duchy of Athens, but financial constraints and his obligations to the King of Naples kept him occupied in Italy. In 1328, he even briefly concluded a truce with the Catalans. Thus it was not until 1330 that a serious effort got under way. In June 1330, Pope John XXII issued a crusading bull for Walter, and ordered prelates in Italy and Greece to preach for a crusade against the Catalans; shortly after, King Robert of Naples also gave the crusade his support, and allowed his feudatories to join it. The Venetians, on the other hand, renewed their treaty with the Catalans in April 1331. Sailing from Brindisi in August, Walter attacked first the Latin County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, and the Greek Despotate of Epirus, forcing them to recognize the overlordship of King Robert. From there he proceeded to invade the Duchy of Athens through northern Boeotia, but his campaign was a failure as the Catalans avoided battle and withdrew behind the walls of Thebes and Athens. Walter had neither the troops to overwhelm the Catalans nor the money to sustain a prolonged war of sieges and attrition, and found no support among the native Greek population. By summer 1332, it was clear that the expedition had failed, and Walter returned to Brindisi. He had captured the island of Leucas and Vonitsa for himself and briefly restored Angevin suzerainty over western Greece, but the main objective had eluded him, and he had ended up with even more crippling debts. The effect of his expedition on Argos and Nauplia is unclear; he may not even have visited the territory during his stay in Greece.  Walter did not abandon his plans for regaining his inheritance in Greece, and retained papal support, which materialized in repeated excommunications of the Catalans. With the Venetians firmly opposed to rendering any help, however, Walter's plans could not be fulfilled. After further ventures and adventures in Italy and France, Walter was killed at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. During this time, the Argolid suffered a raid by the Aydinid Turks under Umur Bey in 1332, which coincided with a prolonged famine that required food to be imported from Italy. At the same time, Argos and Nauplia also came within reach of the expanding Byzantine province in the Morea, which by had expanded from the southeast to include most of Arcadia and Cynuria. The increased threat to the lordship prompted Walter II to construct two new castles, which first appear in his will of 1347: at Kiveri ("Chamires" in French) across the Argolic Gulf from Nauplia and Thermisi ("Trémis") further east along the coast, across Hydra Island. Despite the depredations from raids, the Brienne fief was relatively prosperous: the area was fertile and supported agriculture, pastures for livestock, and vineyards, while the Argolic Gulf provided fisheries and salt flats near Thermisi. According to documents from later in the 14th century, carobs, raisins, resin and acorn dyes, as well as cotton and linen cloth, were exported.

Under the Enghien family.

Walter II died without direct heirs, as his only son had died as a child during his 1331 campaign. He was succeeded in his titles and claims by his sister Isabella of Brienne and her husband Walter of Enghien, but these were immediately devolved on their numerous children. While the couple's second (and eldest surviving) son, Sohier of Enghien, received the County of Brienne and the rights to Athens, it was a younger son, Engelbert, who received Argos and Nauplia, as well as Walter's lands in Cyprus. Unwilling to undertake the considerable burden of defending the Greek fiefs, Engelbert exchanged them with his brother Guy, who had originally received the fief of Ramerupt in France. Guy thus became the new "Lord of Argos, Nauplia and Kiveri".  Guy replaced Nicholas of Foucherolles, who had served as "bailli" during the last decade of Walter's reign, with two members of a branch of the Medici family who had settled in Greece: Piere Tantenes ("of Athens"), also known as "Yatro" (Greek for "physician", a hellenization of "Medici") in 1357–1360 and Arardo or Averardo de Medici in 1360–1363/4. Their rule proved unpopular, however, and in 1360 the local populace rebelled—according to historian Thanos Kondylis, perhaps with the encouragement of the Foucherolles—when Averardo de Medici increased taxation on figs and raisins, and blockaded Guy's soldiers in their castles. The situation was resolved when Guy in person came and settled in the lordship—he is attested at Nauplia in December 1364, where he issued an act in favour of Jacomo, Lord of Tzoya and a son-in-law of Nicholas of Foucherolles. Guy strengthened his ties to the lordship by marrying into the local aristocracy. The identity of his wife is unclear: the early 15th-century "Chronographia regum francorum" records that she was the daughter of the Baron of Arcadia, probably Erard III le Maure, while the 17th-century Flemish historian Vredius records that she was a Greek named Bonne or Maria. The 19th-century historian of Frankish Greece, Karl Hopf, hypothesized that Bonne was a daughter of Nicholas of Foucherolles, but without any evidence; nevertheless, his version is commonly accepted in modern literature.  Guy's reign was troubled by the threat of the Ottoman Turks, against whom, according to the "Chronographia regum francorum", he proved a courageous leader. To strengthen the security of his domains, on 22 July 1362, Guy became a Venetian citizen, a development that heralded active Venetian involvement in the affairs of the area. Two years later, soon after his arrival in the Morea, he was involved in the civil war over possession of the Principality of Achaea between Philip II of Taranto and Maria of Bourbon, widow of Philip's older brother Robert, who died in September 1364 without a direct heir. Guy, along with the Despot of the Morea Manuel Kantakouzenos (), supported Maria and her son Hugh of Lusignan until 1370, when the latter sold their claims to Philip.  Now the undisputed Prince of Achaea, Philip sent to the Morea as his "bailli" Guy's brother Louis, Count of Conversano. By this time, the Catalans of Athens had entered a period of decline and civil war, which only somewhat subsided with the appointment of Matthew of Peralta as vicar-general in 1370. The Enghiens saw a perfect opportunity to reclaim their ancestral inheritance: on 28 March 1370 a third brother, John of Enghien, Count of Lecce, received permission from Queen Joanna I of Naples to gather 1,000 foot and 500 horse for service in Greece, and began arranging for ships to ferry them along the southeastern coasts of Italy. Guy also arranged a truce with the Despot of the Morea so as to concentrate his forces against the Catalans. As Venetian citizens, the Enghiens also approached Venice for aid, which was politely but firmly declined, first in April 1370, and again in February 1371. Undeterred, the Enghiens launched an invasion of Attica in spring 1371, but the campaign failed as the Acropolis resisted and Louis fell ill. The Enghiens retreated, and Guy concluded a truce with the Catalans in August; a marriage between his daughter and heir Maria and Joan de Llúria (probably the son of the former Catalan vicar-general Roger de Llúria) was initially stipulated in the agreement, but never actually took place. This was to be the last effort by the claimants, for troubles in Italy occupied Guy's brothers, and the looming Ottoman threat forced the Papacy to shift to a policy of supporting the Catalans. Any prospects to regain the Athenian duchy were further impeded by the capture of Megara by the ambitious Nerio I Acciaioli in 1374/5, which barred the land route into Attica to the Enghiens. Guy of Engien died shortly after October 1376. As his daughter Maria was underage and unmarried, the Lordship was governed by his brother Louis as her guardian. Louis arranged Maria's marriage to the Venetian Pietro Cornaro in May 1377. Louis seems to have launched some raids against the Catalans in 1377, but this was overshadowed by the fall of the Duchy of Athens to the Navarrese Company in 1379.

Takeover by Venice.

The Cornaro family had been established in Latin Greece for some time, acting both as the Republic of Venice's officials and on their own account, and Pietro's father Federigo was accounted the richest man in Venice in 1379. The marriage of Maria of Enghien and Pietro Cornaro coincided with an increasing Venetian interest in the region, as the Republic faced new challenges and opportunities in the Aegean with the rise of the Ottomans. Possession of Nauplia would complete Venice's control of the shores of the Morea, which in turn controlled the routes from the Adriatic to the eastern Mediterranean; while Nauplia itself was valuable as an intermediate stop for the Black Sea commercial routes as well. Maria of Enghien and Pietro Cornaro were both still young when they became lords of Argos and Nauplia. In the first years of their reign, they resided in Venice, and Pietro's father Federigo acted on their behalf, securing permissions from the Venetian government to send supplies or arm a galley to defend the lordship. Following his father's death in 1382, Pietro secured permission by the Venetian government to go to Nauplia himself; by this time, in Anthony Luttrell's words, "the [Venetian] senate considered these places more or less as Venetian possessions".  When Pietro Cornaro died in 1388, Maria, unable to defend her possessions, sold them to Venice on 12 December in exchange for an annual subsidy of 700 ducats. Before the Venetians could arrive to take over the two towns, however, the Byzantine Despot of the Morea Theodore I Palaiologos (), and his ally and father-in-law Nerio I Acciaioli seized them with the aid of an Ottoman army under Evrenos. Although the Venetians were quickly able to oust Nerio from Nauplia, Argos, Kiveri and Thermisi remained in Theodore's hands until 11 June 1394, when he ceded them to Venice. After Maria's death in 1393, her uncle Engelbert—who had originally received the lordship in 1356—claimed her inheritance, but when the Venetians provided the document of sale, and suggested that they would be willing to cede the castles if he could pay for their defence and reimburse Venice for the costs of their purchase and the ongoing siege of Argos, he dropped his claim. Argos remained in Venetian hands until conquered by the Ottomans at the outbreak of the First Ottoman–Venetian War in 1463, while of all Venetian territories in the Morea, Nauplia persisted longest in her possession, and was surrendered to the Ottomans in 1540 after the conclusion of the Third Ottoman–Venetian War.

During the late Middle Ages, the two cities of Argos (, ) and Nauplia (modern Nafplio, Ναύπλιο; in the Middle Ages Ἀνάπλι, in French "Naples de Romanie") formed a lordship within the Frankish-ruled Morea in southern Greece.

Panství Argu a Nauplia (dnes francouzsky "„seigneurie d'Argos et de Nauplie“") byl středověký křižácký státeček v Řecku vzniklý po čtvrté křížové výpravě. Panství bylo vazalem Achajského knížectví a skládalo se z měst Argos (francouzsky "Argues", řecky Άργος) a Nauplio (francouzsky "Naples de Romanie", řecky ve středověku Ἀνάπλι, dnes Ναύπλιον – "Nafplion").


Description.

Situated in the centre of Reykjavík, it is one of the city's best-known landmarks and is visible throughout the city. State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson's design of the church was commissioned in 1937. He is said to have designed it to resemble the trap rocks, mountains and glaciers of Iceland's landscape. The design is similar in style to the expressionist architecture of Grundtvig's Church of Copenhagen, Denmark, completed in 1940.  It took 41 years to build the church: construction started in 1945 and ended in 1986, but the landmark tower being completed long before the whole church was completed. The crypt beneath the choir was consecrated in 1948, the steeple and wings were completed in 1974, and the nave was consecrated in 1986. At the time of construction, the building was criticized as too old-fashioned and as a blend of different architectural styles. The church was originally intended to be less tall, but the leaders of the Church of Iceland wanted a large spire so as to outshine Landakotskirkja (Landakot's Church), which was the cathedral of the Catholic Church in Iceland.  The interior is. In 2008, the church underwent a major restoration of the main tower, and was covered in scaffolding. In late 2009, restoration was completed and the scaffolding was removed.  The church houses a large pipe organ by the German organ builder Johannes Klais of Bonn. It has electronic action; the pipes are remote from the four manuals and pedal console. There are 102 ranks, 72 stops and 5275 pipes. It is tall and weighs. Its construction was finished in December 1992. It has been recorded by Christopher Herrick in his "Organ Fireworks VII" CD and by on his CD "Live at Vatnajökull".  The church is also used as an observation tower. An observer can take a lift up to the viewing deck and view Reykjavík and the surrounding mountains. The church is still used today for modern services and weddings.  The statue of explorer Leif Erikson (c.970 – c.1020) by Alexander Stirling Calder in front of the church predates its construction. It was a gift from the United States in honor of the 1930 Althing Millennial Festival, commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Iceland's parliament at Þingvellir in 930 AD.

Hallgrímskirkja (, "church of Hallgrímur") is a Lutheran (Church of Iceland) parish church in Reykjavík, Iceland. At high, it is the largest church in Iceland and among the tallest structures in the country. The church is named after the Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614–1674), author of the Passion Hymns.

Hallgrímskirkja je kostel v Reykjavíku na Islandu. Díky své výšce, 74,5 metrů, se jedná o jednu z nejvyšších budov na Islandu. Byl pojmenován po Hallgrímuru Péturssonu. Projektoval jej architekt Guðjón Samúelsson v roce 1937. Jeho stavba začala v roce 1945, a o 38 let později, roku 1986, byl dokončen. Se svou polohou v centru města se stal jedním z jeho symbolů.


History.

Settlement in Seyðisfjörður traces back to the early period of settlement in Iceland. The first settler was Bjólfur, who occupied the entire fjord. The burned down ruin of a stave church at Þórunnarstaðir has been carbon-dated to the 10th century, with earlier graves exhumed dating back to the 8th century.  The town settlement in the Seyðisfjörður area started in 1848. The town was settled by Norwegian fishermen. These settlers also built some of the wooden buildings which still exist in the town. Another now-deserted settlement nearby in the fjord, Vestddalseyri was the site for the world's first modern industrialized whaling station. It was established in 1864 by the renowned American whaler Thomas Welcome Roys and run by him and his workforce until 1866. Both settlements served primarily as fishing and trading posts. The first telegraph cable connecting Iceland to Europe made landfall in Seyðisfjörður in 1906, making it a hub for international telecommunications well past the middle of last century. In 1913, a dam was made in the main river, harnessing power for the country's first high-voltage AC power plant together with a distribution network for street lighting and home use, also the first of its kind in Iceland. Seyðisfjörður was used as a base for British/American forces during World War II and remnants of this activity are visible throughout the fjord, including a landing strip no longer in use and an oil tanker that was bombed and sunk. It remains a divers' wreck at the bottom of the fjord.  With the recent demise of the local fish-processing plant, the village has shifted its economy to tourism. It still remains a significant fishing port on the east coast of Iceland, with harbours, ship construction facilities and a slip.

Overview.

The town of Seyðisfjörður is well known for its old wooden buildings and has remnants of urban street configurations within its urban fabric. There is a camping ground, facilities for campers, hotels, a swimming pool, a library, hospital, post office, liquor store, and other retail activity. Seyðisfjörður also has a vibrant cultural scene with an arts centre, the Technical Museum of East Iceland and the only two cinemas in the east of Iceland. The LungA Art Festival takes place in Seyðisfjörður in July and artist Dieter Roth had a residence and art studio in Seyðisfjörður. The Dieter Roth Academy is centered in the Skaftfell cultural center.  There are several waterfalls in the town. A popular hiking path starts at the town center, following the East bank of the Fjarðará, the river that flows through the center of town. Further up the river there are 25 waterfalls. During the winter, a skiing area is used in Fjarðarheiði mountain pass.  Skálanes nature and heritage centre can be found east of the town. The nature reserve is home to a diverse range of wildlife, as well as catering for visitors and anyone wanting to explore the south side of the fjord.  The 2015 Icelandic mystery television series "Trapped" () is set in the town, and was partially filmed there. The series aired on BBC4 in the UK in early 2016.

Transport.

Port.

Every week the car ferry MS "Norröna" of Smyril Line comes to Seyðisfjörður from Hirtshals in Denmark and Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands. It is the only car ferry between Iceland and other countries. Until January 2009 it also called at Bergen, Norway and Scrabster, Scotland.

Roads.

Seyðisfjörður is connected to the Icelandic ring road Route 1 at Egilsstaðir, via Route 93 which departs west from Seyðisfjörður. Route 951 travels east along the northern side of Seyðisfjörð and Route 952 also travels east, but along the southern side of the fjord.

Sports.

The local football club Huginn play in Iceland's third tier (3rd Division). The colours of their kit are yellow and black.

Climate.

Seyðisfjörður has a tundra climate (Koppen "ET"), bordering on subpolar oceanic ("Cfc"). However, the high annual precipitation over and the drying trend in summer are very atypical for tundra areas, which are noramlly very dry and peak in precipitation in summer.

Twin towns – sister cities.

Seyðisfjörður terminated all its twinnings.

Seyðisfjörður () is a town and municipality in the Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name.

Seyðisfjörður je vesnice na východě Islandu u konce fjordu stejného názvu. Leží v obci Seyðisfjarðarkaupstaður, která je odvozena od názvu města a je 213 km velká. V dubnu 2008 ve městě žilo 711 obyvatel. Starostou města je Ólafur Hreggviður Sigurðsson a PSČ je 710. Téměř celý Seyðisfjörður obklopují hory, na kterých se nachází mnoho vodopádů.


Name.

The planet and its host star are one of the planetary systems selected by the International Astronomical Union as part of their public process for giving proper names to exoplanets and their host star (where no proper name already exists). The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names. In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning names were Ægir for the planet (pronounced [Latinized] or [an approximation of the Old Norse]) and Ran for the star. James Ott, age 14, submitted the names for the IAU contest and won.

Discovery.

The planet's existence was suspected by a Canadian team led by Bruce Campbell and Gordon Walker in the early 1990s, but their observations were not definitive enough to make a solid discovery. Its formal discovery was announced on August 7, 2000 by a team led by Artie Hatzes. The discoverers gave its mass as 1.2 ± 0.33 times that of Jupiter, with a mean distance of 3.4 AU from the star. Observers, including Geoffrey Marcy, suggested that more information on the star's Doppler noise behaviour created by its large and varying magnetic field was needed before the planet could be confirmed.  In 2006, the Hubble Space Telescope made Astrometric measurements and confirmed the existence of the planet. These observations indicated that the planet has a mass 1.5 times that of Jupiter and shares the same plane as the outer dust disk observed around the star. The derived orbit from these measurements is eccentric: either 0.25 or 0.7.  Meanwhile, the Spitzer Space Telescope detected an asteroid belt at roughly 3 AU from the star. In 2009 Brogi's team claimed that the proposed planet's eccentricity and this belt were inconsistent: the planet would pass through the asteroid belt and rapidly clear it of material. The planet and the inner belt may be reconciled if that belt's material had migrated in from the outer comet belt (also known to exist).  Astronomers are still collecting and analysing radial velocity data, while also trying to refine existing upper limits from direct imaging, on Epsilon Eridani b and this has led to a recently published paper, as of January 2019, claiming that the planet's orbital eccentricity is an order of magnitude smaller than early estimates, at around 0.07, and consistent with a circular orbit, very similar to Jupiter's orbital eccentricity of 0.05. The updated measurements, amongst other things, also included new estimates for the mass and inclination of the planet, at 0.78 times the mass of Jupiter and an inclination of around 89 degrees. However, if the planet is later determined to be orbiting at the same inclination as the debris disc, that of 34 degrees, then its mass would be greater, at 1.19 times that of Jupiter.

Epsilon Eridani b, also known as Ægir, is an extrasolar planet approximately ten and a half light-years away orbiting the star Epsilon Eridani, in the constellation of Eridanus (the River).

Epsilon Eridani b je extrasolární planetou obíhající kolem hvězdy Epsilon Eridani v souhvězdí Eridanu. Dráha planety je výrazně excentrická. Vzhledem k jejím rozměrům se předpokládá možnost pozorování Hubblovým teleskopem v prosinci roku 2007, kdy se bude planeta nacházet na své oběžné dráze nejdál od mateřské hvězdy.


Purpose.

Dextre is designed to handle Orbital replacement units: Many spares are stored on the ISS and Dextre is able to carry them to and from worksites and install replacements when failures occur. Before Dextre arrived astronauts were required to perform space walks to carry out this work.

Structure.

Dextre resembles a gigantic torso fitted with two extremely agile, arms. Total mass approx 3,664 pounds. The 3.5 metre long body pivots at the "waist". The body has a Power Data grapple fixture at the 'head' end that can be grasped by the larger Space Station Arm, Canadarm2 so that Dextre can be positioned at the various Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU) worksites around the Space Station. The other end of the body has a Latching End Effector virtually identical to that of Canadarm2, so that Dextre can also be attached to Space Station grapple fixtures or the Mobile Base System.  Dextre can also be operated whilst it is attached to the end of Canadarm2.  Each arm is somewhat like a shortened Canadarm2 (in that it has 7 joints) but is fixed to Dextre at one end.  At the end of Dextre's arms are ORU/Tool Changeout Mechanisms (OTCM). The OTCM has built-in grasping jaws, a retractable socket drive, a monochrome TV camera, lights, and an umbilical connector that can provide power, data, and video to/from a payload.  Dextre moves one arm at a time, while one arm may hold onto the station (using specially provided standard H or Micro interfaces) for stability and ease of control the other is available to perform tasks.

Tools.

The lower body of Dextre has a pair of orientable colour TV cameras with lights, a platform for stowing ORUs, and a tool holster. The tool holster is equipped with two Robotic Micro Conical Tools (RMCTs), which allow an arm to grasp additional types of ORU fixtures. The Socket Extension Tool (SET) extends the length of the grasping socket on an arm, and the Robotic Off-Set Tool (ROST) allows an arm to grasp difficult to reach targets. Several new tools were added as part of the 2011 Robotic Refueling Mission. A Wire Cutter, Safety Cap Removal Tool, EVR Nozzle Tool and a Multifunction Tool with several adapters. These tools are not installed on Dextre but are used by Dextre when performing RRM operations. The tools are not considered a part of Dextre's complement of tools and are stowed on the RRM platform.  In 2013 the H-II Transport Vehicle brought the RRM On-orbit Transfer Cage (ROTC), which is a sliding table within the Japanese airlock platform from which to retrieve and subsequently install new hardware.  Robotic Refueling Mission — Phase 2 will use the Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot (VIPIR) borescope camera with a 34 inch long flexible tube.

Future possibilities.

SARAH (Self-Adaptive Robotic Auxiliary Hand) is a three fingered hand that is designed to attach to the end of Dextre's arm. It has not been delivered to the ISS.

Design and delivery.

Dextre was designed and manufactured by MDA Space Missions as part of the $200-million contracted by the Canadian Space Agency, which will oversee its future operations and the necessary training of station crews.  It completed all necessary testing and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, in mid-June 2007. Once at KSC, it underwent flight verification testing followed by shuttle integration.

Installation.

Dextre was launched to the ISS on March 11, 2008 aboard "Endeavour" on mission STS-123. It "woke up" and activated heaters needed for keeping its joints and electronics warm after receiving power from the space station's Canadarm2 on March 14. During the mission's second spacewalk on March 16, spacewalking astronauts attached the two arms to the robot's main body and further prepared the machine for its handyman job on the station. After the spacewalk, crew members hooked Dextre back up to the station's robotic arm to keep it warm and to allow NASA to perform tests to ensure all of Dextre's electronics were working properly. Later that day, the crew tested all of its joints and brakes. Astronauts finished outfitting the robot during a third spacewalk on March 17, 2008.

Operation use.

After testing and trials the first use planned in the removal and replacement of the RPCM (Remote Power Control Module) in 2009.

Additional usage.

In early August 2004 NASA declared its intention to use Dextre (or a close copy of it) as the robotic component for the Hubble Space Telescope rescue mission. Months after awarding a contract to MDA Space Missions to provide an SPDM copy for the Hubble repair mission, NASA then canceled the mission in favour of flying a Shuttle mission to perform the repairs/upgrades. NASA cited excessive risks and new-found confidence in the Space Shuttle external tank as reasons for the cancellation.  Dextre was the subject of an April Fool's Day joke article on April 1, 2008 on NASA's APOD website.  Dextre was also featured in the new $5 Canadian Polymer bank note together with Canadarm2, which Commander Chris Hadfield helped reveal aboard the International Space Station.

Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), is a two armed robot, or telemanipulator, which is part of the Mobile Servicing System on the International Space Station (ISS), and does repairs otherwise requiring spacewalks. It was launched March 11, 2008 on mission STS-123.

Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) ("Obratný manipulátor pro speciální účely") je dvouramenný robot telemanipulátor, který je součástí mobilního servisního systému ("") na Mezinárodní vesmírné stanici.


Origins.

The 7th-century "Chronicle of Fredegar" implies that the Merovingians were descended from a sea-beast called a quinotaur:  It is said that while Chlodio was staying at the seaside with his wife one summer, his wife went into the sea at midday to bathe, and a beast of Neptune rather like a Quinotaur found her. In the event she was made pregnant, either by the beast or by her husband, and she gave birth to a son called Merovech, from whom the kings of the Franks have subsequently been called Merovingians.  In the past, this tale was regarded as an authentic piece of Germanic mythology and was often taken as evidence that the Merovingian kingship was sacral and the royal dynasty of supernatural origin. Today, it is more commonly seen as an attempt to explain the meaning of the name Merovech (sea-bull). "Unlike the Anglo-Saxon rulers the Merovingians—if they ever themselves acknowledged the quinotaur tale, which is by no means certain—made no claim to be descended from a god".  In 1906, the British Egyptologist Flinders Petrie suggested that the Marvingi recorded by Ptolemy as living near the Rhine were the ancestors of the Merovingian dynasty.

History.

In 486 Clovis I, the son of Childeric, defeated Syagrius, a Roman military leader who competed with the Merovingians for power in northern France. He won the Battle of Tolbiac against the Alemanni in 496, at which time, according to Gregory of Tours, Clovis adopted his wife Clotilda's Orthodox (i.e. Nicene) Christian faith. He subsequently went on to decisively defeat the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse in the Battle of Vouillé in 507. After Clovis's death, his kingdom was partitioned among his four sons. This tradition of partition continued over the next century. Even when several Merovingian kings simultaneously ruled their own realms, the kingdom—not unlike the late Roman Empire—was conceived of as a single entity ruled collectively by these several kings (in their own realms) among whom a turn of events could result in the reunification of the whole kingdom under a single ruler.  Upon Clovis's death in 511, the Merovingian kingdom included all of Gaul except Burgundy and all of Germania magna except Saxony. To the outside, the kingdom, even when divided under different kings, maintained unity and conquered Burgundy in 534. After the fall of the Ostrogoths, the Franks also conquered Provence. After this their borders with Italy (ruled by the Lombards since 568) and Visigothic Septimania remained fairly stable.

Division of the kingdom.

Internally, the kingdom was divided among Clovis's sons and later among his grandsons and frequently saw war between the different kings, who quickly allied among themselves and against one another. The death of one king created conflict between the surviving brothers and the deceased's sons, with differing outcomes. Later, conflicts were intensified by the personal feud around Brunhilda. However, yearly warfare often did not constitute general devastation but took on an almost ritual character, with established 'rules' and norms.

Reunification of the kingdom.

Eventually, Clotaire II in 613 reunited the entire Frankish realm under one ruler. Later divisions produced the stable units of Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy and Aquitania.  The frequent wars had weakened royal power, while the aristocracy had made great gains and procured enormous concessions from the kings in return for their support. These concessions saw the very considerable power of the king parcelled out and retained by leading "comites" and "duces" (counts and dukes). Very little is in fact known about the course of the 7th century due to a scarcity of sources, but Merovingians remained in power until the 8th century.

Weakening of the kingdom.

Clotaire's son Dagobert I (died 639), who sent troops to Spain and pagan Slavic territories in the east, is commonly seen as the last powerful Merovingian King. Later kings are known as "rois fainéants" ("do-nothing kings"), despite the fact that only the last two kings did nothing. The kings, even strong-willed men like Dagobert II and Chilperic II, were not the main agents of political conflicts, leaving this role to their mayors of the palace, who increasingly substituted their own interest for their king's. Many kings came to the throne at a young age and died in the prime of life, weakening royal power further.

Return to power.

The conflict between mayors was ended when the Austrasians under Pepin the Middle triumphed in 687 in the Battle of Tertry. After this, Pepin, though not a king, was the political ruler of the Frankish kingdom and left this position as a heritage to his sons. It was now the sons of the mayor that divided the realm among each other under the rule of a single king.  After Pepin's long rule, his son Charles Martel assumed power, fighting against nobles and his own stepmother. His reputation for ruthlessness further undermined the king's position. Under Charles Martel's leadership, the Franks defeated the Moors at the Battle of Tours in 732. After the victory of 718 of the Bulgarian Khan Tervel and the Emperor of Byzantium Leo III the Isaurian over the Arabs led by Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik prevented the attempts of Islam to Eastern Europe, the victory of Charles Martel at Tours limited its expansion onto the west of the European continent. During the last years of his life he even ruled without a king, though he did not assume royal dignity. His sons Carloman and Pepin again appointed a Merovingian figurehead (Childeric III) to stem rebellion on the kingdom's periphery. However, in 751, Pepin finally displaced the last Merovingian and, with the support of the nobility and the blessing of Pope Zachary, became one of the Frankish kings.

Government.

The Merovingian king redistributed conquered wealth among his followers, both material wealth and the land including its indentured peasantry, though these powers were not absolute. As Rouche points out, "When he died his property was divided equally among his heirs as though it were private property: the kingdom was a form of patrimony." Some scholars have attributed this to the Merovingians' lacking a sense of "res publica", but other historians have criticized this view as an oversimplification.  The kings appointed magnates to be "comites" (counts), charging them with defense, administration, and the judgment of disputes. This happened against the backdrop of a newly isolated Europe without its Roman systems of taxation and bureaucracy, the Franks having taken over administration as they gradually penetrated into the thoroughly Romanised west and south of Gaul. The counts had to provide armies, enlisting their "milites" and endowing them with land in return. These armies were subject to the king's call for military support. Annual national assemblies of the nobles and their armed retainers decided major policies of war making. The army also acclaimed new kings by raising them on its shields continuing an ancient practice that made the king leader of the warrior-band. Furthermore, the king was expected to support himself with the products of his private domain (royal demesne), which was called the "fisc". This system developed in time into feudalism, and expectations of royal self-sufficiency lasted until the Hundred Years' War. Trade declined with the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and agricultural estates were mostly self-sufficient. The remaining international trade was dominated by Middle Eastern merchants, often Jewish Radhanites.

Law.

Merovingian law was not universal law equally applicable to all; it was applied to each man according to his origin: Ripuarian Franks were subject to their own "Lex Ripuaria", codified at a late date, while the so-called "Lex Salica" (Salic Law) of the Salian clans, first tentatively codified in 511 was invoked under medieval exigencies as late as the Valois era. In this the Franks lagged behind the Burgundians and the Visigoths, that they had no universal Roman-based law. In Merovingian times, law remained in the rote memorisation of "rachimburgs", who memorised all the precedents on which it was based, for Merovingian law did not admit of the concept of creating "new" law, only of maintaining tradition. Nor did its Germanic traditions offer any code of civil law required of urbanised society, such as Justinian I caused to be assembled and promulgated in the Byzantine Empire. The few surviving Merovingian edicts are almost entirely concerned with settling divisions of estates among heirs.

Coinage.

Byzantine coinage was in use in Francia before Theudebert I began minting his own money at the start of his reign. He was the first to issue distinctly Merovingian coinage. On gold coins struck in his royal workshop, Theudebert is shown in the pearl-studded regalia of the Byzantine emperor; Childebert I is shown in profile in the ancient style, wearing a toga and a diadem. The solidus and triens were minted in Francia between 534 and 679. The denarius (or denier) appeared later, in the name of Childeric II and various non-royals around 673–675. A Carolingian denarius replaced the Merovingian one, and the Frisian penning, in Gaul from 755 to the 11th century.  Merovingian coins are on display at the Monnaie de Paris in Paris; there are Merovingian gold coins at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Médailles.

Religion.

Christianity was introduced to the Franks by their contact with Gallo-Romanic culture and later further spread by monks. The most famous of these missionaries is St. Columbanus (d 615), an Irish monk. Merovingian kings and queens used the newly forming ecclesiastical power structure to their advantage. Monasteries and episcopal seats were shrewdly awarded to elites who supported the dynasty. Extensive parcels of land were donated to monasteries to exempt those lands from royal taxation and to preserve them within the family. The family maintained dominance over the monastery by appointing family members as abbots. Extra sons and daughters who could not be married off were sent to monasteries so that they would not threaten the inheritance of older Merovingian children. This pragmatic use of monasteries ensured close ties between elites and monastic properties.  Numerous Merovingians who served as bishops and abbots, or who generously funded abbeys and monasteries, were rewarded with sainthood. The outstanding handful of Frankish saints who were not of the Merovingian kinship nor the family alliances that provided Merovingian counts and dukes, deserve a closer inspection for that fact alone: like Gregory of Tours, they were almost without exception from the Gallo-Roman aristocracy in regions south and west of Merovingian control. The most characteristic form of Merovingian literature is represented by the "Lives" of the saints. Merovingian hagiography did not set out to reconstruct a biography in the Roman or the modern sense, but to attract and hold popular devotion by the formulas of elaborate literary exercises, through which the Frankish Church channeled popular piety within orthodox channels, defined the nature of sanctity and retained some control over the posthumous cults that developed spontaneously at burial sites, where the life-force of the saint lingered, to do good for the votary.  The "vitae et miracula", for impressive miracles were an essential element of Merovingian hagiography, were read aloud on saints’ feast days. Many Merovingian saints, and the majority of female saints, were local ones, venerated only within strictly circumscribed regions; their cults were revived in the High Middle Ages, when the population of women in religious orders increased enormously. Judith Oliver noted five Merovingian female saints in the diocese of Liège who appeared in a long list of saints in a late 13th-century psalter-hours. The "vitae" of six late Merovingian saints that illustrate the political history of the era have been translated and edited by Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding, and presented with "Liber Historiae Francorum," to provide some historical context.

Language.

Yitzhak Hen stated that it seems certain that the Gallo-Roman population was far greater than the Frankish population in Merovingian Gaul, especially in regions south of the Seine, with most of the Frankish settlements being located along the Lower and Middle Rhine. The further south in Gaul one traveled, the weaker the Frankish influence became. Hen finds hardly any evidence for Frankish settlements south of the Loire. The absence of Frankish literature sources suggests that the Frankish language was forgotten rather rapidly after the early stage of the dynasty. Hen believes that for Neustria, Burgundy and Aquitania, colloquial Latin remained the spoken language in Gaul throughout the Merovingian period and remained so even well in to the Carolingian period. However, Urban T. Holmes estimated that a Germanic language was spoken as a second tongue by public officials in western Austrasia and Neustria as late as the 850s, and that it completely disappeared as a spoken language from these regions only during the 10th century.

Historiography and sources.

A limited number of contemporary sources describe the history of the Merovingian Franks, but those that survive cover the entire period from Clovis's succession to Childeric's deposition. First among chroniclers of the age is the canonised bishop of Tours, Gregory of Tours. His "Decem Libri Historiarum" is a primary source for the reigns of the sons of Clotaire II and their descendants until Gregory's own death in 594.  The next major source, far less organised than Gregory's work, is the "Chronicle of Fredegar", begun by Fredegar but continued by unknown authors. It covers the period from 584 to 641, though its continuators, under Carolingian patronage, extended it to 768, after the close of the Merovingian era. It is the only primary narrative source for much of its period. Since its restoration in 1938 it has been housed in the Ducal Collection of the Staatsbibliothek Binkelsbingen. The only other major contemporary source is the Liber Historiae Francorum, an anonymous adaptation of Gregory's work apparently ignorant of Fredegar's chronicle: its author(s) ends with a reference to Theuderic IV's sixth year, which would be 727. It was widely read; though it was undoubtedly a piece of Arnulfing work, and its biases cause it to mislead (for instance, concerning the two decades between the controversies surrounding mayors Grimoald the Elder and Ebroin: 652–673).  Aside from these chronicles, the only surviving reservoires of historiography are letters, capitularies, and the like. Clerical men such as Gregory and Sulpitius the Pious were letter-writers, though relatively few letters survive. Edicts, grants, and judicial decisions survive, as well as the famous "Lex Salica", mentioned above. From the reign of Clotaire II and Dagobert I survive many examples of the royal position as the supreme justice and final arbiter. There also survive biographical Lives of saints of the period, for instance Saint Eligius and Leodegar, written soon after their subjects' deaths.  Finally, archaeological evidence cannot be ignored as a source for information, at the very least, on the Frankish mode of life. Among the greatest discoveries of lost objects was the 1653 accidental uncovering of Childeric I's tomb in the church of Saint Brice in Tournai. The grave objects included a golden bull's head and the famous golden insects (perhaps bees, cicadas, aphids, or flies) on which Napoleon modelled his coronation cloak. In 1957, the sepulchre of a Merovingian woman at the time believed to be Clotaire I's second wife, Aregund, was discovered in Saint Denis Basilica in Paris. The funerary clothing and jewellery were reasonably well-preserved, giving us a look into the costume of the time. Beyond these royal individuals, the Merovingian period is associated with the archaeological Reihengräber culture.

In popular culture.

The Merovingians play a prominent role in French historiography and national identity, although their importance was partly overshadowed by that of the Gauls during the Third Republic. Charles de Gaulle is on record as stating his opinion that "For me, the history of France begins with Clovis, elected as king of France by the tribe of the Franks, who gave their name to France. Before Clovis, we have Gallo-Roman and Gaulish prehistory. The decisive element, for me, is that Clovis was the first king to have been baptized a Christian. My country is a Christian country and I reckon the history of France beginning with the accession of a Christian king who bore the name of the Franks."  The Merovingians feature in the novel "In Search of Lost Time" by Marcel Proust: "The Merovingians are important to Proust because, as the oldest French dynasty, they are the most romantic and their descendants the most aristocratic." The word "Merovingian" is used as an adjective at least five times in "Swann's Way".  The Merovingians are featured in the book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" (1982) where they are depicted as descendants of Jesus, inspired by the "Priory of Sion" story developed by Pierre Plantard in the 1960s. Plantard playfully sold the story as non-fiction, giving rise to a number of works of pseudohistory among which "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" was the most successful. The "Priory of Sion" material has given rise to later works in popular fiction, notably "The Da Vinci Code" (2003), which mentions the Merovingians in chapter 60.  The title of "Merovingian" (also known as "the Frenchman") is used as the name for a fictional character and a supporting antagonist of the films "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions".

The Merovingian dynasty was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gaulish Romans under their rule. They conquered most of Gaul, defeating the Visigoths (507) and the Burgundians (534), and also extended their rule into Raetia (537). In Germania, the Alemanni, Bavarii and Saxons accepted their lordship. The Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful of the states of western Europe following the breaking up of the empire of Theoderic the Great.

Merovejci byli franský královský rod. Sehráli výjimečnou úlohu pro dějiny evropského Západu, představují spojnici mezi barbarským germánským světem, pozdní antikou a raně středověkou latinskou kulturou. Dynastie Merovejců panovala nad franskou říší celkem 263 let, přičemž jen 72 roků stál v jejím čele pouze jediný král. Název získali podle Merovecha, polomytického otce kmenového krále Childericha (zemřel roku 482), který vládl v království kolem Tournai a byl spojencem římského vojevůdce Aegidia (zemřel roku 464) v bojích proti Vizigótům. V roce 1653 byl odkryt Childerichův bohatě vybavený hrob, obsahoval kromě byzantských mincí purpurový brokátový plášť a další atributy vládce – železné kopí, různé druhy mečů aj.).


Examples of "chiasmus" and its subtype "antimetabole".

"Chiasmus" balances words or phrases with similar, though not identical, meanings:  "But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er" "Who "dotes", yet "doubts"; "suspects", yet "strongly loves"." —Shakespeare, "Othello" 3.3  "Dotes" and "strongly loves" share the same meaning and bracket as "doubts" and "suspects".  Additional examples of "chiasmus":  "By day the frolic, and the dance by night." — Samuel Johnson, "The Vanity of Human Wishes" (1794)  "Despised, if ugly; if she's fair, betrayed." — Mary Leapor, "Essay on Woman" (1751)  For comparison, the following are considered "antimetabole", in which the reversal in structure involves the same words:  "Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure." — Lord Byron, in "Don Juan", (1824)  Both chiasmus and antimetabole can be used to reinforce antithesis. In chiasmus, the clauses display inverted parallelism. Chiasmus was particularly popular in the literature of the ancient world, including Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Ancient K'iche' Maya, where it was used to articulate the balance of order within the text. Many long and complex chiasmi have been found in Shakespeare and the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible. It is also found throughout the Quran and the Book of Mormon.

Conceptual chiasmus.

Chiasmus can be used in the structure of entire passages to parallel concepts or ideas. This process, termed "conceptual chiasmus", uses a criss-crossing rhetorical structure to cause an overlapping of "intellectual space". Conceptual chiasmus utilizes specific linguistic choices, often metaphors, to create a connection between two differing disciplines. By employing a chiastic structure to a single presented concept, rhetors encourage one area of thought to consider an opposing area's perspective.

Effectiveness.

Chiasmus derives its effectiveness from its symmetrical structure. The structural symmetry of the chiasmus imposes the impression upon the reader or listener that the entire argument has been accounted for. In other words, chiasmus creates only two sides of an argument or idea for the listener to consider, and then leads the listener to favor one side of the argument.

Thematic chiasmus.

The "Wilhelmus", the national anthem of the Netherlands, has a structure composed around a thematic chiasmus: the 15 stanzas of the text are symmetrical, in that verses one and 15 resemble one another in meaning, as do verses two and 14, three and 13, etc., until they converge in the eighth verse, the heart of the song. Written in the 16th century, the "Wilhelmus" originated in the nation's struggle to achieve independence. It tells of the Father of the Nation William of Orange who was stadholder in the Netherlands under the king of Spain. In the first person, as if quoting himself, William speaks to the Dutch people and tells about both the outer conflict – the Dutch Revolt – as well as his own, inner struggle: on one hand, he tries to be faithful to the king of Spain, on the other hand he is above all faithful to his conscience: to serve God and the Dutch people. This is made apparent in the central 8th stanza: "Oh David, thou soughtest shelter from King Saul's tyranny. Even so I fled this welter". Here the comparison is made between the biblical David and William of Orange as merciful and just leaders who both serve under tyrannic kings. As the merciful David defeats the unjust Saul and is rewarded by God with the kingdom of Israel, so too, with the help of God, will William be rewarded a kingdom; being either or both the Netherlands, and the kingdom of God.

In rhetoric, chiasmus or, less commonly, chiasm (Latin term from Greek χίασμα, "crossing", from the Greek χιάζω, "chiázō", "to shape like the letter Χ") is a "reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses – but no repetition of words".

Chiasmus (podle tvaru řeckého písmene chí – χ) je syntaktický paralelismus dvou textových celků, z nichž jeden má právě opačný slovosled nebo sled témat či motivů než druhý, např.: AB:BA.


Biography.

In 2005, Chrissi and Michelle met at a concert of Chrissi's band, a short time later they decided to establish their own group and became famous in Germany by TV stations. In Austria they got very famous with the song Super Sommer (2005). Initially not very successful, however it became a hit when it was re-released in Austria and Germany one year later. The following single was "Vergiss Mich" (English: Forget me) which entered the Austrian Top 40 and the German Top 100.  The first album, "Mach Dich Bereit" was released on 23 February 2007 and hit the Austrian charts for 25 weeks. Their biggest concert to date was attended live at Brandenburg gate in Berlin and broadcast by RTL Television. On the Austrian Amadeus Awards of 2007, they won under the category "single of the year" with the song "Vergiss Mich".  The second album "Mädchen im Regen" (Girl in the rain) ( English lyrics ) was released on 21 November 2008.  Their single "Fliegen" was released as a summer hit on 19 June 2009. The music video for the song was taken on a building rooftop in Berlin, right above the Alexanderplatz.  The single "Zeig mir den Weg" was released on 29 October for the animated series "Chi Rho". Their single "Immer wenn du schläfst" from their new album "Unsere Zeit" was released on 19 November 2010. The album "Unsere Zeit" was released on 25 February 2011.

Discography.

Singles and albums by Luttenberger*klug with charts positions.

Luttenberger*Klug is a pop duo from Styria, Austria and consist of Michelle Luttenberger (born 12 July 1990, Feldbach) and Chrissi Klug (born 5 February 1989, Deutschlandsberg).

Luttenberger*Klug je popové duo z Štýrska, Rakousko. Tvoří jej "Michelle Luttenberger" (* 12. červenec 1990) a "Chrissi Klug" (* 5. únor 1989). 17. května 2007 získaly cenu Amadeus Austrian Music Award v kategórii "singl roku národní" se singlem "Vergiss mich".


Early life.

As a child, his father was often away obtaining a degree, while his mother stayed at home to care for him and his sister Myla. Dirnt excelled in school, despite often missing classes as a result of various illnesses attributed to his biological mother's drug use. After an argument between his parents led to a call to the police, the couple divorced. His mother and sister moved to Rodeo, California, while he stayed in El Sobrante, California, with his father. However, missing his mother, he eventually moved in with her and Myla. Having been previously described as bright and fearless, Dirnt became sullen and withdrawn after the divorce.  In the cafeteria in Carquinez Middle School, ten-year-old Dirnt met Billie Joe Armstrong, with whom he bonded instantly. Armstrong began to play guitar with Mike, and the two spent much time at Armstrong's house in 1984 and they played songs by various artists, most notably the Ramones, Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, Hüsker Dü, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Replacements, the Who and Van Halen. At the age of 14, they formed a group named "Sweet Children" with Billie Joe singing and playing lead guitar, Mike playing rhythm guitar, Sean Hughes on bass and Raj Punjabi on drums.  After attending Salesian High School, an all-boys Catholic school for his first year, Dirnt transferred to Pinole Valley High School, where Armstrong had also recently transferred from John Swett High School. Dirnt's family struggled with financial troubles; in an effort to help out, he worked as a chef at Nantucket, a seafood restaurant in Crockett. He eventually saved up enough money to purchase a used pickup truck that he and Armstrong often drove to Berkeley to attend shows at 924 Gilman Street, an influential DIY punk club. The pair got jobs at the club as security guards, despite their small physiques. Dirnt recalled, "We lived and died for that place. At that time, it meant everything."

Career.

While at Pinole Valley High School, Dirnt and classmate Armstrong formed a band called Sweet Children. Dirnt's mother struggled to provide for him and his sister as a single parent, and eventually had to leave Rodeo in 1987 to look for work. Unwilling to leave Sweet Children, Armstrong and Dirnt convinced each other's parents to allow Dirnt to move into Armstrong's garage. After drummer John Kiffmeyer, who was also known as Al Sobrante, joined the group and replaced original drummer Raj Punjabi, Sweet Children began performing at 924 Gilman Street. The band performed several well-received sets, which encouraged Armstrong to drop out of high school to focus his energy on music. Dirnt, however, worried that he needed a backup plan and continued his studies. Bass player Sean Hughes, who was not as dedicated to the group as the other members, left Sweet Children, leaving Dirnt to play bass. Dirnt often brought his bass to school, and the plucking noise of the unamplified strings led classmates to jokingly call him by the onomatopoeia "Dirnt". After changing its name to Green Day, the band recorded its debut album "39/Smooth" over the 1989 Christmas holiday break and went on its first van tour in June 1990, leaving the day that Dirnt graduated from high school.  While performing at the 1998 KROQ Weenie Roast in Irvine, California, Third Eye Blind bassist Arion Salazar ran onstage and "bear-hugged" Dirnt, who was caught off-guard. The incident escalated into an on-stage scuffle before security escorted Salazar away. After the performance, Dirnt confronted Salazar backstage, and as the two argued, a beer bottle struck Dirnt in the head, causing a small fracture in his skull. Eyewitnesses later attributed the bottle throwing to a fan of Third Eye Blind. Salazar and the band's management soon released a statement: "I am sorry that my attempt at doing something I thought would be funny escalated into Mike getting hurt. That was never my intention. I simply had too much to drink and made a very bad decision. If I had been in Mike's place, I am sure I would have acted similarly. My heart goes out to him and I hope he recovers quickly."  In the live album, "Bullet in a Bible," Armstrong calls Dirnt "The best bass player in the history of punk rock."  In 2012, during the iHeartRadio Music Festival, Dirnt and Armstrong smashed their respective bass and guitar after Armstrong became agitated onstage and ranted about Green Day's set being cut short for Usher.

Songwriting and lead vocals.

Although Armstrong is Green Day's main lyricist, Dirnt has written lyrics for "Emenius Sleepus," "J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)", "Scumbag", "Ha Ha You're Dead", the subtrack "Nobody Likes You" from the medley "Homecoming" and the b-side "Governator," He also co-wrote the lyrics to "Best Thing in Town," "The One I Want," and "Panic Song" with Armstrong, and writes all the bass lines for Green Day songs. Mike also composed the intro to "Desensitized" from "Shenanigans" using a baseball bat and an old cathode ray tube television.  Dirnt sings lead vocals on "Governator," part of the third verse of "Outsider" on the "Shenanigans" album, the "Nobody Likes You" subtrack of "Homecoming." He also sings the subtrack "Modern World" from the medley "American Eulogy" from "21st Century Breakdown" and sings lead for exactly 10 seconds in "Sex, Drugs, and Violence" from "¡Tré!".

Personal life.

Dirnt married his first wife, Anastasia Serman, in 1996; they divorced in 1999. Anastasia and Dirnt had a daughter together, Estelle Desiree, who was born on December 20, 1996. He won full custody of his daughter in the summer of 2008 and took her to live in Oakland.  In 2004, he married girlfriend Sarah Garrity in a private villa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The two divorced that same year.  On March 14, 2009, he married Brittney Cade in a private ceremony in Brittney's hometown of Ojai, California. Dirnt has two children with Cade: a son, Brixton Michael (born October 11, 2008), and a daughter, Ryan Ruby Mae (born November 29, 2010).  Dirnt is a "Star Wars" fan; he stated jokingly in an interview that he bases "most of his religious beliefs" on "Star Wars". His birthday is on Star Wars Day. Dirnt's favorite bass player was Cliff Burton. He is a part owner of Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, a diner in Emeryville and Oakland. The diner was named after a song by punk rock band the Clash, "Rudie Can't Fail", from their album "London Calling". The menu item names are loosely based on punk themes such as "God Save the Chicken", a reference to "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols, and "Give 'Em Enough Meatloaf", a reference to "Give 'Em Enough Rope" by the Clash.  Dirnt was adopted; his biological mother died on January 9, 2013. Dirnt only managed to meet her one month before her death.  In July 2014, it was announced that Dirnt would co-produce the Indie film "Crickets", with Green Day manager, Pat Magnarella.  In December 2015, Dirnt along with Billie Joe Armstrong, announced that they would launch a coffee company, "Oakland Coffee Works". The company sells organic coffee beans and is the first company to exclusively use 100% compostable bags and pods.

Michael Ryan Pritchard (born May 4, 1972), known professionally as Mike Dirnt, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder, bassist, backing and occasional lead vocalist of Green Day. He has also played in several other bands, including the Frustrators. His stage name was originally a nickname that his friends from grade school gave him, as he constantly played "air bass" and made a "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt" noise while pretending to pluck the strings.

Mike Dirnt, vlastním jménem Michael Ryan Pritchard (* 4. května 1972, Berkeley, Kalifornie, USA) je basista americké punk rockové skupiny Green Day. V současnosti žije v kalifornském městě Oakland.