Early life.

Billy Ray Cyrus was born on August 25, 1961 in Flatwoods, Kentucky, to Ron Cyrus, a politician and former steelworker, and his wife, the former Ruth Ann Casto. Cyrus started singing at the age of four. His parents divorced in 1966. His grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher. Growing up, he was surrounded by bluegrass and gospel music from his family. His right-handed father played guitar, however left-handed Cyrus tried to play his father's guitar, but could not. He attended Georgetown College on a baseball scholarship before changing to music. He dropped out of Georgetown during his junior year, realized he wanted to become a musician after attending a Neil Diamond concert, and set a 10-month goal to start a career. In the 1980s, he played in a band called Sly Dog, before signing a record contract with Mercury Nashville Records. Sly Dog was named after a one-eyed dog that Cyrus owned.

Music career.

The Mercury Records years.

While trying to get a recording contract in Los Angeles, Cyrus suffered many hardships including living in his neighbor's car. However, in 1990, he was signed to PolyGram/Mercury. That same year, he opened for Reba McEntire. Cyrus began to record and write music for his debut album, released in 1992.  "Some Gave All" was released in 1992. The album became an instant chart and sales success. It debuted at No. 1 on the "Billboard" Top Country Albums, "Billboard" 200, Canadian Country Albums chart, Canadian Albums Chart, and on the charts of several other foreign countries. The album featured four consecutive top 40 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart from 1992 to 1993, including an album cut, the title track. The most successful single released was "Achy Breaky Heart". It reached No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart and was also a hit on the "Billboard" Hot 100, where it reached No. 4. Uniquely for a country music song it also became an international success, reaching number 1 in Australia and number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. Thanks to the video of this hit, there was the explosion of the line dance into the mainstream, becoming a global craze. Although the song was the only number one single, "Could've Been Me" reached No. 2, "Wher'm I Gonna Live?" reached No. 23, and "She's Not Cryin' Anymore" reached No. 6. "Some Gave All" was certified 9× Multi-Platinum in the United States in 1996, and has sold over 20 million copies worldwide.  In 1993, Cyrus and Mercury Records quickly released Cyrus' second studio album, "It Won't Be the Last". The album featured four singles; however, only three made the top 40. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Country charts, and No. 3 on the "Billboard" 200. By the end of the year, "It Won't Be the Last" was certified Platinum by the RIAA. The highest charting single, the lead-off single, "In the Heart of a Woman", charted to No. 3, with "Somebody New" charting to No. 9, "Words By Heart" at No. 12, and "Talk Some" at No. 63. Also in 1993, Cyrus appeared on Dolly Parton's single "Romeo"; though the single only reached 27 on the country singles charts, the accompanying video was popular on CMT.  Cyrus' third studio album, "Storm in the Heartland", was released in 1994. It was the final album he recorded for PolyGram, as they closed their doors in 1995. The album was not as successful as its predecessors. It only reached No. 11 on the Country albums chart, and only the title track made the top 40 of the Country singles chart. "Deja Blue" was the second single released; however, it only managed to chart to No. 66, and the third and final single, "One Last Thrill", failed to chart at all.  The album only managed to be certified Gold in the U.S. Before Cyrus started on his next album, he was transferred to Mercury Nashville.  Also in 1994, Cyrus contributed the song "Pictures Don't Lie" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.  Cyrus' most critically acclaimed album was 1996's "Trail of Tears" on Mercury Records. The album debuted at No. 20 on the Country chart when released. Only two songs made the cut to radio, although neither one hit the top 60. The title track and "Three Little Words" reached No. 69 and No. 65 respectively. The album failed to reach any certification, and was on and off the charts after only four weeks.  In 1998, Cyrus released his last album for Mercury Records "Shot Full of Love". The album became his lowest-peaking album, debuting at No. 32. The first single, "Under the Hood", failed to chart, "Time for Letting Go" hit No. 70, "Busy Man" charted No. 3, and "I Give My Heart to You" reached No. 41. After the single fell from the charts, Cyrus left Mercury's roster and signed with Monument Records in 1999.  His debut album for Monument, "Southern Rain", was released in 2000. It debuted at No. 13 on the Country albums chart and No. 102 on the "Billboard" 200. Five singles were released and all five charted. The lead-off single, "You Won't Be Lonely Now", was the highest-peaking single from the album, charting to No. 17. Other singles include "We the People" (#60), "Burn Down the Trailer Park" (#43), "Crazy 'Bout You Baby" (#58), and the title track (#45).

Shift to Christian music.

After the singles from "Southern Rain" finished their chart runs, Cyrus recorded two Christian albums. Both albums, "Time Flies" and "The Other Side", were released in 2003. The first album debuted and peaked at a low No. 56 on the Country album charts. Three singles were released; however, only the final single reached the charts. "Bread Alone", "What Else Is There", and "Back to Memphis" were released, and "Back to Memphis" charted to No. 60.  The second Christian album, "The Other Side", was recorded while Cyrus filmed his PAX series, "Doc". It debuted at No. 5 on the Top Christian Albums chart, No. 18 Top Country Albums, and No. 131 on "Billboard" 200. Two of three singles charted – "Face of God" (#54) and "The Other Side" (#45) – while "Always Sixteen" did not chart.

Disney Entertainment.

The album "Wanna Be Your Joe" was Billy Ray's first country album since 2000's "Southern Rain". As with its preceding albums, it too, was recorded on a new record label: New Door/UMe Records. It was released while Cyrus was filming the show "Hannah Montana". "Wanna Be Your Joe" made it to No. 24 on the Country charts and No. 113 on the all-genre charts. The album initially sold well, but no hit-single was released. The title track was released as the first single, and was followed by "I Want My Mullet Back", both of which were ignored by country radio. Although not released as a single, a music video was made for the track "Stand", a duet with daughter Miley Cyrus.  Also in 2006, Billy Ray appeared with metal-rock group Metal Skool (now Steel Panther), and performed several songs including "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol, and the song "I Want My Mullet Back", which appears on "Wanna Be Your Joe".  He also sang "The Star Spangled Banner" at Game 5 of the 2006 World Series in St. Louis, Missouri.

Career re-launch.

In mid-2007, Cyrus was a celebrity contestant on the 4th season of the show "Dancing with the Stars". Cyrus was partnered with Karina Smirnoff. He quickly became a fan favorite. Cyrus and Smirnoff made it to the semi-finals, where they finished in 5th place.  From Cyrus's exposure on "Dancing with the Stars" and "Hannah Montana", his record label pushed up the release date by a month for his new album. "Home at Last" was released in July 2007 on Walt Disney Records. It debuted at No. 3 on the country charts, making it Cyrus' first top 5 entry since 1993. Beginning sales for the album were very strong; however, the album failed to be certified. The single "Ready, Set, Don't Go", was initially released as a solo single. The solo version made it to No. 33 on the Hot Country Songs chart.  In October 2007, Cyrus and his daughter Miley performed a duet version of the song on "Dancing with the Stars". The duet of the song debuted at No. 27 on the Country charts and eventually peaked at No. 4 in 2008, giving Billy Ray his first top 5 single since 1999, as well as Miley's first top 5 on any "Billboard" chart.  Cyrus was a part of the Disney collection "Country Sings Disney" in 2008. Two of his songs, "Ready, Set, Don't Go" and the Sheryl Crow-penned song "Real Gone," appeared on the album. Billy Ray's version of "Real Gone" was also made into a music video that is in rotation on both CMT and GAC; the song also appears on "Back to Tennessee".

New label and newfound chart success.

In late 2008, his website confirmed that a new studio album would be released by the end of the year from Lyric Street Records, entitled "Back to Tennessee". The album was originally planned to be released on October 21, 2008, but was pushed back to November 18. When the album was not released, it was announced for a January 13, 2009 release. The first single, "Somebody Said a Prayer", debuted at No. 53 in August 2008 and reached No. 33 in November of that year. On March 14, 2009, the album's title track debuted at No. 59 on the country singles chart and a month later on April 7, "Back to Tennessee" was released. The song only charted to No. 47 after 11 weeks. A third single, "A Good Day", debuted at No. 60 on the country charts for the chart week of September 5, 2009.  It was less successful in its first week out as "Home at Last". It only reached No. 13 on the charts and only sold approximately 14,000 copies in its opening week. The album's release date coincided with the release of "". The song "Back to Tennessee" was included on the movies, as well as a duet with Miley Cyrus, entitled "Butterfly Fly Away". The latter song would peak at No. 56 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and at No. 50 and Canadian Hot 100.  On November 12, 2008, Billy Ray and Miley presented the "Song of the Year" award at the 42nd Annual Country Music Association Awards. Prior to the award show, both Billy Ray and Miley performed on "Good Morning America". In December 2008, Cyrus made a cameo in Metro Station's video, "Seventeen Forever".  Shortly after the chart debut of "Back to Tennessee"'s third single, "A Good Day", Cyrus and Lyric Street Records parted ways after only one album.  Cyrus, Phil Vassar, Jeffrey Steele, and John Waite then formed a new supergroup together in early 2009 called Brother Clyde. On Twitter, Cyrus confirmed the supergroup, saying they just cut the first single from the new album, "Lately".  On June 30, 2010, Cyrus said about the new alternative rock group, Brother Clyde, that the old members would be substituted by Samantha Maloney, Jamie Miller, Dan Knight, and Dave Henning. Also, he said that their single, "Lately", was available on iTunes and that their debut album would be out on August 10, 2010.

2010–2019: Post-Brother Clyde.

In late 2010, Cyrus suspended his activities in the band Brother Clyde, and announced the release of his new solo patriotic album, entitled "I'm American". Initially scheduled to be released in November 2010, it was pushed back to a May 24, 2011 release with a re-recording of "Some Gave All" that featured guest vocals from Darryl Worley, Jamey Johnson and Craig Morgan being released as the lead-off single. However, in April 2011, the single was changed to "Runway Lights". "I'm American" was released on June 28, 2011. A second single, "Nineteen", was released in August 2011. The song entered the Hot Country Songs chart for the week of October 8, 2011, where it debuted at number 58, becoming Cyrus' first charted single since "A Good Day" in 2009.  Cyrus released the album "Change My Mind" on October 23, 2012. Its first single, the title track, was released on September 6.

2019: "Old Town Road" remix and popular resurgence.

After "Billboard" removed American rapper Lil Nas X's country-rap song "Old Town Road" from their Country chart, Cyrus was featured in the remix. The remix rose to number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, unseating the original mix of the song and giving Cyrus his first number one song on the Hot 100. The song was nominated for various Grammy Awards, winning Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video.

Acting career.

Cyrus starred in the 1999 independent film "Radical Jack". He also had a small part in David Lynch's 2001 film "Mulholland Drive" as Gene, a pool cleaner who had been having an affair with the wife of Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux). In 2001, Cyrus played the lead role on the PAX (now ION Television) comedy-drama "Doc", which became the network's highest-rated show. In 2005, Cyrus expanded his acting career in a stage production of "Annie Get Your Gun" in Toronto, appearing in the role of Frank Butler.  Cyrus' television credits include "The Nanny", "Diagnosis Murder", "Love Boat, The Next Wave", and TNN's "18 Wheels Of Justice". In 2004, he guest-starred as a limo driver in the episode "The Power of Love" of the Canadian teen drama "". Cyrus has also been the subject of many television specials that detail his rise to fame and his career. These include two ABC documentaries, "Billy Ray Cyrus: Dreams Come True" and "Billy Ray Cyrus: A Year on the Road", a VH1 exclusive, as well as the TNN specials "I Give My Heart To You", and "The Life and Times of Billy Ray Cyrus". In late 2005, Cyrus and his daughter Miley Cyrus began co-starring in the Disney Channel original television series, "Hannah Montana", which premiered on March 24, 2006.  In March 2007, Cyrus joined several other celebrities to take part in the fourth season of the US version of "Dancing with the Stars". He and his partner Karina Smirnoff, were eliminated in the eighth week (May 8, 2007) after having also placed in the "bottom two" the week before.  Cyrus also starred in Jackie Chan's movie "The Spy Next Door". It was shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico and released in January 2010.  Cyrus sits on the advisory board of a conservative group called the Parents Television Council.  In 2010, it was announced that he and his son Trace Cyrus would take part in a new Syfy reality series called "UFO: Unbelievably Freakin' Obvious".

Personal life.

From 1986 to 1991, Cyrus was married to Cindy Smith, with whom he co-wrote the songs "Wher'm I Gonna Live?" and "Some Gave All", both of which were featured on his 1992 debut album "Some Gave All". They divorced.  During the time he was single, Cyrus had relationships with Kristin Luckey and Leticia "Tish" Finley. He fathered two children, who were both born in 1992: his first child Christopher Cody (born April 1992), who was raised by his mother Kristin in South Carolina; and Miley Cyrus, born November 1992. Cyrus had pledged to Luckey to support her and their child.  On December 28, 1993, Cyrus secretly married "Tish" Finley (born May 13, 1967), against his record company's advice. She was pregnant with their second child, son Braison. They have three children together: Miley Ray (born as Destiny Hope in 1992), Braison Chance (born 1994), and Noah Lindsey Cyrus (born 2000). He also adopted the two young children whom Finley brought to the marriage: daughter Brandi (born 1987); and son Trace (born 1989). Brandi has had some acting roles, and Trace is now the singer/guitarist for Metro Station.  The family lived for a time on a farm in Thompson's Station, Tennessee, near Nashville. They moved to Los Angeles for the filming of the series "Hannah Montana," in which daughter Miley starred. Brandi Cyrus also had roles in the series: in the episode, "Yet Another Side of Me," as Customer No. 1 and in the season 4 episode, "Been Here All Along", as the Guitarist.  On October 26, 2010, Cyrus filed for divorce in Tennessee, citing irreconcilable differences. But the next year, in March 2011, Cyrus said he had dropped the divorce.  On June 13, 2013, Tish filed for divorce after 19 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences with Cyrus. In July 2013 the couple was reported to be in therapy and dropped the divorce. In 2017, the second divorce case was officially dismissed by the court since the couple failed to appear.  Although Cyrus's song "We the People" was used as a campaign song by Republican George W. Bush in his 2000 presidential campaign, Cyrus was reported as saying that he had been a lifetime Democrat.

Billy Ray Cyrus (born August 25, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He has released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, and is known for his number one single "Achy Breaky Heart", which became the first single ever to achieve triple platinum status in Australia. It was also the best-selling single in the same country in 1992. Due to the song's music video, the line dance rose in popularity.

Billy Ray Cyrus, de son vrai nom William Ray Cyrus, est un acteur, compositeur et chanteur de musique country américain né le à Flatwoods, dans le Kentucky aux États-Unis, notamment connu pour son rôle de père de Miley Stewart (joué par sa propre fille, Miley Cyrus, dans la série télévisée "Hannah Montana)" et en tant que musicien, pour son single "Achy Breaky Heart" (1992), issu de l'album "Some Gave All" qui fut un grand succès (plus de 20 millions d'exemplaires vendus).


History.

Normans first arrived in Italy as pilgrims, probably on their way to or returning from either Rome or Jerusalem, or from visiting the shrine at Monte Gargano, during the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. In 1017, the Lombard lords in Apulia recruited their assistance against the dwindling power of the Byzantine Catapanate of Italy. They soon established vassal states of their own and began to expand their conquests until they were encroaching on the Lombard principalities of Benevento and Capua, Saracen-controlled territories, as well as Greek, and territory under papal allegiance. Their conquest of Sicily, which began in 1061, was completed by 1091.  Italo-Normans were the primary Norman mercenaries in the employ of the Byzantine emperors, and many found service in Rome under the pope. Some went to Spain to join the Reconquista, and in 1096 the Normans of Bohemond of Taranto joined the First Crusade and set up the principality of Antioch in the Levant. In 1130 under Roger II, they created the Kingdom of Sicily, encompassing the whole of their conquests on the peninsula and the island. Between 1135 and 1155 Roger II also created an Italo-Norman Kingdom of Africa in coastal Tunisia and Tripolitania. He intended to unite this African kingdom with his Kingdom of Sicily, but his untimely death in 1154 put an end to these plans.  When founded in 1130, this Italo-Norman kingdom united the whole of Southern Italy under the same rule for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Norman dynasty established by Roger II continued with William I, and then William II. After the latter's death without heirs in 1189, and following the brief reign of his illegitimate cousin Tancred of Lecce, the German Emperor Henry VI of Swabia (who had married Constance, aunt and legitimate successor of William II) conquered the kingdom in 1194, defeating William III of Sicily (son of Tancred) and ending the Italo-Norman dynasty.

The Italo-Normans (), or Siculo-Normans ("Siculo-Normanni") when referring to Sicily and Southern Italy, are the Italian-born descendants of the first Norman conquerors to travel to southern Italy in the first half of the eleventh century. While maintaining much of their distinctly Norman piety and customs of war, they were shaped by the diversity of southern Italy, by the cultures and customs of the Greeks, Lombards, and Arabs in Sicily.

Le baronnage italo-normand correspond à la noblesse originaire du duché de Normandie qui s'est implantée d'abord en Italie méridionale à partir de la première moitié du, puis en Sicile, conquise par les Normands de 1061 à 1091, à partir de la seconde moitié du.


Description.

"Maiasaura" were large, attaining a maximum known length of about. They had a flat beak typical of hadrosaurids, and thick noses. They had a small, spiky crest in front of the eyes. This crest may have been used in headbutting contests between males during the breeding season.  "Maiasaura" were herbivorous. They were capable of walking both on two (bipedal) or four (quadrupedal) legs. Studies of the stress patterns of healed bones show that young juveniles under four years old walked mainly bipedal, switching to a mainly quadrupedal style of walking when they grew larger. They appeared to have no defense against predators, except, perhaps, its heavy muscular tail and their herd behavior. Herds were extremely large and could have comprised as many as 10,000 individuals. "Maiasaura" lived in an inland habitat.

Discovery.

A skull of "Maiasaura", specimen PU 22405 (now in the collections of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History as YPM PU 22405 following the transfer of the Princeton University vertebrate paleontology collections), was discovered by Laurie Trexler in 1979 and described by dinosaur paleontologists Jack Horner and Robert Makela as the holotype of a new species. They named the type species "Maiasaura peeblesorum". The generic name refers to the Greek goddess Maia, the "Good Mother"; to emphasise this, they used the feminine form of "saurus": "saura". The specific name honours the families of John and James Peebles, on whose land the finds were made. The generic name refers to Marion Brandvold's discovery in 1978 of a nest with remains of eggshells and babies too large to be hatchlings. These discoveries led to others, and the area became known as "Egg Mountain", in rocks of the Two Medicine Formation near Choteau in western Montana. This was the first proof of giant dinosaurs raising and feeding their young.  Over 200 specimens, in all age ranges, have been found. The announcement of the discovery of "Maiasaura" attracted renewed scientific interest to the Two Medicine Formation and many other new kinds of dinosaurs were discovered as a result of the increased attention. Choteau "Maiasaura" remains are found in higher strata than their Two Medicine River counterparts.

Classification.

The following cladogram of hadrosaurid relationships was published in 2013 by Alberto Prieto-Márquez et al.:

Palaeobiology.

"Maiasaura" lived in herds and it raised its young in nesting colonies. The nests in the colonies were packed closely together, like those of modern seabirds, with the gap between the nests being around ; less than the length of the adult animal. The nests were made of earth and contained 30 to 40 eggs laid in a circular or spiral pattern. The eggs were about the size of ostrich eggs.  The eggs were incubated by the heat resulting from rotting vegetation placed into the nest by the parents, rather than a parent sitting on the nest. Upon hatching, fossils of baby "Maiasaura" show that their legs were not fully developed and thus they were incapable of walking. Fossils also show that their teeth were partly worn, which means that the adults brought food to the nest.  The hatchlings grew from a size of long in the span of their first year. At this point, or perhaps after another year, the animal left the nest. This high rate of growth may be evidence of warm bloodedness. The hatchlings had different facial proportions from the adults, with larger eyes and a shorter snout. These features are associated with cuteness, and commonly elicit care from parents in animals dependent on their parents for survival during the early stages of life.  Studies led by Holly Woodward, Jack Horner, Freedman Fowler et al. have given insight into the life history of "Maiasaura", resulting in what is perhaps the most detailed life history of any dinosaur known, and to which all others can be compared. From a sample of fifty individual "Maiasaura" tibiae, it was found that Maiasaurs had a mortality rate of about 89.9% in their first year of life. If the animals survived their second year, their mortality rate would drop to 12.7%. The animals would spend their next six years maturing and growing. Sexual maturity was found to occur in their third year, while skeletal maturity was attained at eight years of age. In their eighth year and beyond, the mortality rate for "Maiasaura" would spike back to around 44.4%. The studies that followed also found that Maiasaurs were primarily bipedal as juveniles, and switched to a more quadrupedal stance as they aged. It was also found that "Maiasaura" also included rotting wood in its diet, as well that its environment had a long, dry season prone to drought. The results of the study were published in the journal Palaeobiology on September 3, 2015.

Palaeoecology.

"Maiasaura" is a characteristic fossil of the middle portion (lithofacies 4) of the Two Medicine Formation, dated to about 76.4 million years ago. "Maiasaura" lived alongside the troodontid "Troodon" and the hypsilophodont "Orodromeus", as well as the dromaeosaurid "Bambiraptor" and the tyrannosaur "Daspletosaurus". Another species of hadrosaurids, referable to the genus "Hypacrosaurus", coexisted with "Maiasaura" for some time, as "Hypacrosaurus" remains have been found lower in the Two Medicine Formation than was earlier known. The discovery of an additional hadrosaurid, "Gryposaurus latidens", in the same range as "Maiasaura" has shown that the border between hypothesized distinct faunas in the upper and middle is less distinct than once thought. There seems to be a major diversification in ornithischian taxa after the appearance of "Maiasaura" within the Two Medicine Formation. The thorough examination of strata found along the Two Medicine River (which exposes the entire upper half of the Two Medicine Formation) indicates that the apparent diversification was a real event rather than a result of preservational biases. While "Maiasaura" has historically been associated with the Two Medicine formation ceratopsid "Einiosaurus" in a single fauna, this is inaccurate, as "Maiasaura" is known exclusively from older strata.

Maiasaura (from the Greek "μαία" and the feminine form of Latin "saurus", meaning "good mother reptile" or "good mother lizard") is a large herbivorous hadrosaurid ("duck-billed") dinosaur genus that lived in the area currently covered by the state of Montana in the Upper Cretaceous Period (mid to late Campanian), about 76.7 million years ago.

Maiasaura est un genre éteint de « dinosaures à bec de canards » herbivores du sous-ordre des ornithopodes et de la famille des Hadrosauridae. Ses fossiles ont été retrouvés au Montana dans la formation de Two Medicine. Ils datent du Crétacé supérieur (Campanien), soit il y a environ entre à millions d'années.


Meteorological history.

Tropical Storm Jose was first identified as a tropical wave that moved off the western coast of Africa on August 8, 2005. On August 13, the system spawned Tropical Depression Ten over the central Atlantic; the wave itself continued westward, entering the Caribbean on August 17. Slight development took place as the system moved over the Yucatán Peninsula; however, by the time it entered the Bay of Campeche on August 21, little convection was associated with the system. The following morning, convection exploded under highly favorable divergence from an upper-level anticyclonic flow. According to readings from the QuikSCAT satellite, a well-defined low pressure center developed by 1200 UTC, prompting the National Hurricane Center to classify the system as Tropical Depression Eleven. At this time, the depression was situated roughly 110 mi (175 km) east of Veracruz, Mexico.  Situated over very warm waters and within an area of low wind shear, the depression was able to quickly organize; however, due to its proximity to land, the NHC noted, "the system does not have very long...to take advantage of these favorable conditions." Located to the south of a mid-level ridge, the depression tracked just north of due west and kept this motion through the remainder of its existence. The depression rapidly intensified as it moved to the west, becoming Tropical Storm Jose just six hours later. The global model guidance initially failed to resolve the storm's track well, with some models indicating that it would stall offshore. Jose continued to strengthen as it moved towards the coast and made landfall north of Veracruz city early on August 23 with winds reaching a peak of 60 mph (95 km/h). As Jose made its landfall an eye was beginning to form, although the storm was still well short of hurricane intensity. Tropical Storm Jose quickly weakened after landfall and dissipated that afternoon in the mountains of central Mexico only 24 hours after forming.

Preparations and impact.

As Tropical Storm Jose formed so close to shore there was a lead time of less than 9 hours on the tropical storm warning for the Veracruz coastline. The area covered by the warning issued on August 22 was extended southwards as Jose intensified, before being canceled soon after landfall on August 23. The advisories issued by the National Hurricane Center emphasized that rainfall from Jose was the primary threat.  Across Mexico, Jose killed 16 people – five were in Veracruz's capital Xalapa, six were in elsewhere in Veracruz due a landslide, and five were in Oaxaca due to mudslides. Tropical Storm Jose was responsible for damaging crops, highways and homes; flooding districts in several cities in the state of Veracruz, and the evacuation of 80,000 people to shelters. The government of that state estimated the damages caused by the storm to be approximately $45 million (2005 USD). Approximately 120 municipalities were affected by the torrential rain, but the majority of the damage was concentrated to eight of them: Martínez de la Torre, Misantla, Nautla, San Rafael, Vega de la Torre, Actopan, Cardel and Úrsulo Galván. Damage to the highway infrastructure was estimated at $33 million (2005 USD).  It was also reported that the storm damaged at least 16,000 homes and about 250 square kilometers (60 thousand acres) of land used for cattle. In addition over 420 square kilometers (103 thousand acres) of various crops, including sugarcane, corn and bananas, were flooded. Many boats were also lost as a result of Jose. 90 active medical brigades were sent to the region to reduce the risk of infections amongst the affected population.

Tropical Storm Jose was a short-lived tropical storm which made landfall in central Mexico during August 2005. Jose was the tenth named storm of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and the fourth of six tropical cyclones (three hurricanes and three tropical storms) to make landfall in Mexico in that year.

La tempête tropicale Jose a été la de la saison cyclonique 2005 dans le bassin de l'océan Atlantique. Le nom Jose avait déjà été utilisé en 1981 et 1999.


Suitable seeds.

All viable seeds can be sprouted, but some sprouts should not be eaten raw.  Bean sprouts are a common ingredient across the world. They are particularly common in Eastern Asian cuisine. It typically takes one week for them to become fully grown. The sprouted beans are more nutritious than the original beans, and they require much less cooking time. There are two common types of bean sprouts:  Common sprouts used as food include:  Although whole oats can be sprouted, oat "groats" sold in food stores, which are dehulled and have been steamed or roasted to prevent rancidity, will not sprout. Whole oats may have an indigestible hull which makes them difficult or even unfit for human consumption. In the case of rice, the husk of the paddy is removed before sprouting. Brown rice is widely used for germination in Japan and other countries, becoming germinated Brown Rice (GBR). Quinoa in its natural state is very easy to sprout, but when polished, or pre-cleaned of its saponin coating (becoming whiter), it loses its power to germinate.  Sprouts of the family Solanaceae (tomato, potato, paprika, and aubergine/eggplant) and the family Polygonaceae (rhubarb) cannot be eaten raw, as they can be poisonous. Some sprouts can be cooked to remove the relevant toxin, while others cannot.  With all seeds, care should be taken that they are intended for sprouting or human consumption, rather than sowing. Seeds intended for sowing may be treated with toxic chemical dressings. Several countries, such as New Zealand, require that some varieties of imported edible seed be heat-treated, thus making it impossible for them to sprout.

The germination process.

The germination process takes a few days and can be done at home manually, as a semi-automated process, or industrially on a large scale for commercial use.  Typically the seeds are first rinsed to remove soil, dirt and the mucilaginous substances produced by some seeds when they come in contact with water. Then they are soaked for from 20 minutes to 12 hours, depending on the type and size of the seed. The soaking increases the water content in the seeds and brings them out of quiescence. After draining and then rinsing seeds at regular intervals, the seeds then germinate, or sprout.  For home sprouting, the seeds are soaked (big seeds) or moistened (small), then left at room temperature () in a sprouting vessel. Many different types of vessels can be used as a sprouting vessel. One type is a simple glass jar with a piece of cloth or nylon window screen secured over its rim. "Tiered" clear-plastic sprouters are commercially available, allowing a number of "crops" to be grown simultaneously. By staggering sowings, a constant supply of young sprouts can be ensured. Any vessel used for sprouting must allow water to drain from it, because sprouts that sit in water will rot quickly. The seeds swell, may stick to the sides of the jar, and begin germinating within a day or two.  Another sprouting technique is to use a pulse drip method. The photo below on the right shows crimson clover sprouts grown on urethane foam mats. It is a one-way watering system with micro-sprinklers providing intermittent pulses of fresh water to reduce the risk of bacterial cross-contamination with Salmonella and E. coli during the sprouting process.  Sprouts are rinsed two to four times a day, depending on the climate and the type of seed, to provide them with moisture and prevent them from souring. Each seed has its own ideal sprouting time. After three to five days the sprouts will have grown to in length and will be suitable for consumption. If left longer they will begin to develop leaves, and are then known as baby greens. A popular baby green is a sunflower after 7–10 days. Refrigeration can be used as needed to slow or halt the growth process of any sprout.  Common causes for sprouts becoming inedible:  Mung beans can be sprouted either in light or dark conditions. Those sprouted in the dark will be crisper in texture and whiter, as in the case of commercially available Chinese Bean Sprouts, but these have less nutritional content than those grown in partial sunlight. Growing in full sunlight is not recommended, because it can cause the beans to overheat or dry out. Subjecting the sprouts to pressure, for example, by placing a weight on top of them in their sprouting container, will result in larger, crunchier sprouts similar to those sold in grocery stores.  A very effective way to sprout beans like lentils or azuki is in colanders. Soak the beans in water for about 8 hours then place in the colander. Wash twice a day. The sprouted beans can be eaten raw or cooked.  Sprouting is also applied on a large scale to barley as a part of the malting process. Malted barley is an important ingredient in beer and is used in large quantities. Most malted barley is widely distributed among retail sellers in North America.  Many varieties of nuts, such as almonds and peanuts, can also be started in their growth cycle by soaking and sprouting, although because the sprouts are generally still very small when eaten, they are usually called "soaks".

Nutrition.

Sprouts can be germinated at home or produced industrially. They are a prominent ingredient of a raw food diet and are common in Eastern Asian cuisine.  Sprouting, like cooking, reduces anti-nutritional compounds in raw legumes. Raw lentils, for example, contain lectins, anti-nutritional proteins which can be reduced by sprouting or cooking. Sprouting is also applied on a large scale to barley as a part of the malting process. A downside to consuming raw sprouts is that the process of germinating seeds can also be conducive to harmful bacterial growth.  Sprouts are rich in digestible energy, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, and phytochemicals, as these are necessary for a germinating plant to grow. These nutrients are also essential to human health.  The nutritional changes upon germination and sprouting are summarized below.  Chavan and Kadam (1989) concluded that

Increases in protein quality.

Chavan and Kadam (1989) stated that: Very complex qualitative changes are reported to occur during soaking and sprouting of seeds. The conversion of storage proteins of cereal grains into albumins and globulins during sprouting may improve the quality of cereal proteins. Many studies have shown an increase in the content of the amino acid Lysine with sprouting.  An increase in proteolytic activity during sprouting is desirable for nutritional improvement of cereals because it leads to hydrolysis of prolamins and the liberated amino acids such as glutamic and proline are converted to limiting amino acids such as lysine.

Increases in crude fibre content.

Cuddeford (1989), based on data obtained by Peer and Leeson (1985) stated that:  In sprouted barley, crude fibre, a major constituent of cell walls, increases both in percentage and real terms, with the synthesis of structural carbohydrates, such as cellulose and hemicellulose.  Chung, et al. (1989) found that "the fibre content increased from 3.75% in unsprouted barley seed to 6% in 5-day sprouts."

Crude protein and fibre changes in sprouted barley.

Source: Cuddeford (1989), based on data obtained by Peer and Leeson (1985).  Increase of protein is not due to new protein being manufactured by the germination process but by the washing out of starch and conversion to fiber—increasing the relative proportion of protein.

Lipolysis.

An increase in lipase activity has been reported in barley by MacLeod and White (1962), as cited by Chavan and Kadam (1989). Increased lipolytic activity during germination and sprouting causes hydrolysis of triacylglycerols to glycerol and constituent fatty acids.

Increases in vitamin content.

According to Chavan and Kadam (1989), most reports agree that sprouting treatment of cereal grains generally improves their vitamin value, especially the B-group vitamins. Certain vitamins such as α-tocopherol (Vitamin-E) and β-carotene (Vitamin-A precursor) are produced during the growth process (Cuddeford, 1989).  According to Shipard (2005): Sprouts provide a good supply of Vitamins A, E & C plus B complex. Like enzymes, vitamins serve as bioactive catalysts to assist in the digestion and metabolism of feeds and the release of energy. They are also essential for the healing and repair of cells. However, vitamins are very perishable, and in general, the fresher the feeds eaten, the higher the vitamin content. The vitamin content of some seeds can increase by up to 20 times their original value within several days of sprouting. Mung Bean sprouts have B vitamin increases, compared to the dry seeds, of - B up 285%, B up 515%, B up 256%. Even soaking seeds overnight in water yields greatly increased amounts of B vitamins, as well as Vitamin C. Compared with mature plants, sprouts can yield vitamin contents 30 times higher.

Effects of sprouting kidney beans.

The following table lists selected nutrients in kidney beans to show the effect of sprouting. Raw kidney beans contain high amounts of the toxin phytohemagglutinin, and the US Food and Drug Administration recommends boiling for 30 minutes to ensure they reach a sufficient temperature long enough to completely destroy the toxin. Nutrients are calculated for 100 grams of non-water components to remove water from the equation since after sprouting beans absorb a lot of water.

Mineral chelation.

Shipard (2005) claims that: "When seeds are sprouted, minerals chelate or merge with protein, in a way that increases their function."  It is important to note that while these changes may sound impressive, the comparisons are between dormant non-sprouted seed to sprouted seed rather than comparisons of sprouts to mature vegetables. Comparing dry seeds to sprouts shows large increases in nutrients, whereas comparing sprouts to mature vegetables shows less of increase. However, a sprout, just starting out in life, is likely to need, and thus have more nutrients percentage-wise of weight, than a mature vegetable.

Increase in gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA).

Sprouting can improve levels of gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), a compound involved in the regulation of blood pressure, and promote the liberation of bioactive peptides in diverse legumes.

Health concerns.

Bacterial infection.

Commercially grown sprouts have been associated with multiple outbreaks of harmful bacteria, including salmonella and toxic forms of "Escherichia coli". Such infections, which are so frequent in the United States that investigators call them "sproutbreaks", may be a result of contaminated seeds or of unhygienic production with high microbial counts. Sprout seeds can become contaminated in the fields where they are grown, and sanitizing steps may be unable to kill bacteria hidden in damaged seeds. A single surviving bacterium in a kilogram of seed can be enough to contaminate a whole batch of sprouts, according to the FDA.  To minimize the impact of the incidents and maintain public health, both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada issued industry guidance on the safe manufacturing of edible sprouts and public education on their safe consumption. There are also publications for hobby farmers on safely growing and consuming sprouts at home. The recommendations include development and implementation of good agricultural practices and good manufacturing practices in the production and handling of seeds and sprouts, seed disinfection treatments, and microbial testing before the product enters the food supply.  In June 2011, contaminated fenugreek sprouts (grown from seed from Egypt) in Germany was identified as the source of the which German officials had at first wrongly blamed on cucumbers from Spain and then on mung bean sprouts. In addition to Germany, where 3,785 cases and 45 deaths had been reported by the end of the outbreak, a handful of cases were reported in several countries including Switzerland, Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Canada, and the USA. Virtually all affected people had been in Germany shortly before becoming ill.

Anti-nutritional factors.

Some legumes, including sprouts, can contain toxins or anti-nutritional factors, which can be reduced by soaking, sprouting and cooking (e.g., stir frying). Joy Larkcom advises that to be on the safe side "one shouldn’t eat large quantities of raw legume sprouts on a regular basis, no more than about 550g (20oz) daily".  Phytic acid, an anti-nutritional factor, occurs primarily in the seed coats and germ tissue of plant seeds. It forms insoluble or nearly insoluble compounds with many metal ions, including those of calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc, reducing their dietary availability. Diets high in phytic acid and poor in these minerals produce mineral deficiency in experimental animals (Gontzea and Sutzescu, 1968, as cited in Chavan and Kadam, 1989). The latter authors state that the sprouting of cereals has been reported to decrease levels of phytic acid. Similarly, Shipard (2005) states that enzymes of germination and sprouting can help decrease the detrimental substances such as phytic acid. However, the amount of phytic acid reduction from soaking is only marginal, and not enough to fully counteract its anti-nutrient effects.

Canavanine.

Alfalfa seeds and sprouts contain L-canavanine, which can cause lupus-like disease in primates.

European Union regulations.

In order to prevent incidents like the 2011 EHEC epidemic, on 11 March 2013, the European Commission issued three new, tighter regulations.

Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds or other newly developing parts experience further growth.

Les graines germées, aussi appelées germinations sont des graines que l'on a fait germer, en général hors sol, à des fins d'alimentation, de boisson ou de préparation de semis.


Early life.

Born on 30 October 1956 in Hertford Heath, England, Mallett moved to Rhodesia with his family in 1956 when he was only six weeks old, and his father, Tony Mallett, took up a post as an English teacher at the recently founded Peterhouse Boys' School, in Marandellas near Salisbury. Nick first arrived in Cape Town, South Africa in 1963, when his father was appointed Headmaster of Diocesan College, after which he attended St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown. He graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1977 with a BA in English and History. While a student at the university, he was selected to play for the Western Province rugby union team.

Playing career.

In 1979 Mallett moved back to England to attend University College at the University of Oxford, where he not only gained further qualifications but also won Blues in rugby union and cricket, famously hitting three sixes in one over off Ian Botham. Eventually he returned to South Africa, where he represented Western Province in four consecutive Currie Cup wins between 1982 and 1985, and played two games for the Springboks in 1984 against the South American Jaguars.

Coaching career.

The beginning.

Mallett once again left South Africa in 1985, this time for France, where he played and coached rugby for seven years until 1992 before eventually returning to South Africa in 1994 and taking a job as Head of the False Bay Rugby Club until 1995.  Between 1995 and 1996, Mallett took up the role of head coach of the Boland Cavaliers before being appointed assistant coach to the Springboks in 1996 and finally getting the job of Springbok Coach in 1997.

Coach of Springboks (1997–2000).

Between August 1997 and December 1998, under Mallett's guidance, the Springboks went on a record winning streak of 17 consecutive test wins. As part of the unbeaten run the Springboks won the Tri Nations Series undefeated and beat several teams by record margins, including a 52–10 against France in Paris, a 68–10 win over Scotland in Edinburgh, a 33–0 defeat of Ireland and a 96–13 against Wales. The run ended when the Springbok team was defeated by England at Twickenham at the end of a long tour on 5 December 1998.  The relationship between Mallet and Gary Teichmann, one of South Africa's most successful team captains ever (with 36 wins), began to sour and Teichman was controversially excluded from the 1999 Rugby World Cup squad. Mallet looked for a new captain, first turning to Corné Krige then Rassie Erasmus, Joost van der Westhuizen and André Vos for a solution. In the end, despite the internal instability in the squad, the Springboks managed four consecutive wins and were finally knocked out of the championship in the semi-final by eventual winners Australia. Despite his team's relatively mediocre results of 8 wins and 5 losses in 1999, the Springboks still managed to break more records, beating Italy 101–0 and England in the quarter-final 44–21, with Jannie de Beer kicking a world-record five drop goals in that game.  In 2000, Mallett accused the South Africa Rugby Football Union (SARFU) of "greed" for selling Tri-Nations championship tickets at inflated prices. He had alienated the SARFU executive, and on 27 September he resigned as national coach at the start of a disciplinary hearing began into allegations that his comments had brought the game into disrepute. Some fans, upset by how he had treated Teichman and his team's sudden poor performance, were also keen to see him go.  In spite of his team's relatively poor performance and the internal strife that marred his final years as coach, Mallett remains one of South Africa's most successful coaches ever, having won 27 of the 38 tests played under his guidance and rewriting the record books several times

Stade Français (2002–04).

Mallett moved back to France as coach for the Paris club Stade Français, which he led to two consecutive French domestic title wins in 2003 and 2004 before returning to South Africa where he accepted the job of Director of Rugby at Western Province. Initially there was speculation that he might coach the Springbok team again, but those rumours were quashed by the appointment of Jake White as the new South African coach.  Mallet was linked with the position of England coach after the coerced resignation of Andy Robinson in 2006, a position that eventually went to Brian Ashton. In 2007 Mallett became coach of Italy.

Italy (2007–11).

On 3 October 2007, Mallett replaced Frenchman Pierre Berbizier as "CT" ("Technical Commissioner", i.e. coach) of the Italy national rugby union team. His Six Nations debut was fairly impressive; Italy were defeated by Ireland 11–16 in the first game, but came close to victory against Jonny Wilkinson's England team. Italy lost also against Wales and France. In those matches he gave Andrea Marcato and Alberto Sgarbi their debuts'. In the final game, Mallett's team beat Scotland 23–20, thanks to Marcato's late drop goal. However, Italy won the wooden spoon because their points difference was worse than Scotland's.  During the summer test matches, he got a good result against South Africa, the world champions at the time, in Cape Town, despite Italy losing 0–26. In Córdoba Italy beat Argentina for the first time thanks to Leonardo Ghiraldini's try and a late penalty by Marcato.  He also coached the Barbarians against the All Blacks in December 2009 with the 'Baa-Baas' winning 25–18. In 2010 Mallet coached the Barbarians to victory over South Africa.  In the 2010 Six Nations, Mallett guided Italy to a 16-12 win against Scotland. Despite this victory, Italy's only win in the competition, they didn't avoid the wooden spoon because Scotland's points difference was just one better. In the 2011 Six Nations Championship Italy beat France by 22–21 in arguably their best victory to date.

Retirement (2011–present).

In November 2011, after the World Cup in New Zealand, Nick Mallett's contract as head coach of Italy expired and he returned to Cape Town with Frenchman Jacques Brunel taking over the Italy job. Mallett has stated that he wishes to spend time with his family in South Africa, despite being briefly linked to the position as Coach of England following Martin Johnson's resignation.

Nicholas Vivian Howard Mallett (born 30 October 1956) is a former South African rugby union player who played for the Springboks, South Africa's national rugby union team, in 1984. He also coached the Springboks between 1997 and 2000 and was the head coach of Italy's rugby union team between 2007 and 2011.

Nicholas Vivian Howard Mallett, dit Nick Mallett, né le à Haileybury en Angleterre, est un joueur puis entraîneur sud-africain de rugby à XV. Il connaît deux sélections avec l'équipe d'Afrique du Sud au poste de troisième ligne centre.


At Bell Labs.

Pierce wrote on electronics and information theory, and developed jointly the concept of pulse code modulation (PCM) with his Bell Labs colleagues Barney Oliver and Claude Shannon. He supervised the Bell Labs team which built the first transistor, and at the request of one of them, Walter Brattain, coined the term "transistor"; he recalled:  Pierce's early work at Bell Labs was on vacuum tubes of all sorts. During World War II he discovered the work of Rudolf Kompfner in a British radar lab, where Kompfner had invented the traveling-wave tube; Pierce worked out the math for this broadband amplifier device, and wrote a book about it, after hiring Kompfner for Bell Labs. He later recounted that "Rudy Kompfner invented the traveling-wave tube, but I discovered it." According to Kompfner's book, the statement "Rudi invented the traveling-wave tube, and John discovered it" was due to Dr. Eugene G. Fubini, quoted in "The New Yorker" "Profile" on Pierce, September 21, 1963.  Pierce is widely credited for saying "Nature abhors a vacuum tube", but Pierce attributed that quip to Myron Glass. Others say that quip was "commonly heard at the Bell Laboratories prior to the invention of the transistor."  Other famous Pierce quips are "Funding artificial intelligence is real stupidity", "I thought of it the first time I saw it", and "After growing wildly for years, the field of computing appears to be reaching its infancy."  The National Inventors Hall of Fame has honored Bernard M. Oliver and Claude Shannon as the inventors of PCM, as described in 'Communication System Employing Pulse Code Modulation,' filed in 1946 and 1952, granted in 1956. Another patent by the same title was filed by John Pierce in 1945, and issued in 1948:. The three of them published "The Philosophy of PCM" in 1948.  Pierce did significant research into satellites, including an important leadership role (as executive director of Bell's Research-Communications Principles Division) in the development of the first commercial communications satellite, Telstar 1. In fact, although Arthur C. Clarke was the first to propose geostationary communications satellites, Pierce seems to have arrived at the idea independently and may have been the first to discuss "unmanned" communications satellites. Clarke himself characterized Pierce as "one of the two fathers of the communications satellite" (along with Harold Rosen). See ECHO – America's First Communications Satellite (reprinted from SMEC Vintage Electrics Volume 2 #1) for some details on his original contributions.  Pierce led the Automatic Language Processing Advisory Committee that produced the ALPAC report, which had the effect of curtailing most funding for work on machine translation in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Life after Bell Labs.

After leaving Bell Laboratories, he joined Caltech as a professor of electrical engineering in 1971. Shortly thereafter, he also took the position of Chief Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  In 1980 he retired from Caltech and moved to his final position at Stanford's CCRMA. Here he was prominent in the research of computer music, as a Visiting Professor of Music, Emeritus (along with John Chowning and Max Mathews). It was at Stanford that he became an independent co-discoverer of the non-octave musical scale that he later named the Bohlen–Pierce scale.  Many of Pierce's technical books were written at a level intended to introduce a semi-technical audience to modern technical topics. Among them are "Electrons, Waves, and Messages"; "An Introduction to Information Theory: Symbols, Signals, and Noise"; "Waves and Ear"; "Man's World of Sound"; "Quantum Electronics"; and "Signals: The Science of Telecommunication".  In 1960, Pierce was awarded the Stuart Ballantine Medal. In 1962, Pierce received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 1963, Pierce received the IEEE Edison Medal for "his pioneer work and leadership in satellite communications and for his stimulus and contributions to electron optics, travelling wave tube theory, and the control of noise in electron streams." In 1975, he received the IEEE Medal of Honor for "his pioneering concrete proposals and the realization of satellite communication experiments, and for contributions in theory and design of traveling wave tubes and in electron beam optics essential to this success." In 1985, he was one of the first two recipients of the Japan Prize "for outstanding achievement in the field of electronics and communications technologies."

Personal life.

Besides his technical books, Pierce wrote science fiction under the pseudonym J.J. Coupling, which refers to the total angular momenta of individual particles. John Pierce also had an early interest in gliding and assisted in the development of the Long Beach Glider Club in Los Angeles, one of the earliest glider clubs in the United States. According to Richard Hamming "you couldn't talk to John Pierce without being stimulated very quickly."  Pierce had been a resident of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, Pasadena, California, and later of Palo Alto, California.  In his later years, as a Visiting Professor at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, he and his wife Brenda were known for holding dinner parties in their Palo Alto home, in which they would invite an eclectic mix of guests and lead lively discussions on topics ranging from space exploration to politics, health care, and 20th-century music. One such dinner party was reported in This Is Your Brain On Music, written by Pierce's former student Daniel Levitin.  The papers of John R. Pierce are at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.  At his death Pierce was survived by his wife Brenda; a son, science fiction editor John Jeremy Pierce; and a daughter, Elizabeth Anne Pierce.

John Robinson Pierce (March 27, 1910 – April 2, 2002), was an American engineer and author. He worked extensively in the fields of radio communication, microwave technology, computer music, psychoacoustics, and science fiction. As a sideline to his professional career he wrote science fiction for many years under various names: John Pierce, John R. Pierce, and J. J. Coupling. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, he earned his PhD from Caltech, and died in Sunnyvale, California, from complications of Parkinson's Disease.

John Robinson Pierce ( - ) est un ingénieur et écrivain américain, né dans l'État de l'Iowa. Il fut un pionnier dans des domaines aussi vastes que la radiodiffusion, les télécommunications et l'informatique musicale. Il fut également auteur de science-fiction sous le pseudonyme de J.J. Coupling. À côté de toutes ses publications techniques, il semble dans ces œuvres avoir été un fervent défenseur du lien à établir entre la littérature de fiction et les innovations de l'expérimentation scientifique.


History.

Several hundred PWRs are used for marine propulsion in aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and ice breakers. In the US, they were originally designed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for use as a nuclear submarine power plant with a fully operational submarine power plant located at the Idaho National Engineering Lab. Follow-on work was conducted by Westinghouse Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. The first purely commercial nuclear power plant at Shippingport Atomic Power Station was originally designed as a pressurized water reactor (although the first power plant connected to the grid was at Obninsk, USSR), on insistence from Admiral Hyman G. Rickover that a viable commercial plant would include none of the "crazy thermodynamic cycles that everyone else wants to build."  The United States Army Nuclear Power Program operated pressurized water reactors from 1954 to 1974.  Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station initially operated two pressurized water reactor plants, TMI-1 and TMI-2. The partial meltdown of TMI-2 in 1979 essentially ended the growth in new construction of nuclear power plants in the United States for two decades.  Watts Bar unit 2 (a Westinghouse 4-loop PWR) came online in 2016.  The pressurized water reactor has several new Generation III reactor evolutionary designs: the AP1000, VVER-1200, ACPR1000+, APR1400, Hualong One and EPR.

Design.

Nuclear fuel in the reactor pressure vessel is engaged in a fission chain reaction, which produces heat, heating the water in the primary coolant loop by thermal conduction through the fuel cladding. The hot primary coolant is pumped into a heat exchanger called the steam generator, where it flows through hundreds or thousands of small tubes. Heat is transferred through the walls of these tubes to the lower pressure secondary coolant located on the sheet side of the exchanger where the coolant evaporates to pressurized steam. The transfer of heat is accomplished without mixing the two fluids to prevent the secondary coolant from becoming radioactive. Some common steam generator arrangements are u-tubes or single pass heat exchangers.  In a nuclear power station, the pressurized steam is fed through a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator connected to the electric grid for transmission. After passing through the turbine the secondary coolant (water-steam mixture) is cooled down and condensed in a condenser. The condenser converts the steam to a liquid so that it can be pumped back into the steam generator, and maintains a vacuum at the turbine outlet so that the pressure drop across the turbine, and hence the energy extracted from the steam, is maximized. Before being fed into the steam generator, the condensed steam (referred to as feedwater) is sometimes preheated in order to minimize thermal shock.  The steam generated has other uses besides power generation. In nuclear ships and submarines, the steam is fed through a steam turbine connected to a set of speed reduction gears to a shaft used for propulsion. Direct mechanical action by expansion of the steam can be used for a steam-powered aircraft catapult or similar applications. District heating by the steam is used in some countries and direct heating is applied to internal plant applications.  Two things are characteristic for the pressurized water reactor (PWR) when compared with other reactor types: coolant loop separation from the steam system and pressure inside the primary coolant loop. In a PWR, there are two separate coolant loops (primary and secondary), which are both filled with demineralized/deionized water. A boiling water reactor, by contrast, has only one coolant loop, while more exotic designs such as breeder reactors use substances other than water for coolant and moderator (e.g. sodium in its liquid state as coolant or graphite as a moderator). The pressure in the primary coolant loop is typically, which is notably higher than in other nuclear reactors, and nearly twice that of a boiling water reactor (BWR). As an effect of this, only localized boiling occurs and steam will recondense promptly in the bulk fluid. By contrast, in a boiling water reactor the primary coolant is designed to boil.

Reactor.

Coolant.

Light water is used as the primary coolant in a PWR. Water enters through the bottom of the reactor's core at about and is heated as it flows upwards through the reactor core to a temperature of about. The water remains liquid despite the high temperature due to the high pressure in the primary coolant loop, usually around 155 bar (15.5 MPa 153 atm, 2,250 psi). In water, the critical point occurs at around and 22.064 MPa (3200 psi or 218 atm).

Pressurizer.

Pressure in the primary circuit is maintained by a pressurizer, a separate vessel that is connected to the primary circuit and partially filled with water which is heated to the saturation temperature (boiling point) for the desired pressure by submerged electrical heaters. To achieve a pressure of, the pressurizer temperature is maintained at 345 °C (653 °F), which gives a subcooling margin (the difference between the pressurizer temperature and the highest temperature in the reactor core) of 30 °C (54 °F). As 345 °C is the boiling point of water at 155 bar, the liquid water is at the edge of a phase change. Thermal transients in the reactor coolant system result in large swings in pressurizer liquid/steam volume, and total pressurizer volume is designed around absorbing these transients without uncovering the heaters or emptying the pressurizer. Pressure transients in the primary coolant system manifest as temperature transients in the pressurizer and are controlled through the use of automatic heaters and water spray, which raise and lower pressurizer temperature, respectively.

Pumps.

The coolant is pumped around the primary circuit by powerful pumps. These pumps have a rate of ~100,000 gallons of coolant per minute. After picking up heat as it passes through the reactor core, the primary coolant transfers heat in a steam generator to water in a lower pressure secondary circuit, evaporating the secondary coolant to saturated steam — in most designs 6.2 MPa (60 atm, 900 psia), 275 °C (530 °F) — for use in the steam turbine. The cooled primary coolant is then returned to the reactor vessel to be heated again.

Moderator.

Pressurized water reactors, like all thermal reactor designs, require the fast fission neutrons to be slowed (a process called moderation or thermalizing) in order to interact with the nuclear fuel and sustain the chain reaction. In PWRs the coolant water is used as a moderator by letting the neutrons undergo multiple collisions with light hydrogen atoms in the water, losing speed in the process. This "moderating" of neutrons will happen more often when the water is more dense (more collisions will occur). The use of water as a moderator is an important safety feature of PWRs, as an increase in temperature may cause the water to expand, giving greater 'gaps' between the water molecules and reducing the probability of thermalisation—thereby reducing the extent to which neutrons are slowed and hence reducing the reactivity in the reactor. Therefore, if reactivity increases beyond normal, the reduced moderation of neutrons will cause the chain reaction to slow down, producing less heat. This property, known as the negative temperature coefficient of reactivity, makes PWR reactors very stable. This process is referred to as 'Self-Regulating', i.e. the hotter the coolant becomes, the less reactive the plant becomes, shutting itself down slightly to compensate and vice versa. Thus the plant controls itself around a given temperature set by the position of the control rods.  In contrast, the RBMK reactor design used at Chernobyl, which uses graphite instead of water as the moderator and uses boiling water as the coolant, has a large positive thermal coefficient of reactivity that increases heat generation when coolant water temperatures increase. This makes the RBMK design less stable than pressurized water reactors. In addition to its property of slowing down neutrons when serving as a moderator, water also has a property of absorbing neutrons, albeit to a lesser degree. When the coolant water temperature increases, the boiling increases, which creates voids. Thus there is less water to absorb thermal neutrons that have already been slowed by the graphite moderator, causing an increase in reactivity. This property is called the void coefficient of reactivity, and in an RBMK reactor like Chernobyl, the void coefficient is positive, and fairly large, causing rapid transients. This design characteristic of the RBMK reactor is generally seen as one of several causes of the Chernobyl disaster.  Heavy water has very low neutron absorption, so heavy water reactors tend to have a positive void coefficient, though the CANDU reactor design mitigates this issue by using unenriched, natural uranium; these reactors are also designed with a number of passive safety systems not found in the original RBMK design.  PWRs are designed to be maintained in an undermoderated state, meaning that there is room for increased water volume or density to further increase moderation, because if moderation were near saturation, then a reduction in density of the moderator/coolant could reduce neutron absorption significantly while reducing moderation only slightly, making the void coefficient positive. Also, light water is actually a somewhat stronger moderator of neutrons than heavy water, though heavy water's neutron absorption is much lower. Because of these two facts, light water reactors have a relatively small moderator volume and therefore have compact cores. One next generation design, the supercritical water reactor, is even less moderated. A less moderated neutron energy spectrum does worsen the capture/fission ratio for U and especially Pu, meaning that more fissile nuclei fail to fission on neutron absorption and instead capture the neutron to become a heavier nonfissile isotope, wasting one or more neutrons and increasing accumulation of heavy transuranic actinides, some of which have long half-lives.

Fuel.

After enrichment, the uranium dioxide () powder is fired in a high-temperature, sintering furnace to create hard, ceramic pellets of enriched uranium dioxide. The cylindrical pellets are then clad in a corrosion-resistant zirconium metal alloy Zircaloy which are backfilled with helium to aid heat conduction and detect leakages. Zircaloy is chosen because of its mechanical properties and its low absorption cross section. The finished fuel rods are grouped in fuel assemblies, called fuel bundles, that are then used to build the core of the reactor. A typical PWR has fuel assemblies of 200 to 300 rods each, and a large reactor would have about 150–250 such assemblies with 80–100 tonnes of uranium in all. Generally, the fuel bundles consist of fuel rods bundled 14 × 14 to 17 × 17. A PWR produces on the order of 900 to 1,600 MW. PWR fuel bundles are about 4 meters in length.  Refuelings for most commercial PWRs is on an 18–24 month cycle. Approximately one third of the core is replaced each refueling, though some more modern refueling schemes may reduce refuel time to a few days and allow refueling to occur on a shorter periodicity.

Control.

In PWRs reactor power can be viewed as following steam (turbine) demand due to the reactivity feedback of the temperature change caused by increased or decreased steam flow. (See: Negative temperature coefficient.) Boron and cadmium control rods are used to maintain primary system temperature at the desired point. In order to decrease power, the operator throttles shut turbine inlet valves. This would result in less steam being drawn from the steam generators. This results in the primary loop increasing in temperature. The higher temperature causes the density of the primary reactor coolant water to decrease, allowing higher neutron speeds, thus less fission and decreased power output. This decrease of power will eventually result in primary system temperature returning to its previous steady-state value. The operator can control the steady state operating temperature by addition of boric acid and/or movement of control rods.  Reactivity adjustment to maintain 100% power as the fuel is burned up in most commercial PWRs is normally achieved by varying the concentration of boric acid dissolved in the primary reactor coolant. Boron readily absorbs neutrons and increasing or decreasing its concentration in the reactor coolant will therefore affect the neutron activity correspondingly. An entire control system involving high pressure pumps (usually called the charging and letdown system) is required to remove water from the high pressure primary loop and re-inject the water back in with differing concentrations of boric acid. The reactor control rods, inserted through the reactor vessel head directly into the fuel bundles, are moved for the following reasons: to start up the reactor, to shut down the primary nuclear reactions in the reactor, to accommodate short term transients, such as changes to load on the turbine,  The control rods can also be used to compensate for nuclear poison inventory and to compensate for nuclear fuel depletion. However, these effects are more usually accommodated by altering the primary coolant boric acid concentration.  In contrast, BWRs have no boron in the reactor coolant and control the reactor power by adjusting the reactor coolant flow rate.

Advantages.

PWR reactors are very stable due to their tendency to produce less power as temperatures increase; this makes the reactor easier to operate from a stability standpoint.  PWR turbine cycle loop is separate from the primary loop, so the water in the secondary loop is not contaminated by radioactive materials.  PWRs can passively scram the reactor in the event that offsite power is lost to immediately stop the primary nuclear reaction. The control rods are held by electromagnets and fall by gravity when current is lost; full insertion safely shuts down the primary nuclear reaction.  PWR technology is favoured by nations seeking to develop a nuclear navy; the compact reactors fit well in nuclear submarines and other nuclear ships.

Disadvantages.

The coolant water must be highly pressurized to remain liquid at high temperatures. This requires high strength piping and a heavy pressure vessel and hence increases construction costs. The higher pressure can increase the consequences of a loss-of-coolant accident. The reactor pressure vessel is manufactured from ductile steel but, as the plant is operated, neutron flux from the reactor causes this steel to become less ductile. Eventually the ductility of the steel will reach limits determined by the applicable boiler and pressure vessel standards, and the pressure vessel must be repaired or replaced. This might not be practical or economic, and so determines the life of the plant.  Additional high pressure components such as reactor coolant pumps, pressurizer, steam generators, etc. are also needed. This also increases the capital cost and complexity of a PWR power plant.  The high temperature water coolant with boric acid dissolved in it is corrosive to carbon steel (but not stainless steel); this can cause radioactive corrosion products to circulate in the primary coolant loop. This not only limits the lifetime of the reactor, but the systems that filter out the corrosion products and adjust the boric acid concentration add significantly to the overall cost of the reactor and to radiation exposure. In one instance, this has resulted in severe corrosion to control rod drive mechanisms when the boric acid solution leaked through the seal between the mechanism itself and the primary system.  Natural uranium is only 0.7% uranium-235, the isotope necessary for thermal reactors. This makes it necessary to enrich the uranium fuel, which significantly increases the costs of fuel production.  Because water acts as a neutron moderator, it is not possible to build a fast-neutron reactor with a PWR design. A reduced moderation water reactor may however achieve a breeding ratio greater than unity, though this reactor design has disadvantages of its own.

Pressurized water reactors (PWRs) constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (notable exceptions being Japan and Canada) and are one of three types of light-water reactor (LWR), the other types being boiling water reactors (BWRs) and supercritical water reactors (SCWRs). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) is pumped under high pressure to the reactor core where it is heated by the energy released by the fission of atoms. The heated water then flows to a steam generator where it transfers its thermal energy to a secondary system where steam is generated and flows to turbines which, in turn, spin an electric generator. In contrast to a boiling water reactor, pressure in the primary coolant loop prevents the water from boiling within the reactor. All LWRs use ordinary water as both coolant and neutron moderator. Most use anywhere from 2 to 4 vertically mounted steam generators; VVER reactors use horizontal steam generators.

Le réacteur à eau pressurisée (acronyme REP), également appelé réacteur à eau sous pression ou PWR pour "" en anglais, est la filière de réacteurs nucléaires la plus répandue dans le monde en 2017.


Recording.

"Either/Or" was recorded at several locations: Joanna Bolme's house; Smith's own house; Undercover, Inc.; Laundry Rules Recording; and the Heatmiser House – all in Portland, Oregon – as well as The Shop in Arcata, California. The album was produced by Smith, Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf.  Smith wrote and recorded a song entitled "Either/Or" during the sessions for this album, but it was not included on the final release; however, the song was later included on "New Moon", a posthumous compilation of previously unreleased material by Smith.

Content.

The album's title derives from the Søren Kierkegaard book of the same name, in which "either/or" refers to the contrast between aesthetic/subjective experience and ethical/objective being. This existential title is reflective of Smith's interest in philosophy, which he studied at Hampshire College in Massachusetts.  The album's style has been described as "a bridge between the lo-fi darkness of "Roman Candle" and "Elliott Smith" and the studio sheen of "XO" and "Figure 8"."

Release.

The album's first single, "Speed Trials", was released on October 1, 1996.  "Either/Or" was released on February 25, 1997. It did not chart in the US. The album's second and final single, "Ballad of Big Nothing", was released on June 29, 1998.  Smith would briefly be cast into the international spotlight early the following year when he performed his song, the 1997 standalone single "Miss Misery", at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony, following the song's appearance in the major motion picture "Good Will Hunting" and its subsequent Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Following this appearance, Smith was signed to major label DreamWorks and started work on his fourth studio album, "XO".  As of March 2017, "Either/Or" is Elliott Smith's best selling release (it still has never charted) and has sold 429,000 copies in United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Critical reception.

"Either/Or" was acclaimed by critics upon its release, placing at number 20 in the 1997 end-of-year "Pazz & Jop" poll. Stephen Thompson of "The A.V. Club" wrote that the album "marks something of a thematic transition" for Smith, noting "brightness and a pop feel" on "Either/Or" in contrast to the "stark, guy-with-acoustic-guitar confessionals about drug abuse and darkness" on "Elliott Smith".  In its retrospective review, "Tiny Mix Tapes" opined: "Simply put, the songs on "Either/Or" are Elliott Smith's best". "Trouser Press" called it "even more fully realized" than "Elliott Smith".

Legacy.

The album inspired Gus Van Sant to invite Smith to contribute to the soundtrack of the film "Good Will Hunting". Three "Either/Or" tracks were incorporated into the soundtrack, as well as a new song, "Miss Misery." Smith was briefly pushed to the forefront of popular culture after performing "Miss Misery" from "Good Will Hunting" at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony. Van Sant later also used "Angeles" in his 2007 film "Paranoid Park."  Online magazine "Pitchfork" ranked "Either/Or" 59th in its list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1990s. "Spin" ranked "Either/Or" at number 48 on its list of the best albums from 1987 to 2012. "Blender" ranked it thirty-sixth in its "100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums Ever" list. In 2013, "NME" placed "Either/Or" at number 149 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. "Consequence of Sound" ranked the album No. 97 on their list of best albums ever.

Either/Or is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. "Either/Or" was recorded in several locations, mostly in Portland, Oregon – while Smith was still a member of Heatmiser – and was produced by Smith, Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf. "Either/Or" was released on February 25, 1997, on the Kill Rock Stars record label, following Heatmiser's dissolution. Book-ended by its two singles, "Speed Trials" and "Ballad of Big Nothing", "Either/Or" did not chart in the US, but was acclaimed by critics.

Cet album reste dans la lignée des deux précédents en proposant un son acoustique et peu arrangé, basé sur le jeu de guitare d'Elliott (par exemple sur "Angeles") et son chant. On retrouve les titres "Angeles", "Between the Bars" et "Say Yes" sur la bande originale de Good Will Hunting.


Life.

Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a shoemaker, and there initially studied under Denis Calvaert. After quarreling with Calvaert, he left to work in the Accademia degli Incamminati of the Carracci where, because of his small stature, he was nicknamed Domenichino, meaning "little Domenico" in Italian. He left Bologna for Rome in 1602 and became one of the most talented apprentices to emerge from Annibale Carracci's supervision. As a young artist in Rome he lived with his slightly older Bolognese colleagues Albani and Guido Reni, and worked alongside Lanfranco, who later would become a chief rival.  In addition to assisting Annibale with completion of his frescoes in the Galleria Farnese, including "A Virgin with a Unicorn" (c. 1604–05), he painted three of his own frescoes in the Loggia del Giardino of the Palazzo Farnese c. 1603–04. With the support of Monsignor Giovanni Battista Agucchi, the "maggiordomo" to Cardinal Aldobrandini and later Gregory XV, and Giovanni's brother Cardinal Girolamo Agucchi, Domenichino obtained further commissions in Rome. His most important project of the first decade was decoration of the Cappella dei Santissimi Fondatori in the medieval basilica of the Abbey of Grottaferrata (1608–1610), some 20 kilometers outside Rome, where Odoardo Farnese was the titular abbot. Meanwhile, he had completed frescoes c. 1604–05 in the church of Sant'Onofrio, feigned stucco decoration of 1606–07 in the Palazzo Mattei, a large scene of "The Flagellation of St. Andrew" at San Gregorio Magno, painted in competition with a fresco by Reni that faces it, and a ceiling with "Scenes from the Life of Diana," 1609, in the Villa Odescalchi at Bassano di Sutri (today Bassano Romano).  Following Annibale Carracci's death in 1609, the pupils who had followed Annibale's Roman style, including Domenichino and Francesco Albani, were not as successful at gaining the most prestigious commissions as Guido Reni. As Donald Posner stated in his influential thesis, "The Roman Style of Annibale Carracci and His School", ‘...it should be stressed that the severe classicism of Annibale’s late style had an immediate life in Rome of only about a lustrum [five years].’ In turn, the Bolognese biographer Malvasia states that 'only Guido [Reni] was put ahead of everyone else, Guido alone proclaimed and well treated, while [Domenichino], on the contrary, was either not recognized or constantly mistreated in the fees he got, so that he was left without commissions and rejected. Therefore, he was forced to go begging for work, with much effort, through intermediaries, and at any price... the same had been true of the "Flagellation of Saint Andrew", which had been painted for a hundred and fifty scudi, whereas in the case of the "Adoration of the Cross" on the opposite wall four hundred scudi had gone to Guido.'  One of Domenichino's masterpieces, his frescoes of "Scenes of the Life of Saint Cecilia" in the Polet Chapel of San Luigi dei Francesi, was commissioned in 1612 and completed in 1615. Concurrently he painted his first, and most celebrated, altarpiece, "The Last Communion of St. Jerome" for the church of San Girolamo della Carità (signed and dated, 1614). It subsequently would be judged as being comparable to Raphael's great "Transfiguration" and even as "the best picture in the world". By late 1616, Domenichino had designed the coffered ceiling with "The Assumption of the Virgin" in Santa Maria in Trastevere; and he had begun a cycle of ten frescoes depicting the "Life of Apollo" in a garden pavilion of the Villa Aldobrandini (Belvedere) in Frascati, where he was assisted by Giovanni Battista Viola, a Bolognese artist who, like Domenichino himself, was a pioneer in the development of classicistic landscape painting. From 1617 until 1621, Domenichino was absent from Rome, working in Bologna and at Fano, where during 1618–19 he frescoed the Nolfi chapel of the Fano Cathedral with "Scenes from the Life of the Virgin."  With the election of a Bolognese pope (Gregory XV) in 1621, Domenichino returned to Rome. Appointed Papal Architect (he built little but left drawings for various projects, most notably for the façade of Sant'Andrea della Valle and for the plan of Sant'Ignazio, both in Rome), he nonetheless continued to be most active as a painter, obtaining many commissions for altarpieces in Roman churches (San Lorenzo in Miranda, 1626–27, SS. Giovanni Evangelista e Petronio dei Bolognesi, 1626–1629, Santa Maria della Vittoria, 1629–30, and St. Peter's, 1625–1630). He also executed numerous frescoes in Rome during the 1620s: a ceiling in the Palazzo Costaguti (c. 1622); the choir and pendentives in Sant'Andrea della Valle, where he worked in fierce competition with Lanfranco, who painted the dome above Domenichino's pendentives; and the pendentives of San Silvestro al Quirinale (c. 1628) and San Carlo ai Catinari (1628–30).  In spite of his activity in Rome, Domenichino decided to leave the city in 1631 to take up the most prestigious, and very lucrative, commission in Naples, the decoration of the Cappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro of the Naples Cathedral. His "Scenes from the Life of San Gennaro" occupied him for the rest of his life. He painted four large lunettes, four pendentives, and twelve scenes in the soffits of the arches, all in fresco, plus three large altarpieces in oil on copper. He died, perhaps by poison at the hands of the jealous Cabal of Naples, before completing the fourth altarpiece or the cupola, which was subsequently frescoed by Lanfranco. At the time of his death, Domenichino's chief assistant was an obscure painter from Assisi, Francesco Raspantino, who inherited his master's studio. Earlier, Domenichino's principal pupils were Alessandro Fortuna, Giovanni Battista Ruggieri, Antonio Alberti called Barbalonga, Francesco Cozza, Andrea Camassei, and Giovanni Angelo Canini. Others who studied in his studio include Poussin, Pietro Testa, and his future biographer, Giovanni Pietro Bellori.

Ideas on art.

Domenichino's work, developed principally from Raphael's and the Carracci's examples, mirrors the theoretical ideas of his friend Giovanni Battista Agucchi, with whom the painter collaborated on a "Treatise on Painting". The portrait of Agucchi in York used to be attributed to Domenichino, but is now thought to be by Annibale Carracci, another friend.  It represents what would become known as classic-idealist art, which aims to surpass the imperfections of nature by developing an "Idea of Beauty" ("idea del bello") through the study and imitation of the best examples of ancient and Renaissance art. Imitation in this sense is not copying but a creative process inspired by rhetorical theory whereby revered models are not only emulated but surpassed. One of the most famous incidents in the history of art that centered on concepts of Imitation arose when Lanfranco accused Domenichino of plagiarism, specifically of having stolen the design of his great "Last Communion of St. Jerome" from an altarpiece of the same subject in Bologna by his former teacher, Agostino Carracci. To prove his point, Lanfranco circulated a print after Agostino's painting, prompting painters and critics to take sides, most of whom—including Poussin and the antiquarian-critic-biographer Bellori—strongly defended Domenichino's work as being praiseworthy imitation.  In addition to his interest in the theory of painting (he was well educated and bookish), Domenichino was devoted to music, not as a performer but to the invention of instruments suited to the "stile moderno" or to what Monteverdi dubbed the "seconda pratica". Like Domenichino's paintings, its sources were in ancient models and aimed at clarity of expression capable of moving its audience. As the Florentine composer Giulio Caccini held and Domenichino surely believed, the aim of the composer/artist was to "move the passion of the mind". To achieve that goal, Domenichino paid particular attention to expressive gestures. Some 1750 drawings in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle attest to the assiduous study underlying Domenichino's work—figural, architectural, decorative, landscape, even caricature—and to the painter's brilliance as a draftsman. In Roger de Piles' "Balance" of 1708, an effort to quantify and compare the greatness of painters in four categories (no artist ever achieved a score above 18 in any category), the French critic awarded Domenichino 17 points for drawing ("dessein"), 17 for "expression", 15 for "composition", yet only 9 as a colorist. Domenichino's composite score of 58 nonetheless was surpassed only by Raphael and Rubens, and it equalled that of the Carracci.

Criticism from Ruskin.

The "Balance" reflects Domenichino's high standing in the history of European taste— until John Ruskin in the 1840s wrote his devastating attacks on Bolognese Baroque painting in his "Modern Painters". The Carracci and their followers were condemned by Ruskin as being "insincere". For Ruskin, there was no entirely sincere nor any great art from the seventeenth century and all was doubly damned as being "eclectic". Modern scholarship, led by Luigi Serra, John Pope-Hennessy, Evelina Borea and Richard Spear, who in 1982 published the first catalogue raisonné of all of Domenichino's paintings and preparatory drawings, has resurrected the artist from the Victorian graveyard and reestablished his place among the most important and influential painters of seventeenth-century Italy. In 1996 the first major exhibition of his work was held at the Palazzo Venezia in Rome.

Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters.

Domenico Zampieri, dit Le Dominiquin, né le à Bologne, mort le à Naples, est un peintre italien du mouvement baroque.


Etymology.

The term, “Caracazo,” stems from the city’s name, Caracas, and “-azo,” which stems from another historic event, the Bogotazo, was a massive riot in Bogotá, recognized as having a crucial role in Colombia’s history. “Caracazo” is technically defined as the “Caracas smash” or “the big one in Caracas” based on Spanish dialect.

Background.

A fall in oil prices in the mid-1980s caused an economic crisis to take hold in Venezuela, and the country had accrued significant levels of debt. Nevertheless, the administration of the left-leaning President Jaime Lusinchi was able to restructure the country's debt repayments and offset an economic crisis but allow for the continuation of the government's policies of social spending and state-sponsored subsidies.  Lusinchi's political party, the Democratic Action, was able to remain in power following the 1988 election of Carlos Andrés Pérez as president. Pérez received 53% of the vote, while the others gained at least 40%. Pérez then proposed a major shift in policy by implementing economic reforms recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The program, called "El Gran Viraje" (The Great Turn), but popularly known as the "paquete" (the "package"), was contrary to statements made during Pérez's populist campaign in which he had described the IMF as "a neutron bomb that killed people, but left buildings standing."  Measures taken by Pérez included privatizing state companies, tax reform, reducing customs duties, and diminishing the role of the state in the economy. He also took measures to decentralize and modernize the Venezuelan political system by the direct election of state governors, who had previously been appointed by the president. The most controversial part of the economic reform package was the reduction of the gasoline subsidies, which had long maintained domestic gasoline prices far beneath international levels and even the production costs. On the weekend of 25-26 February 1989, gasoline prices rose 100 per cent, as had been laid out in the economic adjustment program announced by the government on February 16. The fuel price increase in turn necessitated an increase in public transportation fares of 30 per cent officially, and more in practice as some carriers refused to limit their prices to the official rate.  According to retired Venezuelan General Carlos Julio Peñaloza Zambrano, Cuban agents might have entered Venezuela during Carlos Andrés Pérez's inauguration ceremony, which was attended by Fidel Castro, and may have waited for unrest to occur in Venezuela so they could exacerbate political tensions.

Protests and rioting.

The protests and rioting began on the morning of 27 February 1989 in Guarenas, a town in Miranda State about east of Caracas, due to the increase in public transportation prices. The protests and rioting quickly spread to the capital and other towns across the country. A lack of timely intervention by authorities –some police were under orders not to take action– led the Metropolitan Police to be quickly overwhelmed. The protests spread to Caracas, whose Metropolitan Police was on a labour strike.  Despite initial debate within the government over how to manage the situation, a heavy-handed approach was implemented as a state of emergency and martial law were imposed. On February 28, Pérez suspended a number of articles of the Constitution, including Article 60 (right to individual liberty and security), Article 62 (inviolability of the home), Article 66 (freedom of expression), Article 71 (right to gather publicly and privately), and Article 115 (right to peaceful protest). The rights were not completely restored until March 22, and in the interim, there was no official decree or resolution to define how government authority would be exercised in the absence of those constitutional rights.  By the time authorities encountered the scenes of rioting, citizens began firing weapons at officers, with the ensuing firefights resulting in many bystanders being killed by "bullets from army troops and from sniping protesters." In many poor areas, citizens destroyed their own local commercial facilities, with food markets so damaged that their food distribution system was ruined. Much of the rioters destroyed properties indiscriminately, with no motives related to initial protests. According to Amnesty International, tactics used by security forces included "disappearances," the use of torture, and extrajudicial killings. As part of the government's security forces, members of Hugo Chávez's MBR-200 allegedly participated in the crackdown. Chávez himself was sick that day with measles. As tensions eased, troops began to sweep through neighborhoods collecting appliances and cash registers and informing citizens that if they provided a certificate of purchase, the items would be returned.  The initial official pronouncements stated that 276 people had died but many estimates put the number at above 2,000. Shortages of coffins were reported and many Venezuelans had to line up at government food distribution centers since markets were destroyed by rioters. Insurance estimates of damage caused during the rioting were $90 million CAD ($120 million 2017 USD).

Aftermath and consequences.

On March 3, 1989, President Carlos Andres Pérez spoke with U.S. President George H. W. Bush. President Bush offered Pérez a US$450 million emergency loan. Pérez thanked Bush and asked him to support a change in debt policy toward Latin America: "I want to tell you if there is no change in [international] debt policy then whatever we may do here may be useless." Pérez told Bush that he had sent him a letter several days earlier and that he would appreciate it if he would read it. Pérez also visited Bush in Washington on April 1, 1989.

Political instability.

The clearest consequence of the "Caracazo" was political instability. The following February, the army was called to contain similar riots in Puerto La Cruz and Barcelona and again in June, when rising of transportation costs ended in riots in Maracaibo and other cities. The reforms were modified.  The MBR-200 repudiated the Caracazo and accelerated its preparation for a coup d'état against the Perez government. In 1992, there were two attempted coups in February and November. Pérez was later accused of corruption and removed from the presidency. Chávez, a MBR-200 leader and an organiser of one of the coups, was found guilty of sedition and incarcerated. However, he was subsequently pardoned by Pérez's successor, Rafael Caldera, and he went on to be elected president after the latter. Chavez later explained that after the event, "the members of the MBR 200 realized we had passed the point of no return and we had to take up arms. We could not continue to defend a murderous regime."

Investigations.

In 1998, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the government's action and referred the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In 1999, the Court heard the case and found that the government had committed violations of human rights, including extrajudicial killings. The Venezuelan government, by then headed by Chávez, did not contest the findings of the case and accepted full responsibility for the government's actions.  In August 2009, Defense Minister Italo del Valle Alliegro was charged in relation to the Caracazo. In July 2010, the Supreme Court overturned an appeal court ruling, which had declared the case covered by a statute of limitations.

The Caracazo, or sacudón, is the name given to the wave of protests, riots, looting, shootings and massacres that started on 27 February 1989 in Guarenas, spreading to Caracas and surrounding towns. The weeklong clashes resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people, thousands by some accounts, mostly at the hands of security forces and the military. The riots and the protests began mainly in response to the government's economic reforms and the resulting increase in the price of gasoline and transportation.

Le Caracazo ou sacudón est l’ensemble de manifestations et d’émeutes survenues le à Caracas, la capitale du Venezuela, et dans les villes alentour. Ces émeutes, les pires de l’histoire du Venezuela, causèrent la mort, selon les estimations, de 300 à, en majorité du fait des forces de l’ordre.