History.

Cable television pioneers Alan Harmon and Bill Daniels were awarded a USFL franchise for San Diego when the league announced its formation in 1982. However, the city refused to grant the team a lease to play at Jack Murphy Stadium under pressure from the stadium's existing tenants—baseball's Padres, the NFL's Chargers, and the NASL's Sockers. The only other outdoor facility available in the area was Balboa Stadium, the original home of the Chargers. However, it was a relatively antiquated facility (built in 1915) that had not had a major tenant since the Chargers moved into Jack Murphy in 1967, and was now largely used by high school teams. This was an untenable situation for a team that was aspiring to be part of a major sports league.  With only eight months before the season was to start, Harmon and Daniels decided to move to Los Angeles with the league's blessing. League officials believed that Harmon and Daniels' ties to the cable industry could help the league get exposure; David Dixon's blueprint for the league depended heavily on television coverage. They forced Jim Joseph, second owner of the Los Angeles USFL franchise, to give up his rights to Los Angeles in favor of Harmon and Daniels. Joseph relocated his franchise to Phoenix, Arizona as the Arizona Wranglers.

1983 season.

The Los Angeles Express drafted Dan Marino as the first pick in USFL history. Marino made some appearances on behalf of the Express before signing with the Miami Dolphins.  The Express also made a serious run at Eric Dickerson, and actually matched the Los Angeles Rams' offer for him. However, Dickerson signed with the Rams, apparently because family members were skeptical about the USFL.  Television star Lee Majors became part owner in April 1983.  The Express ownership lured Canadian Football League legend Hugh Campbell, head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos, to be their first head coach. (Campbell had taken over the Eskimos in 1977 and in his six years had taken the team to six straight Grey Cup games, winning the last five.)  The 1983 Express team was a competitive team headed by quarterbacks Tom Ramsey and Mike Rae and led by an above average defense. Despite losing two defensive backs to knee injuries, the Express finished fifth in the league in total defense.  However, a patchwork offensive line limited the team's offensive firepower. The Express had the worst rushing attack in the league. (Herschel Walker rushed for 72 more yards than the entire Express team in 1983).  Upset losses to the New Jersey Generals and Washington Federals in weeks 16 and 17 respectively cost the Express the Pacific Division title and allowed the Oakland Invaders to claim the last 1983 playoff berth.  Southern Californians viewed the Express largely with indifference. They only drew 19,000 people per game, failing to top 17,000 in their last four games. The crowds looked even smaller than that due to the cavernous size of the Coliseum, which seated almost 95,000 people at the time, far and away the largest stadium in pro football. However, it was far too big for an NFL team (the Los Angeles Raiders, and the Rams before them, were plagued with local blackouts even in their best years), let alone a USFL team. It was so spread out that even crowds of 25,000—a decent-sized crowd by USFL standards—looked sparse.  While Harmon and Daniels knew that the Express were going to be a hard sell, the poor gate surprised even them. Additionally, ratings for USFL games in the area were so low that they significantly held down the league's average television ratings.

1983 schedule and results.

Sources

1984 season.

Harmon and Daniels grew alarmed at their fellow owners' increasingly reckless spending. They had also tired of commuting from their base in Denver to Los Angeles for games. They put the Express up for sale, and found a buyer in mortgage banker J. William Oldenburg, who bought the team for $7.5 million. Soon after taking over, Oldenburg hired veteran NFL executive Don Klosterman as general manager and former Chargers and Los Angeles Rams quarterback John Hadl as head coach.  Oldenburg told Klosterman that money was no object, and he was to sign the best 40-man roster he could find. As Klosterman put it, Oldenburg wanted to "design a car to go 180 miles an hour." Klosterman signed 31 players in two months for a total of $12 million. Among other things, he spent a total of $8 million to sign four of the best offensive linemen in college football, giving the Express the most expensive offensive line in all of professional football. One of the new signees, kicker Tony Zendejas, recalled being stunned at the number of luxury cars in the players' parking lot.  Klosterman and Oldenburg's biggest prize was Steve Young, a quarterback who had played at the namesake university of his lineal ancestor, Brigham Young University. Agent Leigh Steinberg negotiated for Young what was then reported to be the largest professional sports contract ever signed – a 10-year deal worth over US$40 million. The payments were to be in the form of an annuity set up to pay him $1 million annually for the next 42 years, so the value of the contract was considerably less than stated.  The team struggled to compete with the popularity of the Raiders, who had just won the Super Bowl, and the Rams. Despite the all-star lineup, the Express only drew 15,000 people per game–4,000 fewer than they drew a year earlier. On three occasions, the team drew crowds of fewer than 11,000 people. Largely due to the poor attendance, they reportedly lost $15 million.  In spite of its overwhelming talent and one of the league's highest payrolls, the young team struggled with adjusting to the pro game and injuries, only finishing two games over.500 at 10-8. However, this tied the Wranglers for first place in the Pacific Division. The Express won the division title on a tiebreaker, and got to play the Michigan Panthers, who had limped into the playoffs with a 4-8 record in their last 12 games since losing star wide receiver Anthony Carter for the season, while Arizona got Jim Kelly's red hot 13-5 Houston Gamblers. The playoff game against the Panthers drew only 7,900 fans. As it turned out, that game was the longest in professional football history—a three-overtime, 93 minute and 33 second marathon won by the Express 27-21.  The Wranglers had managed to upset the Gamblers 17-16 on a late rally. The Express would have hosted the conference championship game, but were forced to play in Arizona because the Coliseum was being readied for the 1984 Summer Olympics. They lost to the Wranglers, 35-23.

1984 schedule and results.

Sources

Offseason disaster.

Then, just as quickly as the Express rose, they fell. Midway through the season, the FBI began investigating Oldenburg's financial dealings. Multiple exposés by "The Wall Street Journal" and "The New York Times" revealed Oldenburg not only had a habit of luring savings and loans into questionable deals, but was also nowhere near as well off as he had long claimed.  It later emerged that league officials had dispensed with their usual exhaustive due diligence of potential owners before approving Oldenburg's bid to buy the Express. They were so determined to ensure an apparently solid owner in the nation's second-largest market that they did not conduct any meaningful vetting of Oldenburg's finances. While Oldenburg had gained a reputation as the "enfant terrible" of the league, no one even suspected that he was a fraud until the FBI and newspaper investigations revealed that he had virtually no money. When he applied to buy the Express, he claimed to have net worth of $100 million, which on paper would have given him more than enough net worth to buy the team. Subsequent investigations suggested that much of that figure came from buying a piece of property for a discount, then selling it to a small bank that he owned for ten times its actual worth.  Late in the season, just days after the "Times" article, Oldenburg told league officials that he could no longer afford to pay the Express' bills. The league required all owners to post a $1.3 million letter of credit for just such an emergency; it tapped into the Express' letter of credit to cover expenses. The owners also agreed to chip in $500,000 to keep the team going through the playoffs. Even this wasn't enough to prevent their equipment from being confiscated after the Western Conference title game because Oldenburg had failed to pay an equipment company $13,000. By the time that Oldenburg had walked away from the team, office employees and landscaping contractors were going unpaid. Real estate magnate and Houston Gamblers minority owner Jay Roulier got preliminary approval to take over the team in October. Despite this, the turmoil surrounding the Express led led league insiders and reporters to wonder when, not if, the team would implode, even with the trove of talent on the roster. That implosion happened in February 1985, when Roulier's lawyer sounded wary about discussing her boss's finances with league executive director and general counsel Bill McSherry. Suspecting that Roulier was less than advertised, league officials launched an investigation. It turned out that Roulier, like Oldenburg, had deceived league officials about his net worth. He was using the remaining money in the team's league-controlled checking account to send the team to training camp. In short order, league officials pushed Roulier out and took control of the team.  The league could not fold the team because of a clause in its television contract with ABC Sports requiring the league to have teams in the nation's three largest markets. While ABC had not concerned itself with the demise of the Chicago Blitz after the 1984 season, the league's owners feared that ABC would pull its contract if the Express were shut down—an action that would have probably killed the league. Potential buyers were scared off by the prospect of having to assume the burden of the Express' expensive roster.  Under the circumstances, the other owners had no option but to operate the Express as a ward of the league for the 1985 season. McSherry became nominal team president. The owners were required to contribute $500,000 apiece to fund the Express–enough to meet payroll, but little else. Notably, no money was allocated for replacing injured players.

1985 season.

The league found itself operating a team for the second year in a row; it had been forced to take over the Blitz after new owner James Hoffman walked away from the team during training camp. However, as bad as the situation with the Blitz had been for the league in 1984, the Express were even worse in 1985. Not only did the Express' roster costs dwarf Chicago's due to the large contracts, but the league had contracted in the off-season and there were only 13 other teams to contribute to supporting the Express.  In what proved to be a harbinger of things to come, the team was evicted from its hotel during training camp after the bill went unpaid. The players were forced to room with each other for the remainder of camp. They also went without water for much of camp after a $136 bill went unpaid. A bank won an attachment on the franchise as part of a lawsuit against Oldenburg after he defaulted on a loan. However, the attachment was withdrawn when bank officials learned they would be responsible for $1.3 million in player salaries that week.  After three close losses to start the season, they went 3-5 in their next eight games. Just when it looked like the season could be salvaged, the injury bug bit the team hard, decimating the roster. Young was among the more prominent casualties. At that point, the season turned into a complete fiasco, and the Express would not win another game. The nine-game losing streak was the second-longest in league history, behind only the Wranglers' 10-game losing streak in 1983. One of those games was a 51-0 thrashing by the Denver Gold—the largest margin of defeat in league history.  The Express' on-field collapse was all the more stunning since this was essentially the same team that had gone all the way to the Western Conference title game a year earlier. However, the rash of injuries made a shambles of the depth chart. At one point late in the season, the team was so short of healthy offensive linemen that one player had to back up the entire starting line. Even without this to consider, the young Express players suspected that the team wouldn't be around for the planned move to the fall in 1986, even if the league managed to survive the 1985 season. With this in mind, they played tentatively, fearing injuries that might diminish their future NFL prospects.  With no money to replace injured players, Klosterman and Hadl had to resort to creative measures to field a team. In one game, they signed a 39-year-old truck driver to start at tackle. For the season finale against Orlando, Young had to line up at running back for most of the second half because the Express didn't have any healthy running backs.  If possible, the off-field situation was even worse. No money was allocated to pay office bills or buy tape for players' ankles. They went for much of the offseason without postage, and had to talk a local company into processing season ticket renewals through their postage meter. The lights and phones were sometimes turned off. They were forced to fire the cheerleaders in a cost-cutting move. Late in the season, there wasn't even a public address announcer.  Even as the team's infrastructure fell apart, the players still got paid, thus avoiding a repeat of situations in Portland, Arizona, Houston and San Antonio. In a bizarre scene, the players rolled into team headquarters in Manhattan Beach in luxury cars and toting Gucci bags, but the grass on the practice fields went uncut for much of the season because the landscapers hadn't been paid.  Attendance continued to plummet; they only drew 8,500 fans per game. League commissioner Harry Usher was under fire to find an owner and fix the Express' problem. Desperate for a solution, Usher had the team try a smaller stadium for its final home game— John Shephard Stadium on the campus of Los Angeles Pierce College, a junior college in the San Fernando Valley. The stadium's capacity was expanded to 16,000 for the game. Usher and the league owners hoped if the game did well they might have some ammunition to land a potential owner.  That game almost didn't occur when the team's bus driver refused to take them to Pierce College without being paid up front–in cash. Young passed a hat around, but no one was willing to chip in. Finally, the trainer offered to cash his check, and the driver took them to the game. However, the game was still not a sellout; only 8,200 people—barely half of the stadium's capacity—actually attended to see Young and the Express lose 21-10 to Doug Williams and the Outlaws. The playing conditions left much to be desired; the field was strewn with rocks and potholes, and some areas were merely painted dirt. The scoreboard was positioned at an angle that made it useless once the sun began setting. While the game drew double what the Express had drawn for their previous two home games at the Coliseum, the experiment was so embarrassing that Usher nearly lost his job.  A week later, they lost to the Renegades, 17-10; as mentioned above, Young had to play part of the game at running back. They were almost stranded in Orlando when the pilot of their charter plane insisted on being paid in advance before allowing the players to board. The team's final record was 3-15, last in the league.

1985 schedule and results.

Sources

Demise of the franchise and the league.

Unable to find a new owner for the Express, the USFL announced the team would suspend operations for the 1986 season. However, many of the very issues that plagued the Express in 1985 made it very likely the team would not have returned even if the league had succeeded in winning a large payoff from the NFL to finance a move to a fall schedule in 1986. Additionally, the Express would have had to compete against two NFL teams and, if they had returned to the Coliseum, would have had to share their home with one of them (the Raiders) and the University of Southern California's team. In the end, the USFL cancelled its 1986 season, never to return.

Aftermath.

After trying all season in 1985, Steve Young and Gary Zimmerman were finally able to buy their way out of the USFL. Both went on to Hall of Fame careers in the NFL.  The "Los Angeles Express" name was briefly revived in 2013 for a proposed A-11 Football League team, but those plans fell through in April 2014 due to California's workers compensation situation.

Season-by-season.

!Totals || 22 || 34 || 0

The Los Angeles Express was a team in the United States Football League (USFL) based in Los Angeles, California. Playing at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Express competed in all three of the USFL seasons played, 1983–1985.

L’Express de Los Angeles (en anglais : "Los Angeles Express") était une franchise professionnelle de football américain fondée en 1983 et basée à Los Angeles.


Species.

The Belize Barrier Reef is home to a large diversity of plants and animals:  With 90% of the reef still needing to be researched, it is estimated that only 10% of all species have been discovered.

Environmental protection.

A large portion of the reef is protected by the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which includes seven marine reserves, 450 cayes, and three atolls. It totals in area, including:  In 1996 the reserve system was designated a World Heritage site due to its vulnerability and the fact that it contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity (according to criteria VII, IX, and X).  Belize became the first country in the world to completely ban bottom trawling in December 2010. In December 2015, Belize banned offshore oil drilling within 1 km of the Barrier Reef.  Despite these protective measures, the reef remains under threat from oceanic pollution as well as uncontrolled tourism, shipping, and fishing. Other threats include hurricanes, along with global warming and the resulting increase in ocean temperatures, which causes coral bleaching. It is claimed by scientists that over 40% of Belize's coral reef has been damaged since 1998.  The Belize Barrier Reef has been affected by mass-bleaching events. The first mass bleaching occurred in 1995, with an estimated mortality of 10 percent of coral colonies, according to a report by the Coastal Zone Management Institute in Belize. A second mass-bleaching event occurred, when Hurricane Mitch struck in 1998. Biologists observed a 48 percent reduction in live coral cover across the Belize reef system.  Usually, it is hard to distinguish whether the reason for coral bleaching is human activities or natural reasons such as storms or bacterial fluctuations. But in the case of the Belize Barrier Reef, many factors which make the distinction difficult do not apply. Human population in this area is much more sparse than the corresponding areas near other coral reefs, so the human activity and pollution are much lower compared to other coral reefs and the Belize reef system is in a much more enclosed area.  When coral bleaching occurs, a large part of the coral dies, and the remaining part of the ecosystem begins the process of repairing the damage. But the chances of recovery are low, as corals that are bleached become much more vulnerable to disease. Disease often kills more corals than the bleaching event itself. With continuous bleaching, the coral reef will have little to no chance of recovery.

The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly offshore in the north and in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a long section of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is continuous from Cancún on the north-eastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula through the Riviera Maya and down to Honduras, making it the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is Belize's top tourist destination, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling and attracting almost half of its 260,000 visitors. It is also vital to the country's fishing industry.

La barrière de corail du Belize est un ensemble de récifs coralliens et de cayes situés au large du Belize, dans la mer des Caraïbes.


Early life.

According to Charles Johnson's "A General History of the Pyrates", Edward Low was born in Westminster, London, England, in 1690. He was described as illiterate, having a "quarrelsome nature", and always ready to cheat, running "wild in the streets of his native parish". As a young man, he was said to be a pickpocket and gambler, playing games of chance with the footmen of the nearby House of Commons.  Most of his family appear to have been thieves. While young, his brother, Richard, was small for his age and is said to have been carried around in a basket on a friend's back; in a crowd, Richard would snatch the hats and wigs of passers-by. Richard later took to other forms of criminal activity and ended up hanged at Tyburn in 1707 for the burglary of a house in Stepney.

Life in Boston.

As he advanced in age, Low tired of pickpocketing and thievery and turned to burglary. Eventually, he left England, and traveled alone to the New World around 1710. He spent three to four years in various locations, before settling in Boston, Massachusetts. On 12 August 1714, he married Eliza Marble at the First Church of Boston. They had a son, who died when he was an infant, and then a daughter named Elizabeth, born in the winter of 1719.  Eliza died in childbirth, leaving Low with his daughter. The loss of his wife had a profound effect on Low: in his later career of piracy, he would often express regret for the daughter he left behind, and refused to press-gang married men into joining his crews. He would also allow women to return to port safely. At first working honestly as a rigger, in early 1722 he joined a gang of twelve men on a sloop headed for Honduras, where they planned to collect a shipment of logs for resale in Boston.  Low was employed as a patron, supervising the loading and carrying of the logs. One day, he returned to the ship when hungry, but was told by the captain he would have to wait to eat, and that he and his men would have to be satisfied with a ration of rum. At this, Low "took up a loaded musket and fired at the captain but missed him, [and] shot another poor fellow through the throat".  Following this failed mutiny, Low and his friends were forced to leave the boat. A day later, Low led the twelve-man gang—which included Francis Farrington Spriggs, who went on to become a notorious pirate in his own right—in taking over a small sloop off the coast of Rhode Island. Killing one man during the theft, Low and his crew turned pirate, determined "to go in her, make a black Flag, and declare War against all the World."

Piracy.

First mate.

Low, using his newly captured ship, lay in wait on the popular shipping route between Boston and New York. Within a few days, he and his crew seized a sloop out of Rhode Island and plundered it. His crew cut the rigging away to prevent the sloop returning too quickly to port to raise the alarm. He then captured a number of unarmed merchantmen near Port Rosemary.  Low headed south and began operating in the waters of Grand Cayman, with a period as lieutenant to the established pirate George Lowther, who captained the "Happy Delivery", a 100-ton Rhode Island sloop with eight cannon and ten swivel guns. When she was "destroyed by Indians", Lowther and his crew transferred to a sloop named the "Ranger". Lowther's crew was constantly expanded by desperate sailors willing to join him. Fast acquiring a taste for cruelty, Low taught Spriggs a torture technique which involved tying a victim's hands with rope between their fingers and setting it alight, burning their flesh down to the bones.  Following a number of successful raids, Lowther eventually captured a large 6-gun brigantine (named "Rebecca") on 28 May 1722. He gave it to Low to captain. With a crew of 44, Low amicably dissolved his partnership with Lowther.

Pirate captain.

In one notable raid in June 1722, Low and his crew attacked thirteen New England fishing vessels sheltering at anchor in Port Roseway, Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Although outnumbered, Low hoisted his Jolly Roger flag and declared that no mercy would be given to the fishermen if any resisted. The fleet submitted and Low's men robbed every vessel. Low chose the largest, an 80-ton schooner which he renamed "The Fancy" and armed with 10 guns, to become his flagship. He sank the other ships of the fleet, and abandoned the "Rebecca".  "The Boston News-Letter" of 9 July 1722 published a list of those captured by Low. A number of the fishermen were forced to join Low, including Philip Ashton, who escaped in May 1723 on Roatán Island in the Bay Islands of Honduras, and who wrote a detailed account of life aboard Low's pirate ship. Before Ashton's escape, he had been beaten, whipped, kept in chains, and threatened with death many times - particularly by Low's quartermaster John Russell - as he refused to sign Low's articles and become a pirate.  Low's tactics consisted primarily of hoisting false colours and approaching an unsuspecting vessel. Off the coast of St John's, Newfoundland, Low mistook a fully armed man-of-war for a fishing boat, and barely escaped. He moved on to Conception Bay, capturing a number of boats around the Grand Banks southeast of Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic to the Azores. There, he captured a French (or Portuguese—sources differ) pink, a narrow-sterned former man of war, which Low rearmed and refitted as his new flagship, naming it the "Rose Pink". He also captured an English vessel with two Portuguese passengers aboard. Low had his crew hoist them up and drop them back down from the yard arm several times, until they died. He moved on to the Canaries, Cape Verde and then back across to the coast of Brazil, where he was driven back by foul weather.  Low abandoned his plans for plundering the rich shipping trade off the coast of Brazil, and moved on to the Caribbean. George Roberts, a mate on the British ship "King Sagamore", recounted a meeting with Low aboard the "Rose Pink". Roberts' ship was captured by Low's fleet, of which he was now styling himself "Commodore".

Capsizing of the "Rose Pink".

Forty leagues (120 nautical miles or around 220 km) to the east of Surinam, Low and his fleet of two ships (the "Rose Pink" and the "Fancy", captained by a young Charles Harris) dropped anchor to remove growth such as seaweed and barnacles from the outside of the boats, in a process known as careening, necessary because no dry dock was available to pirates.  Still relatively inexperienced, Low ordered too many men to the outside of the boat to work on the buildup, and the "Rose Pink" tipped over too far. The portholes had been left open, and the vessel took on water and sank, with the death of two men. The "Rose Pink" had been carrying most of the provisions, and Low—by now captaining a captured schooner, the "Squirrel"—and his crew were forced to strictly ration their fresh water to half a pint (around 275 ml) per man, per day.  Failing to reach their initial destination of Tobago due to light winds and strong currents, Low's depleted fleet made it to Grenada, a French-owned island. Hiding most of his men belowdecks, he was permitted to send men ashore for water. The following day, a French sloop was sent out to investigate, but was captured when Low's men came out from hiding. Low, now commanding the captured sloop (renamed the "Ranger"), gave the schooner "Squirrel" to Spriggs, now his quartermaster, who renamed it the "Delight" before sailing away in the middle of the night with a small crew following a disagreement with Low over the disciplining of one of Spriggs' crew.

Early 1723.

Low's new fleet captured many more sloops, including one Low kept, naming it the "Fortune". During a trial on 10 July 1723 for a number of Low's crew, a sailor on board the "Fortune" named John Welland recalled how Low stripped his boat, including gold to the value of £150, then beat him and cut off his ear with a cutlass.  Following this, Low's fleet captured a Portuguese ship called the "Nostra Signiora de Victoria" on 25 January 1723. The "Victoria's" captain allowed a bag containing approximately 11,000 gold moidores (worth at the time around £15,000) to fall into the sea rather than see it captured. One of Low's most noted episodes of cruelty followed: in his rage, he slashed off the Portuguese captain's lips with a cutlass, broiled them, and forced the victim to eat them while still hot. He then murdered the remaining crew. Low's own men described him as "a maniac and a brute".  One story describes Low burning a French cook alive, saying he was a "greasy fellow who would fry well", and another tells he once killed 53 Spanish captives with his cutlass. Some historians, including David Cordingly, believe this was deliberately done to cultivate a ferocious image. Historian Edward Leslie described Low as a psychopath with a history filled with "mutilations, disembowelings, decapitations, and slaughter".  Low, like other pirates of the time, tried to intimidate his victims into surrendering by threatening to kill or torture them. The crew of the targeted ship would hinder the officers from defending the ship, so afraid were they of reprisals. One failed torture session led to one of Low's crew members accidentally cutting him in the mouth. Botched surgery left Low scarred.  A snow called the "Unity" was added to the fleet, and used as a tender, but was abandoned during an encounter with a man of war named the "Mermaid". As Low's success increased in the Caribbean, so did his notoriety. Eventually, a bounty was placed on his head, and Low set out for the Azores, again teaming up with Charles Harris. As they terrorised the Azores, the pressure increased from the authorities, who by then had taken special notice of Low, despite the hordes of pirates in operation at the time.

A defeat.

Low, Harris and their ships left the Azores for the Carolinas. On 10 June 1723, they suffered a resounding defeat in a battle with, a heavily armed man of war. "Greyhound" had been dispatched under the command of Peter Solgard to hunt down Low and his fleet. Low fled in the "Fancy" with a skeleton crew and £150,000 in gold on board and headed back to the Azores, leaving Harris and the "Ranger" behind.  Twenty-five of the crew of the "Ranger", including the ship's doctor, were tried between 10 July and 12 July, with Solgard giving evidence and recounting the battle. The men were hanged for felony, piracy and robbery, near Newport, Rhode Island, on 19 July 1723. Harris was sent back to England and hanged at Execution Dock in Wapping. When Solgard returned to New York, he was presented with the freedom of the city and a gold snuffbox for his part in bringing some of Low's crew to justice.

End of Low's career.

Low, still captaining the "Fancy", sailed north. He captured a whaling vessel 80 miles (130 km) out at sea, and in a foul mood following the encounter with the "Greyhound" and the loss of Harris, tortured the captain before shooting him through the head. He set the whaler's crew adrift with no provisions, intending them to starve to death. They were lucky, and reached Nantucket, Massachusetts, after a difficult journey. Remaining off the coast of North America, Low's crew took a fishing boat near Block Island. Low decapitated the ship's master, and sent the crew ashore. When he captured two more fishing boats near Rhode Island, his actions became so savage his crew refused to carry out his orders to torture the fishermen.  Heading south again, Low captured a 22-gun French ship and a large Virginian merchant vessel, the "Merry Christmas", in late June 1723. Following the defeat by the "Greyhound", Low became "peculiarly cruel" to his English victims. His fleet of three ships rejoined forces with George Lowther in July. In late 1723, Low and Lowther's fleet captured the "Delight" off the coast of Guinea, mounting fourteen guns on her, with command being given to Spriggs. Two days later, Spriggs and Lowther both abandoned Low, leaving him the "Merry Christmas", by now mounted with 34 guns, as his sole ship.

Fate.

There are conflicting reports on the circumstances of Low's death. Captain Charles Johnsonconsidered by some to be Daniel Defoe writing under a pseudonym—stated in his "A General History of the Pyrates", at odds with other sources, that Low and the "Fancy" were last sighted near the Canaries and Guinea. However, at the time of his 1724 book, no further reports had surfaced. He noted one rumour that Low was sailing for Brazil and another that Low's ship sank in a storm with the loss of all hands. The National Maritime Museum in London states that he was never caught, ending his days in Brazil.  "The Pirates Own Book" and Ossian both suggest that Low was set adrift without provisions by the crew of the "Merry Christmas", in a mutiny brought about by Low's murdering of a sleeping subordinate following an argument. His crew elected Captain Shipton to command the "Merry Christmas"; they would go on to sail alongside Spriggs in the Caribbean. Low was subsequently rescued by a French ship; when the French authorities learned of his identity he was brought to trial, and was hanged in Martinique in 1724.

Flags.

Initially, Low used the same flag as Edward Teach ("Blackbeard"). Later, he used his own flag, a red skeletal figure on a black background, which became notorious. He first flew his own flag in late July 1723. Low also used a green silk flag with a yellow figure of a man blowing a trumpet; this "Green Trumpeter" was hoisted on the mizzen peak to call his fleet's captains to meetings aboard the flagship.

Articles.

Low had a set of Articles, a code of conduct and an ironic reference to the Royal Navy's own Articles of War. The Articles listed below are attributed to Low by "The Boston News-Letter". The first eight of these articles are essentially identical to those attributed to Lowther by Charles Johnson.  It is likely that both reports are correct and that Low and Lowther shared the same articles, with Low's two extra articles being an "ordonnance", or amendment, adopted after the two crews separated.

Legacy.

Edward Low's acts, along with those of other pirates of the period such as Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts, and William Fly, led to a great increase in the military presence to protect shipping lanes, resulting in the effective end of the Golden Age of Piracy.  By 1700, the European states had enough troops and ships at their disposal, following the end of a number of wars, to begin better protecting their important colonies in the West Indies and in the Americas, without relying on the aid of privateers. Pirates based in the Caribbean were chased from the seas by a new British squadron based at Port Royal, Jamaica, and a smaller group of Spanish privateers, sailing from the Spanish Main, known as the "Guarda de Costa", or simply the "Guarda".  Less is recorded of Low than of other equally prolific pirates such as Teach and Stede Bonnet. Howard Pyle, in an 1880 children's book on pirates, said: "No one stood higher in the trade than [Low], and no one mounted to more lofty altitudes of bloodthirsty and unscrupulous wickedness. 'Tis strange that so little has been written and sung of this man of might, for he was as worthy of story and of song as was Blackbeard." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in his work "The Green Flag", described Low as "savage and desperate", and a man of "amazing and grotesque brutality". "The New York Times" said "Low and his crew became the terror of the Atlantic, and his depredations were committed on every part of the ocean, from the coast of Brazil to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland". Low has featured on stamps and commemorative currency around the Caribbean. A postage stamp featuring Low was commissioned by the Cayman Islands in 1975, and in 1994 the government of Antigua and Barbuda featured Low and his brigantine, "Rebecca", on a legal tender one hundred-dollar bill made of gold leaf.  "Ned Low" is one of the pirates featured on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at the Disneyland theme park in California. A duplicate of Low's flag was used for the flag of the fictional pirate Sao Feng in Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" films. Ned Low was played by Tadhg Murphy in the Starz TV series "Black Sails".  Some of Low's haunts, such as the waters around the Isles of Shoals off New Hampshire and Isle Haute in Nova Scotia, attract treasure hunters who seek artifacts in the ships he sank.

Edward "Ned" Low (also spelled Lowe or Loe; 16901724) was a notorious pirate of English origin during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy, in the early 18th century. Low was born into poverty in Westminster, London, and was a thief from an early age. He moved to Boston, Massachusetts, as a young man. His wife died in childbirth in late 1719. Two years later, he became a pirate, operating off the coasts of New England and the Azores, and in the Caribbean.

Edward Low aussi connu sous Ned Low, Lowe ou Loe ( 1690 – 1724) est un pirate célèbre pour sa cruauté pendant l'âge d'or de la piraterie. Son pavillon porte un squelette rouge sur fond noir.


History.

The history of West Kalimantan can be traced back to the 17th century. Dayaks were the main inhabitants of the province before the 17th century. The Malays are the native muslims of West Kalimantan and established their own sultanate. Similar to most parts of Borneo, many of the Malays in West Kalimantan were also partly descended from the Malayalised Dayaks. The high Chinese population in this province was due to a republic founded by Chinese miners called Lanfang Republic (蘭芳共和國: Republik Lanfang), an autonomous state under Pontianak and Sambas Sultanate. The government of Lanfang Republic was ended in West Kalimantan after the Dutch occupation in 1884. West Kalimantan was under Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945, when Indonesia declared its Independence. During the Japanese occupation, more than 21,000 people in Pontianak (including sultans, men, women and children) were kidnapped, tortured and massacred by Japanese troops during the Pontianak incidents. All the Malay Sultans on Kalimantan were executed and the Malay elite was devastated by the Japanese.  The massacre occurred from April 23, 1943 to June 28, 1944 and most of the victims were buried in several giant wells in Mandor (88 km from Pontianak). Allied forces occupying the area after the war found several thousand bones, and more than 60 years after the massacre, several secret graves of the victims were found in Mandor and the surrounding areas.  After the end of war, the Japanese officers in Pontianak were arrested by allied troops and brought in front of an international military tribune. During the trial, it was revealed that the plan to start the rebellion did not exist and instead was only an imaginary plan created by Japanese officers who wanted to get promoted.  A monument called Makam Juang Mandor was created to commemorate this tragic event. On 12 May 1947, the autonomous region of West Kalimantan was established. It was led by Syarif Hamid II of Pontianak, who supported the Dutch endeavor to establish a federal United States of Indonesia (RUSI), of which West Kalimantan would be one component. Following the 5 April 1950 arrest of Sultan Hamid for complicity in a coup attempt against the RUSI government led by Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) officer Raymond Westerling, there were demands from the public for a merger into the Republic of Indonesia, which took place on 22 April. On 15 August, The West Kalimantan autonomous region became part of Kalimantan Province, and two days later, the RUSI ceased to exist, and was replaced with a unitary Republic of Indonesia.  West Kalimantan was the site of substantial fighting during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation under the Sukarno government in the mid-1960s. After Suharto deposed Sukarno in 1965, the confrontation was quickly resolved. Domestic conflict continued, however, for another ten years between the new military Suharto government and fighters organized during the confrontation and backed by the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).(see Indonesian killings of 1965–66)  During the 1930s the Dutch colonial powers initiated a "transmigration plan" to move people from heavily populated islands such as Java, to the less populated islands of Irian Jaya and Kalimantan. In the 1960s the Indonesian government granted the Madurese rights to clear forests for palm oil cultivation. This conflicted with the local Dayak tribes' traditional way of life. The tensions between the two ethnic groups resulted in major eruptions of violence in 1996, the Sambas riots in 1999 and the Sampit conflict in 2001, resulting in thousands of deaths.

Geography.

Boundary.

West Kalimantan Province is located in the western part of the island of Borneo, or in between the lines 2°08'N and 3°05'S and between 108°0'E and 114°10'E. The province is traversed by the Equator (latitude 0°), precisely through the city of Pontianak. West Kalimantan has a tropical climate, with often high temperatures accompanied by high humidity.  Other specific characteristics is that the West Kalimantan region including one of the provinces in Indonesia which is directly adjacent to another country on land, namely the State of Sarawak, East Malaysia. Even with this position, West Kalimantan is currently the only province in Indonesia that have officially had access road to get in and out of a neighboring country. West Kalimantan and Sarawak have open roads approximately 400 km long, spanning Pontianak-Entikong-Kuching (Sarawak, Malaysia) and can be reached about six to eight hours of travel. In the northern part of the province, there are four regencies that directly borders Malaysia, namely Sambas, Sanggau, Sintang and Kapuas Hulu, which stretch along the Kalingkang Mountains-Kapuas Hulu.  Most areas of West Kalimantan is a low-lying land with an area of 146 807 km2, or 7.53 percent of the total Indonesian or 1.13 times the size of the island of Java. This region stretches straight from north to south along more than 600 km and about 850 km from West to East. Judging from the size of the territory, West Kalimantan is Indonesia's third largest province by area, after Papua (421,891 km2) and Central Kalimantan (152 600 km2). The largest regency is Ketapang (35,809 km or 24.39 percent) followed by Kapuas Hulu (29 842 km2 or peresen 20:33), and Sintang (21 635 km or 14.74 percent), while the rest spread over the nine other regencies.

Topology.

In general, West Kalimantan land is low-lying and has hundreds of rivers are safe when navigable, slightly hilly which extend from west to east along the valley Kapuas and Natuna Sea / Strait Karimata. Most of the land area is swampy mix of peat and mangrove forests. The land area is flanked by two mountain ranges, namely, Kalingkang Mountains in the North and the Schwaner Mountains in the south along the border with the province of Central Kalimantan. Judging from the soil texture, the majority of West Kalimantan area consists of the soil type PMK (podsolet red-yellow), which covers an area of about 10.5 million hectares, or 17.28 percent of the total area of 14.7 million hectares. Next, the ground OGH (orgosol, gley and humus) and the alluvial soil of about 2.0 million hectares, or 10.29 percent sprawled across Dati II, but most likely in the coastal district.  Influenced by the vast lowlands, the heights of the mountains are relatively low as well as non-active. The highest mountain is Mount Baturaya in District Serawai, Sintang which has an altitude of 2,278 meters above sea level, far lower than Mount Semeru (East Java, 3,676 meters) or Mount Kerinci (Jambi, 3,805 meters).  Mount Lawit located in Kapuas Hulu, district. Embaloh Hulu and more formerly known in West Kalimantan, only occupies the third highest because it has a high 1,767 meters, while the second highest is Mount Batusambung (Subdistrict Ambalau) with a height of up to 1,770 meters.

Lakes and Rivers.

West Kalimantan is an area that could be called "The Thousand Rivers Province". The nickname is in line with the geographical conditions that have hundreds of large and small rivers, among others, can be and often are navigable. Several major rivers is still the lifeblood and main line to transport the countryside, although the road infrastructure has been able to reach most districts.  The main large rivers are the Kapuas River, which is also the longest river in Indonesia (1,086 km), which along 942 km are navigable. The great rivers are: Melawi, (navigable 471 km), Pawan (197 km), Kendawangan (128 km), Jelai (135 km), Sekadau (117 km), Sambas (233 km ), and Landak (178 km).  Although rivers have very prominent numbers in West Kalimantan, there are only two significant lakes in the province. Both lakes are Lake Sentarum and Lake Luar I that are in Kapuas Hulu. Lake Sentarum, has an area of 117,500 hectares, which sometimes is almost dry in the dry season, and Lake Luar I, which has an area of approximately 5,400 hectares. Both of these lakes have potential as a tourist attraction.

Administrative divisions.

West Kalimantan is subdivided into two cities ("kota") and twelve regencies ("kabupaten"). In 2003 Sekadau Regency was cut out of Sanggau Regency, and Melawi Regency was cut out of Sintang Regency, while in 2007 North Kayong Regency was cut out of Ketapang Regency, and Kubu Raya Regency was cut out of Mempawah Regency. About 29 percent of the province's population lives in the Pontianak area. The capitals and populations of the regencies and cities are:  Notes:

Proposed new province of Kapuas Raya.

On 25 October 2013, the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) began reviewing draft laws on the establishment of 57 prospective regencies and 8 new provinces; one of the proposed provinces is Kapuas Raya (Great Kapuas) in West Kalimantan. If the bill is approved, this will make Kapuas Raya the fourth largest province in Indonesia after Papua, East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan, as the total area of Kapuas Raya, encompassing five regencies, will measure 80,432 square km, or 54.79 percent of the current size of West Kalimantan. Ever since 2005, the five regencies in the eastern part of West Kalimantan (Sanggau, Sekadau, Sintang, Melawi and Kapuas Hulu) have floated a concept to establish Kapuas Raya due to the distance issues from the respective regencies to the province capital Pontianak. The distance between the farthest regency of Kapuas Hulu and Mempawah is 661 km, followed by Melawi (439 km), Sintang (395 km), Sekadau (315 km) and Sanggau (267 km).

Ecology.

There are three National Parks in the province: Danau Sentarum, Gunung Palung and Betung Kerihun. Currently, illegal logging for trees such as dipterocarp and plantations of palm oil and pulpwood threaten many rare species in the province due to the effects of habitat destruction. Peat bog fires and droughts or flooding during ENSO episodes also threaten the area and are worsened by ongoing deforestation.  Dr. Hotlin Ompusunggu has received the 2011 Whitley Award for her conservation work in West Kalimantan. She has been fighting against illegal logging by trade off with low-cost quality dental and medical treatment to 60,000 villagers on condition they involve in reforestation and conservation work.

Demographics.

Ethnic groups.

The largest ethnic groups in West Kalimantan are the Dayak (34.93%) and Malays (33.84%). The Dayaks are tribes in the hinterland, while the ethnic Malay majority live in the coastal areas. The third largest ethnic group is the Javanese (9.74%), who live mainly in areas of transmigration. In fourth place are the ethnic Chinese (8.17%), who are largely found in urban areas such as Singkawang and Pontianak. Next in fifth place are the Madurese (6.27%), who live mainly in Pontianak and Kubu Raya. The next largest ethnic groups (sixth to tenth) are the Bugis (3.13%), Sundanese (1.13%), Batak (0.60%), Daya (0.52%) and Banjar (0.33%), while others constitute 1.33%.

Language.

Indonesian is a language commonly used by people in West Kalimantan. Besides language interface, namely Pontianak Malay, Sambas Malay and Senganan language distribution by region. Likewise, there are various types of Dayak languages, According to the Institute's research Dayakologi 188 dialects are spoken by the Dayak and Chinese languages such as Teochew and Khek/Hakka. Dialects which are intended to Dayak tribe's language is so much resemblance to Malay, only the most different at the end of words such as makan (Malay), makatn (Kanayatn), makai (Iban) and makot (Melahui). Especially for Ot Danum language, the language may be said to stand alone and is not a dialect of other Dayak groups. Dialect, however, lies in some sub Uut Danum Dayak tribe itself. As the sub-tribe language Dohoi for example, to say eat only consist of a minimum of 16 vocabulary, ranging from the most delicate to the most rugged. For example, ngolasut (was fine), germ (general), dekak (for older or respected), ngonahuk (rough), monirak (the rough) and Macuh (for the spirits of the dead).  Malay in West Kalimantan consists of several subgroups, including Pontianak Malay, Sambas, Mempawah, Matam and Ketapang. The Sanggau, Sintang and Sekadau Malay spoken in the northern part of the province itself has the same dialect with the language Sarawak Malay; meanwhile Pontianak Malay spoken in the capital is more closely related to the standard Malaysian Malay and Riau Malay.

Religion.

According to the 2010 census majority of people embraced Islam in West Kalimantan (59.22%). Muslim majority areas in West Kalimantan is inhabited coastal regions are majority Malays as Sambas, Mempawah, Ketapang, North Kayong, Kubu Raya, Kapuas Hulu and Pontianak. In Melawi and Singkawang approximately 50% of the population are Muslims.  Islam is also practiced by Javanese, Madurese and Bugis located in West Kalimantan. In rural areas inhabited by the Dayak predominantly Christian as in Bengkayang, Landak, Sanggau, Sintang and Sekadau. The Chinese in the West Kalimantan mostly adheres to Buddhism and Christianity (Catholic / Protestant).

Culture.

Traditional Dance.

Tari Monong / Manang is a traditional dance of West Kalimantan society. This dance is a healing dance. When there are people who are sick but do not heal, usually the family will hold Tari Monong / Manang. The dancer will act as a shaman healer who issued a special spell. Thus, the patient will be motivated to get better. Tari Zapin Tembung is a type of is a social dance in the communities of West Kalimantan. Tari Menoreh Getah is traditional dance which describes the motion of life of rural communities in West Kalimantan that meet their daily needs. Based on the idea that dance is worked by elements of dance movement Malay and Dayak in West Kalimantan. Tari Mandau is a dance which symbolise of the fighting spirit of the Dayak community in defense of the dignity and status.

Traditional Clothes.

West Kalimantan men wore traditional clothing in the form of headgear decorated with feathers of hornbills, sleeveless shirt (vest), knee-length trousers and fabric that serves as a belt. Usually, West Kalimantan men also wore jewelry, such as a beaded necklace. Women usually wear cloth covering the chest, as well as layers of fabrics which serves as setagen and woven fabrics. Jewelry worn in the form of hornbill feathers as a headdress, beaded necklace and bracelet on the arm. This custom clothing comes from the Dayak tribe.  The classical attire for the Malays in West Kalimantan includes Telok Belanga (for men) and Baju Kurong (for women). Wearing Baju Telok Belanga and Baju Kurong is especially popular during weddings and other traditional functions. Songket weaving is also popular, especially in Sambas (located in northwestern part of the province).

Traditional Weapon.

Mandau is a traditional weapon commonly used by people in West Kalimantan. Mandau is a kind of machete and some Mandau are used for everyday purposes. Other weapons are a shield, blowgun, spear, and sickle. Mandau is used for the purposes of war, decorated with human hair as a symbol of courage. The shield, which is called Kelikit has a size of a full-sized man with ornate carvings in black and red. Other weapons are blowpipe with arrows tipped with poison sap of a tree called ipoh.

Traditional Houses.

One of the cultural house in West Kalimantan is called "Rumah Panjang" (longhouse) because its size length and made of wood. This house is the residence of the Dayak tribe, the function of this custom home is actually a place to stay for a couple of heads of families and also usually used for meetings. They can also be found in other provinces of Kalimantan as well as the neighboring Sarawak in Malaysia. "Rumah Radakng" which is also a kind of longhouse located in Pontianak and the surrounding area. This house has a length of approximately 380 meters high and 7 meters including the most luxurious custom home in West Kalimantan in the meantime. "Rumah Batok" is a traditional house that is owned by the Dayak tribe Badayuh, this house has a unique shape because it has a round shape and height of up to approximately 12 meters to the top. Malay traditional house is a house owned by ethnic Malays, which is located in the city of Pontianak. This traditional houses are usually used as a place of deliberation, performing arts, wedding place citizens and other events.

Festivals.

Robo-robo tradition. Robo-robo derived from the Robo or Rabu (Wednesday). Robo-Robo tradition held on the last Wednesday of Safar based on the Islamic Calendar, which symbolizes a blessing. According to the story, this rite is a warning or trail the arrival of Prince Mas Surya Negara of the Kingdom Matan (Martapura) to the Kingdom of Mempawah (Pontianak). The ritual begins when the King, Queen Mempawah, sons and daughters and the retainer and the guard departed from Castle Village, Mempawah use bidar boat, the boat kingdom of Amantubillah Palace. The ship will sail to the mouth of the River Mempawah located in the village of Kuala Mempawah with the distance of about one hour. At the river mouth will do some sort of ceremony "welcome" to the sea as when Opu Daeng Menambon arrived at the river mouth for the first time. Robo-robo itself was intended as a warning Haulan series of important events began on Monday night to Tuesday, the last month of Safar in order to commemorate the death of Opu Daeng Manambun. For the citizens of Bugis descent in the ordinance, robo-robo usually celebrated with family meals at home. Not only at home, eating together also carried students in various schools both elementary to high school on Wednesday morning.

West Kalimantan () is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak. The province has an area of 147,307 km2 with a recorded population of 4,395,983 at the 2010 Census. Ethnic groups include the Dayak, Malay, Chinese, Javanese, Bugis, and Madurese. The latest official estimate (2019) is 5,045,700. The borders of West Kalimantan roughly trace the mountain ranges surrounding the watershed of the Kapuas River, which drains most of the province. The province shares land borders with Central Kalimantan to the southeast, East Kalimantan to the east, and the Malaysian territory of Sarawak to the north.

Kalimantan occidental (en indonésien Kalimantan Barat) est une province d'Indonésie située dans l'île de Bornéo. Elle s'étend entre 108° et 114° de longitude est et entre 2° 6' de latitude nord et 3° 5' de latitude sud. Elle est donc traversée presque en son milieu par l'équateur. Elle est bordée à l'ouest par la mer de Chine du Sud, à l'est par les provinces de Kalimantan central et de Kalimantan oriental et au nord par la frontière internationale avec la Malaisie.


History.

Leerdam received city rights in 1407. The small river Linge, bordered by beautiful water meadows, defines the atmosphere and tone of the landscape. Several centuries ago Leerdam formed a part of the Vijfheerenlanden domain, before it was raised to the level of County in 1498.  In 1551, Leerdam, together with Acquoy, became property of the House of Orange and part of the County of Holland.  The rich history of Leerdam can be found in well-kept historic buildings such as the "Grote Kerk" (Great Church), the "Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden" (Mrs. Aerden Almshouses, now a museum), the remaining and restored city walls on the "Zuidwal" and the "Oude Raadhuis" (Old City Hall).  In South Africa a fort was built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679 in the coastal city Cape Town. It is called Castle of Good Hope. The corners of this fort received names in honour of William of Orange-Nassau and because Leerdam was part of the House of Orange-Nassau one of those corners were named Leerdam.

Glass industry.

Since the 18th century, the town's culture has been strongly influenced by the glass industry and the timber industry. The glass currently manufactured in Leerdam is internationally known as Royal Leerdam or (particularly in respect of designer glass and glass art) as Royal Leerdam Crystal. This, with the National Glass Museum, the Glass Centre (with its glassblowing and demonstration activities), and several art galleries, make Leerdam a major tourist attraction in the Netherlands.  Glassblowers work in the Glass Centre in Leerdam, which is open to the public.

Public transportation.

The Leerdam railway station is situated on the Elst–Dordrecht railway.

Leerdam () is a city and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. The municipality was merged with the municipalities of Vianen and Zederik on January 1, 2019. The name of the new municipality is Vijfheerenlanden which is a part of the province Utrecht. The former municipality Leerdam was a part of the province South Holland.

Leerdam est une ville et une ancienne commune des Pays-Bas, située à l'extrême est de la province de Hollande-Méridionale jusqu'au 2019 mais depuis cette année située dans la province d'Utrecht. Selon le recensement du, la commune compte habitants pour une superficie totale de (dont d'eau).


Background.

Walker was born in Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia.

Career.

Hailing from Nowra, Walker began his career as a rugby union footballer for Shoalhaven Rugby club as a junior, before moving to Randwick DRUFC, where he played alongside Eddie Jones in their 1991 premiership-winning season. He changed rugby football codes from rugby union to rugby league he transferred to NSWRL Premiership club St. George Dragons the following season.  Walker played for several NRL clubs including the St George Dragons, Sydney Roosters and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. In 1996, he played in one match for the Kangaroos against a Papua New Guinean side. He is known as the first dual-international to switch codes from league to union; 2 years before the more publicised exodus of Wendell Sailor and Mat Rogers. Walker's provincial rugby was with the ACT Brumbies. He is remembered among Brumbies fans for scoring thirteen tries in the 2000 season, which included two hat-tricks. Walker became Australia's 40th dual code international when he made his Australia début against New Zealand during July 2000 following Scott Gourley and preceding Wendell Sailor and Mat Rogers. However his debut was not a memorable one as he came off the bench for the last 10 minutes of the game at Stadium Australia in front of a world-record crowd and proceeded to miss a conversion, kick straight down the throat of Christian Cullen and then, after the resulting New Zealand try to Jonah Lomu to win them the game 39–35, he failed to send the kick-off 10 metres and New Zealand received the ball.  Walker changed rugby football codes from rugby union to rugby league after his Australia career ended following disciplinary difficulties, but he was subsequently banned for two years in 2004 following cocaine use when playing for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.  In 2006 he resurrected his career by signing to play with French rugby union club UA Gaillac. During December 2006 Walker began renegotiations with Queensland Reds' coach Eddie Jones (who had previously coached him with the Brumbies) to play in the 2007 Super fourteen season. In early March, Walker was named on the bench of the Queensland Reds team and played the last 15 minutes in their Week 5 defeat by the Lions. This came just hours after he was released from UA Gaillac and signed by the Queensland Reds until his retirement on 26 July 2008.  On 26 July 2008, Andrew Walker announced his retirement from representative rugby union. At the time he was playing for the Easts Tigers in the Queensland Cup competition. 35 Years old at the time, Walker retired, stating fatigue and a need to spend more time with his family who supported him through his successful but troubled career.  However, in early January 2010, Andrew Walker signed a minor contract with the Goodna Eagles rugby league football club, who are based in Ipswich, Queensland, becoming the biggest signing in Ipswich Rugby League history.  In 2019, he played one game for Randwick DRUFC against Argentina.

Andrew Walker (born 22 November 1973) is an indigenous Australian rugby footballer who represented his country in both rugby league and rugby union - a dual code international. Walker was the first dual code international to represent his country at rugby league before representing rugby union.

Andrew M. Walker, né le à Shoalhaven, est un joueur de rugby à XV qui a joué avec l'équipe d'Australie et dans le Super 12 évoluant au poste d'arrière ou d'ailier. Il est considéré comme le meilleur ailier de tous les temps.


Biography.

Schuppanzigh was born in Vienna, son of a professor of Italian at the Theresian Military Academy. After abandoning his early preference for the viola, he established himself before his 21st birthday as a virtuoso violist and violinist, as well as a conductor. He gave violin lessons to Beethoven, and they remained friends until Beethoven's death.  Schuppanzigh's dedication to quartet playing played a pivotal role in the transition of quartet performance and composition. Prior to Beethoven, the quartet repertoire could be performed successfully by either competent amateurs or professionals with few rehearsals. Beethoven's quartets, starting with the three of Op. 59 dedicated to Count Razumovsky, introduced many new technical difficulties that could not be completely overcome without dedicated rehearsal. These difficulties include synchronized complex runs played by two or more instruments together, cross-rhythms and hemiolas, and difficult harmonies that require special attention to intonation. When informed that Schuppanzigh had complained about a particularly difficult passage, Beethoven is said to have remarked, "Does he believe that I think about his miserable fiddle when the muse strikes me?"  Razumovsky's quartet also premiered works by other composers. Franz Schubert dedicated his A minor "Rosamunde" quartet to Schuppanzigh.  Schuppanzigh's was the first professional string quartet that gave concerts for subscription-paying audiences.  He is said to have dragged Beethoven to a brothel, incurring Beethoven's wrath, after which he avoided Beethoven for months afterward. Beethoven often joked about his corpulence, calling him 'Milord Falstaff', a comment aimed at both his weight and his fun-loving propensity, and wrote a short comical chorus dedicated to him, "Praise to the Fat One" ("Lob auf den Dicken"), WoO 100.  Schuppanzigh was described as handsome in his youth, but in adult life he became seriously obese. Toward the end of his life, his fingers reputedly grew so fat that he was unable to play in tune, and reputedly died of paralysis in Vienna.

Ignaz Schuppanzigh (20 July 1776 – 2 March 1830) was an Austrian violinist, friend and teacher of Beethoven, and leader of Count Razumovsky's private string quartet. Schuppanzigh and his quartet premiered many of Beethoven's string quartets, and in particular, the late string quartets. The Razumovsky quartet, which Schuppanzigh founded in late 1808, is considered to be the first professional string quartet. Until the founding of this quartet, quartet music was played primarily by amateurs or by professional musicians who joined together on an "ad hoc" basis.

Ignaz Schuppanzigh (né à Vienne le — mort dans la même ville le ) est un violoniste et chef d'orchestre autrichien.


Early days.

Since its first year, it capitalized on the already-existing rivalry in rowing. But it took a whole new scale as football opened to the masses.  Flamengo has had in 83 years a slight overall edge in teams of direct matches but also titles and direct decisions. In state league, since 1923 when both teams staged, it has won 23 titles (plus one Special as Rio State and Rio City merged in 1979) against 22 to Vasco.

1958 and the "Super-super-championship".

At a time when both clubs were already known for their mass appeal but the rivalry still missed some anthologic matches, this championship was considered unique as twice Botafogo, Flamengo and Vasco had to play a tie-break triangular. The final match finally was disputed by Vasco and Flamengo, the latter playing for a draw which was eventually obtained, in front of a record crowd. This championship would though sign a drought period of 12 years for Vasco, which helped to promote other derbies like Flamengo x Botafogo and as ever Flamengo x Fluminense as challengers throughout the 1960s.

The 1972–2001 period.

This period can be singled out as the one that established the derby's reputation as the top one in Rio and eventually in Brazil, definitely surpassing its Fla-Flu rival both on the field and off it. In the span of 30 years, at least one of the teams managed to reach every final phase of the Rio state league. It also corresponds barely to the creation of the Brazilian national championship (1971), which displayed the popularity of both teams across the country, particularly in northern/northeastern states (but also southern states such as Santa Catarina), where often they constitute the main fanbase in front of local teams.

Rio state level.

Given the once-traditional structure of Rio state league divided in "turno" and "returno" (home and away season) occasionally complemented by a shorter third "turno" with the top overall teams, Vasco and Flamengo have clinched 50 out of the 68 turnos (25 each). In 4 occasions an extra play-off between both teams was needed to decide the turno. In 9 occasions the derby was the last-round decisive game for both teams.  The first "turno" of Rio state league is given an extra importance as dubbed the "Taça Guanabara", incorporating a previously traditional competition only from the inner city clubs. Flamengo clinched it 13 times and Vasco 9 in this period.  They also participated together in a final phase (be it direct decision, triangular, quadrangular or semi-final) in 17 occasions out of 24 (in 6 occasions no final phase was needed as one team would win all turnos – this occurred 3 times for Vasco in 1977, 1992 and 1998 and also to Flamengo in 1978, 1979 and 1996).  Flamengo at the end clinched 11 titles in that period against 8 from Vasco. This in particular stems from a three-in-a-row win (see below) in the last years (1999–2001). Fluminense also clinched 8 titles, proving despite it much lower presence a greater efficiency (out of only 11 turno wins).

National level.

Though less frequent given the overall balance of national clubs and its scattered group structure, both teams met decisively 3 times in final phase, but never the finals: in 1983 in quarterfinal playoffs (Flamengo had the edge), and 1992 and 1997 in semi-final phase (Flamengo had the edge on the first but the derby was no ultimate decider as played two rounds before round-robin end, while Vasco had the edge in the latter in a famous 4–1 decider). Most notably, in each occasion the winner of the derby eventually clinched the title. Both teams in the 1971–2000 period ranked in the top 6 of the tournament (Vasco #1 and Flamengo #6) and feature each among the few clubs (alongside Palmeiras and Corinthians) to have clinched more than 4 Brazilian titles since its inception in 1971 (Flamengo had won 5 titles by then against Vasco da Gama's 4).  In Brazilian Cup, though less prestigious, both teams were scheduled to meet in finals in July, 2006. It was Flamengo's 5th final and Vasco's first. Flamengo eventually clinched its second Cup title ever. The competition though did not count with the participation of the top 5 Brazilian championship teams as they participated the Libertadores Cup, but in relative terms it was for the derby's history one of the most important ever.

Zico vs Roberto "Dinamite".

During the period above, the rivalry was personified in both players, still today considered the two most important players of each club ever. They played for about the same time lapse: though Roberto (or simply, Dinamite, after its powerful shot, a nickname given to him at the time he scored his first goal as a professional in 1972) started playing earlier, both reached early stardom around 1974 (when Vasco reached its first national title) and continued until the late 1980s. Both players crystallized the style of play, Zico embodying the more technical, refined Flamengo of the 1980s and Roberto the attacking, never-say-die style of Vasco at the time. It can be said that the first tests between both started in the play-offs of 1976 Taça Guanabara, where Zico missed a penalty kick to award Vasco the title. The same occurred a year later, to give Vasco the overall title. Later on, Flamengo had a clear edge as it swept all turnos of 78 and 79 (including the 79 Special championship). In the early 1980s, Vasco saw Flamengo raise to its three national titles then but still consistently gave a run for the money of their arch-rivals (as in the 1980 finals). After a long runner-up series to either the Flamengo and Fluminense from 1978 through 1981, they eventually defeated the brilliant world-champ Flamengo side in 1982 to recoup the Carioca title. Both players always displayed enormous respect for their opponents and somehow were constantly admired by the other side, most supporters secretly hoping that one day each one could turn sides and play for their club. Vasco supporters still pride the day Zico wore their jersey in a friendly for Dinamite's retirement.

Tita and Bebeto.

After the Zico & Roberto phase, both teams experienced a transition period, though still maintaining a high standard. In that period some important players change sides, raising some passionate discussions. First Tita had been discovered by Flamengo but later on joined Vasco, only to score the winning goal in the 1987 Carioca final in Vasco's 1–0 victory. Also Bebeto followed the same path and offered Vasco brilliant participation in the 1989 Brazilian league, before going north and eventually clinching the 1994 World Cup with Romário.

1988.

In this year, the two teams decided the title in direct play-offs for the third time in a row. Flamengo had clinched the 1986 title and Vasco the 1987 one, so 1988 would decide the best-of-three. Vasco confirmed its status as favorite and won the last game 1–0 while playing for a draw. The winning goal though only came with 1 minute left to play and was scored by an unknown player who came on as a substitute a few minutes before, nicknamed Cocada (after a popular coconut sweet), only to be sent off for provocative celebration. On the day after, Vasco supporters would tease their rivals by offering them cocadas.

Romário.

Romário alone eschewed this rivalry, displaying ambiguous positions regarding his support. More recently he declared supporting neither club, buth rather América, a small and formerly prestigious club of Rio. Tough Romário was discovered by Vasco and started as a professional in 1986, clinching the 1987 title before going north, he later decided to join Flamengo in 1995 when returning to Brazil, much to Vasco supporters' outrage. Despite this betrayal, he still managed to be hired by Vasco in the late 1990s. He was somewhat forgiven as he would still clinch its fourth Brazilian title in 2000 and Mercosul cup in 2001. This contrasts with the almost blank record playing with Flamengo except for the Carioca title of 1996. He also twice succeeded as top striker of the Brazilian championship, the last as recently as 2005, at age 40. He expressed the desire of retiring by playing half time with the jerseys of each team.

2001.

Flamengo and Vasco had displayed very balanced statistics in the latter decades, with a very slight advantage though to Flamengo specially in direct decisive confrontations. This had from time to time allowed Flamengo supporters to call their arch-rivals as "freguês" (i.e. customer) and tease them as consistent "vice" (runners-up), especially during the time of the great Flamengo side of the early 1980s. But Vasco eventually reverted this as in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when it clinched its first tri-campeonato (three championships in a row, a rare feat). By the time of the late 1990s, Vasco could even claim to be the major Carioca winner since 1923, ahead of Flamengo and Fluminense. This "freguês" (similar to Boca vs River) teasing returned in early 2001 as Flamengo clinched another "tri-campeonato", with all three titles being won directly over Vasco, and largely contributing to the recent imbalance in statistics. Ironically, these wins of Flamengo at state league level were obtained at arguably the best period ever of Vasco's history, during which it clinched two Brazilian titles and two South American titles. In each final from 1998 through 2001, Flamengo was rated as the underdog. The title of the "tri" came in a specially dramatic way, as Vasco played the last game with a one-goal cushion advantage and saw Flamengo score 3 x 1 with few minutes to play. It was for Flamengo fans a compensation for the series of humiliating defeats (among which two 5 x 1) imposed by the brilliant Vasco side of the time.

Present day.

Since 2001 when Flamengo clinched the tri and Vasco the Mercosur Cup, both teams have been plagued by financial problems and have simultaneously reached an unprecedented decadence, struggling to avoid the same spots of relegation to Brazilian second division. Vasco (2003) and Flamengo (2004 – over Vasco, again) still won since one state league title each. In their seemingly atavistic manner of crossing in each other's way, both teams recently managed to reach the finals of Brazilian Cup scheduled for July 2006.

2006.

In a painful re-run of the early 1980s for Vasco supporters, Flamengo managed in July 2006 to win its fifth decision in a row in recent years. Though the previous ones could maybe have been minimized as local State leagues as Vasco then fought for Brazilian and South American titles, this time it was the first ever decision between both teams at national level. By the same way Flamengo clinched its second Brazilian Cup title against one to Vasco.

2009 – present day.

As new economic bright times shine for Brazil, new sponsors and investments have also shaped strengthening the Classico dos Milhões with bigger payrolls on both sides, once again putting Rio football into the limelight of dominating the Brazilian scene. Vasco dropped to the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B in 2008 following a disastrous turn of power in the club with longtime president Eurico Miranda being ousted and Roberto Dinamite stepping in, whilst having lost both games to Flamengo. In 2009, in the first face off in the state championship after Vasco relegation where in Flamengo fans tried to make a mockery of the rival ́s then situation, Vasco beat Flamengo 2–0, in a Carioca that the Gavea red and black eventually won. In the same year Flamengo went on to win the Serie A led by the Petkvovic and Adriano duo, while Vasco got promoted back to the Serie A by winning Serie B 2009. In the following year both teams failed to achieve any success, with both games in the Campeonatio Brasileiro Serie A having ended in draws, 0–0 and 1–1 whilst the encounters in the Campeonato carioca turned in favour of Flamengo largely due to controversial officiating.  In 2011, Flamengo beat Vasco 2–1 and then drew 0–0 winning on penalty kicks in Taça Rio final leading them to win the Campeonato Carioca under the guidance of Wanderley Luxemburgo with the star players Ronaldinho and Thiago Neves. However, Vasco won the 2011 Copa do Brasil, in a very strong team, that went on to out perform Fla in both games in the Campeonato Brasileiro 2011, 0–0 and 1–1 in the final round, both with crucial officiating disastrous mistakes by referee Pericles Bassols which failed to whistle clear Vasco penalty kicks on both games. Vasco manager Ricardo Gomes had a Brain seizure in the second half of the first game, leading him to having surgery and putting him on the sidelines for the rest of the season, with caretaker manager Critovao Borges taking up duties. Vasco went on to finish second place in the Campeonato Brasileiro S[erie A, two points behind Corinthians, with Vasco fans although proud of their team ́s season, definetally very revolted with the ref that whistled both games, that could have represented Vasco winning the 2011 Campeonato Brasileiro.

Overall Statistics.

First Match: Vasco 3x1 Flamengo, Rua Paysandú, on April 29, 1923 for Guanabara State league.  Last matches  Most Goals against matches:  For Vasco:  For Flamengo:

Important Championships.

List of decisive games.

Arguably the first decision ever between both teams ever started in 1944, more than twenty years after their accession to first division, when Flamengo played Vasco in last round to clinch its first ever three-in-a-row title. Between then and 1972, only one decisive game was played in 1958 in the uniquely named super-super-championship as twice Vasco, Flamengo and Botafogo had to play a tie-break triangular.

Clássico dos Milhões (meaning "Derby of Millions") is the name of the classic Brazilian derby between Flamengo and Vasco da Gama, both from Rio de Janeiro city, considered one of the most fiercely contested derbies in Brazilian football and one of the biggest in football worldwide, both in historic rivalry and in popularity. It is thus named since its beginnings in the 1920s, as Flamengo and Vasco are the two largest fanbases in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and more recently as it imposed itself since the 1970s as arguably the top nationwide Brazilian derby.

Clássico dos Milhões (littéralement en français le « Classique des Millions », autrement dit « Le Derby des Foules ») est le nom attribué à la rencontre traditionnelle entre les équipes de football brésiliennes du Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama et du Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, de la ville de Rio de Janeiro.


History.

Attribute grammars were invented by Donald Knuth and Peter Wegner. While Donald Knuth is credited for the overall concept, Peter Wegner invented inherited attributes during a conversation with Knuth. Some embryonic ideas trace back to the work of Edgar T. "Ned" Irons, the author of IMP.

Example.

The following is a simple context-free grammar which can describe a language made up of multiplication and addition of integers.  The following attribute grammar can be used to calculate the result of an expression written in the grammar. Note that this grammar only uses synthesized values, and is therefore an S-attributed grammar.

Synthesized attributes.

A synthesized attribute is computed from the values of attributes of the children. Since the values of the children must be computed first, this is an example of bottom-up propagation. To formally define a synthesized attribute, let formula_1 be a formal grammar, where  Then, given a string of nonterminal symbols formula_6 and an attribute name formula_7, formula_8 is a synthesized attribute if all three of these conditions are met:

Inherited attributes.

An "inherited attribute" at a node in parse tree is defined using the attribute values at the parent or siblings. Inherited attributes are convenient for expressing the dependence of a programming language construct on the context in which it appears. For example, we can use an inherited attribute to keep track of whether an identifier appears on the left or the right side of an assignment in order to decide whether the address or the value of the identifier is needed. In contrast to synthesized attributes, inherited attributes can take values from parent and/or siblings. As in the following production,  where A can get values from S, B, and C. B can take values from S, A, and C. Likewise, C can take values from S, A, and B.

An attribute grammar is a formal way to define attributes for the productions of a formal grammar, associating these attributes with values. The evaluation occurs in the nodes of the abstract syntax tree, when the language is processed by some parser or compiler.

Une grammaire attribuée est une manière formelle de définir des attributs pour les productions d'une grammaire, associant ces attributs à des valeurs. L'évaluation a lieu dans les nœuds de l'arbre syntaxique abstrait quand le langage est traité par un analyseur syntaxique ou un compilateur.


Biography.

Early years.

James Gibbons Parrott was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Charles and Blanche Thompson Parrott. In 1903, his father died from a heart attack, leaving the family in bad financial shape, which forced them to move in with a relative. Charley Jr. quit school, so he could go to work, in order to support his mother and brother. Eventually the call of the stage beckoned him, and Charley Jr. left home at age 16 to travel the vaudeville circuit as a singer and comedic performer. By the time James had reached his teens, he too, had quit school, and became involved with the street gangs of Baltimore.  Later, Charley's connections in the film industry helped get his younger brother established in movies, and he would appear during the 1920s in a series of relatively successful comedies for producer Hal Roach. He was billed first as "Paul Parrott", then "Jimmie Parrott", Approximately 75 comedies were produced from 1921 to 1923, with titles continuing to be released through Pathé until 1926. Frequent co-stars included Marie Mosquini, Jobyna Ralston, Eddie Baker, and Sunshine Sammy.  Parrott is probably best known as a comedy director. As "James Parrott", he specialized in the two-reel misadventures of Laurel and Hardy, including the Oscar-winning classic "The Music Box", and "Helpmates".

Later years.

During the 1930s Parrott had acquired serious drinking and drug problems (his diet medications were actually addictive amphetamines) and although still able to direct quality shorts, he had developed a reputation as unreliable. By the mid-1930s his work was spotty: Stan Laurel used him sporadically to contribute gags to the Laurel and Hardy features, and he would direct an "Our Gang" short in 1934, plus several acceptable entries in Thelma Todd–Patsy Kelly series.

Death.

By 1937, Parrott was accepting any jobs that came his way. He could no longer be counted on to direct or write, and relied on his brother to support him financially. There was a brief marriage to Ruby Ellen McCoy in 1937, but as his various addictions worsened, so did his state of mind.  Parrott died at the age of 41 of heart failure. His brother Charley was devastated, and died 13 months later. He is interred at Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park, the same cemetery where his brother, Charley Chase rests. His brother Chase had refused to help him financially until he cleaned up his act. Parrott's death at 41 was attributed to a heart attack, but former Hal Roach associates maintained he committed suicide. Guilt-ridden over his brother's tragic end, Chase drank himself to death a year later.

James Parrott (August 2, 1897 – May 10, 1939) was an American actor and film director; and the younger brother of film comedian Charley Chase.

James Parrott (né le à Baltimore, dans le Maryland, et mort le à Hollywood, en Californie) est un acteur, réalisateur et scénariste américain.