History.

Laramie was named for Jacques LaRamie, a French or French-Canadian trapper who disappeared in the Laramie Mountains in the late 1810s and was never heard from again. He was one of the first Europeans to visit the area. European-American settlers named a river, mountain range, peak, US Army fort, county, and city for him. More Wyoming landmarks are named for him than for any other trapper but Jim Bridger. Because the name was used so frequently, the town was called Laramie City for decades to distinguish it from other uses.  The city was founded in the mid-1860s as a tent city near the Overland Stage Line route, the Union Pacific portion of the first transcontinental railroad, and just north of Fort Sanders army post. The rails reached Laramie on May 4, 1868 when construction crews worked through town. A few passengers arrived on that same day. The first regular passenger service began on May 10, 1868, by which time entrepreneurs were building more permanent structures. Laramie City (as it was known in early years) soon had stores, houses, a school, and churches. Laramie's fame as the western terminal of the Union Pacific Railroad, acquired when the section from North Platte, Nebraska was opened in May, ended in early August 1868 when a section of track was opened to Benton, east of present-day Sinclair, Wyoming.  The frontier town initially suffered from lawlessness. Its first mayor, M. C. Brown, resigned his office on June 12, 1868 after six turbulent weeks, saying that the other officials elected alongside him on May 2 were guilty of "incapacity and laxity" in dealing with the city's problems. This was due to the threat to the community from three half-brothers, early Old West gunman "Big" Steve Long, Con Moyer and Ace Moyer. Long was Laramie's first marshal, and with his brothers owned the saloon "Bucket of Blood." The three began harassing settlers, forcing them to sign over the deeds to their property to them. Any who refused were killed, usually goaded into a gunfight by Long. By October 1868, Long had killed 13 men.  The first Albany County sheriff, rancher N. K. Boswell, organized a "Vigilance Committee" in response. On October 28, 1868, Boswell led the committee into the "Bucket of Blood," overwhelmed the three brothers, and lynched them at an unfinished cabin down the street. Through a series of other lynchings and other forms of intimidation, the vigilantes reduced the "unruly element" and established a semblance of law and order.  In 1869, Wyoming was organized as Wyoming Territory, the first legislature of which passed a bill granting equal political rights to women in the territory. In March 1870, five Laramie residents became the first women in the world to serve on a jury. As Laramie was the first town in Wyoming to hold a municipal election, on September 6, 1870, a Laramie resident was the first woman in the United States to cast a legal vote in a general election.  Early businesses included rolling mills, a railroad-tie treatment plant, a brick yard, a slaughterhouse, a brewery, a glass manufacturing plant, and a plaster mill, as well as the railroad yards. In 1886, a plant to produce electricity was built. Several regional railroads were based in Laramie, including the Laramie, North Park and Pacific Railroad and Telegraph Company founded in 1880 and the Laramie, North Park and Western Railroad established in 1901.  Governor Francis E. Warren signed a bill that established the University of Wyoming (UW) in 1886, the only public university in the state. Laramie was chosen as its site, and UW opened there in 1887. Under the terms of the Morrill Act, also known as the Land Grant College Act, in 1891 UW added an agricultural college and experiment station to gain benefits as a land grant college.

Late 20th century to present.

The city was covered by international media in 1998 after the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming. His murder generated an international outcry. It became the symbolic focus for a nationwide campaign against gay hate crimes. Federal hate crimes legislation was signed into law in 2009. As of May 2016, Wyoming does not have a hate crimes law. Shepard's murder was the subject of the award-winning play, later adapted as a movie, "The Laramie Project".  In 2004, Laramie became the first city in Wyoming to pass a law to prohibit smoking in enclosed workplaces, including bars, restaurants and private clubs. Opponents of the clean indoor air ordinance, funded in part by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, immediately petitioned to have the ordinance repealed. However, the voters upheld the ordinance in a citywide referendum which was conducted concurrently with the 2004 general election. The opponents challenged the validity of the election in court, claiming various irregularities. However, the judge ruled that the opponents had failed to meet their burden of showing significant problems with the election, and the ordinance, which had become effective in April 2005, remained in effect. In August 2005, Laramie's City Council defeated an attempt to amend the ordinance to allow smoking in bars and private clubs.

Geography and climate.

Laramie is located at (41.312927, −105.587251). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which is land and is water.  Laramie is on a high plain between two mountain ranges, the Snowy Range, about to the west, and the Laramie Range, to the east. The city's elevation above sea level is about. The Laramie River runs through Laramie toward its confluence with the North Platte River east of the Laramie Range.  The city is about west of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and north of Denver, Colorado. Laramie lies along U.S. Route 30, Interstate 80, and U.S. Route 287, and it remains an important junction on the Union Pacific Railroad line.  Laramie's total precipitation averages about a year, and the average number of rainy days per year is about 86. The city experiences a day that is or warmer 2.2 times a year. The average temperature in December is, and in July it is. Annual snowfall averages. Because of the high elevation, winters are long, and summers are short and relatively cool. The growing season is short, as the average window for freezing temperatures is September 14 through June 6, while for accumulating (≥) it is October 5 through May 12.  Laramie has a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification "BSk") with long, cold, dry winters and short, warm, somewhat wetter summers.

Demographics.

2010 census.

As of the census of 2010, there were 30,816 people, 13,394 households, and 5,843 families residing in the city. The population density was. There were 14,307 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the city was 89.5% White, 3.2% Asian, 2.8% from two or more races, 2.5% from other races, 1.3% African American, 0.7% Native American, and 0.1% Pacific Islander. 9.2% of residents were Hispanic or Latino of any race.  There were 13,394 households of which 20.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.0% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 56.4% were non-families. 36.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.85.  The median age in the city was 25.4 years. 15.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 32.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.5% were from 25 to 44; 17.4% were from 45 to 64; and 7.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 52.0% male and 48.0% female.

2000 census.

As of the census of 2000, there were 27,204 people, 11,336 households, and 5,611 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,442.5 people per square mile (942.9/km2). There were 11,994 housing units at an average density of 1,076.9 per square mile (415.7/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 90.81% White, 1.24% African American, 0.89% Native American, 1.92% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 2.89% from other races, and 2.19% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.94% of the population.  There were 11,336 households out of which 23.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.3% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.5% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.83.  In the city, the population was spread out with 17.5% under the age of 18, 31.8% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 16.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females, there were 107.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.7 males.  The median income for a household in the city was $27,319, and the median income for a family was $43,395. Males had a median income of $30,888 versus $22,009 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,036. About 11.1% of families and 22.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.7% of those under age 18 and 8.3% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture.

Annual cultural events.

Laramie Jubilee Days started in 1940 to celebrate Wyoming Statehood Day on July 10. Since then, Jubilee Days has expanded to include several days around the Fourth of July. Events typically include food, live music, games, carnival rides, a street fair, a parade, a softball tournament, and rodeo events.

Museums and concert halls.

The Geological Museum at the University of Wyoming is open to the public and houses more than 50,000 catalogued mineral, rock, and fossil specimens, including a dinosaur exhibit. The university's art museum offers gallery exhibits, lectures, workshops, classes, and public tours year-round. The Fine Arts Concert Hall on campus presents frequent concerts and recitals during the school year. Housed in the Ivinson Mansion near the center of town is the Laramie Plains Museum. The Wyoming Children's Museum and Nature Center has interactive exhibits and pottery classes for children aged 3 and older. In 2012, the Wyoming House for Historic Women was opened in downtown Laramie.

Libraries.

The central library of the Albany County Library system, with a wide range of materials for adults and children, is near downtown Laramie; the system's branch libraries are in Centennial, west of Laramie and Rock River, northwest of Laramie. William Robertson Coe Library, the main library of the University of Wyoming, has materials for general research in business, education, fine arts, science, humanities, and the social sciences as well as audio visual and government documents collections. The Brinkerhoff Geology Library specializes in geology, geophysics, physical geography, mining and petroleum geology, and geological engineering. Also at the university are the George W. Hooper Law Library, the Library Annex, a high-density storage facility located in the basement of the UW Science Complex, the Rocky Mountain Herbarium Library, a learning resources center with materials for teachers and children, and an archives, rare book, and manuscript repository known as the American Heritage Center.

National Register sites.

Twenty-one sites in Laramie, including the Wyoming Territorial Penitentiary, are included on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The prison site includes buildings and other exhibits from a frontier community of the late 19th century. The other sites are the Downtown Laramie Historic District, the Ivinson Mansion and Grounds, Old Main on the University of Wyoming campus, the Barn at Oxford Horse Ranch, Bath Ranch, Bath Row, Charles E. Blair House, John D. Conley House, Cooper Mansion, East Side School, Fort Sanders Guardhouse, William Goodale House, Lehman-Tunnell Mansion, Lincoln School, Richardson's Overland Trail Ranch, St. Matthew's Cathedral Close, St. Paulus Kirche, Snow Train Rolling Stock, Union Pacific Athletic Club, and the Vee Bar Ranch Lodge.  Two other Albany County sites near Laramie are on the NRHP. About east of the city is the Ames Monument, a large granite pyramid dedicated to brothers Oakes Ames, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts, and Oliver Ames, Jr., who were influential in building the Union Pacific portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Oakes Ames was also implicated in the Credit Mobilier scandal and censured by the U.S. House. The other site is Como Bluff, a long ridge extending east–west between Rock River and Medicine Bow. Geologic formations in the ridge contain fossils, including dinosaurs, from the Late Jurassic.

Sports.

College.

The University of Wyoming Cowboys compete at the NCAA Division I level (FBS-Football Bowl Subdivision for football) as a member of the Mountain West Conference. UW offers 17 NCAA-sanctioned sports teams – nine women's sports and eight men's sports. Wyoming's nine NCAA sports for women include basketball; cross country; golf; soccer; swimming and diving; tennis; indoor track & field; outdoor track and field; and volleyball. UW's eight NCAA sports for men include basketball; cross country; football; golf; swimming and diving; indoor track and field; outdoor track and field; and wrestling.

Outdoor.

Sports enthusiasts find much to do in and near Laramie, nestled at above sea level between the Laramie Range (Laramie Mountains) and the Snowy Range (Medicine Bow Mountains). Popular activities include skiing, snowmobiling, mountain biking, hunting, fishing, and hiking.  Rock climbing, hiking, and camping are among the attractions of Vedauwoo, an assemblage of weathered granite slabs, boulders, and cliffs covering in the Medicine Bow – Routt National Forest, about east of Laramie off Interstate 80.  Volunteers from the Medicine Bow Nordic Association, in cooperation with the Forest Service, maintain groomed cross-country ski trails in a sector of the Laramie Range about east of the city. To the west, Snowy Range cross-country trails run through the national forest west of Centennial, and other trails follow gentle terrain southwest of Laramie near Woods Landing. Miles of snowmobile trails wind through the forests, and many forest areas are open to travel by snowshoe. The Snowy Range Ski Area, about west of Laramie off Wyoming Highway 130, offers downhill skiing and snowboarding on 27 trails ranging in difficulty from beginner to expert.  Laramie is a center for mountain biking. Mountain bike trails meander through forests in the Laramie Range and the Snowy Range. The Medicine Bow Mountain Bike Patrol, part of the Laramie Bicycling Network, is a non-profit volunteer organization that works with the Forest Service to patrol and maintain biking trails east of Laramie. The Medicine Bow Rail–Trail is a mountain bike trail, long, built between 2005 and 2007 on the bed of an abandoned railroad southwest of Laramie. It starts near the town of Albany and Lake Owen and extends south to the town of Mountain Home near the Wyoming–Colorado border. The Laramie Enduro 111K, an endurance mountain bike race of is held annually on Laramie Range trails.  Other annual events include the Poker Run recreational ski race held in the Snowy Mountains each February, and the Tour De Laramie, a bicycle rally with stops at local pubs held in May. The Wyoming Marathon Races, a series of running and ultra-running events held in Medicine Bow National Forest, are held annually each Memorial Day weekend.  Trout fishing is another popular sport in and near Laramie. The Laramie River, which flows north into Wyoming from Colorado, is fished as are the smaller streams in both mountain ranges and the many small plains lakes in the Laramie Basin.  Other outdoor activities popular near Laramie include camping, picnicking, rafting on the Laramie River and the North Platte River, viewing of wildlife such as mule deer, elk, moose, and pronghorn, and general sightseeing. For of its length as it crosses the Snowy Range, the Highway 130 corridor has been designated a National Forest Scenic Byway.

Parks and recreation.

Laramie has 14 city parks that, among them, include playgrounds, seasonal wading pools, jogging and biking paths, baseball and softball fields, basketball hoops, a skateboard park, horseshoe pits, tennis courts, volleyball courts, a fitness circuit court, soccer fields, picnic tables, river fishing, and a seasonally stocked fishing pond. In addition to a public country club and golf course, Laramie residents also have access to the University of Wyoming's 18-hole golf course, and to a wide variety of university recreation sites including squash courts, handball courts, baseball and softball diamonds, basketball courts, a climbing wall, and fields for football, soccer, and track.  The Community Recreation Center has an outdoor swimming pool, an indoor pool, an eight-lane lap pool, water slides, a full-court gymnasium, cardio equipment, circuit weights, and an indoor playground, and it offers programs in adult fitness, youth volleyball, junior basketball, and aquatics. The Community Ice Arena is open for ice skating, skating lessons, hockey, synchronized skating, adult co-ed broomball, and other ice-related activities from October through mid-March. A children's hockey club, a figure skating club, university hockey teams, and adult non-check hockey teams as well as the general public use the ice arena.

Environmental problems.

According to a 2012 report by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), a former industrial site for the production of aluminum, arsenic acid, strategic metals and cement now owned by L.C. Holdings, south of Laramie had arsenic concentrations in on-site water well samples 3,100-times higher than DEQ cleanup levels. The site has been storing a 1,000-ton pile of contaminated flue dust from Bunker Hill Mine and Smelting Complex, an Idaho superfund site, under a tarp since the 1980s. In 2011 L.C. Holdings entered the DEQ's "Voluntary Remediation Program".

Government and laws.

Laramie has a council–manager form of government. The council, the city's legislative body, consists of nine members who serve overlapping four-year terms. The council members set policy, approve budgets, pass ordinances, appoint citizen volunteers to advisory boards, and oversee the city staff. Two members of the council are elected from each of three wards. The council picks a mayor and vice-mayor once every two years at the first council meeting in January. Laramie is the county seat of Albany County and houses county offices, courts, and the county library.  In 2015, Laramie passed an LGBT anti-discrimination bill. The ordinance bans discrimination against LGBT people in employment, housing and public accommodations such as bars and restaurants.

Education.

Albany County School District #1, headquartered in Laramie, governs 19 public schools in an area of including Laramie, Centennial, Rock River, and rural locations. A total of about 4,000 students attend these schools, the Laramie fraction of which includes seven elementary schools, one middle school, Laramie High School, and Whiting High School. Snowy Range Academy, a charter school, serves children in grades K–7, and formerly St. Laurence, a Catholic school, served children in grades K–6 but closed in 2016. The University of Wyoming also offers a Lab School (colloquially referred to as "Prep") for K–9 students.  The main campus of the University of Wyoming is in Laramie. In 2009, about 13,400 students were enrolled there at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels. A branch campus of Laramie County Community College is also in Laramie.  The WyoTech campus offers 9-month courses in Automotive Technology, Collision & Refinishing Technology, and Diesel Technology, as well as a variety of specialized industry programs—including High-Performance Power Trains, Street Rod, Trim and Upholstery, Chassis Fabrication, and Applied Service Management.

Media.

The "Laramie Boomerang" is Laramie's main newspaper. The "Branding Iron" is a student-run newspaper at the University of Wyoming. Wyoming Public Television station KCWC-DT, licensed to Central Wyoming College in Riverton, has a transmitter near Laramie known as KWYP-DT.  Many radio stations broadcast from Laramie. Three are Wyoming Public Radio stations: KUWR, 91.9 FM; KUWY, 88.5 FM, classical, and KUWL, 90.1 FM, jazz. The others are KOCA-LP, 93.5 FM, Spanish; KCGY, 95.1 FM, country; KIMX, 104.5 FM, top 40 (CHR); KLMI 106.1, Variety, KRQU, 98.7 FM, classic rock; KARS, 102.9 FM, classic rock; KHAT, 1210 AM, sports; and KOWB, 1290 AM, news and talk.

In popular culture.

"The Man from Laramie" was a 1955 western film starring James Stewart. It was shot in the Bonanza Creek Ranch and other places near Santa Fe, New Mexico.  From 1958 to 1962, Laramie was the setting for ABC TV series "Lawman", starring John Russell and Peter Brown, and from 1959 to 1963, "Laramie" was also the name of an NBC western television series, starring John Smith and Robert Fuller as ranch partners who operate a stagecoach station east of the city. In July 2017, the 83-year-old Fuller visited the city for the very first time, serving as grandmaster of Laramie's annual Jubilee Days parade and festivities.  Laramie in its early days is also featured in Seasons 4 and 5 of the AMC western television drama series "Hell On Wheels", set in California and in Laramie.  In addition to "The Laramie Project" and the play from which it was adapted, several other cultural depictions of Matthew Shepard are set in Laramie.  In 2011, German actor and writer Joachim Meyerhoff wrote his first novel, "Amerika", about the year he spent as a student in Laramie. The book was a bestseller in Germany.  Teenage Bottlerocket, a radical American punk rock band, formed in Laramie in 2000. Their fast-paced punk rock focuses on skateboarding, comics, horror movies, pizza, and other gnarly stuff.

Infrastructure and transportation.

Airport.

SkyWest Airlines (United) provides daily commercial flights between Laramie Regional Airport and Denver, Colorado. The airport, west of the central business district, is operated and financed by the City of Laramie and Albany County. In addition to commercial flights, the airport serves private and corporate planes and atmospheric research aircraft from the University of Wyoming.

Ground Transportation.

Laramie has multiple Taxi companies, as well as Uber service, which launched in 2017. The city is also served by Greyhound Lines, with service to and from Cheyenne and Fort Collins. Greenride of Northern Colorado provides service from Laramie to Fort Collins and Denver International Airport.

Utilities.

The city's drinking water comes from the Big Laramie River, the largest single source, and wellfields in the Casper Aquifer, and it is treated in a modern plant. The city's wastewater plant, which replaced an older plant, began operation in 1998. The Solid Waste Division operates the city-owned landfill, about north of the city. Laramie has of streets and of alleys.

Notable people.

Academics and writers who live or have lived in Laramie include poets Craig Arnold and H.L. (Harvey) Hix, archeologists George Frison and William Mulloy, historian Grace Raymond Hebard, and authors Brad Watson and Chip Rawlins. Attorneys with ties to Laramie include Thurman Arnold, Gerry Spence, and Tom Lubnau, who in 2013 became Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives.  Actors Jim Beaver and Wayde Preston are from Laramie as are Olympic athlete Jesseca Cross and professional basketball player Jaycee Carroll. Sheridan H. Downey, born in Laramie, became a U.S. Senator of California.  Other notables with Laramie connections are:

Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the 2010 census. Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287.

La ville de Laramie (en anglais ) est le siège du comté d'Albany, dans l’État du Wyoming, aux États-Unis. Laramie est située dans le sud-est de l’État, sur la rivière Laramie, au nord-ouest de Cheyenne, à la jonction de l'Interstate 80 et la route 287.


Taxonomy and phylogeny.

Australian ichthyologist Gilbert Percy Whitley originally described the graceful shark as "Gillisqualus amblyrhynchoides", in a 1934 issue of "Memoirs of the Queensland Museum". He based his account on a 60-cm-long immature female caught off Cape Bowling Green in Queensland, hence the alternate common name Queensland shark. Later authors have synonymized "Gillisqualus" with "Carcharhinus".  As with most "Carcharhinus" species, the evolutionary relationships of the graceful shark are poorly resolved. Based on morphology, Jack Garrick concluded in 1982 that its closest relative was the blacktip shark ("C. limbatus"), and that the two were closely related to the spinner shark ("C. brevipinna"). Leonard Compagno, in his 1988 phenetic study, also grouped those species together, along with the smoothtooth blacktip shark ("C. leiodon") and the finetooth shark ("C. isodon"). However, molecular phylogenetic techniques have since found this interpretation to be invalid for the spinner, blacktip, and finetooth sharks.

Distribution and habitat.

The graceful shark is distributed widely in the tropical Indo-Pacific, having been reported from the Gulf of Aden, southwestern India and Sri Lanka, the Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines to Borneo and Java, and Papua New Guinea to northern Australia from Townsville to Eighty Mile Beach. Given its rarity and the difficulty in distinguishing it from related species, its range is probably continuous and wider than the present patchy records suggest. The graceful shark is an open-water inhabitant that can be found from close to shore to the outer continental and insular shelves, diving at least.

Description.

Contrary to its common name, the graceful shark's spindle-shaped body has been described as "tubby". The wedge-like snout is short and pointed. The eyes are rather large and circular, and equipped with nictitating membranes (protective third eyelids). The mouth has short, indistinct furrows at the corners and contains 31–33 upper and 29–33 lower tooth rows. The upper teeth have a single narrow cusp with serrated edges, upright at the center of the jaw and becoming more oblique on the sides. The lower teeth are similar to the upper teeth, but more upright and slender. The five pairs of gill slits are fairly long.  The pectoral fins are falcate (sickle-shaped) and taper to pointed tips; their leading margins measure about a fifth as long as the total length in sharks over long. The first dorsal fin is high and broad, with a pointed apex and a concave trailing margin; its origin lies roughly over the insertion (the rear of the fin base) of the pectoral fins. The second dorsal fin is relatively large and located about opposite the anal fin, which is about of equal size. There is no ridge between the dorsal fins. The caudal fin has a well-developed lower lobe and a ventral notch near the tip of the upper lobe. This species is bronze above and white below, which extends onto the flanks as a pale stripe. The pectoral fins, dorsal fins, lower caudal fin lobe, and sometimes the pelvic fins usually have black tips, while the upper caudal fin lobe darkens towards the trailing edge and the anal fin may be completely light. The fin markings tend to fade with age. The maximum known length is.

Biology and ecology.

The graceful shark feeds predominantly on bony fishes, with cephalopods and crustaceans being of minor importance. Jacks make up over 60% of its fish diet in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Like other members of its family, this species is viviparous: once the developing embryos exhaust their supply of yolk, the depleted yolk sac is converted into a placental connection to the mother. Off northern Australia, males and females likely mate every year in February, with ovulation following shortly after. Females typically bear litters of three, though individuals gestating up to 9 pups have been reported. The young are born in January or February, following a gestation period of 9–10 months. Sexual maturity is attained at a length of for both sexes. A known parasite of this species is a tapeworm in the genus "Cathetocephalus".

Human interactions.

Given its size, the graceful shark is potentially dangerous to humans, though no attacks have been recorded. It is caught incidentally by commercial fisheries in Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and probably elsewhere, using gillnets and longlines. It is a minor component of shark catches off northern Australia, comprising around 1.5% and 0.2% of all sharks caught in gillnets and on longlines, respectively, in the mid-1980s. Catches in the region have declined from historical highs in the 1970s and 1980s due to the departure of foreign fishing vessels following new gillnet regulations. The meat is sold fresh or dried and salted, the fins are shipped to East Asia for shark fin soup, and the liver is processed for vitamins. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed this species as Near Threatened, noting more biological and fishery information is needed.

The graceful shark or Queensland shark ("Carcharhinus amblyrhynchoides") is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, found in the tropical Indo-Pacific, from the Gulf of Aden to northern Australia. It is a midwater species that has been recorded to a depth of. A stoutly built shark growing up to long, the graceful shark has a short, wedge-shaped snout, large, sickle-shaped pectoral fins and first dorsal fin, and black tips on most fins.

Le Requin gracile (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchoides) est une espèce de requin de la famille des Carcharhinidae. On le trouve dans les eaux tropicales de l'Indo-Pacifique, du Golfe d'Aden au nord de l'Australie. C'est une espèce qui vit à profondeur moyenne, à environ de fond. Le Requin gracile atteint de long. Il a un museau court et large en forme de coin, des nageoires pectorales et une première nageoire dorsale en forme de faucilles, et une extrémité noire sur chacune de ses nageoires.


Early life and education.

Chytilová was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, on 2 February 1929. She had a strict Catholic upbringing, which would later come to influence many of the moral questions presented in her films.  While attending college, Chytilová initially studied philosophy and architecture, but abandoned these fields. She then worked as a draftsman, a fashion model and as a photo re-toucher before working as a clapper girl for the Barrandov Film Studios in Prague. She then sought a recommendation from Barrandov Film Studios to study film production, but was denied. Undeterred by the rejection, she would later be accepted into the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) at the age of 28. While attending FAMU, she studied underneath renowned film director Otakar Vavra, before graduating in 1962.

Career.

Upon graduation from FAMU both of Chytilová's short films had a theatrical release throughout Czechoslovakia. In 1963 Chytilová released her first feature film entitled "Something Different".  Chytilová is best known for her once highly controversial film "Sedmikrásky" ("Daisies") – (1966). "Daisies" is known for its un-sympathetic characters, lack of a continuous narrative and abrupt visual style. Chytilová states that she structured "Daisies" to “restrict [the spectator’s] feeling of involvement and lead him to an understanding of the underlying idea or philosophy”. The film was banned within Czechoslovakia upon its initial release in 1966 until 1967 due to its depictions and imagery of wasting food, but in 1966 the film won the Grand Prix at the Bergamo Film Festival in Italy. "Daisies" cemented Chytilová's career both nationally and internationally.  After "Daisies" the government made it very difficult for Chytilová to find work within Czechoslovakia, even though she was never officially classified as a 'blacklisted' director. Her follow-up film "Ovoce stromů rajských jíme" ("Fruit of Paradise", 1969) was her last film before the Soviet Union invasion of 1968. After the Soviet Union invasion it was virtually impossible for Chytilová to find work and she resorted to directing commercials under her husband's name, Jaroslav Kučera.  In 1976, due to the low cinema attendance Chytilová was approached by the government to begin directing films through one of the state run production companies,. At the same time the United States was assembling a 'Year of Women' Film Festival and contacted Chytilová to gain permission to screen "Daisies" as their opening film. Chytilová informed the festival that the only non-censored prints of the film could be found in Paris and Brussels. She also informed the festival that her government would not allow her to attend the festival, nor were they allowing her to direct films. The festival then began to apply international pressure upon the Czechoslovakian government by petitioning on Chytilová's behalf. In accordance with this international pressure, Chytilová wrote a letter directly to President Gustáv Husák detailing her career and her personal beliefs in socialism. Due to the success of the international pressure, and Chytilová's personal appeal to President Husak, Chytilová began production of "Hra o jablko" ("The Apple Game", 1976). "The Apple Game" was completed and then was screened at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and won the Silver Hugo and the Chicago International Film Festival.  After the release of "The Apple Game" Chytilová was allowed to continue making films, but was continually met with controversy and heavy censorship by the Czechoslovak government. Věra Chytilová's last film was released in 2006, and she has taught directing at FAMU.

Legacy.

Chytilová described herself as a control freak and, “An overheated kettle that you can’t turn down”. Chytilová's ‘overheated’ attitude made it difficult for her to gain work within the Soviet Union controlled film industry. She was known as being actively critical of the Soviet Union, stating that “My critique is in the context of the moral principles you preach, isn’t it? A critical reflection is necessary”. She would routinely cause havoc and ‘hysterical scenes’ in order to attempt to make films that were loyal to her vision regardless of the heavy censorship that was routinely imposed.  Chytilová embodied a unique cinematographic language and style that does not rely on any literary or verbal conventions, but rather utilizes various forms of visual manipulations to create meaning within her films. Chytilová used observations of everyday life in accordance with allegories and surreal contexts to create a personalized film style that is greatly influenced by the French New Wave, and Italian neorealism. Chytilová actively used a filmic style that is similar to cinéma vérité in order to allow the audience to gain an outside perspective of the film. Her use of cinéma vérité is best illustrated in her 1966 film "Daises" in which these techniques create a “philosophical documentary, of diverting the spectator from the involvement, destroying psychology and accentuates the humor”. Through these manipulations Chytilová created a disjunctive viewing experience for her audience forcing them to question the meaning of her films.  Chytilová is cited as a militant feminist filmmaker. Josef Škvorecký states that, “In a true feminist tradition Vera combined intensive intellectual effort with a feminine feeling for beauty and form”. "Daisies" is seen as a feminist film due to its attitude and active critique of male attitudes towards sex. However Chytilová did not see herself as a feminist filmmaker, but rather believes in individualism, stating that if a person does not believe in a particular set of conventions or rules then it is up to that individual to break them.

Personal life and death.

Chytilová was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, on 2 February 1929. She refused to leave Czechoslovakia after the Soviet Union Invasion of 1968 stating that “Making films then became a mission”. She married cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera whom she met while attending FAMU. During the Soviet Union occupation, when Chytilová could not find work as a director, she and her husband built their family home and raised their children.  Chytilová died on 12 March 2014 in Prague, surrounded by her family, after long-term health issues. She was 85.

Věra Chytilová (2 February 1929 – 12 March 2014) was an avant-garde Czech film director and pioneer of Czech cinema. Banned by the Czechoslovak government in the 1960s, she is best known for her Czech New Wave film, "Sedmikrásky" ("Daisies"). Her subsequent films screened at international film festivals, including "Vlčí bouda" (1987), which screened at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival, "A Hoof Here, a Hoof There" (1989), which screened at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival, and "The Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodday" (1992), which screened at the 18th Moscow International Film Festival. For her work, she received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Medal of Merit and the Czech Lion award.

Věra Chytilová, née le à Ostrava, en Tchécoslovaquie, et morte le à Prague, est une réalisatrice et scénariste tchèque. Représentante très importante de la Nouvelle Vague tchécoslovaque, aux côtés de Miloš Forman et Jiří Menzel, Věra Chytilová fait partie de l'aile plus expérimentale du mouvement.


Plot.

The story revolves mainly around the characters of Renée Michel and Paloma Josse, residents of an upper-middle class Left Bank apartment building at 7 Rue de Grenelle – one of the most elegant streets in Paris. Divided into eight luxury apartments, all occupied by distinctly "bourgeois" families, the building has a courtyard and private garden.  The widow Renée is a concierge who has supervised the building for 27 years. She is an autodidact in literature and philosophy, but conceals it to keep her job and, she believes, to avoid the condemnation of the building's tenants. Likewise, she wants to be alone to avoid her tenants' curiosity. She effects this by pretending to indulge in concierge-type food and low-quality television, while in her back room she actually enjoys high-quality food, listens to opera, and reads works by Leo Tolstoy and Edmund Husserl. Her perspective is that "[t]o be poor, ugly and, moreover, intelligent condemns one, in our society, to a dark and disillusioned life, a condition one ought to accept at an early age".  Twelve-year-old Paloma lives on the fifth floor with her parents and sister whom she considers snobs. A precocious girl, she hides her intelligence to avoid exclusion at school. Dismayed by the privileged people around her, she decides that life is meaningless, and that unless she can find something worth living for, beyond the "vacuousness of bourgeois existence", she will commit suicide on 16 June, her thirteenth birthday. Planning to burn down the apartment before dying, she also steals her mother's pills. For the time being she journals her observations of the outside world, including her perceptions of Renée.  Paloma is the only tenant who suspects Renée's refinement, and for most of the novel, the two "cross each other but don't "see" each other", in the words of "Time Out" reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli. Although they share interests in philosophy and literature, nothing happens between them until the death of a celebrated restaurant critic who had been living upstairs. A cultured Japanese businessman named Kakuro Ozu, whom Renée and Paloma befriend, then takes a room in the same apartment building. Ozu comes to share Paloma's fascination with Renée: that the concierge has the "same simple refinement as the hedgehog".  Toward the end of the novel, Renée comes out of her internal seclusion, teaching young Paloma that not all adults pursue vanity at the expense of their intelligence and humanity. However, only shortly after Renée realizes that the beauty of life and her connections with the world makes life worth living, she dies in the same way as Roland Barthes; she is struck down by a laundry van. This leaves Paloma and Ozu devastated but leads Paloma not to commit suicide.

Characters.

Renée Michel.

Renée Michel is a 54-year-old widowed concierge. She has never been to college because she considers herself to always have been poor, discreet, and of no significance. Renée, however is self-taught; she reads works of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant and Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (and even names her cat "Leo"), disdains the philosophy of Edmund Husserl, adores 17th-century Dutch paintings, likes Japanese art-house films by Yasujirō Ozu, and listens to the music of composers Henry Purcell and Gustav Mahler.  Renée, who conceals her true self to conform to the lowly image of typical concierges, introduces herself as "a widow, short, ugly, chubby", with "bunions on my feet and, on certain difficult mornings, it seems, the breath of a mammoth". Her outward appearance is summarized by "The Guardian" reviewer Ian Samson as "prickly and bunioned". When Paloma eventually discovers Renée's identity, she describes the latter in her journal as having the "elegance of the hedgehog"—although like the spines of the hedgehog, she is covered in quills and prickly, within, she has in the words of the English translation of the book quoted by Viv Groskop "the same simple refinement as the hedgehog: a deceptively indolent little creature, fiercely solitary—and terribly elegant".

Paloma Josse.

Paloma Josse, an advanced soon to be thirteen-year-old, belongs to one of the conventional families living in the posh apartment building where Renée works. Daughter of an important parliamentarian father (a former government minister), and a Flaubert-quoting mother, Paloma has a penchant for absurdism. She regards her sister's scholarship as "cold and trivial" and deems her mother's culture as conventional and useless. Paloma herself values Japanese works, and reads manga, haiku, and tanka. She keeps two diaries, one called "Journal of the Movement of the World" to record her observations of the world around her, and the other called "Profound Thoughts" to record her many and wide-ranging reflections on art, poetry, people and herself. She is introspective, and truly kind, though she tries her best to avoid the inquisition of others. She understands many facets of the world that are unseen by others, and deeply understands the way the world works, and the many perils and pitfalls of adulthood and the many hypocrisies of modern society, and therefore resolves in not an all melodramatic way, to commit suicide. However, a drastic plot twist at the end of the tale opens to her an amazing new truth: beauty, that provides meaning to our lives.

Minor characters.

Other characters developed by Barbery in the novel include Kakuro Ozu, the cultured Japanese businessman, and Manuela, a Portuguese cleaner. Ozu, a tenant, shares Paloma's fascination with Renée's masked intelligence and brings her out of her shell (and also happens to set the entire book in forward motion), while Manuela is responsible for cleaning the apartments' toilets and is Renée's only real friend.

Content.

Style and character development.

Barbery developed the character of Renée because she was "inspired by the idea of a reserved, cultured concierge who turned stereotypes on their head and at the same time created a compelling comic effect"; for the author, Renée "opened the door on a kind of social criticism". In an interview with "Time" magazine, Barbery added that she created characters "who love the things [she does], and who allowed [her] to celebrate that through them". Barbery dedicates the book to her husband, Stéphane, a sociologist, with whom she wrote the book.  The novel's two narrators, Renée and Paloma, alternate in each mostly short chapter, although the former dominates throughout. The novel consists of the "diaries" of the protagonists, and the heading styles and fonts change as it develops, signalling the change of the narrators' character.  Most critics considered Barbery's narrative presentation to be essayistic; the individual chapters are more akin to essays than fiction, as "The New York Times" Caryn James expresses it, "so carefully build[ing] in explanations for the literary and philosophical references that she seems to be assessing what a mass audience needs". The early pages of the novel contain a short critique by Renée on the topic of phenomenology.

Themes.

Barbery incorporates several themes into the novel. References to philosophy, for instance, abound throughout, getting increasingly dense as the story progresses. Barbery confesses to having "followed a long, boring course of studies in philosophy", and comments that "I expected it to help me understand better that which surrounds me: but it didn't work out that way. Literature has taught me more. I was interested in exploring the bearing philosophy could really have on one's life, and how. I wanted to illuminate this process. That's where the desire to anchor philosophy to a story, a work of fiction, was born: to give it more meaning, make it more physically real, and render it, perhaps, even entertaining."  Themes of class consciousness and conflict are also present in the book. Critics interpreted the stance the novel took against French class-based discrimination and hypocrisy as quite radical, although some French critics found that this made the novel an unsubtle satire of fading social stereotypes. There are also literary allusions in the novel, referencing comic books, movies, music, and paintings.

Publication.

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" was first published in August 2006 under the title "L'élégance du hérisson" by the leading French publisher Éditions Gallimard. The initial print run of the novel was 4000 copies, but by the following year, over a million had been produced. On 25 September 2007, Gallimard released the fiftieth reprint of the novel.  The French Voice program extended help to Gallimard in the translation of the novel to other languages and publication outside France. In partnership with the PEN American Center, French Voice funds the translation and publication of up to ten contemporary French and Francophone works each year. "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" was one of 30 works chosen between 2005 and 2008 by the organization, spearheaded by a committee in its selection process of professional experts.  The novel's translation rights have been sold to 31 countries, and it has been translated to a half-dozen languages. Novelist Alison Anderson translated "L'Élégance du hérisson" into English as "The Elegance of the Hedgehog", and this version was released in September 2008 by Europa Editions. Europa is an independent press based in Italy and New York, which focuses on translated works. In the United States, it will be among French novels receiving patronage from a major American writer, as yet unspecified. In the United Kingdom, the rights were bought by Gallic Books, a publisher specializing in French translations.

Reception.

An acclaimed literary work, "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" has been considered by critics and press alike as a publishing phenomenon. Upon the novel's release, it had received significant support from booksellers. The novel has earned Barbery the 2007 French Booksellers Prize, the 2007 Brive-la-Gaillarde Reader's Prize, and the Prix du Rotary International in France. "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" has been adapted into the film "Le hérisson" (2009).  The novel was a best-seller and long-seller in France, amassing sales of 1.2 million copies in hardback alone. It stayed on the country's best-seller for 102 straight weeks from its publication, longer than American novelist Dan Brown's best-selling books. According to reviewer Viv Groskop, the philosophical element in the novel partly explains its appeal in France, where philosophy remains a compulsory subject. Anderson agreed, commenting that the novel became popular in France because it is "a story where people manage to transcend their class barriers". The novel also received a warm response in Korea, and sold over 400,000 copies in Italy. The release of the novel helped increase the sales of Barbery's first novel, "Une Gourmandise".  A week after the novel was published in the United Kingdom, "The Guardian" ran an article about French best-sellers published in English, focusing on "The Elegance of the Hedgehog". In it, writer Alison Flood contended that "fiction in translation is not an easy sell to Brits, and French fiction is perhaps the hardest sell of all". Promotions buyer Jonathan Ruppin predicted that the novel would struggle to gain a readership in the United Kingdom because, according to him, in the UK market "the plot is what people want more than anything else" and the novel's storyline is not its central aspect.

Critical reviews.

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" was well received by critics. In the earliest known review, for the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica", Maurizio Bono writes that "[t]he formula that made more than half a million readers in France fall in love with ["The Elegance of the Hedgehog"] has, among other ingredients: intelligent humor, fine sentiments, an excellent literary and philosophical backdrop, taste that is sophisticated but substantial". French magazine "Elle" reviewer Natalie Aspesi pronounced it one of "the most exhilarating and extraordinary novels in recent years". Aspesi, however, tagged the novel's title as "most curious and least appealing". Praising the novel in his review for "The Guardian", Ian Samson wrote that ""The Elegance of the Hedgehog" aspires to be great and pretends to philosophy: it is, at least, charming." In an earlier review in the same paper, Groskop opined that the novel is a "profound but accessible book... which elegantly treads the line between literary and commercial fiction". She added that "clever, informative and moving, it is essentially a crash course in philosophy interwoven with a platonic love story". A review in "The Telegraph" conjectured that "[i]f [the novel were] a piece of furniture, it would be an IKEA bestseller: popular, but not likely to be passed down the generations".  A review in The Times Literary Supplement went further, calling the book "pretentious and cynical, with barely any story. It reads more like a tract than a novel, but lacks even a tract's certainty of purpose. The characters are problematic: most are puppets, and those that aren’t are stereotypes".  Michael Dirda of "The Washington Post" complimented Barbery, saying, "Certainly, the intelligent Muriel Barbery has served readers well by giving us the gently satirical, exceptionally winning and inevitably bittersweet "Elegance of the Hedgehog"." Louise McCready of "The New York Observer" praised Anderson's translation of the novel as "smooth and accurate". Caryn James of "The New York Times" hailed the novel as "studied yet appealing commercial hit", adding that it "belongs to a distinct subgenre: the accessible book that flatters readers with its intellectual veneer". "Los Angeles Times" Susan Salter Reynolds wrote that "["The Elegance of the Hedgehog"] is a high-wire performance; its characters teeter on the surreal edge of normalcy. Their efforts to conceal their true natures, the pressures of the solitary mind, make the book hum".

Film adaptation.

The novel was adapted into a film "The Hedgehog" ("Le hérisson") released in France in July 2009, starring Josiane Balasko as Renée Michel, Garance Le Guillermic as Paloma Josse, and Togo Igawa as Kakuro Ozu, with a score by Gabriel Yared. The rights for the film were bought by NeoClassics Film and it was released by the company in America on 19 August. Its reception at festivals was positive and it won the Filmfest DC 2011, the Best of Fest Palm Springs 2011, the Seattle International Film Festival 2010, and the 2010 Col-Coa Film Festival. Moira Macdonald of "The Seattle Times" called it "Whimsical and touching... Mona Achache's adaptation is wistful perfection". Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" said it "suggests a sort of Gallic Harold and Maude".

The Elegance of the Hedgehog () is a novel by the French novelist and philosophy teacher Muriel Barbery. The book follows events in the life of a concierge, Renée Michel, whose deliberately concealed intelligence is uncovered by an unstable but intellectually precocious girl named Paloma Josse. Paloma is the daughter of an upper-class family living in the upscale Parisian apartment building where Renée works.

L'Élégance du hérisson est le deuxième roman de Muriel Barbery, publié en 2006 chez Gallimard. Ce livre a remporté de nombreux prix littéraires, dont le Prix des libraires en 2007.


History.

Chesapeake is derived from the Algonquin name for "place where water is spread out".

Geography.

Chesapeake is located at (38.428066, -82.454832).  According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Demographics.

2010 census.

As of the census of 2010, there were 745 people, 345 households, and 195 families living in the village. The population density was. There were 399 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the village was 96.8% White, 0.5% African American, 0.7% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.4% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.9% of the population.  There were 345 households of which 25.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.8% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 43.5% were non-families. 37.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.86.  The median age in the village was 44.4 years. 20.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.5% were from 25 to 44; 28.1% were from 45 to 64; and 21.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 47.4% male and 52.6% female.

2000 census.

As of the census of 2000, there were 842 people, 395 households, and 231 families living in the village. The population density was 1,523.7 people per square mile (591.1/km2). There were 441 housing units at an average density of 798.0 per square mile (309.6/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 97.74% White, 0.12% African American, 0.59% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 0.48% from other races, and 0.95% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.54% of the population.  Of the 395 households, 23.5% contained children under the age of 18. 42.3% had married couples living together. 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present. 41.3% were non-families. 37.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.79.  The ages of the population were spread out with 20.0% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.5 males.  The median income for a household in the village was $24,653, and the median income for a family was $31,528. Males had a median income of $32,917 versus $23,500 for females. The per capita income for the village was $19,698. About 14.2% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.5% of those under age 18 and 13.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government.

The city is run by an elected Mayor-council government system.

Education.

Chesapeake Union Exempted Village School District operates one elementary school, one middle school, and Chesapeake High School.  Chesapeake has a public library, a branch of Briggs Lawrence County Public Library.

Chesapeake is a village in Lawrence County, Ohio, United States. The population was 745 at the 2010 census. It lies across the Ohio River from Huntington, West Virginia, at the mouth of Symmes Creek.

Chesapeake est un village du comté de Lawrence en Ohio. La population s'élevait à en 2000. Chesapeake est une partie de la métropole de Huntington-Ashland (WV-KY-OH). D'après un recensement de 2000, la Metropolitan Statistical Area a une population de.


History.

Excavations have shown that as early as during the Iron Age in the area of current day Leiderdorp hunters and fishers roamed around and lived on the dry places around the river.

Roman Period.

The Rhine, which passes through Leiderdorp, functioned as the Northern border of the Roman Empire. Close to Leiderdorp, the Romans built a fort, Matilo. Around the fall of the Western Roman Empire the Romans retreated from the area.

Middle Ages.

During the middle ages, the first permanent settlement appeared. The Rhine served as a connection between the sea and the hinterland, and there is evidence of trade taking place. During the late Middle Ages three castles were built in Leiderdorp, Huis ter Zijl (1260), Huis ter Does (around 1300) and Huis Berendrecht (around 1420).  In 1396 the Augustinian monastery Engelendael was founded. The monks copied books, cared for the sick and worked the fields. The monastery was abandoned in 1574, but its legacy is still present as the arterial road of Leiderdorp is called Engelendaal.

Eighty Years' War.

In 1492 the first bridge crossing the Rhine was built. In 1514 Leiderdorps population had grown to 500. During the Siege of Leiden Leiderdorp was the headquarters of the Spanish General Francisco de Valdez, who ultimately failed to capture the city. In 1620 the Protestant Dorpskerk (town church) is constructed. The Dorpskerk celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2020 with a series of concerts and exhibitions.

1700-1940.

From 1597 till 1795 Leiden had administrative rights over Leiderdorp, which led to the town becoming even more dependant on the larger city. In 1795 Leiderdorp decreases in size as the neighbouring Leiden expands. A rope factory was constructed in 1806, and in 1862 the first school was established on the Hoofdstraat (main street). A shipyard was constructed in 1877, and in 1915 social housing designed by famous Dutch architect Willem Marinus Dudok was erected.

Second World War.

During the Second World war a bunker was constructed in the neighbouring fields, and a pen factory and community centre were destroyed to make way for it. The spires of one of the churches was used as a sniper's nest.

Twin towns.

Until 2013 Leiderdorp was twinned with

Leiderdorp () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland near the city of Leiden. It had a population of in.

Leiderdorp est un village et une commune néerlandaise, située en province de Hollande-Méridionale ("Zuid-Holland") et comptant près de habitants au recensement de 2016.


Etymology.

The portion "geest" in the name refers to the geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeenth century for the benefit of the urban expansion of Leiden.  About the "Oegst" part more uncertainty exists. Different stories go about. The name was formerly often spelled Oestgeest or Oostgeest, which could indicate the geographical location of the village: east of the geest lands. However, the oldest spelling found in a copy of a list of goods of the St. Martin's Cathedral in Utrecht from the tenth century states Osgeresgeest. This could indicate an original resident and owner of the territory: Osger.  In the Middle Ages they also spoke of the Church of Kerckwerve if one referred to the Oegstgeester parish church (now the Green Church).

History.

Oegstgeest is one of the earliest inhabited places along the coast. Evidence of a Batavian settlement from the second century was found in 1946 in an extension of a coastal dune in the Elgeesterpolder, although it is not certain whether this location remained permanently inhabited in the centuries after that.  By the 9th century there was already a little church in the same location as the current Little Green Church ("Groen Kerkje") which, according to legend, was dedicated by Willibrord. The existence of this church is an indication that there may have been a community there.  From the 11th to the 14th century, Oegstgeest enjoyed a period of progress. This ended when Leiden was granted city rights. The carrying out of trades and construction were no longer permitted within a certain distance from the city. In 1399, the heerlijkheid of Oegstgeest and that of Poelgeest were merged because their declining populations could no longer afford to pay the required taxes to the Count of Holland.  Until the 19th century the boundary of Oegstgeest extended right to the city walls and moats of Leiden. But in the 19th and 20th century, it conceded more and more of its territory to the rapidly expanding city of Leiden.  Before the early 20th century, Oegstgeest had a rural character and did not have a centre of population. It consisted of several unconnected smaller settlements. Only after 1900 were new neighbourhoods built between the settlements. First Wilhelminapark was built, followed by Prins Hendrikpark (circa 1915), Buitenlust or Indische Buurt (1925), Julianapark, Oranjepark, and Emmapark (1920-1950), and Grunerie and the area between Emmalaan and Lange Voort (1950s). In the 1980s and 1990s, the Haaswijk and Morsebel neighbourhoods were built, followed by Poelgeest in the 2000s. In 2006 construction started on a new neighbourhood, Nieuw Rhijngeest. In 2017 there will be a new housepark being built, at the current location of the footballclub ASC, called Park Duivenvoorde. Therefore ASC will move to the old location of the cricketclub of Oegstgeest.

Geography.

The municipality of Oegstgeest covers an area of of which is water. Oegstgeest lies just to the north of Leiden, with which it is conjoined in a conurbation and formed the Leiden region. Oegstgeest is a separate municipality, but it is effectively a suburb of Leiden. The municipality of Katwijk is to the west, the municipality of Teylingen to the north, the Kaag Lakes (Kagerplassen) to the northeast and Leiderdorp to the east.

Sports.

Oegstgeest has 2 soccer clubs: FC Oegstgeest and ASC. At the latter cricket is also played. FIKS is the local korfball team. At LOHC hockey is played and the neighboring OLTC (founded 1886) is the tennis club of the municipality. Oegstgeest has one volleyball club called VCO.

Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in.

Oegstgeest est un village et une commune néerlandaise située en province de Hollande-Méridionale et une commune voisine de Leyde. La commune comptait le, habitants sur une superficie de.


Plot.

"A Mighty Heart" is a detailed account of the search for kidnapped "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.  Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi by supporters of Omar Sheikh. The movie also covers efforts by Pakistan's Security Forces, Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) to track the kidnappers and bring them to justice. Sheikh claimed responsibility for kidnapping and beheading Pearl in 2002. He was captured and convicted but is appealing the ruling.

Production.

"A Mighty Heart" was filmed in France and India, during the summer and fall of 2006. Fearing for the safety of the film crew, the Karachi scenes were shot in Pune, India. However, some of the shots were made at actual locations in Karachi.

Box-office performance.

"A Mighty Heart" performed poorly at the box office, only earning a total revenue of $18 million compared to its production budget of $16 million. The film opened June 22, 2007 in the United States and Canada and grossed $3.9 million in 1,355 theaters its opening weekend, ranking #10 at the box office. It went on to gross $18,727,125 worldwide. As of December 16, 2007, the film has grossed an additional $5.4 million in DVD/VHS sales and rentals in the United States.

Critical reception.

The film received positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 79% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 192 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 74 out of 100, based on 38 reviews.  Jolie's performance was widely touted by top critics as her finest artistic achievement to date. Both she and the film received a positive review from Roger Ebert. The film was described by "Newsweek" as "a movie without melodrama or movie-star lighting...allowing Jolie to deliver the most delicate, powerful and human-scale performance of her career." Other favorable reviewers included Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone", Justin Chang of "Variety" and Ray Bennett of "The Hollywood Reporter". Marc Mohan of "The Oregonian" named it the 10th best film of 2007.  However, Andrew O'Hehir, film critic for Salon.com, while finding Jolie's performance "restrained and dignified", dismissed the film itself, writing, "it feels like an extra-long episode of "24" with a bad conscience and a bad ending." "Entertainment Weekly"s Lisa Schwarzbaum felt that Jolie's celebrity was a problem, commenting that "Despite the best of intentions, an actress who makes her own headlines gets in the way of the big picture."

Criticism.

Asra Nomani—a colleague of Daniel Pearl who had agreed to participate in the film—stated that the film failed to portray Pearl as a journalist, doing his job, in favor of creating a dramatic arc of "ordinary heroes". She believes Pearl would have "rolled his eyes" at that description. Describing her own response to the film, Nomani said, "For me, watching the movie was like having people enter my home, rearrange the furniture and reprogram my memory."  The announcement of the casting of Angelina Jolie in the role of Mariane Pearl drew criticism within the African-American community. Orville Lloyd Douglas, a pop critic, has criticized the casting because, he said, "Jolie is white" and Mariane Pearl is "mixed race". In fact, Pearl is the multiracial daughter of an Afro-Chinese-Cuban mother and a Dutch Jewish father. Pearl personally chose Jolie to play the lead in "A Mighty Heart". In response to casting complaints, Pearl said "I have heard some criticism about her casting, but it is not about the color of your skin. It is about who you are. I asked her to play the role—even though she is way more beautiful than I am—because I felt a real kinship to her. She put her whole heart into it, and I think she understood why we should do this movie. We had something to say that we knew we should say together."

Awards.

On November 27, 2007, the film was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards including Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Picture of the Year.  Jolie was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Critics' Choice Movie Award for best actress. She also received an Outstanding Performance of the Year Award for her performance from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling said, "We are honored to celebrate Ms. Jolie in what is arguably one of the most extraordinary female roles of the year".

A Mighty Heart is a 2007 drama film directed by Michael Winterbottom from a screenplay by John Orloff. It is based on the 2003 memoir of the same name by Mariane Pearl.

Un cœur invaincu (") est un film américano-britannique sorti en 2007, adaptation du de Mariane Pearl à laquelle le réalisateur, Michael Winterbottom, a ajouté quelques éléments d'informations après enquête pendant la préparation du film auprès des principaux acteurs du drame.


Early life and education.

Lindsey was born on August 24, 1960, in Arcadia, California. He graduated from Temple City High School in 1978. Lindsey is an Eagle Scout from Troop 161. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Sciences from the United States Air Force Academy in 1982, and a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology in 1990.

Military career.

Lindsey was commissioned a Second Lieutenant at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1982. In 1983, after receiving his pilot wings at Reese Air Force Base, Texas, he qualified in the RF-4C Phantom II and was assigned to the 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron at Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas. From 1984 until 1987, he served as a combat-ready pilot, instructor pilot, and academic instructor at Bergstrom. In 1987, he was selected to attend graduate school at the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where he studied Aeronautical Engineering.  In 1989, Lindsey attended the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. In 1990, he was assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, where he conducted weapons and systems tests in F-16 and F-4 aircraft. While a member of the 3247th Test Squadron, Lindsey served as the Deputy Director, Advanced Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance System Joint Test Force and as the squadron's F-16 Flight Commander. In August 1993, he was selected to attend Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Upon graduation in June 1994, he was reassigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, as an Integrated Product Team leader in the USAF SEEK EAGLE Office where he was responsible for Air Force weapons certification for the F-16, F-111, A-10, and F-117 aircraft. In March 1995, he was assigned to NASA as an astronaut candidate.  Lindsey has logged over 4,500 hours of flying time in more than 50 different types of aircraft.

NASA career.

Lindsey was selected by NASA in March 1995. He became an astronaut in May 1996, qualified for flight assignment as a pilot. Initially assigned to flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), Lindsey also served as the Astronaut Office representative working on the Multifunction Electronic Display System (MEDS) program, a glass cockpit Space Shuttle upgrade program, as well as a number of other advanced upgrade projects. In between his first two flights, he worked as the Shuttle Landing and Rollout representative responsible for training flight crews and testing orbiter landing techniques and flying qualities. After his second flight, Lindsey served as Deputy for Shuttle Operations and Co-Chairman of the Space Shuttle Cockpit Council, responsible for designing, testing, and implementing crew interfaces and displays for the $400 million Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade. More recently, he served as the Chief of International Space Station Operations for the astronaut office, responsible for integrating astronaut, civil service, and contractor activities in providing support to all aspects of the development, testing, crew training and operations of the International Space Station. After the completion of STS-121, he became Chief of the Astronaut Office. In this position, Steven also flew weather reconnaissance in the Shuttle Training Aircraft during the launch or landing of a Space Shuttle. Lindsey ceded his position as Chief of the Astronaut Office to astronaut Peggy Whitson when he was selected for STS-133.

Spaceflight experience.

Lindsey has flown five missions in space for NASA. He served as Pilot of STS-87 (1997) and STS-95 (1998) and Commander of STS-104 (2001), STS-121 (2006) and STS-133 (2011).  STS-87 (November 19 to December 5, 1997) was the fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight and focused on experiments designed to study how the weightless environment of space affects various physical processes, and on observations of the Sun’s outer atmospheric layers. Two members of the crew performed an EVA (spacewalk) that featured the manual capture of a Spartan satellite, and tested EVA tools and procedures for future Space Station assembly. During the EVA, Lindsey piloted the first flight of the AERCam Sprint, a free-flying robotic camera. The mission was accomplished in 252 orbits of the Earth, traveling 6.5 million miles in 376 hours and 34 minutes.  STS-95 (October 29 to November 7, 1998) was a 9-day mission during which the crew supported a variety of research payloads including deployment and retrieval of the Spartan solar-observing spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test Platform, and investigations on space flight and the aging process. The mission was accomplished in 134 Earth orbits, traveling 3.6 million miles in 213 hours and 44 minutes.  STS-104 (July 12 to July 24, 2001), designated assembly mission 7A, was the 10th mission to the International Space Station (ISS). During the 13-day flight the crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition 2 crew and performed three spacewalks to install the ISS Joint Airlock Quest and to outfit it with four high-pressure gas tanks. In addition to installing and activating the Joint Airlock, the crew also performed the first spacewalk from Quest. The mission was accomplished in 200 Earth orbits.  STS-121 (July 4 to July 17, 2006) was an ISS visit and space shuttle checkout mission. It was the second flight after the "Columbia" disaster (STS-107) and was considered one of the two Return to Flight test missions before resumption of normal shuttle operations. Lindsey served as mission commander on the flight.  STS-133 (February 24 to March 9, 2011) was the last flight for Space Shuttle "Discovery".  A veteran of five space flights, Lindsey has logged over 1,500 hours in space.

Awards and honors.

Lindsey is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training (1983). He is also a distinguished graduate and recipient of the Liethen-Tittle Award as the outstanding test pilot of the USAF Test Pilot School Class 89A (1989). He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, 3 NASA Space Flight Medals, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Air Force Achievement Medal and the Aerial Achievement Medal. He is an inductee into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame.  Lindsey is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, of the USAF Academy Association of Graduates, and of the Association of Space Explorers.  Lindsey is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award which was presented to him by the San Gabriel Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America on November 10, 2012 on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America.

Personal life.

Lindsey lives in Lafayette, Colorado with his wife, Diane Renee Lindsey (née Trujillo).

Steven Wayne Lindsey (born August 24, 1960) is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. Lindsey served as Chief of the NASA Astronaut Office from September 2006 until October 2009.

Steven Wayne Lindsey est un astronaute américain né le. Il est le commandant de la navette spatiale lors de la mission STS-133, dernière mission de Discovery


Life and work.

Lionel Royer was born in Château-du-Loir in Sarthe on December 25, 1852. He volunteered before his 18th birthday for the Franco-Prussian War and took part in the Battle of Loigny-Poupry on December 2, 1870 under the command of General Athanase de Charrette de la Contrie. Contrie, having noticed Royer's artistic talent, offered to finance his studies at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.  Royer became a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel and of William-Adolphe Bouguereau. He obtained the "Prix de Rome" in 1882. He became a portraitist and, especially, a painter of historical scenes. His best-known works are "Vercingétorix Throwing his Weapons at the Feet of Caesar" (1899), and the decoration of the Basilica of Domrémy dedicated to Joan of Arc. In illustrated supplements of newspapers of the era, he was a commentator on current affairs, in particular supplying drawings of "Alfred Dreyfus in his prison" or "Auguste Comte and his three muses." In memory of his participation in the battle of Loigny, he donated two paintings to the rebuilt church of this village, the first representing the mass attended by the volunteers before leaving for the battle and the second depicting the nocturnal agony of the severely wounded General de Sonis on the battlefield. In 1897, he made a gift to the "Société historique et archéologique du Maine" (of which he was a member, as was fellow artist Albert Maignan) of ten watercolors depicting the "Life of Joan of Arc", which had been unsuccessful entries in a contest of 1893 for new designs for windows in Orléans Cathedral.  "The battle scenes at Orléans before the fortress or at Compiègne offer Royer, the painter of historical scenes, an opportunity to demonstrate his skill in composition, with the tangle of armour-clad bodies and the play of lances. To elicit emotion, both allegory and the marvellous come to the aid of history. [...] Lionel Royer relies heavily on the precise depiction of historical sites. [...] Joan, alone in the foreground, is the means by which a possible reconciliation between the political and religious spheres is suggested. [...] By the evocative synthesis he achieves and the deep feeling he introduces here, the painter leaves interpretation open to each observer." (Chantal Bouchon - "Revue Historique et Archéologique du Maine")  Royer reprised this Johannic iconography (assisted by Charles Lorin of Chartres, master glazier) at the basilica of Domrémy. In the window entitled "Dépôt de l’épée de Fierbois par un ange", the face of Jean Poton de Xaintrailles bears the features of the architect Paul Sédille.  "Despite indications of the influence of the figures by Raphaelesque and Ingresesque reminiscences, these windows have a connotation of appeals to vengeance, in the vicinity of Domrémy, so charged with symbolic significance." (Chantal Bouchon - "Revue Historique et Archéologique du Maine")  Royer had two daughters and a son. The son, who planned to become a priest, was injured in World War I and died shortly after. The two girls raised families in France and Belgium. Lionel Royer died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on June 30, 1926.

Lionel-Noël Royer (December 25, 1852 – 30 June 1926) was a French painter. He was most famous for painting large scenes of the life of Joan of Arc in the in Domrémy.

Lionel Royer, né le à Château-du-Loir et mort le à Neuilly-sur-Seine, est un peintre français. Il est notamment l'auteur des grandes scènes de la "Vie de Jeanne d’Arc" à la basilique du Bois-Chenu à Domrémy, ainsi que du tableau "Vercingétorix jette ses armes aux pieds de Jules César".


Geography.

Canton is located in northeastern Fulton County at. Illinois Routes 9 and 78 pass through the downtown together. IL 9 leads east to Banner near the Illinois River and west to Bushnell, while IL 78 leads north to Farmington and south to Little America in the Illinois River valley.  According to the 2010 census, Canton has a total area of, of which (or 97.98%) is land and (or 2.02%) is water.

History.

Canton was founded in 1825 by settler Isaac Swan, who believed his new town and Canton, China, were antipodes.  Founder Isaac Swan, his infant child, and three other people died in a devastating tornado of June 1835. "Isaac Swan and his child were found in the wreckage of their cabin, the baby dying in its mother's arms," leading some to conclude that the tornado represented divine retribution for the city allowing a circus performance the previous week. The city was hit by another F-3 tornado on July 23, 1975. Two people were killed, and the storm caused major damage to the downtown area.  Much of the city, particularly the northern portion, has been undermined by room and pillar extraction of coal that took place in the 1800s.  Central Illinois Energy, a locally financed cooperative, began planning for a corn-fermentation ethanol plant in 2002. Construction and finance delays resulted in its opening in 2007, approximately south of the city. Beset by financial problems and construction delays on the plant, the cooperative declared bankruptcy. Central Illinois Energy's assets were bought by a private company, construction was completed, and the plant began production in the summer of 2008, renamed Riverland Biofuels.  In December 2008, Cook Medical announced that it would open a new medical device factory at the old International Harvester site. Company owner William "Bill" Cook had grown up in Canton and wanted to do something to help revitalize his home town community. Some of the costs related to Cook Medical were planned to be paid for with state funds: a $750,000 Community Development Assistance Program grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and a $1.1 million grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation for infrastructure improvements near the plant. Scott Eells, the chief operating officer for Cook Group, has said that the factory will eventually be, with more than 300 employees. Bill Cook had previously announced he was buying and renovating several old Canton buildings, including the 1883 Randolph Building on the town square. Cook purchased four buildings in downtown Canton, a shopping center, the site where the International Harvester plant was located as well as constructing the brand new Canton Harvester Inn boutique hotel and another factory—COOK Polymer. The Louis Pharmacy Building was purchased and restored. The Randolph Building is another Canton purchase made by Cook. The main floor offers store fronts and there are apartments for rent on the second level. Also purchased is the Fulton Square Shopping Center.  November 16, 2016, A gas explosion killed an Ameren worker who was fixing a gas leak, sent 12 to the local hospital, and demolished an adjacent building on 1st Avenue that was attached to the Opera House. The next day the Opera House and two other buildings were declared beyond repair and condemned, an additional building declared uninhabitable until repaired, and 48 other buildings noted as damaged but repairable.

Media.

Canton has a daily newspaper, "The Daily Ledger", and three radio stations: WBYS and WCDD, and WILP, known as Q98.1. There is also a weekly newspaper, the Fulton Democrat, and a weekly shopping publication, The Independent Shopper.

Popular culture.

On September 13, 1967, Los Angeles rock band The Doors played a concert at Canton High School. The Canton audience reportedly reacted with mostly shocked silence at Jim Morrison's stage antics.

Demographics.

As of the census of 2000, there were 15,288 people, 5,677 households, and 3,616 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,947.8 people per square mile (751.9/km2). There were 6,098 housing units at an average density of 776.9 per square mile (299.9/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 89.59% White, 8.85% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.44% from other races, and 0.56% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.09% of the population.  There were 5,677 households out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.3% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.86.  In the city, the population was spread out with 20.3% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 31.2% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 18.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 115.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 119.4 males.  The median income for a household in the city was $31,011, and the median income for a family was $39,910. Males had a median income of $30,519 versus $20,891 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,012. About 10.1% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.9% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.

Canton is the largest city in Fulton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,704 at the 2010 census, down from 15,288 as of the 2000 census. The Canton Micropolitan Statistical Area covers all of Fulton County; it is in turn part of the wider Peoria-Canton, IL Combined Statistical Area (CSA).

Canton est une ville de l'Illinois, dans le Comté de Fulton aux États-Unis. Canton possède un aéroport ("Ingersoll Airport", code AITA : CTK).


Plot summary.

In 1999 (2019 in the second edition), Nigel Walmsley, a British scientist and astronaut for NASA, is sent to attach a thermonuclear bomb to a comet named Icarus which is on a direct collision course for India. Icarus turns out to be large, solid, and made of a nickel-iron composite. Nigel is instructed to plant the weapon and leave so it can be detonated. He persuades Mission Control to let him put it in a large fissure he discovered, so it would be even more effective.  In the fissure, Nigel discovers strips of metal worked in obviously artificial patterns. Awestruck at this evidence of extraterrestrial intelligent life, Nigel begins exploring. Icarus is made up of a number of hollow shells, making the asteroid's mass far less than predicted. NASA insists that the demolition has to go forward, claiming Icarus would skip off the atmosphere and land in the Indian Ocean, causing widespread damage from the resultant tsunami. Nigel realizes this is a lie, and convinces his partner of that. They hide the nuke and spend the next week retrieving artifacts and materials before detonating the bomb.  15 years after their discovery the Icarus artifacts have yielded little, and Nigel's delayed detonation of Icarus has alienated him from NASA and other people. Nigel's partner, Alexandria, dies from systemic lupus erythematosus, a disease caused by pollution. An anomaly near Jupiter distracts Nigel: something, nicknamed 'the Snark', is repeating radio broadcasts. The anomaly fires its fusion engines and reveals itself to the satellites around Jupiter. As a probe vessel, the Snark's directing computer could not afford to ignore the satellites' radio emissions before it moved on to Earth.  Eventually the JPL team locates the Snark around Venus. Nigel hijacks the communications, transmitting his own signal to the Snark. The Snark receives the signal as a sign of non-hostile intentions and transmits back. It also reaches out through Nigel's medical implants to his dead partner's more elaborate ones, and commandeers her body to explore and learn about Earth. The initial tentative transmissions blossom into a largely one-way torrent of information for the Snark. One day, it asks to visit Earth. A compromise is worked out: the Snark will orbit the Moon until trust is built up. As Nigel is already fully informed, he is assigned to pilot the space ship (armed with another nuke) and meet the Snark.  Nigel meets the Snark, which disables his chemical weapons and begins talking to Nigel. It says that organic civilizations and species are inherently unstable; they flash brilliantly and commit suicide sooner or later. The autonomous machines they craft live on long after them, going on and evolving. But they cannot truly compete with the organics, who live "in the universe of essences". That is the reason for the Great Silence. Nigel's superiors order him to use the nuclear weapon, but he refuses. They override him and fire it anyway but the Snark flees the Solar System faster than the missile can follow. The decision to fire is covered up, but Nigel blackmails NASA into letting him go to the Moon; the Snark had directed a transmission at Mare Marginis for unknown parties, and Nigel wanted to find those parties.  Four years later, Nigel is now based on the Moon. A fellow astronaut, Nikka, is involved in a crash that accidentally discovers a still active alien spacecraft wreck in the Moon's Mare Marginis – a spacecraft suspiciously armed with a once-powerful anti-spacecraft weapon. Nigel and Nikka explore the wreck, and find a functioning computer with a direct neural interface. Nigel and several others experiment with the computer's neural hook-up, and leave fundamentally changed by it, while the computer becomes inert and unable to reveal any more about its creators. Meanwhile, on Earth, some surprising experiments in human genetics conducted by the aliens are discovered alive in North America.

In the Ocean of Night is a 1977 fix-up hard science fiction novel by American writer Gregory Benford. It is the first novel in his Galactic Center Saga. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1977, and for the Locus Award the following year. "In the Ocean of Night" was first published as a series of novellas and novelettes from 1973 to 1977.

Dans l'océan de la nuit (titre original : "") est un roman de science-fiction de l'auteur américain Gregory Benford paru en 1978. Il constitue le premier volet d'un cycle de romans intitulé "Le Centre galactique".