Career.

Wall received his MA from the University of British Columbia in 1970, with a thesis titled "Berlin Dada and the Notion of Context". That same year, Wall stopped making art. With his English wife, Jeannette, whom he had met as a student in Vancouver, and their two young sons, he moved to London to do postgraduate work at the Courtauld Institute from 1970–73, where he studied with Manet expert T.J. Clark. Wall was assistant professor at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (1974–75), associate professor at Simon Fraser University (1976–87), taught for many years at the University of British Columbia, and lectured at European Graduate School. He has published essays on Dan Graham, Rodney Graham, Roy Arden, Ken Lum, Stephan Balkenhol, On Kawara, and other contemporary artists.

Artistic practice.

Wall experimented with conceptual art while an undergraduate at UBC. He then made no art until 1977, when he produced his first backlit phototransparencies. Many of these are staged and refer to the history of art and philosophical problems of representation. Their compositions often allude to artists like Diego Velázquez, Hokusai, and Édouard Manet, or to writers such as Franz Kafka, Yukio Mishima, and Ralph Ellison. Presenting his first gallery exhibition in 1978 as an "installation" rather than as a photography show, Wall placed "The Destroyed Room" in the storefront window of the Nova Gallery, enclosing it in a plasterboard wall. "Mimic" (1982) typifies Wall's cinematographic style and according to art historian Michael Fried "characteristic of Wall's engagement in his art of the 1980s with social issues". A 198 × 226 cm. colour transparency, it shows a white couple and an Asian man walking towards the camera. The sidewalk, flanked by parked cars and residential and light-industrial buildings, suggests a North American industrial suburb. The woman is wearing red shorts and a white top displaying her midriff; her bearded, unkempt boyfriend wears a denim vest. The Asian man is casual but well-dressed in comparison, in a collared shirt and slacks. As the couple overtake the man, the boyfriend makes an ambiguous but apparently obscene and racist gesture, holding his upraised middle finger close to the corner of his eye, "slanting" his eye in mockery of the Asian man's eyes. The picture resembles a candid shot that captures the moment and its implicit social tensions, but is actually a recreation of an exchange witnessed by the artist.  First shown at documenta 11, "After "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison, the Preface" (1999–2001) represents a well-known scene from Ellison’s classic novel. Wall’s version shows us the cellar room, "warm and full of light," in which Ellison’s narrator lives, complete with its 1,369 lightbulbs. "Picture for Women" is a 142.5 × 204.5 cm cibachrome transparency mounted on a lightbox. Along with "The Destroyed Room", Wall considers "Picture for Women" to be his first success in challenging photographic tradition. According to Tate Modern, this success allows Wall to reference "both popular culture (the illuminated signs of cinema and advertising hoardings) and the sense of scale he admires in classical painting. As three-dimensional objects, the lightboxes take on a sculptural presence, impacting on the viewer’s physical sense of orientation in relationship to the work."  There are two figures in the scene, Wall himself, and a woman looking into the camera. In a profile of Wall in "The New Republic", art critic Jed Perl describes "Picture for Women" as Wall's signature piece, "since it doubles as a portrait of the late-twentieth-century artist in his studio." Art historian David Campany calls "Picture for Women" an important early work for Wall as it establishes central themes and motifs found in much of his later work.  A response to Manet's "Un bar aux Folies Bergère", the Tate Modern wall text for "Picture of Women", from the 2005–2006 exhibition "Jeff Wall Photographs 1978–2004", outlines the influence of Manet's painting:  In Manet’s painting, a barmaid gazes out of frame, observed by a shadowy male figure. The whole scene appears to be reflected in the mirror behind the bar, creating a complex web of viewpoints. Wall borrows the internal structure of the painting, and motifs such as the light bulbs that give it spatial depth. The figures are similarly reflected in a mirror, and the woman has the absorbed gaze and posture of Manet’s barmaid, while the man is the artist himself. Though issues of the male gaze, particularly the power relationship between male artist and female model, and the viewer’s role as onlooker, are implicit in Manet’s painting, Wall updates the theme by positioning the camera at the centre of the work, so that it captures the act of making the image (the scene reflected in the mirror) and, at the same time, looks straight out at us.  Wall's work advances an argument for the need for pictorial art. Some of Wall's photographs are complicated productions involving cast, sets, crews and digital postproduction. They have been characterized as one-frame cinematic productions. Susan Sontag ended her last book, "Regarding the Pain of Others" (2003), with a long, laudatory discussion of one of them, "Dead Troops Talk (A Vision After an Ambush of a Red Army Patrol near Moqor, Afghanistan, Winter 1986)" (1992), calling Wall's Goya-influenced depiction of a made-up event "exemplary in its thoughtfulness and power."  While Wall is known for large-scale photographs of contemporary everyday genre scenes populated with figures, in the early 1990s he became interested in still lifes. He distinguishes between unstaged "documentary" pictures, like "Still Creek, Vancouver, winter 2003", and "cinematographic" pictures, produced using a combination of actors, sets, and special effects, such as "A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai)", 1993. Based on "Yejiri Station, Province of Suruga" (ca. 1832) a woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai, "A Sudden Gust of Wind" recreates the depicted 19th-century Japanese scene in contemporary British Columbia, utilizing actors and took over a year to produce 100 photographs in order "to achieve a seamless montage that gives the illusion of capturing a real moment in time."  Since the early 1990s, Wall has used digital technology to create montages of different individual negatives, blending them into what appears as a single unified photograph. His signature works are large transparencies mounted on light boxes; he says he conceived this format when he saw back-lit advertisements at bus stops during a trip between Spain and London. In 1995, Wall began making traditional silver gelatin black and white photographs, and these have become an increasingly significant part of his work. Examples were exhibited at Kassel's documenta X.

Other media.

Sonic Youth's compilation album "" uses Jeff Wall's 1978 photograph "The Destroyed Room". The cover image of Iggy Pop's 1999 album "Avenue B" is a portrait photograph of Iggy by Wall.

Exhibitions.

Wall's early group exhibitions include 1969 shows at the Seattle Art Museum, Washington, and Vancouver Art Gallery, and New Multiple Art at the Whitechapel Gallery, London in 1970. His first one-man show was held at Nova Gallery, Vancouver in 1978.  Solo shows include ICA, London (1984), Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland (1993), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2001), Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany (2001), Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt (2001/2002), Hasselblad Center, Göteborg, Sweden (2002), Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway (2004) and retrospectives at Schaulager, Basel (2005), Tate Modern (2005) and MoMA, New York (2007), Art Institute of Chicago (2007), SFMoMA, San Francisco (2008), Tamayo Museum, Mexico City and Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver (2008), and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden (2010). Wall was also included in documentas 10 and 11.  For his retrospective at the Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels in 2011, Wall chose some 130 works by his favorite artists, from 1900s photographer Eugène Atget to film excerpts (Fassbinder, Bergman, the Dardenne brothers) to pieces by contemporaries Thomas Struth and David Claerbout. They were shown alongside 25 of his own pictures.

Recognition.

In 2002, Wall was awarded the Hasselblad Award. In 2006, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Jeff Wall was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in December 2007. In March 2008, Wall was awarded the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement, British Columbia's annual award for the visual arts.

Influence.

Wall's large-scale images and studied compositions are regarded as influential on the Düsseldorf group led by Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Thomas Ruff, and Candida Höfer. (Gursky has cited Wall as "a great model for me.")

Jeffrey Wall, OC, RSA (born September 29, 1946) is a Canadian artist best known for his large-scale back-lit cibachrome photographs and art history writing. Wall has been a key figure in Vancouver's art scene since the early-1970s. Early in his career, he helped define the Vancouver School and he has published essays on the work of his colleagues and fellow Vancouverites Rodney Graham, Ken Lum, and Ian Wallace. His photographic tableaux often take Vancouver's mixture of natural beauty, urban decay, and postmodern and industrial featurelessness as their backdrop.

Jeffrey « Jeff » Wall (né le à Vancouver) est un photographe plasticien canadien. Il a soutenu une thèse sur le mouvement Dada et a enseigné l'histoire de l'art au Canada.


Description.

This lizard can reach an average total length of about 13 cm whereas females are slightly smaller. Some males may even reach a length of 15 cm. The body colour is dark green or yellowish green. Remarkable is the broad, flattened tail with serrated edges. On the lower back three red tear-shaped markings dots are present. On the neck, which may be bluish, two longitudinal yellow stripes are present. On the snout and head, there are three transversal red bars.

Distribution.

This species occurs on the east coast of Madagascar. It is only known from the region 12 km north of Toamasina.

Habitat.

"Phelsuma serraticauda" is largely restricted to coconut palms yet can also be found on banana trees.

Diet.

These day geckos feed on various insects and other invertebrates. They also like to lick soft, sweet fruit, pollen and nectar.

Behaviour.

This species lives in groups with one male and up to five females. Amongst the females, there is a well-developed dominance hierarchy. Juveniles are tolerated up to a certain size.

Reproduction.

The females lay up to 4 pairs of eggs per year. At a temperature of 28 °C, the young will hatch after approximately 53–58 days. The juveniles are typically 40 mm in length.

Captivity.

The flat-tailed day gecko is endangered due to illegal collection for the international pet trade.  These animals should be housed in pairs or small groups and need a large, well planted terrarium. The temperature should be between 25 and 28 °C. The humidity should be maintained between 75 and 90%. In captivity, these animals can be fed with crickets, wax moth larvae, fruit flies, mealworms and houseflies.

The flat-tailed day gecko ("Phelsuma serraticauda") is a diurnal gecko lives in eastern Madagascar. It is endangered due to illegal collection for the international pet trade. It typically inhabits rainforests and dwells on trees. The flat-tailed day gecko feeds on insects and nectar.

Phelsuma serraticauda est une espèce de geckos de la famille des Gekkonidae. En français, elle est appelée Gecko diurne à queue plate ou Phelsume à queue plate.


Early life and education.

De Palacio was born in Madrid, into an aristocratic Basque family, the eldest of four sisters and three brothers, the children of Luis María de Palacio y de Palacio, 4th Marqués de Matonte, and his wife Luisa Mariana del Valle Lersundi y del Valle; the family held also the title of marquis of Guaimaro (a place in Cuba, also an Italian surname). Her mother Luisa died of lung cancer when Loyola was 22, and she took charge of the family. She was educated at the Lycée Français in Madrid, and studied law at Complutense University, and also Communications Engineering, a field in which Luis Maria de Palacio, Sr., was a top expert.

Political career.

In 1976, Palacio was a founder member of the moderate-wing Alianza Popular (later transformed into the Partido Popular) led initially by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, and she became the first leader of its youth section, Nuevas Generaciones. Her politics were on the "soft", liberal wing of her party. She was elected to represent Segovia in the upper house of the Spanish Parliament (the Senado) in the June 1986 Spanish general election. She joined the national executive of the Partido Popular in 1989, and was elected as a deputy for Segovia in the lower house (the Congreso de los Diputados) in the October 1989 Spanish general election, remaining in the lower house until 1999. She served as minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in José María Aznar's Partido Popular government that accessed to power after the 1996 Spanish general election. Palacio headed the Partido Popular's list in the June 1999 European elections, and was duly elected to the European Parliament. She also joined the European Commission on 13 September 1999, as commissioner for energy and transport, in the Prodi Commission. She also served as vice-president (jointly with Neil Kinnock), and took charge of relations with the European Parliament. She pushed forward the Galileo positioning system, and new maritime safety regulations following the "Prestige" oil spill off the coast of Galicia in November 2002.

Life after politics.

After leaving the Commission on 21 November 2004, Palacio became a director at the banks BNP Paribas and Rothschild Bank, and at the pharmaceutical company Zeltia.

Personal life.

Her sister is Ana Palacio.  Palacio was a devout Roman Catholic but denied being connected with the Opus Dei group, remarking that even her name (after that of the founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius Loyola) would make that laughable. She enjoyed sports, including mountaineering but she preferred diving and windsurfing.  Palacio was diagnosed with Stage IV Cancer in 2006, and was treated in Houston and Madrid for five months. She died in Madrid, at the Social Security: '12 de Octubre' University Hospital, in the frame of a malignancy. Following her death a state memorial was made in which all parties, including the left-wing coalition United Left (Formed by Communist party, Humanist party, and others) and PP critics, united to remember her policies to improve EU regulations.  Since 2008, the European Commission has created a European Policy Chair named "Loyola de Palacio" at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in the European University Institute in Italy.

Ignacia de Loyola de Palacio y del Valle Lersundi (16 September 1950 – 13 December 2006) was a Spanish politician. She was among the first women to rise to political prominence in Spain during the early years of reconstituted democracy. She was a minister in the Spanish government from 1996 to 1998 (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food), and a member of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004.

Loyola de Palacio y del Valle Lersundi, née le à Madrid et morte le à Madrid, est une personnalité politique espagnole et de l'Union européenne.


Synopsis.

The speaker of the poem starts by addressing a woman who has been slow to respond to his romantic advances. In the first stanza he describes how he would pay court to her if he were to be unencumbered by the constraints of a normal lifespan. He could spend centuries admiring each part of her body and her resistance to his advances (i.e., coyness) would not discourage him. In the second stanza, he laments how short human life is. Once life is over, the speaker contends, the opportunity to enjoy one another is gone, as no one embraces in death. In the last stanza, the speaker urges the woman to requite his efforts, and argues that in loving one another with passion they will both make the most of the brief time they have to live.

Structure.

The poem is written in iambic tetrameter and rhymes in couplets. The first verse paragraph ("Had we...") is ten couplets long, the second ("But...") six, and the third ("Now therefore...") seven. The logical form of the poem runs: if... but... therefore...

Critical reception and themes.

Until recently, "To His Coy Mistress" had been received by many as a poem that follows the traditional conventions of carpe diem love poetry. Some modern critics, however, argue Marvell's use of complex and ambiguous metaphors challenges the perceived notions of the poem. It as well raises suspicion of irony and deludes the reader with its inappropriate and jarring imagery.  Some critics believe the poem is an ironic statement on sexual seduction. They reject the idea that Marvell's poem carries a serious and solemn mood. Rather, the poem's opening lines—"Had we but world enough, and time/ This coyness, Lady, were no crime"—seems to suggest quite a whimsical tone of regret. In the second part of the poem, there is a sudden transition into imagery that involves graves, marble vaults and worms. The narrator's use of such metaphors to depict a realistic and harsh death that awaits the lovers seems to be a way of shocking the lady into submission. As well, critics note the sense of urgency of the narrator in the poem's third section, especially the alarming comparison of the lovers to "amorous birds of prey".

Allusions in other works.

At least two poets have taken up the challenge of responding to Marvell's poem in the character of the lady so addressed. Annie Finch's "Coy Mistress" suggests that poetry is a more fitting use of their time than lovemaking, while A.D. Hope's "His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell" turns down the offered seduction outright.  Many authors have borrowed the phrase "World enough and time" from the poem's opening line to use in their book titles. The most famous is Robert Penn Warren's 1950 novel "World Enough and Time: A Romantic Novel," about murder in early-19th-century Kentucky. With variations, it has also been used for books on the philosophy of physics ("World Enough and Space-Time: Absolute versus Relational Theories of Space and Time"), geopolitics ("World Enough and Time: Successful Strategies for Resource Management"), a science-fiction collection ("Worlds Enough & Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction"), and a biography of the poet ("World Enough and Time: The Life of Andrew Marvell"). The phrase is used as a title chapter in Andreas Wagner's pop science book on the origin of variation in organisms, "Arrival of the Fittest". The verse serves as an epigraph to "", literary critic Erich Auerbach's most famous book. It is also the title of an episode of Big Finish Productions's The Diary of River Song series 2, and of part 1 of Doctor Who's Series 10 finale.  Also in the field of science fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin wrote a Hugo-nominated short story whose title, "Vaster than Empires and More Slow", is taken from the poem. Ian Watson notes the debt of this story to Marvell, "whose complex and allusive poems are of a later form of pastoral to that which I shall refer, and, like Marvell, Le Guin's nature references are, as I want to argue, "pastoral" in a much more fundamental and interesting way than this simplistic use of the term." There are other allusions to the poem in the field of Fantasy and Science Fiction: the first book of James Kahn's "New World Series" is titled "World Enough, and Time"; the third book of Joe Haldeman's "Worlds" trilogy is titled "Worlds Enough and Time"; and Peter S. Beagle's novel "A Fine and Private Place" about a love affair between two ghosts in a graveyard. The latter phrase has been widely used as a euphemism for the grave, and has formed the title of several mystery novels.  Brian Aldiss's novel "Hothouse", set in a distant future in which the earth is dominated by plant life, opens with "My vegetable love should grow / vaster than empires, and more slow."  Sir Terry Pratchett opens his poem An Ode to Multiple Universes with "I do have worlds enough and time / to spare an hour to find a rhyme / to take a week to pen an article / a day to find a rhyme for ‘particle’."  The phrase "there will be time" occurs repeatedly in a section of T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915), and is often said to be an allusion to Marvell's poem. Prufrock says that there will be time "for the yellow smoke that slides along the street", time "to murder and create", and time "for a hundred indecisions... Before the taking of a toast and tea". As Eliot's hero is, in fact, putting off romance and consummation, he is (falsely) answering Marvell's speaker. Eliot also alludes to the lines near the end of Marvell's poem, "Let us roll all our strength and all / Our sweetness up into one ball", with his lines, "To have squeezed the universe into a ball / To roll it toward some overwhelming question," as Prufrock questions whether or not such an act of daring would have been worth it. Eliot returns to Marvell in "The Waste Land" with the lines "But at my back in a cold blast I hear / The rattle of the bones" (Part III, line 185) and "But at my back from time to time I hear / The sound of horns and motors" (Part III, line 196).  The line "deserts of vast eternity" is used in the novel "", by Virginia Woolf, which was published in 1928.  Archibald MacLeish's poem "", alludes to the passage of time and to the growth and decline of empires. In his poem, the speaker, lying on the ground at sunset, feels "the rising of the night". He visualizes sunset, moving from east to west geographically, overtaking the great civilizations of the past, and feels "how swift how secretly / The shadow of the night comes on."  B. F. Skinner quotes "But at my back I always hear / Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near", through his character Professor Burris in "Walden Two", who is in a confused mood of desperation, lack of orientation, irresolution and indecision. (Prentice Hall 1976, Chapter 31, p. 266). This line is also quoted in Ernest Hemingway's novel "A Farewell to Arms", as in Arthur C. Clarke's short story, "The Ultimate Melody".  The same line appears in full in the opening minutes of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946), spoken by the protagonist, pilot and poet Peter Carter: 'But at my back I always hear / Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie / Deserts of vast eternity. Andy Marvell, What a Marvel'.  The line "A fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace" appears in Stephen King's novel "Pet Sematary".  One of the Flavia de Luce novels by Alan Bradley is titled “the Grave’s a Fine and Private Place”.  The line "My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow" is quoted by William S. Burroughs in the last entry of (July 29, 1997).  The line "I would Love you ten years before the Flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews. My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow." Is used as the preamble to part three of Greg Bear's Nebula award winning novel "Moving Mars".  In "The Time Traveler's Wife", by Audrey Niffenegger, one of the main characters, Henry, raises a toast "To world enough, and time," early in the book, foreshadowing his death near the end of the book where he recites this same phrase to his wife as his last words.

"To His Coy Mistress" is a Cavalier poem written by the English author and politician Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) either during or just before the English Interregnum (1649–60). It was published posthumously in 1681.

To His Coy Mistress ("À Sa Timide Maîtresse" en français) est un poème libertin de l’écrivain et homme politique anglais Andrew Marvell, écrit pendant ou juste avant la domination d’Oliver Cromwell sur le pays, au milieu du. Le poème, malgré le puritanisme de son auteur et sa concision, constitue dans le domaine de la poésie l’une des plus puissantes plaidoiries de la philosophie épicurienne du "carpe diem", dans la lignée de Pierre de Ronsard.


Definitions of words.

As recently as 2005, considerable controversy existed over the proper definition of the term "desertification." Helmut Geist (2005) identified more than 100 formal definitions. The most widely accepted of these was that of the Princeton University Dictionary which defined it as "the process of fertile land "transforming into desert" typically as a result of deforestation, drought or improper/inappropriate agriculture".However, this original understanding that desertification involved the physical expansion of deserts has been rejected as the concept has evolved. Desertification has been neatly defined in the text of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as "land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities."  There exists also controversy around the sub-grouping of types of desertification, including, for example, the validity and usefulness of such terms as "man-made desert" and "non-pattern desert".

History.

The world's most noted deserts have been formed by natural processes interacting over long intervals of time. During most of these times, deserts have grown and shrunk independent of human activities. Paleodeserts are large sand seas now inactive because they are stabilized by vegetation, some extending beyond the present margins of core deserts, such as the Sahara, the largest hot desert.  Historical evidence shows that the serious and extensive land deterioration occurring several centuries ago in arid regions had three epicenters: the Mediterranean, the Mesopotamian Valley, and the Loess Plateau of China, where population was dense.  The earliest known discussion of the topic arose soon after the French colonization of West Africa, when the Comité d'Etudes commissioned a study on "desséchement progressif" to explore the prehistoric expansion of the Sahara Desert.

Areas affected.

Drylands occupy approximately 40–41% of Earth's land area and are home to more than 2 billion people. It has been estimated that some 10–20% of drylands are already degraded, the total area affected by desertification being between 6 and 12 million square kilometres, that about 1–6% of the inhabitants of drylands live in desertified areas, and that a billion people are under threat from further desertification.  As of 1998, the then-current degree of southward expansion of the Sahara was not well known, due to a lack of recent, measurable expansion of the desert into the Sahel at the time.  The impact of global warming and human activities are presented in the Sahel. In this area the level of desertification is very high compared to other areas in the world. All areas situated in the eastern part of Africa (i.e. in the Sahel region) are characterized by a dry climate, hot temperatures, and low rainfall (300–750 mm rainfall per year). So, droughts are the rule in the Sahel region. Some studies have shown that Africa has lost approximately 650,000 km2 of its productive agricultural land over the past 50 years. The propagation of desertification in this area is considerable.  Some statistics have shown that since 1900 the Sahara has expanded by 250 km to the south over a stretch of land from west to east 6,000 km long. The survey, done by the Research Institute for Development, had demonstrated that this means dryness is spreading fast in the Sahelian countries. 70% of the arid area has deteriorated and water resources have disappeared, leading to soil degradation. The loss of topsoil means that plants cannot take root firmly and can be uprooted by torrential water or strong winds.  The United Nations Convention (UNC) says that about six million Sahelian citizens would have to give up the desertified zones of sub-Saharan Africa for North Africa and Europe between 1997 and 2020.  Lake Chad, located in the Sahel region, has been hit particularly hard by this phenomenon. The cause of the lake drying up is due to irrigation withdrawal and the annual rainfall dropping. The lake has shrunk by over 90% since the 1987, displacing millions of inhabitants. Recent efforts have managed to make some progress toward its restoration, but it is still considered to be at risk of disappearing entirely.  Another major area that is being impacted by desertification is the Gobi Desert. Currently, the Gobi desert is the fastest moving desert on Earth; according to some researchers, the Gobi Desert swallows up over 1,300 square miles (3,370 km2) of land annually. This has destroyed many villages in its path. Currently, photos show that the Gobi Desert has expanded to the point the entire nation of Croatia (about 4 million) could fit inside its area. This is causing a major problem for the people of China. They will soon have to deal with the desert as it creeps closer. Although the Gobi Desert itself is still a distance away from Beijing, reports from field studies state there are large sand dunes forming only 70 km (43.5 mi) outside the city.  South America is another area affected by desertification, as 25% of the land is classified as drylands. In Argentina specifically, drylands represent more than half of the total land area, and desertification has the potential to disrupt the nation's food supply.  In Mongolia, around 90% of grassland is considered vulnerable to desertification by the UN. An estimated 13% of desertification in Mongolia is caused by natural factors, the rest is due to human influence particularly overgrazing and increased erosion of soils in cultivated areas. The area of Mongolian land covered by sand has increased by 8.7% over the last 40 years. These changes have accompanied the degradation of 70% of Mongolian pasture land. As well as overgrazing and climate change, the Mongolia government listed forest fires, blights, unsustainable forestry and mining activities as leading causes of desertification in the country. A more recent study also reports overgrazing as a leading cause of desertification as well as the transition from sheep to goat farming in order to meet export demands for cashmere wool. Compared to sheep goats do more damage to grazing lands by eating roots and flowers.

Effects.

Sand and dust storms.

There has been a 25% increase in global annual dust emissions between the late nineteenth century to present day. The increase of desertification has also increased the amount of loose sand and dust that the wind can pick up ultimately resulting in a storm. For example, dust storms in the Middle East “are becoming more frequent and intense in recent years” because “long-term reductions in rainfall promot[ing] lower soil moisture and vegetative cover”.  Dust storms can contribute to certain respiratory disorders such as pneumonia, skin irritations, asthma and many more. They can pollute open water, reduce the effectiveness of clean energy efforts, and halt most forms of transportation.  Dust and sand storms can have a negative effect on the climate which can make desertification worse. Dust particles in the air scatter incoming radiation from the sun. The dust can provide momentary coverage for the ground temperature but the atmospheric temperature will increase. This can disform and shorten the life time of clouds which can result in less rainfall.

Food security.

Global food security is being threatened by desertification and overpopulation. The more the population grows, the more food that has to be grown. The agricultural business is being displaced from one country to another. For example, Europe on average imports over 50% of its food. Meanwhile, 44% of agricultural land is located in dry lands and it supplies 60% of the world's food production. Desertification is decreasing the amount of sustainable land for agricultural uses but demands are continuously growing. In the near future, the demands will overcome the supply.

Vegetation patterning.

As the desertification takes place, the landscape may progress through different stages and continuously transform in appearance. On gradually sloped terrain, desertification can create increasingly larger empty spaces over a large strip of land, a phenomenon known as "brousse tigrée". A mathematical model of this phenomenon proposed by C. Klausmeier attributes this patterning to dynamics in plant-water interaction. One outcome of this observation suggests an optimal planting strategy for agriculture in arid environments.

Causes.

The immediate cause is the loss of most vegetation. This is driven by a number of factors, alone or in combination, such as drought, climatic shifts, tillage for agriculture, overgrazing and deforestation for fuel or construction materials. Vegetation plays a major role in determining the biological composition of the soil. Studies have shown that, in many environments, the rate of erosion and runoff decreases exponentially with increased vegetation cover. Unprotected, dry soil surfaces blow away with the wind or are washed away by flash floods, leaving infertile lower soil layers that bake in the sun and become an unproductive hardpan.  Many scientists think that one of the most common causes is overgrazing, too much consumption of vegetation by cattle or other livestock. Scientists agree that the existence of a desert in the place where the Sahara desert is now located is due to a natural climate cycle; this cycle often causes a lack of water in the area from time to time. There is a suggestion that the last time that the Sahara was converted from savanna to desert it was partially due to overgrazing by the cattle of the local population.  Researchers from Hacettepe University have reported that Saharan soil may have bio-available iron and also some essential macro and micro nutrient elements suitable for use as fertilizer for growing wheat. It has been shown that Saharan soil may have the potential of producing bioavailable iron when illuminated with visible light and also it has some essential macro and micro nutrient elements. In this study the impact of various growth media on development of some bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and durum wheat (Triticum durum L.) cultivars have been investigated. As a four different nutrient media, Hewitt nutrient solution [1], illuminated and non-illuminated Saharan desert soil solutions and distilled water have been utilized. Shoot length (cm.seedling-1), leaf area (cm2 seedling-1) and photosynthetic pigments [chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids, mg ml-1 g fresh weight (g fw)-1] have been determined. The results of this study indicate that, wheat varieties fed by irradiated Saharan soil solution gave comparable results to Hewitt nutrient solution.  Overpopulation is one of the most dangerous factors contributing to desertification. Human populations are increasing at exponential rates, which leads to overgrazing, over-farming and deforestation, as previously acceptable techniques are becoming less sustainable.  Climate change is likely a major contributing factor in the desertification process, as simulations suggest the greenhouse effect may increase the spread of deserts by as much as 20%.  There are multiple reasons farmers use intensive farming as opposed to extensive farming but the main reason is to maximize yields. By increasing productivity, they require a lot more fertilizer, pesticides, and labor to upkeep machinery. This continuous use of the land rapidly depletes the nutrients of the soil causing desertification to spread.

Poverty.

At least 90% of the inhabitants of drylands live in developing countries, where they also suffer from poor economic and social conditions. This situation is exacerbated by land degradation because of the reduction in productivity, the precariousness of living conditions and the difficulty of access to resources and opportunities.  A downward spiral is created in many underdeveloped countries by overgrazing, land exhaustion and overdrafting of groundwater in many of the marginally productive world regions due to overpopulation pressures to exploit marginal drylands for farming. Decision-makers are understandably averse to invest in arid zones with low potential. This absence of investment contributes to the marginalisation of these zones. When unfavourable agro-climatic conditions are combined with an absence of infrastructure and access to markets, as well as poorly adapted production techniques and an underfed and undereducated population, most such zones are excluded from development.  Desertification often causes rural lands to become unable to support the same sized populations that previously lived there. This results in mass migrations out of rural areas and into urban areas (urbanisation), particularly in Africa. These migrations into the cities often cause large numbers of unemployed people, who end up living in slums.  In Mongolia the land is 90% fragile dry land, which causes many herders to migrate to the city for work. With very limited resources the herders that stay in the dry land graze very carefully in order to preserve the land. With the increasing population of Mongolia it is very difficult to stay a herder for long.  The number of these environmental refugees grows every year, with projections for sub-Saharan Africa showing a probable increase from 14 million in 2010 to nearly 200 million by 2050. This presents a future crisis for the region, as neighboring nations do not always have the ability to support large populations of refugees.  Agriculture is a main source of income for many desert communities. The increase in desertification in these regions has degraded the land to such an extent where people can no longer productively farm and make a profit. This has negatively impacted the economy and increased poverty rates.

Countermeasures.

Techniques and countermeasures exist for mitigating or reversing the effects of desertification, and some possess varying levels of difficulty. For some, there are numerous barriers to their implementation. Yet for others, the solution simply requires the exercise of human reason.  One proposed barrier is that the costs of adopting sustainable agricultural practices sometimes exceed the benefits for individual farmers, even while they are socially and environmentally beneficial. Another issue is a lack of political will, and lack of funding to support land reclamation and anti-desertification programs.  Desertification is recognized as a major threat to biodiversity. Some countries have developed biodiversity action plans to counter its effects, particularly in relation to the protection of endangered flora and fauna.  Reforestation gets at one of the root causes of desertification and is not just a treatment of the symptoms. Environmental organizations work in places where deforestation and desertification are contributing to extreme poverty. There they focus primarily on educating the local population about the dangers of deforestation and sometimes employ them to grow seedlings, which they transfer to severely deforested areas during the rainy season. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations launched the FAO Drylands Restoration Initiative in 2012 to draw together knowledge and experience on dryland restoration. In 2015, FAO published global guidelines for the restoration of degraded forests and landscapes in drylands, in collaboration with the Turkish Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency.  The "Green Wall of China" is a high-profile example of one method that has been finding success in this battle with desertification.. This wall is a much larger-scale version of what American farmers did in the 1930s to stop the great Midwest dust bowl. This plan was proposed in the late 1970s, and has become a major ecological engineering project that is not predicted to end until the year 2055. According to Chinese reports, there have been nearly 66 billion trees planted in China's great green wall. The green wall of China has decreased desert land in China by an annual average of 1,980 square km. The frequency of sandstorms nationwide have fallen 20% due to the green wall. Due to the success that China has been finding in stopping the spread of desertification, plans are currently be made in Africa to start a "wall" along the borders of the Sahara desert as well to be financed by the United Nations Global Environment Facility trust.  in 2007 the African Union started the great green wall of Africa project in order to combat desertification in 20 countries. the wall is 8000 km wide stretching across the entire width of the continent and has 8 billion dollars in support of the project. The great green wall of Africa has restored 36 million hectares of land to the countries and has created many job opportunities for those who dwell near it. The great green wall has created over 20,000 jobs in Nigeria alone.  Techniques focus on two aspects: provisioning of water, and fixation and hyper-fertilizing soil. Fixating the soil is often done through the use of shelter belts, woodlots and windbreaks. Windbreaks are made from trees and bushes and are used to reduce soil erosion and evapotranspiration. They were widely encouraged by development agencies from the middle of the 1980s in the Sahel area of Africa.  Some soils (for example, clay), due to lack of water can become consolidated rather than porous (as in the case of sandy soils). Some techniques as zaï or tillage are then used to still allow the planting of crops. Waffle gardens can also help as they can provide protection of the plants against wind/sandblasting, and increase the hours of shade falling on the plant.  Another technique that is useful is contour trenching. This involves the digging of 150 m long, 1 m deep trenches in the soil. The trenches are made parallel to the height lines of the landscape, preventing the water from flowing within the trenches and causing erosion. Stone walls are placed around the trenches to prevent the trenches from closing up again. The method was invented by Peter Westerveld.  Enriching of the soil and restoration of its fertility is often achieved by plants. Of these, leguminous plants which extract nitrogen from the air and fix it in the soil, succulents (such as Opuntia), and food crops/trees as grains, barley, beans and dates are the most important. Sand fences can also be used to control drifting of soil and sand erosion.  Another way to restore soil fertility is through the use of nitrogen-rich fertilizer. Due to the higher cost of this fertilizer, many smallholder farmers are reluctant to use it, especially in areas where subsistence farming is common. Several nations, including India, Zambia, and Malawi have responded to this by implementing subsidies to help encourage adoption of this technique.  Some research centres (such as Bel-Air Research Center IRD/ISRA/UCAD) are also experimenting with the inoculation of tree species with mycorrhiza in arid zones. The mycorrhiza are basically fungi attaching themselves to the roots of the plants. They hereby create a symbiotic relation with the trees, increasing the surface area of the tree's roots greatly (allowing the tree to gather much more nutrient from the soil).  As there are many different types of deserts, there are also different types of desert reclamation methodologies. An example for this is the salt flats in the Rub' al Khali desert in Saudi Arabia. These salt flats are one of the most promising desert areas for seawater agriculture and could be revitalized without the use of freshwater or much energy.  Farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) is another technique that has produced successful results for desert reclamation. Since 1980, this method to reforest degraded landscape has been applied with some success in Niger. This simple and low-cost method has enabled farmers to regenerate some 30,000 square kilometers in Niger. The process involves enabling native sprouting tree growth through selective pruning of shrub shoots. The residue from pruned trees can be used to provide mulching for fields thus increasing soil water retention and reducing evaporation. Additionally, properly spaced and pruned trees can increase crop yields. The Humbo Assisted Regeneration Project which uses FMNR techniques in Ethiopia has received money from The World Bank's BioCarbon Fund, which supports projects that sequester or conserve carbon in forests or agricultural ecosystems.

Managed grazing.

Restoring grasslands store CO from the air as plant material. Grazing livestock, usually not left to wander, eat the grass and minimize grass growth. A method proposed to restore grasslands uses fences with many small paddocks and moving herds from one paddock to another after a day or two in order to mimic natural grazers and allowing the grass to grow optimally. Proponents of managed grazing methods estimate that increasing this method could increase carbon content of the soils in the world's 3.5 billion hectares of agricultural grassland and offset nearly 12 years of CO emissions.  One proponent of managed grazing, Allan Savory, as part of holistic management, claims that keeping livestock tightly packed on smaller plots of land, meanwhile rotating them to other small plots of land will reverse desertification; range scientists have however not been able to experimentally confirm his claims.

See also.

Mitigation:  Other related portals:

Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly more arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by a variety of factors, such as through climate change (particularly the current global warming) and through the overexploitation of soil through human activity.

La désertification est un processus, naturel ou non, de dégradation des sols qui a pour origine des changements climatiques et/ou les conséquences d'activités humaines. Il s'ensuit une aridification et une sécheresse locales consécutives à la dégradation des terres, qui mènent à un territoire (biome) de type désertique. La théorie de l'avancée du désert de Lamprey (1975), qui était liée à l'observation de variations de couvert végétal dues à la variabilité climatique, a depuis évolué vers une approche d'un phénomène plus diffus. Ce phénomène peut avoir lieu dans des zones arides, semi-arides et subhumides sèches, à l'exclusion des déserts (zones hyper-arides).


Career.

Richard "Crazy Legs" Colón grew up in the Inwood section of Manhattan, New York City, where he was introduced to "breaking" by his older brother when he was nine. He was an original member of the Rock Steady Crew after its foundation in 1979. Dance critic Sally Banes in an April 1981 piece on the form in the "Village Voice" quotes Crazy Legs listing the best dancers extant and documents his accidental invention of the "W" move, in which the dancer sits with his legs double-backed behind him. The next month saw "The New York Times" cover a three-day conference on "Bronx folk culture". "There is a system of apprentices: a 'Lil' Crazy Legs with Crazy Legs," the "Times" reported, "Dance steps are performed solo to an accompaniment called "rapping" - chanting voice and percussion."  His first film appearance was as himself in Charlie Ahearn's independent release "Wild Style" (1982), followed by his featuring in the early documentary on hip hop culture "Style Wars" (PBS, 1983). As a craze for all things hip hop took hold, the 16-year-old Crazy Legs, now President of the Rock Steady Crew, took hip hop dance to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour, with recording artists Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmixer D.ST, graffiti artists Fab 5 Freddie and Futura 2000, and the World Champion Fantastic Four Double Dutch Girls. Appearances in Hollywood films were another consequence: he was a street dancer (and also a heavily disguised body double for Jennifer Beals' final dance scenes) in the movie "Flashdance" (Paramount, 1983) and, as with "Wild Style", played himself in the fiction film "Beat Street" (Orion, 1984).  In 1991 he danced in "So! What Happens Now?", "probably the first hip-hop production on a mainstream dance stage in New York City," according to "The New York Times", which reflected that the production proved "street dance is an art as demanding and inventive as mainstream dance forms like ballet and jazz." The following year came "Concrete Jungle" as part of a program at the Lincoln Center which the "Times" called "a turning point in the evolution of urban street dance," the piece itself being "extraordinarily affecting". The "jubilantly hyperactive" and "astonishing" "Jam on the Groove" debuted in 1995, and in 1999 Crazy Legs instructed dancers of the Urban Youth Theater for their show "Minotaur".  His connection to hip hop culture outside of theater remains strong, with hosting of b-boy contests, appearances at live events, and staging of Rock Steady Crew Anniversaries. Documentaries continue to feature Crazy Legs: a look at contemporary hip hop called "The Voice of a Nation" (Goldcrest, 1993), "Here Come the Drums" (8mm, 1993), "" (Bowery, 2000) and "The Freshest Kids" (QD3, 2003). He joined a host of hip hop personalities in providing voice-overs for the television comedy series "Kung Faux" (Dubtitled/Tommy Boy, 2003). He is also a character in the video game "Def Jam Fight For NY" (EA, 2004). In 2006 he was invited by the Smithsonian Institution to contribute to a collection for the National Museum of American History. Crazy Legs officially retired from competition as of July 28, 2012 after competing at the Rock Steady Crew's 35th Anniversary at The Altman Building in Manhattan, NY.

Rock Steady Anniversary parties.

As president of Rock Steady Crew, Crazy Legs and his Backspin Productions hosts and organizes the annual Rock Steady Anniversary, a community event that honors deceased members of the crew and celebrates hip hop culture both past and present. These anniversary parties unite DJs, b-boys and b-girls, MCs, graffiti artists, and thousands of hip hop supporters from around the world. Under his leadership the group also holds the annual Celebrity Basketball Tournament during the yearly anniversary celebrations to raise money for the Greenwich Village Youth Council in New York. In 2003, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proclaimed July 26 to be "Rock Steady Crew Day" in New York City during their 26th Anniversary Celebration at Pier 54. Sportswear company Fila debuted the "Rock Steady Crew 77" sneaker in April 2004.

Awards.

As part of the Rock Steady Crew, Crazy Legs won a 1992 Bessie Award for choreography. In 1994 he received the Hip Hop Pioneer Award from The Source. He was presented with the Source Youth Foundation Image Award in 2003. He has also earned the 2003 AARTS Award from the Bay Shore Schools Arts Education Fund and was honored as the National Godfather of the 2003 Jersey City Puerto Rican Day Parade. He was nominated for an MTV Award for Best Choreography for his work with Wyclef Jean. “Jam on the Groove” was nominated for best choreography at the Drama Desk Awards in 1996. His dance program at The POINT CDC for young people in South Bronx garnered him the “New Yorker of the Week” Award from New York 1 News. He also won the Hispanic culture award in 2018

Richard Colón (born January 11, 1966), better known by his stage name Crazy Legs, is a Puerto Rican American b-boy from The Bronx, New York. He was featured in the earliest stories on hip hop dancing to appear in mainstream press, and as president of the Rock Steady Crew brought the form to London and Paris in 1983. Today he is also involved in community outreach, dance instruction, and dance theater productions. His pioneering status is reflected in his appearances in fiction films and documentaries. Crazy Legs is the most well known and commercially successful of the few original members remaining of the Rock Steady Crew, and is its current president.

Crazy Legs, né le, est un danseur de Breaking new-yorkais membre du groupe Rock Steady Crew. Il apparait, au sein du groupe fictif B-boy, dans le jeu vidéo "B-Boy".


Biography.

Early life and education.

Clive Campbell was the first of six children born to Keith and Nettie Campbell in Kingston, Jamaica. While growing up, he saw and heard the sound systems of neighborhood parties called dance halls, and the accompanying speech of their DJs, known as toasting. He emigrated with his family at the age of 12 to The Bronx, New York City in November 1967, where they lived at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue.  Campbell attended the Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School in the Bronx, where his height, frame, and demeanor on the basketball court prompted the other kids to nickname him "Hercules". After being involved in a physical altercation with school bullies, the Five Percenters came to Herc's aid, befriended him and as Herc put it, helped "Americanize" him with an education in New York City street culture. He began running with a graffiti crew called the Ex-Vandals, taking the name Kool Herc. Herc recalls persuading his father to buy him a copy of "Sex Machine" by James Brown, a record that not a lot of his friends had, and which they would come to him to hear. He and his sister, Cindy, began hosting back-to-school parties in the recreation room of their building, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue.  Herc's first sound system consisted of two turntables connected to two amplifiers and a Shure "Vocal Master" PA system with two speaker columns, on which he played records such as James Brown's "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose", Jimmy Castor's "It's Just Begun" and Booker T. & the M.G.'s' "Melting Pot". With Bronx clubs struggling with street gangs, uptown DJs catering to an older disco crowd with different aspirations, and commercial radio also catering to a demographic distinct from teenagers in the Bronx, Herc's parties had a ready-made audience.

The "break".

DJ Kool Herc developed the style that was the blueprint for hip hop music. Herc used the record to focus on a short, heavily percussive part in it: the "break". Since this part of the record was the one the dancers liked best, Herc isolated the break and prolonged it by changing between two record players. As one record reached the end of the break, he cued a second record back to the beginning of the break, which allowed him to extend a relatively short section of music into "five-minute loop of fury". This innovation had its roots in what Herc called "The Merry-Go-Round," a technique by which the deejay switched from break to break at the height of the party. This technique is specifically called "The Merry-Go-Round" because according to Herc, it takes one "back and forth with no slack."  Herc stated that he first introduced the Merry-Go-Round into his sets in 1972. The earliest known "Merry-Go-Round" involved playing James Brown's "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" (with its refrain, "Now clap your hands! Stomp your feet!"), then switching from that record's break into the break from a second record, "Bongo Rock" by The Incredible Bongo Band. From the "Bongo Rock"'s break, Herc used a third record to switch to the break on "The Mexican" by the English rock band Babe Ruth.  Kool Herc also contributed to developing the rhyming style of hip hop by punctuating the recorded music with slang phrases, announcing: "Rock on, my mellow!" "B-boys, b-girls, are you ready? keep on rock steady" "This is the joint! Herc beat on the point" "To the beat, y'all!" "You don't stop!" For his contributions, Herc is called a "founding father of hip hop," a "nascent cultural hero," and an integral part of the beginnings of hip hop by "Time".  On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc was a disc jockey and emcee at a party in the recreation room at Sedgwick Avenue. Specifically, DJ Kool Herc:  According to music journalist Steven Ivory, in 1973, Herc placed on the turntables two copies of Brown's 1970 "Sex Machine" album and ran "an extended cut 'n' mix of the percussion breakdown" from "Give It Up or Turnit Loose", signaling the birth of hip hop.

B-boys and b-girls.

The "b-boys" and "b-girls" were the dancers to Herc's breaks, who were described as "breaking". Herc has noted that "breaking" was also street slang of the time meaning "getting excited", "acting energetically," or "causing a disturbance". Herc coined the terms "b-boy", "b-girl," and "breaking" which became part of the lexicon of what would be eventually called hip hop culture. Early Kool Herc b-boy and later DJ innovator Grandmixer DXT describes the early evolution as follows:  In the early 1980s, the media began to call this style "breakdance," which in 1991 the "New York Times" wrote was "an art as demanding and inventive as mainstream dance forms like ballet and jazz." Since this emerging culture was still without a name, participants often identified as "b-boys," a usage that included and went beyond the specific connection to dance, a usage that would persist in hip hop culture.

Move to the streets.

With the mystique of his graffiti name, his physical stature, and the reputation of his small parties, Herc became a folk hero in the Bronx. He began to play at nearby clubs including the Twilight Zone Hevalo, Executive Playhouse, the PAL on 183rd Street, as well as at high schools such as Dodge and Taft. Rapping duties were delegated to Coke La Rock and Theodore Puccio. Herc's collective, known as The Herculoids, was augmented by Clark Kent and dancers The Nigga Twins. Herc took his soundsystem (the herculords) —still legendary for its sheer volume—to the streets and parks of the Bronx. Nelson George recalls a schoolyard party:  The sun hadn't gone down yet, and kids were just hanging out, waiting for something to happen. Van pulls up, a bunch of guys come out with a table, crates of records. They unscrew the base of the light pole, take their equipment, attach it to that, get the electricity – Boom! We got a concert right here in the schoolyard and it's this guy Kool Herc. And he's just standing with the turntable, and the guys were studying his hands. There are people dancing, but there's as many people standing, just watching what he's doing. That was my first introduction to in-the-street, hip hop DJing.

Influence on artists.

In 1975, the young Grandmaster Flash, to whom Kool Herc was, in his words, "a hero", began DJing in Herc's style. By 1976, Flash and his MCs The Furious Five played to a packed Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. Venue owners were often nervous of unruly young crowds, however, and soon sent hip hop back to the clubs, community centres and high school gymnasiums of the Bronx.  Afrika Bambaataa first heard Kool Herc in 1973. Bambaataa, at that time a general in the notorious Black Spades gang of the Bronx, obtained his own soundsystem in 1975 and began to DJ in Herc's style, converting his followers to the non-violent Zulu Nation in the process. Kool Herc began using The Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" as a break in 1975. It became a firm b-boy favorite—"the Bronx national anthem"—and is still in use in hip hop today. Steven Hager wrote of this period:  For over five years the Bronx had lived in constant terror of street gangs. Suddenly, in 1975, they disappeared almost as quickly as they had arrived. This happened because something better came along to replace the gangs. That something was eventually called hip-hop.  In 1979, the record company executive Sylvia Robinson assembled a group she called The Sugarhill Gang and recorded "Rapper's Delight". The hit song ushered in the era of commercially released hip hop. By that year's end, Grandmaster Flash was recording for Enjoy Records. In 1980, Afrika Bambaataa began recording for Winley. By this time, DJ Kool Herc's star had faded.  Grandmaster Flash suggests that Herc may not have kept pace with developments in techniques of cueing (lining up a record to play at a certain place on it). Developments changed techniques of cutting (switching from one record to another) and scratching (moving the record by hand to and fro under the stylus for percussive effect) in the late 1970s. Herc said he retreated from the scene after being stabbed at the Executive Playhouse while trying to intercede in a fight, and the burning down of one of his venues. In 1980, Herc had stopped DJing and was working in a record shop in South Bronx.

Later years.

Kool Herc appeared in Hollywood's motion picture take on hip hop, "Beat Street" (Orion, 1984), as himself. In the mid-1980s, his father died, and he became addicted to crack cocaine. "I couldn't cope, so I started medicating", he says of this period.  In 1994, Herc performed on Terminator X & the Godfathers of Threatt's album, "Super Bad". In 2005, he wrote the foreword to Jeff Chang's book on hip hop, "Can't Stop Won't Stop". In 2005 he appeared in the music video of "Top 5 (Dead or Alive)" by Jin from the album "The Emcee's Properganda". In 2006, he became involved in getting Hip Hop commemorated at the Smithsonian Institution museums. He participated in the 2007 Dance parade.  Since 2007, Herc has worked on a campaign to prevent 1520 Sedgwick Avenue from being sold to developers and withdrawn from its status as a Mitchell-Lama affordable housing property. In the summer of 2007, New York state officials declared 1520 Sedgwick Avenue the "birthplace of hip-hop", and nominated it to national and state historic registers. The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development ruled against the proposed sale in February 2008, on the grounds that "the proposed purchase price is inconsistent with the use of property as a Mitchell-Lama affordable housing development". It is the first time they have so ruled in such a case.

Serious illness.

According to a DJ Premier fan blog, "The Source"s website and other sites, DJ Kool Herc fell gravely ill in early 2011 and was said to lack health insurance. He had surgery for kidney stones, with a stent placed to relieve the pressure. He needed follow-up surgery but St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, the site that performed the previous surgery, has requested that he make a deposit toward the next surgery, because he has missed several follow-up visits. The hospital said it would not turn away uninsured patients in the emergency room. DJ Kool Herc and his family set up an official website on which he describes his medical issue and the larger goal of establishing the DJ Kool Herc Fund to pioneer long-term health care solutions. In April 2013, Campbell recovered from surgery and moved into post-medical care.

First vinyl record.

In May 2019 Kool Herc released his first vinyl record ever with DJ/Producer Mr. Green. “Last of the Classic Beats” was critically acclaimed.

Clive Campbell (born April 16, 1955), better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican DJ who is credited with helping originate hip hop music in the Bronx, New York City, in the 1970s through his "Back to School Jam", hosted on August 11, 1973, at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. After his younger sister, Cindy Campbell, became inspired to earn extra cash for back-to-school clothes, she decided to have her older brother, then 16 years old, play music for the neighborhood in their apartment building. Known as the "Founder of Hip-Hop" and "Father of Hip-Hop", Campbell began playing hard funk records of the sort typified by James Brown.

DJ Kool Herc, de son vrai nom Clive Campbell, né le à Kingston, est un disc jockey américano-jamaïcain, crédité comme celui ayant lancé la musique hip-hop au début des années 1970 dans le quartier du Bronx, à New York. Ses chansons de type hard funk inspirées de James Brown deviennent une alternative à la violence des gangs de rue et à la popularité naissante du disco dans les années 1970. Campbell commence à isoler une partie des instruments qu'il utilise créant ainsi le.


Criteria.

The decoration is awarded to officers and non-commissioned members of the Regular and Reserve forces, including honorary appointments within the Canadian Armed Forces. However, time served while on the Supplementary Reserve List does not apply. The medal may be awarded to persons in possession of any long service, good conduct, or efficiency decoration or medal clasps, provided that the individual has completed the full qualifying periods of service for each award and that no service qualifying towards one award is permitted to count towards any other.  Service in the regular and reserve or auxiliary forces of the Commonwealth of Nations is counted towards the decoration if the final five years have been served with the Canadian Armed Forces and no other long service, good conduct, or efficiency medal has been awarded for the same service.

Appearance.

The medal is decagonal (ten-sided, representing the ten provinces), 36 millimetres across the flats, with raised busts. The King George VI medal is.800 fine silver and gilded. The Queen Elizabeth II medal is tombac (a copper-zinc alloy). A gilded copper version was introduced in 2008. The King George VI medal has the uncrowned coinage head of King George VI, facing left, with the inscription GEORGIVS VI D: G: BRITT: OMN: REX FID: DEF around the edge. The Queen Elizabeth II medal has the uncrowned coinage head of Queen Elizabeth II, facing right, with the inscription around the edge ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA with the word CANADA at the bottom. The reverse of the medal has a naval crown, three maple leaves and an eagle representing the navy, army and air force from top to bottom. The word SERVICE is on a scroll at the base and a fleur-de-lis is on each side of the crown. The Royal Cypher is superimposed on the centre of the King George VI medal, but is omitted from the Queen Elizabeth II medal. The King George VI medal has the name and rank of the person to whom the medal was awarded to engraved on the reverse of the solid bar while the Queen Elizabeth II medal has the name and rank engraved around the edge of the medal. Early Queen Elizabeth II medals had the letters stamped rather than engraved.  A clasp, also known as a bar, is awarded for every 10 years of subsequent service. The bar is tombac and is high, has the Canadian coat of arms in the centre surmounted by a crown, and is gold in colour. This is indicated on the undress ribbon bar by a rosette.  Recipients of the Canadian Forces Decoration are entitled to use the post nominal letters "CD". This post-nominal is not affected by the awarding of clasps.

The Canadian Forces' Decoration (post-nominal letters "CD") is a Canadian award bestowed upon members of the Canadian Armed Forces who have completed twelve years of military service, with certain conditions. By convention, it is also given to the Governor General of Canada upon his or her appointment as viceroy, which includes the title of Commander-in-Chief in and over Canada. The decoration is awarded to all ranks, who must have a good record of conduct during the final eight years of claimed service.

La Décoration des Forces Canadiennes fut instituée en 1949 et est décernée aux officiers et aux membres du rang des Forces canadiennes en reconnaissance de 12 années de service. Elle est remise sans égard au grade, mais les récipiendaires doivent avoir une bonne fiche de conduite.


Discovery.

Schlliemann found the mask in 1876 in a burial shaft designated Grave V at the site "Grave Circle A, Mycenae". The mask is one of five discovered in the royal shaft graves at Mycenae—three in Grave IV and two in Grave V. The faces and hands of two children in Grave III are covered with gold leaf, one covering having holes for the eyes. The mask was designed to be a funeral mask covered in gold.  The faces of the men are not all covered with masks. That they are men and warriors is suggested by the presence of weapons in their graves. The quantities of gold and carefully worked artifacts indicate honor, wealth and status. The custom of clothing leaders in gold leaf is known elsewhere. The Mask of Agamemnon was named by Schliemann after the legendary Greek king of Homer's "Iliad". This mask adorned one of the bodies in the shaft graves at Mycenae. Schliemann took this as evidence the Trojan War was a real historical event.  The mask of Agamemnon was created from a single thick gold sheet, heated and hammered against a wooden background with the details chased on later with a sharp tool. Following his discoveries at the site, Schliemann notified King George of Greece. He is supposed to have told the king in a telegraph, "I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon". Schliemann later named his son after the legendary king. Close to the end of his life, the archaeologist accepted doubts as to the mask's true owner and is quoted as saying, "So this is not Agamemnon... these are not his ornaments? All right, let's call him Schulze."

Authenticity.

In the latter half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the authenticity of the mask has been formally questioned, primarily by William Calder III and David Traill. "Archaeology" magazine has run a series of articles presenting both sides of the debate. By the time of the excavation of the Shaft Graves, the Greek Archaeological Society had taken a hand in supervising Schliemann's work (after the issues at Troy), sending Panagiotis Stamatakis as "ephor", or director, of the excavation, who kept a close eye on Schliemann.  Proponents of the fraud argument center their case on Schliemann's reputation for salting digs with artifacts from elsewhere. The resourceful Schliemann, they assert, could have had the mask manufactured on the general model of the other Mycenaean masks and found an opportunity to place it in the excavation.  The defending advocate(s) point out that the excavation was closed on November 26–27 for Sunday holiday and rain. It was not allowed to reopen until Stamatakis had provided the work with credible witnesses. The three other masks were not discovered until the 28th. The Mask of Agamemnon was found on the 30th.  A second critique is based on style. The Mask of Agamemnon differs from three of the other masks in a number of points: it is three-dimensional rather than flat, one of the facial hairs is cut out, rather than engraved, the ears are cut out, the eyes are depicted as both open and shut, with open eyelids, but a line of closed eyelids across the center, the face alone of all the depictions of faces in Mycenaean art has a full pointed beard with handlebar mustache, the mouth is well-defined (compared to the flat masks), the brows are formed to two arches rather than one.  The defense presented prior arguments that the shape of the lip, the triangular beard and the detail of the beard are nearly the same as the mane and locks of the gold lion-head rhyton from Shaft Grave IV. Schliemann's duplicity, they claim, has been greatly exaggerated, and they also claim that the attackers were conducting a vendetta.  Modern archaeological research suggests that the mask is genuine but predates the period of the Trojan War by 300–400 years. Others date the contents of the find even earlier, to approximately 2500 BC.

The Mask of Agamemnon is a gold funeral mask discovered at the ancient Greek site of Mycenae. The mask, displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, has been described by Cathy Gere as the ""Mona Lisa" of prehistory".

Le « masque d'Agamemnon » est un masque funéraire en or, découvert à Mycènes en 1876 par Heinrich Schliemann dans un lieu qui s'avéra par la suite être une tombe à fosse. Schliemann croyait avoir découvert le corps du légendaire Agamemnon, chef des Achéens dans le cycle troyen, d'où le nom habituellement donné au masque. Cependant, les recherches de l'archéologie moderne laissent à penser que le masque date de 1550-1500 av. J.-C., plusieurs siècles avant la date supposée de la guerre de Troie. Le nom est néanmoins resté.


Biography.

Her first years in school were in a girl's catholic school Sagrados Corazones and after her father's death in 1919, María Luisa, only being an 8-year-old girl, went alongside his mother and sisters to live in Paris, where she finished her studies at college Sainte Geneviève. At the University of Paris she studied literature and philosophy. She also attended the Lycée La Bruyère and the Sorbonne at the University of Paris. There, she was part of a different cultural and artistic panorama, place where she gained interest in literature and of course, in writing novels. After finishing her university studies she came back to Chile, reuniting with his mother and sisters again.  She also studied violin with the music teacher Jacques Thibaud and drama with Charles Dolan.  In 1938 she published one of her most famous and most important novels in Chilean literature, La Amortajada, which earned her the Premio de la Novela de la Municipalidad de Santiago (Novel prize of Santiago's Municipality). Also, when she lived in United States, with views on the American book market, she wrote a novel in English, called The House of Mist, which was a translation to English of her novel La Ultima Niebla.

Personal life.

Upon her return to South America she married a pioneer in civil aviation, Eulogio Sánchez, who did not share her interest in literature. During their marriage, Bombal began to suffer from depression, and attempted suicide. In 1933 she married the homosexual painter Jorge Larco, forming with him a marriage blanche. With the help of friends, Bombal fled the country to Argentina, where in 1933 she met Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda in Buenos Aires. In 1937 she returned to Chile due to the beginning of a divorce trial. In 1941 she acquired a revolver, went to the Hotel Crillón and waited for Eulogio, her lover. When he came out, she shot him three times in the arm. She went to trial; however, Eulogio exempted her from all guilt, for which the judge acquitted her. Years later, on Maria's own words, she said that he ruined her life, however, she never forgot him. Later on, she moved to United States, where she married the French count, Rafael de Saint Phall, whom she had a daughter with, called Brigitte. She lived there until 1971. She then returned to South America; living first in Argentina (helped by Pablo Neruda, who was also living there), where she met important men of letters, and then in Viña del Mar, Chile. There, on 18 September 1976, Bombal again met Jorge Luis Borges.

Death.

In her final days, which she spent in Chile, Bombal developed an alcohol abuse. This drinking problem forced her to repeatedly visit the hospital for a liver disease. She remained in Chile until 1980, dying the same year on May 6 in Santiago, victim of a huge gastrointestinal bleeding.

Distinction between femininity and masculinity in her works.

In every novel and story written by Maria, there is a strong distinction between how women and men think and behave. We can see this clearly, when in most of her works, women and men characters are separated by a huge gender gap and the relationships between these characters are always troubled or flawed. For Bombal, femininity is a symbol of uniqueness, more related to nature, emotions and intuition, very different from how masculinity is represented, where men are described as stronger and wiser, at the moment of facing problems.

Selected works.

Novels  Stories  Chronicles  Other writings

María Luisa Bombal Anthes (; Viña del Mar, 8 June 1910 – 6 May 1980) was a Chilean author. She was the daughter of Martín Bombal Videla and Blanca Anthes Precht. Her work is now highly regarded, incorporating themes of eroticism, surrealism and feminism, and she ranks among a small number of Latin American female authors whose works received worldwide acclaim. She was a recipient of the Santiago Municipal Literature Award.

María Luisa Bombal est une écrivaine chilienne, née le à Viña del Mar (Chili), et morte le à Santiago du Chili.


Structure.

The semimembranosus, so called from its membranous tendon of origin, is situated at the back and medial side of the thigh.  Its origin is the superolateral aspect of the ischial tuberosity and it inserts on the medial condyle and nearby margin of tibia; intercondylar fossa of femur and medial condyle of femur; and the ligament of the popliteal region (at the back of the knee). It arises by a thick tendon from the upper and outer impression on the ischial tuberosity, above and medial to the biceps femoris and semitendinosus.  The tendon of origin expands into an aponeurosis, which covers the upper part of the anterior surface of the muscle; from this aponeurosis, muscular fibers arise, and converge to another aponeurosis which covers the lower part of the posterior surface of the muscle and contracts into the tendon of insertion.  It is inserted mainly into the horizontal groove on the posterior medial aspect of the medial condyle of the tibia.  The semimembranosus is wider, flatter, and deeper than the semitendinosus (with which it shares very close insertion and attachment points).  The tendon of insertion gives off certain fibrous expansions: one, of considerable size, passes upward and laterally to be inserted into the posterior lateral condyle of the femur, forming part of the oblique popliteal ligament of the knee-joint; a second is continued downward to the fascia which covers the popliteus muscle; while a few fibers join the medial collateral ligament of the joint and the fascia of the leg.  The muscle overlaps the upper part of the popliteal vessels.

Innervation.

The semimembranosus is innervated by the tibial part of the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve consists of the anterior divisions of ventral nerve roots from L4 through S3. These nerve roots are part of the larger nerve network–the sacral plexus. The tibial part of the sciatic nerve is also responsible for innervation of semitendinosus and the long head of biceps femoris.

Variation.

It may be reduced or absent, or double, arising mainly from the sacrotuberous ligament and giving a slip to the femur or adductor magnus.

Function.

The semimembranosus helps to extend (straighten) the hip joint and flex (bend) the knee joint.  It also helps to medially rotate the knee: the tibia medially rotates on the femur when the knee is flexed. It medially rotates the femur when the hip is extended. The muscle can also aid in counteracting the forward bending at the hip joint.

The semimembranosus () is the most medial of the three hamstring muscles. It is so named because it has a flat tendon of origin. It lies posteromedially in the thigh, deep to the semitendinosus.

Le muscle semi-membraneux ("Musculus semimembranosus") est un muscle de la loge postérieure de la cuisse. Ce muscle appartient au groupe des muscles ischio-jambiers.


Etymology.

The word "yoke" is believed to derive from Proto-Indo-European *yugóm (yoke), from verb *yeug- (join, unite). This root has descendants, all meaning a yoke, in almost all known Indo-European languages including:

Neck or bow yoke.

A "bow yoke" is a shaped wooden crosspiece bound to the necks of a pair of oxen (or occasionally to horses). It is held on the animals' necks by an oxbow, from which it gets its name. The oxbow is usually U-shaped and also transmits force from the animals' shoulders. A swivel between the animals, beneath the centre of the yoke, attaches to the pole of a vehicle or to chains (traces) used to drag a load.  Bow yokes are traditional in Europe, and in the United States, Australia and Africa.

Head yoke.

A "head yoke" fits onto the head of the oxen. It usually fits behind the horns, and has carved-out sections into which the horns fit; it may be a single beam attached to both oxen, or each ox may have a separate short beam (see picture). The yoke is then strapped to the horns of the oxen with yoke straps. Some types fit instead onto the front of the head, again strapped to the horns, and ox pads are then used for cushioning the forehead of the ox. A tug pole is held to the bottom of the yoke using yoke irons and chains. The tug pole can either be a short pole with a chain attached for hauling, or a long pole with a hook on the end that has no chain at all. Sometimes the pole is attached to a wagon and the oxen are simply backed over this pole, the pole is then raised between them and a backing bolt is dropped into the chains on the yoke irons in order to haul the wagon.  Head yokes are widely used in southern Europe, much of South America and in Canada.

Withers yoke.

A "withers yoke" is a yoke that fits just in front of the withers, or the shoulder blades, of the oxen. The yoke is held in position by straps, either alone or with a pair of wooden staves on either side of the ox's withers; the pull is however from the yoke itself, not from the staves. Withers yokes particularly suit zebu cattle, which have high humps on their withers.  Withers yokes are widely used in Africa and India, where zebu cattle are common.

Comparison.

Although all three yoke types are effective, each has its advantages and disadvantages. As mentioned above, withers yokes suit zebu cattle, and head yokes can of course only be used for animals with suitable horns. Head yokes need to be re-shaped frequently to fit the animals' horns as they grow; unlike other types, a single-beam head yoke fixes the heads of the oxen apart, helping them to stand quietly without fighting. A single-beam head yoke may offer better braking ability on downhill grades and appears to be preferred in rugged mountainous areas such as Switzerland, Spain and parts of Italy. Bow yokes need to be the correct size for the animal, and new ones are often made as the animal grows, but they need no adjustment in use. Whichever type is used, various lengths of yoke may be required for different agricultural implements or to adjust to different crop-row spacings.

Single yoke.

A yoke may be used with a single animal. Oxen are normally worked in pairs, but water buffalo in Asian countries are commonly used singly, with the aid of a bow-shaped withers yoke. Use of single bow or withers yokes on oxen is documented from North America, China, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Switzerland, and several designs of single head or forehead yoke are recorded in Germany.

Symbolism.

The yoke has connotations of subservience and toiling; in some ancient cultures it was traditional to force a vanquished enemy to pass beneath a symbolic yoke of spears or swords. The yoke may be a metaphor for something oppressive or burdensome, such as feudalism, imperialism, corvée, tribute, or conscription, as in the expressions the "Norman Yoke" (in England), the "Tatar Yoke" (in Russia), or the "Turkish Yoke" (in the Balkans).  The metaphor can also refer to the state of being linked or chained together by contract or marriage, similar to a pair of oxen. This sense is also the source of the word yoga, as linking with the divine.  The yoke is frequently used metaphorically in the Bible, first in Genesis regarding Esau.  In the 20th century, the yoke and arrows became a political symbol of the Falange political movement in Spain.

A yoke is a wooden beam normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in different cultures, and for different types of oxen. A pair of oxen may be called a "yoke of oxen", and yoke is also a verb, as in "to "yoke" a pair of oxen". Other animals that may be yoked include horses, mules, donkeys, and water buffalo.

Le joug est une pièce de bois permettant d'atteler des animaux de trait en exploitant au mieux leur force de traction.


Biography.

Cruze's middle name came from the battle of Vera Cruz. He was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but did not practice the religion after his teenage years. Very little is certain about his childhood and teen years because he told a different story at every interview he granted.  Cruze acted in, directed and or produced over 100 films mainly during the silent film era. His first known acting job was at Lubin Manufacturing Company in 1910. He started at Thanhouser Company in 1911 with "She" (1911) which is where the majority of his body of work was produced, much of it as the leading man. He married the actress Marguerite Snow in 1913 and had a daughter with her in 1914. They divorced in 1922.  After leaving Thanhouser in 1916, he worked for several other companies as director and producer, primarily for Paramount Pictures, from 1918 to 1938. He married the actress Betty Compson in 1924 and they divorced in 1930. He married Alberta McCoy on 30 June 1941. McCoy survived him, and died in Hollywood on 7 July 1960.  Cruze struggled to regain his successes of the silent era when sound came to film. His career declined as he descended further into alcoholism and he ended his directing career at Republic Pictures. He spent the last four years of his life unemployed before he killed himself in 1942.  He is interred in the Abbey of the Psalms in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Filmography.

As Director (partial list)  As Actor

James Cruze (born Jens Vera Cruz Bosen, March 27, 1884 – August 3, 1942) was a silent film actor and film director.

James Cruze (né le à Ogden, Utah et mort le à Los Angeles) est un acteur, réalisateur, producteur et scénariste américain.


History.

The site of the cathedral was originally the residence of the Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces in the Qing dynasty. During the Second Opium War, the residence was completely destroyed and Viceroy Ye Mingchen was captured by the British. Based on the terms of an imperial edict issued by the Daoguang Emperor in February 1846 which promised compensation for churches destroyed and properties taken from the mission, the Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris obtained the site by signing an agreement with the Qing government on January 25, 1861. In his decree of approval, the Xianfeng Emperor wrote "from now on, war should be stopped and peace be sincerely kept forever".  With financial support from Napoleon III and donations from French Catholics, bishop Philippe François Zéphirin Guillemin, M.E.P. ), the first vicar apostolic of Guangdong, was in charge of the construction project. A French architect from Nancy,, was asked to design the cathedral, in collaboration with Charles Hyacinthe Humbert, also from Nancy, and Antoine Hermitte from Paris who together served as executive architects. Bishop Guillemin himself did not witness the completion of the cathedral, as he died at the age of 72 in Paris in 1886, two years before the cathedral was finished. The construction was then supervised by his successor, bishop Augustin Chausse, M.E.P. ().

Construction.

Construction of the foundation began on June 28, 1861, the Feast of the Sacred Heart, and concluded in 1863. On December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, with surrounding Chinese houses and streets decorated, a grand ceremony was held, attended by the Viceroy of Liangguang, all senior Mandarins, a detachment of 300 Manchu troops, all consuls in Canton as well as the missionaries and a score of priests. The bishop and the consul of France, Baron Gilbert de Trenqualye, delivered speeches. Two foundation stones were blessed and laid. The words "Jerusalem 1863" were engraved on the east one and "Roma 1863" on the west one, in reference to the Catholic Church's origin in Jerusalem in the east and evolution in Rome in the west. One kilogram of soil taken from Rome and one stone from Jerusalem were laid under the respective foundation stones.  The construction of the cathedral turned out to be very challenging, mostly because of its all-granite structure and the lack of machinery, which meant the cathedral had to be built by hand. None of the Chinese workers at that time had seen a western cathedral before, not to mention had any experience of building one. Communication was another major problem when the French and the Chinese didn't speak the other language. The construction progress was slow for the first few years. Eventually the French employed a Chinese named Cai Xiao () from Jiexi County as foreman. Cai had many years of experience in building stone houses in his hometown, which enabled him to bring in a lot of unique and creative methods. He barely left the site since being employed. The construction of the cathedral took most of his youth but was able to be finished in his lifetime.  The cathedral was constructed at a time when most local Cantonese, after suffering from the First and Second Opium Wars, still remained xenophobic. Tensions between the two sides often existed and conflicts and disputes were often solved by the bishop or the French consul taking the matters directly to senior officials in the province or Peking. On August 11, 1880, a fire broke out in the houses just outside the church's fence. Local residents tried to get water from wells located within the boundary of the cathedral's construction site, but they were denied by the workers. The argument turned into a fight and several people were injured in the subsequent crackdown by the Qing government. In the end the dispute was solved as the local community compensated the church for the allegedly damaged houses and stolen property in the chaos.  Due to the site chosen by the church, construction of the cathedral as well as its affiliated school, hospital and orphanage required the demolition of many houses and relocation of local residents. Meanwhile, in the 19th century, almost all houses in Canton were no more than 2 storeys high, so the high-rise cathedral and its pointed twin spires created an unusual scene among the city's skyline, which locals feared would influence the city's feng shui and consequently bring misfortune and disasters to its people. This resulted in more suspicion and resentment towards the church.  The cathedral was mostly funded by Napoleon III. When bishop Guillemin met him in Paris in 1858, the emperor, urged by his wife Eugénie, offered a personal grant of 500,000 francs. In 1873, a bill was passed in the National Assembly of France with 491 ayes against 100 nays, allocating another 75,000 francs to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be used on the cathedral.  The cathedral was finished in 1888 after 25 years of construction.

Architecture.

The facade of the cathedral was modelled on the Basilica of St. Clotilde in Paris and its nave and apse were inspired by the Toul Cathedral. The cathedral features a nave of 28.2 metres high, flanked by two lower aisles and 14 small side-chapels. With a floor area of 2,924 square metres, it is the largest Roman Catholic church in the Guangzhou archdiocese and the largest cathedral in the Gothic style in China and Southeast Asia. The cathedral is 32.85 metres wide, 77.17 metres long, and the twin towers rise 52.76 metres high. The west tower is a clock tower while the east tower serves as a bell tower, inside which there used to be five large bells shipped in from France in the 19th century, although nowadays only four remain as one was given to a local church in Guangxi province in the early 1980s.  The cathedral, like most of the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe, is built of solid masonry. It is one of the few churches in the world to be entirely built of granite, including all the walls, pillars and the twin towers. The stones were extracted from the quarries of the Four hills of Kowloon and were transported from Kowloon, Hong Kong by sailing ships.

Repairs.

Since its completion in 1888, the cathedral has undergone three major repairs. The first time was in the 1920s and 1930s, when then Bishop Antoine-Pierre-Jean Fourquet, M.E.P. (), replaced the timber roof, beams and steel staircases with concrete ones. A second repair took place after the Cultural Revolution in the 1980s. Recently between 2004 and 2006 the largest repair works were carried out. The church paid ¥3 million and local Catholics donated about ¥2 million for the ¥26 million project, while the rest was covered by the local government. The aim of the restoration was to solve the problem of leakage by rebuilding the whole roof, which was the most challenging task as the rib vault below needed to remain untouched and intact. Most of 19th century stained glass was damaged during wartime and smashed in the Cultural Revolution, so new stained glass was ordered from a Philippine company specialising in church glass. It resulted in the new stained glass carrying English descriptions instead of Latin and French texts of the original French glass. New lighting, audio and CCTV systems were also installed. The original French mechanical clock has long gone, so a new 750,000-yuan clock tailored for the clock tower was ordered from a Chinese clock factory.

Mass Times.

Weekdays: 06:45 (Cantonese) Saturday: 06:45 (Cantonese), 16:00 (Korean), 19:30 (Mandarin) Sunday: 07:00 (Cantonese), 08:30 (Cantonese), 10:30 (Mandarin), 15:30 (English)

The Sacred Heart Cathedral, properly the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and also known as the Stone House by locals, is a Gothic Revival Roman Catholic cathedral in Guangzhou, China. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Guangzhou. The cathedral is located at 56 Yide Road (in Chinese: 一德路56号), on the north bank of the Pearl River at the heart of the old town. It is one of the few cathedrals in the world to be entirely built of granite, including all the walls, pillars, and the twin towers.

La cathédrale du Sacré-Cœur de Jésus est d'architecture néogothique et sert de cathédrale pour l'archidiocèse de Canton en République populaire de Chine.


Biography.

Born in Lille to a bourgeois family of cloth merchants, Liénart was the second of the four children of Achille Philippe Hyacinthe Liénart and Louise Delesalle. He studied at College Saint-Joseph, the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, the "Institut Catholique de Paris", "Collège de Sorbonne", and the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on 29 June 1907, and then taught at the Seminary of Cambrai until 1910, and then at Lille until 1914. During World War I Liénart served as a chaplain to the French Army, and did pastoral work in his hometown from 1919 to 1928. As a priest, he championed social reform, trade unionism, and the Worker Priest movement.  On 6 October 1928 he was appointed Bishop of Lille by Pope Pius XI. Liénart received his episcopal consecration on the following December 8 from Bishop Charles-Albert-Joseph Lecomte of Amiens, with Bishops Palmyre Jasoone and Maurice Feltin serving as co-consecrators, in Tourcoing. He was created Cardinal Priest of "S. Sisto" by Pius XI in the consistory of 30 June 1930. By coincidence, one of the first priests he ordained, on 21 September 1929, was a certain Marcel Lefebvre. Liénart's and Lefebvre's paths were intertwined during the following years, even serving both on the Central Preparatory Commission for the Second Vatican Council. And it was Liénart who, as Cardinal, in 1947 consecrated Lefebvre (who had been appointed as Apostolic Vicar of Dakar in Senegal), to the Episcopate.  During the German occupation, Liénart initially supported Philippe Pétain, but was greatly opposed to Nazi Germany.  Liénart, who participated in the 1939 papal conclave, was elected President of the French Episcopal Conference in 1948, representing the Catholic Church in France, and remained in that post until 1964. An elector in the 1958 papal conclave, he was named the first Territorial Prelate of "Mission de France" on 13 November 1954 and later resigned from this post in 1964.  An active participant of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), Liénart was a leading liberal voice at the Council and sat on its Board of Presidency. When the Roman Curia, composed predominantly of conservative prelates, issued a list of nominees for the members of the Council's commissions, Liénart objected that nothing of the nominees' qualifications were included. Liénart, assisted by Cardinals Bernardus Johannes Alfrink and Giovanni Colombo, delivered one of the closing messages of the Council on 8 December 1965. He was also one of the cardinal electors in the 1963 papal conclave, which selected Pope Paul VI.  Liénart resigned as Lille's bishop on 14 March 1968, after forty years of service. He lost, on January 1, 1971, the right to participate in a conclave, having already reached age 80. After his death at age 89, he was buried in the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille.

Achille Liénart (7 February 1884—15 February 1973) was a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Lille from 1928 to 1968, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1930.

Achille Liénart, né le à Lille et mort le, communément désigné sous le titre cardinal Liénart, a été évêque de Lille pendant quarante ans. Une telle longévité est assez rare dans l'histoire de l'Église. Son soutien au syndicalisme chrétien lui valut le qualificatif de "cardinal rouge" qui ne recouvre pas cependant la totalité de son action, qui s'étendait à tous les milieux.