Background.

Because of the abundance of oil in the thick sedimentary rock layers beneath the Santa Barbara Channel, the region has been an attractive resource for the petroleum industry for more than a hundred years. The southern coast of Santa Barbara County was the location of the world's first offshore oil drilling, which took place from piers at the Summerland Oil Field in 1896, just from the spill site. An economic boom accompanied the development of the Summerland field, which transformed the spiritualist community of Summerland into an oil town in just a few years.  Oil development in the Channel and adjacent coastline was controversial even from the earliest days, as by the late 19th century the city was beginning to establish itself as a health resort and tourist destination with dramatic natural scenery, unspoiled beaches, and a perfect climate. In the late 1890s, when the Summerland field began to expand much closer to the city of Santa Barbara, a crowd of midnight vigilantes headed by local newspaper publisher Reginald Fernald tore down one of the more unsightly rigs erected on Miramar Beach itself (in 2010 the location of a luxury hotel). In 1927, the discovery of oil west of Santa Barbara led to the development of Ellwood Oil Field. This caused the city to be bracketed on east and west with oil fields, the new one a bonanza and the depleted Summerland field a largely abandoned, blighted waste. In 1929, the Mesa Oil Field was discovered within the city itself, on the blufftop adjacent to present-day Santa Barbara City College. Residential construction in the vicinity of the Mesa field halted, as oil presented easier and faster money to the land developers. Oil derricks sprouted on the hilltop within easy view of the harbor, on narrow town lots intended originally for houses. While local protests were vocal, they failed to shut down the oil development, as there was a city ordinance at the time specifically allowing drilling on the Mesa. The oil derricks only went away when production on the small Mesa field abruptly declined and ended in the late 1930s.  Improved technology gradually allowed drilling farther and farther from shore, and by the middle of the 20th century drilling was being carried out near Seal Beach, Long Beach, and in other areas on the Southern California coast from man-made islands built in shallow water close to shore. Nearer to the site of the oil spill, the first drilling island was built in 1958 by Richfield Oil Company. Named Richfield Island, now Rincon Island, it was constructed in of water near Punta Gorda, between Carpinteria and Ventura, to exploit the offshore portion of

Oil spill.

Blowout on Platform A.

Platform A was positioned in of water, from the shore at Summerland. It had 57 slots for wells from which it could drill directionally into the oil reservoir from different angles. At the time of the spill, it was one of twelve platforms already in the waters off California, and one of two operated by Union Oil in the Dos Cuadras field. Four oil wells had already been drilled from the new platform, though not yet put in production. Work on the fifth was under way.  On the morning of January 28, 1969, workers drilling the fifth well, A-21, reached its final depth of, attaining this depth in only 14 days. Of this depth, only the top had been fitted with a steel conductor casing; the rest was to be fitted with one once the drill bit was out. After the workers pulled the drill bit out, with some difficulty, an enormous spout of oil, gas, and drilling mud burst into the air into the rig, splattering the men with filth; several of them attempted to screw a blowout-preventer onto the pipe, but against a pressure of over, this proved to be impossible; all

Expansion of the spill.

The disturbances on the surface of the ocean, which began to appear only 14 minutes after the blowout, expanded during the next 24 hours. The largest was a dramatic boil-up about east of the platform; another smaller disturbance broke the ocean surface about west of the platform, and several smaller areas of bubbling could be observed around the platform itself. Even after the well was further plugged at the platform with drilling mud during the next week, these continued to boil up. Investigators later determined that oil and gas was emerging uncontrolled through five separate rips on the ocean floor.  The

Media coverage and public response.

Media coverage of the spill was intense from the moment the oil reached the shore. The spill was the major headline in many morning newspapers on February 5, also receiving wide coverage on radio and television. The same morning, a U.S. Senate subcommittee interviewed local officials as well as Fred Hartley, president of Union Oil, on the disaster in the making. Three major television networks were there along with over 50 reporters, the largest media turnout for any Senate subcommittee meeting since the Committee on Foreign Relations discussed the Vietnam War. During the meeting, local officials made their case that the Federal government had a conflict of

Continued spill.

Five days after workers killed Well A-21, on February 12, a Commercial Fisheries research vessel studying dissolved oxygen levels in the water made an unpleasant discovery: from the ocean floor itself, three large new boils of gas and oil were emerging from ruptures each about ten yards across, and a large slick was again accumulating on the ocean surface. Once again, an anonymous telephone call from a rig worker alerted the "Santa Barbara News-Press" to the existence of a new oil spill from the supposedly killed well – only now the oil was

President Nixon's visit; further oil development.

On March 21, President Nixon came to Santa Barbara to see the spill and cleanup efforts for himself. Arriving at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station, he then took a helicopter tour of the Santa Barbara Channel, Platform A, and the polluted, partially cleaned beaches. He landed in Santa Barbara and spoke to residents, promising to improve his handling of environmental problems, telling the crowd, "...the Santa Barbara incident has frankly touched the conscience of the American people." He also mentioned that he would consider a halt to all offshore drilling, and told assembled reporters that the Department of the Interior had expanded the former buffer zone in the Channel by an additional, and was converting the previous buffer zone into a permanent ecological preserve. However, on April 1, the ban was lifted, and drilling allowed to proceed on five leases in the

Consequences.

Environmental effects.

The environmental effects of the spill were immediate and dramatic. At least 3,686 birds died – those being the ones that were counted; an unknown number died unseen. Some marine mammals, such as sea lions and elephant seals died, although the numbers are unknown. Effects on other organisms varied. Fish populations seemed to be unaffected in the long term, although data from 1969 showed a drop in counts of several species. Authors of a Marine Fisheries Review study were unwilling to make a firm link with the oil spill, since other variables such as water temperature and a subsequent El Niño year could not be ruled out as causes of the divergence. Intertidal organisms such as barnacles ("Chthamalus fissus") were killed in large numbers, with mortality in some areas as high as 80 to 90 percent.  Overall, long-term environmental effects of the spill seemed to be minimal. In a "no strings attached" study funded by the Western Oil and Gas Association, through the Allan Hancock Foundation at the University of Southern California, the authors suggested several hypotheses for the lack of environmental damage to biologic resources in the Channel aside

Economic effects.

Economic effects of the spill were most severe during 1969, as all commercial fishing was suspended in the affected area, and tourism suffered a precipitous drop. Most ocean-related industries were affected in some way. Property damage along the shoreline was also considerable, since the storms had washed oil up beyond the normal

Policy consequences.

While the Santa Barbara oil spill was not the sole event which built the regulatory and legislative superstructure of the modern environmental movement in the United States – some prominent pieces of which include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act, and in California the California Coastal Commission and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) – it was one of the most dramatic and visible of the several key events that led up to those changes. Through the 1960s, industrial pollution and its consequences had come more and more to the public attention, commencing with Rachel Carson's 1962 book "Silent Spring" and including such events as the passage of the Water Quality Act, the campaign to ban DDT, the creation of the National Wilderness Preservation System, the 1967 Torrey Canyon tanker accident which devastated coastal areas in both England and France, and the burning of the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. At the time, the Santa Barbara spill was the largest oil spill ever in U.S. waters, and its occurrence during a fierce battle

Moratoria and bans on offshore leasing and drilling.

The California State Lands Commission has not granted any new leases for offshore drilling within its jurisdiction – out to the limit – since 1969, although existing operations, such as at Platform Holly on the Ellwood field and Rincon Island on the Rincon field, have been allowed to continue. A proposal to slant drill into the state-controlled zone from an existing platform outside of it, on the Tranquillon Ridge, was rejected in 2009 by the State Lands Commission by a 2–1 vote.  The issue of drilling beyond the three-mile limit, in federal waters of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), has been more complicated. Production from existing leases has been allowed almost without break since the spill, as well as new drilling from

Environmental Rights Day.

Roughly three months before Earth Day, Santa Barbara celebrated Environmental Rights Day on January 28, 1970, the first anniversary of the oil blowout. Here the Declaration of Environmental Rights, created by Rod Nash, was read. The same people who organized this event, led by Marc McGinnes, had been working closely

Earth Day.

The aftermath of the spill inspired then-Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin to organize what came to be known as "Earth Day", when he succeeded in amassing

Present day.

Platform A remains in the Santa Barbara Channel along with its three siblings, Platforms B, C, and Hillhouse, still pumping oil from the largely depleted field. As of 2010, the Dos Cuadras Field has produced 260 million barrels of oil; the Minerals Management Service estimated in 2010 that remaining in the field are recoverable with present technology.  The current operator of the drilling platform, along with the other three platforms on the Dos Cuadras field, is the private firm DCOR LLC, of Ventura, California. They acquired Platform A from Plains Exploration & Production in 2005. DCOR is the fourth company to run the platform since Unocal sold its Santa Barbara Channel operations in 1996.

The Santa Barbara oil spill occurred in January and February 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel, near the city of Santa Barbara in Southern California. It was the largest oil spill in United States waters by that time, and now ranks third after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon and 1989 Exxon Valdez spills. It remains the largest oil spill to have occurred in the waters off California.


Structure.

The composition of this multienzyme may vary depending on the organism. The multiprotein complex RNA degradosome in "E. coli" consists of 4 canonical components:  There are some alternate forms of the RNA degradosome with different proteins that have been reported. Supplementary alternate degradosome components are PcnB (poly A polymerase) and the RNA helicases RhlE and SrmB. Other alternate components during cold shock include RNA helicase CsdA. Additional alternate degradosome components during stationary phase include Rnr (RNase R) and the putative RNA helicase HrpA. Ppk (polyphosphate kinase) is another constituent that has been reported to be part of the complex, the same as RNA chaperone Hfq, PAP (prostatic acid phosphatase), other kinds of chaperones and ribosomal proteins. These have been found in cell-extracted degradosome preparations from "E. coli".  The structure of RNA degradosome is not as rigid as it seems to be in the picture because this one is only a model to understand how it works. The RNA degradosome's structure is dynamic and each component interacts with the components that are close to it. So the structure is like a molecular domain where RNA can interact as a substrate with each of the components and when this happens, it is really difficult for RNA to scape from the complex.

Functions.

The RNA degradosome is a huge multi-enzyme association that is involved in RNA metabolism and post-transcriptional control of gene expression in numerous bacteria such as "Escherichia coli" and "Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis". The multi-protein complex also serves as a machine for processing structured RNA precursors in the course of their maturation.  RNA helicase is considered to help in the process of degradation to develop the double helix structure in RNA stem-loops. Occasionally, copurification of rRNA with degradosome is appreciated, which suggests that the complex may take part in rRNA and mRNA degradation. There is very few clear information about the role of degradosome. Looking into the steps of the degradation of a transcript in "E. coli", what is known is that in the first place the endoribonucleases can cleave the substracts so that later on the exoribonucleases can work on the products. RhIB has very little activity by itself but the interaction with RNAse E can stimulate it. The role of enolase in the degradation process of RNA is still not properly described, apparently it helps the complex to be more specific during the process of degradation.  One particularly intriguing aspect of the bacterial RNA degradosome is the presence of metabolic enzymes in many of the studied complexes. In addition to the enolase enzyme present in the "E. coli" degradosome, the metabolic enzymes aconitase and phosphofructokinase have been identified in the "C. crescentus" and "B. subtilis" degradosomes respectively. The reason for the presence of these enzymes is currently unclear.

Degradosome activation.

This multi-protein complex is stimulated by a non-coding RNA, called miRNA in Eukaryotic cells and sRNA in bacteria. Small sequences of aminoacid are usually used to target mRNA for its destruction. From here, there are two ways to do it: targeting "translation-initiation region" (TIR) or "coding DNA sequence" (CDS). Firstly, to attach sRNA to targeted mRNA a Hfq (chaperone protein) is needed. Once the attachment is done, if the complex Hfq-sRna ends on TIR, it blocks "ribosome binding site" (RBS) so ribosomes can not translate, and activates nucleases (RNase E) to eliminate mRNA. Another possibility is ending on another region, that makes the complex work as a finisher point of the translation. This way, the ribosomes can do their job of decoding, process that stops when they arrive to the complex, where all the destruction procedure is switched on.

RNA degradation.

The RNA's destruction process is very complicated. To make it easier to understand, we use as an example the mRNA degradation procedure in Escherichia coli because it is the best known process. It is mediated mainly by endo- and ribo- nucleases. The enzymes RNase II and PNPase (polynucleotide phosphorylase) degrade mRNA in a 3'→5' way. The degradosome has 4 compartments that have several ribonucleases. Initially, the synthesized RNA is a polyphosphate structure. This is why the dephosphorylation is needed, in order to obtain monophosphate by the action of a RNA pyrophosphohydrolase PppH. The transcripts have two parts: the phosphate terminal (P-terminal) and a stem-loop structure as an end. The P-terminal is endoribonucleolytically cleavaged by RNase E, while the stem-loop is digested by RNA helicases. If there are any secondary structures, the performance of polymerase PAP is needed to simplify the reduction by exoribonucleases such as PNPase. Finally, the scraps are processed by oligoribonucleases.  The process is analogous in other species and only changes in the enzymatic machinery. For example, bacillus subtilis instead of using RNase E as the endo-ribonuclease, it uses RNase Y or RNase J or in the archaea is used an exosome (vesicle) to this job.

Evolution.

The degradosome, which is dynamic in conformation, variable in composition and non-essential under determined laboratory conditions, has nevertheless been maintained throughout the evolution of many bacterial species (Archaea, Eukaryote, Escherichia coli, Mitochondria, etc.), due most likely to its diverse contributions in global cellular regulation. It has been exeperimentally demonstrated that the presence of degradosome is a selective benefit for "E. coli".  Degradosome-like structures have been thought to be part of many γ-proteobactria and have actually been found in other remote bacterial lineages. They are built upon RNase E. However, the composition of these degradosome-like assemblies is not always the same, it may be different on some proteic components.

The RNA degradosome of "E. coli".

Humans and other animals have "E. coli" as a commensal in their intestinal tract. It is one of the most studied organisms at laboratories and it has been a useful model for understanding genetic regulation in bacteria and other domains of life. The RNA degradosome of "E. coli" is a structure that plays diverse roles in RNA metabolism. It shares homologous components and functional analogy with similar assemblies found in all domains of life. One of its components is an ATP-dependent motor that is activated through protein-protein interactions and cooperates with the ribonucleases in an energy-dependent mode of RNA degradation.  "E. coli" does not have a 5'→3' degradation pathway. Its mRNA does not have 5' capped ends and there are not any 5'→3' exonucleases known. The same thing happens to other eubacteria, hence the 5'→3' degradation pathway could be an exclusive treat of eukaryotic cells.

The degradosome is a multiprotein complex present in most bacteria that is involved in the processing of ribosomal RNA and the degradation of messenger RNA and is regulated by Non-coding RNA. It contains the proteins RNA helicase B, RNase E and Polynucleotide phosphorylase.


Life.

Wilder's father was a printer. Raymond was musically inclined. He played cornet in the family orchestra, which performed at dances and fairs, and accompanied silent films on the piano.  He entered Brown University in 1914, intending to become an actuary. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Navy as an ensign. Brown awarded him his first degree in 1920, and a master's degree in actuarial mathematics in 1921. That year, he married Una Maude Greene; they had four children, thanks to whom they have ample descent.  Wilder chose to do his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, the most fateful decision of his life. At Texas, Wilder discovered pure mathematics and topology, thanks to the remarkable influence of Robert Lee Moore, the founder of topology in the US and the inventor of the Moore method for teaching mathematical proof. Moore was initially unimpressed by the young actuary, but Wilder went on to solve a difficult open problem that Moore had posed to his class. Moore suggested Wilder write up the solution for his Ph.D. thesis, which he did in 1923, titling it "Concerning Continuous Curves". Wilder thus became the first of Moore's many doctoral students at the University of Texas.  After a year as an instructor at Texas, Wilder was appointed assistant professor at the Ohio State University in 1924. That university required that its academic employees sign a loyalty oath, which Wilder was very reluctant to sign because doing so was inconsistent with his lifelong progressive political and moral views.  In 1926, Wilder joined the faculty of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he supervised 26 Ph.Ds and became a Research Professor in 1947. During the 1930s, he helped settle European refugee mathematicians in the United States. Mathematicians who rubbed shoulders with Wilder at Michigan and who later proved prominent included Samuel Eilenberg, the cofounder of category theory, and the topologist Norman Steenrod. After his 1967 retirement from Michigan at the rather advanced age of 71, Wilder became a research associate and occasional lecturer at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  Wilder was vice president of the American Mathematical Society, 1950–1951, president 1955–1956, and the Society's Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecturer in 1969. He was president of the Mathematical Association of America, 1965–1966, which awarded him its Distinguished Service Medal in 1973. He was elected to the American National Academy of Sciences in 1963. Brown University (1958) and the University of Michigan (1980) awarded him honorary doctorates. The mathematics department at the University of California annually bestows one or more graduating seniors with an award in Wilder's name.  The historical, philosophical, and anthropological writings of Wilder's later years suggest a warm, colorful personality. Raymond (2003) attests to this having been the case. For instance:

The topologist.

Wilder's thesis set out a new approach to the Schönflies programme, which aimed to study positional invariants of sets in the plane or 2-sphere. A positional invariant of a set "A" with respect to a set "B" is a property shared by all homeomorphic images of "A" contained in "B". The best known example of such a positional invariant is embodied in the Jordan curve theorem: A simple closed curve in the 2-sphere has precisely two complementary domains and is the boundary of each of them. A converse to the Jordan curve theorem, proved by Schönflies, states that a subset of the 2-sphere is a simple closed curve if it: In his "A converse of the Jordan-Brouwer separation theorem in three dimensions" (1930), Wilder showed that a subset of Euclidean 3-space whose complementary domains satisfied certain homology conditions was a 2-sphere.  Around 1930, Wilder moved from set-theoretic topology to algebraic topology, calling in 1932 for the unification of the two areas. He then began an extensive investigation of the theory of manifolds, e.g., his "Generalized closed manifolds in "n"-space" (1934), in effect extending the Schönflies programme to higher dimensions. This work culminated in his "Topology of Manifolds" (1949), twice reprinted, whose last three chapters discuss his contributions to the theory of positional topological invariants.

The philosopher.

During the 1940s, Wilder met and befriended the University of Michigan anthropologist Leslie White, whose professional curiosity included mathematics as a human activity (White 1947). This encounter proved fateful, and Wilder's research interests underwent a major change, towards the foundations of mathematics. This change was foreshadowed by his 1944 article "The nature of mathematical proof," and heralded by his address to the 1950 International Congress of Mathematicians, titled "The cultural basis of mathematics," which posed the questions: In 1952, he wrote up his course on foundations and the philosophy of mathematics into a widely cited text, "Introduction to the foundations of mathematics".  Wilder's "Evolution of mathematical concepts. An elementary study" (1969) proposed that "we study mathematics as a human artifact, as a natural phenomenon subject to empirical observation and scientific analysis, and, in particular, as a cultural phenomenon understandable in anthropological terms." In this book, Wilder wrote: Wilder's last book, "Mathematics as a cultural system" (1981), contained yet more thinking in this anthropological and evolutionary vein.  Wilder's eclectic and humanist perspective on mathematics appears to have had little influence on subsequent mathematical research. It has, however, had some influence on the teaching of mathematics and on the history and philosophy of mathematics. In particular, Wilder can be seen as a precursor to the work of Howard Eves, Evert Willem Beth, and Davis and Hersh (1981). Wilder's call for mathematics to be scrutinized by the methods of social science anticipates some aspects of "Where Mathematics Comes From", by George Lakoff and Rafael Nunez. For an introduction to the limited anthropological research on mathematics, see the last chapter of Hersh (1997).

Bibliography.

Books by Wilder:  Biographical:  Related work cited in this entry:

Raymond Louis Wilder (3 November 1896 in Palmer, Massachusetts – 7 July 1982 in Santa Barbara, California) was an American mathematician, who specialized in topology and gradually acquired philosophical and anthropological interests.


Biography.

Astrid Paster and Franziska Pauli lived in the small Bavarian village of Neufang, which had only 40 inhabitants. They played guitar and steirische harmonikas since childhood. They said that they were such good friends that they could be considered twins.  The duo demonstrated the unique talent of performing while rollerblading. They explained: "The idea came about by accident. We used to perform music in the evenings at Astrid's father's health resort hotel, and [once] while we were out on rollerskates in the middle of the day, the guests asked us to take our accordions out". It was at that hotel that they were discovered by DJ Ötzi's producer Christian Seitz. As he said, "[t]he girls were so brilliant that I signed them the same evening".  On March 6, 2009, the Twinnies (then aged 12 and 13) released their debut album "Wir rocken auf Rollen" ("We Rock on Rolls") on Sony BMG. The album contained songs written for them by DJ Ötzi's producers Seitz and Martin Neumeyer. Franciska explained: "We told the two which topics we would like to sing about. That included our passion for long talks, as well as fashion and karaoke parties".  On March 7, 2009, they debuted on television, on the ARD folk music program "Musikantenstadl". Their performance (with accordions on rollerblades) brought them instant fame. A video of the duo on that day's show (they sang a song "Bayernmädels" from their debut album) is now popular on YouTube, having attracted over 14 million views by the end of 2017.

Members.

The members of the group were:

Twinnies was a musical duo from Bavaria consisting of Astrid Paster and Franziska Pauli. They were noted for singing and playing their accordions while rollerblading.


Career.

In 1835, he was elected to Toronto City Council of the year-old city of Toronto and was chosen to be mayor. He added a business-like atmosphere to council with the official 'robes of office'. The Council worked on matters like tax rates, grants and the removal of 'filth and nuisances from the city streets'. On May 6, 1835, Council's Committee on draining and paving approved construction of the city's first main sewer on King Street into which all drains and sewers were to be connected.  In 1836, actions by new Lieutenant Governor Francis Bond Head triggered the resignation of the members of the Executive Council for the province. Sullivan accepted an appointment to the council. In the same year, he became the commissioner of crown lands. In 1839, he was appointed surveyor general of the province and became a member of the Legislative Council. Although criticized by many as a turncoat, he was an able administrator.  He supported the union of Upper and Lower Canada and was appointed to the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada. He served briefly as the first Commissioner of Crown Lands for the united province February 10, 1841 – June 30, 1841.  In 1848, he was appointed to the Queen's Bench. Judge Sullivan died April 14, 1853, in Toronto. He was buried on the Baldwin family estate, now the grounds of Spadina House in Toronto.

Family.

Baldwin was born in Bandon, County Cork in the Ireland in 1802 and came to York, Upper Canada with his family in 1819. He studied law and was called to the bar in 1828. He moved to Vittoria, then the district town of the London District, and married in 1829, but returned to York after his wife's death in 1830.  Sullivan remarried in 1833, marrying Emily Louisa Delatre, daughter of Lieut.-Col. Philip Delatre, 1st Ceylon Regiment, and his second wife, Amey Scolding December 24, 1833. Emily Louisa was born in Ceylon. The couple had four sons and five daughters.  Emily Louisa remarried June 14, 1875, as the second wife of the Hon. Sir Francis Hincks, C.B., K.C.M.G., formerly Premier of the Province of Canada and, subsequently, Governor of the Windward Islands and of British Guiana. Lady Hincks died in Montreal May 14, 1880, aged 64. Sir Francis Hincks died in Montreal, August 18, 1885.

Robert Baldwin Sullivan, (May 24, 1802 – April 14, 1853), was an Irish-Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician who became the second Mayor of Toronto, Upper Canada.


History.

In 1996, Dale Gagner and his associate Jonnie Stewart, former American Wrestling Association (AWA) employees, began using the AWA name in the state of Minnesota, falsely claiming with the authorization from the Minnesota Secretary of State, and formed an organization known as AWA Superstars of Wrestling. They began the organization as a continuation of the American Wrestling Association, which closed in 1991.  By 2005, the organization began to franchise the AWA Superstars of Wrestling name, selling memberships to existing independent promotions around the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Japan. Several members of AWA Superstars of Wrestling were former members of the National Wrestling Alliance. In 2007, most of the memberships were terminated by Dale Gagner after defrauding members. Gagner and Stewart then began co-promoting shows with a small number of regional promoters instead.

Lawsuit, renaming and reorganization.

On April 26, 2007 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) filed a lawsuit against Dale Gagner, citing trademark infringement, as WWE owned some American Wrestling Association properties due to their purchase after the AWA's closure.  In a move to sidestep WWE, Jonnie Stewart, with the help of a Chicago-based copyright law firm, attempted to trademark the name "American Wrestling Alliance" instead.  On October 29, 2008, a settlement was reached between Gagner and WWE. The court ruling prohibits Gagner from use of the AWA name or any other derivatives. As a result, the organization was renamed to Wrestling Superstars Live. In a press release sent out October 30, 2007, the organization announced that it will no longer sanction independent territories. Gagner and Stewart noted that each of the remaining territories would be individually assessed.

Championships.

When the organization was formed in 1996, Wrestling Superstars Live claimed the lineages and names of original American Wrestling Association Championships. However, following WWE's filed lawsuit against Gagner and Stewart, AWA Wrestling Superstars Live championship reigns are recognized from 1996 and forward.

Members.

Wrestling Superstars Live had members in the United States, Canada, England and Australia.

Wrestling Superstars - Live! was a governing body for a group of independent professional wrestling promotions and sanctioned various championships. It was founded in 1996 by Dale Gagner and Jonnie Stewart.


History.

From foundation to the 17th century.

The central tower and oldest part of the castle was built in the 13th century, though it may have been built around an earlier 12th-century tower. It was built for the Lords of Rietberg, who in 1286 were vassals of the Freiherr von Sax-Misox. In the 14th century they became vassals of the Bishop of Chur. At that time they held the castle and estates in Schams, Chur and Oberhalbstein and were the bishop's representative in Oberhalbstein and Oberengadin. The last male member of the Rietberg line, Johann von Reitberg, attempted to guarantee that the castle and his estates would pass to his wife, Berta von Rhäzüns, and to his relative Hermann von Landenberg. However, after his death in 1349 the Bishop of Chur claimed the castle. In 1353 he succeed in forcing the Landenbergs to sign away their claim to the castle and estates. Other claims to the castle continued to simmer until 1388 then the Bishop paid off the Lords of Rhäzüns and Lumerins to settle their claims.  The Bishop used the castle, its estates and the office of vogt as collateral for loans from a number of wealthy families or as a reward for gifts from those same families. In 1384 Eglolf von Juvalt lived in the castle. In 1398 the bishop mortgaged the castle to Jakob von Castelmur for 500 silver marks. It was mortgaged again in 1409 to Conradin Rambach and the cathedral chapter, again in 1426 to Bartolomäus Planta and in 1447 to Hans Wellenberg. In 1450 it was mortgaged to Hans Ringg, who passed it to his son Wilhelm in 1483. It continued to used as collateral into the 16th and 17th centuries. Around 1530 it went to Anton von Travers, followed by Hercules von Salis in 1554. In 1617 it came to the Planta family.

Murder of Pompeius Planta.

During the "Bündner Wirren", the castle was home to Pompeius Planta who was a prominent member of the Catholic, pro-Habsburg faction in the Three Leagues. In 1618, the young radical Jörg Jenatsch became a member of the court of 'clerical overseers' and a leader of the anti-Habsburg faction. The popular court in Thusis, which was associated with the overseers, outlawed many leading men from the pro-Habsburg faction, notably Rudolf Planta and his brother Pompeius Planta. With the support of the anti-Habsburg court, armed mobs attacked and arrested several pro-Habsburg leaders including the archpriest Nicholas Rusca and the provost Johann Baptista who was known as Zambra. The Planta brothers escaped the mob, but their estates were burned. The mobs brought the captured men to the court in Thusis. Zambra was accused of conspiring with the Spanish, convicted and executed. Nicholas Rusca was beaten and died before the court could sentence him to death. The court also handed down 157 convictions against men who had escaped the mobs.  In 1620, Catholic forces attacked and killed between 500 and 600 Protestants in the Valtellina valley. Around the same time Pompeius Planta returned to Rietburg believing that enough time had passed. However, on 24 February 1621, a force of anti-Habsburg troops led by Jörg Jenatsch assembled to attack the castle in retaliation for the killings in Valtellina. Early in the morning on 25 February, the troops attacked the castle and killed Pompeius Planta as he attempted to flee. According to one version of the story, Pompeius attempted to hide in a chimney, but was discovered by a dog. He was attacked by the raiders and killed by Jenatsch with an axe. Years later, Jenatsch converted to Catholicism and on 24 January 1639, he was killed during Carnival in Chur by an unknown attacker who was dressed as a bear. The attacker may have been a son of Pompeius Planta or an assassin hired by the local aristocracy. According to legend he was killed by the same axe that he used on Pompeius.

After the 17th century.

In 1617 the castle and associated titles were shared between the Salis family and Pompeius Planta, who had married into the Salis family. After his death, the ownership remained divided until 1664 when the Salis family sold their share to Christoph von Rosenroll for 9000 gulden. Christoph's son sold the half share to the Buol family in 1670. Nearly a century later, in 1758, the Buols bought the Planta family's share and became the sole owner of the castle.  In 1798 Johann von Buol-Schauenstein sold the castle to his brother, the Bishop of Chur Karl Rudolf. The Bishop's plans to turn the castle into a seminary ended with the 1798 French invasion of Switzerland and the end of the Prince-Bishops' power under the Helvetic Republic. In the 19th century it passed through a number of owners before ending up with the Casparis family in 1822. In 1917 it was inherited by a branch of the Planta family. Today it is privately owned by the Hämmerle family.

Castle site.

The rectangular tower from the 13th century has walls that are up to thick. The original entrance was probably on the third story of this tower. the tower crenelations were filled in on three sides during the 18th century. The current tower roof was added in the last century. The tower is flanked to the north by two residential buildings which have medieval foundations. However, they were completely rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries. The current appearance of the castle dates back to the 17th century. The cistern, in the courtyard north-east of the tower, was built during the Middle Ages. A Baroque round tower was built over the cistern in the 17th century. Today the cistern can be reached by tunnel from the residential wing. In the 17th century a crenelated ring wall was added to the castle.

Rietberg Castle is a castle in the municipality of Pratval of the Canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance. It was the site of the murder of Pompeius Planta in 1621 by Jörg Jenatsch during the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants known as the Bündner Wirren.


Description.

The Christmas Island shrew, like other members of the genus "Crocidura", is a small short-legged mammal with a distinct pointed muzzle. It has a dark grey to reddish brown coloring. Like all other shrews, the Christmas Island shrew resembles a mouse and weighs in a range between 4.5g-6g. The Christmas Island shrew varies from other forms of the species in that it is beset with long fine hairs, and its tail is much greater in length. The typical lifespan for its genus is approximately one year, but Crocidurine shrews have been reported to live for up to two years in the wild.

Habitat.

The Christmas Island shrew is a terrestrial animal that occupies tall plateau rainforests with deep soil, as well as the shallow soil of terrace rainforests. It remains unknown if the species can live in secondary growth. This shrew feeds primarily on small beetles and uses holes in rocks and tree roots for shelter.

Status.

The most recent specimens of "C. trichura" were found in 1985, although a survey conducted fifteen years later failed to find any individuals. The current population trend is unknown.  According to Version 3.1 of the IUCN's criteria for critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable species, "C. trichura" is critically endangered and possibly extinct.

Causes for endangerment.

There is conclusive evidence that "Crocidura trichura" has declined dramatically since 1900, yet the reason is unproven. After an unconfirmed sighting in 1958, it was rediscovered in 1985 when two specimens were caught. The two individuals later died. Several unconfirmed reports occurred between 1996 and 1998 but a survey undertaken in 2000 failed to find any individuals. The reasons for the population's reduction are unknown but potential threats include disease, habitat loss, habitat alteration due to invasive weeds, predation from species such as cats and black rats, small population size, and mortality from road traffic. Its disappearance in recent times might be caused by the accidentally introduced yellow crazy ant ("Anoplolepis gracilipes"), which is a dangerous threat for many terrestrial animals on Christmas Island.

Trypanosoma disease.

The theory of Durham (1908) and Pickering and Norris (1996) report that the decline of two endemic rats may be attributed to the infection of the Christmas Island shrew, according to local researchers. This forest dwelling mammal was at first thought to have vanished by 1908, probably due to a trypanosoma disease carried by introduced black rats, which is also considered a likely cause of the extinctions of Maclear's rat and the bulldog rat. The initial drop in "C. trichura"’s population size occurred around the same time as the introduction of the "Rattus rattus" (the black rat), which carried a murid trypanosome. Evidence of the black rat and/or the parasite causing the Christmas Island shrew's population decline is not solid.

"Gecarcoidea natalis".

Another theory on the decline of "Crocidura trichura" is linked to the demise of the two endemic rats, and the competition left amongst the Christmas Island shrew and the Christmas Island red crab ("Gecarcoidea natalis") for leaf litter resources. The decline of predator rat species allowed for the quickened rise of "G. natalis", a usual prey of the rats. This could have forced "C. trichura" into new habitats such as tree canopies, or sites with low crab abundances. The population of "C. trichura" may have been pressured by their vulnerability during weaning. They left the nest immediately and tended to aimlessly wander as juveniles, making them vulnerable to predation by crabs.

Recovery.

The Australian Government has adopted a recovery plan for the Christmas Island shrew consisting of two stages of objectives  Stage 1: Stage 2: The Australian Government also believes that habitat protection from or eradication of the Yellow Crazy Ant is vital in order for the species to fully recover. The Yellow Ant is known to be extremely destructive to the ecosystem on Christmas Island, often killing land crabs, endemic reptiles, and a wide range of native invertebrate. The Yellow Crazy Ants are believed to be a danger to all mammals, birds, and reptiles on the island because the ants either act as predators to the species or deplete its resources and destroy the habitat in which the species lives, causing loss of life in both scenarios.

The Christmas Island shrew ("Crocidura trichura"), also known as the Christmas Island musk-shrew is an extremely rare or possibly extinct shrew from Christmas Island. It was variously placed as subspecies of the Asian gray shrew ("Crocidura attenuata") or the Southeast Asian shrew ("Crocidura fuliginosa"), but morphological differences and the large distance between the species indicate that it is an entirely distinct species.


History.

Up until the arrival of the Spanish Missionaries, the region was a series of native villages built around two different natural springs. The natives were then drafted to Mission San Gabriel and Mission San Juan Capistrano, which was later known as "Rancho San Joaquin", until it went into debt and was sold in 1864 to James Irvine, a financier from San Francisco, along with three other ranchers, however in 1876, when their sheep stock began to fail from drought, poor wool, and the increasingly competitive marketplace, James Irvine bought out his partners prior to his death. His son, James Irvine II, then inherited the ranch and began to expand the production of the land by leasing it to agriculturally diverse farmers, and formed "The Irvine Company" in 1894. Being a favorite spot to James Irvine II, he allowed his friends and family as well as employees to build cottages on the area that we now refer to as Crystal Cove. As cottages began to undergo renovations and become more permanent residences, the owners were offered a choice by the Irvine Company to either move the cottages elsewhere or to hand over ownership and allow them to be leased by the company. These cottages were developed by the Irvine Company and the location was called the Crystal Cove Community. In 1927, the Irvine Co. leased a portion of the area to a businessman who sold propane to coastal farmers and became a camping site named "Tyrone's Camp". Trailers replaced tent camping in the 1940s and in 1954, it was renamed El Morro. About 290 mobile home trailers on the beachfront and inland area were primary homes for some families up to four generations. In 2006, after 26 years of litigation, the California Coastal Commission, who purchased the property in 1979, evicted the tenants and demolished the El Morro Village mobile home park converting the private community into a day-use and overnight campground. The area was renovated to also include a visitors center for tourist information, dining areas along the beachfront, cultural center, museums and the Park and Marine Research Facility. The Crystal Cove Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places site, inside the park contains 46 beach cottages from the 1920s and 1930s, of which 29 have been restored. 21 of these cottages are available for rent. The house from the Bette Midler movie "Beaches" is located in Crystal Cove. One of the fun traditions at the restaurant in the Crystal Cove Historic District has its historical roots dating back to the 1940s. "Cove-ite's", Crystal Cove residents, led by Doc Shearer, who also was the leader of Los Angeles's Shriners' Top Hat Band, would salute the raising of Doc's Martini flag as Doc Shearer played reveille on his trumpet. That historic moment is re-created every day at 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM, by the Beachcomber Restaurant to signal the official start of cocktail hour and the serving of Martinis.  Crystal Cove has long been a source of inspiration for plein air painters, a type of landscape painting that originated in France. Early plein air painters documented Orange County's coastline, and Crystal Cove, in particular, with their paintings. In homage to the movement, one of the cottages at Crystal Cove is called "Painter's Cottage." The area continues to attract landscape painters.

Recreation.

Crystal Cove is used by mountain bikers inland and scuba and skin divers underwater. The beach is popular with swimmers and surfers. Lifeguard services at Crystal Cove are provided by the California State Parks Lifeguard Service. Lifeguards patrol the beach year-round while lifeguard towers are staffed roughly Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. The offshore waters are designated as a Marine Conservation area as well as a underwater park. Visitors can explore tidepools and sandy coves.  In addition to the beach, the park has of undeveloped woodland inland of the coast highway, which is popular for hiking and horseback riding. The park has a total of 17 different hiking trails that branch off of 3 centralized routes, and guests are allowed to use them for hiking as well as cycling and horseback riding.  The grounds are also available for camping. There are 34 different lots spread across the 3 designated backpacking camping areas, including the Upper Morro, Lower Moro & Deer Canyon campsites. None are accessible by car, only by hike, and are for up to 4 people per site. No pets are allowed. No fires are allowed in the backcountry campsites.

Wildlife of Crystal Cove State Park.

Crystal Cove State Park has a registered 180 different species of birds that can be observed throughout the entire year, seasonally, or a few times per year. Some of the birds seen regularly include the Turkey Vulture, Mourning Dove, Ring Billed Gull, the Common Raven, the Greater Roadrunner, Quail and the House Sparrow. Along with registered birds, there are roughly 26 registered reptiles of Crystal Cove State Park, and 10 of which are commonly seen by visitors. These include the Silvery Legless Lizard, Arboreal Salamander, Pacific Tree Frog, Red Diamond Rattlesnake, Gopher Snake, southern Pacific Rattlesnake, California King Snake, Side Blotched Lizard, Western Fence Lizard, and the San Diego Horned Lizard.

Crystal Cove State Park is a state park of California, United States, encompassing of Pacific coastline, inland chaparral canyons, and the Crystal Cove Historic District of beach houses. The park is located in Newport Beach. Crystal Cove is a stretch of coastal cliffs and a beachfront cove situated between the Pacific Coast Highway and the Pacific Ocean just north of Laguna Beach. The park was established in 1979. The entire park hosts a total of 3 miles of beaches and tide pools, a 1,400 acre marine Conservation Area as well as underwater park, 400 acres of bluffs, and 2,400 acres of canyons.


Style and Technique.

Ahmet Güneştekin realizes his works by adopting diverse methods. Gradient optics, dimensional canvases, flat canvases, sun explosions and installations expose his main approach that is to stay out of conventional practices applied on canvas. His art works are composed of charming colours, intricately combined layers, and the tales of the ancient times. The Kurdish artist thinks that mythology is the source of all beginnings. Yedizim, as of a dualist religion, has first emerged in the ancient Mesopotamia, rests on the belief that people make distinctions between the good and the evil. The narratives of the culture and its peculiar imitations spontaneously offer precise choices.  However, Güneştekin aims not only to convey messages, also he tries to reveal his own mythology and truths, by expressing himself painting and narrating the diversity of the culture. The characters of the myths he draw are also the ancient characters of the Greek mythology. For Güneştekin, there actually appears no difference between Shahmeran, one of the ancient mythological creatures of Mesopotamia and Medusa in Greek mythology. The effect of embroidery can be best observed in artist’s recent paintings. The drawings and the circles are combined in one geometric structure, and the uses of the colours radically effect the eye. They also provide a narrative, for the symbols and emotions put forward all these elements in the paintings. The refined and meticulously cultivated colour palettes and drawings which they have comprised in harmony are the base of Güneştekin’s works.  Mesopotamia, where the artist was born, and Anatolia, the mythological creatures such as Phoenix or the Peacock Angel, form Güneştekin’s most important source of inspiration. The glowing sun marks his peculiar signature. His method of oil painting is a model that reveals itself in adopting embroiderer’s patient work that is to knit and adorn, and to make a drawing model out of it. The diverse uses of the light, the thickness of the lines and the colours, and their density pave the way to gross geometric forms. His oil paintings are the outcome of a hard and dense work process, and give the impression that they are magnified by sculpturing. His colossal works and his paintings resemble the historical art works that are consist of archaeological fragments and figures. However, the most enchanting form he adopts is the glitter of his genuine light globes.  For Ahmet Güneştekin's gallery visit the site: www.ahmetgunestekin.com

Exhibitions.

Solo Exhibitions.

2014  2013  2012 2010 – 2011 2009 2007- 2008 2005- 2006 2003 – 2004

Group Exhibitions.

2014  2013  2011 – 2012

Catalogue Articles.

Stéphanie Pioda, "The Heir to the Solar Disk", Marlborough Gallery Inc., Monaco, September, 2014.  Bertjan ter Braak, "Faces of the Sun", Mark Peet Visser Gallery, Den Bosch, The Netherlands, April, 2014.  Donald Kuspit, "The Uses of Mysticism: Ahmet Güneştekin’s Abstractions", Marlborough Gallery, New York, November, 2013.  Beral Madra, "Momentum of Memory", GSM Publications, Istanbul, May 2013.  Johannes Odenthal, "Abstraction and Mythos, Anatolia’s Cultural Memory within Contemporary Art: About Ahmet Güneştekin’s Artworks", GSM Publications, Istanbul, September, 2012.  Yalçın Sadak, "Following the Traces of Sun: A Myth Ahmet Güneştekin", GSM Publications, Istanbul, November, 2010.  Kaya Özsezgin, "Authentic Archaism in Ahmet Güneştekin’s Paintings", GSM Publications, Istanbul, November, 2009.  Gülseli İnal, "Antique Modern", GSM Publications, Istanbul, March, 2007.

Following the Traces of the Sun with the Masters.

Ahmet Güneştekin traced and compiled ancient myths, oral narratives and legends of Anatolia and Mesopotamia as of 1997. He took excursions to the villages and towns of Anatolia and Mesopotamia and conducted in-depth researches since 2003. He set up art exhibitions in the historical sights and public spaces together with many artists from contemporary art, sculpture and photography. The series of the exhibition titled "Following the Traces of the Sun with the Masters" brought about his first major exhibition, "The Colors after Darkness".

Documentary Films.

Güneştekin became the art director of the news show Haberci, produced and directed by Coşkun Aral in 2005. Afterwards he produces his own documentary series titled "Following the Traces of the Sun" for TRT 1 and the series came to be the first documentary films to focus on art in Turkey.

Children's Art Classes.

In his excursions to Anatolia and Mesopotamia, Ahmet Güneştekin provided painting classes to the children so that they can learn how to express themselves in visual arts. In classes, Güneştekin taught children about art concepts and techniques by exposing them to many different kinds of art materials. Güneştekin met over 5,000 children and introduced them the world of painting.

Ahmet Güneştekin (born December 22, 1966) is a Turkish visual artist of Kurdish descent, whose works span painting, conceptual art and constructions sculpture. For Ahmet Güneştekin, a self-taught artist, art is a passion which has driven him since his childhood. He left the town of Batman for Istanbul in 1991, but had to wait several years before he found his own style at the beginning of the 2000s. He then abandoned the figurative to launch himself into a “narrative abstraction”. This kind of production is loaded with the recollection of a vernacular art, the memory of motifs such as carpets, lamps, Ottoman copperware in which geometry is the leading force.


History.

Ravensburg State Park gets its name from the ravens that were known for roosting on the rock ledges at the southern end of the park (near the south entrance). Ravens can be seen in the vicinity of the park to this day, making the name logical though there is no community nearby that goes by the name Ravensburg.The park has no connection to the German city Ravensburg The nearest community to Ravensburg State Park is the unincorporated village of Rauchtown.  The forest surrounding and within Ravensburg State Park has not changed much in the past 100 years. It is also unlikely that much timber has even been harvested in this area due to the extremely rocky surroundings and the narrow gorge in which Ravensburg State Park lies.  Ravensburg State Park was constructed during the Great Depression in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ravensburg State Park is just one of many examples of the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) throughout North Central Pennsylvania. The CCC built a small dam on Rauchtown Run that is still being used as a swimming hole by the visitors to Ravensburg State Park. The CCC also built pavilions, latrines, bridges, trails, waterlines and fountains at the park.  The Emergency Conservation Work architecture in the 1933–1942 period has earned the park a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, along with other Pennsylvania state parks developed in this time period.

Geology.

Over the years Rauchtown Run has made its way through the mountains on its way to the West Branch Susquehanna River near Jersey Shore, via Antes Creek. The years of water flow have created the gorge in which the park is located. Tall erosional spires of sandstone have created a formation known as Castle Rocks. The rocks can be seen from the Mid State Trail and are said to resemble the towers of an ancient castle. The frost action, brought on by the cold winters of Pennsylvania, has led to the creation of this rock formation.

Recreation.

Camping.

Bring your tents to Ravensburg because that is the only type of camping available. The campground is downstream from the dam. Each campground has a fire ring as well as a picnic table.

Picnics.

Ravensburg is popular for picnicking by families and church groups. There are three picnic areas on the grounds of Ravensburg State Park. Each area has picnic tables and pavilions and charcoal grills. There is a centrally located playfield with a playground and several horseshoe pits.

Hunting.

Because Ravensburg State Park is just in size, hunting is prohibited with the confines of the park. However, there are of hunting area available in the surrounding Tiadaghton State Forest.

Hiking.

There is one mile (1.6 km) of hiking trail available. Raven Trail, on the banks of Rauchtown Run, provides easy access to the creek for fishing. There are several side trails that lead to scenic rocky outcrops or to other hiking trails on state forest land. The Mid State backpacking trail is accessible from Ravensburg State Park.

Fishing.

Avid fishermen will find native brook trout and brown trout living in Rauchtown Run. This provides for cold water fishing in Rauchtown Run as well as its tributaries.

Nearby state parks.

The following state parks are within of Ravensburg State Park:

Ravensburg State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Crawford Township in Clinton County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is in a gorge carved by Rauchtown Run through the side of Nippenose Mountain. Ravensburg State Park is of wooded land that is almost entirely surrounded by Tiadaghton State Forest. This state park is on Pennsylvania Route 880, north of Carroll and south-east of Jersey Shore. The nearest city is Williamsport.


Early life.

Born on his family ranch near the Eagle Springs community in Coryell County, Texas, to Isabella Neff and her husband, Pat Neff grew up in a rural area and attended local schools. He graduated from McGregor High School. He received his bachelor's degree from Baylor University in Waco.  He worked for the next two years teaching at Southwestern Academy in Magnolia, Arkansas, to earn money to go to law school. Among his students was Harvey C. Couch, who would later become a successful entrepreneur in Arkansas.  Upon returning to Texas, Neff studied and received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in Austin. There, he developed a close friendship with Tom Connally and Morris Sheppard of Texas, who both became politicians and were later elected as US Senators from the state.  After receiving his law degree and passing the bar, on May 31, 1899, Neff married Baylor classmate Myrtle Mainer in her hometown of Lovelady. In 1901, they had a daughter, whom they named Hallie Maude. They also had a son, Pat M. Neff, Jr.  He joined the Democratic Party and entered politics, being elected in 1898 to the Texas House of Representatives, and serving from 1899 to 1905. He was elected to one term as Speaker. After returning to his law practice in Waco, Neff served for six years as the assistant county attorney and then as county attorney for McLennan County.

Public office in Texas.

Considered a progressive Democrat, Neff defeated former U.S. Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey, a former populist, in the party primary for governor in 1920. This defeat effectively ended Bailey's political career. Neff handily won the general election and started his term in 1921.  Neff was a strong supporter of prohibition. He was instrumental in the development of the Texas State Parks Board. Neff and his mother, Isabella Neff, donated the land which would become the first state park in Texas. It was named Mother Neff State Park. During the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan during his administration, Neff was criticized for not taking a stronger stance. Neff is notable for his pardon of folk singer Lead Belly in his last days as governor.  In 1921, the West Texas Chamber of Commerce supported legislation passed by both houses of the Texas Legislature to establish a West Texas A&M College. The bill was vetoed by Governor Neff, who said that the state could not afford another state college designed for thinly populated West Texas. He defended his veto, saying that the proposed college had not been included in the 1920 Democratic state platform. Neff's veto stirred up a political firestorm. Two years later he was prepared to sign similar legislation for a college in West Texas; it was co-authored by State Senator William H. Bledsoe of Lubbock. The legislature appropriated $1 million to establish what is now known as Texas Tech University.  Neff was reelected in 1922 but did not seek a third term in 1924. At the time, it was "understood" that no governor should run for a third term, although Texas did not have official term limits for the office.  In 1924 Miriam Wallace "Ma" Ferguson, wife of controversial former Governor James E. Ferguson, won the general election. The Republican nominee, George C. Butte, an American jurist who had opposed James Ferguson's line item veto of the 1917 University of Texas appropriations bill, had a stronger than usual showing. Many voters crossed party lines to vote for him, as they were unhappy with the corruption associated with "Pa" Ferguson.  After leaving the governorship, Neff served on the Texas Railroad Commission. Governor Ross Sterling appointed Ernest O. Thompson of Amarillo to succeed Neff when he left the position to become President of Baylor University. Thompson served on the panel for thirty-two years and developed a reputation as an expert on petroleum issues.

President of Baylor University.

After the death of Samuel Palmer Brooks, Neff was nominated to replace him as President of Baylor University. He resigned the post of President of the Board of Trustees, a position that he had held since it was vacated by B. H. Carroll in 1907, upon the nomination as President. In 1947, Neff was asked to stay on as the President by the staff at Baylor University.

President of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Neff was president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1944 to 1946.

Legacy.

Pat Neff Elementary School in Houston and Pat Neff Middle School of San Antonio (Northside Independent School District) are named for Neff, as is Pat Neff Hall at Baylor.  Neff died in Waco and is interred there at Oakwood Cemetery. His papers, including those from his time as governor, are housed in The Texas Collection at Baylor University.

Pat Morris Neff (November 26, 1871 – January 20, 1952) was an American politician, educator and administrator, and the 28th Governor of Texas from 1921 to 1925, ninth President of Baylor University from 1932 to 1947, and twenty-fifth president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1944 to 1946.


Early life.

Moody was born on June 1, 1893 in Taylor, Texas. He was the son of Taylor's mayor, justice of the peace, and school board chairman, Daniel James Moody, who was one of the town's first settlers in 1876. His mother, Nannie Elizabeth Robertson, was a local school teacher when Moody married her in 1890.  Moody Jr. was an alumnus of the University of Texas Law School and became a member of the State Bar of Texas at 21, in 1914. He began practicing with Harris Melasky in Taylor.  During World War I, Moody served in both the Texas National Guard as first a 2nd Lieutenant and then Captain and also the United States Army as a 2nd Lieutenant.

Public service.

In 1920, Moody served as Williamson County Attorney, a position he held for two years before becoming District Attorney in 1922. In 1923, Moody obtained an assault conviction against four members of the Ku Klux Klan for beating and tarring a white traveling salesman. Then, the Klan was very powerful in Texas, with an estimated 150,000 members in the state, including the national "imperial wizard." Texas Klansmen included a US senator and the mayors of Dallas, Fort Worth and Wichita Falls. The case was widely reported and gave him political momentum, despite Klan opposition.  After his election as Texas Attorney General in 1925, Moody conducted investigations of the highly-corrupt James E. Ferguson, whose wife, Miriam A. Ferguson, was serving as the Governor of Texas. His investigation recovered $1 million for the taxpayers of Texas. In 1927, Moody defeated her in a runoff election and became the youngest governor of Texas. Suffragist activism provided a major contribution to her defeat as they rallied behind Moody and campaigned for him. Activist Jane Y. McCallum, who Moody would later appoint as his Secretary of State, hosted the campaign headquarters in her own home. She and her colleagues hired a secretary, and they sent "letters, editorials, and pamphlets" to Texas women asking them to vote for Moody.  A conservative Democrat, he served two terms as governor before leaving public office. He opposed the nomination of "wet," Catholic Al Smith in the 1928 presidential primaries, but unlike the Fergusons, he supported Smith against Herbert Hoover in the general election, which saw Texas vote Republican for the first time in its history. He supported a reform program of state prisons, roads, and auditing system. In the 1930s, he became a staunch critic of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Later life.

In 1931, Moody resumed private law practice in Austin, Texas after his last term as governor. Due to a request from President Roosevelt, he helped prosecute income tax evasion schemes in Louisiana as a special assistant to the United States Attorney General, and he continued to represent Texas and its executives throughout the 1930s. He entered politics for the last time in 1942, for a Texas seat in the United States Senate. Moody came in third in the 1942 Democratic primary for the seat, his only political defeat, behind former Governors W. Lee O'Daniel and James Allred; the election was won by O'Daniel. Moody represented Coke R. Stevenson in his case against Lyndon B. Johnson over the hotly-contested 1948 Democratic senatorial primary electoral dispute, and Allred represented Johnson.  By the 1950s, despite remaining a Democrat, he endorsed Republican Dwight Eisenhower for president in 1952 and 1956 and Republican Richard Nixon for President in 1960.  He and his wife spent their remaining years in Austin. He died in 1966 and was buried at the Texas State Cemetery.

Personal life.

On April 20, 1926, he married Mildred Paxton of Abilene, Texas. The couple had two children, Daniel III and Nancy.  He and his wife spent their remaining years in Austin. He died in 1966 and was buried at the Texas State Cemetery.

Legacy.

The Williamson County Courthouse had the courtroom in which Moody tried his famous case against the Klan completely restored to its 1920s appearance and reopened in 2007. It is free and open to the public in Georgetown, Texas. There is also a statue of Moody installed outside the courthouse.

Daniel James Moody Jr. (June 1, 1893May 22, 1966), was a Democratic politician. Originally from Taylor, Texas, he served as the 30th Governor of Texas between 1927 and 1931. At the age of 33, he was elected and took office as the youngest governor in Texas history. After his two terms as Governor, he returned to private law practice and continued to prosecute and represent various functions of the United States government through his later life.


Geography.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, all land.

Demographics.

As of the census of 2000, there were 7,113 people, 2,577 households, and 1,821 families residing in the city. The population density was 638.2 people per square mile (246.3/km). There were 2,791 housing units at an average density of 250.4 per square mile (96.6/km). The racial makeup of the city was 56.43% White, 41.88% African American, 0.06% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.82% from other races, and 0.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.60% of the population.  There were 2,577 households, out of which 35.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.7% were married couples living together, 21.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.3% were non-families. 26.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.14.  In the city, the population was spread out, with 28.9% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $29,875, and the median income for a family was $38,849. Males had a median income of $30,998 versus $22,029 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,814. About 21.9% of families and 28.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 36.1% of those under age 18 and 27.0% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure.

The United States Postal Service operates the Batesville Post Office.

Transportation.

Rail service is provided by Grenada Railway (formerly Illinois Central Railroad).  Amtrak's City of New Orleans used to provide passenger service, but the train was rerouted to the Delta region in 1995.  The short-lived Batesville Southwestern Railroad was established in Batesville.

Education.

South Panola School District (SPSD) operates schools in Batesville and has its headquarters in Batesville. Batesville Elementary School, Batesville Intermediate School, Batesville Middle School, Batesville Junior High School, and South Panola High School serve Batesville.  A private academy founded in 1987, North Delta School, also serves Panola County and the surrounding area.

Batesville is a city in Panola County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 7,463 at the 2010 census. Batesville is one of two county seats which the legislature established for Panola County, related to a longstanding rivalry between towns on either side of the Tallahatchie River; the other is Sardis, located north of the river.


Early life.

Andrew Adams was born in Stratford, the son of Samuel (1703–1788) and Mary Fairchild (1698–1803) Adams. His father practiced law in Stratford and was a judge of Fairfield County. Adams attended Yale and graduated in 1760 before reading law with his father. He first practiced in Stamford. In 1772, he was named the king's attorney for Litchfield County. He moved to Litchfield in 1774 and made his home there for the rest of his life.  Adams was a Freemason. He was a member of St. Paul's Lodge No 11 in Litchfield, Connecticut.

Political career.

With the coming of the American Revolution, Adams was a member of Connecticut's Committee of Safety. He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1776 until 1781 and was its speaker in 1779 and 1780. During the Revolutionary War, he also served as a colonel in the Connecticut militia. He was appointed to the Second Continental Congress in 1778 and signed the Articles of Confederation.Adams had first started studying law in 1764 in the city of Litchfield, Connecticut. He had taken several roles and elected positions during his time as an attorney. While serving as a delegate for the Continental Congress, he was a “signatory to the articles of Confederation in 1778” but is considered a founding father even though he did not sign the Declaration of Independence. He is considered a leading player state politics but national politics as well. Johnathan Trumbull the governor of Connecticut at the time wrote to other congressman including “Roger Sherman, Titus Hosmer and Adams” on military movements in what is now known as the states of New England. Adams and other congressman Hosmer answered the governor's message, stating they would take the opportunity to write to Major Bigelow and keep an eye on the situation through organizing a Board of Treasury but little progress had been made. After leaving the continental congress in 1788, a year later Adams had been named a member of the Connecticut executive council by Governor Trumbull. Adams was also granted a seat as a judge that same year and he was later granted the position of chief justice in 1793 which was the position he kept till his death. Andrew Adams was remembered for his post of Chief justice of the Superior Court and lies buried in the west cemetery located in Litchfield.

Supreme Court.

In 1789, he was named to Connecticut's Executive Council as an associate justice of Connecticut's Supreme Court. Then in 1793 he was advanced to chief justice of Connecticut, and remained in this post until his death in Litchfield on November 26, 1797. He is buried in the East Cemetery in Litchfield.

Andrew Adams (January 7, 1736 – November 26, 1797) was an American lawyer, jurist, and political leader in Litchfield, Connecticut, during the American Revolutionary War. He was a delegate for Connecticut to the Continental Congress and later Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. He is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.


History.

On 21 April 1870 MSCB gained concession to build a railway between Olmütz and Landesgrenze via Jägerndorf. Concession also included the rights for creating a branch line from Olbersdorf to Würbenthal in Prussia via Neisse, Troppau, Römerstadt.  On 1 October 1872 the line between Olmütz and Jägerndorf-Hennersdorf was temperally opened for freight traffic as well. Not so much later, on 15 October it was opened for passenger transport as well. Line on the other side of the border is operating since 1 December 1875.  MSCB was nationalised on 1 January 1895. The new owner and operator was the Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways. There were three pair of trains between Jägerndorf–Olmütz and Mährisch Schönberg. These train connections are available between Ziegenhals and Freiwaldau or Hannsdorf today as well.  After World War I line was transferred from Austria to Czechoslovakia and the line was operated by Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD).  After Nazi Germany annexed Sudetenland, the line was transferred to German Reich Railway. On the timetables of those times it was shown as line 151 between Brieg–Neisse–Jägerndorf–Schönbrunn-Witkowitz.  After World War II operating of the line was divided between ČSD and Polish State Railways (PKP). There are corridor rails between the two countries which connect Krnov-Jesenik with the Polish territories. As all trains had to stop in Głuchołazy to change its locomotive. And there was no passenger traffic here up to 2006.  As Czechoslovakia was dissolved on 1 January 1993, all vehicles and the line were transferred to the new Czech Railways (ČD).  There is mainly only passenger transport to Jesenik. There are express trains on the line in every four hours between Ostrava-Svinov–Jesenik. There is only local transport from Krnov to Jindřichov ve Slezsku. Transit traffic includes only some trains to jelenti.

Krnov–Głuchołazy railway is a main and branch line for railway transport in the Czech Republic and Poland. Originally it was built and operated by Mährisch-Schlesische Centralbahn (MSCB). It is a North-South railway line between Krnov and Głuchołazy, which runs parallel with the border between the two countries.


History.

In 1840, Jonathan Lucas III built a four-story brick, steam-powered rice mill on the Ashley River. This mill burned on November 20, 1860.  Construction of a new mill began quickly. Although hampered by the Union blockade, the mill was capable of full operation in late 1863. When Charleston was occupied by the Union Army in 1865, the mill was used as a food distribution center. Its neighbour the East Point Rice Mill had been rebuilt in the mid-1840s by engineer James McLaren and the Scottish merchant James Robb. The mill passed to Robb's sons James Jr and William on his death in 1859.  After the Civil War, the mill resumed operations and its production increased. In 1886, it suffered damage from the 1886 Charleston earthquake. Brickwork was damaged and the gables were brought down. At some point before the 1920s, the entire roof was replaced except for the kingposts and trusses.  In 1890, the three Charleston mills produced over 97,000 barrels of rice. Competition from western rice growers and a number of hurricanes caused rice production in South Carolina to fall. In 1888, West Point Mill Company purchased a share of Chisolm's Mill. In 1894, West Point and Bennett's Mill combined and bought Chisolm's Mill, which was closed. Rice production continued to fall. West Point Mill was closed in 1920, and the company began to sell its assets. Around 1925, the mill's steam engine was sold to the Henry Ford Museum. The mill's property was sold to the City of Charleston in 1926.  In 1930, the U.S. Post Office indicated its desire to build a seaplane base for mail service at the site. Although this was never accomplished, it planted the idea of a seaplane terminal at the site.  In 1933, the Civil Works Administration started building the Municipal Yacht Basin. Later that year, the building was leased to American Bagging Company as a depot and warehouse for jute imported for its plant on Meeting Street.  The City of Charleston continued to explore opportunities for using the building as a seaplane terminal. In the spring of that year, flights from Germany to Charleston were proposed. In early 1937, the Works Progress Administration started work to convert the mill building into the James F. Byrnes air terminal. Pan American World Airways hired the New York firm of Delano and Aldrich to plan for a passenger station. Reconstruction efforts were carried out on the exterior and first two floors.  With the start of World War II in Europe, transatlantic service was abandoned. The City competed for a naval seaplane base, but it went to Jacksonville, Florida. The building was occupied by the Charleston District of the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1941, the building was taken over for the administration of the Charleston Area Inshore Patrol of the Sixth Naval District. In 1946, it became the headquarters for the Sixth Naval District Mine Craft Base. It was used by the U.S. Navy through the 1950s when it was transferred to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. From 1966 to around 1986, the Trident Chamber of Commerce was located in the building along with some commercial tenants. After that, the building was again vacant.  In the fall of 1989, the building suffered from a fire with significant damage to an addition. Then Hurricane Hugo damaged the roof. After repairs, it was leased to the Bennett-Hofford Company. Bennett-Hofford performed a $3 million renovation to the building before the structure was added to the National Register, and several offices and restaurants have occupied the building since. The restoration received one of the Preservation Society of Charleston's Carolopolis Awards in 1995.

Architecture.

The original building is long and wide with a gabled roof. Although it was the largest of the Charleston rice mills, it lacked the architectural detailing of the other two buildings. The Flemish bond brick building is three and one-half stories above ground level. There are eleven bays along the west or Ashley River elevation. The center three bays project slightly forward. It has a Palladian style with stuccoed Doric pilasters demarking the three bays of the main portico on the west elevation and pilasters on the either side of the last bay of both the east and west elevations. There are pairs of pilasters at the end of the north and south elevations. Two-story wings that are long and wide extend from the outer bays of the east elevation. The mill had two octagonal smokestacks on its east side.  The earthquake bolts installed in after the earthquake in 1886 are still visible on the building and its wings. The damaged gables were patched with roofing materials.  The renovations starting in 1937 were relatively minor on the exterior and major for the interior. The smokestacks were removed and a new entry was built on the east elevation. The ground level was rebuilt on a concrete slab. The gable brickwork was restored, but the brickwork was poorly matched. Demilune windows were put in the gables. Oculus windows were put in window openings on third level of the central gable on the west side. Cast-stone sills were installed in the first-floor windows. Only the first and second floors were completed.  After 1946, a first floor lobby was constructed in front of the central bays of the west side. This had a balcony on its roof with iron railing. After the 1989 fire, the balcony railing was removed and the west elevation rebuilt with three arched openings.  An elevator was installed in the 1960s on the east side entrance.  After the damage from Hurricane Hugo, the roof was replaced with standing-seam copper. Four shed dormers were added to the west side of the roof.  Additional pictures are available.

West Point Rice Mill is a former rice mill building in Charleston, South Carolina. It is at the City Marina at 17 Lockwood Drive. West Point Mill was one of three large rice mills in Charleston in the 19th century. This building was constructed in 1861 to replace a rice mill that had burned the previous year. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on January 20, 1995.


Location.

The castle was situated in an uninhabited region by the important river crossing of the old post road over the River Meiße. Today the site of the castle is just a few metres from the entrance to the Serengeti Park, half in a small copse and half in farmland.

Description.

We have an idea of the former appearance of the castle site from a sketch drawn by Wilhelm von Hodenberg in the middle of the 19th century. At that time the last remnants of the castle - the earth ramparts, moats and stone ruins - were levelled or removed. According to the sketch the castle had an oval rampart, 109 x 95 m in diameter, which bordered immediately on the Meiße. The rampart was originally surrounded by a moat that was filled by water from the river. At the time the sketch was drawn, a farm track already cut through the ramparts to the interior. Within the ramparts was the foundation of a round "bergfried" with a 10 m diameter and an outside wall, 2.5 m thick. The bases of other walls were identified at other locations inside the ramparts.  Near the castle site Wilhelm von Hodenberg believed he had located a farmyard with a smithy, because he had found pieces of iron and slag. In addition the records show there was a castle mill on the Meiße as well as a historical castle chapel, the sites of which have not been identified.  In 1856 the von Hodenberg family commemorated the castle by erecting a monument which is located on the old castle site in the small copse.

History.

The castle belonged to the von Hodenbergs, who were an important aristocratic family in the region. After they had been forced by the counts of Hoya to move their seat from Altenbücken in about 1200, they built Hodenhagen Castle on the Meiße about further west. It is thought to have been built around 1200, but the castle is first mentioned in 1244.  Based at Hodenhagen Castle, the land of the aristocratic von Hodenberg family lay geographically and relationally between that of the counts of Hoya and the House of Welf who were pushing westwards. The Welf Duke, Otto the Strict, had Hodenhagen Castle destroyed in 1289 by slighting. In a deed dated 27 August 1289 he had had it assigned to him from Heinrich von Hodenberg. In this manner the Hodenberg family became subjected to the Duke and lost their regional authority; instead they became vassals of the Welfs. It is thought that the destruction of the castle also served to contain the widespread activities of the robber barons, that permeated the lower strata of the nobility at that time.  After the destruction of Hodenhagen Castle the family line moved its seat further west to the present-day Hodenhagen hamlet of Hudemühlen. There they built a manor house with defensive features, that formed the basis for the village of Hodenhagen established in 1400. Not until 1448 was the court of the von Hodenbergs described in the records as a castle ("Schloss"). The building was converted in the 16th century into the splendid, renaissance castle of Hudemühlen, that was demolished in the 19th century.

Similar fortifications in the local area.

Within the neighbourhood, in the valley of the Aller, there is a number of other medieval castles, some of similar design. These fortifications include those in Bierde, Ahlden (Bunkenburg), Essel (Uhlenburg) (Blankenburg Castle), Rethem and Grethem (Blankenhagen Castle).  Hodenhagen Castle belongs to the group of former castles, that were researched between 2003-2005 by the "Burgenlandschaft Aller-Leine-Tal" (B.A.L.T.) project. The project was supported by the European aid programme LEADER+, because it had located castle sites in the Aller-Leine Valley area. However Hodenhagen Castle was only studied by aerial photography; no excavations have been carried out to date.

Hodenhagen Castle (German: "Burg Hodenhagen") is the site ("Burgstall") of a former lowland castle ("Niederungsburg") built in the 13th century in the vicinity of Hodenhagen in the German state of Lower Saxony. This medieval manor house only lasted just under 100 years and was destroyed in 1289.


Book One: The Art of Discovery and the Discoveries of Art.

"The Act of Creation" is divided into two books. In the first book, Koestler proposes a global theory of creative activity encompassing humour, scientific inquiry, and art. Koestler's fundamental idea is that any creative act is a "bisociation" (not mere association) of two (or more) apparently incompatible frames of thought. Employing a spatial metaphor, Koestler calls such frames of thought "matrices": "any ability, habit, or skill, any pattern of ordered behaviour governed by a 'code' of fixed rules." Koestler argues that the diverse forms of human creativity all correspond to variations of his model of bisociation.  In jokes and humour, the audience is led to expect a certain outcome compatible with a particular matrix (e.g. the narrative storyline); a punch line, however, replaces the original matrix with an alternative to comic effect. The structure of a joke, then, is essentially that of bait-and-switch. In scientific inquiry, the two matrices are fused into a new larger synthesis. The recognition that two previously disconnected matrices are compatible generates the experience of eureka. Finally, in the arts and in ritual, the two matrices are held in juxtaposition to one another. Observing art is a process of experiencing this juxtaposition, with both matrices sustained.  According to Koestler, many bisociative creative breakthroughs occur after a period of intense conscious effort directed at the creative goal or problem, in a period of relaxation when rational thought is abandoned, like during dreams and trances. Koestler affirms that all creatures have the capacity for creative activity, frequently suppressed by the automatic routines of thought and behaviour that dominate their lives.

Book Two: Habit and Originality.

The second book of "The Act of Creation" aims to develop a biological and psychological foundation for the theory of creation proposed in book one. Koestler found the psychology of his day (behaviorism, cognitivism) portraying man merely as an automaton, disregarded the creative abilities of the mind. Koestler draws on theories of play, imprinting, motivation, perception, Gestalt psychology, and others to lay a theoretical foundation for his theory of creativity.

The Act of Creation is a 1964 book by Arthur Koestler. It is a study of the processes of discovery, invention, imagination and creativity in humour, science, and the arts. It lays out Koestler's attempt to develop an elaborate general theory of human creativity.


Description.

The rhododendrons bloom in mid-July, and were designated a National Natural Landmark in 1982. The park also includes wild blueberries, cranberries, mountain laurel, heathers, mayflower, and wintergreen.  The park is open to hiking and picnicking from May to October. The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail passes through the state park on the way to the summit of Little Monadnock Mountain, which is outside the park limits. Pets must be leashed at all times on this trail, as it is publicly owned land (State of N.H. Department of Forest and Lands). No pets are allowed on the Rhododendron Loop Trail or the Laurel Trail as per N.H. State Law.

History.

In 1901-1902 Mary Lee Ware played a pivotal role in the creation of the park. In 1901, landowner Levi Fuller planned to "lumber off" the property and would have if not for Mary, who bought it in 1902. Giving it to the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) a year later, she signed the deal on the condition that the woodland "...be held as a reservation properly protected and open to the public..." The contract barred cutting down any trees or picking any rhododendron, a promise that has been broken only once due to the 1938 hurricane.  The donated land is called "Old Patch Place," remodeled by the AMC as a hostel/clubhouse but has since 1946 come under the protection of the N.H. Division of Parks and Recreation — the system's only designated botanical park. The "Old Patch Place" cottage near the park entrance was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Rhododendron State Park in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, United States, is a state park located on and around Little Monadnock Mountain, containing a stand of native "Rhododendron maximum", the largest of nineteen similar stands in central and northern New England, the northern limit of their growing range.


Life.

Having lost his father, Vasili Feodorovich Skopin-Shuisky, at an early age, Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky was educated by his mother. During the reign (1598-1605) of Boris Godunov, he was appointed "stolnik" (tsar's assistant). False Dmitriy I made Mikhail his "mechnik" (sword carrier), and asked him personally to bring Marfa Ivanovna - mother of the future Tsar Mikhail I - to Moscow from exile. During the reign (1606-1610) of Tsar Vasili IV, Skopin-Shuisky became a close associate of his cousin, the Tsar.

Military career.

He began his military career in 1606 with the appearance of Ivan Bolotnikov, whom he would defeat twice, first near the Pakhra River with a small unit at his disposal (after Bolotnikov had crushed the Muscovite army led by Mstislavsky and other boyars) and then at Kotly. After the second defeat, Bolotnikov and his men fled to Tula. Skopin-Shuisky took an active part in a successful siege of Tula alongside the Muscovite army.  When False Dmitriy II appeared on the political horizon, Vasili IV decided to seek help from the Swedes and sent Skopin-Shuisky to Novgorod to negotiate with them. Despite some obstacles, Skopin-Shuisky managed to persuade the Swedes to help the Russian tsar.  On 14 April 1609, Skopin-Shuisky left Novgorod with 12,000 Swedish soldiers under the command of Jacob De la Gardie to save the Russian throne. Skopin-Shuisky captured Oreshek, Tver and Torzhok and cleared the north of the country from the enemies. He defeated Hetman Jan Piotrus Sapieha at Kalyazin and made him abandon the Siege of the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra.  Mikhail's actions were often impeded by lack of funding for the Swedish mercenaries and necessity to train his own army. Nevertheless, many supporters of False Dmitriy II chose to flee at the sight of Mikhail's army and this gained him a reputation of the saviour of the fatherland. At one point, Prokopy Lyapunov's companions came to Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky and offered him the Russian throne, but he declined the offer.

Death.

All of this made his cousin Dmitry Ivanovich Shuisky, who previously had to surrender his post of the commander of the Muscovite army in favour of Mikhail, envious. It appears that the tsar decided to get rid of his 23-year-old rival. During a celebration, Dmitriy Shuisky's wife poisoned her husband's food. He died on 23 April 1610 two weeks later. Vasili IV ordered to bury him in the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, but away from other royal crypts.

Prince Mikhail Vasiliyevich Skopin-Shuisky () (8 November OS (18 November NS) 1586 – 23 April OS (3 May NS) 1610) was a Russian statesman and military figure during the Time of Troubles. He was the last representative of a cadet branch of the Shuysky family.


History.

During the late 1950s, Roulette scored hits by Buddy Knox, Jimmy Bowen, The Playmates, Jimmie Rodgers, Ronnie Hawkins and The Delicates as well as releasing albums by Pearl Bailey, Dinah Washington and Count Basie.  During the early 1960s, Roulette issued a number of hits connected to the twist dance craze, most notably "Peppermint Twist" by Joey Dee and the Starliters. They also released a rare album of "twist songs" by Bill Haley & His Comets, "Twistin' Knights at the Roundtable". Other major 1960s hits for the label include "Two Faces Have I" by Lou Christie. A group of United States Marines called The Essex recorded the hit "Easier Said Than Done" while based at Camp Lejeune, NC, in 1963. In 1964, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay first recorded together on Roulette while in the nine-member Au Go Go Singers, the house band for the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City.  In the UK Roulette's records were issued on the EMI Columbia label. In April 1965 the UK music magazine "NME" reported that Roulette had agreed to offer a sponsored show to the UK pirate radio radio station Radio Caroline. The hour-long show, recorded in the US by disc jockey Jack Spector, was to be broadcast five evenings a week. The contract covered a two-year period and was worth over £10,000 to the station. According to Tommy James of Tommy James and the Shondells, whose "Hanky Panky", "I Think We're Alone Now", "Mirage", "Mony Mony", "Crimson and Clover" and many others were released during his time at the label, Roulette was a front business for the Genovese crime family. James estimates that the label kept $30 million-$40 million of the group's royalties but afforded it total artistic freedom, whereas another label would have tampered with its formula and might have dropped the group early on. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Roulette was one of the industry's major distributors, handling records for many leading labels.  Levy was the key financial backer for the rap music label Sugar Hill Records, which was founded in 1974 by the husband-and-wife team Joe and Sylvia Robinson. Sugar Hill released the first Top 40 rap single, "Rapper's Delight", in 1979. In the early 1980s, the Robinsons bought Levy out.  In 1981, Henry Stone turned to Levy to help prevent the demise of TK Records, so they set up Sunnyview Records under the Roulette umbrella. In 1986, Levy was arrested, tried and convicted for extorting money from an FBI informant, John LaMonte, but he died in Ghent, New York, before serving any time in prison. In 1989, Roulette Records was sold to a consortium of EMI and Rhino Records, the latter of which was later acquired by Warner Music Group. Rhino would control Roulette’s pop catalogue in the USA, Canada and Mexico, while EMI acquired Roulette’s jazz catalogue worldwide, plus the international distribution of Roulette’s pop catalogue. As of 2013, Warner Music Group now has worldwide rights to the Roulette catalogue as a result of acquiring EMI’s Parlophone label.  Following the acquisition, Rhino and EMI began issuing large royalty checks to former Roulette artists. Tommy James recalled that his checks were in amounts in six or seven digits. Roulette was notorious for not paying royalties to its artists, who had to rely on concerts and personal appearances for their income.  Until 2013, EMI used the Roulette name for the reissue of old Roulette-label material. In the US, Blue Note Records handled the Roulette jazz catalogue for release on the Roulette Jazz label until 2013. It was one of the units of Parlophone that Universal Music was required to sell to Warner Music Group to comply with international regulators.

Discography.

25000 Popular Series.

Roulette Records 25000 Popular Series of LP records began in 1957 and ran until 1968.

Birdland Jazz Series.

The Roulette 52000 Birdland Series of 12 inch LPs commenced in 1958 and consists of 124 album releases over 10 years.

800 Soundtrack Series.

All of the soundtracks in this series were for films released in the United States during 1966.

100 Echoes Series.

Reissue series from used by the label during 1973. All these albums have "Echoes of An Era" somewhere in the title. They are two-album sets.

59000 Original Rock N' Roll Hits Series.

This was the label's final effort at repackaging its old recordings.

9000 African Series.

These albums, which were acquired by Roulette for U.S. distribution, were recorded in the continent of Africa.

65000 International Series.

Roulette Records was an American record company and label founded in 1957 by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Kahl, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed director.


Biography.

Buck was born in Cincinnati. He studied at the University of Cincinnati and then earned his PhD in 1947 at Harvard University under David Widder and Ralph Boas with dissertation "Uniqueness, Interpolation and Characterization Theorems for Functions of Exponential Type". For three years he was an assistant professor at Brown University, before he became in 1950 an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he was promoted to professor in 1954. In 1973, he became the acting director of the University of Wisconsin Army Mathematics Research Center when J. Barkley Rosser retired. At Madison he became in 1980 "Hilldale Professor" and from 1964 to 1966 he was chair of the mathematics department. In 1990 he retired as professor emeritus but remained mathematically active.  Buck worked on approximation theory, complex analysis, topological algebra, and operations research. He worked for six years for the Institute for Defense Analyses in operations research. Buck wrote, in collaboration with Ellen F. Buck, a textbook "Advanced Calculus", commonly used in U.S. colleges and universities. He also worked on the history of mathematics. For his essay "Sherlock Holmes in Babylon" he won the Lester Randolph Ford Award. His doctoral students include Lee Rubel and Thomas W. Hawkins, a well-known historian of mathematics.  Buck was vice-president of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), whose "Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics“ (CUPM) he founded and from 1959 to 1963 chaired. In 1962 he was an invited speaker ("Global solutions of differential equations") at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Stockholm.  Buck was an accomplished amateur pianist and at age 18 won a prize for composition for piano. He wrote several science fiction stories.

Robert Creighton Buck (30 August 1920 Cincinnati – 1 February 1998 Wisconsin), usually cited as R. Creighton Buck, was an American mathematician who, with Ralph Boas, introduced Boas–Buck polynomials. He taught at University of Wisconsin–Madison for 40 years. In addition, he was a writer.