Biography.

Early years.

Zeoli was born in Canarsie, Brooklyn on October 12, 1949, to an Austrian/Dutch Jewish mother and Italian father. She and her half-brothers and sisters were raised by her stepfather and mother, and alternately attended the Dutch Reform Church and the Catholic church. The family moved to Hialeah, Florida when she was 14. Her stepfather was an alcoholic and physically abusive towards the children, and Zeoli tried unsuccessfully to run away at age 17. After high school, she married Jim Perry and gave birth to her first son, Ben. The marriage ended in divorce and she moved to a farm outside Asheville, North Carolina with Pat Mulloy. They married and she had another son, Christopher. Zeoli adopted her daughter, Atira, years later in 1988.  Based on a series of instructive dreams since she was 19, Zeoli began a meditation practice, later identified as chod by HH Penor Rinpoche, culminating in a spiritual experience at age 30. She studied with a New Age teacher named Jim Gore and led classes at the Black Mountain Light Center in North Carolina. In 1980, she met Michael Burroughs, a graduate student in religions at the University of Virginia and separated from Malloy in 1981.  Zeoli moved with Burroughs and her son Christopher to Kensington, Maryland. She married Burroughs in 1983 and changed her name to Catharine. Together they formed the Center For Discovery and New Life beginning with former members from the Black Mountain Light Center. She gave channeled teachings, specifically a three-year cycle of teachings called the Santu Series Her group quickly expanded, with the students practicing the meditation techniques Zeoli herself practiced from her dreams, a Light Expansion Prayer, and taking vows of compassion that Zeoli composed. The group began a 24-hour prayer vigil in the basement of their Kensington home in April, 1985 inspired by her experiences when she searched for a place to pray and found locked doors.

Meeting her root guru.

In 1984, Zeoli's growing group of students met a Tibetan man named Kunzang, Penor Rinpoche's main lay attendant, who was selling rugs to support Namdroling Monastery. The students sponsored seventy Namdroling monks. A few months later, Penor Rinpoche stayed with the Burroughs on his first visit to the US. During that week, he interviewed most of Jetsunma's students, as well as Jetsunma herself, about what was being taught and what they were practicing. The students asked him what their missions were to help the world. He concluded that Zeoli had been teaching Mahayana Buddhism without any formal instruction and attributed it to a very high level of practice accomplished in previous lifetimes. Penor Rinpoche then gave Jetsunma's students the traditional refuge and bodhisattva vows, which constitute formal entry into the Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhist paths, respectively. Rinpoche visited the meditation and prayer center operated by the Burroughs, which at the time was nonsectarian rather than Buddhist.  Thereafter Zeoli continued the channeled teachings, but they took on a more Buddhist flavor as the center hosted Khenpo Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal and she and her students began traditional Buddhist preliminary practice, ngöndro. Beset by health problems, she made a trip in 1986 to Ashland, Oregon to visit Gyatrul Rinpoche, one of Penor Rinpoche's other hosts on his American tour the previous year. She formed a strong and immediate connection with Gyatrul Rinpoche, himself recognized as an incarnation of Palyul Monastery's founder, Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab (1636-1699). Gyatrul Rinpoche echoed the sentiment that the practices and teachings that naturally arose in Zeoli's mind were due to many past lifetimes as a lama, and encouraged her to visit Penor Rinpoche in India to investigate the matter further.

Transmissions.

At the age of 37, Jetsunma began the sequence of Buddhist practices that most tulkus begin very young. She was given the Nam Cho Ngöndro by Gyaltrul Rinpoche in 1986, accumulating prostrations alongside her students. A year later, she was given the Three Roots from Penor Rinpoche at Namdroling monastery in India.  She received the Rinchen Terzod, Nam Cho Tsa Lung, Nyingthik Yabshi, Ratna Lingpa, Dudjom Tersar, Yeshe Lama, and Nam Cho cycle of empowerments, which were hosted at Kunzang Palyul Choling from 1988 through 1996. She received the Kama transmission at Tashi Choling in Ashland, Oregon, in 1988, and the Nam Cho a second time from Karma Kuchen in McDonough, New York, in 2018.

Expansion.

In 1985, the Center for Discovery and New Life formed a corporation and purchased an antebellum style mansion in Poolesville, Maryland where the Kunzang Palyul Choling temple was established. They also purchased numerous large crystals weighing hundreds of pounds and held a three-day retreat to instate the 24-hour prayer vigil at the new location.  Participants have maintained two-hour prayer shifts. The vigil is dedicated to the end of suffering and has remained unbroken, In 1999, Kunzang Palyul Choling (KPC) began another 24-hour prayer vigil shortly after Alyce established the Sedona, Arizona location.  The temple has been partially closed to indoor activities since 2013, awaiting necessary renovations to comply with Montgomery County's Building Use and Occupancy Code. The prayer room, which is separate from the main building, remains open and houses all teachings and activities, and the prayer vigil remains undaunted. The organization raised $1 million for the building of the new temple as of February 18, 2019.  The temple built a 36' stupa in 1988 which was consecrated by H.H. Penor Rinpoche during the Rinchen Terzod. A circle of eight small stupas encircling an 18' stupa were built in 1991 and consecrated by Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso. H.H. Penor Rinpoche gave Jetsunma a relic from Tulku Migyur Dorje to be housed in the Migyur Dorje Stupa, which was built and consecrated in 1996.  In 1996, in addition to the temple, prayer vigil, teachings and stupas, Jetsunma's vision for Kunzang Palyul Choling included a place for pilgrimage with a hospice, school for children, a monastery and an institute for higher education in the Buddha's teachings. The school, called Pema Choling, ran from 1992 to 1997, and the Migyur Dorje Institute continued from 1996 through 2001.

Buddhist recognitions.

The Third Drubwang Padma Norbu ("Penor") Rinpoche, 11th Throneholder of Palyul Monastery, former Supreme Head of the Nyingma tradition, officially recognized Ahkon Lhamo in 1987 as the tulku of Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo during her visit to his Namdroling Monastery in Bylakuppe, Karnataka, India. As is customary, Penor Rinpoche sought confirmation of his recognition before announcing it. He received it from both Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910–91), the then Supreme Head of the Nyingma tradition who was on a teaching visit to Namdroling at the time, and the most senior Palyul tulku, the Second Dzongnang Jampal Lodro Rinpoche (d. 8/87).  "The Buddha From Brooklyn" asserts that the students determine what title they will use for their own teacher and that Zeoli's ex-husband, Michael Burroughs, selected the title 'Jetsunma' for her. This is a title rarely given to even the most revered Tibetan Buddhist women teachers.

Predecessor.

The first Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo, a meditator recognized as a primordial wisdom dakini was one of the main disciples of Namchö Mingyur Dorje (1645–67) and sister of Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab, Migyur Dorje's Dharma heir and the First Throneholder of Palyul Monastery (founded 1665).[8] She is remembered both as being instrumental in the founding of Palyul (now one of the Nyingma's six main or "mother" monasteries) and for leaving an extraordinary relic. During the cremation of her body, her "kapala" (top half of the skull) is said to have flown three kilometers and come to rest at the foot of the teaching throne of her brother. Found to be miraculously embossed with the sacred syllable AH, the kapala became one of the most treasured relics at Palyul monastery. Penor Rinpoche has recounted how, as a young tulku in Tibet (he was recognized and brought to Palyul Monastery in 1936, at the age of four), inspired by seeing the skull relic, he made prayers to find Ahkon Lhamo's incarnation. Though most of the kapala relic was pulverized into dust during the Cultural Revolution, one Tibetan man managed to save the silver dollar-size piece on which the syllable "AH" appears. Penor Rinpoche acquired it from him on a return trip to Tibet in 1987. He had it preserved in a crystal lotus and presented it to Jetsunma just prior to the occasion of her enthronement ceremony at Kunzang Palyul Choling (KPC) in 1988. The relic remains at KPC and is displayed on auspicious days.

Rinchen Terdzod ceremony.

From June to September 1988, Penor Rinpoche was in residence at KPC in Poolesville to transmit all of the teachings contained in the Rinchen Terdzod ("Treasury of Precious Termas"), Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye’s massive 19th-century compilation of all of the extant revelations of Guru Padmasambhava’s teaching cycles known as terma. This was the first time that these teachings had ever been conferred in a Western country., According to Penor Rinpoche’s explanation at the time there is a point toward the end of the Rinchen Terdzod transmissions, during the conferral of the Vajrapani empowerment from Rigdzin Godem’s Jangter ("Northern Treasures") cycle, where it is customary to perform enthronement of tulkus. Thus, on September 24, 1988, Penor Rinpoche conducted this ceremony for Jetsunma as the tulku of Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo. Jetsunma considers Penor Rinpoche to be her root guru, along with Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche, Spiritual Director of Yeshe Nyingpo based in Ashland, Oregon, who is recognized as an incarnation of the first Ahkon Lhamo's brother, Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab.

Mandarava emanation.

In 1994, Terton Orgyen Kusum Lingpa indicated in a long life prayer he composed that Jetsunma was an emanation of Lhacham Mandarava, the Indian princess of Zahor and one of the consorts of Padmasambhava, a tantric master who helped establish the Buddha's teaching in Tibet. In 1996, she traveled to India and visited many of the places where Mandarava was known to have practiced. Inspired by these events, several of Jetsunma's students sought out and found a copy of Mandarava's middle-length spiritual biography, revealed as a terma in the 17th century by Samten Lingpa, at the U.S. Library of Congress. They then sponsored the first English translation of the text, published as "The Lives and Liberation of Princess Mandarava" in 1998.

Activities.

24-hour prayer vigils.

Jetsunma believes strongly in the transformative power of prayer. She initiated a 24-hour Prayer Vigil for World Peace in her Kensington, Maryland shrine room on April 18, 1985. It relocated later that year to the newly purchased World Prayer Center (now Kunzang Palyul Choling). Students engage in traditional Buddhist practices in the Nyingma tradition. In addition for the ongoing prayers for peace, members and individuals not associated with KPC request prayers be dedicated to loved ones, pets, the recently deceased, or those hit by natural disasters. Occasionally Jetsunma asks that the vigil be dedicated to specific situations. For example, the members dedicated eight months of prayer for Asia Claus, a three-year-old daughter of temple members who was suffering from her second bout of cancer. The effort concluded when doctors could find no trace of the cancer, sparking renewed media attention.  The Maryland vigil continues unbroken to the present day. A simultaneous 24-hour Prayer Vigil was conducted by KPC students in Sedona, AZ from October 31, 1999 to August 31, 2008.

Stupa construction.

Like many Buddhist Lamas, Jetsunma has long extolled the benefits of building stupas, Buddhist reliquaries said to represent the mind of enlightenment in architectural form. Her students built one of the first large stupas in America, the 36’ Enlightenment Stupa, as an offering to Penor Rinpoche on the occasion of his conferral of the Rinchen Terdzod empowerments in 1988. Other stupas built by Jetsunma's students include:

Community of monks and nuns.

In September, 1988, toward the end of Penor Rinpoche’s conferral of the Rinchen Terdzod, 25 of Jetsunma's students underwent the traditional ordination ceremony to become monks and nuns, instantly creating one of the largest communities of ordained Westerners in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition in North America. Though some have since left their ordination or died, others have joined, and by 2008 the number of KPC's ordained had grown to 40.

Mongolian Buddhism Revival Project.

Growing out of a friendship with then Mongolian Ambassador Choinkhor and his wife, Jetsunma asked her students in 2004 to create the Mongolian Buddhism Revival Project (MBRP) to help with Mongolia's post-Communist revival of its Buddhist culture, especially the Nyingma lineage. Permanent staff was sent to Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, in early 2005. In June, 2009, at Jetsunma's direction, staff was removed from Mongolia.

Migyur Dorje Institute.

From 1996–2001, Jetsunma hosted the Migyur Dorje Institute of Higher Buddhist Studies (MDI). Under this program, taught by Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso, students received complete commentary teachings on classic Buddhist texts by Shantideva, Chandrakirti, Asanga, Ngari Panchen, and Mipham Rinpoche. This curriculum was supplemented by annual 30-day retreats teaching the traditional Nyingmapa sequence of the inner tantra: Ngondro, Tsa Lung, Trekchod, and Togyal. With Penor Rinpoche’s development of a similar program at the Palyul Retreat Center in McDonough, NY, the MDI program has been discontinued.

Animal Rescue and Shelter.

Following Hurricane Katrina, in 2005 Zeoli led a group of students to New Orleans to rescue animals left behind. She founded a No Kill animal shelter, Tara's Babies, in order to continue to rescue animals. The target group was dogs on death row, so Tara's Babies mainly rescued dogs from shelters, specializing in fearful and other dogs other shelters rejected. Initially caring for 130 dogs, the sanctuary was set in of former ranch land nestled in the three-million acre (12,000 km2) Tonto National Forest near Payson, Arizona. After finding homes for the dogs, closed in 2011 due to volunteer staffing challenges and lack of funding.

Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo (born October 12, 1949; born Alyce Louise Zeoli) is an enthroned tulku within the Palyul lineage of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. In the late 1980s, she gained international attention as the first Western woman to be named a reincarnated lama. She continues to serve as Spiritual Director for Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choling, a Buddhist center in Poolesville, Maryland, which includes one of the largest communities of Western monks and nuns in North America. She went on to found a center in Sedona, Arizona, U.S.A. Jetsunma has been described by her own teachers, as well as many other Tibetan Buddhist lamas who have visited her temple, as a dakini or female wisdom being.


College career.

Bonine was born in Columbus, Georgia but moved to Glendale, Arizona where he attended Mountain Ridge High School. After graduating he attended Glendale Community College 1999–2001. In his second year he was named to the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference's First Team. At Glendale, he attracted the attention of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who in 2001 drafted him in the 20th round, 608th pick overall. Bonine did not sign, and transferred to Washington State University for the 2001–2002 season, going 8–8 with a 6.36 earned run average (ERA) and being named an honorable mention for the All-Pac-10 team.  For his senior year (2002–2003), Bonine transferred to the University of Nevada, Reno where he went 5–6 with a 5.84 ERA. Following graduation, the San Diego Padres drafted Bonine in the 23rd round; 671st overall. This time Bonine signed and was assigned to the Single-A Eugene Emeralds.

Minor leagues.

San Diego Padres (first stint).

Bonine made 31 appearances with Eugene in a relief role, going 1–2 with a 3.78 ERA and 12 saves. At the end of the season, Bonine was named to the Northwest League's All-Star team. For 2004, the Padres sent Bonine to the Single-A Fort Wayne Wizards, where he posted a 1.98 ERA over five starts before being promoted to the Single-A Lake Elsinore Storm. There he started 21 games with mixed results: a 5–10 record and an ERA over 5. Returning to the Storm for the 2005 season, Bonine went 5–6 with an ERA of 6.47, but pitched a gem in the post-season: a 4–1 win over the San Jose Giants in which he threw 8 innings. The Padres assigned Bonine to the Triple-A Portland Beavers, where he made one appearance. In December 2005, the Detroit Tigers selected Bonine in the Rule 5 draft and he was sent to the Single-A Lakeland Tigers.

Detroit Tigers.

Bonine spent the 2006 season in Lakeland where he pitched both as starter and reliever. Over the course of 42 appearances he amassed a 4–5 record, plus one save, with an ERA of 3.90. Pleased, the Tigers promoted Bonine to the Double-A Erie SeaWolves for the 2007 season, where he posted a 14–5 record with a 3.90 ERA. His walks-per-9 innings average (1.34) led the Eastern League. For the 2008 season, the Tigers promoted Bonine to the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, where got off to a 9–2 start before being called up to the majors to replace struggling pitcher Dontrelle Willis and made his major league debut on June 14, 2008, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Tigers optioned Bonine back to Erie after a July 9, 2008, start against the Cleveland Indians.  Bonine started the 2009 with the Tigers, but was sent down to Mud Hens on April 27 to make room for Joel Zumaya, who returned from the disabled list. In four appearances Bonine posted a 9.00 ERA but did not earn a decision. In Toledo Bonine got off to a strong start, going 0–0 with a 1.88 ERA over his first four starts. At the end of the season, he filed for free agency.

Philadelphia Phillies.

On November 12, 2010, Bonine signed a minor league deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Arizona Diamondbacks.

On November 6, 2012, Bonine signed a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was released on April 20, 2013.

San Diego Padres (second stint).

On April 20, 2013, Bonine signed a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres.

Eddie Keith Bonine (born June 6, 1981) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Detroit Tigers from 2008–2010.


History.

Olba was a city of Cetis in Cilicia Aspera, later forming part of Isauria. It was situated at the foot of the Taurus Mountains, on a tributary of the Calycadnus.  According to Greek mythology, Olbe had been built by Ajax, the son of Teucer; it contained a temple of Zeus, whose priest once ruled over all Cilicia Aspera. Strabo described it: The temple would have been closed when Christianity was introduced during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire.  During the 1st century BC, it was ruled by the local tyrants Zenophanes and his daughter Aba. Later, it became a Roman colony. Strabo calls it Olbe (Ὄλβη). Ptolemy calls it Olbasa (Ὄλβασα). Stephanus of Byzantium calls it Olbia (Ὀλβία).  A coin of Diocæsarea, Olbos; Hierocles ("Synecdemus", 709), Olbe; Basil of Seleucia (Mirac. S.Theclæ, 2, 8) and the Greek "Notitiæ episcopatuum", Olba. The primitive name must have been Ourba or Orba, found in Theophanes the Chronographer, hence Ourbanopolis in "Acta S. Bartholomei".  In Christian times, it was regarded as belonging to Isauria, and was the seat of a bishop.  Its ruins, north of Silifke in the Turkish province of Mersin, are called "Oura" in Turkish.

Ecclesiastical history.

Olba was a suffragan of the Metropolitan of Isauria's provincial capital Seleucia, but faded like most sees in Asia Minor. Olba maintained a sizable Christian population in the 4th and 5th centuries, when the Temple of Zeus was converted into a church.  Michel Le Quien ("Oriens christianus", II, 1031) gives four bishops between the fourth and seventh centuries; but the "Notitiæ episcopatuum" mentions the see until the thirteenth century.

Titular see.

The diocese was nominally restored as titular bishopric of the episcopal (lowest) rank under the name Olba (Latin and Curiate Italian); Latin adjective Olbiensis.  In 1927 it was suppressed, having had the following incumbents, all of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank:  In 1933 it was again restored as titular bishopric of Olba. It is vacant since decades, having had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting episcopal rank :

Olba or Olbe (; ) was an ancient city and bishopric in the Roman province of Isauria, in present-day southern Turkey. It is included in the Catholic Church's list of Latin titular sees.


Bridge history.

Ferries.

The first way of crossing the Red River was by ferry linking Broadway on the west with Provencher Blvd on the east. The ferry route was cancelled in 1882 with the opening of the first bridge. It sank on the Assiniboine River later that same year.

The first bridge.

The first bridge (the "old bridge") was originally named the Broadway bridge because it connected with Broadway on the other side, which is in direct line of sight with Provencher. Construction began in 1881 and was completed in April 1882. Disaster struck three days later, wiping away two spans of the bridge, but repairs were completed later that same month. The bridge was demolished in 1917 after a proposal for a newer one.

The second bridge.

The second bridge was opened in 1918 to replace the old Broadway bridge. Instead of linking with Broadway, it was oriented slightly to the north; traffic crossing from the east was sent even further north, eventually connecting with Main Street about 500 metres from Broadway. Construction began in 1911 and was completed in 1912. Streetcars began operating on the bridge on December 3, 1925. The second bridge was dismantled in 2001 for the opening of the third (current) bridge.

The third bridge.

The third bridge (the "modern bridge") actually consists of two bridges, a vehicular bridge and a pedestrian bridge. The vehicular bridge's plan was originally designed to connect York and St. Mary Avenues to Provencher Boulevard, but it was cancelled in 1997. The lands for the St. Mary–York–Provencher connection were used for the construction of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The vehicular bridge was constructed in 2001 and completed in September 2003. The pedestrian bridge was constructed later, and was completed the same year.

The vehicular bridge.

The vehicular part of the modern bridge is slightly curved, unlike the old bridge which was completely straight and at a slight angle. Construction of the vehicular bridge began on July 20, 2001. Two years later, in September, the vehicular bridge was completed.

The pedestrian bridge.

The pedestrian bridge, or the "Esplanade Riel" (Named for Louis Riel), parallels the new Broadway bridge, and is a side-spar cable-stayed bridge designed by Architects Guy Préfontaine and Étienne Gaboury and Colin Douglas Stewart of Wardrop Engineering.  The Esplanade Riel features a restaurant in the middle of the bridge. Originally operated by Salisbury House, the restaurant space was home to "Chez Sophie Sur Le Pont" from summer 2013 to February 2015. The bridge's new tenant, Mon Ami Louis, opened in July 2015 as an "approachable and eschewing the haute cuisine haughtiness of French dining".  Construction on the bridge began in August 2002, and was completed in 2003, the same year as the vehicular bridge, and was officially opened in the summer of 2004.

The Provencher Bridge () is a bridge across the Red River in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The bridge links downtown Winnipeg with St. Boniface, a Winnipeg community across the Red River. The Provencher Bridge derived its name from the connecting Boulevard Provencher (Provencher Boulevard).


Background.

Following the collapse of the pro-Soviet Kabul government in the Hazarajat in 1979, the region fell under the control of Shura-i Engelab, a hastily assembled region-wide organization Soon it was challenged and overthrown by several new radical Islamist groups that engaged in endless power and ideological struggles, however these were non violent and the various groups were still targeting the USSR forces in unity. The wars and conflicts were launched and fought against the USSR forces with strong ideological fervor. However, none of the organizations were able to determine the outcome of the political control of Hazarajat in their favor. Towards the second half of the 1980s a complete stalemate was emerging in the region, with each organization confined to specific pockets of territory. As a result, there was an overwhelming desire for change felt both by the villagers and senior leaders of the organizations to unite.  Several attempts to make peace and ensure stability failed. Alliances and coalitions were crafted and dismantled. The most important and effective of them were the Shuray-e Eatelaf, an alliance of eight major organizations formed in Tehran, Iran in 1985. It was the most effective attempt to achieve unity of action by the leaderships of the organizations and was to become an important precedent for the formation of Hizb-e Wahdat. However, while the alliance provided the Hazara mujahedin with a common political voice in negotiations and bargaining with the Sunni organizations based in Peshawar, Pakistan, it failed to tackle the incessant ideological friction within the party. To stabilize the region a more radical move was required.  With the announcement of the Soviet withdrawal in January 1988, the collapse of the Kabul government was believed to be imminent and a dramatic reconfiguration of political alignments was in the making. This was happening at a time when the Kabul government and the ruling Hezb-e Democratik-e Khalq (People's Democratic Party, PDPA) were experiencing intensive factional and ethnic rivalries. A declining faith in the future of the government facilitated the emergence of new political alignments largely between members of the same ethnic groups, cutting across the ideological divide between the mujahedin and the PDPA officials. In the meantime, negotiations on the formation of

Hezbe Wahdat.

As the name Wahdat (Unity) indicates, the main objective of the party was to unify all Shiite mujahedin organizations under a single political leadership. It was created in response to a strong urge for unity among the Hazara leaders as well as commoners.  In its organizational hierarchy, the party included the following key structures:  The search for change and unity was instigated and led in particular by the senior leaders of the two main organizations, Pasdaran and Nasr, which were the most exposed to the threat of deligitimisation as a result of their loss of control over their military commanders. The path to unity had been a painstakingly long and complex process, which experienced repeated setbacks and obstacles, because each party sought to maximize their role in the process. This turned out to be a major contentious issue throughout several rounds of negotiations in the run up to formation of the party. Smaller parties pressed for equal representation of all groups while the more powerful ones demanded greater power and a share of the positions in the unified party. Eventually the latter argument prevailed; Nasr and Pasdaran persuaded other organizations to concede to proportional representation.  Smaller parties were pressured and even intimidated into joining the process. Many groups had no other choice than joining it: the cost of standing outside would have been unbearable. The following two examples provide insight into the complexity of the process. Harakat Islami, led by Shaikh Asif Mohsini, was the main Shiite party that refused to join Wahdat. The party was dominated by non-Hazara Shiites. Initially, the party was represented in a series of negotiations, but Mohsini later declined to sign, having presented a number of conditions to be met. His conditions were interpreted as an

Ideology and ethnicity.

Ideologically, most Hezb-e Wahdat leaders were political Islamists. In a way the formation of the party was the culmination of a process of Islamisation of the Hazara anti-Soviet resistance groups in Afghanistan. The process was accompanied by the gradual rise to dominance of the clergy in the political leadership of the region, and in fact it marked the final victory of the clerical Islamists. By unifying under the new name they further consolidated their political dominance. The Wahdat manifesto emphasized the continuation and intensification of efforts for the creation of an Islamic government based on the Quran and Sunnah. It called for further efforts to incorporate all other genuine Shiite groups into the party and to act in solidarity with all Islamic organizations of the Sunnis. The language of the manifesto clearly indicates that Wahdat was to be, at least predominately, a Shiite organization, despite references to solidarity and cooperation with the Sunni organizations. It demanded an equal status for Shiite jurisprudence alongside the Hanafi school, dominant among Sunnis in the country. As a religious party, Hezb-e Wahdat can be credited with an openness and inclusiveness exceptional in a conservative society like Afghanistan. In an exceptional move among the Afghan mujahedin, the party included ten women members in its central council and had devoted an entire committee for women's affairs that was headed by a university-educated Hazara woman.  The main point, however, is that the movement gradually tilted towards its ethnic support base. Subsequent political developments in Kabul exposed the difficulties of establishing an Islamic government in the country. With the fall of the communist regime in Kabul and the failure to form an Islamic government, the warring factions turned to their ethnic and regional support bases. While Islamism remained the

Political strategy.

The idea of building an Islamic government and promoting religious fraternity rapidly ran into difficulties. Hezb-e Wahdat's stance as the representative of the Hazara mujahedin was not welcomed by its Sunni counterparts in Peshawar. Instead, it was effectively excluded from the negotiations around the formation of a mujahedin government in Kabul, which were dominated by the Sunnis. A Hezb-e Wahdat delegation to Peshawar, sent to negotiate a possible inclusion in the process, returned to Bamyan badly disappointed. In a central council meeting in Bamyan, the delegation headed by Abdul Ali Mazari raised the issue of deliberating a new political strategy. Some of the Sunni fundamentalist parties had basically ignored the Shiite claims of any form of effective representation in a future government. In opposition to Hezb-e Wahdat's demand of a quarter share in future power-sharing arrangements, some of the Sunni parties stated that the Shiites did not count as a significant community, deserving to be included in the negotiation process.  Three days of deliberations in the party's central council in Bamyan produced a new strategy: working out an alliance of the country's historically deprived ethnic communities. This new strategy was to be pursued with the military commanders of various communities in the provinces rather than with the leaders in Peshawar. Government officials of various ethnic communities were also contacted to join or support the new alliance. The new strategy was communicated with various political and military players in the country through delegations and representatives. Fifty delegations were dispatched to several parts of the country, including the Panjshir valley and the northern province of Balkh. Members of the delegations were tasked with exploring a common political strategy for collectively bargaining over the rights of minorities in future political arrangements. The delegations to Panjshir and the north of the country reached important agreements with Massoud and the future leaders of the emergent Junbish-e Milli Islami, which underpinned a new political agreement that became known as Paiman-e Jabalu- Seraj, or the Jabalu-seraj agreement named after the area in Parwan province where one of the final negotiations took place in April 1992. Massoud was chosen as head of the new council, Mohammad Mohaqiq from Hezb-e Wahdat as his deputy and General Dostum as commander of its military affairs.  The alliance of Wahdat, Junbesh and Massoud's Shuray-e Nezar, or Supervisory Council, collapsed as they attempted to take control of Kabul. Similarly, the political arrangements among the Sunni mujahedin organisations also fell apart, turning the city into a battleground for the most devastating and atrocious conflicts. Wahdat became an important part of the conflict for nearly three years. This provoked intense internal debates within the party. The questions of external alignments further inflamed the internal tensions. Muhammad Akbari rose as leader of a pro-Massoud camp within the party, challenging the wisdom of Abdul Ali Mazari's refusal to join Burhanuddin Rabbani's and Massoud's government and his participation in an alliance with Hekmatyar, the leader of Hezb-e Islami, who had emerged as the main opposition.  The differences between Abdul Ali Mazari and Akbari resulted in the first major split within the party. After the split, both leaders maintained separate political and military organisations under the name of Wahdat, with Abdul Ali Mazari maintaining the main body of the party. The growing rivalries and tensions between the two

Hezb e Wahdat (Post-Taliban).

In its history, the party suffered three major defeats. The first defeat was marked by its downfall in Kabul and the death of Mazari at the hands of the Taliban in March 1995. Secondly, in August 1998 the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif was overrun by the Taliban; the city was the second important centre of the northern alliance after the fall of Kabul and also held a major concentration of Wahdat's troops and civilian Hazaras. Hezb-e Wahdat had played the key role in repelling a Taliban offensive on the city in 1997 and was to bear the brunt of Taliban anger this time. Thousands of Hazaras were massacred or imprisoned. Thirdly, in a few weeks the Taliban captured Bamyan, the new headquarters of the party, in another dramatic move. This marked the end of Hezb-e Wahdat's political life as a cohesive political organisation. The fall of these two cities proved to be much more than military defeats. Nearly all of the territories under its control were captured by the Taliban. Its political and military cadres fled into neighbouring countries. Khalili went to Iran. From amongst the senior leaders, only Muhaqiq after a brief period in Iran returned quickly to Afghanistan and organised a resistance front in the Balkhab district of Saripul. Wahdat It never managed to recover after the fall of Mazar e sharif and Bamyan into the hands of the Taliban, because of the high losses in its rank and file and at the leadership levels.  Thus Hezb-e Wahdat participated in the post-Taliban political process with little of its past political and military weight. Wahdat still claimed to represent the Hazaras and the Hazarajat region fell under its control as the Taliban regime was overthrown. In the Interim Administration (2001–2002), Wahdat had a modest weight; Muhammad Mohaqiq represented the party as one of the deputy chairmen and Minister of Planning. Members of Harakat and Akbari's Wahdat mostly represented the Shiites in the Interim Administration as well as the Transitional Administration in 2002-2003. Moreover, in the new political circumstances, the party needed to adapt to the new political realities in the country. The new political order established under the auspices of the international community required the military-political organisations to transform into civilian political parties. This entailed disbanding their military wings, disarming under the UN-led Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration programme and operating under the new legal and political environment.

The Political Fragmentation of Hezb-e Wahdat.

The situation of Hezb-e Wahdat in early 2009 and its political fragmentation can best be explained by the leadership style of its leaders. In the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Taliban, Khalili was widely recognised as leader of the party. In April 2002 he flew to Kabul from Bamyan, in a move that shifted the party headquarters to Kabul. He was warmly received by Mohaqiq, who was deputy chair and Planning Minister of the Interim Administration, and other senior figures of the organisation. In the Transitional Administration, Khalili replaced Mohaqiq as a vice-president, becoming the highest Hazara official in the government. Until before the presidential election of 2005, Muhaqiq was at least officially heading the political affairs committee of Hezb-e Wahdat in Kabul. Their relationship, however, soon started unravelling. Apparently, Muhaqiq had adopted

Glossary of Dari (Afghan Persian) words.

Most of these terms are loanwords from Arabic.

Hezb-e Wahdat-e Islami Afghanistan (; "the Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan"), shortened to Hezb-e Wahdat (), was founded in 1989. Like most contemporary major political parties in Afghanistan, Hezb-e Wahdat is rooted in the turbulent period of the anti-Soviet resistance movements in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It was formed to bring together nine separate and mostly inimical military and ideological groups into a single entity. During the period of the Afghan civil war in the early 1990s, it emerged as one of the major actors in Kabul and some other parts of the country. Political Islamism was the ideology of most of its key leaders but the party gradually tilted towards its Hazara ethnic support base and became the key vehicle of the community's political demands and aspirations. Its ideological background and ethnic support base has continuously shaped its character and political agenda. Through the anti-Soviet jihad and the civil war, Hezb-e Wahdat accumulated significant political capital among Afghanistan's Hazaras.


Early life.

Dansey was born in 1876 at 14 Cromwell Place into a dysfunctional family of nine children, their mother, Hon Eleanor Dansey, daughter of Robert, 2nd Baron Gifford, who was probably an alcoholic. The siblings were subjected to military discipline at the hands of their soldier father (Edward Mashiter Dansey), with punishments that included beatings even for minor misbehaviour. At the age of 17 he became sexually involved with Robert Baldwin Ross, and Lord Alfred Douglas, narrowly avoiding exposure and imprisonment.  On 13 June 1898 he joined the militia as second lieutenant in the 5th and 6th battalions Lancashire Fusiliers, being promoted to lieutenant on 9 November. On 16 August 1899 he was seconded for service with the British North Borneo Company. He transferred to the regular army when he was appointed a second lieutenant of the 2nd battalion on 24 February 1900, followed by promotion to lieutenant on 15 August 1900. On 1 March 1902 he was again seconded, as a Staff Lieutenant for Intelligence in South Africa, then on 24 June he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Brigadier-General commanding the Harrismith District, Charles James Blomfield. He was transferred from a supernumerary lieutenancy onto the establishment of his regiment on 17 September 1902. On 4 November 1904 he was seconded for "special extra-regimental employment" and on 24 October 1906 he resigned his commission. On 10 April 1907 he was promoted to captain on the Reserve of Officers.  He was recruited by MI5 and put in charge of "port intelligence" and the surveillance of civilian passengers during World War I. He was "inadvertently" responsible for allowing Leon Trotsky to return to Russia in 1917.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Claude Edward Marjoribanks Dansey, KCMG (10 September 1876 – 11 June 1947), also known as Colonel Z, Haywood, Uncle Claude, and codenamed Z, was the assistant chief of the Secret Intelligence Service known as ACSS, of the British intelligence agency commonly known as MI6, and a member of the London Controlling Section. He began his career in intelligence in 1900, and remained active until his death.


Biography.

Early life.

Born in Cluj, Negoiţescu was the son of Ioan, a career officer in the Romanian Land Forces, and his wife Lucreţia "née" Cotuţiu. His maternal grandfather, a member of the Romanian Orthodox clergy in Transylvania, had taken part in the "Memorandum" movement under Austro-Hungarian rule. In contrast, Negoiţescu's father came from outside Transylvania, being born to parents from the Romanian Old Kingdom. The future author studied at the Angelescu High School in his native city, and debuted in 1937, when he had lyric poetry fragments published in the local newspaper "Naţiunea Română". At age sixteen, Negoiţescu also published his first of several reviews in the student magazine "Pâlcul", analyzing the Symbolist poetry of Mateiu Caragiale. It was as a high school student that he first met poet and

Fascist episode and the Sibiu Literary Circle.

As a high school student before and after the outbreak of World War II, Ion Negoiţescu also became interested in politics, and rallied with the Iron Guard, a revolutionary fascist movement which would establish the National Legionary regime (in existence between 1940 and 1941). As he himself later recalled, he contributed to the group's press and, wearing the green-colored paramilitary uniform of the Guardists, took part in National Legionary street parades. This choice intrigued his biographers and reviewers of his work, who generally agree that it clashed with the young man's tolerant nature and individualism.  In autumn 1940, following the Second Vienna Award which granted Northern Transylvania to Hungary, Negoiţescu followed the Cluj University's Romanian section as it relocated to the south of the new border, in Sibiu. As a contributor to the student magazine "Curţile Dorului", he met and befriended poet Radu Stanca. It was also during that interval that he participated in the establishment of the Sibiu Literary Circle, with other young men

Anti-fascism and "Euphorion" projects.

On March 13, 1943, at a time when Romania had rallied with Nazi Germany and the Axis Powers, he defied Antonescu's regime by affiliating the entire Circle with Lovinescu, himself marginalized for supporting liberal democracy and for rejecting the application of ideological censorship. Signed with the pseudonym "Damian Silvestru" and drafted by Negoiţescu, the letter stating this position was published by novelist Liviu Rebreanu's magazine "Viaţa". The Sibiu writers' statement ridiculed the officially encouraged traditionalist and nationalist literature, whose bucolic and anti-modernist themes it called "păşunism" (from "păşune", "pasture"), while accusing its proponents of having replaced aesthetic appraisal with extreme dogmatism. These judgments scandalized the far right press,

Communist censorship and imprisonment.

Negoiţescu's career fluctuated after the 1947–1948 establishment of a local communist regime, when he became exposed to political persecution. Initially, he was employed as a librarian by the Romanian Academy's Cluj section (1950–1952). He was in tandem working on a critical analysis of Mihai Eminescu's work, "Poezia lui Eminescu" ("Eminescu's Poetry"), completed around 1953 but rejected by the new censorship apparatus. He had befriended the younger journalist and author Constantin Ţoiu, who divided his time between writing for communist-aligned journals such as "Gazeta Literară" and frequenting marginalized figures; reportedly, it was a consequence of this ambivalence that "Gazeta Literară" editor Paul Georgescu effectively terminated Ţoiu's employment.  Despite his political dossier and the officially endorsed repression of homosexuality, Negoiţescu had by then been made notorious for

Liberalization years and return to literature.

Following his release, Negoiţescu was allowed to seek employment in his field, and, moving to Bucharest, became an editor for "Luceafărul" (1965–1967). It was at this stage that he met and befriended fellow critic Matei Călinescu, who later recounted how, as an employee of "Gazeta Literară", he had attempted to find Negoiţescu a full writing job. Negoiţescu's new domicile, a basement room on Bucharest's Ana Ipătescu Boulevard, was a meeting spot for members of the Sibiu Circle and for young literary figures (Călinescu, Virgil Nemoianu, Toma Pavel). During the liberalization episode which coincided with the start of Nicolae Ceauşescu's communist rule, a relaxation of

Goma movement and defection.

A seminal event in the writer's life and career occurred in 1977, when he openly rallied with dissident politics. That year, inspired by the "Charter 77" movement in Communist Czechoslovakia, Romanian novelist Paul Goma drafted a collective petition critical of Ceauşescu's cultural and social policies in the post-July Theses era. While Goma was being subjected to an inquiry by the Securitate, Negoiţescu signed an open letter displaying his solidarity with the initiative, and openly rallied with various other forms of protest. The document in question further antagonized the regime when it was broadcast by the diaspora section

Final years and death.

Recognition of Negoiţescu's contribution in Romania was restored by the 1989 Revolution. As early as 1990, Editura Dacia published his "În cunoştinţă de cauză" ("With Full Knowledge"), grouping his anti-communist essays written abroad. The literary synthesis he had announced in 1968 was eventually published by Editura Minerva in 1991. Titled "Istoria literaturii române" ("The History of Romanian Literature"), it was still incomplete, and only covered the 1800–1945 period. Based in reunified Germany after 1989, Negoiţescu was writing his volume of memoirs, which he believed would be regarded as his masterpiece, and on which he worked intensely. He maintained contact with the Romanian literary scene, and was notably interviewed by

Literary contributions.

Style and context.

Owing to the political persecutions he was subject to for much of his life, Ion Negoiţescu's literary career mostly resulted in scattered and incomplete works. Literary historian Alex. Ştefănescu compares the overall effect to "a room searched by the Securitate and left a mess." Noting the same defining characteristic of incompleteness, literary critic Bogdan Creţu mentions Negoiţescu's inconsistency as an alternative cause: "he was a man of great projects which, as a rule, he did not manage to complete." Despite finding fault in this tendency, Creţu rates the author as "the most talented" among the Sibiu Circle critics, and "one of the most gifted critics we have ever

Early works and "Euphorion" ideals.

A substantial and precocious element of Negoiţescu's critical work was constituted by his focus on Mateiu Caragiale. Bogdan Creţu, who notes the enthusiastic reception Negoiţescu granted to Caragiale's poetic work in his very first published essay, believes there is an intrinsic connection between the two figures at the level of aestheticism. According to Ion Vianu, the "beautiful, pale and distant" Negoiţescu brought to mind Aubrey de Vere, the "morbid aristocrat" in Caragiale's novella "Remember". Negoiţescu's lifelong appreciation of Caragiale's work, specifically his claim that "Craii de Curtea-Veche" novel was a masterpiece formed around a "secret architecture", was contested by literary critic and Anglicist Mircea Mihăieş. Mihăieş described "Craii..."

"Poezia lui Eminescu" and "Istoria literaturii române".

Seen by Alex. Ştefănescu as both Negoiţescu's only complete work and "a sort of critical poem", "Poezia lui Eminescu" became one of the most celebrated writings of its author's entire career. Literary historian and columnist Mircea Iorgulescu described the work as a "crucial moment in Eminescian exegesis", equaled only by George Călinescu's 1932 study "Viaţa lui Mihai Eminescu" ("The Life of Mihai Eminescu") and Ilina Gregori's 2002 "Studii literare" ("Literary Studies"). Iorgulescu argues that, although structured as "a meager pamphlet of a little more than two hundred pages", the book "radically changed the understanding of Eminescu and his poetry". Overall, the text neglected Eminescu's anthumous poetry and focused on poems only published after the subject's death. It discussed their somber sleep-related imagery, in particular the presence of androgynous angels, their recurring references to darkness, and their various allusions to the temptation of sin.

"Straja dragonilor" and "Ora oglinzilor".

Negoiţescu's main memoir, "Straja dragonilor", has drawn attention for its frank depiction of precocious sexuality in general and homosexual experimentation in particular. Researcher Michaela Mudure argues that, by openly defining masculinity in non-heterosexual terms, the text is one of the "few and notable" exceptions within the "androcentric" literature of Eastern European cultures. According to Alex. Ştefănescu's assessment of the book: "It is for the first time that a Romanian author analyzes himself with a soberness taken to its last consequences, with even a sort of cruelty, producing confessions that others would not produce even under torture." A similar verdict is suggested by literary critic Adriana Stan: "The calm of extracting moral senses lacks [in Negoiţescu], and his authenticist challenge to'say it all' almost precipitates itself into an exhibitionism of a masochistic and anti-erotic nature."  This type of "insensitivity" is likened by Ştefănescu with that of "a cadaver on a dissection table", or "a statue that we can examine from all sides". The critic finds the work more daring than any possible analogy in local letters. He compares it to Miron Radu Paraschivescu's "Jurnalul unui

Civil society activism and political thought.

General characteristics.

According to literary historian Mircea Martin, Ion Negoiţescu and his Sibiu Circle colleagues represented a larger faction of intellectuals who, once empowered by 1960s liberalization and the prospect for resuming historical debates, voiced their support for Europeanism and cosmopolitanism. In Martin's definition, the diverse group includes others who "had passed through communist prisons" (Adrian Marino, Ovidiu Cotruş, Alexandru Paleologu), alongside the disillusioned or reformed Romanian Communist Party militants (Savin Bratu, Vera Călin, Paul Cornea, Ovid Crohmălniceanu, Paul Georgescu, Silvian Iosifescu) and a significant number of the younger writers who were only then making their debut. This community, he noted, was primarily reacting against the ethnic nationalist and Protochronist ideologies promoted, within the limits defined by the communist

1940s transition.

Before becoming a disciple of Lovinescu, the adolescent Negoiţescu viewed nationalism as a neutral quality, and even rated works he reviewed in accordance with their patriotic discourse. His articles of the time produced comparisons between the defunct Iron Guard founder Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and Christ, or state claims that the movement had symbolic roots in ancient history, with the Dacians and Thracians. After the National Legionary State was replaced with Ion Antonescu's regime, the critic expressed his support for the country's alliance with Nazi Germany, for Operation Barbarossa and war on the Eastern Front, describing the promise of a "great future". Manea stresses that, in later decades,

Opposition to communism.

Commentators have often contrasted Negoiţescu's public support for Paul Goma's movement and the risk this implied with the perceived lack of solidarity, intimidation or indifference displayed by the cultural establishment of the late 1970s. Discussing the context for the incident, British historian and political analyst Tom Gallagher assessed: "Privileges and carefully modulated intimidation encouraged intellectuals to stay quiet and sometimes even police their professions on behalf of the regime." A similar argument, presented by Dorin Tudoran, was paraphrased by Monica Lovinescu: the two authors singled out Negoiţescu and Vianu as examples of "solidarity" among Romanian intellectuals, in contrast to the generic pattern of "solitude". The scarcity of such common initiatives, Monica Lovinescu concluded, clashed with the representative civil society projects of other Eastern Bloc countries (the Workers' Defense Committee among them).  According to critic and literary historian Gelu Ionescu (himself a member of the Radio Free Europe staff), Negoiţescu, Goma and Vianu were the only figures of their day to question "the legitimacy of the system", a situation

Other causes.

A significant portion of Negoiţescu's political writings provided a critical retrospective on interwar far right and its appeal among intellectuals of the "Trăirist" group of philosophers, academics and writers: Emil Cioran, Mircea Eliade, Nae Ionescu, Constantin Noica, Petre Ţuţea, Mircea Vulcănescu and others. His "Straja dragonilor" included reflected on the attraction exercised by the Iron Guard and Codreanu on educated young men of the period, despite the fact that Codreanu's own political manifestos were at an "embarrassing level". He linked this phenomenon to the generation's reaction against rationalism and to its preference for charisma, explained by him as "a disease that was roaming the world at the time and one that could be better explained by theoretical means such as crowd

Legacy.

Influence.

Negoiţescu's contribution left a mark on the cultural environment of post-1989 period. In a 2001 essay, Norman Manea argued that Negoiţescu's condemnation of the Iron Guard's ideology, his criticism of post-1989 nationalist revival and his belonging to a sexual minority made him the target of threats and allegations. He concluded: "To what measure have his aesthetic, existential or political opinions, unavoidably interconnected, bothered and still bother not just part of the Romanian political establishment, but also the cultural one? What significance does the marginalization attempted immediately after 1989 (with its affiliated insults) [...] carry in the Motherland to which he remained painfully and lovingly chained? We do not know who would still have, presently, the patience of picking up on the bitterness of such questions." Petreu believes that "taking seriously" Negoiţescu's anti-fascist messages, alongside Balotă's early demand for Romania to recognize the Antonescu regime's complicity in the Holocaust, could have engendered a reassessment of the past, thus preventing the resurgence of political and social problems.  Likewise, Negoiţescu's cultural theses, volumes and presence continued to be interpreted by later literature. Ion Simuţ thus sees "Euphorionism" manifested not just in Negoiţescu's essays, but also in the drama writings of Radu Stanca

Securitate archives and related controversy.

In 2009, "Cotidianul" journalist Mirela Corlăţan contributed an article in which the claim according to which Petru Romoşan had been a Securitate delator was asserted on the basis of archive material kept by the CNSAS government agency. One such document paraphrased Romoşan's alleged claim that Negoiţescu needed to be punished for his "anti-social behavior", alongside personal statement recounting details from Negoiţescu's private life. Also cited was a 1985 statement by Securitate colonel Victor Achim, responsible for reporting on the Writers' Union, who assessed that Romoşan was "our link on critic Ion Negoiţescu", acknowledging the role played by such information in getting Negoiţescu to "admit his guilt". Another note, issued after Romoşan's own departure for People's Republic of Hungary (and subsequent defection to the West), told of a plan to make him the target of a negative campaign by leaking information on his relationship with and betrayal of Negoiţescu.  The scandal was enhanced when Cornel Nistorescu, the newly appointed editor in chief of "Cotidianul", decided to postpone the publication of Corlăţan's article and later to terminate her contract. Deeming his friend a victim "of the Romanian appetite for filth, rummages through one's private life and public executions", Nistorescu

Ion Negoiţescu (; also known as Nego; August 10, 1921 – February 6, 1993) was a Romanian literary historian, critic, poet, novelist and memoirist, one of the leading members of the Sibiu Literary Circle. A rebellious and eccentric figure, Negoiţescu began his career while still an adolescent, and made himself known as a literary ideologue of the 1940s generation. Moving from a youthful affiliation to the fascist Iron Guard, which he later came to regret, the author became a disciple of modernist doyen Eugen Lovinescu, and, by 1943, rallied the entire Sibiu Circle to the cause of anti-fascism. He was also one of the few openly homosexual intellectuals in Romania to have come out before the 1990s—an experience which, like his political commitments, is recorded in his controversial autobiographical writings.


Career.

Myers was the first "Playboy" Playmate born in the 1950s when she appeared in the magazine in December 1968. The pictures were shot in June 1968 when she was 17 years old, but it was Playboy's policy by that time to wait until a Playmate turned 18 before her pictures would be published.  Her pictorial was titled "Wholly Toledo!" because of Myers' hometown and large breasts. Her centerfold was photographed by Pompeo Posar, and quickly became a favorite of American troops in Vietnam. The centerfold appears in the 1987 film "Hamburger Hill" and in the 1989 film "The Siege of Firebase Gloria". According to Myers, she was 13 when her breasts began to develop to the size 39 DD they were when she appeared in "Playboy". After her magazine debut, Myers made frequent appearances on Hugh Hefner's "Playboy After Dark" TV series in 1969. She made an uncredited appearance in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969) before taking the leading role of the sensitive bisexual rock and roll singer and bass player Casey Anderson in Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" (1970). She followed this with a supporting role in the Western, "Molly and Lawless John" (1972).  In 1994, it became known that a nude photo of Myers (along with fellow playmates Angela Dorian, Reagan Wilson and Leslie Bianchini) was scanned and inserted into Apollo 12 extra-vehicular activity astronaut cuff checklists by the Apollo 12 backup crew (Dave Scott, Jim Irwin, Al Worden) at NASA.  In 2009, Myers became a spokeswoman for Schlitz beer.

Death.

Myers died of lung cancer on November 4, 2011.

Cynthia Jeanette Myers (September 12, 1950 – November 4, 2011) was an American model, actress, and "Playboy" magazine's Playmate of the Month for the December 1968 issue.


History.

Magistrate Lino Lagos made the first applications in 1852 for the land needed to establish a capital city in La Matanza. It was not however until 1856 that the land was granted. José Gorchs, representing the heirs of Justo Villegas, proposed that the foundation took place in the lands they possessed and was willing to donate them to the community.  There they would build a municipality, a church, school and security management. The handed lots also included lands for the construction of a cemetery, a market and a residential area. On December 25, 1856, the city was founded on land requisitioned from Justo Villegas, a prominent landowner; at the request of the heirs of Justo Villegas, the city was named "San Justo".  Melchor Romero was in charge of the demarcation of the village, it was adopted on November 13, 1857, by the Survey Department of the Province, thus being limited to a square league. The civic center was built in the Spanish Colonial form, with a park and the town hall, the church, the bank and the police station on each one of its sides.  The economy was based mainly on livestock and agricultural activity, the grain production being the most predominant. After 1852 there were some changes regarding the livestock activity such as cattle breeding being displaced by wool-bearing (preponderant until the late nineteenth century).

Society and Economy.

San Justo became an important industrial center during the 1940s and 1950s. The city, however, suffered the loss of a sizeable portion of its industrial base after 1980. Shantytowns (referred to as "villas miserias" in Argentina) blight numerous abandoned lots in the city, particularly in the western half, though public housing efforts have been recently stepped up, a process of revitalization aided by the return of numerous industrial and wholesaling employers. Some of the largest employers in San Justo include an Acindar steel mill, construction materials maker Eternit, the Papelera Tucumán paper mill, and a former Siam di Tella machinery factory purchased in 1986 by the Pérez Companc Group. The city continued to grow and, as fewer than 20% live in substandard housing, most of its 36,000 households live in middle-class neighborhoods.

Education.

San Justo residents avail themselves of numerous primary, secondary and tertiary schools, the best-known of which are probably the "Almafuerte" School, an award-winning public school, and the San Justo Parochial School.  The National University of La Matanza is located in San Justo, and is now a leading center for education, sports and cultural activities in the area.

San Justo is a city and the seat of government of La Matanza Partido, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. San Justo is a relatively prosperous city enjoying a variety of commercial and cultural resources. Its strategic location on National Highway 3 and Provincial Highway 4 (the Greater Buenos Aires beltway), make it among the most active, for its size, in the "partido".


Physical geography.

The mainland portion of the Nova Scotia peninsula is attached to North America through the Isthmus of Chignecto. Various offshore islands, the largest of which is Cape Breton Island, form the bulk of the eastern part of the province.  The geological history of the province spans more than 1.2 billion years. Continental drift led to the southern half of the province's mainland portion, the Meguma terrane, once being attached to Africa whereas the Avalon terrane comprising the northern half, including Cape Breton Island, was once attached to Scandinavia and Scotland. The Meguma terrane became joined to the present North American landmass as part of the Appalachian orogeny. Composed largely of Cambrian to Ordovician sedimentary deposits, it is joined to the Avalon terrane along the Minas Fault Zone, which runs east-west from Chedabucto Bay to Cobequid Bay.  Nova Scotia has a great variety of coastal landforms. Most of the land in Nova Scotia is bedrock. As a result of erosion and transportation of unconsolidated material, landforms such as beaches and marshes are being formed. These deposits are also being eroded and/or flooded by the rising sea level.  Glaciation during the Quaternary Period had an overwhelming effect upon the landscape. Glaciers abraded and plucked at the bedrock during their advances across the country, creating various deposits that vary in thickness and form; in some places, they are up to 300 meters thick.  Nova Scotia's numerous hills, several low mountain ranges (the entire province is located within the Appalachian Mountains), lush river valleys, lakes and forests, windswept barrens, and a varied sea coast ranging from extremely rugged to broad sandy beaches, can be attributed to these forces.  Nova Scotia forms part of the southern shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and its sub-basin, the Northumberland Strait. The Cabot Strait lies north and east of Cape Breton Island. The main part of the Bay of Fundy lies off its northwestern shore, and large sub-basins including the Cumberland Basin, the Minas Basin and Cobequid Bay create major indentations into its coastline. The Gulf of Maine (of which the Bay of Fundy is a component) lies off the western shore. The South Shore and Eastern Shore, as well as the southern and eastern parts of Cape Breton Island constitute a pelagic coast, fronting the open Atlantic Ocean.  The Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia has numerous offshore fishing banks which are submerged sections of the continental shelf. Rising sea levels since glaciation have inundated many parts of the coastline, including these areas on the continental shelf, providing rich habitat for marine life, as well as defining other unique features such as various coastal islands, bays, harbours and the Bras d'Or Lake – an estuary that defines the central portion of Cape Breton Island.

Cultural geography.

History of Nova Scotia.

Initially, settlement patterns in Nova Scotia were defined by water transportation routes for the Maritime Archaic Indian civilization, followed by their descendants, the Mi'kmaq Nation, who used coastal waters for seasonal marine fishing and rivers and lakes for freshwater fishing.  European discovery resulted in settlements in protected natural harbours and along shorelines where convenient trade routes for sailing ships provided reliable transportation to markets in Europe, New England and the Caribbean. European settlers brought industrial fishing technologies and introduced large-scale forestry to sustain settlement construction and shipbuilding activities.  Wars between European military powers, notably Britain and France, resulted in various territorial claims and numerous defence works established along Nova Scotia's coastal settlements and inland trade routes. The largest of these defensive installations was a French military fortified port at Louisbourg Harbour on Cape Breton Island. The fortified military port of Halifax on Halifax Harbour was similarly founded to counter Louisbourg's presence. A French settlement at Port-Royal is currently the second longest continuously occupied European settlement in North America (after St. Augustine, Florida).  Originally part of Acadia, the territory fluctuated for several decades through competing claims from Scotland (under Sir William Alexander, who gave the territory the name "Nova Scotia" in honour of his homeland) and England. France relinquished Acadia in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht. However, the boundaries were not delineated, and Britain only gained control of present-day peninsular Nova Scotia. Britain's colonial capital was established at Annapolis Royal, while France maintained control of Cape Breton Island (which they called Île Royale). The French territory of Acadia and New France finally fell permanently to Britain at the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. The colonial capital was transferred from Annapolis Royal to Halifax in 1749 upon the establishment of that community.  Under British control, Acadian farming settlements that had been abandoned under the Great Upheaval were populated by decommissioned soldiers and settlers brought from New England. Foreign Protestants were actively recruited to settle Nova Scotia (which at that time included present-day New Brunswick) as the Empire's "Fourteenth Colony" in America. The presence of the Royal Navy and British Army in the colony largely contributed to stability that saw the colony remain loyal during the American Revolutionary War. In 1784, Britain created the colony of New Brunswick to accommodate United Empire Loyalist refugees from the seceding American colonies. Cape Breton Island was also created as a separate colony, leaving Nova Scotia to its mainland peninsula once again. In 1820, the colony of Cape Breton Island was permanently folded back into Nova Scotia, resulting in the present-day provincial territory.  Transportation networks in the form of canals (the Shubenacadie Canal) and later railways (the Nova Scotia Railway, followed by the Intercolonial Railway, the Dominion Atlantic Railway, the Halifax and Southwestern Railway and the Sydney and Louisburg Railway), contributed to a growing trend toward urbanization in the years leading up to the entry into Confederation in 1867. The settlement was concentrated around major industrial towns and port communities.  Motor vehicle usage in the 20th century led to highway development and suburban sprawl around larger centres.

Economic geography.

Traditionally, Nova Scotia's economy has been defined by natural resources in the primary sector.  Resources available for mining include coal, gypsum, iron ore, gold, salt and barite. Offshore deposits of oil and natural gas have begun being exploited.  The fishing fleet operates on the continental shelf, especially on the Grand Banks. Years of overfishing have led to setbacks in production. Lobster, scallops, and haddock are currently the biggest catches.  Inland, forests yield spruce lumber and the province's industries produce much pulp and paper. In the northwest, dairy farming is an important sector of the economy. The Annapolis Valley and Kings County have orchards. There also are significant grain, hay, fruit, and vegetable crops. The bay lowlands, which were reclaimed by dikes in the 17th century, are very productive for agriculture.  The economy has been undergoing a slow transition to a post-industrial service-oriented structure in recent decades. Manufacturing is becoming the largest sector of Nova Scotia's economy. Iron and steel are produced in Sydney. Also, there is food processing (especially of fish), and manufacturing of automobiles, tires, sugar, and construction materials. Halifax is a railroad terminus and a year-round port. There are hydroelectric and tidal power-generating plants. Coast, countryside, and historical sites attract tourists.

Geography by region.

Cape Breton Island.

Cape Breton Island is notable for its mining industry. When explorers and settlers arrived here in the 17th and 18th centuries, they were focused on the coal, which was discovered in rocks and cliffs. Coal was used to heat houses and factories, used by blacksmiths to mold iron, and for the steam engines of trains. Coal was extracted principally in the Sydney–Glace Bay area of Cape Breton Island until the mines were closed in 2001. Many mines have shut down as coal becomes a less popular fuel. Despite this, Nova Scotia still gets most of its electricity from coal, most of which is now imported. Some of Cape Breton's mines have been turned into tourist attractions and museums, and retired miners take people on tours of old mines.

Central and Northern.

Northumberland Strait, between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, is long and approximately wide. The shoreline varies from sandstone and sandy beaches in the west to granite rocky beaches in the east. The strait's fishing industry is currently in a decline, but lobster remains a commonly sought species.  The areas north of the Minas Basin contain extensive coal seams, with numerous mines in production since 1758. There have been several disasters resulting in coal miners being injured or killed, the most famous being the Springhill Mining Disaster (1958) and the most recent being the Westray Mine Disaster (1992).  The Cobequid Bay, the innermost part of the Bay of Fundy, experiences the world's highest tides, averaging up at Burntcoat Head. Parrsboro's Fundy Geological Museum houses the world's most complete collection of fossils from the Coal Age (approximately 300 million years ago) and the Joggins Fossil Cliffs have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many exceptional finds of dinosaurs and plant life have been found in the cliffs along the Bay of Fundy.  Among the longest rivers in Nova Scotia is the Shubenacadie, which runs from the Bay of Fundy into Grand Lake in Enfield. This river is one of few worldwide which experience a tidal bore, a visible rush of seawater twice daily during the incoming tide, caused by the funnel shape of the Bay of Fundy and the high tides which are experienced in the region.  Gypsum mining is an industry in central Nova Scotia south of the Minas Basin. The world's largest gypsum mine is located at Milford. Gypsum is a component in drywall production, which is used as a construction material. It can be used as a soil conditioner to improve drainage and fertility of the soil.

Eastern Shore.

Population.

The area between Dartmouth and Cape Breton is sparsely populated.  The decline in the fishing industry has meant an outflow of people to larger urban areas and to other fishing villages in the province. Sheet Harbour & Canso with populations of 885 & 820 respectively, are the largest communities.There are more than 300 communities along the Eastern Shore, which vary in size.

Tourism.

Tourism is becoming an increasingly active industry along the Eastern Shore.  There is a Fisherman's Life Museum in Jeddore Oyster Ponds. There is trout fishing & Atlantic salmon serves as a sport in rivers along the coast. At Eastern Passage there is a Fishermen's Village tourist attraction with a few stores.  The largest beaches on the Eastern Shore are Lawrencetown Beach, in Lawrencetown, Martinique Beach, near Musquodoboit Harbour & Taylor Head Beach, located in Spry Bay, within the boundaries of Taylor Head Provincial Park.

Geography/Industry.

There are many, many lakes along the Eastern Shore, the largest of which are Porter's Lake, Lake Charlotte & Tangier Grand Lake.  Several major rivers flow into the harbours & coastal indents along the Eastern Shore, including:  In the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia, the forests grow close to the water. A sawmill was constructed in Sheet Harbour around the year 1921, at the head of the Northwest Arm. In 1971, the sawmill was destroyed by Hurricane Beth. It was never rebuilt.

South Shore.

Lunenburg County's population is about 48,000, of which about 6000 people are Acadian. Many others are related to the first German settlers. It is known for its shipbuilding industry. It is also becoming a tourist destination. The Bluenose was built here - the boat that appears on the Canadian dime. Highliner Foods has a production facility in Lunenburg.  Mahone Bay has three churches – Trinity United, St. John Lutheran and St. James Anglican – which have stood by the head of the harbour for over one hundred years. The word "Mahone" derives from "Mahone", the French word for the private ships that sailed by the shore of the Mahone Bay.  Oak Island, also in Mahone, is believed to have treasures buried in it.  Peggys Cove is a small community known for its rocky shore and lighthouses, one of which serves as a Canada Post office during the summer. It is also the location of the Swissair Flight 111 memorial and a sculpture by the resident William E. deGarthe which serves as a monument to Nova Scotian fishermen.

Nova Scotia's provincial berry and flower.

On January 11, 1996, the House of Assembly declared the wild blueberry the Provincial Berry of Nova Scotia. The blueberry mainly grows in northeastern North America.  Forests cover all of Nova Scotia. In these woodlands, often nearly hidden with fallen leaves, grows the mayflower, also known as the trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens). In 1901 the mayflower was declared to be the Provincial Flower of Nova Scotia by the provincial legislature.

Climate.

Located on the east coast of Canada, Nova Scotia is almost entirely surrounded by the sea, which heavily influences the climate due to oncoming Atlantic storms. Due to the ocean's moderating effect Nova Scotia has cool summers as opposed to other cities in Canada around the same latitude. Nova Scotia's maritime climate is influenced by the cold air masses passing from the centre of Canada and the warm air masses from the Atlantic Ocean. Winters can be very severe, blizzards occur several times each winter. Winters are cold compared with other coastal cities on the same latitude because the direction of the Atlantic currents is going east to Europe.  Because it juts out into the Atlantic, Nova Scotia is prone to tropical storms and hurricanes in the summer and autumn.

Nova Scotia is a province located in Eastern Canada fronting the Atlantic Ocean. One of the Maritime Provinces, Nova Scotia's geography is complex, despite its relatively small size in comparison to other Canadian provinces.


Development.

The Semovente da 90/53 was created by mounting a 90 mm Cannone da 90/53 anti-aircraft gun on top of an enlarged chassis of a M14/41 tank. Only 30 of these vehicles were produced, all in 1942. This low production was due to Italy's limited industrial capability at the time, as well as high demand for the 90 mm gun for regular anti-aircraft duties.  The Semovente da 90/53 was primarily developed in response to demands by Italian forces on the Eastern Front for a vehicle-mounted anti-tank weapon that could take on Soviet T-34 and KV tanks. Italian armoured forces on the Eastern Front were equipped only with the L6/40 tank and Semovente 47/32 self-propelled gun; neither of these had the firepower to cope with the Soviet medium and heavy tanks. However, no Semoventi da 90/53 were ever sent to the Eastern Front.  The major drawback of the Semovente da 90/53, as with many self-propelled gun types of World War II, was the open top and rear of the gun compartment, which left the gun crew exposed to shrapnel and small arms fire. In addition, the Semovente da 90/53 had little or no armour in most areas. Because these vehicles were designed to operate far enough away from enemy vehicles to not be subject to incoming fire, this was initially not considered a problem. The small ammunition capacity of the vehicle—six rounds—was also a problem, necessitating the creation of special ammunition carriers out of Fiat L6/40 tanks, one accompanying each Semovente da 90/53 in the field. The L6 ammunition carrier carried 26 rounds, plus an additional 40 rounds in a towed trailer. Beside the standard Armour Penetrating rounds, it could fire "Effetto Pronto", or HEAT rounds, which shaped charge could pierce 200mm armour plating at any range.

Combat use.

None were ever sent to the Eastern Front. In the North African Campaign, the Semovente da 90/53 proved to be an effective weapon and its long range was well suited to the flat and open desert terrain. 24 Semovente 90/53s saw service against the Allies in the 10° Raggruppamento Semoventi, which was stationed in Sicily during the Allied invasion in 1943. Following the Armistice of Cassibile in September 1943, the few surviving Semoventi da 90/53 were seized by the German Army, but were of little value in the mountainous terrain of Northern Italy where they operated. As a result, most finished their careers as long-range artillery.

Surviving vehicle.

Only one Semovente da 90/53 survived the war. Originally displayed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds (APG), as shown in the sidebar photo above, it was transferred the Fort Sill Field Artillery Museum in Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 2012. It has since been restored by the Fort Sill Directorate of Logistics (DoL) paint shop and is awaiting display. This surviving example has, "A fairly good history. It was assigned to the 163rd Support Artillery Group, was captured in Sicily in 1943 and shipped back to Aberdeen for evaluation."

The Semovente da 90/53 was a heavy Italian self-propelled gun and tank destroyer, used by the Italian and German Armies during World War II.


History.

Baez came to prominence during the Folk Music Revival in the late 1950s, particularly in the first Newport Folk Festival in July 1959. A number of companies tried to sign her after her performance at the music festival, including Columbia, but she chose to go instead with the small independent label, Vanguard. Baez recorded the album for the label in the summer of 1960, when she was nineteen.  Most of the songs featured only Baez' vocals and guitar, with a second guitar (played by Fred Hellerman, of The Weavers), added to some songs. The album went gold, although it did not make the "Billboard" 200 chart until 1962, following the success of her second album, "Joan Baez, Vol. 2". "Joan Baez" peaked at number 15 and spent 140 weeks on the chart.  In 1983 Baez described the making of the album to "Rolling Stone"'s Kurt Loder:  In 2001, Vanguard reissued "Joan Baez" with new liner notes and three previously unreleased songs. (Between 2001 and 2005, they reissued remastered versions of Baez' thirteen original albums with the label.)  In 2014, Waxtime Records reissued "Joan Baez" with new liner notes and only two bonus tracks from earlier Baez sessions that were originally released in 1959 on the compilation LP Folksingers' Round Harvard Square. These two bonus tracks appear as track 8 side 1 : O What a Beautiful City and Track 7, side 2; Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair.

Reception.

In his Allmusic review, music critic Bruce Eder gave the album five out of five stars, commenting that the purity of the sound was notable at the time. He wrote of the album "Baez gives a fine account of the most reserved and least confrontational aspects of the folk revival, presenting a brace of traditional songs (most notably "East Virginia" and "Mary Hamilton") with an urgency and sincerity that makes the listener feel as though they were being sung for the first time".

Accolades.

The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.  In 2015, the album was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.

Joan Baez is the debut album by folk singer Joan Baez. The album was recorded in the summer of 1960 and released the same year. The original release featured 13 traditional folk songs. Later reissues included three additional songs.


Geography.

Flint is located in north-east Wales, adjoining the River Dee, to the north of the town of Mold. Across the River Dee, the Wirral can be seen from Flint and views to the south of the town include Halkyn Mountain. As the crow flies, Flint is located less than 12 miles from the English urban area of Liverpool, and even closer to its metro area. However, the two bays / rivers in between make the driving distance almost twice as long.

History.

The name refers to the stony platform on which the castle was built, and was first recorded in 1277 in the French form "le Chaylou" (cf modern French "caillou", "gravel").  Edward I began to build Flint Castle in 1277, during his campaign to conquer Wales. Both castle and town were attacked by the forces of Madog ap Llywelyn during the revolt of 1294–95; the defenders of the town burnt it in order to deny its use to the Welsh.  Richard II was handed over to his enemy Henry Bolingbroke in the castle in 1399. As a consequence, it is the setting for Act III, Scene III of the Shakespeare play "Richard II". The castle was the first of Edward I's 'iron ring' of royal castles to be built in Wales, and the design served as the basis for larger castles such as Harlech Castle and Rhuddlan Castle. Owain Glyndŵr unsuccessfully assaulted it at the commencement of his revolt in 1400.  The town did not have a wall, but a protective earthen and wooden palisaded ditch. The outline of this remained visible in the pattern of streets until the mid-1960s, and the medieval boundary can still be traced now. This can be seen in John Speed's map of Flintshire.  In 1839, the new Town Hall was erected, after the previous was demolished due to it being so decayed and deemed unsafe. The new building was completed in 1840 at a total cost of £1,734.8.6, and the first meeting of the Town Council was held there on 10 February 1840. The Town Hall in Flint is a splendid and imposing building in the Tudor-Gothic style at the very centre of the town. The architect responsible for the design was Mr. John Welsh. It is built of sandstone on two storeys, which forms a rectangular gabled structure,flanked at both ends by octagonal embattled turrets and has a balcony.  In 1969 Flint hosted the National Eisteddfod, and so the town has a circle of Gorsedd stones in the field adjacent to Gwynedd County Primary School. In July 2006 the stones were centre stage in the National Eisteddfod Proclamation Ceremony which formally announced Mold as the 2007 host town of the event. The Urdd Eisteddfod was held in Flint in 2016.

Governance.

Flint is within the British parliamentary constituency of Delyn and the town is part of the Welsh Assembly constituency of Delyn. At local government level, Flint is a community administered by Flintshire County Council.

Culture and demography.

In 2001 18% of the local population self identified themselves as Welsh, although the census had no tick box allowing them to do so. (source: 2001 Census). In the Census of 2011 Welsh identity was included as an option and 57.1% stated they had Welsh, Welsh and British, or Welsh and other combined identity., which is higher than many places much further west. Many people in Flint have some knowledge of the Welsh language, although competence varies. Implementation of the European Union's freedom of movement provisions has led to a noticeable increase in the numbers of Polish-language speakers in Flint. Several retail businesses display information in Polish as well as in English and Welsh and the town has a number of "Polskie sklepy" (Polish shops) specialising in Polish products.  The Flint accent is frequently misidentified with that of Liverpool, although it has arisen in fact as a unique blending of the speech patterns of the area's Welsh speakers, earlier Irish settlers, and the residents of nearby Cheshire, Wirral, and the wider Merseyside region.  There are several songs associated with Flint. The most widely sung is "The Yard". Another popular song is "Fifty German bombers over Flint", which tells the story of a wartime bombing raid over nearby Liverpool that accidentally targeted the town of Flint instead. Verses describe the arrival of the bombers over Flint, and how they were shot down by the "Bagillt Navy". Eventually, the ill-fated German aircrew were fished out by the "Greenfield Fishers". The song is often sung in a drunken, friendly manner to the accompaniment of much hand clapping and revelry.

Transport.

Flint railway station lies on the North Wales Coast Line and is served by Transport for Wales services from Manchester Piccadilly to Llandudno. A north-south service between Cardiff and Holyhead also calls, as do selected Avanti West Coast services between London Euston and Holyhead. Bus services are operated by Arriva Buses Wales.

Education.

The town has three high schools: St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Flint High School and Ysgol Maes Hyfryd. Primary schools in Flint include the Gwynedd School, Cornist Park School, Ysgol Croes Atti (Welsh medium), St Mary's Catholic Primary School and Ysgol Pen Coch.

Community.

Flint once had its own low-powered television relay transmitter, designed to provide improved coverage of Welsh channels in an area that would otherwise receive only English television signals. Since 2009, signals have been transmitted digitally from Storeton transmitting station on the Wirral.  Perhaps one of the town's most striking images, in addition to the castle, is the group of three tower blocks of flats near the town centre. The first two blocks were built in the 1960s and named Bolingbroke Heights and Richard Heights, with a third, Castle Heights, added shortly afterwards.  Flint has a local football team, Flint Town United. They play in the Cymru Alliance.  Brian Fell's sculpture footplate can be seen at Flint railway station. Initially it was thought to be an imitation of the famous Monty Python foot drawn by Terry Gilliam.  The library, leisure centre (renamed in 2012 as the Jade Jones Pavilion), and the town centre have all been renovated. Flint Retail Park has also expanded and Flint is the only town in Flintshire to have a Sainsbury's supermarket.  A lifeboat station was established in Flint in 1966, operated by the RNLI.

Flint () is a town and community in Flintshire, Wales, lying on the estuary of the River Dee. It was formerly Flintshire's county town, and is today the third largest town in the county. According to the 2001 Census the population of the community of Flint was 12,804, increasing to 12,953 at the 2011 census. The Urban area including Holywell and Bagillt had a population of 26,442.


Design and development.

The Buffalo arose from a 1962 United States Army requirement for a STOL transport capable of carrying the same payload as the CH-47A Chinook helicopter. De Havilland Canada based its design to meet the requirement on an enlarged version of its DHC-4 Caribou, already in large-scale service with the United States Army, to be powered by General Electric T64 turboprops rather than the Pratt & Whitney R-2000 piston engines of the Caribou. (It had already flown a T-64 powered Caribou on 22 September 1961).  De Havilland's design, the DHC-5 Buffalo, was chosen as the winner of the United States Army competition in early 1963, with four DHC-5s, designated YAC-2 (later CV-7A and subsequently C-8A) ordered. The first of these aircraft made its maiden flight on 9 April 1964. All four aircraft were delivered in 1965, the Buffalo carrying nearly twice the payload as the Caribou while having better STOL performance. The prototype CV-7A was exhibited by the manufacturer at the 1965 Paris Air Show wearing US Army markings. No further US orders followed, however, as at the start of 1967 (See the Johnson-McConnell agreement of 1966), inter-service politics led to large fixed-wing transports being transferred to the United States Air Force, who considered themselves adequately equipped with the Fairchild Aircraft C-123 Provider.  Company data claims a takeoff distance over a obstacle of at and a landing distance of over a obstacle of at for the DHC-5A model.  In the early 1980s, de Havilland Canada attempted to modify the Buffalo for civilian use. The aircraft was to be branded as the "Transporter." After loss of the demonstration aircraft (SN "103 C-GCTC") at the 1984 Farnborough Airshow, the project was abandoned.  A production DHC-5D Buffalo was used for breaking time-to-height records for the weight category 12,000–16,000 kg (26,430–35,242 lb) on 16 February 1976, reaching 3,000 m (9,836 ft) in 2 min 12.75 sec, 6,000 m (19,672 ft) in 4 min 27.5 sec and 9,000 m (29,508 ft) in 8 min 3.5 sec.

New production.

On 24 February 2006, Viking Air of Victoria, British Columbia, a manufacturer of replacement parts for all out-of-production de Havilland Canada aircraft, purchased the type certificates from Bombardier Aerospace for all versions of the DHC-1 through DHC-7 series aircraft, giving Viking exclusive rights to manufacture and sell new aircraft of those types. In December 2008, Viking Air indicated their intention to put the Buffalo series back into production at their home factory in Victoria, British Columbia or in Calgary, Alberta. A potential new production Buffalo would have had Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150 turboprops, a glass cockpit, enhanced vision and night vision goggle capability. The aircraft was proposed as a replacement for the Royal Canadian Air Force fleet of existing DHC-5As but was not one of the three aircraft in the final assessment, in 2016, which selected the EADS CASA C-295. Several letters of intent for the DHC-5NG were received in 2014.

Operational history.

In late 1965, one of the prototype DHC-5s operated by the U.S. Army was deployed to Bien Hoa Air Base in South Vietnam for a three-month evaluation period, assigned to the 2nd Flight Platoon of the 92nd Aviation Company.  The Royal Canadian Air Force first acquired 15 DHC-5A designated as CC-115 for tactical transports. These were initially operated at CFB St Hubert, QC by No. 429 Squadron in a tactical aviation role as part of Mobile Command. In 1970, the Buffalo aircraft were transferred to a transport and rescue role with No. 442 Squadron, No. 413 Squadron and No. 424 Squadron as part of Transport Command. No. 426 Squadron also flew the aircraft for training. Some were leased back or loaned back to the factory for trials and eventually returned to military service.  Three of the aircraft were also deployed on UN missions to the Middle East with No. 116 Transport Unit until 1979. They had a white paint scheme which was retained while they were serving in domestic transport with 424 Sqn in between deployments. On 9 August 1974, Canadian Forces CC-115 Buffalo 115461 was shot down by a Syrian surface-to-air missile, killing all nine CF personnel on board. This represents the single biggest loss of Canadian lives on a UN mission as well as the most recent Canadian military aircraft to be shot down.  In 1975, the Buffalo dropped its tactical transport role and was converted to domestic search and rescue, except for a few that kept serving on UN missions. The initial paint scheme for the SAR converted aircraft were white and red while others still had the original drab paint. The previous drab paint and white paint were eventually replaced with the distinctive yellow and red scheme commonly seen today. The number of aircraft have been reduced to eight, with six on active service, one in storage (recently dismantled) and one used for battle damage training. The remaining operational Buffalos operate in the Search and Rescue role for No. 442 Squadron at CFB Comox. Air Command was renamed the "Royal Canadian Air Force" in 2011, meaning the CC-115 has served with the RCAF, Air Command and now the RCAF once again. The Buffalo was replaced by the CC-130 Hercules aircraft at search-and-rescue bases in CFB Greenwood and CFB Trenton. As early as 2002, Canada has tried to replace both the Buffalo fleet and the SAR Hercules fleet with a newer aircraft. For some time, the Alenia C-27J Spartan was seen as the likely replacement, with the government considering sole-sourcing the new aircraft. However, after changes in Canada's defense budget as well as accusations of bias from the aerospace industry, the Buffalo replacement program was relaunched as an open competition. After review from the National Research Council, the Department of Defense as well as consultation with the Canadian aerospace industry, a request for proposal was published in 2015. Bidders included Alenia offering the C-27J Spartan, Airbus Defense and Space with its C-295 and Embraer with its KC-390. In 2016, the Department of Defense awarded Airbus a contract for 16 C-295s with delivery scheduled to begin in 2019 and running through 2022.  Production of the DHC-5A ended in 1972 after sales to Brazil and Peru but restarted with the DHC-5D model in 1974. This variant sold to several overseas air forces beginning with Egypt. Production of the DHC-5D ended in December 1986.

Demonstrators for new technologies.

The Buffalo was a suitable airframe for converting to demonstrate some new technologies.

Augmented Wing Jet-flap STOL Research Aircraft.

A cooperative NASA/Canadian Government research program on augmentor wing concepts started in 1965 and culminated in the need for a proof-of-concept aircraft. A NASA C-8A Buffalo (later named "Bisontennial" in 1976) was modified in 1972 for augmentor-wing jet STOL research. The modifications were done by Boeing, de Havilland Canada and Rolls-Royce of Canada Ltd. The wing had a reduced span to give a wing loading representative of future aircraft. It also had full-span leading edge slats, blown ailerons and double-surface flaps enclosing a venturi-shaped passage. The usual turboprop engines were replaced with Rolls Royce Spey 801 SF (Split Flow) bypass engines with a new bypass duct which separated the hot and cold flows to provide both propulsion and augmentor airflow to the powered lift system.

Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, NASA used another C-8A Buffalo in the Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft program.  Boeing designed and installed an experimental swept, supercritical wing incorporating a boundary layer control system. Instead of the standard engines, this aircraft was powered by four prototype Avco Lycoming YF102 high-bypass turbofan engines (originally from the Northrop YA-9 program) mounted above the wing to take advantage of the Coandă effect. In 1980, this aircraft participated in carrier trials aboard USS "Kitty Hawk", demonstrating STOL performance without the use of catapults or arrestor gear.  The aircraft is currently stored at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

Air Cushion Landing System Aircraft.

After demonstrations by Bell aircraft using a Lake LA-4 light amphibian with Air Cushion Landing Gear the development of this type of gear was pursued in a joint effort between the USAF and the Canadian Government by retrofitting a similar system to a medium cargo transport, a Buffalo. The air supply to the cushion was provided by an air supply package consisting of a PT6F-70 and two-stage axial flow fan under each wing. The aircraft also had underwing combination floats/skids.

Accidents and incidents.

In total, 26 accidents involving hull losses have been recorded.

The de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo is a short takeoff and landing (STOL) utility transport turboprop aircraft developed from the earlier piston-powered DHC-4 Caribou. The aircraft has extraordinary STOL performance and is able to take off in distances much shorter than even most light aircraft can manage.