History.

The 11⁄2 story log building was designed by the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Design. Built as a barn, it became a patrol cabin in 1945. It was built by workers from CCC Hot Springs Camp #NP-3 or Jenny Lake Camp #NP-4, working out of the Phelps Lake Spike Camp. A proposed cabin to house trail maintenance tools and personnel was never completed, so the barn was converted to that purpose shortly after the CCC was dissolved. In the 1950s it briefly housed a seasonal ranger station.

Design.

The rustic log cabin features saddle-notched log corners on a stone foundation. The foundation is buttressed at the corners to support the projecting log ends, a feature typical of Park Service designs of the era. The original wide barn door has been filled in with windows and a personnel door. The interior consists of a large main room with a small tack room in the southwest corner, now used for tool storage. The partition uses vertical poles faced with 4-1/2: wide tongue and groove planks. A loft is framed with logs and 8" rough-cut decking, reached by a milled-lumber stairway. The loft deck is covered with 6" wide flooring planks. The roof structure is open to the underside of the roof, with exposed log trusses.The hayloft was converted to a sleeping loft. The furnishings include a rodent-proof food storage bock and a propane stove. The adjoining corral enclosure is listed as a contributing feature, with standing trees supporting most of the fence enclosure.  The Death Canyon Barn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1998.

The Death Canyon Barn is a combination barn and ranger patrol cabin in Grand Teton National Park. The barn was built in Death Canyon on the Death Canyon Trail at its junction with the Alaska Basin Trail by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 in the National Park Service rustic style. Located with a clear view of Prospector Mountain, it shares a common style and purpose with the Cascade Canyon Barn to the north in the park, with minor differences attributable to available materials and the preferences of the work crews building the barns.


History.

Muslim Acehnese from the Aceh Sultanate performed suicide attacks known as "Parang-sabil" against Dutch invaders during the Aceh War. It was considered as part of personal jihad in the Islamic religion of the Acehnese. The Dutch called it "Atjèh-moord", which literally translates to "Aceh murder". The Acehnese work of literature, the "Hikayat Perang Sabil" provided the background and reasoning for the "Aceh-mord" – Acehnese suicide attacks upon the Dutch, The Indonesian translations of the Dutch terms are Aceh bodoh (Aceh pungo) or Aceh gila (Aceh mord).  "Atjèh-moord" was also used against the Japanese by the Acehnese during the Japanese occupation of Aceh. The Acehnese Ulama (Islamic clerics) fought against both the Dutch and the Japanese, revolting against the Dutch in February 1942 and against Japan in November 1942. The revolt was led by the All-Aceh Religious Scholars' Association ( PUSA). The Japanese suffered 18 dead in the uprising while they slaughtered up to 100 or over 120 Acehnese. The revolt happened in Bayu and was centred around Tjot Plieng village's religious school. During the revolt, the Japanese troops armed with mortars and machine guns were charged by sword wielding Acehnese under Teungku Abduldjalil (Tengku Abdul Djalil) in Buloh Gampong Teungah and Tjot Plieng on 10 and 13 November. In May 1945 the Acehnese rebelled again.  The original Jawi script Acehnese language work Hikayat Perang Sabil (w:ace:Hikayat Prang Sabi, w:id:Hikayat Prang Sabi) has been transliterated into the Latin alphabet and annotated by Ibrahim Alfian (Teuku.) published in Jakarta. Perang sabi was the Acehnese word for jihad, a holy war and Acehnese language literary works on perang sabi were distributed by Islamic clerics ('ulama) such as Teungku di Tiro to help the resistance against the Dutch in the Aceh War. The recompense awarded by in paradise detailed in Islamic Arabic texts and Dutch atrocities were expounded on in the Hikayat Perang Sabil which was communally read by small cabals of Ulama and Acehnese who swore an oath before going to achieve the desired status of "martyr" by launching suicide attacks on the Dutch. Perang sabil was the Malay equivalent to other terms like Jihad, Ghazawat for "Holy war", the text was also spelled "Hikayat perang sabi". Fiction novels like Sayf Muhammad Isa's "Sabil: Prahara di Bumi Rencong" on the war by Aceh against the Dutch include references ro Hikayat Perang Sabil. Mualimbunsu Syam Muhammad wrote the work called "Motives for Perang Sabil in Nusantara", "Motivasi perang sabil di Nusantara: kajian kitab Ramalan Joyoboyo, Dalailul-Khairat, dan Hikayat Perang Sabil" on Indonesia's history of Islamic holy war (Jihad). Children and women were inspired to do suicide attacks by the Hikayat Perang Sabil against the Dutch. Hikayat Perang Sabil is also known as "Hikayat Prang Sabi". Hikayat Perang Sabil is considered as part of 19th century Malay literature. In Dutch occupied Aceh, Hikayat Perang Sabil was confiscated from Sabi's house during a Police raid on September 27, 1917.  In the Philippines the Moro Muslims are reported to have engaged in suicide attacks against enemies as early as the 16th century. Those who performed suicide attacks were called "mag-sabil", and the suicide attacks were known as "Parang-sabil". The Spanish called them "juramentado". The idea of the juramentado was considered part of jihad in the Moros' Islamic religion. During an attack, a Juramentado would throw himself at his targets and kill them with bladed weapons such as barongs and kris until he himself was killed. The Moros performed juramentado suicide attacks against the Spanish in the Spanish–Moro conflict of the 16th to the 19th centuries, against the Americans in the Moro Rebellion (1899–1913), and against the Japanese in World War II. The Moro Juramentados aimed their attacks specifically against their enemies, and not against non-Muslims in general. They launched suicide attacks on the Japanese, Spanish, Americans and Filipinos, but did not attack the non-Muslim Chinese as the Chinese were not considered enemies of the Moro people. The Japanese responded to these suicide attacks by massacring all the relatives of the attacker.  The origins of modern Istishhadi attacks lie among the Shia in Iran during the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988. Mohammed Hossein Fahmideh, a 13-year-old boy who fought in the war, is said to be the first Muslim to have participated in such an attack in contemporary history. He strapped rocket-propelled grenades to his chest and blew himself up under an Iraqi tank in November 1980. Ayatollah Khomeini declared Fahmideh a national hero and inspiration for further volunteers for martyrdom. Other Iranian basij volunteers ran through minefields to detonate buried landmines and clear a safe battlefield path for following soldiers.  Shia usually refer to the martyrdom of Hussain ibn Ali and his companions and family members in the Battle of Karbala as role models and inspiration for martyrdom as a glorious and noble death.  When the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas first carried out suicide attacks – involved strapping the body of the mission carrier with explosives – in the Israeli-inhabited towns of Afula and Khidara in the spring of 1994, it "described these operations as "`amaliyat istishhadiya" (martyrdom operations)" rather than the more secular "a'maliyat fida'iyah" (self-sacrifice operations). The term 'amaliyat istishhadiya has caught on and "today, istishhad is the most frequently used term to refer to acts of sacrifice in the Palestinian resistance and is used by Islamic, secular, and Marxist groups alike".  According to one scholar, Noah Feldman: "The vocabulary of martyrdom and sacrifice, the formal videotaped preconfession of faith, the technological tinkering to increase deadliness—all are now instantly recognizable to every Muslim." Feldman sees a worrying trend in the steady expansion of the targets of Istishhad since its debut in 1983 when successful bombing of barracks and embassy buildings drove the U.S. military out of Lebanon.  First the targets were American soldiers, then mostly Israelis, including women and children. From Lebanon and Israel, the technique of suicide bombing moved to Iraq, where the targets have included mosques and shrines, and the intended victims have mostly been Shiite Iraqis. The newest testing ground is Afghanistan, where both the perpetrators and the targets are orthodox Sunni Muslims. Not long ago, a bombing in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, killed Muslims, including women, who were applying to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. Overall, the trend is definitively in the direction of Muslim-on-Muslim violence. By a conservative accounting, more than three times as many Iraqis have been killed by suicide bombings in the last 3 years as have Israelis in the last 10. Suicide bombing has become the archetype of Muslim violence—not just to frightened Westerners but also to Muslims themselves.

Martyrdom operation.

Militant groups term attacks on military or civilian targets in which the attacker is expected to die, most frequently by detonation of a bomb, as "martyrdom operations". The term is usually used by Muslim militants, although non-Muslim groups, such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, have also engaged in suicide attacks. Islamist militants prefer the term "martyrdom operation" to "suicide attack", as suicide is forbidden under classical Islamic law. While combat inherently involves a risk of death, a "martyrdom operation" implies a deliberate act leading to death as part of the attack.  Acts of istishhad are governed by Islamic legal rules associated with armed warfare or military jihad. The rules governing jihad, literally meaning struggle but often called "holy war" by non-Muslims, are covered in exquisite detail in the classical texts of Islamic jurisprudence. In orthodox Islamic law, jihad is a collective religious obligation on the Muslim community, when the community is endangered or Muslims are subjected to oppression and subjugation. The rules governing such conflicts include not killing women, children or non-combatants, and leaving cultivated or residential areas undamaged.  For more than a millennium, these tenets were accepted by Sunnis and Shiites; however, since the 1980s militant Islamists have challenged the traditional Islamic rules of warfare in an attempt to justify suicide attacks despite clear contradictions to established Islamic laws.

Scholarship.

Some Western and Muslim scholars of Islam find suicide attacks to be a clear violation of classical Islamic law. Nevertheless, the militant groups that carry out "martyrdom operations" believe that their actions fulfill the obligation of jihad, and some clerics support this view.

Against suicide attacks.

Suicide bombings as acts of terrorism have spurred some Muslims to provide scholastic refutations of suicide bombings and to condemn them. For example, Ihsanic Intelligence, a London-based Islamic think tank, published a study on suicide bombings that concluded, "suicide bombing is anathema, antithetical and abhorrent to Sunni Islam. It is considered legally forbidden, constituting a reprehensible innovation in the Islamic tradition, morally an enormity of sin combining suicide and murder and theologically an act which has consequences of eternal damnation".  Oxford-based Malaysian jurist Shaykh Afifi al-Akiti, issued his fatwa forbidding suicide bombing and targeting innocent civilians: "If the attack involves a bomb placed on the body or placed so close to the bomber that when the bomber detonates it the bomber is certain [yaqin] to die, then the More Correct Position according to us is that it does constitute suicide. This is because the bomber, being also the Maqtul [the one killed], is unquestionably the same Qatil [the immediate/active agent that kills] = Qatil Nafsahu [killing oneself, i.e., suicide]."  In January 2006, a Shiite marja cleric, Ayatollah al-Udhma Yousof al-Sanei decreed a fatwa against suicide bombing declaring it as a "terrorist act" and the Saudi grand mufti as well as other Sunni scholars similarly denounced suicide attacks regardless of their offensive or defensive characterization.  Scholar Bernard Lewis states, "At no time did the classical jurists offer any approval or legitimacy to what we nowadays call terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism as it is practiced nowadays". Similarly, Noah Feldman writes that the Islamic reasoning of suicide attackers is not convincing as martyrdom in Islam typically refers to another person killing a Muslim warrior, not the warrior pushing "the button himself". In addition, "The killing of women and children has proved harder to explain away as a permissible exercise of jihad." This "illustrates the nature of the difficulty of reconciling suicide bombing with Islamic law".  As Charles Kimball, the University of Oklahoma's Director of Religious Studies, pointed out that Islam "clearly prohibits suicide" by citing "the hadith materials, which are the authoritative sayings and actions of the prophet, Muhammad, includes many unambiguous statements about suicide: one who 'throws himself off a mountain' or 'drinks poison' or 'kills himself with a sharp instrument' will be in the fire of Hell. Suicide is not allowed even to those in extreme conditions such as painful illness or a serious wound". Other Islamic groups such as the European Council for Fatwa and Research cite the Quran'ic verse Al-An'am 6:151 as a prohibition against suicide: "And take not life, which Allah has made sacred, except by way of justice and law". Dr. Hassan Ali El-Najjar says that the "hadith" unambiguously forbid suicide.

Proponents of suicide operations.

Islamist militant organisations (including Al-Qaeda, ISIL, Hamas and Islamic Jihad) continue to argue that suicide operations are justified according to Islamic law, despite Islam's strict prohibition of suicide and murder. Irshad Manji, in a conversation with one leader of Islamic Jihad noted their ideology.  "What's the difference between suicide, which the Koran condemns, and martyrdom?" I asked. "Suicide," he replied, "is done out of despair. But remember: most of our martyrs today were very successful in their earthly lives." In short, there was a future to live for—and they detonated it anyway.  Another rationale provided for why istishhad is not against Islamic law is that the civilians caught in the crossfire "were destined to die". The Saudi exile Muhammad al-Massari explains that any civilian killed in an attack on the enemy "won't suffer [but instead]...becomes a martyr himself". During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah apologized for an attack on Nazareth that killed two Israeli-Arab children—but said the two children should be considered "martyrs".  Further justifications have been given by Iranian cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, "when protecting Islam and the Muslim community depends on martyrdom operations, it not only is allowed, but even is an obligation as many of the Shi'ah great scholars and Maraje', including Ayatullah Safi Golpayegani and Ayatullah Fazel Lankarani, have clearly announced in their fatwas". Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran showered those who performed martyrdom operations during the Iran–Iraq War and against Israel with accolades. Indeed, Sayyed Abbas al-Musawi, the second Secretary General of Hezbollah and student of Khomeini, created a supplication that became popular among the Hezbollah youths and fighters.  Other clerics have supported suicide attacks largely in connection with the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Sunni cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has supported such attacks by Palestinians in perceived defense of their homeland as heroic and an act of resistance. Shiite Lebanese cleric Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, the spiritual authority recognized by Hezbollah, is reported to have similar views.  After the 7 July 2005 London bombings, journalist Mona Eltahawy published an op-ed in the "Washington Post" noting the fact that there were "22 imams and scholars who met at London's largest mosque to condemn the bombings but who would not criticize all suicide attacks", such as Sayed Mohammed Musawi, the head of the World Islamic League, who said "there should be a clear distinction between the suicide bombing of those who are trying to defend themselves from occupiers, which is something different from those who kill civilians, which is a big crime". After the knighting of Salman Rushdie in June 2007, Pakistan's acting Minister of Religious Affairs Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq publicly justified and called for a suicide attack against him. There have been conflicting reports about the stances of Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy (who was then the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar- he is now deceased) and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb (who was then the Grand Mufti of Egypt and is now the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar). Shortly after the September 11 attacks Sheikh Tantawy issued a statement opposing suicide attacks. However, a translation from Al Azhar website quotes him as supporting suicide attacks on Jews in Israel as part of the Palestinian struggle "to strike horror into the hearts of the enemies of Islam". Yet, in 2003 he was quoted again as saying "groups which carried out suicide bombings were the enemies of Islam", and that all suicide attacks were sinful including those against Israelis. His comments condemning all suicide attacks were echoed by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Lebanese cleric Husam Qaraqirah.

Public opinion.

In addition to the views of Muslim theologians, conflicting viewpoints are apparent among the public in Muslim-majority countries. As a reporter for "The Guardian" notes in an article written during the second intifada in August 2001, the Muslim world celebrates "martyr-bombers" as heroes defending the things held sacred. Polls in the Middle East in August 2001 showed that 75% of people had been in favor of martyr-bombings.  However, the Pew Research Center has found decreases in Muslim support for suicide attacks. In 2011 surveys, less than 15% of Pakistanis, Jordanians, Turks, and Indonesians thought that suicide bombings were sometimes/often justified. Approximately 28% of Egyptians and 35% of Lebanese felt that suicide bombings were sometimes/often justified. However, 68% of Palestinians reported that suicide attacks were sometimes/often justified. In 2013, Pew found that "clear majorities of Muslims oppose violence in the name of Islam"; 89% in Pakistan, 81% in Indonesia, 78% in Nigeria, and 77% in Tunisia said that "suicide bombings or other acts of violence that target civilians are never justified".

Istishhad () is the Arabic word for "martyrdom", "death of a martyr", or "heroic death". In recent years the term has been said to "emphasize... heroism in the act of sacrifice" rather than "victimization", and has "developed...into a military and political strategy", often called "martyrdom operations". One who martyrs themselves is given the honorific "shahid".


Biography.

Bell, who is black and Jewish, was born in Los Angeles, California. He started drawing when he was three. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a BA in Political Science in 1999. While at Cal, Bell became the editorial cartoonist for "The Daily Californian". Bell's freelance editorial cartooning career began in 1995 at age 20. His first sale was to the "Los Angeles Times", which subsequently assigned him a cartoon every other week. Bell also sold his cartoons to the "San Francisco Chronicle" and the former BANG (Bay Area News Group) papers, which included the "Oakland Tribune".  Bell's strip "Candorville", launched in September 2003 by The Washington Post Writers Group, features young black and Latino characters living in the inner city. Using the vehicle of humor, "Candorville" presents social and political commentary as well as the stories of its protagonists. "Candorville" grew out of a comic strip called "Lemont Brown", which appeared in the student newspaper of UC Berkeley, "The Daily Californian", from 1993 to 2003. It was that newspaper's longest-running comic strip. "Candorville" appears over 100 of America's newspapers.  Bell also drew "Rudy Park", a syndicated comic strip created by Theron Heir and Bell that was distributed by United Features Syndicate and then The Washington Post Writers Group. Heir, a.k.a. Matt Richtel, wrote the strip from 2001–2012, when he announced he was taking a year-long sabbatical to focus on other projects. Bell at that point took over the writing duties as well as illustrating the strip, which ended in June 2018.

Personal life.

Bell currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Awards.

Bell's work won several California Intercollegiate Press Association awards and an SPJ Mark of Excellence Award, and he was a two-time runner-up for the Charles M. Schulz Award, as well as a runner-up for the Locher Award.

Darrin Bell (born January 27, 1975) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American editorial cartoonist and comic strip creator known for the syndicated comic strips "Candorville" and "Rudy Park". He is a syndicated editorial cartoonist with King Features. (His editorial cartoons were formally syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group.)


Early life and education.

Craft grew up in Washington Heights and attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 1984 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Media Arts.

Career.

Craft worked for twelve years as a copywriter for various advertising agencies, during which time he also got his first comics work on projects for Marvel Comics and Harvey Comics. Moving on to King Features Syndicate, Craft spent eight years writing sales brochures. This connection with King Features led to the syndication of Craft's "Mama's Boyz" beginning in 1995.  Craft later worked as editorial director of the "Sports Illustrated for Kids" website, before leaving that job in October 2006 to become a full-time cartoonist.  Craft performs regular cartooning workshops at schools, camps, and libraries.  On January 27, 2020, his graphic novel, "New Kid", was awarded the Newbery Medal, becoming the first graphic novel to receive this honor.

"Mama's Boyz".

"Mama's Boyz" follows the lives of African American single mother Pauline Porter and her two teenage sons Tyrell and Yusuf. Other characters include Pauline's brother Greg and their parents.  "Mama's Boys" is the outgrowth of a prior strip called "The Outside View," which Craft first self-syndicated in 1987. In 1990, he adapted some elements of "The Outside View" to create "Mama's Boyz", which he self-syndicated to New York's "The City Sun" and eventually a number of other weekly papers across the country. In 1995, "Mama's Boyz" was picked up for weekly syndication by King Features.  "Mama's Boyz" has been praised in "Great Books for African American Children", and featured in "Chicken Soup for the African American Soul", "Chicken Soup for the African American Woman's Soul", and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Comedy Writing". The Mama's Boyz characters also act as official "spokescharacters" of the American Diabetes Association's African-American Program.

Personal life.

Craft has two sons, Jaylen and Aren, who co-wrote the book "The Offenders: Saving the World While Serving Detention!" with their father. Craft lives in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Jerry Craft (born January 22, 1963, in New York City) is an American cartoonist and children's book illustrator best known for his syndicated newspaper comic strip "Mama's Boyz." Craft is one of only a handful of syndicated African American cartoonists in the US.


Life.

Giovanni Merlini was born in Spoleto on 28 August 1795 as the third of thirteen children to Luigi Merlini and Antonia Claudi. His father - who settled in Spoleto - was descended from a noble Sicilian line but set up a business in Spoleto. He attended school in his hometown where he was noted for his pious temperament and he received his First Communion in 1808 in the Sant'Ansano church from the Barnabite Bishop (and future cardinal) Antonio Maria Cadolini.  He decided to pursue the priesthood despite his parents making their objections known to him and commenced his studies for the priesthood in 1809 in Spoleto. He received his sacerdotal ordination on 19 December 1818 in his hometown from Bishop Francesco Canali (future cardinal). Merlini learnt from his schoolmate and friend Fr. Antonio Lipparelli that Saint Gaspare del Bufalo would be in the area conducting a retreat. The two decided to join the retreat. Merlini enrolled on 6 July 1820 in a course for the Spiritual Exercises that Saint Gaspare del Bufalo was conducting in the San Felice convent in Giano dell'Umbria. It was here that he became acquainted with the priest with the two becoming close friends and confidantes. In 1820 he became part of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood that del Bufalo had founded in 1815. The two would encounter initial difficulties in the role of their order with the most resistance coming from Pope Leo XII and his two successors who disliked the premise of their order.  Merlini became a noted spiritual director and provided spiritual counsel to Saint Maria de Mattias whom he aided in founding her religious congregation titled the Sisters Adorers of the Most Precious Blood. He also provided spiritual counsel to the convert (and mother of the Russian ambassador to Naples) Princess Adelaide Wolkonska. Merlini aided his friend del Bufalo at his deathbed in 1837. Part of his role in the order included preaching in several Italian cities - such as in L'Aquila in 1826 - in addition to overseeing the formation of the newer members in the order.  He also became a close friend and confidante to Pope Pius IX (who once served as the Archbishop of Spoleto). He joined the pope during the latter's exile to Gaeta after losing the Papal States to the Roman Republic and asked the pope to extend the Feast of the Precious Blood to the entire church in 1849. Merlini made this request not long after their arrival in Gaeta and had suggested to the pope that he do this if he ever regained possession of the Papal States. Pius IX gave the matter consideration but then on 30 June 1849 the French took Rome and returned the Papal States to the pope upon the Roman Republic's capitulation. Merlini learnt in correspondence that the pope would assent to his request which he saw to on 10 August 1849 in which the pope applied the feast to the General Roman Calendar. Pius IX was also a benefactor to the order and helped them set up houses in Alsace and Bavaria while aiding in establishing the order's motherhouse in a convent adjacent to the Santa Maria in Trivio church in Rome.  Merlini succeeded Fr. Biagio Valentini as the order's third Moderator General on 28 December 1847 after having served as the interim leader since 26 August due to Valentini's declining health. His tenure saw the order expand into the United States of America.  Merlini died in 1873 after he sustained injuries in a traffic accident in Rome near the Santa Maria in Trivio church. The last thing he did before he died was to forgive the coachman who had run into him. His remains were interred in Campo Verano but later exhumed and relocated in March 1946 to the Santa Maria in Trivio church next to his friend Gaspare del Bufalo. Fr. Enrico Rizzoli succeeded him as the order's fourth Moderator General.

Beatification process.

The beatification process for Merlini commenced in Rome in 1880 in an informative process that concluded later in 1883. The formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Pius XI on 26 January 1927 and he became titled as a Servant of God. The Congregation for Rites later validated the informative process and an apostolic process on 28 June 1957 in Rome. The cause remained inactive until 7 July 1971 when the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and their consultants approved the cause as did the C.C.S. members alone on 9 May 1972.  Merlini became titled as Venerable on 10 May 1973 after Pope Paul VI confirmed that the late priest had lived a model life and had practiced heroic virtue to a favorable degree during his lifetime.  Merlini's beatification depends upon the papal confirmation of a miracle attributed to his intercession which is in most cases a healing that neither science or medicine can explain. The diocesan process to investigate one such case opened in the Naples archdiocese (that Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe inaugurated) on 6 February 2019.

Giovanni Merlini (28 August 1795 - 12 January 1873) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member in the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. Merlini was a close friend of Saint Gaspare del Bufalo who founded the order and was also a close friend to Pope Pius IX who provided assistance in helping the order spread for its activities. He also served as the third Moderator General for the order from 1847 until his death. He was also a noted spiritual director and provided spiritual counsel to Saint Maria de Mattias as she went establishing a religious congregation of her own.


South Manheim Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

Geography.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 21.0 square miles (54.3 km2), of which, 20.6 square miles (53.3 km2) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km2) of it (1.77%) is water.

Demographics.

At the 2000 census there were 2,191 people, 796 households, and 643 families living in the township. The population density was 106.4 people per square mile (41.1/km2). There were 966 housing units at an average density of 46.9/sq mi (18.1/km2). The racial makeup of the township was 98.31% White, 0.46% African American, 0.23% Asian, 0.37% from other races, and 0.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.68%.  Of the 796 households 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.0% were married couples living together, 5.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.2% were non-families. 14.9% of households were one person and 6.3% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.07.  The age distribution was 25.9% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 25.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% 65 or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.9 males.  The median household income was $46,786 and the median family income was $49,757. Males had a median income of $37,629 versus $26,375 for females. The per capita income for the township was $19,638. About 2.0% of families and 3.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.2% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.

South Manheim Township is a township in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,191 at the 2000 census.


Background and composition.

"Adore You" was written by Styles, Amy Allen, it's producer, Kid Harpoon and it's co-producer, Tyler Johnson. It was mastered by Randy Merrill and mixed by Spike Stent. According to "Rolling Stone", the song was written "in a burst of inspiration", in the sessions in the final week of Spring 2019. "Adore You" was described as a pop, funk, disco and pop rock song in press reviews, featuring elements of 1970s, soul and R&B. Lasting for three minutes and twenty-seven seconds, the song was composed using common time in the key of C minor, with a moderate tempo of 100 beats per minute and chord progression of Cm–Eb–Ab–Bb. Styles' vocals span a range of B to B. Its production makes use of layered and choppy guitars, floaty and watery synths, bass and drums. The song is further driven by "big-club" beat-drop and brass instrumentation. Built around a sombre tone, the song uses "bubbly" percussions and ends with an electric guitar solo. Rea McNamara of "NOW magazine" noted that the track incorporated a smooth '80s bassline. Meanwhile, Gregory Robinson from "The Guardian" described the bassline as modern and electronic. Ellen Johnson of "Paste" magazine noted that the song utilizes Far East sound. For Chris Willman of "Variety", "Adore You" builds with "a throbbing beat and a funk rhythm guitar."  Lyrically, "Adore You" is about wanting to love someone. At NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert, Styles revealed that the song is "kind of similar to what 'Watermelon Sugar' is about — that initial excitement of meeting someone." In an interview, Amy Allen, one of song's co-writers explained, "It's totally a love song" that "is reminiscent of the ’70s." The opening verse of "Adore You" finds Styles using technicolor lyrics and fruit metaphors such as: "Walk in your rainbow paradise (Paradise) / Strawberry lipstick state of mind (State of mind)," before he declares his yearning for the subject of the song in the pre-chorus, "You don't have to say you love me / You don't have to say nothing / You don't have to say you're mine." The chorus opens with a groovy beat followed by Styles' falsetto vocals as he sings: "Honey / I'd walk through fire for you / Just let me adore you." Nicholas Hautman of "Us Weekly" described the track as "an otherworldly, lovestruck jam with a heavenly chorus and a smooth electric guitar solo."

Release and promotion.

On 20 November 2019, a Twitter account with the username "@visiteroda", which was launched in October, tweeted the post "The Isle of Eroda’s rich history is embedded in daily life as the ruins of many structures from the past remain standing across the land. #VisitEroda." Shortly after, a website was set up for the place and advertisements were posted on Facebook and Google in which the island of Eroda was promoted and questions from fellow Twitter users were answered. The island was soon proven to not exist and was a part of the marketing campaign for Styles' forthcoming single. On 2 December, Styles officially announced the title and release date of the single on his social media, with Eroda being the main focus of its music video. Done up in the style of a tarot card, the single's cover art was also released on the same day and shows Styles praying in the ocean, encircled by five fish. It was inspired by the song's accompanying visual. "Adore You" was made available for digital download and streaming by Erskine and Columbia Records as the second single from Styles' second studio album "Fine Line" on 6 December 2019.  Styles gave his first live performance of "Adore You" on 7 December 2019 on "The Graham Norton Show". On 9 December, he performed the song on Capital FM's 2019 Jingle Bell Ball in London. On 10 December, he performed it again on "The Late Late Show with James Corden". The performance set was bolstered by a "cutout" boat and "crashing waves," while Styles was backed by a band. Nina Corcoran of "Consequence of Sound", praised Styles' performance, writing, "Maybe it’s because of his suit or the way he moved during the song’s instrumental interlude, but he gives off some major Bowie vibes during the performance." On 18 December, Styles performed the song on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. The song was included in the setlist of his one-night concert at The Forum, Los Angeles on 13 December, to commemorate the release of his second album. On 27 February 2020, Styles performed the song on NBC's "The Today Show" at Rockefeller Center. "Adore You" was again included as a part of the five-song set which Styles performed at the Music Hall of Williamsburg for Sirius XM and Pandora Radio's secret session on 28 February. On 16 March, 2020, Styles performed the song on NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert, alongside "Cherry", "Watermelon Sugar", and "To Be So Lonely".

Critical reception.

"Adore You" received generally favourable reviews from music critics. In her review for "The New York Times", Lindsay Zoladz regarded the song as an album highlight and wrote, "It's the one in which past and present coalesce most seamlessly, its playful psychedelia streamlined into sleek modern hit-making," while also praising Styles' vocal range and high notes in the track's chorus. "Popjustice"s music critic Peter Robinson compared "Adore You" sonically to The 1975's "Somebody Else" (2015). On the other hand, Emma Swann, of "DIY" magazine likened the song's musical style to the works of British–American musician Mark Ronson. Lauren Murphy of Entertainment.ie characterized the song's "soulful little interjections" as Justin Timberlake-esque. Reviewing for "Clash", Susan Hansen favoured the "mesmeric" pop and soul elements of the song which suited praised Styles' "soft, fully projected" vocals. Viewing the sound as "lush", she felt that the basslines "flow seamlessly and carry the track through to completion." Gregory Robinson of "The Guardian" said that the track displayed significant evolution in Styles' sound and viewed the hook as his "catchiest [hook] to date."  In her review for "Time", Raisa Bruner listed "Adore You" as one of the five best songs of the week and deemed it as "timeless and friendly". MTV's Madeline Roth likened the song to Styles' previous single, "Watermelon Sugar" and wrote that the "funky, synthy new tune is a tale of lust and devotion." Mike Nied of "Idolator" commended the song's production and Styles' vocals while also appreciating the lyrical content, writing, "There's a stark beauty that shines through levels of desperation in the lyrics." Maria Zheleva of "Soundigest" shared a similar view and praised Styles' vulnerability in the song's lyrics and vocals which "ignites that place in our hearts that's longing to be filled by someone who means everything, and it's enchanting." Courteney Laroca of "Insider" gave the song a 8.1/10 rating and regarded it as "one of the more upbeat tracks on "Fine Line", providing a much-needed dose of pep and a glance into Styles' more playful side." Alex Rodobolski of "Exclaim!" called the song "a fun pop banger" with an "endearing tune" that circumscribes the album with "a certain sense of mysticism."  Writing for "Rolling Stone", Brenna Ehrlich labelled the song as a "simple ballad about love and devotion." Louise Bruton of "The Irish Times" regarded the song as "truly blissful". In her review of "Fine Line" for "The A.V. Club", Annie Zaleski called the song "velvety soul" and "luxurious" like Styles' previous single "Lights Up". Reviewing for "Vulture", Craig Jenkins deemed it as a "lean funk-pop groove" along with the other two singles "Lights Up" and "Watermelon Sugar", having an "intrusively catchy hook." Alicia Bugalo of "Atwood Magazine" complimented the "funkiness" in its production, "good" chorus and "brilliant" hook. In a mixed review, Lauren O'Neill of "Vice" viewed the song as "a fairly flat, disco-lite lust song with repetitive lyrics" but favoured the guitar solo in its production. Rhian Daly of "NME" also gave a mixed review and wrote that the song "does little to differentiate itself from being any other slice of generic chart fodder." In June 2020, the song was listed as the third best song of 2020 so far by "Billboard".

Commercial performance.

"Adore You" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11 for the issue date of 13 December 2019. In its fourth week, the song peaked at number 7 becoming Styles' third top 10 solo entry on the chart. In May 2020, the single was awarded a platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for track-equivalent sales of 600,000 units. In Ireland, the song debuted at number 6 on the Irish Singles Chart, making it Styles' third top 10 there. On the week of 23 December, it peaked at number 4 to become Styles' highest-charting song in Ireland, tying with "Lights Up". In addition, the single reached number four in Scotland and number eight on the Wallonia region of Belgium.  In Australia, "Adore You" entered the ARIA Singles Charts at number 14 on the week of 22 December 2019. The following week, the song climbed to number 7, making it Styles' third top 10, tying with "Lights Up" as his second highest-charting single there. In its third week, the song dropped to number 14 but rebounded back to number 10 on the week of 12 January. The single further topped "The Music Network" Australian Airplay Chart, marking Styles' first number one on Australian radio. In April 2020, the song was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for track-equivalent sales of 140,000 units. In New Zealand, the song peaked at number 6 on the issue dated 23 December 2019 and was certified platinum by the Recorded Music NZ.  "Adore You" debuted at number 35 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 for the issue date of 21 December 2019. In its 15th week broke into the top 10 at number 7 where it remained for a further week. This gave Styles his second single top 10 single after 2017's "Sign of the Times". The song eventually peaked at number 6 in its 17th week, becoming Styles' second highest-charting song on the chart and highest performing single from "Fine Line". It also became Styles' longest charting top 10 single in the US. The song reached number one on the "Billboard" Pop Songs radio chart, becoming Styles' first chart-topper. The song also topped the list of most added songs of the week by adult contemporary radio, reaching the top of Mediabase "Hot AC" chart with 6642 spins, on the week of 26 April-2 May 2020. In addition, it peaked at number two on the Adult Pop Songs chart and number eight on the Adult Contemporary chart. In June 2020, the song was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for track-equivalent sales of two million units. In Canada, the single peaked at number 10 on the Canadian Hot 100, Styles' second single to reach the top 10 of the chart.

Music video.

Background.

The music video for "Adore You" was filmed in three Scottish locations- St Abbs, Cockenzie and Port Seton. It was directed by Dave Meyers, while the script was written by him and Chris Shafer. Scott Cunningham was credited as the director of photography and Nathan Scherrer as the producer. The visual premiered on Styles' official YouTube channel on 6 December 2019 at 05:00 PT (12:00 UTC), and was preceded by a trailer released on 2 December on the same platform. The first two-minutes of the seven-minute long clip contains a narration by Spanish singer Rosalia. The high-concept video features several VFX shots to offer a realistic feel to it. The nautical outfits in the video were created by Harry Lambert.

Synopsis.

The video opens in the fictional "frown-shaped" isle of Eroda (Adore spelled backwards), a small fishing village located somewhere in the middle of the sea, where the inhabitants have "resting fish face" and no one smiles. The fishermen in the folkloric island are superstitious and wear single gold earrings for good luck. The clip then cuts to a scene where a baby having a bright smile on his face is born. The following scenes show the boy growing up to become Styles, who has a "peculiar" ability to blind everyone with his smile. Terrified, the townspeople ostracize him which leaves Styles feeling like an outcast, and he withdraws from society. The clip then shows him spending his days by screaming into empty jars, to give vent to his pent-up distress for being different. However when the jars aren't enough, he heads for the river in an attempt to drown himself, and stumbles across a "gold-dappled" small fish flapping on the rocks. He quickly befriends the fish and starts to bond with it.  Throughout the visual, Styles' anguish is eased off by the fish, as he cares for it and carries it as a companion, around the town. The video is interspersed with scenes where they are seen sharing miniature sized tacos in a picnic or pints at the pub. Over the course of the clip, the fish rapidly grows larger in size and has to be placed from small kettles to transparent backpacks, and eventually in a big tank, supported on wagon wheels. At the end of the video, the fish bursts out of its tank causing the residents to come together and help Styles to return the fish back to the water. In the final scene, the townspeople smile magically with Styles, and he sails away from the isle.

Reception.

Brooke Marine from "W" described the video as "a classic fish out of water tale, but with Styles and a literal fish at the center of it." Writing for "Elle", Savannah Walsh praised the visual for its "high-concept scenarios" and regarded it as "Wes Anderson-meets-The Shape of Water" tale which has a "Twilight Zone-like twist." Madeline Roth of MTV also shared a similar view complimented the "high-concept visual treatment." Claire lampen of "The Cut" deemed the video as "whimsical" and viewed it as "an extended metaphor for the end of a romantic relationship." She further praised the visual, writing, "It’s all very delightful, but also, timely and important." Labelling the visual "cheeky, weird and magical," Brenna Ehrlich of "Rolling Stone" likened its story-line and concept to Harry Nilsson's animated film "The Point!", and lauded Styles' ability for "elevating a good pop song to something closer to absurdist art." Rhian Daly of "NME" deemed the video as "next-level weird – but also strangely beautiful."

Credits and personnel.

Credits adapted from the liner notes of "Fine Line".

"Adore You" is a song recorded by English singer and songwriter Harry Styles from his second studio album, "Fine Line" (2019). It was released through Erskine and Columbia Records as the album's second single on 6 December 2019. The song was written by Styles, Amy Allen, Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, with Harpoon handling the production and Johnson serving as a co-producer. "Adore You" has been described as a midtempo pop, funk, disco and pop rock song, incorporating layered guitars, synths, brass and percussions in its production. A love song, its lyrics find Styles talking about the initial stages of a relationship.


Early life and education.

Lee studied at Bedford College from 1876 to 1884. In 1879–80 she attended the first mathematics class at Bedford and was one of the first women to graduate from the University of London (Bedford College was then a women's college of the University), getting a BSc in 1884 and a BA in 1885. She then stayed at Bedford until 1916, initially as a lecturer in mathematics and physics. From 1892 to 1894 she also worked as'resident helper' at the College, received free board and lodging in return. Later she also helped out in Greek and Latin classes.

Scientific practice.

From about 1895 Lee attended Karl Pearson's statistics lectures at University College London and became interested in his application of statistical methods to evolutionary biology. Under his direction she studied for an advanced degree. Her research topic was an investigation of variation in cranial capacity in humans and its correlation with intellectual ability. Lee courted controversy with her first published paper on the subject in 1901 "A study of the correlation of the human skull". She examined three groups - women students from Bedford College, male faculty at University College, and a collection of distinguished male anatomists. The study demonstrated that there was no correlation between skull size and intelligence. Through a formula Lee calculated the cranial capacity from the anatomical measurements. The individuals in the groups were ranked in order of decreasing skull size, and identified by name. The dissertation was completed in 1899 and the findings caused considerable controversy. It was then an accepted theory in craniology that brain power increased with size, hence skull capacity was a measure of mental ability. As a consequence it was believed that men, who generally had larger heads than women, were mentally superior. Lee's findings shed doubt on that belief. Furthermore, one of the examiners of her dissertation was an anatomist with a low ranking in the skull capacity table of her study. Lee's study drew considerable criticism from her thesis examiners and from eugenicist Francis Galton, who questioned the originality and the scientific quality of her work. It was through Pearson's intervention that Lee was finally awarded a PhD in 1901. The following year Pearson published two papers which answered to the criticism that had been levelled at the findings of Lee's study. As there were no effective challenges this work was soon accepted.  From 1892 Lee worked in Pearson's biometric laboratory. Initially as volunteer, Lee eventually received a salary of £90 a year and worked three days a week. Her duties included reducing data, computing correlation coefficients, creating histogram bar charts, and calculating new kind of chi-squared distribution statistics. In addition she did "all the hundred and one things that need doing" and acted as a laboratory secretary. Pearson funded her salary though a grant and showed embarrassment that compared to the salary of a female typist or stenographer Lee was not well paid. On the same grant Pearson also hired the sisters Beatrice Mabel Cave-Browne-Cave and Frances Cave-Browne-Cave as part-time computers. Lee held the paid position in the laboratory until 1907 and kept her lectureship at Bredford College until 1916. She carried out laboratory work in her spare time, or on a voluntary basis in Pearson's laboratory.  While working in the laboratory Lee had started to pursue her own research projects. She published four papers in her own name and contributed to 26 others. Twice she declined to be listed as a co-author of a paper published by Pearson, arguing that she had only done the arithmetic. She was in the process of establishing a reputation as a statistician. For her dissertation she had developed a statistical model that estimated the cranial volume of living humans from external skull measurements. Her research on the statistical analysis of within species variation, a branch of evolutionary biology, continued until 1910 and led her to publish a succession of papers in the "Biometrika" from 1902 onwards. Lee's work also contributed to the preparation of tabulated functions, which were frequently used by contemporary statisticians and biologists. Her first and second publication on tabulated functions was published in the "Reports" of the British Science Association in 1896 and 1899. Later works on the subject were published in the "Biometrika" between 1914 and 1927.

First World War.

During the First World War Lee undertook statistical work for the government. From 1916 till 1918 she also calculated shell trajectories and compiled tables of all kinds for the Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section of the Munitions Inventions Department. Lee also worked on special computing projects for the Admiralty.

Death and legacy.

Lee's salary at Bedford College had always been a "women's wage", and the pension scheme had started too late for her to join. When she retired she had little to live on. In 1923 Pearson and Margaret Tuke, the former principal of Bedford College, petitioned the Home Office. Pearson emphasised her considerable research contribution, and her "services to the cause of scientific work". She was awarded a Civil List pension of £70 a year. She died in 1939 at the age of 81.  Gloria Steinem has credited Lee with dealing one of several death blows to craniology in the early 20th century. Flaws in craniology had been pointed out in the 19th century, but in the 1900s craniology was discredited by empirical data. The final blow came in 1909 when Franklin P. Mall applied statistical measures to the study of the frontal lobe and fissures of the human brain, which had been associated with racial and sex differences, in his paper "On several anatomical characters of the human brain, said to vary according to race and sex, with especial reference to the weight of the frontal lobe". He found no differences between male and female brains.

Alice Lee (1858–1939) was a British mathematician, one of the first women to graduate from London University. She was awarded a PhD in 1901. She worked with Karl Pearson from 1892. She demonstrated that the correlation between cranial capacity and gender was not a sign of greater intelligence in men compared to women.


Development.

The PSI was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a new pandemic influenza planning tool for use by states, communities, businesses and schools, as part of a drive to provide more specific community-level prevention measures. Although designed for domestic implementation, the HHS has not ruled out sharing the index and guidelines with interested international parties.  The index and guidelines were developed by applying principles of epidemiology to data from the history of the last three major flu pandemics and seasonal flu transmission, mathematical models, and input from experts and citizen focus groups. Many "tried and true" practices were combined together in a more structured manner:-

Context.

During the onset of a growing pandemic, local communities cannot rely upon widespread availability of antiviral drugs and vaccines (See Influenza research). The goal of the index is to provide guidance as to what measures various organizations can enact that will slow down the progression of a pandemic, easing the burden of stress upon community resources while definite solutions, like drugs and vaccines, can be brought to bear on the situation. The CDC expects adoption of the PSI will allow early co-ordinated use of community mitigation measures to affect pandemic progression.

Guidelines.

The index focuses less on how likely a disease will spread worldwide – that is, become a pandemic – and more upon how severe the epidemic actually is. The main criterion used to measure pandemic severity will be case-fatality rate (CFR), the percentage of deaths out of the total reported cases of the disease.  The actual implementation of PSI alerts was expected to occur after the World Health Organization (WHO) announces phase 6 influenza transmission (human to human) in the United States. This would probably result in immediate announcement of a PSI level 3–4 situation.  The analogy of "category" levels were introduced to provide an understandable connection to hurricane classification schemes, with specific reference to the recent aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Like the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale, the PSI ranges from 1 to 5, with Category 1 pandemics being most mild (equivalent to seasonal flu) and level 5 being reserved for the most severe "worst-case" scenario pandemics (such as the 1918 Spanish flu).  The report recommends four primary social distancing measures for slowing down a pandemic:  These actions, when implemented, can have an overall effect of reducing the number of new cases of the disease; but they can carry potentially adverse consequences in terms of community and social disruption. The measures should have the most noticeable impact if implemented uniformly by organizations and governments across the US.

Response.

While unveiling the PSI, Dr. Martin Cetron, Director for the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine at the CDC, reported that early feedback to the idea of a pandemic classification scale has been "uniformly positive".  The University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) reports that the PSI has been "drawing generally high marks from public health officials and others, but they say the plan spells a massive workload for local planners". One MD praised that the PSI were "a big improvement over the previous guidance"; while historical influenza expert and author John M. Barry was more critical of the PSI, saying not enough emphasis was placed on basic health principles that could have an impact at the community level, adding "I'd feel a lot more comfortable with a lot more research [supporting them]".  During the initial press releases in 2007, the CDC acknowledge that the PSI and the accompanying guidelines were a work in progress and will likely undergo revision in the months following their release.  In 2014, after the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, the PSI was replaced by the Pandemic Severity Assessment Framework, which uses quadrants based on transmissibility and clinical severity rather than a linear scale.

The pandemic severity index (PSI) was a proposed classification scale for reporting the severity of influenza pandemics in the United States. The PSI was accompanied by a set of guidelines intended to help communicate appropriate actions for communities to follow in potential pandemic situations. Released by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on February 1, 2007, the PSI was designed to resemble the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale classification scheme. The index was replaced by the Pandemic Severity Assessment Framework in 2014, which uses quadrants based on transmissibility and clinical severity rather than a linear scale.


History.

Overview.

From 1852 to the beginning of the 20th century, the United States Lighthouse Board was active in building lighthouses to support ship traffic on the Great Lakes. Between 1852 and 1860, it built 26 new lights. Even as the United States Civil War and its aftermath slowed construction, it completed a dozen new lights in that decade. In the 1870s alone, it built 43 new lights on the Lakes. During the 1880s, more than 100 lights were constructed.  As the new century began, the Lighthouse Board operated 334 major lights, 67 fog horns and 563 buoys on the Great Lakes.  During the 19th century, design of Great Lakes lights slowly evolved. Until 1870 the most common design was to build a keeper's dwelling with the light on the dwelling's roof or on a relatively small square tower attached to the house. In the 1870s, so as to raise lights to a higher focal plane, conical brick towers, usually between 80 and 100 feet tall, were constructed. In the 1890s steel-lined towers began to replace the older generation of brick buildings. "See" Big Sable Point Light for a striking transition and transformation.  The Spectacle Reef Light was built during a forty-year period—between 1870 and 1910—when engineers began to build lights on isolated islands, reefs, and shoals that were significant navigational hazards. To that time, light ships were the only practical way to mark the hazards. They were dangerous for the sailors who manned them, and difficult to maintain. "Worse, regardless of the type of anchors used, lightships could be blown off their expected location in severe storms, making them a potential liability in the worst weather when captains would depend on the charted location of these lights to measure their own ship's distance from dangerous rocks." "See", United States lightship Huron (LV-103).  Using underwater crib designs, the Board built the Waugoshance Light (1851) on a shoal, and demonstrated a "new level of expertise" in constructing of the Spectacle Reef Light (1874), Stannard Rock Light (1882), and Detroit River (Bar Point Shoal) (also known as the Detroit River Entrance Light) (1885). "The long and expensive process of building lights" in remote and difficult sites "ended in nationally publicized engineering projects that constructed" Rock of Ages Light (1908) and the White Shoal (1910) lights.  In the first three decades of the twentieth century, the Lighthouse Board and the new Lighthouse Service continued to build new lights on the Great Lakes. For 1925, the Board administered around the Great Lakes: 433 major lights; ten lightships; 129 fog signals; and about 1,000 buoys. Of these 1,771 navigational aids, only 160 stations had resident keepers. By that time, most navigational aids were automated. Most of the 21st century's Great Lakes lighthouses (excepting "e.g.", Poe Reef Light and Gravelly Shoal Light) had been constructed by 1925.  Building on shoals was part of a larger pattern of building 14 reef lights around Michigan, also intended to help ships navigate through and around the shoals and hazards around the Straits of Mackinac.

Construction.

The site was first marked by a buoy in 1868. The construction was undertaken under the auspices of the Lighthouse Board, and was a feat of civil engineering and endurance. Construction began in 1870, in answer to the disastrous loss of a large number of ships during the 1860s at the site; in particular, two schooners ran aground and broke up in 1867. The massive cost of the loss helped convince Congress that it would be more cost effective to build a light and reduce the potential of future shipwrecks. The lighthouse is built upon a reef shaped like a pair of eyeglasses (hence its name) and is located in the path of littoral commerce on Lake Huron. The increase in freighter traffic through the straits increased the risk of more ship losses without better signing of hazards.  The Spectacle Reef Lighthouse cost $406,000. One costly item was the purchase of a steamer to convey the materials to the site.  The foundation was laid in a cofferdam protected by a crib made from timber and submerged below the surface. The crib was constructed upon slipways at the depot, like building a ship, then launched and towed by tugboats to the reef, where it was sunk and grounded on the site. This crib is massive: and high (). It created a protected pond, making a base for the cofferdam, a wharf, and worker's quarters. The cofferdam was pumped out to expose the bedrock, upon which the masonry courses were laid.  The light's 20-month construction process had to be spread out over a calendar period of four years (1870–1874). No work was possible during the winter, most of the spring, and most of the fall, due to heavy weather.  Bois Blanc Island is the nearest point of land, to to the northwest; but neither it nor Ninemile Point, to the south, formed a suitable staging area for construction. This took place entirely on site. After the construction of workers' quarters on the pier, a fourth-order Fresnel lens was temporarily installed on the roof of one of the buildings. Construction was almost complete in the fall of 1873, when the onset of winter's storms forced the work site to be abandoned until the following spring. In the spring of 1874, work on the lighthouse began again. With the installation of the cast-iron lantern room and a new second-order Fresnel lens, the work was complete, and the light was put into service for the first time in June 1874.  The location of the lighthouse makes it susceptible to wave fetch, which for this reef is to the southeast. Lake Huron ice fields, known as drift ice, which in this lake can be as much as two or more feet thick and measure thousands of acres in size, are moved by wintertime currents. Masses of these dimensions create "an almost irresistible force", which for Spectacle Reef Light was "overcome by interposing a structure against which the ice is crushed and by which its motion is so impeded that it grounds on the 7–foot shoal." This creates an effective wall "against other ice fields."  The tower is formed as a "frustum of a cone". The diameter base rises above water level, and is below water level.  As the Coast Guard notes: "The focal plane is above the top of the parapet, making it above the top of the submerged rock and above the surface of the water. For up the tower is solid and from them on up it is hollow. In it are five rooms, one above the other each in diameter, with varying heights. The walls of the hollow portion are at the bottom, tapering to at the spring of the cornice."  Just below the cornice, the blocks of stone are thick. They are interlocked in each course, and fastened together with wrought iron bolts thick and long. Likewise, the tower is bolted to the foundation rock with bolts long. After "the stones were in place they were plugged with pure portland cement, which is now as hard as the stone itself. Hence the tower is, in effect, a monolith."  The stones were cut at the depot at Scammon's Harbor, away. They were fitted, course by course, on a platform of masonry. The stones fit so well that each course was laid in three days: to set, drill, and bolt. The light has been described as "the best specimen of monolithic stone masonry in the United States" and "one of the greatest engineering feats on the Great Lakes."  In September 1872, a severe gale did considerable damage to the lighthouse, which had to be repaired at very great expense. The term "gale" is being used loosely, as there was no wind speed device being monitored in the winter at that location. But, in a similar location and storm on Lake Superior at Granite Island, Michigan, wind speeds of were recorded on January 18, 2003.  "After the winter of 1873–74, when the keepers returned to the newly completed tower, they found the ice piled against it at a height of, or higher than the doorway, and they could not gain entrance until they had cut away the iceberg of which the lighthouse formed the core."  The light has an attached fog signal building, oil house and storage building. There are davits to raise and lower boats.  The Lighthouse Board built a model of this light that was featured in the "Aids to Navigation" display at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, also known as "The Chicago World's Fair" in Chicago, Illinois.  The combination of a crib foundation with monolithic stone masonry worked so well that the Lighthouse Board used the design and a similar process in constructing the Stannard Rock Light in Lake Superior in 1878. The Board achieved economies by getting 'double duty' from the "costly apparatus and machinery purchased" for the Spectacle Reef project.

Current status.

The original second-order Fresnel lens (by HenryLepaute of Paris, France) was removed in 1982. It is now on display at the Inland Seas Maritime Museum (also known as the Great Lakes Historical Society Museum) at the Vermilion Light in Vermilion, Ohio. Since the Fresnel lens was replaced by a modern acrylic lens, the Spectacle Reef Light has continued to serve as an active aid to navigation as of 2007.  In July 2005, "Spectacle Reef Light Station" was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as site #05000744, defined as "Located in northern Lake Huron,. NNE of Ninemile Point, Benton Township, Michigan".  Spectacle Reef Lighthouse was one of five lighthouses chosen for the "Lighthouses of the Great Lakes" series; the postage stamp was designed by Howard Koslow in 1995. One lighthouse was chosen on each of the Great Lakes for this series. The five lighthouses are Split Rock Light on Lake Superior, St Joseph Light on Lake Michigan, Spectacle Reef Light on Lake Huron, Marblehead Light (Ohio) on Lake Erie and Thirty Mile Point Light on Lake Ontario.  As of July 2015, the light is for sale through an on-line GSA auction process.

Getting there.

As the light and crib are closed to the public, it can only be viewed closely by a private boat. It is a long way from shore in dangerous and open water, fraught with shoals.  Shepler's Ferry Service out of Mackinaw City offers periodic lighthouse tours in the summer season. Its "Eastbound Tour" includes passes by St. Helena Island Light, and includes a luncheon. Schedules and rates are available from Shepler's.  Another alternative is to charter a seaplane to make a tour of the Mackinac Straits and environs.  As of 2008, the Great Lakes Light Keepers' Association operates a single annual "Grand Light Tour" that is conducted by Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry, and it includes a pass-by of the Spectacle Reef Light.

Spectacle Reef Light is a lighthouse east of the Straits of Mackinac and is located at the northern end of Lake Huron, Michigan. It was designed and built by Colonel Orlando Metcalfe Poe and Major Godfrey Weitzel, and was the most expensive lighthouse ever built on the Great Lakes.


Biography.

His father Bonello and mother Superla had five children and John was the youngest. Because of his studious nature, his parents sent him to Bologna to study the humanities. He was afflicted with a purulent sore on one side of his thigh. Journeying back home, he rode on the back of a donkey, which made his thigh weaker. He was lame for the rest of his life and was forced to walk with the help of a staff, for this he was nicknamed John ‘of the staff’ (dal Bastone). Attracted by the fame of the sanctity of the venerable Sylvester Gozzolini (Italian: Silvestro Guzzolini) John went to meet him. He was received into the holy order and took up a monastic way of life, about 1230. He lived for 60 years in a small cell of the Hermitage of Montefano Renowned for its love of concealment, for prudence and counsel.  Silvester then promoted him into the priesthood. John's body was racked with pain, but he nevertheless observed the greatest poverty and had no possessions beyond his needs and without permission from his spiritual father. His fellow monks confidently sought his advice in their difficulties and doubts. He continued to preach even after the death of Sylvester in 1267. Later, his sore became worse and he was taken for treatment to Fabriano, where he died. His body was laid in the church of St. Benedict in Fabriano.  On 29 August 1772, he was beatified. On 27 October 1872, in the centenary year of his being raised to the status of Blessed, the foundation stone was laid for a church in his name at Pelawatte, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka. The church was completed in 1881. The church was originally administered by the Silvestrines but in 1972 it was entrusted to the Franciscans.  In 2006, the Sri Lanka Post issued a stamp commemorating the 125th anniversary of the church, which is the only one in the world to be dedicated to St John dal Bastone.

Blessed John dal Bastone or Bl. John of the Staff, born Giovanni Bonello Botegoni on 24 March 1200 in Paterno, Fabriano, Italy, died 24 March 1290 in Fabriano, is a Blessed of the Roman Catholic Church.


History.

Incorporated in 1833, Wattsburg was once a thriving stagecoach center.

Geography.

Wattsburg is located in eastern Erie County at (42.002903, -79.809321). It is bordered to the west, north, and east by Venango Township, and to the south by Amity Township. The New York state border is to the east.  According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of, of which, or 3.72%, is water. Wattsburg is at the junction of French Creek with its West Branch. The borough is in the Allegheny River watershed.

Demographics.

As of the census of 2000, there were 378 people, 148 households, and 97 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,160.8 people per square mile (442.3/km2). There were 166 housing units at an average density of 509.8 per square mile (194.2/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 99.47% White, 0.26% from other races, and 0.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.53% of the population.  There were 148 households, out of which 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.9% were married couples living together, 14.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.8% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.13.  In the borough the population was spread out, with 24.6% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.6 males.  The median income for a household in the borough was $32,500, and the median income for a family was $37,813. Males had a median income of $29,250 versus $25,156 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $14,830. About 17.6% of families and 17.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.2% of those under age 18 and 51.4% of those age 65 or over.

Wattsburg is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 403 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area.


History.

Prior to white settlement, Aboriginal people of the Konongwootong Gundidj clan lived in the local area. The first white explorers to pass through the area were the expedition led by Major Thomas Mitchell in 1836 who spoke enthusiastically of the landscape's "green hills, soft soils and flowery plains", describing it as ideal for farming and settlement, naming it "Australia Felix". The first white settlers in the area were the Henty brothers who had landed in Portland, Victoria in 1834 and who claimed 28,000 hectares between what are now the towns of Casterton and Coleraine. 'Warrock' Station, a sheep farming settlement, was established in 1841, 26 km north of what would be Casterton.  The township of Casterton began on the crossing site of the Glenelg River, the location having been surveyed in 1840, and the first pub, the Glenelg Inn, was established in 1846 with a post-office opening the following year. The early history of the region was marred by violent clashes between settlers and Indigenous people, including multiple murders of Aboriginals that took place near Casterton in the late 1830s and early 1840s.  In 1891, a large number of Casterton women signed the Women's Suffrage Petition to be tabled in the Victorian Parliament to grant women the right to vote (which was not allowed until 1908). By the 1890s, increasing soil erosion saw wheat-farming around Casterton begin to decline and it was largely replaced by meat, wool and dairy farming. Casterton's population expanded in the early 20th century, especially in the 1920s with the arrival of large numbers of soldier-settler farmers and during the post-war era in the 1950s.  The Rail line to Casterton was closed 12 September 1977.  The town's population began to decline in the 1990s which was consistent with the statewide trend of decreasing populations in many rural areas and the ageing of the local population. The 2016 census indicated the average age of Casterton's population was 55.

Traditional ownership.

The formally recognised traditional owners for the area in which Casterton sits are the Gunditjmara People who are represented by the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation.

The kelpie.

Casterton lays claim to be the birthplace of the breed of working dog known as the kelpie, a Scottish term meaning 'Water Sprite' and a name given to a black and tan bitch British working collie owned by Scotsman George Patterson, a farmer who lived north of Casterton in the 1870s. Patterson exchanged 'Kelpie' for a horse and the dog's new owner, a drover named Jack Gleeson, took her to Ardlethan, NSW where she mated with a black male Rutherford Sheepdog named 'Moss', producing several litters. Kelpie later mated with another male named 'Caesar', producing a female pup named 'King's Kelpie' which grew to become a champion sheepdog.  The breed was further developed and refined during the next few decades. Ardlethan also lays claim to be the birthplace of the breed.  In 1997, a working dog auction was held in Casterton, an annual event which grew to become the Casterton Kelpie Festival in 2001. The auction and festival event is now held each June in Casterton  To mark Casterton's 150th anniversary celebrations in 1996, a bronze sculpture of a kelpie by artist Peter Corlett was unveiled in front of Casterton's Town Hall.

The Fleur de Lys.

A large version of the Fleur de Lys, used as the emblem of the Scouts, is carved into Toorak Hill, a steep hill overlooking the eastern end of Casterton's main thoroughfare. The design has a circumference of 91 metres. In 1935, the Boy-Scouts and Cubs, in honour of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of King George V, carved a large-scale version of the words 'The King' into the hill, each letter some six metres long. Encouraged by the success of this, the Scouts, to celebrate the 1941 opening of the town's new Scout-hall, carved the Fleur de Lys emblem into the hill and lit it up at night with the aid of a series of tins filled with oil-soaked rags which were set alight. Years later, the design was lit by electric strip lighting and is illuminated on most evenings throughout the year.

Community.

The town has a Community Centre, a weekly local newspaper and hosts many activities throughout the year.  The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Western Border Football League. Casterton Football Club, originally formed in 1875, won the Western District League Premiership 12 times between 1892 and 1963 and has won the Western Border League Premiership twice, in 1969 and 1990.  The Casterton Racing Club schedules around four horse race meetings a year including the Casterton Cup meeting in May or June.  Golfers play at the Casterton Golf Club on Penola Road.  The town has a public outdoor swimming pool, a hospital, a secondary college and State and Catholic primary schools.

Notable residents.

Notable residents of Casterton include:

Casterton is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Glenelg Highway, 42 kilometres east of the South Australian border, in the Shire of Glenelg. The Glenelg River passes through the town. Casterton is named after the village of Casterton in south-east Cumbria in England.


Models.

The Business Class M2 is produced in a wide range of configurations, in both medium-duty and severe-service configurations. There are three different cab configurations: a 106-inch BBC (bumper to back of cab) day cab, a 132-inch BBC extended cab, and a 154-inch BBC 4-door crew cab.<ref name="Fleet Owner 8/02"></ref> The crew-cab configuration offers seating for up to six passengers.

Truck.

M2 106.

Named for its 106-inch BBC length in daycab configuration, the M2 106 is a Class 5-8 truck available in GVWRs up to 56,000 lbs. The M2 106 is produced primarily as a straight truck, although its cab and chassis are used in the bus industry as a cutaway cab conversion.

M2 112.

Named for its 112-inch BBC length, the M2 112 is a Class 8 truck available in GVWRs up to 80,000 lbs. Although available as a straight truck like the M2 106, it is also available as a tractor. Externally, it is distinguished by a larger grille and slightly higher hoodline.

eM2.

The e-M2, an all-electric variant of this class 5 medium duty cube truck, was unveiled in mid-2018. It would have peak horsepower, using batteries, having a range of. The fast charger would allow for 80% charge in 1 hour (). It has a load capacity GCWR of., it costs $400,000; about 4 times the price of the diesel equivalent.  The truck is currently being field-tested by customers. The first out of 10 trucks was delivered to Penske Truck Leasing Corporation in Los Angeles in December 2018.

Bus.

Freightliner offers two variants of the M2 for bus use: the C2/S2 cowled chassis and the S2C cutaway cab bus chassis. Serving as the donor chassis for the Thomas Saf-T-Liner C2 school bus constructed by Freightliner subsidiary Thomas Built Buses, the C2 chassis departs from previous precedent in its higher parts commonality with the M2 106 truck. Forward of the driver's seat, the dashboard is used in its entirety; while the windshield is redesigned (enlarged), the stock windshield wipers are retained.  Outside of school bus use, Freightliner designates the cowled bus chassis as the Freightliner S2; the model is no longer offered on the Freightliner chassis website.  The Freightliner S2C is the cutaway-cab variant of the M2. Never produced with a school bus body, the S2C was intended for various commercial uses, including shuttle and transit bus use.

Severe-service trucks.

As with the FL-Series, Freightliner developed severe-service variants of the Business Class M2. While the M2 106V and M2 112V would share the same cabs and hood as the medium-duty vehicles, they were based on their own unique chassis. In 2011, Freightliner replaced the M2 106V/112V with the "SD" line of severe-service trucks, dropping them out of the Business Class M2 model range. While the 108SD and 114SD still used the M2 cab, an all-new hood and chassis was used.

Aftermarket.

Freightliner Specialty Vehicles (also known as SportChassis LLC) is a manufacturer based in Clinton, Oklahoma that produces conversions of the Business Class M2 as consumer vehicles. Several vehicles are available, including 5th-wheel tow vehicles and pickup trucks. While similar in layout to the International CXT/RXT, these differ in that they are completed by a second-stage manufacturer.

The Freightliner Business Class M2 is a model range of medium-duty trucks produced by Freightliner. In production since June 2002, the M2 was the successor to the FL-Series introduced in the 1990s.<ref name="Fleet Owner-2/02"> In terms of size, the M2 is produced in Class 5 through Class 8 GVWR ratings, competing primarily against the International Durastar and the Ford F-650/F-750 Super Duty.


History.

The term cruelty-free was first used in this way by Lady Dowding who persuaded manufacturers of fake furs to use the label "Beauty Without Cruelty" and went on to found the charity Beauty Without Cruelty in 1959. The term was popularised in the US in the 1970s by Marcia Pearson who founded the group Fashion With Compassion.

Campaigns.

In 1957 Charles Hume and W. M. S. Russell introduced the concept of the three R's in their book "Principles of Humane Experimental Technique". These techniques to reduce animals used in tests and their suffering include: replacement (eliminate an animal test altogether), reduction (fewer animals used in test by using statistical analysis) and refinement (making tests less painful).  In 1991 the European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) was established "to promote the scientific and regulatory acceptance of alternative methods which are important to the biosciences and which reduce, refine or replace the use of laboratory animals." Once the ECVAM's Scientific Advisory Committee approves a test it must be used under the Animal Protection Act, which does not allow the use of animals when an alternative exists.  In 2012, British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection joined forces with New England Anti-Vivisection Society and the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments to create an international organization to campaign against animal testing. BUAV supporter Ricky Gervais announced the campaign—now considered a deciding factor in the European decision to ban animal testing for personal-care products. Although companies can still use animal testing in countries outside Europe (such as China, which requires animal testing on all imported cosmetics), the Leaping Bunny applies to a company's global market, and does not certify product that use animal testing anywhere in the world.

Tests.

Animals such as rabbits, rats, mice, and guinea pigs are sometimes forced to eat or inhale substances, or have a cosmetic ingredient rubbed onto their shaved skin, eyes or ears every day for 28 or 90 days to see if they have an allergic reaction. Then they are killed and cut open to examine the effects the ingredient has on internal organs. These tests are also done with pregnant animals who, after much suffering, are killed along with the fetus. In more prolonged carcinogen tests, rats are force-fed a cosmetic ingredient over two years, monitored for cancer, and then killed. Primates, dogs, such as the Beagle, and cats are used for invasive experimentation as well. Many laboratories use these species to test drugs, chemicals, and diseases, whether old or new.

Alternatives.

As technology developed, outdated animal testing is being replaced with quicker, cheaper and more accurate methods. Critics point out that humane alternatives can be slow to implement, costly, and test only one compound at a time. Alternatives have shown positive results. For example, "reconstructed human epidermis"—which uses human skin donated from cosmetic surgery to replace the rabbit Draize skin test—is more relevant to human reactions. Other methods replace the Draize eye test by using in vitro (test-tube) human tissue. Computer-based systems allow for isolation of a select tissue or organ to conduct tests in an extremely controlled environment. These tests not only reduce animal testing, but are more precise and accurate at protecting humans from toxic substances. Another cruelty-free option is using ingredients that have already been established as safe, such as the 20,000 ingredients in the European Union database.

Products.

Companies now offer a wide range of cruelty-free products such as cosmetics, personal-care products, household cleaners, clothing, shoes, condoms (which are sometimes processed with casein), and candles (which usually use paraffin or beeswax). Organizations such as PETA, Choose Cruelty Free, Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, and its offshoot organization Cruelty Free International have released lists of cruelty-free products and cruel products to boycott. Since the 1990s the Leaping Bunny has been the only international third-party cruelty-free certification program.

Events.

"National Cruelty-Free Week" is an event in the United Kingdom every year arranged by the BUAV. The 2006 event was from 17–23 July. Other, similar, events include: "National Vegetarian Week", "UK Vegan Week" and "World Vegan Day", which takes place each year on November 1.

Criticisms.

While some manufacturers have begun to label their products as “not tested on animals”, “we do not conduct animal testing”, “never tested on animals”, “against animal testing” or “cruelty-free”, these labels are confusing and potentially misleading, since there is no clear legal definition as to what they mean.

In the animal rights movement, cruelty-free is a label for products or activities that do not harm or kill animals anywhere in the world. Products tested on animals are not considered cruelty-free, since these tests are often painful and cause the suffering and death of millions of animals every year.


Background.

The United States Air Force (USAF) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) participated in the development of the Space Shuttle from its official inception in 1969. To save money, the shuttle was intended to serve as the United States' national launch system for all civilian, military, and classified payloads. The DoD influenced key aspects of the shuttle's design such as the size of its cargo bay, and Congress reportedly told DoD that it would not pay for satellites not designed to fit into the bay.  The USAF in the 1970s hoped to buy up to three shuttles and fly them with all-military crews. As with the earlier X-20 Dyna-Soar and Manned Orbiting Laboratory, budget concerns ended the "Blue Shuttle" program, but the USAF gained the use of up to one third of all launches and the right to requisition the next available launch for high-priority payloads. It renovated an existing launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to send shuttles into polar orbits and established the Manned Spaceflight Control Squadron at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Squadron personnel participated in monitoring shuttle flights from NASA's Mission Control Center, where the military built a secure facility to support classified Shuttle missions. The squadron was to move to the planned DoD mission control center in Colorado that would monitor an expected 12 to 14 flights each year.

MSE.

Many active-duty USAF and other American military personnel have served (about 60% of the total in 1985), and continue to serve, as NASA astronauts. Although with the end of "Blue Shuttle" DoD no longer needed its own shuttle pilots and mission specialists, it still desired military payload specialists for classified payloads on the about 100 or more shuttle flights it expected to use. While NASA offered to train the DoD astronauts the military wanted to control their training, as DoD astronauts who went to NASA rarely returned.  In 1979, the first 13 Manned Spaceflight Engineers (MSEs) were selected, chosen from all services and based at Los Angeles Air Force Base:  In 1982, another 14 were selected, chosen only from the USAF:  In 1985, five more were selected:  The 32 MSEs were told that each would fly in space at least once. Five became generals. In 1991, Chief Warrant Officer Thomas J. Hennen, United States Army flew aboard STS-44 as the first military payload specialist since Payton and Pailes, and the first enlisted soldier in space. He was not an MSE, but assigned to the US Army Intelligence Center at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona.

Secrecy.

As a civilian agency, NASA typically freely provides details on all aspects of its operations. The DoD shuttle missions required different procedures to maintain secrecy of the classified payloads. The government viewed the flights and their payloads as secret as troop movements, asked media organizations to avoid reporting details, and threatened to investigate even speculation as potential leaks of classified information. The military did not disclose MSEs' names at first, unlike those chosen for Dyna-Soar and MOL, and the program's existence was secret until the press reported on it in 1982. The Air Force officially announced the MSE group's existence in 1983 but did not identify any members until 1985, and disclosed little about their role on flights. The press nonetheless reported in great detail on likely military payloads using open source intelligence, such as the direction of the shuttle after liftoff.  Unlike all other flights, NASA only began public countdowns a few minutes before launch, did not distribute press kits, and did not permit reporters to attend countdowns or listen to shuttle-to-ground communications. A secure USAF-NRO mission control center (the Air Force Satellite Control Facility) in Sunnyvale, California monitored the DoD payloads on flights alongside the Houston mission control (which focused on the Shuttle and attached support equipment). NASA announced civilian shuttle missions' schedules and flight routes in advance, hundreds of civilians attended most landings, and loudspeakers played radio transmissions. Only a few reporters and NASA employees, by contrast, attended the classified flights' silent landings.

Difficulties.

The MSE program faced internal and external challenges. NASA, which early on had a "sour" relationship with the MSEs, was reluctant to assign them to its flights given their lack of NASA training and the need for spots for other payload specialists. Payton said in 2016, "NASA thought of us as a bunch of snotty-nosed kids, outsiders, almost guests"; Hamel said that there was "a titanic clash of cultures (between NASA and the Air Force), and the MSEs were at the eye of the storm".  Internal USAF debates on the usefulness of manned spaceflight to the DoD caused uncertainty for MSE personnel. USAF General Ralph G. Jacobson removed Vidrine from STS-41-C one month before launch, stating that the mission had no value to the Air Force. The military declined the opportunity to send a second MSE on STS-51-C. In New regulations in 1984 that strongly encouraged USAF personnel to move to another assignment after four years caused many early MSEs to transfer out of the program, with only nine active by late 1985.

End.

DoD and Air Force had hoped to use 10 to 12 shuttle flights a year, but NASA could not fly the shuttle that often. By December 1984 DoD stated that it planned to use about 20% of the 70 shuttle flights NASA planned over the following five years, with almost all military-related launches moving to the shuttle from unmanned rockets.  Before the loss of "Challenger" in January 1986, however, ongoing launch delays caused DoD to express concern about overdependance on the shuttle. In 1983 Under Secretary of the Air Force and NRO director Pete Aldridge proposed that DoD continue purchasing unmanned rockets until the shuttle proved its reliability by flying 24 missions a year. Despite Congressional and NASA opposition, in 1984 DoD began procuring a new unmanned rocket capable of launching shuttle-sized payloads into geosynchronous orbit. In 1985 it won approval to buy ten such rockets, which became the Titan IV; NASA flew nine shuttle flights that year.  To improve DoD relations, NASA agreed to fly Aldridge on STS-62-A, scheduled for 1986 as the first Vandenberg shuttle mission. He was training for the mission and watching on television when "Challenger" was destroyed; the accident accelerated DoD plans for unmanned rockets, but several NRO payloads only the shuttle could launch were grounded until it flew again, a dilemma NRO had feared as early as the mid-1970s.  With DoD's return to unmanned rockets and less need for dedicated military astronauts, the MSE program ended in 1988 with only two MSEs having flown into space. The Houston squadron was dissolved, construction of the Colorado center ended, and the Vandenberg launch site used for unmanned rockets. Only active duty-military NASA astronauts flew on subsequent missions with DoD payloads, except Story Musgrave and Kathryn C. Thornton on STS-33.

Shuttle missions with classified payloads.

In 1993 a "high-ranking intelligence official" awarded all crewmembers of the classified shuttle flights with the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. The astronauts were permitted to wear the medals in public and discuss details of their flights that appeared on the medals' citations.

The Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program was an effort by the United States Air Force to train American military personnel as payload specialists for United States Department of Defense missions on the Space Shuttle program.