Location.

St Patrick's Street runs in a curve from Saint Patrick's Bridge to Daunt Square, where it meets Grand Parade. The street obtains its curved shape due to its location over an arm of the River Lee.

History.

The street dates from the late 18th Century as the city expanded beyond the walls of the ancient city which was centered on North & South Main Street. During the 1780s many of the streets that now form the city centre of Cork were formed by the spanning of the river channels between the islands of the Lee.  Parts of Patrick Street were extensively damaged during the Irish War of Independence in an event known as the "Burning of Cork" in 1920. This included the Munster Arcade and Grant's department store.  From 1898 to 1931, the street was served by the Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company. Services started on 22 December 1898, however it closed on 30 September 1931 due to increasing popularity of bus services operated by The Irish Omnibus Company, and the takeover of the company's electricity plant by the Electricity Supply Board.  In 2004, the street was redeveloped by architect Beth Gali in order to make the street more friendly to pedestrians. This included repaving of the street and widening of pedestrian pavements in order to create plazas.  Between March and April 2018, Cork City Council banned afternoon traffic on Patrick Street, with only public transport traffic allowed between 3:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. This was lifted within a few weeks due to a reported impact on city centre traders.

Businesses and landmarks.

The street is home to a number of retail and department stores, including Brown Thomas, Dunnes Stores, Marks & Spencer and Penneys, at the northern end of the street. The Roches Stores building, built at the northern end of the street in the mid 1920s, housed the Roches Stores department store from the early 20th century until leased by Debenhams Ireland, who operated it from 2006 until 2020. The opposite (southwestern) end of the street includes smaller units, with jewellery stores such as Pandora, video game stores like GameStop, and health store Holland & Barrett.  In the early 21st century, the street saw various modernisation and rejuvenation projects. These included the opening of Opera Lane in 2010, the redesigning of shop facades in 2016, and the development of the former Capitol Cinema site in 2017.  A monument to Fr. Theobald Mathew, the Apostle of Temperance, stands at the northern end of the street facing St. Patrick's Bridge over the River Lee. The monument dates back to October 1864.

St Patrick's Street () is the main shopping street of the city of Cork in the south of Ireland. Since its redevelopment in 2004, it has twice won the award as Ireland's best shopping street. St Patrick's Street is colloquially known to some locals as "Pana".


Biography.

Personal life.

Born in Guangxi, China he started practising table tennis at the age of nine. He studied in a special school for athletes and reached eighth place in China's national ranking. Between 1990 and 1994 he was a part of China's national team, and he won the national junior single's championship in 1991. In 1986 he started studying Marketing in the University of Tokyo, although he dropped it after a year after deciding to go to Argentina. That's why it is said that Liu has three nationalities (Chinese, Argentinian and Japanese). In 1990 his family moved to Argentina, living in Floresta, a neighborhood in Buenos Aires city, where they opened a laundry. Five years later, Song followed his family. He adopted Argentinian nationality, the country that he always represented at international level, and he started training in the Centro Nacional de Alto Rendimiento Deportivo.

International career.

His first big accomplishment was in 1995 in Brazil's Open; in 1996 he reached the semi-finals of the US Open, in the United States. He won all the Argentinian championships between 1995 and 2001, but in 1997 he started to alternate his place of residence between Argentina and Europe to play professionally. In the season of 1997/98 he was team's champion in Germany's second division; after that he played in Croatia, where he was team's champion in the first division in 1999 and 2001, and he won the European Championship team's in 2000 and 2001 playing for Zagreb. Then he went to Bordeaux, France, where he lives since 2001, playing for local team SAG Cestas in France's first division. Liu won the bronze medal in the 2011 Latin American Cup held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after being defeated by Brazil's Gustavo Tsuboi 4-3. Almost at the end of his career, being 39 years old, he won the singles' gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, by beating Mexico's Marcos Madrid in the final.

Liu Song () is a male table tennis player from Argentina. From 1998 to 2011 he won several medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the Latin American Table Tennis Championships.


History.

The idea of a second television channel in Israel was first mooted in 1978 when the Israeli government set up a special committee headed by Haim Kovarsky to explore the establishment of a second channel that would not be under supervision of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and would be financed by advertising, however the idea of commercial television was rejected by the National Religious Party (NRP), which was part of the ruling coalition at that time. On 23 October 1986, Amnon Rubinstein, the then Minister of Communications, ordered the start of "experimental transmissions" on a second channel, claiming that unless these transmissions had started, the frequencies would have been used by TV networks in neighbouring countries. The first transmissions were aired on UHF channel 21 from Mount Eitanim transmission tower situated on the hills west of Jerusalem. These transmissions, which initially included 2–3 hours of video clips every evening originating from a private TV studio in Jerusalem, expanded gradually to include a full program lineup. At that time the IBA was legally responsible for the channel, but it actually saw it as unexpected competition, tried to prevent its inauguration, and was reluctant to take responsibility for its broadcasts.  In 1986 the Knesset started discussing the law forming the Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority, and in 1990, the Knesset passed a law that paved the way for the establishment of commercial television in Israel. The goal was to enhance pluralism and create competition. Channel 2 began broadcasting on 4 November 1993. Three concessionaires were chosen: Keshet, Telad and Reshet. The concessionaires received a broadcasting contract for one decade and worked out a rotation agreement amongst themselves.  In 2005, the Ministry of Communications announced that two concessionaires would receive broadcasting contracts for the following decade. Of the four competitors (the fourth being Kan), Keshet and Reshet were chosen. Telad, which lost the bid, stopped broadcasting on Channel 2 in October 2005. Keshet and Reshet broadcast 4 days a week, rotating every two years. In 2011, Channel 2 installed a new digital system to preserve news content that was stored on aging videotapes and manage its archive library.

Experimental broadcasts.

Channel 2 started its experimental broadcasts in September 1986. Until that time, Channel 1 was the only channel broadcasting in Israel. When the broadcasting started, a test card was shown and in October of the same year the channel started showing photographs of Israel's landscapes and instructions on how to receive the transmissions. On 23 October 1986, Channel 2 started broadcasting music videos. This is considered the beginning of the Experimental Channel 2's broadcasts. In its first months, the broadcasts were two-three hours long. In February 1987, the Demjanjuk trial was broadcast in Channel 2. In the same year's independence day, the experimental channel did a live news broadcast during the entire holiday.  In 1987, there was a labor strike in the IBA and Channel 1 did not broadcast for a period of 52 days. During the strike, Channel 2 got a permission to expand its broadcasting hours and to broadcast movies and various imported TV shows. Later, the government let Channel 2 broadcast in Channel 1's frequencies. This was deemed as an attempt from the government to stop the strike. During the strike, Ida Nudel arrived in Israel and the experimental channel was directed to live broadcast her welcoming ceremony. With the end of the strike, the IBA stopped working with Channel 2 and Channel 2 stopped airing its special productions. In 1990, the Knesset passed the Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority law and Channel 2 officially became an independent channel.

Commercial broadcasting.

After seven years of experimental broadcasts, the bid to determine Channel 2's franchisees ended. The chosen companies were "Keshet", "Reshet", and "Telad". The bid ended on 3 November 1993. Parallelly, Channel 2's news company was founded.  On 4 November 1993, Channel 2 started broadcasting as a commercial channel that is not funded by a TV tax and aired commercials. The news company opened the broadcast with a short news briefing with Ya'akov Eilon. The three franchisees got a contract for six years and later, it was extended to another six years. The channel became quickly the most watched channel in Israel.

Second bid.

In 2005, 12 years after Channel 2 started broadcasting, the Second Authority did another bid for only two franchisees. All three existing franchisees of Channel 2 applied for the bid and also "Kan Group" which was founded for this bid and did not broadcast before. "Noga Tikshoret" applied for the bid first as an independent franchisee but then applied along with "Reshet" under the name "Reshet-Noga". On 13 April, "Keshet" and "Reshet" won the bid. In November 2005, "Telad" stopped its broadcasting on Channel 2 and the broadcasting week was filled by "Keshet" and "Reshet" broadcasting.

Switching to widescreen and HD broadcasting.

Since the end of 2012, Channel 2's franchisees started gradually changing their content to widescreen format and during 2013, "Keshet" started broadcasting in and "Reshet" followed on later. Since 2014, most of both franchisees' contents were broadcast in although the News Company kept broadcasting in, as well as old programs' reruns.  In 2010, "Reshet" asked the Second Authority for HD broadcasting. The request was turned down because all commercial channels had to go through the Second Authorities' systems and they did not work with HD broadcasts. Both of the franchisees did not broadcast in HD before Channel 2's closure, although by that time, most of their productions were shot in HD and were available to watch in HD on the VOD and the internet.  As a part of Channel 2's splitting in November 2017, "Keshet" and "Reshet" moved to broadcast in separate channels and one of the requirements to broadcast was that the broadcaster had to broadcast in HD quality.

Channel 2's splitting.

In 2014, a bill to split Channel 2 and to end the franchise period in April 2015 was suggested and the broadcasters will broadcast in separate channels. "Keshet" and "Reshet" declared that they prefer to keep broadcasting in Channel 2 until 2017. Eventually, the bill did not pass.  On 26 April 2017, "Keshet" and "Reshet" declared that from November 2017 "Keshet" will broadcast in Channel 12, "Reshet" will broadcast in channel 13 and Channel 22 will not be used for four months after the split.  On 31 October 2017, from 21:30 to midnight, "Keshet" did a broadcast to conclude Channel 2's broadcasts. The broadcast was conducted by Erez Tal and many of Keshet's talents participated in it. A broadcasting hour was given to "Reshet" to say goodbye to Channel 2.  Before the split, the franchisees started promoting the new channels with their programs. Since the law that splits the channel, the franchisees started showing their logos in the bottom left corner of their broadcasts.  The news company will keep existing under the ownership of both franchisees until October 2018, when "Reshet" and Channel 10 will merge. Most of the news company's contents are broadcast in parallel on both channels except for the commercial breaks and the weather forecast's sponsorship ads. During the news company's broadcasts, the is shown under the channel's logo.  In order for "Reshet" and Channel 10 to merge, Reshet will sell its share in the news company to "Keshet".

Effect of Channel 2's splitting on Channel 10 and 33.

Channel 10.

In addition to Channel 2's splitting, Channel 10 will also move to a different channel. Channel 10 won channel 14 in the bid for a price of one Shekel and 54 Agorot. The channel crowdfunded the purchase in a Headstart project.  On 19 September 2017, due to Channel 2's splitting and the move to channel 14, the channel rebranded to a verbal branding - "עשר (ten)" - instead of the old channel's number.  Less than one year after the split, "Reshet" and Channel 10's shareholders decided to merge.

Makan 33.

Although there is no connection between the commercial channels to IPBC's channels, Channel 2's split might affect the viewing habits of Israel's Arab citizens. In October 2017, the second authority decided to transfer Makan 33 to the second array of Idan+ (DVB-T2) and leave "Keshet 12" and "Reshet 13" in the current array (DVB-T). The meaning is that viewers without an Idan+ receiver that supports DVB-T2, could not watch "Makan 33" after 1 November 2017. The reason for this decision is because of "Makan 33"'s low rating and since it broadcasts only for several hours each day. IPBC's chairman, Gil Omer resisted the decision.

Channel 2 (), also called "The Second Channel" () was an Israeli commercial television channel. It started doing experimental broadcasts funded by the television tax. The channel started commercial broadcasting in 4 November 1993 regulated and managed by The Second Authority for Television and Radio. In its first years, the channel was operated by three broadcasters ("Keshet", "Reshet", and "Telad"), and in 2005 only two broadcasters were left while "Telad" stopped broadcasting due to its loss in the Second Authority's auction.


Contributions.

Saari has been widely quoted as an expert in voting methods and lottery odds. He is opposed to the use of the Condorcet criterion in evaluating voting systems, and among positional voting schemes he favors using the Borda count over plurality voting, because it reduces the frequency of paradoxical outcomes (which however cannot be avoided entirely because of Arrow's impossibility theorem). For instance, as he has pointed out, plurality voting can lead to situations where the election outcome would remain unchanged if all voters' preferences were reversed; this cannot happen with the Borda count. Saari has defined, as a measure of the inconsistency of a voting method, the number of different combinations of outcomes that would be possible for all subsets of a field of candidates. According to this measure, the Borda count is the least inconsistent possible positional voting scheme, while plurality voting is the most inconsistent. However, other voting theorists such as Steven Brams, while agreeing with Saari that plurality voting is a bad system, disagree with his advocacy of the Borda count, because it is too easily manipulated by tactical voting. Saari also applies similar methods to a different problem in political science, the apportionment of seats to electoral districts in proportion to their populations. He has written several books on the mathematics of voting.  In economics, Saari has shown that natural price mechanisms that set the rate of change of the price of a commodity proportional to its excess demand can lead to chaotic behavior rather than converging to an economic equilibrium, and has exhibited alternative price mechanisms that can be guaranteed to converge. However, as he also showed, such mechanisms require that the change in price be determined as a function of the whole system of prices and demands, rather than being reducible to a computation over pairs of commodities.  In celestial mechanics, Saari's work on the -body problem "revived the singularity theory" of Henri Poincaré and Paul Painlevé, and proved Littlewood's conjecture that the initial conditions leading to collisions have measure zero. He also formulated the "Saari conjecture", that when a solution to the Newtonian -body problem has an unchanging moment of inertia relative to its center of mass, its bodies must be in relative equilibrium. More controversially, Saari has taken the position that anomalies in the rotation speeds of galaxies, discovered by Vera Rubin, can be explained by considering more carefully the pairwise gravitational interactions of individual stars instead of approximating the gravitational effects of a galaxy on a star by treating the rest of the galaxy as a continuous mass distribution (or, as Saari calls it, "star soup"). In support of this hypothesis, Saari showed that simplified mathematical models of galaxies as systems of large numbers of bodies arranged symmetrically on circular shells could be made to form central configurations that rotate as a rigid body rather than with the outer bodies rotating at the speed predicted by the total mass interior to them. According to his theories, neither dark matter nor modifications to the laws of gravitational force are needed to explain galactic rotation speeds. However, his results do not rule out the existence of dark matter, as they do not address other evidence for dark matter based on gravitational lenses and irregularities in the cosmic microwave background. His works in this area include two more books.  Overviewing his work in these diverse areas, Saari has argued that his contributions to them are strongly related. In his view, Arrow's impossibility theorem in voting theory, the failure of simple pricing mechanisms, and the failure of previous analysis to explain the speeds of galactic rotation stem from the same cause: a reductionist approach that divides a complex problem (a multi-candidate election, a market, or a rotating galaxy) into multiple simpler subproblems (two-candidate elections for the Condorcet criterion, two-commodity markets, or the interactions between individual stars and the aggregate mass of the rest of the galaxy) but, in the process, loses information about the initial problem making it impossible to combine the subproblem solutions into an accurate solution to the whole problem. Saari credits some of his research success to a strategy of mulling over research problems on long road trips, without access to pencil or paper.

Education and career.

Saari grew up in a Finnish American copper mining community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the son of two labor organizers there. Frequently in trouble for talking in his classes, he spent his detention time in private mathematics lessons with a local algebra teacher, Bill Brotherton. He was accepted to an Ivy League university, but his family could only afford to send him to the local state university, Michigan Technological University, which gave him a full scholarship. He majored in mathematics there, his third choice after previously trying chemistry and electrical engineering.  He received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1962 from Michigan Tech, and his Master of Science and PhD in Mathematics from Purdue University in 1964 and 1967, respectively. At Purdue, he began working with his doctoral advisor, Harry Pollard, because of a shared interest in pedagogy, but soon picked up Pollard's interests in celestial mechanics and wrote his doctoral dissertation on the -body problem.  After taking a temporary position at Yale University, he was hired at Northwestern University by Ralph P. Boas Jr., who had also been doing similar work in celestial mechanics. From 1968 to 2000, he served as assistant, associate, and full professor of mathematics at Northwestern, and eventually became Pancoe Professor of Mathematics there. He was led to mathematical economics by discovering the high caliber of the economics students enrolling in his courses in functional analysis, and added a second position as Professor of Economics. He then moved to the University of California, Irvine at the invitation of R. Duncan Luce, who had founded the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences (IMBS) in the UCI School of Social Sciences in 1989. At UC Irvine, he took over the directorship of the IMBS in 2003, and stepped down as director in 2017. He is a trustee of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute.  He was editor in chief of the "Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society" from 1998 to 2005, and published a book on the early history of the journal.

Donald Gene Saari (born March 1940) is an American mathematician, a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Economics and former director of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests include the -body problem, the Borda count voting system, and application of mathematics to the social sciences.


Publication history.

"Shadowman" debuted in 1992 as a flagship title in the Valiant Universe and became one of the industry’s most popular comic books. After one year in publication, "Shadowman" was selling over 100,000 comics books a month. By its second year, "Shadowman" was outselling long-standing industry stalwarts from Marvel Comics and DC Comics.  "Shadowman" continued strongly with sales in the hundreds of thousands of books per month (ultimately selling more than 5 million copies altogether) until 1996 when Acclaim Entertainment, which bought Valiant for $65 million, started a new "Shadowman" series under the Acclaim Comics banner. Acclaim focused on adapting "Shadowman" for video games. In preparation for the leap to video games a new more action oriented Shadowman took up the mask in comics. The second series of comics (spelled "Shadow Man") featured the iteration of Shadowman that would gain huge popularity in the successful Shadow Man video game franchise.  In 1999, "Shadow Man" was released on the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Dreamcast, and PC formats to a positive critical and commercial response. Acclaim launched a third "Shadowman" comic book series in conjunction with the sequel to the first successful "Shadow Man" video game. A sequel, entitled "" was released in 2002 as a PlayStation 2 exclusive. In all the "Shadow Man" franchise has sold over 2 million copies and grossed close to 100 million dollars in revenue. Nintendo released a special "Shadow Man" themed limited edition N64 console that has become a sought after collectible. In 2006, a campaign was begun by fans to make the "Shadow Man" series of games available for download on the Nintendo Wii system.  People who have worked on "Shadowman" characters and storylines include Marvel Comics Editor-in Chief Joe Quesada, former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, Sin City co-director Frank Miller, Garth Ennis, Rob Liefeld, Barry Windsor-Smith, Jamie Delano, Steve Ditko, David Lapham, Rags Morales, Fabian Nicieza, Jim Starlin, Bob Layton, Jimmy Palmiotti, Walt Simonson and Ashley Wood among many others. With issue seven Bob Hall took over writing chores and continued as the primary writer on the book until the first "Shadowman" run ended with issue 43. As of issue ten he took over penciling the book as well.  Over 80 "Shadowman" comics have been published to date, selling more than 5 million copies. Shadowman also guest starred in a number of Valiant comics, most notably "Unity" and "Unity 2000". Acclaim shut down all comic book publishing in 2002 in anticipation of a bankruptcy filing of its parent company after suffering heavy losses from its licensed sports video games. Valiant Entertainment are the current owners of the Valiant catalog.  Shadowman has had his likeness transferred to many other mediums in addition to comic books and video games, including trading cards, posters, apparel, jewelry, lithographs, high end collectibles and more.

Powers.

Classic Valiant.

As Shadowman, Jack possesses paranormal strength, endurance, agility, and reflexes, night vision, regenerative healing, gliding capabilities, depleted fear, and other voodoo powers.

In other media.

Film.

In 1999, Acclaim Entertainment was approached by rapper/actor Ice Cube with a pitch to make a feature film. Acclaim declined this offer, as they were focused on the success of the video game franchise. In June 2017, it was reported that Valiant Entertainment had hired Reginald Hudlin to direct a film adaptation, and also co-write the screenplay with Adam Simon.

Music.

In 2015, heavy metal band A Sound of Thunder released a concept album entitled Tales from the Deadside based on Shadowman. The lyrics and narration summarize the entire Shadowman (2012) comic book series from Valiant Entertainment plus the Shadowman: End Times mini-series. The album was released on compact disc, vinyl, and digital formats. The album features original artwork by notable Shadowman series comic creators Bob Hall and Roberto de la Torre. A limited 7 inch vinyl picture disc for album tracks "Tower of Souls" and "Punk Mambo" was also released in 2015.

Collected editions.

The 1992 series was first collected in 1994 as a trade paperback, reprinting issues #1-3, and 6. In 2013, Valiant Entertainment collected the early issues in a hardcover under the "Valiant Masters" banner: The 2012 relaunch of the series has been collected into several volumes:

Shadowman is a fictional superhero who appears in comic books published by Valiant Comics. The character debuted in "Shadowman" #1 (May 1992), created by writers Jim Shooter and Steve Englehart, and artist Mike Manley. Shadowman appears in his own series and video games, as well as numerous other Valiant comics.


Plot.

Duke is called into action via the Government, aliens have once again landed and are wreaking havoc. Duke pummels the alien menace through the streets of New York with the help of some Marines, and eventually gains access to the Statue of Liberty. Here, Duke discovers the aliens' true plan, to go back in time and mess with historic events so Earth now wouldn't be what it is and make it so they could easily take over. However, Duke in his fight is teleported to the future, where the aliens have won and the humans are near extinction. In this time zone, Duke battles through horrors of new alien breeds in the future, and the zombified corpses of those who didn't survive the fallout. Duke eventually meets up with the small band of resistance fighters in the old headquarters of the U.S. army in New York. There, they tell him that the aliens are indeed screwing with history, so much that this future is just one; if Duke wants the old one back he'll have to fight for it. The humans have developed their own time machine in order to send a soldier back to re-write history, and destroy the aliens. Duke is sent back to the Old West, where aliens have taken over parts of the American West in an effort to detonate a bomb in Earth's core to destroy the planet.  In the Old West, due to technical difficulties, Duke must make do with period weaponry with the exception of a few of his weapons which his allies can send back. The aliens have begun creating super-soldiers in order to combat Nukem and the humans of the future. After blowing up a ship containing the super-soldiers, Duke makes his way to the town of Roswell. There, he stops the bomb before the aliens can succeed. Duke then is informed, that it's not just America's past that is being altered, the aliens have also been sent to the Victorian Era of London.  In the Victorian Era, Duke is set upon by the biological weaponry the aliens have been manufacturing. Zombies litter the streets, and Brains float in the air. Duke fights toward the castle, which the aliens have taken over (not before blowing up a Zeppelin). In the castle, Duke faces the worst of the horrors the aliens have created, and finally confronts the alien general in charge of it all, a giant brain. After demolishing the castle, and eliminating the alien threat in time, Duke is ready for some R'n'R, unfortunately, the aliens aren't. All of the meddling with time has caused a rift in the space-time continuum, and now more aliens from all of history are pouring into New York in a desperate attempt to destroy humanity.  Once again fighting through the city streets, Duke enters the alien mothership. He fights through wave after wave of aliens in order to confront the monster behind all this madness, Zero. Duke uses the alien technology from the mother ship and battles Zero on the rooftops of the city. After felling the beast, Duke finally sets things right. Duke cleans up Manhattan from the alien menace, and gets ready to relax with his "reward".

Reception.

Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the Nintendo 64 version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it one star out of five, and stated that "Avoid this like radioactive bat droppings."  "Zero Hour" received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. "Nintendo Power" gave it a favorable review over a month before the game was released Stateside.

Duke Nukem: Zero Hour is a third-person shooter video game in the "Duke Nukem" series, developed by Eurocom for the Nintendo 64. The game uses a relatively large 32 megabyte cartridge and can also use the Expansion Pak to allow for better graphics but slowing down the frame rate. It has a 4 player split-screen multiplayer mode that uses a first-person view.


History.

Uda Toshihiko divides the history of kibyōshi into five periods: the incipient pieces (1775–1779), early works (1780–1783), gossip pieces (1784–1787), protest pieces (1788–1790), and post-Kansei Reform works.

Incipient works.

The first major kibyōshi to be published was "Kinkin sensei eiga no yume", often translated as "Master Flashgold's Splendiferous Dream", by Koikawa Harumachi in 1775. It combined the wit and subject matter of fashionbooks with the graphic nature of the "otogi-zōshi" to retell the classic noh drama Kantan in contemporary Edo. Harumachi started with a prologue, which was common in fashionbooks but virtually nonexistent in otogizoshi. The piece featured realistic dialogue, trendy language, contemporary slang, and modern fashion trends. Through "Master Flashgold", Harumachi created not only a new genre but a new market entirely; 50 to 60 kibyōshi titles are estimated to have been published in the next 2 to 3 years alone. Initially, print runs were limited, but the high demands lead to the number of copies per run, as well as the number of titles per year, to increase.Another noteworthy piece released by Harumachi during this early phase of kibyōshi was "Travelogue of Snooby Atlier" ("Kōmansai angya nikki"), which he released the following year in 1776.

Early works.

Continuing his success, Harumachi released many more successful kibyōshi. Other authors were keen to follow his lead, including Santō Kyōden, Shiba Zenkō, Ōta Nanpo, and Hōseidō Kisanji, who all got their start during this period. Kisanji's "Dreamers the Winners" ("Miru toku issui no yume") threw him into the popular literature spotlight when published in 1781. Early kibyōshi targeted an educated audience, as evidenced by allusions made to “old fashioned” theatre, such as noh and kyōgen, in "Master Flashgold" and "Travelogue" and kabuki being used as a major plot point in "Dreamers".

Golden age of gossip pieces.

Kibyōshi published during this time were riddled with countless references to contemporary persons, places, events, etc. The pieces from this period were composed of nine parts social satire and one part political satire. Kyōden's "Playboy, Roasted à la Edo" ("Edo umare uwaki no kabayaki", 1785), for example, alludes to modern kabuki actors, authors, poets, and courtesans. It contains political overtones regarding the class system, as the protagonist Enjirō tries desperately to live the life of the romantic heroes of kabuki plays and ballads, despite being a merchant's son; he is firmly put back in his place at the end of the story. Other popular titles of the day include:

Political satire of "protest pieces".

Piece from this era reversed the proportion of the gossip pieces to nine parts political, one part social. These kibyōshi were written during an intense period of social unrest; Japan was afflicted with natural catastrophes, such as floods, volcanoes, cold weather, earthquakes, and draught, leading to high commodity prices as famine struck the country, causing an estimated one million citizens to starve to death. Additionally, government corruption, fiscal mismanagement, and the threat of class wars were plaguing the nation. These protest kibyōshi reflected the popular sentiments, but these messages were never outright said, in order to get past censors. Instead, the authors used a number of literary devices, such as allegory, asides, and reductio ad absurdum to code their true messages. The key to the satire of this period was overtone rather than overt statements. Popular subjects to satirize included the Tokugawa regime, bad blood between Tanuma Okitsugu and Sono Zanzaemon Masakoto, devaluation of the silver coin, and Neo-Confucian policies advocated during the Kansei Reforms, based on a sampling of major works. While never proven, it is likely that these novels contributed to public outrage and violence.

Post-Kansei Reforms works.

In 1791, strict censorship laws ended political satire in kibyōshi. Kibyōshi was prohibited from touching on current events and politics. All printed material had to be approved by government appointed censors; printblocks had to be submitted to a censor and had to be stamped “inspected" before the piece could go to print. Additionally, all publications had to clearly state the names of the author, artist, and publisher, to prevent unapproved material from being produced. The government also reprimanded authors of the protest pieces, and by 1791 virtually no one had gotten by unscathed. The first to be punished was Hōseidō Kisanji. It is said he was ordered to disappear from Edo, by means of a forced exile. Koikawa Harumachi was summoned, but he declined to appear on medical ground. He ultimately avoided having to present himself by dying abruptly; rumors of a self-imposed death spread. Ōta Nanpo unexpectedly gave up writing and disappeared under the radar. Publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō had half of his assets confiscated; he was arguably the most influential publisher of popular literature and art of his time. Kyōden, undisputedly, was reprimanded most severely. He was brought before the City Magistrate and was forced to recant. He was then shackles and put under house arrest for 50 days. Despite punishment, he continued to publish kibyōshi for 15 years, minus the political overtones. He also released what is considered one of the last masterpieces of the genre, "The Night Before Rosei's Dream" ("Rosei ga yume sono zenjitsu"), in 1791. It was written and published after the admonishments of Kisanji, Nanpo, and Harumachi, but before he himself was preosecuted. The last major author to be punished was Shikitei Sanba. His piece "Swaggering Headbands: A Chronicle of Urban Knight-Errantry in a Peaceful Realm" ("Kyan taiheiki mukō hachimaki"), published in 1799, actually incited physical violence. An Edo fire brigade assailed his residence, as well as the residence of his publisher, ironically enough in protest of the negative portrayal of fire brigades in his story. Due to censorship, works after 1791 lacked the playful spark of earlier kibyōshi. Without political and social satire as fodder, authors were forced to go back to parodying earlier kibyōshi and other written formats, which grew tedious fast.

End of kibyōshi.

Many scholars agree that the end of the genre came in 1806, though individual pieces continued to trickle out until as late as 1828. While the Kansei Reforms certainly damaged the industry, it is believed this was not solely responsible for the disappearance of the kibyōshi, but rather that it just sped up the process. What really killed the genre were the constant attempts to broaden the reader base by appealing to a wider audience. Initially, kibyōshi was written by educated authors for educated individuals. As authors attempted to expand the reader base across different classes and education levels, the jokes, allusions, etc. were inevitably dumbed down. As author Adam L. Kern notes, “in bending over backwards to expand its readership, the kibyōshi lost its esoteric uniqueness. In this sense, kibyōshi fell victim to its own success.”

Translating kibyōshi.

There are several popular manners in which kibyōshi are translated. One is the method used by James T. Araki in the 1970s, described as an illustrated playscript. While not perfect, many translators followed his example and used this format. The main concern with this system is that all the text from the image is neatly divided up to a particular speaker, when it's difficult to pinpoint exact speakers in the original text, as the dialogue floats in the empty spaces of the page. Thus, this format gives the misconception that the reading process of kibyōshi is straight forward. It also creates a disconnect between the text and images by taking the text out of the image, making it seems as if the parts are independent of one another when they in fact are interrelated and inseparable. Another common method of translation is to replace the original, hand written text. In the 1920s, Yamaguchi Takeshi replaced the penned text with typescript, but it did not adequately convey the flowing nature of the original script. Sugiura Hinako improved upon this concept when publishing her rendition of "Master Flashgold" by replacing the sprawling script with her own less curvaceous, more legible handwriting.

Similar genres.

Kibyōshi has its roots in earlier illustrated novels, starting with the companion novels. These lightly illustrated novels would slowly evolve into akahon, or "red books", the oldest form of woodblock printed comic books. Akahon tended to be easy-to-read adaptations of children's stories, folk legends, and fairy tales. Thus, the next type of woodblock comics, kurohon, or “black books”, feature more complicated retellings of kabuki and puppet plays, heroic legends, and military accounts while still being easy to read. This last genre is from which kibyōshi would directly descend. Early aohon ("blue books") were almost indistinguishable from kurohon, but this genre can be broken into two distinct categories: works that catered to younger, less literate readers and works that catered to cultured adults. The dye used to color the covers the aohon faded with exposure to sunlight into various shades of yellow, which is how these sophisticated aohon became known as kibyōshi. It is believed the name change occurred after the hype of the genre, as kibyōshi were referred to as aohon as late as 1802.

Due to the numerous characters and letters in the Japanese language, moveable type took longer to catch on in Japan; it was easier to carve the text directly onto the same wood block as the illustration. This allowed for a close and harmonious interaction between image and text, with either a balance of both elements, or text dominating the image. Kibyōshi used kana-based vernacular language. Known for its satirical view of and commentary on flaws in contemporary society, these books focused primarily on urban culture, with most early works writing about the pleasure quarters. Typically, kibyōshi were printed with 10 pages in a volume, with the average number of total pages being 30, thus spanning several volumes.


History.

The Society was founded in 1893 "to advance education, research and learning for the public benefit in the study of Mollusca from both pure and applied aspects". The Society's first president was Henry Woodward.  On 15 September 1901 the Society lost its Secretary, Martin Fountain Woodward, who was drowned when a boat he was travelling in capsized off the coast of County Galway while he was in temporary charge of the marine biological laboratory of the Fisheries Board for Ireland at Innisbofin.  Founding members included the zoologist and malacologist E. A. Smith, president of the Society from 1901 to 1903, and J. R. le B. Tomlin, who named more than a hundred taxa of gastropod molluscs. Another notable early member was the geologist Caroline Birley, who joined the Society in 1894. Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen (1834–1923), author of "The Land and Freshwater Mollusca of India" (1882–1887) and George Bond Howes (1853–1905) were early Presidents of the Society, and M. W. K. Connolly, who published some fifty papers on molluscs, was a member of the Society from 1908 to 1938 and was president of the Conchological Society in 1930. The Australian naturalist Charles Hedley was a vice-president of the Society from 1923 until his death in 1926. Ronald Winckworth, a member since 1919, served as the Society's editor and went on to be its President from 1939 to 1942.

Work.

Molluscs range in size from cephalopods such as the octopus and giant squid to microscopic gastropod snails, and the Society is concerned with some 85,000 recognised extant species, which include 23 per cent of all named marine organisms as well as molluscs living in freshwater and terrestrial habitats. It is also interested in the species (including those of the two extinct classes of molluscs) preserved as fossils, which creates a relationship with the study of geology.  In association with the Oxford University Press, the Society publishes the "Journal of Molluscan Studies", previously called "Proceedings of the Malacological Society", and "Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London", an international journal to disseminate new research work on molluscs, and also a bulletin, "The Malacologist", for its own members, to which there is free access on the Society's web site.  The Society organises meetings and symposia and seeks to advance education about and awareness of molluscs. It gives prizes for contributions in its field and makes awards to students (and also to others who are not employed) to enable them to travel and research malacological subjects.  An annual Malacological Society "Molluscan Forum" takes place at the Natural History Museum, London, with the 14th held in November 2011. An informal event, this is intended to bring together people beginning mollusc research, whether palaeontological, physiological, ecological, morphological, systematic, or molecular, with time for presentations and discussions. Attendance is open to all, at no charge, but those wishing to give presentations should be students engaged on molluscan projects or amateurs with substantial unpublished work. The Society has been registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales since 1978, with the registration number 275980.

Structure.

Membership of the society is open to all by subscription, with three classes of members, Student Members, Ordinary Members and Honorary Members, of whom there can be no more than five at any one time.  The Society's affairs are managed by a Council consisting of officers and members elected at annual general meetings. Six elected members of the Council, who are called Councillors, serve for three years each, with two vacancies arising every year. The officers are a President, two Vice-presidents, an Honorary Secretary and an Honorary Treasurer, a Membership Secretary, the Editor of the Journal and the Editor of "The Malacologist", an Awards Officer, and a Web manager. Up to four additional members of the Council can be co-opted.

Similar societies.

In the UK: In other countries:

The Malacological Society of London is a British learned society and charitable organisation concerned with malacology, the study of molluscs, a large phylum of invertebrate animals divided into nine or ten taxonomic classes, of which two are extinct.


History.

Materials used to construct the centre were, whenever possible, environmentally sustainable and locally sourced. The centre was designed by Edinburgh architects Simpson & Brown to make use of natural light and ventilation, and to offer panoramic views both to sea and inland towards North Berwick Law. Very little plastic was used in construction, with wood, stone and metal being preferred.  The site now occupied by the Scottish Seabird Centre once overlooked the North Berwick Outdoor Swimming Pool, a feature of the North Berwick Harbour area from the nineteenth century until it's eventual closure in 1996. The old pool has been filled in and is now a boat and dinghy park for members of the East Lothian Yacht Club, is the location of the Firth of Forth Lobster Hatchery, the Beach Wheelchair enterprise and has several colourful beach huts that sell local products. The buildings housing the learning hub, boat office and administration office of the Scottish Seabird Centre were previously a sun lounge room. The Scottish Seabird Centre was one of the flagship projects backed by the Millennium Commission which distributed cash from the UK National Lottery to cultural and heritage-related projects. A 64p stamp commemorating the opening of the Seabird Centre was released in 2000 as part of the "Above & Beyond" collection in the Millennium Series. Although the stamp features a colony of gannets, the featured picture was taken in South Africa, not (as many assume) on the Bass Rock.

Facilities.

The main attraction at the Scottish Seabird Centre is the recently refurbished (2019) Discovery Experience that contains interactive wildlife cameras which allow visitors to observe northern gannets, Atlantic puffins, shags, cormorants and other seabirds on the islands in the Firth of Forth. Additional wildlife includes seals and occasional sightings of dolphins and whales. The Discovery Experience also has a number of informative storyboards, mechanical and digital exhibits which bring Scotland's seabirds and underwater world to visitors. The exhibits cover: • Seabirds (covering migration, seabird colonies, breeding and feeding) • Threats (covering fishing, invasive species, climate change and pollution) • Marine (kelp forests, coral reef, seals, cetaceans, intertidal zone) • Discover (recent sightings, interactive live cameras, seasonal wildlife) There's a kids zone, gift shop and licensed cafe with an outdoor sun deck overlooking the Firth of Forth to the Bass Rock, and on a clear day to the Isle of May.  Throughout the year the charity offers educational workshops and has live science shows for families during school holidays, and there is a year-round programme of events and festivals. The Centre also organises a programme of walks, including a free guided early bird beach walk every month.  The Scottish Seabird Centre's wildlife adventure boat trips are operated in partnership with local operator Seafari Adventures (Forth) from North Berwick Harbour, to the islands from Easter to October. The Centre also has exclusive landing rights for the Bass Rock, owned by Sir Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple, and home to the world's largest colony of Northern gannets. Landing Trips to the Bass Rock are a very special, sense busting, wildlife experience as the numbers of northern gannets have soared to 150,000 over the years. Landing trips to the Isle of May are available departing from North Berwick, as well as hour-long trips around the Bass Rock on board the 55-seat catamaran and 12-seat RIBs.

Awards.

The Scottish Seabird Centre, a VisitScotland five star visitor experience, has become extremely popular, winning many awards for environmental and sustainable tourism including the Green Tourism Gold Award and the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in 2004, 2009 and 2013. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited the town in July 2009 to present the Scottish Seabird Centre with the award.  The Bass Rock was also named BBC Countryfile Magazine's Nature Reserve of the Year 2014/15.

The Scottish Seabird Centre is a marine conservation and education charity, that is supported by a 5 star visitor attraction in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. Opened by Charles, Prince of Wales in 2000 and funded by the Millennium Commission, the showpiece of the centre is the interactive live cameras on the Firth of Forth islands. These are controlled by visitors to the Discovery Centre. The cameras are on islands including the Bass Rock, the world's largest colony of Northern gannets, Craigleith, Fidra and the Isle of May National Nature Reserve.


Early years (1855–76).

Frédéric Alfred Le Chatelier was born on 12 November 1855 in Paris at 84 rue de Vaugirard in the center of a district of art and ceramic studios. He was one of seven children of the prominent railway engineer Louis Le Chatelier (1815–1873) and Louise Madeleine Élisabeth Durand (1827–1902). His family was wealthy and well-connected. His brother was the future chemist Henry Louis Le Chatelier. Although interested in natural sciences, Alfred chose to join the army and attended the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr He obtained his diploma in 1874 and degree in 1876. He was brilliant, visionary, entrepreneurial and domineering, a convinced republican and secularist. He was unable to maintain a long-term friendship.

Military career (1876–93).

After leaving Saint-Cyr in 1876 Le Chatelier was an "officier des affaires indigénes" in Algeria for ten years. In 1880 he was an assistant topographer on the first Flatters expedition. This mission set out on January 1880 to explore a route for a trans-Saharan railway. At Touggourt Le Chatelier advised Paul Flatters not to accept the offer of a "muqaddam" to accompany the mission, since his religious prestige might undermine the authority of Flatters. This caused a furious response from Flatters, who possibly felt his competence was being questioned. Relations between the French and Arab members of the expedition were uneasy from the start. At Aïn Taïba, eight days south of Ouargla, Le Chatelier tried to retrieve some water skins the cameleers had taken from the French. The Arabs at once cocked their rifles and took position behind a dune, and the French did the same. Flatters temporarily resolved the problem by relieving Le Chatelier of his command. The mission reached Lake Menghough on the fringe of the Tuareg of the Ajjer country, then returned in May 1880. When the second Flatters expedition was being organized later in 1880 Le Chatelier was among the members of the first expedition who asked for other assignments.  Le Chatelier was head of the French post among the Mekhedma tribe of the Sud-Oranais, where he taught them what he called "republican principles". As the rebellion of the Awlad Sidi Shaykh died down, the itinerant marabouts of the Awlad Sidi Shaykh turned to rebuilding their business, demanding donations to their shrine from the peasants, who still thought they had strong influence with God. Le Chatelier succeeded in convincing the local people that they need not pay the tribute. He was promoted to "chef de bureau" of Ouargla from 1882 to 1885. Colonel André de Saint-Germain taught him the old school Arab Bureaux principles of administration in which the "chef de bureau" was administrator, advocate and judge of the indigenous people. Le Chatelier opened a school, had wells dug, improved sanitation, established a court and met regularly with the local elders.  Between 1886 and 1890 Le Chatelier served with a regiment in France but was allowed to travel widely in Morocco, West Africa, Egypt and Turkey. In 1886 the governor general of Algeria charged him with a mission in Upper Egypt and in 1889–90 he undertook a five-month mission in Morocco. Le Chatelier wrote several books and brochures for the African section of the État-major général which had great influence on Paul Marty, who would later write at length about Islam in West Africa. Le Chatelier gained deep knowledge of Islamic societies in the Middle East and North Africa, and came to believe that the French fear of Pan-Islamic conspiracies had no foundation.  In 1887 Le Chatelier wrote "Les Confréries Musulmanes de Hijaz", a useful and scholarly monograph that showed the importance in Africa of the Sufi brotherhoods. He said they were not organized associations or secret societies, and individuals followed different shaykhs, but all African Muslims saw themselves as either Qadiriyya or Tijaniyyah. He discussed the Sufi origins of the jihads of Futa Tooro, Fouta Djallon and Sokoto. Le Chatelier wrote a complete draft of "L'islam dans l'Afrique occidentale" in 1888, which was finally published in 1899. The book had the pragmatic goal of studying Islam to inform political action. He believed that systematic research into Islam was essential, rather than periodical reports or personal views. Policy towards Islam should be reserved, tolerant, attentive and active, and should not be overbearing or aggressive.  In 1890–91 Le Chatelier was a member of the Minister of War Charles de Freycinet's cabinet with the mandate of monitoring debates in the Chamber of Deputies. He became the acquaintance or friend of many rising officials and politicians including Eugène Étienne, future head of the parliamentary colonial group, and Paul Révoil, future governor-general of Algeria. Freycinet arranged for Le Chatelier to take a year's leave to study Islam in Africa, and he spent time in Dahomey and the French Congo. He returned to Paris hoping he could convince the government to support the approach to Africans he had proven in Ouargla. He gained no support, and on 14 April 1893 resigned from the army.

Congo (1893–96).

Le Chatelier was a charter member of the Comité de l'Afrique française, a lobby group that was becoming active in the French Congo. In the Spring of 1893 Le Chatelier founded the Société d'études et d'explorations du Congo français (Company for Study and Exploration of the French Congo) to create a railway link from the coast to the interior. Le Chatelier invested much of his personal fortune in the railway scheme, and suffered great loss when the government came out in favour of a rival project headed by Harry Alis, another founding member of the Comité de l'Afrique française.  On 2 March 1895 Le Chatelier fought a duel at the Moulin Rouge restaurant in Neuilly with Harry Alis (Léon Hippolyte Percher), editor of the "Journal des débats". The duel was fought with swords over a charge that Le Châtelier had made that Alis might be compromised with Belgian interests in Africa. Alis had previously accused Le Châtelier of seeking personal gain in the Congo. Colonel Baudot and Commandant de Castelli acted for Chatelier, while Paul Bluysen and André Hallays of the "Journal des débats" acted for Percher. The duel proved fatal to Alis. After the duel Le Chatelier lost influence in colonial policy. In June 1895 he returned to the French Congo. His plans were frustrated. The Belgian railway was inaugurated in 1896 and the French work was abandoned. He left the Congo for Paris in March 1896.

Ceramic workshop (1896–1902).

On 5 August 1896 Le Chatelier married Marie Émilie Charlotte Langlois (1858–1930). His wife seems to have had artistic interests, and let him use part of her personal wealth to open the Atelier de Glatigny in the rural area of Glatigny (Le Chesnay), near Versailles. The workshop made sandstone ceramics, high-quality porcelain and glassware. In 1901 the critic Henri Cazalis (alias Jean Lahor), listed the workshop as one of the best producers in France of Art Nouveau ceramics. Le Chatelier's brother, the chemist Henry Louis Le Chatelier, seems to have encouraged Alfred's workshop, assisted with experiments in the composition of porcelain and the reactions of quartz inclusions, and designed a thermoelectric pyrometer to measure temperature in the kilns.  Le Chatelier remained in contact with politics, and provided detailed instructions to the 1898 trans-Sahara expedition organised by Fernand Foureau and Captain François Amédée Lamy, whom he had known before in the French Congo and the Sahara. The well-prepared and well-led expedition was the first French expedition to succeed in crossing the Sahara. In April 1900 Le Chatelier wrote and printed the brochure "Lettre à un Algérien sur la politique saharienne", which he sent to leading politicians. The brochure showed the risks of rash action on the Moroccan border and called for a cautious but firm policy. Eugène Étienne and Paul Révoil both supported the brochure, and Le Chatelier was established as a force to be considered in setting North African policy.

Last years (1902–29).

The Atelier de Glatigny closed in 1902 when Alfred Le Chatelier was appointed to the chair of Muslim sociology in the Collège de France. The concept of the chair originated in an 1888 proposal by Le Chatelier to establish a central office for Islamic studies and research. This office would act as a clearing house for information on Islam, and would define French policy towards Islamic subjects. The concept was revived early in 1901, and after some resistance the chair was created for La Chatelier in 1902. The choice of name implied that Le Chatelier and his colleagues were engaged in the modern discipline of sociology rather than outdated ethnology.  In 1904 Le Chatelier founded the Mission scientifique du Maroc (Scientific Mission of Morocco) at his own expense, and later received a grant from the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported the mission in part because a single focus for all research seemed administratively tidy, in part to avoid problems with "unauthorized" explorers in Morocco, and in part in reaction to the aggressive local scholars in Algeria, the "École d'Alger", who advocated direct military intervention rather than peaceful penetration. Le Chatelier played a key part in documenting the ethnic groups of Morocco, and inspired and supervised preparation of the multi-volume "Archives marocaines" and the "Villes et Tribus du Maroc" series.  Le Chatelier engaged in an acrimonious struggle with the École d'Alger for control over Moroccan research. Le Chatelier proposed France should control Morocco indirectly through the sultanate. By contrast, Edmond Doutté and the École d'Alger thought France should impose a secular and technocratic state independent of the Islamic leaders. The French resident general Hubert Lyautey combined the approaches, with indirect rule through a "sharifian" sultanate controlled by the French military technocracy.  In 1906 Le Châtelier launched the "Revue du monde musulman" (Review of the Muslim World). The journal covered contemporary Islamic societies around the world, a group of vital communities with a shared tradition adapting quickly to the new order. In this it was utterly different from conventional studies of Islamic society that treated their subjects as static and outdated. It also differed from other journals in trying to attract Muslim readers, and to this end published translations from Muslim newspapers of Central Asia, India, Persia, the Caucasus, Turkey and the Arab East. Sixty-four issues were published between 1906 and 1926 giving a sensitive, sympathetic and informed view of the crisis that Islam was going through. Contributors included the linguist Lucien Bouvat and the Islamologist Louis Massignon. In its first year the review reached a circulation of 1,200 copies.  Le Chatelier saw two ways in which Muslim societies responded to Western modernization. The more complex societies such as Egypt, Syria and Turkey gradually replaced Islamic faith by nationalism. The more "primitive" Muslims in North Africa turned their back on modern ideas and embraced the mysticism of Sufi brotherhoods. The "Revue du monde musulman" did not oppose colonialism. Le Chatelier tried to put to rest the fears of colonial officials that some huge pan-Islamic movement would sweep aside their authority, and to assure them that if a realistic, fact-based and sympathetic policy were adopted toward the Muslim subjects of French colonies there need be no unrest. In 1911 Le Chatelier published "La conquête du monde Musulman", a survey of Protestant missions in Islamic societies, in the "Revue du monde musulman". The article was quickly translated into Arabic and published in many Egyptian newspapers. The Egyptian editor wrote that the way to avoid British dominance was not a program of re-Islamization, but for Muslim gentlemen to stand up to Christian gentlemen.  Le Chatelier was professor at the Collège de France until 1925. He died on 9 August 1929 aged 73.

Publications.

Publications by Le Chatelier include:

Frédéric Alfred Le Chatelier (23 November 1855 – 9 August 1929) was a French soldier, ceramicist and Islamologist. He spent most of his military career in the French African colonies. After leaving the army he was involved in a project to build a railway in the French Congo. He fought a duel and killed his opponent over mutual accusations of improper conduct concerning the Congo railways. He founded and ran a ceramics workshop for a few years before becoming a professor of Islamic Sociology at the Collège de France from 1902 to 1925. He exerted considerable influence over French policy towards the Muslim subjects of France's colonial empire, arguing for policy based on solidly documented facts, and for tolerance and sympathy to the rapidly changing Muslim societies.


Background.

Lying on a main invasion route from Ciudad Rodrigo to Lisbon, the Castle Fortress of Almeida was invested by a 65,000-man army under Marshal André Masséna in the third French invasion of Portugal. The previous day the French forces had pushed back the British Portuguese army at the Battle of the Côa. The 50,000-man British-Portuguese army of General Lord Wellington now held the far bank of the Coa. However, the river's banks were steep, with only two bridges, and the French 6th Corps guarded the crossings, so the British were unable to retake the crossings to relieve Almeida.

Siege.

Fresh from the successful Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, the French army laid siege to Almeida on July 25, 1810. Brigadier-General William Cox commanded a 4,000-man Portuguese garrison of three battalions of militia, from Arganil, Trancoso and Vizeu. Some regular British forces were also present, including 1,200 men of the 24th Line Regiment, a squadron of the 11th Cavalry Regiment and over 400 gunners. The defences of Almeida were in better repair and stronger than Ciudad Rodrigo which the French had recently taken. In particular, there were over 100 artillery pieces, of which 40 were 18-pounders or heavier, and most were in protected casemates. The siege was conducted by the 14,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, 1,000 artillerists and 100 cannon of the VI Corps under the command of Marshal Michel Ney. In addition, General Jean-Andoche Junot lay in reserve nearby with his VIII Corps.  The French received siege supplies from Ciudad Rodrigo on August 15, and started to dig trench lines to the south-east of the town, facing the San Pedro bastion. The siege train was well supplied with guns; as well as the existing French ones, it also included captured Spanish guns from Ciudad Rodrigo. By August 24, the French lines had eleven batteries in place, with over 50 guns. Throughout, the Portuguese defenders had fired upon the French, with little effect. When the French bombardment opened on August 26 at 6 AM, several quarters of the town were quickly set on fire, and the defending guns of the nearest three batteries overwhelmed. However, the defences held. The governor was confident in withstanding the assault, until a shell made a freak hit. The great magazine in the castle had been used through the day to supply the defenders, and at some point a leaky powder keg had left a trail of powder leading up to the courtyard. At around 7 PM, one French shell landed in the courtyard, igniting a gunpowder trail that led through the still open door, and set off a chain reaction into the magazine. The ensuing explosion killed 600 defenders and wounded 300 more. The castle that housed the gunpowder was razed and sections of the defenses were damaged, leaving a crater still visible today. Unable to reply to the French cannonade without gunpowder, Cox was forced to capitulate the following day with the survivors of the blast and 100 cannon. The French lost 58 killed and 320 wounded during the operation. The next action was the Battle of Bussaco.

Cultural reference.

The siege forms the climax of Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe's Gold", in which Richard Sharpe is credited with the destruction of the ammunition magazine, an act intended to deliberately cut short the siege so that he could leave the city and bring Lord Wellington the finances needed to complete the Lines of Torres Vedras.

In the Siege of Almeida, the French corps of Marshal Michel Ney captured the border fortress from Brigadier General William Cox's Portuguese garrison. This action was fought in the summer of 1810 during the Peninsular War portion of the Napoleonic Wars. Almeida is located in eastern Portugal, near the border with Spain.


Biography.

Genevieve McGuckin was born in Brisbane. She has been a long-time collaborator (both musically and romantically speaking, at various points) of rock musician, Rowland S. Howard. During 1980, in London, the pair co-wrote two tracks, "Capers" and "Ho-Ho", for his band, the Birthday Party's debut LP "Prayers on Fire" (April 1981).  In 1982 McGuckin provided piano and organ on Howard and Lydia Lunch's cover version of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra's "Some Velvet Morning" (1967), which later appeared on Lunch's album, "Honeymoon in Red" (1987). She also wrote the track, "Three Kings", for the album.  In 1984 both McGuckin, on keyboards, piano and organ, and Howard on guitar were founding members of a post-punk group, These Immortal Souls. Other founders were Rowland's brother, Harry on bass guitar and Epic Soundtracks (a.k.a. Kevin Godfrey) on drums. They issued two albums, "Get Lost (Don't Lie)" in October 1987 and "I'm Never Gonna Die Again" in October 1992, before relocating to Melbourne in 1994. While in the group she also wrote music and lyrics on both their albums and a single.  She also played organ on, and wrote the music for, the song "Silver Chain" on Howard's solo album "Teenage Snuff Film". She lived in London and Berlin from 1980 to 1994 and now lives in Melbourne, working in film graphics, web design, and animation. She was the graphic designer on the 2000 film "Chopper".  Recently, she has been playing piano and organ in Luxedo and Vera Cruz. She has also played on an LP by The Devastations.

Genevieve McGuckin is an Australian musician, songwriter, film producer and graphic designer who was born in Brisbane. In 1986 she was a founder of These Immortal Souls on keyboards and has collaborated with fellow founder, and sometime domestic partner, Rowland S. Howard, and with his earlier band, the Birthday Party, on their album, "Prayers on Fire" (April 1981).


Background.

This song is based on the history of film culture in India. Since their beginnings, Indian films have relied heavily on song-and-dance numbers. The singing is almost always performed by background singers while the actors and actresses lip sync. Asha Bhosle is a playback singer who has sung over 12,000 songs and is referred to as "Sadi rani" (Punjabi for "our queen") at one point in the lyrics. In the slower, original album recording, playback singers Lata Mangeshkar (her older sibling) and Mohammed Rafi (one of the top male playback singers of the mid-century) are mentioned. The lyrics in the bridge contain a number of references to non-Indian music, including Georges Brassens' song "Les Amoureux des bancs publics", Jacques Dutronc, Marc Bolan, Argo Records and Trojan Records.  DJ Norman Cook ("Fatboy Slim") was asked to remix the track by speeding it up and modulating the song to a higher key (halfway between B-flat and B, rather than in A). The remix saw major success as a number 1 single.

Music video.

The music video for the song was directed by Phil Harder and produced by Harder/Fuller Films. It was filmed in a house in Lewisham, London.

Norman Cook remix.

In 2003, "Q Magazine" ranked the Fatboy Slim remix at number 840 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". In October 2011, "NME" placed it at number 105 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". In August 2010, "Pitchfork" placed the remix at number 113 in their list of "The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s". "NME" ranked the remix at number 2 in their list of "The 50 Best Remixes Ever", saying it "does what the truly great remixes do – render you unable to enjoy the original". The remix was included in "Pitchfork"s 2010 list of "twenty-five great remixes" of the 1990s. The remix is featured prominently on the French children's TV channel Gulli, playing before each episode.

"Brimful of Asha" is a single by British alternative rock band Cornershop from their third album "When I Was Born for the 7th Time". The recording originally reached number 60 on the UK Singles Chart in 1997. After a remixed version by Norman Cook became a radio and critical success, the song was re-released and reached number one on the UK chart and number 16 on the US "Billboard" Modern Rock Tracks chart. The lyric is a tribute to Asha Bhosle.


Career.

Born in Ermesinde, Porto Metropolitan Area, Chaló began managing at the district level with A.C. Alfenense and F.C. Pedras Rubras. After taking the latter to the third tier, he had three years with C.D. Feirense in the Segunda Liga. On 30 May 2007, he moved up to the Primeira Liga, succeeding Fernando Mira at Associação Naval 1o de Maio. He was dismissed on 16 September, having taken two points from four games.  Chaló then returned to Feirense in the second division for 18 months, being shown the door in December 2009 when they were fourth. On 8 March 2011, he signed with F.C. Penafiel for the rest of the season, tasked with avoiding relegation.  In March 2013, Chaló was appointed as the manager of S.C. Covilhã following Fanã's departure. After guiding them to safety, he achieved a mid-table finish in the following season. Despite interest from clubs to acquire his services, he remained with the "Leões da Serra", and guided them to fourth – their best finish since the Segunda Liga's formation – in the 2014–15 season, missing out on promotion to the Primeira Liga on goal difference.  Going into the 2015–16 season, Covilhã were tipped as one of the favorites in the race for promotion, but due a run of poor results during the first half the season, his side only managed to finish in fourteenth place, 22 points less than their previous season, and he departed.  In December 2016, Chaló returned to management by signing a one-year deal with Académico de Viseu FC. He left in February 2018 after a run of seven games without a win, and took the job at Leixões S.C. of the same league days later.  In June 2018, with a year left on his contract with the club from Matosinhos, he rescinded it and joined Paradou AC of the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1.

Francisco Alexandre Lacerda Chaló (born 10 February 1964) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, and the current manager of Algerian club Paradou AC.


History.

Māori history.

Near the fourteenth century CE, Māori arrived in Heretaunga or Hawke's Bay, settling in the river valleys and along the coast where food was plentiful. It is believed that Māori arrived at Heretaunga by canoe, travelling down the coast from the north, landing at Wairoa, Portland Island, the Ahuriri Lagoon at Westshore, and at Waimārama. Their culture flourished, along with gradual deforestation of the land, making this one of the few regions of New Zealand where sheep could be brought in without felling the bush first. In the sixteenth century, Taraia, great-grandson of the great and prolific chief Kahungunu, established the large tribe of Ngāti Kahungunu, which eventually colonised the eastern side of the North Island from Poverty Bay to Wairarapa. They were one of the first Māori tribes to come in contact with European settlers.

European settlers' history.

The Māori owners leased approximately seventy square kilometres on the Heretaunga Plains to Thomas Tanner in 1867; Tanner had been trying to purchase the land since 1864. In 1870, twelve people, known as the "12 apostles", formed a syndicate to purchase the land for around £1 10s an acre (£371 per km). Many local people firmly believe that Hastings was originally named Hicksville, after Francis Hicks, who bought a block of land, which now contains the centre of Hastings, from Thomas Tanner. However, this story is apocryphal. The original name of the location which was to become the town centre was Karamu.  In 1871, the New Zealand Government decided to route the new railway south of Napier through a notional Karamu junction in the centre of the Heretaunga Plains. This location was on Francis Hicks's land. The decision on the railway route was based largely on two reports by Charles Weber, the provincial engineer and surveyor in charge of the railway. Karamu junction was renamed Hastings in 1873. (On 7 June 1873, the "Hawke's Bay Herald" reported: "The name of the new town is to be Hastings. We hear it now for the first time.") Exactly who chose the name has been disputed, although Thomas Tanner claimed that it was him (see "Hawke's Bay Herald" report 1 February 1884) and that the choice was inspired by his reading the trial of Warren Hastings. In any event, the name fitted well with other place names in the district (Napier, Havelock and Clive), which were also named after prominent figures in the history of British India. In 1874, the first train took the twelve-mile (19 km) trip from Napier to Hastings, opening up Hastings as an export centre, through Port Ahuriri. A big jump in the local economy occurred when Edward Newbigin opened a brewery in 1881. By the next year, there were 195 freeholders of land in the town and with around six hundred people, the town was incorporated as a borough on 20 October 1886.  Hastings first received power in 1912, followed by Napier in 1915.  In 1918, nearly 300 people died of a flu epidemic that swept Hawke's Bay.

1931 earthquake.

On 3 February 1931, at 10:47 am, most of Hastings (and nearby Napier) was levelled by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale. In Hastings, the ground subsided roughly 1 metre. The collapse of buildings and the ensuing fires killed 258 people, of which 93 were in Hastings. The centre of Hastings was destroyed in the earthquake, and was subsequently rebuilt in the Art Deco and Spanish Mission styles, which were both popular at that time. Due to quick thinking by residents and the Local Fire Department, Hastings did not suffer the extent of fire damage that Napier did. Most deaths were attributed to collapsing buildings, namely Roaches' Department Store in Heretaunga Street where 17 people died.

1932 to 1999.

During World War II, Allied troops were billeted at the Army, Navy and Air Force (ANA) Club, and in private homes. One hundred and fifty members belonging to sixteen different local clubs packed supplies to be sent to Allied soldiers. In 1954, Hastings was the first city in New Zealand to introduce fluoridation of its water supply. The intention was to compare the effect on tooth decay with that in the unfluoridated city of Napier over a ten-year period. The study was criticised for its methodology and results, and remains controversial.  On 10 September 1960, the Hastings Blossom Parade (at the time a significant national event) was cancelled at 11 am for the first time in its history due to rain. Parade attendees drank in bars for several hours and when, subsequently, an 'impromptu' parade began at 2 pm, a riot started as police tried to arrest those intoxicated in public. This was considered a significant event in New Zealand society with modern youth rebellion culture being labelled antisocial, and was subsequently much publicised with the national election later that year.  Hastings grew rapidly throughout the 1960s and 1970s (Hastings at this time was the fastest growing city in New Zealand), and there was a major issue dealing with encroachment of suburban expansion on highly productive land. Flaxmere was established as a satellite suburb to absorb rapid growth and was built upon the stony arid soils of the abandoned course of the Ngaruroro River. Although the land seemed worthless back then, it has subsequently proved highly valued for grape growing, and now is a prized region of red wine varietals in the world-famous Gimblett Gravels wine-growing region. Starting with economic decline nationally in the late 1970s, coupled with agricultural subsidy reforms in the early 1980s, Hastings went into recession with more unemployment and low economic growth. It was not until the mid 1990s that the economy of Hastings began to turn around.  During the 1989 local government reforms Hastings City amalgamated with the Havelock North Borough and Hawke's Bay County to form the modern Hastings District. The County Council offices in Napier were closed in favour of Hastings and the new Hastings District Council offices were built on two sites. The Napier City boundary was expanded to include Bay View and Meeanee. However, unlike largely urban Napier (population density 540.0 per km), much of the newly formed Hastings District is rural and sparsely populated (population density 14.0 per km), the Hastings District has approximately residents.  Because of their proximity to each other and their relatively small populations, Hastings and Napier are often seen as candidates for further amalgamation. This was attempted with the 1999 Amalgamation Referendum where 75% of Napier residents opposed, and 64% of Hastings residents were in support.

2000 to today.

At 11.25 pm on 25 August 2008, the city was hit by an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale. The epicentre was based only 10 km south of the city, near Mt Erin at a depth of 32 km. The earthquake caused minor damage to shops, where stock was shaken off shelves. Power outages were also reported. This was the most powerful earthquake to hit the region since the 5.8 Hastings earthquake in October 2001.  In 2010, the city, together with New Plymouth became one of the two walking and cycling "model communities", qualifying for further co-funding by the national government to improve its walking paths and cycleways, and encourage people to use active forms of transport.  In August–September 2016, 5,200 people after the local water supply in Havelock North tested positive for the pathogen "Campylobacter jejeuni". One death in a nursing home was suspected to be due to the outbreak. It is suspected that after heavy rain fell on 5–6 August, water contamination from flooding caused the outbreak, although this is the subject of a government Inquiry. It is the largest outbreak of waterborne disease ever to occur in New Zealand. All schools in Havelock North closed for two weeks, with the Hastings District Council advising an urgent notice to boil water for at least one minute before consumption. This notice was lifted on September the 3rd, with the outbreak officially under control.  Chlorination of the Havelock North water supply started on Friday the 12th, and 9 water tankers were brought in containing water from the Hastings water supply. One of these trucks again tested positive for E-Coli contamination, prompting the Hastings District Council to chlorinate the water supply of both Hastings and Flaxmere as a precautionary measure.  In November 2017 Sandra Hazlehurst, formerly Councilor for Hastings-Havelock North Ward became the first woman Mayor of Hastings. Hazlehurst was elected as result of a by-election triggered by the formal resignation of Mayor Lawrence Yule in June.

Geography and climate.

Located on New Zealand's east coast, to the east of the Central Plateau and the rain shadow of the Kaweka Ranges, Hastings is situated on the fertile alluvial Heretaunga Plains. The plains were originally covered in swamp and mangroves, but have since been drained for agriculture. The local area is very productive, with orchards, farms and vineyards, and lies upon New Zealand's most economically valuable aquifer. Hastings lies roughly 250 km north-east of the nation's capital Wellington (294 km by road) and 350 km south east of the largest city, Auckland (429 km by road).  Hastings enjoys an oceanic climate (according to Köppen climate classification). Sunshine hours rank over 2200 annually while rainfall averages less than 800 mm (31.5 in). It is one of the country's warmest urban areas annually. Because of its location inland, the sea breeze does not tend to have the same effect on Hastings' climate as it does on Napier. It is not uncommon for the temperature to be in the low30 °C's (90 °F) on summer days, while in winter, days of 15 °C+ (60 °F) are frequent, occasionally exceeding 20 °C (68 °F) with north-west winds. Winters tend to be quite still and crisp with frequent frosts, followed by bright, sunny days.

Demographics.

Hastings District encompasses a large area of Hawke's Bay. The estimated population of Hastings District in was (population density 16.3 per km). The central urban area which is specifically the population centre of Hastings, Flaxmere and Havelock North was. Due to restrictions on encroachment of land, satellite suburbs have absorbed the residential expansion of the city. Compared to other cities of similar size, Hastings has grown relatively quickly since it was settled in 1864 (over 150 years ago). Hastings is known for its gridiron city planning system, crisscrossed by the railway line running northeast–southwest and the main southeast–northwest artery, Heretaunga Street, which also links the city with its suburban centres of Havelock North and Flaxmere.  Many Hastings residents work in the city, and the area is populated by middle-to-upper income families, particularly in Havelock North and then middle-to-lower income families in other areas, namely Camberley and the north end of Flaxmere.  Hastings District had a population of 81,537 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 8,292 people (11.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 10,695 people (15.1%) since the 2006 census. There were 28,131 households. There were 40,029 males and 41,511 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.96 males per female. Of the total population, 17,697 people (21.7%) were aged up to 15 years, 14,955 (18.3%) were 15 to 29, 35,199 (43.2%) were 30 to 64, and 13,689 (16.8%) were 65 or older. Figures may not add up to the total due to rounding.  Ethnicities were 71.8% European/Pākehā, 27.3% Māori, 8.0% Pacific peoples, 5.6% Asian, and 1.6% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.  The percentage of people born overseas was 17.2, compared with 27.1% nationally.  Although some people objected to giving their religion, 46.4% had no religion, 39.5% were Christian, and 7.5% had other religions.  Of those at least 15 years old, 10,692 (16.7%) people had a bachelor or higher degree, and 13,131 (20.6%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $28,400. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 32,094 (50.3%) people were employed full-time, 9,483 (14.9%) were part-time, and 2,166 (3.4%) were unemployed.

Economy.

Hastings District, as one of the largest apple, pear and stone fruit producing areas in New Zealand, has an important relationship with the Napier Port. It has also become an important grape growing and wine production area with the fruit passing from the growers around Metropolitan Hastings and then to Napier for exporting. Napier is an important service centre for the agriculture and pastoral output of the predominantly rural Hastings District. Shopping is heavily weighted by large format retail in Hastings City, whereas in contrast, Havelock North, Taradale and central Napier retail areas have a more vibrant boutique flavour.

Redevelopment.

By the end of the twentieth century Hastings, along with most of New Zealand was suffering from the recent economic downturn with industries and freezing works closing due to the agricultural subsidy reforms in the early 1980s. However, after multimillion-dollar regeneration projects and the employment of artists, Hastings has seen a change in its aesthetics. A CBD strategy was enforced to revitalise the central retail core, while promoting Havelock North as a 'luxury boutique' destination. The strategy proved extremely successful and Hastings vacancy rates hit an all-time low in 2005. The current goal of the council is to continue developing Hastings CBD to attract additional national chains, while attracting more cafes and entertainment venues is currently active in the eastern blocks of Heretaunga St.  The Hastings District Council has recently relocated and consequently rebuild the Hastings Sports Park at a new facility on the edge of the Hastings urban area to make way for a large megacentre, also known as "large format stores". A comprehensive study was conducted before the sale concluding that retaining big box development within the CBD will help boutique stores prosper as opposed to locating the development on a greenfield site. Charter Hall, the developers behind 'The Park' megacentre, had confirmed as of August 2010, the major anchors of the development will be the relocation of Hawkes Bay's largest 'The Warehouse' and the relocation of the cities' Mitre 10 Mega. The new sports park is proposed as a regional facility and includes a velodrome, all-weather athletics track and sports grounds for most other sporting codes represented in NZ sport. Since its completion, the Hastings sports park now hosts multiple tennis courts, netball courts and an internationally recognised hockey turf.

Tourism.

Hastings District is historic and welcoming of tourists, although inbound tourism is typically focused on Napier. Hastings features a tourism industry based on 'lifestyle' activities rather than attractions. The majority of tourists are domestic, usually from other regions within New Zealand. Scheduled airline services to Hawke's Bay operate through Hawke's Bay Airport, and the nearby Hastings Aerodrome is available for private planes. Tourism in Hawke's Bay is growing at an extremely rapid rate. In the recent decade, Hawke's Bay Airport's annual passenger numbers have grown from a 2005 count of 297,000 to a count of 476,000 in the year ending 30 June 2015. In the next five years passenger numbers are expected to exceed 550,000, bringing many new people into Hawke's Bay, with Hastings benefiting from the greater tourism.  Hastings' largest draw card is the wine and food trail established around the productive hinterland. There are over 75 wineries in the surrounding area, including New Zealand's oldest winery restaurant (Vidal Estate). Boutique food industries are becoming popular with cheese, fine meats, and locally produced delicacies seen on display at the Hawkes Bay Farmer's Market (New Zealand's oldest and largest weekly farmer's market). Outdoor leisure activities dominate, with beaches, river, mountain biking, tramping, and golf, being popular. In summer, many large-scale events attract domestic tourists including the Spring Racing Carnival, The Blossom Parade, Harvest Hawkes Bay Weekend, and various concerts and events. The Blossom Festival was once a large national event in the mid-20th century, with charter trains from Wellington and Auckland coming for the event. This however has slowly declined in popularity.  Hastings' specialist attractions include: New Zealand's largest water park, called 'Splash Planet', which replaced 'Fantasyland' near the turn of the millennium, Cape Kidnappers (the world's largest mainland gannet colony), Te Mata Peak, and access to an abundance of nature reserves and mountain treks. Architecturally speaking, Hastings suffered similar to Napier in the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. However, because of the lesser damage by fire, Hastings maintained more pre earthquake buildings. Both towns gained a legacy from the disaster by rebuilding in the then-fashionable and highly distinctive Art Deco style, similar to that of Miami, Florida, USA. Hastings also possesses a large amount of Spanish Mission architecture (popular as with Art Deco in the early 1930s). However, Hastings succumbed to rapid redevelopment in the 1960s and 70s, which saw many 1930s buildings replaced.

Horse of the Year show.

Hawkes Bay A&P Showgrounds in Hastings is the home to the annual NZ Horse of the Year show, held in March. It is one of the biggest sporting events in the Southern Hemisphere, and attracts 2500 horse and rider combinations competing in 19 disciplines including Dressage, Showhunter, Eventing, Showjumping, polocrosse and many breed classes. It has a budget of around $NZD3million, and attracts over 70,000 visitors from over NZ and internationally over the five-day show.

Suburbs.

City suburbs:  Outlying communities: Bridge Pa, Karamu, Longlands, Mangateretere, Maraekakaho, Omahu/Fernhill, Pakipaki, Pukahu, Twyford.

Transport.

Road.

Hastings is served by State Highway 2, which connects Hastings with Napier, Wairoa and Gisborne to the north and (via Dannevirke) Wellington, Masterton and Palmerston North to the south. SH 2 used to run through Hastings. Due to the road layout of Hastings, SH 2's northern and southern sections did not meet up. There once was a point in SH 2's continuation where there was a gap. SH 2 now connects Hastings to Napier through the Hawke's Bay Expressway, and provides a more direct link between the two cities and to both Hawke's Bay Airport and Port of Napier for heavy-vehicle traffic coming from Hastings. The former designation of SH 2 is now State Highway 51. SH 51 enters and exits Hastings in a north east direction. Heading north east, it passes through residential Hastings, then follows the Clive River through the towns of Whakatu and Clive, bridges across the Clive, Tutaekuri and Ngaruroro Rivers before following the coast into Napier.  State Highway 50 begins at a junction just north of Takapau, and connects Hastings and Hawke's Bay to the Ruataniwha Valley and western Hawke's Bay. It provides an alternative, quieter and (in terms of distance) shorter route into Hawke's Bay. It also connects Hastings to many of Hawke's Bay's wineries, for which the region is known internationally. It makes up part of the Hawke's Bay Wine Trail.

Rail.

The Palmerston North–Gisborne Line (PNGL) is a secondary main line railway that runs through the centre of Hastings (a planned feature unique to the city) and joins the North Island Main Trunk railway near Palmerston North. The railway divides Hastings southwest to northeast and cuts off many of the main streets in the centre of the city, many being labelled as east or west depending on what side of the railway they originate from. Passenger services ran to Hastings until it was closed in 2001, and the Hastings railway station is now a major centre for freight services along the PNGL and provides the Port of Napier with many of its freight exports.

Infrastructure and services.

Utilities.

The Hastings Borough Council established the city's first public electricity supply in 1912, with electricity generated by two diesel engines in Eastbourne Street. Originally electricity was supplied using a 230/460-volt three-wire DC system, converting to the now-standard 230/400-volt three-phase AC system in the 1920s. Hastings was connected to the Mangahao hydroelectric scheme in 1927, and the Waikaremoana hydroelectric scheme in 1929. The Hawke's Bay Electric Power Board took over from the borough council in 1935.  The 1998 electricity sector reforms saw the electric power board (then named Hawke's Bay Power) sell its the retail base to Contact Energy, with the remaining lines business renamed Hawke's Bay Networks and later Unison Networks. Today, Unison Networks continues to own and operate the local electricity distribution network servicing the city, with electricity fed into it primarily from the Transpower substations at Fernhill and Whakatu.  Natural gas arrived in Napier and Hastings in 1983, with the completion of the high-pressure pipeline from Palmerston North to Hastings. The high pressure transmission pipelines supplying the city are now owned and operated by First Gas, with Powerco owning and operating the local natural gas distribution network. In February 2004, the city and wider Hawke's Bay region lost natural gas supply for six days after a flood washed away a bridge near Ashhurst supporting the high-pressure pipeline to the region.

Coat of arms.

The city has a Coat of Arms and the Heraldic Blazon is;  Per pale Vert and Argent, in dexter a cross-crosslet fitchy Or in sinister, on a cross carved with a Māori pattern Gules, a sun in splendour Or on a chief party per pale Argent and Vert, a lion passant guardant, armed and langued Gules within an orle of fern leaves all counterchanged. An inescutcheon Or charged with a manche Gules.  On a wreath of the colours, clouds Argent, rays Or, a sunburst supporting a toothed wheel, perforated of six, centred and rimmed Argent, Gules.  Dexter, a ram, tail couped, horned and hoofed Or, proper, supporting on a staff proper palewise flying to the dexter an ensign Sable, two bars Argent edged and charged with a hawk rising Or. Sinister, a bull, armed and hoofed Or, supporting a staff property palewise flying to the sinister, edged Or, a New Zealand Ensign; all supported by a profusion of apples, pears, peaches, grapes and miro berries with their leaves, surmounting a Māori style carved panel representing Rongomatane and Haumeitikeitikei, all proper.  Urbis Et Ruris Concordia (town and country in harmony)

Notable people.

Notable residents of the Hastings metro area have included:

Sister cities.

Hastings has had a sister city relationship with Guilin in China since 1981.

Hastings (; ) is a New Zealand city and is one of the two major urban areas in Hawke's Bay, on the east coast of the North Island. The population of Hastings (including Flaxmere) is (as of with a further people in Havelock North and in Clive. Hastings is about 18 kilometres inland of the coastal city of Napier. These two neighbouring cities are often called "The Bay Cities" or "The Twin Cities".