Mission.

Their mission has three major points: They seek to provide essential support, including food, shelter, medical care, clothing, tutoring and professional training, social support, mental health counseling and legal help. Secondly, they aim to create processes that support stability and self-esteem of each client and foster the independence of each child. Finally, they aim to eradicate the structural causes that produce marginalization, lack of opportunities, ignorance, indifference and the crisis of values. In addressing these needs, they seek to focus on responding to expressed needs instead of constructing a program that imposes a structure on each individual.

Vision.

Their vision is that every person regardless of age, race, social condition or gender, by virtue of their dignity is able to be for him/herself a responsible agent of their own well-being, moral progress, and spiritual development.

Arco Iris Projects.

Project Betaña.

Gran Betaña is one of the poorest neighborhood of La Paz. Arco Iris started Project “Betaña” in 1996, helping more than 200 youngsters each year (from 6 to 14 years old) through educational classrooms, school supplies, dining rooms, sports and medical assistance. There are 10 full-time teachers. The children that go to public school in the morning go to the Center after classes, have lunch, spend the afternoon at the Center and go to their homes in the evening. Other groups go to the Center in the morning and after having lunch they go to school in the afternoon. The Center also has a nursery where about 50 younger children get food, medical attention and learning assistance.

Casa de Paso.

The “Caso de Paso” (Pass through House) works in two areas. One group of professionals makes daily visits to the places where homeless children live (in parks, under bridges, cemeteries, etc.) to provide social help (medical, clothing, blankets, food, etc.), recreational and sport activities, and psychological and educational assistance. The “House of Improvement” takes children that leave their life in the streets and helps them to achieve social reintegration. Some of these children are reintegrated into their own families and others are moved to the “Casa Esperanza” or “Obrajes Girls Homes.” The project helps approximately 400 children each year.

Fundación Arco Iris (Rainbow Foundation) (NGO) is a Catholic NGO (founded by German priest Jose Maria Neuenhofer in 1994) based in La Paz that fights against the discrimination, marginalization and lack of opportunity that thousands of young people suffer. They focus specifically on orphans, children of the incarcerated, victims of domestic violence, and those who live or work in the streets of La Paz. At present, the Foundation has 8 centers plus a hospital.


Early life and education.

Born Margaret Elphinstone in Westminster, London, Rhodes was the youngest daughter of the 16th Lord Elphinstone and his wife, Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon, an elder sister of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Less than a year older than the future queen, she was a frequent playmate of the young Princess Elizabeth. During the Second World War she lived at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, and took a secretarial course. On 20 November 1947, she was a bridesmaid to Princess Elizabeth at her wedding to Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh.

Career.

During World War II, she worked as a secretary for MI6. She was a Woman of the Bedchamber – a mix of lady-in-waiting and companion – to her aunt, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, from 1991 until the latter's death in 2002.  In the 2000 Birthday Honours Rhodes was appointed Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO). She lived in the Garden House, a grace and favour residence in Windsor Great Park. In the run-up to the Queen's 80th birthday in April 2006, Rhodes gave an interview to the BBC in which she stated her belief that the Queen would not abdicate.  Her autobiography, "The Final Curtsey", was published in 2011. She was the "castaway" on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" on 3 June 2012.  Rhodes appeared in seven documentaries about her first cousin Queen Elizabeth II.  On 27 November 2016, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Rhodes had died, aged 91, on 25 November following a short illness.

Personal life.

On 31 July 1950, she married the writer Denys Gravenor Rhodes (1919–1981), with Princess Margaret as one of the bridesmaids. The couple had four children and one grandson:

Ancestry.

Having been a first cousin to Elizabeth II, Rhodes shared half her ancestry with the Queen, including several notable peers.

Margaret Rhodes (; 9 June 1925 – 25 November 2016) was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. From 1991 to 2002, she served as Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.


History.

Early history.

A 250-foot artesian well has been used for brewing on the site since at least 1572. William Waldon (1805 - 1854), a farmer originally from Gainford, founded the Lion Brewery in the village of Stranton (subsequently a part of West Hartlepool) on land he bought from Ralph Walker for £300 in 1852. After Waldon's death in 1854, the brewery passed to his widow, Jane. John William Cameron was recruited to manage the brewery from 1865. In 1872 he took on the brewery and its 16 public houses under a 21-year lease. Henry Wilson, of the Phoenix Works in Stockton-on-Tees, built new brewery facilities for John Cameron in 1875. Further land for expansion of the brewery was purchased in 1876. Between 1885 and 1890 more land was bought and plans were made to build a new brewery. The present brewery building was completed in 1892. When the lease expired in 1893, Cameron purchased the brewery outright from the Waldons for £34,442.

Public listing and acquisition trail.

In 1894 the company went public, valued at £345,000, and owned 119 public houses. John William Cameron used this juncture to enter into semi-retirement, and managerial responsibility was devolved to his brother, Watson Cameron (died 1920).  Nixey, Coleclough & Baxter of the Brunswick Brewery in Hartlepool, was acquired in 1895, along with around 80 public houses. It had been the largest competing brewery in Hartlepool. The newly acquired brewery was closed in 1898, and Nixey and Baxter were both appointed to the Camerons board.  John William Cameron died in 1896, by which time the brewery was one of the largest in the North of England.  In 1897, T E Chapman & Son of Sunderland was acquired with 83 public houses, and its managing director, Abel Chapman, joined the Cameron board of directors. By this time, John Ellerman was vice chairman of Camerons.  That same year, the Lion Brewery was further extended, to a 70 quarter capacity, capable of producing 130,000 barrels a year. In 1899 Camerons began to bottle mineral water and the company continued to expand. By this time 400 licensed premises were owned, including the majority of Hartlepool's public houses. The company prospered, and by 1907 the share capital of the company was £350,000 with another £350,000 of capital in the form of mortgage debenture stock.  In 1910, Heslop's Grange Brewery in Stockton was acquired along with 28 licensed houses. John Ellerman was company chairman by 1913. In 1915 the Lion Brewery was damaged by German shellfire. In 1920 Watson Cameron died, and A. J. Morgan and H. J. Hewlett became joint managing directors of the company. Morgan was in charge of organization and the offices, whilst Hewlett was in charge of brewing. Robert Newton Ltd of Newcastle was acquired, with 35 licences, and Plews and Sons Ltd of Darlington, with 100 licensed premises. In 1922, Watson's son, John Watson Cameron joined the company, and in 1935 he was made chairman and managing director.  The company share price doubled in value between 1933 and 1938. Cameron's ale was sold as far north as Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland, as far east as Guisborough, as far west as Hawes and as far south as Thirsk by 1938. Over 400 licensed houses were owned. Directly and indirectly the company employed 1,500 people. Cameron's owned 46 percent of all public houses within the Borough of Hartlepool by 1939.  In 1950, John Watson Cameron's wife, Lillian, was appointed to the board, responsible for the furnishings and decoration of Cameron's licensed houses. In 1953, the Stranton bottling facility was opened. In March 1955, Strongarm bitter was introduced, as the industrial workers of West Hartlepool demanded a stronger pint.  A controlling interest was acquired in John J Hunt, which owned the Ebor Brewery in York and Scarborough & Whitby Breweries along with 221 licensed public houses for around £400,000 in 1953. In 1956 J Fryer & Sons of Brompton-on-Swale was acquired. In 1959 the West Auckland Brewery was acquired with 80 licensed public houses. In 1961 Russell & Wrangham of Malton was acquired with 90 licensed public houses. By 1967 the company had a market capitalization of £6.7 million, or £106 million in 2013 prices. In 1971, John Watson Cameron retired as managing director, although he remained as executive chairman, and his son, John Martin Cameron, became managing director. Camerons introduced its own "lager" brand, Icegold, in 1972. Icegold was top fermented and actually a very pale ale rather than an authentic lager.

Corporate ownership.

In January 1974, Ellerman Lines acquired the 25 percent stake in Camerons previously owned by Sir John Ellerman, 2nd Baronet, who had died. Directors and Cameron family members held a nine percent stake and Bass Charrington held ten percent.  In 1975, the company was acquired by Ellerman Lines for £14 million, in an attempt to diversify from its declining shipping business. By this time Cameron's owned 500 pubs and 100 off-licences.  In 1980 Hansa lager was launched, brewed under licence from Dortmunder Actien Brauerei. Camerons spent £2 million to upgrade their brewing facilities in order to brew bottom fermented lager, in what CAMRA described as "the most ambitious [lager-brewing scheme] for a regional brewer yet". The company had sales of £51 million in 1981, and one percent of the British beer market. Market share in the Tees Valley area was 25 percent.  In 1983, Ellerman Lines was acquired by the Barclay brothers for £45 million. In 1984, the Barclays attempted to sell Camerons to Scottish & Newcastle for £44 million, but the brothers cancelled the negotiations when the government referred the deal to the Monopolies Commission.  In 1985, Cameron's held five percent of the UK beer market. In 1985, the maltings building was demolished. Alistair Arkley was appointed managing director in 1985. Arkley split the pub and the brewing sides of the company into separate divisions, and divested the low-margin off-licence business. In 1986, Cameron's acquired 90 pubs from Mansfield Brewery, including 78 northern pubs and clubs, most of which were former North Country Breweries outlets, for £13 million. In 1988, the company expanded into the North West for the first time after it acquired 17 pubs in north Lancashire.  In 1988, Camerons and Tolly Cobbold were sold to Brent Walker for £248 million. Camerons controlled 480 licensed public houses and 270 hotels and off-licences. In 1989, Camerons Brewery was described as one of the most efficient in the country, with a total annual capacity of over 500,000 barrels and production of 400,000.  In 1991, the heavily-indebted Brent Walker sold the brewery and 51 pubs to Wolverhampton & Dudley for £18.7 million, beating a rival offer from the management. Brent Walker retained the bulk of the Cameron's estate, which it spun off as a Hartlepool-headquartered pubco called Pubmaster, which controlled 1,600 pubs and was sold to a syndicate of investment groups for £171.3 million in 1996. Meanwhile, the soft drinks arm was spun off under a management buyout called Orchid Drinks, with brands including Purdey's and Amé (acquired by Britvic in 2000 for £67 million).  W&D had acquired a company that was in a "sorry state". Initially, brewery staff numbers were reduced from 360 to 120, and part of the brewery was mothballed, after W&D ended a contract to brew Labatt lager at the plant. However, W&D invested heavily in the brewery site and marketing, and the profitability of the brewery greatly improved. By 1995 W&D had doubled the size of the Cameron pub estate they inherited to 101 pubs. It was widely suggested by customers that the Camerons beers greatly improved after being acquired by W&D.  In 1997, contract brewing returned to the plant, with a licence to brew Foster's lager. By 1997, Cameron's market share in the North East had grown to 10 percent, supplying pubs from Alnwick to Hull. In 1998, £1 million was spent on a new filtration and fermentation system and a keg plant at the brewery. In 1999, a further £500,000 was invested in the previously mothballed areas of the brewery to bring it to its full capacity of 400,000 barrels after it won a series of contracts to brew Harp Lager, Heineken and Kronenbourg.  Total production of Strongarm surpassed one billion pints (5.7 million hectolitres) in 2000. The 2002 "Good Beer Guide" remarked that the Strongarm was "Now substantially improved and with consistent character".

Independence.

Castle Eden Brewery, owned by David Soley, took over Camerons in April 2002 for £35 million, moving all operations to Hartlepool and closing down the Castle Eden plant. The Kronenbourg 1664 contract was renewed by Scottish & Newcastle in December 2002. In 2003, £500,000 was spent to build a new bottling line and an on-site microbrewery, The Lion's Den. In 2008, Cameron's spent £4 million expanding its capacity from 375,000 barrels to around 800,000 barrels. This followed the agreement of a contract with Scottish & Newcastle to supply Kronenbourg 1664, Foster's and John Smith's bitter until 2019. Previously the brewery had only produced Kronenbourg 1664.  In 2013, Camerons acquired the Hexham-based Head of Steam craft beer chain, including seven outlets, in a deal financially backed by Carlsberg.  In 2015, Gold Bullion joined Strongarm as a year-round beer.  In July 2016, Camerons acquired Leeds Brewery's estate of seven pubs.

Operations.

In 2011, the brewery had a capacity of over 1.5 million hectolitres (over 1 million barrels) per annum. Production in 2012 was 900,000 hectolitres, with around 40,000 hl in own brand sales. The bulk of the brewery's own production is cask conditioned ale but it also sells bottled and keg ales. The company's most famous beer is Strongarm, a 4% abv bitter introduced in 1955, and other regular beers are IPA, Bullion Gold and Trophy Special. Strongarm is made with 18 percent crystal malt, which contributes significantly to its distinctive ruby red colour and its roasted, malty flavour.  The barley comes from Yorkshire and Scotland. Camerons uses up to five different yeast strains for its various brands.  Its arrangements with brewing companies include contracts to produce Foster's, Kronenbourg 1664, John Smith's Magnet, Tetley Imperial, and the keg versions of Tetley Mild and Tetley Dark Mild.  The company owns 75 public houses.  Although the Dutch brewer Heineken holds a 24 percent stake in the company, it is a silent partner, with no board representation or managerial control.

The Lion Brewery.

The brewery building is called the Lion Brewery, and the company offers tours of the brewery. The Lion Brewery has two wells, one of them 250 feet deep. Most of the brewery was built in 1890 when the company had aspirations to supply the whole of the North East. There are still a few reminders of lavish opulence; the floor and walls of the brewhouse are furnished with Italian marble that cost £7,000 in 1970.  In 2011, the brewery had a capacity of over 1.5 million hectolitres per annum. It is the ninth largest brewery in the UK. It has twelve Yorkshire Squares for brewing ale.  In 2013, the brewery building was used as a filming location in the "Prodigal Son" episode of Vera.  A £700,000 visitor's centre was opened next to the brewery in 2004, in the former Stranton Arms public house.

Advertising and sponsorship.

In 1996, a £500,000 television and radio campaign saw Cameron's Strongarm advertised across Yorkshire and the Midlands for the first time.  Cameron's was one of the first breweries to sponsor football kits, with Middlesbrough FC from 1984–86 and Hartlepool United from 1985-1990 and 1993-2000.  In 2014, Cameron's began sponsoring BriSCA F1 driver John Downson Jnr, from Thornley. Dowsy, as he is often referred to, is a North East stockcar racer who races under the number 94. John has previously raced BriSCA F2s, where he was the 2012 pole sitter in the BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars World Championship race at Barford Raceway, before making the switch to the more powerful V8 powered formula, the BriSCA F1s later in the year. John is the first driver from the area to feature in a BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars World Championship title race for almost 20 years, finishing 10th in 2013, narrowly avoiding qualifying for the event in 2014.

Camerons Brewery Ltd is a brewery established by John William Cameron in Hartlepool, County Durham, England in 1865. It is the largest independent brewer in the North East of England, with a brewery capacity of 1.5 million hectolitres (900,000 hl production in 2012) and a tied estate of 75 houses. It is one of the oldest industrial concerns in Hartlepool, and has historically been one of the largest employers.


History.

Background.

Hand painted Chinese porcelain dinner wares became the height of fashion in Europe and North America during the 18th century as a way showing off wealth and status in society. The porcelain was ordered through different East India Companies and later independent American traders; all Western trading companies with ships sailing to China. The porcelain was decorated with a combination of Chinese patterns and Western motifs selected by its commissioner. The Chinese manufacturers sent porcelain samples of decorations to their prospective clients in Europe and the United States and their clients provided the porcelain painters in China with paintings, drawings or sketches for their orders. These dinner wares are categorized into "familles" (French for "families") mainly by the colours they are painted in such as famille verte, noire, jaune and rose.  These sets of tableware included all the dishes necessary to set a grand table for a gala dinner. A 1766 order form from the Swedish East India Company stated that "small services" contained 224 pieces and a "larger service" 281 pieces. Punchbowls however, were not included in these sets, they were ordered separately as showcase pieces. The bowls were used to serve hot or cold drinks at special occasions in clubs, at social gatherings and in wealthy homes, or before or after grand dinners.  After the British settlement at Sydney Cove was established in 1788, a significant part of the Chinese porcelain shipped to Australia came via British traders living in India. Operating under licences issued by the British East India Company, who held a commercial monopoly in the Far East, this trade was known as the 'Country Trade', the Indian ships were called 'Country Ships' and their captains 'Country Captains'. Examination of the cargo of ships wrecked during the early colonisation of Australia show that the Country Trade played an important role in getting supplies, including Chinese porcelain traded via India often in Indian-built vessels, to the early Australian colonies.  The two Sydney punchbowls are the only known examples of Chinese export porcelain hand painted with Sydney scenes and dating from the Macquarie era, lasting 1810–1821. The bowls were procured in China sometime between 1796 and 1820; about three decades after the First Fleet's arrival at Port Jackson in Sydney Cove. By 1850 Chinese-made porcelain imports had been replaced with British earthenwares transfer-printed with decoration of Chinese derivation.

Function.

Whilst the drinking of punch from punchbowls was an actual social practice of the times, the Sydney Cove punchbowls were specially commissioned and expensive items which had other purposes. Such punchbowls were prestigious items owned by individuals of high rank in society, such as John Hosking Sydney's first elected Mayor, and New York's fourth Governor Daniel Tomkins, who also acquired a punchbowl. The two punchbowls, previously owned by Hosking, are the first Chinese objects acquired by the Australiana Fund. The bowls could also have been commissioned as commemorative gifts, like the 1812 Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania Union Lodge punchbowl gift. and the New York City punchbowl presented to the City of New York on 4July 1812. It has also been suggested that, given the Aboriginal marriage motif, the Sydney punchbowls may have been a marriage gift. Punchbowls were also regarded as exotic souvenirs at the time.  It is also possible the Sydney punchbowls may have had other purposes – to promote the fledgling settlement and to encourage new settlers. In 1820, artist John William Lewin's patron, merchant Alexander Riley, looking for ways to promote the New South Wales colony, stated: "It has long been a subject of our consideration in this Country that a Panorama exhibited in London of the Town of Sydney and surrounding scenery would create much public interest and ultimately be of service to the Colony". This purpose is clearly set forth even in the title of William Charles Wentworth's tome on New South Wales, which contained the engraving of Lewin's Sydney Cove painting. The full title ends ""... With a Particular Enumeration of the Advantages Which These Colonies Offer for Emigration, and Their Superiority in Many Respects Over Those Possessed by the United States of America"". The punchbowls were also an opportunity to present the art of topographical panoramas in the form of a high status object and to portray the new colony in a more glamorous way than that of simply a remote convict colony as perceived at the time.

Commissioning.

The gilded monogram initials on the Library punchbowl are perhaps the only current clue as to the original commissioner of the punchbowls. The initials are difficult to decipher because of partial loss of the gilt Copperplate script. Possibilities include HCA or HA, TCA or FCA over B. Several candidates have been suggested including Henry, 3rd Earl of Bathurst, and Sir Thomas Brisbane, New South Wales Governor in 1821–1825 after Lachlan Macquarie, but the most likely is Henry Colden Antill (1779–1852). Antill was appointed aide-de-camp to the fifth New South Wales Governor, Macquarie who was in office 1810–1821, on his arrival in Sydney on 1January 1810. He was promoted to Major of Brigade in 1811 and retired from the British Army in 1821. Antill settled on land first at Moorebank near Liverpool and then in 1825 on his estate near Picton—named Jarvisfield in honour of Macquarie's first wife, Jane Jarvis. He was buried at Jarvisfield on 14August 1851. Antill had subdivided part of the estate in 1844, making possible the founding of the town of Picton. When the State Library acquired its punchbowl in 1926, the Antill family of Picton — Henry's antecedents — had no knowledge of the punchbowl's provenance.

20th-century provenance.

The Library punchbowl.

The State Library's punchbowl was the earlier of the two to become more widely known. It was presented to the Library by Sydney antiques dealer, auctioneer and collector, William Augustus Little, in November 1926, an event reported in the Sydney "Evening News" on 3November 1926. The punchbowl discovery itself was reported in several Australian newspapers earlier in March, including "The Sydney Morning Herald" on 4March 1926, with the title "Bookshop Find : Relic of Early Sydney". These newspaper articles state that Little bought the punchbowl from London antiquarian bookseller, Francis Edwards Ltd of 83 Marylebone High Street and that Little subsequently had it appraised by experts from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in February 1926. The newspapers report that the V&A wished to keep the bowl. The articles also state that the bowl had "paintings of Sydney in 1810, executed to the order of Major Antill who was Governor Macquarie's aide-de-camp". Among the clientele of Francis Edwards Ltd were some of the noted Australiana collectors of the day, including William Dixon, James Edge-Partington, David Scott Mitchell and the Mitchell Library itself.  Before Little's purchase, the punchbowl had been the property of Sir Timothy Augustine Coghlan, New South Wales Agent-General in London, who bought the bowl for £40 in 1923 from one Miss Hall for his own collection. The bowl was subsequently in the possession of Francis Edwards Ltd before Coghlan's unexpected death in London on 30April 1926. Coghlan had personally collected the bowl from a Miss Hall at 'Highfield', 63 Seabrook Rd, Hythe (Kent), England, a few months after she had decided to offer the bowl to the New South Wales Government for £50. Earlier, a visit to Miss Hall by a Sydney schoolteacher, Jessie Stead, on 6August 1923, resulted in the proposal that the bowl ought to be the property of the City of Sydney. Jessie Stead later indicated that she was informed by Miss Hall that her father had acquired the bowl in the late 1840s – the earliest dating for the punchbowls' provenance – and that Miss Hall believed the bowl was commissioned for William Bligh, New South Wales's fourth Governor (in office 1806–1808). In 2002, the State Library of New South Wales digitised the punchbowl images with the support of the Nelson Meers Foundation, a philanthropic foundation supporting Australian arts, and the bowl became one of the 100 extraordinary library objects to be exhibited as part of Mitchell Library's centenary celebrations in 2010.

The Museum punchbowl.

The second Sydney punchbowl had a much more circuitous journey to the present. The bowl first appeared in May 1932, when Sir Robert Witt, chairman of the British National Art Collections Fund, wrote to James MacDonald, Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, inquiring if a Sydney museum would be interested in acquiring the second punchbowl. The Gallery Director referred the offer to William Herbert Ifould, Principal Librarian of the Public Library of New South Wales, in August 1932. Ifould wrote directly to Sir Robert Witt indicating that the bowl was not required by the Library as a very similar one was already held. Ifould received a reply dated 31October 1932, stating that during the intervening months the owner of the bowl in England – whose name was undisclosed – had since sold the bowl to another undisclosed buyer. The bowl's subsequent whereabouts was unknown until 1988. In the original offer by Sir Robert – who had also co-founded the Courtauld Institute of Art in London – a suggestion was made that this bowl had been made to the order of Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales (in office 1788–1795) who established the settlement at Sydney Cove. However, no evidence to support this view was given in Witt's letter.  1988 was the bicentenary of non-indigenous settlement in Australia and, as such, there was renewed interest in the 'lost' second Sydney punchbowl. The bowl eventually turned up in a catalogue for a Chinese export porcelain exhibition at Newark Museum, New Jersey, United States, titled "Chinese Export Porcelain: A Loan Exhibition from New Jersey Collections". The bowl had been lent by Peter Frelinghuysen Jr., a former United States Congressman (in office 1953–1975). The discovery was made by Terry Ingram, a Sydney journalist specialising in antiques and art, who wrote about it in his Saleroom column, titled "Newark Museum packs Aussie punch", in "The Australian Financial Review" on 25August 1988. It transpired that in the early 1930s, the bowl was acquired by Frelinghuysen's parents in a private negotiation with the owner at the time the National Art Collections Fund was attempting to raise interest from Sydney's cultural institutions. This discovery drew the attention of Paul Hundley, senior curator of the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM)'s USA Gallery, the Gallery itself a bicentennial gift of the American people to Australia. In May 2006, the ANMM announced it had acquired the bowl as a part gift from Frelinghuysen through the American Friends of the ANMM, a charitable organisation recognised by the US Internal Revenue Service which enabled Frelinghuysen to receive appropriate taxation benefits. "The Australian Financial Review" reported the acquisition in its Saleroom column, titled "Museum bowled over", on 18May 2006. The punchbowl has been on display in the Museum's USA Gallery ever since. It also features as one of the "100 Stories from the ANMM", has digitised images in the ANMM catalogue and can be viewed on YouTube. At the time the ANMM acquired the punchbowl in 2006, the bowl was valued at $A330,000.

Ceramic origin.

The notes accompanying the State Library's acquisition of its punchbowl indicate that on 25February 1926, William Bowyer Honey, Keeper, Department of Ceramics, Victoria & Albert Museum, had appraised this particular punchbowl. Honey concluded that the bowl was made in China during Emperor Chia Ch'ing's reign in 1796–1820. In 1757, foreign trade had been restricted to Canton. Chinese exports, consisting largely of tea, porcelain and silk, had to be paid for in silver. The European (and soon the American) presence was restricted to the Thirteen Factories known as hongs on the harbour of Canton (now known as Guangzhou). The Canton hongs themselves are frequently illustrated on punchbowls, known as hong bowls, whereas the portrayal of ports that traded with Canton – such as Sydney and New York – are extraordinarily rare. The Canton System lasted until the defeat of China's Qing dynasty by the British Empire in the first of the Opium Wars in 1842. Virtually no Chinese export porcelain was produced from 1839 to 1860 because of the Opium Wars. Canton hong trade was subsequently overshadowed by the rise of Hong Kong as a trading centre – territory ceded to the British as a consequence of China's military defeats – and the subsequent establishment of 80 Treaty ports along China's coast. The punchbowls therefore are a product made just before China's eclipse, commissioned in Canton, where they were painted and glazed by Chinese ceramic artists. The unpainted bowls, however, would have first been manufactured in Jingdezhan, a town by road from Canton, where pottery factories have operated for nearly 2,000 years, and still do today.

Similarities and differences.

The punchbowls can be considered a harlequin pair as they are similar but not exactly matching. They are both Chinese ceramics ware of Cantonese origin, made of clear glaze on hard-paste porcelain and painted with polychrome famille rose overglaze enamel and gilding. They are similar in size, each approximately in diameter, high and weighing about, footring high and in diameter. Whilst the indigenous Australian groups painted within the inner centre of both bowls are identical, the outer panoramic views of Sydney Cove are not. The Library punchbowl has a view from the eastern side of Sydney Cove whilst the view on the Museum bowl is from Dawes Point on the western shore. This pairing follows a standard convention in late 18th-and early 19th-century topographical art of painting two views of the same scene from opposite vantage points.  Whilst the Cantonese ceramic painters would have worked from images of Sydney Cove and the Aboriginal group provided by the customer commissioning the punchbowls, the border and edge trims were generally left to the choice of the ceramic painters. The traditional floral motif of such Chinese flowers as chrysanthemums, peonies, cherry and plum blossom has been applied to the internal borders of both bowls in a similar pattern. However, the external borders differ considerably. The Library bowl has a more traditional Chinese outer border design in vermilion, rose and gilt, whilst the Museum bowl has a trim of looped circles on a cobalt blue ground, edged with narrow gold bands. There are other differences. The Library bowl has large, gilded monogram initials on the outside and the footring has a single narrow gold band and gilded lower edge. However, the Museum bowl has no visible monogram but the footring does have "View of the Town of Sydney in New South Wales" lettered in black.

Illustration sources.

Sydney Cove.

The sources of the two illustrations of Sydney Cove and the Aboriginal group are not known. The ceramic colouring bears a general resemblance to contemporary Sydney Cove images which implies that an original watercolour or hand coloured engraving was used for copying rather than black and white images. In the case of the Library punchbowl, the depiction of Sydney Cove is most likely done from an engraving after a now lost drawing by Lewin, which may date to 1814. This Sydney Cove engraving appeared as a full-page illustration in the second edition of "A Statistical, Historical and Political Description of New South Wales and its dependent settlements in Van Diemen's Land etc" (London, 1820) by Wentworth, with a later, smaller, version as one of ten Port Jackson harbour views illustrated on "Map of Part of New South Wales" (London, 1825) by publisher and engraver, Joseph Cross. As Australia's first professional artist, Lewin produced many paintings for Macquarie and his senior officers. He also made a number of commissions for Riley. Lewin had a close association with Antill and both were part of Governor Macquarie's 50-strong excursion party to inspect land and the new road over the Blue Mountains from 25April to 19May 1815. The road had been built by convicts in 1814, after the first European crossing by Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and Wentworth in May 1813.  Unlike the Library punchbowl, the Sydney Cove image on the Museum punchbowl is not known in its entirety in any other version so it is assumed that the original artwork provided by the commissioner to the ceramic artists in China has been lost. The only similar Sydney Cove view of the period is an original watercolour by convict artist Joseph Lycett, which first appeared in an engraved version as page 86 in "Views in New South Wales, 1813–1814 [and] An Historical Account of the Colony of NSW, 1820–1821" (Sydney, 1819) by soldier, James Wallis. A second engraved version appeared on page 74 of a similar folio edition "Album of original drawings by Captain James Wallis and Joseph Lycett, ca 1817–1818 etc" by publisher Rudolph Ackermann in London, 1821. However, the Dawes Point fortifications — designed by the convict architect Francis Greenway — and its gun emplacements, dominate the foreground of both engravings. The Museum punchbowl view pre-dates this as it has, instead, a grassy slope and figures of an Aboriginal man and woman in the equivalent location. The Lycett version has other major differences, including a less extensive vista of the eastern side of the Harbour.

Aboriginal group.

The Aboriginal group forms the inner centre piece in the tondo of both bowls. As the same image was used for both bowls, the implication is that the Chinese ceramic painters were copying from the same drawing and finishing them at the same place and time. The image is of a group of four Aboriginal men with club, shield and spears, one woman with a baby on her shoulders – standing and turned slightly away from the rest of the figures – and another woman cowed by the men. This is thought to depict a preliminary marriage ceremony. As with the Museum bowl's Sydney Cove image, no directly related, surviving, version is known that would have been used by the ceramic artists to paint the Aboriginal group. The closest match is a drawing after an apparently now-lost original sketch by Nicolas-Martin Petit, artist on the 1800–1803 French expedition to Australia led by Nicolas Baudin. Research made around 2009–2012, indicated that during Baudin's expedition, a report was prepared for Emperor Napoleon on the feasibility of capturing the British colony at Sydney Cove. As this expedition progressed around coastal Australia, Petit began to specialise in the drawing of portraits of indigenous peoples. The French expedition arrived at Port Jackson on 25April 1802. Petit's drawing was copied for publication as plate 114 in the "Voyage autour du monde : entrepris par ordre du roi (Paris, 1825) ", regarding a voyage around the world (1817–1820) led by Louis-Claude de Saulces de Freycinet. The engraving is entitled "Port Jackson, Nlle Hollande. Ceremonie preliminaire d'un mariage, chez les sauvages" (ceremony before a marriage among the natives, Port Jackson, New Holland). Port Jackson aborigines are from the Eora group of indigenous people living in the Sydney Basin.

Sydney Cove panoramas.

The Library punchbowl.

The panorama on the Library punchbowl begins with a view of the eastern shore of Sydney Cove. In the foreground is an octagonal two-storey, yellow, sandstone house 1, built by Governor Macquarie in 1812 for his favourite boatman and former water bailiff, Billy or William Blue. The drawing of this little house – now the site of the Sydney Opera House — is out of all proportion to its actual modest size. To the left of the house is a sandy beach where the Circular Quay ferry wharves now stand. Facing the beach is First Government House 2 where the Museum of Sydney is now situated.  On the western shore is the Rocks district, the convicts' side of the town, with two windmills on the ridge. The buildings were simple vernacular houses. Newly arrived convicts often found lodging in the district and in the 1790s a large number of the inhabitants were also Aborigines. To the left of The Rocks area is a long, low, military barracks 3, built between 1792 and 1818 around Barracks Square/the Parade Ground – which is now Wynyard Park. It was from here that, in 1808, the New South Wales Corps marched to arrest Macquarie's predecessor William Bligh, an event later known as the Rum Rebellion. Heading east is St. Philip's Church 4 – the earliest Christian church (Church of England) in Australia – erected in stone in 1810 on Church Hill – now Lang Park. In 1798, the original wattle and daub church – on what is now the corner of Bligh and Hunter Streets – was burnt down, allegedly by disgruntled convicts in response to a decree by the second New South Wales Governor (1795–1800), John Hunter, that all colony residents, including officers and convicts, attend Sunday services. The jail had earlier suffered a similar fate.  Further along the ridge to the east is Fort Phillip, flying the Union Jack, on Windmill (later Observatory) Hill where the Sydney Observatory is now located. It was the highest point above the colony, affording commanding views of the Harbour approaches from east and west. On the waterfront below Fort Phillip is the yellow, four-storey, Commissariat Stores, 5, constructed by convicts for Macquarie in 1810 and 1812. One of the largest buildings constructed in the colony at the time, it is now the site of the Museum of Contemporary Art. The foreshore buildings on the extreme right are the warehouse and "Wharf House" residence of merchant, Robert Campbell 6 who was to become one of the colony's biggest landholders. This is now the site of the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylons and is just to the left of Dawes Point. Three British sailing ships, flying either the Red Ensign of the Merchant Navy or (more likely) the White Ensign of the Royal Navy, are anchored in the Cove along with four sailboats and five canoes.

The Museum punchbowl.

The Sydney Cove panorama on the Museum punchbowl is dated between 1812 and 1818. The vantage point is from beneath Dawes Point, shown with its flagstaff and before the Dawes Point fortifications built 1818–1821 7. Looking directly into Campbell's Cove, the immediate focal points are Robert Campbell's warehouse and the "Wharf House" roof of his residence 6. To the right of Campbell's Wharf are extensive stone walls marking boundaries between properties in this part of the Rocks district 8. First Government House can be seen at the head of Sydney Cove in the distance 2 and around the eastern shore a small rendition of Billy Blue's 1812-house 1. The Governor and civil personnel lived on the more orderly eastern slopes of the Tank Stream, compared to the disorderly western side where convicts lived. The Tank Stream was the fresh water course emptying into Sydney Cove and supplied the fledgling colony until 1826. Further along is Bennelong Point – with no sign of Fort Macquarie built from December 1817 – and Garden Island – the colony's first food source. The distant vista of the eastern side of the Harbour goes almost as far as the Macquarie Lighthouse – Australia's first lighthouse – built between 1816 and 1818 on South Head. There are seven sailing ships flying the white ensign of the British Royal Navy in the Harbour, along with three sailboats and two canoes.

The Sydney punchbowls, made in China during the Jiaqing Emperor's reign (1796–1820) over the mid-Qing dynasty, are the only two known examples of Chinese export porcelain hand painted with Sydney scenes and dating from the Macquarie era. The bowls were procured in Canton about three decades after the First Fleet's arrival at Port Jackson where the British settlement at Sydney Cove was established in 1788. They also represent the trading between Australia and China via India at the time. Even though decorated punchbowls were prestigious items used for drinking punch at social gatherings during the 18th and 19th centuries, it is not known who originally commissioned these bowls or what special occasion they were made for.


Background.

Leith is a town which had a population of 16 in 2010. In May 2012, Craig Cobb, an American Canadian white nationalist Neo-Nazi, moved to Leith with the intention of building a community of people sharing his white nationalist ideology and gaining the electoral majority. He purchased 12 plots of land.

Production.

Nichols and Walker, who are based in New York, flew to North Dakota two months after they read an August 2013 "New York Times" article about Craig Cobb's scheme to transform Leith into a white-supremacist town. They made three trips to Leith within an 8-month period, each around 4 weeks long, for the production of the film. 5 months were spent editing the film. In June 2014 Nichols and Walker launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the production of the film. They surpassed their $60,000 goal, raising $64,751. The directors approached the project in many ways as a documentary version of a horror/western—the residents of Leith were scared and confused and felt as if one wrong move could end in violence. They aimed to capture the sense of fear and isolation that residents living in a town of 24 people 70 miles from anything experienced when Cobb made his takeover intentions public.

Reception.

On July 25, 2017, "Welcome to Leith" was nominated for an Emmy for Best Documentary by the News & Doc Emmy Awards. The film received largely positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a Certified Fresh 98% score based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's consensus states: "As disturbing as it is thought-provoking, "Welcome to Leith" offers an uncomfortable -- and essential -- glimpse into a part of society many Americans would much rather ignore." Metacritic reports a 78 out of 100 rating based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".  "Indiewire" critic Eric Kohn gave the documentary an A- grade, described it as "a stunning portrait of First Amendment rights pushed to their extremes".

Welcome to Leith is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker about white supremacist Craig Cobb's attempt to take over the North Dakota city Leith. The film premiered on January 26, 2015 at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and, after a limited theatrical release on September 9, was broadcast on PBS' series "Independent Lens" on April 4, 2016.


Career.

Thomassen is a graduate from the Norwegian Academy of Music, and collaborates in a variety of rock and jazz bands, including her own Hedvig Mollestad Trio, Thomassen Trio, Bronco Busters, Songs and Sweet Potatoes, and VOM (as "Mester Pøggs"). She also has a central role in the bands of Jarle Bernhoft and Hilde Marie Kjersem, and has performed within Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Thomassen was awarded "The young jazz talent of the year" at Moldejazz in 2009, and showed up on a gig within Jarle Bernhoft Band at the 2011 Kongsberg Jazzfestival. When she released her debut solo album "Shoot!" (2011) leading her own trio, the music bears little resemblance to what she plays within Jon Eberson Group and the bands of Hilde Marie Kjersem and Jarle Bernhoft.

Hedvig Mollestad Trio.

Hedvig Mollestad Trio (also referred to as HM3) consists of Hedvig Mollestad (guitar, vocals), Ellen Brekken (bass) and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad (drums). The trio has received numerous appraising reviews internationally, for both their studio albums and live performances. Their music is inspired by 70s heavyrock, but creates a peculiar musical mixture of ingredients like free jazz, prog and psychedelia. On its website the band describes their own music as "Outgoing & progressive instrumental rock". Since the trio's formation in 2009, HM3 has played many concerts and jazz festivals in both Norway and abroad and they have toured in Europe, Malaysia, Japan and the USA. In reviews of two of the band's albums, All About Jazz critique John Kelman states:

Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen (born 4 February 1982 in Ålesund, Norway) is a Norwegian musician (guitar, vocals and composing). She is known for a series of album releases and collaborations with musicians like Jon Eberson, Jarle Bernhoft and Hilde Marie Kjersem.


Products.

Cochlear produces three implants for different medical situations.  Nucleus is a system combining an electrical simulation device that is surgically implanted behind a patient's ear, a processor that captures sounds, and an electrode array that relays the sounds to the brain. It is a direct descendant of the original cochlear implants, also known as Nucleus, developed by Dr Graeme Clark in Melbourne during the 1970s. Nucleus was the first cochlear implant to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The system is upgradable, for example by installing a new sound processor, without surgery. Cochlear's latest processor, Nucleus 6, was launched in 2013 after six years of development. It replaced the Nucleus 5 system. In 2011, the Nucleus 5 CI500 series internal implant was recalled with up to a 24% failure rate. In 2013, the Nucleus implant recorded 99% reliability over the last 8 years, more than any similar product.  Hybrid is an electro-acoustic system combining a cochlear implant with an acoustic hearing aid, suitable for patients who have residual hearing at low frequencies. The implant of the Hybrid system is a smaller variant of Nucleus, with an electrode that relays only high frequency sounds, while the acoustic component amplifies low frequency sounds and transmits them to the brain through the ordinary nerve pathway. Hybrid was launched in 2008 and won Australian Engineering Excellence and International Design Awards in 2009.  Baha (derived from bone anchored hearing aid) is a bone conduction system involving a small titanium implant that is ossointegrated with the bone behind a patient's ear. A sound processor captures sounds, which is passed to the implant and directly transferred to the inner ear through the skull. Baha was originally produced by Swedish biotechnology group Entific Medical Systems before that company was acquired by Cochlear in 2005.

Corporate Affairs.

Cochlear manufactures principally in Sweden and Australia, including at a purpose-built facility at Macquarie University in Sydney. The company's products are supplied to over 100 countries internationally, with 43% sales revenue ($403 million) derived from the Americas, 40% ($377.6 million) from Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 17% ($161.3 million) from the Asia-Pacific region as of 2015. Cochlear spent $128 million on research and development in FY15.  In 2011, reports arose of Nucleus model CI500 implants shutting down, although less than 1% of devices were affected and the failures posed no health risks. Cochlear funded a complete recall of the model, with an older version of the Nucleus implant being available as a replacement. The company spent $101.3 million on the recall.

Cochlear () is a medical device company that designs, manufactures and supplies the Nucleus cochlear implant, the Hybrid electro-acoustic implant and the Baha bone conduction implant.


History.

"O"-Acetylpsilocin (psilacetin) and several other esters of psilocin were patented on January 16, 1963 by Sandoz Ltd via Albert Hofmann & Franz Troxler. Despite this, psilacetin remains a psychedelic compound with a limited history of use. It is theorized to be a prodrug of psilocin, as is psilocybin, which occurs naturally in many species of hallucinogenic mushrooms. This is because the aromatic acetyl moiety on the 4th position of the indole ring system is subject to deacetylation in acidic conditions such as those found in the stomach. Psilacetin is "O"-acetylated psilocin, whereas psilocybin is "O"-phosphorylated.

Chemistry.

"O"-Acetylpsilocin can be obtained by acetylation of psilocin under alkaline or strongly acidic conditions. It is, therefore, a semi-synthetic compound. It is believed to be a prodrug of psilocin; however, speculation exists that psilacetin itself also may be psychoactive. "O"-Acetylpsilocin is more resistant than psilocin to oxidation under basic conditions due to its acetoxy group. While "O"-acetylpsilocin is not well researched (sometimes viewed negatively as a research chemical, as opposed to psilocin and psilocybin), it is not as difficult as psilocybin to synthesize. Due to their similar proposed mechanisms of action, this factor may provide further support for the proposition that "O"-acetylpsilocin might serve as an appropriate substitute for psilocybin in research of the application of psychedelic compounds in medicine.

Pharmacology.

In the body "O"-acetylpsilocin is deacetylated to psilocin by deacetylases/acetyltransferases during first pass metabolism and during subsequent passes through the liver (evident as psilacetin is also active via parenteral routes of ingestion).  Claims of subjective differences in effects between the acetylated and non-acetylated forms of psilocin vary: some users report that "O"-acetylpsilocin lasts slightly longer, whilst others report that it lasts for a considerably shorter time. Many users report less body load and nausea compared with psilocin. Some users find that the visual effects produced by "O"-acetylpsilocin more closely resemble those produced by DMT than those produced by psilocin or psilocybin. These differences could be possible if psilacetin is psychoactive in itself and not merely as a prodrug. Despite this, there have been no controlled clinical studies to distinguish among the phenomenological effects of psilacetin, psilocin, and psilocybin.

Legality.

Australia.

"O"-Acetylpsilocin can be considered an analog of psilocin making it a Schedule 9 prohibited substance in Australia under the Poisons Standard (October 2015). A Schedule 9 substance is a substance which may be abused or misused, the manufacture, possession, sale or use of which should be prohibited by law except when required for medical or scientific research, or for analytical, teaching or training purposes with approval of Commonwealth and/or State or Territory Health Authorities.

United States.

"O"-Acetylpsilocin is ambiguously legal for use as a lab reagent or research chemical; however, it is an acetate ester of psilocin, meaning it would be considered Schedule I under the Federal Analogue Act if sold for human consumption.

United Kingdom.

"O"-Acetylpsilocin, being an ester of psilocin, is a Class A drug in the UK under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Italy.

"O"-Acetylpsilocin is illegal in Italy as it is an ester of a prohibited substance.

Sweden.

The Riksdag added 4-AcO-DMT to under "swedish schedule I" (""substances, plant materials and fungi which normally do not have medical use"" ) as of January 25, 2017, published by Medical Products Agency (MPA) in regulation "HSLF-FS 2017:1" listed as 4-acetoxi-N,N-dimetyltryptamin.

"O"-Acetylpsilocin (also known as psilacetin, 4-acetoxy-DMT, or 4-AcO-DMT) is a semi-synthetic psychoactive drug that has been suggested by David Nichols to be a potentially useful alternative to psilocybin for pharmacological studies, as they are both believed to be prodrugs of psilocin. However, some users report that "O"-acetylpsilocin's subjective effects differ from those of psilocybin and psilocin. It is the acetylated form of the psilocybin mushroom alkaloid psilocin and is a lower homolog of 4-AcO-MET, 4-AcO-DET, 4-AcO-MiPT and 4-AcO-DiPT.


Early life and education.

Sarbananda Sonowal was born on 31 October 1961 in Molokgaon located in the Dibrugarh district of Assam to Shri Jibeswar Sonowal and Dineswari Sonowal. He completed his bachelor's degree with English Honours from Hanumanbaksh Kanoi College under Dibrugarh University and his LLB from Gauhati University.

Political career.

Sarbananda Sonowal was the President of Assam's oldest student body, the All Assam Students Union from 1992 to 1999. After that, he became a member of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). In 2001, he was elected the MLA from Assam's Moran constituency. In 2004, he became a Lok Sabha member representing Dibrugarh constituency and continued to be so till 2009 before joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2011.  In 2014 general election for Lok Sabha he was appointed to head State's 16th Lok Sabha Elections Assam by Bharatiya Janata Party, and in the same year he was also elected as Member of Parliament, 16th Lok Sabha from Lakhimpur Constituency, he was then appointed as Union Minister of State-Independent Charge, of the Government of India under the Modi Government at the centre.  He was selected as the CM candidate of BJP for the 2016 Assam Assembly Election. On 19 May 2016, Sarbananda Sonowal won the Assembly Election from Majuli Constituency making himself the next Chief Minister of Assam from Bharatiya Janata Party.

Biography.

Sarbananda Sonowal resigned from all executive posts within AGP and left the party, due to dissatisfaction with and amongst the senior leadership of the party who were trying to forge an alliance with a party that was against the scrapping of the controversial IMDT Act. On 8 February 2011, Sonowal joined BJP in the presence of the then BJP National President Nitin Gadkari and senior leaders like Varun Gandhi, Vijay Goel, Bijoya Chakravarty and state BJP president Ranjit Dutta. He was immediately appointed as a member of the BJP National Executive and later on the State Spokesperson of the BJP unit, prior to his current assignment to head the state as the new president. On 28 January 2016, BJP Parliamentary Board announced Sarbananda Sonowal as BJP Chief Ministerial candidate of Assam. He is not married.

Role removing the IMDT Act.

Faced with the problem of massive migration from Bangladesh into Assam, the government tried to put up legislation in place to detect and deport foreign nationals. Eventually, the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983 (IMDT Act) came into being following the Assam Accord signed between the Government of India and the All Assam Students Union (AASU) to end the decade-long anti-foreigner agitation.  The IMDT Act is an instrument passed by Indian Parliament when there was no MP elected from Assam, to detect illegal immigrants (from Bangladesh) and expel them from Assam. While the IMDT Act operates only in Assam, the Foreigners Act (1946) applies to the rest of the country. It is applicable to those Bangladeshi nationals who settled in Assam on or after 25 March 1971. Under the Act, the onus of proving the citizenship of a suspected illegal alien rests on the complainant, often the police. On the other hand, according to the provisions of the Foreigners Act, the onus lies with the person suspected to be an alien.  Sonowal took the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration to the Supreme Court. By its judgement dated 12 July 2005, the court struck down the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983, as unconstitutional and termed Bangladeshi infiltration an "external aggression" and directed that "the Bangladesh nationals who have illegally crossed the border and have trespassed into Assam or are living in other parts of the country have no legal right of any kind to remain in India and they are liable to be deported."

Sarbananda Sonowal () (born 31 October 1961) is an Indian politician, who served as the former Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of India. He has since then served as the Chief Minister of Assam since 2016.


Plot.

While out on patrol, Batgirl a.k.a Barbara Gordon fails to stop a robbery, but manages to stop one criminal with help from Batman. Paris Franz, the robbers' leader and the nephew of a powerful mob boss, develops a dangerous obsession with her and starts sending her messages. After Franz tricks her into finding his uncle's dead body, Batman becomes concerned about her safety and takes her off the case, telling her that she will eventually be tempted to kill the criminals she pursues. Outraged, Batgirl attacks Batman physically and verbally, which leads to them having sex. A few nights later, Batgirl tries to apologize to Batman, but he is ambushed by Franz and his men, prompting her to come to his aid. When she arrives and overpowers Franz, he makes her lose control and give him a savage beating, stopping just short of killing him. Realizing Batman was right, she retires from crime-fighting.  Later, Batman investigates a murder scene with Detective Harvey Bullock and concludes that the Joker, currently held at Arkham Asylum, might be behind the crime. He goes to Arkham to talk to him, only to discover that he has escaped and put a decoy in his place. Joker then attacks Barbara and her father, Commissioner James Gordon. He shoots her in the stomach, paralyzing her from the waist down, and takes Gordon to an abandoned amusement park. There, Joker strips him naked and subjects him to torture, including showing him photos he took of Barbara, naked and in pain.  The story is intercut with flashbacks of Joker's origin. It is revealed that he was once a lab technician who quit his job to become a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperate to support his pregnant wife Jeannie, he agrees to help two criminals rob his former workplace. The criminals tell him that he has to use the Red Hood's mask and caped costume, secretly intending to frame him. During the planning, the police inform him that Jeannie and their unborn child have died in a household accident. Grief-stricken, he tries to withdraw from the plan, but the criminals strong-arm him into keeping his commitment to them.  At the plant, the criminals and the costumed comedian run into security personnel, and a shootout occurs. The criminals are gunned down and the comedian is confronted by Batman. Terrified, the comedian trips and falls into the chemical plant's waste pond, and is swept through a pipe leading to the outside. As he removes his mask, he sees the chemicals have permanently disfigured his face, giving him a clown-like appearance. His disfigurement, combined with the loss of his family, drives him insane and transforms him into the Joker.  In the present, Batman finds and saves Gordon, while the Joker flees. Despite his ordeal, Gordon remains sane and demands that Batman capture the Joker "by the book". Batman follows the Joker as the latter tries to persuade him that the world is just one big joke, and that "one bad day" is enough to drive an ordinary man insane. Batman subdues Joker, tells him that Gordon has remained sane, and concludes that Joker is alone in his madness. He then attempts to reach out to him, offering rehabilitation. Joker apologetically declines, saying it is too late for him. He then says that the situation reminds him of a joke about two patients in an insane asylum who try to escape by leaping over to the adjoining building. The first patient makes it across, but the second patient is too afraid. The first patient says, "Hey, i got this flashlight with me. I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings and you can walk across the beam and join me". But the second patient says, "What do you think i am, crazy?. You'll just turn it off when I'm halfway across!". Batman and Joker then have a good laugh at the joke as the police arrive. The Joker's laugh trails off while Batman continues to laugh, leaving the ending as ambiguous as the comic.  In a mid-credits scene, Barbara is in her wheelchair entering a secret room in her apartment. She says "back to work" as she turns on her computers.

Production.

In 2011, during San Diego Comic-Con International, actor Mark Hamill, who wanted to quit playing the Joker at that time, stated that he would be willing to voice the Joker for an adaptation of "", encouraging fans to campaign for said adaptation, most notably in a tweet on October 24, 2011. Since then, a Facebook page titled "Petition to get Mark Hamill to play the Joker in animated "Killing Joke"" was set up by his fans. In 2013, Bruce Timm also expressed a desire to create the project, saying it was only a possibility. On July 10, 2015, during the "" panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Timm announced that an animated film based on the novel was in development and slated to be released in 2016. Sam Liu would direct and Timm would executive produce the film. The film features a 15-minute prologue that sets up the story. On July 17, Hamill tweeted that he had his "fingers crossed" in hopes that he would be contacted to reprise his role as the Joker. On July 27, Collider reported that Hamill would voice the Joker in the film and ComicBook.com spoke with Kevin Conroy who stated he would reprise his voice role as Bruce Wayne / Batman "in a heartbeat". On March 14, 2016, it was officially announced that Conroy, Hamill and Tara Strong would reprise their roles as Batman, Joker and Barbara Gordon, and Ray Wise would voice Commissioner Gordon. The rest of the voice cast was revealed on Apple's iTunes digital release of the film.  In January 2016, Timm revealed that the film would be screened at San Diego Comic-Con in July. He added that the team had to "add a lot more story" for the film due to the source novel not being long enough to make a feature-length film. Month later, concept artist Phil Bourassa revealed that in 2009, Timm was slated to produce an R-rated version of "The Killing Joke", but development on the film was stalled after two weeks due to the under-performance of "Watchmen", while also showcasing concept art of the Joker. In April, Warner Home Video confirmed that "The Killing Joke" would be the first film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series and the first "Batman" film to receive an R rating from the MPAA, with Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series president Sam Register explaining, "From the start of production, we encouraged producer Bruce Timm and our team at Warner Bros. Animation to remain faithful to the original story—regardless of the eventual MPAA rating... We felt it was our responsibility to present our core audience—the comics-loving community—with an animated film that authentically represented the tale they know all too well."  In terms of animation production, the crew admitted that trying to adapt Bolland's art style was challenging due to the realistic quality; they then sought out another artist with a simpler yet very similar style that would be easier to animate, settling on Kevin Nowlan.  The animation was outsourced to The Answer Studio Co. LTD in Japan.

Release.

Warner Home Video hosted the world premiere of "The Killing Joke" during the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, 2016. The film was released digitally on July 26, 2016, while the deluxe edition and combo pack Blu-ray of the film was released on August 2, 2016. On June 8, 2016, Fathom Events and Vue cinemas announced they would release the film in select theaters for one night only on July 25, 2016 throughout the US and the UK. On July 18, 2016, Fathom Events announced that the film would receive an additional two showings on July 26 due to "unprecedented demand." It also received a limited release in Australia, New Zealand and Mexico on July 24, 2016.  "Batman: The Killing Joke" grossed $3.8 million in the United States and Canada and $586,038 in other countries, for a total gross of $4.4 million. In the US, the film grossed $3.2 million on the first night of the Fathom Events screenings and became the biggest theatrical event in Fathom's history. The film earned $2,910,693 from domestic DVD sales and $5,743,188 from domestic Blu-ray sales, bringing its total domestic home video earnings to $8,653,881.

Critical reception.

"Batman: The Killing Joke" received mixed reviews from critics. Criticism was aimed at the prologue regarding the changes to the relationship between Batman and Batgirl and the latter's portrayal as well as the adaptation of the source material, though the voice acting from Conroy and Hamill was praised. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 40% based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 5.66/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "This stilted retelling of the Joker's origin adds little to its iconic source material, further diminished by some questionable story additions that will have fans demanding justice for Barbara Gordon."  Ben Travers of IndieWire commented that "instead of humanizing her, [the prologue] turns Barbara/Batgirl into a comic book cliché: the female character that feigns complexity, but, when given an expanded role, is only viewed through a sexual lens." Tommy Cook of Collider wrote that the prologue "feels tonally jarring tacked on haphazardly to "The Killing Joke"."  Many critics and fans agreed the first half of the film felt unnecessary and disconnected to the second half. Jesse Schedeen of IGN wrote, "The creep factor comes from the fact that Batgirl has such a clearly subordinate relationship to Batman. He's the seasoned veteran and mentor. She's the newbie pupil... Worst of all, none of this opening act has any real bearing on the remainder of the film. Batgirl still comes across as a sacrificial lamb in the end. Her insipid romantic drama adds no weight to her eventual trauma."  In response to criticism of the prologue, Azzarello stated, "The thing about this is that it's controversial, so we added more controversy." Bruce Timm further added:  We were aware that it's a little risky. There's definitely some stuff in that first part of the movie that's going to be controversial. Here's where we came down on that specific issue: It was really important to us to show that both of the characters make some pretty big mistakes. I mean, his "parental skills" aren't that great. Maybe never having had any kids of his own, he doesn't realize that if you tell a kid to not do something, they're going to want to do it even more. And then she makes some mistakes and then he kind of overreacts to her mistakes and then she overreacts to his overreaction. So it's very human; it's a very understandable story. It's tricky because it's messy, because relationships are sometimes messy. But to me and to Alan and Brian, it was all very fascinating to us to explore that angle.  Some critics took issue with the fact that Barbara Gordon was raped during the torture she suffered at the Joker's hands. Jamie Righetti of Film School Rejects wrote, "[I]t's made even worse by a follow-up scene in which Batman is questioning a group of prostitutes about the whereabouts of The Joker. The girls tell Batman that The Joker normally comes to see them after he escapes custody and that he likes a good time... But then one of the girls says that The Joker hasn't come to see them this time and that maybe he's found a new girl instead. Let that sink in for a minute: Barbara is that new girl. Barbara, who has just been shot in the stomach and raped." It is not the first time that Brian Azzarello has depicted the Joker as a rapist.  Gavia Baker-Whitelaw of "The Daily Dot" wrote of the art and animation: "Each scene is recreated with painstaking accuracy, but DC's animation style does not measure up to the impact of Brian Bolland's 1980s noir aesthetic."  The film's voice acting and faithfulness to the source material in the second half were received more positively. Nick Bosworth of JoBlo.com wrote that "the best strength of this film however hands down in the voice talent behind it. Kevin Conroy is in top form returning as Bruce Wayne [...] and of course Mark Hamill as Joker."

Batman: The Killing Joke is a 2016 American adult animated superhero thriller film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Featuring the DC Comics character Batman, the film is the 26th film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series, based on the by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. The film is directed by Sam Liu, written by Brian Azzarello and stars the voices of Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Tara Strong, and Ray Wise. Like the novel, the film follows the Joker's undertaking to drive police commissioner James Gordon insane, and Batman's desperate attempts to stop him.


Plot.

Nan Cooley (Sylvia Sidney), the daughter of racketeer Pop Cooley (Guy Kibbee), is in love with The Kid (Gary Cooper), a shooting gallery showman. Cooley tries to urge him to join the gang, in order to earn enough money to support her in the lifestyle she is accustomed to, but The Kid refuses. Soon her father kills bootlegging chief Blackie (Stanley Fields), at the urging of Big Fella Maskal (Paul Lukas), because Blackie was against Maskal's involvement with Blackie's gun moll Aggie (Wynne Gibson).  After Pop shoots Blackie, he passes the gun to Nan, thus implicating her in the murder. She naïvely takes the rap, believing the mob will arrange for her acquittal, but is sent to prison. Pop Cooley tries to convince The Kid to join the gang to free Nan, and he does so out of love for her. However, her attitude had changed since she was railroaded to prison. When The Kid visits Nan in prison in a fur coat, she becomes terrified of his involvement with Pop's gang after witnessing a fellow inmate's mobster boyfriend being gunned down outside the prison gate. When Nan is released, having served her term, she wants nothing more to do with the mob. She tries to persuade The Kid to quit the gang, but he refuses. Things go downhill from there. She finds that her father is unrepentant and involved with a loose, gold-digging woman named Pansy (Betty Sinclair). Maskal soon takes a strong liking to Nan and throws her a homecoming party, forcing her to dance with him all evening. When The Kid finally asserts his claim over Nan, Maskal threatens him, then later sends his thugs to kill him, but The Kid successfully disarms them, then goes after Maskal.  Terrified her lover will be killed, Nan goes to Maskal to warn him and offers herself to him in exchange for The Kid's life. Aggie, now Maskal's mistress, shoots him with Nan's gun after he leaves her for Nan, and Nan is accused of murder. The Kid then names himself mob chief and escapes with Nan in a car with three of Maskal's men, but they aim to kill him. The Kid and Nan are then taken "for a ride" by rival thugs. They race a train and maintain high speeds. Nan pulls a gun on the men and disarms them. Dropping the thugs off with "no hard feelings", The Kid tells them he has quit the beer business, and he and Nan drive off.

Reception.

In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated this film for its Top 10 Gangster Films list.

City Streets is a 1931 American Pre-Code film noir directed by Rouben Mamoulian from a story by Dashiell Hammett and starring Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney and Paul Lukas.


Description.

The yellow-cheeked chipmunk is the largest species in the genus "Neotamias" and grows to a total length of including a tail of. It is a dark, tawny olive with five dark longitudinal stripes on the body, the central one along the spine being the most prominent, and three on the head, where the dark stripe running across the eye has pale stripes on either side. A pale patch of fur is found immediately behind the ear. The sides of the body are ochre which gradually fades to the paler underparts, where dark gray guard hairs are tipped with white. The bushy tail is dorsoventrally flattened, the upper surface being the same color as the body and the underside being reddish-brown to orange. The guard hairs on the tail are also tipped with white. It moults in the fall and the fur in the winter is duller colored, longer, and silkier.

Distribution and habitat.

The yellow-cheeked chipmunk is endemic to the coast region of northern California, where it is present in a strip of land nowhere wider than. The southern end of its range is a few kilometers north of Bodego Bay and Freestone in Sonoma County and the northern end is the Eel River in Humboldt County. It occurs at altitudes up to in the humid coastal strip of coniferous forest where an understory of shrubby growth occurs.

Behavior.

The yellow-cheeked chipmunk is secretive in its habits and rarely seen, but it can be heard emitting its characteristic shrill double-syllable "chuck-chuck" call which is relatively low-pitched compared to other chipmunk species. This is repeated at regular intervals and is most similar to the call of Townsend's chipmunk ("Neotamias townsendii"). Little is known of the reproductive habits of the yellow-cheeked chipmunk, but a female carrying four fetuses was caught in March and the testes of males are largest from March to June.  The yellow-cheeked chipmunk feeds on the seeds and fruits of a variety of plants. Grass seeds have been found in its cheek pouches, so it may store some food for later use. In the early part of the year, fungi are eaten and the acorns from oak trees and the seed capsules of stoneseed are eaten over a long period of the year. Insect wings have been found among the stomach contents, so some animal food may also be consumed.

Status.

Although the yellow-cheeked chipmunk has a limited range with a total area of occupancy of only, the population is steady and it faces no particular threats, so the International Union for Conservation of Nature assesses it as being of "least concern".

The yellow-cheeked chipmunk ("Neotamias ochrogenys"), also known as the redwood chipmunk, is a species of rodent in the squirrel family, Sciuridae. It is endemic to areas near the coast of northern California in the United States where it inhabits coastal coniferous forest.


Biography.

Fraser was the second son of William Fraser, of Glasgow, the founder of the Pumpherston Oil Company, and his wife Janet Loch. He joined his father's firm in 1909 and became a director in 1913 and joint managing director in 1915. He was awarded the MBE in 1918 for his work in increasing oil supply during the First World War. Fraser joined the board of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1923. He became deputy chairman (to John Cadman) in 1928, and played a great role in expanding the oil production in Iran, Iraq and Kuwait, becoming known as a leading expert on Middle East oil. In 1941 he succeeded Cadman as chairman, a post he retained until 1956 (the firm was renamed the British Petroleum Company in 1954). Fraser was also an adviser on oil affairs to the British government for many years, notably as petroleum adviser to the War Office and as chairman of the Oil Advisory Committee.

Honours.

Fraser was knighted in 1939 and in 1955 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Strathalmond, of Pumpherston in the County of Midlothian.

Marriage & Children.

Lord Strathalmond married Mary Roberton McLintock (born 11 April 1892, died 17 October 1963), daughter of Thomas McLintock, in 1913. They had one son and one daughter:  Lord Strathalmond died in April 1970, aged 81. He was succeeded in the barony by his only son, William.  He is buried at Putney Vale Cemetery in London.

William Fraser, 1st Baron Strathalmond, MBE (3 November 1888 – 1 April 1970), was a Scottish businessman and a leading expert on the oil industry. He served as chairman of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (known as BP from 1954) from 1941 to 1956.


South African cricket team in England in 2008

Test series.

1st Test.

The series between South Africa and England was a highly anticipated one. England had recently played for the best part of six months against the same opposition (New Zealand) winning the two test series 4–1 on aggregate. They were aware that South Africa would prove to be far superior opposition in the test arena. South Africa arrived in England off the back of a successful winter which had seen them win series in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and draw one in India. They had also beaten New Zealand and West Indies on their home soil comfortably.  England named an unchanged XI for the sixth test in a row, a record. Graeme Smith won the toss and chose to field first hoping his much publicised pace attack would make early inroads into the struggling England batting lineup, which had not passed 400 in their first innings for over a year. However, the South African bowlers were wayward on the first day of the match, and apart from a post-lunch burst where they captured three quick wickets, were unable to exert much authority.  Kevin Pietersen scored a century, a notable moment as it was the first time he had faced his country of birth in a Test match. On day 2, he would go on to score 152, and Ian Bell, who the South Africans has specifically targeted as a player under pressure, scored 199 before being dismissed by the only spinner in the South African squad, Paul Harris.  In amongst this, the openers had scored well for England and Stuart Broad, batting at no 8, scored a free flowing 76 as the South African bowling attack wilted. England eventually declared late on day two on 593/8, straight after Bell was out for 199. The day's play came to an end very early in South Africa's reply due to poor light.  On day 3, England's bowlers carried on from where the batsmen left off. Graeme Smith was caught off a rising Anderson delivery early in the day to get things going, and all the bowlers contributed from there. Neil McKenzie produced a gritty 40 before being bowled round his legs by Monty Panesar. AB de Villiers scored freely before being very well caught by James Anderson off the bowling of Monty Panesar, and Ashwell Prince compiled a determined century to give the South African innings some resemblance of respectability.  However, South Africa were bowled out for just 247, and Michael Vaughan quickly enforced the follow on late on day 3. The openers had to survive a tricky session which saw England open their attack with Monty Panesar and Kevin Pietersen due to the poor light conditions. In fact, Smith was almost dismissed by Pietersen twice during this spell, something he would have been very relieved to avoid, not just due to the match situation, but also as a result of the rivalry between the two players.  Day 4 saw a much more determined approach from the South Africans, aided by a very flat wicket offering little to the bowlers. Smith and McKenzie batted slowly and cautiously, particularly during the morning where the scoring rate was around 1 run per over. Slowly, but surely, they built a partnership and started to chip away at England's lead, whilst frustrating the bowlers in the process. Both men would record a century, and the only wicket to fall in the day was Smith who top edged a pull shot from the new ball off James Anderson's bowling shortly after reaching his 100.  South Africa's resistance continued into the final day, where Hashim Amla also compiled a century to keep England at bay. McKenzie was eventually dismissed after 9.5 hours at the crease, and the only real highlight for England was the cheap dismissal of Jacques Kallis to an excellent yorker from Ryan Sidebottom. The match was declared a draw shortly after tea, with South Africa's second innings score on 393/3. South Africa did declare this innings to call a halt to proceedings, with Michael Vaughan agreeing his side would not go out to chase the 47 run difference.  Essentially it was a match of two halves. England dominance for three days, exploiting helpful conditions and a poor South African bowling effort. South Africa responded excellently on the final two days, to ensure they only lost three wickets during two days of play. It was felt at the time that South Africa would have gained the most out of the drawn fixture.

2nd Test.

The second test of the series was played at Headingley. England omitted the struggling Paul Collingwood from the side, and replaced him with Andrew Flintoff, returning to play his first test since the final Ashes test at the SCG at the start of 2007. Ryan Sidebottom, suffering from injury, was replaced with debutant Darren Pattinson. This decision provoked considerable reaction as many felt there were other bowlers who were better placed to come into the side – Chris Tremlett, Matthew Hoggard and Stephen Harmison all sprung to mind. Pattinson, born in Grimsby and raised in Australia, had only bowled a handful of overs at first class level, and whilst he had shown promise, his elevation to the test arena was arguably too much too soon for him. A year previously, he was playing grade cricket in Australia alongside his regular job as a roof tiler. He had even shown uncertainly when asked about how keen he was to actually play for England. The decision to field him during a critical Test match prompted a variety of reaction and viewpoints from commentators, players and press experts.  South Africa named an unchanged side, boosted by the confidence of the draw at Lords and content that their bowlers could deliver as anticipated second time around. Graeme Smith enforced this belief by opting to field, and was rewarded as Morné Morkel and Dale Steyn in particular got stuck into England's batsmen. England were dismissed for 203 on day 1. Kevin Pietersen top scored with 45, and Ian Bell scored 31, but this was the best of a bad bunch. Andrew Flintoff scored 17 and looked to have some confidence with the bat, having had very little success in his recent county appearances. But overall, it was a disappointing effort from England, but they did respond with 3 wickets before the close of play to leave South Africa on 101/3.  South Africa used day 2 to ensure England had no chance in the match. Although Hashim Amla was dismissed by Pattinson for his maiden test wicket during the morning session, Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers formed a strong partnership which would frustrate England for the rest of the day. Their batting was cautious, but not defensive, and they both gradually ground out large scores knowing that they were taking the match out of England's reach. By the end of day 2, South Africa's score was 322/4, a lead of 119.  Ashwell Prince registered his century on day 2, and would go on to score 149. AB de Villiers passed the 3 figure mark on day 3, and went on to make a magnificent 174, and it required a brilliant catch by Andrew Flintoff at slip to eventually dismiss him. England's bowling attack looked innocuous, and lacking any firepower at all. Even Andrew Flintoff struggled to make a significant impact, as South Africa were eventually dismissed for 522 – a massive lead of 319.  England's second innings batting effort was an improvement on the first, but still left people with more questions than answers. Andrew Strauss was out for 0, Michael Vaughan looked brilliant for 21 runs but then edged Makhaya Ntini through to Mark Boucher. Alastair Cook scored a decent score of 60, but not enough to get England out of trouble. Kevin Pietersen came in for the most criticism, scoring 13 runs off 4 balls before edging through to the keeper off the bowling of Jacques Kallis.  In contrast, the non specialist batsmen showed the sort of application that was required in the situation. James Anderson, batting as nightwatchman, kept Alastair Cook company for almost the entire morning session of day 4, compiling his highest score of 34. He faced some extremely hostile bowling during this, and was hit on the helmet by Dale Steyn. Later on, Andrew Flintoff and Tim Ambrose formed a partnership that looked promising, but both fell in the 30s. Stuart Broad, batting at no 8 and with just the tail to support him, made another highly impressive innings of 67 (not out) which included some magnificent cover drives and pull shots. Broad had arguably contributed more with the bat than the ball in the series so far, and even prompted Geoffrey Boycott to compare some of his strokeplay with that of Sir Garfield Sobers.  However, the overall picture was that England succeeded in making South Africa bat again, but with a target of just 9 runs. South Africa therefore won the test by 10 wickets and took a 1–0 lead in the series.

The South African cricket team toured England between 29 June and 4 September 2008. They played four Test matches, one Twenty20 International and five One Day Internationals against England. They also played six tour matches against Somerset, Middlesex, Bangladesh A, a PCA Masters XI and two against the England Lions.


Biography.

Mirsky was born in Russia on 19 December 1918 to a medical family, but his parents sent him to live with his aunt and uncle, a wool merchant in Germany, when he was eight. His uncle's family moved to Bradford, England in 1933, bringing Mirsky with them. He studied at Herne Bay High School and King's College, London, graduating in 1940. Because of the evacuation of London during the Blitz, students at King's College were moved to Bristol University, where Mirsky earned a master's degree. He took a short-term faculty position at Sheffield University in 1942, and then a similar position in Manchester; he returned to Sheffield in 1945, where (except for a term as visiting faculty at Bristol) he would stay for the rest of his career. He became a lecturer in 1947, earned a Ph.D. from Sheffield in 1949, became senior lecturer in 1958, reader in 1961, and was given a personal chair in 1971. He retired in September 1983, and died on 1 December 1983.  Mirsky was an editor of the "Journal of Linear Algebra and its Applications", the "Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications", and "Mathematical Spectrum".

Research.

Number theory.

Mirsky's early research concerned number theory. He was particularly interested in the "r"-free numbers, a generalization of the square-free integers consisting of the numbers not divisible by any "r"th power. These numbers are a superset of the prime numbers, and Mirsky proved theorems for them analogous to Vinogradov's theorem, Goldbach's conjecture, and the twin prime conjecture for prime numbers.  With Paul Erdős in 1952, Mirsky proved strong asymptotic bounds on the number of distinct values taken by the divisor function "d"("n") counting the number of divisors of the number "n". If "D"("n") denotes the number of distinct values of "d"("m") for "m" ≤ "n", then  The Mirsky–Newman theorem concerns partitions of the integers into arithmetic progressions, and states that any such partition must have two progressions with the same difference. That is, there cannot be a covering system that covers every integer exactly once and has distinct differences. This result is a special case of the Herzog–Schönheim conjecture in group theory; it was conjectured in 1950 by Paul Erdős and proved soon thereafter by Mirsky and Donald J. Newman. However, Mirsky and Newman never published their proof. The same proof was also found independently by Harold Davenport and Richard Rado.

Linear algebra.

In 1947, Mirsky was asked to teach a course in linear algebra. He soon after wrote a textbook on the subject, "An introduction to linear algebra" (Oxford University Press, 1955), as well as writing a number of research papers on the subject.  In his research, Mirsky provided necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of matrices of various types (real symmetric matrices, orthogonal matrices, Hermitian matrices, etc.) with specified diagonal elements and specified eigenvalues.  He obtained a tightening of the Birkhoff–von Neumann theorem with H. K. Farahat stating that every doubly stochastic matrix can be obtained as a convex combination of permutation matrices. In Mirsky's version of this theorem, he showed that at most formula_2 permutation matrices are needed to represent every formula_3 doubly stochastic matrix, and that some doubly stochastic matrices need this many permutation matrices. In modern polyhedral combinatorics, this result can be seen as a special case of Carathéodory's theorem applied to the Birkhoff polytope. He also worked with Hazel Perfect on the spectra of doubly stochastic matrices.

Combinatorics.

In the mid 1960s, Mirsky's research focus shifted again, to combinatorics, after using Hall's marriage theorem in connection with his work on doubly stochastic matrices. In this area, he wrote the textbook "Transversal Theory" (Academic Press, 1971), at the same time editing a festschrift for Richard Rado. He derived conditions for pairs of set families to have simultaneous transversals, closely related to later work on network flow problems. He also was one of the first to recognize the importance of transversal matroids, and he showed that transversal matroids can be represented using linear algebra over transcendental extensions of the rational numbers.  Mirsky's theorem, a dual version of Dilworth's theorem published by Mirsky in 1971, states that in any finite partially ordered set the size of the longest chain equals the smallest number of antichains into which the set may be partitioned. Although much easier to prove than Dilworth's theorem, it has many of the same consequences.

Leonid Mirsky (19 December 1918 Russia – 1 December 1983 Sheffield, England) was a Russian-British mathematician who worked in number theory, linear algebra, and combinatorics. Mirsky's theorem is named after him.


Geography.

Vilasantar is located in the south of the comarca of Betanzos. It is bordered to the north by the municipalities of Curtis and Oza-Cesuras; to the west by Mesía, to the east with Sobrado and to the south with Boimorto. Its surface is 59.2 km2.  It is situated in an area of medium altitude, with most of the municipality being between 400 and 500 meters above sea level. The Tambre river (which delimits the southern border with Boimorto), and its tributaries, including the Cabalar river and the Río das Gándaras river, are of great importance.

History.

Megaliths are preserved, such as the mámoas de Vilariño, the mámoa de Pedriño or the medorra de Fanegas, in the parish of San Vicenzo de Curtis. Castros such as those in Vilariño or As Corredoiras are preserved from the Castro culture.  Of the romanization there are remains of the Roman camp of Ciadella, the bigger of those discovered in Galicia, between the municipalities of Sobrado and Vilasantar.  In the Middle Ages, these lands belonged to the county of Présaras, which had its origin in the Roman praessurae, desert lands offered to settlers to be populated and cultivated. The area was strongly linked to the Sobrado Abbey and Monastery of Santa María de Mezonzo. This last one may have its origin in the Suevian era, because the church retains two capitals of the sixth or seventh centuries and appears in Latin documents as monastery of Mosontio. In the middle of the tenth century, Pedro de Mezonzo, who became the abbot of the convent and bishop of Compostela, joined him.  In the Modern Age there were numerous hidalgos in the municipality, as evidenced by several manor houses. Vilasantar was established as municipality in 1834. Its population grew until 1950, when it began to fall due to emigration.  It was an area of great activity during the Civil War and the postwar period. In 1938, the mayor of Vilasantar and neighbor of Présaras, Antonio Iglesias Corral, was executated in Miraz, Friol. In the years following the war, the Guerrilla Army of Galicia took some actions in the municipality, as well as the mythical Foucellas, who acted in the area and lived a time hidden in the house of his cousin in Ru, Vilasantar. In the parish of Mezonzo was born other guerrilla, Manolito Bello.

Economy.

The primary sector and the tertiary one have a predominant weight in the area, and in the secondary sector the manufacture of wooden board stands out, due to the presence of the Losán Group in the municipality.  During the first half of the 20th century, the textile industry was very important because of the La Arzuana factory in Présaras, founded by Luís Miranda and José Núñez de la Barca, and in which hundreds of people worked, most of them women.

Demography.

According to the National Institute of Statistics, the population of Vilasantar in 2017 was 1,241 inhabitants.  Evolution of the population in the last century:

Parishes.

The municipality is formed by the following seven parishes:

Vilasantar is a municipality of northwestern Spain in the province of A Coruña in the autonomous community of Galicia. It belongs to the comarca of Betanzos.


Plot.

During World War II, a three-year-old boy is found wandering alone in Germany. No family can be traced, and it is presumed that his parents and siblings have been casualties of war. The child is placed in an orphanage, from where he is subsequently adopted by a childless couple, whom he grows to love and accept as his parents. When the boy is 10 years old, his natural mother is found alive in Yugoslavia where she has survived the war as a refugee. She returns to Germany to claim her child, having lost her husband and two other children in the war. The film focuses on the moral dilemma of the situation: should the child remain with the adoptive parents who have given him a loving and happy home, or be returned to his natural mother who has lost everything else, and to what extent should the child's own wishes be taken into account? The case is finally referred to a three-man court, who will decide the child's future. As in the true story on which the film is based, he is returned to his biological mother.

Reception and awards.

"The Divided Heart" was a popular and critical success, being highly praised for its sensitivity, emotional impact and the even-handedness with which it dealt with its subject matter. While noting that the film's ending reportedly left many viewers feeling disappointed and let down, critics conceded that it would have been impossible for a storyline of this nature to reach a conclusion which pleased everyone. In a contemporary review in the "New York Times", noted critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "This is a bleak, heart-rending problem, as it is finely presented in this film with exceptionally sensitive understanding and scrupulous integrity. And the fact that it cannot be unraveled to the satisfaction of all...is simply an indication that a happy solution is beyond the power of a man as wise as Solomon—or even the author of the script—to hit upon."  "The Divided Heart" was nominated in six categories at the 1955 British Academy Film Awards and won three, with Mitchell being named "Best British Actress" and Borchers picking up the "Best Foreign Actress" award. Separate awards for British and foreign actresses were given between 1952 and 1967 (after which they were combined into one "Best Actress" award), and this was the only year in which both awards were won by actresses from the same film. The film also won the "UN Award". It also received nominations in the "Best Film" and "Best British Film" categories, and Whittingham was nominated for "Best British Screenplay". In the U.S., "The Divided Heart" was named among the top 5 foreign films at the 1955 National Board of Review Awards.

The Divided Heart is a black-and-white British film directed by Charles Crichton and released in 1954. The film is a drama, based on a true story of a child, whose father was a member of Slovenian Partisans executed by Nazis and whose mother was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, while little Ivan was, like other 300 babies and young children from Slovenia, whose parents were declared Banditen by Nazis, sent to Germany in a Nazi program known as Lebensborn.


History.

John J. Coit, an experienced locomotive driver, built the track of miniature railway together with his friends at cost of $1,200. He had previously worked as a master machinist at the Johnson Machine Works. Due to being physically handicapped he focused on a very user friendly design of his locomotives.  In the night from 21 to 22 August 1903 the whole roadbed, rails and ties of the Long Beach and Asbury Park Railway were washed away by the highest tide, which had been recorded until then. With the experience gained, John Coit did not rebuild the track at this location, but built the Eastlake Park Scenic Railway (opened on 19 May 1904) and the Venice Miniature Railway (opened on 4 July 1905) with the slightly larger gauge of.

Locomotive.

The 4-6-0 ten-wheeler steam locomotive of this railway was constructed by H. M. Leach of the Central Iron Works under Coit's supervision. It required four months for the five men who worked on it to complete the locomotive. The combined length of the locomotive and the tender was. The height was from the top of the rail to the top of the stack.  The weight of the locomotive was spread over six driving wheels with a diameter of and four smaller leading wheels in a bogie. The Vanderbilt type boiler had a maximum pressure of. It had 73 pieces of diameter flues, which were long. The complete train was equipped with a Westinghouse straight air brake.

The Long Beach and Asbury Park Railway was a profitable but short-lived miniature railway with the unusual gauge of, which operated from 1902 until 21 August 1903 at Long Beach in California.