History.

The city's current location dates from the late mediaeval period, but is preceded by the early mediaeval township on Veøya, an island to the south of present-day Molde. The settlement at Veøya probably dates from the Migration Period, but is first mentioned in the sagas by Snorri Sturluson as the location of the "Battle of Sekken" in 1162, where king Håkon the Broad-shouldered was killed fighting the aristocrat Erling Skakke, during the Norwegian civil wars. However, settlement in the area can be traced much further back in time—evidence given by two rock slabs carved with petroglyphs found at Bjørset, west of the city centre.  At the eve of the 15th century, the influence of Veøya waned, and the island was eventually deserted. However, commercial life in the region was not dead, and originating from the two settlements at Reknes and Molde (later "Moldegård"), a minor port called "Molde Fjære" ("Molde Landing") emerged, based on trade with timber and herring to foreign merchants. The town gained formal trading rights in 1614 as a ladested under the supervision of the city of Trondheim. During the Swedish occupation of Middle Norway, 1658–1660, after Denmark-Norway's devastating defeat in the Northern Wars, the town became a hub of resistance to the Swedes. After the rebellion and liberation in 1660, Molde became the administrative centre of Romsdalen Amt and was incorporated as a kjøpstad through a royal charter in 1742. Molde continued to grow throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, becoming a centre for Norwegian textile and garment industry. Tourism later became a major industry, and Molde saw notabilities such as the German emperor Wilhelm II of Germany and the Prince of Wales as regular summer visitors. Molde consisted of luxurious hotels surrounding an idyllic township with quaint, wooden houses, lush gardens and parks, esplanades and pavilions, earning it the nickname "the Town of Roses". This was interrupted when one third of the city was destroyed in a fire on 21 January 1916. However, Molde recovered and continued to grow in the economically difficult interbellum period.  A second fire, or series of fires, struck from the German air-raids in April and May 1940, which destroyed about two thirds of the town. Molde was in effect the capital of Norway for a week after King Haakon, Crown Prince Olav, and members of the government and parliament arrived at Molde on April 23, after a dramatic flight from Oslo. They were put up at Glomstua, then at the western outskirts of the town, and experienced the bombing raids personally. The Norwegian gold reserve was also conveyed to Molde, and was hidden in a clothing factory.  However, German intelligence was well aware of this, and on April 25 the Luftwaffe initiated a series of air-raids. For a week the air-raid siren on the chimney of the dairy building announced the repeated attacks. April 29 turned out to be the worst day in the history of Molde, as the city was transformed into a sea of flames by incendiary bombs. Until then the church had escaped undamaged, but in the final sortie a firebomb became stuck high up in the tower, and the beautiful wooden church was obliterated by fire.  After World War II, Molde experienced tremendous growth. As the modernisation of the Norwegian society accelerated in the post-reconstruction years, Molde became a centre for not only administrative and public services, but also academic resources and industrial output. After the consolidation of the town itself and its adjacent communities in 1964, Molde became a modern city, encompassing most branches of employment, from farming and fisheries, to industrial production, banking, higher education, tourism, commerce, health care, and civil administration.

Municipality.

The town of Molde was established as an urban municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). It was surrounded by the rural municipality of Bolsøy. On 1 July 1915, a part of Bolsøy (population: 183) was transferred to the city of Molde. On 1 January 1952, another part of Bolsøy (population: 1,913) was transferred to Molde.  During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the town of Molde (population: 8,289) merged with the Sekken, Veøya, and Nesjestranda parts of municipality of Veøy (population: 756), all of the municipality of Bolsøy (population: 7,996), and the Mordal area of Nord-Aukra municipality (population: 77) to form the present day municipality of Molde.  On 1 January 2020, the neighbouring municipalities of Midsund and Nesset merged with Molde to form a much larger municipality called Molde.

Name.

The city is named after the original settlement on the farmstead of Molde (). The name is the plural form of either "mold" which means "fertile soil" or "" which means "skull" or "mold" (thus in reference to the rounded peaks in Moldemarka).  Pronunciation varies between the standard "Molde" and the rural "Molle". A person from Molde will refer to him/herself as a "Moldenser".

Coat of arms.

The coat of arms was granted on 29 June 1742. It shows a whale chasing herring into a barrel, based on an old myth that cetaceans guided by the Providence chased, rather than followed, the schools into the fjords at certain times. It also portrays the city's founding industries of herring fisheries and timber exports. Molde was never a whaling port, but the unusually bountiful fisheries in the early 1740s alleviated the city's suffering during a major famine. The sighting of whales, usually pods of orca, was commonly held to be the start of the spring herring fisheries.  Moldesangen ("The Song of Molde") is the semi-official anthem. It was written by Palle Godtfred Olaus Dørum (1818–1886) and composed by Karl Groos (1789–1861), supposedly in 1818.(Moldesangen)

Geography.

Molde municipality includes part of the Romsdal peninsula as well as many islands. The town of Molde consists of a long and wide strip of urban land running east–west along the north shore of the Moldefjord, an arm of the Romsdalsfjord, on the Romsdal peninsula. The city is sheltered by Bolsøya and the Molde archipelago, a chain of low-lying islands and islets, to the south, and the wood-clad hills of Moldemarka to the north. The city centre is located just west of the river Moldeelva, which runs into the city from the north, originating in the Moldevatnet lake, through the valley Moldedalen. Despite the river being minor and seasonal, it supported several sawmills in the 16th and 17th centuries. This gave rise to the original town itself through a combination of a good harbour, proximity to the sea routes, vast timber resources, and a river capable of supporting mills. In 1909, the river housed the first hydro electric power plant capable of providing sufficient electricity for the city, and the upper reaches of the river still provide drinking water for most of the city.  Its panoramic view of some 222 partly snow-clad peaks, usually referred to as the Molde panorama, is one of Molde's main attractions, and has drawn tourists to the city since the 19th century. Molde is nicknamed the "Town of Roses", a name which originated during Molde's era as a tourist destination of international fame in the late 19th century.  Neighbouring municipalities are Aukra, Gjemnes, and Hustadvika (to the north); Ålesund (to the west); Vestnes and Rauma (to the south); and Tingvoll and Sunndal (to the east).

Points of interest.

Salmon, sea trout and sea char are found in the rivers throughout the area, especially the Rauma, Driva, and Eira, already legendary among the British gentry in the mid-19th century. Trout is abundant in most lakes. Cod, pollock, saithe, mackerel and other species of saltwater fish are commonly caught in the Romsdalsfjord, both from land and from boat. Skiing is a popular activity among the inhabitants of Molde in the winter, on groomed tracks, in resorts or by own trail. There are several popular rock climbing, ice climbing, bouldering, glacier and basejumping areas in the immediate vicinity of Molde.  The "Atlantic road" was voted the Norwegian Construction of the Century in 2005. It is built on bridges and landfills across small islands and skerries, and spans from the small communities of Vikan and Vevang to Averøy, an island with several historic landmarks, such as the Bremsnes cave with Mesolithic findings from the Fosna culture, the mediaeval Kvernes stave church, and Langøysund, now a remote fishing community, but once a bustling port along the main coastal route. Langøysund was the site of the compromise between King Magnus I and the farmers along the coast in 1040. The compromise is regarded as Norway's Magna Carta, and is commemorated though the "Pilespisser" () monument.  "Trollkirka" (English: lit. "Troll Church") is a marble grotto leading up to an underground waterfall. The grotto is situated 30 minutes outside Molde, followed by a 1-hour hike up a steep trail. "Trollveggen" is Europe's tallest vertical, overhanging mountain face, with several very difficult climbing routes. "Trollstigen" is the most visited tourist road in Norway. The road twists and turns its way up an almost vertical mountainside through 11 hairpin bends to an altitude of. "Mardalsfossen" is the highest waterfall in Northern Europe and the fourth highest waterfall in the world, cascading 297 metres down into the valley. The total height of the waterfall is.  Bud is a fishing village on the very tip of the Romsdal peninsula. It gained importance during the Middle Ages as a trading post, and hosted the last free Privy Council of Norway in 1533, a desperate attempt to save the country's independence and stave off the Protestant Reformation, led by Olav Engelbrektsson, archbishop of Nidaros (today "Trondheim"). The massive Ergan coastal defences, a restored German coastal fort from World War II, and a part of the Atlantic Wall, is situated in Bud. The fishing communities of Ona, Bjørnsund and Håholmen are located on remote islands off the coast, only accessible by boat or ferry.

Moldemarka.

Moldemarka, the hilly woodland area north of the city, is public land. The area has an extensive network of paths, walking trails and skiing tracks. Forest roads enter the area from several directions. Bulletin boards and maps provide information regarding local plants and wildlife, as well as signposts along the trails. Marked trails lead to a number of peaks, sites and fishing lakes and rivers. A national fishing licence is required to fish in the lakes and streams.  Varden, above sea level is a viewpoint directly above Molde, with a good view of the city, the fjord with the Molde archipelago and the Molde panorama.

Climate.

Molde has a maritime, temperate climate, with cool-to-warm summers, and relatively mild winters. The annual precipitation is medium high, with an average of per year. The warmest season is late summer. Molde holds the national high for the month of October, with (on 11 October 2005). The driest season is May–June. Due to its geographic location, Molde experiences frequent snowfalls in winter, but this snow is usually wet as the winters tend to be mild. Due to the effects of the Gulf Stream, the city rarely experiences lasting cold spells, and the average temperature is well above the average for its latitude.  A natural phenomenon occurring in Molde and the adjacent district, are frequent winter days with temperatures above, sometimes even above. This is due to the foehn wind from south and south-east. Combined with a steady influx of warm, moist south-westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean, warmed by the North Atlantic Current, it gives Molde a climate much warmer than its latitude would indicate. The sheltered location of the city, facing south with hills to the north, mountains to the east and mountainous islands to the west, contributes to Molde's climate and unusually rich plant life, especially among species naturally growing on far lower latitudes, like maple, chestnut, oak, tilia ("lime" or "linden"), beech, yew, and others.

Government.

All municipalities in Norway, including Molde, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor. The municipality falls under the Romsdal District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council.

The municipal council () of Molde is made up of 59 representatives who are elected to four-year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayor.

The mayors of Molde (incomplete list):

Culture.

Three of the "four great" Norwegian authors are connected to Molde. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson spent his childhood years at Nesset outside Molde, and attended school in the city. Henrik Ibsen frequently spent his vacations at the mansion "Moldegård" visiting the family Møller; and Alexander Kielland resided in the city as the governor of Romsdals amt. Ibsen's play "Rosmersholm" is generally thought to be inspired by life at the mansion Moldegård, and "The Lady from the Sea" is also believed to be set in the city of Molde, although never actually mentioned. Other authors from or with ties to Molde include Edvard Hoem, Jo Nesbø, Knut Ødegård, and Nini Roll Anker, a friend of Sigrid Undset.  The Romsdal Museum, one of Norway's largest folk museums, was established in 1912. Buildings originating from all over the region have been moved here to form a typical cluster of farm buildings including "open hearth" houses, sheds, outhouses, smokehouses and a small chapel. The "town street" with Mali's Café shows typical Molde town houses from the pre-World War I period. The Museum of the Fisheries is an open-air museum located on the island of Hjertøya, 10 minutes from the centre of Molde. A small fishing village with authentic buildings, boats and fishing equipment, the museum shows local coastal culture from 1850 onwards.  The local newspaper is Romsdals Budstikke.

Churches.

The Church of Norway has ten parishes () within the municipality of Molde. It is part of the Molde domprosti (arch-deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.

Festivals.

The Moldejazz jazz festival is held in Molde every July. Moldejazz is one of the largest and oldest jazz festivals in Europe, and one of the most important. An estimated 40,000 tickets are sold for the more than a hundred events during the festival. Between 80,000 and 100,000 visitors visit the city during the one-week-long festival.  Every August, Molde and Nesset are hosts to the Bjørnson Festival, an international literature festival. Established by the poet Knut Ødegård in connection with the 250-year anniversary of Molde, the festival is named in honour of the Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910). It is the oldest and the most internationally acclaimed literature festival in Norway.  In addition to the two major events, a number of minor festivals are held annually. Byfest, the city's celebration of incorporation, is an arrangement by local artists, coinciding with the anniversary of the royal charter of 29 June 1742.

Education.

Molde University College offers a wide range of academic opportunities, from nursing and health-related studies, to economics and administrative courses. The school is Norway's leading college in logistics, and well established as a centre for research and academic programmes in information technology, with degrees up to and including PhD.  Molde University College is also one of the country's leading institutions in international student exchange and programmes conducted in English.

Transportation.

Hurtigruta calls on Molde every day, on its journey between Bergen and Kirkenes. The nearest railway station is Åndalsnes, the terminus for the Rauma Line.  The local airport is Molde Airport which has several daily flights to Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim, as well as weekly flights to other domestic and international destinations.  The European route E39 and Norwegian County Road 64 both pass through the municipality. The city of Molde is connected to Fræna Municipality (to the north) by the Tussen Tunnel. The city is connected to the Røvika and Nesjestranda part of the municipality by the Fannefjord Tunnel and Bolsøy Bridge, significantly shortening the drive by avoiding driving all the way around the Fannefjorden. The proposed Langfjord Tunnel would connect Molde Municipality to Rauma Municipality via a tunnel under the Langfjorden.

Sports.

Molde hosts a variety of sports teams, most notably the football team, Molde FK, which plays in the Eliteserien, the top division in the Norwegian football league system. Their home matches are played at Aker stadion, inaugurated in 1998, which holds a record attendance of 13,308. The team is four-time league champions (2011, 2012, 2014 and 2019), four-time Norwegian Cup winners (1994, 2005, 2013 and 2014), and has made numerous appearances in European tournaments, including the UEFA Champions League. The club was founded in 1911, during Molde's period of great British and Continental influx, and was first named "International", since it predominantly played teams made up from crews of foreign vessels visiting the city.  In addition to a number of international players, the city has also produced several ski jumpers, cross-country skiers and alpine skiers of international merit.  Other sports include the accomplished team handball clubs (Molde HK, SK Træff, SK Rival), athletics teams (IL Molde-Olymp), skiing clubs, basketball and volleyball teams.

International relations.

Twin towns — sister cities.

Molde has three sister cities. They are:

Molde () is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. The municipality is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord.

Molde je správní město norského kraje Møre og Romsdal. Molde má 362 km2 a 24 249 obyvatel (říjen 2006). Město leží na severním břehu Romsdalsfjordu na Romsdalském poloostrově.


Volby do Evropského parlamentu v Irsku 2009

National and regional summaries.

The governing Fianna Fáil party lost one MEP and a significant share of the vote, in line with the day's other election results. Fine Gael increased its national vote share but lost a seat. The Labour Party, which increased its delegation from one MEP to three, was the only major party to make seat gains. Sinn Féin lost its only MEP in the Republic of Ireland, and the Socialist Party won a seat for the first time. One independent MEP lost her seat. The Green Party's vote was halved, and the pan-European Libertas party, based in Ireland, also failed to make a breakthrough.  In Dublin, Gay Mitchell of Fine Gael and Proinsias De Rossa of Labour were re-elected, while Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party defeated the incumbent Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin MEPs to take the third seat. In the East constituency, Mairead McGuinness of Fine Gael and Liam Aylward of Fianna Fáil were re-elected. Nessa Childers of Labour took the vacant final seat. North-West re-elected independent ALDE MEP Marian Harkin and Jim Higgins of Fine Gael, while the Fianna Fáil seat was retained by former MEP Pat "the Cope" Gallagher. In South, Brian Crowley of Fianna Fáil was re-elected, Seán Kelly won a seat from his Fine Gael colleague Colm Burke, and Labour's Alan Kelly took the last seat in a tight contest between him, Sinn Féin's Toiréasa Ferris and the incumbent Independent Kathy Sinnott in the final count.

Constituency changes.

In accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Nice, the number of MEPs from Ireland in the European Parliament was reduced from 13 to 12 for this election. The Dublin constituency was reduced from 4 seats to 3, and the counties of Longford and Westmeath were transferred from the East constituency to the North-West constituency. The election was conducted under the single transferable vote in Ireland; the only other constituencies to elect their MEPs under STV are Malta and Northern Ireland, with the rest of Europe using variants of the list system.

The 2009 European Parliament election in Ireland was the Irish component of the 2009 European Parliament election and was held on Friday, 5 June 2009, coinciding with the 2009 local elections. Two by-elections (Dublin South and Dublin Central) were also held on the same day.

Volby do Evropského parlamentu v Irsku proběhly v pátek 5. června 2009 souběžně s volbami do místních zastupitelstev. Počet mandátů v Evropském parlamentu přidělený Irům se oproti roku 2004 zmenšil ze 13 na 12 mandátů.


Development.

The "Book of the Dead" developed from a tradition of funerary manuscripts dating back to the Egyptian Old Kingdom. The first funerary texts were the "Pyramid Texts", first used in the Pyramid of King Unas of the 5th Dynasty, around 2400 BCE. These texts were written on the walls of the burial chambers within pyramids, and were exclusively for the use of the pharaoh (and, from the 6th Dynasty, the queen). The "Pyramid Texts" were written in an unusual hieroglyphic style; many of the hieroglyphs representing humans or animals were left incomplete or drawn mutilated, most likely to prevent them causing any harm to the dead pharaoh. The purpose of the "Pyramid Texts" was to help the dead king take his place amongst the gods, in particular to reunite him with his divine father Ra; at this period the afterlife was seen as being in the sky, rather than the underworld described in the "Book of the Dead". Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, the "Pyramid Texts" ceased to be an exclusively royal privilege, and were adopted by regional governors and other high-ranking officials.  In the Middle Kingdom, a new funerary text emerged, the "Coffin Texts". The "Coffin Texts" used a newer version of the language, new spells, and included illustrations for the first time. The "Coffin Texts" were most commonly written on the inner surfaces of coffins, though they are occasionally found on tomb walls or on papyri. The "Coffin Texts" were available to wealthy private individuals, vastly increasing the number of people who could expect to participate in the afterlife; a process which has been described as the "democratization of the afterlife".  The "Book of the Dead" first developed in Thebes toward the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period, around 1700 BCE. The earliest known occurrence of the spells included in the "Book of the Dead" is from the coffin of Queen Mentuhotep, of the 13th Dynasty, where the new spells were included amongst older texts known from the "Pyramid Texts" and "Coffin Texts". Some of the spells introduced at this time claim an older provenance; for instance the rubric to spell 30B states that it was discovered by the Prince Hordjedef in the reign of King Menkaure, many hundreds of years before it is attested in the archaeological record.  By the 17th Dynasty, the "Book of the Dead" had become widespread not only for members of the royal family, but courtiers and other officials as well. At this stage, the spells were typically inscribed on linen shrouds wrapped around the dead, though occasionally they are found written on coffins or on papyrus.  The New Kingdom saw the "Book of the Dead" develop and spread further. The famous Spell 125, the 'Weighing of the Heart', is first known from the reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, c.1475 BCE. From this period onward the "Book of the Dead" was typically written on a papyrus scroll, and the text illustrated with vignettes. During the 19th Dynasty in particular, the vignettes tended to be lavish, sometimes at the expense of the surrounding text.  In the Third Intermediate Period, the "Book of the Dead" started to appear in hieratic script, as well as in the traditional hieroglyphics. The hieratic scrolls were a cheaper version, lacking illustration apart from a single vignette at the beginning, and were produced on smaller papyri. At the same time, many burials used additional funerary texts, for instance the "Amduat".  During the 25th and 26th Dynasties, the "Book of the Dead" was updated, revised and standardised. Spells were ordered and numbered consistently for the first time. This standardised version is known today as the 'Saite recension', after the Saite (26th) Dynasty. In the Late period and Ptolemaic period, the "Book of the Dead" continued to be based on the Saite recension, though increasingly abbreviated towards the end of the Ptolemaic period. New funerary texts appeared, including the "Book of Breathing" and "Book of Traversing Eternity". The last use of the "Book of the Dead" was in the 1st century BCE, though some artistic motifs drawn from it were still in use in Roman times.

Spells.

The "Book of the Dead" is made up of a number of individual texts and their accompanying illustrations. Most sub-texts begin with the word "ro," which can mean "mouth," "speech," "spell," "utterance," "incantation," or "a chapter of a book." This ambiguity reflects the similarity in Egyptian thought between ritual speech and magical power. In the context of the "Book of the Dead," it is typically translated as either "chapter" or "spell". In this article, the word "spell" is used.  At present, some 192 spells are known, though no single manuscript contains them all. They served a range of purposes. Some are intended to give the deceased mystical knowledge in the afterlife, or perhaps to identify them with the gods: for instance, Spell 17 is an obscure and lengthy description of the god Atum. Others are incantations to ensure the different elements of the dead person's being were preserved and reunited, and to give the deceased control over the world around him. Still others protect the deceased from various hostile forces or guide him through the underworld past various obstacles. Famously, two spells also deal with the judgement of the deceased in the Weighing of the Heart ritual.  Such spells as 26–30, and sometimes spells 6 and 126, relate to the heart and were inscribed on scarabs.  The texts and images of the "Book of the Dead" were magical as well as religious. Magic was as legitimate an activity as praying to the gods, even when the magic was aimed at controlling the gods themselves. Indeed, there was little distinction for the Ancient Egyptians between magical and religious practice. The concept of magic ("heka") was also intimately linked with the spoken and written word. The act of speaking a ritual formula was an act of creation; there is a sense in which action and speech were one and the same thing. The magical power of words extended to the written word. Hieroglyphic script was held to have been invented by the god Thoth, and the hieroglyphs themselves were powerful. Written words conveyed the full force of a spell. This was even true when the text was abbreviated or omitted, as often occurred in later "Book of the Dead" scrolls, particularly if the accompanying images were present. The Egyptians also believed that knowing the name of something gave power over it; thus, the "Book of the Dead" equips its owner with the mystical names of many of the entities he would encounter in the afterlife, giving him power over them.  The spells of the "Book of the Dead" made use of several magical techniques which can also be seen in other areas of Egyptian life. A number of spells are for magical amulets, which would protect the deceased from harm. In addition to being represented on a "Book of the Dead" papyrus, these spells appeared on amulets wound into the wrappings of a mummy. Everyday magic made use of amulets in huge numbers. Other items in direct contact with the body in the tomb, such as headrests, were also considered to have amuletic value. A number of spells also refer to Egyptian beliefs about the magical healing power of saliva.

Organization.

Almost every "Book of the Dead" was unique, containing a different mixture of spells drawn from the corpus of texts available. For most of the history of the "Book of the Dead" there was no defined order or structure. In fact, until Paul Barguet's 1967 "pioneering study" of common themes between texts, Egyptologists concluded there was no internal structure at all. It is only from the Saite period (26th Dynasty) onwards that there is a defined order.  The Books of the Dead from the Saite period tend to organize the Chapters into four sections:

Egyptian concepts of death and afterlife.

The spells in the "Book of the Dead" depict Egyptian beliefs about the nature of death and the afterlife. The "Book of the Dead" is a vital source of information about Egyptian beliefs in this area.

Preservation.

One aspect of death was the disintegration of the various "kheperu", or modes of existence. Funerary rituals served to re-integrate these different aspects of being. Mummification served to preserve and transform the physical body into "sah", an idealised form with divine aspects; the "Book of the Dead" contained spells aimed at preserving the body of the deceased, which may have been recited during the process of mummification. The heart, which was regarded as the aspect of being which included intelligence and memory, was also protected with spells, and in case anything happened to the physical heart, it was common to bury jewelled heart scarabs with a body to provide a replacement. The "ka", or life-force, remained in the tomb with the dead body, and required sustenance from offerings of food, water and incense. In case priests or relatives failed to provide these offerings, Spell 105 ensured the "ka" was satisfied. The name of the dead person, which constituted their individuality and was required for their continued existence, was written in many places throughout the "Book", and spell 25 ensured the deceased would remember their own name. The "ba" was a free-ranging spirit aspect of the deceased. It was the "ba", depicted as a human-headed bird, which could "go forth by day" from the tomb into the world; spells 61 and 89 acted to preserve it. Finally, the "shut", or shadow of the deceased, was preserved by spells 91, 92 and 188. If all these aspects of the person could be variously preserved, remembered, and satiated, then the dead person would live on in the form of an "akh". An "akh" was a blessed spirit with magical powers who would dwell among the gods.

Afterlife.

The nature of the afterlife which the dead people enjoyed is difficult to define, because of the differing traditions within Ancient Egyptian religion. In the "Book of the Dead", the dead were taken into the presence of the god Osiris, who was confined to the subterranean Duat. There are also spells to enable the "ba" or "akh" of the dead to join Ra as he travelled the sky in his sun-barque, and help him fight off Apep. As well as joining the Gods, the "Book of the Dead" also depicts the dead living on in the 'Field of Reeds', a paradisiac likeness of the real world. The Field of Reeds is depicted as a lush, plentiful version of the Egyptian way of living. There are fields, crops, oxen, people and waterways. The deceased person is shown encountering the Great Ennead, a group of gods, as well as his or her own parents. While the depiction of the Field of Reeds is pleasant and plentiful, it is also clear that manual labour is required. For this reason burials included a number of statuettes named "shabti", or later "ushebti". These statuettes were inscribed with a spell, also included in the "Book of the Dead", requiring them to undertake any manual labour that might be the owner's duty in the afterlife. It is also clear that the dead not only went to a place where the gods lived, but that they acquired divine characteristics themselves. In many occasions, the deceased is mentioned as "The Osiris – ["Name"]" in the "Book of the Dead".  The path to the afterlife as laid out in the "Book of the Dead" was a difficult one. The deceased was required to pass a series of gates, caverns and mounds guarded by supernatural creatures. These terrifying entities were armed with enormous knives and are illustrated in grotesque forms, typically as human figures with the heads of animals or combinations of different ferocious beasts. Their names—for instance, "He who lives on snakes" or "He who dances in blood"—are equally grotesque. These creatures had to be pacified by reciting the appropriate spells included in the "Book of the Dead"; once pacified they posed no further threat, and could even extend their protection to the dead person. Another breed of supernatural creatures was'slaughterers' who killed the unrighteous on behalf of Osiris; the "Book of the Dead" equipped its owner to escape their attentions. As well as these supernatural entities, there were also threats from natural or supernatural animals, including crocodiles, snakes, and beetles.

Judgment.

If all the obstacles of the "Duat" could be negotiated, the deceased would be judged in the "Weighing of the Heart" ritual, depicted in Spell 125. The deceased was led by the god Anubis into the presence of Osiris. There, the dead person swore that he had not committed any sin from a list of 42 sins, reciting a text known as the "Negative Confession". Then the dead person's heart was weighed on a pair of scales, against the goddess Maat, who embodied truth and justice. Maat was often represented by an ostrich feather, the hieroglyphic sign for her name. At this point, there was a risk that the deceased's heart would bear witness, owning up to sins committed in life; Spell 30B guarded against this eventuality. If the scales balanced, this meant the deceased had led a good life. Anubis would take them to Osiris and they would find their place in the afterlife, becoming "maa-kheru", meaning "vindicated" or "true of voice". If the heart was out of balance with Maat, then another fearsome beast called "Ammit", the Devourer, stood ready to eat it and put the dead person's afterlife to an early and unpleasant end.  This scene is remarkable not only for its vividness but as one of the few parts of the Book of the Dead with any explicit moral content. The judgment of the dead and the Negative Confession were a representation of the conventional moral code which governed Egyptian society. For every "I have not..." in the Negative Confession, it is possible to read an unexpressed "Thou shalt not". While the Ten Commandments of Jewish and Christian ethics are rules of conduct laid down by a perceived divine revelation, the Negative Confession is more a divine enforcement of everyday morality. Views differ among Egyptologists about how far the Negative Confession represents a moral absolute, with ethical purity being necessary for progress to the Afterlife. John Taylor points out the wording of Spells 30B and 125 suggests a pragmatic approach to morality; by preventing the heart from contradicting him with any inconvenient truths, it seems that the deceased could enter the afterlife even if their life had not been entirely pure. Ogden Goelet says "without an exemplary and moral existence, there was no hope for a successful afterlife", while Geraldine Pinch suggests that the Negative Confession is essentially similar to the spells protecting from demons, and that the success of the Weighing of the Heart depended on the mystical knowledge of the true names of the judges rather than on the deceased's moral behaviour.

Producing a "Book of the Dead".

A "Book of the Dead" papyrus was produced to order by scribes. They were commissioned by people in preparation for their own funerals, or by the relatives of someone recently deceased. They were expensive items; one source gives the price of a "Book of the Dead" scroll as one "deben" of silver, perhaps half the annual pay of a labourer. Papyrus itself was evidently costly, as there are many instances of its re-use in everyday documents, creating palimpsests. In one case, a "Book of the Dead" was written on second-hand papyrus.  Most owners of the "Book of the Dead" were evidently part of the social elite; they were initially reserved for the royal family, but later papyri are found in the tombs of scribes, priests and officials. Most owners were men, and generally the vignettes included the owner's wife as well. Towards the beginning of the history of the "Book of the Dead", there are roughly 10 copies belonging to men for every 1 for a woman. However, during the Third Intermediate Period, 2 were for women for every 1 for a man; and women owned roughly a third of the hieratic paypri from the Late and Ptolemaic Periods.  The dimensions of a "Book of the Dead" could vary widely; the longest is 40m long while some are as short as 1m. They are composed of sheets of papyrus joined together, the individual papyri varying in width from 15 cm to 45 cm. The scribes working on "Book of the Dead" papyri took more care over their work than those working on more mundane texts; care was taken to frame the text within margins, and to avoid writing on the joints between sheets. The words "peret em heru", or "coming forth by day" sometimes appear on the reverse of the outer margin, perhaps acting as a label.  Books were often prefabricated in funerary workshops, with spaces being left for the name of the deceased to be written in later. For instance, in the "Papyrus of Ani", the name "Ani" appears at the top or bottom of a column, or immediately following a rubric introducing him as the speaker of a block of text; the name appears in a different handwriting to the rest of the manuscript, and in some places is mis-spelt or omitted entirely.  The text of a New Kingdom "Book of the Dead" was typically written in cursive hieroglyphs, most often from left to right, but also sometimes from right to left. The hieroglyphs were in columns, which were separated by black lines – a similar arrangement to that used when hieroglyphs were carved on tomb walls or monuments. Illustrations were put in frames above, below, or between the columns of text. The largest illustrations took up a full page of papyrus.  From the 21st Dynasty onward, more copies of the "Book of the Dead" are found in hieratic script. The calligraphy is similar to that of other hieratic manuscripts of the New Kingdom; the text is written in horizontal lines across wide columns (often the column size corresponds to the size of the papyrus sheets of which a scroll is made up). Occasionally a hieratic "Book of the Dead" contains captions in hieroglyphic.  The text of a "Book of the Dead" was written in both black and red ink, regardless of whether it was in hieroglyphic or hieratic script. Most of the text was in black, with red ink used for the titles of spells, opening and closing sections of spells, the instructions to perform spells correctly in rituals, and also for the names of dangerous creatures such as the demon Apep. The black ink used was based on carbon, and the red ink on ochre, in both cases mixed with water.  The style and nature of the vignettes used to illustrate a "Book of the Dead" varies widely. Some contain lavish colour illustrations, even making use of gold leaf. Others contain only line drawings, or one simple illustration at the opening.  "Book of the Dead" papyri were often the work of several different scribes and artists whose work was literally pasted together. It is usually possible to identify the style of more than one scribe used on a given manuscript, even when the manuscript is a shorter one. The text and illustrations were produced by different scribes; there are a number of "Books" where the text was completed but the illustrations were left empty.

Discovery, translation, interpretation and preservation.

The existence of the "Book of the Dead" was known as early as the Middle Ages, well before its contents could be understood. Since it was found in tombs, it was evidently a document of a religious nature, and this led to the widespread but mistaken belief that the "Book of the Dead" was the equivalent of a Bible or Qur'an.  In 1842 Karl Richard Lepsius published a translation of a manuscript dated to the Ptolemaic era and coined the name ""Book of The Dead"" ("das Todtenbuch"). He also introduced the spell numbering system which is still in use, identifying 165 different spells. Lepsius promoted the idea of a comparative edition of the "Book of the Dead", drawing on all relevant manuscripts. This project was undertaken by Édouard Naville, starting in 1875 and completed in 1886, producing a three-volume work including a selection of vignettes for every one of the 186 spells he worked with, the more significant variations of the text for every spell, and commentary. In 1867 Samuel Birch of the British Museum published the first extensive English translation. In 1876 he published a photographic copy of the Papyrus of Nebseny.  The work of E. A. Wallis Budge, Birch's successor at the British Museum, is still in wide circulation – including both his hieroglyphic editions and his English translations of the Papyrus of Ani, though the latter are now considered inaccurate and out-of-date. More recent translations in English have been published by T. G. Allen (1974) and Raymond O. Faulkner (1972). As more work has been done on the "Book of the Dead", more spells have been identified, and the total now stands at 192.  In the 1970s, Ursula Rößler-Köhler at the University of Bonn began a working group to develop the history of "Book of the Dead" texts. This later received sponsorship from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the German Research Foundation, in 2004 coming under the auspices of the German Academies of Sciences and Arts. Today the "Book of the Dead" Project, as it is called, maintains a database of documentation and photography covering 80% of extant copies and fragments from the corpus of Book of the Dead texts, and provides current services to Egyptologists. It is housed at the University of Bonn, with much material available online. Affiliated scholars are authoring a series of monograph studies, the "Studien zum Altägyptischen Totenbuch", alongside a series that publishes the manuscripts themselves, "Handschriften des Altägyptischen Totenbuches". Both are in print by Harrassowitz Verlag. Orientverlag has released another series of related monographs, "Totenbuchtexte", focused on analysis, synoptic comparison, and textual criticism.  Research work on the "Book of the Dead" has always posed technical difficulties thanks to the need to copy very long hieroglyphic texts. Initially, these were copied out by hand, with the assistance either of tracing paper or a camera lucida. In the mid-19th century, hieroglyphic fonts became available and made lithographic reproduction of manuscripts more feasible. In the present day, hieroglyphics can be rendered in desktop publishing software and this, combined with digital print technology, means that the costs of publishing a "Book of the Dead" may be considerably reduced. However, a very large amount of the source material in museums around the world remains unpublished.

The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated "rw nw prt m hrw", is translated as Book of Coming Forth by Day or Book of Emerging Forth into the Light. "Book" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the "Duat", or underworld, and into the afterlife and written by many priests over a period of about 1,000 years.

Egyptská kniha mrtvých je mimořádně důležité a nejznámější dílo egyptské duchovní literatury. Umělý název "Egyptská kniha mrtvých" zavedl J. F. Champollion (v návaznosti na arabský název "Kniha mrtvého muže"), který ji poprvé přeložil do moderního jazyka. Překlad se však ztratil, neboť jeho žák se zmocnil všech jeho rukopisů a chtěl je vydávat za svá díla. Bratru Champolliona se podařilo získat větší část z nich zpět a vydat je pod jménem skutečného autora. Díky tomu se zachoval slovník a gramatika rozluštitele egyptštiny. Sami starověcí Egypťané ji však označovali názvem "Kapitoly o vycházení z hmotného světa do Bezbřehé záře".


History.

Miles Copeland III, the son of CIA agent Miles Copeland Jr., played many roles in the U.K. punk rock and new wave music industry of the middle to late 1970s: agent, manager, producer, magazine publisher, record company and label owner. His brother Ian was the head of a talent agency, Frontier Booking International (F.B.I.), while his brother Stewart played drums for The Police, a band that Copeland managed. The Police's first album was released on A&M Records in 1978 with a hit single, "Roxanne", that Copeland called a turning point in his life.  Building on success with the Police, Copeland convinced Jerry Moss, co-owner of A&M, to establish the I.R.S. division in 1979. I.R.S. stood for International Record Syndicate.  From 1983 to 1987, I.R.S. Records sponsored a monthly MTV show called "I.R.S. Records Presents The Cutting Edge", hosted by Peter Zaremba of The Fleshtones. The series concentrated on bands that recorded for the label. The show concept would later evolve into the alternative rock program "120 Minutes", which was launched in 1986 and co-existed with "Cutting Edge" for about a year and a half.  I.R.S. releases were distributed by A&M until 1985, then by MCA Records until 1990, and by EMI until the label folded in 1996. In 1985, Copeland brokered a deal to switch the label's distributor to MCA Records. Under the agreement, A&M continued to release the label's pre-1985 catalog, much of which still can be found under the A&M banner.  The label folded in May 1996, with its last release being "All Set" by the Buzzcocks, issued two weeks before the closure. Shortly after, Copeland formed Ark 21 Records. In 2011, EMI revived the label; as of 2012, the new label had Chiddy Bang and Foxy Shazam on its roster. In October 2013, shortly after the integration of EMI into its successor, Universal Music Group, the label was revived again as I.R.S. Nashville, with Striking Matches, Marc Scibilia and Cowboy Jack Clement on its roster before being shut down once again in 2015.

Faulty Products labels.

Faulty Products was the UK holding company for I.R.S. Records of the UK record labels set up by Copeland. It included Illegal Records, Deptford Fun City Records and others. Faulty Products was also an American independent record label and distribution company for other indie labels between 1980 and 1982. Faulty handled artists that didn't go through I.R.S.'s distribution deal with A&M.  Illegal Records was set up by Miles Copeland with his younger brother Stewart and the manager of The Police, Paul Mulligan. The label released The Police's debut single, "Fall Out". Deptford Fun City Records was set up by Miles Copeland in the late 1970s as an outlet for Deptford, England bands such as Alternative TV and Squeeze.  I.R.S. No Speak, also known as No Speak Records, was set up as an all-instrumental imprint of I.R.S. in January 1988. It released albums by Stewart Copeland, Wishbone Ash, and William Orbit.  Tribal America was a label run by Rob DiStefano that was distributed by I.R.S. from 1991 until IRS folded in 1996. It concentrated on house music, a type of electronic dance music. The most prominent releases on its roster were by the production team Murk and also the song "So Get Up" an iconic vocal poem by Californian rapper Ithaka, backed by the Progressive house sounds of USL from Lisbon, Portugal. DiStefano went on to found Twisted America Records.

Roster.

I.R.S.'s roster of musicians included The Alarm, Bangles, Berlin, Black Sabbath, Buzzcocks, J. J. Cale, Belinda Carlisle, Concrete Blonde, Stewart Copeland, The Cramps, Dada, The Damned, Dead Kennedys, The English Beat, The Fall, The Fleshtones, General Public, The Go-Go's, The Genitorturers, hHead, Jools Holland, Klark Kent, Let's Active, The Lords of the New Church, Magazine, Gary Numan, Oingo Boingo, R.E.M., Renaissance, Scott Merritt, Stan Ridgway, Skafish, The Stranglers, Fine Young Cannibals, YEN, Wall of Voodoo, and Torch Song.

Sales certifications.

I.R.S. Records released three albums that have been certified as platinum or multi-platinum, for sales of over 1 million units, by the Recording Industry Association of America: "Beauty and the Beat" by The Go-Go's (1981), "Document" by R.E.M. (1987) and "The Raw & the Cooked" by Fine Young Cannibals (1989). Seven additional albums have also been certified gold for sales of at least 500,000 copies: "Murmur" (1983), "Reckoning" (1984), "Fables of the Reconstruction" (1985) and "Lifes Rich Pageant" (1986), all by R.E.M., "Vacation" by The Go-Go's (1982), "Belinda" by Belinda Carlisle (1986) and "Bloodletting" by Concrete Blonde (1990).

I.R.S. compilation albums.

"On the Charts" was a 1994 compilation album that chronicled I.R.S. Records from 1979 to 1994.

I.R.S. Records was an American record label founded by Miles Copeland III, Jay Boberg, and Carl Grasso in 1979. I.R.S. produced some of the most popular bands of the 1980s, and was particularly known for issuing records by college rock, new wave and alternative rock artists, including R.E.M., The Go-Go's, Wall of Voodoo and Fine Young Cannibals.

I.R.S. Records bylo americké hudební vydavatelství, které v roce 1979 založili Miles Copeland spolu s Jay Bobergem a Carlem Grassem. V letech 1983–1987 vydavatelství sponzorovalo televizní show na MTV zvanou "The Cutting Edge". Mezi skupiny, které své nahrávky vydávaly v I.R.S. Records, patřily např. R.E.M., Wall Of Voodoo, Black Sabbath atd. Poslední album I.R.S. Records, CD "All Sets" od skupiny Buzzcocks, vyšlo v roce 1996.


Design and development.

In 1942, the U.S. War Department needed to transport war materiel and personnel to Britain. Allied shipping in the Atlantic Ocean was suffering heavy losses to German U-boats, so a requirement was issued for an aircraft that could cross the Atlantic with a large payload. Wartime priorities meant the aircraft could not be made of strategic materials (e.g., aluminum).  The aircraft was the brainchild of Henry J. Kaiser, a leading Liberty ship builder and manufacturer. Kaiser teamed with aircraft designer Howard Hughes to create what would become the largest aircraft yet built. It was designed to carry, 750 fully equipped troops or two 30-ton M4 Sherman tanks. The original designation "HK-1" reflected the Hughes and Kaiser collaboration.  The HK-1 aircraft contract was issued in 1942 as a development contract and called for three aircraft to be constructed in two years for the war effort. Seven configurations were considered, including twin-hull and single-hull designs with combinations of four, six, and eight wing-mounted engines. The final design chosen was a behemoth, eclipsing any large transport then built. It would be built mostly of wood to conserve metal (its elevators and rudder were fabric-covered), and was nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" (a name Hughes disliked) or the "Flying Lumberyard".  While Kaiser had originated the "flying cargo ship" concept, he did not have an aeronautical background and deferred to Hughes and his designer, Glenn Odekirk. Development dragged on, which frustrated Kaiser, who blamed delays partly on restrictions placed for the acquisition of strategic materials such as aluminum, and partly on Hughes' insistence on "perfection." Construction of the first HK-1 took place 16 months after the receipt of the development contract. Kaiser then withdrew from the project.  Hughes continued the program on his own under the designation "H-4 Hercules", signing a new government contract that now limited production to one example. Work proceeded slowly, and the H-4 was not completed until well after the war was over. The plane was built by the Hughes Aircraft Company at Hughes Airport, location of present-day Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California, employing the plywood-and-resin "Duramold" process – a form of composite technology – for the laminated wood construction, which was considered a technological "tour de force". The specialized wood veneer was made by Roddis Manufacturing in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Hamilton Roddis had teams of young women ironing the (unusually thin) strong birch wood veneer before shipping to California.  A house moving company transported the airplane on streets to Pier E in Long Beach, California. They moved it in three large sections: the fuselage, each wing—and a fourth, smaller shipment with tail assembly parts and other smaller assemblies. After Hughes Aircraft completed final assembly, they erected a hangar around the flying boat, with a ramp to launch the H-4 into the harbor.  Howard Hughes was called to testify before the Senate War Investigating Committee in 1947 over the use of government funds for the aircraft. During a Senate hearing on August 6, 1947 (the first of a series of appearances), Hughes said: The Hercules was a monumental undertaking. It is the largest aircraft ever built. It is over five stories tall with a wingspan longer than a football field. That's more than a city block. Now, I put the sweat of my life into this thing. I have my reputation all rolled up in it and I have stated several times that if it's a failure, I'll probably leave this country and never come back. And I mean it.  In all, development cost for the plane reached $23 million (equivalent to more than $283 million in 2016).

Operational history.

Hughes returned to California during a break in the Senate hearings to run taxi tests on the H-4. On November 2, 1947, the taxi tests began with Hughes at the controls. His crew included Dave Grant as copilot, two flight engineers, Don Smith and Joe Petrali, 16 mechanics, and two other flight crew. The H-4 also carried seven invited guests from the press corps and an additional seven industry representatives. In total, thirty-six people were on board.  Four reporters left to file stories after the first two taxi runs while the remaining press stayed for the final test run of the day. After picking up speed on the channel facing Cabrillo Beach the Hercules lifted off, remaining airborne for 26 seconds at off the water at a speed of for about one mile (1.6 km). At this altitude the aircraft still experienced ground effect. Nevertheless, the brief flight proved to detractors that Hughes' (now unneeded) masterpiece was flight-worthy—thus vindicating the use of government funds.  The H-4 never flew again. Its lifting capacity and ceiling were never tested. A full-time crew of 300 workers, all sworn to secrecy, maintained the aircraft in flying condition in a climate-controlled hangar. The company reduced the crew to 50 workers in 1962, and then disbanded it after Hughes' death in 1976.

Display.

Ownership of the H-4 was disputed by the U.S. government, which had contracted for its construction. In the mid-1970s, an agreement was reached whereby the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum would receive the Hughes H-1 Racer and section of the H-4's wing, the Summa Corporation would pay $700,000 and receive ownership of the H-4, the U.S. government would cede any rights, and the aircraft would be protected "from commercial exploitation." In 1980, the H-4 was acquired by the Aero Club of Southern California, which later put the aircraft on display in a very large geodesic dome next to the "Queen Mary" ship exhibit in Long Beach, California. The large dome facility became known as the Spruce Goose Dome. The very large enclosed indoor dome area around the H-4 consisted of meeting and special event space, elaborate audio visual displays about Howard Hughes and the aircraft itself, and dining areas for tourists. Many convention groups held large dinners, sales meetings, and even concerts under the wings of the aircraft at night when the Spruce Goose Dome was closed to tourists. In 1986, a secondary simulator-style attraction named Time Voyager was constructed next to the H-4, at a cost of $2.5 million. In 1988, The Walt Disney Company acquired both Long Beach attractions and the associated Long Beach real estate by Pier J. In 1991, Disney informed the Aero Club of Southern California that it no longer wished to display the Hercules aircraft after its highly ambitious Port Disney plan was scrapped. After a long search for a suitable host, the Aero Club of Southern California arranged for the Hughes Hercules flying boat to be given to Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in exchange for payments and a percentage of the museum's profits. The aircraft was transported by barge, train, and truck to its current home in McMinnville, Oregon (about southwest of Portland), where it was reassembled by Contractors Cargo Company and is currently on display. The aircraft arrived in McMinnville on February 27, 1993, after a 138-day, trip from Long Beach. The Spruce Goose geodesic dome is now used by Carnival Cruise Lines as its Long Beach terminal.  By the mid-1990s, the former Hughes Aircraft hangars at Hughes Airport, including the one that held the Hercules, were converted into sound stages. Scenes from movies such as "Titanic", "What Women Want" and "End of Days" have been filmed in the aircraft hangar where Howard Hughes created the flying boat. The hangar will be preserved as a structure eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Buildings in what is today the large light industry and housing development in the Playa Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles.  The Western Museum of Flight in Torrance, California has a large collection of construction photographs and blueprints of the Hercules H-4.

Specifications (H-4).

"Performance specifications are projected."

The Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the Spruce Goose; registration NX37602) is a prototype strategic airlift flying boat designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company. Intended as a transatlantic flight transport for use during World War II, it was not completed in time to be used in the war. The aircraft made only one brief flight on November 2, 1947, and the project never advanced beyond the single example produced.

Hughes H-4 Hercules je prototyp obřího transportního letounu navržený a postavený ve čtyřicátých letech 20. století společností Hughes Aircraft. Bývá označován největším letadlem, které bylo doposud postaveno, а má i největší rozpětí křídel. Dnes je vystaven v Evergreen Aviation Museum v McMinnville, stát Oregon, USA.


Etymology.

Chinese dynasties were typically named after the fief of their founding dynast, and this reading is consistent with Wang Mang's pre-imperial position as Marquess of Xin. In 1950, C.B. Sargent suggested that the name of the dynasty should be read as meaning "new", which J.J.L. Duyvendak rejected out of hand. Chauncey S. Goodrich argued that it would be possible to assign a semantic reading to "xin", but that it ought to be read as "renewed" or "renewal", not simply "new".

History.

After the death of Emperor Wu of Han, the ruling Liu family was increasingly beset by factional struggles. As result, the power of the imperial clan declined. In contrast, the Wang family grew powerful during the rule of Emperor Cheng of Han, and its leading member Wang Mang used his influence to act as regent for several young puppet emperors. In contrast to other Wang family members who were content to rule the empire by influencing the Han emperors, Wang Mang had greater ambitions. He embarked on a programme of building and learning, creating much positive publicity and propaganda for himself. He openly presented himself as champion of Confucian virtues, and as guiding force of the empire. Following the death of Emperor Ping of Han in 6 AD, Wang Mang cemented his control over the empire. Rebellions against his "de facto" rule were crushed in 6 and 7 AD. Two years later, Wang usurped the throne and officially proclaimed the Xin (literally the "New dynasty"). Though he enjoyed no great support among the empire's political class, Wang's ascension was generally tolerated because the Han dynasty had lost most of their prestige. Regardless, much of the old bureaucracy and nobility was still loyal to the Han dynasty, but these loyalists did not openly oppose the establishment of the Xin regime.  In contrast, relations with the nomadic Xiongnu confederation quickly deteriorated, and the latter intended to intervene in China around 10/11 AD. Wang responded by mobilizing 300,000 soldiers along the northern border and prevented the Xiongu from invading China. The continuing disputes with the northern confederation resulted in Wang setting up a rival Xiongnu government in 19 AD, while maintaining the great army at the border. This drained the Xin dynasty's resources, weakening its grip on the rest of the empire.  The new emperor initiated several radical social and political reforms. These aimed at strengthening the central government, restoring the failing economy, weakening the powerful noble families, and improving the livelihood of the empire's peasants. The reforms enjoyed some initial successes, and provided a much-needed legitimacy boost to the Xin dynasty. At the same time, the reforms weakened the former imperial clan, as most of the redistributed resources had belonged to the Liu family. Furthermore, Wang patronized education based on Confucianism, taking the Duke of Zhou as his model for a good ruler. His policies were often not implemented by the old bureaucracy who resented his radical reforms. In contrast, the reforms found some acclaim among the empire's peasants.  Soon after its inauguration, Wang's regime was destabilized by several natural disasters, including the Yellow River changing course, which resulted in massive floods. Plagues of locusts further worsened the situation, and widespread famines broke out. The Xin dynasty's economic policies failed to solve the ensuing crisis, and Wang Mang quickly lost the support which he had had among the peasantry as the latter struggled for survival. The desperate peasants in the eastern parts of the empire soon turned to banditry. The bandit groups grew in strength, and numbered tens of thousands of members by the 20s. The most powerful factions along the Yellow River reorganized into rebel armies, known as the Red Eyebrows. The insurgents allied with discontented nobles and descendants of the former imperial clan, resulting in large-scale civil war by 19 AD. Wang Mang was forced to shift troops from other areas to deal with the Red Eyebrows, whereupon the Protectorate of the Western Regions was overrun by the Xiongnu. Smaller rebellions broke out in other parts of China. The "Troops from the Lower Yangtze" operated along this river, while two insurgent bands in Hubei were recruited by Han loyalists. Led by Liu Bosheng, they became known as the Lulin.  As civil war engulfed the entire Xin Empire, Wang's loyalist armies fought hard to keep the rebels at bay. The Xin armies scored several victories, but were completely defeated by Han restorationist armies in the Battle of Kunyang in June–July 23 AD. Upon hearing of this event, the irregular militias of Zhuang Ben and Zhuang Chun captured Chang'an in October 23, plundering the capital and killing Wang Mang. The various rebel armies subsequently fought each other to gain full control over the empire. In 25 AD, Liu Xu was crowned as Emperor Guangwu of Han in Luoyang. The Red Eyebrows were defeated by Liu Xu's forces in 27 AD, and he also destroyed other rival claimants as well as separatist regimes including Wang Lang's Zhao state, Gongsun Shu's Chengjia empire, and warlord Wei Ao in the northwest. By 37 AD, the Han dynasty was fully restored.

Government.

Wang Mang implemented several reforms, systematically transforming the government of the Han dynasty based on his understanding of the Confucian classics and what turned out to be his faulty beliefs about the ancient Western Zhou's government system. Sinologist Li Feng described these reforms as "socialist and imperialist combined". In order to weaken the nobles, strengthen the central government, reform the economy, and improve the peasants' situation, Wang Mang redistributed land from the rich to those who owned nothing, introduced new taxes on slave owning, prohibited the sale of slaves, and implemented limits on how much farmland one family was allowed to own. He also nationalized farmland, and restored the government's old monopoly on the salt and iron industries. To further strengthen the empire's struggling economy and restore the government's fiscal stability, the Xin dynasty also implemented a new system to stabilize market prices, replaced the gold currency with a bronze currency, and forced nobles of marquis and lower rank to exchange all their gold for copper coins. These policies allowed the nearly-broke government to regain much-needed funds, and actually improved the economy, but caused great resentment among the nobility. Wang Mang also reduced the status of foreign vassal rulers in an attempt to strengthen the Xin empire's control over its border regions.  In an attempt to return to an idealized past, the Xin regime also implemented architectural changes to the capital Chang'an. The "Nine Temples" were constructed where the emperor worshipped the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, breaking with the Han dynasty's tradition to worship one's own ancestors. At the "Bright Hall", Wang Mang observed the change of the seasons in accordance with the Confucian traditions.  Even though the Xin dynasty was short-lived, its attempted reforms served as an inspiration for later emperors. According to Li Feng, Wang Mang would have been "the greatest reformer in Chinese history" if his regime had survived.

The Xin dynasty (; ) was a Chinese dynasty (termed so despite having only one monarch) which lasted from 9 to 23 AD. It is often considered an interregnum period of the Han dynasty, dividing it into the Western Han and the Eastern Han.

Dynastie Sin (新) byla čínská dynastie, vládnoucí v letech 8–23 n. l., která přerušila vládu úspěšné dynastie Chan. Jediný vládce této dynastie, Wang Mang, byl císařovým příbuzným a bývalým regentem nezletilého následníka trůnu a k moci se dostal palácovým převratem. Zahájil rozhodné reformy, které ovšem kopírovaly opatření mnohem starších dynastií. Snažil se obnovit občinové vlastnictví půdy, to se ale nepodařilo realizovat. Zakazoval obchod s půdou a otroky, počet státních otroků se ale za jeho vlády prudce zvýšil. Na posílení příjmů zavedl státní monopoly na víno a využívání důlních a vodních bohatství, zrušil platnost starých mincí a zavedl nové.


Distribution.

The spur-winged lapwing breeds around the eastern Mediterranean, and in a wide band from sub-Saharan west Africa to Arabia. The Greek and Turkish breeders are migratory, but other populations are resident. The species is declining in its northern range, but is abundant in much of tropical Africa, being seen at almost any wetland habitat in its range. The spur-winged lapwing is one of the species to which the "Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds" (AEWA) applies.

Description.

These are conspicuous and unmistakable birds. They are medium-large waders with black crown, chest, foreneck stripe and tail. The face, the rest of the neck and belly are white and the wings and back are light brown. The bill and legs are black. Its striking appearance is supplemented by its noisy nature, with a loud "did-he-do-it" call. The bird's common name refers to a small claw or spur hidden in each of its wings.

Ecology and behaviour.

This species has a preference for marshes and similar freshwater wetland habitats. The food of the spur-winged lapwing is insects and other invertebrates, which are picked from the ground.  It lays four blotchy yellowish eggs on a ground scrape. The spur-winged lapwing is known to sometimes use the wing-claws in an attack on animals and, rarely, people, who get too close to the birds' exposed offspring.

Supposed cleaning symbiosis.

The "spur-winged plover" was identified by Henry Scherren as the "trochilus" bird said by the Greek historian Herodotus to be involved in what would now be called a cleaning symbiosis with the Nile crocodile. However, there is no reliable evidence that this or any other species in fact has such a relationship.

The spur-winged lapwing or spur-winged plover ("Vanellus spinosus") is a lapwing species, one of a group of largish waders in the family Charadriidae.

Čejka trnitá ("Vanellus spinosus") je středně velký druh bahňáka z čeledi kulíkovití (Charadriidae), o něco menší než čejka chocholatá. Její zbarvení je velmi kontrastní – má velkou bílou skvrnu na tvářích, zbytek hlavy je černý, stejně jako hruď, boky a ocas. Zbytek spodiny a kostřec jsou bílé. Svrchu je světle hnědá, v letu s černými letkami. Hnízdí v otevřené krajině (obvykle u vody) v jihovýchodní Evropě a na Středním východě. Jednou byla jako vzácný zatoulanec zjištěna také na českém území. Zaznamenána byla 21. září 1989 na vypuštěném dně Svárovského rybníka v Záhlinicích v hejnu cca 100 jedinců čejky chocholaté.


Features.

AIMP can play many file types, including MP3, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Dolby AC-3, Ogg Vorbis, Opus, Speex, Windows Media Audio, Apple Lossless, FLAC, WAV and Audio CDs.  AIMP can also play many other audio formats like Monkey's Audio (APE), Tom's lossless Audio Kompressor (TAK) and True Audio; DTS audio, MP1, MP2, Musepack, OptimFROG, WavPack, MIDI, Impulse Tracker, MO3, MOD, MultiTracker Module, S3M, and Fasttracker 2 Extended Module.  AIMP supports the DirectSound, ASIO and WASAPI audio interfaces, and it uses 32-bit audio processing for its 18-band equalizer and built-in sound effects (Reverb, Flanger, Chorus, Pitch, Tempo, Echo, Speed, Bass, Enhancer, Voice Remover).  Among other features AIMP provides ability to load the entire media file, which is currently being played back, into the RAM of the computer (currently the options allow for media files of a size of up to 250MB to be loaded into RAM automatically at the start of playback; the file is subsequently deleted from RAM again, once playback has finished).  The advantage of this is that seamless playback without any interruptions is almost guaranteed, even on slower, older machines, and even under heavy multi-tasking with demanding programs, which may read or write continuously to and from the drives of the computer, since the file resides entirely in RAM and can hence always be accessed by the program without delay.  Other common players such as Winamp can read the media files in chunks in time for playback on resource-limited platforms. The byte size of these chunks can be adjusted from a few kilobytes up to 16 megabytes. This piecemeal loading may generate interruptions during playback, including the clicking noises which may occur as a result of such interruption.  As with offline media stored on local HDDs or other media or devices, AIMP is also able to cache up to 60 seconds of internet radio streams into RAM, which ensures seamless internet radio playback even when the internet connection is slowing down suddenly due to other downloads running at the same time or if sudden heavy use by neighbours or flatmates occurs while you are listening to the web radio. One drawback of this function is that channel switching is slowed as the buffer is first filled up to at least 25% before the playback starts (i.e. with 60 seconds of cache selected, the music will take up to 15 seconds to start playing).

Third-party scam warning.

The developers of AIMP warn on their official website that there is an ongoing scam by the unknown fraudsters behind the website aimp2.us, which has no connection whatsoever to the AIMP development team, and call upon its users not to donate any money to this fake site. AIMP is a freeware program and as such brought to the users free of charge.

AIMP (Artem Izmaylov Media Player) is a freeware audio player for Windows and Android, originally developed by Russian developer Artem Izmaylov (). The first version of AIMP, dubbed "AIMP Classic", was released on August 8, 2006. AIMP was initially based on the BASS audio library. Version 3 added a new audio engine and full support for ReplayGain, and revamped the music library interface transparency effects.

AIMP je multimediální přehrávač zaměřený zejména na přehrávání audia, vytvořený ruskými vývojáři. Program je distribuován jako freeware a kompletně lokalizován do češtiny. Pro přehrávač je vytvořeno velké množství skinů.


Description.

These birds are small waders, similar to dunlins, but differ in having a longer down-curved beak, longer neck and legs and a white rump. They have a length of and wingspan of. The breeding adult has patterned dark grey upperparts and brick-red underparts. In winter, this bird is pale grey above and white below, and shows an obvious white supercilium. Juveniles have a grey and brown back, a white belly and a peach-coloured breast.

Behaviour.

The male curlew sandpiper performs an aerial display during courtship. The clutch of 3–4 eggs are laid in ground scrape in the tundra and taiga, mostly in Siberia.  It is extremely difficult to measure breeding success or population trends in their breeding grounds because nests are scattered over a vast region and their positions influenced by localised weather.  Of all shorebird species, the curlew sandpiper has the smallest breeding range in relation to its non-breeding range. After breeding these birds migrate south to Africa, Australasia or India. South Africa is at the southern limit of the migration path from Siberia, or 130° of latitude away.  This wader is highly gregarious, and will form flocks with other calidrid waders, particularly dunlin. Despite its easterly breeding range, this species is regular on passage in western Europe, presumably because of the southwesterly migration route.  It forages in soft mud on marshes and the coast, mainly picking up food by sight. It mostly eats insects and other small invertebrates.  The numbers of this species (and of little stint) depend on the population of lemmings. In poor lemming years, predatory species such as skuas and snowy owls will take Arctic-breeding waders instead.  Counts of the birds in South Africa, specifically at Langebaan Lagoon where they are most numerous, indicate a 40% decline in numbers between 1975 and 2009. A similar trend has been noted in Australia and may be linked to effects of global warming at the breeding grounds.  This species occasionally hybridizes with the sharp-tailed sandpiper and the pectoral sandpiper, producing the presumed "species" called "Cooper's sandpiper" (""Calidris"" × "cooperi") and "Cox's sandpiper" (""Calidris"" × "paramelanotos"), respectively.

Taxonomy.

This is a fairly unusual species, and has been proposed as type species of the genus "Erolia" but the DNA sequence data is currently insufficient to resolve its relationships. This matter is of taxonomic relevance since, as the curlew sandpiper is the type species, a close relationship with the small "stint" sandpipers would preclude the use of "Erolia" for the present species.  The curlew sandpiper is one of the species to which the "Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds" (AEWA) applies.

The curlew sandpiper ("Calidris ferruginea") is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. The genus name is from Ancient Greek "kalidris" or "skalidris", a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific "ferruginea" is from Latin "ferrugo, ferruginis", "iron rust" referring to its colour in breeding plumage.

Jespák křivozobý ("Calidris ferruginea") je středně velký druh jespáka z podřádu bahňáků, s dlouhým, dolů zahnutým zobákem. Ve svatebním šatu má cihlově červené strany hlavy, hruď a spodinu, v prostém šatu má bílou spodinu a nadoční proužek. Mladí ptáci jsou shora šupinovitě skvrnití a mají béžovou hruď. V letu má bílou křídelní pásku a jako jeden z mála druhů jespáků bílý kostřec. Hnízdí v arktické Sibiři, zimuje hlavně v Africe, vzácněji ve Středomoří a ojediněle v západní Evropě. V České republice nehojně, ale pravidelně protahuje na jaře i na podzim.