Biography.

Early life.

As the Byzantine Empire fell apart and fragmented over the course of the 14th century, the emperors of the Palaiologan dynasty came to feel that the only sure way to keep their remaining holdings intact was to grant them to their sons, receiving the title of despot, as appanages to defend and govern. Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1391–1425) had a total of six sons who survived infancy. Manuel's eldest surviving son, John, was raised to co-emperor and designated to succeed Manuel as sole emperor upon his death. The second eldest son, Theodore was designated as Despot of the Morea and the third eldest, Andronikos, was made Despot of Thessaloniki in 1408 at just eight years old. Manuel's younger sons, Constantine, Demetrios (born in 1407), and Thomas, were kept in Constantinople as there was not sufficient land left to grant them. The younger children; Theodore, Andronikos, Constantine, Demetrios and Thomas were frequently described as having the distinction of Porphyrogennetos ("born in the purple"; born in the imperial palace during the reign of their father), a distinction that does not appear to have been shared by the emperor-to-be John.  Relations between the Palaiologos brothers were not always good. Though the young John and Constantine appears to have got on well with each other, relations between Constantine and the younger Demetrios and Thomas were not as friendly. Demetrios was made the despot of the island of Lemnos in 1422 by Manuel; however, he was not satisfied and refused to live on the island, instead fleeing to the court of King Sigismund of Hungary in 1423 under the pretext of needing protection against his brothers. Demetrios did not return to Constantinople until 1427.  In 1437, John, now Emperor John VIII, left Constantinople to attend the Council of Florence in an effort to unite the Orthodox and Catholic churches and thus inspire Western Europe to act in the defense of his collapsing empire, threatened by the rapidly expanding Ottoman Empire. John left Constantine, his most trusted brother, and favored heir, as regent in Constantinople. Demetrios, alongside many distinguished Byzantine nobles and church officials (including the Patriarch of Constantinople, Joseph II) accompanied John on his journey to Italy. Although Demetrios was known to be firmly against any plans of reuniting the Orthodox and Catholic churches, he had already shown rebellious tendencies, hoping to become emperor himself with Ottoman support, and could not be trusted to remain in Constantinople or Lemnos when the emperor was away.  While the Council of Florence did achieve a union of the churches, it lasted for several years, concluding in June 1439. John didn't return to Constantinople until 1 February 1440 and though he was received with a grand and pomp ceremony, organized by Constantine and Demetrios (who had returned sometime earlier), the news that the churches had been unified stirred a wave of resentment and bitterness among the general populace, who felt that John had betrayed their faith.

Attempts to become emperor.

With his tenure as regent finished, Constantine had observed that the other Despots of the Morea (Constantine's former appanage), his brothers Theodore and Thomas, had ruled well without him and he considered that he could serve the empire's interest better if he was closer to the capital. Demetrios now governed a stretch of land around the city Mesembria in Thrace and Constantine considered the idea that he and Demetrios could switch places, Constantine becoming the new governor in Mesembria and Demetrios being granted the Morea. Constantine thus sent his close advisor George Sphrantzes to forward the idea to both Demetrios and Ottoman Sultan Murad II, who by this point had to be consulted about any appointments.  By 1442, Demetrios had no desire for new appointments, instead eyeing the imperial throne. He had just made a deal with Murad himself and had raised an army, portraying himself as the champion of the anti-unionist cause, which opposed the union of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a cause supported by the Turks, declaring war on his brother John VIII. When Sphrantzes reached Demetrios to forward Constantine's offer, Demetrios was already preparing to march on Constantinople. The danger he posed to the city was so great that Constantine was summoned from the Morea by John VIII to oversee the city's defenses. In April 1442, Demetrios and the Ottomans began their attack, but they were repulsed and Demetrios was briefly imprisoned. In March 1443, Sphrantzes was made governor of Selymbria in Constantine's name. From Selymbria, Sphrantzes and Constantine would be able to keep a watchful eye on the activities of Demetrios. In November, Constantine gave over control of Selymbria to Theodore, who in turn abandoned his position as Despot of the Morea, making Constantine and Thomas the sole Despots of the Morea.  Theodore died in June 1448 and on 31 October of the same year, Emperor John VIII passed away. The potential successors to the throne were Constantine, Demetrios and Thomas. John had not formally designated an heir, though everyone knew he favored Constantine and ultimately, the will of their mother, Helena Dragaš (who also preferred Constantine), prevailed. Both Thomas, who had no intention of claiming the throne, and Demetrios, who most certainly did, hurried to Constantinople and reached the capital before Constantine. Though Demetrios was favored by many due to his anti-unionist sentiment, Helena reserved her right to act as regent until her eldest son, Constantine arrived, stalling Demetrios's attempt at seizing the throne. Thomas accepted Constantine's appointment and Demetrios, who soon thereafter joined in proclaiming Constantine as his new emperor, was overruled. Soon thereafter, Sphrantzes informed Sultan Murad II, who also accepted the appointment.

Despot of the Morea.

The Fall of Constantinople and early rule.

In order to remove Demetrios from the capital and its vicinity, Constantine made Demetrios Despot of the Morea, to rule the despotate together with Thomas. Demetrios was granted the despotate's nominal capital, Mystras, and primarily ruled the southern and eastern parts of the despotate, with Thomas ruling Corinthia and the north-west, variously using Patras or Leontari as his capital. During his tenure as despot, Demetrios made some efforts to expand the despotate, seizing the Venetian-held castle of Kastri. With him to the Morea, Demetrios brought a part of the ancient Asen family, which had once ruled the Second Bulgarian Empire. Demetrios married Theodora Asanina, daughter of Paul Asan. Theodora's brother Matthew Palaiologos Asen was appointed as governor of Corinth by Demetrios.  Before his marriage to Theodora, Demetrios had been married either once or twice. His previous marriage(s) had not produced any children. His first wife was the daughter of Kantakouzenos Strabomytes, between 1430 and 1435. His second wife, possibly the same person as the daughter of Kantakouzenos Strabomytes, is known only as the "basilissa Zoe" and died in March/April 1436.  In 1452, during the preparation stages of the final Ottoman siege of Constantinople, Constantine XI sent an urgent message to the Morea, requesting that one of his brothers bring their forces to help him defend the city. To prevent aid coming from the Morea, Mehmed II sent one of his generals, Turahan Bey (who had raided the Morea twice before) to devastate the peninsula. The Turkish attack was repelled by an army commanded by Matthew Palaiologos Asen, but this victory came to late to offer any aid to Constantinople, which fell on 29 May 1453.  In the aftermath of Constantinople's fall, and Constantine XI's death in defense of it, one of the most pressing threats to the new Ottoman regime was the possibility that one of Constantine XI's surviving relatives would find a following and return to reclaim the empire. Luckily for Mehmed II, the two despots in the Morea represented scarcely more than a nuisance and were allowed to keep their titles and lands. When emissaries of Thomas and Demetrios visited the Sultan at Adrianople some months after Constantinople's fall, the Sultan demanded no surrender of territory, only that the despots were to pay an annual tribute of 10,000 ducats. Because the Morea was allowed to continue to exist, many Byzantine refugees fled to the despotate, which made it somewhat of a Byzantine government-in-exile. Some of these influential refugees and courtiers even raised the idea of proclaiming Demetrios, the elder brother, as the Emperor of the Romans and the legitimate successor of Constantine XI. Both Thomas and Demetrios might have considered making their small despotate the rallying point of a campaign to restore the empire, with considerable fertile and wealthy territory under the despotate's control, there did seem for a moment to be a possibility that the empire could live on in the Morea. However, Thomas and Demetrios were never able to cooperate and spent most of their resources fighting each other rather than preparing for a struggle against the Turks. Since Thomas had spent most of his life in the Morea, and Demetrios most of his life elsewhere, the two brothers hardly knew each other.  Shortly after Constantinople fell, a revolt broke out against the despots in the Morea, prompted by the many Albanian immigrants to the region being unhappy with the actions of the local Greek landowners. The Albanians had respected earlier despots, such as Constantine and Theodore, but despised the two current despots and without central authority from Constantinople, they saw their opportunity to gain control of the despotate for themselves. In Thomas's part of the despotate, the rebels chose to proclaim John Asen Zaccaria, bastard son of the last Prince of Achaea, as their leader and in Demetrios's part of the despotate, the leader of the revolt was Manuel Kantakouzenos, grandson of Demetrios I Kantakouzenos (who had served as despot until 1384) and great-great-grandson of Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (1347–1354). With no hope of defeating the Albanians on their own, the despots appealed to the only power near enough and strong enough to aid them; the Ottomans. Mehmed II did not wish to see the despotate pass into the hands of Albanians, and out of his control, and sent an army to quell the rebellion in December 1453. The rebellion was not fully crushed until October 1454, when Turahan Bey arrived to aid the despots in firmly establishing their authority in the region. In return for the aid, Mehmed demanded a heavier tribute from Thomas and Demetrios, amounting to 12,000 ducats annually rather than the previous 10,000.

The possibility of Western aid.

Neither brother could raise the sum demanded by the Sultan and they were divided in their policies. While Demetrios, probably the more realistic of the two, had more or less given up hope of Christian aid from the west and thought it might be best to placate the Turks, Thomas retained hope that the Papacy might yet call for a crusade to restore the Byzantine Empire. Thomas's hopes were not ridiculous; the Fall of Constantinople had been received with as much horror in Western Europe as it had been in the few remaining Byzantine territories in the East. In September 1453, Pope Nicholas V issued the crusading bull "Etsi ecclesia Christi", which called on Christians throughout the west to take the cross and embark on a crusade to recover Constantinople. The response was enthusiastic; some of Europe's most powerful and influential rulers came forward to take the cross, including Philip the Good of Burgundy in February 1454 and Alfonso the Magnanimous of Aragon and Naples in November 1455. Alfonso promised to personally lead a host of 50,000 men and 400 ships against the Ottomans. At Frankfurt, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III assembled a council of German princes and proposed that 40,000 men be sent to Hungary, where the Ottomans had suffered a crushing defeat at Belgrade in 1456. If the combined forces of Hungary, Aragon, Burgundy and the Holy Roman Empire had been unleashed to exploit the victory at Belgrade, Ottoman control of the Balkans would have been seriously threatened.  Despite the Ottomans having secured the position of the two despots in the recent Albanian uprising, the possibility of Western aid to restore Byzantine territory proved too enticing to resist. Thomas sent John Argyropoulos and other envoys to the West in 1456 and even Demetrios, decidedly anti-Latin, softened his attitude towards the West. Demetrios raised the possibility of a marriage alliance with Alfonso of Aragon and Naples, suggesting that his daughter Helena marry Alfonso's grandson. Despite his own views on the Council of Florence, Demetrios even sent his own envoy to Pope Nicholas V's successor, Pope Callixtus III, in 1455; Frankoulios Servopoulos, a known supporter of the Council of Florence. Servopoulos probably arrived in Rome at around the same time as Thomas's envoy, Argyropoulos, and the two envoys travelled through Europe, visiting the same courts, independently of each other. Thomas and Demetrios proved to be incapable of working together even with foreign diplomacy.

Moreot civil war and the fall of the Morea.

Unfortunately, no crusade ever set out to combat the Ottomans. Due to their conviction that help would arrive, and being unable to pay, the two despots had not payed their annual tribute to the Ottomans for three years. With no money coming from the Morea, and the looming threat of Western aid, Mehmed eventually lost his patience with the Palaiologoi. The Ottoman army marched from Adrianople in May 1458 and entered the Morea, where the only real resistance was faced at Corinth, within the domain governed by Demetrios. Leaving his artillery to bombard and besiege that city, Mehmed left with most of his army to devastate and conquer the northern parts of the despotate, under Thomas's jurisdiction. Corinth at last gave up in August, after several cities in the north had already surrendered, and Mehmed imposed a heavy retribution on the Morea. The territory under the two brothers was drastically reduced, Corinth, Patras and much of the north-west of the peninsula were annexed into the Ottoman Empire and provided with Turkish governors, with the Palaiologoi only being allowed to keep the south, including the despotate's nominal capital, Mystras, on the condition that they paid their annual tribute to the sultan.  Almost as soon as Mehmed had left the Morea, the two brothers began quarreling with each other again. Mehmed's victory had only increased the antagonism between Thomas and Demetrios. Demetrios had shifted to becoming even more pro-Ottoman after Mehmed had promised the despot that he would marry his daughter Helena, whereas Thomas increasingly hoped for western aid as the regions of the Morea annexed by Mehmed had been almost the entire area ruled by Thomas, including his capital of Patras. In January 1459, Thomas rebelled against Demetrios and the Ottomans, joining with a number of Albanian lords. They seized the fortress of Kalavryta and much of the land in the central Morea and besieged Kalamata and Mantineia, fortresses held by Demetrios. Demetrios responded by seizing Leontari and called for aid from the Turkish governors in the northern Morea. There were many attempts made to broker peace between the two brothers, such as Mehmed ordering the Bishop of Lacedaemon to make the two swear to keep the peace, but any truce lasted only briefly. Many of the Byzantine nobles in the Morea could only look on in horror as the civil war raged on. Byzantine historian George Sphrantzes summed up the conflict with the following words:Although Demetrios had more soldiers and resources, Thomas and the Albanians were able to appeal to the West for aid. After a successful skirmish against the Ottomans, Thomas sent 16 captured Turkish soldiers, alongside some of his armed guards, to Rome to convince the Pope that he was engaging in a holy war against the muslims. The scheme worked and the Pope sent 300 Italian soldiers under the Milanese condottieri Gianone da Cremona to aid Thomas. With these reinforcements, Thomas gained the upper hand and it looked as if Demetrios was about to be defeated, having retreated to the town of Monemvasia and having sent Matthew Palaiologos Asen to Adrianople to beg Mehmed for aid. Thomas's pleas to the west represented a real threat to the Ottomans, a threat made even greater through the support of the plan by the vocal Cardinal Bessarion, a Byzantine refugee who had escaped the empire years earlier. Pope Pius II convened a council in 1459 in Mantua and sent Bessarion and some others to preach for a crusade against the Ottomans throughout Europe.  Determined to bring order to Greece, Mehmed decided that the destruction of the despotate and its full annexation directly into his empire was the only possible solution. The sultan assembled his army once more in April 1460 and led it in person first to Corinth and then on to Mystras. Although Demetrios had ostensibly been on the sultan's side, Mehmed invaded Demetrios's territory first. Demetrios surrendered to the Ottomans without a fight, fearing retribution and already having sent his family to safety in Monemvasia. Mystras thus fell into Ottoman hands on 29 May 1460, exactly seven years after Constantinople's fall. The few places in the Morea that dared resist the sultan's army were devastated as per Islamic law, the men being massacred and the women and children being taken away. As large numbers of Greek refugees escaped to Venetian-held territories such as Methoni and Koroni, the Morea was slowly subdued, the last resistance being led by Constantine Graitzas Palaiologos, a relative of Thomas and Demetrios, at Salmenikon in July 1461.

Life in the Ottoman Empire.

On 31 May 1460, Mehmed II arrived outside Mystras in person, inviting the recently deposed despot to his tent. Demetrios was terrified of the sultan, but Mehmed received him kindly, offering him a chair and speaking gently to him. Mehmed demanded that Demetrios recall his wife Theodora and his only child, Helena, from their refuge in Monemvasia and yield them to the sultan so that they could accompany him to Adrianople, but also showered Demetrios with gifts and promised to grant him an appanage in Thrace as compensation for the loss of the Morea. Theodora and Helena were put in the care of some of the eunuchs in Mehmed's entourage and Demetrios was obliged to accompany Mehmed as he went on to subdue the rest of the Morea after spending four days at Mystras.  For the rest of his life, Demetrios, through favored, would in effect remain a prisoner of the Ottomans. Demetrios's appanage consisted of the islands Lemnos and Imbros, as well as parts of the islands Thassos and Samothrace as well as the town Enos in Thrace. Ownership of these lands brought Demetrios enough revenue to support himself and he lived in relative comfort, donating much of his income to the church. He lived at Enos for seven years, together with his wife Theodora and her brother, Matthew Palaiologos Asen. In 1467, George Sphrantzes, former companion to Constantine XI, who had little regard for either Matthew or Demetrios, wrote that Matthew, who controlled a local salt monopoly, had allowed his underlings to cheat the government on some revenue. Outraged by this, Mehmed II stripped Demetrios of his territories and income.  Demetrios, Theodora and Matthew were sent in disgrace to Didymoteicho, where Matthew died shortly thereafter. Mehmed appears to have taken pity on the former despot and then provided him and his wife with a small estate in Adrianople, where their daughter Helena was living at the time. Since the sultan feared that Helena, described as high-spirited, might attempt to poison him, he had never taken her into his harem. Helena had her own large estate and pension provided by Mehmed, but was forbidden to marry. After Helena died of unknown causes 1469, Demetrios and Theodora were so struck by grief that they retired to monastic life, Demetrios becoming a monk. The former despot died in 1470 and, due to Helena's death, left no descendants. Theodora also died in 1470, only outliving her husband by a few weeks.

Demetrios Palaiologos or Demetrius Palaeologus (; 1407–1470) was Despot of the Morea together with his brother Thomas from 1449 until the fall of the despotate in 1460. Demetrios and Thomas were sons of Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, and brothers of the final two emperors John VIII and Constantine XI. Demetrios had a complicated relationship with his brothers, who he frequently quarreled with, usually over the matter of Demetrios's wish to establish himself as the most senior of them and claim the imperial throne for himself.

Demetrios II. Palaiologos (1407–1470) byl guvernér ostrova Lémnos (1422–1440), Mesembrie (1440–1451) a Selymbrie (1448–1451) a despota Morejský (1449–1460), od r.1453 titulární byzantský císař.


Background and description.

By 1909 the French Navy was finally convinced of the superiority of the all-big-gun battleship like over the mixed-calibre designs like the which had preceded the "Courbet"s. The following year, the new Minister of the Navy, Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, selected a design that was comparable to the foreign dreadnoughts then under construction to be built as part of the 1906 Naval Programme. The ships were long overall and had a beam of and a mean draught of. They displaced at normal load and at deep load. Their crew numbered 1,115 men as a private ship and increased to 1,187 when serving as a flagship. The ships were powered by two licence-built Parsons steam turbine sets, each driving two propeller shafts. "Paris" had 24 Belleville boilers to provide steam for her turbines. These boilers were coal-burning with auxiliary oil sprayers and were designed to produce. The ships had a designed speed of. The "Courbet"-class ships carried enough coal and fuel oil to give them a range at a speed of.  The main battery of the "Courbet" class consisted of twelve "Canon de mle 1906–1910" guns mounted in six twin-gun turrets, with two pairs of superfiring turrets fore and aft of the superstructure, and a pair of wing turrets amidships. Their secondary armament was twenty-two "Canon de mle 1910" guns, which were mounted in casemates in the hull. Four "Canon de mle 1902" Hotchkiss guns were fitted, two on each broadside in the superstructure. They were also armed with four submerged torpedo tubes and could stow 10 mines below decks. The ships' waterline belt ranged in thickness from and was thickest amidships. The gun turrets were protected by 250 mm of armour and plates protected the casemates. The curved armoured deck was thick on the flat and on the outer slopes. The conning tower had thick face and sides.

Construction and career.

The ship was ordered on 1 August 1911 and named after the French capital city. She was laid down on 10 November 1911 by Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée at its shipyard in La Seyne and launched on 28 September 1912. Due to the rising tensions in Europe in mid-1914, the ship was commissioned into the fleet on 1 August before she was formally completed on 14 August at a cost of F63,000,000. "Paris" was assigned to the 1st Division ("1ère Division") of the 2nd Battle Squadron ("2ème Escadre de ligne") of the 1st Naval Army ("1ère Armée Navale") on 1 August, but did not join her squadron until 5 September.  After working up she was sent, along with her sisters, to the Mediterranean Sea. She spent most of the rest of 1914 providing gunfire support for the Montenegrin Army until hit "Jean Bart" on 21 December with a torpedo. This forced the battleships to fall back to either Malta or Bizerte to cover the Otranto Barrage. After the French occupied the neutral Greek island of Corfu in 1916 she moved forward to Corfu and Argostoli, but her activities were very limited as much of her crew was used to man anti-submarine ships. Before the end of the war she was fitted with seven Mle 1897 anti-aircraft (AA) guns in single mounts. These guns were adaptions of the famous French Mle 97 75-mm field gun.

Interwar years.

"Paris" was sent to Pula on 12 December 1918 to supervise the surrendered Austro-Hungarian fleet, where she remained until 25 March 1919. She provided cover for Greek troops during the Occupation of İzmir (Smyrna) from May 1919 before returning to Toulon on 30 June 1919. She collided with the destroyer "Bouclier" at Toulon on 27 June 1922; both ships suffered severe damage.  "Paris" received the first of her upgrades at Brest between 25 October 1922 and 25 November 1923. This included replacing one set of boilers with oil-fired boilers, increasing the maximum elevation of the main armament from 12° to 23°, removal of her bow armour to make her less bow-heavy, the installation of a fire-control director, with a rangefinder, and the exchange of her Mle 1897 AA guns for Mle 1918 guns. After her return to service she supported an amphibious landing at Al Hoceima by Spanish troops during the summer of 1925 after the Rifs attacked French Morocco during the Third Rif War. She destroyed coastal defence batteries there despite taking light damage from six hits and remained there until October as the flagship of the French forces. She was refitted again from 16 August 1927 to 15 January 1929 at Toulon and her fire-control systems were comprehensively upgraded. A large cruiser-type fire-control director was added atop the foremast with a 4.57-m coincidence rangefinder and a stereo rangefinder. The rangefinder above the conning tower was replaced by a duplex unit carrying two 4.57-m rangefinders and another 4.57-m rangefinder was added in an armoured hood next to the main mast. Two directors for the secondary guns were added on the navigation bridge, each with a coincidence rangefinder. A rangefinder was added to the roof of 'B' turret, the second one from the bow. Three rangefinders were provided for her anti-aircraft guns, one on top of the duplex unit on the conning tower, one on 'B' turret and one in the aft superstructure. She resumed her role as flagship of the 2nd Division of the 1st Squadron of the Mediterranean Squadron until 1 October 1931 when she became a training ship.  "Paris" was overhauled again between 1 July 1934 and 21 May 1935. Her boilers were overhauled, her main guns replaced and her Mle 1918 AA guns were exchanged for more modern Mle 1922 guns. They had a maximum depression of 10° and a maximum elevation of 90°. They fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of at a rate of fire of 8–18 rounds per minute and had a maximum effective ceiling of.

World War II.

"Paris" and "Courbet" formed a Fifth Squadron at the beginning of the war. They were transferred to the Atlantic to continue their training duties without interference. Both ships were ordered restored to operational status on 21 May 1940 by Amiral Mord and they were given six Hotchkiss twin machine gun mounts and two single 13.2-mm Browning machine guns at Cherbourg. "Paris" was ordered to Le Havre on 6 June to provide gunfire support on the Somme front and covered the evacuation of the town by the Allies, although the lack of spotting aircraft meant that she was not particularly effective in that role. Instead she helped to defend the harbour of Le Havre against German aircraft until she was hit by a bomb on 11 June. She sailed for Cherbourg that night for temporary repairs despite taking on of water per hour. She was transferred to Brest on 14 June and carried 2,800 men when that port was evacuated on 18 June.  In the wake of the Armistice, "Paris" was docked at Plymouth, England. On 3 July 1940, as part of Operation Catapult, British forces forcibly boarded her and she was used by the British as a depot ship and as a barracks ship by the Polish Navy for the rest of the war. On 21 August 1945, after the war had ended, "Paris" was towed to Brest where she continued in her role as a depot ship. She was sold for scrap on 21 December 1955 and broken up at La Seyne from June 1956.

Paris was the third ship of four s, the first dreadnoughts built for the French Navy. She was completed before World War I as part of the 1911 naval building programme. She spent the war in the Mediterranean, spending most of 1914 providing gunfire support for the Montenegrin Army until her sister ship was torpedoed by the submarine on 21 December. She spent the rest of the war providing cover for the Otranto Barrage that blockaded the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic Sea.

Paris byla francouzská bitevní loď třídy Courbet. Společně se sesterskou "France" patřila k druhé dvojici lodí této třídy objednaných v roce 1911. Třída "Courbet" představovala první generaci francouzských dreadnoughtů. Loď se účastnila první světové války, přičemž druhou světovou válku strávila ukotvená v přístavu Plymouth, kam po porážce Francie unikla.


Critical reception.

In a contemporary review for "The Village Voice", music critic Robert Christgau gave "Ricky Martin" a "C" and dismissed its "slicked-up rhythm workouts and romantic pap" as conventional tactics from "one more crappy pop star". "Rolling Stone" magazine's James Hunter gave it three out of five stars and felt it lacks the excitement of Martin's 1998 album "Vuelve" because of its remixes and Diane Warren-penned songs. However, he said that Martin's take on Latin pop is made interesting enough by highlights such as "Livin' la Vida Loca", "Shake Your Bon-Bon", and the "perfectly constructed ballad" sung with Madonna.  In a retrospective review for AllMusic, senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album four out of five stars and said that despite moments of filler and outdated production, its songs are balanced well between uptempo dance-pop songs, power ballads, and midtempo pop songs on "a big, bold album with something to please everyone, from his longtime Latin fans to housewives with a weakness for dramatic ballads.

Commercial performance.

"Ricky Martin" has sold 15 million copies worldwide, becoming Martin's best selling album and one of the best-selling albums of all time.  It peaked at number one in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Finland and Norway, and reached top ten elsewhere, including number two in the United Kingdom.  The album sold 661,000 copies in its first week in the United States and debuted there at number one on the US "Billboard" 200. The next week it sold 458,000 copies. After selling seven million copies, the album was certified 7× Platinum in the United States. Also, after selling one million copies in Canada and in Japan, it was certified with Diamond and Million awards, respectively. In Europe, "Ricky Martin" received 2× Platinum IFPI award for selling there two million copies.  The album includes Martin's biggest worldwide hit, "Livin' la Vida Loca", which reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and also topped the charts in Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand. Second single, "She's All I Ever Had" peaked at number two in the United States. On the Hot Latin Songs, "Livin' la Vida Loca" topped the chart for nine weeks, and "Bella" (Spanish-language version of "She's All I Ever Had") also reached the top for three weeks. Worldwide it was the fourth best selling album with 13.1 million copies sold in 1999, its debut that week worldwide was of nearly 1.7 million copies sold. It was also the third best-selling album of the year in the United States behind Backstreet Boys' "Millennium" and Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time".

Ricky Martin is the fifth studio album by the Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin released on Columbia Records on May 11, 1999. The album is one of the best selling albums of all time and has sold more than 15 million copies, worldwide. This album is Martin's third which marketed in the United States and is his first album in English. "Ricky Martin" includes the singer’s first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 "Livin' la Vida Loca" and his second top ten hit "She's All I Ever Had".

Ricky Martin je páté studiové album zpěváka Ricky Martina, které vyšlo 11. května 1999 International. Celosvětově se prodalo přes 17 milionů kopií (aktuální zprávy hovoří o prodeji 22 milionů kusů).


Biography.

Taylor was born in 1856 to a Quaker family in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Taylor's father, Franklin Taylor, a Princeton-educated lawyer, built his wealth on mortgages. Taylor's mother, Emily Annette Taylor (née Winslow), was an ardent abolitionist and a coworker with Lucretia Mott. His father's ancestor, Samuel Taylor, settled in Burlington, New Jersey, in 1677. His mother's ancestor, Edward Winslow, was one of the fifteen original Mayflower Pilgrims who brought servants or children, and one of eight who had the honorable distinction of Mister. Winslow served for many years as the Governor of the Plymouth colony.  Educated early by his mother, Taylor studied for two years in France and Germany and traveled Europe for 18 months. In 1872, he entered Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, with the plan of eventually going to Harvard and becoming a lawyer like his father. In 1874, Taylor passed the Harvard entrance examinations with honors. However, due allegedly to rapidly deteriorating eyesight, Taylor chose quite a different path.  Instead of attending Harvard University, Taylor became an apprentice patternmaker and machinist, gaining shop-floor experience at Enterprise Hydraulic Works in Philadelphia (a pump-manufacturing company whose proprietors were friends of the Taylor family). He left his apprenticeship for six months and represented a group of New England machine-tool manufacturers at Philadelphia's centennial exposition. Taylor finished his four-year apprenticeship and in 1878 became a machine-shop laborer at Midvale Steel Works. At Midvale, he was quickly promoted to time clerk, journeyman machinist, gang boss over the lathe hands, machine shop foreman, research director, and finally chief engineer of the works (while maintaining his position as machine shop foreman). Taylor's fast promotions reflected both his talent and his family's relationship with Edward Clark, part owner of Midvale Steel. (Edward Clark's son Clarence Clark, who was also a manager at Midvale Steel, married Taylor's sister.) Early on at Midvale, working as a laborer and machinist, Taylor recognized that workmen were working their machines, or themselves, not nearly as hard as they could (a practice that at the time was called "soldiering") and that this resulted in high labor costs for the company. When he became a foreman he expected more output from the workmen. In order to determine how much work should properly be expected, he began to study and analyze the productivity of both the men and the machines (although the word "productivity" was not used at the time, and the applied science of productivity had not yet been developed). His focus on the human component of production Taylor labeled scientific management.  While Taylor worked at Midvale, he and Clarence Clark won the first tennis doubles tournament in the 1881 US National Championships, the precursor of the US Open. Taylor became a student of Stevens Institute of Technology, studying via correspondence and obtaining a degree in mechanical engineering in 1883. On May 3, 1884, he married Louise M. Spooner of Philadelphia.  From 1890 until 1893 Taylor worked as a general manager and a consulting engineer to management for the Manufacturing Investment Company of Philadelphia, a company that operated large paper mills in Maine and Wisconsin. He was a plant manager in Maine. In 1893, Taylor opened an independent consulting practice in Philadelphia. His business card read "Consulting Engineer - Systematizing Shop Management and Manufacturing Costs a Specialty". Through these consulting experiences, Taylor perfected his management system. His first paper, "A Piece Rate System", was presented to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in June 1895.  In 1898 he joined Bethlehem Steel to solve an expensive machine-shop capacity problem. While at Bethlehem, he discovered the best known and most profitable of his many patents: between 1898 and 1900 Taylor and Maunsel White conducted comprehensive empirical tests, and concluded that tungsten cutting-steel doubled or quadrupled cutting speeds; the inventors received $100,000 (equivalent to $2.5 million today) for the English patents alone, although the U.S. patent was eventually nullified.  Taylor was forced to leave Bethlehem Steel in 1901 after discord with other managers. Now a wealthy man, Taylor focused the remainder of his career promoting his management and machining methods through lecturing, writing, and consulting. In 1910, owing to the Eastern Rate Case, Frederick Winslow Taylor and his Scientific Management methodologies became famous worldwide. In 1911, Taylor introduced his The Principles of Scientific Management paper to the ASME, eight years after his Shop Management paper.  On October 19, 1906, Taylor was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Pennsylvania. Taylor eventually became a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. In early spring of 1915 Taylor caught pneumonia and died, one day after his fifty-ninth birthday, on March 21, 1915. He was buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Work.

Taylor was a mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He is regarded as the father of scientific management, and was one of the first management consultants and director of a famous firm. In Peter Drucker's description,  Taylor's scientific management consisted of four principles:  Future US Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis coined the term "scientific management" in the course of his argument for the Eastern Rate Case before the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1910. Brandeis argued that railroads, when governed according to Taylor's principles, did not need to raise rates to increase wages. Taylor used Brandeis's term in the title of his monograph "The Principles of Scientific Management," published in 1911. The Eastern Rate Case propelled Taylor's ideas to the forefront of the management agenda. Taylor wrote to Brandeis, "I have rarely seen a new movement started with such great momentum as you have given this one." Taylor's approach is also often referred to as "Taylor's Principles", or, frequently disparagingly, as "Taylorism".

Managers and workers.

Taylor had very precise ideas about how to introduce his system:  Workers were to be selected appropriately for each task. Taylor believed in transferring control from workers to management. He set out to increase the distinction between mental (planning work) and manual labor (executing work). Detailed plans, specifying the job and how it was to be done, were to be formulated by management and communicated to the workers.  The introduction of his system was often resented by workers and provoked numerous strikes. The strike at Watertown Arsenal led to the congressional investigation in 1912. Taylor believed the laborer was worthy of his hire, and pay was linked to productivity. His workers were able to earn substantially more than those under conventional management, and this earned him enemies among the owners of factories where scientific management was not in use.

Rhetorical techniques.

Taylor promised to reconcile labor and capital.

Scholarly debate about increased efficiency moving pig iron at Bethlehem's Iron and Steel.

Debate about Taylor's Bethlehem study of workers, particularly the stereotypical laborer "Schmidt", continues to this day. One 2009 study supports assertions Taylor made about the quite substantial increase in productivity, for even the most basic task of picking up, carrying and dropping pigs of iron.

Management theory.

Taylor thought that by analyzing work, the "one best way" to do it would be found. He is most remembered for developing the stopwatch time study, which, combined with Frank Gilbreth's motion study methods, later became the field of time and motion study. He broke a job into its component parts and measured each to the hundredth of a minute. One of his most famous studies involved shovels. He noticed that workers used the same shovel for all materials. He determined that the most effective load was 211⁄2 pounds, and found or designed shovels that for each material would scoop up that amount. He was generally unsuccessful in getting his concepts applied, and was dismissed from Bethlehem Iron Company/Bethlehem Steel Company. Nevertheless, Taylor was able to convince workers who used shovels and whose compensation was tied to how much they produced to adopt his advice about the optimum way to shovel by breaking the movements down into their component elements and recommending better ways to perform these movements. It was largely through his disciples' efforts (most notably Henry Gantt's) that industry came to implement his ideas. Moreover, the book he wrote after parting company with the Bethlehem company, "Shop Management", sold well.

Relations with ASME.

Taylor's written works were designed for presentation to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). These include Notes on Belting (1894), A Piece-Rate System (1895), Shop Management (1903), Art of Cutting Metals (1906), and The Principles of Scientific Management (1911).  Taylor was president of the ASME from 1906 to 1907. While president, he tried to implement his system into the management of the ASME but met with much resistance. He was able to reorganize only the publications department and that only partially. He also forced out the ASME's longtime secretary, Morris Llewellyn Cooke, and replaced him with Calvin W. Rice. His tenure as president was trouble-ridden and marked the beginning of a period of internal dissension within the ASME during the Progressive Age.  In 1911, Taylor collected a number of his articles into a book-length manuscript, which he submitted to the ASME for publication. The ASME formed an ad hoc committee to review the text. The committee included Taylor allies such as James Mapes Dodge and Henry R. Towne. The committee delegated the report to the editor of the "American Machinist", Leon P. Alford. Alford was a critic of the Taylor system and his report was negative. The committee modified the report slightly, but accepted Alford's recommendation not to publish Taylor's book. Taylor angrily withdrew the book and published "Principles" without ASME approval. Taylor published the trade book himself in 1912.

Taylor's influence.

France.

In France, Le Chatelier translated Taylor's work and introduced scientific management throughout government owned plants during World War I. This influenced the French theorist Henri Fayol, whose 1916 "Administration Industrielle et Générale" emphasized organizational structure in management. In the classic "General and Industrial Management", Fayol wrote that "Taylor's approach differs from the one we have outlined in that he examines the firm from the 'bottom up.' He starts with the most elemental units of activity – the workers' actions – then studies the effects of their actions on productivity, devises new methods for making them more efficient, and applies what he learns at lower levels to the hierarchy..." He suggests that Taylor has staff analysts and advisors working with individuals at lower levels of the organization to identify the ways to improve efficiency. According to Fayol, the approach results in a "negation of the principle of unity of command." Fayol criticized Taylor's functional management in this way: In "Shop Management", Taylor said «... the most marked outward characteristics of functional management lies in the fact that each workman, instead of coming in direct contact with the management at one point only,... receives his daily orders and help from eight different bosses... these eight were (1) route clerks, (2) instruction card men, (3) cost and time clerks, (4) gang bosses, (5) speed bosses, (6) inspectors, (7) repair bosses, and the (8) shop disciplinarian. » Fayol said that this was an unworkable situation and that Taylor must have reconciled the differences in some way not described in Taylor's works.  Around 1922 the journalist Paulette Bernège became interested in Taylor's theories, which were popular in France in the post-war period. Bernège became the faithful disciple of the Domestic Sciences Movement that Christine Frederick had launched earlier in the United States, which Bernège adapted to French homes. Frederick had transferred the concepts of Taylorism from the factory to domestic work. These included suitable tools, rational study of movements and timing of tasks. Scientific standards for housework were derived from scientific standards for workshops, intended to streamline the work of a housewife. The "Comité national de l'organisation française" (CNOF) was founded in 1925 by a group of journalists and consulting engineers who saw Taylorism as a way to expand their client base. Founders included prominent engineers such as Henry Louis Le Châtelier and Léon Guillet. Bernège's Institute of Housekeeping Organization participated in various congresses on the scientific organization of work that led up to the founding of the CNOF, and in 1929 led to a section in CNOF on domestic economy.

Great Britain.

Older historical accounts used to suggest that British industry had less interest in Taylor's teachings than in similarly-sized countries. More recent research has revealed that British engineers and managers were as interested as in other countries. This disparity was largely due to what historians have been analysing: recent research has revealed that Taylor's practices diffused to Britain more through consultancies, in particular the Bedaux consultancy, than through institutions, as in Germany and to a lesser extent France, where a mixture was most effective.  Particularly enthusiastic were the Cadbury family, Seebohm Rowntree, Oliver Sheldon and Lyndall Urwick. In addition to establishing a consultancy to implement Taylor's system, Urwick, Orr & Partners, Urwick was also a key historian of F.W. Taylor and scientific management, publishing "The Making of Scientific Management" trilogy in the 1940s and "The Golden Book of Management" in 1956.

Switzerland.

In Switzerland, the American Edward Albert Filene established the International Management Institute to spread information about management techniques. Lyndall Urwick was its Director until the IMI closed in 1933.

USSR.

In the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin was very impressed by Taylorism, which he and Joseph Stalin sought to incorporate into Soviet manufacturing. Taylorism and the mass production methods of Henry Ford thus became highly influential during the early years of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, "[...] Frederick Taylor's methods have never really taken root in the Soviet Union." The voluntaristic approach of the Stakhanovite movement in the 1930s of setting individual records was intrinsically opposed to Taylor's systematic approach and proved to be counter-productive. The stop-and-go of the production process – workers having nothing to do at the beginning of a month and'storming' during illegal extra shifts at the end of the month – which prevailed even in the 1980s had nothing to do with the successfully taylorized plants e.g., of Toyota which are characterized by "continuous" production processes (heijunka) which are "continuously" improved (kaizen).  "The easy availability of replacement labor, which allowed Taylor to choose only 'first-class men,' was an important condition for his system's success." The situation in the Soviet Union was very different. "Because work is so unrhythmic, the rational manager will hire more workers than he would need if supplies were even in order to have enough for storming. Because of the continuing labor shortage, managers are happy to pay needed workers more than the norm, either by issuing false job orders, assigning them to higher skill grades than they deserve on merit criteria, giving them 'loose' piece rates, or making what is supposed to be 'incentive' pay, premia for good work, effectively part of the normal wage. As Mary Mc Auley has suggested under these circumstances piece rates are not an incentive wage, but a way of justifying giving workers whatever they'should' be getting, no matter what their pay is supposed to be according to the official norms."  Taylor and his theories are also referenced (and put to practice) in the 1921 dystopian novel "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

Canada.

In the early 1920s, the Canadian textile industry was re-organized according to scientific management principles. In 1928, workers at Canada Cotton Ltd. in Hamilton, Ontario went on strike against newly introduced Taylorist work methods. Also, Henry Gantt, who was a close associate of Taylor, re-organized the Canadian Pacific Railway.  With the prevalence of US branch plants in Canada and close economic and cultural ties between the two countries, the sharing of business practices, including Taylorism, has been common.

The Taylor Society and its legacy.

The Taylor Society was founded in 1912 by Taylor's allies to promote his values and influence. A decade after Taylor's death in 1915 the Taylor Society had 800 members, including many leading U.S. industrialists and managers. In 1936 the Society merged with the Society of Industrial Engineers, forming the Society for Advancement of Management, which still exists today.

Criticism of Taylor.

Many of the critiques of Taylor come from Marxists. The earliest was by Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Communist, in his "Prison Notebooks" (1937). Gramsci argued that Taylorism subordinates the workers to management. He also argued that the repetitive work produced by Taylorism might actually give rise to revolutionary thoughts in workers' minds.  Harry Braverman's work, "", published in 1974, was critical of scientific management and of Taylor in particular. This work pioneered the field of Labor Process Theory as well as contributing to the historiography of the workplace.  Management theorist Henry Mintzberg is highly critical of Taylor's methods. Mintzberg states that an obsession with efficiency allows measureable benefits to overshadow less quantifiable social benefits completely, and social values get left behind.  Taylor's methods have also been challenged by socialists. Their arguments relate to progressive defanging of workers in the workplace and the subsequent degradation of work as management, powered by capital, uses Taylor's methods to render work repeatable and precise yet monotonous and skill-reducing. James W. Rinehart argued that Taylor's methods of transferring control over production from workers to management, and the division of labor into simple tasks, intensified the alienation of workers that had begun with the factory system of production around the period 1870 to 1890.

Tennis and golf accomplishments.

Taylor was an accomplished tennis and golf player. He and Clarence Clark won the inaugural United States National tennis doubles championship at Newport Casino in 1881, defeating Alexander Van Rensselaer and Arthur Newbold in straight sets. In the 1900 Summer Olympics, Taylor finished fourth in golf.

Publications.

Books:  Articles, a selection:

Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. Taylor was one of the intellectual leaders of the Efficiency Movement and his ideas, broadly conceived, were highly influential in the Progressive Era (1890s–1920s). In 1911, Taylor summed up his efficiency techniques in his book "The Principles of Scientific Management" which, in 2001, Fellows of the Academy of Management voted the most influential management book of the twentieth century. His pioneering work in applying engineering principles to the work done on the factory floor was instrumental in the creation and development of the branch of engineering that is now known as industrial engineering. Taylor made his name, and was most proud of his work, in scientific management; however, he made his fortune patenting steel-process improvements. Taylor was also an athlete who competed nationally in tennis.

Frederick Winslow Taylor (20. března 1856 – 21. března 1915) byl strojní inženýr v Midvalských ocelárnách (Midvale Steel Works) v Pennsylvánii, USA. Je znám především pro svou teorii „vědeckého řízení výroby“, jež byla velmi vlivná v období klasického kapitalismu před 1. sv. válkou (v Evropě i v letech po ní), ale našla např. i jisté uplatnění v raných fázích komunistického plánování v SSSR, především za života Lenina, jež Taylora obdivoval.


Etymology.

The origin of the word "rum" is unclear. The most widely accepted hypothesis is that it is related to "rumbullion" a beverage made from boiling sugar cane stalks, or possibly "rumbustion," which was a slang word for "uproar" or "tumult"; a noisy uncontrollable exuberance, though the origin of those words and the nature of the relationship are unclear. Both words surfaced in English about the same time as rum did (1651 for "rumbullion", and 1661 "rum").  There have been various other theories:  Regardless of the original source, the name was already in common use by 1654, when the General Court of Connecticut ordered the confiscations of "whatsoever Barbados liquors, commonly called rum, kill devil and the like". A short time later in May 1657, the General Court of Massachusetts also decided to make illegal the sale of strong liquor "whether knowne by the name of rumme, strong water, wine, brandy, etc".  In current usage, the name used for a rum is often based on its place of origin.  For rums from places mostly in Latin America where Spanish is spoken, the word "ron" is used. A "ron añejo" ("aged rum") is a premium spirit.  "Rhum" is the term that typically distinguishes rum made from fresh sugar cane juice from rum made from molasses in French-speaking locales like Martinique. A "rhum vieux" ("old rum") is an aged French rum that meets several other requirements.  Some of the many other names for rum are Nelson's blood, kill-devil, demon water, pirate's drink, navy neaters, and Barbados water. A version of rum from Newfoundland is referred to by the name screech, while some low-grade West Indies rums are called tafia.

History.

Origins.

Vagbhata, an Indian Ayurvedic physician (7th century AD) "[advised] a man to drink unvitiated liquor like rum and wine, and mead mixed with mango juice 'together with friends.’” Shidhu, a drink produced by fermentation and distillation of sugarcane juice, is mentioned in other Sanskrit texts. Maria Dembinska states that the King, Peter I of Cyprus, also called Pierre I de Lusignan (9 October 1328 – 17 January 1369), brought rum with him as a gift for the other royal dignitaries at the Congress of Kraków, held in 1364. This is plausible given the position of Cyprus as a significant producer of sugar in the Middle Ages, although the alcoholic sugar drink named rum by Dembinska may not have resembled modern distilled rums very closely. Dembinska also suggests Cyprus rum was often drunk mixed with an almond milk drink, also produced in Cyprus, called "soumada."  Another early rum-like drink is "brum". Produced by the Malay people, that beverage dates back thousands of years. Marco Polo also recorded a 14th-century account of a "very good wine of sugar" that was offered to him in the area that became modern-day Iran.  The first distillation of rum in the Caribbean took place on the sugarcane plantations there in the 17th century. Plantation slaves discovered that molasses, a by-product of the sugar refining process, could be fermented into alcohol. Then, distillation of these alcoholic byproducts concentrated the alcohol, and removed some impurities, producing the first modern rums. Tradition suggests this type of rum first originated on the island of Nevis. A 1651 document from Barbados stated, "The chief fuddling they make in the island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Divil, and this is made of sugar canes distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor." However, in the decade of the 1620s, rum production was also recorded in Brazil and many historians believe that rum found its way to Barbados along with sugarcane and its cultivation methods from Brazil. A liquid identified as rum has been found in a tin bottle found on the Swedish warship "Vasa", which sank in 1628.  By the late 17th century rum had replaced French brandy as the exchange-alcohol of choice in the triangle trade. Canoemen and guards on the African side of the trade, who had previously been paid in brandy, were now paid in rum.

Colonial North America.

After development of rum in the Caribbean, the drink's popularity spread to Colonial North America. To support the demand for the drink, the first rum distillery in the British colonies of North America was set up in 1664 on Staten Island. Boston, Massachusetts had a distillery three years later. The manufacture of rum became early Colonial New England's largest and most prosperous industry. New England became a distilling center due to the technical, metalworking and cooperage skills and abundant lumber; the rum produced there was lighter, more like whiskey. Much of the rum was exported, distillers in Newport, R.I. even made an extra strong rum specifically to be used as a slave currency. Rhode Island rum even joined gold as an accepted currency in Europe for a period of time. While New England triumphed on price and consistency Europeans still viewed the best rums as coming from the Caribbean. Estimates of rum consumption in the American colonies before the American Revolutionary War had every man, woman, or child drinking an average of of rum each year.  In the 18th century ever increasing demands for sugar, molasses, rum, and slaves led to a feedback loop which intensified the triangle trade. When France banned the production of rum in their New World possessions to end the domestic competition with brandy, New England distillers were then able to undercut producers in the British Caribbean by buying cut rate molasses from French sugar plantations. Outcry from the British rum industry led to the Molasses Act of 1733 which levied a prohibitive tax on molasses imported into Britain's North American colonies from foreign countries or colonies. Rum at this time accounted for approximately 80% of New England’s exports and paying the duty would have put the distilleries out of business: as a result, both compliance with and enforcement of the act were minimal. Strict enforcement of the Molasses Act’s successor, the Sugar Act, in 1764 may have helped cause the American Revolution. In the slave trade, rum was also used as a medium of exchange. For example, the slave Venture Smith (whose history was later published) had been purchased in Africa, for four gallons of rum plus a piece of calico.  The popularity of rum continued after the American Revolution; George Washington insisting on a barrel of Barbados rum at his 1789 inauguration.  Rum started to play an important role in the political system; candidates attempted to influence the outcome of an election through their generosity with rum. The people would attend the hustings to see which candidate appeared more generous. The candidate was expected to drink with the people to show he was independent and truly a republican.  Eventually the restrictions on sugar imports from the British islands of the Caribbean, combined with the development of American whiskeys, led to a decline in the drink's popularity in North America.

Naval rum.

Rum's association with piracy began with British privateers' trading in the valuable commodity. Some of the privateers became pirates and buccaneers, with a continuing fondness for rum; the association between the two was only strengthened by literary works such as Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island". The association of rum with the Royal Navy began in 1655, when the British fleet captured the island of Jamaica. With the availability of domestically produced rum, the British changed the daily ration of liquor given to seamen from French brandy to rum.  Navy rum was originally a blend mixed from rums produced in the West Indies. It was initially supplied at a strength of 100 degrees (UK) proof, 57% alcohol by volume (ABV), as that was the only strength that could be tested (by the gunpowder test) before the invention of the hydrometer. The term "Navy strength" is used in modern Britain to specify spirits bottled at 57% ABV.  While the ration was originally given neat, or mixed with lime juice, the practice of watering down the rum began around 1740. To help minimize the effect of the alcohol on his sailors, Admiral Edward Vernon had the rum ration watered, producing a mixture that became known as grog. Many believe the term was coined in honour of the grogram cloak Admiral Vernon wore in rough weather. The Royal Navy continued to give its sailors a daily rum ration, known as a "tot", until the practice was abolished on 31 July 1970.  Today, a tot (totty) of rum is still issued on special occasions, using an order to "splice the mainbrace", which may only be given by the Queen, a member of the royal family or, on certain occasions, the admiralty board in the UK, with similar restrictions in other Commonwealth navies. Recently, such occasions have included royal marriages or birthdays, or special anniversaries. In the days of daily rum rations, the order to "splice the mainbrace" meant double rations would be issued.  A legend involving naval rum and Horatio Nelson says that following his victory and death at the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson's body was preserved in a cask of rum to allow transportation back to England. Upon arrival, however, the cask was opened and found to be empty of rum. The [pickled] body was removed and, upon inspection, it was discovered that the sailors had drilled a hole in the bottom of the cask and drunk all the rum, hence the term "Nelson's blood" being used to describe rum. It also serves as the basis for the term tapping the admiral being used to describe surreptitiously sucking liquor from a cask through a straw. The details of the story are disputed, as many historians claim the cask contained French brandy, whilst others claim instead the term originated from a toast to Admiral Nelson. Variations of the story, involving different notable corpses, have been in circulation for many years. The official record states merely that the body was placed in "refined spirits" and does not go into further detail.  The Royal New Zealand Navy was the last naval force to give sailors a free daily tot of rum. The Royal Canadian Navy still gives a rum ration on special occasions; the rum is usually provided out of the commanding officer's fund, and is 150 proof (75%). The order to "splice the mainbrace" (i.e. take rum) can be given by the Queen as commander-in-chief, as occurred on 29 June 2010, when she gave the order to the Royal Canadian Navy as part of the celebration of their 100th anniversary.  Rum was also occasionally consumed mixed with gunpowder, either after the proof was tested—proof spirit, when mixed with gunpowder, would just support combustion (57% ABV)—or to seal a vow or show loyalty to a rebellion.

Colonial Australia.

Rum became an important trade good in the early period of the colony of New South Wales. The value of rum was based upon the lack of coinage among the population of the colony, and due to the drink's ability to allow its consumer to temporarily forget about the lack of creature comforts available in the new colony. The value of rum was such that convict settlers could be induced to work the lands owned by officers of the New South Wales Corps. Due to rum's popularity among the settlers, the colony gained a reputation for drunkenness, though their alcohol consumption was less than levels commonly consumed in England at the time.  Australia was so far away from Britain that the convict colony, established in 1788, faced severe food shortages, compounded by poor conditions for growing crops and the shortage of livestock. Eventually it was realized that it might be cheaper for India, instead of Britain, to supply the settlement of Sydney. By 1817, two out of every three ships which left Sydney went to Java or India, and cargoes from Bengal fed and equipped the colony. Casks of Bengal Rum (which was reputed to be stronger than Jamaican Rum, and not so sweet) were brought back in the depths of nearly every ship from India. The cargoes were floated ashore clandestinely before the ships docked, by the British Marines regiment who controlled the sales. It was against the direct orders of the governors, who had ordered the searching of every docking ship. Britons living in India grew wealthy through sending ships to Sydney "laden half with rice and half with bad spirits".  Rum was intimately involved in the only military takeover of an Australian government, known as the Rum Rebellion. When William Bligh became governor of the colony, he attempted to remedy the perceived problem with drunkenness by outlawing the use of rum as a medium of exchange. In response to Bligh's attempt to regulate the use of rum, in 1808, the New South Wales Corps marched with fixed bayonets to Government House and placed Bligh under arrest. The mutineers continued to control the colony until the arrival of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810.

Categorization.

Dividing rum into meaningful groupings is complicated because no single standard exists for what constitutes rum. Instead, rum is defined by the varying rules and laws of the nations producing the spirit. The differences in definitions include issues such as spirit proof, minimum ageing, and even naming standards.  Mexico requires rum be aged a minimum of eight months; the Dominican Republic, Panama and Venezuela require two years. Naming standards also vary. Argentina defines rums as white, gold, light, and extra light. Grenada and Barbados uses the terms white, overproof, and matured, while the United States defines rum, rum liqueur, and flavored rum. In Australia, rum is divided into dark or red rum (underproof known as UP, overproof known as OP, and triple distilled) and white rum.  Despite these differences in standards and nomenclature, the following divisions are provided to help show the wide variety of rums produced.

Regional variations.

Within the Caribbean, each island or production area has a unique style. For the most part, these styles can be grouped by the language traditionally spoken. Due to the overwhelming influence of Puerto Rican rum, most rum consumed in the United States is produced in the "Spanish-speaking" style.  Cachaça is a spirit similar to rum that is produced in Brazil. Some countries, including the United States, classify cachaça as a type of rum. Seco, from Panama, is also a spirit similar to rum, but also similar to vodka since it is triple distilled.  Mexico produces a number of brands of light and dark rum, as well as other less-expensive flavored and unflavored sugarcane-based liquors, such as "aguardiente de caña" and "charanda". Aguardiente is also the name for unaged distilled cane spirit in some, primarily Spanish-speaking countries, since their definition of rum includes at least two years of ageing in wood.  A spirit known as "aguardiente", distilled from molasses and often infused with anise, with additional sugarcane juice added after distillation, is produced in Central America and northern South America.  In West Africa, and particularly in Liberia, 'cane juice' (also known as Liberian rum or simply "CJ" within Liberia itself) is a cheap, strong spirit distilled from sugarcane, which can be as strong as 43% ABV (86 proof). A refined cane spirit has also been produced in South Africa since the 1950s, simply known as cane or "spook".  Within Europe, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, a similar spirit made from sugar beet is known as Tuzemak.  In Germany, a cheap substitute for genuine dark rum is called "Rum-Verschnitt" (literally: blended or "cut" rum). This drink is made of genuine dark rum (often high-ester rum from Jamaica), rectified spirit, and water. Very often, caramel coloring is used, too. The relative amount of genuine rum it contains can be quite low, since the legal minimum is at only 5%. In Austria, a similar rum called "Inländerrum" or domestic rum is available. However, Austrian "Inländerrum" is always a spiced rum, such as the brand Stroh; German "Rum-Verschnitt", in contrast, is never spiced or flavored.

Grades.

The grades and variations used to describe rum depend on the location where a rum was produced. Despite these variations, the following terms are frequently used to describe various types of rum:

Production method.

Unlike some other spirits, rum has no defined production methods. Instead, rum production is based on traditional styles that vary between locations and distillers.

Fermentation.

Most rum is produced from molasses, which is made from sugarcane. A rum's quality is dependent on the quality and variety of the sugar cane that was used to create it. The sugar cane's quality depends on the soil type and climate that it was grown in. Within the Caribbean, much of this molasses is from Brazil. A notable exception is the French-speaking islands, where sugarcane juice is the preferred base ingredient. In Brazil itself, the distilled alcoholic drink derived from cane juice is distinguished from rum and called "cachaça".  Yeast and water are added to the base ingredient to start the fermentation process. While some rum producers allow wild yeasts to perform the fermentation, most use specific strains of yeast to help provide a consistent taste and predictable fermentation time. Dunder, the yeast-rich foam from previous fermentations, is the traditional yeast source in Jamaica. "The yeast employed will determine the final taste and aroma profile," says Jamaican master blender Joy Spence. Distillers that make lighter rums, such as Bacardi, prefer to use faster-working yeasts. Use of slower-working yeasts causes more esters to accumulate during fermentation, allowing for a fuller-tasting rum.  Fermentation products like 2-ethyl-3-methyl butyric acid and esters like ethyl butyrate and ethyl hexanoate give rise to the sweet and fruitiness of rum.

Distillation.

As with all other aspects of rum production, no standard method is used for distillation. While some producers work in batches using pot stills, most rum production is done using column still distillation. Pot still output contains more congeners than the output from column stills, so produces fuller-tasting rums.

Ageing and blending.

Many countries require rum to be aged for at least one year. This ageing is commonly performed in used bourbon casks, but may also be performed in other types of wooden casks or stainless steel tanks. The ageing process determines the colour of the rum. When aged in oak casks, it becomes dark, whereas rum aged in stainless steel tanks remains virtually colourless.  Due to the tropical climate, common to most rum-producing areas, rum matures at a much higher rate than is typical for whisky or brandy. An indication of this higher rate is the angels' share, or amount of product lost to evaporation. While products aged in France or Scotland see about 2% loss each year, tropical rum producers may see as much as 10%.  After ageing, rum is normally blended to ensure a consistent flavour, the final step in the rum-making process. During blending, light rums may be filtered to remove any colour gained during ageing. For dark rums, caramel may be added for colour.  There have been attempts to match the molecular composition of aged rum in significantly shorter time spans with artificial aging using heat and light.

In cuisine.

Besides rum punches, cocktails such as the Cuba libre and daiquiri have well-known stories of their invention in the Caribbean. Tiki culture in the U.S. helped expand rum's horizons with inventions such as the mai tai and zombie. Other well-known cocktails containing rum include the piña colada, a drink made popular in America by Rupert Holmes' song "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)", and the mojito. Cold-weather drinks made with rum include the rum toddy and.  A number of local specialties also use rum, including Bermuda's Dark 'N' Stormy (Gosling's Black Seal rum with ginger beer), the "painkiller" from the British Virgin Islands, and a New Orleans cocktail known as the Hurricane. Jagertee is a mixture of rum and black tea popular in colder parts of Central Europe and served on special occasions in the British Army, where it is called Gunfire. Ti' Punch, French Creole for "petit punch", is a traditional drink in parts of the French West Indies.  Rum may also be used as a base in the manufacture of liqueurs and syrups, such as falernum and most notably, Mamajuana.  Rum is used in a number of cooked dishes as a flavoring agent in items such as rum balls or rum cakes. It is commonly used to macerate fruit used in fruitcakes and is also used in marinades for some Caribbean dishes. Rum is also used in the preparation of rumtopf, bananas Foster and some hard sauces. Rum is sometimes mixed into ice cream, often with raisins, and in baking it is occasionally used in Joe Froggers, a type of cookie from New England.

Rum is a liquor made by fermenting then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Most rums are produced in Caribbean and American countries, but also in other sugar producing countries, such as the Philippines and India.

Rum je alkoholický nápoj destilovaný z melasy nebo ze šťávy získané z cukrové třtiny. Původ slova rum není jasný. Odborníci uvádějí dvě varianty. Podle první teorie je slovo rum odvozeno od slova rumbellion, což je anglicky „velký ruch“. Podle druhého tábora pochází pojmenování tohoto nápoje od latinského názvu „sacharum officinarium“.


History.

1885–1938.

The prison was built in 1885–1889 in order to replace the obsolete St Wenceslas Prison ("Svatováclavská trestnice"), which used to stand between Charles Square and the Vltava River. The site for the new prison was out of city limits, amidst fields above Nusle suburb, in the time of its construction. Nevertheless, the expanding Prague encompassed the prison within several decades. At the time of its opening, the prison was a fairly modern institution with hot air central heating; solitary confinement cells had hot water heating. The prison had gas lighting and its own gasworks. It opened in 1889 under name "The Imperial-Royal prison for men in Prague" ("C.k. mužská zemská trestnice v Praze").  The prison included bathrooms, classrooms (prisoners were obliged to attend various types of education), a lecture hall, gymnasium, 22 workshop rooms, 6 exercise yards, a Roman Catholic church, an Evangelical chapel, and a Jewish house of prayer. The bedroom section of the prison hospital had 22 rooms for patients from among the prisoners. A large building of Regional court was added to the facility in 1926 and since then it served as the largest of 37 Regional Court prisons for detainees and prisoners serving up to 1-year imprisonment terms. The court and the prison are connected by underground corridor.  In 1926 the prison was also approved for conducting capital punishment (by hanging). The first execution took place on 6 December 1930, when František Lukšík was hanged for committing a murder and robbery. Altogether 5 executions took place in the prison between 1930 and 1938, when the democratic First Czechoslovak Republic ceased to exist following the Munich Agreement and German, Hungarian and Polish occupation of the country's border areas.

German Nazi occupation 1939–1945.

During Nazi German occupation in 1939–1945, the German Gestapo investigation unit and court were established at the prison. The Czech prison guards were replaced by Waffen SS members. Thousands of Czech people, from members of the resistance to alleged black marketeers, were detained here before being sent to execution sites, especially the Kobylisy Shooting Range, to other prisons within Nazi Germany, or to concentration camps. The prison capacity was boosted to 2,200, and it became the largest prison in the occupied country. In spring 1943 the Nazi Germans started carrying out executions directly inside the facility itself, where three cells had been adapted for this purpose.  General Josef Bílý, who at the beginning of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia led the anti-Nazi resistance group Obrana Národa ("National Defense"), was imprisoned at Pankrác Prison before being executed by shooting elsewhere in 1941. Bílý refused a blindfold and his last words to his executioners were "Shoot, you German dogs!"  Between 5 April 1943 and 26 April 1945 a total of 1,079 people (including 175 women) were beheaded by guillotine in Pankrác by Nazi executioners; the number of people executed by hanging at this period is unknown. The chief Nazi executioner was Alois Weiss. The three rooms used for this purpose (colloquially referred to as the "sekyrárna", or "axe room" in Czech) have been preserved, and serve as memorial that is occasionally accessible to schools and public.

Postwar period.

After the war, many executions of Nazi officials and collaborators took place in the prison, including the hanging of Karl Hermann Frank, as well as Kurt Daluege, the SS chief responsible for the Lidice and Ležáky massacres. Initially, the executions of Nazis were public, but this practice was soon abandoned.  Following the 1948 communist coup d'état, Pankrác Prison became the place of execution of most of the 234 political prisoners that were executed in Czechoslovakia, including the former Member of Parliament and anti-communist dissident Milada Horáková. Following a power struggle within the party, Rudolf Slánský, former head of the Czechoslovak communist party and one of the creators and organizers of the 1948 coup was killed here as well.  Since 1954, the prison was the only place in the Czech lands where capital punishments were carried out (with few executions taking place between 1968 and 1989 in Bratislava, as regards the Slovak part of the then federation).  In 1960s Czechoslovakia became the only country to the East of the Iron Curtain which accepted the United Nations standard minimum rules for prisons. This meant introduction of specialists, e.g. psychologists and pedagogues.  In the last decades before the abolition of capital punishment in Czechoslovakia, the vast majority of executions (by hanging) took place here, the last in 1989. With view to the fact that the number of people executed by hanging by Nazi Germans is unknown, altogether at least 1,580 people were executed in Pankrác Prison between 1930 and 1989.  The Czech dissident Pavel Wonka, who was the last political prisoner to die under the communist regime, was imprisoned at Pankrác, although ultimately he died at a prison in Hradec Králové in 1988.

2011 attempted riot.

In 2011, prisoners started secret preparations for a riot. After discovering a large stockpile of stabbing and slashing weapons in Pankrác Prison's workshops, the Prison Service and the Czech Police uncovered plans for a coordinated riot in 5 different prisons around the country, effectively preventing it from happening.

The present.

Today, the Pankrác Prison serves as a house of detention for charged persons, and partly as a prison for sentenced persons. While the official capacity in 2006 was 858 inmates (with 586 staff), it was 1075 persons by year 2012 (incl. 111 capacity of the prison hospital). Since 2008, also women are incarcerated here. According to an official report of the Czech Prison Service, the prison held on average 361 people on remand (incl. 27 women) and 690 convicts (incl. 26 women) in 2011; most convicts were held under B and C security level, with only 53 under A (lightest) and 20 under D (maximum security).  Of the 361 persons held on remand, 171 were foreigners, mostly from Ukraine (28), Romania (27), Slovakia (25), Vietnam (18), Russia (13), Bulgaria, Nigeria (10), Moldova (7) or Uzbekistan (7), with other nationalities being less numerous.  During the week, convicted prisoners are involved in 40 to 50 activities whose purpose is to reduce tension and uncertainties which accumulate due to being imprisoned. Working opportunities are only available to a small part of detainees. The convicts work in the framework of internal workplaces, e.g., such as KOVO, Printing office, Laundry, Maintenance, Automobile repair shops. The total of 25 workplaces have been established for the convicts in the prison where working activities take place. Also, some convicts work at workplaces out of the prison.  In the prison, 9 educational, 22 special-interest (club-or hobby-oriented), and 14 special formative activities are organized for convicted inmates (not to those held on remand, though). Based on the result of diagnostic examination, a treatment program is designed for each convict. The goal of such program is the development of personality, enhancement of creativeness in purposeful uses of free time, and improvement in the involvement in civilian life of the convicts. Sporting activities are also available to the convicts during outings or in the form of exercises and games in the prison’s gymnasium.  The premises contain also as the Pankrác Memorial, containing an exhibition on the Prison Service.

Criticism.

While the Czech prison system is facing much general criticism mainly due to overcrowding and under-financing, its shortcomings are even more felt in the remand prisons, including the Pankrác Prison. Although the principle of "not guilty until proven otherwise" applies, in reality the inmates held on remand face worse regime than those convicted, as they cannot take part in educational, sport or working activities, mostly because they are expected to be held only for a limited time (the average is approximately 100 days) before being either released or moved after the verdict.  The prisoners held on remand spend up to 23 hours a day locked in their prison cells, where there is no access to warm water and often also not to electricity (apart from lights switched on and off by the guards from outside). In 2012, the inmates were allowed to take warm water shower only twice a week, with each shower being limited to five minutes.  Phone calls are allowed only once every two weeks. According to Mindii Kašibadze, who spent two years in Pankrác on remand before the Czech courts eventually dismissed his Georgian international arrest warrant, the prison is infested with rats and has only "five cells of European standard which are a show case for outside visitors".

Tunnel.

The tunnel between the Pankrác Prison and the High Court in Prague allows safe passage of detainees from the prison to the courthouse. Therefore, some high security risk cases, such as the 2010 Russian mafia bosses' trial, take place at the High Court's building. In such cases, the responsible judges from other districts come to conduct trial in the High Court's building, rather than detainees being transported to their courthouses.

Some people imprisoned or executed in Pankrác.

Anti-Nazi Resistance:  Other political victims of German Nazi persecutions:  Perpetrators of war crimes and Nazi collaborators:  Victims of communist purges:  Notorious criminals:  Other:

Pankrác Prison, officially Prague Pankrác Remand Prison ("Vazební věznice Praha Pankrác" in Czech), is a prison in Prague, Czech Republic. A part of the Czech Prison Service, it is located southeast of Prague city centre in Pankrác, not far from Pražského povstání metro station on Line C. It serves partially as a prison for persons awaiting trial and partially for convicted inmates. Since 2008, women have also been incarcerated here.

Věznice Pankrác, v současné době vazební věznice Praha Pankrác, je věznice v Praze. Je umístěna jižně od centra Prahy v Nuslích na Pankráci, nedaleko stanice pražského metra Pražského povstání a přímo navazuje na budovu Vrchního soudu v Praze na Náměstí Hrdinů.


History.

In 2009, Excalibur Almaz hoped to begin flights by 2012 with revenue flights starting as early as 2013. , Excalibur Almaz updated its mission service offerings to include lunar and deep space capabilities. Based on independent market studies, these missions beyond Low Earth Orbit will provide the best business opportunity for commercial space transportation companies. Because of these more ambitious service offerings, Excalibur Almaz had pushed back its first launch to 2015.  In June 2012, Excalibur Almaz signed an agreement with XCOR Aerospace for suborbital familiarisation and flight training services.  In March 2016, plans were announced to have the equipment converted into an educational exhibit, owing to lack of funds.

Company.

Excalibur Almaz was based in Douglas, Isle of Man, with offices in Houston and Moscow.  In October 2011, NASA signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement for work related to the Commercial Crew Development program. Details have not yet been released. In July 2012, Excalibur Almaz Inc. (EAI) successfully completed its Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program.  Jonathan Clark, NASA flight surgeon on six Space Shuttle missions—and whose wife, Laurel Clark, died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on shuttle mission STS-107—is a consultant on spacesuit and crew biological environment design for Excalibur Almaz.

Operations.

Spacecraft.

Excalibur Almaz was designing a spacecraft based on the VA capsule hull from the TKS spacecraft. The VA is a space capsule from the Soviet space program, originally designed for the military Almaz space station program. The needed development of propulsion systems for the VA capsule was reportedly delegated to a then undisclosed European organisation as early as 2009. While the needed service module for an Excalibur Almaz capsule would have superficially resemble the FGB of the TKS spacecraft, it is based on Astrium's ATV design according to Art Dula, the chairman of Excalibur Almaz.  The potential Excalibur Almaz stations was to use two hulls from the Almaz space station program. The company's Soviet-era spacecraft were moved from Russia to Excalibur Almaz facilities on the Isle of Man in early 2011. EA "planned to use the modules to provide extra room and supplies for the tourists and researchers it hoped to ferry into space." Excalibur Almaz's two Salyut-class 29-ton space stations, each with a capacity of 95 cubic meters will serve as the heart of its lunar and deep space capabilities. The Soviet-era electronics have been completely gutted and supposedly replaced with modern avionics supplied from an unnamed company.  By using modernised, tried-and-tested equipment rather than developing technology from scratch, the project was reportedly saving around $2 billion in development costs. The Russian Proton rocket, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, was intended to be used to launch one of the spacecraft into space, where it would have remained. Astronauts were to use the Excalibur Almaz RRVs to get to and from the spacecraft.

Training.

Excalibur Almaz had established a 2012 agreement with XCOR Aerospace to provide a suite of suborbital flight experiences as training milestones in preparation for orbital and trans-lunar missions.

Space launch services.

In 2010, Excalibur Almaz partnered with Space Launch Services (SLS) to finance Sea Launch's preparations to emerge from Chapter 11 with $12 million (USD) of debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to provide investment in a financial reorganisation of Sea Launch. SLS earlier provided $12.5 million of DIP funds to Sea Launch in December 2009.

Company's problems.

A secondhand Soviet-era space capsule that launched into space twice was set to be sold in Belgium on 2014-05-07. The Russian VA (Vozvraschaemyi Apparat, return vehicle) crew and cargo spacecraft was offered by the Berlin-based Lempertz auction house at its newly opened gallery in Brussels. The capsule was said to be the first historic spacecraft to be put up for sale in Europe. The VA capsule was sold to Excalibur Almaz (EA), a British company that planned to reuse the Soviet artefacts to offer commercial spaceflight services. In total, EA acquired four VA capsules and two Almaz (Salyut) modules in hopes of flying the combined spacecraft as a crew and cargo transportation system to the Moon, the asteroids and deep space. The VA spacecraft being offered still bears the Excalibur Almaz name and logo, as well as the flags of Russia, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the United States. It was sold to an anonymous bidder for 1 million euro.  In September 2013 Dula, J. Buckner Hightower and Excalibur Almaz Ltd. were brought to court under the charges of fraud of $300,000 for the planned asteroid mining project. The case ended with conciliation in January 2014.  In November 2014 Art Dula, Dula's law office associate Anat Friedman, his business partner J. Buckner Hightower, The Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust, Excalibur Limited, Excalibur Almaz Limited and Excalibur Almaz USA Inc were all sued by Japanese entrepreneur Takafumi Horie for fraud. The amount mentioned was $49 million, allegedly provided by Takafumi to run the company. It is alleged that some of the money was spent to buy Soviet hardware, which, as the businessman states, turned out to be "museum specimens". Some of the money was also transferred into Dula's own name. Other alleged irregularities included reducing Takafumi's shareholding percentage.  In March 2015 one of the two hulls of Soviet-built Almaz space stations, along with the remaining VA capsule, was shipped to the Isle of Man's seaport. The destination of the hardware remained unknown.

Excalibur Almaz was a private spaceflight company which planned to provide a variety of deep space crewed exploration missions, micro-gravity science, and payload delivery. EA also aimed to offer Low Earth Orbit cargo and crew delivery and return.

Excalibur Almaz je soukromá společnost zabývající se vesmírnými lety. Společnost plánuje provozování orbitálních letů s posádkou pomocí modernizovaných ruských kosmických lodí TKS a vypuštění několika vesmírných stanic odvozených od ruských stanic Almaz. Hodlá se zaměřit na vesmírnou turistiku a poskytování testovací základny pro experimenty v prostředí mikrogravitace.


Temple of Amun.

Just left of the entrance to the "Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III" is the "Temple of Amun", (Ancient Egyptian: "Djeser Set") dating to the 18th Dynasty, built by Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. It has undergone many alterations and modifications over the years, partially in the 20th, 25th, 26th, 29th and 30th Dynasties and the Greco-Roman period.

Temple of Ramesses III.

The temple, some long, is of orthodox design, and resembles closely the "mortuary temple of Ramesses II" (the Ramesseum). It is quite well preserved and surrounded by a massive mudbrick enclosure, which may have been fortified. The original entrance is through a fortified gate-house, known as a "migdol" (and resembling an Asiatic fortress).  Just inside the enclosure, to the south, are chapels of Amenirdis I, Shepenupet II and Nitiqret, all of whom had the title of Divine Adoratrice of Amun.  The first pylon leads into an open courtyard, lined with colossal statues of Ramesses III as Osiris on one side, and uncarved columns on the other. The second pylon leads into a peristyle hall, again featuring columns of Ramses III. This leads up a ramp that leads (through a columned portico) to the third pylon and then into the large hypostyle hall (which has lost its roof).  In Coptic times, there was a church inside the temple structure, but it has since been removed. Some of the carvings in the main wall of the temple have been altered by Coptic carvings.

Temple of Ay & Horemheb.

Located just north of the "Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III", right up to the mud-brick wall that surrounds it, lies the badly preserved Temple of Ay & Horemheb.

Medinet Habu (Arabic: ; Egyptian: "Tjamet" or "Djamet"; Coptic: "Djeme" or "Djemi") is an archaeological locality situated near the foot of the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the River Nile opposite the modern city of Luxor, Egypt. Although other structures are located within the area, the location is today associated almost exclusively (and indeed, most synonymously) with the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III.

Medínit Habu (v egyptštině Džamet, koptsky Džéme) je současné arabské označení archeologické lokality v jižním Egyptě na západním břehu Nilu naproti luxorskému chrámu v okruhu staroegyptského města Vesetu. Název je odvozen od jména významného hodnostáře a mudrce Amenhotepa, syna Hapiho (egyptsky "Amenhotep sa Hapu"), jehož zádušní chrám se zde kdysi nacházel. Místo bylo kultovním centrem jedné z podob boha Amona. Dnes se zde nacházejí pozůstatky královských zádušních chrámů z doby Nové říše, zejména rozsáhlý chrámový komplex panovníka 20. dynastie Ramesse III. komplex byl obehnán moutnou několik metrů vysokou cihlovou zdí a byl tak zároveň pevností. Uvnitř se nacházel královský palác, sklady, příbytky kněží či posvátná jezírka.