Biography.

José Ortega y Gasset was born 9 May 1883 in Madrid. His father was director of the newspaper "El Imparcial", which belonged to the family of his mother, Dolores Gasset. The family was definitively of Spain's end-of-the-century liberal and educated bourgeoisie. The liberal tradition and journalistic engagement of his family had a profound influence in Ortega y Gasset's activism in politics.  Ortega was first schooled by the Jesuit priests of San Estanislao in Miraflores del Palo, Málaga (1891–1897). He attended the University of Deusto, Bilbao (1897–98) and the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the Central University of Madrid (now Complutense University of Madrid) (1898–1904), receiving a doctorate in Philosophy. From 1905 to 1907, he continued his studies in Germany at Leipzig, Nuremberg, Cologne, Berlin and, above all Marburg. At Marburg, he was influenced by the neo-Kantianism of Hermann Cohen and Paul Natorp, among others.  On his return to Spain in 1908, he was appointed professor of Psychology, Logic and Ethics at the Escuela Superior del Magisterio de Madrid. In 1910, he married, a Spanish translator and feminist, and was named full professor of Metaphysics at Complutense University of Madrid, a vacant seat previously held by Nicolás Salmerón.  In 1917 he became a contributor to the newspaper "El Sol", where he published, as a series of essays, his two principal works: "España invertebrada" ("Invertebrate Spain") and "La rebelión de las masas" ("The Revolt of the Masses"). The latter made him internationally famous. He founded the "" in 1923, remaining its director until 1936. This publication promoted translation of (and commentary upon) the most important figures and tendencies in philosophy, including Oswald Spengler, Johan Huizinga, Edmund Husserl, Georg Simmel, Jakob von Uexküll, Heinz Heimsoeth, Franz Brentano, Hans Driesch, Ernst Müller, Alexander Pfänder, and Bertrand Russell.  Elected deputy for the Province of León in the constituent assembly of the Second Spanish Republic, he was the leader of a parliamentary group of intellectuals known as "Agrupación al Servicio de la República" ("The Grouping at the Service of the Republic"), which supported the platform of Socialist Republican candidates, but he soon abandoned politics, disappointed.  Leaving Spain at the outbreak of the Civil War, he spent years of exile in Buenos Aires, Argentina until moving back to Europe in 1942. He settled in Portugal by mid-1945 and slowly began to make short visits to Spain. In 1948 he returned to Madrid, where he founded the Institute of Humanities, at which he lectured. Upon his return to Spain, he often privately expressed his hostility to the Franco regime, stating that the government did not deserve anyone's confidence and that his beliefs were "incompatible with Franco."

Philosophy.

Liberalism.

"The Revolt of the Masses" is Ortega's best known work. In this book he defends the values of meritocratic liberalism reminiscent of John Stuart Mill against attacks from both communists and right-wing populists. Ortega likewise shares Mill's fears of the "tyranny of the majority" and the "collective mediocrity" of the masses, which threaten individuality, free thought, and protections for minorities. Ortega characterized liberalism as a politics of "magnanimity."  Ortega's rejection of the Spanish Conservative Party under Antonio Cánovas del Castillo and his successors was unequivocal, as was his distrust of the Spanish monarchy and Catholic Church. However, again in a manner similar to Mill, Ortega was open-minded toward certain socialists and non-Marxist forms of socialism, and even complimented Pablo Iglesias Posse as a "lay saint." Under the influence of German social democrats such as Paul Natorp and Hermann Cohen, he adopted a communitarian ontology and could be critical of capitalism, particularly the laissez-faire variant, declaring that "nineteenth-century capitalism has demoralized humanity" and that it had "impoverished the ethical consciousness of man."

"Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia".

For Ortega y Gasset, philosophy has a critical duty to lay siege to beliefs in order to promote new ideas and to explain reality. To accomplish such tasks, the philosopher must—as Husserl proposed—leave behind prejudices and previously existing beliefs, and investigate the essential reality of the universe. Ortega y Gasset proposes that philosophy must overcome the limitations of both idealism (in which reality centers around the ego) and ancient-medieval realism (in which reality is outside the subject) to focus on the only truthful reality: "my life"—the life of each individual. He suggests that there is no "me" without things, and things are nothing without me: "I" (human being) cannot be detached from "my circumstance" (world). This led Ortega y Gasset to pronounce his famous maxim "Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia" ("I am I and my circumstance") ("Meditaciones del Quijote", 1914) which he always put at the core of his philosophy.  For Ortega y Gasset, as for Husserl, the Cartesian 'cogito ergo sum' is insufficient to explain reality. Therefore, the Spanish philosopher proposes a system wherein the basic or "radical" reality is "my life" (the first "yo"), which consists of "I" (the second "yo") and "my circumstance" ("mi circunstancia"). This "circunstancia" is oppressive; therefore, there is a continual dialectical interaction between the person and his or her circumstances and, as a result, life is a drama that exists between necessity and freedom.  In this sense Ortega y Gasset wrote that life is at the same time fate and freedom, and that freedom "is being free inside of a given fate. Fate gives us an inexorable repertory of determinate possibilities, that is, it gives us different destinies. We accept fate and within it we choose one destiny." In this tied down fate we must therefore be active, decide and create a "project of life"—thus not be like those who live a conventional life of customs and given structures who prefer an unconcerned and imperturbable life because they are afraid of the duty of choosing a project.

Ratiovitalism.

With a philosophical system that centered around life, Ortega y Gasset also stepped out of Descartes' "cogito ergo sum" and asserted "I live therefore I think". This stood at the root of his Kantian-inspired perspectivism, which he developed by adding a non-relativistic character in which absolute truth does exist and would be obtained by the sum of all perspectives of all lives, since for each human being life takes a concrete form and life itself is a true radical reality from which any philosophical system must derive. In this sense, Ortega coined the terms "vital reason" (, "reason with life as its foundation") to refer to a new type of reason that constantly defends the life from which it has surged and "ratiovitalism" (), a theory that based knowledge in the radical reality of life, one of whose essential components is reason itself. This system of thought, which he introduces in "History as System", escaped from Nietzsche's vitalism in which life responded to impulses; for Ortega, reason is crucial to create and develop the above-mentioned project of life.

Historical reason.

For Ortega y Gasset, vital reason is also "historical reason", for individuals and societies are not detached from their past. In order to understand a reality we must understand, as Dilthey pointed out, its history.

Influence.

Ortega y Gasset's influence was considerable, not only because many sympathized with his philosophical writings, but also because those writings did not require that the reader be well-versed in technical philosophy.  Among those strongly influenced by Ortega y Gasset were Luis Buñuel,,, Xavier Zubiri, Ignacio Ellacuría, Emilio Komar, José Gaos, Luis Recasens,, Francisco Ayala, María Zambrano,, Máximo Etchecopar, Pedro Laín Entralgo,, Julián Marías, John Lukacs, Pierre Bourdieu,, Olavo de Carvalho, Vicente Ferreira da Silva, Vilém Flusser and Félix Martí-Ibáñez.  The Ortega hypothesis, based on a quote in "The Revolt of the Masses", states that average or mediocre scientists contribute substantially to the advancement of science.  German grape breeder Hans Breider named the grape variety Ortega in his honor.  The American philosopher Graham Harman has recognized Ortega y Gasset as a source of inspiration for his own object-oriented ontology.  "La rebelión de las masas" ("The Revolt of the Masses") has been translated into English twice. The first, in 1932, is by a translator who wanted to remain anonymous, generally accepted to be J.R. Carey. The second translation was published by the University of Notre Dame Press in 1985, in association with W.W. Norton & Co. This translation was by Anthony Kerrigan (translator) and Kenneth Moore (editor), with an introduction by Saul Bellow.  Mildred Adams is the translator (into English) of the main body of Ortega's work, including "Invertebrate Spain", "Man and Crisis", "What is Philosophy?", "Some Lessons in Metaphysics", "The Idea of Principle in Leibniz and the Evolution of Deductive Theory", and "An Interpretation of Universal History".

Madrid School.

The Madrid School (also School of Madrid; ) was a group of philosophers, the members of which were students of Ortega y Gasset, who share an intellectual tradition of arguing against naturalism and positivism. Members included José Gaos, Julián Marías, and Xavier Zubiri.

Influence on the Generation of '27.

Ortega y Gasset had considerable influence on writers of the Generation of '27, a group of poets that arose in Spanish literature in the 1920s.

Works.

Much of Ortega y Gasset's work consists of course lectures published years after the fact, often posthumously. This list attempts to list works in chronological order by when they were written, rather than when they were published.

José Ortega y Gasset (; 9 May 1883 – 18 October 1955) was a Spanish philosopher and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century, while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism, and dictatorship. His philosophy has been characterized as a "philosophy of life" that "comprised a long-hidden beginning in a pragmatist metaphysics inspired by William James, and with a general method from a realist phenomenology imitating Edmund Husserl, which served both his proto-existentialism (prior to Martin Heidegger's) and his realist historicism, which has been compared to both Wilhelm Dilthey and Benedetto Croce."

José Ortega y Gasset (* 9. Mai 1883 in Madrid; † 18. Oktober 1955 ebenda) war ein spanischer Philosoph, Soziologe und Essayist. Er gilt neben Miguel de Unamuno als der bedeutendste spanische Denker des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts und hat auf eine ganze Generation spanischer Intellektueller – insbesondere auf die sogenannte "Escuela de Madrid" („Schule von Madrid“) – nachhaltigen Einfluss ausgeübt. Zu seinen wichtigsten Schülern zählen María Zambrano, Xavier Zubiri, Julián Marías Aguilera, José Gaos, und Antonio Rodríguez Huéscar.


Fire.

The fire began in Eduard Cohen's cigar factory at Deichstraße 42 or 44 early in the morning of May 5, 1842; a neighbor alerted the night watch at about 1 a.m. It quickly spread to number 25, across the street. The weather had been unusually dry, and the wind was strong and changeable. Hamburg had fire lookouts on church towers, known as "Türmer", in addition to night watchmen who had horns to sound to report a fire, and a code by which church bells reported the location and severity of fires. Volunteer teams of firefighters competed to earn a premium by being first to reach a fire. The city was dense with wooden and half-timbered houses, which tended to be tall and narrow, reflecting the shape of the building plots, and merchants operated their businesses out of their houses, so that many included warehouses containing flammables such as rubber and shellac. The provision of water for firefighting, from the Elbe and canals, was inefficient: low water made pumping difficult, and the leather hoses would not slide on ladders, so that water could not be pumped above ground level. By daybreak much of the Altstadt was on fire.  As the fire continued to burn, collapsed buildings prevented fireboats from using the canals, and there was no system to coordinate the firefighters from different parishes. Firefighters from outside the city, as far away as Lübeck and Kiel, joined the effort. Some buildings were blown up in an attempt to create firebreaks, including the old Rathaus (city hall), originally built in 1290; 18 wagonloads of records were salvaged from it first. May 5 was Ascension Day; a few hours after the midday feastday service, despite strenuous efforts, the spire of the Nikolaikirche collapsed, and the church burned down. There was panic and extensive looting; the militia aided in the firefighting until it had to combat looting instead. About half the population, some 70,000 people, fled.  After three days and nights, thanks to a further shift in the wind and what remained of the former walls of the city, the fire was finally put out at 7 am on May 8; the location is marked by the street name "Brandsende", "fire's end", near the main station. 51 people died, including 22 of the firefighters, and approximately a third of the city was destroyed, including 1,700 residential buildings containing more than 4,000 homes, more than 100 warehouses, seven churches, two synagogues, sixty schools, and public buildings including the in addition to the Rathaus. Approximately 20,000 people were left homeless, including four senators.

Aftermath.

The fire was covered in the world press, including engravings in an early issue of the "Illustrated London News". Hermann Biow, a pioneering photographer, took daguerrotypes from the roof of the new Stock Exchange building, which had survived; these are the first photographs of the city and possibly the first news photographs. Painted dioramas depicting the catastrophe later toured. A visual vocabulary derived from Roman ruins was used to depict the magnitude of the disaster.  Almost 7 million marks was raised in an international appeal to help the survivors, in which the largest donors were Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and King Louis Philippe of France. The cities of Antwerp, London, Riga, Rotterdam, and St. Petersburg donated funds. 60 German writers donated work for a fund-raising "Hansa-Album". Salomon Heine, uncle of the poet Heinrich Heine, insisted on meeting his obligations as an insurer and persuaded other merchants to do so.

Effects.

The city was rebuilt quickly, with a greater use of brick and a brief fashion for Classical "white city" architecture in public buildings. A Technical Commission was established; a British engineer, William Lindley, proposed a reconstruction plan that was adopted with modifications (maintaining property lines rather than straightening all the streets) and designed a project to drain and develop the Hammerbrook area, which was built up with rubble from the fire. (Lindley had already been involved in planning the city's first railroad connection, the Hamburg-Bergedorf Railway Company, which had been due to open on May 7 and instead was put in service two days early to bring firefighters from elsewhere and evacuate survivors.) Building with wood was no longer permitted, firewalls and fireproof gables were mandated and regulations applied to chimneys and sources of ignition, and streets were widened. Merchants increasingly built separate warehouses near the docks, moved their residences to the suburbs, and from the 1880s on, constructed dedicated buildings called "Kontorhäuser" for their businesses. Lindley spearheaded the construction of sewers and a water supply, although the city declined to spend the money to sand-filter the river water, so that the water became notorious for its living and dead contents and contributed to the cholera epidemic of 1892. By 1870 a modern gas network and streetlighting were also in place. The fire-fighting system was reorganized; by 1866 a survey noted that there were two fire districts, a high-pressure water supply, and almost 2,000 hydrants.  The fire caused 100 million marks in losses, seriously straining many insurance companies. The municipal Hamburger Feuerkasse (Hamburg Fire Fund) or "Cassa", participation in which had been made mandatory for most residents in 1817, was liable for 38 million marks, approximately equivalent to 1 billion euro in 2006 money, and had to raise a bond for 34.4 million marks (with Salomon Heine putting up much of the collateral), which it paid off over 46 years. The private Gothaer Feuer (Gotha Fire) had to have 250,000 thalers in coins shipped to Hamburg to satisfy claimants who insisted on payment in Prussian currency. After the fire, British insurers increasingly concentrated on the British Empire. The disaster was the primary impetus to the establishment of the first reinsurance company, Kölnische Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft or Kölnische Rück (Cologne Re), an ancestor of Gen Re, which was first discussed later in 1842, although it was not chartered until 1846.

In literature.

Elise Averdieck came into the city from the suburb of St. Georg during the fire and described the scenes in the streets; she also described it in "Roland und Elisabeth" (1851; repr. 1962), part 2 of her "Kinderleben", autobiographical tales for children. The fire is the setting of novels by Carl Reinhardt ("Der Brand von Hamburg oder der fünfte Mai. Ein Lebensbild von der Unterelbe", 1874; repr. 1989) and Edgar Maass ("Das große Feuer", 1939; repr. 1950) and a story by Paul Schurek ("Der Hamburger Brand", 1922; repr. 1949).

The Great fire of Hamburg began early on May 5, 1842, in Deichstraße and burned until the morning of May 8, destroying about one third of the buildings in the Altstadt. It killed 51 people and destroyed 1,700 residences and several important public buildings, necessitating major civic rebuilding and prompting infrastructure improvements. The heavy demand on insurance companies led to the establishment of reinsurance.

Der Hamburger Brand war ein großer Stadtbrand in Hamburg, der zwischen dem 5. Mai und dem 8. Mai 1842 große Teile der Altstadt zerstörte. Im Zusammenhang mit der Hamburger Geschichte wird häufig auch nur vom Großen Brand gesprochen. Das Feuer war noch in einer Entfernung von über 50 Kilometern sichtbar.


Geography.

The city is located on the Moskva-Oka plain, in the center of the East European Plain, south-east of the capital, 37km from the center of Moscow, on the Moscow - Kashira highway and the Paveletsky suburban direction of Moscow Railway, near the federal highway, M-4 "Don". Most of the town is located to the west of the railway line. The town stretches from north to south along the railroad tracks on 26 kilometers. The climate is moderate continental, with cold, snowy winters, and warm, humid summers. The frequent passage of cyclones from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean sometimes causes an increase in cloud cover. Average mid-January temperature is about -10,5 °C, and mid-July is +17,5 °C. The average duration of the frost-free period is 130 days. Soil is alluvial, gray forest. Water resources are virtually non-existent. The main rivers that flows in the area are Rozhayka, Severka and Pakhra Rivers.

History.

The name of the modern town, Domodedovo which was incorporated in 1900, was given after nearby village with the same name, was first mentioned around 1401 in the spiritual literacy of Vladimir the Bold, Prince of Serpukhov and Borovski. The modern city is located on the old road, Kashira way, that for centuries connected Moscow with Kashira and many other southern cities.  In the 17th century within the town of Domodedovo two villages existed: Nazarevo () and Sknilovo (). The exact date of their disappearance is unknown.  In 1781, during the administrative reform of Catherine II a city called Nikitsk was founded on site Kolychёva village and was a district seat in the Moscow Governorate. The Nikitsky District included Domodedovo village as well as Nikitskoye, Bityagovo and Zaborye which were part of the territory of today's Domodedovo District, and directly, on the territory of the town itself.  Almost until the middle of the 19th century the town area was overgrown with small bushes and deciduous trees. During 1861 the peasant reform, on part of the land that belonged to the town of Podolsk in Domodedovo District, the Domodedovo palace forest dacha was formed.  Domodedovo was founded in 1900 as a settlement next to a train station of the same name. It was called after a nearby village of Domodedovo, which is known to have existed since 1410. It was granted town status in 1947. The Domodedovo International Airport is located a few kilometers away from Domodedovo proper.  In 2007, a referendum on the building of a toll motorway within the city limits took place, where 95% of the inhabitants voted against. A group of residents of Domodedovo have announced the establishment of the "Russian Democratic Republic" and asked the European Union for official recognition.

Administrative and municipal status.

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with 139 rural localities, incorporated as Domodedovo Town Under Oblast Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. The administrative division was established on April 1, 2011 as a result of abolishing Domodedovsky District, the territory of which was re-organized as the town under oblast jurisdiction.  As a municipal division, Domodedovo Town Under Oblast Jurisdiction is incorporated as Domodedovo Urban Okrug.

Economy.

There is a big industrial area with construction materials plants and warehouses complexes. Transaero had its head office on the property of Domodedovo Airport.

Media.

The local newspaper is "Prizyv"; the local TV-stations are "TV-Domodedovo" and "Aviatel".

Domodedovo () is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located south of Moscow. Population: The increase of population is due to the merger of three neighboring inhabited localities into the town in 2004.

Domodedowo () ist eine Stadt in der Oblast Moskau in Russland, mit Einwohnern (Stand ). Sie liegt 37 km südlich von Moskau. Nächstgelegene Städte sind die jeweils rund 20 km entfernten Podolsk und Widnoje.


Early life and career.

Thunders was born John Anthony Genzale in Queens, New York, United States, where he first lived in East Elmhurst and then Jackson Heights.  His first musical performance was in the winter of 1967 with The Reign. Shortly thereafter, he played with Johnny and the Jaywalkers, under the name Johnny Volume, at Quintano's School for Young Professionals, around the corner from Carnegie Hall, on 56th Street near 7th Avenue.  In 1968 he began going to the Fillmore East and Bethesda Fountain in Central Park on weekends. His older sister, Mariann, started styling his hair like Keith Richards. In late 1969 he got a job as a sales clerk at D'Naz leather shop, on Bleecker Street in the West Village, and started trying to put a band together. He and his girlfriend, Janis Cafasso, went to see The Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden in November 1969, and they appear in the Maysles' film, "Gimme Shelter".  Dolls bass guitarist Arthur "Killer" Kane later wrote about Thunders' guitar sound, as he described arriving outside the rehearsal studio where they were meeting to jam together for the first time: "I heard someone playing a guitar riff that I myself didn't know how to play. It was raunchy, nasty, rough, raw, and untamed. I thought it was truly inspired...", adding "His sound was rich and fat and beautiful, like a voice."  The New York Dolls were signed to Mercury Records, with the help of A & R man Paul Nelson. Thunders recorded two albums with the band, "New York Dolls" and" Too Much Too Soon". They were managed by Marty Thau, and booked by Leber & Krebs. Subsequently, they worked with Malcolm McLaren for several months, later becoming a prototype for the Sex Pistols.  In 1975 Thunders and Nolan left the band, though Johansen and Sylvain continued playing, along with Peter Jordon, Tony Machine (an ex-assistant agent at Leber & Krebs) and Chris Robison, as the New York Dolls until late 1977.

Post-New York Dolls.

Thunders formed The Heartbreakers with former New York Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan and former Television bassist Richard Hell. Walter Lure, former guitarist for the New York City punk band The Demons joined them soon after. After conflict arose between Thunders and Hell, Hell left to form Richard Hell and the Voidoids and was replaced by Billy Rath.  With Thunders leading the band, the Heartbreakers toured America before going to Britain to join the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned on the 'Anarchy Tour'. The group stayed in the UK throughout 1977, where their popularity was significantly greater than in the U.S., particularly among punk bands. While in Britain they were signed to Track Records and released their only official studio album, "L.A.M.F.", an abbreviation for "Like A Mother Fucker". "L.A.M.F." was received positively by critics and fans alike, but was criticised for its poor production. Displeased with the production, the band members were soon competing with one other, mixing and remixing the record, culminating in drummer Jerry Nolan quitting in November 1977. Shortly thereafter, the Heartbreakers officially disbanded.  Thunders stayed in London and recorded the first of a number of solo albums, beginning with "So Alone" in 1978. The notoriously drug-fuelled recording sessions featured a core band of Thunders, bassist Phil Lynott, drummer Paul Cook and guitarist Steve Jones, with guest appearances from Chrissie Hynde, Steve Marriott, Walter Lure, Billy Rath and Peter Perrett. The CD version of the album contains four bonus tracks, including the single "Dead or Alive" and a cover of the early Marc Bolan song "The Wizard". Soon afterwards, Thunders moved back to the US, joining former Heartbreakers Walter Lure, Billy Rath and sometimes Jerry Nolan for gigs at Max's Kansas City. Around this time Thunders played a small number of gigs at London's Speakeasy with a line up including Cook and Jones, Henri Paul on bass and Judy Nylon and Patti Palladin (Snatch) as back up vocalists.  In late 1979, Thunders moved to Detroit with his wife Julie and began performing in a band called Gang War. Other members included John Morgan, Ron Cooke, Philippe Marcade and former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer. They recorded several demos and performed live several times before disbanding. Zodiac Records released an EP of their demos in 1987. In 1990 they also released an album titled "Gang War", which was credited to Thunders and Kramer.  During the early 1980s, Thunders re-formed The Heartbreakers for various tours; the group recorded their final album, "Live at the Lyceum", in 1984. The concert was also filmed and released as a video and later a DVD titled "Dead Or Alive".  In the 1980s, Thunders lived in Paris and Stockholm with his wife and daughter.  In 1985, Thunders released "Que Sera Sera", a collection of new songs with his then band The Black Cats, and "Crawfish", a duet with former Snatch vocalist Patti Palladin.  Three years later he again teamed up with Palladin to release "Copy Cats", a covers album. The album, produced by Palladin, featured a wide assortment of musicians to recreate the 1950s and 1960s sound of the originals, including Alex Balanescu on violin, Bob Andrews on piano, The Only Ones John Perry and others on guitar, and a horn section.  From August 1988 until his death in April 1991, Thunders performed in The Oddballs, with Jamie Heath (saxophone), Alison Gordy (vocals), Chris Musto (drums), Stevie Klasson (guitar) and Jill Wisoff (bass).  From April–May 1990, Johnny performed an acoustic tour of the UK and Ireland joining up occasionally with John, Sam & Peter of The Golden Horde, whom he had met and played with previously in 1984 at the TV Club, and were concurrently on tour (of the UK & Ireland) at that time also, for full-band electric performances and TV appearances.  On May 8, 1990, recording sessions in London for a joint EP-single cover version with The Golden Horde of "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies, and original material, had to be cancelled when Johnny experienced "health problems" following his performances in Wakefield, UK while on tour.  His final recording was a version of "Born To Lose", with German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen, recorded 36 hours before his death in New Orleans.

Death.

Rumors surround Thunders' death at the St. Peter House in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 23, 1991. He apparently died of drug-related causes, but it has been speculated that it was the result of foul play. According to his biography "Lobotomy: Surviving The Ramones", Dee Dee Ramone took a call in New York City the next day from Stevie Klasson, Johnny's rhythm guitar player. Ramone said, "They told me that Johnny had gotten mixed up with some bastards... who ripped him off for his methadone supply. They had given him LSD and then murdered him. He had gotten a pretty large supply of methadone in England, so he could travel and stay away from those creeps – the drug dealers, Thunders imitators, and losers like that."  Singer Willy DeVille, who lived next door to the hotel in which Thunders died, described his death this way:  An autopsy was conducted by the New Orleans coroner, but served only to compound the mysteries. According to Thunders' biographer Nina Antonia as posted on the Jungle Records web site, the level of drugs found in his system was not fatal. According to the book "Rock Bottom: Dark Moments in Music Babylon" by Pamela Des Barres, who interviewed Thunders' sister, Mariann Bracken, the autopsy confirmed evidence of advanced leukemia, which would explain the decline in Thunders' appearance in the final year of his life. This also sheds light on the interview in Lech Kowalski's documentary "Born To Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie", where Thunders' brother-in-law says, "Only Johnny knew how sick he really was."  In a 1994 "Melody Maker" interview Thunders' manager Mick Webster described the family's efforts to get New Orleans police to investigate the matter further: "We keep asking the New Orleans police to re-investigate, but they haven’t been particularly friendly. They seemed to think that this was just another junkie who had wandered into town and died. They simply weren't interested."  Thunders was survived by his ex-wife Julie and four children: sons John, Vito, and Dino, and daughter Jamie Genzale by Susanne Blomqvist.

Musical tributes.

Thunders has had numerous bands paying tribute or mentioning him in their songs, while he was alive and after his death.

John Anthony Genzale (July 15, 1952 – April 23, 1991), better known by his stage name Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the New York Dolls. He later played with The Heartbreakers and as a solo artist.

Johnny Thunders, eigentlich John Anthony Genzale, Jr (* 15. Juli 1952 in Queens, New York; † 23. April 1991 in New Orleans, Louisiana) war ein New Yorker Punk-Musiker.


Visits numbers.

There is little evidence behind the number of antenatal visits, pregnant women receive and what care and information is given at each visit. It has been suggested that women who have low-risk pregnancies should have fewer antenatal visits. However, when this was tested, women with less visits had babies who were much more likely to be admitted to neonatal intensive care and stay there for longer (though this could down to chance results). 14% more babies died compared with those whose mothers had a standard number of visits. Women who had less antenatal visits were not as satisfied with the care they received compared with women who had the standard number of visits. A new alternative for some of the routine prenatal care visits is Telemedicine.

Group versus individual care.

Group antenatal care has a couple of obvious benefits: it costs less than one-to-one visits and the women have more hours of care as a group than on their own. Only small studies have been conducted looking at group care but they have found that mothers’ knew more about pregnancy, birth and parenting in the group setting. The mothers reported liking the group care and the review found no difference between how the pregnancies developed between the group and individual setting.

Midwife-led care.

Midwife-led care for low-risk women is where a midwife team (and GP if needed) is leading the care a woman receives and she does not usually see a specialist doctor in her pregnancy. Women with midwife-led pregnancies are more likely to give birth without being induced but have natural labours. However they are less likely to have their waters broken, an instrumental delivery, episiotomy or preterm birth. Around the same number of women in each group had a caesarean section.

Prenatal examinations.

At the initial antenatal care visit and with the aid of a special booking checklist the pregnant women become classified into either normal risk or high risk.  In many countries, women are given a summary of their case notes including important background information about their pregnancy for example their medical history, growth charts and any scan reports. If the mother goes to a different hospital for care or to give birth the summary of her case notes can be used by the midwives and doctors until her hospital notes arrive.  A review looking into women keeping their own case notes shows they have more risk of having a caesarean section. However the women reported feeling more in control having their notes and would like to have them again in future pregnancies. 25% of women reported their hospital notes were lost in hospital though none of the women forgot to take their own notes to any appointments.  Prenatal diagnosis or prenatal screening (note that "Prenatal Diagnosis" and "Prenatal Screening" refer to two different types of tests) is testing for diseases or conditions in a fetus or embryo before it is born. Obstetricians and midwives have the ability to monitor mother's health and prenatal development during pregnancy through series of regular check-ups.  Physical examinations generally consist of:  In some countries, such as the UK, the symphysial fundal height (SFH) is measured as part of antenatal appointments from 25 weeks gestation. (The SFH is measured from the woman’s pubic bone to the top of the uterus). A review into this practice found only one piece of research so there is not enough evidence to say whether measuring the SFH helps to detect small or large babies. As measuring the SFH is not costly and is used in many places, the review recommends carrying on this practice.  Growth charts are a way of detecting small babies by the measuring the SFH. There are two types of growth chart: A review looking into which of these charts detected small babies found that there is no good quality research to show which is best. More research is needed before the customized growth charts are recommended because they cost more money and take more time for the health care workers to make.  Obstetric ultrasounds are most commonly performed during the second trimester at approximately week 20. Ultrasounds are considered relatively safe and have been used for over 35 years for monitoring pregnancy. Among other things, ultrasounds are used to:  Generally an ultrasound is ordered whenever an abnormality is suspected or along a schedule similar to the following:  A review looking at routine ultrasounds past 24 weeks found that there is no evidence to show any benefits to the mother or the baby.  Early scans mean that multiple pregnancies can be detected at an early stage of pregnancy and also gives more accurate due dates so that less women are induced who do not need to be.  Levels of feedback from the ultrasound can differ. High feedback is when the parents can see the screen and are given a detailed description of what they can see. Low feedback is when the findings are discussed at the end and the parents are given a picture of the ultrasound. The different ways of giving feedback affect how much the parents worry and the mother’s health behaviour although there is not enough evidence to make clear conclusions. In a small study, mothers receiving high feedback were more likely to stop smoking and drinking alcohol however the quality of the study is low and more research is needed to say for certain which type of feedback is better.  Women experiencing a complicated pregnancy may have a test called a Doppler ultrasound to look at the blood flow to their unborn baby. This is performed to detect signs that the baby is not getting a normal blood flow and therefore is ‘at risk’. A review looked at performing Doppler ultrasounds on all women even if they were at ‘low-risk’ of having complications. The review found that routine Doppler ultrasounds may have reduced preventable numbers of baby deaths but the evidence was not strong enough to recommend that they should be made routine for all pregnant women.

United States.

Proper prenatal care affects all women of various social backgrounds. While availability of such services have considerable personal health and social benefits, socioeconomic problems prevent its universal adoption in both developing and developed nations, such as the US. Although women can benefit by utilizing prenatal care services, there exists various levels of health care accessibility between different demographics throughout the United States.

Prenatal care, also known as antenatal care, is a type of preventive healthcare. Its goal is to provide regular check-ups that allow doctors or midwives to treat and prevent potential health problems throughout the course of the pregnancy and to promote healthy lifestyles that benefit both mother and child. During check-ups, pregnant women receive medical information over maternal physiological changes in pregnancy, biological changes, and prenatal nutrition including prenatal vitamins. Recommendations on management and healthy lifestyle changes are also made during regular check-ups. The availability of routine prenatal care, including prenatal screening and diagnosis, has played a part in reducing the frequency of maternal death, miscarriages, birth defects, low birth weight, neonatal infections and other preventable health problems.

Die sogenannte Schwangerschaftsvorsorge – besser "Schwangerschaftsbetreuung", um nicht mit Schwangerschaftsverhütung verwechselt zu werden – enthält die Gesundheitsfürsorge, Beratungen und Untersuchungen vor und während der Schwangerschaft durch Gynäkologen oder Hebammen. In der DDR wurde sie "Schwangerenbetreuung" genannt.


History.

Vestavia Hills is named for the estate of former Birmingham mayor George B. Ward. It was situated on the crest of Shades Mountain in what is now the northern edge of the city. Ward's mansion at the Vestavia estate became a landmark in the area as soon as it was completed in 1925. The -story house was patterned after the circular Temple of Vesta in Rome, with dark pink sandstone walls encircled by 20 massive white Doric columns surmounted by a carved entablature. The extensive gardens, populated by statuary and peacocks, surrounded a smaller domed gazebo patterned after the Temple of Sibyl in Tivoli.  After Ward's death, the house, something of a tourist stop near the highway between Birmingham and Montgomery, was used as a tearoom and reception hall before being purchased by Vestavia Hills Baptist Church. The church met in the temple like structure for several years before demolishing a portion of the building in 1971 to make way for a larger building; a central portion of the original building remains. The local garden club moved the gazebo to a prominent outcropping closer to the highway, there to serve as a landmark gateway into the community.  The development of Vestavia Hills as a residential suburb began in 1946, when developer Charles Byrd planned a subdivision for approximately 1,000 people on the southern flank of Shades Mountain. The suburb was incorporated as a separate city on November 8, 1950, and has since grown, by rapid development and annexation, into a thriving small city of over 34,000 by 2010.

Geography.

Vestavia Hills is located at (33.433057, −86.778894). The Vestavia Hills Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code is 78552.  The city is located along U.S. Route 31, which runs north to south through the city, leading north 7 mi (11 km) to downtown Birmingham and southwest 4 mi (6 km) to Hoover.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which is land and 0.07%, water.

Demographics.

As of the census of 2010, there were 34,033 people, in 13,388 households residing in the city. The population density was 1,753.5 people per square mile. There were 14,952 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 90.4% White, 3.8% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 3.8% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, and 1.0% from two or more races. 2.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.  There were 14,952 housing units and 13,388 households, with a home ownership rate of 76.8%. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.03. The Median value of owner-occupied housing units was $318,200. The median household income was $87,154 with 4.0% of the population below the poverty line. The per capita income for the city was $50,017.  In the city, the population was spread out with 25.3% under the age of 18, and 15.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. 52.4% of the population is female.

Education.

The high quality of the school system in Vestavia Hills has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal and other sources. It comprises five elementary schools, two middle schools, one alternative school and one high school, with a total enrollment of some 6,000 students. Vestavia Hills High School is known for the success of its math and debate teams, which have each won several national competitions. The schools' band and baseball programs have also received much recognition. The 2008/2009 boys' basketball team won the Alabama state championship in division 6A. Vestavia Hills’ wrestling team won the 7A AHSAA State Championship in 2016 and 2017, and holds the record for state championship titles in Alabama state history with 15 Wrestling State Championships. Vestavia opened its 8th school in August 2008, Liberty Park Middle School.  In Fall 2006, the Vestavia Hills Board of Education moved to petition the federal government to end the required desegregation busing of predominantly black students from the Shannon/Oxmoor Valley area due to overcrowding. The Unitary Status court settlement was federally approved in July 2007. Any students currently enrolled at any Vestavia Hills' school will be allowed to continue in the system until graduation.

Parks and recreation.

Vestavia Hills is a large community that offers its citizens many open spaces for families to enjoy the day, participate in sporting events, and take part in community events. The city of Vestavia offers many club sports and the variety of sports is always growing. Right now, the city of Vestavia supports youth baseball, softball, girls and boys basketball, wrestling, soccer, lacrosse, football, flag-football, cheerleading, tennis, and swimming. These clubs use many of the parks and facilities offered by the city.  Wald Park is one of the biggest parks in the main part of Vestavia. The park sits on top of a hill right next to Vestavia Hills Elementary West and overlooks Vestavia Hills Elementary Central. The park includes many community areas such as the Vestavia Hills Swimming Pool, the Civic Center, and the Senior's Lodge. It is also a great place for kids and families. Wald Park offers five baseball fields, a walking track, a Community Playground, as well as a skatepark. The park is open every day from 5 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. Pets are allowed, but must be kept on a leash.  Byrd Park is a smaller local park, located next to Vestavia Hills Elementary East. It is a small area encircled by a walking path, and offers a picnic area and a playground for the children.  McCallum Park is an open area park offering only pavilions, restrooms, and a walking track. There is a large open field often used for picnics and family or community events. The park opens at 6:00 a.m. every day and closes at sunset. Pets are welcome, but must remain on a leash.  Liberty Park Sports Complex is located in the heart of Liberty Park behind the elementary and middle schools. It is home to nine softball fields, four youth fields and five adult fields. The complex also offers one football field and four natural grass soccer fields. The fields are the home to the local youth soccer club, Vestavia Hills Soccer Club. The fields open at daybreak and close at 9:30, except when events are going on. Pets are welcome.  Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex is an extension of the Liberty Park Sports Complex and is located on the road that runs behind it. Sicard Hollow is a growing complex that currently consists of a turf football and lacrosse field that double as soccer fields and an additional two turf soccer fields. Restrooms, concessions, score towers, and bleachers are available. There are plans to expand the complex to include an amphitheater, water area, dog park, and walking trails. Starting in 2016, the field will be the home ground for the Birmingham Hammers soccer club.  Cahaba Heights Athletic Fields are located directly behind Vestavia Hills Elementary, Cahaba Heights and is home to three youth baseball fields and one multipurpose field.

Vestavia Hills, colloquially known simply as Vestavia, is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a suburb of Birmingham and it is made up of Vestavia, Liberty Park, and Cahaba Heights. As of the 2010 census, its population was 34,033, up from 24,476 in 2000. It moved up from the fifth largest city in Jefferson County in 2000 to the third largest in 2010, behind Birmingham and Hoover.

Vestavia Hills ist eine US-amerikanische Stadt in Alabama im Jefferson County. Sie hatte bei der US-Volkszählung 2010 34.057 Einwohner auf einer Fläche von 37,9 km2. Die Stadt liegt bei den geographischen Koordinaten 33,43° Nord, 86,79° West.


Biochemistry.

The enzyme enolase catalyzes the dehydration of 2-phosphoglyceric acid to the enol phosphate ester. Metabolism of PEP to pyruvic acid by pyruvate kinase (PK) generates adenosine triphosphate (ATP) via substrate-level phosphorylation.

Reactivity.

The terminus of the double bond in enols is nucleophilic. Its reactions with electrophilic organic compounds underlies the tremendous importance of enol-based intermediates in a wide array of important life processes (i.e., in biochemistry, as intermediates in enzyme-catalysed reactions), as well as being central to modern synthetic organic chemistry (e.g., in applications of aldol and related reactions).

Keto-enol tautomerism.

Organic esters, ketones, and aldehydes with an α-hydrogen (C-H bond adjacent to the carbonyl group) often form enols. The reaction involves migration of a proton from carbon to oxygen: In the case of ketones, the conversion is called a keto-enol tautomerism, although this name is often more generally applied to all such tautomerizations. Usually the equilibrium constant is so small that the enol is undetectable spectroscopically.  In some compounds with two (or more) carbonyls, the enol form becomes dominant. The behavior of 2,4-pentanedione illustrates this effect:

Enolates.

Deprotonation of enolizable ketones, aldehydes, and esters gives enolates. With strong bases, the deprotonation is quantitative. Typically enolates are generated from using lithium diisopropylamide (LDA). Often, as in conventional Claisen condensations, Mannich reactions, and aldol condensations, enolates are generated in low concentrations with alkoxide bases. Under such conditions, they exist in low concentrations, but they still undergo reactions with electrophiles. Many factors affect the behavior of enolates, especially the solvent, additives (e.g. diamines), and the countercation (Li vs Na, etc.). For unsymmetrical ketones, methods exist to control the regiochemistry of the deprotonation.  Enolates can also be trapped by acylation and silylation, which occur at oxygen. Silyl enol ethers are common reagents in organic synthesis as illustrated by the Mukaiyama aldol reaction: Vinyl acetate is an enol ester that is made on an industrial scale. Lithium enolates adopt aggregated structures akin to other lithium alkoxides.  Enolates are electronically related to allyl anions. The anionic charge is delocalized over the oxygen and the two carbon sites.

Enediols.

Enediols are alkenes with a hydroxyl group on each carbon of the C=C double bond. Normally such compounds are disfavored components in equilibria with acyloins. One special case is catechol, where the C=C subunit is part of an aromatic ring. In some other cases however, enediols are stabilized by flanking carbonyl groups. These stabilized enediols are called reductones. Such species are important in glycochemistry, e.g., the Lobry de Bruyn-van Ekenstein transformation.

Enols, or more formally, alkenols, are a type of reactive structure or intermediate in organic chemistry that is represented as an alkene (olefin) with a hydroxyl group attached to one end of the alkene double bond. The terms enol and alkenol are portmanteaus deriving from "-ene"/"alkene" and the "-ol" suffix indicating the hydroxyl group of alcohols, dropping the terminal "-e" of the first term. Generation of enols often involves removal of a hydrogen adjacent (α-) to the carbonyl group—i.e., deprotonation, its removal as a proton, H. When this proton is not returned at the end of the stepwise process, the result is an anion termed an enolate (see images at right). The enolate structures shown are schematic; a more modern representation considers the molecular orbitals that are formed and occupied by electrons in the enolate. Similarly, generation of the enol often is accompanied by "trapping" or masking of the hydroxy group as an ether, such as a silyl enol ether.

Enole sind chemische Verbindungen der allgemeinen Formel R–CR=CR–OH. Ihre Hydroxygruppe ist schwach sauer, weil die negative Ladung des Enolats mesomeriestabilisiert ist. Das einfachste Enol ist das instabile Ethenol, das sich sofort zu Acetaldehyd (Ethanal) umlagert. Bei aliphatischen Enolen liegt das Gleichgewicht wegen der energetischen Begünstigung vollständig auf der Keto-Seite, weshalb Enole nur als Derivate vorkommen – beispielsweise als Phosphoenolpyruvat (PEP), dem Phosphorsäureester der enolisierten Brenztraubensäure. Aliphatische 1,3-Dicarbonyl-Verbindungen sind jedoch stärker enolisiert. So liegt 2,4-Pentandion (Acetylaceton) zu 76,4 % als "cis"-Enol vor, das über eine intramolekulare Wasserstoffbrücken-Bindung stabilisiert ist. Auch das cyclische "Endiol" Ascorbinsäure liegt fast vollständig in der Enolform vor.


History and development.

Towards the end of the 19th century, many scientists and engineers used their growing knowledge of electrical theory in an attempt to devise a machine which would pinpoint metal. The use of such a device to find ore-bearing rocks would give a huge advantage to any miner who employed it. Early machines were crude, used a lot of battery power, and worked only to a very limited degree. In 1874, Parisian inventor Gustave Trouvé developed a hand-held device for locating and extracting metal objects such as bullets from human patients. Inspired by Trouvé, Alexander Graham Bell developed a similar device to attempt to locate a bullet lodged in the chest of American President James Garfield in 1881; the metal detector worked correctly but the attempt was unsuccessful because the metal coil spring bed Garfield was lying on confused the detector.

Modern developments.

The modern development of the metal detector began in the 1920s. Gerhard Fischer had developed a system of radio direction-finding, which was to be used for accurate navigation. The system worked extremely well, but Fischer noticed there were anomalies in areas where the terrain contained ore-bearing rocks. He reasoned that if a radio beam could be distorted by metal, then it should be possible to design a machine which would detect metal using a search coil resonating at a radio frequency. In 1925 he applied for, and was granted, the first patent for a metal detector. Although Gerhard Fischer was the first person granted a patent for a metal detector, the first to apply was Shirl Herr, a businessman from Crawfordsville, Indiana. His application for a hand-held Hidden-Metal Detector was filed in February 1924, but not patented until July 1928. Herr assisted Italian leader Benito Mussolini in recovering items remaining from the Emperor Caligula's galleys at the bottom of Lake Nemi, Italy in August 1929. Herr's invention was used by Admiral Richard Byrd's Second Antarctic Expedition in 1933, when it was used to locate objects left behind by earlier explorers. It was effective up to a depth of eight feet. However, it was one Lieutenant Józef Stanisław Kosacki, a Polish officer attached to a unit stationed in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, during the early years of World War II, who refined the design into a practical Polish mine detector. These units were still quite heavy, as they ran on vacuum tubes, and needed separate battery packs.  The design invented by Kosacki was used extensively during the Second Battle of El Alamein when 500 units were shipped to Field Marshal Montgomery to clear the minefields of the retreating Germans, and later used during the Allied invasion of Sicily, the Allied invasion of Italy and the Invasion of Normandy.  As the creation and refinement of the device was a wartime military research operation, the knowledge that Kosacki created the first practical metal detector was kept secret for over 50 years.

Beat Frequency Induction.

Many manufacturers of these new devices brought their own ideas to the market. White's Electronics of Oregon began in the 1950s by building a machine called the Oremaster Geiger Counter. Another leader in detector technology was Charles Garrett, who pioneered the BFO (Beat Frequency Oscillator) machine. With the invention and development of the transistor in the 1950s and 1960s, metal detector manufacturers and designers made smaller, lighter machines with improved circuitry, running on small battery packs. Companies sprang up all over the United States and Britain to supply the growing demand. Beat Frequency Induction requires movement of the detector coil; akin to how swinging an conductor near a magnet induces an electric current; except the pulse is electric EMF and not magnetic EMF.

Refinements.

Modern top models are fully computerized, using integrated circuit technology to allow the user to set sensitivity, discrimination, track speed, threshold volume, notch filters, etc., and hold these parameters in memory for future use. Compared to just a decade ago, detectors are lighter, deeper-seeking, use less battery power, and discriminate better.  State of the art metal detectors have further incorporated extensive wireless technologies for the earphones, connect to Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth devices. Some also utilize built in GPS locator technology to keep track of searching location and the location of items found. Some connect to smartphone applications to further extend functionality

Discriminators.

The biggest technical change in detectors was the development of a tunable induction system. This system involved two coils that are electro-magnetically tuned. One coil act as an RF transmitter the other as a receiver; in some cases these can be tuned to between 3 and 100 kHz. When metal is in their vicinity, a signal is detected owing to eddy currents induced in the metal. What allowed detectors to discriminate between metals was the fact that every metal has a different phase response when exposed to alternating current; longer waves (low frequency) penetrate ground deeper, and select for high conductivity targets like silver, and copper; than shorter waves (higher frequency) which, while less ground penetrating, select for low conductivity targets like gold and iron. Unfortunately, high frequency is also sensitive to ground mineralisation interference. This selectivity or discrimination allowed detectors to be developed that could selectively detect desirable metals, while ignoring undesirable ones.  Even with discriminators, it was still a challenge to avoid undesirable metals, because some of them have similar phase responses (e.g. tinfoil and gold), particularly in alloy form. Thus, improperly tuning out certain metals increased the risk of passing over a valuable find. Another disadvantage of discriminators was that they reduced the sensitivity of the machines.

New coil designs.

Coil designers also tried out innovative designs. The original induction balance coil system consisted of two identical coils placed on top of one another. Compass Electronics produced a new design: two coils in a D shape, mounted back-to-back to form a circle. This system was widely used in the 1970s, and both concentric and D type (or widescan as they became known) had their fans. Another development was the invention of detectors which could cancel out the effect of mineralization in the ground. This gave greater depth, but was a non-discriminate mode. It worked best at lower frequencies than those used before, and frequencies of 3 to 20 kHz were found to produce the best results. Many detectors in the 1970s had a switch which enabled the user to switch between the discriminate mode and the non-discriminate mode. Later developments switched electronically between both modes. The development of the induction balance detector would ultimately result in the motion detector, which constantly checked and balanced the background mineralization.

Pulse induction.

At the same time, developers were looking at using a different technique in metal detection called pulse induction. Unlike the beat frequency oscillator or the induction balance machines which both used a uniform alternating current at a low frequency, the pulse induction (PI) machine simply magnetized the ground with a relatively powerful, momentary current through a search coil. In the absence of metal, the field decayed at a uniform rate, and the time it took to fall to zero volts could be accurately measured. However, if metal was present when the machine fired, a small eddy current would be induced in the metal, and the time for sensed current decay would be increased. These time differences were minute, but the improvement in electronics made it possible to measure them accurately and identify the presence of metal at a reasonable distance. These new machines had one major advantage: they were mostly impervious to the effects of mineralization, and rings and other jewelry could now be located even under highly mineralized black sand. The addition of computer control and digital signal processing have further improved pulse induction sensors.  The advantages for using a "PI detector" include the ability to "punch through" heavy mineral soil; in some cases the heavy mineral content may even help the PI detector function better. Where a "VLF" detector is usually greatly affected negatively, a "PI" is not.

Uses.

Larger portable metal detectors are used by archaeologists and treasure hunters to locate metallic items, such as jewelry, coins, bullets, and other various artifacts buried beneath the surface.

Archaeology.

Metal detectors are widely used in archaeology with the first recorded use by military historian Don Rickey in 1958 who used one to detect the firing lines at Little Big Horn. However archaeologists oppose the use of metal detectors by "artifact seekers" or "site looters" whose activities disrupt archaeological sites. The problem with use of metal detectors in archaeological sites or hobbyist who find objects of archeological interest is that the context that the object was found in is lost and no detailed survey of its surroundings is made. Outside of known sites the significance of objects may not be apparent to a metal detector hobbyist.

England and Wales.

In England and Wales metal detecting is legal provided that the landowner has granted permission and that the area is not a Scheduled Ancient Monument, a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), or covered by elements of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.  The Treasure Act 1996 governs whether or not items that have been discovered are defined as treasure. Finders of items that the Act defines as treasure must report their finds to the local coroner. If they discover items that are not defined as treasure but that are of cultural or historical interest, finders can voluntarily report them to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the UK Detector Finds Database.

France.

The sale of metal detectors is allowed in France. The first use of metal detectors in France which led to archaeological discoveries occurred in 1958: people living in the city of Graincourt-lès-Havrincourt who were seeking copper from World War I bombshell with military mine detector found a Roman silver treasure. The French law on metal detecting is ambiguous because it refers only to the objective pursued by the user of a metal detector. The first law to regulate the use of metal detectors was Law No. 89-900 of 18 December 1989. This last is resumed without any change in Article L. 542-1 of the code of the heritage, which states that "no person may use the equipment for the detection of metal objects, for the purpose of research monuments and items of interest prehistory, history, art and archeology without having previously obtained an administrative authorization issued based on the applicant's qualification and the nature and method of research. " Outside the research of archaeological objects, using a metal detector does not require specific authorization, except that of the owner of the land. We often read, from some archaeologists, that the use of a metal detector is itself prohibited without official authorization. This is false. To realize this, one must look to the legislative intent in enacting the Law No. 89-900 of 18 December 1989. Asked about Law No. 89-900 of 18 December 1989 by the member of parliament mister Calloud, Jack Lang, Minister of Culture at the time, replied by letter the following: "The new law does not prohibit the use of metal detectors but only regulates the use. If the purpose of such use is the search for archaeological remains, prior authorization is required from my services. Apart from this case, the law ask to be reported to the appropriate authorities an accidental discovery of archaeological remains." The entire letter of Jack Lang was published in 1990 in a French metal detection magazine, and then, to be visible on internet, scanned with permission of the author of the magazine on a French metal detection website.

Scotland.

Under the Scots law principle of "bona vacantia", the Crown has claim over any object of any material value where the original owner cannot be traced. There is also no 300 year limit to Scottish finds. Any artifact found, whether by metal detector survey or from an archaeological excavation, must be reported to the Crown through the Treasure Trove Advisory Panel at the National Museums of Scotland. The panel then determines what will happen to the artifacts. Reporting is not voluntary, and failure to report the discovery of historic artifacts is a criminal offence in Scotland.

United States.

The sale of metal detectors is allowed in the United States. People can use metal detectors in public places (parks, beaches, etc.) and on private property with the permission of the owner of the site. In the United States, cooperation between archeologists hunting for the location of colonial-era Native American villages and hobbyists has been productive.

As a hobby.

There are various types of hobby activities involving metal detectors:  Hobbyists often use their own metal detecting lingo when discussing the hobby with others.

Politics and conflicts in the metal detecting hobby in the United States.

The metal detecting community and professional archaeologists have different ideas related to the recovery and preservation of historic finds and locations. Archaeologists claim that detector hobbyists take an artifact-centric approach, removing these from their context resulting in a permanent loss of historical information. Archaeological looting of places like Slack Farm in 1987 and Petersburg National Battlefield serve as evidence against allowing unsupervised metal detecting in historic locations.

Security screening.

A series of aircraft hijackings led the United States in 1972 to adopt metal detector technology to screen airline passengers, initially using magnetometers that were originally designed for logging operations to detect spikes in trees. The Finnish company Outokumpu adapted mining metal detectors in the 1970s, still housed in a large cylindrical pipe, to make a commercial walk-through security detector. The development of these systems continued in a spin-off company and systems branded as Metor Metal Detectors evolved in the form of the rectangular gantry now standard in airports. In common with the developments in other uses of metal detectors both alternating current and pulse systems are used, and the design of the coils and the electronics has moved forward to improve the discrimination of these systems. In 1995 systems such as the Metor 200 appeared with the ability to indicate the approximate height of the metal object above the ground, enabling security personnel to more rapidly locate the source of the signal. Smaller hand held metal detectors are also used to locate a metal object on a person more precisely.

Industrial metal detectors.

Industrial metal detectors are used in the pharmaceutical, food, beverage, textile, garment, plastics, chemicals, lumber, mining, and packaging industries.  Contamination of food by metal shards from broken processing machinery during the manufacturing process is a major safety issue in the food industry. Metal detectors for this purpose are widely used and integrated into the production line.  Current practice at garment or apparel industry plants is to apply metal detecting after the garments are completely sewn and before garments are packed to check whether there is any metal contamination (needle, broken needle, etc.) in the garments. This needs to be done for safety reasons.  The industrial metal detector was developed by Bruce Kerr and David Hiscock in 1947. The founding company Goring Kerr pioneered the use and development of the first industrial metal detector. Mars Incorporated was one of the first customers of Goring Kerr using their Metlokate metal detector to inspect Mars bars.  The basic principle of operation for the common industrial metal detector is based on a 3 coil design. This design utilizes an AM (amplitude modulated) transmitting coil and two receiving coils one on either side of the transmitter. The design and physical configuration of the receiving coils are instrumental in the ability to detect very small metal contaminates of 1 mm or smaller. Today modern metal detectors continue to utilize this configuration for the detection of tramp metal.  The coil configuration is such that it creates an opening whereby the product (food, plastics, pharmaceuticals, etc.) passes through the coils. This opening or aperture allows the product to enter and exit through the three coil system producing an equal but mirrored signal on the two receiving coils. The resulting signals are summed together effectively nullifying each other. Fortress Technology innovated a new feature, that allows the coil structure of their BSH Model to ignore the effects of vibration, even when inspecting conductive products.  When a metal contaminant is introduced into the product an unequal disturbance is created. This then creates a very small electronic signal. After suitable amplification a mechanical device mounted to the conveyor system is signaled to remove the contaminated product from the production line. This process is completely automated and allows manufacturing to operate uninterrupted.

Civil engineering.

In civil engineering, special metal detectors (cover meters) are used to locate reinforcement bars inside walls.

A metal detector is an electronic instrument that detects the presence of metal nearby. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal inclusions hidden within objects, or metal objects buried underground. They often consist of a handheld unit with a sensor probe which can be swept over the ground or other objects. If the sensor comes near a piece of metal this is indicated by a changing tone in earphones, or a needle moving on an indicator. Usually the device gives some indication of distance; the closer the metal is, the higher the tone in the earphone or the higher the needle goes. Another common type are stationary "walk through" metal detectors used for security screening at access points in prisons, courthouses, and airports to detect concealed metal weapons on a person's body. The main types of metal detectors are, beat-frequency oscillation, very low frequency, pulse induction and industrial.

Ein Metalldetektor (auch "Metallsuchgerät" und "Metallsonde") ist ein Gerät zur Lokalisierung verborgener Metallteile, Rohrleitungen und elektrischer Leiter an Land sowie unter Wasser.


History.

The current name "Sitka" (derived from "Sheet’ká", a contraction of the Tlingit ') means "People on the Outside of Baranof Island," whose Tlingit name is'(here contracted to "Shee").  The area now known as the downtown area of Sitka was originally settled by the Tlingit people over 10,000 years ago.

Russian America.

Russian explorers settled Old Sitka in 1799, naming it Fort Saint Michael (, ""). The governor of Russian America, Alexander Baranov, arrived under the auspices of the Russian-American Company, a colonial trading company chartered by Tsar Paul I. In June 1802, Tlingit warriors destroyed the original settlement, killing many of the Russians, with only a few managing to escape. Baranov was forced to levy 10,000 rubles in ransom for the safe return of the surviving settlers.  Baranov returned to Sitka in August 1804 with a large force, including Yuri Lisyansky's "Neva". The ship bombarded the Tlingit fortification on the 20th, but was not able to cause significant damage. The Russians then launched an attack on the fort and were repelled. Following two days of bombardment, the Tlingit "hung out a white flag" on the 22nd, deserting the fort on the 26th.  Following their victory at the Battle of Sitka, the Russians established the settlement "New Archangel", named after Arkhangelsk. As a permanent settlement, New Archangel became the largest city in the region. The Tlingit re-established their fort on the Chatham Strait side of Peril Strait to enforce a trade embargo with the Russian establishment. In 1808, with Baranov still governor, Sitka was designated the capital of Russian America.  Bishop Innocent lived in Sitka after 1840. He was known for his interest in education, and his house, parts of which served as a schoolhouse, the Russian Bishop's House has since been restored by the National Park Service as part of the Sitka National Historical Park.  The original Cathedral of Saint Michael was built in Sitka in 1848 and became the seat of the Russian Orthodox bishop of Kamchatka, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands, and Alaska. The original church burned to the ground in 1966. Although the church was restored to its original appearance, one exception was its clock face which is black in photographs taken before 1966, but white in subsequent photos.  Swedes, Finns and other nationalities of Lutherans worked for the Russian-American Company, which led to the creation of a Lutheran congregation. The Sitka Lutheran Church building was built in 1840 and was the first Protestant church on the Pacific coast. After the transition to American control, following the purchase of Alaska from Russia by the United States in 1867, the influence of other Protestant religions increased, and Saint-Peter's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church was consecrated as "the Cathedral of Alaska" in 1900.

Territorial Alaska.

Sitka was the site of the transfer ceremony for the Alaska purchase on October 18, 1867. Russia was going through economic and political turmoil after it lost the Crimean War to Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire in 1856 and decided it wanted to sell Alaska before it was taken over by Britain. Russia offered to sell it to the United States. Secretary of State William Seward had wanted to purchase Alaska for quite some time as he saw it as an integral part of Manifest Destiny and America's reach to the Pacific Ocean. While the agreement to purchase Alaska was made in April 1867, the actual purchase and transfer of control took place on October 18, 1867. The cost to purchase Alaska was $7.2 million, 2 cents per acre.  Sitka served as the U.S. Government Capital of the Department of Alaska (1867–1884) and District of Alaska (1884–1906).  The seat of government was relocated north to Juneau in 1906 due to declining economic importance of Sitka relative to Juneau, which gained population in the Klondike Gold Rush.

Alaska Native Brotherhood, Alaska Native Sisterhood.

The Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded in Sitka in 1912 to address racism against Alaska Native people in Alaska. By 1914 the organization had constructed the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall on Katlian Street, which was named after a Tlingit war chief in the early period of Russian colonization.

World War II.

In 1937, the United States Navy established the first seaplane base in Alaska on Japonski Island. In 1941, construction began on Fort Ray, an army garrison to protect the Naval air station. Both the Army and Navy remained in Sitka until the end of WWII, when the Army base was put into caretaker status. The naval station in Sitka was deactivated in June 1944.

Alaska Pulp Corporation.

The Alaska Pulp Corporation was the first Japanese investment in the United States after WWII. In 1959 it began to produce pulp harvested from the Tongass National Forest under a 50-year contract with the US Forest Service. At its peak, the mill employed around 450 people before closing in 1993.  Sitka's Filipino community established itself in Sitka before 1929. It later became institutionalized as the Filipino Community of Sitka in 1981.  Gold mining and fish canning paved the way for the town's initial growth. Today Sitka encompasses portions of Baranof Island and the smaller Japonski Island (across the Sitka Channel from the town), which is connected to Baranof Island by the O'Connell Bridge. The John O'Connell Bridge was the first cable-stayed bridge built in the Western Hemisphere. Japonski Island is home to Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (: SIT; : PASI), the Sitka branch campus of the University of Alaska Southeast, Mt. Edgecumbe High School (a state-run boarding school for rural Alaskans), Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium's Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital, a U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka, and the port and facilities for the "Maple".

Geography.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough is the largest incorporated city by area in the U.S., with a total area of, of which is land and (40.3%) is water. As a comparison, this is almost four times the size of the state of Rhode Island.  Sitka displaced Juneau, Alaska as the largest incorporated city by area in the United States upon the 2000 incorporation with of incorporated area. Juneau's incorporated area is. Jacksonville, Florida, is the largest city in area in the contiguous 48 states at.

Climate.

Sitka has an oceanic climate (Köppen "Cfb") with moderate, but generally cool, temperatures and abundant precipitation. The average annual precipitation is ; average seasonal snowfall is, falling on 233 and 19 days respectively. The mean annual temperature is, with monthly means ranging from in January to in August.  The climate is relatively mild when compared to other parts of the state. Only 5.1 days per year see highs at or above ; conversely, there are only 10 days with the high not exceeding freezing.The winters are extremely mild compared to inland areas of similar and much more southerly parallels due to the intense maritime moderation. The relatively mild nights ensure that four months stay above the isotherm that normally separates inland areas from being boreal in nature. Overall, the climate is like that of Fort William in Scotland. Due to the mild winter nights, plant hardiness is low for the latitude.  The highest temperature ever recorded was on July 30, 1976. The lowest temperature ever recorded was on February 16–17, 1948.

Geology.

Mount Edgecumbe, a dormant stratovolcano, is located on southern Kruzof Island. It can be seen from Sitka on a clear day.

Demographics.

Sitka first reported on the 1880 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. Of 916 residents, there were 540 Tlingit, 219 Creole (Mixed Russian & Native) and 157 Whites reported. It was the largest community in Alaska at that census. In 1890, it fell to second place behind Juneau. It reported 1,190 residents, of which 861 were Native, 280 were White, 31 were Asian, 17 Creole, and 1 Other. In 1900, it fell to 4th place behind Nome, Skagway & Juneau. It did not report a racial breakdown.  In 1910, Sitka was reported as two separate communities based on race: the village with mostly non-natives (population 539) and the part of the village with natives (population 500). Separately, they placed as the 15th and 17th largest communities. United, they would be 8th largest. For the purposes of comparison and the fact that the village was not officially politically/racially divided except by the census bureau report, the combined total (1,039) is reported on the historic population list. In 1913, Sitka was incorporated as a city, rendering the division by the census bureau for 1910 moot. In 1920, Sitka became the 4th largest city in the territory. In 1930, it fell to 7th place with 1,056 residents. Of those, 567 reported as Native, 480 as White and 9 as Other. In 1940, it rose to 5th place, but did not report a racial breakdown.  In 1950, it reported as the 9th largest community in Alaska (6th largest incorporated city). It did not report a racial breakdown. At statehood in 1960, it became the 6th largest community (5th largest incorporated city). With the annexations increasing its population to 3,237, it reported a White majority for its first time: 2,160 Whites, 1,054 Others (including Natives) & 23 Blacks. In 1970, it fell to 14th place overall (though 7th largest incorporated city) with 3,370 residents. Of those, 2,503 were White, 676 Native Americans, 95 Others, 74 Asians and 22 Blacks. In 1980, Sitka rose to 4th largest city with 7,803 residents (of which 5,718 were non-Hispanic White, 1,669 were Native American, 228 were Asian, 108 were Hispanic (of any race), 87 were Other, 44 were Black & 7 were Pacific Islander).  In 1990, Sitka fell to 5th largest (4th largest incorporated) with 8,588 residents. 6,270 were non-Hispanic White; 1,797 were Native American; 315 were Asian; 209 were Hispanic (of any race); 60 were Other; 39 were Black and 18 Pacific Islanders. In 2000, Sitka retained its 5th largest (and 4th largest incorporated) position. In 2010, it slipped to 7th largest community overall (but still remained the 4th largest incorporated city).  As of the 2010 census, there were 8,881 people living in the borough. The racial makeup of the borough, based on one race alone or in combination with one or more other races, was, 64.6% White (including White Hispanic and Latino Americans), 1% Black or African American, 24.6% Native American, 8.1% Asian, 0.9% Pacific Islander, 1.8% from other races. In addition, 4.9% of the population were Hispanic and Latino Americans of any race.  There were 3,545 households out of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.5% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.6% were non-families. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.01.

Economy.

In 2010, Sitka's two largest employers were the South East Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC), employing 482 people, and the Sitka School District which employs 250 people. However, there are more people employed in the seafood industry than in any other sector. An estimated 18% of Sitka's population earns at least a portion of their income from fishing and seafood harvesting and processing. Many Sitkans hunt and gather subsistence foods such as fish, deer, berries, seaweeds and mushrooms for personal use.  Within the total 2010 population of 8,881 residents, an estimated 7,161 were over 16 years of age. Of residents aged 16 and over, an estimated 4,692 were employed within the civilian labor force, 348 were unemployed (looking for work), 192 were employed in the armed forces (U.S. Coast Guard), and 1,929 were not in the labor force. The average unemployment rate between 2006 and 2010 was 6.9%. The median household income in 2010 inflation adjusted dollars was $62,024. An estimated 4.3% of all families / 7% of all residents had incomes below the poverty level "in the past twelve months"(2010).  Sitka's electrical power is generated by dams at Blue Lake and Green Lake, with supplemental power provided by burning diesel when electric demand exceeds hydro capacity. In December 2012 the Blue Lake Expansion project began, which added 27 percent more electricity for the residents of Sitka. The project was completed in November 2014.

Port.

Sitka is the 6th largest port by value of seafood harvest in the United States. International trade is relatively minor, with total exports and imports valued at $474,000 and $146,000, respectively, in 2005 by the American Association of Port Authorities. The port has the largest harbor system in Alaska with 1,347 permanent slips.  During Russian rule, Sitka was a busy seaport on the west coast of North America, mentioned a number of times by Dana in his popular account of an 1834 sailing voyage "Two Years Before the Mast". After the transfer of Alaska to U.S. rule, the Pacific Coast Steamship Company began tourist cruises to Sitka in 1884. By 1890, Sitka was receiving 5,000 tourist passengers a year.  Old Sitka Dock, located at Halibut Point, one mile south of the Old Sitka State Historical Park, commemorating the 1800s Russian settlement, and six miles north of downtown Sitka, is a private deep water port offering moorage facilities. A 470-foot-long floating dock for vessels up to 1100 feet was constructed there by its owners in 2012 and was first used in 2013. In Spring 2016, Holland America Line agreed to dock its ships at the Old Sitka Dock. Since then, the majority of the cruise ships calling on Sitka berth at the Old Sitka Dock, with the remainder anchoring offshore in Crescent Harbor and tendering their passengers to downtown Sitka. In the 2017 season, there were 136 cruise ship calls at Sitka with more than 150,000 passengers in total; of these less than 30,000 were tendered.

Arts and culture.

There are 22 buildings and sites in Sitka that appear in the National Register of Historic Places.  On October 18, Alaska celebrates Alaska Day to commemorate the Alaska purchase. The City of Sitka holds an annual Alaska Day Festival. This week-long event includes a reenactment ceremony of the signing of the Alaska purchase, as well as interpretive programs at museums and parks, special exhibits, aircraft displays and film showings, receptions, historic sites and buildings tours, food, prose writing contest essays, Native and other dancing, and entertainment and more. The first recorded Alaska Day Festival was held in 1949.

Government.

The City and Borough of Sitka is a Unified Home Rule city. The home rule charter of the City and Borough of Sitka was adopted on December 2, 1971 for the region of the Greater Sitka Borough, which included Mt. Edgecumbe on Japonski Island and Port Alexander and Baranof Warm Springs on Baranof Island. The city was incorporated on September 24, 1963. On October 23, 1973, the city of Port Alexander was detached from the borough.

Education.

Colleges and universities.

Sitka hosts one active post-secondary institution, the University of Alaska Southeast-Sitka Campus, located on Japonski Island in an old World War II hangar. Sheldon Jackson College, a small Presbyterian-affiliated private college, suspended operations in June 2007, after several years of financial stress. Outer Coast College, a private liberal arts college established in 2015, is currently in development as an undergraduate institution founded on the former campus of Sheldon Jackson College.

Schools.

The Sitka School District runs several schools in Sitka, including Sitka High School and Pacific High School, as well as the town's only middle school, Blatchley Middle School. They also run a home school assistance program through Terry's Learning Center.  Mt. Edgecumbe High School, a State of Alaska-run boarding high school for rural, primarily Native, students, is located on Japonski Island adjacent to University of Alaska Southeast.  Two private schools are available in Sitka: Sitka Adventist School, and The SEER School.

Alaska State Trooper Academy.

The Alaska State Trooper Academy — the academy for all Alaska State Troopers — is located in Sitka.

Libraries.

Sitka Public Library, formerly Kettleson Memorial Library is the public library for Sitka. It receives about 100,000 guests annually and houses a collection of 75,000 books, audiobooks, music recordings, reference resources, videos (DVD and VHS) as well as an assortment of Alaskan and national periodicals. Its annual circulation is 133,000. The library is well known by visitors for its view. The large windows in front of the reading area look south across Eastern Channel towards the Pyramids.  Until its closing, Sitka was also home to Stratton Library, the academic library of Sheldon Jackson College.

Media.

Print.

Sitka is served by the "Daily Sitka Sentinel", one of the few remaining independently owned daily newspapers in the state. Sitka also receives circulation of the "Capital City Weekly" — a weekly regional newspaper based out of Juneau.  Alaska's first newspaper following the Alaska purchase, the "Sitka Times", was published by Barney O. Ragan on September 19, 1868. Only four issues were published that year, as Ragan cited a lack of resources available at the time. The paper resumed publishing the following year as the "Alaska Times". In 1870, it moved to Seattle, where the year following it was renamed the "Seattle Times" (not to be confused with the modern-day newspaper of the same name).

Radio.

Sitka has three radio stations, public radio station KCAW (Raven Radio), and commercial radio stations KIFW, and KSBZ.

Television.

KTNL-TV (CBS) broadcasts out of Sitka on Channel 13 (Cable 6) serving Southeast Alaska. Additionally, KSCT-LP (NBC) Channel 5, KTOO (PBS) Channel 10, and KJUD (ABC/CW) serve the region.

Infrastructure.

Transportation.

Sitka is only accessible by boat or plane as it is a series of islands in the Pacific Ocean. Vehicles are usually brought to Sitka via the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system. However, a vehicle is not an absolute necessity in Sitka, as there are only of road from one end of the island to another. Most everything is within walking distance from the downtown area which is where the majority of employers are situated. Public transportation is also available.  By air, Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport offers scheduled passenger jet service operated year-round by Alaska Airlines and seasonally by Delta Connection as well as commuter, charter, and bush air service provided by Harris Aircraft Services. Harris Air provides scheduled service to several smaller communities in the southeast as well as to Juneau.  Delays in fall and winter due to Sitka's weather are frequent. The airport is located on Japonski Island, which is connected to Baranof Island by the O'Connell Bridge. The O'Connell Bridge, completed in 1972, was the first vehicular cable-stayed bridge in the United States. The Sitka Seaplane Base is seaplane landing area situated in the Sitka Channel, adjacent to the airport.  Ferry travel back and forth to Juneau, Ketchikan and other towns in Southeast Alaska is provided through the Alaska Marine Highway System. The ferry terminal is located north of downtown and a ferry ticket costs about $49 per person each way to Juneau (as of July 2013). Vehicles, pets and bicycles can also be taken on the ferry for an additional charge.  Sitka's location on the outer coast of the Alaska Panhandle is removed from routes run through Chatham Strait. This, in addition to the tides of Peril Straits that allow mainline vessels through only at slack tide combine to result in no designated service by a vessel and minimal service overall. However, the AMHS is often the mode of transportation of choice when the schedule proves convenient because of its much cheaper cost.  Alaska Marine Lines, a barge and freight company, has the ability to move cars to other communities connected to the mainland by road systems.  A three-way partnership of non-profits (Center for Community, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and Southeast Senior Services) offers public bus transit, funded by the Federal Transit Administration and the Alaska Department of Transportation. All buses are fully accessible, with service from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.  In 2008, the League of American Bicyclists awarded Sitka the bronze level in bicycle friendliness making Sitka the first bicycle-friendly community in Alaska. In 2013, the Walk Friendly Communities program awarded Sitka with a bronze award, making Sitka the first Alaska community with a Walk Friendly Communities designation. Sitka is the only Alaska community to have both a Bicycle Friendly Community and a Walk Friendly Communities designation.

Healthcare.

There are two hospitals in Sitka:

Twin towns – sister cities.

Sitka has the following sister city:

Attractions.

Sitka's attractions include:  The flora and fauna of Sitka and its surrounding area are popular. Day cruises and guided day trips (hiking) are large enterprises in Sitka. Floatplane "flightseeing" excursions are a way to view the area's sights from above.

Outdoor opportunities.

Sitka's position between the Pacific Ocean and the most mountainous island in the Alexander Archipelago creates a variety of outdoor opportunities:

The City and Borough of Sitka (, ), formerly Novo-Arkhangelsk (or New Archangel) under Russian rule ( or, ""), is a unified city-borough in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Alaska. The city is situated on the west side of Baranof Island and the south half of Chichagof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean (part of the Alaska Panhandle). As of the 2010 census, Sitka had a population of 8,881.

Sitka ist eine Stadt und gleichzeitig Verwaltungsbezirk (Borough) im US-Bundesstaat Alaska mit 8881 Einwohnern (Stand 2010). Sie ist vor Ketchikan die größte Stadt des Alexanderarchipels und befindet sich im westlichen Teil der Baranof Island, im sogenannten Alaska Panhandle. Mit einer Größe von 12.461,4 km2 ist sie die größte Stadt der USA nach der Fläche.