Latin.

Latin was the language of the Romans from the earliest known period. Writing under the first Roman emperor Augustus, Virgil emphasizes that Latin was a source of Roman unity and tradition. In Virgil's epic "Aeneid" about the founding of Rome, the supreme deity Jupiter dictates that the refugee Trojans who have come to settle in Italy will use the language of the native Latini as a means of unification: "they will keep the speech "(sermo)" and "mores" of their fathers... and I will make them all Latins with one mode of expression" "(uno ore," literally "with one mouth"). The Julio-Claudian emperors, who claimed descent from the Virgilian hero Aeneas, encouraged high standards of correct Latin "(Latinitas)", a linguistic movement identified in modern terms as Classical Latin, and favored Latin for conducting official business.  Latin became the language of conquered areas because local people started speaking it, and not because the population was displaced by Latin-speakers. Latin was not imposed officially on peoples brought under Roman rule. Saint Augustine observed that Romans preferred for Latin to be adopted "per pacem societatis", through a social pact. This language policy contrasts with that of Alexander, who aimed to impose Greek throughout his empire as the official language. Latin was not a requirement for Roman citizenship, and there was no state-supported schooling that privileged it as the

Greek.

Koine Greek had become the common language of the eastern Mediterranean and into Asia Minor after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Lucian even imagines that Greek is the universal language of the dead in the underworld. In late antiquity, a Greek-speaking majority lived in the Greek peninsula and islands, major cities of the East, western Anatolia, and some coastal areas. Greek continued as the language of the Eastern Roman Empire, and developed into a distinctive medieval Greek that gave rise to modern Greek. The emperor Claudius tried to limit the use of Greek, and on occasion revoked the citizenship of those who lacked Latin. Even

Language reform movements.

Atticism was a trend of the Second Sophistic. Intellectuals such as Aelius Aristides sought to restore the standards of classical Greek characteristic of the Attic dialect, represented by Thucydides, Plato, Demosthenes, and other authors from the Classical period. Prose stylists who aspired to Atticism tried to avoid the vulgarisms of koine—an impractical goal, but this linguistic purism also reflected the 2nd-century flourishing of grammarians and lexicographers. Expertise in language and literature

Regional languages.

The dominance of Latin and Greek among the literate elite may obscure the continuity of spoken languages, since all cultures within the Roman Empire were predominantly oral. In areas where Syriac, Coptic, Hebrew and Aramaic were spoken, they coexisted with Greek.

Aramaic and Syriac.

Aramaic was the primary language of Syria and Mesopotamia, with several dialects. Syriac was in use around Antioch, one of the three largest cities of the Empire, and particularly by Christians. Syriac literature is known from the latter 2nd century, spreading from the Christian community in Edessa. Early Syriac literature was produced in a largely Greek intellectual milieu until the 4th century, but was distinctive for its use of rich symbolism and emphasis on verse forms, and influenced Greek writers such as Eusebius, Basil and Theodoret. Among the earliest Syriac literature was the "Diatessaron" of Tatian, and translations of sections from the Bible.

Coptic.

"Coptic" is the modern term for the form of ancient Egyptian that had developed in late antiquity. Written Coptic as a literary language seems to have resulted from a conscious effort among Egypt's educated class to revive their cultural heritage.  In the 4th century, Coptic script—based on the Greek alphabet with additional characters from Egyptian demotic to reflect Egyptian phonology—is found in documents in several dialects, including Old Bohairic, Fayumic, Achmimic, and Sahidic. At this time Coptic

Punic.

Punic, the Semitic language of the Carthaginians, continued to be used in North Africa during the Imperial period. Before the Roman conquest in 146 BC, nearly all Punic inscriptions had been votive to the deities Tanit and Ba'al or funerary commemorations, but during the Roman era a broader range of content is found in Neo-Punic, often appearing with parallel texts in Latin or Greek. A striking occurrence of Neo-Punic is found at the otherwise thoroughly Roman temple of Roma and Augustus, built 14–19 AD

Celtic.

Celtic languages at the beginning of the Imperial period include Gaulish, spoken in Gaul ("Gallia," present-day France, Belgium, Switzerland and northern Italy); Celtiberian, in parts of Hispania (Spain and Portugal); Brittonic in Britannia (Roman Britain), and Galatian, a branch of Celtic brought to Anatolia by the Gallic invasions of the 3rd century BC. The place name Galatia, a Roman province, derives from the Greek word for "Gauls" or "Celts", "Galatai". Loanwords from Gaulish are recorded in Latin as early as the time of Ennius (ca. 239–169 BC), due to the presence of Celtic settlements on the Italian peninsula. By late antiquity, some Gaulish words had become so Latinized that their origin was no longer recognized as such. Celtiberian is documented as a written language only after contact with the Romans in the 2nd century BC. Of 103 Celtiberian inscriptions, thirty in Iberian script are hospitality tokens "(tesserae hospitales)", twenty of which are in the shape of animals. The social custom of pledging mutual support among families or communities was compatible with "hospitium" in Roman culture, and the Celtiberians

Germanic.

Next to nothing is recorded of the Germanic languages spoken in the Empire, with the exception of Gothic. A phrase of Gothic is quoted in an elegiac couplet from the "Latin Anthology", and more substantially parts of the Gospels were translated into Gothic and preserved by the 6th-century Codex Argenteus. While Latin gained some Germanic loanwords, most linguistic influence ran the other way. Bilingualism in a Germanic language and Latin was especially important in the military for officers

Multilingualism.

Trilingualism was perhaps not uncommon among educated people who came from regions where a language other than Latin or Greek was spoken. The Latin novelist Apuleius also wrote in Greek, and had learned Punic from his mother. The Babatha Archive is a suggestive example of practical multilingualism. These papyri, named for a Jewish woman in the province of Arabia and dating from 93 to 132 AD, mostly employ Aramaic, the local language, written in Greek characters with Semitic and Latin influences; a petition to the Roman governor, however, was written in Greek.  One striking example of multilingualism as well as multiculturalism in the Empire is a 2nd-century epitaph for a woman named Regina, discovered in 1878 near the Roman fort at South

Geographical distribution.

Italian peninsula and Sicily.

In Italy, the written use of Latin had replaced Oscan—like Latin, an Italic language—and Etruscan by the end of the 1st century AD. Oscan graffiti are preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 at Pompeii and Herculaneum, which was in the Oscan region, and a couple may date before or after an earlier regional earthquake in AD 62. In the mid-1st century, the emperor Claudius, who had keen antiquarian interests, knew Etruscan and wrote a multi-volume history of the Etruscans, but the work has not survived.

Western provinces.

In the Western Empire, Latin gradually replaced the Celtic languages, which were related to it by a shared Indo-European origin. Commonalities in syntax and vocabulary facilitated the adoption of Latin. Mediterranean Gaul (southern France) had become trilingual (Greek, Latin, Gaulish) by the mid-1st century BC. The importance of Latin in gaining access to the ruling power structure caused the rapid extinction of inscriptions in scripts that had been used to represent local languages on the Iberian peninsula "(Hispania)" and in Gaul. Among other aspects of a distinctive Gallo-Roman culture was the creation of Gallo-Latin text. In Latin commemorative inscriptions, individuals with Celtic names rarely identify themselves as "Celtic" or "Gallic"; they are much more likely to name the people of their "civitas" (such as Aedui, Remi, Pictones) or their voting tribe "(tribus)" as Roman citizens. Several major writers of Latin came from the Iberian peninsula in the Imperial period, including Seneca, Lucan, Quintilian, Martial, and Prudentius. However despite acquisition of Latin, Gaulish is held by some to have held on quite a long time, lasting at

African provinces.

In the provinces of Africa westwards of Cyrenaica (a region colonised by Greeks since the 7th century BC), the people of Carthage and other Phoenician colonies spoke and wrote Punic, with Latin common in urban centers. Other Roman Africans spoke Afroasiatic languages (Libyan, Numidian), debatably early versions of Berber.  Punic was used for legends on coins during the time of Tiberius (1st century AD), and Punic inscriptions appear on public buildings into the 2nd century, some bilingual with Latin. Inscriptions might also be trilingual: one pertaining to Imperial cult presents "the official Latin, the local Punic, and the Greek of passing traders and an educated or cosmopolitan elite".  Inscriptions in Libyan use a script similar to "tifinagh", usually written vertically from the bottom up. The 23 characters are "of a rather rigid geometric form". Bilingual examples are found with either Punic or Latin, and indicate that some people who

Egypt.

In Egypt, Coptic predominated, but Greek had been in use since the conquest of Alexander, and Latin and Greek were the administrative languages during the Roman Imperial period. Alexandria, founded in 331 BC under Greek rule and one of the three largest cities of the Roman

Eastern empire.

Although Greek was in common use around the Mediterranean and into Asia Minor even beyond Imperial borders, linguistic distribution in the eastern part of the Empire was complex. Now-extinct languages in Anatolia included Galatian (the form of Celtic introduced by invading Gauls in the 3rd century BC), Phrygian, Pisidian, and Cappadocian, attested by Imperial-era inscriptions. Christian sources also mention the survival of Galatian, Cappadocian, Mysian, and Isaurian in Asia Minor.

Danubian provinces and Balkans.

The Danubian provinces lay within a geographical area encompassing the middle and lower Danube basins, the Eastern Alps, the Dinarides, and the Balkans. Provinces in this general region include Noricum, Dacia, Dalmatia, Moesia, Thrace, Scythia, and Pannonia. The relative influence of Latin versus Greek and vice versa in this area and in the Balkans in general, is sometimes demarcated by the Jireček Line.  Greek had been in use in the southern part of the Balkans since the late 4th century BC, as a result of the Macedonian

Jewish diaspora.

Inscriptions in Greek and Latin set up by Jews attest to Jewish bi- or multilingualism, and their distribution in the Empire reflects the Jewish diaspora. These may have the Hebrew tag "shalom" at the end. Evidence for Jews in Egypt is preserved by papyri until the Jewish revolt of 116–117. In the first half of the 5th century, Greek coexisted with Hebrew and Jewish Aramaic in the Jewish communities of Palaestina Prima and Secunda, and is found in mosaic inscriptions even in synagogues.  Like

Christian communities.

The "Epistle to Diognetus" states that language was not a determining factor in Christian identity; Christians might speak any language. By late antiquity, at least some Christian literature had been created for virtually every language in regular use throughout the Empire. The international use of Greek was one factor enabling the spread of Christianity, as indicated for example by the use of Greek for the Epistles of Paul. Constantine, the first emperor to actively support Christianity, presumably knew some Greek, but Latin was spoken in his court, and he used an interpreter to address Greek-speaking bishops at the Council of Nicaea. In the Christian Latin West, Greek became associated with "paganism" and regarded as a foreign language ("lingua

Ritual language.

The form of private or personalized ritual characterized as "magic" might be conducted in a hodgepodge of languages. Magic, and even some therapies for illnesses, almost always involved incantation or the reciting of spells "(carmina)", often accompanied by the ritualized creation of inscribed tablets "(lamellae)" or amulets. These are known from both archaeological artifacts and written texts such as the Greek Magical Papyri, a collection of spells dating variously from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. Although Augustus attempted to suppress magic by burning some 2,000 esoteric books early in his reign, magical practices were disseminated widely throughout the Greco-Roman world, and attest to an awareness of multilingualism among the peoples of the Empire. Spells were not translated, because their efficacy was thought to reside in their precise wording; a language such as Gaulish thus may have persisted for private ritual purposes when it no longer had everyday currency. The Greek Magical Papyri "(PGM)" reflect Greco-Egyptian syncretism, incorporating not only Egyptian and Hellenistic religion, but

Legal language.

Roman law was written in Latin, and the "letter of the law" was tied strictly to the words in which it was expressed. Any language, however, could be binding in more general verbal contracts and procedures grounded in the "ius gentium" or international law. The "ius gentium" was not a written legal code, but was thought to exist among all peoples as a matter of natural law. Roman jurists show a concern for local languages such as Punic, Gaulish, and Aramaic in assuring the correct understanding and application

Linguistic legacy.

After the decentralization of political power in late antiquity, Latin developed locally into branches that became the Romance languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, Catalan, Sardinian, Aromanian, African Romance, Mozarabic, Dalmatian, and Venetian, among others. As an international language of learning and literature, Latin itself continued as an active medium of expression for diplomacy and for intellectual developments identified with Renaissance humanism up to the 17th century, and for law and the Roman Catholic Church to the present.  Greek continued as the language of the Byzantine Empire, but never replaced certain languages with which it had long coexisted, such as Coptic in Egypt, and Aramaic in Syria and Mesopotamia.

Latin and Greek were the official languages of the Roman Empire, but other languages were important regionally. Latin was the original language of the Romans and remained the language of imperial administration, legislation, and the military throughout the classical period. In the West, it became the lingua franca and came to be used for even local administration of the cities including the law courts. After all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire were universally enfranchised in 212 AD, a great number of Roman citizens would have lacked Latin, though they were expected to acquire at least a token knowledge, and Latin remained a marker of "Romanness".

Das Römische Reich wurde nach den Punischen Kriegen zu einem Vielvölkerstaat, der den Mittelmeerraum beherrschte. Dabei trafen die Römer auf sehr unterschiedliche Kulturen, in denen sie ihre Lateinische Sprache zur Amtssprache machten. Im Ostteil des Reiches bewahrten sie als Erben des Hellenismus die griechische Amtssprache. Einige regionale Sprachen konnten sich als Volkssprachen behaupten.


Early life.

Asmussen, the son of a headmaster, Jes Georg Asmussen, attended high school in Flensburg. His family came from a conservative, pious roots and was influenced greatly by Pastor Emil Wacker, a charismatic revival pastor. While in high school, he studied military combat in the tactics of the First World War until 1917. It was then his eldest brother was killed in the war, and he enlisted in the army. After serving until the war's end, he went on to study Protestant theology at the University of Kiel and University of Tübingen. While at Keil he, and a number of students, formed the “League of Lutheran Brethren” in opposition to the rising popularity of liberal theology. While at Tübingen the group was known as “the archconservatives from Flensburg”.  He then, in 1921, became vicar and later curate at the Deaconess House in Flensburg. In 1925 he took a pastorate in Albers village (Dithmar), from where he later moved in 1932 to the pastorate of the Church of St. Trinity in Altona. While at Albers, he worked to reform the local church to bring in a greater portion of the populace. The conservative local populace found his views appealing, as they shared a mutual distaste in the Weimar Republic. The local populace was insistent in its refusal to fly Republic flags, and thus Asmussen's choice to fly old Imperial flags gained him considerable rapport.

Ecclesiastical resistance to Nazi Party.

After the Altona Bloody Sunday incident in July 17, 1932 where eighteen people were killed in street fighting between the Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS), the Prussian police, and Communist Party (KPD) Asmussen attempted to calm tempers by holding the funerals and stressing that vengeance was not the solution. However Hitler declared that the Nazi dead were “Christian martyrs”, released a pamphlet titled "Wöhrden’s Bloody Night and Its Consequence" and used the incident to spark more demonstrations. Asmussen wrote letters to the Nazi party and Hitler himself first begging for them to end the violence, later denouncing their action.  Asmussen was one of the main authors of a piece published on January 11, 1933 from Altona pastors stressing their concern with the affairs of Germany, which became known as the "Altona Confession" in the story. It denounced Hitler's use of the event for political gain and stated that the Church was not sided with the National Socialists, nor did it side with the Communists. It declared that no political party could claim to be ruled by the word of God. Its mission was also to bring both sides to peace and resolve their conflicts without violence. This declaration is considered a harbinger of the later and more famous "Barmen Theological Declaration".  Hitler soon rose to power and intended to consolidate the German clergy into a single Church that supported the Nazi party. He established the German Christians, a group of pro-Nazi clergy who had government backing. After the victory of the German Christians in the church elections of 1933 in the Schleswig-Holstein church, Asmussen, as its avowed opponent, was suspended and sent into early retirement in 1934. Asmussen moved to Berlin and took over leading functions in September 1933 of the Pastors out Confessing Church. He belonged to the Reich Fraternal Council, and along with Karl Barth and Thomas Broad, drafted the Barmen Declaration and presented it at the first Barmer Confessional Synod of 1934 as the introduction speech.  In 1935 Asmussen founded, and was the director for, the Church University of Berlin-Dahlem which was opened on 1 November 1935 where he taught Practical Theology. However, in 1937 Heinrich Himmler decreed any training and tutelage of young theologians was prohibited for non-party clergy. Asmussen was a signatory of the Evangelical Church memorandum in the spring of 1936 and held a memorial service on 19 February 1937 at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for the murdered chief legal advisor to the Provisional church leadership, Friedrich Weissler. In 1939, a wide-ranging speech and sermon ban was imposed on Asmussen and other non-state clergy, who were on the lists of BK for the persecuted Christians.  By 1941, Asmussen was a member of the faculty circle and the audit committee, the examinierte theological chaired by Martin Albertz candidates. In addition, he served as pastor in the Berlin parrish. In May 1941, Asmussen was arrested at Albertz, along with Günther Dehn and vicar Elisabeth Gray and sentenced on 22 December 1941 by the Berlin Special Court I to imprisonment. In 1943 Bishop Theophil Wurm brought him into the Württemberg church.

Theological career after 1945.

In 1945 he was elected as Chairman of the Council of the EKD brotherhood. When church leaders held a conference in Treysa (today Schwalm City) in August 1945, he represented the emerging Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and was elected to head the church office, which he built at his home in Schwäbisch Gmünd. After the surrender of Nazi Germany, he sought to publicly apologize on behalf of all Evangelical Christians for the complicity of much of the clergy to the Nazi regime. Drafted by Asmussen and Martin Niemöller, a written apology was published on 19 October 1945 in Stuttgart by the Council of the EKD.  The Declaration states in part: In the following years Asmussen fell increasingly out of favor with the EKD Council, because he called for a more autonomous role of Lutheranism within the EKD Council. He had become rather critical of the church policy of Karl Barth and Niemöller and their desire to politicize the church, particularly with the Darmstadt edict of 1947. In 1948 he was relieved of his post as president of the church office and not re-elected on the Council of the EKD. From 1949 to 1955 he was a provost in Kiel.  In the 1950s Asmussen, who had also become a member of the CDU, criticized the Church's stance against nuclear weapons; a widely held view among the church. Asmussen was highly critical of the Soviet Union believing its aspirations of spreading its influence or conquering the west would entail the deprivation of rights and freedoms of Germans and Christians. He therefore believed nuclear weapons might be needed to deter this and that it was not the place of the Church to denounce the NATO government's defense efforts.

Later life.

In the last decade of his life, he became increasingly involved in Ecumenism and progressively closer to the Roman Catholic Church.

Honors.

Asmussen received honorary doctorates from the universities of St. Andrews in 1939 and Kiel in 1949.

Death.

Asmussen died on 30 December 1968 and was buried in the Park Cemetery Eichhof in Kiel.

Hans Christian Asmussen (born 21 August 1898 in Flensburg — died 30 December 1968 in Speyer) was a German Evangelical and Lutheran theologian.

Hans (Christian) Asmussen (* 21. August 1898 in Flensburg; † 30. Dezember 1968 in Speyer) war ein deutscher lutherischer Theologe. Er spielte seit 1933 eine führende Rolle in der Bekennenden Kirche und später in der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (EKD).


Biology.

Octocorals resemble the stony corals in general appearance and in the size of their polyps, but lack the distinctive stony skeleton. Also unlike the stony corals, each polyp has only eight tentacles, each of which is feather-like in shape, with numerous side-branches, or pinnules.  Octocorals are colonial organisms, with numerous tiny polyps embedded in a soft matrix that forms the visible structure of the colony. The matrix is composed of mesogleal tissue, lined by a continuous epidermis and perforated by numerous tiny channels. The channels interconnect the gastrovascular cavities of the polyps, allowing water and nutrients to flow freely between all the members of the colony. The skeletal material, called coenenchyme, is composed of living tissue secreted by numerous wandering amoebocytes. Although it is generally soft, in many species it is reinforced with calcareous or horny material.  The polyp is largely embedded within the colonial skeleton, with only the uppermost surface, including the tentacles and mouth, projecting about the surface. The mouth is slit-like, with a single ciliated groove, or "siphonoglyph", at one side to help control water flow. It opens into a tubular pharynx that projects down into a gastrovascular cavity that occupies the hollow interior. The pharynx is surrounded by eight radial partitions, or mesenteries, that divide the upper part of the gastrovascular cavity into chambers, one of which connects to the hollow space inside each tentacle. The gonads are located near the base of each mesentery.

Phylogeny.

Octocorallia is considered to be monophyletic, meaning that all contained species are descended from a common ancestor, but the relationships between subdivisions are not well known. The sea pens (Pennatulacea) and blue coral (Helioporacea) continue to be assigned separate orders, whereas the current order Alcyonacea was historically represented by four orders: Alcyonacea, Gorgonacea, Stolonifera and Telestacea.

Octocorallia (also known Alcyonaria) is a subclass of Anthozoa comprising around 3,000 species of water-based organisms formed of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians (sea fans and sea whips) within three orders: Alcyonacea, Helioporacea, and Pennatulacea. These organisms have an internal skeleton secreted by mesoglea and polyps with eight tentacles and eight mesentaries. As with all Cnidarians these organisms have a complex life cycle including a motile phase when they are considered plankton and later characteristic sessile phase.

Die Octocorallia sind eine Unterklasse der Blumentiere (Anthozoa). Im Deutschen werden die verschiedenen Gruppen je nach Wuchsform oder Festigkeit als Weich- (Alcyonacea), Leder- (Alcyoniidae), Röhren- (Stolonifera) oder Hornkorallen, Gorgonien (Gorgonacea), Seefächer oder Seefedern (Pennatulacea) bezeichnet, Namen die heute zum größten Teil keine taxonomische Gültigkeit mehr haben. Insgesamt 3.200 der 10.000 Nesseltierarten gehören zu den Octocorallia. Am Bau der Korallenriffe sind die Octocorallia, von wenigen Ausnahmen abgesehen, nicht beteiligt, da sie kein stabiles Skelett besitzen.


Plot.

Billy Halleck, a successful, arrogant, and morbidly obese lawyer, is distracted while driving across town by his wife Heidi giving him a handjob, and he runs over an elderly Gypsy woman as a result. Billy uses his connections within the police and the courtroom to get himself acquitted and avoid punishment. The Gypsy's father, Taduz Lemke, exacts vengeance by imposing a curse upon Billy outside the courthouse, and Billy begins to lose weight rapidly. Worried, Billy consults a series of doctors, suspecting cancer, but the doctors are unable to determine the cause of his weight loss. Later, Billy discovers that the judge who passed his acquittal is covered in scales, and the policeman who committed perjury on Billy's behalf has been struck with severe acne. Both men commit suicide.  With the help of private detectives and Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli, a former client with ties to organized crime, an emaciated Billy tracks the Gypsy band north along the seacoast of New England to Maine. He confronts Lemke at their camp and tries to persuade him to lift the curse, but Lemke refuses to do so, insisting that justice must be done upon Billy. The Gypsies throw Billy out of their camp, but not before Lemke's great-granddaughter Gina shoots him through the hand with a ball bearing. Billy calls for help from Richie, who sends a mob doctor to treat Billy's hand and then arrives in person to terrorize the Gypsy camp.  After Richie finishes with the Gypsies, Lemke agrees to meet with Billy. Lemke brings a strawberry pie with him and adds blood from Billy's wounded hand to it. The weight loss will stop for a short time, but then resume unless Billy passes the curse to someone else by getting them to eat the pie. Lemke implores Billy to eat the pie himself so that he may die with dignity. After finding Richie's severed hand in his car and learning that Richie has been murdered, Billy returns home and intends to give the pie to Heidi, whom he has come to blame for his predicament. The next morning, though, he finds that both she and their daughter Linda have eaten from the pie. Realizing that they are both doomed, he cuts a slice for himself so that he can join them in death.

Background.

"Thinner" is partly based on an episode in Stephen King's own life. He weighed and was warned by his doctor that he needed to lose weight and stop smoking. Although he did in fact lose the weight, he was angered by the fact that the decision to lose weight was not really his own, but, he felt, had been forced on him by his doctor. He began to contemplate what would happen if someone were to lose weight and then be unable to stop losing weight—and the idea for "Thinner" began to germinate in his mind.

Thinner is a novel by American author Stephen King, published in 1984 by NAL under King's pseudonym Richard Bachman. The story centers on lawyer Billy Halleck, who kills a crossing Gypsy in a road accident and escapes legal punishment because of his connections. However, the Gypsy's father places a curse on Halleck, which causes him to lose weight uncontrollably. King, who was overweight at the time of the novel's writing, created the novel's outline following an annual medical examination.

Der Fluch (im Original: "Thinner") ist ein Roman des amerikanischen Schriftstellers Stephen King aus dem Jahr 1984, der als fünfter Roman unter dem Pseudonym „Richard Bachman“ herausgegeben wurde und auch zur Enttarnung seines Pseudonyms führte. Veröffentlicht wurde er durch den NAL-Verlag im November 1984. Die deutsche Übersetzung von Nora Jensen veröffentlichte der Heyne Verlag im darauffolgenden Jahr.


Advantages.

The taxpayer using the Head of Household filing status is entitled to use the Head of Household tax rates, which feature wider tax brackets. Also, the taxpayer is entitled to a larger standard deduction ($18,000 for tax year 2018) than taxpayers using Single or Married Filing Separately ($12,000 for 2018).

Considered unmarried.

A person who is married on the last day of the tax year generally must use either the Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately filing status. The exception is a taxpayer who is considered unmarried for Head of Household filing purposes and actually qualifies as Head of Household.  To be considered unmarried, a taxpayer must meet all the following tests:  A taxpayer may also be considered unmarried for head of household purposes if the spouse is a nonresident alien, and the taxpayer does not elect to treat the spouse as a resident alien. In that case, the taxpayer is still considered married for purposes of the earned income credit.

Keeping up a home.

To qualify for Head of Household filing status, the taxpayer must have paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year. Costs to consider include property taxes, mortgage interest, rent, utilities, repairs and maintenance, insurance, and food eaten in the home. Costs such as education, clothing, vacation, and transportation are not included in the cost of keeping up the homes.

Qualifying person.

The following table determines who is a qualifying person for Head of Household filing status: (1) Qualifying Child MUST meet all the tests. For Example a 25-year-old full-time student does not qualify as a child but may qualify as a Qualifying Relative if the tests are met. See Table 5 Pub 501 (2012). In this case you could not file as HOH. If the tests are met you could file as single or married filing separately and claim an exemption for the non qualified child.

Qualifying relatives.

Other than a father or mother, the following types of relationships may qualify a dependent as a qualifying person for head of household purposes:  Any of these relationships that was established by marriage is not ended by death or divorce.

Special rule for parents.

If the qualifying person is the taxpayer's father or mother, the taxpayer may file as Head of Household even if the father or mother does not live with the taxpayer. However, the taxpayer must be able to claim the exemption for the father or mother. Also, the taxpayer must pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home that was the main home for the entire year for the father or mother. The taxpayer is considered keeping up the father or mother's main home by paying more than half the cost of keeping the parent in a rest home for the elderly.

Head of Household is a filing status for individual United States taxpayers. To use the Head of Household filing status, a taxpayer must:

Haushaltsvorstand (auch "Haushaltungsvorstand") ist im deutschsprachigen Raum ein Rechtsbegriff aus der öffentlichen Verwaltung. Er bezeichnet dasjenige Mitglied des Privathaushalts, das den größten finanziellen Beitrag zum Haushaltseinkommen leistet. In neueren Quellen ist der gleichbedeutende Begriff "Haupteinkommensbezieher" gebräuchlich, der in der DDR schon länger verwendet wurde. Bei amtlichen Zählungen gab jeder Haushalt den HEB an, dessen Merkmale wie Alter und Geschlecht wurden zur Gruppierung der Daten verwendet.


History.

Fans had previously requested a sequel to the first part of the song "Metropolis—Part I" from "Images and Words", but the band had not yet been able - nor had they originally intended - to make one. The name "Part I" was added by Petrucci as a joke. With the sessions for "Falling Into Infinity" (1997), the band recorded a 21-minute instrumental demo of "Metropolis Pt. 2" (which was later released by Mike Portnoy via his Ytsejam Records site along with the other "Falling Into Infinity" demos), but this did not make it onto that album. The demo, which included several musical citations from "Metropolis—Part I" and featured many motifs that would later appear on "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory" (most notably the majority of "Overture 1928" and "Strange Deja Vu" and parts of "The Dance of Eternity" and "One Last Time"), was however significantly different from the finished album version in most parts.  After participating with keyboardist Jordan Rudess in Liquid Tension Experiment, a supergroup composed of various members of famous progressive rock bands, Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci found themselves writing music and working together with Rudess quite easily. They convinced the rest of the band to offer Rudess the position of full-time keyboardist for the band's upcoming album. He accepted, and current keyboardist Derek Sherinian was fired from the band via a conference call between the four members in New York and him in Los Angeles (Portnoy and Petrucci have stated that while it was an uncomfortable and unattractive situation, they didn't want to ask Derek to fly out from L.A. to New York only to be fired).  After his departure, the band went back to BearTracks Studios in Suffern, New York to record their new album, previously the site of recording for "Images and Words" (a photograph of Beartracks is featured on the album's back cover, meant to represent the house in the album). After the commercial failure of "Falling Into Infinity", their record label gave the band free rein over their new album's direction, which led the band to finally finish the story. The final version of the story became a concept album, dealing with the story of a man named Nicholas and the discovery of his past life, which involves love, murder and infidelity as Victoria Page, and as such was heavily inspired by the 1991 film "Dead Again," more so than the original "Metropolis—Part I".  Following the album's release, the band embarked on an extensive world tour, and at a show in New York City the band actually hired actors to perform the narrative elements of the album whilst they played. The performance was recorded and was released in 2001 as the "Metropolis 2000" Live DVD. In 2011 the album was released on LP for the first time to celebrate Record Store Day. In 2019, the twentieth anniversary of the release of "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory", Dream Theater performed it live in its entirety alongside material from its new album, "Distance over Time".

Synopsis.

Act I.

"Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory" opens to Nicholas, a troubled man going through past life regression therapy. In a hypnotic trance induced by his hypnotherapist, he begins to see a girl named Victoria Page (her full name is in the CD booklet and was shown during the 2019 tour, when the album was performed in its entirety) and a life that feels strangely familiar, despite the fact that he has never been here. ("Regression") He learns that she was murdered, and that he was Victoria in a past life. ("Strange Deja Vu") He begins to believe that Victoria is haunting him to reveal the truth about her murder. ("Through My Words") Nicholas is able to recall that Victoria began distancing herself from her lover Julian Baynes (also given last name in 2019 tour video and is also in the CD insert) because of his drinking and gambling addictions; she sought comfort in Julian's brother Edward Baynes and began an affair with him. Nicholas assumes that Julian murdered her out of jealousy and then killed himself, a story backed up by a newspaper article covering the events, which cites a witness' testimony. However, Nicholas begins to doubt this series of events, and converses with an older man who was more familiar with the case (an animated video that played during "Fatal Tragedy" on the 2019 tour heavily suggests he is a reincarnated Julian). He realizes that he will never be able to get on with his own life until he solves her murder. ("Fatal Tragedy"; "Beyond This Life", "Through Her Eyes")

Act II.

The second act begins by describing Julian's addictions to cocaine and gambling, which drives Victoria away from him. ("Home") Edward feels guilty about deceiving his brother, but decides that his love for Victoria is greater than his guilt, and he seduces her when she is vulnerable following her breakup. ("The Dance of Eternity") After visiting Edward's old house, Nicholas believes he has solved the mystery: Julian had tried to beg Victoria for forgiveness, and when rebuffed, killed both her and Edward, and positioned himself as the witness in the newspaper article. ("One Last Time") Nicholas comes to terms with what has happened, and bids farewell to Victoria. The hypnotherapist ends the session at this point, despite pleas from Victoria's memories. ("The Spirit Carries On") The narrative then cuts to Edward's perspective, revealing that he wished his romance with Victoria was more than a simple affair. As Victoria begins to reconcile with Julian again, Edward confronts the two of them, murders them, then stages the scene and assumes the role of the witness for the newspaper column. The flashback includes Edward telling Victoria to "open [her] eyes" before killing her, echoing the same choice of words the hypnotherapist used to wake Nicholas from his hypnotic trance. ("Finally Free") In the present, Nicholas arrives home, followed by the Hypnotherapist. Nicholas is startled by another request to "open [his] eyes", before the album cuts to (and concludes on) phonographic static. The band confirmed on the that the hypnotherapist is Edward's reincarnation, and has killed Nicholas to complete the cycle yet again.  The static that closes this album continues at the beginning of "The Glass Prison", the first song on their next album, "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence".

Influences.

"Scenes from a Memory" showcased a traditional progressive rock sound. According to the "Making of Scenes from a Memory" video, some of the influences for Metropolis Pt.2 are the following concept albums: the Who's "Tommy", Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", Roger Waters' "Amused to Death", Radiohead's "OK Computer", Queensryche's "", the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", Marillion's "Misplaced Childhood" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and "The Final Cut". These albums are shown on a table Mike calls "Inspiration Corner".

Reception.

"Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory" reached #73 on the "Billboard" 200 albums chart, #2 on the Billboard Top Internet Albums, #6 on the Finnish Albums Chart and #8 on the German Albums Chart. The album received acclaim from a variety of sources. It was ranked number 95 on the October 2006 issue of "Guitar World" magazine's list of "The greatest 100 guitar albums of all time". It is ranked as the 15th Greatest Concept Album (as of March, 2003) by "Classic Rock Magazine". The German "Rock Hard" magazine voted it "Album of the Month", giving a perfect score, and eventually ranked it number 410 in their book "The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time" in 2005.  In 2012, the readers of "Rolling Stone" voted the album into the #1 position of their "Your Favorite Prog Rock Albums of All Time" poll. "Scenes from a Memory" was ranked by the same magazine at #29 in their list "50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time."  In 2015, The Prog Report ranked it #3 in the Top 50 Modern Prog Albums 1990–2015.  Jordan Blum of "PopMatters" called the album "the greatest progressive metal work of all time."  "Loudwire" named it at #14 in their list "Top 25 Progressive Metal Albums of All Time."

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory is the fifth studio album and first concept album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on October 26, 1999 through Elektra Records. It was recorded at BearTracks Studios in Suffern, New York, where the band had previously recorded their second studio album "Images and Words" (1992) and the EP "A Change of Seasons" (1995).

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory ( für „Metropolis Teil 2: Szenen einer Erinnerung“) ist das fünfte Studioalbum der US-amerikanischen Progressive-Metal-Band Dream Theater. Es wurde 1999 als erstes Konzeptalbum der Gruppe veröffentlicht, welches auf einem vorangegangenen Lied des 1992 veröffentlichten Albums "Images & Words" basiert. Es wird von vielen Fans als das Meisterwerk von Dream Theater angesehen.


Crew.

Crew notes.

Originally this mission was to carry the Expedition 8 crew to the ISS. The original crew was to be:

Mission highlights.

Mission notes.

As one of the main goals of STS-116 was to exchange ISS Expedition 14 crew members, the crew of STS-116 changed mid-flight. ISS Flight Engineer Sunita "Suni" Williams was part of the STS-116 crew for the first portion of the mission. She then replaced ISS Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter on the Expedition 14 crew and Reiter joined the STS-116 crew for the return to Earth.

Final Assembly Power Converter Unit mission for "Discovery".

During planned orbiter upgrades that took place subsequent to this mission, "Discovery"'s "Assembly Power Converter Units" (APCUs) were removed and replaced with the shuttle-side components of the Station-Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS). The APCUs converted 28VDC orbiter main bus power to 124VDC, compatible with the ISS's 120VDC main bus power. During initial station assembly missions, orbiter APCU power was used to augment the power available from the Russian service segment. With the operation of permanent main electrical systems (e.g. P4 array and SARJ, MBSUs, DDCUs, Ammonia cooling systems), orbiter power was no longer needed by the ISS.  After STS-118, "Discovery" and "Endeavour" drew power from the ISS, although "Atlantis" was never upgraded with the SSPTS. This system slowed the orbiters' consumption of hydrogen and oxygen used by their onboard electricity-generating fuel cells. The hydrogen and oxygen supplies, stored cryogenically in tanks aboard the orbiter, limited the duration of Space Shuttle missions. As a result of the changeover to SSPTS, "Discovery" and "Endeavour" gained approximately 50% of the time that would have been spent docked otherwise. This resulted in 2–4 extra days for each ISS-docked mission.

Mission payloads.

The primary payload for the STS-116 mission was the P5 Truss segment of the International Space Station. The shuttle also carried a Spacehab Logistics Module to resupply the ISS, and an Integrated Cargo Carrier with four sub-satellites, which were deployed after undocking from the ISS: the ANDE technology demonstrator (OSCAR 61 and 62), developed by the Naval Research Laboratory, and three CubeSats (RAFT-1 (OSCAR 60) and MARScom for the United States Naval Academy, and MEPSI 2A/2B for DARPA). It was the first Shuttle mission to deploy satellites since STS-113 in 2002.

Mission background.

STS-116 was planned (post return-to-flight) to launch on 14 December 2006. But on 29 November 2006 NASA announced that the launch team had been asked to aim for a launch on 7 December 2006 rather than the original target date of 14 December. The launch window for the STS-116 mission opened on 7 December and extended through 17 December. The seven-member flight crew arrived for launch at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility on 3 December 2006 in the afternoon. Primary payloads on the 13-day mission were the P5 integrated truss segment, SPACEHAB single logistics module, and an integrated cargo carrier. The STS-116 mission was the 20th Shuttle flight to the station.  Launch on the new, earlier date required a night-time launch. Subsequent to the "Columbia" disaster, NASA had imposed rules requiring shuttle launches to be conducted during the day, when light would be sufficient for cameras to observe falling debris. With the redesign of shuttle tank foam having minimized the amount of falling debris and the availability of in-orbit inspection procedures, the daylight-launch requirement was relaxed.  Rollover of "Discovery" to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) occurred on 31 October, and on 1 November the orbiter was raised into a vertical orientation and moved into High Bay 3 to be mated with the external tank and solid rocket boosters. Rollout to Launch Complex 39B was completed on Thursday 11 November.  The crew for the mission arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 13 November to begin their final four-day prelaunch training for the mission, which included familiarization activities, rehearsal of emergency procedures and practice on NASA's Shuttle Training Aircraft, along with a simulated countdown, which took place on the morning of 16 November 2006. The astronauts then traveled to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and returned to Kennedy Space Center on 3 December 2006, four days before the planned launch date.  The payloads for the mission, including a SPACEHAB module and the P5 truss, were loaded from the payload canister into "Discovery's" payload bay on 16 November, and, with the sealing of the payload bay doors, all that remained was to fill the external fuel tank before the "Discovery" shuttle stack was in full launch configuration. With the completion of the Flight Readiness Review over 28–29 November (which evaluated all activities and elements necessary for the safe and successful performance of the shuttle during the mission, including the Orbiter itself, the payload and flight crew), "Discovery" was given her Certificate of Flight Readiness, the launch date was officially set to 7 December 2006, and the mission officially given the "Go" for launch.

Mission timeline.

7 December (Launch attempt 1).

Following the completion of the pre-launch preparations, all eyes were on the Florida skies, due to a forecast low cloud ceiling for the night of the launch. The mission's seven astronauts were loaded into "Discovery" ready for the scheduled launch at 21:37 EST, with hopes high for a break in the clouds, but as the scheduled launch time approached it became apparent that the cloud would not break, and the launch attempt was scrubbed, with the next attempt scheduled for 9 December 2006. Prior to the initial attempt on 7 December, NASA had determined that they would not attempt a launch on Friday because of a cold front moving in that eventually scrubbed Thursday's launch attempt.

9 December (Flight day 1 – Launch).

"Discovery" lifted off successfully at 8:47 pm EST (01:47 UTC), lighting up the Florida's coastline. Weather conditions – in particular crosswinds at the launch and landing sites – continued to trend positively in the hours approaching the launch window Saturday night. The fueling process for Discovery's external tanks began at 12:46 EST (17:46 UTC) and was completed at approximately 15:45 EST (20:45 UTC). If a transatlantic abort landing (TAL) had been required during ascent, the shuttle had three possible landing sites: Zaragoza or Morón Air Base in Spain, or Istres, France.  The launch was the third shuttle mission in five months, being preceded by STS-121 in July and STS-115 in September, and was the first night launch in four years since STS-113 and first night launch following the Columbia accident during STS-107.

10 December (Flight day 2).

Flight day 2 began for the astronauts at 15:47 UTC. The first order of business for the day was a thorough inspection of the Shuttle. Using sensors and cameras attached to a fifty-foot boom, which was in turn connected to a fifty-foot robotic arm, Nicholas Patrick inspected the leading edge of the wings and the nose cap. The process, which took five and a half hours, suffered a minor glitch that required Patrick to order the arm to manually grab the boom. During this time, the crew also inspected the upper surface of the orbiter. Astronauts also completed a check of the spacesuits to be used during the mission, along with preparation for docking with the International Space Station.

11 December (Flight day 3 – Docking to ISS).

Flight day 3 began for the astronauts at 15:18 UTC. Following the rendezvous pitch maneuver, docking to the International Space Station occurred at 22:12 UTC. The hatch between the International Space Station and "Discovery" was opened at 23:54 UTC. The joint ISS/Shuttle crew then worked to undertake some further detailed inspection of the orbiter and unloaded the P5 truss segment from the payload bay, handing it off successfully from the shuttle robotic arm to the station arm. The astronauts scheduled for Day 4's EVA, Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, ended their day by entering the airlock for a "campout" sleep session to prepare for the EVA by purging their bodies of nitrogen in a lower-pressure environment. Such a practice is common in order for the astronauts to avoid getting decompression sickness.

12 December (Flight day 4 – EVA #1).

Flight day 4 began for the astronauts at 15:47 UTC. During the first EVA of the mission, the astronauts of STS-116 brought the ISS one step closer to completion with the addition of the P5 truss segment.  The EVA began at 20:31 UTC, with Curbeam and Fuglesang removing launch restraints from the P5 truss and Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham making use of the station's robotic arm (the "Canadarm2") to move the truss segment to within inches of its new position on the P4 truss. The spacewalkers then guided Higginbotham with visual cues as the precise operation to finalize the attachment of the truss was completed.  After the P5's attachment, Curbeam and Fuglesang finalized the installation with power, data and heater cable connections. They also replaced a faulty video camera attached to the S1 truss. Since they worked ahead of the time-line, the two astronauts were also able to complete some get-ahead tasks.  At the end of the spacewalk, Curbeam congratulated the Nobel Prize winners, including scientist Dr. John C. Mather at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Mather was honored for his work on the big-bang theory. Christer Fuglesang also held a short speech in Swedish, encouraging Swedes and others to aspire to become future astronauts. The EVA concluded at 03:07 UTC on the morning of 13 December, and lasted for 6 hours and 36 minutes in total.  During the spacewalk, after taking a close look at imagery gathered on the first three days of the flight, mission managers determined that the shuttle's heat shield would support a safe return to Earth. They also decided a more detailed inspection that had been scheduled for later in the mission would not be necessary.  Three more spacewalks, one of which was unplanned, were required to reconfigure and redistribute power on the station, so that the solar arrays installed during STS-115 could be used. The first step of reconfiguring the power took place Wednesday when the port solar array on the P6 truss was retracted, which allowed the activation and rotation of the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint on the P4. The rotary joint allows the solar arrays on the P4 to track the Sun.  The astronauts were required to spend the night sleeping in protected areas in order to avoid radiation from a solar flare eruption.

13 December (Flight day 5 – Solar Array Reorganization).

Flight day 5 began for the astronauts at 15:21 UTC. The most high-profile activity was the attempted retraction of the P6 port-side solar array. The process began at 18:28 UTC, but problems with the array folding due to 'kinks' and 'billows' led the controllers to redeploy the array (from about 40% retracted). There then followed a series of more than 40 commands to furl and unfurl the arrays in an effort to get them properly aligned and folded.  At 00:50 UTC, the retraction efforts were abandoned for the day. The problems, which appear to have been caused by a loss of tension in the solar array guide wires, had still not been solved, although 14 of the 31 bays on the array had been retracted (leaving 17 bays extended). This was enough to leave the port side arrays in a safe position to commence the activation of the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) at 01:00 UTC, allowing the solar arrays on the P3/P4 truss to rotate to follow the sun.

14 December (Flight day 6 – EVA #2).

Flight day 6 began for the astronauts at 15:19 UTC. The day's primary activity, EVA No. 2, began rewiring work to bring the station's permanent electrical power systems into use. To allow this changeover, station controllers had to power down about half the systems on the ISS. The EVA started at 19:41 UTC with Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang exiting the Quest airlock, 30 minutes early. EVA No. 2 was planned to activate channels 2 and 3 of the four-channel electrical system, and the work progressed smoothly. About two hours into the spacewalk the first current was flowing through the reconfigured system, using the power from the P4 solar arrays for the first time. The EVA was completed in exactly 5 hours, finishing at 00:41 UTC.

15 December (Flight day 7).

Flight day 7 was a light work day for the crews of "Discovery" and the ISS after the previous days' activities. Spacewalkers Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang enjoyed some R&R, while the rest of the crew performed cleanup and preparatory tasks for Flight day 8's planned EVA #3. The traditional joint photo session and joint news conference were held by the crews. During this event Swedish first time astronaut Christer Fuglesang was interviewed by Crown Princess Victoria and also set a 20-second Frisbee world record in space, broadcast live on Swedish TV4.  In an attempt to free a stuck solar panel, Thomas Reiter exercised vigorously on a machine which is known to cause oscillations in the solar arrays; it was not successful. Mission controllers continued to look at other solutions to the solar panel folding problem so as to enable complete retraction, including an extended or additional EVA.

16 December (Flight day 8 – EVA #3).

Flight day 8 began for the astronauts at 14:48 UTC. Astronauts Bob Curbeam and 'Suni' Williams completed the rewiring work on the International Space Station. The EVA began at 19:25 UTC and proceeded normally. As an "add-on task" to the EVA, astronauts Curbeam and Williams also continued work on the retraction of a sticking solar array, enabling the retraction of another six sections of the P6 array. At the end of the EVA there were another 11 "bays", or 35% left to retract. Upon completion of the EVA, the astronauts returned to the ISS via the Quest airlock.  Another significant event during the EVA was the loss of 'Suni' Williams' digital camera. At the post-EVA press conference it was suggested that a tether got snagged and caused the camera release button to break off allowing the camera to fall out of its holder. Images were lost but it was determined there was no need to retake them. Curbeam later said to the MCC: "We've got the bracket and the tether. Looks like the screws [on the bracket] came loose, we have the screws and the bracket and the tether."

17 December (Flight day 9).

Flight day 9 was mainly spent preparing for EVA #4. The space suits were prepared (adjusting sizes and replacing LiOH canisters) and the crew went through the new procedures which had been developed for attempting to enable the solar array retraction. Various tools were coated in kapton tape to protect the array from coming into direct contact with sharp metallic objects and to provide electrical insulation if they are used to manipulate the arrays during the EVA.

18 December (Flight day 10 – EVA #4).

Flight day 10 began for the astronauts at 14:17 UTC. Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang embarked on an added EVA at 17:12 UTC to try to fully close the last eleven bays of the balky P6-port Solar Array Wing. The rapidly planned EVA was successfully completed after a 6-hour 38-minute spacewalk. At the end of EVA No. 4, Curbeam ranked fifth in total EVA time for U.S. astronauts and 14th overall.

19 December (Flight day 11 – Undocking).

Flight day 11 began for the astronauts at approximately 14:47 UTC. The Expedition 14 and STS-116 crews posed for photos and then closed the hatches between the ISS and "Discovery". Undocking was complete at 22:10 UTC. Due to the extended mission for EVA No. 4, "Discovery" did not make a full circle to film and photograph ISS, but only flew slightly more than one-quarter of the way around (through ISS zenith) before its departure burn.

20 December (Flight day 12).

Flight day 12 began for the astronauts at 12:48 UTC. They spent the day verifying the integrity of "Discovery"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s heat shield and preparing for deorbit and landing on 22 December 2006 (Flight day 14). Because of the extended spaceflight, the shuttle was required to make a landing attempt on flight day 14 unless all three landing sites were "no-go." Two satellites were also launched: MEPSI (Microelectromechanical System-Based PICOSAT Inspector) resembles a pair of tethered coffee-cups, and is being tested as a reconnaissance option for disabled satellites; RAFT (Radar Fence Transponder) is a pair of 5" cubes built by the U.S. Naval Academy which will test space radar systems and also act as data relays for mobile ground communications.

21 December (Flight day 13).

Flight day 13 began for the astronauts at 12:17 UTC. "Discovery"'s crew launched the ANDE (Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment) microsats for the Naval Research Laboratory, which were designed to measure the density and composition of the low Earth orbit atmosphere in order to help better predict the movements of objects in orbit, but one of the satellites failed to emerge from its launch canister. ANDE is currently transmitting data, and emerged from the canister approximately 30 minutes after its launch according to satellite tracking data.

22 December (Flight day 14 – Landing).

Flight day 14 began for the astronauts at 12:17 UTC. Preparations for landing were complete. High cross-winds precluded a landing at Edwards Air Force Base while clouds and showers were an issue at Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility on the first orbit. That combination raised the possibility of the first landing at White Sands Space Harbor since STS-3 in 1982. Had landing taken place at White Sands, it could have taken as long as 60 days to return the orbiter to Kennedy Space Center. The first landing opportunity at Kennedy Space Center was abandoned due to unfavorable weather conditions. However, at 21:00 UTC coordinates were sent to the shuttle to re-attempt a landing at Kennedy along runway 15, as the first contingency landing attempt at Edwards had been called off due to high cross winds. The de-orbit burn for Kennedy occurred at 21:27 UTC, having been authorized at 21:23 UTC, and was finished at 21:31 UTC. Since the landing time coincided with the local sunset time 17:32 EST (22:32 UTC), the shuttle landing was not considered a night landing, as official rules for a night landing are sunset + 15 minutes; however the xenon runway lighting system was in use. "Discovery" touched down 30 seconds before the expected time. Landing time at Kennedy was at 17:32 EST (22:32 UTC).

Contingency planning.

STS-301.

STS-301 was the designation given to the Contingency Shuttle Crew Support mission which would have been launched in the event Space Shuttle "Atlantis" had become disabled during STS-115. It was a modified version of the STS-116 mission, which would have involved the launch date being brought forward. If needed, it would have launched no earlier than 11 November 2006. The crew for this mission was a four-person subset of the full STS-116 crew:

STS-317.

In the event that "Discovery" suffered irreparable damage but made it to Earth orbit during STS-116, the crew would have taken refuge at the ISS and waited for a Contingency Shuttle Crew Support mission to launch. The mission would have been named STS-317 and would have been flown by the Space Shuttle "Atlantis" no earlier than 21 February 2007. The crew for this rescue mission would have been a subset of the full STS-117 crew.

Wake-up calls.

A tradition for NASA spaceflights since the days of Gemini, mission crews are played a special musical track at the start of each day in space. Each track is specially chosen, often by their family, and usually has special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.

STS-116 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle " Discovery". "Discovery" lifted off on 9 December 2006 at 20:47:35 EST. A previous launch attempt on 7 December had been canceled due to cloud cover. It was the first night launch of a Space Shuttle since STS-113 in November 2002.

STS-116 (englisch Space Transportation System) ist die Missionsbezeichnung für einen Flug des US-amerikanischen Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103) der NASA. Es war die 117. Space-Shuttle-Mission und der 33. Flug der Raumfähre Discovery. Dieser 20. Flug einer US-Raumfähre zur Internationalen Raumstation (ISS) war dem weiteren ISS-Ausbau gewidmet und lieferte dafür die P5-Gitterstruktur.


Motivation.

Caving is often undertaken for the enjoyment of the outdoor activity or for physical exercise, as well as original exploration, similar to mountaineering or diving. Physical or biological science is also an important goal for some cavers, while others are engaged in cave photography. Virgin cave systems comprise some of the last unexplored regions on Earth and much effort is put into trying to locate, enter and survey them. In well-explored regions (such as most developed nations), the most accessible caves have already been explored, and gaining access to new caves often requires cave digging or cave diving.  Caving, in certain areas, has also been utilized as a form of eco and adventure tourism, for example in New Zealand. Tour companies have established an industry leading and guiding tours into and through caves. Depending on the type of cave and the type of tour, the experience could be adventure-based or ecological-based. There are tours led through lava tubes by a guiding service (e.g. Lava River Cave, the oceanic islands of Tenerife, Iceland and Hawaii).  Caving has also been described as an "individualist's team sport" by some, as cavers can often make a trip without direct physical assistance from others but will generally go in a group for companionship or to provide emergency help if needed. Some however consider the assistance cavers give each other as a typical team sport activity.

Etymology.

The base term "caving" comes from the Latin "cavea" or "caverna", meaning simply, a cave.  "Potholing" refers to the act of exploring "potholes", a word originating in the north of England for predominantly vertical caves. Clay Perry, an American caver of the 1940s, wrote about a group of men and boys who explored and studied caves throughout New England. This group referred to themselves as "spelunkers", a term derived from the Latin "" ("cave, cavern, den"), itself from the Greek "spēlynks" ("cave"). This is regarded as the first use of the word in the Americas. Throughout the 1950s, "spelunking" was the general term used for exploring caves in US English. It was used freely, without any positive or negative connotations, although only rarely outside the US.  In the 1960s, the terms "spelunking" and "spelunker" began to be considered déclassé among experienced enthusiasts. In 1985, Steve Knutson – editor of the National Speleological Society (NSS) publication "American Caving Accidents" – made the following distinction:  This sentiment is exemplified by bumper stickers and T-shirts displayed by some cavers: "Cavers rescue spelunkers". Nevertheless, outside the caving community, "spelunking" and "spelunkers" predominately remain neutral terms referring to the practice and practitioners, without any respect to skill level.

History.

In the mid-nineteenth century, John Birkbeck explored potholes in England, notably Gaping Gill in 1842 and Alum Pot in 1847–8, returning there in the 1870s. In the mid-1880s, Herbert E. Balch began exploring Wookey Hole Caves and in the 1890s, Balch was introduced to the caves of the Mendip Hills. One of the oldest established caving clubs, Yorkshire Ramblers' Club, was founded in 1892.  Caving as a specialized pursuit was pioneered by Édouard-Alfred Martel (1859–1938), who first achieved the descent and exploration of the Gouffre de Padirac, in France, as early as 1889 and the first complete descent of a 110-metre wet vertical shaft at Gaping Gill in 1895. He developed his own techniques based on ropes and metallic ladders. Martel visited Kentucky and notably Mammoth Cave National Park in October 1912. In the 1920s famous US caver Floyd Collins made important explorations in the area and in the 1930s, as caving became increasingly popular, small exploration teams both in the Alps and in the karstic high plateaus of southwest France (Causses and Pyrenees) transformed cave exploration into both a scientific and recreational activity. Robert de Joly, Guy de Lavaur and Norbert Casteret were prominent figures of that time, surveying mostly caves in Southwest France. During World War II, an alpine team composed of Pierre Chevalier, Fernand Petzl, Charles Petit-Didier and others explored the Dent de Crolles cave system near Grenoble, which became the deepest explored system in the world (-658m) at that time. The lack of available equipment during the war forced Pierre Chevalier and the rest of the team to develop their own equipment, leading to technical innovation. The scaling-pole (1940), nylon ropes (1942), use of explosives in caves (1947) and mechanical rope-ascenders (Henri Brenot's "monkeys", first used by Chevalier and Brenot in a cave in 1934) can be directly associated to the exploration of the Dent de Crolles cave system.  In 1941, American cavers organized themselves into the National Speleological Society (NSS) to advance the exploration, conservation, study and understanding of caves in the United States. American caver Bill Cuddington, known as "Vertical Bill", further developed the single-rope technique (SRT) in the late 1950s. In 1958, two Swiss alpinists, Juesi and Marti teamed together, creating the first rope ascender known as the Jumar. In 1968 Bruno Dressler asked Fernand Petzl, who worked as a metals machinist, to build a rope-ascending tool, today known as the Petzl Croll, that he had developed by adapting the Jumar to vertical caving. Pursuing these developments, Petzl started in the 1970s a caving equipment manufacturing company named Petzl. The development of the rappel rack and the evolution of mechanical ascension systems extended the practice and safety of vertical exploration to a wider range of cavers.

Practice and equipment.

Hard hats are worn to protect the head from bumps and falling rocks. The caver's primary light source is usually mounted on the helmet in order to keep the hands free. Electric LED lights are most common. Many cavers carry two or more sources of light – one as primary and the others as backup in case the first fails. More often than not, a second light will be mounted to the helmet for quick transition if the primary fails. Carbide lamp systems are an older form of illumination, inspired by miner's equipment, and are still used by some cavers, particularly on remote expeditions where electric charging facilities are not available.  The type of clothes worn underground varies according to the environment of the cave being explored, and the local culture. In cold caves, the caver may wear a warm base layer that retains its insulating properties when wet, such as a fleece ("furry") suit or polypropylene underwear, and an oversuit of hard-wearing (e.g., cordura) or waterproof (e.g., PVC) material. Lighter clothing may be worn in warm caves, particularly if the cave is dry, and in tropical caves thin polypropylene clothing is used, to provide some abrasion protection while remaining as cool as possible. Wetsuits may be worn if the cave is particularly wet or involves stream passages. On the feet boots are worn – hiking-style boots in drier caves, or rubber boots (such as wellies) often with neoprene socks ("wetsocks") in wetter caves. Knee-pads (and sometimes elbow-pads) are popular for protecting joints during crawls. Depending on the nature of the cave, gloves are sometimes worn to protect the hands against abrasion or cold. In pristine areas and for restoration, clean oversuits and powder-free, non-latex surgical gloves are used to protect the cave itself from contaminants. Ropes are used for descending or ascending pitches (single rope technique or SRT) or for protection. Knots commonly used in caving are the figure-of-eight- (or figure-of-nine-) loop, bowline, alpine butterfly, and Italian hitch. Ropes are usually rigged using bolts, slings, and carabiners. In some cases cavers may choose to bring and use a flexible metal ladder.  In addition to the equipment already described, cavers frequently carry packs containing first-aid kits, emergency equipment, and food. Containers for securely transporting urine are also commonly carried. On longer trips, containers for securely transporting feces out of the cave are carried.  During very long trips, it may be necessary to camp in the cave – some cavers have stayed underground for many days, or in particularly extreme cases, for weeks at a time. This is particularly the case when exploring or mapping very extended cave systems, where it would be impractical to retrace the route back to the surface regularly. Such long trips necessitate the cavers carrying provisions, sleeping and cooking equipment.

Safety.

Caves can be dangerous places; hypothermia, falling, flooding, falling rocks and physical exhaustion are the main risks. Rescuing people from underground is difficult and time-consuming, and requires special skills, training, and equipment. Full-scale cave rescues often involve the efforts of dozens of rescue workers (often other long-time cavers who have participated in specialized courses, as normal rescue staff are not sufficiently experienced in cave environments), who may themselves be put in jeopardy in effecting the rescue. This said, caving is not necessarily a high-risk sport (especially if it does not involve difficult climbs or diving). As in all physical sports, knowing one's limitations is key.  Caving in warmer climates carries the risk of contracting histoplasmosis, a fungal infection that is contracted from bird or bat droppings. It can cause pneumonia and can disseminate in the body to cause continued infections.  In many parts of the world, leptospirosis ("a type of bacterial infection spread by animals" including rats) is a distinct threat due to the presence of rat urine in rainwater or precipitation that enters the caves water system. Complications are uncommon, but can be serious. Safety risks while caving can be minimized by using a number of techniques:

Cave conservation.

Many cave environments are very fragile. Many speleothems can be damaged by even the slightest touch and some by impacts as slight as a breath. Research suggests that increased carbon dioxide levels can lead to "a higher equilibrium concentration of calcium within the drip waters feeding the speleothems, and hence causes dissolution of existing features." In 2008, researchers found evidence that respiration from cave visitors may generate elevated carbon dioxide concentrations in caves, leading to increased temperatures of up to 3 °C and a dissolution of existing features.  Pollution is also of concern. Since water that flows through a cave eventually comes out in streams and rivers, any pollution may ultimately end up in someone's drinking water, and can even seriously affect the surface environment, as well. Even minor pollution such as dropping organic material can have a dramatic effect on the cave biota.  Cave-dwelling species are also very fragile, and often, a particular species found in a cave may live within that cave alone, and be found nowhere else in the world, such as Alabama cave shrimp. Cave-dwelling species are accustomed to a near-constant climate of temperature and humidity, and any disturbance can be disruptive to the species' life cycles. Though cave wildlife may not always be immediately visible, it is typically nonetheless present in most caves.  Bats are one such fragile species of cave-dwelling animal. Bats which hibernate are most vulnerable during the winter season, when no food supply exists on the surface to replenish the bat's store of energy should it be awakened from hibernation. Bats which migrate are most sensitive during the summer months when they are raising their young. For these reasons, visiting caves inhabited by hibernating bats is discouraged during cold months; and visiting caves inhabited by migratory bats is discouraged during the warmer months when they are most sensitive and vulnerable. Due to an affliction affecting bats in the northeastern US known as white nose syndrome (WNS), the US Fish & Wildlife Service has called for a moratorium effective March 26, 2009, on caving activity in states known to have hibernacula (MD, NY, VT, NH, MA, CT, NJ, PA, VA, and WV) affected by WNS, as well as adjoining states.  Some cave passages may be marked with flagging tape or other indicators to show biologically, aesthetically, or archaeologically sensitive areas. Marked paths may show ways around notably fragile areas such as a pristine floor of sand or silt which may be thousands of years old, dating from the last time water flowed through the cave. Such deposits may easily be spoiled forever by a single misplaced step. Active formations such as flowstone can be similarly marred with a muddy footprint or handprint, and ancient human artifacts, such as fiber products, may even crumble to dust under all but the most gentle touch.  In 1988, concerned that cave resources were becoming increasingly damaged through unregulated use, Congress enacted the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act, giving land management agencies in the United States expanded authority to manage cave conservation on public land.  In Europe there have been some panoramic 360° records and VR projects as a means of sharing interesting caves or quarries:

Caving organizations.

Cavers in many countries have created organizations for the administration and oversight of caving activities within their nations. The oldest of these is the French Federation of Speleology (originally Société de spéléologie) founded by Édouard-Alfred Martel in 1895, which produced the first periodical journal in speleology, "Spelunca". The first University-based speleological institute in the world was founded in 1920 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, by Emil Racovita, a Romanian biologist, zoologist, speleologist and explorer of Antarctica.  The British Speleological Association was established in 1935 and the National Speleological Society in the US was founded in 1941 (originally formed as the Speleological Society of the District of Columbia on May 6, 1939).  An international speleological congress was proposed at a meeting in Valence-sur-Rhone, France in 1949 and first held in 1953 in Paris. The International Union of Speleology (UIS) was founded in 1965.

Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave environment.

Das Höhlenwandern bzw. Caving ist die Begehung von Höhlen als Sport oder Hobby. Im Gegensatz zur Speläologie spielt dabei die wissenschaftliche Erforschung normalerweise eine untergeordnete Rolle, auch wenn die eine oder andere Entdeckung eines bislang unbekannten Höhlenabschnitts oder einer bislang unentdeckten Eigenschaft einer Höhle durchaus auch für die Wissenschaft interessant sein kann und es auch Überschneidungen in die andere Richtung gibt.


Tom Puss/Oliver B. Bumble series.

In 1931 after his final exams, Marten Toonder went to Buenos Aires with his father. Here he got acquainted with the work of the well-known Argentine artist and editor Dante Quinterno, who ran a studio producing comics. Quinterno's creations impressed him to such a degree that he decided to become an artist himself. His most famous comic series were the Tom Puss ("Tom Poes" in Dutch) and Oliver B. Bumble ("Olivier B. Bommel" in Dutch) series that appeared in a Dutch newspaper from 1941–86. It has a very characteristic format. Every day there were three drawings and an accompanying text (about a book-page long). It started out as a children's cartoon, but gradually became more relevant to adults. Nowadays his texts are considered literature by some critics, and Toonder received several literary prizes for them. He invented many new words and expressions and some of those are now widely used in the Dutch language. Many personalities in his comics have their own peculiar dialect of Dutch, for instance Prlwytzkofsky language of professor Prlwytzkofsky, an innovative mixture of Dutch and German. Due to this emphasis on language play, Toonder's work is difficult to translate. His drawing style is very detailed and might be compared to "Pogo", with more room for background drawings, since there are no text balloons in the drawings. Apart from his eccentric use of language Toonder is also praised for satirical approach.

Personal details.

Toonder was born in Rotterdam on 2 May 1912. He lived in Ireland from 1965 until the early 1990s. He was married to the cartoon artist Phiny Dick (1912–1990), who collaborated with her husband and on whose earlier created characters Ollie B Bumble and Tom Puss were based. In 1996, at the age of 84, he married the composer Tera de Marez Oyens, who died the same year. Together with his brother, author, he assisted his father, (Captain) Marten Toonder Sr., a seaman born in the Dutch northern province Groningen, to write a book about his life, in which Toonder Sr. describes many details about the closing era of professional cargo sailing, the Rotterdam Lloyd (Line to East Indies), the Holland America Line, and about pre-war Rotterdam.  Marten Toonder died in his sleep on 27 July 2005.

Marten Toonder (2 May 1912 – 27 July 2005) was a Dutch comic strip creator, born in Rotterdam. He was probably the most successful comic artist in the Netherlands and had a great influence on the Dutch language by introducing new words and expressions. He is most famous for his series "Tom Puss" and "Panda".

Marten Toonder (* 2. Mai 1912 in Rotterdam; † 27. Juli 2005 in Laren) war einer der bekanntesten und wichtigsten niederländischen Comiczeichner.


Personal life.

At 18, he gained control of his $1.5 million trust fund, which he accused his parents of squandering by purchasing themselves a mansion. His mother, Candy Bennici, stated in 2015, "Of course we didn't touch his money... It was in a trust fund. We couldn't have touched it if we wanted to. They were trying to get it when he was 17, and we were trying to protect it. Luckily the Marin courts were very good about it and didn't give it to them". He later said, "I'd gotten out of the teenage phase and realized my parents weren't doing anything wrong but were trying to protect me."  In 2001, Smith was quoted as saying, "I started "Home Improvement" when I was seven, and the show ended when I was 16. I never had the chance to decide what I wanted to do with my life. When I was 16, I knew that I didn't want to act anymore." At the age of 17, Smith married Heidi van Pelt on April 27, 2001. The marriage sparked much controversy due to the couple's age difference, as van Pelt was 16 years older. The couple filed for divorce on February 2, 2007.  In 2005, Smith and his then-wife formed a California-based non-dairy cheese manufacturer and restaurant, Playfood, specializing in vegan and organic foods. In 2014, he volunteered doing disaster relief with Communitere in the Philippines.  Smith is also the Technical Manager for the Community Submersibles Project, where he teaches people how to pilot submarines.  Smith is a vegan.

Taran Noah Smith (born April 8, 1984) is an American former actor widely known for his role as Mark Taylor on the sitcom "Home Improvement".

Taran Noah Smith (* 8. April 1984 in San Francisco, Kalifornien, USA) ist ein US-amerikanischer Schauspieler. Taran ist vor allem für seine Rolle in der Fernsehserie "Hör mal, wer da hämmert" bekannt, als jüngster Sohn "Tim Taylors" (Tim Allen), "Marcus Jason „Mark“ Taylor". Außerdem war er in einigen Fernseh- und Kino-Produktionen zu sehen.


Informal definition.

Informally, a conservative force can be thought of as a force that "conserves" mechanical energy. Suppose a particle starts at point A, and there is a force "F" acting on it. Then the particle is moved around by other forces, and eventually ends up at A again. Though the particle may still be moving, at that instant when it passes point A again, it has traveled a closed path. If the net work done by "F" at this point is 0, then "F" passes the closed path test. Any force that passes the closed path test for all possible closed paths is classified as a conservative force.  The gravitational force, spring force, magnetic force (according to some definitions, see below) and electric force (at least in a time-independent magnetic field, see Faraday's law of induction for details) are examples of conservative forces, while friction and air drag are classical examples of non-conservative forces.  For non-conservative forces, the mechanical energy that is lost (not conserved) has to go somewhere else, by conservation of energy. Usually the energy is turned into heat, for example the heat generated by friction. In addition to heat, friction also often produces some sound energy. The water drag on a moving boat converts the boat's mechanical energy into not only heat and sound energy, but also wave energy at the edges of its wake. These and other energy losses are irreversible because of the second law of thermodynamics.

Path independence.

A direct consequence of the closed path test is that the work done by a conservative force on a particle moving between any two points does not depend on the path taken by the particle.  This is illustrated in the figure to the right: The work done by the gravitational force on an object depends only on its change in height because the gravitational force is conservative. The work done by a conservative force is equal to the negative of change in potential energy during that process. For a proof, imagine two paths 1 and 2, both going from point A to point B. The variation of energy for the particle, taking path 1 from A to B and then path 2 backwards from B to A, is 0; thus, the work is the same in path 1 and 2, i.e., the work is independent of the path followed, as long as it goes from A to B.  For example, if a child slides down a frictionless slide, the work done by the gravitational force on the child from the start of the slide to the end is independent of the shape of the slide; it only depends on the vertical displacement of the child.

Mathematical description.

A force field "F", defined everywhere in space (or within a simply-connected volume of space), is called a "conservative force" or "conservative vector field" if it meets any of these three "equivalent" conditions:  The term "conservative force" comes from the fact that when a conservative force exists, it conserves mechanical energy. The most familiar conservative forces are gravity, the electric force (in a time-independent magnetic field, see Faraday's law), and spring force.  Many forces (particularly those that depend on velocity) are not force "fields". In these cases, the above three conditions are not mathematically equivalent. For example, the magnetic force satisfies condition 2 (since the work done by a magnetic field on a charged particle is always zero), but does not satisfy condition 3, and condition 1 is not even defined (the force is not a vector field, so one cannot evaluate its curl). Accordingly, some authors classify the magnetic force as conservative, while others do not. The magnetic force is an unusual case; most velocity-dependent forces, such as friction, do not satisfy any of the three conditions, and therefore are unambiguously nonconservative.

Non-conservative force.

Examples of non-conservative forces are friction and non-elastic material stress. Despite conservation of total energy, non-conservative forces can arise in classical physics due to neglected degrees of freedom or from time-dependent potentials. For instance, friction may be treated without violating conservation of energy by considering the motion of individual molecules; however that means every molecule's motion must be considered rather than handling it through statistical methods. For macroscopic systems the nonconservative approximation is far easier to deal with than millions of degrees of freedom.  General relativity is non-conservative, as seen in the anomalous precession of Mercury's orbit. However, general relativity does conserve a stress–energy–momentum pseudotensor.

A conservative force is a force with the property that the total work done in moving a particle between two points is independent of the taken path. Equivalently, if a particle travels in a closed loop, the total work done (the sum of the force acting along the path multiplied by the displacement) by a conservative force is zero.

Konservative Kräfte sind in der Physik Kräfte, die längs eines beliebigen, geschlossenen Weges keine Arbeit verrichten. An Teilstrecken aufgewendete Energie wird an anderen Strecken wieder zurückgewonnen. Das heißt, die kinetische Energie eines Probekörpers bleibt ihm am Ende erhalten.


History.

The company was established in 1960 by Cologne City Council as the public utility company of the city.  On 29 August 2010 the company celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Company structure and subsidiaries.

Stadtwerke Köln is 100% owned by the city of Cologne; it acts as a holding company for six main group companies: GEW Köln AG (energy and water supply through the subsidiary RheinEnergie AG), KVB ("Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe AG"); urban transportation, AWB ("AWB Abfallwirtschaftsbetriebe Köln GmbH & Co. KG"); refuse collection, HGK ("Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG"); port operation and industrial railway, WSK ("Wohnungsgesellschaft der Stadtwerke Köln mbH"); housing, and "KölnBäder GmbH"; operator of the municipal swimming pools.

RheinEnergie AG.

The origins of the company GEW Köln AG ("Gas-, Elektrizitäts- und Wasserwerke Köln AG") date to the 19th century. In 2002 the assets of the business were transferred to "GEW RheinEnergie AG" and GEW Köln became the holding company, also incorporated into the firm was RGW ("Rechtsrheinische Gas- und Wasserversorgung AG"). In 2004/5 the operating company was renamed RheinEnergie AG.  The company's three main business areas are electricity, water and natural gas supply. In 2009 the company supplied of electricity, of gas, and had a supply capacity of of energy in the form of steam and of heat energy. The company operates four combined heat and power plants which use waste heat energy to provide heating to suburbs of Cologne, and also supplies some factories with steam.  Water supplied by the company in 2009 was 77.4 million litres of drinking water.

Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe AG.

City rail transport in Cologne dates back as far as 1877 when the first horse-drawn railway was operated, by the 1900s electric trams had been introduced. During the first half of the twentieth century the network expanded in all directions, further expansion occurred in the second half of the century; in particular underground railways; by 1974 over 40 km of underground track and 13 km of overhead track had been built. In 1960 the company became an "aktiengesellschaft" (limited company) owned by the City of Cologne and Stadtwerke Köln.  In 1992 the "Köln-Bonner Eisenbahn" (KBE) and "Köln-Frechen-Benzelrather Eisenbahn" (KFBE) merged into the "Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln" (HGK) to form a new freight company; the KVB took over the passenger tram lines 16 and 18 of the KBE. A tram museum "Straßenbahn-Museum Thielenbruch" was opened in 1997 in the former 1926 wagon shed at Thielenbruch.  The Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe AG (KVB) operates the city's urban light railway system and buses, as well maintenance of vehicles and infrastructure work related to the mass transit system.  The light rail system consists of lines radiating from the city centre as well as ring lines; as of 2010 both high and low floor trains are operated, depending on route.  The company operates over 350 trains and ~300 buses, with more than 800,000 people transported each day.

Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG.

The Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln was founded in 1992 by the merger of the " Häfen Köln GmbH." with the "Köln-Bonner Eisenbahn" and "Köln-Frechen-Benzelrather Eisenbahn".  The company operates four ports in Cologne; Niehl I, Niehl II, Godorf, and Deutz, as well as rail linked container terminals in Hürth, Bergisch Gladbach and Düren and further afield; ~500,000 TEU of containerised traffic and nearly 12 million tonnes of cargo were handled in 2009, making the port of Cologne the second largest in Germany after Duisburg. In total the ports have 14.5 km of quay length and an area of.  Niehl I is the primary container port with ~450,000 TEU of container traffic in 2009 and equipped with 36m reach gantry cranes allowing side stacked vessels up to 4 deep to be unloaded, other cargos handled include general dry bulk, fuel oils and paper. Niehl II handles cars, liquid goods including dangerous liquids and hydrocarbon gases. Deutz handles low value non-hazardous goods including sand, gravel, animal feed, grain, lumber and liquid chalk. Godorf handles bulk aggregates at Godorf I including salt, gravel, limestone; at Godorf II chemical and hydrocarbon products are handled.  The company's rail system has over 250 km of track with over 100 km of sidings, over 90 km of which is used for commuter trains. For rail freight the company operates its own trains. Along with over 500 wagons the main traction is by MaK DE 1002, Vossloh G 1000 BB, Vossloh G 1700 BB and GM-EMD JT42CWR diesel locomotives, as well a leased electric locomotives of TRAXX type. The company runs long distance trains as well as port operations.

Other subsidiaries.

Abfallwirtschaftsbetriebe Köln GmbH & Co. KG is the city's waste collection and street cleaning company.  KölnBäder GmbH is the subsidiary responsible for operating and running the city's swimming pools.  Wohnungsgesellschaft der Stadtwerke Köln mbH is the subsidiary which provides housing for city employees.

Stadtwerke Köln GmbH is the infrastructure and services company of the City of Cologne. The company undertakes water supply and electrical, gas, heat and steam energy supply through the subsidiary RheinEnergie. Other subsidiaries provide waste management and housing services for the city, in addition to operating the public baths. The subsidiaries Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe (KVB) and Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln (HGK) operate the city's urban and industrial transportation systems respectively.

Die Stadtwerke Köln GmbH (SWK) ist die übergeordnete Holding der Stadt Köln und sorgt für die typischen Stadtwerke-Dienstleistungen. Einziger Gesellschafter der SWK ist die Stadt Köln mit 100 % Anteil am Stammkapital der Gesellschaft. Unter dem Dach der SWK konzentriert die Stadt ihr wirtschaftliches Engagement für Infrastruktur und Versorgung. Die SWK ist eine Holding-Gesellschaft mit 120 Angestellten. Über ihre konsolidierten Konzernunternehmen arbeiten 11.610 Angestellte in Köln und Umgebung unter dem Dach der SWK. Für ihre Töchter und assoziierten Unternehmen übernimmt die SWK zentrale Aufgaben wie Revision, Rechtsfragen, Datenschutz, Liegenschaften und Versicherungen.


Description.

The Parc de Belleville is located on the hill of Belleville, its 108 metres making it the highest park in Paris. At the summit of the park, an almost thirty-metre tall terrace provides a panoramic view of the city. The park was conceived by the architect François Debulois and the landscaper Paul Brichet. It was inaugurated in 1988.  The park offers 1200 trees and shrubs, a 100-metre-long waterfall fountain (the longest in Paris), and 1000 m2 of lawn accessible to the public. It also contains a wooden playground for children, ping-pong tables and an open-air theatre. At the top of the park lies the Maison de l'Air, a small museum designed to educate visitors to the importance of fresh air and to the problems of pollution.  The park also prides itself on its display of annual flowers. The gardeners prepare the flower beds two years in advance, in tight collaboration with the horticultural center of Rungis. Their compositions have received prizes numerous times at the Concours des Décorations Florales Estivales (Summer Floral Decoration Competition), which takes place each year in September.

History.

In the Middle Ages, numerous religious communities acquired plots of land on the hill. They cleared fields, planted grape vines, and tapped numerous springs. Taverns and "guinguettes" competed for places there from the fourteenth to eighteenth century.  In the mid-eighteenth century, the celebrated publican Ramponneau's tavern "Au Tambour Royal" served a young, slightly effervescent wine made from the Belleville grapes called Piquette. Over time this use has changed and the name now refers to a drink made from pomace and water, and is figuratively used to refer to a bad wine.  The opening of a gypsum quarry in the nineteenth century attracted a population of seasonal workers (often stonemasons), who worked on Baron Haussmann's construction projects during the winter and returned home in the summer to tend their fields. The area was deemed, which didn't improve with the closing of the quarry.  In the 19th century, the cottages which at the time stood on both sides of the steps leading up to the present-day park gave the hill an appearance similar to that of Montmartre. They belonged to Julien Lacroix, one of the most important landowners of the hill of Belleville, and a street which runs alongside the park now bears his name. At this time, a grand party was organized each year on the hill for Mardi Gras. On the last day of the carnival, Mardi Gras, all of Paris came "en masse" to witness the "descente de la Courtille", one of the three major Mardi Gras processions named after the cheap restaurants that lined the rue de Belleville. Among them, ""Le coq Hardi"" (The Hardy Rooster) and ""La carotte filandreuse"" (The Coriaceous Carrot), were well known for the drinking binges of their patrons.  At the end of the 20th century, the cottages disappeared, giving way to more modern buildings and the Parc de Belleville. A vineyard growing Pinot Meunier vines from Champagne and Chardonnay vines from Burgundy still lies at the top of the park as a reminder of the area's viticultural history.

The Parc de Belleville, one of the parks and gardens of the 20th arrondissement of Paris, is situated between the Parc des Buttes Chaumont and the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Der Parc de Belleville ist eine Parkanlage auf dem 108 m hohen Hügel von Belleville (franz. "butte de Belleville") im 20. Arrondissement von Paris im Stadtteil Belleville.