Biography.

LeRoy Robert Ripley was born around February 22, 1890 in Santa Rosa, California, although his exact birthdate is disputed. He dropped out of high school after his father's death in order to help his family, and at age 16, he began working as a sports cartoonist for various newspapers. In 1913, he moved to New York City. While drawing cartoons for The New York Globe newspaper, he created his first “Believe It or Not!” cartoon, published in the December 19, 1918 issue. With a positive response from readers, the cartoon began appearing weekly.  In 1919, Ripley married Beatrice Roberts. He made his first trip around the world in 1922, publishing his travel journal in the newspapers. He became fascinated with unusual and exotic foreign locales and cultures. Because he took the veracity of his claims quite seriously, in 1923, he hired a researcher and polyglot named Norbert Pearlroth as a full-time assistant. In 1926, Ripley's cartoons moved from the "New York Globe" to the "New York Post".  Throughout the 1920s, Ripley continued to broaden the scope of his work and his popularity increased greatly. He published a guide to the game of American handball in 1925. In 1926, he became the New York State handball champion and also wrote a book on boxing. With a proven track record as a versatile writer and artist, he attracted the attention of publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst, who managed the King Features Syndicate. In 1929, Hearst was responsible for "Believe It or Not!" making its syndicated debut in seventeen papers worldwide. With the success of this series assured, Ripley capitalized on his fame by getting the first book collection of his newspaper panel series published.  On November 3, 1929, he drew a panel in his syndicated cartoon saying "Believe It or Not, America has no national anthem." Despite the widespread belief that "The Star-Spangled Banner", with its lyrics by Francis Scott Key set to the music of the English drinking song "To Anacreon in Heaven", was the United States national anthem, Congress had never officially made it so. In 1931, John Philip Sousa published his opinion in favor of giving the song official status, stating that "it is the spirit of the music that inspires" as much as it is Key's "soul-stirring" words. By a law signed on March 3, 1931, by President Herbert Hoover, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as the national anthem of the United States.  Ripley prospered during the Great Depression, netting $500,000 a year by the end of the 1930s. He employed a large staff of researchers, artists, translators, and secretaries to handle a deluge of suggestions for new oddities to report – and he traveled the world in search of curiosities. and expanded his media to include radio and Hollywood. He started building tours museums in major cities. Funding for Ripley's highly publicized global travels were provided by the Hearst organization. Always in search of the bizarre, he recorded live radio shows underwater and from the sky, the Carlsbad Caverns, the bottom of The Grand Canyon, snake pits, and other exotic locales The next year he hosted the first of a series of two dozen "Believe It or Not!" theatrical short films for Warner Bros. & Vitaphone, and King Features published a second collected volume of "Believe it or Not!" panels. He also appeared in a Vitaphone musical short, "Seasons Greetings" (1931), with Ruth Etting, Joe Penner, Ted Husing, Thelma White, Ray Collins, and others. After a trip to Asia in 1932, he opened his first museum, the Odditorium, in Chicago in 1933. The concept was a success, and at one point there were Odditoriums in San Diego, Dallas, Cleveland, San Francisco, and New York City. By this point in his life, Ripley had been voted the most popular man in America by "The New York Times", and Dartmouth College awarded him an honorary degree.  World travel became impossible during World War II, so Ripley concentrated on charity pursuit. In 1948, the year of the 20th anniversary of the "Believe it or Not!" cartoon series, the "Believe it or Not!" radio show drew to a close and was replaced with a "Believe it or Not!" television series. This was a rather bold move on Ripley's part because of the small number of Americans with access to television at this early time in the medium's development. He completed only thirteen episodes of the series before he became incapacitated by severe health problems. On May 27, 1949, at age 58, he succumbed to a heart attack in New York City. He was buried in his home town of Santa Rosa in the Oddfellows Lawn Cemetery, which is adjacent to the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery.

The comic strip.

Ripley's cartoon series was estimated to have 80 million readers worldwide, and it was said that he received more mail than the President of the United States. He became a wealthy man, with homes in New York and Florida, but he always retained close ties to his home town of Santa Rosa, California, and he made a point of bringing attention to The Church of One Tree, a church built entirely from the wood of a single 300-ft (91.4-m)-tall redwood tree, which stands on the north side of Juilliard Park in downtown Santa Rosa.  Ripley claimed to be able to "prove every statement he made" because he worked with professional fact researcher Norbert Pearlroth, who assembled "Believe it or Not!"'s array of odd facts and also verified the small-town claims submitted by readers. Pearlroth spent 52 years as the feature's researcher, finding and verifying unusual facts for Ripley and, after Ripley's death, for the King Features syndicate editors who took over management of the "Believe it or Not!" panel. Another employee who edited the newspaper cartoon series over the years was Lester Byck. Others who drew the series after Ripley's death include Don Wimmer; Joe Campbell (1946-1956); Art Slogg; Clem Gretter (1941-1949); Carl Dorese; Bob Clarke (1943-1944); Stan Randall; Paul Frehm (1938–1975), who became the panel's full-time artist in 1949; and his brother Walter Frehm (1948–1989).

Legacy.

Ripley's ideas and legacy live on in Ripley Entertainment, a company bearing his name and owned since 1985 by the Jim Pattison Group, Canada's largest privately held company. Ripley Entertainment airs national television shows, features publications of oddities, and has holdings in a variety of public attractions, including Ripley's Aquarium, Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museums, Ripley's Haunted Adventure, Ripley's Mini-Golf and Arcade, Ripley's Moving Theater, Ripley's Sightseeing Trains, Guinness World Records Attractions, and Louis Tussaud's wax Museums.

LeRoy Robert Ripley (February 22, 1890 – May 27, 1949) was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur and amateur anthropologist who is known for creating the "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" newspaper panel series, television show and radio show which feature odd facts from around the world.

罗伯特·李普利 (Robert LeRoy Ripley,1890年-12月25日-1949年-5月27日)是美国20世纪的漫画家、企业家、探险家、收藏家和业余人类学家,创办并主持了著名的李普利的信不信由你(Ripley's Believe It or Not!)系列报纸专栏、广播、电视。


Formation.

There is some dispute over the company's early history but it begins with Travis Bean, a California luthier who was building guitars with aluminum necks. Bean and Gary Kramer started the Travis Bean guitar company in 1974, in Sun Valley, and while their guitars did well, Bean lost interest and left most of the business aspects to Kramer; the two parted ways.  Kramer then founded the company that still bears his name, improving on the Bean design—Bean's necks were heavy and the material felt cold to the touch. Kramer's improvement consisted of two wooden inserts in the back of the neck. By 1975 he had hooked up with a friend from New York, Dennis Berardi and the two founded BK International, which engaged luthier Phil Petillo to make prototypes for them. Other involved parties were Henry Vaccaro, a real estate businessman who invested money in the venture and Peter LaPlaca, who had experience with Norlin, the company that owned Gibson Guitar Corporation from 1969 to 1986. The rest of the account is murky: Kramer says he was supposed to increase production but was too inexperienced in that area so he wanted to move back to the West Coast. He was to sell back his interests and receive royalties then represent the company out west but none of this seems to have happened.

1970s: aluminum necks.

Introduced in 1976, early models featured the trademark "tuning fork head" aluminum-reinforced necks with a fretboard made of Ebonol—material similar to one used in bowling ball production. Other features of the necks included aluminum dots, and a zero fret. Gary Kramer's inserts, set in epoxy, were usually walnut or maple. The bodies were usually made of high grade Walnut or Maple, with the earliest instruments made of exotic tonewoods including Koa, Afromosia, Swietenia, Shedua, and Bubinga. The hardware was also from a known quality brand: Schaller tuning keys and bridges; Schaller and DiMarzio pickups; custom-made strap pins; aluminum cavity covers. Kramer's "alumi-neck" line lasted roughly until 1982.  Generally, the ratio of basses to guitars produced was about 4:1, primarily because bass players were more willing to experiment. By 1981, Kramer had the tools, and the experience, to take guitar mass production to a new level. Switching to wooden-necked instruments both held the promise of keeping production costs low as well as being able to appeal to traditionally-minded guitar players.

Wooden neck period.

Kramer first released wooden-necked guitars in late 1981, following Charvel's lead on producing instruments that essentially copied the stratocaster headstock shape from Fender, in violation of Fender's US trademark and design patent. After only a thousand or so instruments were built, in May 1981, Kramer received a cease and desist order from Fender to halt the production of strathead guitars. Instead, Kramer opted for a "beak" headstock reminiscent of 1960s Kent guitar headstocks. The earliest beak guitars were in fact stratheads with a lopped off headstock; these can be identified by prominent sanding marks on the curve of the headstock. Later, and most common beak guitars, were manufactured with a beak headstock from the factory.  Wooden-necked instruments represented Kramer's first foray into offshoring the production of guitar components to Eastern Asia. Tuning keys and vintage fulcrum tremolos were made by Gotoh in Japan, while the necks were made by Japan's ESP Guitars and shipped to New Jersey for fretting and finishing.  Kramer executives saw that the guitar techniques of the early 1980s demanded a high-performance tremolo system. Kramer partnered with a German inventor named Helmut Rockinger, and installed his bulky tremolos, precursors to Floyd Rose systems, on its instruments.

Early to mid-1980s.

A chance encounter between Dennis Berardi and Eddie Van Halen's managers on an airplane flight set the foundation for Kramer's meteoric rise in the 1980s. Eddie was interested in a tremolo that stayed in tune, which the Rockinger system offered. A meeting between Eddie Van Halen and Kramer execs took place, and Eddie was sold. At the meeting, he reportedly quipped that he would help make Kramer the "#1 guitar company in the world."  By 1983 the Rockinger tremolo (sometimes dubbed "The Eddie Van Halen tremolo") had been widely replaced by the Floyd Rose system. In addition, Kramer once again offered Schaller tuners on their guitars, tapping Schaller to produce Floyd Rose tremolos as well. Kramer was the only guitar company offering Original Floyd Rose tremolos stock on their production guitars, a competitive advantage of Kramer over other guitar manufacturers of the period.  In late 1983 Kramer switched from the "beak" headstock design to the Gibson Explorer-like "banana" headstock design. This distinctive look also helped rank Kramer highly with guitar enthusiasts. One notable Kramer guitar was the Baretta model, which was a single-humbucker instrument similar to guitars Eddie Van Halen used on stage. The Kramer Baretta was the flagship of the Kramer line and helped popularize the single-pickup 1980s superstrat guitar design.  By late 1985 Kramer began installing Seymour Duncan pickups in its guitars, in preference to the more vintage-sounding Schaller pickups. When the sales figures came in, Kramer was the best-selling guitar brand of 1985.  In 1986 Kramer switched to the radically drooped "pointy headstock" design, no doubt influenced by the pointy designs of Jackson/Charvel and other manufacturers such as Hamer and Washburn. Schaller tuners, Floyd Rose tremolos, Seymour Duncan pickups and exciting graphics by talented factory artists such as Dennis Kline helped propel Kramer to become the best-selling guitar brand of 1986.

Late 1980s.

Kramer continued its success into the late 1980s, promoting hard rock and glam metal artists from Mötley Crüe's Mick Mars to Whitesnake's Vivian Campbell as major endorsees.  By 1987, Kramer was using ESP Guitars exclusively for manufacturing its necks and bodies. The "American Series" of instruments were ESP parts, assembled in Neptune, New Jersey. The Aerostar series were made completely in Korea, while the Focus series was made and assembled by ESP Guitars. Some early Focus guitars were also made in Japan by the Matsumoku company.  During 1987, Kramer also commissioned guitarist Rich Excellente, designer of the "1957 Chevy Tail-fin" guitar, to create a series of guitars based on the patented features Excellente developed on his "Chevy Tail-Fin" guitar. Kramer, under license from Excellente, manufactured a line of guitars which were marketed as "The Kramer American Showster Series". These guitars were sleeker versions of the more traditional shapes of the day, and utilized Excellente's patented "tear-drop" body taper and "metal loading" insert feature to increase tone and sustain.(U.S.Pat.4,635,522). Fewer than 1,000 of these guitars were produced between 1988–1990, and the line was discontinued during 1990 due to manufacturing problems which began to plague Kramer during that time.  In addition, Kramer embraced the excess of the late 1980s—producing slick and fluorescent guitars, losing its thought leadership in the guitar manufacturing arena, and damaging the image of the brand. Similarly, the image of the Kramer brand was being tarnished by an influx of Aerostar guitars, lower in quality and made with cheap parts.  By 1989, Dennis Berardi had started Berardi/Thomas Entertainment, Inc—an artist management company. Seeing promise in a young band out of the Soviet Union, Gorky Park, BTE started managing the group. To help promote the band, the infamous "Gorky Park" guitars were made, reportedly to be given to guitar dealers as promotional pieces. BTE banked on the Gorky Park guitars to help promote the group. When the Russian band achieved only a mild measure of success, this was a significant, and final blow to the first incarnation of the Kramer company.

1990–present.

The original Kramer company effectively came to an end in January 1991, mostly due to financial problems. The company had been spending huge amounts on advertising and endorsements, and then lost a lawsuit with Floyd D. Rose over royalties. A notorious firesale of surplus necks, bodies and hardware was held out of New Jersey. In the early '90s, Artist Relations manager Billy "Falcon" Connolly left New Jersey and moved to Princeton, West Virginia and started a small guitar company called Falcon Custom Guitars. Billy made fine electric and beautiful hand made acoustic guitars that are cherished by his Kramer fans. Falcon Custom Guitars came to an untimely close at the end of summer of 1999 when Billy died.  By 1995, Henry Vaccaro Sr. owned the Kramer brand; in addition, he was the only one of the original partners interested in continuing in the guitar business. He tried one last time to produce Kramer guitars from surplus parts, in the Neptune plant, but only a few hundred were made. Henry Vaccaro Sr. started making aluminum-necked guitars under the name Vaccaro Guitars, but that, too, was short-lived.  In 2005 the original founder and namesake of Kramer Guitars, Gary Kramer, started his own guitar company: Gary Kramer Guitars. In 2007, the original service manager of Kramer Guitars, legendary luthier Paul Unkert started his own guitar company, featuring designs reminiscent of aluminum-era Kramers: Unk Guitars.  The Kramer brand was sold out of bankruptcy to Gibson Guitar Corporation. Gibson's Epiphone division has produced guitars and basses under the Kramer brand since the late 1990s, mostly factory-direct through the now-defunct MusicYo.com website. Encouraged by the resurgence of interest in the Kramer brand, Epiphone has been reissuing classic Kramer models, including the "1984 Model;" (a homage to Eddie Van Halen's famous "5150" guitar used from 1984-1991) the "Jersey Star;" (a homage to the Richie Sambora signature 1980s Kramer) and most recently, the "1985 Baretta Reissue (A standard slant-pickup Baretta)". These high-end instruments are assembled in the USA from American components. In January 2009, Gibson shut down the MusicYo.com website, instead promising that Kramers would be available through dealers and in music stores by the end of 2009. But supply was not consistent and promised new models were either seriously delayed or never produced.  More recently however under guidance from a dedicated Kramer team at Gibson, new models have made it to stores, and now includes the budget priced Baretta Special (a model touted on the MusicYo pages but never released until now) plus designs never seen before including the Pariah & Assault (including FR tremolo models) ranges brought out to bring the Kramer name to a new generation of rock musicians, while homages to vintage models like the Stagemaster in the form of the SM-1 and Classic Pacer Imperial now simply called the Pacer Vintage are also still produced.  In 2007, a Kramer Striker controller was created for Guitar Hero III for the PS2, under a licensing agreement with Gibson Guitar Corporation. A Kramer Focus was also available as an in-game guitar, as was one of the earlier aluminum neck model Kramers. The Kramer Fatboy has been featured in and Guitar Hero Aerosmith.  Original Kramer guitars are now highly collectable, after being considered undesirable in the early-mid-1990s. They regularly fetch high prices on eBay and other auction sites. Kramer collectors held a Kramer Expo every year in Nashville, Tennessee, near the Gibson plant, from 2003-2008. More recently, expos have been held annually in locations around Europe including the Netherlands, Newcastle upon Tyne in 2006 & 2007, and Liverpool, UK in 2010 & 2012, to showcase and celebrate Kramer guitars.

Kramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock and heavy metal musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation.

克拉玛吉他公司(英语:Kramer Guitars Company),或译克莱默吉他,是一个电吉他、电贝司制造商。克拉玛以为金属摇滚乐人制造吉他而闻名,20世纪70年代制造以制造铝质琴颈的吉他,80年代则改为木质;而现如今它已成为吉普森吉他公司的一个子公司。克拉玛是上世纪80年代最著名的吉他品牌之一(所以80年代生产的克拉玛吉他现今仍有很高的价值),并且在1985和1986年为最高销售品牌。


Practical considerations.

The design is a very practical one in a tight urban parking space. When properly designed and counterbalanced, they require little side-clearance to open (about 27.5 cm, or 11" in the DeLorean) and allow much better entrance/egress than conventional doors. The most obvious downside to having gull-wing doors is that, were the car to roll over and come to rest on its roof, exit by the doors would be impossible, requiring a large windscreen opening to escape. The Mercedes SLS solved this problem by fitting explosive bolts in the hinges, that would blow up if the car rolled over.  The Volvo YCC, a concept car designed by and for women, had gull-wing doors as part of its design. Gull-wing doors to make it easier to lift a bag to store it behind the driver's seat, increase visibility over the driver's shoulder, and make it easier to get in and out of the car.  The Tesla Model X, first introduced in 2015, has double hinged gull-wing doors, called falcon-wing doors by Tesla. The Model X has several design considerations to make the doors more practical. Being double hinged allows them to open with less clearance (horizontal and vertical) than would otherwise be required. The vehicle also has sensors to determine ceiling height and the presence of potential obstacles and to determine how the hinges will operate to open the doors and avoid obstacles, if possible.

Design challenges.

Gull-wing doors have a somewhat questionable reputation because of early examples like the Mercedes and the Bricklin. The 300 SL needed the door design, as its tubular frame race car chassis design had a very high door sill, which in combination with a low roof would make a standard door opening very low and small. The Mercedes engineers solved the problem by also opening a part of the roof. The Bricklin was a more conventionally sized door but the actuation system was problematic in day-to-day use and led to unreliable operation until an aftermarket air-door upgrade was installed in all Bricklins. In addition, there was some concern that in making the doors as light as possible they wouldn't provide adequate protection in side-impact accidents. There was, however, no indication that this concern was justified.  The DeLorean solved these problems by using a patented cryogenically-set stainless steel torsion bar spring (manufactured by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation) to partially counterbalance a full-sized door, and then added a gas-pressurized (pneumatic) strut similar to those found in hatchback cars. The combination of the torsion spring and strut provided the correct torque variation necessary to offset the variable torque of the door as it opened through a rotational angle of about 80 degrees. The torsion bar is most important in the first foot of movement from the bottom, where the geometry of the strut is pointed at the hinge and therefore at a mechanical disadvantage. As the spring relaxes through the door's rotation open, the strut gains a better moment arm and gradually takes over the effort. A correctly balanced door opens fully on its own by simply activating the door latch from the interior, exterior, or from an aftermarket wireless release.  Other disadvantages of the system were not so easy to address. For example, the gull-wing design makes creating a convertible version of the car harder, as the hinges would be removed with the roof, and standard doors would be needed for the convertible. Mercedes did so when replacing the gullwing coupe altogether with the 300SL roadster in 1958. It was never a concern for DeLorean since no convertible version was ever planned.  It also makes sealing the car against water leaks and snow intrusion more difficult because of the shape and movement path of the door itself.

List of automobiles.

The following is a (partial) list of production and kit automobiles with gull-wing doors:

Kit cars.

Gullwing doors are common in kit cars and many were made that are not included on this list. They were almost always one of the most mechanically problematic parts of these vehicles.

A gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door or an up-door, is an automotive industry term describing car doors that are hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by the 1952 Mercedes-Benz 300SL race car (W194) and its road-legal version (W198) introduced in 1954.

鸥翼式车门(Gull-wing door)即原属于超级跑车的一种车门样式。将车门开启后,能呈现出『海鸥展开羽翼的样貌』而得名。


History.

During the 17th century, another noble and spirited Muslim scholar and saint, Sultan Bahoo, revolutionized Sufism and reinstated (with fresh properties) the definition of "faqr" and "faqir".  Historically, the terms "tasawwuf", "faqr", and "faqer" (noun of "faqr") were first used (with full definition) by Husayn ibn Ali, who was the grandson of Muhammad. He wrote a book, "Mirat ul Arfeen", on this topic, which is said to be the first book on Sufism and tasawwuf. However, under Ummayad rule, neither could this book be published nor was it allowed to discuss tasawwuf, Sufism or faqr openly. For a long time, after Husayn ibn Ali, the information and teachings of faqr, tasawwuf and Sufism kept on transferring from heart to heart.  In the 10th century, highly reputed Muslim Abdul-Qadir Gilani, who is the founder of Qadri silsila, which has the most followers in Muslim Sufism, elaborated Sufism, tasawwuf and faqr.  In the 13th century, Ibn Arabi was the first vibrant Muslim scholar who not only started this discussion publicly but also wrote hundreds of books about Sufism, tasawwuf and faqr.  In English, "faqir" or "fakir" originally meant a mendicant dervish. In mystical usage, the word "fakir" refers to man's spiritual need for God, who alone is self-sufficient. Although of Muslim origin, the term has come to be applied in India to Hindus as well, largely replacing gosvamin, sadhu, bhikku, and other designations. Fakirs are generally regarded as holy men who are possessed of miraculous powers. Among Muslims, the leading Sufi orders of fakirs are the Shadhiliyyah, Chishtiyah, Qadiriyah, Naqshbandiyah, and Suhrawardiyah.  The Cambridge English Dictionary defines "faqir" as "a member of an Islamic religious group, or a holy man". Winston Churchill is known to have referred to Mahatma Gandhi, as a "seditious fakir".

Attributes.

The attributes of a fakir have been defined by many Muslim scholars.  The early Muslim scholar, Abdul-Qadir Gilani, defined Sufism, tasawwuf and faqr in a conclusive manner. Explaining the attributes of a fakir, he says, "faqir is not who can not do anything and is nothing in his self-being. But faqir has all the commanding powers (gifted from Allah) and his orders can not be revoked."  Ibn Arabi explained Sufism, including faqr, in more details. He wrote more than 500 books on the topic. He was the first Muslim scholar to openly introduce (first time openly) the idea of Wahdat al-wujud. His writings are considered a solid source, that defied time.  Another dignified Muslim saint, Sultan Bahoo, describes a fakir as one "who has been entrusted with full authority from Allah (God)". In the same book, Sultan Bahoo says, "Faqir attains eternity by dissolving himself in oneness of Allah. He, when, eliminates himself from other than Allah, his soul reaches to divinity." He says in another book, "faqir has three steps (stages). First step he takes from eternity (without beginning) to this mortal world, second step from this finite world to hereafter and last step he takes from hereafter to manifestation of Allah."

Gurdjieff.

In the Fourth Way teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff the word "fakir" is used to denote the specifically physical path of development, as opposed to the words "yogi" (which Gurdjieff used for a path of mental development) and "monk" (which he used for the path of emotional development).

Indian subcontinent.

The Fakir and "Goshai" was with the stronger religious influence, and there are even Bauls who would shave their heads as in their past and kept on practicing and believing in many of the basic creeds of Vaishnava-Sahajiya. So all followers of different religions and religious practices came under the nomenclature Baul, which has its etymological origin in the Sanskrit words "Vatula" ("madcap"), or "Vyakula" ("restless") and used for someone who is possessed or crazy. They were known as performers'mad' in a worshiping trance of joy - transcending above both good and bad. Though fond of both Hinduism and Islam, the Baul evolved into a religion focused on the individual and centered on a spiritual quest for God from within. They believe the soul that lives in all human bodies is God.

A fakir, faqeer or faqir (; (noun of faqr)), derived from "faqr" (, "poverty") is an Islamic term traditionally used for a Sufi Muslim whose contingency and utter dependence upon God is manifest in everything they do and every breath they take. They do not necessarily renounce all relationships and take a vow of poverty, some may be poor and some may even be wealthy, but the adornments of the temporal worldly life are kept in perspective and do not detract from their constant neediness of God. The connotations of poverty associated with the term relate to their spiritual neediness, not necessarily their physical neediness. The faqir seeks to attain the condition of the perfect slave of Allah, who "delivers his trust (existence) back to its Owner." They are said to be "faqir ila Allah" or impoverished in comparison to Allah, which is the most exalted state to attain.

法基尔(,fakir,或faqir,),伊斯兰教名称,是指中东和南亚一些守贫和虔诚禁欲的苏菲派修士。


Biography.

Arp was born on March 21, 1927, in New York City. He was married three times, has four daughters and five grandchildren. His bachelor's degree was awarded by Harvard (1949), and his PhD by Caltech (1953). Afterward he became a Fellow of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1953, performing research at the Mount Wilson Observatory and Palomar Observatory. Arp became a Research Assistant at Indiana University in 1955, and then in 1957 became a staff member at Palomar Observatory, where he worked for 29 years. In 1983 he joined the staff of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany. He died in Munich, Germany on December 28, 2013. He was an atheist.

"Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies".

Arp compiled a catalog of unusual galaxies titled "Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies", which was first published in 1966. Arp realized that astronomers understood little about how galaxies change over time, which led him to work on this project. This atlas was intended to provide images that would give astronomers data from which they could study the evolution of galaxies. Arp later used the atlas as evidence in his debate on quasi-stellar objects (QSOs).  Based on its citation by other astronomers, Arp's atlas is recognized now as an excellent compilation of interacting and merging galaxies. Many objects in the atlas are referred to primarily by their Arp number. Many of these objects (particularly Arp 220) are also used as spectral templates for studying high-redshift galaxies. Arp disputed the idea that the peculiar galaxies were merging, claiming, rather, that apparent associations were prime examples of ejections from a host galaxy.

Quasars and redshifts.

During the 1950s bright radio sources, now known as quasars, had been discovered that did not appear to have an optical counterpart. In 1960 one of these sources, 3C 48, was found to be associated with what appeared to be a small blue star. When the spectrum of the star was measured, it contained unidentifiable spectral lines that defied all attempts at explanation; John Gatenby Bolton's suggestion that these were highly redshifted sources was not widely accepted. In 1963 Maarten Schmidt found a visible companion to the quasar 3C 273. Using the Hale telescope, Schmidt found the same odd spectra, but was able to demonstrate that it could be explained as the spectrum of hydrogen, shifted by a very large 15.8% If this was due to the physical motion of the "star", it would represent a speed of 47,000 km/s, far beyond the speed of any known star and defying an obvious explanation. Schmidt noted that redshift is also associated with the expansion of the universe, as codified in Hubble's law. If the measured redshift was due to expansion, then the object in question would have to be very far away, and therefore have an extraordinarily high luminosity, equally beyond any object seen to date. This extreme luminosity would also explain the large radio signal. Schmidt concluded quasars are very distant, very luminous objects. Schmidt's explanation for the high redshift was not universally accepted at the time. Another explanation that was offered was that it was gravitational redshift that was being measured. Several other mechanisms were proposed as well, each with their own problems.  In 1966, Arp published the "Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies", which contained photographs of 338 nearby galaxies that did not fall into any of the classic categories of galaxy shapes. His goal was to produce a selection that modellers could use in order to test theories of galactic formation. By testing against the collection, one could quickly see how well a particular theory stood up. One group of these, numbers 1 through 101, were otherwise conventional galaxies that appeared to have small companion objects of unknown origin. In 1967 Arp noted that several of these objects appeared on the list of quasars. In some photographs a quasar is in the foreground of known galaxies, and in others there appeared to be matter bridging the two objects, implying they are very close in space. If they are, and the redshifts were due to Hubble expansion, then both objects should have similar redshifts. The galaxies had much smaller redshifts than the quasars. Arp also noted that quasars were not evenly spread over the sky, but tended to be more commonly found in positions of small angular separation from certain galaxies. This being the case, they might be in some way related to the galaxies. Arp argued that the redshift was not due to Hubble expansion or physical movement of the objects, but must have a non-cosmological or "intrinsic" origin, and that quasars were local objects ejected from the core of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Nearby galaxies with both strong radio emission and peculiar morphologies, particularly M87 and Centaurus A, appeared to support Arp's hypothesis.  Since the 1960s, telescopes and astronomical instrumentation have advanced greatly: the Hubble Space Telescope was launched, and cosmological theory and observation has advanced considerably. Black holes and supermassive black holes have been directly as well as indirectly detected, extremely distant objects are routinely studied and contextualized, and multiple 8-10 meter telescopes (such as those at Keck Observatory and the Very Large Telescope) have become operational, and detectors such as CCDs are now more widely employed. These developments, have led to quasars being understood to be very distant active galaxies with high redshifts. Many imaging surveys, most notably the Hubble Deep Field, have found many high-redshift objects that are not QSOs but that appear to be normal galaxies like those found nearby. The spectra of the high-redshift galaxies, as seen from X-ray to radio wavelengths, match the spectra of nearby galaxies (particularly galaxies with high levels of star formation activity but also galaxies with normal or extinguished star formation activity) when corrected for redshift effects.  Arp never wavered from his stand against the Big Bang, and until shortly before his death in 2013, he continued to publish articles stating his contrary view in both popular and scientific literature, frequently collaborating with Geoffrey Burbidge (until Burbidge's death in 2010) and Margaret Burbidge. He explained his reasons for believing that the Big Bang theory is wrong, citing his research into quasars or quasi-stellar objects (QSOs). Instead, Arp supported the redshift quantization theory as an explanation of the redshifts of galaxies.  As more recent experiments have expanded the amount of collected data by orders of magnitude Arp's theories can now be scrutinized further. For instance a recent study about the periodicity of redshifts (a hypothesis articulated by Arp) stated that:  However, a follow-up study by Bell and McDiarmid shows that Arp's hypothesis about the periodicity in red-shifts cannot be discarded easily. The authors argue (as response to Tang and Zhang (2005) from which the preceding excerpt is taken) that

Honors and awards.

In 1960, Arp was awarded the Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy by the American Astronomical Society, a prize "normally awarded annually for a significant contribution to observational or theoretical astronomy during the five years preceding the award."  In the same year, Arp was awarded the Newcomb Cleveland Prize for his address, "The Stellar Content of Galaxies", read before a joint session of the American Astronomical Society and AAAS Section D.  In 1984, he was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award.

Halton Christian "Chip" Arp (March 21, 1927 – December 28, 2013) was an American astronomer. He was known for his 1966 "Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies", which (it was later theorized) catalogues many examples of interacting and merging galaxies, though Arp disputed the idea, claiming apparent associations were prime examples of ejections. Arp was also known as a critic of the Big Bang theory and for advocating a non-standard cosmology incorporating intrinsic redshift.

赫顿·克里斯蒂安·「奇普」·阿普(英语:Halton Christian "Chip" Arp,1927年-3月21日-2013年-12月28日),美国天文学家,以制作出版于1966年的《特殊星系图集》而闻名,后来知道该图集内收录的大多数星系是正进行交互作用与合并中的星系。阿普也因为是大爆炸理论的批评者而为人所知。并且他致力于提倡非标准宇宙学的内禀红移。


History.

While traditional linguistic studies had developed comparative methods (comparative linguistics), chiefly to demonstrate family relations between cognate languages, or to illustrate the historical developments of one or more languages, modern contrastive linguistics intends to show in what ways the two respective languages differ, in order to help in the solution of practical problems. (Sometimes the terms diachronic linguistics and synchronic linguistics are used to refer to these two perspectives.)  Contrastive linguistics, since its inception by Robert Lado in the 1950s, has often been linked to aspects of applied linguistics, e.g., to avoid interference errors in foreign-language learning, as advocated by Di Pietro (1971) (see also contrastive analysis), to assist interlingual transfer in the process of translating texts from one language into another, as demonstrated by Vinay & Darbelnet (1958) and more recently by Hatim (1997) (see translation), and to find lexical equivalents in the process of compiling bilingual dictionaries, as illustrated by Heltai (1988) and Hartmann (1991) (see bilingual lexicography).  Contrastive descriptions can occur at every level of linguistic structure: speech sounds (phonology), written symbols (orthography), word-formation (morphology), word meaning (lexicology), collocation (phraseology), sentence structure (syntax) and complete discourse (textology). Various techniques used in corpus linguistics have been shown to be relevant in intralingual and interlingual contrastive studies, e.g. by 'parallel-text' analysis (Hartmann 1997).  Contrastive linguistic studies can also be applied to the differential description of one or more varieties within a language, such as styles (contrastive rhetoric), dialects, registers or terminologies of technical genres.

Contrastive linguistics is a practice-oriented linguistic approach that seeks to describe the differences and similarities between a pair of languages (hence it is occasionally called ""differential" linguistics").

对照语言学(contrastive linguistics)通过对照分析(contrastive analysis)捕捉目标语言(target language)的特征。


Background.

Quek was born and raised in Singapore in a middle-class Protestant Singaporean Chinese family. She was the only child of parents who were both teachers. She was a student at Raffles Girls' School, where she was enlisted in the country's Gifted Education Programme and Hwa Chong Junior College. Former teachers and classmates describe Chong as quiet, conservative, intelligent, and studious.  After taking her A-levels she took nearly three years off, including a year spent in the United States. She then went on to study law at King's College London on a scholarship. While in the United Kingdom Chong was riding on a train and met a man she became attracted to, and agreed to have sex with him in an alleyway. He brought along other men, and she was gang raped and robbed in a rubbish closet under an inner-city housing block.  At the age of 21 she dropped out of law school and went on to graduate studies in photography, art and gender studies at the University of Southern California (USC), where she excelled academically. She also began working in pornographic films. She went on to graduate work in gender studies at USC.

Pornography career.

Since her parents did not approve of her dropping out of law school, she needed a source of income to pay her college fees. In 1994, she started in porn by answering an advertisement for a modelling agency in "LA Weekly". The "agency" turned out to be an adult film company, which led to photo shoots and then an interview with porn director John T. Bone. Bone, recognizing Chong's talent, embarked on producing a series of films starring her. She was the new hardcore star in her early gang bangs, such as the superhero spoof "Sordid Stories with Pink Stiletto" (for which she made her first public appearance as a porn star in 1994 at Golden Apple Comics in L.A., dressed as the title character), "Sgt. Pecker's Lonely Hearts Club Gangbang" and "I Can't Believe I Did the Whole Team". Chong was reportedly interested in blurring the boundary between pornography and performance art in her work.

"World's Biggest Gang Bang".

The production that propelled her into the limelight was another Bone production, "The World's Biggest Gang Bang". Chong took part in this gang bang on January 19, 1995, when she was 22 years old. She said part of her motivation to do the film was a desire to challenge gender roles. She appeared in advertisements on adult television to solicit 300 participants for the event. Initial reports differed as to whether Annabel Chong had sex with 251 men over the course of 10 hours, or with around 70 men multiple times to reach a total of 251: the largest number ever in a pornographic film. Acting on the understanding that male participants who had verified a recent negative test for HIV would wear a colour-coded tag, Chong had sex with some men without a condom. It later emerged that the testing had not been as strictly verified as the producers had led Chong to believe. Even though the film became one of the highest-grossing pornographic films of all time, Chong was never paid the US$10,000 she was promised, and she apparently never received any money from the video.

Appearances in popular culture.

After the event Chong made a host of media appearances, including "The Jerry Springer Show" and "The Girlie Show". Loretta Chen viewed Chong's work in pornography as an attempt to challenge the settled notions and assumptions of viewers about female sexuality and gender boundaries, but was not taken seriously enough. For example, her conception of a gang bang was based on the example of Messalina, a wife of the emperor Claudius. Historically Messalina suffered from a poor reputation, a fact that some attributed (at least partly) to gender bias. According to Chong, she sought to question the double standard that denies women the ability to exhibit the same sexuality as men, by modelling what a female "stud" would be.  In her March 2000 appearance on the radio program "Loveline", Chong admitted that there were slightly fewer than 70 men in her gang bang and that there were water and lunch breaks during the ten-hour shoot. For her performance, Chong earned a "dubious achievement award" in "Esquire" magazine.  The event also prompted author Chuck Palahniuk to write a novel, "Snuff", about a fictional character who aimed to surpass Chong's record by having sex with 600 men. In 2007 a play written by Ng Yi Sheng based on her story, "251", was staged in Singapore, directed by Loretta Chen.

"Sex: The Annabel Chong Story".

The sensation caught the interest of university film student Gough Lewis. He met Chong and set out to produce a documentary about her. The film, "Sex: The Annabel Chong Story," was released in 1999. It includes footage from the gang bang shooting and her subsequent publicity appearances, explores Chong's motives, revisits with her the site of her rape and depicts a painful conversation in Singapore between Chong and her mother, who had not known about her daughter's porn career before then. It was directed by Lewis and featured contributions from Chong, Al Goldstein, Ron Jeremy and Seymore Butts. In the film, Chong stated that she intended the "World's Biggest Gang Bang" to challenge "the notion of women as passive sex objects," and added, "We're not wilting violets, we're not victims, for Christ's sake. Female sexuality is as aggressive as male sexuality. I wanted to take on the role of the stud. The more [partners], the better." She also self-harmed in the film, taking a knife to her arm. The documentary propelled Chong further into the world media as it became a hit at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize.  Due to a mastering error by Madman Entertainment, a clip from the documentary was inadvertently included in the bonus features of an Australian DVD release of "Neon Genesis Evangelion".

Late pornography career and retirement.

Chong continued to work in the adult industry for a short while after the documentary came out, directing and starring in films as well as setting up a website. In 2000 she directed and performed in the gang bang film "Pornomancer", her take on William Gibson's novel "Neuromancer". After 2000 she largely stopped appearing in mainstream adult videos, concentrating instead on producing content for her website and appearing in a few BDSM videos. In 2003 she completely retired from porn, thanking her fans in a final message on her website that announced, "Annabel is dead and is now replaced full time by her Evil Doppelganger, who is incredibly bored with the entire concept of Annabel and would prefer to do something different for a change." She stated that she intended to "begin her new life of peace and relative obscurity." She stopped discussing her former career in the adult industry after her retirement. In limited correspondence for the biographical play "251," she told the producers, "Do whatever you want with Annabel Chong because this person doesn't exist anymore."  As of 2008, she was working as a web developer in California. In 2011 "Complex" magazine ranked her at #41 in their list of “The Top 50 Hottest Asian Porn Stars of All Time.”

Grace Quek () (born May 22, 1972), stage name Annabel Chong, is a retired Singaporean-born American pornographic film actress who became famous after starring in an adult film that was promoted as "The World's Biggest Gang Bang". The film was commercially successful and started a trend of "record-breaking" gang bang pornography. Four years later, Chong was the subject of the documentary "", in which she was interviewed about her pornography career. Academically gifted, she majored in Fine Arts and subsequently qualified in web applications development, before retiring from the adult industry completely in 2003.

郭盈恩(英文名:英语:Grace Quek,1972年-5月22日)艺名钟爱宝或安娜贝尔(Annabel Chong),曾就读南加州大学等艺术相关科系,是生于新加坡的色情演员。


Early life.

Thomas Carlyle Ford was born on August 27, 1961, in Austin, Texas, the son of realtors Shirley Burton (née Shirley Ann Thrasher) and Thomas David Ford. He spent his early life in the suburbs of Houston, Texas, and in San Marcos, outside Austin. He rearranged furniture in the house at 6, and gave his mother feedback on her hair and shoes. His family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, when he was 11. In Santa Fe, he entered St. Michael's High School and later moved to Santa Fe Preparatory School, from which he graduated in 1979.  At age 16, he enrolled at Bard College at Simon's Rock, but quickly dropped out. He moved to New York City to study art history at New York University (NYU). There he met Ian Falconer, who took him to Studio 54 for the first time. Ford dropped out after a year, focusing on acting in television commercials.  Ford began studying interior architecture at The New School's art and design college, Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. He kept visiting Studio 54, where he realized he was gay. The club's disco-era glamor would be a major influence on his later designs. Before his last year at New School, Ford spent a year and a half in Paris, where he worked as an intern in Chloé's press office, inspiring his interest in fashion. He spent his final year at The New School studying fashion, but graduated with a degree in architecture.

Fashion career.

Early career.

When interviewing for jobs after graduation, Ford said that he had attended The New School's Parsons division, but concealed that he graduated in architecture, and that his work at Chloé was a low-level public relations position. Despite his lack of experience in fashion, Ford called American designer Cathy Hardwick every day for a month in hopes of securing a job at her sportswear company. Hardwick eventually agreed to interview him. She later recalled the incident: "I had every intention of giving him no hope. I asked him who his favorite European designers were. He said, 'Armani and Chanel.' Months later I asked him why he said that, and he said, 'Because you were wearing something Armani'. Is it any wonder he got the job?" Ford worked as a design assistant for Hardwick for two years.  In 1988, Ford moved to Perry Ellis, where he knew both Robert McDonald, the company's president, and Marc Jacobs, its designer, socially. He worked at the company for two years, but grew tired of working in American fashion. In a later interview with "The New York Times", he commented, "If I was ever going to become a good designer, I had to leave America. My own culture was inhibiting me. Too much style in America is tacky. It's looked down upon to be too stylish. Europeans, however, appreciate style."  At the time, Italian fashion house Gucci was struggling financially and was seeking to strengthen its women's ready-to-wear presence as a part of a brand overhaul. The company's creative director, Dawn Mello said, "no one would dream of wearing Gucci". In 1990, Mello hired Ford as the brand's chief women's ready-to-wear designer and Ford moved to Milan. "I was talking to a lot of people, and most didn't want the job," Mello said. "For an American designer to move to Italy to join a company that was far from being a brand would have been pretty risky." Ford and his longtime partner, fashion journalist Richard Buckley, relocated to Milan that September.  Ford's role at Gucci rapidly expanded; he was designing menswear within six months, and shoes soon after that. When Richard Lambertson left as design director in 1992, Ford took over his position, heading the brand's ready-to-wear, fragrances, image, advertising, and store design. In 1993, when he was in charge of designing eleven product lines, Ford worked eighteen-hour days. During these years, there were creative tensions between Ford and Maurizio Gucci, the company's chairman and 50% owner. According to Mello, "Maurizio always wanted everything to be round and brown, and Tom wanted to make it square and black." Though Maurizio Gucci wanted to fire Ford, Domenico De Sole insisted that he remain. Nonetheless, Ford's work during the early 1990s was primarily behind the scenes; his contributions to Gucci were overshadowed by those of Mello, who was the company's public face.

Creative Director of Gucci and Saint Laurent.

In 1994, Ford was promoted to Creative Director of Gucci. In his first year at the helm, he introduced Halston-style velvet hipsters, skinny satin shirts and car-finish metallic patent boots. In 1995, he brought in French stylist Carine Roitfeld and photographer Mario Testino to create a series of new ad campaigns for the company. Between 1995 and 1996, sales at Gucci increased by 90%. At one point, Ford was the largest individual shareholder of Gucci stock and options. By 1999, the house, which had been almost bankrupt when Ford joined, was valued at more than $4 billion.  When Gucci acquired the house of Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) in 1999, Ford was named Creative Director of that label as well. Saint Laurent did not hide his displeasure with Ford's designs, stating "The poor man does what he can." During his time as creative director for YSL, Ford nonetheless won numerous Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards. Like his work at Gucci, which included shaving the letter G in a model's pubic hair, Ford was able to pull the classic fashion house back into the mainstream. His advertising campaigns for the YSL fragrances Opium (with a red-haired Sophie Dahl naked wearing only a necklace and stiletto heels in a sexually suggestive pose) and YSL M7 (with martial arts champion Samuel de Cubber in complete full-frontal nudity) were controversial and provocative.  In April 2004, Ford parted ways with the Gucci group after he and CEO Domenico de Sole, who is credited as Ford's partner in Gucci's success, failed to agree with Pinault Printemps Redoute's boss over control of the Group. He has since referred to this experience as "devastating" and as a "midlife crisis" because he had "put everything into that for fifteen years". When Ford left in 2004, Gucci Group was valued at $10 billion. Four people were hired to split the work Ford had done.

Tom Ford label.

After leaving Gucci, Ford launched a line of menswear, beauty, eyewear, and accessories in 2006, named after himself, "Tom Ford". De Sole became chairman of the label. Ford has described "the Tom Ford customer" as international, cultured, well-traveled, and possessing disposable income. For women, he added "strong women,... intelligent women who know their own style".  First Lady Michelle Obama wore an ivory floor-length evening gown designed by Ford to Buckingham Palace in 2011. He has also dressed Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway, Daniel Craig, Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp, Ryan Gosling, Will Smith, Julianne Moore, Hugh Jackman, Jon Hamm, and Henry Cavill. Ford designed Daniel Craig's suits for his last three James Bond films: "Quantum of Solace", "Skyfall", and "Spectre".  In 2013, Ford was mentioned in Justin Timberlake's song "Suit & Tie", which was a collaboration with Jay Z. Ford created the suits, shirts, and accessories for the Grammy winning "Suit & Tie" music video. He went on to dress Timberlake's 20/20 Experience World Tour, designing over 600 pieces for the tour. The same year, Jay Z released a song titled "Tom Ford" with "Tom Ford" rapped numerous times within the song. Ford responded that he was flattered and "it means that one has really penetrated and made an impact on popular culture." Following the song's release, Ford received a huge spike in online search engine queries. The song would go on to sell over a million copies and become certified platinum.  In May 2019, Ford's design for an evening gown was featured in the 2019 Met Gala in New York as worn by Hollywood actor Gemma Chan on the runway and staircase of the event.

Controversies.

Ford has been criticized for using naked women in various ad campaigns. Various journalists asserted that the ads were vulgar, sexist, or objectified women. One ad featured a nude woman holding a bottle of the perfume between her legs. Another featured a naked woman ironing a man's pants while he read a newspaper. A separate ad was banned in Italy.  Responding to criticism that he objectified women, Ford stated he is an "equal opportunity objectifier" and is "just as happy to objectify men". He argued "you can't show male nudity in our culture in the way you can show female nudity" and pointed out that he did a male nude ad while at Yves Saint Laurent which got pulled.  In 2014, Ford released a new product, called the "Penis Pendant Necklace". The product caused some controversy, with Christians calling it offensive due to the pendant being shaped similar to a Christian cross or crucifix. Ford replied that "it was not meant to be a cross, it was a phallus" and "people read into things what they want to".

Career as a film director.

"A Single Man".

In March 2005, Ford announced the launch of his film production company, Fade to Black. In 2009 he made his directorial debut with "A Single Man", based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. The drama stars Colin Firth as an LA-based, gay college professor, alongside Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult and Matthew Goode. The novel was adapted by David Scearce and Ford; Ford was also one of the producers.  "A Single Man" premiered on September 11, 2009, at the 66th Venice International Film Festival, where it was nominated for top award the Golden Lion. Colin Firth was awarded the Volpi Cup as Best Actor for his performance. He won a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit Award and Screen Actors Guild Award and won AFI Film of the Year and the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Wide Release.  Other nominations for the film included two further Golden Globe categories: Julianne Moore for Best Supporting Actress, and Abel Korzeniowski for Best Original Score. At the Independent Spirit Awards, the film was nominated for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay. Ford and Scearce also received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards.

"Nocturnal Animals".

In 2015, Ford became attached to direct "Nocturnal Animals", an adaptation of the Austin Wright novel "Tony and Susan". The film was released in 2016. Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams played the lead roles of Tony and Susan, and Michael Shannon, Armie Hammer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Isla Fisher co-starred.  The film received praise from critics, as well as winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. The film has an approval rating of 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 143 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10, and the site's critical consensus reading: "Well-acted and lovely to look at, "Nocturnal Animals" further underscores writer-director Tom Ford's distinctive visual and narrative skill."

Personal life.

Ford is married to Richard Buckley (b. 1948), a journalist and former editor in chief of "Vogue Hommes International"; they have been in a relationship since meeting in 1986. The couple have a son, Alexander John "Jack" Buckley Ford, born in September 2012 via gestational surrogate. The family lived in Italy, where Ford moved from New York in 1990, and in London for 17 years. They live in his residences in New York, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, and London. Ford and Buckley have owned smooth fox terriers, which have appeared on the runway and in his film "A Single Man". Ford also has a nephew with whom he shares a strong bond named Alex Ford Davis, the son of his sister.  Ford constructed a 24,000-acre private tract designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, in Santa Fe. It is called Cerro Pelon Ranch and has additional structures that were designed by Marmol Radziner. The property also has a fictional town known as Silverado that is used as a filming location for Western movies.  He told "Vogue" he had adopted a vegan diet after viewing a Netflix documentary called "What the Health". As of 2019, he has been a teetotaler and has been open about using fillers and Botox.  He has said in multiple interviews that his first lover was the artist Ian Falconer, who went on to write and illustrate the very popular Olivia the Pig children's book series. Ford maintains that he and Falconer are still good friends; decades after their breakup, Ford lent Falconer's last name to the title character of his first movie, "A Single Man" (in the source novel the character originally only had a first name).

Politics.

Ford is a Democrat. He opposed America's invasion of Iraq in 2003, stating that it made him feel "ashamed to be an American". His comment drew public criticism within America. He hosted a fundraiser for Obama. He voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US general election.  Ford has advocated for federal recognition of same-sex marriage in the United States. In a 2009 interview, he said he preferred the term "civil partnership" for both opposite-sex and same-sex partnerships, and to leave "marriage" to religion to decide.  Ford maintains a policy of not dressing politicians regardless of party.  I think that whoever is the President, or the First Lady, should be wearing clothes at a price point that are accessible to most Americans, and wearing clothes made in America. My clothes are made in Italy, they're very, very expensive. I don't think most women or men in our country can relate to that, and I think the First Lady or the President should represent all people.

Public image and legacy.

Ford has been included in several best-dressed lists, such as International Best Dressed List, "The Guardian"s "The 50 best-dressed over-50s", and "British GQ"s "50 Best Dressed Men in Britain 2015". He was featured on the cover of the 2011 spring/summer issue of "Another Man", giving his opinion on what makes the modern day gentleman. He has been called a "fashion icon" and a "style icon", and he was included in "All-"TIME" 100 Fashion Icons" list. He won many awards including several VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards and Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards. In 2014, the CFDA awarded him the Geoffery Beene Lifetime Achievement Award.  While Ford has been in a monogamous relationship for many years, he "continues to promote himself with a youthful and sexually charged image". He is known for sexy clothes, making provocative statements, and creating racy advertisements. Ford's designs convey a "sophisticated sex appeal" and he has been credited for "bringing sexy back". His advertisement campaigns have drawn controversy for use of nudity and "provocative sexual imagery". Ford is also known to pose with celebrities and models in his ad campaigns. He has been called the "King of Sex" and "the straightest gay man in the world".  Ford saved Gucci from near bankruptcy and transformed it into a fashion powerhouse. His decade as the creative director was a "golden era" for Gucci. He turned the brand around, replacing the "grunge look" with "sexy, yet sophisticated, clothes". He is known for his bold designs. The "New York Magazine" wrote "Every season, Ford created an 'It' piece, a must-have, a season-defining trend, photographed to death, knocked off ad nauseam." Ford says it is important for designers to be contemporary and current with the changing standard of beauty.

Awards and nominations.

Ford has been recognized by important design and cultural councils worldwide, including the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum and "Time".

Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2006, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford directed the Academy Award-nominated films "A Single Man" (2009) and "Nocturnal Animals" (2016). He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

汤玛斯·卡莱尔·福特(英语:Thomas Carlyle Ford,1961年-8月27日),是一名美国男时装设计师和导演,在时尚界拥有强大的影响力。


艾蒂安·莫里斯·法尔科内

Life.

Falconet was born to a poor family in Paris. He was at first apprenticed to a carpenter, but some of his clay figures, with the making of which he occupied his leisure hours, attracted the notice of the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, who made him his pupil. One of his most successful early sculptures was of Milo of Croton, which secured his admission to the membership of the Académie des beaux-arts in 1754.  He came to prominent public attention in the Salons of 1755 and 1757 with his marbles of "L'Amour" and the "Nymphe descendant au bain" (also called "The Bather"), which is now at the Louvre. In 1757 Falconet was appointed director of the sculpture atelier of the new "Manufacture royale de porcelaine" at Sèvres, where he brought new life to the manufacture of small sculptures in unglazed soft-paste porcelain figurines that had been a specialty at the predecessor of the Sèvres manufactory, Vincennes.  The influence of the painter François Boucher and of contemporary theater and ballet are equally in evidence in Falconet's subjects, and his sweet, elegantly erotic, somewhat coy manner. Right at the start, Falconet created for Sèvres a set of white biscuit table garnitures of putti (Falconet's "Enfants"), illustrating the Arts, meant to complement the manufacture's grand dinner services. The fashion for similar small table sculptures spread to most of the porcelain manufacturies of Europe. He remained at the Sèvres post until he was invited to Russia by Catherine the Great in September 1766. At St Petersburg he executed a colossal statue of Peter the Great in bronze, known as the "Bronze Horseman", together with his pupil and stepdaughter Marie-Anne Collot. In 1788, back in Paris he became director of the Académie des beaux-arts. Many of Falconet's religious works, commissioned for churches, were destroyed at the time of the French Revolution. His work on private commission fared better.  He found time to study Greek and Latin, and also wrote several brochures on art: Denis Diderot confided to him the chapter on "Sculpture" in the "Encyclopédie", separately released by Falconet as "Réflexions sur la sculpture" in 1768. Three years later, he published "Observations sur la statue de Marc-Aurèle", which may be interpreted as the artistic program for his statue of Peter the Great. Falconet's writings on art, his "Oeuvres littéraires" came to six volumes when they were first published, at Lausanne, in 1781–1782.  Falconet's somewhat prettified and too easy charm incurred the criticism of the "Encyclopædia Britannica" 1911: "His artistic productions are characterized by the same defects as his writings, for though manifesting considerable cleverness and some power of imagination, they display in many cases a false and fantastic taste, the result, most probably, of an excessive striving after originality."  In 2001/2002, when the Musée de Céramique at Sèvres mounted an exhibition of Falconet's production for Sèvres, 1757–1766, its subtitle was " l'art de plaire" ("the art of pleasing.")

Family.

The painter Pierre-Étienne Falconet was his son.

Étienne Maurice Falconet (1 December 1716 – 24 January 1791) was a French baroque, rococo and neoclassical sculptor, best-known for his equestrian statue of Peter the Great, the "Bronze Horseman" (1782), in St. Petersburg, Russia, and for the small statues he produced in series for the Royal Sévres Porcelain Manufactory

艾蒂安·莫里斯·法尔科内(Étienne Maurice Falconet,1716年-12月1日-1791年-1月4日),是跻身一流的法国洛可可雕塑家。他的资助人是著名的蓬帕杜尔夫人。


Architecture.

A database user accesses the distributed database through one of the following methods:  A homogeneous distributed database has identical software and hardware running all database instances, and may appear through a single interface as if it were a single database. A heterogeneous distributed database may have different hardware, operating systems, database management systems and even data models for different databases.

Homogeneous Distributed Databases Management System.

With a homogeneous distributed database, all sites have identical software and are aware of each other and agree to cooperate in processing user requests. Each site surrenders part of its autonomy in terms of the right to change schema or software. A homogeneous DBMS appears to the user as a single system. The homogeneous system is much easier to design and manage. The following conditions must be satisfied for the homogeneous database:

Heterogeneous DDBMS.

In a heterogeneous distributed database, different sites may use different schema and software. The difference in a schema is a major problem for query processing and transaction processing. Sites may not be aware of each other and may provide only limited facilities for cooperation in transaction processing. In heterogeneous systems, different nodes may have different hardware and software and data structures at various nodes or locations are also incompatible. Different computers and operating systems, database applications, or data models may be used at each of the locations. For example, one location may have the latest relational database management technology, while another location may store data using conventional files or old versions of the database management system. Similarly, one location may have the Windows operating system, while another may have UNIX. Heterogeneous systems are usually used when individual sites use their hardware and software. On heterogeneous systems, translations are required to allow communication between different sites (or DBMS). In this system, the users must be able to make requests in a database language at their local sites. Usually, the SQL database language is used for this purpose. If the hardware is different, then the translation is straightforward, in which computer codes and word-length is changed. The heterogeneous system is often not technically or economically feasible. In this system, a user at one location may be able to read but not update the data at another location.

Important considerations.

Care must be taken to ensure the following:  There are two principal approaches to store a relation "r" in a distributed database system: replication and fragmentation/partitioning.

Replication.

In replication, the system maintains several identical replicas of the same relation "r" in different sites.

Fragmentation.

The relation "r" is fragmented into several relations "r", "r", "r"..."r" in such a way that the actual relation could be reconstructed from the fragments and then the fragments are scattered to different locations. There are basically two schemes of fragmentation:  A distributed database can be run by independent or even competing parties as, for example, in bitcoin or Hasq.

Advantages.

The Merge Replication Method is popularly used to consolidate the data between databases.

A distributed database is a database in which data is stored across different physical locations. It may be stored in multiple computers located in the same physical location (e.g. a data centre); or maybe dispersed over a network of interconnected computers. Unlike parallel systems, in which the processors are tightly coupled and constitute a single database system, a distributed database system consists of loosely coupled sites that share no physical components.

分布式数据库是用计算机网络将物理上分散的多个数据库单元连接起来组成的一个逻辑上统一的数据库。每个被连接起来的数据库单元称为站点或节点。分布式数据库有一个统一的数据库管理系统来进行管理,称为分布式数据库管理系统。


History.

Saint John's Day, the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, was established by the undivided Christian Church in the 4th century AD, in honour of the birth of the Saint John the Baptist, which the Gospel of Luke records as being six months before Jesus. As the Western Christian Churches mark the birth of Jesus on December 25, Christmas, the Feast of Saint John (Saint John's Day) was established at midsummer, exactly six months before the former feast.  Within Christian theology, this carries significance as John the Baptist "was understood to be preparing the way for Jesus", with stating "He must increase, but I must decrease"; this is symbolized in the fact that the "sun begins to diminish at the summer solstice and eventually increases at the winter solstice." By the 6th century AD, several churches were dedicated in the honour of Saint John the Baptist and a vigil, Saint John's Eve, was added to the feast day of Saint John the Baptist and Christian priests held three Masses in churches for the celebration.  In Florence, medieval midsummer celebrations were "an occasion for dramatic representations of the Baptist's life and death" and "the feast day was marked by processions, banquets, and plays, culminating in a fireworks show that the entire city attended." The historian Ronald Hutton states that the "lighting of festive fires upon St. John's Eve is first recorded as a popular custom by Jean Belethus, a theologian at the University of Paris, in the early twelfth century". In England, the earliest reference to this custom occurs on in the 13th century AD, in the "Liber Memorandum" of the parish church at Barnwell in the Nene Valley, which stated that parish youth would gather on the day to sing songs and play games. A Christian monk of Lilleshall Abbey, in the same century, wrote:  The 13th-century monk of Winchcomb, Gloucestershire, who compiled a book of sermons for Christian feast days, recorded how St. John's Eve was celebrated in his time: Let us speak of the revels which are accustomed to be made on St. John's Eve, of which there are three kinds. On St.

Contemporary national traditions.

Austria.

In Austria the midsummer solstice is celebrated each year with a spectacular procession of ships down the Danube River as it flows through the wine-growing Wachau Valley just

Brazil.

Portuguese St. John's Day, brought to Brazil during colonial times, has become a popular event that is celebrated during a period that starts one week before St. Anthony's Day (June 12) and ends after St. Peter's Day (June 29). This nationwide festival, called "Festa Junina" (June Festival), or "São João", takes place during midwinter in most of the country.  Rural life is celebrated through typical clothing, food, and dance (particularly square dancing, or "quadrilha"). The "quadrilha" features couple formations around a mock wedding whose bride and groom are the central attraction of the dancing. A kind of maypole (called "pau-de-sebo") is also raised and used in some festivities. A

Bulgaria.

On Midsummer day, Bulgarians celebrate Enyovden. On the same day, the Eastern Orthodox church celebrates the day of John the Baptist and the rites and traditions of both holidays are often mixed. A fire-related ritual may also be performed in Bulgaria on that day; it involves barefoot dance on smoldering embers and is called Nestinarstvo. Bulgarian folklore states the beginning of summer starts on Enyovden. It

Canada.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's Day is observed on the Monday nearest June 24 and commemorates John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland in 1497. In Quebec, the celebration of June 24 was brought to New France by the first French colonists. Great fires were lit at night. According to the "Jesuit Relations", the first celebrations of St John's Day

Croatia.

The tradition of Sveti Ivan Krstitelj (St.John Baptist), also called Ivanjdan or Svitnjak in Western Herzegovina and coastal Croatia, is celebrated on June 23 in Croatia. The people light large bonfires in the name of Saint John Baptist, and the celebration can also be connected to the old Slavic traditions for Kresnik (South Slavic version of Perun) the god of Sun. There are places in Croatia like Ričice where saint St. John Baptist

Denmark.

In Denmark, the solstitial celebration is called "sankthans" or "sankthansaften" ("St. John's Eve"). It was an official holiday until 1770, and in accordance with the Danish tradition of celebrating a holiday on the evening before the actual day, it takes place on the evening of 23 June. It is the day where the medieval wise men and women (the doctors of that time) would gather special herbs that they needed for the rest of the year to cure people.  Bonfires on the beach, speeches, picnics and songs are traditional, although they are built in many other places where beaches may not

Estonia.

"Jaanipäev" ("Jaan's Day" or "St. John's Day" in English) was celebrated long before the arrival of Christianity in Estonia, although the day was given its name by the crusaders. The day is still known by its many names as: "leedopäev", "suvine pööripäiv", "suvepööripäev", "püäripääv", "päevakäänak", "päiväkäänäk", "päiväkäändjäne", "päevapesa", "pesapäev" and "suured päevad". The arrival of Christianity, however, did not end pagan beliefs and fertility rituals surrounding this holiday. In 1578, Balthasar Russow wrote in his "Livonian Chronicle" about Estonians who placed more importance on the festival than going to church. He complained about those who went to church, but did not enter, and instead spent their time lighting bonfires, drinking, dancing, singing and following pagan rituals. Midsummer marks a change in the farming year, specifically the break between the completion of spring sowing and the hard work of summer hay-making.  Understandably, some of the rituals of "Jaanipäev" have very strong roots. One of the best-known midsummer, ritual is the lighting of the bonfire and jumping

Faroe Islands.

On the Faroe Islands, St. John's Eve ("jóansøka") is generally not celebrated. However, on the southernmost island of Suðuroy

Finland.

The summer solstice was called "Ukon juhla" ("Ukko's celebration") after the Finnish god Ukko. After the celebrations were Christianized, the holiday became known as "juhannus" after John the Baptist (Finnish: "Johannes Kastaja").  Since 1955, the holiday has always been on a Saturday (between June 20 and June 26). Earlier it was always on June 24. Many of the celebrations of midsummer take place on Friday, midsummer eve, when many workplaces are closed and shops may close their doors at noon.  In the Finnish midsummer celebration, bonfires (Finnish "kokko") are very common and are burned at lakesides and by the sea. Often branches from birch trees ("koivu") are placed on both side of the front door to welcome visitors. Swedish-speaking Finns often celebrate by erecting a midsummer or maypole (Swedish "midsommarstång", "majstång"). Some Finland Swedes call the holiday "Johannes" after the Finnish term "juhannus" – or more accurately after the Biblical John the Baptist (="Johannes Döparen" in Swedish).  In folk magic, midsummer was a very potent night and the time for many small rituals, mostly for young maidens seeking suitors and fertility. Will-o'-the-wisps were believed to appear at midsummer night, particularly to finders of

France.

In France, the (feast of St John), traditionally celebrated with bonfires () that are reminiscent of Midsummer's pagan rituals, is a Catholic festivity in celebration of Saint John the Baptist. It takes place on June 24, on Midsummer day (St

Germany.

The day of sun solstice is called in German. On June 20, 1653 the Nuremberg town council issued the following order: "Where experience herefore have shown, that after the old heathen use, on John's day in every year, in the country, as well in towns as villages, money and wood have been gathered by young folk, and there upon the so-called or "zimmet fire"

Greece.

According to Eastern Orthodox tradition the eve of the day of the Nativity of John the Baptist is celebrated with festivals in many towns and villages, both in the mainland and in the Greek isles. Traditionally the midsummers celebration is called () meaning sign

Hungary.

On June 21 Hungarians celebrate "Saint Ivan's Night" () ( being derived from the Slavic form of Johannes/John, "Ivan", which may correspond to Hungarian,, ). The whole month of June was once called the Month of St. Ivan until the 19th century. Setting fires is a folklore tradition this night. Girls jumped over it, while boys watched the spectacle.  Most significant among the customs of the summer is lighting the fire of Midsummer Night () on the day of St. John (June 24), when the sun follows the highest course, when the nights are the shortest and the days the longest. The practice of venerating Saint John the Baptist developed in the Catholic Church during the 5th century, and at this time they put his name and day on June 24. The summer solstice was celebrated among

India.

In India, within the context of Hinduism, the Summer Solstice, or Midsummer's day, takes place

Iran.

Tiregān () is one of ancient Iranian festival coinciding with the mid summer festivals, another midsummer festival is Gilaki Bal Nowrooz which is held in the north of Iran.  Bal Nowrooz, meaning ‘the fire of Nowrooz’, is the name of a festival celebrated on the first day of ‘Our Nowrooz’ and this is the first day of Daylaman New Year.

Ireland.

Many towns and cities have 'Midsummer Carnivals' with fairs, concerts and fireworks either on or on the weekend nearest to Midsummer. In rural spots throughout the west, northwest, southwest and Co. Cork, bonfires are lit on hilltops on St John's Eve. This tradition harks back to pagan times. The Irish Environmental Protection Agency,

Italy.

In Italy there is the San Giovanni's day (Saint John).  The feast of Saint John the Baptist has been celebrated in Florence from medieval times, and certainly in the Renaissance, with festivals sometimes lasting three days from 21 to 24 June. Such celebrations are held nowadays in Cesena from June 21 to 24,

Jersey.

In Jersey most of the former midsummer customs are largely ignored nowadays. The custom known as "Les cônes d'la Saint Jean" was observed as late as the 1970s –

Latvia.

In Latvia, Midsummer is called "Jāņi" (plural of Latvian name Jānis, which is equivalent to John) or Līgo svētki (svētki = festival). It is a national holiday celebrated from the night of June 23 through June 24 on a large scale by almost everyone in Latvia and by people of Latvian origin abroad. Celebrations consist of a lot of traditional and mostly pagan elements – eating, Jāņi cheese, drinking beer, baking pīrāgi, singing Latvian folk songs dedicated to Jāņi, burning bonfires to keep light all through the night and jumping over it, wearing wreaths of flowers (for women) and oak leaves (for men) together

Lithuania.

Midsummer is commonly called John's Day ("Joninės") in Lithuania, and is also known as Saint Jonas' Festival, Rasos (Dew Holiday), Kupolė, Midsummer Day and St. John's Day. It is celebrated in the night from 23 June to 24 June and on 24 June. The traditions include singing songs and dancing until the

Norway.

As in Denmark, "Sankthansaften" is celebrated on June 23 in Norway. The day is also called "Jonsok", which means "John's wake", important in Roman Catholic times with pilgrimages to churches and holy springs. For instance, up until 1840, there was a pilgrimage to the Røldal Stave Church in Røldal (southwest Norway) whose crucifix was said to have healing powers. Today, however, "Sankthansaften" is

Poland.

Especially in northern Poland – the Eastern Pomeranian and Kashubian regions – midsummer is celebrated on June 21st or 22nd. Girls throw wreaths made of flowers and candles into the Baltic Sea, and into lakes or rivers. The midsummer day celebration starts at about 8:00 p.m. and lasts all night until sunrise. People celebrate this special day every year and call

Portugal.

In Portugal, Midsummer festivities are included in what is known today as "Santos Populares" (Popular Saints celebrations), now corresponding to different municipal holidays: St. Anthony's Day in Lisbon and Vila Real (June 13), Festa de São João do Porto (St. John's Day) in Porto, Braga, Figueira da Foz, Vila do Conde, and Almada (June 24), St. Peter's day in Seixal, Sintra, Póvoa de Varzim, and Barcelos (June 29).  Saints’ days are full of fun and merriment. The streets are decorated with balloons and arches made out

Romania.

In Romania, the Midsummer celebrations are named "Drăgaica" or "Sânziene". Drăgaica is celebrated by a dance performed by a group of 5–7 young girls of which one is chosen as "the Drăgaica". She is dressed as a bride, with wheat wreath, while the other girls, dressed in white wear a veil with

Russia.

Many rites of this holiday are connected with water, fertility and autopurification. The girls, for example, would float their flower garlands on the water of rivers and tell their fortunes from their movement. Lads and girls would jump over the flames of bonfires. Nude bathing is likewise practiced. Nights on the Eve of Ivan Kupala inspired Modest Mussorgsky to create his "Night on Bald Mountain". A

Serbia.

"Ivanjdan" is celebrated on July 7, according to the Serbian Orthodox Church. Saint John (Sveti Jovan) is known by the name "Igritelj" (dancer) because it is thought the sun is dancing on this day. Among traditions are

Slovenia.

In Slovenia, "Kresna noč" (Midsummer Night) used to be celebrated on June 21, but the celebration was later

Spain.

The traditional midsummer party in Spain is the celebration in honour of Saint John the Baptist (Spanish: "San Juan", Catalan: "Sant Joan", Galician: "San Xoán", Asturian: "San Xuan") and takes place in the evening of June 23 St John's Eve. It is common in many areas of the country. In some areas, bonfires are traditionally named "tequeos", which means people of the dance. Parties are organized usually at beaches, where bonfires are lit and a set of firework displays usually take place. On the Mediterranean coast, especially in Catalonia and

Sweden.

Raising and dancing around a maypole ("majstång" or "midsommarstång") is an activity that attracts families and many others. Greenery placed over houses and barns was supposed to bring good fortune and health to people and livestock; this old tradition of decorating with greens continues, though most people no longer take it seriously. To decorate with greens was called "att maja" (to may) and may be the origin of the word "majstång", "maja" coming originally from the month May, or vice versa. Other researchers say the term came from German merchants who raised the maypole in June because the Swedish climate made it impossible to find the necessary greens and flowers in May, and

Ukraine.

Ivan Kupala was the old Kyiv Rus' name for John the Baptist. Up to the present day, the Rus' Midsummer Night (or Ivan's Day) is known as one of the most expressive Kyiv Rus' folk and pagan holidays. Ivan Kupala Day is the day of summer solstice celebrated in Ukraine on June 23 NS and July 6 OS. Before the day

United Kingdom.

In Great Britain from the 13th century, Midsummer was celebrated on Midsummer Eve (St. John's Eve, June 23) and St. Peter's Eve (June 28) with the lighting of bonfires, feasting, and merrymaking.

England.

In late 14th-century England, John Mirk of Lilleshall Abbey, Shropshire, gives the following description: "At first, men and women came to church with candles and other lights and prayed all night long. In the process of time, however, men left such devotion and used songs and dances and fell into lechery and gluttony turning the good, holy devotion into sin." The church fathers decided to put a stop to these practices and ordained that people should fast on the evening before, and thus turned waking into fasting.  Mirk adds that at the time of his writing, "...in worship of St John the Baptist, men stay up at night and make three kinds of fires: one is of clean bones and no wood and is called a "bonnefyre"; another is of clean wood and no bones, and is called a "wakefyre", because men stay

Scotland.

Midsummer festivals are celebrated throughout Scotland, notably in the Scottish Borders where Peebles holds its Beltane Week. The Eve of St. John has special magical significance and was used by Sir Walter Scott as the title, and theme, for a

Wales.

In Wales it is called, or (St John's of Midsummer) to distinguish it from (St John's of Midwinter, the feast of John the Evangelist). Great agricultural fairs used to be held at this time, along with merriment and dancing. A bonfire was also kept this night. With the advent of non-conformist beliefs on the Welsh socio-political culture, this (among so many other similar festivals) suffered greatly, and its observance finally died out in south-east Wales by the end of the 19th century. However, since 1977, a folk-dance revival started in Cardiff, and is held now annually on this feast day

United States.

Midsummer celebrations held throughout the United States are largely derived from the cultures of immigrants who arrived from various European nations since the 19th century. With the rise of earth-centered spirituality, many, including Unitarian Universalists, celebrate the summer solstice as a religious holiday.

Alaska.

As the state of Alaska, northernmost state in the nation, straddles the Arctic Circle, midsummer is a time when most of the state is in daylight or

Arizona.

Tucson has announced its inaugural Earthwalk Solstice celebration, with sister events in San Francisco,

California.

Since 1974, Santa Barbara has hosted an annual Summer Solstice celebration, typically on the weekend of or the weekend after the actual solstice. It includes a

Illinois.

Geneva hosts a Swedish Day () festival on the third Sunday of

Michigan.

In Kaleva, is celebrated annually on or near the Summer Solstice by Gathering at the Village

Oregon.

The Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival has been a tradition on the North Coast of Oregon for over forty years. The Festival takes place typically on the 3rd full weekend of

New York.

The NYC Swedish Midsummer celebrations in Battery Park, New York City, attracts some 3,000–5,000 people annually, which makes it one of the largest celebrations after the ones held in Leksand and at the Skansen Park in Stockholm. Sweden Day, a Midsummer celebration

Washington.

The Seattle neighborhood of Fremont puts on a large Summer Solstice Parade and Pageant, which for many

Wyoming.

A solstitial celebration is held on Casper Mountain at Crimson Dawn park. Crimson Dawn is known in the area for the great stories of mythical creatures and people that live on Casper Mountain. The celebration is attended by many people from the community, and from around the country. A large bonfire is held and all are invited to throw a handful of red soil into the fire in hopes that they get their wish granted.

Analogous summer solstice observances.

Neopaganism.

As forms of Neopaganism can be quite different and have very different origins, these representations can vary considerably, despite the shared name. Some celebrate in a manner as close as possible to how they believe ancient pagans observed the summer solstice, while others observe the holiday with rituals culled from numerous other unrelated sources, the Germanic culture being just one of the sources used. In Neo-druidism, the term "Alban Hefin" is used for the summer solstice. The name was invented by the late 18th century Welsh Romantic author and prolific literary forger Iolo Morganwg.

Germanic Neopaganism.

Germanic neopagans call their summer solstice festival Litha, which is part of the reconstructed Germanic calendar used by some Germanic Neopagans and takes its name from Bede's "De temporum ratione" that provides Anglo-Saxon names for the months roughly corresponding to June and July as "sē ǣrra līþa" and "sē æfterra līþa" (the "early Litha month" and the "later Litha month") with an intercalary month of "līþa" appearing after "sē æfterra līþa" on leap years. In modern times, Litha is celebrated by neopagans who emphasize what they believe to be the reconstruction of Anglo-Saxon Germanic paganism.

Midsummer is the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, and more specifically the northern European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice or take place on a day between June 19 and June 25 and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary among different cultures. The celebration predates Christianity, and existed under different names and traditions around the world.

仲夏节是夏至来临时的庆祝活动,在北欧是一个重要的节日。仲夏节在挪威、芬兰及瑞典都是公众假期。仲夏节是欧洲北部地区居民的重要传统节日活动,在东欧、中欧、英国、爱尔兰、冰岛等地也有庆祝仲夏节,但北欧与英国尤甚。在一些地方,当地居民会在这一天竖立五月柱(Maypole)。有分析称仲夏节在北欧当地成为一个庆祝的重要节日,和当地偏寒冷的气候有关系。


Signs and symptoms.

The skin typically presents as red, itchy, and hot, along with intense pain. Pus is usually present, along with gradual thickening and browning discoloration of the nail plate.

Cause.

Acute paronychia is usually caused by bacteria. Paronychia is often treated with antibiotics, either topical or oral or both. Chronic paronychia is most often caused by a yeast infection of the soft tissues around the nail but can also be traced to a bacterial infection. If the infection is continuous, the cause is often fungal and needs antifungal cream or paint to be treated.  Risk factors include repeatedly washing hands and trauma to the cuticle such as may occur from repeated nail biting. In the context of bartending, it is known as "bar rot".  Prosector's paronychia is a primary inoculation of tuberculosis of the skin and nails, named after its association with prosectors, who prepare specimens for dissection. Paronychia around the entire nail is sometimes referred to as "runaround paronychia".  Painful paronychia in association with a scaly, erythematous, keratotic rash (papules and plaques) of the ears, nose, fingers, and toes may be indicative of acrokeratosis paraneoplastica, which is associated with squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx.  Paronychia can occur with diabetes, drug-induced immunosuppression, or systemic diseases such as pemphigus.

Diagnosis.

Types.

Paronychia may be divided as follows:  Alternatively, paronychia may be divided as follows:

Treatment.

When no pus is present, warm soaks for acute paronychia are reasonable, even though there is a lack of evidence to support its use. A simple treatment with over-the-counter topical antibiotics such as mupirocin [Bactroban], gentamicin, bacitracin/neomycin/polymyxin B [Neosporin] may suffice for mild cases. Antibiotics such as clindamycin or cephalexin are also often used, the first being more effective in areas where MRSA is common. If there are signs of an abscess (the presence of pus) drainage is recommended.  Chronic paronychia is treated by avoiding whatever is causing it, a topical antifungal, and a topical steroid. In those who do not improve following these measures, oral antifungals and steroids may be used or the nail fold may be removed surgically.

Paronychia is a nail infection that is an often tender bacterial or fungal infection of the hand or foot, where the nail and skin meet at the side or the base of a finger or toenail. The infection can start suddenly (acute paronychia) or gradually (chronic paronychia). Paronychia is commonly misapplied as a synonym for whitlow or felon. The term is from from "para", "around", "onyx", "nail" and the abstract noun suffix "-ia".

甲沟炎(英语:Paronychia),俗称「冻甲」、「指沟炎」,为甲床炎(英语:Onychia)的一种。意指指甲周围组织,包括两侧的旁甲沟和底部近侧甲沟的发炎,一般症状为红、肿、痛,严重时会有化脓现象。