Land mines in Central America

Land mines in Central America are a by-product of the Cold War-era conflicts of the 1980s. Contrary to the requirements of generally accepted international law, the minefields of Central America were usually unmarked and unrecorded on maps. Once placed, mines remain active for years, waiting the pressure of an unwary foot to detonate.
Background.
With an estimated 100,000 land mines buried across Central America, mainly in Nicaragua, there was grave concern over their location and removal or deactivation as the Cold War began to wind down. In August 1991 Nicaragua asked the Organization of American States (OAS) for assistance, and the Secretary General forwarded the request to the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), which sent a group of staff officers to Nicaragua to assess the situation. A Demining Plan was developed under which the IADB, working with U.S. technical experts, would supervise the training of teams of Nicaraguan demining personnel. The Nicaraguan program operated for six months in 1993 before being suspended due to funding limitations (it was reinitiated in 1996). In those first six months, the teams destroyed almost 3,000 mines.
Demining operations.
Subsequently, demining operations have been launched in Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala. The primary responsibility for the program lay with the OAS' Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, with the IADB providing technical support and planning assistance. The goal was to make Central America essentially a mine-free area as soon as possible.
Costa Rica.
Demining activities began in Costa Rica along the border of Nicaragua in October 1996. With support from the OAS, the Ministry of Public Security has undertaken both mine clearance operations and a public awareness component to prevent accidents involving the civilian population. To date more than 300 of the estimated 1,000 existing mines and unexploded devices have been found and destroyed. Because Costa Rica possesses no stockpiled mines, completion of demining operations will convert it to a mine-free nation.
Honduras.
In Honduras, demining operations began in September 1995, and since that time, ten operational modules have been supported, resulting in the destruction of more than 2,200 mines. As a result of these operations, numerous tracts of land have been reclaimed and turned over to local authorities for development. In November 2000, Honduras became the first of the OAS Member States to eliminate entirely its stockpiled antipersonnel mines when the Honduran Army destroyed its reserves of nearly 8,000 mines.
Guatemala.
Following the signing of a peace agreement in Guatemala, the OAS provided assistance in developing a mine and unexploded ordnance clearance program, which was launched in 1998. The Guatemalan National Commission for Peace and Demining has overall responsibility for the national project. Also participating in the program are the Volunteer Firemen's Corps, the Guatemalan Army and demobilized members of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union. Operations in Guatemala are somewhat unusual within the OAS program, as the primary threat comes from the approximately 8,000 unexploded devices, including mortar and artillery shells, aerial bombs and hand grenades, which are scattered throughout Guatemalan territory. The clearance process requires extensive cooperation among the three operational components, as well as a concerted effort to communicate with the population of affected zones in order to locate and destroy hazardous items.
Nicaragua.
The civil war (Nicaraguan Revolution) of the 1980s left 16 of Nicaragua's 17 provinces affected by anti-personnel mines. These were particularly rural and impoverished areas. After having cleared over 179,000 anti-personnel mines from its territory and half a million pieces of unexploded ordnance, Nicaragua declared itself free of landmines. It did so supported by a number of organisations including the OAS. There are however, at least 1,200 surviving victims of these weapons.
External links.
[[Category:Politics of Central America]]
[[Category:Minefields|Central America]]


Cardiff Parkway railway station

Cardiff Parkway () is a planned railway station in the eastern region of Cardiff, and near to the boundary with the neighbouring city of Newport. The station is privately funded as part of the wider Cardiff Hendre Lakes business development.
Origins.
Cardiff Parkway Developments Ltd had applied for a station as part of the New Stations Fund 2, but it was unsuccessful. The station is to serve a new business park and would fit in with the proposed South Wales Metro. The new station is to be located south of the existing St Mellons Business Park in Cardiff, with the location of the station between Newport Road and Newport stations.
On 13 July 2017, it was announced that the station would be privately built rather than public and would not need the same system of approval than if it was publicly built.
On 19 July 2017, it was announced the station had received funding of £30 million and was due to open in February 2020. The station is expected to cost around £120m and aims to secure 8 services an hour to Cardiff and Newport, as well as mainline services to other parts of the UK, including London and Bristol.
The plans are to skew the two relief lines to the south to allow an island platform to be built in the middle of the four tracks, plus platforms on either side. The station will initially be served by Class 170 diesel multiple unit trains and eventually by brand new Stadler FLIRT diesel-electric multiple units, which will operate on the Maesteg South Wales Metro line.
If Cardiff Parkway opens it will be the first station between Cardiff and Newport since Marshfield Station closed in 1959.
Construction.
In January 2019, it was revealed that the station will open in 2022 with construction starting in 2020. A planning application was due in 2019.
In November 2019, a four-week period of public engagement into the project was launched. Completion of the station has been pushed back to 2023, subject to a planning application due in 2020. In August 2020, a report suggested construction would start the following year, and the station would open in 2024.


Minefields in Croatia

Minefields in Croatia cover of territory. As of 2020, the minefields (usually known as "mine suspected areas") are located in 45 cities and municipalities within 8 counties. These areas are thought to contain approximately 17,285 land mines, in addition to unexploded ordnance left over from the Croatian War of Independence. Land mines were used extensively during the war by all sides in the conflict; about 1.5 million were deployed. They were intended to strengthen defensive positions lacking sufficient weapons or manpower, but played a limited role in the fighting.
After the war of territory was initially suspected to contain mines, but this estimate was later reduced to after physical inspection. demining programmes were coordinated through governmental bodies such as the Croatian Mine Action Centre, which was hiring private demining companies employing 632 deminers. The areas are marked with 11,454 warning signs.
, 509 people had been killed and 1,466 injured by land mines in Croatia since the war; with these figures including 60 deminers and seven Croatian Army engineers killed during demining operations. In the immediate aftermath of the war there were about 100 civilian mine casualties per year, but this decreased to below ten per year by 2010 through demining, mine-awareness and education programmes. Croatia has spent approximately €450 million on demining since 1998, when the process was taken over by private contractors coordinated by the Croatian Mine Action Centre. The cost to complete the demining is estimated at €500 million or more. Economic loss to Croatia (due to loss of land use within suspected minefields) is estimated at €47.3 million per year.
Background.
In 1990, following the electoral defeat of the Communist regime in Croatia by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), ethnic tensions between Croats and Serbs worsened. After the elections, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) confiscated Croatia's Territorial Defence weapons to minimize potential resistance. On 17 August, tensions escalated to an open revolt by the Croatian Serbs. The JNA stepped in, preventing Croatian police from intervening. The revolt centred on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of the Dalmatian hinterland around the city of Knin, parts of the Lika, Kordun and Banovina regions and eastern Croatian settlements with a significant Serb population. This incontiguous area was subsequently named the Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK). The RSK declared its intention to join Serbia, and as a result came to be viewed by the Government of Croatia as a breakaway region. By March 1991, the conflict had escalated into what became known as the Croatian War of Independence. In June, Croatia declared its independence as Yugoslavia disintegrated. By January 1992, the RSK held of territory within borders claimed by Croatia. This territory ranged from in depth, and had a front line along Croatian-controlled territory.
Wartime use.
Land mines were first used by the JNA in early 1991, before its withdrawal from Croatia, to protect military barracks and other facilities. Even JNA facilities located in urban centres were secured in this way, using mines such as the PROM-1 bounding mine and MRUD directional anti-personnel mine. The Croatian Army (HV) and Croatian police began laying land mines in late 1991, relying heavily on them to stop advances by the JNA and the Army of the RSK (ARSK) until early 1992. These early minefields were laid with little documentation. In 1992 the ARSK increased its use of mines to secure the front line, largely due to its limited number of troops. Consequently, the ARSK constructed static defensive lines (consisting of trenches, bunkers and large numbers of mines designed to protect thinly-manned defences) to delay HV offensives. This approach was necessitated by the limited depth of RSK territory and the lack of reserves available with which to counterattack (or block) breaches of its defensive line, which meant that the ARSK was unable to employ defence in depth tactics. The combination of poor documentation of minefield locations and the lack of markings (or fencing) led to frequent injuries to military personnel caused by mines laid by friendly forces. It is estimated that a total of 1.5 million land mines were laid during the war.
The HV successfully used anti-tank mines as obstacles in combination with infantry anti-tank weapons, destroying or disabling more than 300 JNA tanks (particularly during defensive operations in Slavonia). Conversely, anti-personnel mines deployed by the ARSK proved less effective against the HV during operations Flash and Storm in 1995. During these operations, the HV crossed (or bypassed) many ARSK minefields based on information from land-based and unmanned aerial vehicle reconnaissance of the movement of ARSK patrols, civilian populations and the activation of mines by wildlife. Out of the 224 HV personnel killed in operations Flash and Storm, only 15 fatalities were caused by land mines. Similarly, out of 966 wounded in the two offensives only 92 were injured by land mines.
Casualties.
 a total of 509 people had been killed and 1,466 injured by land mines in 1,352 incidents in Croatia. There were 557 civilian casualties from land mines between 1991 and 1995, during the war and in its immediate aftermath. Between 1996 and 1998 there were approximately 100 civilian casualties from land mines per year in Croatia, but the number gradually decreased to less than ten per year by 2010. During the war, 57 HV troops were killed or injured by mines in 1992. In 1995, 169 were killed or injured (most during operations Flash and Storm) out of 130,000 HV troops involved. Seven HV engineers were killed and 18 injured by land mines during HV mine clearance operations between 1996 and 1998. Civilian casualties include 60 deminers killed since 1998.
Croatia has established an extensive framework to assist those injured by mines and the families of mine victims. This assistance includes emergency and ongoing medical care, physical rehabilitation, psychological and social support, employment and social-integration assistance, public awareness and access to public services. Institutions and organizations supporting mine victims include a wide range of governmental bodies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Existing minefields.
, there were of Croatian territory suspected to contain land mines. These areas are located in 8 counties and 48 cities and municipalities. They are thought to contain approximately 18,753 land mines, as well as unexploded ordnance left over from the Croatian War of Independence. Areas suspected to contain land mines are marked with more than 11,454 warning signs. Areas thought to contain unexploded ordnance (but no land mines) are marked with 409 warning signs. Suspected minefields are primarily located in forests (98,63 percent); the remainder are on agricultural land (1,08 percent), and other (0,29 percent).
Social and economic impacts.
Land mines are a safety issue for populations living near minefields. In 2008, an estimated 920,000 people in Croatia were endangered by their proximity to mined areas (20.8 percent of the population). Land mines are also a significant problem for development, because a substantial portion of the minefields in Croatia are on agricultural land and in forests. Some drainage channels are consequently inaccessible for maintenance, resulting in intermittent flooding; this is particularly severe in areas bordering Hungary. Similar problems are caused by mines laid on the banks of the Drava, Kupa and Sava rivers. The presence of land mines adversely affected post-war recovery in rural areas, reducing the amount of available agricultural land, impeding development and affecting the quality of life for people in mined areas. In addition to agriculture, the most significant economic problem caused by mines in Croatia is their impact on tourism (especially on forested areas and hunting in areas inland from the Adriatic Sea coast). In 2012, it was estimated that the economy of Croatia lost 355 million kuna ( 47.3 million euros) a year from the effects of mine-suspected areas on the economy.
Because of the importance of tourism to the Croatian economy, areas frequented by tourists (or near major tourist routes) have been given priority for demining. Other safety-related areas receiving demining priority are settlements, commercial and industrial facilities and all documented minefields. Agricultural land, infrastructure and forests are grouped in three priority categories depending on their economic significance. National parks in Croatia were also demined as top-priority areas, along with areas significant for fire protection. Theft of minefield signs is a significant problem, and is particularly pronounced in areas with concerns among the local population that the signs harm tourism. The signs are regularly replaced, sometimes with concrete or masonry structures to display them instead of metal poles. Since the 1990s, only one tourist has been injured by a land mine in Croatia.
The Government of Croatia established several bodies to address the problem of land mines in Croatia; foremost among them are the Office for Mine Action and the Croatian Mine Action Centre. The Office for Mine Action is a government agency tasked with providing expert analysis and advice on demining. The Croatian Mine Action Centre is a public-sector body tasked with planning and conducting demining surveys, accepting cleared areas, marking mine-suspected areas, quality assurance, demining research and development, and victim assistance. The work of the Croatian Mine Action Centre is supervised by the Office for Mine Action.
As refugees flee to Europe, from Syria and other Middle Eastern nations, some are migrating through Croatia due to Hungary's recent closing of its borders. These immigrants trying to cross to Europe are seeking Croatia's help in finding safe routes of passage.
Mine awareness and education.
Croatia has implemented a mine-awareness educational programme aimed at reducing the frequency of mine-related accidents through an ongoing information campaign. The programme is conducted by the Croatian Red Cross, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and a number of NGOs in cooperation with the Croatian Mine Action Centre. The Croatian Mine Action Centre actively supports NGOs to develop as many programmes as possible and attract new NGOs to mine-awareness and educational activities. It maintains an accessible online database with cartographic information on the location of mine-suspected areas in Croatia.
One mine-awareness campaign involving billboard advertising attracted criticism from the Ministry of Tourism and the Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB) because the signs were placed in tourist areas, far from any mine-suspected areas. The Ministry of Tourism and the CNTB welcomed the effort's humanitarian aspect, but considered the signs a potential source of unwarranted negative reaction from tourists. Tourist guidebooks of Croatia include warnings about the danger posed by mines in the country, and provide general information about their location.
Demining.
At the end of the Croatian War of Independence, approximately of the country was suspected of containing land mines. During the war and in its immediate aftermath, demining was performed by HV engineers supported by police and civil defence personnel. Wartime demining was focused on clearance tasks in support of military operations and the safety of the civilian population. In 1996 the Parliament of Croatia enacted the Demining Act, tasking police with its organization and the government-owned AKD Mungos company with the demining itself. By April 1998 approximately had been cleared of mines, and the initial estimate of minefield areas was reduced after inspection. By 2003 the entire territory of Croatia was reviewed, and the minefield area reduced to .
Since May 1998 the Croatian Mine Action Centre has been tasked with the development of demining plans, projects, technical inspections, cleared-area handover, demining quality assurance, expert assistance and the coordination of mine-clearance activities. The demining is performed by 35 licensed companies, employing 632 demining professionals and 58 auxiliary personnel. The companies do their work with 681 metal detectors, 55 mine rollers and mine flails, and 15 mine-detection dogs. Mine-clearing machines include locally designed models produced by DOK-ING. Deminers typically earn €.50–1.20 for each cleared, or €800–900 a month.
Since 1998, demining has been funded through the government and by donations. From 1998 to 2011, donations amounted to €75.5 million (17 percent of the total of €450 million spent on demining during that period). Most donations were from foreign contributors, including NGOs and foreign governments (among them Japan, Germany, Monaco, Luxembourg and the United States). The European Union was also a significant contributor during that period, providing €20.7 million. , the Croatian Mine Action Centre has been allocated approximately 400 million kuna ( 53 million euros) a year for demining. In 2011, an estimated further €500 million (or more) was needed to remove all remaining land mines from Croatia by 2019, the deadline for land-mine clearance set by the Ottawa Treaty. The Croatian Mine Action Centre spends approximately 500,000 kuna ( 66,600 euros) a year to maintain minefield warning signs (including the replacement of stolen signs).
As of April 2017, approximately 446 km² containing around 43,000 potential landmines was yet to be cleared.


Newington Junction station

Newington Junction is a bus rapid transit station on the CTfastrak line opened in 2015 located off Willard Avenue (CT-173) in the Newington Junction neighborhood of Newington, Connecticut.
A new commuter rail station named Newington, to be located adjacent to the bus station, is also planned as later phase of the CTrail Hartford Line. The construction of the commuter rail platforms at Newington Junction is not currently funded, but it, along with the other infill stations, are planned to be completed by 2022.
The bus station and surrounding neighborhood are named for the NRHP listed Newington Junction Railroad Depot building and freight house, built on the site in the 1890s to replace an 1850s station. Passenger rail service lasted until approximately 1959. The CTfastrak busway follows the previously rail banked right-of-way for the NY&NE Newington Secondary branch that joined the New Haven–Springfield mainline at the eponymous rail junction.
History.
Railroad service.
The Hartford and New Haven Railroad opened through Newington in 1839, but the railroad did not immediately establish a station there. The Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad opened in 1850; it shared the H&NH right of way north of Newington, but diverged to the south and ran to New Britain. The H&NH then moved its New Britain station, built two years before, to serve as Newington station for both railroads.
For four decades the two railroads shared the station; by 1872, the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad (the 1863 successor to the HP&F) paid the H&NH $100 per year to share it. Later in 1872 the H&NH was merged into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, and the next year the BH&E became part of the New York and New England Railroad. The depot was served for years by a single agent, John C. Sternberg, who sold tickets, handled freight and Adams Express packages, and threw switches to direct trains at the junction. From 1865 it was the site of church services, the beginnings of what in 1875 became nearby Grace Episcopal Church. The development of Newington Junction as a result of the railroad was instrumental in the separation of the town of Newington from its mother town of Wethersfield.
Around 1890, the two railroads decided to build separate stations to serve growing numbers of riders. The NYNH&H built a depot and freight house on the east side of the right of way in 1890; the NY&NE built a nearly identical depot on the west side in 1891. but could not obtain land for a planned freight house. The NY&NE was merged into the NYNH&H in 1898; its depot thenceforth served passengers traveling south towards New Haven and west towards New Britain, while the NYNH&H-built structure served passengers headed north toward Hartford.
Passenger service to New Britain ended in 1959, and Newington closed completely at this time - trains to and from New Haven no longer stopped.
The 1890 NYNH&H station was demolished sometime after the end of service. The remaining buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1986, as one of five sections of the Newington Junction Multiple Resources Area. The listing of "Newington Junction Railroad Depot" includes the 1891 NY&NE station, 1890 NYNH&H freight house, and a short section of the Amtrak-owned right of way between them.
As part of the CTfastrak project, the 1891 station building was restored, repainted, and moved slightly to the center of new landscaping in 2014.
Bus rapid transit.
Newington Junction is a bus rapid transit stop on the CTfastrak line, which follows the original HP&F route from Hartford to New Britain. The station consists of two side platforms serving built level with the bus entrances, with two center lanes to allow express buses to bypass the station. It opened with the line on March 28, 2015.
Two Connecticut Transit Hartford routes which do not use the CTfastrak busway, 69 and 140, also stop at the station.
Hartford Line.
In 2004, the Recommended Action of the New Haven Hartford Springfield Commuter Rail Implementation Study included the construction of a new Newington station as part of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Commuter Rail Line. A preliminary design in that report included two side platforms serving the line's two tracks, with a 200-space parking lot on the east side. However, Newington and other infill stations were not included in early funding for the line; when the busway station was built nearby, neither commuter rail platforms nor the parking lot were constructed.
The 2012 environmental assessment included preliminary plans for infill stations at North Haven, Newington Junction, West Hartford, and Enfield; although they were not yet funded, this would allow future planning and construction to be expedited.
The 2012 plans included a design very similar to the 2004 report. On January 12, 2015, the state announced that $5.75 million in funding would be made available for environmental mitigation and design at ten Hartford Line and New Haven Line stations, including design funding for Hartford Line platforms at Newington Junction. In February 2017, the state announced an additional $50 million in funds, including money to complete design of Newington station. Design will be completed by 2020. The state aims to construct all infill stations on the line by 2022.
In 2018, the state proposed to build the station further south, at 565 Cedar Street, which is closer to Central Connecticut State University and downtown Newington, due to concerns from neighbors about noise and traffic.


Witchduck station

Witchduck Station was a planned Tide Light Rail station in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was scheduled to open in 2019, however, due to the 2016 Virginia Beach City referendum regarding light rail being a no-majority, work on light rail has been ceased as of December 2016. The station would have served the communities along Witchduck Road. It was to be situated on former Norfolk Southern-owned track now owned by the city.


HMS E34

HMS "E34" was a British E class submarine built by John Thornycroft, Woolston, Hampshire. She was launched on 27 January 1917 and commissioned in March 1917. HMS "E34" sank the U-boat off Harwich in the North Sea on 10 May 1918. "E34" was mined near the Eijerlandse Gronden, the sands between the Frisian islands Texel and Vlieland on 20 July 1918. There were no survivors.
Design.
Like all post-"E8" British E-class submarines, "E34" had a displacement of at the surface and while submerged. She had a total length of and a beam length of . She was powered by two Vickers eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines and two electric motors. The submarine had a maximum surface speed of and a submerged speed of . British E-class submarines had fuel capacities of of diesel and ranges of when travelling at . "E34" was capable of operating submerged for five hours when travelling at .
"E34" was armed with a 12-pounder QF gun mounted forward of the conning tower. She had five 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes, two in the bow, one either side amidships, and one in the stern; a total of 10 torpedoes were carried.
E-Class submarines had wireless systems with power ratings; in some submarines, these were later upgraded to systems by removing a midship torpedo tube. Their maximum design depth was although in service some reached depths of below . Some submarines contained Fessenden oscillator systems.
Crew.
Her complement was three officers and 28 men.


SS John H. Hammond

SS "John H. Hammond" was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after John Hays Hammond, a mining engineer, diplomat, and philanthropist.
Construction.
"John H. Hammond" was laid down on 13 October 1944, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 2385, by J.A. Jones Construction, Brunswick, Georgia; she was sponsored by Mrs. R. Gregg Cherry, wife of then governor elect R. Gregg Cherry, and launched on 15 November 1944.
History.
She was allocated to William J. Rountree & Company, on 27 November 1944. On 17 July 1945, she struck a mine off Elba, Italy, and was towed to Naples, Italy. She was declared a constructive total loss (CTL). On 20 February 1948, she was sold, along with 39 other vessels, including her sister ships and , for $520,000, to Venturi Salvaggi Ricuperi Imprese Marittime Societa per Azioni, Genoa.
Bibliography.


Tjokorda Raka Sukawati

Tjokorda Raka Sukawati (May 3, 1931 – November 11, 2014) was an Indonesian engineer who invented Sosrobahu. He was born and died in Ubud, Bali, and in 2019 was conferred honorary T. Washington Fellow in science posthumously.


Thomas Voigt

Thomas Voigt (June 16, 1787 – August 3, 1844) was an American clockmaker. He apprenticed under his father, Henry Voigt, an American Revolution era clockmaker and inventor 1,2,3 (1738 – 1814) and became a renowned clockmaker. He built clocks that have withstood the test of time and become emblems of U. S. history and national longevity.
Early life.
Thomas Voigt was the son of Philadelphians Margaret and Henry Voigt. His father's accomplishments include the following:
At an early age, Henry and Margaret Voigt's son, Thomas, began an apprenticeship with his father in the watch and clock building portion of his father's diversified business interests. Thomas developed an enthusiastic interest in his father's watch and clock making as a young man, and gradually assumed its lead as his father would feel the demands of his new job as a coiner of the first U. S. Mint.
In 1804 to 1809 Thomas assisted his father on a contract received from the trustees of Princeton University to repair war damage to the orrery built by David Rittenhouse and his father in 1771. Thomas and Henry Voigt brought the orrery to their shop in Philadelphia to complete the repairs.
They moved their business from Second Street between Vine and Race Streets to a location across the street from the first U. S. Mint at Philadelphia – 44 North Seventh Street. Thomas married Maria Kessler who was a granddaughter of German emigrants Mary Ritchouer and Leonard Kessler; daughter of Michael Kessler; and niece of Naval Historian John Kessler.
Astronomical Case Clock.
In 1778 Thomas Jefferson began his quest for an accurate timepiece that he could use in astronomical observations. His quest would be delayed by the Revolutionary War, and the early organization of the United States that would include his eight years as Secretary of State; his four years as Vice President; and his eight years as President of the United States. His discussions would first engage Philadelphia scientist and inventor, David Rittenhouse, and later Philadelphia mathematician and second Director of the US Mint at Philadelphia, Robert Patterson. Robert Patterson recommended that President Jefferson engage Philadelphia clockmaker Thomas Voigt. The name was familiar to Jefferson who, years earlier, had engaged Thomas's father, Henry Voigt, to build and repair his clocks and watches.
Jefferson engaged Thomas Voigt to build a tall case clock with advanced time keeping precision that would support his study of lunar and solar cycles. The clock that Voigt would construct for President Jefferson would become known as his "Astronomical Case Clock". Thomas completed President Jefferson's Astronomical Case Clock in 1812, but due to the War of 1812, was unable to deliver the finished Clock to President Jefferson's home, "Monticello," until December 1815.
The clock that Voigt constructed exceeded Jefferson's desire for simplicity and low cost. Its case was a multi layered polished mahogany structure; its dial decorated with gilt and black lunettes; and its cost ($115.50) was nearly twice the original estimate. Although it was more ornate and more expensive than President Jefferson's original plan, he accepted Thomas's clock and placed the eight-day clock in his private suite of rooms. He used it in his studies until his death on July 4, 1826 – fifty years to the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. (www.monticello.0rg/site/house-and-gardens/astronomical-case-clock)
The "Astronomical Case Clock" measures 94 inches tall, 18 inches wide, and 11 inches deep. The clock was designed for astronomical purposes without a striking mechanism. Its single pendulum and single weight construction operates for eight days without attendance. Jefferson's use of the clock for astronomical studies can be seen from his annotations of the daily weight positions inside the clock.
After President Jefferson's death, his daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, needed to sell some of her father's assets to pay his debts. Robley Dunglison, professor of medicine at the University of Virginia, had attended Thomas Jefferson in the period preceding his death, and was presented the "Astronomical Case Clock" for his medical devotion to President Jefferson in the final period of his life. A small brass plate affixed to the top right rear of the clock's interior reads as follows:  “Clock of President Jefferson Gift of daughter Mrs. Randolph to Dr. Rolley Dunglison 1826 ”
"The Astronomical Case Clock" remained in Dunglison's family until his son, William Ladam Dunglison, donated it to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1894. In 1999, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation with the aid of a private donor, purchased "The Astronomical Case Clock" from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania for an undisclosed sum and returned it to President Jefferson's study at Monticello where it stands today.
From 1826 to 1999, the Astronomical Case Clock was preserved through the efforts of Dunglison, Dunglison's family, the Pennsylvania Historical Society, a private donor, and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to stand today in President Jefferson's Monticello study for hundreds of visitors to see, as a symbol of our third president's advanced intellectual curiosity.
Ohio Clock.
In 1815, the U. S. Senate placed the following order with Thomas Voigt for a clock for its chambers.
In 1816, Voigt delivered the Ohio Clock to the U. S. Senate. In 1816 the U. S. Senate was operating in temporary quarters while the U. S. Capitol was being rebuilt from damage incurred during the War of 1812. In 1819, the U. S. Capitol was restored so that Senate operations could be resumed at the US Capitol. The Ohio Clock was positioned within the restored U. S. Capitol in the Senate Chamber. In 1859, when a new Senate chamber was constructed, the Ohio Clock was positioned opposite the main entrance to the new Senate chamber where it resides today.
The name of the clock that Thomas Voigt delivered to the US Senate in response to Senator Daggett's order has been a topic of speculation. Ohio was the seventeenth state admitted to the union in 1804, but before the clock was delivered to the US Senate, Louisiana, and Indiana were admitted to the union as the eighteenth and nineteenth states in 1812 and 1816 respectively. Its name, "The Ohio Clock", has been associated with the seventeen stars and stripes added to the cabinet case by its creator. Thomas Jefferson is widely acclaimed for a major expansion of the United States – the Louisiana Purchase. But, a review of the admission dates of states show that Ohio was the only state admitted to the union during the administration of President Thomas Jefferson – a long time friend and customer of Thomas Voigt and his father, Henry. It may therefore be speculated that Thomas Voigt's use of seventeen stars and stripes represented the admission of Ohio to the union during the presidential administration of Thomas Jefferson.
Legacy.
The "Astronomical Case Clock" survived being transported from Jefferson's Charlottesville Virginia home, Monticello, to Dunglison's home to the Pennsylvania Historical Society and, finally, its return to Monticello. Its survival as an icon of American history and a major furnishing of President Jefferson's private study was enabled by the knowledge and devotion to authenticity of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. They shared their knowledge of the Astronomical Case Clock with this article's authors after a visit to Monticello in 2004.
From 1819 to the present day, "The Ohio Clock" has survived U. S. Senate filibusters; impassioned debates; a physical attack on US Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA) in the Senate chamber on May 22, 1856; the US Civil War; two World Wars; and a bomb explosion in 1983. "The Ohio Clock’s" glass was broken by the 1983 bomb blast, but was quickly repaired and restored to service. Hundred of Senate visitors observe The Ohio Clock each day including Senators, and Senate employees such as former Senate Page David Watson.
During the shutdown of the U. S. Government in 2013, the U. S. Senate employees tasked with maintaining and winding "The Ohio Clock" were furloughed. "The Ohio Clock" stopped keeping time during this period. Its stopped status was recorded on national television programs such as "Face The Nation", "CBS Evening News", and "NBC Nightly News" to showcase the 2013 government shutdown. When U. S. Senate employees returned to service, the Ohio Clock was reset and its timekeeping operation resumed.
A few days after the November, 2016 election, U. S. Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell invited President–elect Donald Trump to the U. S. Senate for a luncheon meeting. The news media captured Donald and Melania Trump with McConnell near the Senate chambers with "The Ohio Clock."
Although turbulence and violence have occurred near "The Ohio Clock", it has stood for over 200 years as it stands today - an important symbol of our country's stability, and the longevity of one of its major democratic institutions – the U. S. Senate.
Today, Thomas Voigt and his wife Maria Kessler Voigt reside in a plot near his parents and other family members in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, PA. In addition to his two most famous clocks, Voigt built many other clocks for customers and family members. At least one of these has survived to this day and resides with a descendant family member.
References.
This article was initiated by the recollections of Thomas Voigt by his descendants Cynthia Cooper, Hubert Joseph Kessler, and Eleanor Ruth Kessler Whitehead. The authors are also grateful to historian Tim McGrath for supplying the autobiography of John Kessler. This article was prepared by William B. Kessler Jr., Mary K. Kessler, and William B. Kessler III.


John Crang

John Crang (1710-1774) was a maker of keyboard instruments and pipe organs in London in the mid eighteenth century.
Personal life.
John Crang was baptised. on 4 July 1710 at All Saints, North Molton, Devon, son of John Crang and Grace Pulsford.
Career.
Although there was a long history of organ makers who originated from this area of Devon, such as John Chappington and John Loosemore, John Crang does not appear to be directly connected with either of them. He is thought to have been the apprentice of Christopher Shrider, who in turn had been the foreman of the well known London organ maker, Bernard Smith.
John Crang's earliest known instrument still in existence is a claviorgan (a harpsichord and an organ combined) made in 1745. It was originally located at Nettlefold Castle until 1953 and is now in a collection of musical instruments held by the University of Edinburgh. John Crang repaired organs including in St Paul's Cathedral, London. He also built the organ at St Peter's Church, Barnstaple, one of the largest in Devon, in 1764, which was donated by Sir George Amyand, 1st Baronet (1720-1766), MP for Barnstaple (1754-1766).
He traded on his own account until 1770 from premises in Wych Street, London. In around 1770, two of his nephews, John Crang Hancock and James Hancock, joined him in business, trading as Crang & Hancock. Together they repaired and made a range of keyboard instruments including harpsichords, spinets, pianos and organs.
Death.
John Crang died in 1774 and his last will and testament was proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 19 June 1775


Olin Stephens

Olin James Stephens II (April 13, 1908 – September 13, 2008) was an American yacht designer. Stephens was born in New York City, but spent his summers with his brother Rod, learning to sail on the New England coast. He also attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a term.
Stephens' name had a long history in connection with America's Cup. He assisted W. Starling Burgess with the design of the J-Class "Ranger", which won the America's Cup in 1937, defeating the Royal Yacht Squadron's "Endeavour II" in four races. He was the original designer of six out of seven successful 12 Metre defenders of the America's Cup between 1958 and 1980, with the exception of "Weatherly" in 1962. Other than "Ranger", the most remarkable of his defenders was the "Intrepid". She had a rudder separate from her keel to reduce wetted surface and improve steering. Stephens had previously designed separate rudders on a number of increasingly large ocean racers of the 1960s, most notably Thomas Watson's state of the art "Palawan III", before using it successfully on the "Intrepid" in 1967. After alterations by Britton Chance, Jr., she won the America's Cup again in 1970.
Stephens also designed many off-shore and stock boats, including the Dark Harbor 20, which he designed in 1934. His brother, Roderick Stephens, was also a partner in the yacht-designing and yacht brokerage firm Sparkman & Stephens, specializing in supervision and testing of yachts designed by the firm. Olin was working in the Nevins shipyard in 1928 as a draftsman when he first met yacht broker Drake Sparkman. They together set up an office next door to Nevins in 1929. Since retiring from the company he lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he spent his final years writing computer programs for designing yachts. He was awarded the Herreshoff Award by the North American Yacht Racing Union in 1965 for his contributions to sailing.
Stephens was also involved in ocean-going sailboats. His yawl designs "Dorade" (1929) and "Stormy Weather" (1934), his favorite design, each won the Newport Bermuda Race and the Fastnet race several times. Both brothers were accomplished yachtsmen. They were members of the winning crews of "Dorade" and "Ranger". Olin served as tactician and navigator, while Rod trimmed the rig and sails. In the 1960s and 1970s, Olin contributed to the luxury yacht builders Nautor Swan of Finland and Hallberg-Rassy of Sweden.
Later years.
In 1993, Stephens was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame and awarded the Gibbs Brothers Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. Several years later, in 1999, he wrote the autobiography "All This and Sailing Too". In 2007, he was named as one of six inductees to the inaugural ISAF Sailing Hall of Fame. Stephens was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011. He was ranked member number 1 on the New York Yacht Club Member Seniority List at the time of his death. Stephens died exactly five months after celebrating his 100th birthday in 2008.


Hora (company)

HORA, officially S.C. Hora S.A. is a Romanian manufacturer of stringed musical instruments, based in Reghin. The company was founded in 1951 around the workshop of master luthier Roman Boianciuc as a state-owned enterprise.
Over 80% of its products are exported to North America, Western and Northern Europe, Russia and Japan. HORA uses as raw materials spruce and maple wood from the Romanian Carpathians seasoned naturally for 5–10 years, as well as imported exotic wood like mahogany, Indian rosewood and ebony.
The company employs about 300 people (2017) and is the largest stringed instrument manufacturer in Europe.
Divisions.
HORA owns and operates the Rapsodia musical instruments shop in Bucharest, founded in 1999.


Christopher Pinchbeck

Christopher Pinchbeck, also called Catarrón (c. 1670 – ) was a London clockmaker and maker of musical automata. He was born in Clerkenwell, England, but worked in Fleet Street. He is the most famous member of the Pinchbeck family, which took its name from a small village in Lincolnshire.
Career.
In the 18th century Pinchbeck invented his eponymous alloy, a cheap substitute for gold. He made an exquisite musical clock, worth about £500, for Louis XIV, and a fine organ for the Great Mogul, valued at £300. His eldest son, also named Christopher (1710–1783) became King's Clockmaker by appointment to George III: among his timepieces is an important astronomical clock made for the King, now in Buckingham Palace.
A number of clocks and watches made by both Christopher Pinchbecks still exist. Nowadays the term 'Pinchbeck Watch' may mean a watch made by Christopher senior or junior, a watch made by another maker and housed in a Pinchbeck case, or a watch made by Harold Pinchbeck, the 21st-century family watchmaking business in England.
He died in 1732, at the age of 62.
Idiomatic use.
The term "pinchbeck" has entered the English language to signify the alloy Pinchbeck created. Because the alloy could be used to replace gold, the word is also used to signify something less than genuine; a counterfeit; a fake; a sham or fraud.


Cathal Gannon

Cathal Gannon (1 August 1910 – 23 May 1999), was an Irish harpsichord maker, a fortepiano restorer and an amateur horologist.
Beginnings and education.
Gannon was born in Dublin, Ireland, into a craftsmen family of carpenters, many of whom worked in the famous Guinness Brewery. His education, in two local schools, was rudimentary and at the age of fifteen he started working as an apprentice carpenter in the Brewery. His apprenticeship involved learning to make office furniture and attending evening classes in nearby colleges, where he was able to improve his education in a more congenial atmosphere. A love of music and the arts had been encouraged by two maiden aunts – his parents subsequently bought an upright piano and he learned to play it at the Read Pianoforte School – and consequently, when his apprenticeship was completed and he was on the dole for some years, he spent much of his spare time buying pictures, books, antiques and old clocks and watches in the various auction rooms and antique shops in Dublin
Societies and acquaintances.
During the mid-1930s, Gannon became a member of several Dublin-based societies, most notably the Old Dublin Society, and there befriended well-known people such as Grace Plunkett (née Gifford), the widow of Joseph Mary Plunkett (who had been executed after the Easter Rising of 1916). At around this time, Cathal was also introduced to Carl Hardebeck, an arranger of Irish traditional music. At a later stage in Cathal's life, he met Desmond Guinness and his wife Mariga, founders of the Irish Georgian Society, which he subsequently joined.
Harpsichords.
While reading a series of articles about Tibet in a magazine, Gannon stumbled across an article, which, he believed, was by Violet Gordon Woodhouse, a British harpsichordist and clavichord player of the period. The article was about the revival of the harpsichord, which interested young Gannon. He asked permission to examine the harpsichords on display in the National Museum, Dublin, but was given no encouragement by the staff. He was finally allowed to see the instruments when he was in his early twenties. Dismayed, he concluded that they were too expensive to buy and too complicated to make.
Whilst on holidays in Glengarriff in the West of Ireland during August 1936, Gannon met his future wife, Margaret Key from Harrow in London; they married in 1942.
In London with Margaret, who was visiting her parents, Gannon went to the Benton Fletcher collection of keyboard instruments, which was then in Chelsea, and measured a harpsichord by Jacob and Abraham Kirckman (1777). Back home, he made a copy of the instrument in a tiny conservatory at the back of his house in the Dublin suburb of Rialto. The harpsichord was played by John S. Beckett for the first time in public in 1959 as the continuo for Bach's Saint Matthew Passion and was praised in the national press. Beckett subsequently persuaded the authorities in the Guinness Brewery to provide Gannon with a special workshop, in which he made five harpsichords and restored several antique pianos. The first harpsichord made in the Brewery was donated to the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, The second was sold to Harrods of London, and the third was sold to Ireland's national radio and television station RTÉ. This third instrument was used regularly by the RTÉ Symphony and Concert orchestras and also by the well-known composer and performer of Irish traditional music, Seán Ó Riada.
Retirement.
Gannon continued to make many more harpsichords and restore more pianos during the years to come. In all, he completed 20 harpsichords during his lifetime – the final four were completed by a friend, Patrick Horsley, in England. One of the harpsichords made by Gannon-Horsley returned to Ireland and was presented to NUI Maynooth. A piano of note that Cathal restored was a Broadwood square piano owned by the poet and composer, Thomas Moore, which belonged to Lord and Lady Elveden (later Iveagh).
Gannon was the subject of several RTÉ radio programmes, three RTÉ television programmes (including "The Late Late Show") and a television programme, "Gallery", made by BBC Northern Ireland. He befriended a great many people, including the artist, writer and conservationist Peter Pearson, and regular musical evenings were held at the family home in Bryan Guinness's grounds in the suburbs of Dublin. Because of his interest in antique clocks and watches, he became a member of the Irish branch of the Antiquarian Horological Society, founded by his friend William Stuart.
Honorary degrees.
In 1978, Trinity College Dublin gave Gannon an honorary MA degree for his contribution to the authentic performance of early music in Ireland. Two years later, Cathal was invited to travel with the New Irish Chamber Orchestra to China, where he tuned and maintained one of his harpsichords and celebrated his seventieth birthday. In 1989, a second honorary MA was given to him, this time by NUI Maynooth.
Decline.
Following his 80th birthday, which was attended by fifty people, Gannon finally settled down to retirement. A series of minor strokes followed, which eventually led to dementia and ultimately to his death, aged 88, in May 1999.
Legacy.
The Cathal Gannon Early Music Room was opened in the Royal Irish Academy of Music in May 2003. It contained a harpsichord and clavichord made by Gannon, a Broadwood grand piano restored by him, and a square piano.
Part of a transmitted RTÉ programme, "Nationwide" (17 January 2007), featured archive footage of Gannon and his instruments.
Three RTÉ radio programmes, "Bowman: Sunday Morning", broadcast on 12 November 19 and 26 November 2006, feature a 1983 interview with Gannon.


Olaf Keil

Olaf Keil was the founder and lead guitarist of New Zealand rock and roll group The Keil Isles, playing on their pre-1963 recordings on the TANZA and Viking record labels. He was also a custom guitar and banjo builder for Fender. He is also the creator of the Keil Midi. For a period of time he also managed and took care of the booking for the Keil Isles.
Biography.
He was born Apia, Western Samoa in 1934. When he was young, as early as ten years of age, he began making his ukuleles out of coconut shells. He had a keen interest in electronics, photography and woodworking. In 1951 when he was 17, he left in Western Samoa to go to Fiji for a six-month photography course. The next year he arrived in New Zealand.
He began his musical career by playing in his uncle's 14 piece band and would back his cousin Freddie Keil on rock and roll songs when asked to. He taught his younger brother to play guitar and in 1956 he and his younger brothers formed the Keil Isles. The Keil Isles would end up becoming very popular and Olaf and the rest of the group would tour New Zealand with Cliff Richard and The Shadows in 1961.
Olaf Keil was considered to be a brilliant musician and he could replicate the guitar solos that were heard on overseas records. With his technical knowledge he was able to successfully design and build the first echo unit in New Zealand and attempting to copy that Elvis Presley instrumental sound that was heard on his records. This gave the Keil Isles an edge to compete with overseas acts from the UK and the US.
He left the group in 1962 to move to the United States.
Work at Fender.
After being convinced by singer Del Shannon, he decided to move to America. In spite of his band having signed a $28,000 guarantee with Philip Warren in 1962, he still managed to go to America. He worked for some time in a clothing company and then joined the Fender company in 1962. He began working in the wiring department and later on to the construction of guitar bodies and then guitar necks. He actually ended up working in every department. Fender ended up acquiring a banjo building business and Keil had the distinction of being its sole banjo builder, making five custom instruments every week.
In addition to custom-made banjos, he has also custom built guitars for artists as diverse as Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Jimi Hendrix and Buck Owens.
Later years.
Having learnt to play the Hawaiian steel guitar, he and other Fender musicians did a Polynesian act for a show in Las Vegas. He left the Fender company in 1973. Later with his family he was to form a Polynesian group that would work in New Orleans, Dallas and Pensacola. They were doing promotions for airline companies advertising flights to Hawaii as well.
In 1978 he moved to Central Florida and did a Polynesian act for Sea World. He later moved to Kissimmee and in April 1990 he opened Olaf Keil Woodworking Projects.


Jesse Hawley (American football)

Jesse Barnum Hawley Jr. (March 25, 1887 – March 21, 1946) was an American football coach, inventor, and president of Hawley Products Company. He served as the head coach at the University of Iowa from 1910 to 1915 and at Dartmouth College from 1923 to 1928, compiling a career college football record of 63–28–1. Hawley was the tenth head coach in Iowa football history and led Dartmouth to a national championship in 1925. In 1935, Hawley invented a tropical shaped, pressed fiber sun helmet that was adopted in 1940 by the United States military. Approximately 250,000 of Hawley's military sun helmets were produced during World War II by Hawley Products Company and the International Hat Company.
Coaching career.
Iowa.
Hawley was hired by the University of Iowa as its tenth head football coach in 1910. Iowa had not won the conference title in a decade, and Hawkeye fans were hoping Hawley could turn Iowa's fortunes around. School officials also hired Nelson A. Kellogg in 1910 to be Iowa's athletic director. Supervision of intercollegiate athletics at Iowa had, since 1900, also been the responsibility of the head coach. Hawley, however, could focus solely on coaching the football team.
Hawley's Hawkeyes had a 5–2 record in 1910. The most notable game that season was a loss to Missouri. Before traveling to Columbia for the game, Hawley was warned not to take Archie Alexander, Iowa's talented black tackle, along for the game. Fearing troubles similar to what Frank Holbrook, Iowa's first black football player, encountered in a game against Missouri in 1896, Hawley agreed to leave Alexander behind. When the Iowa team arrived in Columbia, a mob of local townspeople met the team to ensure that Alexander was not with them. In view of the racial incidents as well as the unsportsmanlike treatment Hawkeye players received during the game, Hawley vowed that Iowa would never again play Missouri in football as long as he was the coach. It has been longer than that. The two neighboring state universities did not meet again until the Insight Bowl in 2010.
A 1–3 start was cause for concern in 1911, but Iowa finished the year strong and had a solid 4–3 record in 1912. The biggest win of the 1912 season was a 20–7 victory over Iowa State, the last Iowa State team to win a conference title. It was also the final loss in the coaching career of Clyde Williams, a former Iowa football star.
Hawley was poised to field his best Iowa team in 1913. The 1913 Hawkeyes had a 5–2 record and easily led the nation in scoring. Only a loss to Chicago kept Iowa from the Western Conference title. However, Iowa responded the following week with a 78–6 victory over Northwestern, the team that cost Iowa a share of the Western Conference title in 1910. Iowa's 78 points is the most ever surrendered by a Northwestern team, and the 72-point loss is the second largest defeat in Northwestern school history. The Hawkeyes also defeated Cornell College, 76–0, and Indiana, 60–0. Iowa's 45–7 win over Iowa State was the most lopsided in series history at the time and was Iowa's first Homecoming win.
Iowa defeated Northern Iowa, 95–0, to open the 1914 season under Hawley. It is the largest margin of victory in Iowa history and easily Northern Iowa's biggest loss. However, many fans were critical of Iowa's win, stating that winning 95–0 did little to prepare Iowa for the rest of the season. They may have been correct; Iowa lost consecutive conference games by 7–0 scores to knock the Hawkeyes from the conference race yet again.
Iowa started 3–0 in 1915, but Iowa lost the final four games of the season, and criticism of Hawley mounted. Specifically, eleven of the best players in the Western Conference were Iowans playing for other member schools. Undefeated Minnesota started four Iowans, Chicago and Northwestern each started three, and the star of the 1915 Wisconsin team was an Iowan as well. Five Iowans earned all-conference honors in 1915, and only one played for Iowa. In addition, Hawley only coached and lived in Iowa City during the season, and many Hawkeye fans felt the program needed a "full-time" coach. As a result, Hawley resigned after the 1915 season.
Hawley had a 24–18 record at Iowa. He was a quiet, reserved coach who believed in fundamentals and attention to detail. He was also a brilliant offensive coach who guided Iowa to some of the most lopsided wins in school history.
Dartmouth.
When Hawley resigned at Iowa, he stated that he wanted to spend more time with his investment business. He was a successful investor and businessman before he arrived at Iowa. Hawley, a Dartmouth College graduate, returned to Hanover and continued his business after leaving Iowa in 1915.
In 1923, Dartmouth's football team needed a head coach, and Hawley took the job and stayed for six years. Successful in private enterprise, he volunteered his services and coached his alma mater for free.
Under Hawley, Dartmouth went 22 games without a loss from 1923 to 1926. Hawley reached the pinnacle of success in 1925, when he led Dartmouth to an undefeated 8–0 season, for which Dartmouth claims the national championship. Other than two national titles claimed by Princeton in the 1930s under Fritz Crisler, the 1925 Dartmouth national title is the last claimed by an Ivy League school.


Leroy Person

Leroy Person (1907–1985) was an American sculptor and wood carver from a remote region in northeastern North Carolina. Person's sculptures, and later, drawings, are recognized for their particular sensitivity to color and surface markings.
Life.
Leroy Person was born, raised, and lived out his entire life near the Albemare Sound at the edge of a swamp called Occhineechee Neck in northeast North Carolina. He was raised by a family of sharecroppers and continued the farm until he began working at a sawmill. He received partial schooling as a child and was para-literate. According to Roger Manley, director of the Gregg Museum of Art and Design at North Carolina State University, Person wrote and operated under his own numerals and alphabet that he and a few other family members could decipher.
Person married twice – once to Rosemary Person and then to Frances Person. Frances was an accomplished quilter and artist herself. After Person was hospitalized in 1982 for acute asthma, without access to his tools or his strength for carving, he began drawing with crayon on paper and cardboard. Although his oeuvre of drawings is not as prolific as his sculptures, he made a significant body of work before dying in 1985 from respiratory disease.
Career.
Leroy Person worked for the sawmill his entire adult life, until work-related respiratory problems forced his retirement in the mid 1960s. After his retirement, with little else to occupy his time, Person he began carving and etching into his fence and the siding of his house. His decorations went unnoticed or unappreciated by family, and feeling discouraged, Person disposed of his first works. After much encouragement from his neighbor, Ozette Bell, Person picked up carving again on free-standing wood pieces and began to carve what is now recognized as a cohesive body of sculptures and furniture. Although none were photographed, art historians note that Person also weaved meticulous baskets. This is an indication that other members of his family were skilled crafts-people because the intricate skills of basketry are rarely self-taught.
Subject and inspiration.
Person's works frequently employ images of trees, animals, his tools, and circles (which often resemble saw blades), letters and numerals of his own creation. His work has often been compared to Sub-Saharan African sculpture for its dense geometric patterns. William Arnett likened his freestanding sculptures to that of the Dogon people of Mali while Colin Rhodes compared his furniture to the Bambara people of the African Niger River region. Despite these comparisons, Person's works are sui generis. They are simultaneously a product of centuries of African culture in America and his life spent virtual isolation in Ochineechee Neck.
Person often colored his wooden sculptures and furniture with crayons, which created a dichotomy between his very delicate color palette and the bold weight of his material. Some of Person's patterns of color and etching mimic his wife, Frances's, quilting patterns, although no one photographed her quilts to make a formal comparison. The similarities were even more apparent after Person switched from sculpture to drawing while hospitalized during the last three years of his life. Most of his drawings comprised squares and rectangles filled with contrasting colors, which distinctly resemble improvisational African American quilts of the southeast.
Exhibitions and permanent collections.
Leroy Person's work has been shown in the following exhibitions:
Person's work exists in the following permanent collections:


258th Tunnelling Company

The 258th Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during the First World War. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps (a narrow trench dug to approach enemy trenches), cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services.
Background.
By January 1915 it had become evident to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at the Western Front that the Germans were mining to a planned system. As the British had failed to develop suitable counter-tactics or underground listening devices before the war, field marshals French and Kitchener agreed to investigate the suitability of forming British mining units. Following consultations between the Engineer-in-Chief of the BEF, Brigadier George Fowke, and the mining specialist John Norton-Griffiths, the War Office formally approved the tunnelling company scheme on 19 February 1915.
Norton-Griffiths ensured that tunnelling companies numbers 170 to 177 were ready for deployment in mid-February 1915. In the spring of that year, there was constant underground fighting in the Ypres Salient at Hooge, Hill 60, Railway Wood, Sanctuary Wood, St Eloi and The Bluff which required the deployment of new drafts of tunnellers for several months after the formation of the first eight companies. The lack of suitably experienced men led to some tunnelling companies starting work later than others. The number of units available to the BEF was also restricted by the need to provide effective counter-measures to the German mining activities. To make the tunnels safer and quicker to deploy, the British Army enlisted experienced coal miners, many outside their nominal recruitment policy. The first nine companies, numbers 170 to 178, were each commanded by a regular Royal Engineers officer. These companies each comprised 5 officers and 269 sappers; they were aided by additional infantrymen who were temporarily attached to the tunnellers as required, which almost doubled their numbers. The success of the first tunnelling companies formed under Norton-Griffiths' command led to mining being made a separate branch of the Engineer-in-Chief's office under Major-General S.R. Rice, and the appointment of an 'Inspector of Mines' at the GHQ Saint-Omer office of the Engineer-in-Chief. A second group of tunnelling companies were formed from Welsh miners from the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the Monmouthshire Regiment, who were attached to the 1st Northumberland Field Company of the Royal Engineers, which was a Territorial unit. The formation of twelve new tunnelling companies, between July and October 1915, helped to bring more men into action in other parts of the Western Front.
Most tunnelling companies were formed under Norton-Griffiths' leadership during 1915, and one more was added in 1916. On 10 September 1915, the British government sent an appeal to Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to raise tunnelling companies in the Dominions of the British Empire. On 17 September, New Zealand became the first Dominion to agree the formation of a tunnelling unit. The New Zealand Tunnelling Company arrived at Plymouth on 3 February 1916 and was deployed to the Western Front in northern France. A Canadian unit was formed from men on the battlefield, plus two other companies trained in Canada and then shipped to France. Three Australian tunnelling companies were formed by March 1916, resulting in 30 tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers being available by the summer of 1916.
Unit history.
Loos-en-Gohelle.
258th Tunnelling Company was formed at Rouen in April 1916. From then until the end of the war the company served under Third Army. After formation the company moved into Hill 70 sector near Loos-en-Gohelle, where it joined 173rd Tunnelling Company. Until April 1917, both units waged war underground on three levels ("Main", "Deep", "Deep Deep") in the Hill 70 - Copse - Double Crassier area of Loos. This mining sector, together with Hulluch to the North, was then taken over by 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company until September 1918. By that time the enemy mining threat had ceased completely and the front was relatively quiet.
Spring Offensive.
On 25 March 1918, personnel of the unit were converted into infantry – called "B Company, No 1 RE Battalion" – for emergency purposes, along with other Royal Engineers troops from XIX Corps (see 173rd Tunnelling Company). They fought a dogged rearguard action near Vrély before withdrawing to Moreuil. Reformed as a tunnelling unit on 31 March 1918, and placed on bridge demolition work.
In April 1918, the 258th and several other tunnelling companies (171st, 173rd, 183rd, 184th, 255th and 3rd Australian) were forced to move from their camps at Boeschepe, when the enemy broke through the Lys positions during the German spring offensive. These units were then put on duties that included digging and wiring trenches over a long distance from Reningelst to near Saint-Omer. The operation to construct these fortifications between Reningelst and Saint-Omer was carried out jointly by the British 171st, 173rd, 183rd, 184th, 255th, 258th, 3rd Canadian and 3rd Australian Tunnelling Companies.
References.
An overview of the history of 258th Tunnelling Company is also available in Robert K. Johns, "Battle Beneath the Trenches: The Cornish Miners of 251 Tunnelling Company RE", Pen & Sword Military 2015 (), p. 231 see online


French destroyer Dague

Dague was one of a dozen s built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.
Design and description.
The "Bouclier" class were designed to a general specification and varied significantly from each other in various ways. The ships had an overall length of , a beam of , and a draft of . Designed to displace , they displaced at normal load. Their crew numbered 80–83 men.
The ships were powered by a pair of Breguet steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by four water-tube boilers. The engines were designed to produce which was intended to give the ships a speed of . "Dague" handily exceed that speed, reaching during her sea trials. The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at cruising speeds of .
The primary armament of the "Bouclier"-class ships consisted of two Modèle 1893 guns in single mounts, one each fore and aft of the superstructure, and four Modèle 1902 guns distributed amidships. They were also fitted with two twin mounts for torpedo tubes amidships.
During World War I, a or anti-aircraft gun, two machine guns, and eight or ten Guiraud-type depth charges were added to the ships. The extra weight severely overloaded the ships and reduced their operational speed to around .
Construction and career.
"Dague" was ordered from Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde and was launched from its Bordeaux shipyard on 13 May 1911. The ship was completed the following year.
During World War I, "Dague" struck a mine at Bar, Montenegro, on 24 February 1915 and sank with the loss of 38 of her crew.


Linn Cove Viaduct

The Linn Cove Viaduct is a long, concrete segmental bridge which snakes around Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina. Completed in 1983 at a cost of $10 million, it was one of the last major construction projects on the Blue Ridge Parkway which runs linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Built mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, the parkway was fully completed and opened for through traffic in 1987.
History.
Construction of the parkway began in 1935 with the initial plan calling for a viaduct given the effects that a traditional cut-and-fill road would have on Grandfather Mountain. Towering almost , this mountain is the highest and most rugged peak on the Blue Ridge and geologically the most ancient mountain on the North American continent. Conservationists who hoped to preserve the area as a mountain park/recreation area were behind the viaduct concept as they stressed the danger of irreparable damage by lumbering and other exploitation, along with the need to preserve the view of the mountain as it then existed. By 1966, the parkway was essentially complete except for the section that circled around Grandfather Mountain despite the concerted efforts of the government to acquire the needed property, a task which eventually took 40 years.
Design and Construction.
The viaduct was designed by Figg and Muller Engineers, Inc., with construction beginning in 1979. Some long and a little less than wide, the viaduct rests on seven piers. What made its construction noteworthy was keeping heavy construction equipment off the ground. Building the bridge from its south side, this was done by connecting 153 segments one at a time using a custom crane that moved along the viaduct as it was being built. Each segment, nominally long and weighing 50 tons, was precast at a facility onsite and moved on a carriage to the crane. All but one of these segments were slightly curved as the viaduct needed to be shaped in a "S-and-a-half" figure to follow the contours of the mountain. The only work done on the ground involved drilling the footings for the piers which also were built in a segmental manner. The viaduct has received numerous design awards to include the 1984 President's Design Award, which states, "... construction of the roadway by pre-cast, segmental concrete elements set from above on segmental piers is elegant, economical, and new… results in an elegant curving ribbon that caresses the terrain without using it as a support. It gives the motorist the sensation of driving tantalizing on air while the earth goes by."
Environs.
The National Park Service operates the Linn Cove Visitor Center at the viaduct's south end which also features a bridge museum and provides access to the Tanawha Trail which runs from Beacon Heights to Julian Price Memorial Park.


Pierre de Rivaz

Pierre de Rivaz (17111772) was a French clockmaker of the 18th century, from Saint-Gingolph. He built a clock in 1740 that was powered by variations in air temperature and pressure, a type of Atmos clock.


John Fitch (inventor)

John Fitch (January 21, 1743 – July 2, 1798) was an American inventor, clockmaker, entrepreneur and engineer. He was most famous for operating the first steamboat service in the United States. The first boat was 45 feet long it was tested on the Delaware river by Fitch and his design assistant Steven Pagano.
Early life.
Fitch was born to Joseph Fitch and Sarah (Shaler) in Windsor, Connecticut, on January 21, 1743, on a farm that is part of present-day South Windsor, Connecticut. He received little formal schooling and eventually apprenticed himself to a clockmaker. During his apprenticeship, Fitch was not allowed to learn or even observe watchmaking (he later taught himself how to repair clocks and watches).
He married Lucy Roberts on December 29, 1767. The couple had two children, a son and a daughter. In his autobiography, Fitch claimed that his wife was unhappy and argumentative and he used these reasons to explain why he abandoned his son and wife (pregnant at the time with a daughter), never to return. Following his apprenticeship in Hartford, he opened an unsuccessful brass foundry in East Windsor, Connecticut, and then a brass and silversmith business in Trenton, New Jersey, which succeeded for eight years but was destroyed by British troops during the American Revolution.
He served briefly during the Revolution, mostly as a gunsmith working for the New Jersey militia. He left his unit after a dispute over a promotion, but continued his work repairing and refitting arms in Trenton. In the fall of 1777, Fitch provided beer and tobacco to the Continental Army in Philadelphia. During the following winter and spring, he provided beer, rum and other supplies to troops at Valley Forge.
In 1780, Fitch began work as a surveyor in Kentucky, where he recorded a land claim of for himself. In the spring of 1782, while surveying in the Northwest Territory, he was captured by indigenous people and turned over to the British, who eventually released him.
Steam-powered boat.
By 1785, Fitch was done with surveying and settled in Warminster, Pennsylvania, where he began working on his ideas for a steam-powered boat. Unable to raise funds from the Continental Congress, he persuaded various state legislatures to award him a 14-year monopoly for steamboat traffic on their inland waterways. With these monopolies, he was able to secure funding from businessmen and professional citizens in Philadelphia.
Fitch had seen a drawing of an early British Newcomen atmospheric engine in an encyclopedia, but Newcomen engines were huge structures designed to pump water out of mines. He had somehow heard about the more efficient steam engine developed by James Watt in Scotland in the late 1770s, but there was not a single Watt engine in America at that time, nor would there be for many years (Fulton's exported model in his 1807 steamboat, Clermont, would be one of the first) because Britain would not allow the export of any new technology to its former colony. As a result, Fitch attempted to design his own version of a steam engine. He moved to Philadelphia and engaged the clockmaker and inventor Henry Voigt to help him build a working model and place it on a boat.
The first successful trial run of his steamboat "Perseverance" was made on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787, in the presence of delegates from the Constitutional Convention. It was propelled by a bank of oars on either side of the boat. During the next few years, Fitch and Voigt worked to develop better designs, and in June 1790 launched a boat powered by a steam engine driving several stern-mounted oars. These oars paddled in a manner similar to the motion of a swimming duck's feet. With this boat, he carried up to 30 paying passengers on numerous round-trip voyages between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey during the summer of 1790. Estimates of miles traveled that summer range from 1,300 to 3,000, and Fitch claimed that the boat often went for 500 miles without mechanical problems. Estimated speeds were of a minimum 6 miles per hour under unfavorable conditions, to a maximum of 7 or 8 miles per hour.
Fitch was granted a U.S. patent on August 26, 1791, after a battle with James Rumsey, who had also invented a steam-powered boat. The newly created federal Patent Commission did not award the broad monopoly patent that Fitch had asked for, but rather a patent of the modern kind, for the new design of Fitch's steamboat. It also awarded steam-engine-related patents dated that same day to Rumsey, Nathan Read, and John Stevens. The loss of a monopoly due to these same-day patent awards led many of Fitch's investors to leave his company. While his boats were mechanically successful, Fitch no longer had the financial resources to carry on.
Fitch's idea would be turned profitable two decades later by Robert Fulton. Though Fulton was able to obtain a monopoly in the state of New York because of the powerful influence of his partner Robert Livingston, he was unable to gain a U.S. patent largely because he could not demonstrate the originality of his designs. Also, an original member of Fitch's company, William Thornton, had become head of the newly created Patent Office, and made the application process even more difficult for Fulton. Fitch had also received a patent in 1791 from France, and in 1793, having given up hope of building a steamboat in America, he left for France, where an American investor, Aaron Vail, had promised to help him build a boat there. But Fitch arrived just as the Reign of Terror was beginning, and his plans had to be abandoned. He made his way to London to make an attempt there, but that also failed. He returned to the United States in 1794 and made a few more tries to build a steamboat.
Failing this, he moved to Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1797, where he hoped to sell some of the lands he had acquired there in the early 1780s, and use the proceeds to build a steamboat for use on the Ohio or Mississippi River. He arrived to find settlers occupying his properties, resulting in legal disputes that occupied him until his death on July 2, 1798 in Bardstown.
Steam locomotive.
While living in Kentucky, Fitch continued to work on steam engine ideas. He built two models. One was lost in a fire in Bardstown, but the other was found in the attic of his daughter's house in Ohio in 1849. That model still exists at the Ohio Historical Society Museum in Columbus. In the 1950s, a curator from the Smithsonian Museum examined it and concluded that it was "the prototype of a practical land-operating steam engine," meant to operate on tracks – in other words, a steam locomotive.
It was not until four years after Fitch's death that Englishman Richard Trevithick, in 1802, invented a full-size steam locomotive which, in 1804, hauled the world's first locomotive-hauled railway train, and within a short time the British invention led to the development of actual railways. Americans began importing English locomotives and copying them.
Death.
A life of continual failure, frustration and litigation wore Fitch down. He began drinking heavily once he returned to Bardstown in 1797. Fitch died of an overdose of opium pills, in what may have been suicide. He died on July 2, 1798, age 55, and was buried in Bardstown.
Legacy.
Fitch's legal dispute over state monopoly rights with fellow steamboat inventor James Rumsey and others helped bring about the enactment of the first Patent Act of 1790. He is mentioned in the personal letters of several historical figures, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.
Memorials.
Despite his obscurity among other American inventors and engineering pioneers, such as Fulton and Peter Cooper, Fitch's contributions have not been forgotten and he has been remembered with a number of memorials and namesakes.
The John Fitch Steamboat Museum on the grounds of Craven Hall in Warminster, Pennsylvania, includes a one-tenth scale (-long), model of Fitch's original steamboat.
Other remembrances include:


Louis Zimmer

Louis Zimmer (8 September 1888 – 12 December 1970) was an astronomer and clockmaker to the King of Belgium. Most notably in 1930 he built the Jubilee (or Centenary) Clock, which is displayed on the front of the Zimmer tower. The Zimmer tower () is a tower in Lier, Belgium, also known as the Cornelius tower, that was originally a keep of Lier's fourteenth century city fortifications. In the museum near the tower in addition to many of Zimmer's other clock is the huge clock he constructed for the 1935 Brussels International Exposition. This is the clock was sent to the United States for the 1939 New York World's Fair. In June 1970 he was proclaimed "Honorary Citizen" of Lier. The asteroid "Zimmer (№ 3064)(1984 BB1)", was named after him in 1984.


Collings Guitars

Collings Guitars is an Austin, Texas based stringed instrument manufacturer. The company was founded in 1973 by Bill Collings (August 9, 1948 – July 14, 2017) who in 2008 was called "one of the most recognized and respected names amongst aficionados of modern acoustic instruments". Their acoustic guitars have been highly regarded for decades. In addition to acoustic guitars they also make electric guitars, archtop guitars, mandolins, and ukuleles.
Company history.
Bill Collings dropped out of medical school in the early 1970s, and instead worked in a machine shop for five years. At the same time he built his first guitar. In 1975 he moved to Houston, Texas, where he worked as an engineer with a pipeline and oil field equipment company by day and a guitar builder by night. Three years later he met renowned musician Lyle Lovett and built him a guitar.
In the early 1980s, Collings intended to move to San Diego, California, but never made it further than Austin, Texas. He started out sharing work space with fellow luthiers Tom Ellis, a builder of mandolins, and Mike Stevens. A few years later he continued on his own and took the craft more seriously, moving into a one-stall garage shop.
George Gruhn, a vintage-guitar collector and seller in Nashville hired Collings to make 25 guitars in 1987. Collings soon received considerable attention from other guitar stores as well as magazines for his guitars. Two years later he hired his first employee and the company began to grow.
At the 2006 summer NAMM show, the company moved into the electric guitar market, releasing three models: the I-35, the CL (City Limits), and the 290.
In addition to acoustic and electric guitars, the company makes mandolins and ukuleles. Their mandolins are highly regarded; they "more or less rule in the bluegrass market" in the United States. As of May 2012 the company had about 85 employees and manufactured six to seven acoustic guitars, three electric guitars, two mandolins, and two ukuleles per day.
In 2014, it was announced that the company would be making a guitar based on a currently popular Depression-era design. These guitars are sold under the "Waterloo" brand.
Models.
Mandolins.
Collings began producing mandolins in 1999, and offers A-style and F-style mandolins as well as mandolas. In addition to making the A and F body shapes, Collings also makes f-hole and oval hole mandolins.
Collings mandolins are one of the most highly regarded brands of quality, US built, mandolins and mandolas.
Ukuleles.
Collings began producing ukuleles in 2010, and offers a variety of models in both concert and tenor sizes. Collings ukuleles are made in 3 main "trim" levels UC1, UC2, UC3, and UT1, UT2, and UT3. UC= Ukulele Concert, UT=Ukulele Tenor and the trim level is higher as the number goes higher. Collings either ceased or slowed ukulele production around 2014 when, it was rumoured, they shifted resources to produce the new line of Waterloo guitars. Collings has maintained that they will resurrect ukulele production at some point and is still doing some custom orders.
Collings ukuleles are very highly regarded for their impeccable, light build quality which produces a marvelous tone.


Michurinsky Prospekt (Bolshaya Koltsevaya line)

Michurinsky Prospekt is a planned Moscow Metro station of the Bolshaya Koltsevaya line. It will be opened in 2021.


Tony Castro

Tony Castro (full name Antonio Maria de Lancastre de Mello e Castro, Conde das Antas, Visconde de Pernes), born 1952, is a naval designer, known for numerous winning designs. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, he has been designing sailing and motor yachts since about 1980, with more than 8,000 boats launched, ranging from custom boats and one-design production models to superyachts. His design firm is based in Hamble-le-Rice, England.
Career.
As a Chartered Engineer, his first job came about when it was discovered that Denis Doyle's yacht "Moonduster" was floating above her 'marks', having been built less heavily than had been intended her designer, Germán Frers. Castro advised that lead be attached to the underside of the coachroof and had a hole drilled in the keel to reduce her stability, which gave the vessel an exceptionally good handicap for a boat of her size. "Moonduster" held the Round Ireland monohull record from Wicklow to Wicklow for nearly 15 years until the record was broken by a Whitbread around the World yacht. Her fastest elapsed time for the race came in 1984, when she took only 88h, 15m and 43s to complete the course.
After leaving Ron Holland’s design team in 1980, Castro's first significant racing yacht design was "Justine III", for Frank Woods of the National Yacht Club in Ireland. She was the first and only yacht to win the One Ton Cup with five straight first place victories. The same owner then built "Justine IV", which was crowned best Offshore Admiral's Cupper in 1983.
Then followed "Iztanother Purla", a 43 footer which missed being chosen for the British Admiral's Cup Team, but then went on to win all 7 races in Cowes Week, beating all the Admiral's Cuppers, helmed by the late Sir Peter Blake and his NZ crew from "Steinlager". A boat full of innovative ideas, including praddle steering, a method of steering using a vertical arm rising from below the cockpit floor.
Later successes included the two-time Quarter-Ton Cup winner "McDonald's", the Half Ton Cup winner "Balthazar", and the 6mR World Championship and Coupe de France winner "Thisbe".
He was appointed by a member of Royal Cork Yacht Club to redesign the J24, with the aim of producing an exciting sports boat. The client expected a bigger mainsail, a new deck moulding and an effective keel to give greater stability. The result was the 1720 sportsboat. A new era in Sportsboat racing had started: The boats were built in Co. Kerry, and about 100 were built starting with sail number 1720, and although successful, it was considered that the 1720 had shortcomings, namely too powerful a rig, which meant that the boat required too many crew. The SB20, elected Boat of the Year Overall 2008, addressed all of these shortcomings and is now to be seen worldwide.
Castro's designers work with many boatyards internationally, including the Royal Huisman, Jongert, Palmer Johnson, Neptunus, CS Yachts, Laser, and Jeanneau.
Achievements.
Major achievements.
His designs have won Yacht of the Year awards, a Superyacht Design award and several World championships. He has also designed yachts for use in television drama productions by the BBC.
Designs.
Castro's boat designs are:


Northgate Link extension

The Northgate Link extension (formerly known as "North Link") is a Link light rail extension in Seattle, Washington. It will be part of Line 1 and will connect the University District to Northgate. Northgate Link will travel in two tunnels from University of Washington station, the northern terminus of the University Link Extension, through underground stations at U District and Roosevelt towards Northgate, emerging on the east side of Interstate 5 and continuing on an elevated guideway to Northgate station. The extension was approved in 2008 by voters in the Sound Transit 2 (ST2) package, began construction in 2012, and is expected to open for service on October 2, 2021.
Routing.
For the Northgate Link extension project, the paired tunnels constructed for University Link will continue north to the University District and the Roosevelt neighborhoods before emerging at the surface along I-5 near NE 94th Street to serve the elevated Northgate station.
Sound Transit is preparing to extend mass transit from Northgate to Lynnwood, which voters approved as part of the Sound Transit 2 Plan in 2008, along with funding to continue planning future service all the way to Everett. This project is known as the Lynnwood Link extension project.
Construction.
Construction on the Northgate Link extension began in 2012 and is scheduled to open for service on October 2, 2021. Train testing began in January 2021.
Tunnels.
Each tunnel is dug southbound, starting from the Maple Leaf Portal, in three segments separated by stations, using a diameter tunnel boring machine. The machine digging the tunnel for northbound trains was named "Brenda" and the sister machine for the southbound trains was named "Pamela", but the names were dropped in March 2016 to reduce associations with the troubled "Bertha" machine used on the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel project. Brenda was previously used on the University Link Tunnel from 2011 to 2012, digging both tunnels between Capitol Hill station and the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel.
TBM #1 (formerly Brenda) began excavation of the northbound tunnel on July 9, 2014, and reached Roosevelt station on March 17, 2015. It later reached the U District station on November 6, 2015, and completed the entire northbound tunnel to University of Washington station on March 30, 2016, less than two weeks after light rail service to that station from Downtown Seattle had begun. TBM #1 was disassembled and removed from the University of Washington station. Due to damage sustained by TBM #2, TBM #1 was refurbished and excavated the last (southbound) tunnel segment between June and September 2016.
TBM #2 (formerly Pamela) began excavation of the southbound tunnel on November 20, 2014, and reached Roosevelt station on July 13, 2015. For six weeks from late December 2015 to early February 2016, the machine was stopped at a point north of U District station after encountering hard soil that damaged five motors and the main gear of the machine. Repairs were made and the segment was completed on March 24, 2016. Additional repairs to TBM #2 needed to complete the final (southbound) tunnel segment would have potentially delayed the project's opening if the five months of float time were exceeded, leading JCM Northlink to finish the final segment with TBM #1.


China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund

The China-Eurasia Economic Cooperation Fund (CEECF) is a Chinese state-backed investment fund created to invest in projects in the countries of One Belt, One Road.


French destroyer Branlebas

Branlebas was the name ship of her class of destroyers built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century.
During World War I, "Branlebas" struck a mine and sank in the North Sea between Dunkirk, France, and Nieuwpoort, Belgium, on 30 September 1915.
Design.
The "Branlebas"-class was a development of the previous , and was the final evolution of the "300-tonne" type which the French had built since 1899, with their first destroyer class, the . Like all the "300-tonne" destroyers, the "Branlebas"-class had a turtledeck forecastle with a flying deck, raised above the hull, aft.
They were long between perpendiculars and overall, with a beam of and a maximum draught of . Displacement was . Two coal-fired Normand or Du Temple boilers fed steam to two triple-expansion steam engines, rated at , and driving two propeller shafts, giving a design speed of . The ships had a range of at .
A belt of armour was fitted to protect the ship's boilers and machinery from splinters. The class was built with the standard gun armament for the "300-tonne" destroyers, with a single forward, backed up by six guns, while two 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes were carried. The ships had a complement of 4 officers and 56 men.
Construction and service.
"Branlebas" was laid down at the Le Havre shipyard of Chantiers et Ateliers A. Normand in November 1905 and was launched on 8 October 1910. She reached a speed of during sea trials.


Joan Potter Loveless

Joan Potter Loveless (July 8, 1928 – May 10, 2009) was an American weaver and writer.
Biography.
Joan Potter Loveless was born on July 8, 1928 as Joan Couch. She studied weaving under Anni Albers at Black Mountain College in North Carolina from 1944 to 1948. In 1946, she married painting student Oli Sihvonen and the couple had a daughter, Kimry, in 1947. After the 1948 session, the family traveled to Taos, New Mexico where Oli was studying. After moving to Washington, D.C., Loveless began teaching kindergarten and created curriculum for students who were moving from preschool to formal schooling based on observation, projects using the body, recording and discussions.
In 1956, she returned to Taos where Loveless began weaving tapestry from homespun and hand-dyed wools. Her weavings adapted to the Southwest and she drew inspiration from the landscape and Navajo weavings. After returning the Northeast in 1967, she met her second husband David Loveless. In 1989, Loveless returned to Taos and wrote "Three Weavers" in 1992 and "The Century Book" in 1993. The "Three Weavers" is a biographical account which uses Loveless' weaving as a reference point as it explores the trio's craft and personal histories as it follows three New England weavers Loveless, Rachel Brown and Kristina Wilson through a 40-year time span during the Taos weaving revival where they are the only non-natives initially practicing the craft.


Great Craggy Mountains

The Great Craggy Mountains, commonly called the Craggies, are a mountain range in western North Carolina, United States. They are a subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains and encompass an area of approx. 194 sq mi (503 km²). They are situated in Buncombe County, North Carolina, 14 miles northeast of Asheville. The Black Mountains lie to the northeast, across the upper Cane River valley.
The Blue Ridge Parkway runs along the crest for most of the way between Asheville and Mount Mitchell. Craggy Gardens, an area of 16 km, is covered with purple Catawba rhododendrons in mid-June. The Craggy Pinnacle Overlook trail is a moderate .73 mile hike to a stone wall overlook with 360 degree views. The parking area for the trail is at milepost 361.2 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The parkway through the area was closed from late 2012 through early 2013 due to subsidence caused by heavy rains, and had to be closed again during summer 2013 due to a reoccurrence of the same issues. Access to Mount Mitchell was only from the north or via detour from the south.
Habitat.
The high slopes of the Great Craggies are dominated by heath bald with rhododendron and blueberry, and northern hardwood forest with beech, buckeye, mountain ash, and red oak. The Craggies are in the Pisgah National Forest.
Peaks.
The highest point in the Great Craggy Mountains is Craggy Dome, which rises to an elevation of .