David Gwilym Morris Roberts

David Gwilym Morris Roberts (24 July 1925 - 31 July 2020) was a British civil engineer, cited as "one of the most influential civil engineers of the 20th century". Born in North Wales, he grew up in Merseyside before attending Cambridge University. Following graduation, he served with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, including several cruises on board . After demobilisation he served part-time with the naval reserves reaching the rank of lieutenant commander. In civilian life Roberts was employed by water engineering consultant John Taylor & Sons and remained with them and their successor bodies for the rest of his career. He became founder chairman of the successor Acer Consultants in 1987, holding the post for five years, during which the group's turnover quadrupled and employee numbers trebled.
Roberts worked extensively in the Middle East, largely upon wastewater and water-treatment schemes. He worked with many engineering organisations and became president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1986. Roberts has written a number of academic papers on diverse subjects and has received awards for many of them. In retirement he was active in a number of engineering and other organisations.
Early life and military service.
Roberts was born in Harlech, Wales in July 1925. His parents, who were both fluent in Welsh, moved to Merseyside where Roberts attended Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby. Having been awarded a State Bursary in 1943 Roberts studied engineering at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he remained until 1945.
Roberts then entered the engineering branch of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), the reserve officer force of the Royal Navy, and undertook his initial training at Devonport. He served on the cruiser whilst she was flagship of the America and West Indies Station, and made several cruises aboard her showing the flag in South America and the Caribbean, during which time he was transferred to the main Royal Navy with the rank of temporary sub-lieutenant(E). He returned to the RNVR on 7 December 1948 with his rank confirmed as permanent, and seniority backdated to 24 July, and was promoted to lieutenant on 17 August of the next year with seniority again backdated to 24 July. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander on 25 September 1957 (with seniority again of 24 July) and retired in that rank on 23 April 1963, by which time the RNVR had become the Royal Naval Reserve.
Engineering career.
On leaving HMS "Sheffield" Roberts entered civilian employment as an Assistant Resident Engineer with John Taylor & Sons, an engineering consultancy which specialised in water and wastewater engineering. His first assignment was to a drainage project in Bootle, where he received a wage of £5 per week, before moving to the firm's London offices in 1949. Roberts was sent to Kuwait in 1952 to design that country's first water-distribution system, an assignment that began a life long association with the Middle East. He was appointed a partner in the firm in 1956 and subsequently designed water-supply projects in Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, and sewerage projects in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Iraq – including Baghdad's first sewage-treatment scheme. During this time Roberts also worked in the UK, at John Taylor & Sons' Liverpool and Plymouth offices, working on various water and wastewater projects including the design of marine outfall sewer pipes.
In 1968 Roberts was elected president of the Institution of Public Health Engineers and in 1974 represented the institution on the code-drafting sub-committee of the British Standards for foundations of machinery. Continuing his work with sewerage design at John Taylor & Sons he was part of the Anglo-American team that was awarded the Cairo Wastewater Project in 1978, one of the largest public-health engineering projects ever constructed. Roberts became John Taylor's senior partner in 1984 and was elected president of the Institution of Civil Engineers for the 1986–87 session. He was also a member of the Natural Environment Research Council from August 1987 to July 1993 and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1987. Roberts became co-chairman, and later chairman, of Acer Consultants, which was formed in 1987 following the merger of John Taylor & Sons with Freeman Fox & Partners. He retired as chairman in 1992, by which time he had overseen a quadrupling of the group's turnover and a trebling of staff numbers. He was president of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers in 2009, having been elected to membership of the society in 1987.
During his career Roberts also served as chairman of the British Geological Survey, of the Football Stadia Advisory Design Council, the Second Severn Crossing Technical Adjudication Panel and as Visiting Professor at Loughborough University. He was also the Royal Academy of Engineering's honorary secretary for civil engineering and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management and was named one of Britain's four major international engineers of the 20th century by "The Sunday Times Magazine". He was also a frequent academic author with over 19 articles in recognised journals, sometimes in collaboration with co-authors. These covered topics including marine engineering, sewage treatment, highways and engineering history, and were recognised by the award of the Institution of Civil Engineers' Stephenson Medal & Halcrow Premium, and the Institution of Public Health Engineers' gold and silver medals. On 21 July 2015, at the age of 89, he delivered the Smeaton Lecture at the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Personal life.
Roberts married Rosemary Giles in 1960 and they had two children together. Rosemary died in 1973 and Roberts subsequently married Wendy Moore in 1978. He remained involved with his alma mater, becoming president of the Merchant Taylors' School Old Boys' Association in 1998 and an honorary fellow of Sidney Sussex College in 1994. He has made charitable donations to both bodies..
 He has also donated to the Royal Academy of Engineering Development Appeal. Roberts was a director of the Newcomen Society for the Study of History of Engineering and Technology, and was a Liveryman of the Worshipful Companies of Constructors, Engineers and Water Conservators and was chairman of his parish council. He lived in Newick in East Sussex.
He died on 31 July 2020 at the age of 95.
Publications.
In retirement he continued with the writing of articles and books, most of which were on non-technical aspects of engineering topics. The books included
while papers included the following (published by Thomas Telford Ltd for ICE)
and


Lodewyk van Bercken

Lodewyk van Bercken (also known in French as "Louis de Berquem") was a mid- to late-15th century Flemish jeweller and diamond cutter, renowned in the industry for inventing the scaif. The device revolutionized the diamond cutting industry and contributed to increased popularity of diamonds.
Van Bercken was born in Bruges. He is credited with inventing the scaif, a polishing wheel infused with a mixture of olive oil and diamond dust. With the scaif, it became possible to polish all the facets of the diamond symmetrically at angles that best reflected the light.
Charles the Bold.
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy became the patron of van Bercken and in the 1470s commissioned him to cut a 137 carat (27.4 g) stone that later became known as the Florentine Diamond. Van Bercken experimented with three diamonds belonging to Charles the Bold. One stone was the Beau Sancy, another became the property of Pope Sixtus V, and the third was given by Charles to Louis XI. Later Charles the Bold also sent one of his favorite jewels to be recut, which is now known as the Sancy Diamond.
Legacy.
Diamonds became popular as ornaments in jewelry in the 1400s and the different techniques and styles of diamond cuts were gradually developed over many years.
Lodewyk van Bercken was a Flemish diamond polisher who invented the scaif. This ingenious polishing wheel enabled him to quickly cut facets into diamonds with precision. The scaif transformed the diamond trade. It opened the doors to the creation of complex diamond cuts which otherwise would have never been possible. The scaif is still used today as an essential tool for the diamond industry in order to create facets on diamonds. In 1475, Lodewyk van Bercken invented the world's first Pear Cut Diamond. He introduced the concept of absolute symmetry in the placement of facets on the stone. His meticulous and precisely studied advancements resulted in the first pear shaped Pendeloque or Briolette-cut, a revolutionary breakthrough on shape, design and cutting excellence.
A bronze statue in commemoration of Lodewyk Van Bercken's contributions to the diamond industry, can be seen at the beginning of Meir Street in Antwerp, Belgium. The statue depicts Lodewyk Van Bercken holding a diamond in his hand with a baby angel floating above. Meir Street is one of the major shopping arteries in Antwerp Belgium, equivalent to New York's 5th Avenue, located a few blocks from Antwerp's famous Diamond District.


Golden Mile stop

Golden Mile is a surface light rail transit (LRT) stop under construction on Line 5 Eglinton, a new line that is part of the Toronto subway system. It will be located in the Golden Mile neighbourhood at the intersection of Eglinton Avenue and Warden Avenue. It is scheduled to open in 2022.
The stop is located in the middle of Eglinton Avenue East at its intersection with Warden Avenue. The stop has far-side platforms with access to each platform from the adjacent north/south pedestrian crossing at the signalized intersection. This staggered configuration means the westbound platform will be located west of the intersection, and the eastbound platform will be situated east of the intersection.
During the planning stages for Line 5 Eglinton, the station was given the working name "Warden" the same as for the pre-existing Warden station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth. On November 23, 2015, a report to the TTC Board recommended giving a unique name to each station in the subway system (including Line 5 Eglinton). Thus, this stop was renamed to "Golden Mile" after the neighbourhood where it is located. Note that three other stops west of this stop are also in the Golden Mile neighbourhood: O'Connor, Pharmacy and Hakimi Lebovic.
Surface connections.
The following routes would serve this station according to the report presented at the board meeting on February 25, 2016:


M. B. W. Mediwake

Mutu Banda Weerasekera Mediwake was a Sri Lankan educator and politician. He served as the Minister of Local Government and Housing, Member of Parliament and Member of Senate of Ceylon.
Mediwake gained a Teachers' Training Certificate (First Class) in English and Sinhalese and went on the serve as the Principal of Vidyartha College, Kandy. During World War II, he served as the chief civilian liaison officer of the Headquarters of the Allied Land Forces South East Asia in Kandy.
He was elected to the House of Representatives from the Minipe Electoral District in the 1956 general election. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Local Government and Cultural Affairs by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and in November 1959 he was appointed Minister of Local Government and Housing succeeding Vimala Wijewardene when she was dismissed from the cabinet of ministers following her arrest in connection to the Bandaranaike assassination. He served till March 1960 and was appointed to the Senate of Ceylon. He established the Kandyan Scholarship Fund.


Anton Reinlein

Georg Anton Reinlein was a musical clock maker in Vienna.
A patent was granted to him in the year of 1824 for improving of the Hand harmonica (Physharmonica).
The Instrument had free reeds of "Chinese manner" and bellows that were hand operated.
Sources.
Patent.
The official Newsletter of the Government Wiener Zeitung
writes at 24 of March 1824 about this Improvements.
The original Newsletter is available on line see Link section.
German original text.
Se. k. k. Majestät haben mit Allerhöchster Entschließung vom
10. Februar d. J. geruht, Folgenden Privilegien zu ertheilen:
Erstens: [...]
Zweitens: Dem Anton Reinlein, bürgerl. Spieluhren-Fabrikanten,
und dessen Sohn Rudolph Reinlein, zu Wien in der
Vorstadt an der Wien Nr. 32, auf die »Verbesserung in Verfertigung
der Harmonika auf Chinesische Art, wornach dieselbe, obgleich
das Instrument nur drey Fuß Länge, zwölf Zoll Tiefe und
fünfzehn Zoll Breite habe, eine Tiefe von acht Fuß erhalte,
mittelst einer Claviatur zum Spielen mit freyer Hand eingerichtet
sey, den an sich starken Ton im Forte und Piano beliebig Ausdrücken,
und nebst den einer Harmonika ohnehin eigenen Adgio-Stücken auf jedes Allegro mit Expression ausführen lasse; übrigens
sich nie verstimme,« ein Privilegium auf die Dauer von fünf Jahren; [...]
translation of the original text.
Exclusive Privilegium (patent).
Her Majesty did grant the following privilegium on 10. of February:
First: [...]
Second: to Anton Reinlein, "bürgerlicher" musical clock maker and his sun Rudolph Reinlein, at Vienna Address: "Vorstadt an der Wien Nr. 32", for the »improvement of producing of the "Harmonika auf Chinesische Art", since this Instrument is only tree feet long, and twelve Inches (305 mm) in width and fifteen Inches (381 mm) deep, a deep (note) of reaches.(?)
Equipped with a keyboard fifteen Inches (381 mm) in width for playing with a free hand, the sound is strong in forte and in piano ... with Expression playable, ...
But notice the dimensions of the instrument.
One Inch (Zol) at that time in Austria was ≈ 26,34 mm. one foot = 12 Inch.
3 feet to to = 94 cm 31,6 cm 39,5 cm
Keyboard length 39,5 cm
keeping this in mind it war a rather big instrument to keep in ones
hand!
So on the other side for an Instrument like chest or table it was quite small.
Newsletter advertisement 1816.
Advertisement about "Flötenspiele" (musical clocks).
"Wiener Zeitung" from 23 November 1816
Transcription.
Flötenspiele.
Bey G. A. Reinlein, Bürgerl. Groß- und Spieluhren-Fabrikanten an der Wien Nr. 32 sind für Musik–Freunde große und kleine Flötenspiele, Piano oder Forte spielend, im Mahony–Sekretar, auch mit der Hand zum spielen eingerichtet, worunter eines mit einem ganz besondern Ein– und Aufsatz versehen, um billige Preise zu haben.
Translation:
Bey G. A. Reinlein, Bürgerl. Clock and musical clock producer ...
for lovers of music big and small musical clocks playing in piano or forte, built into a mahogany table, playable with hand and mechanically ...
Comment:
Notice that they could be played with different volume (piano and forte) with expression; this was only possible because he used reeds and a piano keyboard, with an automatic clock mechanism for automatic playing.
Newsletter advertisement 1828.
Translation.
Advertisement for friends of music.
G.A. Reinlein and Son, Citizen und Musial - Clock–producer,
and owner of a privilegium (patent) for his invention of the Aeol-Harmonika, near the theater "an der Wien Nr. 32", advertises today, that you can buy Instruments with 3 Octaves and up to 6 Octaves in range of the keyboard, one with automatic playing clock mechanism as well. Then a new invention of an extra long mouth blown Harmonicas with the range of two octaves. On this Mouth harmonica one is able to produce not only chords as it is suitable for performing all kind of music.
Comment.
Notice that in 1828 they had a wide range of Instruments:


Marco Antonio Cuevas

Marco Antonio Cuevas Cruz (November 18, 1933 in Antigua Guatemala – February 2, 2009) son of Angel Rafael Cuevas del Cid and Maria Soledad Cruz Sierra. He had three brothers: Marta Cuevas del León, Rafael Cuevas del Cid and José Rodolfo Cuevas Cruz. He studied at Colégio de Infantes and the Liceo Guatemala, where he graduated as valedictorian. In 1955 he represented Guatemala in the second Pan American Games, having won the gold medal in rowing competitions, along with his team.
He studied civil engineering at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (USAC). At that time, he worked at the General Directorate of Roads and the Institute of Development of Municipal Works (INFOM), where he met Engineer Raul Aguilar Batres, great precursor of planning in Guatemala, who urged him to undertake graduate studies in urban planning. He attended the program led by Yale University, based in Lima, Peru, from 1960 to 1963. Upon his return to Guatemala in 1965, he continued to work in the INFOM as the first graduate in Urban Planning in the history of Guatemala. He then introduced urban planning methods that were used to make more effective the execution of public works and created the Center for Urban and Regional Studies (CEUR) USAC, where he taught until 1978, when he was appointed as the first manager of the Guatemalan Railroads, after its nationalization during the government of Julio César Méndez Montenegro.
Between 1970 and 1994, with a team of professionals, developed several master plans for the cities of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Santa Cruz (Bolivia), San Pedro Sula (Honduras), Nairobi (Kenya) and Guatemala (1972- 2000). In 1986, as part of the activities of the Centre for Political Studies (CEDEP), he participated in the drafting of the new Constitution of Guatemala and, in the same year, was in charge of the formation of the new electoral system in the first election of a civilian government during the internal armed conflict of Guatemala (1959-1996). In the 1960s he served as a member of the Board of the Faculty of Engineering of the USAC. From 1990 to 2007 he led the development of several low-cost housing projects, having introduced innovative concepts for planning and financing. At the same time, he developed the first plan for territorial ordering, at the national level, in Guatemala. He died on February 2, 2009.
The National Library of Guatemala inaugurated in 2016 a special room that houses the private collection of books on urban planning that belonged to Marco Antonio Cuevas.


Reinhard Woltman

Reinhard Woltman (sometimes spelled Woltmann (December 28, 1757 – April 20, 1837) was a German hydraulic engineer best known for the invention of the Woltman turbine-based flow measurement device.
Woltman was born in Axstedt to Johann and his wife, Adelheit née Jacobsen. He worked as a schoolteacher at Axstedt until 1779 and then went to work as a clerk in the Ritzebüttel Coastal Protection Office in Hamburg. After studying mathematics and hydraulic engineering at Hamburg under Johann Georg Büsch he became a civil engineer. He studied dyke construction at the University of Kiel with Johann Nicolaus Tetens followed by visits to the University of Göttingen and then travelled across Europe in 1784. He earned a reputation as a hydraulic engineer and worked across Germany and also in France. He advised on the expansion of the Stecknitz Canal and worked on the Elbe-Weser canal. His books were well known and in 1790 he designed a turbine based device for measuring the flow of water. Woltman also wrote on navigation, and soil mechanics.
Woltman married Johanna Elizabeth daughter of Jacob Schuback in 1797 and they had five children. He died in Hamburg where a street was named after him in 1843. Several ships have been named after him.


Vnukovo (Moscow Metro)

Vnukovo is a planned Moscow Metro station of the Kalininsko-Solntsevskaya line. It will be located in Vnukovo International Airport and will open in 2022 along with Pykhtino metro station. According to the recent reports, it will be a ground station.


Peng Kang Hill MRT station

Peng Kang Hill MRT station is a proposed Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Jurong Region Line in Western Water Catchment, Singapore.
It will be the Northern terminus of the West Branch of the Jurong Region Line. Trains entering service at this station will terminate at Choa Chu Kang via Bahar Junction.
History.
On 9 May 2018, LTA announced that Peng Kang Hill station would be part of the proposed Jurong Region line (JRL). The station will be constructed as part of Phase 3, consisting of a total of 7 stations. A 4 station extension to Jurong Pier at Boon Lay and a 3 station extension to Peng Kang Hill from Tawas. It is expected to be completed in 2029.
This station was named after the nearby Peng Kang Hill, in the SAFTI Live Firing Area.

Initially expected to open in 2028, the restrictions on the construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays in the JRL line completion, and the date was pushed to 2029.
Location.
The station complex will be straddled over the existing Nanyang Drive, north of the junction with Peng Kang Avenue and Nanyang Link in Nanyang Technological University (NTU). It is located in the Western Water Catchment planning area, serving the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (Yunnan Garden Campus), Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, and School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Access to the station will be via 3 exits along Nanyang Drive.


List of luthiers

This is a short list of some significant Luthiers.


Ervin Somogyi

Ervin V. Somogyi (born 1944) is a maker of high-end steel string guitars. He is known for his craftsmanship, and places particular emphasis on the voicing of his instruments' soundboards. He is also an influential teacher.
Background.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Ervin Somogyi fled Europe with his family during World War II. After living in Austria, England, Cuba and Mexico, he eventually moved to the United States at age 15. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in English, he joined the Peace Corps, worked in a mental hospital, attended graduate school and supported himself as a flamenco guitarist, but he eventually gravitated back to the East Bay, which has been his home base since about 1972, he says.
Building guitars started out as a hobby. At first, Somogyi had little hope of making a living at it, he says. With few how-to books available or schools where he could take classes, he learned primarily by getting his hands on some well-made instruments and studying them. "It was a very oddball activity," he says. Now, as one of the "grand old men" of American lutherie, Somogyi is often invited to lecture at guitar shows and exhibitions.
Building primarily high-end steel-string guitars that sell for over $30,000 each, Somogyi cultivates a clientele of serious musicians—such as the late John Denver and Michael Hedges, and fingerstyle master Alex de Grassi—as well as collectors who buy his instruments as investments. Recording artists such as Daniel Hecht and George Winston list Somogyi as the builder of their guitars for several past and present albums.
Working in his Temescal district shop, he creates exactly one handmade, steel-string acoustic guitar per month, twelve annually (he doesn't take vacations), [more than] 456 since he started in the early 1970s.
He has written two volumes on lutherie, "The Responsive Guitar" and "Making the Responsive Guitar", as well as "Voicing the Guitar", a DVD produced at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in 2009.
Early influences and Windham Hill Records.
In 1970, he came upon the book Classical Guitar Construction by Irving Sloane, one of the clearest guides to guitar-making, which was published in 1966. Before Sloane, wrote Barbara Stewart in The New York Times, "Anyone interested in guitar construction had to find a luthier [an expert craftsman of stringed instruments] — usually in Spain, Germany or Belgium — and try to become his apprentice."
Somogyi read Sloane's book and said he thought to himself, "I can make a guitar!" He liked guitar music (he was, and is, an accomplished player), he liked working with his hands, and he had plenty of free time. "And," he added, "there was no one to stop me." He bought tools at flea markets and labored with great deliberation for one year in his apartment in Oakland — sawing, gluing, clamping, bending, filing, sanding, shaping, worrying, exulting. When the instrument was finished in 1971, he played a rousing flamenco number and started on his second guitar. He sold the first one for $200.
His first few guitars were nylon-stringed instruments for classical players. He soon found himself drawn to the construction of steel-string guitars, a descendant of the classical guitar, but used by a wide range of artists in folk and rock, and finger-picking virtuosos such as Alex De Grassi and Leo Kottke. The steel-string crowd — players and builders — was "more easy-going than the classical people. Not as uptight," Somogyi said.
Somogyi's big break came when he established a relationship with artists on the record label Windham Hill, founded in 1976 in Palo Alto, a pioneer in making high-quality recordings of solo, instrumental guitar music. Somogyi's work with Windham Hill was part of a revolution in guitar construction that is still unfolding today.
Guitar models and performance.
Somogyi makes six main models of acoustic steel string guitars: jumbo, dreadnought, "modified dreadnought" or Mod-D, OM, OOO and OO models. He can make any of these models in a 12-Fret version .
Recordings made with Somogyi guitars.
Somogyi guitars are frequently played and recorded with by world-class performing artists. To date some of the recording projects have been:
Shun Komatsubara, "Dear", Abend Compact Disc; "Naturally", "Scene", "Crayons", Clip Records
Masaaki Kishibe, "Secret"
Maurizio Angeletti, "Go Fly a Kite", Moondance Records
Pat Donohue, "Manhattan to Memphis", Red House Records; "Life Stories", "Back Roads", Blue Sky Records
Steve Erquiaga, "Erkiology", Windham Hill Records; "Cafe Paradiso", Imaginary Road Records
Edward Gerhard, "Night Birds", Reckless Records; "Luna" and "Christmas", Virtue Records
Mark O"Connor, "Live with Stephane Grapelli and David Grisman", "False Dawn" and "Stone From Which the Arch Was Made", Warner Bros. Records
Brother Andrew, "Flying Guitars", AMB Productions
Alex de Grassi, "Southern Exposure", "Slow Circle"; Windham Hill Records
Will Ackerman, "Past Light", Windham Hill Records
Greg Gumbel, "California Republic", Meticulous Records, Inc.
Steve Hancoff, "Steel String Guitar", "New Orleans Guitar Solos", "Duke Ellington for Solo Guitar", Out of Time . . . Music Co.
Daniel Hecht, "Willow", Windham Hill Records
Maggie Sansone, "Dulcimer and Guitar"
Alan Tower, "The Understory - Messages of Intimacy From the Thinking Earth", Geomantic Music
Michael Hedges, "Breakfast In The Field", Windham Hill Records
8th Avenue String Band, "On Stage", 8th Ave. String Band Music
The Natives, "East of the Equator", Meticulous Records, Inc.
The California Guitar Trio, "Pathways", "Rocks the West", Discipline (GM);
Isato Nakagawa, "Wind From the Sun", Naniwa Records; "It’s Time For Tea", Sony Music
Peta, "Majin No Mizuumi", "Powder Snow", Sailing Ice Music
Woodworking.
Somogyi's woodworking designs arise out of stringed instrument building tradition and aesthetic. They are fashioned out of thin sheets of musical grade tone woods which have been bookmatched, edge joined, and planed thin. The mosaic inlay patterns come out of guitarmaking design: guitars have open soundholes bordered with inlaid patterns of dyed pieces of wood. These inlaid mosaic patterns are a form of fret ornamentation, an effect made by laying pieces of material of the same size next to one another and thereby producing a design. In guitars these are called rosettes. While historical rosette design originated from Arabian, Celtic and European Renaissance influences, it is expanded in Ervin Somogyi's work to also embrace Japanese, Russian, African, primitive, abstract and modern design.
Exhibitions.
Somogyi has participated in many guitar exhibitions, conventions, and symposia in the USA, Canada, and Japan over the last forty-plus years.
In 2006 Somogyi curated the first public exhibition of contemporary lutherie arts anywhere, for the Arts Commission of the City of Berkeley, California. The show detailed various stages of guitar and ukulele construction as practiced by working luthiers. The display was connected by a well-organized narrative signage that made otherwise dry woodworking processes intelligible and interesting to the public. An animated diorama of this special exhibit can be seen on Somogyi’s website. In 2009 Somogyi helped curate an exhibition of California guitar makers for the Oakland Museum, for display at the Oakland International Airport.


McGill station

McGill station is a Montreal Metro station in the borough of Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and serves the Green Line. The station opened on October 14, 1966, as part of the original network of the Metro. It is currently the second busiest station (after Berri-UQAM station) in the network measured by number of passengers entering the system. Prior to 2002, it was the busiest station in the network.
Overview.
Designed by Crevier, Lemieux, Mercier and Caron, it is a normal side platform station built in open cut under boul. De Maisonneuve, with two ticket halls joined by corridors that surround the platforms. The ticket halls are linked to the platforms by four stairways per platform, including the shortest escalators in the network. The station has large pillars, which were originally painted orange, but painted in beer bottle green color in the late 1990s. In January 2010 the STM repainted the station in its original colors being orange pillars and yellow walls.
As an important part of the underground city, the station has had its mezzanine level substantially enlarged since its opening, by construction of new buildings around the station: the western end of the mezzanine was added with the construction of the Tour BNP and Eaton Centre, while the southern corridor between the ticket halls was added to link the Promenades de la Cathédrale (now known as Promenades Cathédrale) with the station.
No fewer than six buildings are directly connected to the station via underground city, and one, the Eaton Centre, has an entrance directly on the Honoré-Beaugrand platform. (Another access to 2020 de Maisonneuve from the Angrignon platform has been closed.) The station has a further six direct street-level entrances, all of which are integrated into the façades of other buildings.
Among this busy station's amenities include several shops and services directly in the station, including a Tim Hortons, Second Cup, a Scotiabank, two Pizza Shops, a web terminal, and MétroVision information screens which displays news, commercials, and the time till the next train. This was second station after Berri-UQAM to have them installed. At one time an "open-concept" branch of the Montreal public library was located next to the exit onto rue Université.
The station has 6 entrances:
Architecture and art.
This station contains several pieces of art. The most prominent is Nicolas Sollogoub's "Montreal Scenes Circa 1830", depicting the industrial era in the city as well as its early mayors and civic arms. This set of five stained-glass murals was donated by Macdonald Tobacco. Maurice Savoie created a set of terra cotta murals depicting fruit and flowers, surrounding the entrance to Eaton's (now the Complexe Les Ailes). The construction of the Promenades de la Cathédrale in 1992 brought two new works of art, a light sculpture called "Passūs" by Murray MacDonald, and an installation of an aerial view of Montreal complete with miniature figures of the buildings, by art collective Les Industries perdues. The latter work is entitled "To rise, we must push against the ground onto which we have fallen."
Finally, a tapestry by Kelvin McAvoy depicting the life of James McGill was donated by Canadian Universal Limited Insurance in 1969; however, after being vandalized, it was removed by the company for restoration, and then given as a perpetual loan to McGill University instead, where it is now exhibited at the McLennan Library.
Origin of the name.
McGill is named for McGill University. Founded in 1821 with money and on land bequeathed by Scottish-Canadian businessman James McGill, this is one of Canada's most prestigious institutions of higher education.
Renovations.
In March 2012, the station underwent renovation work that included the replacement of Travertine tiles covering surfaces of the whole station, spanning over 1,835 square meters. Other work included replacing the lighting system, fixing columns, beams, and concrete slabs and replacing granite staircases and handrails. The work was to be completed by March 2013. More recently (end of 2016), modernized signage has been put in place, flooring has been completely replaced and the stained glass installation underwent a restoration and was put back in place.
Future connections.
The Mount Royal Tunnel, which currently carries the Deux-Montagnes commuter rail line, passes near the station. The Réseau express métropolitain project, which will convert the line to light metro operation, will connect with the Green Line via a station built under the current Metro station.


Joseph Cordero

Joseph Cordero (born in El Puerto de Santa María in 1718 and died in 1797) was a clockmaker who built the clock tower of the Giralda in Seville. He also made the gate of the chapel of St. Peter in the Cathedral of Seville, the gate of the chancel of the Charterhouse of Jerez de la Frontera, copper boxes priory of El Puerto de Santa María, and the clock tower of the convent of San Francisco in his hometown. He was a religious layman.


Alfred George Nash

Alfred George Nash FRSE (1853–23 December 1930) was a Jamaican civil engineer of Scots descent who held several legislative roles there.
Life.
He was born in Mandeville, Jamaica in 1853. He was educated at St George's College in Kingston. He was traveled to Scotland to study engineering at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a BSc around 1873.He was working in Britain as a civil engineer in the 1870s returning to Jamaica in 1882. He was a Member of the Legislative Council of Jamaica.
In 1897 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Alexander Crum Brown, Cargill Gilston Knott, Peter Guthrie Tait and Andrew Jamieson.
He died on 23 December 1930. He is buried in St Mark's Anglican Churchyard in Mandeville, Jamaica.


National Green Building Standard

The National Green Building Standard (NGBS) is an ANSI-approved green building certification program, specifically focused on single-family and multi-family residential buildings, remodeling projects, and land developments.
In a partnership with the ASHRAE, the International Code Council (ICC), and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the NGBS was developed to provide a uniform national platform for recognizing and advancing green residential construction and development.
To date, over 100,000 residential units have been certified green with the National Green Building Standard.
Rating System.
The NGBS is a point-based system, wherein a single-family or multifamily building(s) can attain certification depending on the sustainable and green practices included in design and construction, and planned for its operation and maintenance. Projects can qualify for four certification levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Emerald) by earning the required number of points for each level.
ANSI-approved consensus.
The 2015 edition of the NGBS is the third iteration of the NGBS, building upon the previous 2012 and 2008 editions. All editions of the Standard were developed by Consensus Committees of industry and nonprofit individuals, and in partnership with the ICC and NAHB. The 2015 edition of the NGBS introduced a new partner in the development process, ASHRAE. Staff of these three organizations did not serve as members of the Consensus Committee, and aided only in the facilitation of meetings.
The NGBS remains the only residential-specific green building rating system to undergo the full consensus process and receive approval from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ANSI approval is critical as it serves as third-party confirmation of balance, representation, openness, consensus, and due process in the development process. The Consensus Committee that developed the 2015 version of the Standard was composed of 42 individuals representing a variety of government agencies, municipalities, home building industry stakeholders, and non-profit organizations, including but not limited to:
Green practice categories.
Points are earned when a project complies with the numerous green building practices laid out within the Standard. These practices fall into six general categories:
Certification levels.
Projects can qualify for four levels of certification by earning the required total number of points for each level:
The NGBS was designed so that a project team must take a multifaceted approach to green building. It requires that a project achieve a minimum number of points in each green practice category to be certified, as well as earn a minimum number of additional points from any category it chooses. This prevents project teams from obtaining all of its points by focusing on a handful of categories, and ignoring other categories due to difficulty.
A building’s highest rating depends upon the lowest threshold met by any of the six categories. For example, if a project missed the threshold for Emerald in one category by a single point, it will still only achieve Gold certification even if it reached the required number of points for Emerald certification in all other categories.
Furthermore, for dwelling units greater than 4,000 square feet, the number of total points required to receive certification levels increases by one point for every additional 100 square feet. This makes it more challenging for larger dwellings to receive the same certification as smaller dwellings to account for the larger environmental impact of larger dwelling spaces.
Eligible Project Types.
Residential buildings.
The NGBS was designed specifically for residential construction, development, and renovation. Eligible building types which can earn certification through the Standard include:
Land development.
Within the NGBS, and separate from individual buildings and renovations, a development can receive a certification for design and preparation in accordance with green practices. Similar to buildings, lane development projects can qualify for four different rating levels:
For land development projects, points are not divided among separate categories, but are a total collection of varying practices, such as stormwater management, natural resource conservation, and planning.
Certification Process.
Conformance with the NGBS is verified through construction documents, plans, specifications, inspection reports, and other data that demonstrates conformance with the points being pursued. All NGBS project teams must include a NGBS Green Verifier, who serves as an independent, in-field representatives of the NGBS Green certification system. Verifiers work with project teams to perform the rough and final construction inspections described below. To achieve certification, these inspection reports, along with relevant information regarding pursued practices, are provided to Home Innovation Labs for technical review and verification.
Every project is subject to two independent and mandatory, third-party verification inspections. The accredited Verifier is responsible for the visual inspection of every green building practice in the building. The verifier must perform a rough inspection before the drywall is installed in order to observe the wall cavities in every apartment, and a final inspection of every apartment once the project is complete. The required verification imbues a high level of rigor, continuity, and quality assurance to the system and to the projects that are certified.
Designations.
Green Verifier.
Home Innovation Labs qualifies, trains, and accredits building professionals to provide independent verification services for builders participating in our NGBS Green Certification program. Verifiers must first demonstrate they possess experience in residential construction and green building before they are eligible to take the verifier training. Most verifiers are also HERS Raters and/or LEED Accredited Professionals. Potential verifiers must complete thorough training on exactly how to verify every NGBS practice. After completing the training, verifiers must pass a written exam before receiving accreditation, and must have their accreditation renewed annually.
Home Innovation Labs regularly audit Verifiers and the verifications they perform as part of our internal quality assurance program. NGBS Green Verifier accreditation is earned by individuals, and does not extend company-wide.
Certified Green Professional.
The Certified Green Professional (CGP) designation is offered by the NAHB, and recognizes builders, remodelers and other industry professionals who incorporate green and sustainable building principles into homes. The required courses provide a background in green building methods, as well as the tools to reach consumers, from the organization leading the charge to provide market-driven green building solutions to the home building industry.
CGP coursework is closely aligned with the ICC/ASHRAE 700-2015 National Green Building Standard, which includes chapters on energy, water and resource efficiency, indoor environmental quality, lot and site development and home owner education, and is the core curriculum for the required CGP classes.
There are nearly 3,000 active CGPs in the United States working in all aspects of the high-performance home building and remodeling industry.
Green Certified Products.
The NGBS Green Certified Product program bridges the gap between manufacturers who produce NGBS-certified products and the builders/designers who want to use them in homes.
To be eligible for the NGBS Green Certified Products program, manufacturers must provide appropriate third-party evidence to Home Innovation Labs that their products meet the criteria for recognition in buildings seeking NGBS Green Home Certification.
NGBS Green Certified Products earn a certificate that identifies the specific NGBS section(s) where points for the product are available. This information facilitates designers' selection of products to be used in green homes, and the approval of those points by Home Innovation-accredited green building verifiers.
Notable NGBS Buildings.
Salmon Creek Net Zero.
The Salmon Creek Net Zero Home is a single-family house built in Vancouver, Washington. It earned an NGBS certification at the Emerald level, the highest available certification level.
The home was built by Urban NW Homes in a neighborhood featuring only Emerald level homes, the first of its kind on the West Coast. Notable features of this home that helped it earn certification included:
Norcross Remodel.
The Norcross Remodel project is a single-family home remodel located in Dallas, Texas. It earned an NGBS certification at the Bronze level.
According to the owners, as their family grew, they needed more space. Ferrier Builders completed the addition onto their existing home, withy sustainable and high-performance features, including:
Roxton.
This is multifamily mixed-income remodeling project located in Denton, Texas. It earned an NGBS certification at the Emerald level, the highest available certification level.
This urban, low-rise multifamily apartment complex consists of 16 buildings containing 126 residential units. The project was a gut remodel of a 1970s building, and green building practices helped lead to an estimated 63% savings in water compared to the original building.


Friedrich von Huene (musician)

Friedrich Freiherr von Hoyningen, genannt Huene (February 20, 1929 – May 8, 2016), known professionally as Friedrich Alexander von Huene, was an American recorder maker.
Life and career.
Friedrich was born in Breslau, a community that was then part of Germany and is now in Poland, the day after his parents attended a harpsichord recital by Wanda Landowska. He was the oldest of six children. His father, Heinrich A.N. von Hoyningen genannt Huene, was from a Baltic German baronial family, and his mother, Aimée Freeland Corson Ellis, was from Connecticut. His father died during the war, and family emigrated to the United States in 1948. He entered Bowdoin College, left to join the U.S. Air Force where he played flute and piccolo in a military band, then returned to Bowdoin to complete his degree in 1953. He became an American citizen and in 1954, and married Ingeborg Reiser, whom he had met in Germany. They had five children.
In addition, he had an extra-marital child with the Dutch painter Machteld Kuijpers, descendant of a long line of Dutch painters.
Turning down an offer of a stipend to attend Harvard University, he began to work for flute maker Verne Q. Powell. Inspired by a Telemann concert in 1955 he began to make recorders. Bernard Krainis, founder of New York Pro Musica, purchased one of von Huene's recorders, and he soon obtained enough orders for more instruments to open his own shop in Waltham, Massachusetts. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1966 which allowed him to work with Moeck to develop their Rottenburgh model line of Baroque recorders. He also helped Zen-On develop a line of high-quality plastic recorders. In 1980 he and his wife opened a retail division, The Early Music Shop of New England, to sell other brands of instruments. Their store and workshop is now operated by their son Patrick von Huene. They were involved in the founding of the Boston Early Music Festival and were charter members of the Boston Camerata.
He died of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Bath, Maine.
Awards.
In addition to his Guggenheim Fellowship, Friedrich received the American Recorder Society’s first Distinguished Achievement Award in 1987, the Curt Sachs award from the American Musical Instrument Society in 2003, an achievement award from the National Flute Association in 2004, the Howard Mayer Brown award from Early Music America in 2005, and an honorary doctorate from Bowdoin College in 1984.


Iain Murray (sailor)

Iain Murray (born 14 April 1958 in Sydney) is an Australian sailor. He is most noted for his appearances in 12-Metre Class yachts in the 1983 and 1987 America's Cup regattas and his management of the 2013 America's Cup in San Francisco, California.
Sailing career.
Murray started sailing in Flying Ant class dinghies at the age of nine. His first major event win was the 1973 Australian Cherub Championship title. He continued to gain notoriety in the sailing community as he won regattas and for his appearances in 12-Metre Class yachts in the America's Cup regattas.
Olympic career.
He represented Australia in Sailing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, raced the Olympic Star class keelboat.
Sailing awards.
Murray won the 18 ft skiff world title, the JJ Giltinan International Trophy, for a record six consecutive years from 1977 to 1982.
In 1984 he won the World Etchells championship held in Sydney, a title he won again in Corpus Christi, Texas in 2019.
Iain has also won championships as 18ft Skiff skipper.
Boat design.
The modern version of the 18 ft Skiff was designed by Murray.
Iain also developed the Nippa 2.65m dinghy for children.
He also designed the Murray 41
America's Cup.
Racing.
In the 1983 America's Cup challenge at Newport, Rhode Island, Murray sailed on Syd Fischer's "Advance". "Australia II" went on to win the Cup and bring it to Australia. Murray joined Kevin Parry's Taskforce '87 syndicate and co-designed and skippered their "Kookaburra" yachts. "Kookaburra III" won the defender elimination trials against three other Australian syndicates off Fremantle, but lost to Dennis Conner and Stars & Stripes 87, four races to nil.
Iain was onboard One Australia when it sank during the 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup, preceding the America's Cup match race that year.
Management.
He was Regatta Director for the 34th America's Cup in 2013 and 35th America's Cup in 2017 and CEO of America's Cup Race Management. and is 36th America's Cup race director.


Breedlove Guitars

Breedlove Guitars is an American acoustic instrument company based in Bend, Oregon. Breedlove produces acoustic guitars, acoustic bass guitars, and ukuleles.
History and background.
Breedlove Guitars was established In 1990 by California luthiers Larry Breedlove and Steve Henderson, who left their jobs at Taylor Guitars to create what would become Breedlove Guitars. Their intention was to produce guitars that merged traditional guitar making skills with modern technology. After moving to Tumalo, Oregon, Breedlove and Henderson began specializing in custom, fingerstyle six and twelve string guitars.
In 1991 the first Breedlove guitar model appeared, the shallow body C-10. At the 1992 National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) trade, Breedlove and Henderson unveiled five models and three body types. Around 1994, Larry's older brother, Kim Breedlove, joined Larry and Steve as a master craftsman and Larry returned to work at Taylor Guitars. Other master luthiers at Breedlove included Terry Myers, who also left Taylor Guitars in the early 1990s then returned, as well as later luthiers Jayson Bowerman, Aaron Adams, and Chris Lindquist.
In 1999, Breedlove suffered a financial setback and hired a new president, Peter Newport, who invested in the company and expanded the company's model lines. In 2001, founder Steve Henderson quit the company due to disagreements with Newport. In 2003, under Newport's direction, Breedlove launched its first series of Imported guitars, the Atlas line which was manufactured in Korea. In 2004 the company launched its first traditional designs not focused on fingerstyle playing, the Revival line which included dreadnoughts and orchestra models, which departed from Breedlove's history of original designs.
In 2008, Breedlove relocated from Tumalo, Oregon to Bend, Oregon. In 2010, Breedlove experienced its second financial setback when president and investor Peter Newport was unable to raise additional capital in the wake of the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008, and ultimately sold Breedlove to Tom and Molly Bedell's "Two Old Hippies LLC" of Bend, OR, which owned Tom Bedell Guitars and Great Divide Guitars, as well as retail stores. In 2012, the combined company moved to a larger facility in Bend, which produces about 2,000 guitars a year as of 2020.
In 2013, Breedlove completed the purchase of the world's largest collection of legal, CITES-compliant Brazilian Rosewood for use on the company's highest-quality instruments. Beginning with 2014 models, Breedlove changed its headstock logo from a stylized "B" to fully spelling out "Breedlove" in a script logo and made numerous changes to the model lineup, including launching several new series of instruments and discontinuing the Revival series of traditional body shapes. In 2015, Breedlove produced a limited run of 25th Anniversary guitars, including a Kim Breedlove Signature, a Brazilian Concert, an Oregon Concert, and a Pursuit Koa.
In 2017, Breedlove made significant strategic changes, including the announcement of the new Concerto and Concertina body shapes, the simplification of the company's model lines and body shapes, the introduction of a Sound Optimization process (replacing the long-standing bridge truss and graduated top design used on its premium models), and the introduction of the Tonewood Certification Program for sustainable forest practices.
In 2020, Breedlove announced a partnership with actor Jeff Bridges to produce a signature model guitar that was sustainably sourced. Later that year, two additional Jeff Bridges models were announced. In 2021, Breedlove announced a limited run of four 30th Anniversary guitars, including a Northwest Classic, King Koa, Focus, and Phoenix, each based on a different model from Breedlove's past.
Design elements.
Steep cutaway (1990–present).
First used on early Breedlove models like the C1 and C2, this steep cutaway provides excellent access to the upper frets and is still used on present-day models. The Breedlove CM (made from 1992-2017) also used a steep, angular cutaway from both sides of the fretboard.
Asymmetrical headstock (1990–present).
While Breedlove makes guitars with traditional symmetrical headstocks, the asymmetrical design found on current Concert models provides a straighter path from the guitar's nut to the tuners, reducing the break angle at the nut and allowing the string to move in the nut more freely, avoiding the variance in string tension that comes with traditional headstocks.
Pinless bridge (1990–present).
The Breedlove pinless bridge routes the strings through the bridge from the back side, rather from the bottom. Consequently, bridge pins are not needed, the string stays straighter, and the string cannot come loose from the bridge as it can when using pins. There is also no need to drill six holes down through the top of the guitar for the bridge pins. Downsides of the design are the need to use layers of masking tape or a plastic pad to protect the top of the guitar when restringing it, and the inability to easily remove the strings from the bridge for soundhole access—strings must be disconnected at the tuners instead.
Winged bridge (1990–present).
From Breedlove's first guitars through 2017, a winged bridge with a characteristic asymmetrical design was used on higher-end Breedlove models. It was phased out in 2018 on production models, but can still be custom ordered.
Use of Myrtlewood (1990–present).
Myrtlewood (Umbellularia californica) is a large hardwood tree native to coastal forests and the Sierra foothills of California, as well as to coastal forests extending into Oregon. Harvested Myrtlewood typically has intense figuring that is unique to each piece and is easy to work with as a luthier. Tonally, it is a stiff yet lightweight wood with strong clarity, sustain, and high volume, similar to Mahogany and Hawaiian Koa. Breedlove pioneered the use of Myrtlewood in guitars in the 1990s and still uses it extensively today.
Tonewood certification program (2017-present).
In 2017, Breedlove announced a Tonewood Certification Program with four principles:
Since then, Breedlove has announced several models that use ancient and reclaimed tonewoods, including a 3000-year-old Sitka Spruce log that was buried underground.
Sound optimization (2017–present).
Historically, luthiers tapped the wood pieces they planned to use for instruments to listen for their tone. In 2017, Breedlove expanded on this concept with a process of measuring the frequency response of the top and back woods of the guitar, and then adjusting the shape of the bracing and thickness of the wood, effectively customizing each guitar's sound based on the resonance of the pieces of wood that are being used for that particular guitar. This process has been used on all Oregon-built Breedlove models beginning in 2017.
Bridge truss and graduated tops (1990–2017).
From the early 1990s until 2017, many Breedlove guitars featured a patented JLD bridge truss system to stabilize the bridge. The truss incorporates a lever which applies pressure on the tailblock to counterbalance string tension on the top of the guitar as well as various bracing techniques designed around this system. The bridge truss was originally designed as an aftermarket product to repair guitars with damaged tops. In Breedlove guitars, it connects the bridge plate to the tailblock with two wooden dowels, sending tension to the guitar’s bottom side and allowing the top to move with reduced stress. Breedlove marketed this as a means to allow for thinner guitar tops that produced enhanced sustain and overtones.
A graduated top was combined with the bridge truss, where the guitar tops were hand-shaped to have a thicker treble side and thinner bass side, enhancing bass response and providing a warmer, more resonant tone. The reduced tension on the top from the bridge truss allowed for this level of thinning of the top. Graduated tops were also used on some models that did not have a bridge truss, including many Revival series instruments.
Models with the bridge truss can be identified by a circular plug in the center exterior of the guitar's bridge about 8–10mm in diameter. Some larger-bodied models may have up to three of these bridge plugs. However, if the bridge plug was well-matched to the color of the bridge, it may be difficult to see, so the only way to confirm for certain is to look inside the guitar and see if there is a truss mechanism under the bridge. The bridge truss was not used on Revival models but was used on both Oregon-built and Imported models.
In 2017, Breedlove phased out the use of the bridge truss system in favor of traditional bracing combined with a patented sound optimization process. Starting in 2018, Breedlove no longer mentioned the bridge truss or graduated tops in sales literature.
Current guitar models.
Guitar body shapes.
As of 2021, Breedlove offers four guitar body shapes in ascending order of size:
Oregon-built guitar series.
Breedlove's Masterclass, Legacy, Premier, and Oregon models, as well as some premium Signature models, are made in Bend, Oregon and are hand-voiced using the Sound Optimization System.
Imported guitar series.
Breedlove's Organic, Solo, Pursuit, and Discovery series are made in Asia, typically in South Korea or China depending on the model and year. They do not have hand-voicing using the Sound Optimization System but have designs based on Breedlove's research on this system.
Discontinued models.
Discontinued guitar body shapes.
From 2004 to 2013, Breedlove used the name "Revival" to distinguish the classic designs of OM, Tenor OM, 000, and the square-shouldered Dreadnought from Breedlove's "Original" styles, which included CM, Concert, Auditorium, modern-style Dreadnoughts, and Jumbos. The Revival name signified body shape only, and was appended to both high-end, Oregon-built models, such as Masterclass Revival, and low-end Import models, such as Passport Revival.
Additionally, "Limited Edition" and "Limited Run" models were made for many of both the Oregon-built and Imported series, typically using different tonewoods and/or finishes.
Discontinued Oregon-built guitar series.
Oregon-built models carried a lifetime USA warranty from Breedlove.
Discontinued Oregon-finished guitar series.
The Pro and Roots series models were partially built (30%) in Korea then completed in the USA from global parts sources and carried a lifetime USA warranty from Breedlove.
Discontinued alphanumeric naming system.
Breedlove used an alphanumeric naming system for many of its models up through 2013. The system uses several characters, a slash, and several more characters. They can be decoded as follows:
Characters before the slash.
First character: Body Style
(note that S-series models have an S prefix, such as "SA" for an Auditorium)
Second character: Body Depth
Third character: Cutaway Style
Fourth character: Laminates
Characters following the slash.
First character: Top Wood. Note that in some cases the top wood code is not included, for example with "MH" with mahogany back/sides or "MP" with maple back/sides.
Second character: Back/Sides Wood
Third character:


Barangaroo railway station

Barangaroo railway station is a future underground rapid transit station for the inner-city Barangaroo precinct in Sydney, Australia. The proposal, announced in 2015, forms part of Transport for NSW's Sydney Metro City & Southwest scheme and would make Barangaroo the first stop for southbound metro trains in the central business district (CBD).
While plans for a harbour rail tunnel have been government policy for more than a decade, neither the 2005 Metropolitan Rail Expansion (MREP) and 2012 "Sydney's Rail Future" strategies envisaged the new line stopping at Barangaroo. The various metro rail proposals of 2008–10, which involved lines running west from the CBD towards Rozelle and the northern suburbs, would have included a station between Wynyard and Barangaroo. These proposals were shelved in 2010, however. The government also considered a light rail line from Central to Barangaroo via Sussex Street and Hickson Road, but nothing came of this proposal.
With the first buildings at Barangaroo opening in 2015 and no mass transit construction imminent, Transport for NSW instead began work on the Wynyard Walk: a pedestrian tunnel to connect Wynyard station and the new precinct. The walkway was opened in September 2016.
In 2015, Premier Mike Baird announced the government's intention to divert the second harbour rail crossing via Barangaroo to allow a station to be built there. On 10 November 2018 NSW Transport announced that a 180-year-old timber boat was met with during excavation works for the Metro station, regarded as 'the oldest boat of its kind ever found in NSW'. Wood samples revealed it is made from Sydney Blue Gum, Stringybark and Spotted Gum.
Starting from October 2019, excavation and tunnelling work has begun at the Barangaroo station precinct and under the Sydney Harbour. This station is scheduled to open in 2024, as part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest.


Antunes (harpsichord makers)

The Antunes family were Portuguese harpsichord- and early piano builders in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Known builders of the family.
Julião was the father of Joaquim José; he was a maker of string instruments for the royal chapel in Lisbon
Surviving instruments.
There are four Antunes instruments still in existence. Two single manual harpsichords with disposition 8' 8' are signed by Joaquin José: one dated 1758, now in the Museu da Música, Lisbon and one dated 1785, that was in the Finchcocks collection, Goudhurst, Kent until 2016. Their other existing instruments are signed only 'Antunes', probably because they were made by Manuel and Joaquin José working together. These are a grand piano, very similar to their harpsichords in design and construction with an action like that of Bartolomeo Cristofori, made in 1767, now in the National Music Museum, Vermillion, South Dakota and a harpsichord similar to the others made in 1789 in the Museu da Música, Lisbon.
Recordings on original instruments.
The existing instruments have been readily seized upon by harpsichordists as the ideal instruments upon which to play the music of Portuguese and Spanish baroque composers such as Carlos Seixas and Manuel Blasco de Nebra. These recordings use original Antunes instruments:
See also.
List of historical harpsichord makers


Elmer Allison

Elmer T. Allison (1883 – 1982) was an American socialist political activist and newspaper editor. He is best remembered as the longtime editor of "The Cleveland Socialist" and "The Toiler," forerunners of the official organ of the Communist Party, USA, "The Daily Worker."
Biography.
Early years.
Elmer T. Allison was born December 5, 1883 in Houstonia, Missouri, the son of Nathaniel Allison and Mattie (Johnson) Allison. His education was mostly through self-instruction, having been pulled out of elementary school when he was in the 5th grade so that he could go to work to help support his family.
In 1899 the Allisons moved to Washington state where Elmer found employment as a shingle weaver, a millhand who created cedar roofing shingles by means of an automated saw — a very exhausting and extremely dangerous profession.
Political career.
Allison joined the Socialist Party of America (SPA) in 1901, the year of its formation, and was active in the activities of its state affiliate, the Socialist Party of Washington. He was also a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) No. 500 after that revolutionary union emerged in 1905.
In 1905, Elmer's sister, Hortense Allison, married his friend and party comrade Alfred Wagenknecht, an active leader of the radical Pike Street Branch directed by newspaper publisher Hermon F. Titus. Elmer Allison and Alfred Wagenknecht would remain close political associates for the next two decades, which saw the formation of the American communist movement.
Together with Wagenknecht, Allison was briefly jailed in 1907 during the free speech fight between Seattle's Socialists and the city administration over the right to speak from soapboxes on public sidewalks.
Allison was elected the Secretary of Local Seattle, Socialist Party in 1908. That same year, he married his first wife, the former Anna Theresa Swanson.
Together with the Wagenknechts, Allison moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1917, where he was chosen as editor of "The Cleveland Socialist," the weekly newspaper published by Local Cuyahoga County. The name of this paper was later changed to "The Toiler" and this was made an official publication of the Communist Labor Party (CLP) when this group was formed in a split from the SPA in August 1919. Allison continued to fulfill the role of editor for this publication for some time, yielding the chief editorial post to James P. Cannon in August 1920 he arrived in Cleveland. The paper was moved to New York City in the fall of 1921, with Allison following in its tow. "The Toiler" was never an "illegal" publication, despite the forced move of the CLP into a shadowy secret existence due to ongoing raids by the U.S. Department of Justice during the first years of the 1920s.
In 1921, Allison was elected Secretary of the American Labor Alliance, headquartered in New York, an auxiliary of the underground Communist Party of America which advocated an open, legalized existence and participation in political campaigns.
Allison also worked as the Business Manager of "The Toiler" — the paper which he used to edit — from 1921. He continued in this role in 1922 when the paper changed its name to "The Worker" to emphasize its connection to the new "legal political party" of the American communist movement, the Workers Party of America (WPA). The group's founding convention, held in New York City in the first days of January 1922, elected Allison to the governing Central Executive Committee of the new organization.
In 1922, the divorced Allison married his second wife, the former Rose Rosen.
In October 1922, Allison was elected to the 7 member "Administrative Council" of the WPA, a body akin to an Executive Committee in many other organizations. He was not long in this capacity, however, as in 1923 he was made the Business Manager of the Lyceum and Literature Department of the WPA.
Allison made at least one campaign for elective political office, running for New York State Senate in the 14th District on the ticket of the Workers (Communist) Party in 1926.
Later years.
Allison moved from New York City to Danbury, Connecticut in the early 1920s, where he lived for many years. He worked as a factory worker in Danbury into his 80s, when he finally retired.
After his retirement, Allison spent summers in a summer home he had constructed in Southbury, Connecticut, writing poetry which was published in a number of small Connecticut newspapers.
Death and legacy.
Elmer Allison died July 18, 1982 in Olympia, Washington. He was 98 years old at the time of his death. His body was buried at Woodbine Cemetery in Puyallup, Washington.


Patricia Underwood

Patricia Underwood (born 11 October 1947 in Maidenhead, England) is a milliner who had her own company in New York City designing, manufacturing and marketing hats from 1976 to 2019. She continues with special commissions and other designs.
Early life.
Underwood was born in Maidenhead, England, 11 October 1947, the daughter of Humphrey Lestocq Gilbert and Elizabeth Gilbert, née Edwards. Her uncle was Jimmy Edwards, the actor and comedian. She worked at Buckingham Palace as a secretary from 1966 to 1967. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1972.
Career.
Underwood moved to New York in 1967, and first worked as a secretary at United Artists from 1968 to 1969. She first began making hats when she took a hat-making night course at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her work started to gain broader attention after stylist Polly Mellen featured one of her hats on Lauren Hutton during a Richard Avedon photo shoot.
She manufactured hats with Lipp Holmfeld (Hats by Lipp) from 1973 to 1975. In 1976, she launched her own company, Patricia Underwood. She then launched Patricia Underwood Knit Collection in 1983 and she opened an in-store shop in Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman. Over her career, her work featured extensively in every major fashion magazine, both in the US and internationally. At various times, she has designed and made hats for Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Carolyne Roehm, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld, Ralph Lauren and others. She has collaborated with Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs and others to create hats for the runway.
Underwood is an emeritus Board member both of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and of Fashion Group International. She is the subject of the eponymous Rizzoli-produced book, Patricia Underwood: The Way You Wear Your Hat, in which her career is extensively documented.
Underwood's hats are in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute and the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum.
Personal life.
Patricia Underwood married Reginald Underwood in 1967 (divorced, 1976) with whom she had one daughter, Vivecca, and in 1980 married Jon Moynihan. She splits her time between the UK and the US.


Homer Fulcher

Homer Fulcher (May 28, 1918 - September 9, 1995) was a duck decoy carver from the Core Banks community of Stacy, North Carolina.
Eastern North Carolina's abundant waterfowl was considered one of its most valuable natural resources for generations. Flocks of hundreds of thousands of birds would shelter in the coastal marshes and pocosins and along the sounds. While the population has decreased significantly over the last century, many migratory birds still visit eastern North Carolina. As a result, the region draws many hunters and birdwatchers. This culture gave rise to a local tradition of decoy carving of which Fulcher was a notable practitioner.
Nature writer T. Edward Nickens describes the importance of the tradition:
"All skills necessary to wrest a living from the marshes, sound, and sea were brought to bear through decoy carving, waterfowl hunting, and guiding. The boatwright’s deft touch with a drawknife. The netter’s skill with line and knot. The sailor’s love of canvas. The fishermen’s intimate understanding of wind and tide. Who knows how many thousands of decoys were carved in a Core Sound work shed? To those old-timers, each wooden bird was little more than a tool. But today, we see these works of folk art as a prism, through which we can view a life lived close to the land and sea."
The town of Stacy is Carteret County's "decoy capital," having produced many notable decoy carvers. Fulcher described Stacy as "the carvingest community in Carteret County."
In 1995 the North Carolina Arts Council recognized Fulcher's contributions to the traditional art of decoy carving by honoring him with the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award in the Traditional Crafts and Visual Arts category, along with decoy expert Julian Hamilton, Jr.
Fulcher is cited in the "Encyclopedia of American Folklife"'s entry on Regional Maritime Culture, which describes his work as having the "Core Sound touch," an aesthetic that emphasizes simplicity and a "rough" appearance.
Several other members of Fulcher's family have practiced the art of decoy carving, including Irving Russell Fulcher, whose work appears in the Ward Museum at Salisbury University.


George Fleming (engineer)

George Fleming is a Scottish civil engineer specialising in environmental issues. Educated at the Royal Technical College, Stanford University and the University of Strathclyde he is a doctor of philosophy. His research has included studies of the hydrology of the River Clyde and he has written reports on flooding for the Institution of Civil Engineers and the British government. Fleming was involved in the planning stages of the Glasgow Garden Festival of 1988 and established a way of reusing dredgings from the Clyde to provide topsoil for the event. He has since licensed the technology commercially. He is founder and chairman of the EnviroCentre environmental consultancy, of which his son is now managing director.
Early life and academic career.
Born in Glasgow, Fleming grew up in a house in Knightswood, Glasgow near to the Forth and Clyde Canal. His childhood spent playing on the canal may have inspired his career as a water engineer. Fleming studied for a Bachelor of Science degree at the Royal Technical College, just as it was transitioning into the University of Strathclyde. He found that structural engineering was too straightforward and preferred to focus on what he considered the more complex, and then less well researched, challenges of hydrology. Fleming investigated the impact that droughts and floods have on soil erosion with a particular focus on the River Clyde. He was granted a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree which was, unusually, split between Strathclyde and Stanford University in California. His PhD investigated the movements of water and sediment in the Clyde system. After this he returned to Strathclyde as a professor of civil engineering. Fleming has authored or co-authored more than 200 academic publications and 15 books. He has also produced four video documentaries.
Fleming is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management and was a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He is also a Chartered Environmentalist. Fleming was elected president of the ICE for the November 1999 to November 2000 session. One of his acts as president was to reinstate a traditional 3-yearly conference between the ICE and the ASCE. He co-authored a 2001 ICE report into the Autumn 2000 western Europe floods which recommended a doubling of expenditure on flood defences, the training of more river engineers and better investment in flood prediction. Fleming stated that at that time flood defence works were viewed as "a second class operation". He was later asked by deputy prime minister John Prescott to chair a commission into the effects of the flooding, which resulted in a report. Fleming's commission recommended the establishment of a separate body for flooding, taking responsibilities from the Environment Agency which had to deal with the conflicting interests of flood protection, habitat protection and management of development. He later reiterated the recommendations to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
On 23 May 2001 Fleming was elected a fellow of the Transport Research Foundation at which point he was deputy dean of engineering at the University of Strathclyde. Fleming founded and served as chairman of the Association of Environmental and Ecological Clerks of Works from its formation until January 2018.
Career in industry.
Fleming was involved in the planning of the Glasgow Garden Festival and the programme of regeneration that followed it. His academic work had shown that dredgings from the River Clyde contained valuable nutrients washed down from upstream agricultural land and, once treated to remove heavy metals, could be re-used as opposed to being discarded as previous. Fleming generated topsoil for the garden festival this way and subsequently licensed the technology used to a company that sold the material under the brand name ClydeSoil. Fleming also made bricks from the material and investigated whether the technology could be applied to rivers in Hong Kong and Egypt. Fleming was involved in a project to assess the sedimentation in the Aswan Dam for the Egyptian government. He also looked at the possibility of making soil from other waste materials such as quarry dust, forestry waste, paper mill sludge, fish farming by-products and sewage sludge. In addition Fleming developed a surfacing material for roads and sports fields made from a combination of waste, tar, asphalt, tyre rubber and aggregate.
At around the time of the festival Fleming established the Landlab, a research unit that studies the self-renewing properties of soil. In 1995 he founded the EnviroCentre engineering consultancy, specialising in environmental matters as he perceived that there was a shortage of companies in that field. It was partially funded by the Glasgow Development Agency and projects included Glasgow Harbour and the Kirkintilloch Link Road (A806). The company, of which Fleming is currently the chairman, now works across many sectors including Energy, Harbours, Roads, Housing and Golf Courses.
Personal life.
Fleming has lived in Scotland for most of his life. He farms land in Argyll where he holidayed as a child. His sons, Duar Fleming and Campbell Fleming, are managing director and director of EnviroCentre respectively. He has curated an exhibition of the history of civil engineering in Scotland.
References.


Fritz Courvoisier

Frédéric Alexandre 'Fritz' Courvoisier (1 July 1799 – 10 December 1854), was a watchmaker for the first part of his life, then joined the military and later on became a political figure.
Biography.
Courvoisier was born at La Chaux-de-Fonds into a family of watchmakers and clockmakers; he worked in the trade of his family with his father and brothers before creating his own enterprise in 1832.
in 1826, he married Anna Rothpletz, with whom he had two sons, Paul and Emile. His wife, Anna, died in 1836 at age of 30. He then travelled to examine the watchmaking and clock making industry in many places such as France, Italy, Portugal and Russia.
When he returned to Switzerland, he then became elected the captain of the "Carabiniers" of La Chaux-de-Fonds. in 1847, he participated in the Sonderbund war (in which Neuchatel was neutral).
Revolution of Neuchatel.
Following the French Revolution of 1848 the people of the canton de Neuchatel, especially from Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds elected Fritz Courvoisier as their commander in chief in a republican coup.
On 29 February 1848 a soldier called Ami Girard arrived from Saint-Imier and agreed to march with Fritz Courvoisier from la Chaux-de-Fonds Neuchâtel along with 200 volunteers . On 1 March at 8pm the Castle of Neuchâtel fell into the hands of the revolutionaries. By the 5th ambassadors from Switzerland had recognized the new government and the Republic of Neuchatel was formed.
After the Revolution.
From 1851 to 1854, he was elected in the radical-democratic party as national advisor and fought for the reconstruction of railways between the Swiss plains and France, passing through Morteau, Le Locle, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Saint-Imier via the Val-de-Travers. After disputes between the various cantons they agreed to build a railway, but Courvoisier's preferred line was not chosen.
Fritz Courvoisier died on 10 December 1854 at Neuchâtel, by an attack of apoplexy.


Royal Staff Corps

The Royal Staff Corps was a corps of the British Army responsible for military engineering which was founded in and disbanded in . At the time, the Royal Engineers and Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners were administered as part of the Board of Ordnance. Relations between the Ordnance and the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, Prince Frederick, Duke of York, were poor and a major motivation for the Corps' creation was to provide a source of engineering expertise under his direct control. It was generally responsible for short-term military engineering works, with the Royal Engineers and Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners remaining responsible for permanent works, but the boundaries between the functions of the corps were blurred. The Royal Staff Corps answered to the Quartermaster-General instead of to the Board of Ordnance. On its disbandment, most of its personnel transferred to the Royal Engineers and the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners.


Red Line (Tel Aviv Light Rail)

The red line will be the first section of a Light rail system the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, known as the Tel Aviv Light Rail. The line will run from Bat Yam in the south to Petah Tikva in the northeast with a significant portion of it underground. The total cost of the red line is estimated at NIS 11 billion or, approximately US$3 billion. Construction began in 2011 and is expected to be completed in summer 2023, after numerous delays.
Route.
The Red Line will have a total of 34 stations. It will start at Petah Tikva's Central Bus Station, east of Tel Aviv and follow Jabotinsky Road (Route 481) westwards at street level. At the point where Jabotinsky Road and Highway 4 intersect the line drops into a tunnel for and emerges to street level again just before Jaffa, where it turns southwards towards Bat Yam. The underground section will include 10 stations, including an interchange with Israel Railways services at Tel Aviv Central Railway Station and the nearby 2000 Terminal. A maintenance depot, connected via a branch line and tunnel to the main section of the line, will be constructed in Kiryat Aryeh, across from the existing Kiryat Arye suburban railway station. The branch line will include two passenger stations, at Em HaMoshavot Road and an interchange station at the Kiryat Arye railway station.
A planned southern extension will add 2.8 km (2 mi) into the city of Rishon LeZion and three intermediate stops and an inter-modal terminus which will serve as connection with Israel Railways' Rishon LeZion Moshe Dayan Railway Station and the projected Green Line.
Operator.
The concession to build and operate the Red Line was awarded in December 2006 to the Metropolitan Transportation Solution (MTS) Consortium, which consisted of Africa Israel Investments, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), Soares da Costa (Portugal), the Egged Bus Cooperative, Siemens, and the Dutch transportation company HTM.
The concession was a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) contract worth NIS 7.1 billion, the biggest private sector contract ever tendered in Israel's history. MTS' bid was just NIS 400 million under that of rival Metrorail, who bid NIS 7.5 billion.
Financing difficulties.
The BOT agreement with the MTS consortium was signed on February 2007 and construction was to start a year later, in February 2008. However, the consortium was unable to secure the necessary financing and was given several extensions to the agreed timetable. The difficulties raising the funding was attributed to the global financial crisis and specifically to the financial problems at Africa Israel Investments Group.
In November 2009, the Israeli government announced that it was considering canceling the agreement with the consortium and granted another extension until March 2010. It was announced that if funding is not secured by then, the government will consider other options for financing the railway, including the option of using public instead of private funding for the project. The deadline was then extended again to summer 2010 and in August the government, after extensive negotiations with MTS failed, finally canceled the MTS concession, though MTS indicated it would appeal the government's decision in arbitration proceeding.
NTA takes over.
Following the cancellation of the MTS contract, the government announced that it would fund the construction directly from the Treasury and that NTA would manage subsequent phases of construction. As a result, NTA published a tender for the design of multiple launching shafts for the TBMs that would dig the 11 km of tunnels for the railway. In March 2011, the shafts' construction tender was published as well, in addition to a tender for the design of the Kiryat Aryeh depot. The anticipated overall completion date of the railway is 31 December 2017. On December 20, 2010 the transfer of the entire project's management to NTA was approved by the project's arbitrators with MTS. On January 12, 2012 NTA published a pre-qualify (PQ) bid for the design-build contract for excavating the Red and Green lines' tunnels to be performed by several TBMs operating simultaneously.
Construction.
The line is currently scheduled for completion in July 2023. Initial preparatory works began in 2007. After its completion, it will be the second underground service in Israel, after the Carmelit, in Haifa. The line will be a total of 24 km in length, it will have 34 stops, of which 10 are underground. Underground stations will be equipped with platform screen doors and also trains in the underground section will be operated in automatic train operation system.
Preparatory works.
To date, NTA, the Government body responsible for the mass-transit development in the Tel Aviv region has spent several years performing utility relocation and right-of-way clearing for the railway. The bulk of the work however, including underground excavation, is to be carried out by the operator.
On April 10, 2008, works started on the conversion of part of the Jabotinsky Rd. in Petah Tikva into a sunken passage below Kaplan St.
As part of the preparatory works for the line, the main entrance to the Batei HaOsef museum in south Tel Aviv was cleared and relocated. The Bank HaPoalim branch on Herzl Street in the same area was also demolished.
TBM Shafts.
In September 2011, work started on constructing 3 launching shafts for the TBMs
Tunnelling Works.
In May 2015, the companies Solel Boneh and China Railway Tunnel Group won the 2.9 Billion NIS tender to build two 5 kilometer tunnels and 6 underground stations in the western section of the Tel Aviv light rail's red line.
In June 2015, the companies Danya Cebus and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation(CCECC) won the 700 Million NIS tender to build underground Carlebach station of the Tel Aviv light rail's red line.


Pleasanton station

Pleasanton is a train station in Pleasanton, California served by Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) trains. It is located northwest of downtown Pleasanton adjacent to the Alameda County Fairgrounds. The station has a single side platform on the single track of the Union Pacific Railroad Oakland Subdivision.
History.
The station is located on the Union Pacific Railroad Oakland Subdivision, formerly the 1910-opened Western Pacific Railroad mainline. The Mission Revival-style station north of Rose Avenue, which served the "California Zephyr" until 1970, is no longer extant.
The now-abandoned Southern Pacific Railroad Niles Subdivision was constructed by a different Western Pacific Railroad through downtown Pleasanton in 1869. The first station burned on July 26, 1873; the Central Pacific Railroad replaced it with a one-story station, which was expanded in 1881. A larger station was constructed in 1895; the older station was moved to Second Street, where it remains as a private home. Passenger service ended in 1941; the newer station is now a restaurant.
A new station southwest of the former Western Pacific station site opened with the start of the Altamont Commuter Express service on October 19, 1998.
Bus connections.
The station is served by WHEELS local routes 53 and 54, plus the County Connection express route 92X which provides access to ACE from the San Ramon Valley to the north.


John Challis (harpsichord)

John Challis (1907–1974) was an American builder of harpsichords and clavichords, at one time the only such maker of harpsichords in the United States.
His father Charles was a jeweler and watchmaker who moved his family from South Lyon, Michigan to Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1919.
John attended Michigan Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University), where his interest in constructing keyboard instruments emerged.
He spent four years apprenticing with Arnold Dolmetsch in England, returning in 1930, when he set himself up building instruments in a two-story space above a dress shop in Ypsilanti. At that time he was the only harpsichord maker in America. He later moved to Detroit. When his house was condemned to build the Chrysler Freeway, he moved to New York City.
As he was the son of a jeweler, it was to be expected that Challis might include metal work in his instruments, and handmade brass hinges were a signature detail. His early instruments were traditionally constructed using traditional materials, but they evolved more than anyone else's. By the late 1950s his instruments still looked traditional from the outside, but were quite radical within: the frame and wrestplank were aluminum; bridges were brass; only the outer case was wood. Of his soundboard construction, Mr. Challis said, "This is my only secret"; Wolfgang Zuckermann (in his 1969 book "The Modern Harpsichord") conjectured that they were anodized aluminum. Website postings by several harpsichord experts independently report that Challis' soundboards were not single aluminum sheets but are honeycombed.
The instruments had a clear and bright sound and stayed in tune through temperature and humidity changes. A Challis pedal harpsichord was used by E. Power Biggs on two Columbia Masterworks recordings of the music of J.S. Bach and two of Scott Joplin.
Makers who worked or apprenticed in his shop included William Dowd, Frank Rutkowski, and Stewart Pollens.
Kottick, in his authoritative "A History of the Harpsichord", expresses admiration for Challis's innovative work, but also notes it was something of a dead end: during Challis's lifetime, the construction of harpsichords shifted strongly toward close imitation of the work of the historical master builders of the 18th century and earlier. Thus, Challis's harpsichords served as a something of a last hurrah for 20th century efforts to improve the harpsichord by using modern technology. The movement toward historicist construction was initiated, among others, by Challis's own student Dowd.


The Belt and Road News Alliance

The Belt and Road News Alliance() (BRNA), is an international news media association, officially launched on May 14, 2017, jointly by CCTV News Content (CCTV+) of the People's Republic of China and media organizations in countries involved in China's Belt and Road Initiative. As of September 2018, it includes 72 media organizations from 42 countries and regions.
CCTV+ established BRNA Secretariat in September 2017, in Beijing.
General Description.
BRNA operates according to the principles of openness and inclusiveness, sustainability, sharing and cooperation.
It aims to serve major media institutions of countries and regions along the Belt and Road in sharing and cooperating in news resources, building a mutual-aid news reporting network, and exploring into new ideas on news and mass communication and related advanced technologies.
Belt and Road News (BRN), which refers to itself as a media organization dedicated to news, views and analysis on the Belt and Road Initiative and its 150 member countries, is not a member of the Alliance.
Services.
BRNA news exchange platform
Co-production of news programs
Tailored training program
Social media interaction
News gathering and reporting support network
Technology support and innovation
Activity.
Co-production of news programs 2018.
During September 15–18, 2018, production teams from BRNA members People's Television Network from the Philippines and Lao National Television, came to Beijing to co-produce an English interview program called "Vision Into Reality, The Belt & Road Special" with CGTN, to mark the 5th anniversary of the “Belt and Road Initiative”. Guests from the Philippines, Laos and China not only discussed their culture and customs, but also shared the achievements and future development prospects of the “Belt and Road” cooperation in various fields. The program was jointly broadcast on three media platforms on October 3, 2018.
The First BRNA General Assembly.
The first BRNA General Assembly was successfully held on November 29, 2017, in Hainan, China. Twenty-nine full members from 22 countries and regions, one partner institution and one observer attended the meeting. The meeting focused on discussions on the operating mechanism and future developments of alliance.
BRNA roundtable meeting and signing ceremony.
CCTV+ held the first BRNA round-table meeting in Beijing on May 14, 2017. During the meeting, high-ranking representatives of People's Television Network of the Philippines, UATV from Ukraine, Mongolian National Broadcaster, and Pakistan Television Corporation signed the statement and officially joined the BRNA.
Representatives also discussed BRNA's products, services and business linking mechanism.


Ecua-Andino Hats

Ecua-Andino Hats is an Ecuadorian company founded in 1985 by Alejandro Lecaro and Édgar Sánchez. The brand is dedicated to the production and exportation of Panama hats. It is one of the most important companies producing finished Panama hats in Ecuador.
History.
In 1985, Édgar Sánchez and Alejandro Lecaro started to sell local crafts, initially to tourists on the beach, and then from a small shop in the center of Guayaquil, Ecuador. In 1994, they decided to change the product range and concentrated on hats only. In 2012, UNESCO declared that the art of weaving a Panama hat in Ecuador was added to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Today, the brand exports around 200,000 a year and sells 12,000 on Ecuador’s national market.
Production.
Ecua Andino has straw hats production sites in five provinces of Ecuador such as Canar, Azuay, Guayas, Manabi and Santa Elena. The process involves at least 3500 artisans. It is in these little towns that are done the different processes such as selecting the raw material (Carludovica Palmata), cooking, weaving, bleaching, ironing, etc. Tagging and finishing steps are made in the workshop of Guayaquil. The estimated processing time before exporting a hat varies between 1 month and 6 months, it mostly depends on the quality of the product. The company new collections twice a year:


Ionview stop

Ionview is a surface light rail transit (LRT) stop under construction on Line 5 Eglinton, a new line that is part of the Toronto subway system. It will be located in the Ionview neighbourhood at the intersection of Eglinton Avenue and Ionview Road. It is scheduled to open in 2022.
The stop is located in the middle of Eglinton Avenue on the west side of its intersection with Ionview Road. The stop has parallel side platforms to be accessed from the pedestrian crossing on the west side of the signalized street intersection.


Lars Pinnerud

Lars Pinnerud (18 August 1700 – 1762) was a Norwegian farmer and woodcarver. He was the most prominent woodcarver in Hedmark in the early 18th century. His works influenced later artists in Hedmark and Oppland, in particular in the Gudbrand Valley.
Pinnerud was born in the parish of Furnes in Hedmark, Norway.
Among his works were the pulpit and altarpiece of Østsinni Church ("Østsinni kirke") in Nordre Land, from 1725 and interior in Nes Church in Ringsaker. Other works included church interiors at Dovre Church, Hof Church, Stor-Elvdal Church, Ytre Rendal Church, Fluberg Church and Nordsinni Church. One of his cabinets is located at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History and a chest is on display at Maihaugen.


Heinrich Knopf

Heinrich Carl Knopf (1839–1875) was a German bowmaker or "bogenmacher".
Knopf came from a dynasty of bow makers. He studied bow making in Markneukirchen under his uncle, Christian Knopf.
He was a journeyman in Leipzig working for Ludwig Bausch. Upon the death of his father, Karl Wilhelm, he returned to Markneukirchen where he became his successor.
He also supplied bows to German shops such as Bausch, R. Weichold and the Russian Nicolaus Kittel.
"The bows (he) made for Kittel are quite different in style from the ones he supplied to the German shops." — Kenway Lee
"His bows are exquisite, showing mastery in technical as well as stylistic aspects. His son, Heinrich Richard gen. Knopf (1860–1939) (known as Henry) became an excellent bow & violin maker who established what was to become a very important and successful shop in New York City (from 1879–1931)." Gennady Filimonov (2007)


Freetown station

Freetown station is a planned commuter rail station on the Fall River Subdivision in the Assonet village of Freetown, Massachusetts. Under current plans, the station would open for MBTA Commuter Rail service in 2023 as part of the first phase of the South Coast Rail project.
History.
Previous stations.
The Fall River Railroad opened from Myricks to Fall River in June 1845, and to South Braintree in December 1846. Two stations were located on the line in Freetown: Assonet at Elm Street, and Crystal Spring (Thwaites) at Copicut Road. Somerset Junction (Millers) - the junction with the Dighton and Somerset Railroad - was located further to the south in Fall River. Service was later consolidated under the Old Colony Railroad and then the New Haven Railroad. Passenger service on the line continued (except for 1949-1952) until September 5, 1958. However, local stops including the two Freetown stops were discontinued well before then, and trains ran nonstop from Fall River to Taunton. The line continued to be used for freight service by the New Haven and its successors Penn Central and Conrail, then finally as the CSX Fall River Subdivision.
South Coast Rail.
In September 2008, MassDOT released 18 potential station sites for the South Coast Rail project, including a Freetown station off South Main Street near the Route 24/79 expressway. A 2009 conceptual design called for a single side platform serving one track, with a second track allowing freight trains to pass the high-level platform. Plans released as part of the Final Environmental Impact Report in 2013 were nearly identical. On June 11, 2010, the state took ownership of the Fall River Subdivision and several other CSX lines as part of a sale agreement.
In 2017, the project was re-evaluated due to cost issues. A new proposal released in March 2017 called for early service via Middleborough by 2024, followed by full service via Stoughton by 2029. Freetown would have only been built as an infill station during the second phase. By mid-2017, plans called for the first phase to be completed in 2022, and to include stations at Freetown and Battleship Cove in Phase 1 rather than Phase 2. The January 2018 "Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report" moved the planned station about north, as the previously planned site had been developed for use by a business.
The MBTA awarded a $159 million contract for construction of the Fall River Secondary portion of the project, including Freetown station, in May 2020. Service was then planned to begin in November 2023.


M. A. Rogovin

M. A. Rogovin (1838- February 27, 1923) was a Russian civil engineer responsible for construction of many fortresses in Russia: Libau, Brest Fortress, Kovno among others.
The New York Times called Rogovin "a famous Russian engineer who built Libau and many fortresses".


Munster Ridge Road station

Munster Ridge Road is a planned South Shore Line rail station in Munster, Indiana. It is expected to open to revenue service in 2025. The station is located at Ridge Road and Manor Avenue adjacent to the Monon Trail.