History.

Geometrical problems involving tangent circles have been pondered for millennia. In ancient Greece of the third century BC, Apollonius of Perga devoted an entire book to the topic.  René Descartes discussed the problem briefly in 1643, in a letter to Princess Elisabeth of the Palatinate. He came up with essentially the same solution as given in below, and thus attached his name to the theorem.  Frederick Soddy rediscovered the equation in 1936. The kissing circles in this problem are sometimes known as Soddy circles, perhaps because Soddy chose to publish his version of the theorem in the form of a poem titled "The Kiss Precise", which was printed in "Nature" (June 20, 1936). Soddy also extended the theorem to spheres; Thorold Gosset extended the theorem to arbitrary dimensions.

Definition of curvature.

Descartes' theorem is most easily stated in terms of the circles' curvatures. The curvature (or bend) of a circle is defined as "k" = ±1/"r", where "r" is its radius. The larger a circle, the smaller is the magnitude of its curvature, and vice versa.  The plus sign in "k" = ±1/"r" applies to a circle that is "externally" tangent to the other circles, like the three black circles in the image. For an "internally" tangent circle like the big red circle, that "circumscribes" the other circles, the minus sign applies.  If a straight line is considered a degenerate circle with zero curvature (and thus infinite radius), Descartes' theorem also applies to a line and two circles that are all three mutually tangent, giving the radius of a third circle tangent to the other two circles and the line.  If four circles are tangent to each other at six distinct points, and the circles have curvatures "k" (for "i" = 1,..., 4), Descartes' theorem says:  When trying to find the radius of a fourth circle tangent to three given kissing circles, the equation is best rewritten as:  The ± sign reflects the fact that there are in general "two" solutions. Ignoring the degenerate case of a straight line, one solution is positive and the other is either positive or negative; if negative, it represents a circle that circumscribes the first three (as shown in the diagram above).  Problem-specific criteria may favor one solution over the other in any given problem.

Special cases.

If one of the three circles is replaced by a straight line, then one "k", say "k", is zero and drops out of. then becomes much simpler:  If two circles are replaced by lines, the tangency between the two replaced circles becomes a parallelism between their two replacement lines. For all four curves to remain mutually tangent, the other two circles must be congruent. In this case, with "k" = "k" = 0, is reduced to the trivial It is not possible to replace three circles by lines, as it is not possible for three lines and one circle to be mutually tangent. Descartes' theorem does not apply when all four circles are tangent to each other at the same point.  Another special case is when the "k" are squares,  Euler showed that this is equivalent to the simultaneous triplet of Pythagorean triples,  and can be given a parametric solution. When the minus sign of a curvature is chosen,  this can be solved as,  where  parametric solutions of which are well-known.

Complex Descartes theorem.

To determine a circle completely, not only its radius (or curvature), but also its center must be known. The relevant equation is expressed most clearly if the coordinates ("x", "y") are interpreted as a complex number "z" = "x" + i"y". The equation then looks similar to Descartes' theorem and is therefore called the complex Descartes theorem.  Given four circles with curvatures "k" and centers "z" (for "i" = 1...4), the following equality holds in addition to :  Once "k" has been found using, one may proceed to calculate "z" by rewriting to a form similar to :  Again, in general, there are two solutions for "z", corresponding to the two solutions for "k". Note that the plus/minus sign in the above formula for z does not necessarily correspond to the plus/minus sign in the formula for k.

Generalizations.

The generalization to n dimensions is sometimes referred to as the Soddy–Gosset theorem, even though it was shown by R. Lachlan in 1886. In -dimensional Euclidean space, the maximum number of mutually tangent -spheres is. For example, in 3-dimensional space, five spheres can be mutually tangent. The curvatures of the hyperspheres satisfy with the case corresponding to a flat hyperplane, in exact analogy to the 2-dimensional version of the theorem.  Although there is no 3-dimensional analogue of the complex numbers, the relationship between the positions of the centers can be re-expressed as a matrix equation, which also generalizes to dimensions.

In geometry, Descartes' theorem states that for every four kissing, or mutually tangent, circles, the radii of the circles satisfy a certain quadratic equation. By solving this equation, one can construct a fourth circle tangent to three given, mutually tangent circles. The theorem is named after René Descartes, who stated it in 1643.

In der Geometrie beschreibt der Satz von Descartes (Vier-Kreise-Satz von Descartes), benannt nach René Descartes, eine Beziehung zwischen vier Kreisen, die einander berühren. Der Satz kann dazu verwendet werden, zu drei gegebenen Kreisen, die einander wechselseitig berühren, einen vierten zu finden, der die drei anderen berührt. Es handelt sich um einen Spezialfall des Apollonischen Problems.


Origins.

The Lordship of Longueville was a fief that belonged to the Giffard family. William Marshal received half of this honour by right of his wife, Isabel de Clare, daughter of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke in 1191. The heir of the other half was Richard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford. After 1204, William Marshal managed to keep his part, which in 1219 still belonged to his widow Isabel de Clare (Apr. 1172-1220) and her children in 1219. On the death of Isabelle de Clare, his son William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke gave his brother Richard his land in Normandy or the honours of Longueville and Orbec. Richard died childless, and Louis IX of France seized the lands.

Changes.

In 1305, it was given by Philip IV his minister Enguerrand de Marigny only for him to be forfeited in 1314. It belonged to the family of the Counts of Evreux until the death of Philip of Navarre, brother of Charles the Bad in 1363. On 27 May 1364, Charles V offered the county of Longueville to Bertrand du Guesclin. The title of Comte de Longueville was awarded to Archibald Douglas, Earl of Wigtown (d.1438), and his son William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas (d.1440) in gratitude for the assistance to the future Charles VII of France by the Scottish army rescue led by Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, killed at the Battle of Verneuil in 1424. Upon the death of James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas and 3rd Earl of Avondale in 1488, all his titles were forfeited and subsequently the title was bestowed upon Jean de Dunois. The title remained in the hands of the Orléans-Longueville family until the death of Jean Louis Charles d'Orléans in 1694.

Separation and Return.

In 1364, following the death of John II of France, the County of Tancarville was separated from the County of Longueville, while the city of Montivilliers was attached to the royal demesne. In 1505, the barony of Auffay was united to the county and subsequently, the Duchy of Longueville was created by King Louis XII of France for his first cousin once removed François d'Orléans, Count of Dunois, son of François d'Orléans, Count of Dunois, son of Jean d'Orléans, himself an illegitimate son of the Duke of Orléans. The title became extinct in 1694 following the death of Marie de Nemours. From 1648, Longueville was also Sovereign Prince of Neuchâtel, a Swiss territory. In 1654 the eighth duke was created a peer as Duke of Coulommiers but the peerage was never registered and so became extinct at his death.

Count of Longueville is a French noble title, whose holder had the fiefdom of the County of Longueville. The County was erected into a Duchy in 1505.

Das Herzogtum Longueville war ein französisches Lehensterritorium um den Hauptort Longueville in der Normandie. Es entstand als "Herrschaft Longueville", die im Laufe der Zeit zur "Grafschaft Longueville" und schließlich 1505 zum Herzogtum erweitert wurde, bevor dieses 1694 beim Tod des letzten Herzogs erlosch.


Legacy.

Chwa II Kabalega (June 18, 1853 – April 6, 1923), was the ruler or Omukama of Bunyoro in Uganda from 1870 to 1899, and a celebrated hero who fought against British colonialism. He was born on June 18, 1853 to Omukama Kamurasi Mirundi Rukanama rwa Kanembe KYEBAMBE IV of Bunyoro-Kitara. His mother was called Kanyange Nyamutahingurwa Omunyonzakati Abwooli. Kabalega ascended the throne in 1869 at the age of 16 as the 23rd Omukama from the Babiito Dynasty following the death of his father. He chose the throne name CHWA II after Omukama CHWA 1 Ente-Nkore Rumoma-Mahanga whose stories inspired him as a child. He was also later named Yohana (John) upon being baptised in captivity. Kabalega led a historic revival of the kingdom and registered several victories in reclaiming lost territories, increased food production, cattle keeping and trade given that Bunyoro was the centre of iron smelting at that time, and had the Kibiro Salt Works. He was a war genius. His blacksmith, who had acquired the art of duplicating European guns, manufactured for him his famous “Bagwigairebata” gun. He resisted the British attempts to colonise his kingdom. In June, 1872 Kabalega defeated Sir Samuel Baker at Masindi frustrating his attempt to annex Bunyoro and the entire Lake Victoria region to the equatorial province of Egypt. In 1888 Kabalega backed Prince Kalema of the neighbouring Buganda kingdom, and attacked Mengo and forced Kabaka Mwanga II to desert his capital and flee to Bulingugwe Island. Kalema ruled Buganda for 1 year before Mwanga II returned. At the height of the British offensive on his kingdom, Kabalega went into hiding in Acholi in the north under the protection of Chief Awich Abok of Payira. It’s from there that he consistently led his rebellion dubbed “Nyangire” that proved a thorn on the colonial skin. For five years, Kabalega was able to fend off the British, who had enlisted help from other countries including Somalia and Nubia. On April 9, 1899, Kabalega was shot by the British, who captured him and the anti-imperialist Mwanga II of Buganda, who had been deposed by the British and had become allied to Kabelega. Kabalega was exiled to the Seychelles for 24 years. His son Kitahimbwa was appointed king but had little power as the kingdom was administered nearly directly by the colonial authority. In science and innovation, according to R.W Felkin (a medical missionary), in 1879 Kabalega’s Bunyoro was the only place in the world where Caesarean section was performed to save both mother and baby. In other areas, the mother’s life was sacrificed for the child. Further during Kabalega’s reign Bunyoro discovered a cure for sleeping sickness and Bunyoro’s citizens used to be immunised against endemic syphilis. In 1923, Kabalega was given permission to return to Bunyoro but died in Jinja on April 6, 1923, shortly before reaching the borders of the kingdom.  In 1972, President Idi Amin renamed Murchison Falls, located within Murchison Falls National Park, Kabalega Falls after the Omukama.  On 8 June 2009, Kabalega was declared a national hero of Uganda by President Museveni.  In 2010, the Most Honourable Order of Omukama Chwa II Kabalega was founded in honour of Kabalega by the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara

Chwa II Kabalega (18 June 1853 – 6 April 1923), was the ruler or Omukama of Bunyoro in Uganda from 1870 to 1899.

Chwa II. Kabalega (oder "Kabarega"; * 1853; † 1923 in Jinja, Uganda) war von 1869 bis 1898 der König (Omukama) des Reiches Bunyoro im heutigen Uganda. Sein Residenzort war lange Zeit Mparo.


Etymology.

Enlil's name comes from ancient Sumerian EN (<unk>), meaning "lord" and LÍL (<unk>) meaning "wind". His name therefore literally translates as "Lord Wind". Enlil's name is not a genitive construction, indicating that Enlil was seen as the personification of the wind itself rather than merely the cause of wind.

Worship.

Enlil was the patron god of the Sumerian city-state of Nippur and his main center of worship was the Ekur temple located there. The name of the temple literally means "Mountain House" in ancient Sumerian. The Ekur was believed to have been built and established by Enlil himself. It was believed to be the "mooring-rope" of heaven and earth, meaning that it was seen as "a channel of communication between earth and heaven". A hymn written during the reign of Ur-Nammu, the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur, describes the E-kur in great detail, stating that its gates were carved with scenes of Imdugud, a lesser deity sometimes shown as a giant bird, slaying a lion and an eagle snatching up a sinner.  The Sumerians believed that the sole purpose of humanity's existence was to serve the gods. They thought that a god's statue was a physical embodiment of the god himself. As such, cult statues were given constant care and attention and a set of priests were assigned to tend to them. People worshipped Enlil by offering food and other human necessities to him. The food, which was ritually laid out before the god's cult statue in the form of a feast, was believed to be Enlil's daily meal, but, after the ritual, it would be distributed among his priests. These priests were also responsible for changing the cult statue's clothing.  The Sumerians envisioned Enlil as a benevolent, fatherly deity, who watches over humanity and cares for their well-being. One Sumerian hymn describes Enlil as so glorious that even the other gods could not look upon him. The same hymn also states that, without Enlil, civilization could not exist. Enlil's epithets include titles such as "the Great Mountain" and "King of the Foreign Lands". Enlil is also sometimes described as a "raging storm", a "wild bull", and a "merchant". The Mesopotamians envisioned him as a creator, a father, a king, and the supreme lord of the universe. He was also known as "Nunamnir" and is referred to in at least one text as the "East Wind and North Wind".  Kings regarded Enlil as a model ruler and sought to emulate his example. Enlil was said to be supremely just and intolerant towards evil. Rulers from all over Sumer would travel to Enlil's temple in Nippur to be legitimized. They would return Enlil's favor by devoting lands and precious objects to his temple as offerings. Nippur was the only Sumerian city-state that never built a palace; this was intended to symbolize the city's importance as the center of the cult of Enlil by showing that Enlil himself was the city's king. Even during the Babylonian Period, when Marduk had superseded Enlil as the supreme god, Babylonian kings still traveled to the holy city of Nippur to seek recognition of their right to rule.  Enlil first rose to prominence during the twenty-fourth century BC, when the importance of the god An began to wane. During this time period, Enlil and An are frequently invoked together in inscriptions. Enlil remained the supreme god in Mesopotamia throughout the Amorite Period, with Amorite monarchs proclaiming Enlil as the source of their legitimacy. Enlil's importance began to wane after the Babylonian king Hammurabi conquered Sumer. The Babylonians worshipped Enlil under the name "Elil" and the Hurrians syncretized him with their own god Kumarbi. In one Hurrian ritual, Enlil and Apantu are invoked as "the father and mother of Išḫara". Enlil is also invoked alongside Ninlil as a member of "the mighty and firmly established gods".  During the Kassite Period ( 1592 BC – 1155 BC), Nippur briefly managed to regain influence in the region and Enlil rose to prominence once again. From around 1300 BC onwards, Enlil was syncretized with the Assyrian national god Aššur, who was the most important deity in the Assyrian pantheon. Then, in 1230 BC, the Elamites attacked Nippur and the city fell into decline, taking the cult of Enlil along with it. Approximately one hundred years later, Enlil's role as the head of the pantheon was given to Marduk, the national god of the Babylonians. Enlil's importance in the pantheon significantly declined and he was sometimes assimilated as merely an aspect of Marduk. Nonetheless, his temples continued functioning throughout the Neo-Assyrian period (911 BC — 609 BC) and even the Babylonians saw Anu and Enlil as the ones who bestowed Marduk with his powers. During the first millennium BC, the Babylonians worshipped a deity under the title "Bel", meaning "lord", who was a syncretization of Enlil, Marduk, and the dying god Dumuzid. Bel held all the cultic titles of Enlil and his status in the Babylonian religion was largely the same. Eventually, Bel came to be seen as the god of order and destiny. Meanwhile, Aššur continued to be known as "the Assyrian Enlil" or "the Enlil of the gods". After the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Enlil's statues were smashed and his temples were destroyed because he had become inextricably associated with the Assyrians, who many conquered peoples hated. Enlil continued to be venerated under the name of Marduk until around 141 BC, when the cult of Marduk fell into terminal decline, and was eventually forgotten entirely.

Iconography.

Enlil was not represented anthropomorphically in Mesopotamian iconography. Instead, he was represented by a horned cap, which consisted of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns. Such crowns were an important symbol of divinity; gods had been shown wearing them ever since the third millennium BC. The horned cap remained consistent in form and meaning from the earliest days of Sumerian prehistory up until the time of the Persian conquest and beyond.  The Sumerians had a complex numerological system, in which certain numbers were believed to hold special ritual significance. Within this system, Enlil was associated with the number fifty, which was considered sacred to him. Enlil was part of a triad of deities, which also included An and Enki. These three deities together were the embodiment of all the fixed stars in the night sky. An was identified with all the stars of the equatorial sky, Enlil with those of the northern sky, and Enki with those of the southern sky. The path of Enlil's celestial orbit was a continuous, symmetrical circle around the north celestial pole, but those of An and Enki were believed to intersect at various points. Enlil was associated with the constellation Boötes.

Mythology.

Origins myths.

The main source of information about the Sumerian creation myth is the prologue to the epic poem "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld" (ETCSL 1.8.1.4), which briefly describes the process of creation: originally, there was only Nammu, the primeval sea. Then, Nammu gave birth to An, the sky, and Ki, the earth. An and Ki mated with each other, causing Ki to give birth to Enlil. Enlil separated An from Ki and carried off the earth as his domain, while An carried off the sky.  "Enlil and Ninlil" (ETCSL 1.2.1) is a nearly complete 152-line Sumerian poem describing the affair between Enlil and the goddess Ninlil. First, Ninlil's mother Nunbarshegunu instructs Ninlil to go bathe in the river. Ninlil goes to the river, where Enlil seduces her and impregnates her with their son, the moon-god Nanna. Because of this, Enlil is banished to Kur, the Sumerian underworld. Ninlil follows Enlil to the underworld, where he impersonates the "man of the gate". Ninlil demands to know where Enlil has gone, but Enlil, still impersonating the gatekeeper, refuses to answer. He then seduces Ninlil and impregnates her with Nergal, the god of death. The same scenario repeats, only this time Enlil instead impersonates the "man of the river of the nether world, the man-devouring river"; once again, he seduces Ninlil and impregnates her with the god Ninazu. Finally, Enlil impersonates the "man of the boat"; once again, he seduces Ninlil and impregnates her with Enbilulu, the "inspector of the canals".  The story of Enlil's courtship with Ninlil is primarily a genealogical myth invented to explain the origins of the moon-god Nanna, as well as the various gods of the Underworld, but it is also, to some extent, a coming-of-age story describing Enlil and Ninlil's emergence from adolescence into adulthood. The story also explains Ninlil's role as Enlil's consort; in the poem, Ninlil declares, "As Enlil is your master, so am I also your mistress!" The story is also historically significant because, if the current interpretation of it is correct, it is the oldest known myth in which a god changes shape.

Flood myth.

In the Sumerian version of the flood story (ETCSL 1.7.4), the causes of the flood are unclear because the portion of the tablet recording the beginning of the story has been destroyed. Somehow, a mortal known as Ziusudra manages to survive the flood, likely through the help of the god Enki. The tablet begins in the middle of the description of the flood. The flood lasts for seven days and seven nights before it subsides. Then, Utu, the god of the Sun, emerges. Ziusudra opens a window in the side of the boat and falls down prostrate before the god. Next, he sacrifices an ox and a sheep in honor of Utu. At this point, the text breaks off again. When it picks back up, Enlil and An are in the midst of declaring Ziusudra immortal as an honor for having managed to survive the flood. The remaining portion of the tablet after this point is destroyed.  In the later Akkadian version of the flood story, recorded in the "Epic of Gilgamesh", Enlil actually causes the flood, seeking to annihilate every living thing on earth because the humans, who are vastly overpopulated, make too much noise and prevent him from sleeping. In this version of the story, the hero is Utnapishtim, who is warned ahead of time by Ea, the Babylonian equivalent of Enki, that the flood is coming. The flood lasts for seven days; when it ends, Ishtar, who had mourned the destruction of humanity, promises Utnapishtim that Enlil will never cause a flood again. When Enlil sees that Utnapishtim and his family have survived, he is outraged, but his son Ninurta speaks up in favor of humanity, arguing that, instead of causing floods, Enlil should simply ensure that humans never become overpopulated by reducing their numbers using wild animals and famines. Enlil goes into the boat; Utnapishtim and his wife bow before him. Enlil, now appeased, grants Utnapishtim immortality as a reward for his loyalty to the gods.

Chief god and arbitrator.

A nearly complete 108-line poem from the Early Dynastic Period ( 2900 – 2350 BC) describes Enlil's invention of the mattock, a key agricultural pick, hoe, ax, or digging tool of the Sumerians. In the poem, Enlil conjures the mattock into existence and decrees its fate. The mattock is described as gloriously beautiful; it is made of pure gold and has a head carved from lapis lazuli. Enlil gives the tool over to the humans, who use it to build cities, subjugate their people, and pull up weeds. Enlil was believed to aid in the growth of plants.  The Sumerian poem "Enlil Chooses the Farmer-God" (ETCSL 5.3.3) describes how Enlil, hoping "to establish abundance and prosperity", creates two gods Emesh and Enten, a shepherd and a farmer, respectively. The two gods argue and Emesh lays claim to Enten's position. They take the dispute before Enlil, who rules in favor of Enten; the two gods rejoice and reconcile.

Ninurta myths.

In the Sumerian poem "Lugale" (ETCSL 1.6.2), Enlil gives advice to his son, the god Ninurta, advising him on a strategy to slay the demon Asag. This advice is relayed to Ninurta by way of Sharur, his enchanted talking mace, which had been sent by Ninurta to the realm of the gods to seek counsel from Enlil directly.  In the Old, Middle, and Late Babylonian myth of "Anzû and the Tablet of Destinies", the Anzû, a giant, monstrous bird, betrays Enlil and steals the Tablet of Destinies, a sacred clay tablet belonging to Enlil that grants him his authority, while Enlil is preparing for a bath. The rivers dry up and the gods are stripped of their powers. The gods send Adad, Gerra, and Shara to defeat the Anzû, but all of them fail. Finally, Ea proposes that the gods should send Ninurta, Enlil's son. Ninurta successfully defeats the Anzû and returns the Tablet of Destinies to his father. As a reward, Ninurta is a granted a prominent seat on the council of the gods.

War of the gods.

A badly damaged text from the Neo-Assyrian Period (911 — 612 BC) describes Marduk leading his army of Anunnaki into the sacred city of Nippur and causing a disturbance. The disturbance causes a flood, which forces the resident gods of Nippur under the leadership of Enlil to take shelter in the Eshumesha temple to Ninurta. Enlil is enraged at Marduk's transgression and orders the gods of Eshumesha to take Marduk and the other Anunnaki as prisoners. The Anunnaki are captured, but Marduk appoints his front-runner Mushteshirhablim to lead a revolt against the gods of Eshumesha and sends his messenger Neretagmil to alert Nabu, the god of literacy. When the Eshumesha gods hear Nabu speak, they come out of their temple to search for him. Marduk defeats the Eshumesha gods and takes 360 of them as prisoners of war, including Enlil himself. Enlil protests that the Eshumesha gods are innocent, so Marduk puts them on trial before the Anunnaki. The text ends with a warning from Damkianna (another name for Ninhursag) to the gods and to humanity, pleading them not to repeat the war between the Anunnaki and the gods of Eshumesha.

Enlil, later known as Elil, was an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hurrians. Enlil's primary center of worship was the Ekur temple in the city of Nippur, which was believed to have been built by Enlil himself and was regarded as the "mooring-rope" of heaven and earth. He is also sometimes referred to in Sumerian texts as Nunamnir. According to one Sumerian hymn, Enlil himself was so holy that not even the other gods could look upon him. Enlil rose to prominence during the twenty-fourth century BC with the rise of Nippur. His cult fell into decline after Nippur was sacked by the Elamites in 1230 BC and he was eventually supplanted as the chief god of the Mesopotamian pantheon by the Babylonian national god Marduk. The Babylonian god Bel was a syncretic deity of Enlil, Marduk, and the shepherd deity Dumuzid.

Enlil (auch EN.lil: Keilschrift ; akkadisch: Ellil) ist der Hauptgott des sumerischen und akkadischen Pantheons. Er ist Vorgänger und Vorbild späterer Gottheiten diverser altorientalischer Völker.


Pole of a planar displacement.

The instant center can be considered the limiting case of the pole of a planar displacement.  The planar displacement of a body from position 1 to position 2 is defined by the combination of a planar rotation and planar translation. For any planar displacement there is a point in the moving body that is in the same place before and after the displacement. This point is the "pole of the planar displacement", and the displacement can be viewed as a rotation around this pole.  Construction for the pole of a planar displacement: First, select two points A and B in the moving body and locate the corresponding points in the two positions; see the illustration. Construct the perpendicular bisectors to the two segments AA and BB. The intersection P of these two bisectors is the pole of the planar displacement. Notice that A and A lie on a circle around P. This is true for the corresponding positions of every point in the body.  If the two positions of a body are separated by an instant of time in a planar movement, then the pole of a displacement becomes the instant center. In this case, the segments constructed between the instantaneous positions of the points A and B become the velocity vectors V and V. The lines perpendicular to these velocity vectors intersect in the instant center.  The algebraic construction of the Cartesian coordinates formula_1 can be arranged as follows: The midpoint between formula_2 and formula_3 has the Cartesian coordinates  and the midpoint between formula_5 and formula_6 has the Cartesian coordinates  The two angles from formula_2 to formula_3 and from formula_5 to formula_6 measured counter-clockwise relative to the horizontal are determined by  taking the correct branches of the tangent. Let the center formula_1 of the rotation have distances formula_14 and formula_15 to the two midpoints. Assuming clockwise rotation (otherwise switch the sign of formula_16):  Rewrite this as a formula_18 inhomogeneous system of linear equations with 4 unknowns (the two distances formula_19 and the two coordinates formula_20 of the center):  The coordinates of the center of the rotation are the first two components of the solution vector

Pure translation.

If the displacement between two positions is a pure translation, then the perpendicular bisectors of the segments AB and AB form parallel lines. These lines are considered to intersect at a point on the line at infinity, thus the pole of this planar displacement is said to "lie at infinity" in the direction of the perpendicular bisectors.  In the limit, pure translation becomes planar movement with point velocity vectors that are parallel. In this case, the instant center is said to lie at infinity in the direction perpendicular to the velocity vectors.

Instant center of a wheel rolling without slipping.

Consider the planar movement of a circular wheel rolling without slipping on a linear road; see sketch 3. The wheel rotates around its axis M, which translates in a direction parallel to the road. The point of contact P of the wheel with road does not slip, which means the point P has zero velocity with respect to the road. Thus, at the instant the point P on the wheel comes in contact with the road it becomes an instant center.  The set of points of the moving wheel that become instant centers is the circle itself, which defines the moving centrode. The points in the fixed plane that correspond to these instant centers is the line of the road, which defines the fixed centrode.  The velocity vector of a point A in the wheel is perpendicular to the segment AP and is proportional to the length of this segment. In particular, the velocities of points in the wheel are determined by the angular velocity of the wheel in rotation around P. The velocity vectors of a number of points are illustrated in sketch 3.  The further a point in the wheel is from the instant center P, the proportionally larger its speed. Therefore, the point at the top of the wheel moves in the same direction as the center M of the wheel, but twice as fast, since it is twice the distance away from P. All points that are a distance equal to the radius of the wheel 'r' from point P move at the same speed as the point M but in different directions. This is shown for a point on the wheel that has the same speed as M but moves in the direction tangent to the circle around P.

Relative center of rotation for two contacting planar bodies.

If two planar rigid bodies are in contact, and each body has its own distinct center of rotation, then the relative center of rotation between the bodies has to lie somewhere on the line connecting the two centers. As a result, since pure rolling can only exist when the center of rotation is at the point of contact (as seen above with the wheel on the road), it is only when the point of contact goes through the line connecting the two rotation centers that pure rolling can be achieved. This is known in involute gear design as the pitch point, where there is no relative sliding between the gears. In fact, the gearing ratio between the two rotating parts is found by the ratio of the two distances to the relative center. In the example in Sketch 4 the gearing ratio is formula_23

Instant center of rotation and mechanisms.

Sketch 1 above shows a four-bar linkage where a number of instant centers of rotation are illustrated. The rigid body noted by the letters BAC is connected with links P-A and P-B to a base or frame.  The three moving parts of this mechanism (the base is not moving) are: link P-A, link P-B, and body BAC. For each of these three parts an instant center of rotation may be determined.  Considering first link P-A: all points on this link, including point A, rotate around point P. Since P is the only point not moving in the given plane it may be called the instant center of rotation for this link. Point A, at distance P-A from P, moves in a circular motion in a direction perpendicular to the link P-A, as indicated by vector V.  The same applies to link P-B: point P is the instant center of rotation for this link and point B moves in the direction as indicated by vector V.  For determining the instant center of rotation of the third element of the linkage, the body BAC, the two points A and B are used because its moving characteristics are known, as derived from the information about the links P-A and P-B.  The direction of speed of point A is indicated by vector V. Its instant center of rotation must be perpendicular to this vector (as V is tangentially located on the circumference of a circle). The only line that fills the requirement is a line colinear with link P-A. Somewhere on this line there is a point P, the instant center of rotation for the body BAC.  What applies to point A also applies to point B, therefore this instant center of rotation P is located on a line perpendicular to vector V, a line colinear with link P-B. Therefore, the instant center of rotation P of body BAC is the point where the lines through P-A and P-B cross.  Since this instant center of rotation P is the center for all points on the body BAC for any random point, say point C, the speed and direction of movement may be determined: connect P to C. The direction of movement of point C is perpendicular to this connection. The speed is proportional to the distance to point P.  Continuing this approach with the two links P-A and P-B rotating around their own instant centers of rotation the centrode for instant center of rotation P may be determined. From this the path of movement for C or any other point on body BAC may be determined.

Examples of application.

In biomechanical research the instant center of rotation is observed for the functioning of the joints in the upper and lower extremities. For example, in analysing the knee, ankle, or shoulder joints. Such knowledge assists in developing artificial joints and prosthesis, such as elbow or finger joints.  Study of the joints of horses: ""...velocity vectors determined from the instant centers of rotation indicated that the joint surfaces slide on each other."".  Studies on turning a vessel moving through water.  The braking characteristics of a car may be improved by varying the design of a brake pedal mechanism.  Designing the suspension of a bicycle, or of a car.  In the case of the coupler link in a four-bar linkage, such as a double wishbone suspension in front view, the perpendiculars to the velocity lie along the links joining the grounded link to the coupler link. This construction is used to establish the kinematic Roll centre of the suspension.

The instant center of rotation, also called "instantaneous velocity center", or also "instantaneous center" or "instant center", is the point fixed to a body undergoing planar movement that has zero velocity at a particular instant of time. At this instant, the velocity vectors of the trajectories of other points in the body generate a circular field around this point which is identical to what is generated by a pure rotation.

Der Momentanpol ist bei einer ebenen Bewegung eines starren Körpers derjenige "Raumpunkt", um den der Körper im Moment (Zeitpunkt, infinitesimal) als nur drehend angesehen und behandelt werden kann. Die Geschwindigkeit im Momentanpol ist im betrachteten Augenblick null oder wäre es, wenn sich der Starrkörper bis zum Momentanpol ausdehnte, siehe Bild.


Life.

Josef Frank was of Jewish ancestry. His parents, merchant Ignaz (Isak) Frank (October 17, 1851 – January 27, 1921 Vienna) and the Vienna-born Jenny (September 3, 1861–10 February 1941 Vienna), were originally from Heves in Hungary. He designed his parents' grave in the old Jewish section of Vienna's Central Cemetery (Group 19, Row 58, Grave No.52). He studied architecture at the Vienna University of Technology. He then taught at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts from 1919 to 1925. He was a founding member of the Vienna Werkbund, initiator and leader of the 1932 project Werkbundsiedlung in Vienna. In 1933, he emigrated to Sweden, where he gained citizenship in 1939. He was the most prestigious designer in the Stockholm design company Svenskt Tenn (Swedish Pewter). He remained in Sweden after 1945 despite attempts to return him to Vienna. The Vienna Circle manifesto lists three of his publications in a bibliography of closely related authors. He was also the brother of the physicist, mathematician, and philosopher Philipp Frank.

Legacy.

Josef Frank dealt early on with public housing and housing estates. Contrary to most other architects of the interwar period in Vienna, he took the idea of settlement and not the creation of so-called super blocks in the municipal housing. He also rejected facade decor and clearly preferred functional forms. The Viennese architect and furniture designer Luigi Blue refers to him as one of his idols. In addition to his architectural work he created numerous designs for furniture, furnishings, fabrics, wallpaper and carpet. He has been a painter, as well.  An exhibition of his textile designs is to be held from January to May 2017, at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.

Josef Frank (July 15, 1885 – January 8, 1967) was an Austrian-born architect, artist, and designer who adopted Swedish citizenship in the latter half of his life. Together with Oskar Strnad, he created the Vienna School of Architecture, and its concept of Modern houses, housing and interiors.

Josef Frank (* 15. Juli 1885 in Baden bei Wien; † 8. Jänner 1967 in Stockholm) war österreichisch-schwedischer Architekt. Gemeinsam mit Oskar Strnad schuf er die Wiener Schule der Architektur, die ein eigenes Konzept der Moderne von Häusern, Wohnungen und Inneneinrichtungen vertrat.


Relocation and early battles.

Mindarus first took command of the fleet at Miletus, where the satrap Tissaphernes had promised the Spartans they would be joined by the sizeable Phoenician fleet under his command. After several months of waiting, Mindarus realized that no such fleet would be forthcoming, and made the strategic decision to relocate his fleet to the Hellespont, where the satrap Pharnabazus had promised him greater support than he was receiving from Tissaphernes.  Mindarus set out from Miletus with 73 ships; a storm forced him ashore at Chios, but he remained there only a few days. Sailing with haste to avoid an Athenian fleet that had been brought up from Samos to oppose him, he succeeded in bringing his fleet between Lesbos and the mainland and into the Hellespont, where he brushed aside a small Athenian fleet and joined the few allied ships in the region in the Spartan base at Abydos. With this strategic move, Mindarus had placed his fleet in position to cut off the Athenian grain supply, and had forced the Athenian fleet to challenge him on ground of his choosing.  From this point onwards, however, Mindarus' luck turned sour. Five days after his arrival at Abydos, the Athenians sailed into the narrow waters of the Hellespont to engage his numerically superior force. In the resulting battle, Peloponnesian victory appeared within grasp in the early going, as the Athenian left was cut off and the centre driven ashore on the promontory of Cynossema; superior seamanship on the part of the Athenian captains and sailors, however, turned the tide of the battle, and Mindarus' fleet fled back to Abydos with losses.  Mindarus summoned reinforcements to him at Abydos, but suffered a second defeat when a small group of ships sailing to join him there was trapped by the Athenian fleet; Mindarus sailed out to rescue them, but, after a hard fought battle, the arrival of Alcibiades with Athenian reinforcements turned the battle into a rout, with the Peloponnesians again suffering losses in their flight back to Abydos.

Cyzicus.

Over the next several months, Mindarus, with financial support from Pharnabazus, rebuilt his fleet to 80 triremes by the spring of 410 BC. Sailing eastward to Cyzicus, he besieged the city with the assistance of Pharnabazus' army and took it by storm. The Athenians pursued him, and, in the waters off Cyzicus, enticed Mindarus into a fatal trap. While Thrasybulus and Theramenes waited out of sight with a number of triremes, Alcibiades took forty ships and showed himself before Cyzicus. Mindarus took the bait, setting out with his entire fleet in pursuit. When he was sufficiently far from shore, the hidden Athenian forces emerged to cut off his line of retreat. Surrounded, Mindarus led his ships in a desperate flight towards a beach south-west of the city, the one direction open to him. Landing with Alcibiades' force hot on their heels, Mindarus' men, and Pharnabazus' troops who had come up to support them, fought to prevent the Athenians from towing their ships out to sea. Initially, the Athenians were driven back, but Thrasybulus and Theramenes, bringing up their forces and the Athenian land forces from the rear, were eventually able to drive the Persians off. Undaunted, Mindarus divided his force to face the threat now pressing from both sides, but when he fell in the fighting, Peloponnesian resistance dissolved; all the fleet's ships were either destroyed or captured.  In the wake of this resounding defeat, Mindarus' name was immortalized in one of the most famous examples of laconic brevity: a dispatch from the Spartan survivors was intercepted by the Athenians. It read: ""The ships are lost. Mindarus is dead. The men are starving. We wonder what is to be done"."

Mindarus was a Spartan admiral who commanded the Peloponnesian fleet in 411 and 410 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. Successful in shifting the theatre of war into the Hellespont, he then experienced a string of defeats; in the third and final of these, he was killed and the entire Peloponnesian fleet was captured or destroyed.

Mindaros († 410 v. Chr. bei Kyzikos) war ein spartanischer Feldherr des fünften vorchristlichen Jahrhunderts. Mindaros war im Peloponnesischen Krieg (431–404 v. Chr.) im Jahr 411/410 v. Chr. als Nauarch Oberbefehlshaber der spartanischen Flotte. Er griff gezielt athenische Stützpunkte am Hellespont an, um die für Attika lebenswichtigen Getreidelieferungen aus dem Schwarzmeergebiet zu unterbinden. In mehreren Seeschlachten, darunter der Schlacht von Kynossema, kämpfte er mit wechselndem Erfolg gegen den athenischen Feldherrn Alkibiades. In der Schlacht von Kyzikos am Südufer des Marmarameers gegen die Athener unter Alkibiades fiel Mindaros im Jahr 410 v. Chr.


History.

The predecessor of this design, whose formation was prompted by the then police chief Guido von Madai in the early 1870s and had to give way to the Café Achteck, had the colloquial name "Madai-Tempel". The emerging competition in 1889 was a rounder, but still octagonal, model from the entrepreneurial group Asten and Hirschberg, known locally as "Rotunde" because of the similarity to a rotunda.  The first two Rospatt-type plants were erected in 1879 on Weddingplatz and Arminiusplatz. The officially named Waidmannslust-type soon took over the neighbouring regions of Berlin. Initially, public toilets were male-only, and it was only around the year 1900 that there were women's toilets in public. The design from 1878 continued to be manufactured into the 1900s, for instance, the Cafe Achteck at Stephanplatz in Stephankiez was erected in 1899. By 1900, there were at least a hundred across Berlin.  Until 1997, all facilities were the responsibility of Berliner Stadtreinigung, and since then the street furniture supplier Wall AG. Since the early 1990s, some copies have been renovated and are back in operation, including, since 2000, the unit at Stephanplatz. The historically appropriate restoration of a Café Achteck cost about 250,000 DM. Some of the facilities have been rebuilt differently, with separate male and female modern-style toilets set up within the old ironworks.  There are now only about a dozen remaining, as well as two much larger rectangular examples. The large rectangular example at Schlesisches Tor U-Bahn station has been repurposed as a hamburger bar.

Café Achteck (Octagon Café) is a common local slang for certain public urinals in Berlin. These urinals consist of seven ornamentally decorated, green-painted cast iron wall segments, arranged onto an octagonal floor plan, provide standing room for seven men, and the eighth side is the entrance. The roof is crowned by an eight-sided ventilation hood. In front of the entrance, there is a privacy screen of at least three segments. The design for these urinals came from the city councillor Carl Theodor Rospatt in 1878. In 1920 there were about 142 of these urinals in Greater Berlin, and today about a dozen preserved specimens can be found.

Café Achteck ist eine scherzhafte Bezeichnung für bestimmte öffentliche Pissoirs in Berlin. Diese "Bedürfnisanstalten" bestehen aus sieben grün lackierten gusseisernen Wandsegmenten und bilden einen achteckigen Grundriss. Die achte Wand fehlt und bildet den Eingang, bei dem ein davor stehender Paravent aus mindestens drei Segmenten einen Sichtschutz bildet. Der Entwurf für diese Bedürfnisanstalten stammte vom Stadtbaurat Carl Theodor Rospatt aus dem Jahr 1878. Im Jahr 1920 gab es etwa 142 von diesen Pissoirs in Groß-Berlin. Auch heute sind noch einige erhaltene Exemplare im Stadtbild zu finden. Sie bieten im Innern Stehplätze für sieben männliche Personen.


Plot.

Ludovic Cruchot (played by Louis de Funès), a highly uptight gendarme in a small French village, has been reassigned to the seaside commune of Saint-Tropez under the orders of command sergeant major Gerber (played by Michel Galabru), who takes no lip from his outspoken new subordinate. In addition, his daughter Nicole quickly adapts to the life in the city and, much to Cruchot's traditional-minded chagrin, begins to mix with the local carefree youths who often blatantly defy her father's official authority.  Soon, the gendarmes find themselves confronted with a major problem: a group of persistent nudists. Any attempts to arrest them "in flagrante delicto" is foiled by a lookout; but after several failures, Cruchot manages to hatch a master plan and succeeds in getting all the nude swimmers arrested.  Later, Cruchot discovers that his daughter and her boyfriend have stolen and crashed an expensive Mustang sports car into a ditch. Unbeknown to any of them, the car belongs to a gang of robbers who have stolen a Rembrandt painting, which is still in the trunk. Cruchot manages to get the car out, but realizes that the objects he threw out of the car to fix a puncture, including the painting, are valuable items.  The man who pretends to own the painting then kidnaps Cruchot, but Nicole and her friends knock out the group that kidnapped her father, and the painting is returned to its rightful owner.

Reception.

The film was the most popular movie at the French box office in 1964.

The Troops of St. Tropez (; literally "The Policeman from Saint-Tropez") is a 1964 French comedy film with Louis de Funès. The film mostly takes place in Saint-Tropez, a fashionable resort on the French Riviera. Louis de Funès plays Ludovic Cruchot, the sergeant of gendarmerie of Saint-Tropez. It is the first film in "The gendarme" series, and has spawned five sequels.

Der Gendarm von Saint Tropez ist eine französische Filmkomödie mit Louis de Funès aus dem Jahr 1964 und der erste einer sechsteiligen Reihe von Filmen um den Gendarmen "Ludovic Cruchot". Regie führte Jean Girault. Der Film startete am 27. Mai 1966 in den bundesdeutschen Kinos.


History.

Baseball was first introduced to Japan as a school sport in 1872 by American Horace Wilson, an English professor at the Kaisei Academy in Tokyo. The first organized adult baseball team, called the Shimbashi Athletic Club, was established in 1878.  At a match played in Yokohama in 1896, a team from Tokyo's Ichikō high school convincingly defeated a team of resident foreigners from the Yokohama Country & Athletic Club. The contemporary Japanese language press lauded the team as national heroes and news of this match greatly contributed to the popularity of baseball as a school sport. Tsuneo Matsudaira in his "Sports and Physical Training in Modern Japan" address to The Japan Society of the UK in London in 1907 related that after the victory, "the game spread, like a fire in a dry field, in summer, all over the country, and some months afterwards, even in children in primary schools in the country far away from Tōkyō were to be seen playing with bats and balls."

Professional baseball.

Professional baseball in Japan first started in the 1920s, but it was not until the Greater Japan Tokyo Baseball Club (大日本東京野球クラブ Dai-nippon Tōkyō Yakyū Kurabu) a team of all-stars established in 1934 by media mogul Matsutarō Shōriki, that the modern professional game found continued success—especially after Shōriki's club matched up against an American All-Star team that included Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, and Charlie Gehringer. While prior Japanese all-star contingents had disbanded, Shōriki went pro with this group, playing in an independent league.  The first Japanese professional league was formed in 1936, and by 1950 had grown big enough to divide into two leagues, known as Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). It is called, meaning "professional baseball". The Central League included the established teams, and the Pacific League was made up of new teams and players. The Pacific League uses the designated hitter style of play. The pro baseball season is eight months long, with games beginning in April. Teams play 144 games (as compared to the 162 games of the American major league teams), followed by a playoff system, culminating in a championship held in October, known as the Japan Series.  Corporations with interests outside baseball own most of the teams. Historically, teams have been identified with their owners, not where the team is based. However, in recent years, many owners have chosen to include a place name in the names of their teams; the majority of the 12 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) teams are currently named with both corporate and geographical place names.

Differences from Major League Baseball.

The rules are essentially those of Major League Baseball (MLB), but technical elements are slightly different: The Nippon league uses a smaller baseball, strike zone, and playing field. Five Nippon league teams have fields whose small dimensions would violate the American Official Baseball Rules.  Also unlike MLB, game length is limited and tie games are allowed. In the regular season, the limit is twelve innings, while in the playoffs, there is a fifteen-inning limit (games in Major League Baseball, by comparison, continue until there is a winner). Additionally, due to power limits imposed because of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the 2011 NPB regular season further limited game length by adding a restriction that no inning could begin more than three hours and thirty minutes after the first pitch.  NPB teams have active rosters of 28 players, as opposed to 25 in MLB (26 on days of scheduled day-night doubleheaders). However, the game roster has the same 25-player limit as MLB. Before each game, NPB teams must designate three players from the active roster who will not appear in that contest. A team cannot have more than four foreign players on a 25-man game roster, although there is no limit on the number of foreign players that it may sign. If there are four, they cannot all be pitchers nor all be position players. This limits the cost and competition for expensive players of other nationalities, and is similar to rules in many European sports leagues' roster limits on non-European players.  In each of the two Nippon Professional Baseball leagues, teams with the best winning percentage go on to a stepladder-format playoff (3 vs. 2, winner vs. 1). Occasionally, a team with more total wins has been seeded below a team that had more ties and fewer losses and, therefore, had a better winning percentage. The winners of each league compete in the Japan Series.

Strike of 2004.

On 18 September 2004, professional baseball players went on a two-day strike, the first strike in the history of the league, to protest the proposed merger between the Orix BlueWave and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes and the failure of the owners to agree to create a new team to fill the void resulting from the merger. The strike was settled on 23 September 2004, when the owners agreed to grant a new franchise in the Pacific League and to continue the two-league, 12-team system. The new team, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, began play in the 2005 season.

High school baseball.

In Japan, generally refers to the two annual baseball tournaments played by high schools nationwide culminating in a final showdown at Hanshin Kōshien Stadium in Nishinomiya. They are organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation in association with Mainichi Shimbun for the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament in the spring (also known as "Spring Kōshien") and Asahi Shimbun for the National High School Baseball Championship in the summer (also known as "Summer Kōshien").  These nationwide tournaments enjoy widespread popularity, arguably equal to or greater than professional baseball. Qualifying tournaments are often televised locally and each game of the final stage at Kōshien is televised nationally on NHK. The tournaments have become a national tradition, and large numbers of students and parents travel from hometowns to cheer for their local team. It is a common sight to see players walking off the field in tears after being eliminated from the tournament by a loss.

Industrial baseball.

Amateur baseball leagues exist all over Japan, with many teams sponsored by companies. Amateur baseball is governed by the Japan Amateur Baseball Association (JABA). Players on these teams are employed by their sponsoring companies and do not receive salaries as baseball players but as company employees. The best teams in these circuits are determined via the Intercity Baseball Tournament and the Industrial League National Tournament.  The level of play in these leagues is very competitive; Industrial League players are often selected to represent Japan in international tournaments and Major League Baseball players such as Hideo Nomo (Shin-Nitetsu Sakai), Junichi Tazawa (Nippon Oil) and Kosuke Fukudome (Nihon Seimei), have been discovered by professional clubs while playing industrial baseball.

International play.

Japan has won the World Baseball Classic twice since the tournament was created. In the 2006 World Baseball Classic, they defeated Cuba in the finals and in 2009 World Baseball Classic Japan defeated South Korea in 10 innings to defend their title.  The national team is consistently ranked one of the best in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.

Baseball was first introduced to Japan in 1872 and is currently among the country's most popular participatory and spectator sports. The first professional competitions emerged in the 1920s. The current organized sports circuit, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), consists of two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League, with six teams each. High school baseball also enjoys a particularly strong public profile and fan base (much like college football in the US); the Japanese High School Baseball Championship ("Summer "Kōshien"") each August is nationally televised and includes regional champions from all of Japan's 47 prefectures.

Baseball (jap., "yakyū", dt. „Feld-Ball“) ist eine der beliebtesten Sportarten in Japan seit seiner Einführung aus Amerika 1872. Neben zwei Profiligen wird es im ganzen Land an Hochschulen sowie Mittel- und Oberschulen gespielt. Die Oberschulen ermitteln zweimal im Jahr im Kōshien-Stadion in Nishinomiya die beste japanische Schulmannschaft.


Applications.

Geofencing, used with child location services, can notify parents if a child leaves a designated area.  Geofencing used with locationized firearms can restrict those firearms to fire only in locations where their firing is permitted, thereby making them unable to be used elsewhere.  Geofencing is critical to telematics. It allows users of the system to draw zones around places of work, customer's sites and secure areas. These geo-fences when crossed by an equipped vehicle or person can trigger a warning to the user or operator via SMS or email.  In some companies, geofencing is used by the human resource department to monitor employees working in special locations especially those doing field works. Using a geofencing tool, an employee is allowed to log his or her attendance using a GPS-enabled device when within a designated perimeter.  Other applications include sending an alert if a vehicle is stolen, and notifying rangers when wildlife stray into farmland.  Geo-fence can be used for location based messaging for tourist safety and communication.  Geofencing, in a security strategy model, provides security to wireless local area networks. This is done by using predefined borders (e.g., an office space with borders established by positioning technology attached to a specially programmed server). The office space becomes an authorized location for designated users and wireless mobile devices.  In 2015, US Senator Charles Schumer proposed a law requiring drone manufacturers to build geofencing constraints into unmanned aerial vehicle navigation systems that would override the commands of the unsophisticated operator, preventing the device from flying into protected airspace.  Applications of Geofencing extend to Advertising & Marketing. Geofencing solution providers allow marketers and advertisers to precisely choose the exact geo-location that their ads show up on. Geofencing uses different types of targeting to identify geo-location such as zip codes, street addresses, GPS coordinates using latitude and longitude, as well as IP targeting.  Geofencing enables competitive marketing tactics for advertisers and marketers to grab the attention of in-market shoppers in their competitive store location, large scale events such as concerts, sports events, conferences, etc. in stadiums, convention centers, malls, outlets, parks, neighborhoods.  For example, a local auto-dealership builds a virtual boundary within a few square miles from its dealership's location to target car buyers within the same neighborhood. This way they limit their ad spending on prospects who are more likely to purchase in order to get a better ROI. Using tracking technologies to identify devices where the ads were shown, geofencing solution providers are able to provide walk-in attribution for their advertising. This means that using a geofencing solution, companies can now track the customers who walked into the showroom after seeing the ad. This level of attribution provides better visibility and analytics for marketers to spend their advertising budget wisely.  A local service business may only be interested in (a) likely clients (b) within a service region or catchment basin. Broadcasting or advertising more extensively brings irrelevant responses and wastes energy, time, money, and opportunity. Electronic advertising can identify and target only desired market objects.

A geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area. A geo-fence could be dynamically generated—as in a radius around a point location, or a geo-fence can be a predefined set of boundaries (such as school zones or neighborhood boundaries).

Mit Geofencing (Kunstwort aus englisch "geographic" „geographisch“ und "fence" „Zaun“) wird das automatisierte Auslösen einer Aktion durch das Überschreiten einer gedachten Begrenzung auf der Erdoberfläche oder in der Luft bezeichnet. In den meisten Fällen definiert die Begrenzung eine geschlossene Fläche, so dass zwischen "innen" und "außen" unterschieden werden kann. Beispielsweise kann beim Eintritt in die Fläche oder beim Verlassen der Fläche eine Benachrichtigung ausgelöst werden. Das beobachtete Objekt muss dazu in regelmäßigen Abständen seine Position senden oder die Abfrage seiner Position von außen ermöglichen. Diese Ortsbestimmung kann über das Mobilfunksystem auf Funkzellenebene oder koordinatenbezogen über ein Navigationssatellitensystem erfolgen.


Geography.

The Tana River, which rises in Mount Kenya east of Nyeri, flows through the Garissa. The Bour-Algi Giraffe Sanctuary, situated 5 km south of Garissa, is home to endangered wildlife including the Rothschild giraffe, gerenuk and other herbivores including Kirk's dik-dik, lesser kudu, warthog and waterbuck.

Demographics.

The town recorded a population of 119,696 in the 2009 census, which rose to 163,399 in 2019. Most of Garissa's inhabitants are ethnic Somali. These are further sub-divided into clans, with the Daarood sub-clan of the Somali Ogaden especially well represented. There are also a small number of other minority ethnic groups, commonly referred to as "corner tribes".

Economy.

Garissa is a market center and the commercial hub of the Garissa County. The town has a university, Garissa University College and a number of colleges including Medical College. In December 2019, the Garissa Solar Power Station was inaugurated, providing grid power to Garissa town.  Banks with a presence in Garissa include the Gulf African Bank situated in the Al-Wayf Quran House, the Postbank in the Garissa Shopping Centre, and the First Community Bank (FCB) in the Bajwed Building. Other banks with branches in the city include Barclays Bank, Equity Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank, National Bank of Kenya, Chase Bank and Cooperative Bank of Kenya.  Livestock production is a significant part of the town's economy. Between 2005 and 2007, Garissa cattle producers earned over 1.8 billion shillings in sales in domestic and overseas markets. Construction on a new abattoir also began in October 2007. In terms of livestock imports, most of Garissa's cattle comes from cross-border trade between Somali livestock merchants.

2015 terrorist attack.

On 2 April 2015, gunmen stormed the Garissa University College, killing 147 people and injuring at least 79. The militant group and Al-Qaeda offshoot, Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack. The gunmen took over 700 students hostage, freeing Muslims and killing those who identified as Christians. The siege ended the same day, when all four of the attackers were killed. Five men were later arrested in connection with the attack, and a bounty was placed for the arrest of a suspected organizer, Mohamed Mahmoud, also known as Dulyadeyn. Dulyadeyn was later killed by U.S.-trained Somali commandos from the Somali National Army on the night of May 31, 2016 in Bulo Gadud, a town loyal to Al-Shabaab, about 30 kilometers north of the port of Kismayo in Somalia.  The Garissa University attack was the second deadliest terrorist attack in Kenyan history since independence (after the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi, in which 213 people were killed).

Governance.

As the capital of Garissa County, Garissa is the seat of the County Government of Garissa as well as the County Assembly. The Governor of the county is Ali Bunow Korane. The city is represented by Aden Bare Duale, a Somali Member of Parliament for the Garissa Township Constituency in the National Assembly of Kenya. He was elected to the position in the Kenya National Assembly through the United Republican Party, an affiliate party of the Jubilee Alliance. He currently serves as the Majority Leader in the Parliament.

Accommodation.

Several establishments in the city offer accommodation. Among these hotels and guest houses are the Almond Hotel, Xiddig Hotel and Nomad Palace Hotel.

Climate.

Garissa has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification "BSh"). Garissa's landscape is mostly arid, desert terrain. The city lies along the Tana River, and has a hot climate due to the low elevation and distance from cooler coastal areas. The daytime temperature typically rises above every day, but cools down every night.

Garissa () is the capital of Garissa County, Kenya. It is situated in the former North Eastern Province. Residential areas in Garissa are called "bulas". The main bulas are Bula Taqwa, Mzuri, Garissa yarey, Bula punda, Bula sheikh and Bula cadan

Garissa ist die Hauptstadt des Garissa Countys im ostafrikanischen Staat Kenia. Sie liegt im Bereich der großen Ebenen des kenianischen Ostens am Fluss Tana, etwa 40 Kilometer südlich des Äquators. Bis zu deren Auflösung war Garissa die Hauptstadt der Provinz North-Eastern.


Research station.

The station was selected in 1949 by the chief of mission Pierre Sicaud because of its sheltered position which was suitable for a runway that was never built. From 1955 to 1957, and using Australian equipment, a French slaughterhouse company called Sidap constructed a sealing factory. The factory opened following the first marriage on the islands, that of Marc Pechenart and Martine Raulin on 16 December 1957. The factory closed in 1960, and the equipment was sent to Réunion in 2005. The station has about 45 inhabitants in winter; the population can rise to more than 120 in summer.  Port-aux-Français has a shallow seaport and a quay for unloading supply ships, including the "Marion Dufresne". The station, in addition to logistics necessary to its operation, consists of scientific laboratories (biology, geophysics), technical installations (meteorology, telecommunications, satellite tracking, et cetera), a cinema and a small medical centre.

Tidal gauges.

The base of Port-aux-Français is equipped with a recently installed marigraphic station, having 3 measuring devices: The two marigraphs and the radar send data to a local server, which relays them hourly to the Internet via the Argos satellite system.

Climate.

Port-aux-Français has an ocean moderated (Köppen climate classification "ET"). Temperatures (without windchill) tend to remain fairly stable throughout the year, rarely reaching over or falling below. The average temperature in February, the warmest month, is with a maximum of during the day and during the night. In winter, August and July are the coldest months, averaging during the day and at night.  Snowfall is possible in all months, though more common in winter. The climate is windier than in most places, with a recorded gust of. The lowest recorded temperature was on 11 August 2014, which beats the old record of set in June 1953. The highest temperature was on 30 January 1959.

Port-aux-Français is the capital settlement of the Kerguelen Islands, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, in the south Indian Ocean. The port station is located on the Gulf of Morbihan. The station has about 45 inhabitants in winter; the population can rise to more than 120 in summer. It is the nearest landfall to the majority of the mainland United States of America in an antipode world map.

Port-aux-Français (Abkürzung "PAF") ist eine ganzjährig bewohnte Forschungsstation auf den zu Frankreich gehörenden Kerguelen in der Subantarktis. Auf der Station, die 1949 als permanente Basis eingerichtet wurde, überwintern in der Regel rund 60 Personen, während die Bevölkerung im Sommer bis auf 120 ansteigen kann. Die Station ist zugleich Hauptort der Kerguelen.


Ornamental use.

The blue jacaranda has been cultivated in almost every part of the world where there is no risk of frost; established trees, however, tolerate brief spells of temperatures down to around. In the US, east of Los Angeles, where winter temperatures can dip to for several-hour periods, the mature tree survives with little or no visible damage. Even when young trees are damaged by a hard frost and suffer die back, they will often rebound from the roots and grow in a shrub-like, multi-stemmed form. However, flowering and growth will be stunted if the jacaranda is grown directly on the California coast, where a lack of heat combined with cool ocean winds discourages flowering.  The jacaranda is regarded as an invasive species in parts of South Africa and Australia, the latter of which has seen the blue jacaranda preventing growth of native species.

Description.

The tree grows to a height of up to. Its bark is thin and grey-brown, smooth when the tree is young but eventually becoming finely scaly. The twigs are slender and slightly zigzag; they are a light reddish-brown. The flowers are up to long, and are grouped in panicles. They appear in spring and early summer, and last for up to two months. They are followed by woody seed pods, about in diameter, which contain numerous flat, winged seeds. The blue jacaranda is cultivated even in areas where it rarely blooms, for the sake of its large compound leaves. These are up to long and bi-pinnately compound, with leaflets little more than long. There is a white form available from nurseries.  The unusually shaped, tough pods, which are across, are often gathered, cleaned and used to decorate Christmas trees and dried arrangements.

Wood.

The wood is pale grey to whitish, straight-grained, relatively soft and knot-free. It dries without difficulty and is often used in its green or wet state for turnery and bowl carving.

Taxonomy.

The taxonomic status of the blue jacaranda is unsettled. ITIS regards the older name, "J. acutifolia", as a synonym for "J. mimosifolia". However, some modern taxonomists maintain the distinction between these two species, regarding them as geographically distinct: "J. acutifolia" is endemic to Peru, while "J. mimosifolia" is native to Bolivia and Argentina. If this distinction is made, cultivated forms should be treated as "J. mimosifolia", since they are believed to derive from Argentine stock. Other synonyms for the blue jacaranda are "J. chelonia" and "J. ovalifolia". The blue jacaranda belongs to the section "Monolobos" of the genus "Jacaranda".

Places known for their jacarandas.

The city of Grafton on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, is famous for its jacarandas. Each year in late October and early November, the city has a jacaranda festival.  In the United States, the jacaranda is grown extensively in California, the Southwest, southeast Texas and Florida. Jacaranda can be found throughout most of Southern California, where they were imported by the horticulturalist Kate Sessions. They are also planted as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area and along the frost-free coastal regions of Northern California. Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California are known for them.  In Europe the jacaranda is grown on the Mediterranean coast of Spain (it is prominent in the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and Andalusia, with especially large specimens present in Valencia, Alicante and Seville, and usually with earlier flowering than in the rest of Europe), in southern Portugal (notably in Lisbon), southern Italy (Naples and Cagliari have many mature specimens), southern Greece (especially Athens) and the islands of Malta and Cyprus. It was introduced to Cape Town by Baron von Ludwig about 1829. In Africa jacarandas are especially present in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia; Nairobi, the capital of Kenya; and Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

Popular culture references.

Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, is popularly and poetically known as Jacaranda City or Jakarandastad in Afrikaans because of the large number of trees, which turn the city blue when they flower in spring. The name Jakarandastad is frequently used in Afrikaans songs, such as in "Staan Op" by Kurt Darren. The jacaranda trees, far from their native Brazil, bloom every October. Water scarcity has South Africa trying to eradicate foreign species of plants and trees, including the jacaranda. Acknowledging the tree's popularity with locals, the government has announced that it will not remove the trees, but has banned the planting of new jacarandas.  The Australian Christmas song "Christmas Where The Gum Trees Grow" makes reference to jacaranda trees, as the blooms are only seen in summer time—as the song explains, "When the bloom of the jacaranda tree is here, Christmas time is near". The University of Queensland in Brisbane is particularly well known for its ornamental jacarandas, and a common maxim among students holds that the blooming of the jacarandas signals the time for serious study for end-of-year exams.  In Argentina, writer Alejandro Dolina, in his book "Crónicas del Ángel Gris" ("Chronicles of the Gray Angel"), tells the legend of a massive "jacarandá" tree, planted in Plaza Flores in Buenos Aires, that was able to whistle tango songs on demand. María Elena Walsh dedicated her song "Canción del Jacarandá" to the tree. Miguel Brascó's folk song "Santafesino de veras" mentions the aroma of "jacarandá" as a defining feature of the littoral Santa Fe Province (along with the willows growing by the rivers).

Folklore.

Purple panic is a term used by students in south-east Queensland for student stress during the period of late spring and early summer. The "purple" refers to the flowers of Jacaranda trees, which bloom at that time and have been extensively planted throughout that district. The "panic" refers to the need to be completing assignments and studying for final exams.  The Jacaranda when in bloom is also known as the exam tree.  Conversely, while the time of year the jacarandas bloom in Pretoria coincides with the year-end exams at the University of Pretoria, legend has it there that if a flower from a jacaranda drops on a student's head, the student will pass all their exams.

Jacaranda mimosifolia is a sub-tropical tree native to south-central South America that has been widely planted elsewhere because of its attractive and long-lasting pale indigo flowers. It is also known as the jacaranda, blue jacaranda, black poui, or fern tree. Older sources call it "J. acutifolia", but it is nowadays more usually classified as "J. mimosifolia". In scientific usage, the name "jacaranda" refers to the genus "Jacaranda", which has many other members, but in horticultural and everyday usage, it nearly always means the blue jacaranda.

Der Palisanderholzbaum ("Jacaranda mimosifolia") ist eine Pflanzenart aus der Gattung "Jacaranda" innerhalb der Familie der Trompetenbaumgewächse (Bignoniaceae). Sie stammt aus Südamerika und wird in frostfreien Gebieten fast weltweit als Zierpflanze verwendet.


Industrialist and philanthropist.

Moriz was born in Ottakring, Lower Austria (then a suburb of Vienna, now a city district), the son of Ignaz Kuffner, member of a Jewish industrialist dynasty from Lundenburg, who (together with his cousin Jacob) had taken over the brewery in Ottakring in 1850. Ignaz had been mayor of Ottakring from 1869 to 1876, and was elevated to minor Austrian nobility ("Edler von Kuffner") in 1878.  Moriz studied chemistry at the K.K. Polytechnisches Institut (the predecessor of the Technical University of Vienna). When his father died in 1882, Moriz upgraded and greatly extended the brewery he had inherited. In 1902 he transformed it into a joint stock company, with his cousins Wilhelm Kuffner and Karl Kuffner de Diószegh as partners. He was also president of the sugar refinery in Diószeg in Western Slovakia and of the Steinbruck brewery in Budapest; was among the largest owners of real estate in Vienna; owned significant collections of art including many works by Albrecht Dürer; and was a founding member of the Musikverein. From 1900 to 1919 he was an executive director of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien. In addition, Moriz was an enthusiastic and highly reputed alpinist who scaled most of the alpine summits of 4,000 m height and above, establishing new routes on the Eiger, Mont Blanc, Mont Pelvoux, Mont Maudit (on which the well-known Kuffner or Frontier ridge is named after him) and others.  On top of all this Moriz von Kuffner was so fascinated by astronomy that he sponsored the construction, equipment and operation of an observatory on some of his real estate on the slope of the Gallitzinberg where at the time of its construction (1884-1892) the Wienerwald reached almost down into Ottakring. This Kuffner observatory is his most important surviving legacy. Kuffner named asteroids 242 Kriemhild and 243 Ida, by courtesy of their discoverer Johann Palisa.  During the same period, in 1887, Moriz had a representative residence (the Palais Kuffner) built in Ottakring. It quickly became an attraction for Viennese society, culture, and politics.  World War I dealt a significant economic blow to the Kuffner family, and essentially ended the era of their sponsorship. Brewery product sales recovered only very slowly, and profits never returned to the levels seen during the "century of the brewers."

Mountaineering.

During the 1880s and 1890s Moriz von Kuffner became one of the leading mountaineers in Austria. As a keen and recognised Alpinist he conquered most of the Alpine four-thousanders, blazing new routes, some of which were later named after him, like the Kuffer Ridge ("Kuffnergrat") on Mont Maudit and the Kuffner Pillar ("Kuffnerpfeiler") on the Piz Palü. He was accompanied on most of his expeditions by mountain guides, Alexander Burgener, J. M. Biner (also Biener), J. Furrer, A. Kalbermatten, Cl. Perren, Christian Ranggetiner, E. Rubesoir, J. P. Ruppen and Martin Schocher.  Selection of first ascents:

Forced emigration and death.

The year 1938 was disastrous for the 84-year-old Moriz von Kuffner in multiple ways. In January his wife Elsa and then in February his eldest son Ignaz died, and he himself fell ill. Moreover, after the "Anschluss" of Austria to the Third Reich the Kuffner family was subjected to the full range of harassments and physical threats which the newly empowered National Socialists could mount against Jewish industrialists. On March 13, 1938 Moriz averted a forceful attempt by a Sturmabteilung to take over the brewery only by placing his single non-Jewish executive - the laboratory director - formally in charge of the company. In a desperate attempt to salvage whatever he could before the family had to leave Vienna, Moriz' son Stephan Kuffner negotiated the sale of the brewery to an "Aryan" industrialist for 14 million Schilling. Although this was much more than Jewish proprietors of comparable assets had to settle for, it represented only a fraction of the brewery's actual valuation at this time. The government approved the transaction on June 6, 1938 and immediately fined the new owner, Gustav Harmer, a penalty tax of 3 million Reichsmark for "attempts to disguise Jewish property."  With the assistance of a fellow alpinist Moriz von Kuffner - an already very old and very ill man - obtained an immigration permit for Switzerland. Of course he had to pay the "Reichsfluchtsteuer" (the emigration tax) before leaving the Third Reich; it amounted to 3 million Reichmark. Kuffner died on March 5, 1939 in Zürich's Hirslanden clinic and was interred at the Rehalp cemetery in the Weinegg district.

Post-war restitution.

The modalities of compensation which were negotiated with Kuffner's heirs after World War II have been cited as a positive example for the restitution of Jewish assets that were expropriated under the rule of National Socialism in Austria. The owners of the Ottakring brewery made contact with the Kuffner family as soon as 1945. In August 1950 an agreement was reached under which Moriz' seven entitled heirs received $440,000; Stephan Kuffner received Schwechat brewery stock worth one million Austrian Schillings. In return, the Kuffner family waived their rights to the Palais Kuffner. Those parts of the confiscated Kuffner library which had been incorporated into the Austrian National Library were restituted by the state.

The Kuffner foundation.

In 1960 Stephan Kuffner established the Moriz und Elsa von Kuffner foundation in Switzerland. It supports collaborative projects in remote Swiss mountain areas and nurse education.

Honors.

In 2006 the main-belt asteroid 12568 Kuffner was named in honor of Moriz von Kuffner's sponsorship of astronomy.

Moriz von Kuffner (January 30, 1854 – March 5, 1939) was a Jewish-Austrian industrialist, art collector, mountaineer and philanthropist. From the 1880s to the early 1910s he made a fortune in the brewery business, and became a significant sponsor of Vienna's social and cultural life as well as a mentor of astronomy. Moriz von Kuffner was forced to sell his Austrian assets and to leave Vienna in 1938.

Moriz Kuffner (später auch: Moritz; bis 1919: Edler von; * 30. Jänner 1854 in Ottakring bei Wien, heute 16. Wiener Gemeindebezirk; † 5. März 1939 in Zürich) war ein Wiener Brauunternehmer, Mäzen und Bergsteiger aus der österreichischen jüdischen Unternehmerfamilie Kuffner. Er war Inhaber der bis heute bestehenden Ottakringer Brauerei.


Name.

In 1884, Germany asserted control over the northeast quadrant of the island of New Guinea, which became part of the German colonial empire. The colony was initially managed by the Deutsche Neuguinea-Kompagnie or German New Guinea Company, a commercial enterprise that christened the territory Kaiser-Wilhelmsland. The first European ship to enter the Sepik estuary was the "Samoa" in May 1885. But the river, in fact, did not yet have a European name. It was thus termed "Kaiserin Augustafluß" by the explorer and scientist Otto Finsch, after the German Empress Augusta.  The word 'Sipik' was first reported by A. Full as one of two names for the watercourse—the other being 'Abschima'—used by the natives living at the mouth of the river. A few years later, Leonhard Schultze applied the term 'Sepik' to the entire watercourse, and it took, although Schultze also noted another name for the river, 'Azimar'. William Churchill, writing in the "Bulletin of the American Geographical Society", wrote "These are not names of the river, they are but names for small stretches of the river as known to the folk of this or that hamlet. We cannot reckon how many such names there may be in the course of more than 600 miles of the system." Since "there is no indigenous name for the whole stream", Mr, Churchill concluded that "This is clearly a case where a European designation may properly be applied." He advocated for Kaiserin-Augusta. But that name faded with the German loss of colonial control over the territory after World War One. The word "Sepik" henceforth became the official name of the river.  Of course, each language group had one or more of its own names for the river. For example, the Iatmul people call the river "Avusett", a compound of "bone" (ava) and "lake" (tset).

Description.

The river originates in the Victor Emanuel Range in the central highlands of Papua New Guinea. From its mountain headwaters near Telefomin, it travels north-west and leaves the mountains abruptly near Yapsei. From here it flows into Indonesian Papua, before turning back north-east for the majority of its journey following the great Central Depression. Along its course it receives numerous tributaries from the Bewani and Torricelli Mountains to the north and the Central Range to the south, including the Yuat River formed by the Lai and the Jimmi.  For most of the Sepik's length the river winds in serpentine fashion, like the Amazon River, to the Bismarck Sea off northern Papua New Guinea. Unlike many other large rivers, the Sepik has no delta whatsoever, but flows straight into the sea, about east of the town of Wewak. It is also navigable for most of its length.  The river's total length is and has a drainage basin of over. There is a 5-10 kilometres wide belt of active meanders formed by the river along most of its course that has created a floodplain up to 70 kilometres wide with extensive backwater swamps. There are around 1,500 Oxbow and other lakes in the floodplain, the largest of which are the Chambri Lakes.  The Sepik basin is largely an undisturbed environment, as there are no major urban settlements or mining and forestry activities in the river catchment. April Salome Forest Management Area is located in Sepik river basin.

Peoples and languages.

From the headwaters to the mouth, the river basin flows through the territories of spoken of dozens of Sepik languages, each corresponding to one or more culture regions of related villages that exhibit similar social characteristics. The largest language and culture group along the river is the Iatmul people.  The Sepik-Ramu basin is home to the Torricelli, Sepik, Lower Sepik-Ramu, Kwomtari, Leonhard Schultze, Upper Yuat, Yuat, Left May, and Amto-Musan language families, while local language isolates are Busa, Taiap, and Yadë. Torricelli, Sepik, and Lower Sepik-Ramu are by far the three most internally diverse language families of the region.

History.

Local villagers have lived along the river for many millennia and the river has formed the basis for food, transport and culture. There are at least 100 distinct villages and hamlets along the river, and most likely more.

Early exploration.

European contact with the river started in 1885, shortly after Germany established colonial control over German New Guinea or Kaiser Wilhelmsland. The river was named by Dr Otto Finsch, "Kaiserin Augusta", after the German Empress Augusta. The colony was initially managed by the German New Guinea Company (Neuguinea-Kompagnie). Finsch, in the ship"Samoa", entered only the estuary. He returned a year later, and the "Samoa" launched a smaller vessel that navigated about upstream from its mouth. For the most part, German interest in the river was mainly to explore its economic potential, to collect artifacts, and to recruit native laborers to work on coastal and island copra plantations.  In 1886 and 1887, further expeditions by steam boat were conducted by the Germans and over were explored. In 1887, the Samoa returned with another scientific expedition as well as a dozen Malays, eight men from the island of New Britain, and, two members of the Rhenish Missionary Society. In the 1890s, missionaries from the Society of the Divine Word or SVD begin to proselytize along the river. Europeans now increased their travels and presence along the river. In the early twentieth century, several major expeditions to the river include the Südsee-Expedition sponsored by the Hamburg Academic of Science, the German-Dutch Border Expedition and the Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss-Expedition These expeditions, mainly German, collected flora and fauna, studied local tribes, and produced the first maps. The station town of Angoram was established in 1913 as a base on the lower Sepik for explorations, but with the beginning of World War I, the explorations ceased.  After the first World War the Australian government took trusteeship of the German colony, creating the Territory of New Guinea, and the Sepik region came under their jurisdiction. During this period the Australians established a station on the middle Sepik at Ambunti to conduct further explorations.  In 1923 journalist Beatrice Grimshaw attached herself to an expedition, and claimed to be the first white woman to ascent the Sepik, commenting on the widespread use of "pidgen-English" as a "lingua franca". In 1935 Sir Walter McNicoll's the new administrator of the Territory of New Guinea travelled up length of the Sepik to "have a look at the river people and the kind of country along the banks".

Modern 'explorers'.

Despite the thorough exploration of the Sepik and the river basin by Europeans starting with the 1880s, and the extraordinarily keen knowledge of the region by local people and communities, many travelers today still see their tourism in the area as heroic efforts.  For example, in 2010 Clark Carter and Andrew Johnson traveled the length of the Sepik River from source to sea. They hiked to the source from Telefomin and kayaked down the upper reaches in an inflatable kayak. After nearly drowning in a section of rapids near Telefomin, they decided to walk through the jungle, following the river until it was calm enough to take a dugout canoe the remaining 900 kilometres to the Bismarck Sea. The expedition took six weeks. "The Sepik really appealed to me," said Carter, "because it conjures up images of remote tribes and wild animals. Probably the most alluring thing for me though, is just how un-travelled the area is."  Part of this fantasy is that the river tribes are often said to have "little contact with the modern world," as the "Los Angeles Times" put it as late as 2017. But that is just not true, and certainly not for a sizable tourist vessel operated by Coral Expeditions. Traveling the river is said to be "one of the last great adventures on earth".

World War II.

The Japanese held the area throughout most of the Second World War. By the end of the war though, the Japanese had been completely surrounded after Hollandia in Netherlands New Guinea was captured in April 1944 during Operations Reckless and Persecution and Aitape had fallen during the campaign in August 1944. The battle to defeat the remaining forces by the Australian Army was hard fought and drawn out due to the terrain.  The Australians eventually pushed the Japanese back to the village of Timbunke on the middle Sepik in July 1945. After an Australian RAAF plane landed from Timbunke the Japanese suspected that the villagers had collaborated with the Australians and proceeded to massacre 100 of the villagers.

Sepik art.

The Sepik is one of the most profuse and diverse art producing regions of the world. The numerous different tribes living along the river produce magnificent wood carvings, clay pottery and other art and craft. Different areas along the Sepik produce distinct art styles so an experience curator will be visually able to distinguish individual styles. The Sepik area is well known for its sculpture masks shields and other artifacts. Many tribes use "garamut" drums in rituals; the drums are formed from long, hollowed-out tree trunks carved into the shape of various totem animals.

The Sepik River is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and after the Fly and the Mamberamo the third largest by volume. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Sepik) and East Sepik, with a small section flowing through the Indonesian province of Papua.

Der Sepik (ausgesprochen „sii-pick“, ehemals ) ist der längste Fluss der Insel Neuguinea (Ozeanien) und mit über 1100 km Flusslauf einer der fünf längsten Flüsse Australien/Ozeaniens. Der Großteil des Flusses fließt durch die Provinzen Sandaun und Ostsepik in Papua-Neuguinea. Ein kleiner Teil fließt durch die indonesische Provinz Papua.


Geography.

Geusa is approximately 5 kilometres west of Merseburg. The Geiseltalsee is found to the south-west. The A38 goes through the neighborhood.

History.

The village of Geusa was mentioned as early as 880/890 in the Hersfeld Tithe Register () as "Husuw(n)a", or "Husiuwa". Additional nobility maps dating back to 1000 have the town marked as "Geußau", "Geißau", "Geusau", and "Geußen". It appears as "Gusau" in an August 9, 975 entry in the "Pago Hassaga", a record of noble land holdings for the region during the reign of Otto II. The town appears as "Geuse" in Willem Blaeu's 1645 edition of Atlas Novus in the map of Mansfeld Land entitled Mansfeldia Commitatus.

Origin of name.

The of Geusa maintains that the name derives from the Latin "gans" for "goose." However, while this cannot be ruled out, no salient documents exist to support this claim. It is equally probable that the name Geusa shares its origin with the Geisel River Valley, but since both names date back to the days of the Carolingian Empire, the original spelling and etymology have been lost. There are several equally valid possibilities:

Proto-Germanic origin.

Due to its age, the name is likely related to the Proto-Germanic root hūsą, meaning "house" or "home." The first documented mention of the village was in a tithing document created between 881 and 899 in Hersfeld Abbey where the place name was listed as "Husuuua" in the district of Friesenfeld. This is likely to mean "House by the meadow".

Old High German origin.

The name may also derive from Old High German "gewi", (from the Gothic "gavi", (neuter) or "gaujis" (genitive)), a medieval term for a region within a country, often a former or actual province. Another possibility is it come from the OHG "gīsl" or "gīsal" meaning "hostage."

Geusa is a village and a former municipality within the district Saalekreis, in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since January 1, 2010, it is within the town limits of Merseburg.

Geusa ist ein Ortsteil der Stadt Merseburg im Saalekreis in Sachsen-Anhalt (Deutschland). Zu Geusa gehören die Ortsteile Atzendorf, Blösien und Zscherben.


Early life.

Jan Weiss was born on 10 May 1892, at Valdštejnská 68 in the town of Jilemnice, the son of Josef Weiss (known locally as "Monarch") and Filoména Richter. His mother died in 1897 when he was five years old, and his father remarried a German woman and had another three children. As an adolescent, Weiss and his cousin were known as local troublemakers.  In 1913, he finished his secondary education at a Gymnasium in Hradec Králové. From 1913 he studied law in Vienna, but only completed two semesters before being forced to enlist in the army in 1914 due to World War I. In 1916, he was captured in Tarnopol and spent his time in two prisoner camps in Siberia, where he contracted Typhoid fever. His experience with fellow prisoners suffering from typhoid was a main inspiration for some of his earlier works, such as "Barák Smrti". In 1917 he was transferred to the camp in Beryozovka, Zabaykalsky Krai where his thumbs were amputated due to frostbite. There, he joined the Czechoslovak Legions in 1919.  He returned to Czechoslovakia in February 1920, working at the Ministry for Public Works (). At this time he was lodged in Borome, thanks to his uncle, a priest in Choteč.

Writing.

Weiss wrote his first prose in 1918 in Žitomír. While in Russia he wrote the drama "Penza", which he finished in Irkutsk.  His first stories were published in magazines. In 1924 his story "A Dream" () was published in "Cesta" magazine, and then later in the same year in "Národní Osvobození" ().  In 1925 Weiss met Jaroslav Havlíček, with whom he remained in contact until the latter's death in 1943. In the years 1926-1927 "Penza" was published in "Legionářské besedy", with the help of editor-in-chief Josef Masařík, for which Weiss received the Award of the Czech Academy. Around the same time, he became a member of the Artistic Forum (where he met Karel Zezima, a later reviewer of his work), the Circle of Czech Writers (where his membership was proposed by Rudolf Medek) and the Radio žurnálu (Radio Journal), thanks to the recommendation of Ladislav Plechatý.  In Prague he visited many cafés, including Café Slavia and Union A, where he regularly met Josef Masařík, Rudolf Medek, and J.O.Novotný, the editor of "Legionářské besedy" and the literary magazine "Cesta". In 1926 he met his future wife Jaroslava Rašková, whom he married in 1928 in the Old Town Hall of Prague, with Ladislav Plechatý and Josef Masařík as witnesses.  In 1927, he made his "triple" debut, with his first three books: "Barák Smrti", "Fantóm Smíchu" and "Zrcadlo, které se opožďuje". On 29 June 1929, Weiss's daughter Jana was born. That same year he published his most well-known work, "House of a Thousand Floors" (), one of the first science fiction novels in European literature.

Jan Weiss (10 May 1892 – 7 March 1972) was a Czech author, best known for his surrealist novel "House of a Thousand Floors" ().

Jan Weiss (* 10. Mai 1892 in Jilemnice; † 7. März 1972 in Prag) war ein tschechischer Schriftsteller und wird zu den eigenwilligsten und markantesten Vertretern der tschechischen Literatur gezählt.