Biography.

State legislator.

Ferry was born in the old Mission House on Mackinac Island, Michigan. The community on Mackinac at that time included the military garrison, the main depot of John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, and the mission. His father was a Presbyterian pastor, the Rev. William Montague Ferry, and his mother was Amanda White Ferry; together his parents ran the mission school.  Rev. Ferry also was the pastor of the Protestant church on the island. Thomas moved with his parents to Grand Haven, Michigan, attended the public schools, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He worked as a store clerk in Elgin, Illinois for two years from 1843 to 1845 before returning to Michigan.  He was a member of the Michigan State House of Representatives from 1850-1852 and a member of the Michigan State Senate in 1856. On January 26, 1857, Ferry, with his father William Montague Ferry, platted the village of Ferrysburg, Michigan, which his father had first settled in 1834.

United States Senator.

He was a delegate to the Loyalist Convention at Philadelphia in 1866. He was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives for the 39th, 40th, and 41st Congresses, serving from March 4, 1865 to March 4, 1871. He was re-elected to the U.S. House for the 42nd Congress in the general election of November 8, 1870. The Michigan Legislature subsequently elected him to the U.S. Senate on January 18, 1871 and Wilder D. Foster was elected in a special election on April 4, 1871 to fill the vacancy in the House. Ferry was re-elected to the Senate in 1877, and served from March 4, 1871 to March 4, 1883. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1882. Ferry was the first person from Michigan to have served in both houses of the Michigan State Legislature and in both houses of the United States Congress. The second person to do so is Debbie Stabenow.  While Senator, Ferry was chairman of the Committee on Rules (43rd through 45th Congresses) and the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (46th and 47th Congresses), as well as President pro tempore of the Senate during the 44th and 45th Congresses. In this capacity, he became, upon the death of Vice President Henry Wilson on November 22, 1875, next in the line of presidential succession, and remained so until March 4, 1877.  He presided over the 1876 impeachment trial of U.S. Secretary of War William Belknap and the meetings of the Electoral Commission created by Congress to resolve the disputed 1876 presidential election. Still president pro tempore at that time, he would have temporally become the acting president had the Electoral College vote not been certified by March 4, 1877; Congress certified Rutherford B. Hayes as the winner of the Electoral College vote on March 2.  Ferry died in Grand Haven, Michigan at aged 69 and is interred in Lake Forest Cemetery.

Thomas White Ferry (June 10, 1827October 13, 1896) was a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan.

Thomas White Ferry (* 10. Juni 1827 auf Mackinac Island, Michigan; † 13. Oktober 1896 in Grand Haven, Michigan) war ein US-amerikanischer Politiker (Republikanische Partei), der den Bundesstaat Michigan in beiden Kammern des Kongresses vertrat.


United States at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Sommer-Paralympics 2008/Teilnehmer (Vereinigte Staaten)

Disability classifications.

Every participant at the Paralympics had their disability grouped into one of five disability categories: amputation (either congenital or sustained through injury or illness); cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes (often overlapping with other categories); visual impairment (including blindness); and les autres (any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis). Each Paralympic sport then had its own classifications, depending on the specific physical demands of the competition. Events were given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divided athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities. Other sports, such as swimming, grouped competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.  Athletes may have competed against individuals with different classifications in the same event. For example, track and field athlete Jim Bob Bizzell competed in the men's 200 meters T44; the prefix T designated a track event and 44 was the disability classification. Although he finished behind Oscar Pistorius (competing under the T43 class), Bizell set a world record in the T44 classification. For specific classification information, see the pages for individual sports at 2008 Summer Paralympics#Sports.

Medalists.

The following American athletes won medals at the games; all dates are for September 2008. In the 'by discipline' sections below, medalists' names are in bold.

Archery.

The American archery team consisted of seven men and one woman. The highest placed finishers were Lindsey Carmichael and Jeff Fabry, who each won a bronze medal. T. J. Pemberton and Joe Bailey competed against each other in the quarterfinals of the men's individual compound open, with Pemberton winning and going on to finish fourth in that event.

Track and field (athletics).

The American track and field team consisted of 26 men and 17 women. Among them was shot putter Scott Winkler, a U.S. Army veteran who was paralyzed in Tikrit, Iraq in 2003 after he fell off a truck while holding 50 pounds of ammunition. The team set six world records and won a total of nine gold, fourteen silver, and five bronze medals, two more medals than the team won in Athens. Jessica Galli won five medals, more than any other team member, while Amanda McGrory, Tatyana McFadden, and Jim Bob Bizzell each won at least three medals. Jeremy Campbell was the only U.S. track and field athlete to win two golds.  Legend: Q – Qualifiers for the final as decided on a basis of rank within heat; WR=World Record; PR=Paralympic Record  Legend: Q – Qualifiers for the final as decided on a basis of rank within heat; WR=World Record; PR=Paralympic Record

Boccia.

The U.S. boccia team consisted of a single competitor, T. J. Hawker. Hawker lost his four pool stage matches and did not advance to the knock-out stage.

Cycling.

The initial members of the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Cycling Team were named on June 6, 2008 after the 2008 U.S. Paralympics Cycling National Championships in Morrison, Colorado. The final roster included thirteen athletes (seven men and six women). The team entered the Games with a goal of two gold and ten medals total. They surpassed their goal, finishing with fourteen medals: five gold, five silver, and four bronze.  To ensure a fair event when athletes with differing disabilities compete, times achieved were sometimes modified by a percentage rate, to produce a result known as "Factor Time". It is this time that decided the result of the races, and is listed below. Where this differs from the actual time recorded, actual time is also listed.

Equestrian.

The only equestrian events held in the Paralympic Games are in the Dressage discipline. Five American riders competed, in both individual and team events.

Goalball.

Goalball is a Paralympic sport played by athletes who are blind and visually impaired. At the 2008 Paralympics, the U.S. men's goalball team hoped to repeat their bronze medal performance in Athens, but lost to Sweden in the final. The U.S. women's goalball team improved on their silver medal performance in Athens, defeating China in the gold medal match.

Judo.

Jordan Mouton was selected as the only U.S. representative in the women's division at the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Trials for Judo. All four American men went uncontested at the Trials and were automatically selected for the team. Greg DeWall, a first-time Paralympian, won a bronze medal in the Men's +100 kilogram class.

Powerlifting.

The U.S. powerlifting team consisted of two competitors, Mary Stack and Andy Wise. All of Stack's lifts were declared invalid. She faltered and missed on her first two attempts to lift 110 kg. On her third attempt, Stack managed to lift the weight but the judges did not accept the lift and she was disqualified. Wise completed two valid lifts, the maximum of which was 150 kg, and finished in eleventh place.  Key: NMR=No marks recorded

Rowing.

The 2008 U.S. Paralympic Rowing Team was selected after the 2008 U.S. Rowing National Championships in West Windsor, N.J. and was composed of nine athletes. This was the first time rowing has appeared as a medal sport in the Paralympic Games. Laura Schwanger, who has multiple sclerosis and won ten medals in track and field across three Paralympics, battled back from breast cancer treatment to win a bronze medal in women's single sculls at age 49. The U.S. mixed coxed four team rallied in the final 100 m of their 1000 m race to take the silver medal. Qualification Legend: R=Repechage; FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal)

Sailing.

The United States entered crews in all three of the sailing events, held in the Qingdao International Sailing Centre. Maureen McKinnon-Tucker and Nick Scandone clinched a gold medal in the SKUD-18 class with two races left in the series. First-time Paralympian John Ruf won a bronze medal in a competitive 2.4 mR final race, where the top seven players of the fleet started within single-digit points of each other.

Shooting.

The U.S. sent two athletes (one man and one woman) to compete in the shooting events at the Paralympics.

Swimming.

The 2008 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials were held on April 3–5 at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A total of 38 swimming athletes (20 male and 18 female) were selected to represent the U.S. at the 2008 Paralympic Games. Melissa Stockwell, a former United States Army officer who lost her left leg to a roadside bomb, became the first Iraq War veteran to be selected for the Paralympics. The roster also included Dave Denniston, an NCAA champion in the 200-yard breast stroke, two-time Olympic hopeful, and world record breaker who was paralyzed in a 2005 sledding accident.  The U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team left Beijing with 17 gold, 14 silver and 13 bronze medals. The total of 44 medals was 9 more than they took home from Athens. Out of the 38 athletes on the team, 19 received a medal. U.S. swimmers set a total of 16 world records, 23 Paralympic records, 48 Pan American records and 99 American records.  <nowiki>*</nowiki> Legend: Q – Qualifiers for the next round as decided on a time only basis. Ranks shown are overall rank against competitors in all heats; WR=World Record; PR=Paralympic Record  Legend: Q – Qualifiers for the next round as decided on a time only basis. Ranks shown are overall rank against competitors in all heats; WR=World Record; PR=Paralympic Record

Table tennis.

The United States sent four athletes (three men and one woman) to compete in Paralympic table tennis.

Volleyball.

The U.S. women's sitting volleyball team upset world number one Netherlands in five sets to reach the gold medal match, where they lost to China for a silver medal. The men's sitting volleyball team failed to qualify for the Paralympics after losing to Brazil at the 2007 Parapan American Games.  Women's sitting volleyball

Wheelchair basketball.

The United States qualified for both men's and women's wheelchair basketball tournaments at the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation qualifying tournaments for the Americas. The men's team finished in fourth place after losing to Great Britain in the bronze final. The women's team successfully defended their 2004 gold medal with a win over Germany.  <nowiki>*</nowiki>Iran withdrew from its quarterfinal match against the United States on September 19, 2008. The match had been rescheduled from 11:15am to 9:00am, but was changed without any logical reason according to the head of Iran's delegation. As a result, the U.S. was awarded the win by the score of 20–0 and automatically advanced to the semi-finals.

Wheelchair fencing.

The United States sent five athletes (four men and one woman) to compete in wheelchair fencing.

Wheelchair rugby.

At the Paralympics teams in the sport of wheelchair rugby are made up of mixed classification quadriplegic athletes of both sexes. The United States qualified by winning the 2006 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships and went on to win its third gold medal since wheelchair rugby was introduced as a demonstration sport at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics.

Wheelchair tennis.

The American wheelchair tennis team consisted of nine players. Lee Hinson, Paul Moran, Jon Rydberg and Stephen Welch competed in the men's events, Beth Arnoult and Kaitlyn Verfuerth competed in the women's events, and Brent Poppen, Nick Taylor and David Wagner competed in the mixed quadriplegic events. The tennis team was coached by Dan James, with Jason Hartnett as assistant coach, David Schobel as team leader, and Bill Taylor as the personal care assistant. Taylor and Wagner successfully defended their title in mixed doubles, which they had won four years earlier at the 2004 Paralympics. The two men competed against each other in the bronze medal match of the mixed singles event, with Wagner prevailing.

Media coverage.

U.S. coverage of the 2008 Paralympic Games was provided by the Universal Sports Television Network. Daily live and delayed highlight shows as well as coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies was available on-demand at UniversalSports.com from September 6–17. Daily video highlights were also available at the official website of the U.S. Paralympic Team, usparalympics.org. The Universal Sports television broadcast began on October 8, followed by seven days of three-hour segments of coverage and a special presentation highlighting the events that was broadcast by NBC on October 18. A 90-minute documentary was presented by NBC on November 9, and was followed by another broadcast of the Games on Universal Sports from November 10–16.

The United States sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. A total of 213 U.S. competitors took part in 18 sports; the only 2 sports Americans did not compete in were soccer 5-a-side and 7-a-side. The American delegation included 16 former members of the U.S. military, including 3 veterans of the Iraq War. Among them were shot putter Scott Winkler, who was paralyzed in an accident in Iraq, and swimmer Melissa Stockwell, a former United States Army officer who lost her left leg to a roadside bomb in the war.

Die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika nahmen mit 213 Athleten an den Sommer-Paralympics 2008 im chinesischen Peking teil. Insgesamt gewannen die amerikanischen Athleten 99 Medaillen. Fahnenträgerin bei der Eröffnungsfeier war Jennifer Armbruster und bei der Schlussfeier Melissa Stockwell.


Early life.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, to Jewish parents of German and Hungarian origin, Stern studied under Nikolaos Gyzis and Franz Stuck at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich beginning in 1894.

Career.

Stern moved to Berlin in 1905, where Max Reinhardt hired him the next year as a set designer for the Deutsches Theater. He remained Max Reinhardt's main design collaborator until the director's departure in 1921 and designed roughly ninety shows during that time, with notable works including adaptations of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" (1907), "Hamlet" (1909), and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1913), Karl Vollmöller's "The Miracle" (1911), Reinhard Sorge's "The Beggar" (1917), and Henrik Ibsen's "John Gabriel Borkman" (1917).  Under Reinhardt, the Deutsches Theater became a center of German Expressionist Theater, so Stern designed many sets in that style. As Stern's design aesthetics tended towards serenity and realism, however, this pairing was not always successful. Perhaps his most noteworthy expressionist work was Paul Leni's 1924 silent film "Waxworks" (1924), for which he designed the costumes. Stern collaborated at some point with nearly all the important German film directors of the period, including F.W. Murnau, Ernst Lubitsch, Richard Oswald, Carl Froelich, and William Dieterle.  In 1924, Stern moved on to the Großes Schauspielhaus, where he designed for a number of musical revues and the popular musical "The White Horse Inn" (1930). In the late 1920s, Stern also began spending considerable time in London, where he designed the sets for Noël Coward's "Bitter Sweet" (1929) and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "Ever Green" (1930). His submitted designs to Rupert D'Oyly Carte for new settings for "The Gondoliers" and "The Yeomen of the Guard" (c.1920s, dates unknown), which contain many traditional qualities at variance with his reputation for expressionism, but they were never put into production (the paintings still survive).  When the Nazi Party seized power in Germany in 1933, Stern was in Paris attending a performance of "The White Horse Inn". He remained in the city for a time and then settled permanently in London in 1934. For the rest of his life he primarily collaborated with British writers at the Savoy Theatre, Aldwych Theatre, and Adelphi Theatre. He also designed the displays for Selfridges for the coronation of King George VI and collaborated with Donald Wolfit on several Shakespeare productions during World War II.

Later life.

Stern was awarded a pension by George VI and died in London.

Ernst Stern (1 April 1876 – 28 August 1954) was a Romanian-German scenic designer who, through his collaborations with most of the prominent German directors of the early 20th century, helped define the aesthetic of expressionism in both the theatre and the cinema.

Ernst Stern (* 1. April 1876 in Bukarest; † 28. August 1954 in London) war ein rumänisch-deutscher Bühnenbildner, Szenenbildner, Kostümbildner und Grafiker.


Early life.

Sargent was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts on May 1, 1753. He was one of eight children born to Winthrop Sargent (1727–1793) and Judith Saunders. His elder sister was Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820), an essayist, playwright, and poet.  He was the grandson of Colonel Epes Sargent, one of the largest landholders in Gloucester. Sargent was also the nephew of Daniel Sargent Sr. (1730–1806), a prominent merchant, Paul Dudley Sargent (1745–1828), who also served in the Continental Army, and John Sargent (1750–1824), a Loyalist during the Revolution.  He graduated from Harvard College Class of 1771 before the Revolution. He spent some time at sea, as captain of a merchantman owned by his father.

Career.

He enlisted in Gridley's Regiment of Massachusetts Artillery on July 7, 1775 as a lieutenant, and later that year was promoted to captain lieutenant of Knox's Regiment, Continental Artillery, on December 10. He was with his guns at the siege of Boston, as well as the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. He was promoted to captain in the 3rd Continental Artillery on January 1, 1777, and brevetted major on August 25, 1783.  In 1786, he helped to survey the Seven Ranges, the first lands laid out under the Land Ordinance of 1785. With inside knowledge of the area, he went on to form the Ohio Company of Associates, was an important shareholder in the Scioto Company, and as of 1787, secretary of the Ohio Company.  Sargent was appointed by the Congress of the Confederation as the first Secretary of the Northwest Territory, a post second in importance only to the governor, Arthur St. Clair. He took up his post in 1788. Like St. Clair, Sargent would function in both civil and military capacities; he served as acting Adjutant General of U.S. Army from September 1791 until he was wounded twice at the Battle of the Wabash, on November 4, 1791. On August 15, 1796, he would, as Acting Governor, proclaim the establishment of Wayne County, the first American government in what is now Michigan.  President John Adams then appointed Sargent the first Governor of the Mississippi Territory, effective from May 7, 1798 to May 25, 1801. His last entry as Northwest Territory's secretary was on May 31, 1798; he arrived at Natchez on August 6, but due to illness was unable to assume his post until August 16.  The subject was a cotton planter, marketing his crop in New York by Gilbert and John Aspinwall, merchants.

Later life.

In 1788, Sargent was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also a member of the Philosophical Society and an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati as a delegate from Massachusetts, and published, with Benjamin B. Smith, "Papers Relative to Certain American Antiquities" (Philadelphia, 1796), and "Boston," a poem (Boston, 1803).  Being a Federalist, Sargent was dismissed from his position as territorial governor of Mississippi in 1801 by incoming president Thomas Jefferson. Sargent took up life in the private sector, developing his plantation Gloucester, the earliest such establishment in Natchez. Sargent was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1813.

Personal life.

In 1789, he married Roewena Tupper (1766–1790), a daughter of Gen. Benjamin Tupper, at the settlement of Marietta in the first marriage ceremony held under the laws of the Northwest Territory. After her death, he married Hannah Ober of Massachusetts on 13 Feb 1791. They had a daughter, Hannah born 25 August 1791 in Massachusetts, and Hannah Ober died the next day. Then he married Mary McIntosh Williams (1760–1823) shortly after moving to Natchez. They were the parents of:  He died on June 3, 1820 in New Orleans. His grandson was the writer Winthrop Sargent (1825–1870).

Legacy.

Although there are at least two Sargent Townships (in Illinois and Nebraska) and one Sargent County, it is not known if these are named after Winthrop Sargent. However, a former township of the Northwest Territory's Wayne County was designated as Sargent Township or the District of Sargent; this apparently encompassed the settlements downriver from Detroit and at the River Raisin in what is now Monroe County, Michigan. This township apparently ceased to function after the organization of Michigan Territory, being replaced by the District of Erie. A student dormitory at Ohio University (founded in 1804) in Athens, Ohio, is named Sargent Hall in his honor. This is the first university in the Northwest Territory and the first in Ohio.

Winthrop Sargent (May 1, 1753 – June 3, 1820) was a United States patriot, politician, and writer; and a member of the Federalist party.

Winthrop Sargent (* 1. Mai 1753 in Gloucester, Massachusetts; † 3. Juni 1820 in Natchez, Mississippi) war ein US-amerikanischer Politiker und von 1798 bis 1801 Gouverneur des Mississippi-Territoriums.


History.

The station was opened on 15 November 1882 as "Neu-Rahnsdorf". With the rebuilding of a line (then part of the line between Berlin and Breslau—now Wrocław in Poland) with a new pair of long-distance tracks as far as Erkner, the new line was built on an embankment. The passenger station, which was now only served by suburban trains, was rebuilt in the course of this work to a design by the architects Charles Cornelius and Waldemar Suadicani. An island platform was built in the Berlin style. After the completion of the work in 1902, it was renamed Wilhelmshagen. The station building is heritage-listed.  The station underpass, which had been built at the request and expense of the inhabitants of Wilhelmshagen and the municipality of Woltersdorf, was opened in 1908. Electric trains of the Berlin S-Bahn have stopped at the station since 11 June 1928 and the operation of steam-hauled trains ended in 1929. After the Second World War, the Soviet occupation administration dismantled both S-Bahn tracks. With released capacity and the dismantling of tracks elsewhere—including on the Prussian Eastern Railway—it was able to restore a single track in 1948. The electric S-Bahn service was resumed on 2 November 1948. The second track was reconstructed from 1957. In January 2010, work began on the renewal of the platform canopy and the lighting system and the installation of tactile paving. The modernisation work was to have been completed by September 2010, but it was not completed until the end of the 2011.

Passenger services.

The station is served by line S3, operating during the day at 10 or 20 minute intervals between Erkner and Ostkreuz. In addition, the station is connected to other suburbs in the area by bus route 161, which is operated by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe.

Berlin Wilhelmshagen station is located on the Berlin-Frankfurt (Oder) railway and the Berlin S-Bahn. It is located in the settlement of Wilhelmshagen in the suburb of Rahnsdorf in the district of Treptow-Köpenick and is the last stop in the suburbs of Berlin of the line to Erkner. It is served by the S-Bahn line S3.

Der Bahnhof Berlin-Wilhelmshagen ist ein an der Niederschlesisch-Märkischen Bahn gelegener Bahnhof der Berliner S-Bahn. Er befindet sich in der Siedlung Wilhelmshagen im Ortsteil Rahnsdorf des Bezirks Treptow-Köpenick und ist die letzte Station auf Berliner Gebiet an der Vorortstrecke nach Erkner. Er wird von der S-Bahn-Linie S3 bedient.


Plot.

Wilby Daniels (Dean Jones) is now a successful attorney who is married to Betty (Suzanne Pleshette), and they have a son named Brian (Shane Sinutko). Returning to the town of Medfield from a vacation, the family discovers that they have been robbed of almost all their possessions, and Wilby blames the local district attorney John Slade (Keenan Wynn), who is reputed to have connections with organized crime, particularly with warehouse owner Edward "Fast Eddie" Roshak (Vic Tayback). After being robbed a second time later that night (along with their Navy admiral neighbor, Gordon C. Brenner), Wilby vows to run for district attorney to make his town safe again.  Meanwhile, the two thugs who had robbed the Daniels', Freddie (Richard Bakalyan) and Dip (Warren Berlinger), observe the Borgia ring at the local museum and assume it might fetch a large sum, so they steal it. The ugly ring with a scarab on it can only be pawned off to local bumbling ice cream salesman, Tim, who is the owner of a large Old English Sheepdog named Elwood. Tim figures he will give the ring to his girlfriend Katrinka (Jo Anne Worley), a local roller derby star and pastry assistant.  While dressing himself in preparation for a live television broadcast to announce his candidacy, Wilby hears a report of the Borgia ring being stolen. He freezes in terror, then reveals his former shape-shifting secret to his wife, who is certain his story cannot be true; he warns her that if the inscription on the ring (""In canis corpore transmuto"") [I transmute into the body of a dog] is spoken aloud he will turn into a shaggy dog. Soon afterward, Wilby is moments before his live television debut as Tim discovers the inscription on the ring and reads it aloud, causing Elwood to disappear - only to reappear moments later as he takes over Wilby's body. Moments before the cameras roll Brian notices that shaggy hair is growing all over his father, who reacts in horror, as he realizes he is turning into an Elwood the shaggy dog. He rushes from the house and cameras in his dog form and briefly confounds Tim, who can’t understand why his dog Elwood suddenly can speak. The spell wears off, and Wilby is now in his human form again and determined to find the ring as he faces the prospect of being a candidate in the public eye who never knows when he might turn into a dog.  Soon, Wilby's fears come true as Katrinka receives the ring and once again the inscription is read, just as Wilby is giving a public address at a ladies garden club (the Daisies). Betty warns him of his shaggy condition a split-second before his canine form would become apparent to all gathered and creates a near riot while trying to escape. Once again, Tim finds Wilby in Elwood's form and is convinced that his talking dog could make millions; when Tim wanders off momentarily, Wilby returns to his human form, leaving a silent Elwood to confound Tim further. Meanwhile, Raymond (Dick Van Patten), an agent of Wilby's rival, John Slade, gets suspicious and wonders why Wilby keeps disappearing.  Desperate to find the ring, the hunt leads to Katrinka, who seems to have lost it in a vat of cherry pie filling intended for a John Slade fundraiser. Offering a reward to whoever finds the ring, Katrinka and her colleagues go into a mad dash to find it, eventually escalating into a large-scale pie fight. In the pandemonium, the ring once again finds itself in the hands of the local thugs who this time attempt to pass it off to an undercover police detective. Once again in the hands of the museum, the inscription is read aloud as a point of reference; in the middle of the police station, Wilby (who had arrived to confirm the ring had been recovered) finds himself turning into Elwood once again. This time, Slade's agent puts two and two together when he overhears the museum's curator explaining the ring's reputed power and how his predecessor (from the first film) told him a story of a young man that turned into a sheepdog years ago.  Slade is informed of this weakness in his rival, is dubious at first, and then invites Wilby to his office to test out the theory. He advises Wilby to withdraw his campaign. Wilby refuses and tells Slade that when he is elected, he will have him investigated regarding his criminal connections. Slade then reveals he has his ring. With a reading of the inscription, Slade is thrilled to see Wilby Daniels turn into the shaggy dog right before his eyes and makes a call to the local pound. Wilby escapes hearing Slade repeat the inscription several times, which guarantees that the spell will not wear off, and he will be trapped in a dog's form for some time to come. Slade ignores warnings that reciting the incantation too often could cause the spell to transfer to him and keeps reciting the incantation over and over.  Wilby eventually disguises himself as a female roller-derby competitor to elude Slade, who as district attorney has the entire police force and animal control at his disposal. Eventually, Wilby is caught and taken to the local dog pound where he is able to understand the other dogs, who band together to help him escape.  With the help of Brian and Tim (who still thinks his dog Elwood can speak until Wilby tells him the truth about what really happened), Wilby gets evidence that John Slade is connected to organized crime. Wilby and Tim trick Slade into showing up at Roshak's warehouse, and Wilby uses a tape recorder to collect information that confirms Slade's wrongdoings. With the help of his dog friends from the pound, he also manages to retrieve the ring from John Slade, who unfortunately has read the inscription aloud so many times that the curse has now passed onto him, causing him to transform into a bulldog. Finally, Wilby gets elected district attorney, Slade is supposedly jailed (although it is never actually revealed), and Tim gets engaged to Katrinka. Together, they adopt Wilby's dog friends from the pound.

Background.

"The Shaggy Dog" had been at that point the most profitable film produced by Walt Disney Productions and heavily influenced the studio's live-action film production for the next two decades. Using a formula of placing supernatural and/or fantastical forces within everyday mid-twentieth century American life, the studio was able to create a long series of "gimmick comedies" (a term coined by Disney historian and film critic Leonard Maltin) with enough action to keep children entertained with a touch of light satire to engage their adult chaperones. Using television actors on their summer hiatus who were familiar to audiences but did not necessarily have enough clout to receive over-the-title billing (or a large fee) from another major studio was one way these comedies were produced inexpensively; they also tended to use the same sets from the Disney backlot repeatedly. This allowed Walt Disney Productions a low-risk scenario for production; any of these films could easily make back their investment just from moderate matinee attendance in neighborhood theatres, and they could also be packaged on the successful Disney anthology television series "The Wonderful World of Disney" (some of these films were expressly structured for this purpose).  Occasionally, Walt Disney Productions would find one of these inexpensive comedies would become a runaway success and place at or near the top of the box office for their respective release year ("The Absent-Minded Professor", "The Love Bug"). The initial release of "The Shaggy Dog" in 1959 grossed more than $9 million on a budget of less than $1 million – making it more profitable than "Ben-Hur," released the same year. "The Shaggy Dog" also performed very strongly on a 1967 re-release.

Production notes.

Cast and crew.

Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette were frequently paired in other Disney gimmick comedies, such as "Blackbeard's Ghost" and "The Ugly Dachshund". Keenan Wynn had played villainous Alonzo Hawk in many other Disney comedies before taking on the role of John Slade.  This is the last of 19 films Robert Stevenson directed at Disney that spanned nearly 20 years. His first was "Johnny Tremain" in 1957. He also directed a number of episodes for the series "Disneyland." This is also Stevenson's final film. The first film that he directed was "Happy Ever After", a 1932 German musical.

Setting.

The story was set in fictional Medfield, a town that (along with its eponymous Medfield College) was the setting for five other Disney gimmick comedies, including "The Absent-Minded Professor," "Son of Flubber" and the “Dexter Riley” trilogy ("The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes," "Now You See Him Now You Don’t," "The Strongest Man in the World").

Transformation device.

The mythology of the Borgia ring was changed from the first film, in which young Wilby read the inscription on the ring once and then was the victim of random transformations which could only be stopped if he performed a heroic deed. In this sequel, he simply turned into a dog whenever the ring's inscription was read aloud, and the spell would generally last from five to ten minutes.  In the television movie "The Return of the Shaggy Dog" (1987), which takes place between the events of the original film and this sequel, the mythology changes once again: now, once the inscription is read, Wilby is trapped in dog form until it is read again.  The 2006 remake with Tim Allen eschewed the situation and characters of the three initial films (and also a 1994 television remake which returned the mythology of the original 1959 film) and opted instead for a science fiction device of a man being bitten by a viral dog that infected him with a serum that affected his DNA.

Reception.

A. H. Weiler of "The New York Times" wrote, "Naturally, the story line is incredible and convoluted enough to give an uninhibited cast plenty of opportunities to clown for, unfortunately, a minimum of real laughs... Despite all the athletic goings-on, 'The Shaggy D.A.' does turn into a dog too often for comfort." Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "one of Disney's better recent efforts." Gene Siskel awarded three stars out of four and declared it "far better than most of the live-action comedies to come out of the studio in recent years. Don Tait actually has written a cute script that gives adults in the audience a few laughs while watching the inevitable and unending pratfalls designed for the kids." "Variety" wrote that the film "looks like a comparable commercial winner. It has all the elements of smooth and sunny comedy that Disney does best, and it marks a return to top studio craftsmanship after a few uneven pix of late." Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote, "'The Shaggy D.A.' is right off the assembly line, but it is still the most competent line of its kind." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" called the film "a surprisingly snappy and diverting Disney farce." Jill Forbes of "The Monthly Film Bulletin" called it "dully scripted and poorly paced, and so frequently interrupted by set pieces (the pie fight and Tim's attempt to make his dog talk) that it never succeeds in exploiting a situation which is gratuitous when it is not gruesome."  The film opened at Christmas in 1976 at the same time as the remake of "King Kong" which slowed its initial performance but the film performed better after the Christmas holidays and earned rentals of $10.5 million in the United States and Canada.

Legacy.

The film has been seen as a light satire of American politics in the post-Watergate era, with politicians being depicted as tied to crime, and not being what they appear to be.  A television movie, "The Return of the Shaggy Dog," followed in 1987, taking place between "The Shaggy Dog" and "The Shaggy D.A.".  The original 1959 film has been remade twice: first, as a television movie in 1994 and as a theatrical feature in 2006.  The 2019 film "Mister America" depicts "The Shaggy D.A." as part of Gregg Turkington's fictional "Victorville Film Archives" project. "Mister America" also has several notable similarities to "The Shaggy D.A.", which are commented on by Turkington throughout the film.

The Shaggy D.A. is a 1976 American comedy film and a sequel to "The Shaggy Dog" (1959) produced by Walt Disney Productions. It was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Don Tait. Like the first film in the series, it takes some inspiration from the Felix Salten novel, "The Hound of Florence."

Zotti, das Urviech ist eine US-amerikanische Filmkomödie aus dem Jahr 1976 mit Dean Jones in der Hauptrolle. Es handelt sich dabei um die Fortsetzung des Disney-Films "Der unheimliche Zotti" aus dem Jahr 1959, in dem der kleine Wilby Daniels sich durch einen magischen Ring immer wieder in einen Hund verwandelte.


Background.

Because of the abundance of oil in the thick sedimentary rock layers beneath the Santa Barbara Channel, the region has been an attractive resource for the petroleum industry for more than a hundred years. The southern coast of Santa Barbara County was the location of the world's first offshore oil drilling, which took place from piers at the Summerland Oil Field in 1896, just from the spill site. An economic boom accompanied the development of the Summerland field, which transformed the spiritualist community of Summerland into an oil town in just a few years.  Oil development in the Channel and adjacent coastline was controversial even from the earliest days, as by the late 19th century the city was beginning to establish itself as a health resort and tourist destination with dramatic natural scenery, unspoiled beaches, and a perfect climate. In the late 1890s, when the Summerland field began to expand much closer to the city of Santa Barbara, a crowd of midnight vigilantes headed by local newspaper publisher Reginald Fernald tore down one of the more unsightly rigs erected on Miramar Beach itself (in 2010 the location of a luxury hotel). In 1927, the discovery of oil west of Santa Barbara led to the development of Ellwood Oil Field. This caused the city to be bracketed on east and west with oil fields, the new one a bonanza and the depleted Summerland field a largely abandoned, blighted waste. In 1929, the Mesa Oil Field was discovered within the city itself, on the blufftop adjacent to present-day Santa Barbara City College. Residential construction in the vicinity of the Mesa field halted, as oil presented easier and faster money to the land developers. Oil derricks sprouted on the hilltop within easy view of the harbor, on narrow town lots intended originally for houses. While local protests were vocal, they failed to shut down the oil development, as there was a city ordinance at the time specifically allowing drilling on the Mesa. The oil derricks only went away when production on the small Mesa field abruptly declined and ended in the late 1930s.  Improved technology gradually allowed drilling farther and farther from shore, and by the middle of the 20th century drilling was being carried out near Seal Beach, Long Beach, and in other areas on the Southern California coast from man-made islands built in shallow water close to shore. Nearer to the site of the oil spill, the first drilling island was built in 1958 by Richfield Oil Company. Named Richfield Island, now Rincon Island, it was constructed in of water near Punta Gorda, between Carpinteria and Ventura, to exploit the offshore portion of

Oil spill.

Blowout on Platform A.

Platform A was positioned in of water, from the shore at Summerland. It had 57 slots for wells from which it could drill directionally into the oil reservoir from different angles. At the time of the spill, it was one of twelve platforms already in the waters off California, and one of two operated by Union Oil in the Dos Cuadras field. Four oil wells had already been drilled from the new platform, though not yet put in production. Work on the fifth was under way.  On the morning of January 28, 1969, workers drilling the fifth well, A-21, reached its final depth of, attaining this depth in only 14 days. Of this depth, only the top had been fitted with a steel conductor casing; the rest was to be fitted with one once the drill bit was out. After the workers pulled the drill bit out, with some difficulty, an enormous spout of oil, gas, and drilling mud burst into the air into the rig, splattering the men with filth; several of them attempted to screw a blowout-preventer onto the pipe, but against a pressure of over, this proved to be impossible; all

Expansion of the spill.

The disturbances on the surface of the ocean, which began to appear only 14 minutes after the blowout, expanded during the next 24 hours. The largest was a dramatic boil-up about east of the platform; another smaller disturbance broke the ocean surface about west of the platform, and several smaller areas of bubbling could be observed around the platform itself. Even after the well was further plugged at the platform with drilling mud during the next week, these continued to boil up. Investigators later determined that oil and gas was emerging uncontrolled through five separate rips on the ocean floor.  The

Media coverage and public response.

Media coverage of the spill was intense from the moment the oil reached the shore. The spill was the major headline in many morning newspapers on February 5, also receiving wide coverage on radio and television. The same morning, a U.S. Senate subcommittee interviewed local officials as well as Fred Hartley, president of Union Oil, on the disaster in the making. Three major television networks were there along with over 50 reporters, the largest media turnout for any Senate subcommittee meeting since the Committee on Foreign Relations discussed the Vietnam War. During the meeting, local officials made their case that the Federal government had a conflict of

Continued spill.

Five days after workers killed Well A-21, on February 12, a Commercial Fisheries research vessel studying dissolved oxygen levels in the water made an unpleasant discovery: from the ocean floor itself, three large new boils of gas and oil were emerging from ruptures each about ten yards across, and a large slick was again accumulating on the ocean surface. Once again, an anonymous telephone call from a rig worker alerted the "Santa Barbara News-Press" to the existence of a new oil spill from the supposedly killed well – only now the oil was

President Nixon's visit; further oil development.

On March 21, President Nixon came to Santa Barbara to see the spill and cleanup efforts for himself. Arriving at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station, he then took a helicopter tour of the Santa Barbara Channel, Platform A, and the polluted, partially cleaned beaches. He landed in Santa Barbara and spoke to residents, promising to improve his handling of environmental problems, telling the crowd, "...the Santa Barbara incident has frankly touched the conscience of the American people." He also mentioned that he would consider a halt to all offshore drilling, and told assembled reporters that the Department of the Interior had expanded the former buffer zone in the Channel by an additional, and was converting the previous buffer zone into a permanent ecological preserve. However, on April 1, the ban was lifted, and drilling allowed to proceed on five leases in the

Consequences.

Environmental effects.

The environmental effects of the spill were immediate and dramatic. At least 3,686 birds died – those being the ones that were counted; an unknown number died unseen. Some marine mammals, such as sea lions and elephant seals died, although the numbers are unknown. Effects on other organisms varied. Fish populations seemed to be unaffected in the long term, although data from 1969 showed a drop in counts of several species. Authors of a Marine Fisheries Review study were unwilling to make a firm link with the oil spill, since other variables such as water temperature and a subsequent El Niño year could not be ruled out as causes of the divergence. Intertidal organisms such as barnacles ("Chthamalus fissus") were killed in large numbers, with mortality in some areas as high as 80 to 90 percent.  Overall, long-term environmental effects of the spill seemed to be minimal. In a "no strings attached" study funded by the Western Oil and Gas Association, through the Allan Hancock Foundation at the University of Southern California, the authors suggested several hypotheses for the lack of environmental damage to biologic resources in the Channel aside

Economic effects.

Economic effects of the spill were most severe during 1969, as all commercial fishing was suspended in the affected area, and tourism suffered a precipitous drop. Most ocean-related industries were affected in some way. Property damage along the shoreline was also considerable, since the storms had washed oil up beyond the normal

Policy consequences.

While the Santa Barbara oil spill was not the sole event which built the regulatory and legislative superstructure of the modern environmental movement in the United States – some prominent pieces of which include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act, and in California the California Coastal Commission and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) – it was one of the most dramatic and visible of the several key events that led up to those changes. Through the 1960s, industrial pollution and its consequences had come more and more to the public attention, commencing with Rachel Carson's 1962 book "Silent Spring" and including such events as the passage of the Water Quality Act, the campaign to ban DDT, the creation of the National Wilderness Preservation System, the 1967 Torrey Canyon tanker accident which devastated coastal areas in both England and France, and the burning of the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. At the time, the Santa Barbara spill was the largest oil spill ever in U.S. waters, and its occurrence during a fierce battle

Moratoria and bans on offshore leasing and drilling.

The California State Lands Commission has not granted any new leases for offshore drilling within its jurisdiction – out to the limit – since 1969, although existing operations, such as at Platform Holly on the Ellwood field and Rincon Island on the Rincon field, have been allowed to continue. A proposal to slant drill into the state-controlled zone from an existing platform outside of it, on the Tranquillon Ridge, was rejected in 2009 by the State Lands Commission by a 2–1 vote.  The issue of drilling beyond the three-mile limit, in federal waters of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), has been more complicated. Production from existing leases has been allowed almost without break since the spill, as well as new drilling from

Environmental Rights Day.

Roughly three months before Earth Day, Santa Barbara celebrated Environmental Rights Day on January 28, 1970, the first anniversary of the oil blowout. Here the Declaration of Environmental Rights, created by Rod Nash, was read. The same people who organized this event, led by Marc McGinnes, had been working closely

Earth Day.

The aftermath of the spill inspired then-Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin to organize what came to be known as "Earth Day", when he succeeded in amassing

Present day.

Platform A remains in the Santa Barbara Channel along with its three siblings, Platforms B, C, and Hillhouse, still pumping oil from the largely depleted field. As of 2010, the Dos Cuadras Field has produced 260 million barrels of oil; the Minerals Management Service estimated in 2010 that remaining in the field are recoverable with present technology.  The current operator of the drilling platform, along with the other three platforms on the Dos Cuadras field, is the private firm DCOR LLC, of Ventura, California. They acquired Platform A from Plains Exploration & Production in 2005. DCOR is the fourth company to run the platform since Unocal sold its Santa Barbara Channel operations in 1996.

The Santa Barbara oil spill occurred in January and February 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel, near the city of Santa Barbara in Southern California. It was the largest oil spill in United States waters by that time, and now ranks third after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon and 1989 Exxon Valdez spills. It remains the largest oil spill to have occurred in the waters off California.

Die Santa-Barbara-Ölpest ereignete sich 1969 im Santa-Barbara-Kanal. Die Quelle war ein unkontrolliertes Ausfließen von Öl aus einer Bohrquelle auf der Plattform A von Unocal am 28. Januar 1969, die sich 10 km vor der Küste im Dos Cuadras Offshore Oil Field befand. Zehn Tage lang flossen schätzungsweise 80.000 bis 100.000 Barrel Rohöl (11.200 bis 14.000 t) in den Kanal und auf die Strände des Santa Barbara Countys in Südkalifornien und verschmutzten die Küste von Goleta bis Rincon und alle vier der nördlichen Channel Islands.


Cores.

The e200 family consists of six cores, from simple low-end to complex high-end in nature.

e200z0.

The simplest core, e200z0 features an in order, four stage pipeline. It has no MMU, no cache, and no FPU. It uses the variable bit length (VLE) part of the Power ISA, which uses 16-bit versions of the otherwise standard 32-bit PowerPC Book E ISA, thus reducing code footprint by up to 30%. It has a single 32-bit AMBA 2.0v6 bus interface. The load/store unit is pipelined, has a 1-cycle load latency and supports throughput of one load or store operation per cycle.  The e200z0 is used in the MPC5510 as an optional co-processor alongside an e200z1 core, making that chip a multicore processor. e200z0 is available as co-processors to other e200 based processors as well as very low end stand alone processors.

e200z1.

The e200z1 has a four-stage, single-issue pipeline with a branch prediction unit and an 8 entry MMU, no cache and no FPU. It can use the complete 32-bit PowerPC ISA as well as the VLE instructions. It uses a dual 32-bit AMBA 2.0v6 bus interface. The load/store unit is pipelined, has a 1-cycle load latency and supports throughput of one load or store operation per cycle.

e200z3.

The e200z3 has a four-stage, single-issue pipeline with a branch prediction unit, a 16 entry MMU and a SIMD capable FPU. It has no cache. It can use the complete 32-bit PowerPC ISA as well as the VLE instructions. It uses a dual 64-bit AMBA 2.0v6 bus interface. The load/store unit is pipelined, has a 1-cycle load latency and supports throughput of one load or store operation per cycle.

e200z4.

The e200z4 has a five-stage, dual-issue pipeline with a branch prediction unit, a 16 entry MMU, signal processing extension (SPE), a SIMD capable single precision FPU and a 4 Kilobyte 2/4-way set associative instruction L1 cache (Pseudo round-robin replacement algorithm). It has no data cache. It can use the complete 32-bit PowerPC ISA as well as the VLE instructions. It uses a dual 64-bit bus AMBA 2.0v6 interface. The load/store unit is pipelined, has a 2-cycle load latency and supports throughput of one load or store operation per cycle.  Depending on the derivative may support SPE or LSP.

e200z6.

The e200z6 has a seven-stage, single-issue pipeline with a branch prediction unit, a 32 entry MMU, signal processing extensions (SPE), a SIMD capable single-precision FPU and an 8-way set associative 32 KiB unified data/instruction L1 cache. It can use the complete 32-bit PowerPC ISA as well as the VLE instructions. It uses a single 64-bit bus AMBA 2.0v6 interface. The load/store unit is pipelined, has a 3-cycle load latency and supports throughput of one load or store operation per cycle.

e200z7.

The e200z7 has a ten-stage, dual-issue pipeline with a branch prediction unit, a 32 entry MMU, a SIMD capable single-precision FPU and 16-KB, 4 way set-associative Harvard instruction and data L1 caches. It can use the complete 32-bit PowerPC ISA as well as the VLE instructions. It uses a 32-bit bus AMBA 2.0v6 interface for the address bus, and a 64-bit data bus (plus attributes and control on each bus). The load/store unit is pipelined, has a 3-cycle load latency and supports throughput of one load or store operation per cycle.  Depending on the derivative may support SPE, SPE v1.1 or SPE v2.

The PowerPC e200 is a family of 32-bit Power ISA microprocessor cores developed by Freescale for primary use in automotive and industrial control systems. The cores are designed to form the CPU part in system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs with speed ranging up to 600 MHz, thus making them ideal for embedded applications.

Der PowerPC e200 ist ein 32-Bit-RISC-Prozessorkern aus der PowerPC-Familie. Er wurde von Freescale hauptsächlich für automobile und industrielle Systeme konzipiert. Bei dem PowerPC e200 handelt es sich um einen SoC mit einer Geschwindigkeit von bis zu 600 MHz. Er eignet sich deshalb für embedded Anwendungen.


Structure.

The composition of this multienzyme may vary depending on the organism. The multiprotein complex RNA degradosome in "E. coli" consists of 4 canonical components:  There are some alternate forms of the RNA degradosome with different proteins that have been reported. Supplementary alternate degradosome components are PcnB (poly A polymerase) and the RNA helicases RhlE and SrmB. Other alternate components during cold shock include RNA helicase CsdA. Additional alternate degradosome components during stationary phase include Rnr (RNase R) and the putative RNA helicase HrpA. Ppk (polyphosphate kinase) is another constituent that has been reported to be part of the complex, the same as RNA chaperone Hfq, PAP (prostatic acid phosphatase), other kinds of chaperones and ribosomal proteins. These have been found in cell-extracted degradosome preparations from "E. coli".  The structure of RNA degradosome is not as rigid as it seems to be in the picture because this one is only a model to understand how it works. The RNA degradosome's structure is dynamic and each component interacts with the components that are close to it. So the structure is like a molecular domain where RNA can interact as a substrate with each of the components and when this happens, it is really difficult for RNA to scape from the complex.

Functions.

The RNA degradosome is a huge multi-enzyme association that is involved in RNA metabolism and post-transcriptional control of gene expression in numerous bacteria such as "Escherichia coli" and "Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis". The multi-protein complex also serves as a machine for processing structured RNA precursors in the course of their maturation.  RNA helicase is considered to help in the process of degradation to develop the double helix structure in RNA stem-loops. Occasionally, copurification of rRNA with degradosome is appreciated, which suggests that the complex may take part in rRNA and mRNA degradation. There is very few clear information about the role of degradosome. Looking into the steps of the degradation of a transcript in "E. coli", what is known is that in the first place the endoribonucleases can cleave the substracts so that later on the exoribonucleases can work on the products. RhIB has very little activity by itself but the interaction with RNAse E can stimulate it. The role of enolase in the degradation process of RNA is still not properly described, apparently it helps the complex to be more specific during the process of degradation.  One particularly intriguing aspect of the bacterial RNA degradosome is the presence of metabolic enzymes in many of the studied complexes. In addition to the enolase enzyme present in the "E. coli" degradosome, the metabolic enzymes aconitase and phosphofructokinase have been identified in the "C. crescentus" and "B. subtilis" degradosomes respectively. The reason for the presence of these enzymes is currently unclear.

Degradosome activation.

This multi-protein complex is stimulated by a non-coding RNA, called miRNA in Eukaryotic cells and sRNA in bacteria. Small sequences of aminoacid are usually used to target mRNA for its destruction. From here, there are two ways to do it: targeting "translation-initiation region" (TIR) or "coding DNA sequence" (CDS). Firstly, to attach sRNA to targeted mRNA a Hfq (chaperone protein) is needed. Once the attachment is done, if the complex Hfq-sRna ends on TIR, it blocks "ribosome binding site" (RBS) so ribosomes can not translate, and activates nucleases (RNase E) to eliminate mRNA. Another possibility is ending on another region, that makes the complex work as a finisher point of the translation. This way, the ribosomes can do their job of decoding, process that stops when they arrive to the complex, where all the destruction procedure is switched on.

RNA degradation.

The RNA's destruction process is very complicated. To make it easier to understand, we use as an example the mRNA degradation procedure in Escherichia coli because it is the best known process. It is mediated mainly by endo- and ribo- nucleases. The enzymes RNase II and PNPase (polynucleotide phosphorylase) degrade mRNA in a 3'→5' way. The degradosome has 4 compartments that have several ribonucleases. Initially, the synthesized RNA is a polyphosphate structure. This is why the dephosphorylation is needed, in order to obtain monophosphate by the action of a RNA pyrophosphohydrolase PppH. The transcripts have two parts: the phosphate terminal (P-terminal) and a stem-loop structure as an end. The P-terminal is endoribonucleolytically cleavaged by RNase E, while the stem-loop is digested by RNA helicases. If there are any secondary structures, the performance of polymerase PAP is needed to simplify the reduction by exoribonucleases such as PNPase. Finally, the scraps are processed by oligoribonucleases.  The process is analogous in other species and only changes in the enzymatic machinery. For example, bacillus subtilis instead of using RNase E as the endo-ribonuclease, it uses RNase Y or RNase J or in the archaea is used an exosome (vesicle) to this job.

Evolution.

The degradosome, which is dynamic in conformation, variable in composition and non-essential under determined laboratory conditions, has nevertheless been maintained throughout the evolution of many bacterial species (Archaea, Eukaryote, Escherichia coli, Mitochondria, etc.), due most likely to its diverse contributions in global cellular regulation. It has been exeperimentally demonstrated that the presence of degradosome is a selective benefit for "E. coli".  Degradosome-like structures have been thought to be part of many γ-proteobactria and have actually been found in other remote bacterial lineages. They are built upon RNase E. However, the composition of these degradosome-like assemblies is not always the same, it may be different on some proteic components.

The RNA degradosome of "E. coli".

Humans and other animals have "E. coli" as a commensal in their intestinal tract. It is one of the most studied organisms at laboratories and it has been a useful model for understanding genetic regulation in bacteria and other domains of life. The RNA degradosome of "E. coli" is a structure that plays diverse roles in RNA metabolism. It shares homologous components and functional analogy with similar assemblies found in all domains of life. One of its components is an ATP-dependent motor that is activated through protein-protein interactions and cooperates with the ribonucleases in an energy-dependent mode of RNA degradation.  "E. coli" does not have a 5'→3' degradation pathway. Its mRNA does not have 5' capped ends and there are not any 5'→3' exonucleases known. The same thing happens to other eubacteria, hence the 5'→3' degradation pathway could be an exclusive treat of eukaryotic cells.

The degradosome is a multiprotein complex present in most bacteria that is involved in the processing of ribosomal RNA and the degradation of messenger RNA and is regulated by Non-coding RNA. It contains the proteins RNA helicase B, RNase E and Polynucleotide phosphorylase.

Das Degradosom ist ein bakterieller Proteinkomplex, der am Abbau der mRNA beteiligt ist. Der Komplex besteht aus der Endoribonuklease RNase E, der Phosphat-abhängigen Exoribonuklease Polynukleotid-Phosphorylase (PNPase) und der DEAD-box RNA Helikase B (RhlB). Die Zusammensetzung des Degradosom variiert je nach Organismus. In Eukaryonten und Archaen sind ähnliche Proteinkomplexe bekannt, die Exosom genannt werden und aus bis zu zehn Proteinen aufgebaut sind.


Life.

Wilder's father was a printer. Raymond was musically inclined. He played cornet in the family orchestra, which performed at dances and fairs, and accompanied silent films on the piano.  He entered Brown University in 1914, intending to become an actuary. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Navy as an ensign. Brown awarded him his first degree in 1920, and a master's degree in actuarial mathematics in 1921. That year, he married Una Maude Greene; they had four children, thanks to whom they have ample descent.  Wilder chose to do his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, the most fateful decision of his life. At Texas, Wilder discovered pure mathematics and topology, thanks to the remarkable influence of Robert Lee Moore, the founder of topology in the US and the inventor of the Moore method for teaching mathematical proof. Moore was initially unimpressed by the young actuary, but Wilder went on to solve a difficult open problem that Moore had posed to his class. Moore suggested Wilder write up the solution for his Ph.D. thesis, which he did in 1923, titling it "Concerning Continuous Curves". Wilder thus became the first of Moore's many doctoral students at the University of Texas.  After a year as an instructor at Texas, Wilder was appointed assistant professor at the Ohio State University in 1924. That university required that its academic employees sign a loyalty oath, which Wilder was very reluctant to sign because doing so was inconsistent with his lifelong progressive political and moral views.  In 1926, Wilder joined the faculty of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he supervised 26 Ph.Ds and became a Research Professor in 1947. During the 1930s, he helped settle European refugee mathematicians in the United States. Mathematicians who rubbed shoulders with Wilder at Michigan and who later proved prominent included Samuel Eilenberg, the cofounder of category theory, and the topologist Norman Steenrod. After his 1967 retirement from Michigan at the rather advanced age of 71, Wilder became a research associate and occasional lecturer at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  Wilder was vice president of the American Mathematical Society, 1950–1951, president 1955–1956, and the Society's Josiah Willard Gibbs Lecturer in 1969. He was president of the Mathematical Association of America, 1965–1966, which awarded him its Distinguished Service Medal in 1973. He was elected to the American National Academy of Sciences in 1963. Brown University (1958) and the University of Michigan (1980) awarded him honorary doctorates. The mathematics department at the University of California annually bestows one or more graduating seniors with an award in Wilder's name.  The historical, philosophical, and anthropological writings of Wilder's later years suggest a warm, colorful personality. Raymond (2003) attests to this having been the case. For instance:

The topologist.

Wilder's thesis set out a new approach to the Schönflies programme, which aimed to study positional invariants of sets in the plane or 2-sphere. A positional invariant of a set "A" with respect to a set "B" is a property shared by all homeomorphic images of "A" contained in "B". The best known example of such a positional invariant is embodied in the Jordan curve theorem: A simple closed curve in the 2-sphere has precisely two complementary domains and is the boundary of each of them. A converse to the Jordan curve theorem, proved by Schönflies, states that a subset of the 2-sphere is a simple closed curve if it: In his "A converse of the Jordan-Brouwer separation theorem in three dimensions" (1930), Wilder showed that a subset of Euclidean 3-space whose complementary domains satisfied certain homology conditions was a 2-sphere.  Around 1930, Wilder moved from set-theoretic topology to algebraic topology, calling in 1932 for the unification of the two areas. He then began an extensive investigation of the theory of manifolds, e.g., his "Generalized closed manifolds in "n"-space" (1934), in effect extending the Schönflies programme to higher dimensions. This work culminated in his "Topology of Manifolds" (1949), twice reprinted, whose last three chapters discuss his contributions to the theory of positional topological invariants.

The philosopher.

During the 1940s, Wilder met and befriended the University of Michigan anthropologist Leslie White, whose professional curiosity included mathematics as a human activity (White 1947). This encounter proved fateful, and Wilder's research interests underwent a major change, towards the foundations of mathematics. This change was foreshadowed by his 1944 article "The nature of mathematical proof," and heralded by his address to the 1950 International Congress of Mathematicians, titled "The cultural basis of mathematics," which posed the questions: In 1952, he wrote up his course on foundations and the philosophy of mathematics into a widely cited text, "Introduction to the foundations of mathematics".  Wilder's "Evolution of mathematical concepts. An elementary study" (1969) proposed that "we study mathematics as a human artifact, as a natural phenomenon subject to empirical observation and scientific analysis, and, in particular, as a cultural phenomenon understandable in anthropological terms." In this book, Wilder wrote: Wilder's last book, "Mathematics as a cultural system" (1981), contained yet more thinking in this anthropological and evolutionary vein.  Wilder's eclectic and humanist perspective on mathematics appears to have had little influence on subsequent mathematical research. It has, however, had some influence on the teaching of mathematics and on the history and philosophy of mathematics. In particular, Wilder can be seen as a precursor to the work of Howard Eves, Evert Willem Beth, and Davis and Hersh (1981). Wilder's call for mathematics to be scrutinized by the methods of social science anticipates some aspects of "Where Mathematics Comes From", by George Lakoff and Rafael Nunez. For an introduction to the limited anthropological research on mathematics, see the last chapter of Hersh (1997).

Bibliography.

Books by Wilder:  Biographical:  Related work cited in this entry:

Raymond Louis Wilder (3 November 1896 in Palmer, Massachusetts – 7 July 1982 in Santa Barbara, California) was an American mathematician, who specialized in topology and gradually acquired philosophical and anthropological interests.

Raymond Louis Wilder (* 3. November 1896 in Palmer, Massachusetts; † 7. Juli 1982 in Santa Barbara, Kalifornien) war ein US-amerikanischer Mathematiker und Mathematikphilosoph.


Biography.

Astrid Paster and Franziska Pauli lived in the small Bavarian village of Neufang, which had only 40 inhabitants. They played guitar and steirische harmonikas since childhood. They said that they were such good friends that they could be considered twins.  The duo demonstrated the unique talent of performing while rollerblading. They explained: "The idea came about by accident. We used to perform music in the evenings at Astrid's father's health resort hotel, and [once] while we were out on rollerskates in the middle of the day, the guests asked us to take our accordions out". It was at that hotel that they were discovered by DJ Ötzi's producer Christian Seitz. As he said, "[t]he girls were so brilliant that I signed them the same evening".  On March 6, 2009, the Twinnies (then aged 12 and 13) released their debut album "Wir rocken auf Rollen" ("We Rock on Rolls") on Sony BMG. The album contained songs written for them by DJ Ötzi's producers Seitz and Martin Neumeyer. Franciska explained: "We told the two which topics we would like to sing about. That included our passion for long talks, as well as fashion and karaoke parties".  On March 7, 2009, they debuted on television, on the ARD folk music program "Musikantenstadl". Their performance (with accordions on rollerblades) brought them instant fame. A video of the duo on that day's show (they sang a song "Bayernmädels" from their debut album) is now popular on YouTube, having attracted over 14 million views by the end of 2017.

Members.

The members of the group were:

Twinnies was a musical duo from Bavaria consisting of Astrid Paster and Franziska Pauli. They were noted for singing and playing their accordions while rollerblading.

Die Twinnies sind oder waren ein Musik-Duo aus Jandelsbrunn und Grainet im Landkreis Freyung-Grafenau (Niederbayern), das volkstümliche Musik mit Pop- und Rock-Elemente verbindet. Das Markenzeichen der Twinnies sind oder waren die Auftritte auf Rollerblades.


History.

Empire.

On February 26, 1870, mainly Hanseatic merchants, merchant bankers and private bankers founded the Commerzbank and Disconto Bank in Hamburg. Shipowner C. Woermann was the first chairman of the supervisory board of Commerz- und Disconto-Bank from 1870. In the founding consortium, the following banks were represented:  In 1873, the subsidiary London and Hanseatic Bank was founded, which was active until the First World War. In Germany, Commerzbank was initially active in Hamburg until 1897 branches were built in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main. After the merger in 1905 with the Berliner Bank, founded in 1871, the focus shifted increasingly to Berlin.

Weimar Republic.

In 1920, Commerzbank AG merged with in Magdeburg to form "Commerz- und Privat-Bank AG", thereby gaining a dense branch network in the provinces of Saxony and Thuringia. In the early 1920s, many smaller banks were taken over (including the Hessian Bank Association) and in 1929 it merged with the in Frankfurt am Main. In 1927 Commerzbank took a large loan of 20 million dollars in ten-year gold notes at 5.5% at the American Chase National Bank.  In 1931, during the Great Depression Commerzbank, ran into difficulties. The Reich government under Chancellor Heinrich Brüning decided in February 1932 to merge Commerzbank with, which had a dense branch network in northern and western Germany. Majority of shares of this bank were bought by government and the Reichsbank.

Third Reich.

In 1937, the nationalized shares were then transferred back to private shareholders. In 1940, the name Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, which had already been used in public, was adopted and the logo changed to "C" with side wings. Through Aryanization of the property of Jews displaced or murdered during the Holocaust, Commerzbank participated and benefited mostly through brokerage commissions. From 1940 to 1944, Commerzbank opened several subsidiaries in countries occupied by the German Reich, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Latvia. Commerzbank fell back from third to fourth place among the major banks by total assets in the 1940s.

Allied Occupation.

With the division of Europe after World War II, three regional banks were united in 1958 to form Commerzbank AG, which had its headquarters in Düsseldorf. Commerzbank stepped up its economic financing activities and started expanding around the globe. From 1970 onwards, the bank's administrative activities were shifted to Frankfurt am Main, which has been its legal domicile since 1990.

Federal Republic.

Commerzbank suffered reversals in a disastrous foray into investment banking in the first half decade of the 2000s and eventually shut down its Commerzbank Securities investment banking unit run by Mehmet Dalman and Roman Schmidt after Chairman Klaus-Peter Müller labelled it a "problem child" and a review by consulting firm Mercer Oliver Wyman which concluded that Commerzbank Securities lacked a viable business model. What was left of Commerzbank Securities was folded into a division of the commercial bank called Corporates and Markets.

Acquisition of Dresdner Bank.

Further mergers, acquisitions and restructures saw the group grow to servicing over 4 million customers in 1998, 6 million customers in 2001 and 15 million post the global financial crisis oriented takeover of Dresdner Bank from Allianz for €5.5 billion in 2008. Commerzbank was hit hard by the financial crisis and received an €18 billion ($22.3 billion) state bailout. In September 2016, Commerzbank planned to cut 9,600 jobs or about a fifth of its workforce in 4 years.  In late 2019, Commerzbank entered into talks with Petrus Advisers to buy its 7.5% stake in Comdirect and take over the entire online bank.

Current shareholders.

As of December 2018, the bank's two largest shareholders were the Government of Germany (15.6%) and Cerberus Capital Management (5.01%).

Controversies.

For more than a decade, Commerzbank was involved in laundering hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars out of Iran, Sudan and Myanmar, against United States sanctions. Commerzbank agreed to pay $US1.5 billion in fines and dismiss several employees for their role in laundering US$253 billion, and for helping the Japanese company Olympus Corporation orchestrate accounting fraud.  In 2017, Frankfurt prosecutors, together with federal crime police and tax officials, conducted searches of Commerzbank offices as well as the flats of three suspects in Frankfurt and nearby Hanau. The police raid was about a "tax evasion probe in which several current and former managers are suspected of evading €40 million in taxes via dividend stripping, also known as "cum-ex" transactions". The investigation also extended to trades in 2008 at Dresdner Bank, which was taken over by Commerzbank in 2009. Commerzbank said "it proactively notified the authorities with the preliminary results of that investigation and is cooperating fully". In 2019, Cologne prosecutors again raided Commerzbank's Frankfurt headquarters as part of the criminal investigation.  It was announced in July 2019 that Commerzbank was being investigated by the European Central Bank and BaFin for facilitating its subsidiary mBank's toxic financial product offering in Poland, as well as for the linked potential tax evasion resulting from Commerzbank's financing of mBank's CHF-linked toxic financial products.

Commerzbank AG is a major German bank operating as a universal bank, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. In the 2019 financial year, the bank was the second largest in Germany by the total value of its balance sheet. The bank is present in more than 50 countries around the world and provides almost a third of Germany's trade finance. In 2017, it handled 13 million customers in Germany and 5 million customers in Central and Eastern Europe. Commerzbank is a member of the Cash Group. 15% of the shares are owned by the Federal Republic of Germany and 85% are in free float.

Die Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft ist eine als Universalbank tätige deutsche Großbank mit Sitz in Frankfurt am Main. Im Geschäftsjahr 2018 war sie nach der Bilanzsumme die viertgrößte Deutschlands. Die Commerzbank ist Mitglied der Cash Group.


Early life and education.

Guerry was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, the only child of Michel Guerry, a building contractor, whose family had a long history as innkeepers, merchants, farmers and trades-people. About 1817-1820 he studied at the Imperial College of Tours (now the Lyceum Descartes, founded in 1807) and subsequently studied law at the University of Poitiers.  About 18241825 he moved to Paris and was admitted to the bar as a royal advocate. Shortly after, he was employed by the Ministry of Justice. Guerry worked with the data on crime statistics in France collected as part of the "General office for administration of criminal justice" in France, the first centralized national system of crime reporting. Guerry was so fascinated with these data, and the possibility to discover empirical regularities and laws that might govern them, that he gave up the active practice of law to devote the rest of his life to study crime and its relation to other moral variables.

Moral statistics and criminology.

Guerry's first work on what would come to be called "moral statistics" was a large, one page sheet containing three shaded maps of France, prepared together with the Venetian geographer, Adriano Balbi in 1829. These showed the departments of France, shaded according to crimes against persons, crimes against property, and school instruction. Such statistical maps, now called choropleth maps had just been invented in 1826 by Baron Charles Dupin.  Guerry is best known for his "Essay on moral statistics of France," presented to the French Academy of Sciences on July 2, 1832, and published in 1833 after it was awarded the in statistics. His presentation, in tables and thematic maps, showed that rates of crime and suicide remained remarkably stable over time, when broken down by age, sex, region of France and even season of the year. Yet, these numbers also varied systematically across departments of France. This regularity of "social numbers" created the possibility to conceive that human actions could be described by social laws, just as inanimate actions were governed by physical laws.  Throughout his career, Guerry was particularly interested in uncovering the relation between social and moral variables. How are personal crime and property related to each other, and to suicide, donations to the poor, illegitimate births, wealth, and so forth? How do different types of crimes vary with age of the accused? Statistical methods (correlation and regression) were still in their infancy, so Guerry relied on graphic comparisons of maps and semi-graphic tables. Shown below are three of the six thematic maps that Guerry included in his "Essay."

Suicide.

In addition to a map of France showing rates of suicide by department, Guerry collected all the suicide notes found by the police in Paris over a four-year period. He classified these by the apparent motive expressed for taking one's life, perhaps the first content analysis in the social sciences.

Ordonnateur statistique.

Around 1851, Guerry invented the Ordonnateur Statistique, probably the first mechanical device designed to aid in statistical calculations and the assessment of relationships among moral variables. This device is now known to have been used for sorting one target variable (e.g., crimes of different types) in relation to other possibly explanatory variables (e.g., population density).

Polar area diagram.

In 1829, Guerry invented a new graphic form, the polar area diagram to show variations in weather and other phenomena over calendar cycles. This variation of the pie chart uses equi-angular sectors of differing radii, in contrast to the pie chart that uses sectors with varying angle, but equal radii. The polar area diagram is often mistakenly credited to Florence Nightingale, who used it to great effect to illustrate needless mortality in the Crimean War due to unsanitary medical conditions. Nightingale most probably got the idea from William Farr, who in turn was acquainted with Guerry's work.

Other activities.

Guerry also resided in Beaumont-sur-Dême, where he was mayor of the village from 1846–1855.

André-Michel Guerry (; December 24, 1802 – April 9, 1866) was a French lawyer and amateur statistician. Together with Adolphe Quetelet he may be regarded as the founder of moral statistics which led to the development of criminology, sociology and ultimately, modern social science.

André-Michel Guerry (* 24. Dezember 1802 in Tours; † 9. April 1866) war ein französischer Jurist (Rechtsanwalt) und Amateurstatistiker. Zusammen mit Adolphe Quételet gilt er als Begründer der Disziplin der Moralstatistik, die mit zur Begründung der Kriminologie als einer eigenständigen Wissenschaft beitrug. Er war Mitglied der Londoner Gesellschaft für Statistik.


Overview.

Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple was built by King Kulasekara Pandya (1190-1216 CE). He built the main Portions of the three-storeyed gopura at the entrance of Sundareswarar Shrine and the central portion of the Goddess Meenakshi Shrine are some of the earliest surviving parts of the temple. The traditional texts call him a poet-saint king, additionally credit him with a poem called Ambikai Malai, as well as shrines (koil) each for Natarajar and Surya near the main temple, Ayyanar in the east, Vinayagar in the south, Kariamalperumal in the west and Kali in the north. He also built a Mahamandapam. Kulasekara Pandya was also a poet and he composed a poem on Meenakshi named Ambikai Malai. Maravarman Sundara Pandyan I built a gopura in 1231, then called Avanivendaraman, later rebuilt, expanded and named as Sundara Pandya Thirukkopuram. Chitra gopuram (W), also known as Muttalakkum Vayil, was built by Maravarman Sundara Pandyan II (1238-1251). This gopuram is named after the frescoes and reliefs that depict secular and religious themes of Hindu culture. Maravarman Sundara Pandyan II also added a pillared corridor to the Sundareswara shrine and the Sundara Pandyan Mandapam. It was rebuilt after the 14th-century damage, its granite structure was renovated by Kumara Krishnappar after 1595. Though the temple has historic roots, most of the present campus structure was

Location.

The Meenakshi temple is located in the heart of historic Madurai city, about a kilometer south of the Vaigai River. It is about southwest from Chennai, the state capital. The temple complex is well connected with road network (four lane National Highway 38), near a major railway junction and an airport (IATA: IXM) with daily services. The city

Etymology and mythology.

Meenakshi (, ) is a term meaning "fish-eyed", derived from the words "mina" ("fish") and "akshi" ("eyes"). She was earlier known by the Tamil name "Tadadakai" ("fish-eyed one")"," mentioned in early historical account as a fierce, unmarried and meat-eating goddess which was called later as Meenakshi. According to another theory, the name of the goddess literally means "rule of the fish", derived from the Tamil words "meen" (fish) and "aatchi" (rule). She is also known by the Tamil name "Angayarkanni" or "Ankayarkannammai" (literally, "the mother with the beautiful fish eyes").  The goddess Meenakshi is the principal deity of the temple, unlike most Shiva temples in South India where Shiva is the principal deity. According to a legend found in the Tamil text "Tiruvilaiyatarpuranam", king Malayadwaja Pandya and his wife

History.

The town of Madurai is ancient and one mentioned in Sangam era texts. These are dated to be from the 1st to 4th century CE. Some early Tamil texts call Madurai as "Koodal", and these portray it as a capital and a temple town where every street radiated from the temple. Goddess Meenakshi is described as the divine ruler, who along with Shiva were the primary deities that the southern Tamil kingdoms such as the Pandya dynasty revered. The early texts imply that a temple existed in Madurai by the mid 6th century. In medieval literature and inscriptions, it is sometimes referred to as Kadambavanam (lit. "forest of Kadamba") or "Velliambalam" (lit. "silver hall" where Shiva danced). It was described to be the sangam of scholars, or a place where scholars meet. It is mentioned in the Tamil text "Tiruvilayadalpuranam" and the Sanskrit text "Halasya Mahatmya". It is one of the shrines of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams.  Early Tamil texts mention the temple and its primary deity by various epithets and names. Thirugnanasambandar, the famous Hindu saint of Saiva philosophy for example, mentioned this temple in the 7th century, and described the deity as Aalavai Iraivan. The origin of the temple is mentioned in these early Tamil texts, some in the regional Puranam genre of literature. All of these place the temple in ancient times and include a warrior goddess, but the details vary significantly and are inconsistent with each other. Some link to it deities they call Alavai Iraivan and Alavai Annal, or alternatively Angayar Kanni Ammai. Some link its legend to other deities such as Indra who proclaims the primacy of the goddess, while some describe Hindu gods appearing before ancient kings or saints urging wealthy merchants to build this temple in the honor of a goddess. One legend describes a childless king and queen performing yajna for a son, they get a daughter who inherits the kingdom, conquers the earth, meets Shiva ultimately, marries him, continues to rule from Madurai, and the temple memorializes those times. Instead of such inconsistent ahistorical mythologies, scholars have attempted to determine the history of the temple from inscriptions found in and outside Madurai, as well as comparing the records relating to South Indian dynasties. These largely post-date the 12th century.

Invasions and destruction.

In the north, the Indian subcontinent had been conquered by the Delhi Sultanate. Muslim armies had begun raiding central India for plunder by the late 13th century. Between 1310–1311, the Ala ud Din Khilji's Muslim general Malik Kafur and his Delhi Sultanate forces went deeper into the Indian peninsula for loot and to establish annual tribute paying Muslim governors. The records left by the court historians of the Delhi Sultanate state that Malik Kafur raided Madurai, Chidambaram, Srirangam and other Tamil towns, destroyed the temples, and they were the sources of gold and jewels booty he brought back to Delhi.  The Islamic invasion in the 14th century, states George Michell –

Rebuilding.

The temple was rebuilt by the Hindu Nayaka dynasty ruler Vishwanatha Nayak in the 16th and 17th century. According to Susan Lewandowski, the Nayaka rulers followed the Hindu texts on architecture called the "Shilpa Shastras" in redesigning the temple city plan and the Meenakshi temple. The city was laid out, states Lewandowski, in the shape of concentric squares and ring-roads around them, with radiating streets culminating in the Meenakshi-Sundaresvara temple. These streets use traditional Tamil Hindu month names, such as Adhi, Chitrai, Avani-moola, Masi and others. In each of these months, the Hindus started their tradition of taking

Description.

The temple complex is the center of the old city of Madurai. It consists of monuments inside a number of concentric enclosures, each layer fortified with high masonry walls. The outer walls have four towering gateways, allowing devotees and pilgrims to enter the complex from all four directions. After the city's destruction in the 14th century, the Tamil tradition states that the king Vishwantha Nayaka rebuilt the temple and the Madurai city around it in accordance with the principles laid down in the "Shilpa Shastras" (Sanskrit: "". The city plan is based on concentric squares with streets radiating out from the temple. Early Tamil texts mention that the temple was the center of the city and the streets happened to be radiating out like a lotus and its petals. The temple "prakarams" (outer precincts of a temple) and streets accommodate an elaborate festival calendar in which processions circumambulate the temple complex. The vehicles used in the processions are progressively more massive the further they travel from the centre.  The temple complex is spread over about. The courtyard is close to a square with each side of about 800 feet, but more accurately a rectangle with one side about 50 feet longer. The complex has numerous shrines and mandapas, of which the most important and largest are the two parallel shrines in the innermost courtyard, one for Meenakshi (B on the plan) and other for Sundareshvara (A). Additionally, the complex has a golden lotus sacred pool (L) for pilgrims to bathe in, a thousand pillar hall choultry with extensive sculpture (Q), the kalyana mandapa or wedding hall, many small shrines for Hindu deities and for scholars from the "sangam" (academy) history, buildings which are religious schools and administrative offices, elephant sheds, equipment sheds such as those for holding the chariots used for periodic processions and some gardens. The temple is embedded inside a commercial hub and traditional markets.  According to Holly Reynolds, a closer examination of the temple plan, as well as the old city, suggests that it is mandala, a cosmic diagram laid out based on principles of symmetry and loci.  The temple complex has had a living history, has been in use for almost all of its history except for about 60 years when it was closed and in ruins after its destruction in the 14th century. The temple has continued to evolve in the modern era. For example, before the colonial era, the temple complex was itself inside another layer of old city’s fortified walls. The British demolished this layer of fortification in the early 19th century. The surviving plan of the temple complex places it within the old city, one defined by a set of concentric squares around the temple.

Significance.

The Meenakshi Temple is a theologically and culturally significant temple for Hindus. Professor Christopher Fuller signifies that through the wedding of Meenakshi and Sundaresvara the "supremely important rite of passage" for women, the cultural concept of "sumangali" or "auspicious married woman" who lives with her husband but is also independent, organizer of the social connections and who is central to Tamilian life. The marriage of the goddess and god is a symbolic paradigm for human marriage. This event is commemorated with an annual festive procession that falls sometime around April. The temple is also significant because it implies an affinal, protective relationship between Shaivism and Vaishnavism traditions of Hinduism, by making Shiva the husband of Meenakshi, and Vishnu her brother, a significant relationship in Dravidian kinship

Worship.

The Meenakshi Amman temple is an active house of Hindu worship. Priests perform the puja ceremonies on a daily basis and during festivals. Volunteers and temple staff also participate in daily rituals, such as symbolically moving an icon of Sundaresvara in a palanquin to Meenakshi's chamber every night so that they can be together, then waking the two and returning Sundaresvara to his shrine every morning. There are periodic "ratha" (chariot) processions where one of the metal copy icon of the goddess is taken out of the temple in an elaborate car shrine decorated with colorful clothes and flowers, with volunteers pulling the car through the streets of Madurai and circumambulating the temple complex on one of the concentric roads in the old city. This symbolizes her mythical conquests and her presence in the secular life of the people. The temple has a six time pooja calendar everyday, each comprising four rituals namely "abhisheka" (sacred bath), "alangaram" (decoration), "neivethanam" (food offerings) and "deepa aradanai" (lamp ceremony) for both Meenakshi and Sundareswarar. The rituals and festivals are accompanied with music with "nadhaswaram" (pipe instrument) and "tavil" (percussion instrument), recitation of the Vedas.  The Hindus generally circumambulate the shrines clockwise first before entering the shrine for a "darshana". Meenakshi is typically visited before Sundareswarar by the pilgrims, she considered the primary deity of the complex. Like most Shakti temples in Tamil Nadu, the Fridays during the Tamil months of "Aadi" (July–August) and "Thai" (January–February) are celebrated in the temple by thousands of devotees. "Avani Moola Utsavam" is a 10-day festival mainly devoted to Sundareswarar describes his various "Thiruvilayadal" meaning Shiva's sacred games.

Festivals.

The Meenakshi temple hosts a festival in each month of the Tamil calendar. Some festivals attract significant participation, with the Meenakshi wedding-related festival attracting over a million people over 12 days. It is called the "Meenakshi Thirukalyanam". The festival is celebrated in the Chithirai month, which typically falls about April. It marks the divine marriage of Meenakshi, and is the most attended festival. The wedding of the divine couple is regarded as a classic instance of south Indian marriage with matrilineal emphasis, an arrangement referred as "Madurai marriage". This contrasts with the "Chidambaram marriage", with patrilineal emphasis, reflected by Shiva's dominance, ritual and mythology at the Shiva temple of Chidhambaram. The festival includes a procession, where Meenakshi and

Literary mention.

Over the centuries, the temple has been a centre of education of culture, literature, art, music and dance.  The temple is famed location where Tamil tradition believes Campantar helped establish Tamil Shiva bhakti.  Kumaraguruparar, a 17th-century Tamil poet, composed "Meenakshi Pillaitamil" in praise of presiding deity of this temple. King Tirumalai Nayak's patronage of the poet Kumaraguruparar has an important place in the history of "pillaitamil" (a genre of Tamil literature). Kumaraguruparar visited a lot of temples and when he visited this temple, he composed "Meenakshi pillaitamil" dedicated to the goddess Meenakshi.  Shyama Shastri, one of the Trinity of Carnatic music, had composed a set of nine Telugu songs in praise of Meenakshi of Madurai, which are referred to as "Navaratnamalika"(Garland of nine gems). According to legend, when Sastri sang these songs infront of presiding deity, the goddess had responded visibly.

Meenakshi Temple (also referred to as Meenakshi Amman Temple or Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple also spelled as Meenatchi Temple), is a historic Hindu temple located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River in the temple city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to Meenakshi, a form of Parvati, and her consort, "Sundareshwar", a form of Shiva. The temple is at the center of the ancient temple city of Madurai mentioned in the Tamil Sangam literature, with the goddess temple mentioned in 6th century CE texts.

Der Minakshi-Tempel (Tamil:, in der englischen Schreibweise: Meenakshi Amman Temple; voller Name: Sri-Minakshi-Sundareshwara-Tempel) ist ein Hindu-Tempel in der Stadt Madurai im südindischen Bundesstaat Tamil Nadu. Er ist Minakshi, der lokalen Erscheinungsform der Göttin Parvati, und Sundareshvara (Shiva) geweiht, die dem Mythos zufolge in Madurai geheiratet haben sollen. Im Gegensatz zu den meisten anderen Shiva-Tempeln steht in Madurai nicht Shiva, sondern die Göttin im Mittelpunkt der Verehrung. Die ältesten Teile des Minakshi-Tempels stammen aus der Pandya-Zeit des 12.–13. Jahrhunderts, seine heutige Gestalt erhielt der Tempel im Wesentlichen während der Nayak-Herrschaft im 16.–17. Jahrhundert.


Career.

In 1835, he was elected to Toronto City Council of the year-old city of Toronto and was chosen to be mayor. He added a business-like atmosphere to council with the official 'robes of office'. The Council worked on matters like tax rates, grants and the removal of 'filth and nuisances from the city streets'. On May 6, 1835, Council's Committee on draining and paving approved construction of the city's first main sewer on King Street into which all drains and sewers were to be connected.  In 1836, actions by new Lieutenant Governor Francis Bond Head triggered the resignation of the members of the Executive Council for the province. Sullivan accepted an appointment to the council. In the same year, he became the commissioner of crown lands. In 1839, he was appointed surveyor general of the province and became a member of the Legislative Council. Although criticized by many as a turncoat, he was an able administrator.  He supported the union of Upper and Lower Canada and was appointed to the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada. He served briefly as the first Commissioner of Crown Lands for the united province February 10, 1841 – June 30, 1841.  In 1848, he was appointed to the Queen's Bench. Judge Sullivan died April 14, 1853, in Toronto. He was buried on the Baldwin family estate, now the grounds of Spadina House in Toronto.

Family.

Baldwin was born in Bandon, County Cork in the Ireland in 1802 and came to York, Upper Canada with his family in 1819. He studied law and was called to the bar in 1828. He moved to Vittoria, then the district town of the London District, and married in 1829, but returned to York after his wife's death in 1830.  Sullivan remarried in 1833, marrying Emily Louisa Delatre, daughter of Lieut.-Col. Philip Delatre, 1st Ceylon Regiment, and his second wife, Amey Scolding December 24, 1833. Emily Louisa was born in Ceylon. The couple had four sons and five daughters.  Emily Louisa remarried June 14, 1875, as the second wife of the Hon. Sir Francis Hincks, C.B., K.C.M.G., formerly Premier of the Province of Canada and, subsequently, Governor of the Windward Islands and of British Guiana. Lady Hincks died in Montreal May 14, 1880, aged 64. Sir Francis Hincks died in Montreal, August 18, 1885.

Robert Baldwin Sullivan, (May 24, 1802 – April 14, 1853), was an Irish-Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician who became the second Mayor of Toronto, Upper Canada.

Robert Baldwin Sullivan (* 24. Mai 1802 in Bandon, Irland; † 14. April 1853 in Toronto) war kanadischer Rechtsanwalt, Politiker und der 2. Bürgermeister der Stadt Toronto.