title: 24th Battalion (Australia)

text: Organised into four rifle companies, designated 'A' through to 'D', with a machine gun section in support, the battalion had an authorised strength of 1,023 men of all ranks. After arriving in Egypt, the 24th completed its training during July and August before being sent to Gallipoli in early September as reinforcements for the forces that had landed there in April. Arriving on the peninsula on 4 September, the 24th served in the Lone Pine sector, taking over responsibility for the front line on the 12 September. The position was very close to the Turkish trenches and was hotly contested. The position was so tenuous, that the troops holding it had to be rotated regularly, and as a result the 24th spent the remainder of the campaign rotating with the 23rd Battalion to hold the position against determined Turkish mining operations. The battalion remained at Gallipoli for three months until the evacuation of Allied troops took place in December 1915. During the period that the 24th was deployed to Gallipoli, a 52-man detachment was sent to Salonika to act as packhorse handlers for the British contingent.


title: 24th Battalion (Australia)

text: In 1918, despite being severely depleted, it played a defensive role during the German spring offensive before supporting the attack at Hamel in July. In August, it joined the Allied Hundred Days Offensive, attacking around Amiens, and then joining the advance that followed. In early October 1918, the battalion attacked the Beaurevoir and then Montbrehain. It was during this final attack, on 5 October, that one of the battalion's subalterns, George Ingram, performed the deeds that resulted in him being awarded the Victoria Cross. At the conclusion of the battle, the 24th was withdrawn from the line for rest and reorganisation and did not take part in further combat before the war came to an end on 11 November 1918. Its strength dwindled as the demobilisation process began and personnel were repatriated back to Australia, and the 24th Battalion was disbanded in May 1919. During its service during World War I the battalion lost 909 men killed and 2,494 men wounded. A total of 19 battle honours were bestowed upon the 24th Battalion in 1927 for its involvement in the war.


title: 24th Battalion (Australia)

text: After the soldiers returned from leave, a period of re-organisation and training followed on the Atherton Tablelands before the 24th Battalion deployed with the rest of the 15th Brigade to Bougainville in April 1945. On Bougainville, as part of the 3rd Division, the battalion took part in the drive to Buin in the southern sector, leading the advance to the Hongorai River along the Buin Road in April and early May, during which time they were involved in several small unit actions. Further actions were fought by the battalion around Egan's Ridge and Mayberry's Crossing in mid-May as the battalion crossed the Pororei River. The Buin Road was cleared south towards the Peperu River, while the lateral track north to Oso was also cleared. In mid-June, after bypassing Unani along a lateral track that passed behind Monoitu, the battalion was involved in actions around the Hari and the Ogorata Rivers, pushing towards Kingori and then on to Katsuwa along the Commando Road, crossing the Mobiai. Eventually they reached the Mivo River which was forded by early July. Shortly afterwards, the battalion was relieved by units of the 29th Brigade who continued the drive south after a defensive battle against a Japanese counter-attack.


title: String Quartet No. 9 (Simpson)

text: The Fuga, lasting approximately thirteen minutes, begins with a second violin solo, announcing a sad, lyrical subject that rises and falls gently. It is then joined by the viola which plays the theme in inversion, giving the music a modal texture. For several minutes the fugue progresses with a sorrowful mood, flowing with gentle counterpoint, before building to a climax. After the climax subsides the music becomes more fragmented and there is an overall feeling of expectancy for further developments. Here, the harmonic colour changes. Although the meter does not change throughout the fugue, the overall effect is an accelerando because note values are gradually shortened. Within several minutes a more intense allegro is reached. Towards the end the two types of harmonic colour are presented simultaneously as mirror images, yet neither triumphs over the other since the images hold each other in balance. The music is eventually called home by the first violin's insistence on the open G string – acting like the vortex of a whirlpool, irresistibly drawing all the other instruments from the musical maelstrom into itself.


title: String Quartet No. 9 (Simpson)

text: The overall critical reception of this work has been very favourable. The composer and musicologist Lionel Pike described it as a "remarkable tour de force... has explored thoroughly every facet of Haydn's theme in a way which for fertile imagination, invention, and contrapuntal skill challenges comparison with the variations J S Bach wrote for Goldberg to play to the insomniac Count Kayserling." Reviewing in Tempo, David J. Brown commented that "Simpson's ideas are so characterful that their reverses almost always are not only fascinating in themselves but throw more and different light on the original forms. What might to some composers have been an intolerable strait-jacket is to him a liberating tool" and described the final "slow movement" of the quartet – Variations XXX to the first half of the fugue – as having "an intensity and wholly unsentimental depth of feeling that matches anything in the quartets of Shostakovich, to look no further." A concluding remark was made - "However, perhaps the most remarkable thing about this remarkable work is that Simpson's response to his self-imposed intellectual challenge is full of emotional power as well-mind serving heart and vice versa in a rare way."


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: The Halliwell Manuscript, also known as the Regius Poem, is the earliest of the Old Charges. It consists of 64 vellum pages of Middle English written in rhyming couplets. In this, it differs from the prose of all the later charges. The poem begins by describing how Euclid "counterfeited geometry" and called it masonry, for the employment of the children of the nobility in Ancient Egypt. It then recounts the spread of the art of geometry in "divers lands." The document relates how the craft of masonry was brought to England during the reign of King Athelstan (924–939). It tells how all the masons of the land came to the King for direction as to their own good governance, and how Athelstan, together with the nobility and landed gentry, forged the fifteen articles and fifteen points for their rule. This is followed by fifteen articles for the master concerning both moral behaviour (do not harbour thieves, do not take bribes, attend church regularly, etc.) and the operation of work on a building site (do not make your masons labour at night, teach apprentices properly, do not take on jobs that you cannot do, etc.). There are then fifteen points for craftsmen which follow a similar pattern. Warnings of punishment for those breaking the ordinances are followed by provision for annual assemblies. There follows the legend of the Four Crowned Martyrs, a series of moral aphorisms, and finally a blessing.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: The Matthew Cooke Manuscript is the second oldest of the Old Charges or Gothic Constitutions of Freemasonry, and the oldest known set of charges to be written in prose. It contains some repetition, but compared to the Regius there is also much new material, much of which is repeated in later constitutions. After an opening thanksgiving prayer, the text enumerates the Seven Liberal Arts, giving precedence to geometry, which it equates with masonry. There follows the tale of the children of Lamech, expanded from the Book of Genesis. Jabal discovered geometry, and became Cain's Master Mason. Jubal discovered music, Tubal Cain discovered metallurgy and the art of the smith, while Lamech's daughter Naamah invented weaving. Discovering that the earth would be destroyed either by fire or by flood, they inscribed all their knowledge on two pillars of stone, one that would be impervious to fire, and one that would not sink. Generations after the flood both pillars were discovered, one by Pythagoras, the other by the philosopher Hermes. The seven sciences were then passed down through Nimrod, the architect of the Tower of Babel, to Abraham, who taught them to the Egyptians, including Euclid, who in turn taught masonry to the children of the nobility as an instructive discipline. The craft is then taught to the children of Israel, and from the Temple of Solomon finds its way to France, and thence to Saint Alban's England. Athelstan now became one of a line of kings actively supporting masonry. His youngest son, unnamed here, is introduced for the first time as leader and mentor of masons. There follow nine articles and nine points, and the document finishes in a similar manner to the Regius.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: Unlike the majority of the old constitutions, which are written on rolls, the Cooke manuscript is written on sheets of vellum, four and three-eighth inches high and three and three eighth inches broad (112mm x 86mm) bound into a book, still retaining its original oak covers. The manuscript was published by R. Spencer, London, in 1861 when it was edited by Mr. Matthew Cooke — hence the name. In the British Museum's catalogue it is listed as "Additional M.S. 23,198", and is now dated to 1450 or thereabouts, although errors in Cooke's transcription caused it originally to be dated to after 1482. In line 140, And in policronico a cronycle p'yned, Cooke translated the last word as "printed", causing Hughan to give the earliest date as Caxton's Polychronicon of 1482. Later retranslation as "proved" justified the earlier dating. Obvious scribal errors indicate that the document is a copy, and repetition of part of the stories of Euclid and Athelstan seems to indicate two sources. Speth postulated, in 1890, that these sources were much older than the manuscript, a view that remained unchallenged for over a century.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: At this point, the old charges had attained a standard form. What became known as the York Legend had emerged in a form that would survive into Preston's Illustrations of Freemasonry, a work of 1772 which was still being reprinted in the mid nineteenth century. The requirement for every new admission to be sworn to the Old Charges on the bible now meant that every lodge should have its own manuscript charges, and over a hundred survive from the seventeenth century until the period in the eighteenth when their use died out. Describing them all is beyond the scope of a single article, and unnecessary since differences are only in details, such as occasional clumsy attempts to deal with the absence of Edwin, Athelstan's son, from any historical record. Differences also occur in the specifics of the charges and the manner of taking the oath. A very few manuscripts have a separate Apprentice Charge. Families of documents have been identified, and two systems of classification exist. A few documents deserve special attention.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: The group of masons calling themselves the Grand Lodge of All England meeting since Time Immemorial in the City of York continued to issue written constitutions to lodges, as their authority to meet, until the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Surviving are York manuscripts numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 (3 missing), the Hope manuscript, and the Scarborough manuscript, which turned up in Canada. Of these, York 4 has been the subject of controversy since it was first described in print. It is dated 1693, and was the first of the Old Charges discovered to have a separate Apprentice Charge, or a set of oaths specially for apprentices. The controversy was caused by the short paragraph describing how the oath was to be taken. "The one of the elders takeing the Booke / and that hee or shee that is to be made mason / shall lay their hands thereon / and the charge shall bee given". Woodford and Hughan had no particular problem with this reading, believing it to be a copy of a much older document, and realising that women were admitted to the guilds of their deceased menfolk if they were in a position to carry on their trade. Other writers, starting with Hughan's contemporary David Murray Lyon, the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, insisted that the "shee" must be a scribal error for they, or a mistranslation of the Latin illi (they). Hughan failed to point out that the four lines in question are written in a competent hand in letters twice the size of the surrounding text, but riposted to Lyon that the Apprentice charge in York No 4, Harley MS 1942, and the Hope manuscript outline the apprentice's duties to his master or Dame. Modern opinion seems resigned to letting York Manuscript number 4 remain a paradox.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: As the first Grand Lodge gathered momentum, the Rev. James Anderson was commissioned to digest the "gothic constitutions" into a more palatable form. The result, in 1723, was the first printed constitutions. While manuscript constitutions continued to be used in unaffiliated lodges, their condensation into print saw them die out by the end of the century. Anderson's introduction advertised a history of Freemasonry from the beginning of the world. The York legend was therefore still employed, and persisted through reprints, pocket editions, and Preston's Illustrations of Freemasonry. Anderson's regulations, the second part of the book, followed on a set of charges devised by George Payne during his second term as Grand Master. Both charges and regulations were geared to the needs of a Grand Lodge, necessarily moving away from the simplicity of the originals. When a new Grand Lodge sprang up to carry the older rite, which they saw as abandoned by the "Moderns", their constitutions had a different approach to history. Ahiman Rezon parodied the old history of the craft, and Anderson's research. The charges and regulations of the Antients were derived from Anderson by way of Pratt's Irish Constitutions. Almost inevitably, the legendary history disappeared after the union of the two Grand Lodges in 1813.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: While over 100 manuscript 'constitutions' exist, documents detailing actual ritual are much rarer. The earliest, dating from 1696, is the Scottish Edinburgh Register House manuscript , which gives a catechism and a certain amount of ritual of the Entered Apprentice and a Fellow Craft ceremonies. It was named after the building in which it was discovered, which houses the Scottish National Archives. The Trinity College Manuscript, discovered in Dublin, Ireland, but which is clearly of Scottish origin, has been dated to c.1710, is substantially the same in content. The recently discovered Airlie MS dated 1705 is therefore the second oldest known Scottish stonemasons' rituals. Although referred to as rituals these manuscripts are also aide memoires, or 'prompt sheets'. They therefore have three functions but for ease of reference they are commonly described as 'rituals'. The significance of these three rituals lie in the fact that they are 1) of Scottish origin 2) are based on the ceremonies used by Scottish stonemasons and 3) that they pre-date the existence of any Grand Lodge (essentially a 'Head Office'). Collectively they are known as the 'Scottish School'.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: Haughfoot was a hamlet, consisting mainly of a staging post for horses and carriages, in the Scottish Borders near the village of Stow. It was in this unlikely location that a lodge was founded in 1702 by men who were mainly local landowners. The significance of this lodge lies in the fact that none of its members were stonemasons, confirming that modern Freemasonry was fully evolved in Scotland before the appearance of centralised authority in the form of Grand Lodges. The minute book of the lodge, which is extant, commences in 1702 and inside the front covers is the part which is identical to the last portion of the Edinburgh Register House and Airlie MSS. Although not complete (the missing part was almost certainly removed for reasons of secrecy) the Haughfoot fragment is sufficient to confirm that it was very likely to have been identical to the two previously mentioned MSS. The 'fragment' was probably retained because the minute of the first meeting of the Lodge commences immediately after this portion of ritual on the same page.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: The Graham Manuscript, of about 1725, gives a version of the third degree legend at variance with that now transmitted to master masons, involving Noah instead of Hiram Abiff. The Graham Manuscript appears to have been written in 1726, and obvious scribal errors within it indicate that it was copied from another document. It turned up in Yorkshire during the 1930s, but its exact origin is unknown, Lancashire, Northumberland, and South Scotland all being suggested. The document is headed The whole Institution of free Masonry opened and proved by the best of tradition and still some reference to scripture, There follows an examination, in the form of the sort of question and answer catechism seen in the earlier rituals. In what appears to be the examination of a Master Mason, the responder relates what modern masons would recognise as that part of the legend of Hiram Abiff dealing with the recovery of his body, but in this instance the body is that of Noah, disinterred by his three sons in the hope of learning some secret, and the mason's word is cryptically derived from his rotting body. Hiram Abiff is mentioned, but only as Solomon's master craftsman, inspired by Bezalel, who performed the same function for Moses. The tradition of deriving freemasonry from Noah seems to be shared with Anderson (see Printed Constitutions above). Anderson also attributed primitive freemasonry to Noah in his 1738 constitutions.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: The minutes of the old lodge at York, which later called itself the Grand Lodge of All England, give a glimpse of masonry outside the Grand Lodges of the period. The minutes are erratic, with spaces of some years between some entries. It is often impossible to tell if the minutes are lost, were never taken, or the lodge did not meet at all. They do, however, contain the full text of a speech by the antiquary Francis Drake in 1726, in which he discusses the contemplation of geometry, and the instructive lectures which ought to be occurring in lodges. He used the York legend to claim precedence of his own lodge over all others in England, and being a more careful historian than the compilers of the Old Charges, Edwin the son of Athelstan became Edwin of Northumbria, adding three centuries to his lodge's pedigree. Later minutes show the lodge adding ritual, and developing a five degree system from a single ceremony where a candidate was admitted and made a Fellow Craft in one evening. The York account of the split between the Premier Grand Lodge of England and the Lodge of Antiquity provides a balance to the charged prose of William Preston. The minutes cease for the final time in 1792.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: Minutes of both of the Grand Lodges which finally formed the United Grand Lodge of England are preserved in their archives. Plans by Quatuor Coronati Lodge to publish them all were interrupted by the First World War, and only one volume was published, covering the minutes of the Premier Grand Lodge of England from their first minutes in 1723 to 1739. The first of five volumes of Grand Lodge minutes contained three lists of subscribing lodges and their members, dating from 1723, 1725, and 1730. The lodges are first numbered in John Pine's engraved list of 1729. All three manuscript lists have had lodges added after their compilation, but in spite of this they still trace the development of the first Grand Lodge during a critical period in its development, as it moved from being an association of London lodges to a national institution. No further lists were included in the minutes. They start on 24 June 1723 with the approval of Anderson's constitutions, and the resolution that no alteration or innovation in the "Body of Masonry" could occur without the approval of Grand Lodge. The Earl of Dalkeith was then elected as the next Grand Master, but his chosen deputy, John Theophilus Desaguliers, was only approved by 43 votes to 42. After dinner the outgoing Grand Master, the Duke of Wharton, asked for a recount. This being refused, he walked out. Many such human touches are revealed in the minutes, together with the beginnings of masonic charities and discipline of masons and lodges. There are no minutes for the year 1813, and only rough notes from the Antients, leaving a gap in the run-up to union that must be spanned from other sources.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: The Statutes de Ratisbon were first formulated on 25 April 1459 as the rules of the German stonemasons, when the masters of the operative lodges met at Ratisbon (now Regensburg). They elected the master of works of Strasbourg Cathedral as their perpetual presiding officer. Strasbourg was already recognised as the Haupthütte, or Grand Lodge of German masons. The General Assembly was held again in 1464 and 1469, and the statutes and society were approved by the Emperor Maximilian in 1498. The final form of the statutes regulated the activity of master masons (Meister), with an appendix of rules for companions or fellows (Gesellen), and apprentices (Diener). These regulations were used for over a century as the Strasbourg lodge operated as a court for the settlement of building disputes. This ended in abuse of power, and the Magistrates removed the privilege in 1620. Strasbourg was annexed by France in 1681, and its rule over German operative lodges interdicted at the beginning of the 18th century. While there seems little likelihood that the code affected the emergence of German speculative lodges in the 18th century, they may have had some influence on a few of the English "charges".


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: The Schaw Statutes were issued from Edinburgh, where Schaw seems to have met with representatives of lodges from central and eastern Scotland to formulate these regulatory principles. The 1598 Statute enjoined masons to be true to one another, and live charitably together as becomes sworn brothers and companions of the craft. This shows that there was already an oath involved, and invoked the legal definition of a brother as one to whom another was bound by oath. There followed directives as to the regulation of the craft, and provisions for the masters of every lodge to elect a warden to have charge of the lodge every year, and that the choice be approved by the Warden General. An apprentice had to serve seven years before being received into a lodge, and a further seven before becoming a fellow in craft, unless by consent of the masters, deacons and wardens, and after examination. The term Entered Apprentice is used for an apprentice who has been admitted to the lodge. The document was circulated to every lodge in Scotland, which caused some degree of upset in Kilwinning. The lodge in Kilwinning claimed to be the oldest lodge in Scotland, and was insulted not to have been represented. They sent Archibald Barclay to a further meeting in 1599, from which issued the second Statute, again on 28 December. In an attempt to paper over the crack created by the first meeting, Edinburgh was declared the first and principle lodge, Kilwinning the second and head lodge. Stirling came third. Kilwinning was given charge of the West of Scotland, and charged to examine their masons in "the art of memory", with fines prescribed for failure. What is being remembered is unspecified, but evidently known to all the masons present. Schaw also insisted that each lodge employ a notary, which resulted in the Scottish lodges starting to keep minutes. The document ends by thanking Archibald Barclay, and looking forward to obtaining the King's warrant for the statutes. Kilwinning, far from being appeased, took no further part in the dealings of Schaw's lodges.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: The Kirkwall scroll is a floor cloth which contains many masonic symbols, many more opaque images, and cryptic writing which may either be a code or badly painted Hebrew. It hangs on the west wall of the temple of Lodge Kirkwall Kilwinning No. 38(2) in Orkney, but is too long to be completely displayed. It is 18 ft 6in long and 5 ft 6in wide, and is composed of a full-width central strip stitched at each side to two half-width side strips. The left border appears to show the wanderings of the Israelites before they arrived in Egypt, and reads from top to bottom. The right shows their wanderings in the wilderness after the Exodus, with the route marked in years from 1 to 46, and branching many times at the end. The central cloth contains seven painted scenes and tableaux. The bottom scene shows an altar flanked by two pillars, all surrounded by more or less familiar masonic symbols. Working upwards, the second has an altar surrounded by a different set of symbols, the third has the altar and pillars together with the cherubim present on the arms of the Antient Grand Lodge of England, the Grand Lodge of Ireland and the United Grand Lodge of England. Above this is a schematic of the tabernacle of the Ark of the Covenant, followed by what may be the last judgement. The sixth shows a cross atop a pyramid, surmounted by a rainbow, surrounded by masonic and alchemical symbols, and at the top a naked woman, assumed by early authors to be Eve, sitting under a tree surrounded by animals. In the distance is a sea or lake full of fish, and beyond this are mountains. The whole is painted in oil, mainly in pale blue. In the top tableau the woman, fish and animals are pink, the sea green, and the tree and mountains brown.


title: Masonic manuscripts

text: Cooper's contribution was in response to claims of mediaeval origin for the scroll. Andrew Sinclair, a leading proponent of Freemasonry's descent from the Knights Templar, hailed it as a great mediaeval treasure, comparable with the Mappa Mundi in Hereford Cathedral. His claim arises from what opponents describe as an optimistic reading of radiocarbon dating, and creative interpretation of the panels. The Tabernacle is claimed to be King Solomon's Temple, with the tents removed in Sinclair's reproduction. Sinclair and his supporters also have trouble with lodge 128 of the Antients. It is variously claimed to be in Yorkshire, or Prince Edwin's Lodge in Bury . In 1785, 128 was meeting in the Crown and Feathers, Holborn, London. Robert Lomas, a supporter of the early dating, now sees part of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in one of the altar inscriptions and much of the symbolism. This would place the document to the second half of the Eighteenth century in a conventional history of the Rite, but Lomas believes it to be mid-fifteenth, again based on radiocarbon dates, which make the side panels younger than the central strip. Realistically, agreement on the scroll, its context and symbolism is a long way off.


title: Battle of Mărășești

text: The Romanian 1st Army deployed 53 Romanian and 21 Russian light batteries and 19 heavy batteries. On 19 August, the Battle of Mărășești reached its peak, the German attack being simultaneous with the attack from Oituz, obviously attempting to encircle the Romanian and Russian forces. The formidable artillery bombardment began at daybreak, with gas shells fired mainly against the Romanian divisions. The Central Powers attacked with 4 German and 1 Austro-Hungarian divisions, against the Romanian 9th, 10th and 13th and Russian 14th and 103rd Divisions. The main blow was directed 3 km (1.8 miles) east of Mărășești, and the Germans advanced 2 km (1.2 miles) in the middle of the Romanian position, towards the Siret Valley, only to be pushed back with heavy losses by a converging counterattack. Guided by aircraft and balloons observation, the Romanian artillery inflicted heavy losses in combat and materiel. The Germans launched a powerful attack on Mărășești, but only reached the railway station on the outskirts of the town.


title: Something Blue (How I Met Your Mother)

text: The restaurant owner recognized Ted as the man who stole his blue French horn; Ted tried to escape, but ran into a waiter, getting food all over him and Robin. The restaurant owner forced Ted to return the blue French horn in order to get his credit card and driver's license back. They went to Robin's apartment to discuss their respective life passions. Ted expresses that he shares Robin's desire to travel the world, saying that he wished he had studied abroad for a year while at college and believing that having just finished a big project at work (the Seattle project), would allow him to finally travel. Barney is again disgusted by this idea, not on the terms of their relationship, but due to concerns of his being lonely in New York and Argentina being economically unstable. While discussing the issue of kids, Robin told Ted that she does not want to have kids, but would have his if she had no other choice. Before having sex, they realized that neither of them have a condom and initially decided to hold off, but then decided to take the risk. At this point, a terrified Barney believes that Robin is pregnant with Ted's child. His fears seem confirmed when he sees Robin catching the bouquet and making a point of not drinking.


title: Christianity in Nagaland

text: It was in the early part of October 1871, Supongmeren from Molungkimong village was baptised at Sibsagar and enrolled as an American Baptist Church member. He became the bridge between the American Baptist Missionary E. W. Clark, Evangelist Godhula and the then-animist Ao Nagas. Kosasanger Council of Molungkimong Village (Dekahaimong) dispatched 60 warriors to escort Dr. E. W. Clark to escort him. It took almost three days from Sibsagar to reach Molungkimong. Clark arrived on Wednesday, 18 December and baptized 15 new converts on Sunday, 22 December 1872 at a Village drinking well called Chungli Tzübu which was permitted by the Village Council. Another miracle for Clark after which they had a worship service and celebrated the first Lord's supper. Thus, on this day, the first Naga Church was founded with 28 Baptized members. They were Dr. Clark, Godhula and his wife, Supongmeren, 9 converts baptized on 10 November at Sibsagar, and 15 converts baptized at Molungkimong on 22 December 1872.


title: 1921 Detroit Tigers season

text: In 1921, Veach was the subject of an unusual motivational tactic by new player-manager Ty Cobb. Cobb believed that Veach, who came to bat with a smile and engaged in friendly conversation with umpires and opposing pitchers, was too easygoing. Detroit Tigers historian, Fred Lieb, described Veach as a "happy-go-lucky guy, not too brilliant above the ears", who "was as friendly as a Newfoundland pup with opponents as well as teammates." Hoping to light a fire in Veach, Cobb persuaded Harry Heilmann, who followed Veach in the batting order, to taunt Veach from the on-deck circle. "I want you to make him mad. Real mad. . . . hile you're waiting, call him a yellow belly, a quitter and a dog. … Take that smile off his face." The tactic may have worked, as Veach had career-highs in RBIs (126) and home runs (16), and his batting average jumped from .308 to .338. Cobb had promised to tell Veach about the scheme when the season was over, but he never did. When Heilmann tried to explain, Veach reportedly snarled, "Don't come sucking around me with that phony line." Veach never forgave Heilmann.


title: Joël Mesot

text: Mesot was born in Geneva, Switzerland, where he grew up. He studied physics at the ETH Zurich from 1984 to 1989, followed by doctoral studies at the same university as well as at the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble in France. In 1992, he was awarded a PhD in physics (Dr. sc. nat.) from the ETH Zurich with a thesis on high-temperature superconductors supervised by Albert Furrer. Thereafter he joined the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) as a researcher in the field of neutron scattering. He continued his research at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago to perform angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments. In 1999, he returned to the PSI, where he was responsible for the laboratory investigating neutron scattering. He became chair of the PSI Research Commission in 2007. In August 2008, he was promoted to head the entire operations at PSI as its director. At the same time, he was named full professor at the ETH Zurich as well as at the EPF Lausanne. He is a member of the ETH Board since 2010. Mesot is a trustee of the Marcel Benoist Prize committee. Since January 2019, he is President of the ETH Zurich. Mesot is the first President of the ETH Zurich coming from the French speaking part of Switzerland. He is fluent in French, German and English.


title: Aegis system equipped vessels (ASEV)

text: North Korea showed an interest in developing nuclear weapons dating back to the 1950s. The nuclear program can be traced back to about 1962, when North Korea committed itself to what it called "all-fortressization", which was the beginning of the hyper-militarized North Korea of today. In 1963, North Korea asked the Soviet Union for help in developing nuclear weapons, but was refused. The Soviet Union agreed to help North Korea develop a peaceful nuclear energy program, including the training of nuclear scientists. Later, China, after its nuclear tests, similarly rejected North Korean requests for help with developing nuclear weapons. The Korean People's Army Strategic Force (Korean: 조선인민군 전략군), is the military branch of the Korean People's Army that oversees North Korea's nuclear and conventional strategic missiles. It is mainly armed with surface-to-surface missiles of domestic design as well as older Soviet and Chinese models. The KPA Strategic Force was established in 1999 when several missile units under KPA Ground Force Artillery Command were re-organized into a single missile force reporting directly to the office of the Supreme Commander of the KPA via the General Staff.


title: Aegis system equipped vessels (ASEV)

text: According to its published budget overview, for Fiscal Year 2023, the Japanese Ministry of Defense allocated 22.8 billion yens (US$1.654 billion) for the initial procurement of advanced components for the ASEV program in order to "significantly improved BMD capability capable of responding to lofted and simultaneous ballistic missiles, as well as expandability for responding to HGVs and other such threats." In related news, in a statement released on April 4, 2023, the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced the signing of four contracts worth 382.47 billion yens (US$2.83 billion) last week with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for development of standoff defense weapon systems for the Japanese Self Defense Force (JSDF). This standoff defense capability is expected to provide the JSDF with long-range strike capabilities against ships and amphibious forces invading Japan, particularly at its remote islands, such as the disputed Senkaku Islands administered by Japan, and its southwestern islands.


title: Aegis system equipped vessels (ASEV)

text: On 17 November 2023, the U.S. Department of State announced the sale of up to 200 Tomahawk Block IV All Up Rounds (AURs) (RGM-109E) cruise missiles, 200 Tomahawk Block V AURs (RGM-109E) cruise missiles, and 14 Tactical Tomahawk Weapon Control Systems to the Japanese Ministry of Defense as part of a part of a US$2.35 billion foreign military sales package. One month previously Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara indicated a planned buy of Block IV Tomahawks in FY2025 and Block V in FY2026 and FY2027, thereby advancing acquisition Block IV acquisition by a year. In a press conference on 20 November 2023, Kihara stated that the Defense Ministry would coordinate closely with United States in the delivery of the Tomahawk missile system on its sea-based and ground platforms. On 28 March 2024, the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced the start of Tomahawk missile training of JMSDF personnel by the United States Navy. Initial training would take place onboard the guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG-85) based at United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka.


title: Aegis system equipped vessels (ASEV)

text: On 16 December 2022, the Japanese Cabinet approved a trio of defense-related policy documents, including its new National Security Strategy (NSS or 国家安全保障戦略), the strategic guideline document for the Japanese government's policies regarding diplomacy, defense, and economic security for the next decade. Based on the NSS, the National Defense Strategy (NDS or 国家防衛戦略) document outlined Japan's defense policy goals and the means to achieve them while the Defense Buildup Program (DBP or 防衛力整備計画) document outlined the scale of the introduction of specific defense equipment within the budgetary objectives. According to the Defense Buildup Program document, the JMSDF will increase the number of Aegis-equipped guided-missile destroyers (DDG) from the current 8 to 10 warships, as well as the introduction of two Aegis system-equipped vessels (ASEV) to be deployed in ballistic missile defense (BMD) operations. By the end of the decade, the JMSDF will operate 12 ships equipped with Aegis Weapon System (AWS) and likewise plans to replace its fleet of older, less capable destroyers and destroyer escorts with Mogami-class frigates.


title: Microbial desalination cell

text: A microbial desalination cell (MDC) is a biological electrochemical system that implements the use of electro-active bacteria to power desalination of water in situ, resourcing the natural anode and cathode gradient of the electro-active bacteria and thus creating an internal supercapacitor. Available water supply has become a worldwide endemic as only .3% of the Earth's water supply is usable for human consumption, while over 99% is sequestered by oceans, glaciers, brackish waters, and biomass. Current applications in electrocoagulation, such as microbial desalination cells, are able to desalinate and sterilize formerly unavailable water to render it suitable for safe water supply. Microbial desalination cells stem from microbial fuel cells, deviating by no longer requiring the use of a mediator and instead relying on the charged components of the internal sludge to power the desalination process. Microbial desalination cells therefore do not require additional bacteria to mediate the catabolism of the substrate during biofilm oxidation on the anodic side of the capacitor. MDCs and other bio-electrical systems are favored over reverse osmosis, nanofiltration and other desalination systems due to lower costs, energy and environmental impacts associated with bio-electrical systems.


title: Microbial desalination cell

text: MDCs are utilized in seawater desalination by primarily acting as a precursor treatment for electrodialysis (ED) due to the inefficiency in salinity removal due to biofouling and membrane scaling by the complex ion composition. Studies show that efficacy of MDC systems diminish over 5000 hours due to membrane scaling such as calcium and potassium accumulation, increasing ohmic resistance and reducing ion exchange through the membrane. However, by utilizing MDCs as a precursor treatment for electrodialysis, results show that system time is reduced by 25% and energy expenditure decreases by 45.3%. Reduction in external resistance increases desalination efficiency to as high as 74%, as demonstrated in upflow microbial desalination cells (UMDC), but increased membrane scaling on the ion exchange membranes by calcium and magnesium accumulation, resulting in a higher internal ohmic resistance and decrease in overall desalination of seawater. With the application of an osmotic MFC (OsMFC) in conjunction with the UMDC as an initial pretreatment of biosolid removal and desalination, 85% of oxygen demand and approximately 97% of salts was reduced after secondary treatment. Subsequent treatment by traditional BES systems such as electrodialysis can function as a more effective system for desalination, provisioning energy demands by the output energy obtained from the MDC pretreatment.


title: Microbial desalination cell

text: Increasing agricultural development is associated with the trend of elevated nitrogen concentrations in surrounding soil and groundwater composition due to the runoff of fertilizers and agricultural byproducts. Development of a submerged microbial desalination-denitrification cell (SMDDC) to remove nitrogen and saline from subsurface water alleviates the demand for additional compounds acting as electron donors and instead produces both a net energy and clean, desalinated and denitrified water. In contrast to the typical MDC model, the SMDDC excludes a middle desalination chamber, but instead only contains an anode and cathode chamber separated by a polycarbonate plate and are parallel to the exterior AEM and CEM respectively. Nitrate is introduced through the AEM into the anode chamber through synthetic groundwater, then propagated as an effluent through the external loop to the cathode chamber, in which nitrate is reduced to nitrogen by the cathode and sodium influent. A wastewater feeding tank pumps water to the anodic chamber for subsequent oxidation of sludge by the anodic biofilm. Similar to the original configuration of the MDC, the SMDDC also includes an external circuit in which electrons are thus freed from the oxidation process of the sludge and drove through a closed, external circuit to the cathodic chamber. The toxic and pathogenic content of the wastewater are thus separated simultaneously with the denitrification of the groundwater, producing water that is thus filtered out as a usable effluent. Highest nitrate removal was exhibited when an external voltage (0.8 V) was applied to the circuit, transporting the ions to the anodic chamber and reducing nitrate via heterotrophic denitrification.


title: Ugetsu Monogatari

text: Asagi ga Yado, set in the year 1452, tells the tale of an irresponsible man who leaves his devoted wife behind to try to rebuild his fortune selling silk in the capital. That summer, a war breaks out and the residents of his home village flee. The wife stays at home to wait for her husband despite the danger and is devastated when he does not return in Autumn as he had promised. She stays alone in the abandoned village, desperately trying to fend off bandits, rapists, and starvation. Meanwhile, her husband is robbed on his way back to her and then falls seriously ill, preventing him from returning. He is treated well in the village where he is cared for during his illness and ends up staying there. Seven years later, the man decides to return to his home village to see what became of his wife. His village is mostly abandoned and unrecognizable, except for his home, which is in good repair and where he finds his wife, worn by the years but alive and waiting for him. After a joyful and tearful reunion, the two fall asleep together. When the man awakes the next morning, he discovers that the house is in ruins and all that is left of their marital bedroom is the grave of his long-dead wife, whose ghost he had seen the night before. He finds an old man, the sole resident who had been there since before the war, who tells him the story of his wife's death and compares it to the legend of Mama no Tekona.


title: Momper Senate

text: The Antes scandal was uncovered throughout the entire 10th legislative period. Until the change of government in 1981, it had been the SPD that was mired in the so-called "red swamp" or "Berlin felt", from the Garski Affair to the Kreisel Affair and others. However, even Richard von Weizsäcker was unable to change the network of relationships between the public sector and the private sector in the island city; in his government declaration, he had fiercely criticized the established system of taking advantage and patronage of office as "party politics". On the contrary, the system of corruption became even more entrenched under the CDU government. The personal, extremely close network of a group of high-ranking CDU politicians, on which Diepgen's position was based, now proved to be part of this system. CDU building senator Klaus Franke and FDP environmental senator Horst Vetter had to take off their hats, while interior senator Heinrich Lummer also had to resign because of a previous collaboration with the NPD. The CDU trivialized the scandal and saw itself as the victim of a "smear campaign".


title: Momper Senate

text: In view of the predicted election result, it was easy for the SPD to rule out an alliance with the AL and thus reassure frightened voters. The AL, on the other hand, had decided to declare its willingness to cooperate with the Social Democrats after rejecting a possible coalition or even just toleration in the run-up to the 1985 election to the House of Representatives. The special insularity of West Berlin had led to the AL taking a special path vis-à-vis the federal Greens. It was particularly strong in the left-alternatives spectrum of the city, whereas the classic environmentalists had not played any particular role. In addition, the AL was formally independent of the federal party, even if it took on the role of a state association. The disputes between the Realos aiming for government participation and the Fundis focusing on fundamental opposition, which dominated and threatened to divide the federal party in the 1980s, never played such a significant role in the AL. Instead, the AL was regarded as a relatively homogeneous, yet decidedly left-wing regional association that placed basic democratic decision-making processes a particularly high priority.


title: Momper Senate

text: After a few days, informal talks took place, in which Walter Momper, the Kreuzberg district mayor Gerd Wartenberg and the former state chairman Jürgen Egert took part on the SPD side, as well as Bernd Köppl, Harald Wolf and Renate Künast for the Alternative List. Hans-Christian Ströbele, one of the most prominent AL members, exponent of the left wing of the party and spokesperson for the federal party in 1990/91, was only present at a few meetings. The AL Council of Delegates criticized this type of discussion, as it contradicted its grassroots democratic principle, but ultimately approved the preliminary negotiations. On February 11, 1989, a general meeting of members, the party's highest decision-making body, voted in favour of official coalition negotiations with a majority of 99.8% of those present. The AL entered the coalition negotiations that began on February 13, 1989, without any recognizable strategy or substantive preparation. The only basis for negotiations was the entire AL program, which was tailored entirely to an opposition parliamentary group and consisted of a collection of individual demands.


title: Momper Senate

text: With the exception of the former health senator Erich Pätzold, who now became interior senator, and the new economics senator Peter Mitzscherling, 1974 to 1980 Senate Director for Labor, the SPD refrained from considering former Senate members. The new Head of the Senate Chancellery, Dieter Schröder, had experience as a member of the Senate and was most recently a professor of international law. The Mayor and Senator for Health and Social Affairs, Ingrid Stahmer, was previously a City Councillor, while the Senator for Justice, Jutta Limbach, was a law professor at Free University. Norbert Meisner, previously head of studies at the Jugendsozialwerk and representative of the left wing of the party, became Senator for Finance, Wolfgang Nagel was until then construction policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group and editor at the German Institute of Urban Affairs. The journalist Anke Martiny-Glotz moved from the Bonn SPD party executive to Berlin as Senator for Culture, and the social scientist and Vice President of Freie Universität Barbara Riedmüller-Seel became Senator for Science. Horst Wagner, Berlin IG-Metall chairman from the right wing of the SPD, took over the Senate Office for Labor, Transport and Works, and Heide Pfarr, a former law professor and vice president of University of Hamburg who grew up in Berlin, became Senator for Federal Affairs. Most members of the Senate therefore had little administrative experience.


title: Momper Senate

text: At the AL general meeting, the actual personnel debate only began after the coalition agreement had been approved. Heidi Bischoff-Pflanz, chairwoman of the parliamentary group and a recognized left-wing integration figure, was considered for the post of Senator for Women, Youth and Family Affairs, but she declined. In the end, three largely unknown specialist politicians were agreed upon, none of whom were members of the parliamentary group or even the AL and were therefore not expected to bring internal party conflicts into the government's work. Michaele Schreyer, economist, research assistant of the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag and the only female senator who was a member of the (West German) Green Party, took over the important cross-sectional portfolio for urban development and environmental protection. The women's portfolio was filled by the lawyer and former research assistant to Waltraud Schoppe in the Bundestag, Anne Klein, who prevailed in a fierce debate against the AL women's politician Helga Hentschel . Senator for Education, Vocational Training and Sport was the deputy Berlin GEW chairwoman Sybille Volkholz. Both were independent. The left-wing coalition sceptic Harald Wolf was entrusted with the task of strengthening coordination between the party, parliamentary group and senators as a member of the executive committee.


title: Momper Senate

text: As the Alternative List insisted on maximum transparency from the outset, the public was always well informed about the status of the coalition negotiations. VDuring the coalition negotiations, a large number of initiatives and institutions from the left-wing alternative milieu submitted demands to the AL that were driven by individual interests. There was no lack of advice from West Germany either. For example, Jutta Ditfurth, an exponent of the Fundis and federal party spokesperson for the Greens until December 1988, who was fundamentally committed to opposition work, rejected government participation. On the other hand, the realist Otto Schily, who switched to the Social Democrats in November 1989, recommended that the SPD "remain very firm" on the issue of touchstones. Schily, as well as the spectrum within the AL around the "Green Panthers on the Move" group, who were keen to form a coalition, tried to use the opportunity to reform the party in their interests. After Ströbele's speech at the federal assembly of the Greens in Duisburg in March 1990, in which he described a red-green coalition in Berlin as the "opportunity of the century", which was received with an ovation, the delegates supported the Berlin coalition course with a large majority.


title: Momper Senate

text: The CDU vehemently opposed the red-green coalition in advance. Diepgen described the impending government alliance as a "coalition of madness". In the event that the irritating figure Christian Ströbele should become senator of justice, he announced a Referendum against the Senate. A pro-union "Initiative Zukunft Berlins nicht gefährden" ("Do not endanger Berlin's future") organized a demonstration on Kurfürstendamm against the planned "Coalition of Ruin", in which around 1,000 demonstrators took part. The Berlin Union received support from the federal party. Its General Secretary Heiner Geißler conjured up a gloomy scenario of a left-wing council system and unaffordable social benefits. Member of the Bundestag Eduard Lintner insinuated "servility towards the GDR" and claimed that Berlin "threatens to become ungovernable and should ultimately be at the mercy of violent demonstrations". Rudolf Seiters criticized that "the voters have been deceived, lied to and cheated" because Momper had always ruled out a coalition with the AL before the election. A CDU paper entitled "SPD: Betrayal of the Voters" polemically stated about Hilde Schramm: "As the daughter of Hitler's armaments minister Speer, she is coming to terms with the past in the AL." In a current hour in the Bundestag, the FDP chairman Otto Graf Lambsdorff saw the city on the "path to independent political unity in Berlin", i.e. following the ideas of the GDR.


title: Momper Senate

text: The first test case that led to a conflict between the SPD and the AL was the dispute over the continuation of the expansion of the Großklinikum Rudolf-Virchow while at the same time abandoning the Charlottenburg University Hospital, a project of the previous CDU/FDP Senate that the AL wanted to reverse. Another point of contention was the construction of an electricity line, also initiated by the Diepgen Senate, which was to connect Berlin to the West German electricity grid. As the general assembly of the AL gave the senators an imperative mandate to reject the project and not to discuss any compromises, the coalition was in danger of breaking up for the first time. The grassroots also strictly rejected the establishment of a new border crossing at Schichaustraße for ecological reasons. In all three cases, the senators and the parliamentary group overrode the vote of the grassroots in order to continue the coalition, without this being sanctioned by the party. As a result, future orders from the general assembly took on the character of verbally radical empty formulas that could no longer have a threatening effect on the SPD. In contrast, after initial reservations, the Social Democrats agreed to a bill introduced by the AL to introduce a municipal foreigners' voting rights.


title: Momper Senate

text: Ct was characteristic of the Alternative List's relationship to the GDR and the German division that on May 25, 1989, the Vice President of the House of Representatives, Hilde Schramm, refused to speak the ritual words of exhortation with which the House of Representatives had been opened since 1955: "I declare our unbending will that Germany and its capital Berlin must be united in peace and freedom." Even in wide circles of the SPD, talk of reunification had long been considered a lie. While some leading Greens in the federal party, such as Petra Kelly, Gert Bastian, Lukas Beckmann, Wilhelm Knabe or Milan Horáček, at times also Antje Vollmer, maintained particularly close contact and the Greens as a whole had the most intensive relations with the oppositional circles in the GDR of all West German parties, the influential Kreuzberg district association of the AL in particular was extremely SED-friendly. This went so far that the Kreuzberg Dirk Schneider, a member of the Bundestag from 1983 to 1985, was considered a "permanent representative of the SED in the Green parliamentary group" among Green members of the Bundestag. After reunification, Schneider, who worked specifically against the opposition in the GDR, and the former Kreuzberg district mayoral candidate Klaus Croissant, among others, were exposed as employees of the Ministry for State Security. Irrespective of their position on the opposition and their assessment of human rights in the GDR, the acceptance of German two-statehood was hardly controversial among the Greens and the AL.


title: Momper Senate

text: On June 19, 1989, Walter Momper met with Erich Honecker in East Berlin. This meeting, which required lengthy negotiations on diplomatic and protocol issues, was to be the acid test of the SPD-Green coalition's policy on Germany and Berlin. The Berlin SPD, which had already been in constant contact with the SED, made radical proposals at this meeting. For example, it offered to integrate West Berlin more closely into the GDR economy and at the same time abolish special federal subsidies. In addition, chief negotiator Harry Ristock went so far as to recognize the Berlin Wall as an "opportunity" for West Berlin to "live in peace". As he emphasized his ties to the Federal Republic despite all the concessions, the SED reacted cautiously. Honecker rejected the proposal of a joint bid by East and West Berlin for the Olympic Games, referring to a Leipzig bid. Momper did, however, manage to make it easier for West Berliners to travel to East Berlin and the surrounding area. In view of the rapid developments over the next few months, the significance of this meeting dwindled to an inconsequential side note in history.


title: Momper Senate

text: On June 12, 1990, under the leadership of Walter Momper and Tino Schwierzina, the first joint meeting of the Senate and Magistrate ("Magi-Senate") took place in the Red Town Hall. After that, the meetings alternated between the Rotes Rathaus and the Rathaus Schöneberg in West Berlin, most recently only taking place there due to the better technical conditions. The two presiding mayors and the 13 senators and city councillors each had equal rights. Senate and magistrate bills were submitted jointly by the responsible senator and the city councillor before a resolution was passed. The subordinate administration had to be standardized and the different developments since 1948 had to be adapted to each other. A magistrate's office was set up in the magistrate's office, based on the existing Senate Chancellery. Coordinated structures were also to promote the final unification of the city administration. In accordance with the Unification Treaty between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany, the Senate and Magistrat under Tino Schwierzina (SPD) officially governed as a dual government from the day of reunification on October 3, 1990, until the election of a joint city government. In view of the rapid developments following the fall of the Wall and the unification of Berlin into one city, a new election for the House of Representatives was scheduled for December 2, 1990, the day of the Bundestag election.


title: Momper Senate

text: The new problems arising from the fall of the Wall significantly intensified the crisis of the red-green alliance. Berlin had lost its role as an "urban biotope" overnight and had moved from the outermost periphery to the center of German politics and the most diverse interests. The foundations of the reform-oriented "conflict alliance" between the SPD and AL had changed radically, the previous policy could not be continued without interruption, so that the number of critics of the coalition within and outside the parties grew steadily. Walter Momper himself, as he later confessed, was secretly convinced that the coalition with the AL was too unstable for the tasks ahead, but saw no alternative in a grand coalition. Encreasingly, decisions were made by a small circle of people around Walter Momper. Vhe Senate Chancellery was mainly responsible for German and unification policy and virtually excluded the AL, which, however, also showed little interest in this policy area. This leadership style was also criticized within the SPD.


title: Momper Senate

text: When the Alternative List spoke out against the sale of a large area at Potsdamer Platz to Daimler-Benz, it was one of the rare cases in which it received broad support in the press, among urban planners and in parts of the SPD. Walter Momper and Building Senator Wolfgang Nagel had continued the negotiations that had already begun before the fall of the Wall without addressing the changed situation in the meantime, had agreed a low sales price and had not adequately informed either their parliamentary group or their coalition partner. Urban development senator Schreyer therefore refused the necessary countersignature and pushed through an urban planning competition to design the area. When it came to signing the purchase agreement in the House of Representatives, the SPD passed it with the votes of the CDU and against the AL, although the coalition agreement expressly prohibited the parliamentary groups from voting with changing majorities. Also in the summer of 1990, Michaele Schreyer fought against the building permit for a atomic experimental reactor of the Hahn-Meitner Institute. A decision on this controversial issue, which became another test for the coalition, was never reached.


title: Momper Senate

text: The AL achieved successes by introducing association action rights in nature conservation, environmental impact assessment for public projects, an energy saving act, integration classes for disabled and non-disabled children, the establishment of a control center for same-sex lifestyles and a state Anti-Discrimination Act. However, all of the review mandates in the coalition agreement were decided against the AL's ideas. In March 1990, the AL parliamentary group leader, Heidi Bischoff-Pflanz, resigned in disappointment at the increasing failures within the governing alliance. Renate Künast was elected as her successor, whose close cooperation with the SPD parliamentary group leader Ditmar Staffelt kept the coalition alive. In June 1990, the break-up of the coalition was on the agenda of the AL's general meeting, but a two-thirds majority decided in favor of an unconditional continuation. A wave of party resignations and internal distancing from the coalition reached its peak in the fall of 1990, when Harald Wolf, Birgit Arkenstette and Astrid Geese, among others, left the party in September and other activists around Heidi Bischoff-Pflanz in November.


title: Momper Senate

text: Like the 1989 result, the clear outcome of the 1990 election was also a big surprise. Both the SPD and the AL suffered significant defeats. In the western part of Berlin, i.e. compared to 1989, the two parties lost 7.8 and 4.9% respectively, with the CDU achieving 49% compared to 29.5% for the SPD. Across Berlin, the SPD received 30.4%, while the CDU received 40.4%, although it remained well behind the SPD in the east. The Alternative List and a list association Bündnis 90/Grüne/UFV, an electoral alliance of East Greens, Bündnis 90 and the Independent Women's Association, ran separately in the election and received a total of 9.2% of the vote. After the election, they formed a joint parliamentary group, followed by a merger in 1993. With the PDS, which received 9.2% of the vote, the AL and SPD faced competition from the left-wing camp. However, the SED successor party did not yet play a major role in West Berlin in this election, receiving only 1.1% compared to 23.6% in the eastern part of the city. Some former left-wing AL members such as Dirk Schneider, Harald Wolf and Klaus Croissant ran for the PDS. Schneider and Wolf entered the House of Representatives via the state list. The FDP returned to the House of Representatives with 7.1%. As expected, the Republicans failed to reach the five percent hurdle with 3.1%.


title: Momper Senate

text: With the Momper Senate, the second red-green coalition after the one in Hesse also collapsed prematurely. However, an alliance of SPD and Greens had existed in Lower Saxony since June 21, 1990 (Cabinet Schröder I) and a traffic light coalition with the participation of Alliance 90 (Cabinet Stolpe I) in Brandenburg since November 1, 1990. As around 850 new, generally realpolitik-oriented members joined the AL in 1989/90, while just under 700 mostly left-wing party members left, the party's profile as a distinctly left-wing state association was relativized. This development, which was reinforced in the next legislative period by the merger with the East Berlin Alliance 90, and the experience in government and administration promoted a structural reform that pushed back the grassroots democratic elements of the AL after 1990. It was not until eleven years after the first red-green experiment that the SPD and the now "Alliance 90/The Greens" formed another short-term government in Berlin. After the break-up of the grand coalition under Eberhard Diepgen, Klaus Wowereit formed a red-green minority government (Senate Wowereit I), which was tolerated by the PDS. This red-green senate only lasted until January 17, 2002, and was replaced by a red-red-red senate under Wowereit after the elections to the House of Representatives on October 21, 2001. Senate under Wowereit (Senate Wowereit II).


title: Project BAMBI

text: By 1960, the idea of space-based interceptors (SBIs) seemed a far more practical solution. These SBIs were envisioned to be capable of boost phase killing and became collectively known as the ballistic missile boost intercept (BAMBI) ABM systems. One of the most notable of the proposed BAMBI systems was the space patrol active defense (SPAD). This was a network of 500 satellites capable of detecting boost plumes with onboard infrared scanners that would then launch several interceptors along a track mapped by an onboard computer. These interceptors were designed to deploy a wire web with a radius ranging from 15 to 50 feet that were adorned with 1 gram pellets at each intersection of the net. These nets would then collide with the detected ICBM during its climb through the atmosphere, shred the fuel tanks of the booster and cause catastrophic damage to the ICBM. BAMBI had a projected annual operational deployment and operation cost of 50 billion dollars. Although sound in theory, the high price tag and a lack of the necessary technology in 1960 prevented this BAMBI system from being developed. Project BAMBI continued to explore other SBI options and workarounds for another 3 years before being cancelled in May 1963 under the Kennedy administration who wanted to avoid deploying a network of nuclear satellites in space after the Cuban Missile Crisis.


title: Project BAMBI

text: The United States missile defense program (and Project BAMBI) found new life in 1983 with the announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) by President Ronald Reagan during his "Star Wars" speech. The SDI office was limited by the ABM Treaty and the 1974 protocol to a single, central, missile defense site with only 100 interceptors and were prevented from deploying space based missile defense systems. To get around these restrictions, the SDI considered several options like a patrol of crewed space fighters and a resurrection of project BAMBI. This new iteration of BAMBI (dubbed Smart Rocks was proposed by the military advisor to Ronald Reagan, Daniel Graham, and would utilize battle stations low in earth's orbit and air to air missiles. Similar to the SBIs of the BAMBI project, these battle stations would also detect ICBMs by their infrared plume and intercept the ICBMs via collision. Other options of the time were the X-ray lasers of Project Excalibur. Although the Smart Rocks system was initially ignored, after the failed tests of Project Excalibur in 1986, the United States Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, requested an updated version of Smart Rocks.


title: The McCallie School

text: "In the 2004-2005 school year, Ridgedale was renovated into a grand new drama center; the former location of the Drama Department was housed in Hunter Theater, built in the 1975-1976 school year. When first built, Hunter seemed more than enough to accommodate various school activities, but with the expanding of dramatic performances and the recent movement of art and music into Hunter, a new facility for drama was required. Upon entering the beautiful lobby, which was built in a style that resembled the new Dining Hall, one can see the changes that make Ridgedale a perfect location for the new theater. It is equipped with very spacious dressing rooms, a large stage area for various drama productions, a prop storage area, and a rehearsal room. Ridgedale Theater allows more flexibility in student productions, more collaboration and preparation for its productions, and its vast space leaves plenty of room for the Drama Department to organize projects on almost any scale. This addition to McCallie is a dream come true for both the Drama Department and McCallie students alike."


title: The McCallie School

text: McCallie has always been a boarding school, with the first dorm being Founder's with 8 initial students. But in 1907 after a record enrollment of 110 students and a fire that destroyed the frame of Founder's, the school required an additional dormitory. That Summer, our founders borrowed $6,000 and added a $5,000 loan from an unnamed benefactor to construct two-story Douglas Hall on Kyle Street. Named after the family of Reverend McCallie's wife, it accommodated 35 boys and also served as the headmaster's office and Park's residence. Later in the early 1950's the school constructed North and South Hutch, along with Maclellan Hall (originally a Freshman dorm before being used as a bookstore and post office.) Later in 1962, Belk Hall was dedicated as the Senior dorm, and at the same time Founder's home was being renovated to allow for more housing, giving the building its iconic pillars. And finally when work on Belk and Founder's was completed, the school tore down Douglas Hall, and constructed Caldwell Hall on its site. Later to address the growing boarder population, Pressly Hall was dedicated in 2007, and Burns Hall was dedicated in 2010. And now the boarding population makes up half of the school community, with it continuing to grow each year, and it cementing its place as a critical part of our school's culture.


title: Bill Gaudette

text: Gaudette was drafted in the first round, 9th overall, by Columbus Crew in the 2005 MLS Draft and was part of the team through the 2007 season. He was acquired by Puerto Rico Islanders as their head goalkeeper in early 2008. Gaudette was brought in by Colin Clarke in Clarke's attempt to re-shape the club ahead of the 2008 campaign. During the season, Gaudette made a notable appearance for the Islanders during a match he started against the Rochester Rhinos. Throughout the entire game he was able to shut out the Rhinos in a 4–0 victory for Puerto Rico. It was a memorable victory because it placed the club atop the league's standings for the first time in the club's history. In the final stages of the season, Gaudette managed to assist the club in remaining at the top of the standings. On September 19, Puerto Rico won the club's first Commissioners Cup since their creation, clinching first place in the league's regular season standings. At the end of the 2008 regular season Gaudette had a GAA of 0.851; he also had 10 shutouts and finished as the league's leader in victories with 14. On September 30, 2008, he received the Goalkeeper of the Year award and was selected into the USL First Division All-League First Team. In the club's playoff run, he led the Islanders to the USL 1 Division final only to be defeated by Vancouver Whitecaps by a score of 2–1.


title: The Long Walk (album)

text: Recording the previous releases with a drum machine, the band sought to incorporate a live drummer during the sessions for The Long Walk; they had toyed with the idea previously. Greg Fox showed up the last minute, as the first drummer had to quit due to an illness. The band took on a lengthy pre-production process to redesign their guitar and synthesizer rigs to adapt their usual setup for live drumming in studio and gigs; a hybrid acoustic and electronic drum kit was also built for Fox. Guitarist Ben Greenberg used a system of drum triggers and pedals to control synthesizers while playing guitar. In contrast to the past album sessions, the band recorded the arrangements live, editing arrangements as they play. Fox learned his drum parts on the spot. The sessions, which reportedly lasted for three days, occurred in the Strange Weather studio at Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the first half of 2018. Greenberg opted to use magnetic tapes for recording instead of computers: he wanted the record to "sound shredded but not lo-fi—a true tape recording," likening the desired sound to "the dream sequence in 'Terminator 2' when the nuke goes off near the playground."


title: The Three Apples

text: The young man reveals that he was the woman's husband and the old man her father (and also the husband's uncle, making the couple cousins), who was attempting to save his son-in-law by taking the blame. Harun then demands to know his motives for murdering his wife, and the young man answers. He eulogizes her as a faultless wife and mother of his three children, and describes how one day, she requested a rare apple while being ill. This prompted him on a two-week-long journey to Basra, where he found three such apples at the Caliph's orchard. On his return to Baghdad, he found out that she was too ill to eat them. When he returned to work at his shop, he discovered a black slave passing by with a similar apple. He asked him where he had gotten it and the slave replied that he received it from his girlfriend, who had three such apples, which her husband found for her after a half-month journey. The young man, suspecting his wife of unfaithfulness, rushed home to look at how many apples she still had. After finding one of them missing, he drew a knife and killed her. He then attempted to get rid of the evidence by cutting her body to pieces, wrapping it in multiple layers of shawls and carpets, hiding her body in a locked chest, and abandoning it in the Tigris river. After he returned home, however, his eldest son confessed to him that he was the one who took one of the apples behind his mother's back, and a slave had taken it and run off with it. The boy has told the slave about his father's quest for the three apples in a bid to get it back, but the slave instead beat him and ran off before the boy could catch him. Out of guilt, the young man concludes his story by requesting Harun to execute him for his unjust murder. Harun, however, refuses to punish the young man out of sympathy, and instead sets Ja'far on a new assignment: to find the tricky slave who caused the tragedy within three days, or be executed for his failure.


title: The Three Apples

text: Ja'far yet again remains home for all three days and fails to find the culprit before the deadline has passed. He is summoned to be executed for his failure. As he bids farewell to all his family members, he hugs his beloved youngest daughter last. It is then, by complete accident, that he discovers a round object in her pocket, which she reveals to be an apple with the name of the Caliph written on it. In the story's twist ending, the girl reveals that she brought it from their slave, Rayhan. Ja'far thus realizes that his own slave was the culprit all along. He then finds Rayhan and solves the case as a result, arresting him and taking him to the Caliph. Ja'far, however, pleads to Harun to forgive his slave and, in exchange, narrates to him the Tale of Núr al-Dín Alí and His Son Badr al-Dín Hasan. The Caliph, amazed by the story, pardons the slave, but has him severely whipped as punishment for his actions. To console the young man who mistakenly killed the wife he loved, the Caliph offers one of his own slaves for a wife, showers him with gifts and cherishes him until his death.


title: Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory

text: Around 1947 members of the Department of Physics at the University of Saskatchewan decided to obtain a 25 MeV Betatron. The principal interest was in nuclear physics, but they were also interested In the possible therapeutic uses for the treatment of cancer, and they obtained support from then-Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas. Funding was obtained from the Atomic Energy Control Board , the National Research Council (NRC), the National Cancer Institute, local cancer societies and the University. The machine was installed in summer 1948 in a new building built in one angle of the existing Physics department, connected to the main building. It was manufactured by the Allis-Chalmers Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was very similar to the one being used at the time by Donald Kerst at the University of Illinois. The first cancer patient was treated on Mar. 29, 1949 starting the really first concerted clinical investigation of the usefulness of the betatron as a radiotherapeutic tool, with over 300 patients treated in 17 years of operation. The success of the program led to the installation of the world's first cobalt-60 source for radiotherapy at the University in 1951.


title: Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory

text: Linear accelerators have an inherently low duty cycle, and one solution to this is to add a storage ring - a so-called pulse-stretcher ring (PSR). The short particle bursts from the LINAC are injected into the storage ring, and in the time between two bursts the circulating electrons are slowly extracted from it, to give a nearly continuous beam. A PSR had been proposed for SAL as far back as 1971, and much of the pioneering work on PSRs had been performed by SAL scientists. In 1983 funding was obtained for a PSR for SAL, and the resulting machine was dubbed the Electron Ring of Saskatchewan (EROS). As an economical solution, the ring was squeezed into the existing building by the "ingenious expedient" of hanging it from the ceiling. An energy compression system was also installed in the late 1980s, and by 1990, with EROS operational, SAL was once more at the forefront of medium energy nuclear physics. In 1991 the underground experimental area EA2 was enlarged to house a new electron scattering spectrometer. By 1994 SAL was operating 24/7, delivering about 5000 hours of beam for experiments per year.


title: Snooker Shoot Out

text: It was a one-frame shoot-out with a random draw, where the winner is given £32,000. The top 64 players in the world rankings contested the tournament, which was shown on Sky Sports and ITV4. The 2011 event was the first time that Sky Sports had shown a World Snooker Tour event live since 2004. From 2011 to 2015 the event took place at the Circus Arena in Blackpool. The event was sponsored by PartyPoker.com in 2012, by Betfair in 2013, by 888casino in 2014, and by Betway in 2015. The tournament was held at the Hexagon in Reading for 2016. From 2016 to 2018, the tournament was broadcast by ITV and was sponsored by Coral. In 2017, the tournament became a ranking event for the first time, open to all 128 professional players. At the end of the season, the players voted to keep it as a ranking event. From 2017 the tournament was staged at the Colosseum in Watford. In 2018, the event agreed a long-term deal with Eurosport and Quest to broadcast the event in the United Kingdom until 2026, beginning with the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out.


title: Episcopus vagans

text: In 1912, D. J. Scannell O'Neill wrote in The Fortnightly Review that London "seems to have more than her due share of bishops" and enumerates what he refers to as "these hireling shepherds". He also announces that one of them, Mathew, revived the OCR and published The Torch, a monthly review, advocating the reconstruction of Western Christianity and reunion with Eastern Christianity. The Torch stated "that the ordinations of the Church of England are not recognized by any church claiming to be Catholic" so the promoters involved Mathew to conditionally ordain group members who are "clergy of the Established Church" and "sign a profession of the Catholic Faith". It stipulated Mathew's services were not a system of simony and given without simoniac expectations. The group sought to enroll "earnest-minded Catholics who sincerely desire to help forward the work of orporate eunion with the Holy See". Nigel Yates, in Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Britain, 1830-1910, described it as "an even more bizarre scheme to promote a Catholic Uniate Church in Britain" than Lee and Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps de Lisle's Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom. It was editorialized by O'Neill that the "most charitable construction to be placed on this latest move of Mathew is that he is not mentally sound. Being an Irishman, it is strange that he has not sufficient humor to see the absurdity of falling away from the Catholic Church in order to assist others to unite with the Holy See". Edmonds reports that "anything between 4 and 265 was suggested" as to how many took up his offer of reordination.


title: Kannayariamudayar Temple, Thirukkarayil

text: As per Hindu legend, Bheema, one of the five Pandavas propitiated himself off the sin of killing Bakasura by worshipping Shiva at the temple. Another legend is that once, while Vishnu and Brahma contested for superiority, Shiva appeared as a flame, and challenged them to find his source. Brahma took the form of a swan, and flew to the sky to see the top of the flame, while Vishnu became the boar Varaha, and sought its base. The scene is called lingothbava, and is represented in the western wall at the sanctum of most Shiva temples. Neither Brahma nor Vishnu could find the source, and while Vishnu conceded his defeat, Brahma lied and said he had found the pinnacle. In punishment, Shiva ordained that Brahma would never have temples on earth in his worship. To relieve himself off the curse, Brahma made a linga of sand here and worshipped Shiva here. The presiding deity thus came to be known as Brahmapureeswar, the one who was worshipped by Shiva. Sundarar, the famous Saivite saint is believed to have worshipped Shiva in this place to seek help for transporting paddy grains to Tiruvarur.


title: Kannayariamudayar Temple, Thirukkarayil

text: The temple priests perform the puja (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. Like other Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu, the priests belong to the Shaiva community, a Brahmin sub-caste. The temple rituals are performed four times a day; Ushathkalam at 6:30 a.m., Kalasanthi at 8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at 12:00 a.m., Sayarakshai at 5:00 p.m., and Ardha Jamam at 8:00 p.m. Each ritual comprises four steps: abhisheka (sacred bath), alangaram (decoration), naivethanam (food offering) and deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Brahmapureeswarar and Meenakshi Ambal. The worship is held amidst music with nagaswaram (pipe instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument), religious instructions in the Vedas (sacred texts) read by priests and prostration by worshipers in front of the temple mast. There are weekly rituals like somavaram (Monday) and sukravaram (Friday), fortnightly rituals like pradosham and monthly festivals like amavasai (new moon day), kiruthigai, pournami (full moon day) and sathurthi. Mahashivaratri during February - March and Thiruvadihari during December are the major festivals celebrated in the temple. Nel attic seelum vizha and Margazhi Thiruvathirai are the major festivals in the temple. Following the legend of nine planetary deities, people with ailments due to the ill effects of nine planets offer worship here.


title: 2014 Moroccan census

text: This major national operation has mobilized the various technological, organizational and communication means available during the various stages of its implementation, and this census has been matched methodically, content and linearly with the standards adopted in this regard by the United Nations, which has given it a distinguished position compared to the rest of the previous national statistics in terms of its comprehensiveness to the population. Similar to the previous statistics, where modern techniques and methods are included, whether it comes to the stages of preparation or exploitation and dissemination of data, the same is true for the 2014 census, which has a special character due to its reliance on many developments, represented in particular in: −The use of satellite images in cartographic works. –A new approach to recruiting researchers and observers (submission of nominations via the Internet). –Introducing new topics in the areas of demography, housing and disability.


title: Frances Manners, Baroness Bergavenny

text: The first, second, and fourth creations of Baron le Despenser had been under attainder from 1400 upon the death of Mary's ancestor, Thomas le Despencer, 2nd Baron le Despencer and became abeyant as well in 1449 after the death of the infant Lady Anne Beauchamp. The representation of the three Baronies of le Despencer fell into abeyance between Anne's cousin George Nevill, 4th Baron Bergavenny and aunt, Anne de Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick. On the attainder and execution of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury on 28 May 1541 any claim to the three Baronies by the descendants of the 16th Countess of Warwick, lapsed and the sole representation lay with the Barons of Bergavenny. The attainder of Thomas, 2nd Baron le Despenser, was reversed in 1461 but the abeyancies continued until 25 May 1604, when the abeyancy of the 1295 Barony of le Despencer was terminated in favor of Mary Nevill. Mary married Sir Thomas Fane, son of George Fane, on 12 December 1574. They were parents to Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland. Mary, Lady Despenser, died on 28 June 1626 at age 72.


title: Dayfa Khatun

text: The al-Firdaws Madrasa, also referred to as the School of Paradise, is a 13th century complex that Khatun established with her own personal resources. The complex consists of a madrasa, mausoleum, as well as other multi functional spaces. The mausoleum in particular was meant to house the bodies of the queen and her family which upheld traditional Ayyubid architectural standards of being located at a raised site with no dirty water or waste nearby. The madrasa was not only a school or a monumental tomb, it also advanced the science and knowledge of grave preservation-which was very important in Islamic culture. Specifically, the madrasa's tombs assisted in averting the degradation of the graves. The madrasa functioned as a religious school, one that saw gaining religious knowledge as a good moral action in the eyes of Ayyubid teaching traditions. An inscription carved into the side of the al-Firdraws Madrasa translates as,"this is what has ordered its construction: the elevated curtain and impregnable veil, the merciful queen…Dayfa Khatun, daughter of the sultan al-Malik al-Aldil…" .This inscription uses some of the earliest feminine honorifics and royal epithets known, further solidifying Khatun's power as a queen and a prominent female patron.


title: Right to Privacy verdict

text: On 24 August 2017, the Supreme Court of India gave the Right to Privacy verdict. In the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Anr. vs Union of India and Ors. The Supreme Court held that the Right to Privacy is a fundamental right protected under Article 21 and Part III of the Indian Constitution. The judgment mentioned Section 377 as a "discordant note which directly bears upon the evolution of the constitutional jurisprudence on the right to privacy." In the judgment delivered by the nine-judge bench, Justice Chandrachud (who authored for Justices Khehar, Agarwal, Abdul Nazeer and himself), held that the rationale behind the Suresh Koushal Judgement is incorrect, and the judges clearly expressed their disagreement with it. Justice Kaul agreed with Justice Chandrachud's view that the right to privacy cannot be denied, even if a minuscule fraction of the affected population exists. He went on to state that the majoritarian concept does not apply to Constitutional rights, and the courts are often called upon to take what may be categorized as a non-majoritarian view, in the check and balance of power envisaged under the Constitution of India.


title: Right to Privacy verdict

text: "The judgments rendered by all the four judges constituting the majority in Additional District Magistrate, Jabalpur are seriously flawed. Life and personal liberty are inalienable to human existence. These rights are, as recognized in Kesavananda Bharati, primordial rights. They constitute rights under natural law. The human element in the life of the individual is integrally founded on the sanctity of life. Dignity is associated with liberty and freedom. No civilised state can contemplate an encroachment upon life and personal liberty without the authority of law. "Neither life nor liberty are bounties conferred by the State nor does the Constitution create these rights. "The right to life has existed even before the advent of the Constitution. In recognising the right, the Constitution does not become the sole repository of the right. It would be preposterous to suggest that a democratic Constitution without a Bill of Rights would leave individuals governed by the State without either the existence of the right to live or the means of enforcement of the right. The right to life being inalienable to each individual, it existed prior to the Constitution and continued in force under Article of the Constitution. "Justice Khanna was clearly right in holding that the recognition of the right to life and personal liberty under the Constitution does not denude the existence of that right, apart from it nor can there be a fatuous assumption that in adopting the Constitution the people of India surrendered the most precious aspects of the human persona, namely, life, liberty and freedom to the State on whose mercy these rights would depend. Such a construct is contrary to the basic foundation of the rule of law which imposes restraints upon the powers vested in the modern state when it deals with the liberties of the individual. "The power of the Court to issue a writ of habeas corpus is a precious and undeniable feature of the rule of law."


title: John W. Comfort

text: Comfort was initially assigned to Battery K of the 1st U.S. Artillery in Brownsville, Texas and spent the next three years in the Southern United States during Reconstruction before being discharged at Greenville, Louisiana on November 28, 1868. After returning to Philadelphia for a time, he reenlisted again on April 18, 1870. He was sent to the Texas frontier where he served with the 4th U.S. Cavalry in San Antonio and Fort Richardson. He became an experienced Indian fighter during the Texas–Indian Wars reaching the rank of sergeant. On November 5, 1874, while his regiment was battling the Kiowa and Comanche near Lake Tahokay in the Staked Plains, Comfort was separated from his unit and killed an Indian in armed combat. He was commended by his commanding officer, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie, who wrote "that Corporal Comfort ran down and killed an Indian on the Staked Plains with no other soldier within a long distance of him...This man is a very distinguished soldier for personal gallantry". He was recommended for, and received, the Medal of Honor on October 13, 1875. Though discharged from Fort Clark (near present-day Brackettville, Texas) on June 26, 1878, he remained in the army until his retirement in 1892, and afterwards served in Batteries E and A of the 1st U.S. Regular Artillery. Comfort died in Philadelphia on November 29, 1893, and interred at Mount Peace Cemetery.


title: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (film)

text: Miyazaki's work on Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was inspired by a range of works including Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea, Brian Aldiss's Hothouse, Isaac Asimov's Nightfall, and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Miyazaki also says he took possible inspiration from The Lady who Loved Insects folktale. Nausicaä, the character, was inspired in name and personality by Homer's Phaeacian princess in the Odyssey.: 84 According to a number of reviewers, Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune was one of the inspirations for the film's post-apocalyptic world. Some online commentators have dubbed it "anime's answer to Dune". Miyazaki's imagination was sparked by the mercury poisoning of Minamata Bay and how nature responded and thrived in a poisoned environment, using it to create the polluted world depicted in the film.: 77–78 Kyle Anderson of Nerdist describes the film's setting as a steampunk post-apocalypse, while Philip Boyes of Eurogamer describes the technology in Nausicaä and Castle in the Sky as dieselpunk.


text: In advance of the film's Japanese release, Tokuma Shoten sold the film's foreign sales rights to World Film Corporation, who pre-sold the global distribution rights in turn to Manson International. Manson commissioned ADR producer Riley Jackson's Showmen, Inc. to produce an English-dubbed adaptation overseen by screenwriter David Schmoeller, titled Warriors of the Wind, which was released theatrically in the United States by New World Pictures beginning on 14 June 1985 in Florida. It was followed by a VHS release in November 1985. In 1986, Vestron Video would release the film in the UK and First Independent Video would re-release it again in 1993. The voice actors and actresses were not credited, and the film was heavily cut by approximately 22 minutes compared to the 117-minute Japanese version to give it a faster pace. The film received a PG rating as did Disney's later English dub. Consequently, part of the film's narrative depth was lost: some of the environmentalist themes were simplified as was the main subplot of the Ohmu, omitting Nausicaä's childhood connection to them. Most of the characters' names were changed, including the titular character who became Princess Zandra. The United States poster and VHS cover featured unusual depictions of the film's characters, as well as some who are not in the film, riding the resurrected Giant Warrior—including a still-living Warrior shown briefly in a flashback.


text: Nausicaä was released on DVD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment on 22 February 2005, for Region 1. This DVD includes both Disney's English dub and the Japanese audio track with English subtitles. Optimum Home Entertainment released the film in Region 2 and the Region 4 DVD is distributed by Madman Entertainment. A remastered Blu-ray sourced from a 6K filmscan was released on 14 July 2010 in Japan. It includes an uncompressed Japanese LPCM stereo track, the Disney-produced English dub and English subtitles. On 18 October 2010, a Blu-ray version was released in Region B by Optimum Home Entertainment. The film was released on Blu-ray in the United States and Canada on 8 March 2011, by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The Blu-ray earned $334,473 in retail sales during its first week of release in the United States. GKIDS and Shout! Factory re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on 31 October 2017, along with Castle in the Sky. A Limited Edition steelbook release of the film's DVD and Blu-ray was released in the United States on 25 August 2020.


text: In Spain, the edited 95-minute long Manson International version, called Guerreros del Viento ('Warriors of the Wind'), was released on home video twice, with the first release in 1988 and the second in 1991, followed by the original uncut film under the title Nausicaä del Valle del Viento in 2010. France has had both versions of the movie appear, with two releases of the Manson version titled La Princesse des Étoiles ('The Princess of the Stars') and Le vaisseau fantôme ('The Ghost Ship'), while the uncut film had a regular and collector's DVD set release on 18 April 2007. In Germany UFA released the Manson version on VHS as Sternenkrieger ('Star Warriors') in 1986 and Universum Anime released the uncut DVD release on 5 September 2005. The 2007 Hungarian DVD release, titled Nauszika – A szél harcosai ('Nausicaä – The Warriors of the Wind') is uncut despite the title's reference. The Korean DVD release of the uncut film was on 3 March 2004. China has had three releases of Nausicaä: the first on Video CD and two DVD releases. In Italy the film, titled Nausica nella Valle del vento ('Nausicaä in the Valley of the Wind'), was first aired uncut on Rai 1 on 6 January 1987 with a first dub, but this version was re-aired only a few times and then never officially published; a planned DVD release around 2003 by Buena Vista Italia was eventually cancelled. Nausicaä had a theatrical distribution and a DVD release with a new dub by Lucky Red in 2015.


text: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind received critical acclaim. The film is frequently ranked among the best animated films ever made, and is seen by critics as a seminal influence on the development of anime, as the film's success led to the foundation of Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli and several other anime studios. In a contemporary review of the initial American release, Terry Lawson of Dayton Daily News applauded the film for its character designs and allegorical themes, as well as Hayao Miyazaki's direction and Joe Hisaishi's score. Theron Martin of Anime News Network praised the film for largely the same reasons. He also said that the film "deserves a place on any short list of all-time classic anime movies." Common Sense Media, which serves to inform parents about media for children, rated the film positively and cited its good role models and positive messages, but also cautioned parents about its dramatic setting and violent scenes. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 21 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10. At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies praised the animation techniques of Miyazaki, stating that "the real strength of this film is the script, packed with incident, excitement and passion, and the soundtrack" by Joe Hisaishi.


text: Various gliders are seen in the film and the protagonist, Nausicaä, uses a jet-assisted one-person glider-shaped machine with folding wings. According to the accompanying film book released in Japan, the glider is called Möwe (メーヴェ, Mēve, or "mehve" in the English manga), the German word meaning gull. An official scale model lists it as having an approximate wingspan of 5.8 meters (1/20 model measured to be 29 cm), while the design notes indicate it has a mass of only 12 kg. In 2004, the Japanese-led OpenSky Aircraft Project began attempts to build a real-life, working personal jet glider based on the glider from the film. Two full-size gliders with no power source carrying the code name M01 and M02, with a half-sized jet-powered remote-controlled mock-up called moewe 1/2, were built. The designer and tester of the project refused the official endorsement of the project by Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, noting that he did not want to cause trouble for them if an accident occurred. A jet-powered version was finally able to take off under its own power for the first time on 3 September 2013.