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Daniel Bell

Daniel Bell (May 10, 1919 – January 25, 2011) was an American sociologist, writer, editor, and professor at Harvard University, best known for his contributions to the study of post-industrialism. He has been described as "one of the leading American intellectuals of the postwar era". His three best known works are The End of Ideology, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism.

Early life
Daniel Bell was born in 1919 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. His parents, Benjamin and Anna Bolotsky, were Jewish immigrants, originally from Eastern Europe. They worked in the garment industry. His father died when he was eight months old, and he grew up poor, living with relatives along with his mother and his older brother Leo. When he was 13 years old, the family's name was changed from Bolotsky to Bell.

Education
Bell was graduated from Stuyvesant High School. He received a bachelor's degree from the City College of New York in 1938, and completed graduate work at Columbia University during the 1938–1939 academic year. He received a PhD in sociology from Columbia in 1961 after he was permitted to submit The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties (a 1960 essay collection), instead of a conventional doctoral dissertation.

Career
Bell began his professional life as a journalist, being managing editor of The New Leader magazine (1941–1945), labor editor of Fortune (1948–1958), and later, co-editor (with his college friend Irving Kristol) of The Public Interest magazine (1965–1973). In the late 1940s, Bell was an Instructor in the Social Sciences in the College of the University of Chicago. During the 1950s, it was close to the Congress for Cultural Freedom. Subsequently, he taught sociology, first at Columbia (1959–1969) and then at Harvard until his retirement in 1990. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1964 and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1978.

Bell also was the visiting Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University in 1987. He served as a member of the President's Commission on Technology in 1964–1965 and as a member of the President's Commission on a National Agenda for the 1980s in 1979.

Bell served on the board of advisors for the Antioch Review, and published some of his most acclaimed essays in the magazine: "Crime as an American Way of Life" (1953), "Socialism: The Dream and the Reality" (1952), "Japanese Notebook" (1958), "Ethics and Evil: Frameworks for Twenty-First Century Culture" (2005), and "The Reconstruction of Liberal Education: A Foundational Syllabus" (2011).

Bell received honorary degrees from Harvard, the University of Chicago, and fourteen other universities in the United States, as well as from Edinburgh Napier University and Keio University in Japan. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Sociological Association in 1992, and the Talcott Parsons Prize for the Social Sciences from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993. He was given the Tocqueville Award by the French government in 1995.

Bell was a director of Suntory Foundation and a scholar in residence of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Bell once described himself as a "socialist in economics, a liberal in politics, and a conservative in culture."

Scholarship
Bell is best known for his contributions to post-industrialism. His most influential books are, The End of Ideology (1960), The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976), and The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973). Two of his books, the End of Ideology and the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, were listed by the Times Literary Supplement as among the 100 most important books in the second half of the twentieth century. Besides Bell, only Isaiah Berlin, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Albert Camus, George Orwell, and Hannah Arendt had two books so listed.

The End of Ideology
In The End of Ideology (1960), Bell suggests that the older grand humanistic ideologies, derived from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, are exhausted and that new more parochial ideologies will soon arise. With the rise of affluent welfare states and institutionalized bargaining between different groups, Bell maintains, revolutionary movements that aim to overthrow liberal democracy will no longer be able to attract the working classes.

The Coming of Post-Industrial Society
In The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting (1973), Bell outlined a new kind of society, the post-industrial society. He argued that post-industrialism would be information-led and service-oriented. Bell also argued that the post-industrial society would replace the industrial society as the dominant system.

There are three components to a post-industrial society, according to Bell:
 * a shift from manufacturing to services,
 * the centrality of the new science-based industries,
 * the rise of new technical elites and the advent of a new principle of stratification.

Bell also conceptually differentiates between three aspects of the post-industrial society: data, or information describing the empirical world; information, or the organization of that data into meaningful systems and patterns such as statistical analysis; and knowledge, which Bell conceptualizes as the use of information to make judgments. Bell discussed the manuscript of The Coming of Post-Industrial Society with Talcott Parsons before its publication.

The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism
In The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976), Bell contends that the developments of twentieth-century capitalism have led to a contradiction between the cultural sphere of consumerist instant self-gratification and the demand, in the economic sphere, for hard-working, productive individuals. Bell articulates this through his "three realms" methodology, which divides modern society into the cultural, economic, and political spheres.

Bell's concern is that, with the growth of the welfare state throughout the post-war years, more and more of the population demand that the state fulfil the hedonistic desires which the cultural sphere encourages. That dovetails with the ongoing requirement for the state to maintain the kind of strong economic environment conducive to continual growth. For Bell, the competing, contradictory demands place excessive strain on the state that was manifest in the economic turbulence, fiscal pressure, and political upheaval characteristic of the 1970s. Written at a time of significant shifts in U.S. politics, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism offers reasons for the crisis of post-war liberalism.

Personal life
His first two marriages to Nora Potashnick and Elaine Graham ended in divorce. In 1960, Bell married Pearl Kazin, a scholar of literary criticism, and sister of Alfred Kazin. She was also Jewish. Bell's son, David Bell, is a professor of French history at Princeton University, and his daughter, Jordy Bell, was an academic administrator and teacher of, among other things, U.S. Women's history at Marymount College, Tarrytown, New York, before her retirement in 2005.

He died at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts on January 25, 2011.

Works
Articles
 * "The Coming Tragedy of American Labor." Politics, March 1944.
 * "The World of Moloch." Politics, May 1944, pp. 111–113. Full Issue available.
 * "The Subversion of Collective Bargaining." Commentary, March 1960, pp. 697–713.
 * "The Revolution of Rising Entitlement." Fortune, 1975.

Books (authored)
 * Work and Its Discontents: The Cult of Efficiency in America. Boston: Beacon Press, 1956.
 * The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties. New York: Free Press, 1960.
 * The Reforming of General Education. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor, 1966.
 * The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
 * The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. New York: Basic Books, 1976.
 * Las Contradicciones Culturales Del Capitalismo. Translated by Néster A Míguez. Mexico: Editorial Patria, 1994.
 * The Winding Passage: Essays and Sociological Journeys, 1960–1980. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Abt Books, 1980.
 * The Social Sciences Since the Second World War. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Books, 1982.

Books (edited)
 * The New American Right. New York: Criterion Books, 1955.
 * The Radical Right: The New American Right Expanded and Updated. New York: Doubleday, 1964.
 * Confrontation: The Student Rebellion and the Universities. Edited with Irving Kristol. National Affairs, Inc., 1968.
 * Capitalism Today. Edited with Irving Kristol. New York: New American Library, 1971.
 * The Crisis in Economic Theory. Edited with Irving Kristol. New York: Basic Books, 1981.

Books contributions
 * "Marxian Socialism in the United States" (Chapter 6). Socialism and American Life, edited by Donald Drew Egbert & Stow Persons. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1952.
 * "Interpretations of American Politics" (Chapter 1). The New American Right, edited by Daniel Bell. New York: Criterion Books, 1955, pp. 3–32.
 * "The Dispossessed" (Chapter1). The Radical Right: The New American Right Expanded and Updated, edited by Daniel Bell. New York: Doubleday, 1964, pp. 1–38.
 * "Work, Alienation and Social Control". The Radical Papers, edited by Irving Howe. New York: Doubleday, 1966, pp. 86–98.
 * "Models and Reality in Economic Discourse" (Chapter 4). The Crisis in Economic Theory, edited by Daniel Bell & Irving Kristol. New York: Basic Books, 1981.

Published lectures
 * The Deficits: How Big? How Long? How Dangerous? The Joseph I. Living Memorial Lecture Series, No. 2. New York University Press, 1986.

title: Daniel Bell


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Château de Vincennes

The Château de Vincennes is a former fortress and royal residence next to the town of Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris, alongside the Bois de Vincennes. It was largely built between 1361 and 1369, and was a preferred residence, after the Palais de la Cité, of French kings in the 14th to 16th century. It is particularly known for its "donjon" or keep, a fortified central tower, the tallest in Europe, built in the 14th century, and for the chapel, Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes, begun in 1379 but not completed until 1552, which is an exceptional example of Flamboyant Gothic architecture. Because of its fortifications, the château was often used as a royal sanctuary in times of trouble, and later as a prison and military headquarters. The chapel was listed as an historic monument in 1853, and the keep was listed in 1913. Most of the building is now open to the public.

12th–14th century – Louis VII to Saint Louis
The first royal residence was created by an act of Louis VII in 1178. The site had the advantages of good hunting in the surrounding forest, proximity to two former Roman roads to Sens and to Lagny, as well as access by water on the Marne and Seine rivers. It was used only occasionally by Louis VII and his successors, but Louis IX, or Saint Louis (1226–1270), used it much more often, second only to his time at the Palais de la Cité in Paris. He held meetings of the royal council there, and Queen Margaret of Provence and his children often resided there when he was absent from Paris. When Louis IX purchased the reputed Crown of Thorns from the Emperor Baldwin of Constantinople, Louis received the celebrated relic at Sens Cathedral, escorted it to Vincennes, and then accompanied it to its eventual home in the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. A few thorns from the crown of thorns and a small fragment of the reputed True Cross were deposited at Vincennes for placement in a future chapel. Louis IX said farewell to his family at Vincennes before his departure to the Crusades, from which he did not return.

The château was frequented by the Kings and their families. Philip III (in 1274) and Philip IV (in 1284) were each married there and three 14th-century kings died at Vincennes: Louis X (1316), Philip V (1322) and Charles IV (1328). The residence at the time was a sprawling manor with four wings located in the northeast corner of the present château walls, begun in the late 13th century. It was transferred to the clergy of the Saint-Chapelle after the Keep was completed; vestiges were found during excavations in 1992–1996.

14th century – Fortress of Jean II and Charles V
The defeats of the French and the capture of the King by the English in the Hundred Years War, as well as uprisings of the Parisian merchants under Etienne Marcel (1357–58) and a rural upraising against the crown, the Jacquerie (1360), persuaded the new French king, John II and his son, the future Charles V, that they needed a more secure residence close to, but not in the center of Paris. The King ordered the construction of a fortress at Vincennes with high walls and towers surrounding a massive keep or central tower, 52 meters (172 feet) high. The work was started in about 1337, and by 1364 the three lower levels of the keep were finished. Charles V moved into the keep in 1367 or 1368, while construction was still underway. When it was completed in 1369–70, it was the tallest fortified structure in Europe. The digging of the deep moat came next (1367), then the fortified gateway (1369). The walls and towers surrounding the keep were finished in 1371–72.

Charles V had even greater ambitions for the château. At the end of 1372, he began construction of another wall, a large square more than a kilometre (1 km) in length, with towers, to contain the additional buildings he intended to build. This was constructed between 1372 and 1385. The outer wall was given further reinforcement with the construction of a deep moat. The last project begun by Charles the V was laying the foundations of the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes to hold a set of sacred relics obtained by Louis IX, but he died in 1380 in the Manoir de Beauté, a separate residence he had constructed in 1376–1377 southeast of Vincennes, when the work on the new Sainte-Chapelle had just begun.

Late 14th – Late 15th century – Wars of Religion – Royal fortress and refuge – La Sainte Chapelle
In the turbulent 15th century, the château became a refuge for the kings of France. It was the regular residence of Charles VI of France up until his madness, then was disputed by the two rivals of his succession, Philip the Good of Burgundy and Louis I, Duke of Orléans. In 1415 the knights of Henry V of England defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt. The Treaty of Troyes in 1420 granted the château and the Île-de-France to the English. Henry V of England installed his troops there, repaired the château, and died there of dysentery in 1422, aged 35.

An alliance between the Burgundians with Charles VII of France finally allowed the King to force the English out of the Île-de-France and to reoccupy the château. He and his successors rarely lived there, preferring the Loire Valley. His successor, Louis XI, also spent most of his time in the Loire Valley, but he made one major modification to Vincennes: He constructed a new royal residence within the walls, the first outside of the keep. It extended the entire length of the southeast wall.

The Sainte-Chapelle of Vincennes, begun in 1379, was still unfinished in the 16th century. In 1520 King Francis I, a frequent resident, resolved to complete it to celebrate the birth of his son and heir. After his death in 1547, Henry II of France took up the work, finishing the vaults, and adding the woodwork and especially the stained glass. It was completed in 1552.

17th and early 18th century – new royal residences
In the early 17th century, Marie De' Medici, the widow of the assassinated Henry IV of France, began a major project to replace the old pavilion of Louis XI and Francis I. Her son Louis XIII, then age ten, laid the first stone of the new residence in 1610. Louis XIV continued the program on an even larger scale; planned by the royal architect Louis Le Vau. His new residence in the French classical style, now the Batiment du Roi, was finished in 1658, and was twice the size of the Louis XIII residence. In 1688, work began on a new pavilion of the Queen, on the north side of the enclosure. A new formal garden with an orangerie, was built on the west side. A large group of painters and sculptors was assembled to decorate the new buildings. The ensemble was completed with a triumphal arch at the entrance, and was dedicated in August 1660, in time for the return of the King and his new bride to Paris. But the age of royal glory at Vincennes was brief; in 1682 Louis XIV moved the royal court to his residence at Versailles, and in 1715 Louis XV began his reign in Versailles. While the boy king was taken by the Regent Philippe II, Duke of Orléans to the château for several months in 1715 to keep him safe from conspiracies, and the King subsequently went hunting occasionally at Vincennes, the full Court did not return.

18th – early 19th century – Manufactory, prison, fortress
Following the royal departure in the early 18th century, an effort was made to turn the château into a sort of pre-industrial park; the royal porcelain manufactory was opened in the Devil's Tower in 1740, but moved to a larger space in Sèvres in 1756. It was home for a time of an armaments factory, then an industrial bakery. It was used occasionally for horse races from 1777 until 1784. In 1787 the King put most of the buildings up for sale, but the sale was interrupted by the French Revolution. The château took on a new role as a military base and prison.

Long before the French Revolution, notable prisoners had been held at the château. Early prisoners included the future King Henry IV in 1574, Henri II, Prince of Condé; Nicolas Fouquet, the Superintendant of Finances of Louis XIV (September 1661); and the writer Denis Diderot. In 1680 Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin or La Voisin was one of more famous poisoners tortured and imprisoned at the château during the Affair of the Poisons.

The Marquis de Sade was held there from 1777 to 1784, the writer Honoré Mirabeau from 1777 to 1784, and the famous swindler Jean Henri Latude, who escaped twice from the Vincennes and once from the Bastille. In 1784, after Mirabeau wrote a series of articles which exposed the abuses of the royal judicial system and the practice of keeping prisoners without trial, the use of the keep as a prison was discontinued.

At the end of February 1791, a mob of more than a thousand workers from the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, encouraged by members of the Cordeliers Club and led by Antoine Joseph Santerre, marched out to the château, which, rumour had it, was being readied on the part of the Crown for political prisoners, and with crowbars and pickaxes set about demolishing it, as the Bastille had recently been demolished. The work was interrupted by the Marquis de Lafayette who took several ringleaders prisoners, to the jeers of the Parisian workers.

Following the French Revolution, the château was denounced as a symbol of oppression, but then was used again by Napoleon I to hold prisoners transferred from the Temple Prison in Paris, Napoleon demolished the Temple prison to prevent it from becoming a royalist shrine to Marie Antoinette, who had been held there. Two historical items from the Temple Prison are displayed at Vincennes; an armoured prison cell door, and a stove of ceramic tiles which had originally been in the cell of Marie Antoinette.

During the reign of Napoleon, the château and its buildings underwent considerable reconstruction to serve as a military arsenal. A new wooden floor divided the Sainte-Chapelle into upper and lower levels, and it was turned into a storehouse for munitions. The Pavilion of the King and the Pavilion of the Queen became barracks for the garrison. Most of the towers of the surrounding wall, which were in a poor state of repair, were demolished, with the exception of the Tower of the Village, which still has its original height, and the Tower of the Woods, which had collapsed earlier. The moat of the château was also the site of a famous execution, that of Duc d'Enghien, which took place on 21 March 1804. He was accused of trying the reinstate the royal government. A willow tree in the moat was planted to mark the place he was executed, and is still there today. In 1814, after Napoleon's defeat in Russia, as the allied armies of the Sixth Coalition approached Paris, the château was commanded by General Pierre Daumesnil. Daumesnil had a wooden leg, replacing a limb he lost at the Battle of Wagram (5–6 July 1809). When the allies demanded his surrender, Daumenil responded, "I shall surrender Vincennes when I get my leg back". He finally agreed to give up the fortress only when ordered to do by the newly restored king, Louis XVIII.

Late 19th – military base and public park
During the Restoration and the July Monarchy, in the first half of the 19th century, the château and park were used by military, particularly the artillery; an artillery school was opened there in 1826. The surrounding park was used for military exercises and as a firing range. In the first part of the 19th century three separate forts were constructed within the park to serve as part of the defences of the city. In the mid-century, the separate forts were connected together into one very large military complex. The buildings of the château itself and its surroundings were the park as part of the new fortifications of the city. Some parts of the medieval complexes were modified to fit into the new defensive plan.

Under Napoleon III, the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes was declared an historical landmark, and in 1854 restoration of the chapel was begun by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. The keep of the château was given landmark status in 1913, though restoration did not begin until after the First World War.

Beginning just before 1860, Napoleon III also began to develop an extensive new public park to the southeast of Paris, the Bois de Vincennes, modelled after the Bois de Boulogne he had begun on the other side of the city. The territory of the Bois de Vincennes, with the exception of the military bases, was ceded to the City of Paris on 24 July 1860, and became part of the 12th arrondissement of Paris.

On March 20, 1871, two days after the Paris Commune seized power in the city, Commune soldiers came to the château and fraternised with the regular army soldiers. The château surrendered to the Commune without a fight. A few weeks later, on 27 May, after the regular French Army had recaptured Paris from the Commune, the château was the last holdout where the red flag still flew. A colonel of the regular army arrived and negotiated the surrender of the remaining Communards. The soldiers left peacefully, while some of the officers who had joined the Commune were arrested, tried and shot in the moat of the château. A plaque on the wall of the moat marks the place.

20th century – Command post
During the First World War, the Dutch-born German spy Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad on October 15, 1917, in the moat of the château.

The restoration of the château was halted in 1936 by concerns about the rising threat from Nazi Germany. Beginning in that year, a large underground bunker was dug beneath the Pavilion of the Queen in the southeast corner, to serve as the headquarters of the chief of staff. The generals Maurice Gamelin and then Maxime Weygand directed the defense of France from there, until they were overwhelmed by the German Blitzkrieg. France surrendered on June 14, 1940. The Germans then used it as a base for their own soldiers, as well as a prison where French Resistance members were held. One of the first members of the French Resistance, Jacques Bonsergent, was tried and executed there on November 10, 1940. On 20 August 1944, during the battle for the Liberation of Paris, 26 policemen and members of the Resistance arrested by soldiers of the Waffen-SS were executed in the eastern moat of the fortress, and their bodies thrown in a common grave.

On the evening of August 24, 1944, the same day that the 2nd Armoured Division of General Leclerc reached the centre of Paris, the German forces occupying the château set off explosives in the three storage areas of munitions, badly damaging the Pavilions of the King and Queen and opening a gap in the wall between the entry pavilion and tower of Paris, before they withdrew. The next day the 4th U.S Infantry Division reached the château and the eastern neighbourhoods of Paris.

In 1948 the château became the headquarters of France's Defence Historical Service, which maintains a museum in the keep. A major campaign began in 1986 to preserve and restore the architectural heritage of the château.

Plan and description
Only traces remain of the earlier castle and the substantial remains date from the 14th century. The castle forms a rectangle whose perimeter is more than a kilometer in length (330 x 175 m). It has six towers and three gates, each originally 42 m high, and is surrounded by a deep stone lined moat. The towers of the grande enceinte now stand only to the height of the walls, having been demolished in the 1800s, save the Tour du Village on the north side of the enclosure. The south end consists of two wings facing each other, the Pavillon du Roi and the Pavillon de la Reine, built by Louis Le Vau.

The Keep
The Donjon or Keep of Vincennes was finished in 1369–70. It is 50 m high, the highest of its kind in Europe. Its walls are 16.5 m wide on each side, and at each corner is tower 6.6 m in diameter, the same height as the building. An additional tower, the height of the rest, is attached to the north of the northwest tower, providing support the whole structure and also containing latrines for all five levels of the keep. The wall at the base of the keep are 3.26 meters, or ten feet, thick. It served as both a royal residence and a very visible symbol of royal power.

The keep is one of the first known examples of rebar usage. Each of the eight floors has a central room about ten meters on each side. with a height varying from 7 to 8 m. Each of the lower four floors have a central column which reinforces the vaulted ceiling. The columns were decorated with sculpture and painted in bright colors.

One striking feature of the construction was the use of iron bars to strengthen the structure. More than two and half kilometres (2.5 km) of iron bars, in various shapes, were built into the structure. Iron bars reinforced the doorways, windows and the ceilings of the corridors, and, unusually, belts of iron bars surrounded the entire tower at the ground level, fifth level and sixth level.

In the Middle Ages the only access to the Keep was on the first floor, by a bridge from the terrace of the chatelet, where the King's offices were located. A narrow stairway, within the south wall. The two entrances on the ground floor were not added until the 18th century. When the keep was given an additional floor, and grand stairway was built connecting the two noble floors, the first and second.

Keep interior

 * The ground floor of the Keep has wells and the remains of a large fireplace. It was probably originally used by royal servants. It was largely rebuilt when the building was used as a prison.
 * The first floor contained the meeting hall of the Council of the King, and was also used when needed for bedchambers of the Queen and others close to the King. The walls were originally covered with oak panels, some of which are still in place. Studies of the wood indicate that it was cut between 1367 and 1371 in the Baltic region or present-day Poland.
 * The second floor was occupied by the bedchamber of the King, and has vestiges of the decoration added by Charles V of France when he rebuilt it 1367–38. The walls were originally covered with oak panels, and the vaulted ceiling was decorated with sculpted keystones and consoles and painted fleurs-de-lys and the coat-of-arms of the King, against a blue background, still visible. A small oratory is set into the north wall, though its wood panelling has disappeared.
 * The third floor has the same plan as the second, but lacks the ornate decoration of the royal floor. It was probably used by important guests of the King.
 * The fourth, fifth and sixth floors, which lack ornament, were probably used by domestic servants or soldiers. They were also used to store munitions for the weapons placed at the windows of the fourth floor and on the terraces of tower of latrines and the main body of the keep. The sixth floor has no windows and a ceiling only two meters high, and a single entrance. Beginning in 1752, the upper floors were used primarily as prison cells. The bars in the windows and doors date from that period. The extensive and elaborate graffiti still found on the walls on the upper floors also dates from the 17th and 18th century.

Wall of the Keep and Entry Pavilion
The Keep is surrounded by a rectangular stone wall, or "enceinte" about 50 m long one each side, 11.5 m high, and 1.1 m thick. It is crenelated at the top level with a walkway that was originally open but was given a tile roof in the 15th century and then the present slate roof. At each of the four corners is an Echauguette, a small watch tower that protrudes outward, to give better oversight of the walls. In the northeast corner of the walkway, next to the chatelet, is a group of rooms which originally were part of the working office of the King, on the second floor of the chatelet. They include a small chapel, a hall, and a chamber.

The Sainte-Chapelle
The nave and choir of the interior form a single vessel with five traverses. The oratories of the King and Queen are placed just before the choir. The summit of the vaults, where the ribs meet, are decorated with ornamental keystones, some with the coats-of-arms of Isabeau of Bavaria and Charles V of France. The painted decoration on some of the later vaults displays the H of Henry II of France and a K for Catherine de' Medici.

The stained glass windows of the nave were installed between 1556 and 1559. Those in the nave were almost entirely destroyed in the French Revolution; only drawings remain. Some of the windows of the apse survived. They illustrate the Apocalypse as recounted in the Gospel of Saint John. They were substantially restored in the 19th century under Louis Napoleon and again the 20th century.

The Pavilions of the King and Queen
Fortunately, some portions of the painted and sculpted ceilings of the royal pavilions were saved in the 19th century; King Louis Philippe had a ceiling dismantled and transported from Vincennes to the Louvre, where it was installed in room 639, a display of Egyptian Antiquities, where it can be seen today.

title: Château de Vincennes


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Labrisomid

Labrisomids are small blennioids (blennies), percomorph marine fish belonging to the family Labrisomidae. Found mostly in the tropical Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, the family contains about 110 species in 15 genera.

Stockier than the average blenny, labrisomids are elongated nonetheless; their dorsal fin spines outnumber soft rays (which may be absent altogether), and their pelvic fins are long and slender. Like many other blennies, labrisomids have whisker-like structures called cirri on their heads and napes. Scales may be cycloid or absent in labrisomids; many species are brightly coloured. Labrisomus philippii is the largest species at 35 cm in length; most are far smaller.

Generally staying within shallow coastal regions to depths around 10 m, labrisomids are benthic fish spending most of their time on or near the bottom. Both sandy and rocky substrates are frequented, sometimes at reefs or amongst beds of seagrass. Labrisomids are shy fish and will retreat into crevices if threatened. Crustaceans, gastropods, brittle stars, and sea urchins make up much of the labrisomid diet.

Two genera of labrisomid are noted for their ovoviviparity; Xenomedea and Starksia both retain eggs within their oviducts, where they develop in safety. However, only Starksia species possess gonopodia (modified anal fins used as a copulatory organ).

Some workers have found that the Labrisomidae is paraphyletic.

Genera
The following genera are currently included in this family:
 * Alloclinus C.L. Hubbs, 1927
 * Auchenionchus Gill, 1860
 * Brockius Clark L. Hubbs, 1953
 * Calliclinus Gill, 1860
 * Cottoclinus McCosker, Stephens & Rosenblatt, 2003
 * Cryptotrema Gilbert, 1890
 * Dialommus Gilbert, 1891
 * Exerpes Jordan & Evermann, 1896
 * Gobioclinus Gill, 1860
 * Haptoclinus Böhlke & Robertson, 1974
 * Labrisomus Swainson, 1839
 * Malacoctenus Gill, 1860
 * Nemaclinus Böhlke & Springer, 1975
 * Paraclinus Mocquard, 1888
 * Starksia Jordan & Evermann, 1896
 * Xenomedea Rosenblatt & Taylor, 1971

title: Labrisomid


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Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle

Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle (née Percy; 1599 – 5 November 1660) was an English courtier known for her beauty and wit. She was involved in many political intrigues during the English Civil War.

Life
She was born Lady Lucy Percy, the second daughter of Henry, Earl of Northumberland (the famous "Wizard Earl") and his wife Lady Dorothy Devereux. In 1617, she became the second wife of James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle. Her charms were celebrated in verse by contemporary poets, including Thomas Carew, William Cartwright, Robert Herrick and Sir John Suckling, and by Sir Toby Matthew in prose.

In 1626, she was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber to Henrietta Maria, Queen of England. She soon became a favourite of the queen, and participated in two of her famous masque plays.

She was a conspicuous figure at the court of King Charles I. A contemporary scandal made her the mistress successively of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, and of John Pym, his parliamentary opponent. Strafford valued her highly, but after his death in 1641, possibly in consequence of a revulsion of feeling at his abandonment by the court, she devoted herself to Pym and the interests of the parliamentary leaders, to whom she communicated the king's most secret plans and counsels.

Her greatest achievement was the timely disclosure to her cousin Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, of the king's intended arrest of the five members of the Long Parliament in 1642, which enabled Essex and the others to escape. However, she appears to have served both parties simultaneously, betraying communications on both sides, and doing considerable mischief by inflaming political animosities.

In 1647, she attached herself to the interests of the moderate Presbyterian party, which assembled at her house, and in the Second Civil War showed great zeal and activity in the royal cause, pawning her pearl necklace for £1500 to raise money for Lord Holland's troops, establishing communications with Prince Charles during his blockade of the Thames, and making herself the intermediary between the scattered bands of royalists and the queen. As a result, her arrest was ordered on 21 March 1649, and she was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where she maintained a correspondence in code with the king through her brother, Lord Percy, until Charles went to Scotland. According to a royalist newsletter, while in the Tower, she was threatened with torture on the rack to gain information. She was released on bail on 25 September 1650, but appears never to have regained her former influence in the royalist counsels, and died soon after the Restoration.

She died suddenly on 5 November 1660; after 'dining well' at lunchtime she fell suddenly sick around 2pm whilst 'cutting a piece of ribbon'. She was dead by 5 or 6pm that same day.

In literature
François de La Rochefoucauld mentioned in his Memoirs an anecdote he was told by Marie de Rohan, in which Lucy Hay stole some diamond studs (a present of the king of France to Anne of Austria) the queen had given to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham from the duke as revenge because he had loved her before he loved the queen of France. The king of France then wanted to see the studs and somehow the queen was able to recover them. Alexandre Dumas later used this entire story, and therefore he probably based Milady de Winter on Lucy Carlisle in his 1844 novel The Three Musketeers.

She was the subject of Sir John Suckling's risqué poem Upon My Lady Carlisle's Walking in Hampton Court Garden.

title: Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle


text:
Jānis Čakste

Jānis Kristaps Čakste (14 September 1859 – 14 March 1927) was a Latvian politician and lawyer who served as the first head of an independent Latvian state as the Chairman of the People's Council (1918–1920), the Speaker of the Constitutional Assembly (1920–1922), and as the first President of Latvia (1922–1927).

Youth
Čakste was born in the Lielsesava parish of the Jelgava district, the son of a farmer. He received his primary education at St Anne's Primary School, and entered the Academia Petrina in Jelgava, where he participated in student "evenings" advocating Neo-Latvian ideals. After graduating in 1882, he entered the law faculty of Moscow University. While studying in Moscow, Čakste founded a local Latvian Student Society in 1883, which later became the academic fraternity "Austrums" and actively participated in the activities of the local Latvian community along with Krišjānis Valdemārs and Fricis Brīvzemnieks. Čakste graduated in 1886 and returned to Jelgava.

Career and entry into politics
After graduating from St. Petersburg State University, he worked at the legal department of the Courland Governorate and, from 1888, as a doctor in Jelgava. In 1889 he became the editor of the newspaper "Tēvija", which became one of the most widely read Latvian-language newspapers in Courland. In 1895 he became one of the chief organisers of the 4th All-Latvian Song Festival in Jelgava, and partly financed the event out of his own pocket. In the course of the Russian Revolution of 1905 he collaborated on a project for creating Latvian national autonomy within the Russian Empire.

In 1906 he was elected to the First State Duma of the Russian Empire where he joined the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party. When the latter was dissolved by the czar, Čakste was one of its 166 members who signed the so-called Vyborg Manifesto, calling for non-violent resistance to the czarist regime. As a result, he was arrested together with other former Duma members and, after the trial, served three months in prison.

In 1915 Čakste moved to Tartu where he co-founded the Central Committee for Latvian Refugee Affairs and in 1917 became its chairman. In 1915 Čakste organised a demonstration to honour Major General Aleksey Potapov, the commanding officer of the defence of Jelgava, who later became one of the advocates of the formation of the Latvian Rifles. In 1917 Čakste departed for the United States on a tour to propagate the idea of Latvian independence, but the trip was cut short in Stockholm with the news of the Russian Revolution. In Stockholm he published a pamphlet Die Letten und ihre Latvia: Eine lettische Stimme, where he declared that “the Latvian nation wants to…achieve…its freedom with certainty to lead in Latvia its own national, cultural, and economic development.”

In the autumn of 1917 Čakste worked in the foreign department of the Provisional Latvian National Council, where he prepared addresses to foreign governments protesting against the German occupation of Baltic territories. On 17 November 1918 at the first session of the Latvian Tautas Padome, conceived as a representative body of the new Latvian state, Čakste was elected its chairman in absentia, as he was at his country home at the time. While informed of his election, he did not manage to arrive in time for the declaration of Latvian independence the next day, and the act was proclaimed by the vice-chairman, Gustavs Zemgals.

In 1919 Čakste travelled to the Paris Peace Conference, establishing relations with foreign diplomats and even attempting to draft a request for reparations from Germany – which did not receive support from the Entente states. On 13 July 1919 he returned to Latvia and assumed his duties as the Chairman of the Tautas Padome (the National Assembly). While undertaking his responsibilities as a statesman, Čakste continued teaching at the law school of the newly founded University of Latvia. In November 1919 he was given the rank of full professor, but in 1924 – the degree Dr. jur. honoris causa.

First head of state of an independent Latvia
After the first free elections to the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia, Čakste was elected its Speaker on 1 May 1920, thus again assuming the role of the provisional head of the Latvian state. His runner-up in the elections was the renowned poet and Social Democrat deputy Rainis. Two years later, at the first session of the first Saeima of Latvia on 7 November 1922 Čakste was elected unopposed as the first President of the Republic of Latvia, with 92 Saeima members voting for his candidacy and 6 against – the highest number of votes ever given to a candidate in a Latvian presidential election. As President, Čakste's responsibilities were largely ceremonial, even though he continued to pay close attention to foreign affairs, especially to the international position of Latvia as a young European state in the world. During his tenure, he promulgated 402 laws, sent three laws back to the Saeima for review, and pardoned 549 people. He caused some controversy in 1926 when he pardoned a prominent writer and a former head of the rival pro-German Latvian puppet government Andrievs Niedra, who was serving a sentence for treason. However, Čakste also insisted on Niedra's leaving the country after the pardon. For the presidential elections of 1925, Čakste's name was proposed by his Democratic Centre party, while Rainis was put forward by the Social Democrats and Kārlis Ulmanis – by the Latvian Farmers' Union. In the first round, the incumbent president finished third, with 29 votes, against 33 for Rainis and 32 for Ulmanis. When the Social Democrats decided to withdraw Rainis's candidacy, much against the latter's will, Čakste won the election with 60 votes.

Death

Jānis Čakste died in Riga on 14 March 1927 before the expiration of his second three-year term, and was buried at the Forest Cemetery in Riga. He is the only President of Latvia to die in office.

Family
He was married to Justīne Čakste, born Vesere, and they had nine children. His son, Junior Lieutenant Visvaldis Čakste, died from wounds received in the defence of Jelgava in 1915. Another son, Konstantīns Čakste (1901–1945), a lawyer like his father, became one of the leaders of the Latvian national resistance during World War II and the Chairman of the Latvian Central Council, set up in February 1943 as the underground Latvian national government. Konstantīns Čakste was arrested by the Gestapo and died in a forced march from Stutthof concentration camp in February 1945.

title: Jānis Čakste


text:
MMCache

MMCache, also known as Turck MMCache, is a PHP accelerator, or an extension to PHP meant to improve performance. It is structured as a simple proxy server between the web server and the web browser. Its most important feature is using memcached for caching the data in memory. MMCache is free software released under the GNU GPL 2.0. The key identifying the given site is designated from the URL, so if, for example, there is a session defined within the URL, then the proxy will not work effectively.

A newer version of MMCache, MMCache-LB, has an option to connect more web servers behind the proxy, with load balancing between them.

Development work on MMCache was discontinued in 2009, and the code was forked into the eAccelerator application.

title: MMCache


text:
International Union of Radio Science

The International Union of Radio Science (abbreviated URSI, after its French name, Union radio-scientifique internationale) is one of 26 international scientific unions affiliated to the International Council for Science (ICSU).

History and objectives
URSI was officially created in 1919, during the Constitutive Assembly of the International Research Council (now ICSU), based on the earlier Commission Internationale de Telegraphie sans Fil (1913–1914) when the only radio communication system was radiotelegraphy. It has held a general assembly every three years from 1922. Fifty years ago URSI was one of the most important promoters of the International Geophysical Year.

In addition to publishing the open access journal URSI Radio Science Letters, it sponsors the journals Advances in Radio Science, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, and Radio Science, last of which is co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union.

URSI's original objective (to encourage "scientific studies of radiotelegraphy, especially those which require international cooperation") has been broadened to include all radio science, from telecommunications to radio astronomy, acquisition of radar information about distant passive objects, studies of the radiation stimulated or spontaneously emitted by these objects, biological effects of electromagnetic radiation and active modification of objects by radio waves, within the spectrum from extremely low frequency to the optical domain.

Commissions

 * Commission A: Electromagnetic Metrology
 * Commission B: Fields and Waves
 * Commission C: Radiocommunication Systems and Signal Processing
 * Commission D: Electronics and Photonics
 * Commission E: Electromagnetic Environment and Interference
 * Commission F: Wave Propagation and Remote Sensing
 * Commission G: Ionospheric Radio and Propagation
 * Commission H: Waves in Plasmas
 * Commission J: Radio Astronomy
 * Commission K: Electromagnetics in Biology and Medicine

A few Commissions are engaged with international projects in cooperation with other international bodies, for example with the Committee on Space Research in the project International Reference Ionosphere.

Individual membership
The URSI includes different individual membership grades:
 * Corresponding member (CURSI)
 * Senior member, awarded to members who have a PhD, 10+ publications, and a history of involvement with the URSI
 * Fellow, by invitation or by winning a URSI senior prize

title: International Union of Radio Science


text:
Athor

Athor can refer to several things:

 * Alternative spelling of Hathor, an Egyptian goddess
 * ʾAthor, the Syriac name for Assyria
 * Asteroid 161 Athor
 * George Athor Deng (1962 – 2011) South Sudanese General and Politician

title: Athor


text:
Varangian Guard

The Varangian Guard (Τάγμα τῶν Βαράνγων) was an elite unit of the Byzantine army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varangian Guard was known for being primarily composed of recruits from Northern Europe, including mainly Norsemen from Scandinavia but also Anglo-Saxons from England. The recruitment of distant foreigners from outside Byzantium to serve as the emperor's personal guard was pursued as a deliberate policy, as they lacked local political loyalties and could be counted upon to suppress revolts by disloyal Byzantine factions.

The Rus' provided the earliest members of the Varangian Guard. They were in Byzantine service from as early as 874. The Guard was first formally constituted under Emperor Basil II in 988, following the Christianization of Kievan Rus' by Vladimir I of Kiev. Vladimir, who had recently usurped power in Kiev with an army of Varangian warriors, sent 6,000 men to Basil as part of a military assistance agreement. Basil's distrust of the native Byzantine guardsmen, whose loyalties often shifted with fatal consequences, as well as the proven loyalty of the Varangians, many of whom had previously served in Byzantium, led the Emperor to employ them as his personal guardsmen.

Immigrants from Scandinavia (predominantly immigrants from Sweden, but also elements from Denmark and Norway) kept an almost entirely Norse cast to the organization until the late 11th century. According to the late Swedish historian Alf Henrikson in his book Svensk Historia (History of Sweden), the Norse Varangian guardsmen were recognized by long hair, a red ruby set in the left ear and ornamented dragons sewn on their chainmail shirts. During these years, Swedish men left to enlist in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in such numbers that a medieval Swedish law, Västgötalagen, from Västergötland declared no one could inherit while staying in "Greece"—the then Scandinavian term for the Byzantine Empire—to stop the emigration, especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians: Kievan Rus' c. 980–1060 and London 1013–1051 (the Þingalið).

Composed primarily of Norsemen and Rus' for the first 100 years, the Guard began to see increased numbers of Anglo-Saxons after the Norman conquest of England. By the time of the Emperor Alexios Komnenos in the late 11th century, the Varangian Guard was largely recruited from Anglo-Saxons and "others who had suffered at the hands of the Vikings and their cousins the Normans". The Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic peoples shared with the Vikings a tradition of faithful (to death if necessary) oath-bound service, and the Norman invasion of England resulted in many fighting men who had lost their lands and former masters and were looking for positions elsewhere.

The Varangian Guard not only provided security for the Byzantine emperors, but also participated in many wars, often playing a decisive role, since they were usually deployed at critical moments of a battle. By the late 13th century, Varangians were mostly ethnically assimilated by the Byzantine Greeks, though the Guard remained in existence until at least mid-14th century. In 1400, there were still some people identifying themselves as "Varangians" in Constantinople.

History
The earliest members of the Varangian guard came from Kievan Rus'. A treaty between Rus' and the Byzantine empire under Basil I was agreed in 874 after a period of hostilities. A clause in the treaty obliged Rus' to provide men for Byzantine service. Renewed hostilities between 907 and 911 ended with a new treaty under which any Rus' who chose could serve Byzantium as a right.

The scholarly consensus is that the Rus' people originated in what is currently coastal eastern Sweden around the eighth century and that their name has the same origin as Roslagen in Sweden (with the older name being Roden). According to the prevalent theory, the name Rus', like the Proto-Finnic name for Sweden (*Roocci), is derived from an Old Norse term for "the men who row" (rods-) as rowing was the main method of navigating the rivers of Eastern Europe, and that it could be linked to the Swedish coastal area of Roslagen (Rus-law) or Roden, as it was known in earlier times. The name Rus' would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden: Ruotsi and Rootsi.

As early as 911, Varangians are mentioned as fighting as mercenaries for the Byzantines. About 700 Varangians served along with Dalmatians as marines in Byzantine naval expeditions against the Emirate of Crete in 902 and a force of 629 returned to Crete under Constantine Porphyrogenitus in 949. A unit of 415 Varangians was involved in the Italian expedition of 936. It is also recorded that there were Varangian contingents among the forces that fought the Arabs in Syria in 955. During this period, the Varangian mercenaries were included in the Great Companions (Gk. Μεγάλη Εταιρεία).

In 988, Basil II requested military assistance from Vladimir I of Kiev to help defend his throne. In compliance with the treaty made by his father after the Siege of Dorostolon (971), Vladimir sent 6,000 men to Basil. Vladimir took the opportunity to rid himself of his most unruly warriors which in any case he was unable to pay. This is the presumptive date for the formal, permanent institution of an elite guard. In exchange for the warriors, Vladimir was given Basil's sister, Anna, in marriage. Vladimir also agreed to convert to Christianity and to bring his people into the Christian faith.

In 989, these Varangians, led by Basil II himself, landed at Chrysopolis to defeat the rebel general Bardas Phokas. On the field of battle, Phokas died of a stroke in full view of his opponent; upon the death of their leader, Phokas' troops turned and fled. The brutality of the Varangians was noted when they pursued the fleeing army and "cheerfully hacked them to pieces".

These men formed the nucleus of the Varangian Guard, which saw extensive service in southern Italy in the eleventh century, as the Normans and Lombards worked to extinguish Byzantine authority there. In 1018, Basil II received a request from his catepan of Italy, Basil Boioannes, for reinforcements to put down the Lombard revolt of Melus of Bari. A detachment of the Varangian Guard was sent and in the Battle of Cannae, the Byzantines achieved a decisive victory.

The Varangians also participated in the partial reconquest of Sicily from the Arabs under George Maniakes in 1038. Here, they fought alongside Normans recently arrived in Italy seeking adventure and Lombards from Byzantine-held Apulia. A prominent member of the Guard at this time was Harald Hardrada, later King of Norway as Harald III (1046–1066). However, when Maniakes ostracised the Lombards by publicly humiliating their leader, Arduin, the Lombards deserted and the Normans and Varangians followed them.

Not long after, the catepan Michael Doukeianos had a force of Varangians stationed at Bari. On 16 March 1041, they were called up to fight the Normans near Venosa; many drowned in the subsequent retreat across the Ofanto. In September, Exaugustus Boioannes was sent to Italy with only a small contingent of Varangians to replace the disgraced Doukeianos. On 3 September 1041, they were defeated in battle by the Normans.

Many of the last catepans were sent from Constantinople with Varangian units. In 1047, John Raphael was sent to Bari with a contingent of Varangians, but the Bariots refused to receive his troops and he spent his term at Otranto. Twenty years later, in 1067, the last Byzantine catepan in southern Italy, Mabrica, arrived with Varangian auxiliaries and took Brindisi and Taranto. At the disastrous Battle of Manzikert in 1071, virtually all the Emperor's Guards fell around him.

Composed primarily of Scandinavians for the first 100 years, the guard began to see increasing numbers of Anglo-Saxons after the successful invasion of England by the Normans. In 1088, a large number of Anglo-Saxons and Danes emigrated to the Byzantine Empire by way of the Mediterranean. One source has more than 5,000 of them arriving in 235 ships. Those who did not enter imperial service settled on the Black Sea coast, building and garrisoning the town of Helenopolis for Alexios I. Those who did became so vital to the Varangians that the Guard was commonly called the Englinbarrangoi (Anglo-Varangians) from that point. In this capacity, they fought in Sicily against the Normans under Robert Guiscard, who unsuccessfully sought to invade the lower Balkans as well.

Writing about the unit as it was in 1080, the chronicler and princess Anna Komnene refers to these "axe-bearing barbarians" as being "from Thule", likely a reference to the British Isles or Scandinavia. Likewise, the Byzantine civil-servant, soldier and historian John Kinnamos calls these "axe-bearers" that guarded the Emperor "the British nation, which has been in service to the Romans' Emperors from a long time back". Kinnamos was writing in the later 12th century, indicating perhaps that the more Dane and Saxon composition of the guard continued to the point of the Fourth Crusade.

After the end of the Norwegian Crusade led by the Norwegian King Sigurd I Magnusson, the guard had an influx of Norwegian Warriors. The Norwegian King sold his ships in Constantinople and returned to Norway with only a 100 men, out of an original army of around 6,000.

The Varangians relied on the broad-bladed Dane axe as their main weapon, although they were often also skilled swordsmen or archers. In some sources, such as Anna Komnene's The Alexiad, they are described as mounted; both Vikings and elite Anglo-Saxon warriors routinely used horses for strategic mobility even though they normally fought on foot. The guard was stationed primarily around Constantinople, and may have been barracked in the Bucoleon palace complex. The guard also accompanied armies into the field, and Byzantine chroniclers (as well as several notable Western European and Arab chroniclers) often note their battlefield prowess, especially in comparison to the local barbarian peoples. They were vital to the Byzantine victory under the emperor John II Komnenos at the Battle of Beroia in 1122. The Varangians hacked their way through the enemy's circle of Pecheneg wagons, collapsing the Pecheneg position and causing a general rout in their camp.

The Varangians were described by 11th-century Byzantine historian Michael Psellus as thus: "The whole group carry shields and brandish on their shoulders a certain single-edged, heavy-iron weapon", which is understood to have been the Dane axe (many Byzantine writers referred to them as "axe-bearing barbarians", pelekyphoroi barbaroi, rather than as Varangians). However, a mistranslation of the Greek text has led some to refer to the weapon as a rhomphaia, which most likely occurred as a product of Atticism in Byzantine literature.

They were prominent in the defence of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. Of the role of the guard, it is said that "the fighting was very violent and there was hand to hand fight with axes and swords, the assailants mounted the walls and prisoners were taken on both sides". The latest mention of the Varangian guard is in the Greek version of the Chronicle of the Morea, which states that this unit escorted the Prince of Achaia away to prison after the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259; historian D. J. Geanakoplos suggests they were reconstituted by Theodore I Laskaris to strengthen his claim as the rightful Emperor. People identified as Varangians were to be found in Constantinople around 1400.

Function
The duties and purpose of the Varangian Guard were similar—if not identical—to the services provided by the Kievan druzhina, the Swedish/Norwegian hird, and the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon housecarls. The Varangians served as the personal bodyguard of the emperor, swearing an oath of loyalty to him; they had ceremonial duties as retainers and acclaimers and performed some police duties, especially in cases of treason and conspiracy. They were headed by a separate officer, the akolouthos, who was usually a native Byzantine.

The Varangian Guard was only used in battle during critical moments, or where the battle was most fierce. Contemporary Byzantine chroniclers note with a mix of terror and fascination that the "Scandinavians were frightening both in appearance and in equipment, they attacked with reckless rage and neither cared about losing blood nor their wounds". The description probably refers to berserkers, since this state of trance is said to have given them superhuman strength and no sense of pain from their wounds. When the Byzantine Emperor died, the Varangians had the unique right of running to the imperial treasury and taking as much gold and as many gems as they could carry, a procedure known in Old Norse as polutasvarf ("palace pillaging"). This privilege enabled many Varangians to return home as wealthy men, which encouraged even more Scandinavians to enlist in the Guard in Miklagarðr (Swedish = Miklagård = 'The Great City', i.e. Constantinople).

The loyalty of the Varangians became a trope of Byzantine writers. Writing about her father Alexius's seizing of the Imperial throne in 1081, Anna Komnene notes that he was advised not to attack the Varangians who still guarded the Emperor Nikephoros for the Varangians "regard loyalty to the emperors and the protection of their persons as a family tradition, a kind of sacred trust". This allegiance, she noted, "they preserve inviolate, and will never brook the slighted hint of betrayal". Unlike the native Byzantine guards so mistrusted by Basil II, the Varangian guards' loyalties lay with the position of Emperor, not the man who sat on the throne. This was made clear in 969 when the guards failed to avenge the death by assassination of Emperor Nikephoros II. A servant had managed to call for the guards while the Emperor was being attacked, but when they arrived he was dead. They immediately knelt before John Tzimiskes, Nikephoros' murderer and hailed him as Emperor. "Alive they would have defended him to the last breath: dead there was no point in avenging him. They had a new master now."

This reputation exceeds the truth in at least two recorded instances. In 1071, after Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes was defeated by Sultan Alp Arslan, a palace coup was staged before he could return to Constantinople. Caesar John Doukas used the Varangian guard to depose the absent emperor, arrest Empress Eudoxia, and proclaim his nephew, stepson of Diogenes Michael VII, as emperor. Thus, instead of defending their absent emperor, the Varangians were used by the usurpers—proving their loyalty to the throne, if not always the current occupier of that throne. In a more sinister episode, the historian Joannes Zonaras reports the guard revolting against Nikephoros III Botaneiates after the blinding of the general Nikephoros Bryennios in 1078, "planning to kill him" but being suppressed by loyal troops. They subsequently asked for and received a pardon.

Runestones

There are a number of raised stone memorials called runestones throughout Scandinavia. The runestones are unevenly distributed in Scandinavia: Denmark has 250 runestones, Norway has 50 while Iceland has none. Sweden has as many as between 1,700 and 2,500 depending on definition. The Swedish district of Uppland has the highest concentration with as many as 1,196 inscriptions in stone, whereas Södermanland is second with 391. Many date to the Viking Age, and there are many associated with the Varangian Guards.

These Varangian runestones commemorate various fallen warriors through carved runes, and mention voyages to the East (Austr) or the Eastern route (Austrvegr), or to more specific eastern locations such as Garðaríki (what is today Russia and Ukraine). The losses that the Varangian Guard suffered are reflected by the largest group of runestones that talk of foreign voyages, such as those termed the Greece Runestones. These were raised by former members of the Varangian Guard, or in their memory. A smaller group consists of the four Italy Runestones which were raised in memory of members of the Varangian Guard who died in southern Italy.

The oldest of the Greece runestones are six stones in the style RAK, a style which is dated to the period before 1015 AD. The group consists of Skepptuna runestone U 358, Västra Ledinge runestone U 518, Nälberga runestone Sö 170 and Eriksstad runestone Sm 46.

One of the more notable of the later runestones in the style Pr4 is Ed runestone U 112, a large boulder at the western shore of the lake of Ed. It tells that Ragnvaldr, the captain of the Varangian Guard, had returned home where he had the inscriptions made in memory of his dead mother.

The youngest runestones, in the style Pr5, such as Ed runestone U 104 (presently in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford), are dated to the period 1080–1130, after which runestones became unfashionable.

The Varangians did not return home without being imprinted by Byzantine culture in one way or another, as exemplified by the Byzantine cross carved on the early eleventh century Risbyle runestone U 161, and which today is the coat-of-arms of Täby, a trimunicipal locality and the seat of Täby Municipality in Stockholm County, Sweden. The runes were made by the Viking Ulf of Borresta, see Orkesta runestone U 344, in memory of another Ulf, in Skålhamra, and at the request of the latter's father.

Norse sagas
According to the sagas, the West Norse entered the service of the Guard considerably later than the East Norse. According to the Laxdœla saga, the Icelander Bolli Bollason (born c. 1006) was the first known Icelander in the Varangian Guard. Travelling to Constantinople via Denmark, he spent many years in the Varangian Guard, "and was thought to be the most valiant in all deeds that try a man, and always went next to those in the forefront." The saga also records the finery his followers received from the Emperor, and the influence he held after his return to Iceland:

"Bolli rode from the ship with twelve men, and all his followers were dressed in scarlet, and rode on gilt saddles, and all were they a trusty band, though Bolli was peerless among them. He had on the clothes of fur which the Garth-king had given him, he had over all a scarlet cape; and he had Footbiter girt on him, the hilt of which was dight with gold, and the grip woven with gold, he had a gilded helmet on his head, and a red shield on his flank, with a knight painted on it in gold. He had a dagger in his hand, as is the custom in foreign lands; and whenever they took quarters the women paid heed to nothing but gazing at Bolli and his grandeur, and that of his followers."

The Varangian Guard is mentioned also in Njal's Saga in reference to Kolskegg—an Icelander said to have come first to Holmgard (Novgorod) and then on to Miklagard (Constantinople), where he entered the Emperor's service. "The last that was heard of him was, that he had wedded a wife there, and was captain over the Varangians, and stayed there till his death day."

One of the members of the Varangian Guard was the future king Harald Sigurdsson III of Norway, known as Harald Hardråde ("Hard-ruler"). Having fled his homeland, Harald went first to Gardariki and then on to Constantinople, where he arrived in 1035. He participated in eighteen battles and during his service fought against Arabs in Anatolia and Sicily under General George Maniakes, as well as in southern Italy and Bulgaria. An extensive account of Harald Sigurdsson's journeys is found in Harald Sigurdsson's Saga.

During his time in the Varangian Guard Harald earned the titles of manglavites and spatharokandidatos. But his service ended with his imprisonment for misappropriation of imperial plunder taken during his command. He was released upon the dethronement of the Emperor Michael V, and saga sources suggest he was the one sent to blind the Emperor when he and his uncle fled to the church of Studion Monastery and clung to the altar.

Harald then sought to leave his post, but was denied this. He eventually escaped and returned home in 1043, becoming King of Norway before eventually dying at the Battle of Stamford Bridge while invading England in 1066.

The Varangian Guard regained some of its old Scandinavian flavour when Harald Hardråde's grandson, Sigurd I of Norway, went on the Norwegian Crusade to the Holy land. After fighting battles against the Muslims, King Sigurd in 1110 let the rest of his force, who originally numbered 6,000 men, join the Varangian Guard. King Sigurd returned home with fewer than a hundred of his personal Guard.

Most of the Old Norse narratives which deals with Norwegians or Icelanders in the Varangian Guard are from the 13th century, and bear witness to a continued interest and generally positive views towards Byzantium within the West Norse cultural area.

title: Varangian Guard


text:
William Cartwright (dramatist)

William Cartwright (1 September 1611 – 29 November 1643) was an English poet, dramatist and churchman.

Early life
Cartwright was born at Northway, Gloucestershire, the son of William Cartwright of Heckhampton, Gloucestershire. He was educated at the free school of Cirencester and at Westminster School. He matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford on 24 February 1632 aged 20, and was awarded BA on 5 June 1632. He was awarded MA on 15 April 1635. Anthony Wood gives an account of his origin as son of a country gentleman turned innkeeper which is contradicted by statements made in David Lloyd's Memoirs.

Career
Cartwright became reader in metaphysics at Oxford University and was, according to Wood, the most florid and seraphical preacher in the university. In 1642 he was made succentor of Salisbury Cathedral, and in 1643 he was chosen junior proctor of the university.

Cartwright was a successor to Ben Jonson and is often counted among the Sons of Ben, the group of dramatists who practised Jonson's style of comedy. The collected edition of his poems (1651) contains commendatory verses by Henry Lawes, who set some of his songs to music, by Izaak Walton, Alexander Brome, Henry Vaughan and others. Cartwright and Lawes maintained an important working relationship, for perhaps a decade prior to Cartwright's death in 1643; in one view, Lawes made a significant contribution to Cartwright's conception of drama.

Though Cartwright has been listed among the 17th century dramatists known as the Sons of Ben, as they were to have been influenced by Ben Jonson, Cartwright's play The Ordinary has been described as a second-rate Jonsonian comedy, nothing more than a pale copy of an original. Some would perhaps argue that bad replication does not qualify Cartwright as a true Son of Ben.

Civil War
Cartwright was nominated one of the council of war at Oxford in 1642. He died of camp fever (epidemic typhus) at Oxford aged 32 and was buried in Christ Church Cathedral. It is said that King Charles I of England wore mourning on the day of his funeral.

Works
His plays are, with the exception of The Ordinary, far-fetched in plot, and stilted and artificial in treatment. They are: In The Ordinary (1635?) he produced a comedy of real life, in imitation of Jonson, representing pot-house society. It is reprinted in Robert Dodsley's Old Plays (ed. William Hazlitt, vol. xii.).
 * The Royal Slave (1636), produced by the students of Christ Church before the king and queen, with music by Henry Lawes
 * The Lady Errant (acted, 1635–1636; printed, 1651)
 * The Siege, or Love's Convert (printed 1651)

title: William Cartwright (dramatist)


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Nul (band)

NuL is a South African band formed in 1998 by Adriaan Pelzer and Simon Kruger, operating as NuL since 2004. NuL creates Afrikaans EBM/Industrial music, and propagates the free distribution of their music. Apart from conventional CD sales, they distribute all of their music freely on the internet, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivs license. The music is seeded directly from their website. They also encourage fans on their website to pirate their CD by making the CD artwork of their first CD available as free downloads.

History
When their highly avant-garde rock band, Nothing, broke up in 1998, Adriaan Pelzer and Simon Kruger started experimenting with computer music on a Pentium II 350 MHz, using mainly software like Fruity Loops and Cool Edit Pro, but also experimenting with the possibilities of music production on Linux-based systems. They were both based in Pretoria, South Africa at the time. Initially inspired by the works of Aphex Twin, Autechre and Squarepusher, they produced a number of Glitch-inspired pieces that were later to be released on the Een album.

When Simon moved to London in 2002, Adriaan continued the legacy, and developed the musical style into a more hard-edged, Industrial-influenced direction. Shortly after Simon's return to South Africa in 2004, Adriaan moved to Singapore, where he topped the development of the new, harder style with EBM influences. Here he founded the NuL website, where all of NuL's music is seeded from onto the Internet. In 2006 he returned to South Africa, and together with Simon, Dawid Kahts (Thys Nywerheid), and Adriaan's wife, actress Mareli Minnaar, formed the band, NuL, who are rapidly becoming known for their energetic live performances.

Later in 2006 the band was joined by Visual Artist Niel de Lange, who added a whole new dimension to NuL's live performance with live Video Mixing. In 2007 Gerrie Roos joined NuL as their permanent Sound Engineer, and Chris Erasmus became the seventh member of NuL, as their permanent lighting technician and videographer. After experimental videos made for Swart and Kaper, NuL filmed their first full-fledged Music Video of Online Superstar in the winter of 2008, with Erasmus operating the camera, de Lange as set designer, and Pelzer as Director. The Video featured none of the bandmembers themselves, but instead Dai Zaobab, internationally acclaimed firedancer and self-proclaimed Boabab Hunter. The video was launched on TV for the first time on the Afrikaans music channel, MK.

In 2007 NuL signed a distribution deal with OneF Records, run by Paul Riekert of the first ever, hugely successful Afrikaans Industrial band, Battery9.

2009 saw an increase in activity for NuL following the launch of their third album, Drie, In June. 2009 also brought about some changes in the lineup with the departure of VJ Niel de Lange. The band, opting not to try and replace his artistry, compensated by focusing on introducing a more organic and dynamic feel to their live shows utilising videographer Chris Erasmus' phenomenal ability as a lighting technician.

Een

 * 1) Wakkerslaap
 * 2) Op die Spykertafel
 * 3) Rina
 * 4) Die Gatsometer
 * 5) 280g
 * 6) Atari
 * 7) In die Aand in die Spens
 * 8) Die Ysterkoei met Beet
 * 9) Cancancancancancancan
 * 10) Hie Haai Hie Haai Hou
 * 11) Don't mock the Animals
 * 12) Somer III
 * 13) Guy W Brush
 * 14) Nooit op Mars
 * 15) Die Generiese Ooms met die Ligblou Windbreakers

Twee

 * 1) Online Superstar
 * 2) Vrees
 * 3) Swart
 * Pyn
 * 1) Kokainekop Kosie
 * 2) Kaper
 * 3) Rina
 * 4) Kontaminasie
 * 5) Gerome Djimbovski
 * 6) Hardcore Rina
 * 7) Utopia

Drie

 * 1) Elektro-Berzerk
 * 2) Über-Rampokker
 * 3) Mystic Bohemia
 * 4) Die Man Van Telkom
 * 5) God red die President
 * 6) Hoëveld
 * 7) Utopia
 * 8) Vloek
 * 9) Kokainekop Kosie (kom af)
 * 10) Vloek dub mix
 * 11) Elektro-Berzerk (refleksie)

Unreleased
(But downloadable from their website)
 * 1) Laan van Smarte
 * 2) Plek

title: Nul (band)


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Nil

Nil often refers to the number 0|zero.

Nil or NIL may also refer to:

Acronyms

 * NIL (programming language), an implementation of the Lisp programming language
 * Name, image and likeness, a set of rules for American college athletes to receive compensation
 * Nanoimprint lithography, a method of fabricating nanometer scale patterns
 * Nomina im Indogermanischen Lexikon ("Nominals in the Indo-European Lexicon"), an etymological dictionary
 * North Island line, a proposed extension railway of Hong Kong

Music

 * Nil (band), a Japanese rock band
 * The Nils, a Canadian punk rock band
 * N.I.L or Non-Intentional Lifeform, an Australian hard rock band (1995–98)

Albums

 * Nil (album), a 2006 album released by The Gazette
 * Nil Recurring, a 2007 EP released by Porcupine Tree

Songs

 * "Three Nil", a song by Iowa metal band SlipKnot
 * "Nil", a song by Canadian punk band Gob
 * "Nil-Nil-Draw", a Song by Gym Class Heroes
 * "Nil by Mouth", a song by English metal band Haken

People

 * Nil (given name), list of people with the given name
 * Nil (surname), list of people with the surname

Other

 * Nil (cigarette), a brand of cigarette
 * Nil: A Land Beyond Belief, a 2005 graphic novel
 * Nil in the Indian numbering system
 * Nil, Iran
 * Nil ideal, a mathematical concept in ring theory
 * Null pointer (sometimes written,  , or  ), used in computer programming for an uninitialized, undefined, empty, or meaningless value
 * Nil River (Guatemala)
 * Nil Nehri The Nile River (in Turkish)
 * Jednostka Wojskowa Nil or NIL, a Polish commando unit, part of The Polish Special Forces (Wojska Specjalne)


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Chaenopsidae

The blennioid family Chaenopsidae includes the pike-blennies, tube-blennies, and flagblennies, all percomorph marine fish in the order Blenniiformes. The family is strictly tropical, ranging from North to South America. Members are also present in waters off Japan, Taiwan and Korea. Fourteen genera and 91 species are represented, the largest being the sarcastic fringehead, Neoclinus blanchardi, at 30 cm in length; most are much smaller, and the group includes perhaps the smallest of all vertebrates, Acanthemblemaria paula, measuring just 1.3 cm long as an adult.

With highly compressed bodies, some may be so elongated as to appear eel-like; chaenopsids are scaleless and lack lateral lines. Their heads are rough and may be armed with spines. There may be 17 to 28 spines in the dorsal fin, with two in the anal fin.

The habit of taking up home in abandoned worm tubes has earned some species in this family the name "tube-blenny". Many will also inhabit empty clam shells, which also serve as nesting sites; males are known to guard the brood. Some species have dorsal fins which are significantly higher towards the head, explaining the moniker "flagblenny". Crustaceans make up the bulk of the chaenopsid diet.

At least one species found in the Caribbean, Emblemariopsis diaphana, is known to form a symbiotic relationship with stony coral, Meandrina meandrites.

According to some authorities the Chaenopsidae is not monophyletic if the genera Neoclinus and Stathmonotus are included. They propose that Stathmonotus be included in the family Labrisomidae and that Neoclinus, and the closely related Mccoskerichthys, be placed in the tribe Neoclinini, stating that further study is required to clarify this clade's true relationships.

title: Chaenopsidae


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Alexander Brome

Alexander Brome (1620 – 30 June 1666) was an English poet.

Life
Brome was by profession an attorney, and was the author of many drinking songs and of satirical verses in favour of the Royalists and in opposition to the Rump Parliament. In 1661, following the Restoration, he published Songs and other Poems, containing songs on various subjects, followed by a series of political songs; ballads, epistles, elegies and epitaphs; epigrams and translations. Izaak Walton wrote an introductory eclogue for this volume in praise of the writer, and his gaiety and wit won him the title of the English Anacreon in Edward Phillips's Theatrum Poetarum.

Brome published a translation of Horace by himself and others in 1666, and was the author of a comedy entitled The Cunning Lovers (1654). He also edited two volumes of Richard Brome's plays.

He died in his house in Barge Yard in the parish of St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London in June 1666, and was buried in the parish church.

title: Alexander Brome


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Uridine triphosphate

Uridine-5′-triphosphate (UTP) is a pyrimidine nucleoside triphosphate, consisting of the organic base uracil linked to the 1′ carbon of the ribose sugar, and esterified with tri-phosphoric acid at the 5′ position. Its main role is as substrate for the synthesis of RNA during transcription. UTP is the precursor for the production of CTP via CTP synthetase. UTP can be biosynthesized from UDP by Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase after using the phosphate group from ATP. UDP + ATP ⇌ UTP + ADP; both UTP and ATP are energetically equal.

The homologue in DNA is thymidine triphosphate (TTP or dTTP). UTP also has a deoxyribose form (dUTP).

Role in metabolism
UTP also has the role of a source of energy or an activator of substrates in metabolic reactions, like that of ATP, but more specific. When UTP activates a substrate (like Glucose-1-phosphate), UDP-glucose is formed and inorganic phosphate is released. UDP-glucose enters the synthesis of glycogen. UTP is used in the metabolism of galactose, where the activated form UDP-galactose is converted to UDP-glucose. UDP-glucuronate is used to conjugate bilirubin to a more water-soluble bilirubin diglucuronide. UTP is also used to activate amino sugars like Glucosamine-1-phosphate to UDP-glucosamine, and N-acetyl-glucosamine-1-phosphate to UDP-N-acetylglucosamine.

Role in receptor mediation
UTP also has roles in mediating responses by extracellular binding to the P2Y receptors of cells. UTP and its derivatives are still being investigated for their applications in human medicine. However, there is evidence from various model systems to suggest it has applications in pathogen defense and injury repair. In mice UTP has been found to interact with P2Y4 receptors to mediate an enhancement in antibody production. In Schwannoma cells, UTP binds to the P2YP receptors in the event of damage. This leads to the downstream signal cascade that leads to the eventual injury repair.

title: Uridine triphosphate


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Boobrie

The boobrie is a mythological shapeshifting entity inhabiting the lochs of the west coast of Scotland. It commonly adopts the appearance of a gigantic water bird resembling a cormorant or great northern diver, but it can also materialise in the form of various other mythological creatures such as a water bull.

A generally malevolent entity, the boobrie typically preys on livestock being transported on ships, but it is also fond of otters, of which it consumes a considerable number. In its manifestation as a water horse the creature is able to gallop across the top of lochs as if on solid ground. During the summer months it is seen infrequently as a large insect, sucking the blood of horses.

Folklorist Campbell of Islay has speculated that descriptions of the boobrie may be based on sightings of the great auk. The bellowing sound made by the boobrie, more like a bull than a bird, may have its origin in the strange call of the common bittern, which was a rare visitor to Scotland.

Etymology
Boobrie may derive from boibhre, meaning cow giver or cow bestowing. Edward Dwelly, a Scottish lexicographer, lists tarbh-boidhre as "Monster, demon" and "God capable of changing himself into many forms"; tarbh-aoidhre is given as a northern counties variation. The simpler component of tarbh as a single word is defined by Dwelly as "bull." Transcribers of the tale have used several differing spellings of the second component, some even adopting inconsistent variations throughout their own renditions. George Henderson for instance, a folklorist and Celtic scholar, used five alternatives: bo'eithre; boidhre; bo-oibhre; eithre; and fhaire. Spelling variations employed by other writers include aoidhre; baoighre; baoidhre; boidhre; eighre; and oire.

Description and common attributes
Investigation into folklore, especially Celtic oral traditions, began in the 19th century, and several "bizarre" and less familiar beasts were identified, including the boobrie. It is a generally malevolent entity, with the ability to materialise in the form of various mythical creatures. It commonly preys on animals being transported on ships, preferably calves, but will also happily eat lambs and sheep, carrying its prey away to the deepest water before consuming it. It is also extremely fond of otters, which it consumes in large quantities.

In its favoured bird manifestation the boobrie resembles a gigantic great northern diver or cormorant, but with white markings. According to folklorist Campbell of Islay, a detailed account of its dimensions provided by an authoritative source claims that it is "larger than seventeen of the biggest eagles put together". It has a strong black beak about 11 in wide and 17 in in length, the final 5 in of which taper like that of an eagle. The creature's neck is almost 3 ft long with a girth of a little under 2 ft. Short black powerful legs lead to webbed feet with gigantic claws. An imprint of a boobrie's foot left in some lakeside mud equalled "the span of a large wide-spreading pair of red deer's horns". It bellows noisily with displeasure, sounding more like a bull than a bird. The design of its wings is more conducive to swimming rather than for flight. Its evil powers when in the form of a bird were said by Campbell of Islay to have "terrified a minister out of his propriety". The boobrie's insatiable appetite for livestock posed a threat to local farmers, as they relied on their animals as a means of providing income and food.

Although sea lochs are the boobries' natural home they will shelter on land in overgrown heather. Accounts are inconsistent as to the extent of the boobrie's habitat. Campbell of Islay claims that it is specific to the lochs of Argyllshire, as does Emeritus Professor of English James MacKillop. The writers Katharine Briggs and Patricia Monaghan on the other hand consider the creature's range to be the broader Scottish Highlands, although Briggs does sometimes specify Argyllshire. Campbell of Islay's undated manuscript notes the boobrie had not been seen for several years probably due to the widespread burning of heather in the area of its habitat.

Alternative manifestations
When manifested as a water horse the creature is able to gallop across the surface of lochs; the beating noise of the creature's hooves on the water is the same as if it were galloping on solid ground.

Henderson reproduced parts of Campbell of Islay's manuscripts when writing Survivals in belief among the Celts (1911). Among them is a story listed as "boobrie as tarbh uisge". The tale starts by detailing how a man named Eachann fed a colossal black bull when he discovered it writhing in pain and possibly close to death at the side of Loch nan Dobhran, on the west coast of Argyll. Some months later, Phemie, Eachann's girlfriend, is occasionally disturbed by elusive shadows she senses on the loch, which make her think of Murdoch, her former paramour. While she sat dreaming of Eachann one evening when staying at a sheiling near the loch, she sensed the flicker of a shadow behind her, except this time it was Murdoch. He promptly overpowered her by enveloping her in a blanket and tying her hands. At that point, a water bull came to Phemie's rescue by knocking Murdoch to the ground. The bull then knelt down allowing Phemie to get on its back, before transporting her at the speed of light back to the home of her mother. The bull disappeared, never to be seen again, but a "voice was heard in the air calling out loudly". The verse heard was in Gaelic, and translates as: "I was assisted by a young man And I aided a maid in distress; Then after three hundred years of bondage Relieve me quickly."

It is then asserted that the tale "reveals the persistence in folk-belief of the idea of transformation, the boobrie being the abode of a spirit".

The boobrie can also manifest itself in the form of a large insect that sucks the blood of horses. Henderson refers to it as a "big striped brown gobhlachan or ear-wig" with "lots of tentacles or feelers". It was infrequently seen in this form, usually only at the height of the summer, during August and September.

Capture and hunting
A farmer and his son were ploughing a field on the Isle of Mull using a team of four horses beside Loch Freisa, but work stalled after one of the horses lost a shoe and was unable to continue. Noticing a horse grazing nearby they decided to try using it as a replacement. Once harnessed to the wooden plough the horse appeared to be familiar with the task, and initially worked steadily. As it began to work towards an area closest to the loch, it became restless and the farmer gently used a whip to encourage the animal to continue. It reacted by immediately transforming into a gigantic boobrie, giving out a loud bellow and diving into the loch, pulling the plough and the other three horses with it. The frightened farmer and his son watched as the creature swam to the centre of the loch then dived underwater, taking the other horses and plough with it. Seven hours later there was still no sign of the three horses.

In a story transcribed by John Campbell of Kilberry, a hunter attempted to shoot a boobrie after he spotted it in its bird-like manifestation on a sea loch one chilly February day. The man paddled into the loch until the water was up to his shoulders, but when he was about 85 yds from the creature it dived under the water. The hunter maintained his position for forty-five minutes before returning to the shore, where he remained for a further six hours waiting unsuccessfully for the boobrie to resurface. No clear indication is given of the loch's whereabouts.

Origins
Campbell of Islay speculates that the boobrie may have originated from sightings of the great auk. He noted he had been told stories of the creature by various people, and regarded it as having "a real existence in the popular mind". He considered the tale of the boobrie in its water horse manifestation resembled the Norse myth of "the ploughing of the Asa". Referring to Forbes' 1905 dictionary of "Gaelic names of beasts" in which bubaire is defined as a common bittern, and a detailed description given by scholar James Logie Robertson of the bull o' the bog (an alternative name for a bittern) in The Scotsman in 1908, Henderson hypothesises that the boobrie may stem from the bittern. Referring to the bittern's "strangely weird sound" and highlighting its "weird hollow cry" during the night and throughout the evening, he describes it as resembling quietly bellowing cattle, particularly during the bird's breeding season. Records indicate that the bird was rare in Scotland but had been sighted in the first decade of the 20th century, although catching sight of a bittern was believed to be a harbinger of death or disaster.

title: Boobrie