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The Letter People

The Letter People is a children's literacy program. The term also refers to the family of various characters depicted in it.

Original program
Elayne Reiss-Weimann and Rita Friedman, two teachers from George Miller Elementary in Nanuet, New York, created the concept of Letter People. In 1964, first-grade teacher Reiss-Weimann formed the original idea for the Letter People. She had struggled daily to draw the attention of her 24 students (who were typical first-graders, eager and rambunctious) in a distraction-fond hallway classroom at the overcrowded school. Weimann collaborated with an early childhood coordinator, Rita Friedman, to create an educational program that revolved around 26 anthropomorphic characters, each representing a letter of the alphabet, to teach beginning readers how to "decode" or "sound out" the consonants and vowels that form words. They embodied the basic rules of phonics into stories about this clan of make-believe pictograms called the Letter People.

Each letter of the alphabet had a distinct characteristic to help children learn not only the letter but the sound the letter represents in the written word. For example, Mister M has a munching mouth, Mister N has a noisy nose and Mister T has tall teeth. The characters were painted on large, two-dimensional portrait cards. Each character was given an engaging personality to help the teacher bring her or him alive in the classroom, and each character had a song (or a poem at the time) to help children recall the distinguishing feature and sound. With the help of the Letter People, children remained on-task, learned more quickly, and retained what they learned. From the beginning, the children viewed the Letter People like real people and not just letters of the alphabet, phonics devices, or toys. On one occasion, when the Letter People had to be shipped to another school, the children insisted that holes would be placed in the boxes so that the Letter People could breathe as they traveled.

Weimann and Friedman later sold the idea to New Dimensions in Education, Inc. (based in Plainview, New York, and later in Norwalk, Connecticut) which, in turn, copyrighted and published The Letter People educational products in 1968. Liz Callen was hired by NDE to design the looks of the characters. NDE developed the concept into classroom programs: Alpha One in 1968, and Alpha Time in 1972.

Both program's basic concept was simple: Each letter of the English alphabet was represented by a unique character with traits derived from itself. The consonants were males (as the Letter Boys) and the vowels were females (as the Letter Girls, whom there could be no word without). Reiss-Weimann and Friedman also wrote two series of books about the characters, Read-to-Me (1972–1978) and Fables from the Letter People (1988–1989). Callen returned to illustrate all the books of the latter series. Each Letter Person also had an accompanying song (available on cassettes and vinyl record), and inflatable vinyl effigies in two sizes 12 to 14 in or 30 in a.k.a. "life-size") known as "Huggables". Other merchandise included filmstrips, flash cards, giant picture cards, board games, puzzles, other educational vinyl records, and coloring sheets. Educators who adopted the program were trained in its implementation, and The Letter People was soon picked up by over 37,000 schools across the US.

Alpha One
Alpha One, also known as Alpha One: Breaking the Code, was a first and second grade program introduced in 1968, and revised in 1974, that was designed to teach children to read and write sentences containing words containing three syllables in length and to develop within the child a sense of his own success and fun in learning to read by using the Letter People characters. Alpha One’s game-like approach capitalized upon the child’s sense of fun and imagination to develop interest in learning to read and spell. Learning letter symbols and sounds, mastering rules of word formation, and reading and writing are byproducts of the interaction between the child and his 26 "Letter People" friends, his participation in creative and dramatic play, his enjoyment of activities associated with specially developed filmstrips and recorded stories and rhymes, and his programmed success in a variety of visual and auditory discrimination "Letter People" games. This program is the precursor to the Alpha Time program.

Contents of the Alpha One Kit
Nearly all of the following materials have been described in conjunction with explaining the games and activities used during Alpha One lessons. In addition, teachers could also buy more materials through the NDE catalog along with the base program. The contents of the base Alpha One Kit are listed below with little additional explanation:

 * Letter People and Symbol Cards: 26 sturdy placards (14” x 16”) each displaying a large cartoon of a Letter Person; 4 Symbol Charts to help decode words.
 * Story Pictures and Easel: 26 scenes illustrated on 19" x 24” placards; the easel is designed to hole' both Story Pictures and Letter People.
 * Letter Meeting Greeting Packets and Alphabet Sheets: Each packet contains a pad of 35 Greeting Cards for each of the 26 letters.
 * Chatterbooks: 35 individual activity books for decoding, reading, and spelling words.
 * Puppets and Stage: Scripts, in verse, are also provided.
 * Chalkboards: 35 individual reusable slates to be used for decoding and spelling.
 * Chatter Album: 12”, 33 1/3 rpm record which reinforces the learning of the vowel "sounds and some of the basic lessons in the program.
 * Filmstrips: Humorous episodes that reinforce identification of letters with personified characteristics.
 * Duplicating Masters: 50 tests to aid the teacher in evaluating student work, and assignments children take home to demonstrate progress to their parents.
 * Professional Guide: A detailed step— by— step lesson plan for each learning unit.
 * Alpha Wagon: A container which houses the above materials mounted on wheels for portability.

Alpha Time
Alpha Time, also known as Alpha Time: Beginning Reading, was a kindergarten program introduced in 1972, and revised in 1976 and 1980 that was meant to help children develop oral communication; dramatic play; oral/aural discrimination; visual discrimination and letter identification; and social living through the use of the Letter People. In Alpha Time, kindergarteners were introduced to the child-sized vinyl characters commonly known as the Huggables", which were large enough for small children to hug (though there were smaller-sized Huggables as well), instead of the 2D picture cards used in the 1st and 2nd grade Alpha One program. Alpha Time was meant to be used before Alpha One to introduce children to basic concepts.

==== Contents of the Alpha Time Kit ====

 * 144 Picture Squares: These pictures belong to the Letter People whose sound is heard in the picture word. Activities involving these Picture Squares include the following skills: auditory discrimination, associating words with pictures, sorting, matching, classifying, counting, visual memory.
 * 5 12" RPM Disc Recordings
 * 27 Puzzles: These puzzles have interlocking pieces graduated from simple to advanced muscular coordination. The puzzles are a means of individually reinforcing the association of the Letter Person with his characteristic, (sound symbol), his letter, and a word that begins with his sound.
 * 162 Duplicating Masters: These whimsically illustrated activity sheets serve as -reinforcement and evaluation of each day's learning: experience -which the children may take home. Each has a-note fo the parent, ‘thus serving as a liaison between school and home. Included are letters to parents describing the Alpha Time process.
 * 6 Filmstrips: These colorful films may be used as a medium for group or individual activities to review the stories they depict, or as a basis for discussing color, shape, number, comparative sizes and location.
 * Four "Read to Me" books: These are entertaining, vividly illustrated stories about four of the Letter People, which the teacher reads to the children, or which may be looked at while listening to the “read along” recording of the story.
 * 420 Picture Books (70 copies each of six different books): The topic of each of these eight page picture readers is exclusively drawn from the children’s classroom experiences. No matter what a child’s background, he can share in the comprehension of the Story as it unfolds.
 * The Huggables (26 inflatable Letter People): Inflatable vinyl effigies in two sizes 12 to 14 in or 30 in.
 * 16 Giant Picture Cards: These cards depict familiar scenes in a child’s life, or illustrate a story that has been told in class. It is the first step in picture reading. It draws on the child’s personal experience for discussion and serves as a basis for role playing. (oral communication, identification from context clues, numeration, extracting the main idea).
 * 2 Board Games: These colorful games are designed to be used in simple as well as more advanced activities. As more Letter People are introduced in the lesson the activities become more challenging. Skills which are reinforced in these games include: matching, sorting, classifying, relating picture to sound, visual, oral, aural sound discriminating, following directions, counting, visual memory.
 * 4 Decks of Playing Cards: Used alongside the 2 board games.
 * 1 Professional Guide: The guide has an easy to follow step by step lesson plan for each day. It may be adapted for use with small or large groups. Each lesson has an “On Their Own” section which is a suggested list of activities related to the content of the lesson. “On Their Own” gives children the opportunity to choose individual activities for enrichment or reinforcement.

Television series
Alan J. Pratt, Ph.D., a director and vice-president of NDE, Inc. approached KETC-TV, a PBS affiliate in St. Louis, Missouri, about creating a TV series based on the escapades of the Letter People. After five pilot programs were produced, Dr. Pratt approached the Council of Great City Schools (the 20 largest school districts in the US). Eventually, with the cooperation of the superintendents of the Council, NDE, and KETC-TV, a joint venture commenced. The series comprised sixty 15-minute episodes that became extremely popular nationwide with children who were learning to read. To ensure phonetic and linguistic accuracy in the television production process, Ruth Lerner from NDE served as the Editorial Supervisor. Pratt was the Curriculum Consultant for the TV series. Tom McDonough of KETC-TV was the series' writer-director. While thousands of children were learning about the Letter People in school, thousands of others were being exposed to them through the television series based on the program. The show was extremely popular with children, and it quickly spread to over 105 other television stations across the country, via syndication, mainly to PBS and educational stations. The television series premiered on March 13, 1974.

The Letter People (relatively primitive puppets) undertake various adventures in Letter People Land, a dark, featureless place populated by strange people and creatures. Episodes usually focus on introducing new Letter People or new sounds formed by combining two Letter People together (such as /CH/ or /OU/). Other episodes take the Letter People to more exotic (though still featureless) locales such as outer space (eventually, the show would include more standard scenery, like cityscapes, meadows, Miss O's opera house, etc.), while a few highlight the characters' conflicts over various sounds (such as Mister C fighting Mister K for his sound). Another common feature of the show is the Catching Game, which is a game show hosted by Monty Swell (who is a character based on Monty Hall) where the Letter People must form words by positioning themselves correctly side-by-side.

Opening and closing sequence
A little dog is minding his own business when various figures (including a female figure carrying a bunch of helium balloons) enter the gates of Letter People Land as the song plays:

 *  Come and meet the Letter People
 *  Come and visit the family
 *  Words are made of Letter People
 *  A, B, C, D, follow me

Availability
The show continued to air reruns on PBS stations until the Letter People program was revised in late 1996. It is rumored that PBS was ordered to destroy the show's master tapes on behalf of the newer program, given that the original program's characters depicted negative imagery. Prior to this, NDE released the show's episodes on a 5-tape VHS set of Letter People "Learning Advantage Videos" as part of the Letter People curriculum in the early-to-mid 1990s; on the other hand, fans have preserved the episodes on many VHS recordings taped off of TV while the show was still on the air, and various DVDs having the episodes preserved can be found from time to time on auction sites such as eBay.

Revised
In 1990, Abrams & Co. Publishers Inc. (founded in 1989) of Austin, Texas, bought the rights to The Letter People from the previous owner, Norwalk, Connecticut-based New Dimensions in Education, Inc. At first, the company slightly revised the program, such as adding lowercase letters to the back of each Letter Person (previously they had been placed on each character somewhat randomly), but in 1996, they gave the program a major update, completely redesigning the look of the characters (however, some Letter People keep half of their designs from their original counterparts) and the associated materials, and also made sweeping changes to many of the Letter People, especially over half of their genders themselves, most obviously equalizing the proportion of male to female characters (vowels are now distinguished by their ability to light up via "LetterLights," which appear as yellow suns on their right shoulders). The male characters' names changed from "Mister" to "Mr.", and the female characters' names changed from "Miss" to "Ms.". Most of the characters' associated characteristics were changed as well, such as all references to "junk food" being swapped for non-food-related characteristics (Mr. D's "delicious donuts" were exchanged for "dazzling dance", for example) and any Letter Person that Abrams deemed as expressing negative images being changed to be more positive (Mr. H's horrible hair became happy hair instead, Mr. R's Ripping Rubberbands became Rainbow Ribbons, and Mr. X was no longer all wrong and became different, albeit still mixed-up). Alphakid A was used as the newer program's mascot.

New Letter People storybooks were written, many with simple rebus and decodable words. In 2002, a newer "Read-to-Me" book series was also written, with an eye toward teaching conflict resolution and problem-solving skills, and features a variety of genres including storybook, mystery, biography, poetry, and nonfiction.

The program is divided into three levels with increasing emphasis on phonics: Let's Begin with the Letter People for preschool, Land of the Letter People for kindergarten, and Lives of the Letter People for first grade. The program has been taught to about 35 million children.

Though the program is generally well-received by educators, some have criticized its strong focus on phonics at the expense of other literacy-building techniques.

In 2008, after Abrams & Co. Publishers, Inc. was acquired by Learning Trends and merged into Abrams Learning Trends, The Letter People program, along with other Abrams & Co. Publishers properties, eventually became incorporated into the DIG Pre-K curriculum.

In the early 2010s, four new Letter People characters were added to the program in order to teach children Spanish. The four characters are ''Srta. Ch, Sr. Ll, Srta. Ñ and Sr. Rr''.

In May 2019, Abrams Learning Trends, along with its properties including The Letter People characters, was acquired by Excelligence Learning Corporation and became incorporated into a subsidiary of Frog Street Press, thus causing Abrams Learning Trends to cease operations as an individual company. As of September 21, 2020, The Letter People had no more new content made but the franchise continued to be kept alive as a learning unit of the DIG Pre-K program, with the hand puppets, certain educational materials, a CD with the songs, and most of the big books of the Letter People (all only available for purchase as part of the DIG Pre-K program) having been available on Frog Street Enterprises' online store until early 2024. All discontinued material such as worksheets, flashcards, the Huggables, and other books of the Letter People are still available second-hand from time to time through other online stores such as eBay.

As of February 1, 2024, Frog Street Press discontinued the DIG Pre-K program, ending the life of the Letter People franchise due to low sales.

The Number Workers
Along with the original program of The Letter People, its mathematics-equivalent program The Number Workers was also created. The Number Workers are referred to as the numerical cousins of the Letter People from a planet called "Number Workers World" and were created to help children learn not only about numbers, their sounds and how many there are in each number, but also symbols, mathematics, time, addition, and measurement. They range from numbers 1–9 with the odd numbers being males (as the Number Boys) and the even numbers being females (as the Number Girls). Each Number Person carries a number of objects to teach children how many there are to represent the number (such as Mister 1 having "only one of everything: a one-legged table, a one-legged chair, one microscope, one test tube and one clock with one hand"), and also represents the job they employ: Mister 1 as a scientist, Miss 2 as a doctor, Mister 3 as a pilot, Miss 4 as a construction worker, Mister 5 as a sports player, Miss 6 as a shape stacker, Mister 7 as an ice-cream salesman, Miss 8 as a photographer and Mister 9 as a magician. ( Note that the Number Workers are called "Number People" even though they are never referred to the Number People in the official program)

Unlike The Letter People, The Number Workers (and its later revamped version "The Number People") was lesser-known and had very few products, including an Alpha Math workbook (Number World Book), flashcards, giant picture cards, a teacher's guide, and a vinyl-containing accompanying songs for each Number Worker.

The Number People
When The Letter People program was revamped in 1996, The Number Workers program was also revamped along with it and was renamed "The Number People". This version features six males (Mr. 0, Mr. 2, Mr. 4, Mr. 5, Mr. 9, and Mr. 10) and five females (Miss 1, Miss 3, Miss 6, Miss 7, and Miss 8), with two new numbers introduced, which are 0 and 10. Each Number Person has the numeral placed to the top-right corner of his/her uniform, while a number word was also added to the back of each Number Person. A Spanish-language version was also available to teach the Spanish names of the numbers.

Place where the Letter People live
In the original 1968 program, the place where the Letter People live was originally a fictional town called "Letter People Land" but, when the program was revised in 1990, it was renamed the "Land of the Letter People." As the newly revised program in 1996 utilized the newer version of the characters and town structures, the name of the Letter People's residence still remained the same.

List of Letter People

 * Note: The characteristic of Miss I and Miss O changed shortly before The Letter People television series ended its run.
 * Note: The characteristic of Mr. Q changed from "Quiet Questions" to just "Questions" to teach children that keeping your questions "quiet" will not answer them.

Read-to-Me (1972–1978)
• A – Ăćhoo^

• B – A Buttonmat for Beautiful Buttons^

• C – The Cotton Candy Caper^

• D – A Dozen Delicious Donuts*

• E – The Exercise Expert^

• F – Fantastic Funny Feet^

• G – Gooey Gum is Not For Chewing^

• H – Hat Helpers Hullabaloo^

• I – The Incredible Inventor^

• J – Jingling Jangling Joggers^

• K – The Longest Kick

• L – Lovely Lemon Lollies*

• M – Meet Me at the Market*

• N – The Noisy Nose Nanny^

• O – The Optimistic Optimist^

• P – Popping Pointy Patches^

• Q – To Be or Not To Be...Quiet^

• R – The Rubberband Roundup^

• S – The Super Sock Sensation^

• T – The Tale of Tall Toothbrush^

• U – A Most Unusual Umbrella^

• V – Vanishing Vests*

• W – Wonderful Winks and Weather Wishes^

• X – The Inimitable Mr. X

• Y – The Yawn-Maker^

• Z – Zipping Zippers Save the Zoo ^ Unknown illustrator

* illustrated by James Razzi

Fables of the Letter People (1988–1989)
• A – The Ăćhoo Confusion

• B – Buttonyms for Safety

• C – The Cotton Candy Creature

• D – The Dictionary Doughnut Shop

• E – Exercise Entertainment

• F – Fantastic Friendship

• G – The Gooey Gumball Game

• H – The Hat House Hotel

• I – Inchy, the Incredible Invention

• J – Mr. J's Junkyard

• K – The Kazoo Kicker

• L – Lemonberry Lollipops

• M – Munching Magic

• N – Say No and Fly Away!

• O – Ostrich Express

• P – Parking Pandemonium

• Q – The Best Quiet Meter

• R – The Rubber Band Runner Champion

• S – Super Socks for Courage

• T – Tall Toothbrush Retires

• U – You Forget Too

• V – Valuable Volunteers

• W – The Worry Machine

• X – Mr. X's Mix-Ups

• Y – Yawn-Maker Wanted

• Z – Zip Codes

Let's Begin with the Letter People (1997–2000)
• A – The Apple Pie Man (written by Lynell Johnson; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• B – Mr. B's Buttons (written by Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• C – Come Out and Play (written by Cathy Torrisi; illistrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• D – Dinosaurs Dance! (written by Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• E – What Does Everybody Need? (written by Lynell Johnson; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• F – Follow My Funny Feet (written by Lynell Johnson; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• G – Gubble, Bubble! (written by Irv Dweir; illustrated by Meg Ross)

• H – Where is Mr. H? (written by Lynell Johnson; illustrated by Meg Ross)

• I – If It Is... (written by Lynell Johnson; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• J – Just Listen (written by Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• K – Ms. K's Kitchen (written by Lynell Johnson: illustrated by Meg Ross)

• L – Laugh with Me! (written by Irv Dweir; illustrated by Meg Ross)

• M – How Much Lunch? (written by Elayne Reiss-Weimann; illustrated by Meg Ross)

• N – What's My Name (written by Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• O – Opposite! (written by Lynell Johnson; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• P – Pointy Patches Are for Me! (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers)

• Q – Questions, Questions (written by Alison G. Schmerler; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• R – What Is Red? (written by Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers)

• S – Super Socks (written by Lynell Johnson; illustrated by Meg Ross)

• T – One Wonderful Smile (written by Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers)

• U – Up, Up, Up and Away! (written by Lynell Johnson; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• V – This is the Way (written by Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• W – How's the Weather? (written by Lynell Johnson; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• X – My Upside-Down World (written by Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers)

• Y – Yellow Yarn Yo-Yo (written by Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• Z – Zip to the Zoo (written by Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

Take-Home Books (2000)
• All – Look At Us! (written by Cynthia Cappetta; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• A – I See You and Me (written by Cynthia Cappetta; illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• B – I Made a Face (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• B – Bugs at Camp (written by Beth Lyons; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• C – My Cap (written by Cynthia Cappetta; illustrated by Lane Yerkes)

• D – My Dinosaur (illustrated by Thomas Sperling)

• D – Tap and Dip (illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• E – Piglet Gets Wet (written by Beth Lyons; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• F – I Like the Forest (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• G – The Grab Bag (illustrated by Thomas Sperling)

• H – My House (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• I – I Measure (illustrated by Thomas Sperling)

• I – Is It a Fit? (illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• J – Jog and Jump (written by Patricia W. Abrams; illustrated by Thomas Sperling)

• K – Stop That Dog! (written by Fran Lehr; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• L – I See My Shadow (written by Colleen Barile; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• L – Fun in the Sun (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers)

• M – I Like to Munch (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• N – I Made Noise (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Thomas Sperling)

• O – Hop in the Mud (written by Beth Lyons; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• P – The Farm (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• Q – A Quiz (written by Kathleen Duffy; illustrated by Thomas Sperling)

• R – I Win! (illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• S – I See Rain (written by Cynthia Cappetta; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• S – At Bat (written by Beth Lyons; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• T – Friends (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• U – In the Tub (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• U – Up and Down (illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• V – In the Van (illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• V – My Vest (illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• W – I Have Fun (illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• X – What A Mix Up! (written by Elayne Reiss-Weimann and Kathleen M. Fischer; illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers)

• X – Am I Like Max? (written by Cynthia Cappetta; illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• Y – Did You Nap Yet? (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• Z – I Like Zippers (written by Elayne Reiss-Weimann; illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers)

Read-to-Me (2002–2003)
• A – Who Will Help Ms. A? (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Crista K. Moehl

• B – Beautiful Buttons: A Biography on Mr. B (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• C – The Clue (written by Amy O'Neil; illustrated by Crista K. Moehl)

• D – The Dinosaur Detective (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Thomas Sperling and Marcy R. Laska)

• E – Is It an Earthquake (written by Sallianne Norelli; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• F – The Fib (written by Sallianne Norelli; illustrated by Maggie Swanson and Rick Wetzel)

• G – Where Does the Garbage Go? (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• H – The Right Day for a Haircut (written by Elayne Reiss-Weimann; illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers)

• I – Incredible Insects: A Poetry ANThology (written by Mr. I; illustrated by Thomas Sperling and Margaret C. Ianniello)

• J – The Jazz Jamboree (written by Sallianne Norelli and Amy O'Neil; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• K – KABOOM! (written by Kendall Martin, Elayne Reiss-Weimann and Rita Friedman; illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• L – Ha! Ha! Ha! (written by Alison G. Schmerler; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• M – The More the Merrier! (written by Sallianne Norelli; illustrated by William H. Peckmann and Luciano DiGeronimo)

• N – Not Now, Mr. N! (written by Cathy Torrisi; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• O – The Opposite Obstacle Course (written by Sallianne Norelli; illustrated by Rick Wetzel)

• P – The Perfect Pet (written by Ginny Stiles; illustrated by Maggie Swanson and Rick Wetzel)

• Q – I'm Glad I Asked (written by Amy O'Neil; illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• R – Real Friends (written by Elayne Reiss-Weimann and Rita Friedman; illustrated by Barbara Yeagle)

• S – A Super Day for Sailing (written by Colleen Barile; illustrated by Bruce van Patter)

• T – Time for a Taxi (written by Ginny Stiles; illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers)

• U – There's No Space Like Home (written by Amy O'Neill; illustrated by Bruce van Patter)

• V – Ms. V's Vacation (written by Patricia W. Abrams; illustrated by Darcy Bell-Myers)

• W – Weather Watch (written by Colleen Barile; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• X – I'm Different (written by Elayne Reiss-Weimann; illustrated by Dean Yeagle)

• Y – Just for You (written by Amy O'Neil; illustrated by Pattie Silver)

• Z – Who's New at the Zoo (written by Elayne Reiss-Weimann; illustrated by Rick Wetzel)

Creative Team
• Elayne Reiss-Weimann and Rita Friedman – Creators

• Elizabeth Callen – illustrations

• Sharon Kovesdy – illustrations

• James Razzi – illustrations

• Barbara Yeagle – illustrations

• Ruth Lerner Perle – editorial Supervision

• Joe René and Jacquelyn Reinach – Music and Lyrics, Producers

Songs (1972)

 * Paul Evans – Mister F, Mister N, Mister S

=== Television series (1974) ===

Creative Team
• Thomas K. McDonough – producer, director, writer

• Jeffrey Jones – producer, director, Writer

• Don Jeffries – executive producer

• Gary Twitchell – director

• William F. Bailey – director, writer

• King Hall – Head Puppeteer, Set Designer, Puppet Designer

• Tom Ray – Assistant Head Puppeteer, Puppet Designer

• Alan Pratt, Ph.D. – Curriculum Consultant

• Ruth Lerner Perle – editorial Supervisor

• Gayle Waxman – writer

• Harry John Luecke – writer

• Patrick Clear – writer

• Ron Cohen – writer

• James Scott – writer

• Ralph St. William – writer

• Ralph DiGuglielmo – writer

• Peter Bretz – Technical Producer

• John Muench – Technical Producer

• Filmgrafik International – Animation

• Vic Atkinson Productions – Animation

• Computer Image Corp. – Animation

• M-K Inc. – Animation

• Joe René and Jacquelyn Reinach – Music and Lyrics

• Clayton Frohman – Theme Song and "The Squoosh"

• Miles Goodman – Music

• Tom Tichenor – Puppet Designer

• Art FitzSimmons – Photography

Puppeteers and Voices
• King Hall – Mister M, Nardo (sometimes), Various

• Tom Ray – Mister W, Various

• Patrick Clear – Mister H, Mister J, Mister R, Nardo, Various

• Lynn Cohen – Miss I, Various

• John Cothran – Mister N, Mister L, Various

• Allan Trautman – Mister C (voice), Mister K, Various

• Gregg Berger – Mister Z, Mister T, Mister V, Various

• Don Boevingloh – Monty Swell, Various

• Cheryl Brown – Various

• Jane Deeken – Miss O, Various

• Pam Dunn – Various

• John Erickson – Mister C, Various

• David Herzog – Mister T (sometimes), Various

• Bert Hinchman – Various

• Bob Kramer – Mister F, Various

• Nancy Swet – Miss A, Various

• Genevieve Bierman – Miss U, Various (voice)

• Sally Eaton – Various (voice)

• Shelley Heeley – Various (voice)

• Joneal Joplin – Mister S, Mister G, Various (voice)

• Barbara Marentette – Miss A (sometimes), Various (voice)

• Nancy Margulies – Miss U (sometimes), Miss E (voice), Miss A (sometimes)

• Thomas K. McDonough – Various (voice)

• Bob Miller – Mister B, Mister D, Various (voice)

• James Scott – Mister P, Various (voice)

• Willy Shaw – Mister Q, Various (voice)

• Gail Simmons – Various (voice)

• Simon O’Connor – Mister X, Various (voice)

• Ken Monroe – Mister C (sometimes), Various (voice)

• Dick Teneau – Mister Y (sometimes), Various (voice)

• Gayle Waxman – Various (voice)

Creative Team
• Irv Dweir – director, Music and Lyrics

• Joe René and Jacquelyn Reinach – Music and Lyrics

• Lynell Johnson – Lyrics

• Margaret C. Ianniello and Jennifer LaBrie – Graphic Design

• Meg Ross – illustrations

• Thomas Sperling – illustrations

• Lane Yerkes – illustrations

• Barbara Yeagle – illustrations

• Dean Yeagle – illustrations

• Darcy Bell-Myers – illustrations

• Pattie Silver – illustrations

Voices
• Yvonne Lewis – Ms. A

• Lenny Roberts – Mr. B (original)/Mr. M/Mr. N

• Frank Simms – Mr. B

• Ron Marshall – Mr. C/Cockatoo/Giraffe

• Angel Elon – Mr. D (original)

• Bert Dovo – Mr. D

• Doris Eugenio – Ms. E

• Michelle Lewis – Ms. F (original)

• Jackie Presti – Ms. F

• Darryl Tookes – Mr. G

• Al Dana – Mr. H

• Paul Evans – Mr. I

• Holli Ross – Ms. J

• Damaris Carbaugh – Ms. K/Ms. S (original)

• Myriam Valle – Ms. L

• Shawn Elliott – Mr. O

• Florence M. Warner – Ms. P

• Paul Rolnick – Mr. Q

• Marlon Saunders – Mr. R/Mr. Z

• Emily Bindiger – Ms. S/Ms. Y

• Ellen Woloshin – Ms. T

• Annette Sanders – Ms. U/Caterpillar/Horse

• Vivian C. Cherry – Ms. V

• Robin Small – Ms. W

• Marty Nelson – Mr. X

Strategy Tapes
• Annette Sanders – Ms. W

• Lenny Roberts – Mr. N/Mr. R

• Marlon Saunders – Mr. M

• Michelle Lewis – Ms. F/Ms. T

• Kathleen M. Fischer – Ms. P

• Stew Merritt – Mr. R (in "Catch a Rime")

• Paul Evans – Mr. I

• Katreese Barnes – Ms. A

• Doris Eugenio – Ms. S

• Al Dana – Mr. H

• Paul Rolnick – Mr. C

• Holli Ross – Ms. U

• Georgia Jones – Ms. E

• Bert Dovo – Mr. O

• Emily Bindiger – Ms. Y

Literature

 * The May 30, 1970 issue of Billboard magazine has an article about the acquisition of American Artist Corp. by NDE.
 * The March 29, 1971 issue of Time magazine has an article about NDE and the Letter People.
 * The May 12, 1972 issue of Life magazine has a section about the Letter People called "The Huggables".

Films

 * In the 1974 film It's Alive, the "Huggables" are shown when Frank, the main character, visits the school.

title: The Letter People


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Nuance

Currently an advert. Possibly wiki-worthy, but not in this form. DJ Clayworth 16:12, 7 May 2004 (UTC) It's been deleted, and I've removed it from the VfD list. --Ben Brockert 03:05, May 11, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete Wikispam; to NPOV it would make it dicdef. Alcarillo 17:43, 7 May 2004 (UTC)
 * OK, now it's also a big copyvio: http://www.nuance.com/prodserv/index.html and I already tagged another article written by Leticia Echevarría for copyvio - see Proteus Conversational Interface. We got Wikispam that's also a copyvio (not to mention un-wikified): KILL IT BEFORE IT BREEDS!. Question: is VfD or copyvio the best way to handle these things? Alcarillo 18:57, 7 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Don't know, but this sure as heck can't stay here in this form. I move for speedy deletion of a blatant ad and copyvio. - Lucky 6.9 19:03, 7 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Negative. Clobber with copyvio notice and list at Copyright problems. - Fennec 15:06, May 9, 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep. Cleanup. anthony (see warning) 16:06, 9 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Wikispam. Andris 16:31, May 9, 2004 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Nuance


text:
Kjerag

Kjerag or Kiragg is a mountain in the Sandnes municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The 1110 m tall mountain sits on the southern shore of Lysefjorden, just southwest of the village of Lysebotn. Its northern side is a massive cliff, plunging 984 m almost straight down to the fjord; a sight which attracts many visitors each year. Another tourist attraction, the Kjeragbolten, is a 5 m3 stone wedged between two rocks is located on the mountain. The Kjeragfossen waterfall plunges off the mountain down to the fjord. It is one of the tallest waterfalls in the world.

Kjerag is a popular hiking destination. Some go there because Preikestolen has become too crowded, some to jump onto Kjeragbolten and some BASE jumpers from all over the world go there to jump off the high cliffs. Kjerag is also a popular climbing destination, with many difficult routes going up its steep faces. The easiest ascent starts from the visitor center Øygardsstølen, with a 2.5-3-hour walk each way. From Stavanger, it is roughly a 2-hour drive (closed in winter season). One can also take the tourist ferry from Lauvvik to Lysebotn in summer. The best season for walking is considered late June to September depending on snow conditions.

Kjeragbolten
Kjeragbolten is a 5 m3 boulder wedged in a mountain crevice by the edge of the Kjerag mountain (59.03369°N, 6.59303°W). It is possible to walk onto the rock without any equipment, but there is a direct 241 m drop below and then another 735 m gradient down to the Lysefjorden. The name means "Kjerag Boulder" or "Kjerag Bolt".

BASE jumping
Kjerag has become a popular BASE jumping destination. Since 1994, when Stein Edvartsen made the first officially registered jump, until 2016, a total number of 48,668 jumps have been registered. During this time period 131 accidents have been registered, 44 of which required the use of rescue helicopter, and 10 cases where jumpers were rescued by other professional rescue climbers. According to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation there have been 11 fatal accidents involving BASE jumpers alone. A list of jumpers who perished at Kjerag is provided below:
 * Sebastian Dectot (24, from France), August 16, 1996
 * Ulla-Stina Östberg (46, from Sweden), July 29, 1997
 * Thor Alex Kappfjell (32, from Norway), July 6, 1999
 * Kirill Goretov (29, from Russia), August 15, 1999
 * Terry Forrestal (52, from the United Kingdom), June 10, 2000
 * Valentino Venturi (30, from Italy), August 5, 2000
 * Lori Barr (37, from the United States), July 23, 2002
 * Rob Tompkins (30, from the United States), September 12, 2002
 * Darcy Zoitsas (nickname: "Peter Pan") (39, from Australia), July 19, 2005
 * Anton Knestyapin (25, from Russia), July 25, 2010
 * Michael Leming (53, from the United States), June 25, 2016

In the Norwegian documentary film Loop, Kristen Reagan climbs up the 1000 m drop before BASE jumping off the same cliff.

Rock Climbing Kjerag was first climbed in the spring of 1985 by Pat Littlejohn, Steve Jones, Dick Renshaw and Lyndsey Foulkes, who abseiled in without sighting the wall from below, and chose their route from photographs in the public domain. Pete Whittaker having performed a roped solo of Free-Rider on El Capitan in autumn 2016, free-soloed the Renshaw-Foulkes climb in summer 2020.

Name
The name is possibly a compound of kje which means 'kid' and ragg which means 'goat's hair, shag'. The rough surface of the mountainside has been compared with the shaggy hair of a kid goat.

In popular culture

 * A movie song called Amali thumali (from 01:33m to 1:35m and from 04:19m to 04:21m ) from the 2011 blockbuster Tamil language movie Ko (film) features the lead couples dancing on the top of the boulder at Kjeragbolten.

title: Kjerag


text:
Secant method

In numerical analysis, the secant method is a root-finding algorithm that uses a succession of roots of secant lines to better approximate a root of a function f. The secant method can be thought of as a finite-difference approximation of Newton's method. However, the secant method predates Newton's method by over 3000 years.

The method
For finding a zero of a function $f$, the secant method is defined by the recurrence relation.

x_n = x_{n-1} - f(x_{n-1}) \frac{x_{n-1} - x_{n-2}}{f(x_{n-1}) - f(x_{n-2})} = \frac{x_{n-2} f(x_{n-1}) - x_{n-1} f(x_{n-2})}{f(x_{n-1}) - f(x_{n-2})}. $$

As can be seen from this formula, two initial values $x_{0}$ and $x_{1}$ are required. Ideally, they should be chosen close to the desired zero.

Derivation of the method
Starting with initial values $x_{0}$ and $x_{1}$, we construct a line through the points $(x_{0}, f(x_{0}))$ and $(x_{1}, f(x_{1}))$, as shown in the picture above. In slope–intercept form, the equation of this line is

 * $$y = \frac{f(x_1) - f(x_0)}{x_1 - x_0}(x - x_1) + f(x_1).$$

The root of this linear function, that is the value of $x$ such that $y = 0$ is

 * $$x = x_1 - f(x_1) \frac{x_1 - x_0}{f(x_1) - f(x_0)}.$$

We then use this new value of $x$ as $x_{2}$ and repeat the process, using $x_{1}$ and $x_{2}$ instead of $x_{0}$ and $x_{1}$. We continue this process, solving for $x_{3}$, $x_{4}$, etc., until we reach a sufficiently high level of precision (a sufficiently small difference between $x_{n}$ and $x_{n−1}$):

\begin{align} x_2 & = x_1 - f(x_1) \frac{x_1 - x_0}{f(x_1) - f(x_0)}, \\[6pt] x_3 & = x_2 - f(x_2) \frac{x_2 - x_1}{f(x_2) - f(x_1)}, \\[6pt] & \,\,\,\vdots \\[6pt] x_n & = x_{n-1} - f(x_{n-1}) \frac{x_{n-1} - x_{n-2}}{f(x_{n-1}) - f(x_{n-2})}. \end{align} $$

Convergence
The iterates $$x_n$$ of the secant method converge to a root of $$f$$ if the initial values $$x_0$$ and $$x_1$$ are sufficiently close to the root. The order of convergence is $$\varphi$$, where
 * $$\varphi = \frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2} \approx 1.618$$

is the golden ratio. In particular, the convergence is super linear, but not quite quadratic.

This result only holds under some technical conditions, namely that $$f$$ be twice continuously differentiable and the root in question be simple (i.e., with multiplicity 1).

If the initial values are not close enough to the root, then there is no guarantee that the secant method converges. There is no general definition of "close enough", but the criterion has to do with how "wiggly" the function is on the interval $$[x_0, x_1]$$. For example, if $$f$$ is differentiable on that interval and there is a point where $$f' = 0$$ on the interval, then the algorithm may not converge.

Comparison with other root-finding methods
The secant method does not require that the root remain bracketed, like the bisection method does, and hence it does not always converge. The false position method (or regula falsi) uses the same formula as the secant method. However, it does not apply the formula on $$x_{n-1}$$ and $$x_{n-2}$$, like the secant method, but on $$x_{n-1}$$ and on the last iterate $$x_k$$ such that $$f(x_k)$$ and $$f(x_{n-1})$$ have a different sign. This means that the false position method always converges; however, only with a linear order of convergence. Bracketing with a super-linear order of convergence as the secant method can be attained with improvements to the false position method (see Regula falsi § Improvements in regula falsi) such as the ITP method or Illinois method.

The recurrence formula of the secant method can be derived from the formula for Newton's method
 * $$x_n = x_{n-1} - \frac{f(x_{n-1})}{f'(x_{n-1})}$$

by using the finite-difference approximation, for a small $$\epsilon$$:

$$f'(x_{n-1}) \approx \frac{f(x_{n-1}) - f(x_{n-2})}{x_{n-1} - x_{n-2}} \approx {\frac {f(x_{n-1}+{\frac {\epsilon }{2}})-f(x_{n-1}-{\frac {\epsilon }{2}})}{\epsilon }}$$

The secant method can be interpreted as a method in which the derivative is replaced by an approximation and is thus a quasi-Newton method.

If we compare Newton's method with the secant method, we see that Newton's method converges faster (order 2 against φ ≈ 1.6). However, Newton's method requires the evaluation of both $$f$$ and its derivative $$f'$$ at every step, while the secant method only requires the evaluation of $$f$$. Therefore, the secant method may occasionally be faster in practice. For instance, if we assume that evaluating $$f$$ takes as much time as evaluating its derivative and we neglect all other costs, we can do two steps of the secant method (decreasing the logarithm of the error by a factor φ2 ≈ 2.6) for the same cost as one step of Newton's method (decreasing the logarithm of the error by a factor 2), so the secant method is faster. If, however, we consider parallel processing for the evaluation of the derivative, Newton's method proves its worth, being faster in time, though still spending more steps.

Generalization
Broyden's method is a generalization of the secant method to more than one dimension.

The following graph shows the function f in red and the last secant line in bold blue. In the graph, the x intercept of the secant line seems to be a good approximation of the root of f.

Computational example
Below, the secant method is implemented in the Python programming language.

It is then applied to find a root of the function $f(x) = x^{2} − 612$ with initial points $$x_0 = 10$$ and $$x_1 = 30$$

It is very important to have a good stopping criterion above, otherwise, due to limited numerical precision of floating point numbers, the algorithm can return inaccurate results if running for too many iterations. For example, the loop above can stop when one of these is reached first: abs(x0 - x1) < tol, or abs(x0/x1-1) < tol, or abs(f(x1)) < tol.

title: Secant method


text:
Talk:Aston Clinton House

Text moved from the Halton House article to either merge here or to create a separate article for Green Park. -- Graham :) | Talk 16:17, 7 May 2004 (UTC):

Green Park:-

Green Park: (A mile from Halton)is sometimes referred to as just 'Aston Clinton' (the name of the village close by) is yet another former Rothschild home, it had been bought in the early 1850s by Anthony de Rothschild1810 - 1876 he employed the architect George Devey (who was later to transform Ascott house another neighbouring Rothschild house) Old photographs of Green Park show a sprawling neo-georgian/Italienate house with verandahs, and a large porte cochere. It was never really lived in after the death of Anthony's widow Louise Montefiore in 1910]. It then passed to her two daughters, [[Constance, Lady Battersea and Annie, The Hon. Mrs. Eliot Yorkewho shared it as a holiday home, spending a few weeks together there each summer.

It later became a boys prep school (where Evelyn Waugh began his teaching career]]as a junior master), followed by a brief spell as an hotel. It was finally demolished in the middle of the 20th century.

The local authority then acquired the property with the proviso, that it be used for educational purposes. All that remains today of the Rothschild building at Green Park are the massive lodges in Stablebridge Road, Aston Clinton. The former stables, and some new buildings are now a training centre. Where children come for outward bound courses such as The Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme Adult education courses and conferances etc are held there also.

 * Content now merged into article. -- Graham :) | Talk 19:01, 7 May 2004 (UTC)

Coordinate error
The following coordinate fixes are needed for Aston Clinton House. Go to the 1945 layer on Google Earth and you can see the house actually stood about 500 feet further west. The coordinates should be 51°47'39.43"N 0°43'8.86"W. The oval garden that was in front of the house is still there. It is visible in the late-1800s photo on wikipedia. —98.246.156.76 (talk) 01:13, 26 February 2014 (UTC)
 * ✅. Thanks for pointing out the error. Deor (talk) 01:26, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

title: Talk:Aston Clinton House


text:
Ben Parker

Ben Parker may refer to:

 * Uncle Ben, Ben Parker, a fictional character who is the uncle of Peter Parker / Spider-Man
 * Benjamin Richard Parker, son of Peter Parker and little brother of Spider-Girl in the Marvel Comics 2 continuity
 * Ben Parker (footballer) (born 1987), English football player
 * Ben L. Parker (1913–2003), member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
 * Ben Parker, English singer-songwriter, member of Ben & Jason

title: Ben Parker


text:
Gun barrel

A gun barrel is a crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small firearms, artillery pieces, and air guns. It is the straight shooting tube, usually made of rigid high-strength metal, through which a contained rapid expansion of high-pressure gas(es) is used to propel a projectile out of the front end (muzzle) at a high velocity. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, and the diameter of the bore is called its caliber, usually measured in inches or millimetres.

The first firearms were made at a time when metallurgy was not advanced enough to cast tubes capable of withstanding the explosive forces of early cannons, so the pipe (often built from staves of metal) needed to be braced periodically along its length for structural reinforcement, producing an appearance somewhat reminiscent of storage barrels being stacked together, hence the English name.

History
Gun barrels are usually made of some type of metal or metal alloy. However, during the late Tang dynasty, Chinese inventors discovered gunpowder, and used bamboo, which has a strong, naturally tubular stalk and is cheaper to obtain and process, as the first barrels in gunpowder projectile weapons such as fire lances. The Chinese were also the first to master cast-iron cannon barrels, and used the technology to make the earliest infantry firearms — the hand cannons. Early European guns were made of wrought iron, usually with several strengthening bands of the metal wrapped around circular wrought iron rings and then welded into a hollow cylinder. Bronze and brass were favoured by gunsmiths, largely because of their ease of casting and their resistance to the corrosive effects of the combustion of gunpowder or salt water when used on naval vessels.

Early firearms were muzzleloaders, with the gunpowder and then the shot loaded from the front end (muzzle) of the barrel, and were capable of only a low rate of fire due to the cumbersome loading process. The later-invented breech-loading designs provided a higher rate of fire, but early breechloaders lacked an effective way of sealing the escaping gases that leaked from the back end (breech) of the barrel, reducing the available muzzle velocity. During the 19th century, effective breechblocks were invented that sealed a breechloader against the escape of propellant gases.

Early cannon barrels were very thick for their caliber. This was because manufacturing defects such as air bubbles trapped in the metal were common at that time, and played key factors in many gun explosions; these defects made the barrel too weak to withstand the pressures of firing, causing it to fail and fragment explosively.

Construction
A gun barrel must be able to hold in the expanding gas produced by the propellants to ensure that optimum muzzle velocity is attained by the projectile as it is being pushed out. If the barrel material cannot cope with the pressure within the bore, the barrel itself might suffer catastrophic failure and explode, which will not only destroy the gun but also present a life-threatening danger to people nearby. Modern small arms barrels are made of carbon steel or stainless steel materials known and tested to withstand the pressures involved. Artillery pieces are made by various techniques providing reliably sufficient strength.

Fluting
Fluting is the removal of material from a cylindrical surface, usually creating rounded grooves, for the purpose of reducing weight. This is most often done to the exterior surface of a rifle barrel, though it may also be applied to the cylinder of a revolver or the bolt of a bolt-action rifle. Most flutings on rifle barrels and revolver cylinders are straight, though helical flutings can be seen on rifle bolts and occasionally also rifle barrels.

While the main purpose of fluting is just to reduce weight and improve portability, when adequately done it can retain the structural strength and rigidity and increase the overall specific strength. Fluting will also increase the surface-to-volume ratio and make the barrel more efficient to cool after firing, though the reduced material mass also means the barrel will heat up easily during firing.

Composite barrels
A composite barrel is a firearm barrel that has been shaved down to be thinner and an exterior sleeve slipped over and fused to it that improves rigidity, weight and cooling. Most common form of composite barrel are those with carbon fiber sleeves, but there are proprietary examples such as the Teludyne Tech Straitjacket. They are seldom used outside sports and competition shooting.

Mounting
A barrel can be fixed to the receiver using action threads or rivets.

Chamber
The chamber is the cavity at the back end of a breech-loading gun's barrel where the cartridge is inserted in position ready to be fired. In most firearms (rifles, shotguns, machine guns and pistols), the chamber is an integral part of the barrel, often made by simply reaming the rear bore of a barrel blank, with a single chamber within a single barrel. In revolvers, the chamber is a component of the gun's cylinder and completely separate from the barrel, with a single cylinder having multiple chambers that are rotated in turns into alignment with the barrel in anticipation of being fired.

Structurally, the chamber consists of the body, shoulder and neck, the contour of which closely correspond to the casing shape of the cartridge it is designed to hold. The rear opening of the chamber is the breech of the whole barrel, which is sealed tight from behind by the bolt, making the front direction the path of least resistance during firing. When the cartridge's primer is struck by the firing pin, the propellant is ignited and deflagrates, generating high-pressure gas expansion within the cartridge case. However, the chamber (closed from behind by the bolt) restrains the cartridge case (or shell for shotguns) from moving, allowing the bullet (or shot/slug in shotguns) to separate cleanly from the casing and be propelled forward along the barrel to exit out of the front (muzzle) end as a flying projectile.

Chambering a gun is the process of loading a cartridge into the gun's chamber, either manually as in single loading, or via operating the weapon's own action as in pump action, lever action, bolt action or self-loading actions. In the case of an air gun, a pellet (or slug) itself has no casing to be retained and will be entirely inserted into the chamber (often called "seating" or "loading" the pellet, rather than "chambering" it) before a mechanically pressurized gas is released behind the pellet and propels it forward, meaning that an air gun's chamber is functionally equivalent to the freebore portion of a firearm barrel. In the context of firearms design, manufacturing and modification, the word "chambering" has a different meaning, and refers to fitting a weapon's chamber specifically to fire a particular caliber or model of cartridge.

Bore
The bore is the hollow internal lumen of the barrel, and takes up a vast majority portion of the barrel length. It is the part of the barrel where the projectile (bullet, shot, or slug) is located prior to firing and where it gains speed and kinetic energy during the firing process. The projectile's status of motion while travelling down the bore is referred to as its internal ballistics.

Most modern firearms (except muskets, shotguns, most tank guns, and some artillery pieces) and air guns (except some BB guns) have helical grooves called riflings machined into the bore wall. When shooting, a rifled bore imparts spin to the projectile about its longitudinal axis, which gyroscopically stabilizes the projectile's flight attitude and trajectory after its exit from the barrel (i.e. the external ballistics). Any gun without riflings in the bore is called a smoothbore gun.

When a firearm cartridge is chambered, its casing occupies the chamber but its bullet actually protrudes beyond the chamber into the posterior end of the bore. Even in a rifled bore, this short rear section is without rifling, and allows the bullet an initial "run-up" to build up momentum before encountering riflings during shooting. The most posterior part of this unrifled section is called a freebore, and is usually cylindrical. The portion of the unrifled bore immediately front of the freebore, called the leade, starts to taper slightly and guides the bullet towards the area where the riflingless bore transitions into fully rifled bore. Together they form the throat region, where the riflings impactfully "bite" into the moving bullet during shooting. The throat is subjected to the greatest thermomechanical stress and therefore suffers wear the fastest. Throat erosion is often the main determining factor of a gun's barrel life.

Muzzle

The muzzle is the front end of a barrel from which the projectile will exit. Precise machining of the muzzle is crucial to accuracy, because it is the last point of contact between the barrel and the projectile. If inconsistent gaps exist between the muzzle and the projectile, escaping propellant gases may spread unevenly and deflect the projectile from its intended path (see transitional ballistics). The muzzle can also be threaded on the outside to allow the attachment of different accessory devices.

In rifled barrels, the contour of a muzzle is designed to keep the rifling safe from damage by intruding foreign objects, so the front ends of the rifling grooves are commonly protected behind a recessed crown, which also serves to modulate the even expansion of the propellant gases. The crown itself is often recessed from the outside rim of the muzzle to avoid accidental damage from collision with the surrounding environment.

In smooth bore barrels firing multiple sub-projectiles (such as shotgun shot), the bore at the muzzle end might have a tapered constriction called choke to shape the scatter pattern for better range and accuracy. Chokes are implemented as either interchangeable screw-in chokes for particular applications, or as fixed permanent chokes integral to the barrel.

During firing, a bright flash of light known as a muzzle flash is often seen at the muzzle. This flash is produced by both superheated propellant gases radiating energy during expansion (primary flash), and the incompletely combusted propellant residues reacting vigorously with the fresh supply of ambient air upon escaping the barrel (secondary flash). The size of the flash depends on factors such as barrel length (shorter barrels have less time for complete combustion, hence more unburnt powder), the type (fast- vs. slow-burning) and amount of propellant (higher total amount means likely more unburnt residues) loaded in the cartridge. Flash suppressors or muzzle shrouds can be attached to the muzzle of the weapon to either diminish or conceal the flash.

The rapid expansion of propellant gases at the muzzle during firing also produce a powerful shockwave known as a muzzle blast. The audible component of this blast, also known as a muzzle report, is the loud "bang" sound of gunfire that can easily exceed 140 decibels and cause permanent hearing loss to the shooter and bystanders. The non-audible component of the blast is an infrasonic overpressure wave that can cause damage to nearby fragile objects. Accessory devices such as muzzle brakes and muzzle boosters can be used to redirect muzzle blast in order to counter the recoil-induced muzzle rise or to assist the gas operation of the gun, and suppressors (and even muzzle shrouds) can be used to reduce the blast noise intensity felt by nearby personnel.

title: Gun barrel


text:
Aston Clinton House

Aston Clinton House (also known as Green Park though referred to as simply Aston Clinton by the Rothschild family) was a large mansion to the south-east of the village of Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire, England.

Rothschild period
In 1851, Anthony Nathan de Rothschild bought the estate from a banker from Aylesbury. By 1853, he had completed the modernisation of Aston Clinton House and extensive estates in the area, with the help of the architect George Henry Stokes and the builder George Myers. From 1864 to 1877, the architect George Devey designed the cottages and the park gates (he later transformed another Rothschild property, Ascott House). Old photographs of the house show a sprawling neo-Georgian/Italianate house with verandahs and a large porte-cochère. Many workers' cottages were built, and two schools and a village hall set up under Rothschild patronage.

On the death of Lady Louise de Rothschild in 1910, the house was bequeathed to her two daughters, Constance, Lady Battersea and Annie, The Hon. Mrs. Eliot Yorke, who shared it as a holiday home, spending a few weeks together there each summer. They developed horticulture in the gardens which became full of rare plants. Cyril Flower, 1st Baron Battersea contributed to the development of the gardens.

In the First World War, like the adjoining Halton House and estate, Aston Clinton House was lent to the War Office, becoming in September 1914 the HQ of 21st Infantry Division. 21st Division was a "New Army" division, part of Kitchener's Army, and it was formed-up and trained on Rothschild land in Buckinghamshire, initially in Tring but in 1915 on the Halton and Aston Clinton estates. Four brigades of field artillery and one heavy battery received their advanced training in the grounds of Aston Clinton House in the spring and summer of 1915, including extensive gas offensive and defensive training. Final inspection of the division by Lord Kitchener occurred in August 1915 and the move to France took place from 2 to 13 September 1915.

In 1923, the Rothschilds sold the house to Dr Albert Edward Bredin Crawford for £15,000.

After 1923
At the start of the Second World War the house was the Green Park Hotel, but during the War the stables were used by EKCO, an electronics company from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, as its main headquarters and for radar research and development, and the main house was used as a hospital for war wounded. It had been a boys' prep school (where Evelyn Waugh obtained his second post as a junior master in 1925)), followed by a further brief spell as a hotel. The main building was demolished between 1956 and 1958.

Buckinghamshire County Council then acquired the property with the proviso that it be used for educational purposes. Today the estate is used as a residential training centre for young people, operated by Kingswood Learning and Leisure Group. The original ornamental features of the extended garden still remain, incorporated into the site now called Green Park. All that remain of the buildings of the estate are the stables, used as part of the training centre, and the lodge in Stablebridge Road.

title: Aston Clinton House


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Massachusett

Substub: entire content is, as of this writing:
 * An Algonquian language.

Should be deleted unless significantly expanded. Also: shouldn't it be moved from "Massachusett" [sic] to "Massachusetts language" (or is my utter ignorance showing?) Dpbsmith 16:22, 7 May 2004 (UTC)


text:
Tansy beetle

The tansy beetle (Chrysolina graminis) is a species of leaf beetle. The common name derives from its main foodplant, tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), but it can also use other wetland plants such as gypsywort (Lycopus europaeus) and water mint (Mentha aquatica). It measures 7.7–10.5 mm in length and has a characteristic bright metallic green colouration, with pitted elytra and a coppery tinge. In addition to the nominotypical subspecies, which repeats the specific name, C. graminis graminis, there are five further distinct subspecies of tansy beetle, which, collectively, have a Palearctic distribution, although in the majority of countries where it is found the species is declining. In the United Kingdom it is designated as 'Nationally Rare'. The stronghold population here is located along the banks of the river Ouse in York, North Yorkshire. Other, small, fenland populations exist at Woodwalton Fen and at Welney Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) reserve.

Taxonomy
The tansy beetle was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Chrysomela graminis and was later transferred to the genus Chrysolina. The genus Chrysolina currently contains 39 subgenera. C. graminis (with its several subspecies) is located in the subgenus Euchrysolina which contains only one other species – C. virgata; this subgenus was first established in 1950.

Its specific name graminis is a form of the Latin noun gramen, meaning "of grass" or "grass-like". Chrysolina graminis sensu lato has at least three later binomial names which are considered to be synonyms: Chrysomela fulgida Fabricius, 1801, Chrysolina nigrocuprea Mallet, 1924, and Chrysolina taupini Mallet, 1924.

There are six subspecies of tansy beetle. The nominotypical subspecies C. graminis graminis was established via the original description of the species in 1758. C. graminis santonici (named after the Italian name, Santonico, for its host plant Artemisia caerulescens) was described by N. B. Contarini in 1847. In 1860 Victor Motschulsky described two subspecies – C. graminis artemisiae and C. graminis auraria. These were added to in the 20th century with C. graminis christianae (Mallet, 1933) and C. graminis mediterranea Bechyné, 1950.

The subspecies of C. graminis have localised distributions: C. graminis artemisiae is located in south-east Europe, central Asia, and southern Siberia; C. graminis auraria is located in Dauria, eastern Mongolia, and China; C. graminis christianae is located in France; C. graminis mediterranea is located in Corsica and Spain; C. graminis santonici is located in the central Alps.

Description
All tansy beetles are small, rounded beetles approximately 7–12 mm in length. There are both internal and external morphological differences between the six subspecies.

Larvae
The larvae of C. graminis have four instar stages, though the first instar may not possess the characteristics of the later instars. Larvae are brown, and dorsally convex with spiracles evident on eight segments. They usually have small, indistinct tubercles with very short setae. The head of each larva is a darker brown than the body and has six ocelli on each side. The mandibles have five apical teeth.

Distinguishing Chrysolina graminis and Chrysolina herbacea
Chrysolina graminis and C. herbacea are similar in size and colour and may be confused in UK populations. Distinguishing the two species in the United Kingdom is particularly important as C. graminis is a vulnerable species whereas C. herbacea is much more common. This has previously led to the misidentification of C. herbacea as C. graminis. C. herbacea measures 7–11 mm in length. It is coloured iridescent green on dorsal surface throughout. The punctuation on the pronotum and elytra is distinctly similar, unlike in C. graminis. There is a smooth lip running only half the length of the ventral edge of the elytra, whereas this lip runs the full length on C. graminis.

Distribution and habitat
The tansy beetle has a Palearctic distribution. Evidence from archaeological excavation has shown that its presence in western Europe is confirmed at least as early as the Neolithic period. The beetles may be found on tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) and water mint (Mentha aquatica) in fen land and the banks of rivers with broad floodplains in Britain. Larvae are also recorded from other host plants: Achillea ptarmica (sneezewort) in France and various plants of the genus Artemisia in Russia. Adults and larvae feed on the leaves of their host plants.

Distribution
In continental Europe, C. graminis is widespread from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean Sea. It may also be found in central Asia and China. In Russia it may be found in the tundra zone from the Polar Urals to the Kolyma River, and in the nearby countries of Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. It is listed as vulnerable in Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and in Germany it is rare in one district, endangered in another.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, its range is currently restricted to about 45 km of the banks of the River Ouse centred on York, North Yorkshire. Although there are scattered records from across England some of these may represent mis-identifications of the mint beetle, a more widespread species. Tansy beetles had previously been recorded from Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, where species of mint (Mentha spp.), not tansy, acted as the host plant. The last accurate record for the beetle at this site was in 1981. In August 2014 a new sighting was made nearby at Woodwalton Fen, following this a translocation programme of Yorkshire beetles was attempted to boost the population. However, this was unsuccessful, likely due to potentially differing biologies between the two populations.

As of 2006 there were 19 British hectads (10 km squares) with records of the tansy beetle, but it has only been seen in 11 of these since 1970, six of which are centred around York. In 2015, the total number of individuals estimated from a survey of this area on the banks of the River Ouse was 24,000. In 2016 this number increased significantly to 40,000. Since 2018, the beetle has also been discovered at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) reserve at Welney, west Norfolk.

Threats to habitat
The decline in C. graminis is likely to be due to habitat loss resulting from land improvement and arable conversion, over-grazing, development, drainage and lowering of water-tables due to over-abstraction. Neglect may also lead to loss or degradation of habitat such as through over-shading or competition of food plants with invasive species such as Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera). Flood-bank works may deplete or destroy local sub-populations.

Within the York distribution the beetles are dependent on tansy as their sole food source; if a clump disappears the beetles are forced to walk to a new location as they rarely fly, despite having fully working wings and being capable of doing so. The loss of habitat impacts upon the ability of the tansy beetle to find an alternative source of the host plant. Additionally, tansy is a ruderal species and thus has a naturally high rate of turnover of plants, forcing beetles to regularly seek out new tansy patches to colonise.

A 2009 study of tansy beetle occupancy amongst 1305 patches (stems separated by no more than 50 cm) of the tansy plant on the banks of the River Ouse (York, UK) intended to establish data on the distribution of tansy plants and relate this to existing tansy beetle populations in order to contribute to the conservation effort of the species. The results were analysed using generalised additive models to conclude that the tansy patches should be managed towards volumes of 3 m$3$ and that these patches should be targeted within 200 m of existing beetle subpopulations on the same river bank in order to help the beetle population disperse and survive.

Life cycle
Both adults and larvae use the same host plant during their life cycle. As tansy often grows in discrete clumps, the total population of C. graminis in an area may be divided and individuals may spend their entire life cycle within an area of a few square metres.

Adults mate between March and June. In the monitored populations at York, mating of the same pair could last over 24 hours, during which time some pairs moved between tansy patches. Mating in a Russian population of C. graminis is preceded by an elaborate ritual not evident in other populations of the species, involving the male tapping the female's eyes, pronotum and antennae with its antennae. Mated females lay batches of 3–15 elongated, yellow eggs (each 2 mm long) on the underside of the tansy leaves. Eggs hatch into grey larvae. In captivity, one newly mated female produced 561 eggs over 136 days and another produced 158 eggs over 49 days. Females will lay in several locations; the average clutch size is 5–6 eggs. Female C. graminis will cannibalise the eggs of other females. In laboratory conditions, newly hatched larvae have been shown to survive for at least four days without food and thus have a long window of opportunity in which to reach a tansy plant. In July, the final instar larvae burrow underground beneath the plant to pupate, although very little is known about the biology of this process in C. graminis. Between August and September, this new adult population emerges to feed before returning underground to overwinter in October; emergence of adults is from March to April the next year. Long-term monitoring has indicated that survival during winter hibernation is surprisingly high, as autumn and spring population sizes are very similar. This is despite annual winter flooding of the River Ouse, implying that overwintering individuals must be extremely tolerant of long periods of inundation and oxygen deprivation. Approximately 5% of overwintering adults do not emerge from the soil after the winter, but remain underground for the next year in a state of extended diapause and emerge in the following spring.

A few adult beetles may overlap between the spring and summer populations, but most adults from the earlier emergence die before the end of summer. Both adult and larval tansy beetles are unable to detect their host plant, or each other, at a distance, either by smell, sight or a combination of the two. Starvation is thus likely to be a major contributor to mortality when beetles wander away from their host and become lost.

Diet
Tansy beetles are herbivorous and primarily use tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) as their host plant. The species has, however, also been recorded consuming a wider range of food plants including Lycopus europaeus (gipsywort), Stachys palustris (marsh woundwort), Achillea ptarmica (sneezewort), Mentha aquatica (water mint), Mentha rotundifolia (false apple mint), as well as other species of the genera Chrysanthemum, Scutellaria, and Artemisia. The subspecies C. graminis santonico is associated with Artemisa caerulescens.

The tansy plant naturally contains a number of volatile components including 1,8-cineole, trans-thujone, camphor and myrtenol, with the quantities and proportions of each varying seasonally and from plant to plant. 1,8-cineole is a toxin believed to defend the plant leaves against attacks by herbivores. The tansy beetle is resistant to these chemicals. However, tansy is a repellent to other Chrysomelid beetles. For example, the steam distillate of fresh leaves and flowers of tansy contains high levels of camphor and umbellulone and is strongly repellent to the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata).

Predation
Beetle remains bearing what appeared to be the marks of bird attacks have been found by the River Ouse and hardened adults often bear symmetrically indented elytra, interpreted as 'pinch marks' inflicted by a beak whilst newly emerged adults are still hardening. Dead beetles have also been found in the webs of spiders in a captive population. The accidental predation of C. graminis by livestock consuming the tansy plant is also possible. Predation of a larva by the scorpionfly Panorpa germanica has been observed in the field. The tachinid genus Macquartia exclusively parasitizes Chrysolmelid beetles and one species of which, Macquartia dispar, may parasitise C. graminis directly. The adult fly deposits fully incubated eggs or newly hatched larvae into the vicinity of the host larvae.

Larvae of other Chrysomelids are predated by birds, coccinellids, predatory bugs, lacewing larvae, syrphid larvae, carabids, ants, wasps, spiders and harvestmen, all of which are common on the tansy around the York population. The pupal stage may be directly predated by the European mole.

Parasites
A mite, Chrysomelobia mahunkai (family Podapolipidae) has been recorded from a single adult specimen of C. graminis, and Eulophus chrysomela (a species of hymenopteran of the family Eulophidae) is recorded as an endoparasite of the pupal stage.

Conservation in the United Kingdom

The species is formally designated as 'Nationally Rare' in the United Kingdom and categorised as a 'Species of Principal Importance' in accordance with the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. The Tansy Beetle Action Group was set up in 2008 to initiate and oversee conservation efforts and comprises representatives from the University of York, North Yorkshire County Council, City of York Council, Environment Agency and the National Trust. A recovery programme started, involving annual surveys of both tansy and beetles, control of tree shading and invasive plants that compete with tansy, such as Himalayan balsam, and limited re-introductions within the current species range. New clumps of tansy have been planted, particularly between isolated existing patches which may be beyond the 200 m walking range of the beetle. In order to publicise the conservation project Rachael Maskell, the Member of Parliament for the constituency of York Central became a 'Tansy Beetle Species Champion' in 2016. That same year, a team of 30 volunteers surveyed a 90 km stretch of the banks of the River Ouse. The surveying has identified an upward trend in population numbers, rising over 60% between 2015 and 2016 to 40,000 individuals. In October 2019 a large mural of a tansy beetle was painted on the side of a house in Queen Street, York by street artist ATM.

title: Tansy beetle


text:
Barrel

A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, usually alcoholic beverages; a small barrel or cask is known as a keg.

Barrels have a variety of uses, including storage of liquids such as water, oil, and alcohol. They are also employed to hold maturing beverages such as wine, cognac, armagnac, sherry, port, whiskey, beer, arrack, and sake. Other commodities once stored in wooden casks include gunpowder, meat, fish, paint, honey, nails, and tallow.

Modern wooden barrels for wine-making are made of French common oak (Quercus robur), white oak (Quercus petraea), American white oak (Quercus alba), more exotic is mizunara oak (Quercus crispula), and recently Oregon oak (Quercus garryana) has been used. Someone who makes traditional wooden barrels is called a cooper. Today, barrels and casks can also be made of aluminum, stainless steel, and different types of plastic, such as HDPE.

Early casks were bound with wooden hoops and in the 19th century these were gradually replaced by metal hoops that were stronger, more durable and took up less space.

Barrel has also been used as a standard size of measure, referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. For example, in the UK and Ireland, a barrel of beer refers to a quantity of 36 impgal, and is distinguished from other unit measurements, such as firkins, hogsheads, and kilderkins. Wine was shipped in barrels of 119 L. A barrel of oil, defined as 42 USgal, is still used as a measure of volume for oil, although oil is no longer shipped in barrels. The barrel has also come into use as a generic term for a wooden cask of any size.

History
An Egyptian wall-painting in the tomb of Hesy-Ra, dating to 2600 BC, shows a wooden tub used to measure wheat and constructed of staves bound together with wooden hoops. Another Egyptian tomb painting dating to 1900 BC shows a cooper and tubs made of staves in use at the grape harvest. Herodotus (c.  484 – c.  425 BC) allegedly reports the use of "palm-wood casks" in ancient Babylon, but some modern scholarship disputes this interpretation.

In Europe, buckets and casks dating to 200 BC have been found preserved in the mud of lake villages. A lake village near Glastonbury dating to the late Iron Age has yielded one complete tub and a number of wooden staves.

The Roman historian Pliny the Elder (died 79 AD) reported that cooperage in Europe originated with the Gauls in Alpine villages who stored their beverages in wooden casks bound with hoops. Pliny identified three different types of coopers: ordinary coopers, wine coopers and coopers who made large casks. Large casks contain more and bigger staves and are correspondingly more difficult to assemble. Roman coopers tended to be independent tradesmen, passing their skills on to their sons. The Greek geographer Strabo (c. 64 BC to c.  24 AD) recorded that wooden pithoi (barrels or wine-jars) were lined with pitch to stop leakage and preserve the wine.

Barrels were sometimes used for military purposes. Julius Caesar (100 to 44 BC) used catapults to hurl burning barrels of tar into besieged towns to start fires. The Romans also used empty barrels to make pontoon bridges to cross rivers. Empty casks were used to line the walls of shallow wells from at least Roman times. Such casks were found in 1897 during archaeological excavations of Roman Silchester in Britain. They were made of Pyrenean silver fir and the staves were 38 mm thick and featured grooves where the heads fitted. They had Roman numerals scratched on the surface of each stave to help with re-assembly.

In Anglo-Saxon Britain, wooden barrels were used to store ale, butter, honey and mead. Drinking-containers were also made from small staves of oak, yew or pine. These items required considerable craftsmanship to hold liquids and might be bound with finely-worked precious metals. They were highly valued items and were sometimes buried with the dead as grave goods.

Beverage maturing

An "ageing barrel" is used to age wine; distilled spirits such as whiskey, brandy, or rum; beer; tabasco sauce; or (in smaller sizes) traditional balsamic vinegar. When a wine or spirit ages in a barrel, small amounts of oxygen are introduced as the barrel lets some air in (compare to microoxygenation where oxygen is deliberately added). Oxygen enters a barrel when water or alcohol is lost due to evaporation, a portion known as the "angels' share". In an environment with 100% relative humidity, very little water evaporates and so most of the loss is alcohol, a useful trick if one has a wine with very high proof. Most beverages are topped up from other barrels to prevent significant oxidation, although others such as vin jaune and sherry are not.

Beverages aged in wooden barrels take on some of the compounds in the barrel, such as vanillin and wood tannins. The presence of these compounds depends on many factors, including the place of origin, how the staves were cut and dried, and the degree of "toast" applied during manufacture. Barrels used for aging are typically made of French or American oak, but chestnut and redwood are also used. Some Asian beverages (e.g., Japanese sake) use Japanese cedar, which imparts an unusual, minty-piney flavor. In Peru and Chile, a grape distillate named pisco is either aged in oak or in earthenware.

Wines
Some wines are fermented "on barrel", as opposed to in a neutral container like steel or wine-grade HDPE (high-density polyethylene) tanks. Wine can also be fermented in large wooden tanks, which—when open to the atmosphere—are called "open-tops". Other wooden cooperage for storing wine or spirits range from smaller barriques to huge casks, with either elliptical or round heads.

The tastes yielded by French and American species of oak are slightly different, with French oak being subtler, while American oak gives stronger aromas. To retain the desired measure of oak influence, a winery will replace a certain percentage of its barrels every year, although this can vary from 5 to 100%. Some winemakers use "200% new oak", where the wine is put into new oak barrels twice during the aging process. Bulk wines are sometimes more cheaply flavored by soaking in oak chips or added commercial oak flavoring instead of being aged in a barrel because of the much lower cost.

Sherry
Sherry is stored in 600 L casks made of North American oak, which is slightly more porous than French or Spanish oak. The casks, or butts, are filled five-sixths full, leaving "the space of two fists" empty at the top to allow flor to develop on top of the wine. Sherry is also commonly swapped between barrels of different ages, a process that is known as solera.

Whiskey

Laws in several jurisdictions require that whiskey be aged in wooden barrels. The law in the United States requires that "straight whiskey" (with the exception of corn whiskey) must be stored for at least two years in new, charred oak containers. Other forms of whiskey aged in used barrels cannot be called "straight".

International laws require any whisky bearing the label "Scotch" to be distilled and matured in Scotland for a minimum of three years and one day in oak casks.

By Canadian law, Canadian whiskies must "be aged in small wood for not less than three years", and "small wood" is defined as a wood barrel not exceeding 700 L capacity.

Since the U.S. law requires the use of new barrels for several popular types of whiskey, which is not typically considered necessary elsewhere, whiskey made elsewhere is usually aged in used barrels that previously contained American whiskey (usually bourbon whiskey). The typical bourbon barrel is 53 usgal in size, which is thus the de facto standard whiskey barrel size worldwide. Some distillers transfer their whiskey into different barrels to "finish" or add qualities to the final product. These finishing barrels frequently aged a different spirit (such as rum) or wine. Other distillers, particularly those producing Scotch, often disassemble five used bourbon barrels and reassemble them into four casks with different barrel ends for aging Scotch, creating a type of cask referred to as a hogshead.

Brandy
Maturing is very important for a good brandy, which is typically aged in oak casks. The wood used for those barrels is selected because of its ability to transfer certain aromas to the spirit. Cognac is aged only in oak casks made from wood from the Forest of Tronçais and more often from the Limousin forests.

Tequila
Some types of tequila are aged in oak barrels to mellow its flavor. "Reposado" tequila is aged for a period of two months to one year, "Añejo" tequila is aged for up to three years, and "Extra Añejo" tequila is aged for at least three years. Like with other spirits, longer aging results in a more pronounced flavor.

Beer
Beers are sometimes aged in barrels which were previously used for maturing wines or spirits. This is most common in darker beers such as stout, which is sometimes aged in oak barrels identical to those used for whiskey. Whisky distiller Jameson notably purchases barrels used by Franciscan Well brewery for their Shandon Stout to produce a whisky branded as "Jameson Caskmates". Cask ale is aged in the barrel (usually steel) for a short time before serving. Extensive barrel aging is required of many sour beers.

Balsamic vinegar
Traditional balsamic vinegar is aged in a series of wooden barrels.

Tabasco sauce
The pepper mash used to make Tabasco sauce is aged for three years in previously used oak whiskey barrels since its invention in 1868.

Soft drinks
Vernors ginger ale is marketed as having a "barrel-aged" flavor, and the syrup used to produce the beverage was originally aged in oak barrels when first manufactured in the 19th century. Whether the syrup continues to be aged in oak is unclear.

Angels' share

"Angels' share" is a term for the portion (share) of a wine or distilled spirit's volume that is lost to evaporation during aging in oak barrels. The ambient humidity tends to affect the composition of this share. Drier conditions tend to make the barrels evaporate more water, strengthening the spirit. However, in higher humidities, more alcohol than water will evaporate, therefore reducing the alcoholic strength of the product. This alcoholic evaporate encourages the growth of a darkly colored fungus, the angels' share fungus, Baudoinia compniacensis, which tends to appear on the exterior surfaces of most things in the immediate area.

Water storage
Water barrels are often used to collect the rainwater from dwellings (so that it may be used for irrigation or other purposes). This usage, known as rainwater harvesting, requires (besides a large rainwater barrel or water butt) adequate (waterproof) roof-covering and an adequate rain pipe.

Oil storage

Wooden casks of various sizes were used to store whale oil on ships in the age of sail. Its viscous nature made sperm whale oil a particularly difficult substance to contain in staved containers. Oil coopers were probably the most skilled coopers in pre-industrial cooperage. Olive oil, seed oils and other organic oils were also placed in wooden casks for storage or transport.

Wooden casks were also used to store mineral oil. The standard size barrel of crude oil or other petroleum product (abbreviated bbl) is 42 USgal. This measurement originated in the early Pennsylvania oil fields, and permitted both British and American merchants to refer to the same unit, based on the old English wine measure, the tierce.

Earlier, another size of whiskey barrel was the most common size; this was the 40 USgal barrel for proof spirits, which was of the same volume as five US bushels. However, by 1866, the oil barrel was standardized at 42 US gallons.

Oil has not been shipped in barrels since the introduction of oil tankers, but the 42 US gallon size is still used as a unit of measurement for pricing and tax and regulatory codes. Each barrel is refined into about 20 USgal of gasoline, the rest becoming other products such as jet fuel and heating oil, using fractional distillation.

Barrel shape, construction and parts
Barrels have a convex shape and bulge at their center, called bilge. This facilitates rolling a well-built wooden barrel on its side and allows the roller to change directions with little friction, compared to a cylinder. It also helps to distribute stress evenly in the material by making the container more curved. Barrels have reinforced edges to enable safe displacement by rolling them at an angle (in addition to rolling on their sides as described).

Casks used for ale or beer have shives and keystones in their openings. Before serving the beer, a spile is hammered into the shive and a tap into the keystone.

The wooden parts that make up a barrel are called staves, the top and bottom are both called heads or headers, and the rings that hold the staves together are called hoops. These are usually made of galvanized iron, though historically they were made of flexible bits of wood called withies. While wooden hoops could require barrels to be "fully hooped", with hoops stacked tightly together along the entire top and bottom third of a barrel, iron-hooped barrels only require a few hoops on each end.

Wine barrels typically come in two hoop configurations. An American barrel features six hoops, from top to center: head- or chime hoop, quarter hoop and bilge hoop (times two), while a French barrel features eight, including a so-called French hoop, located between the quarter- and bilge hoops (see "wine barrel parts" illustration).

The opening at the center of a barrel is called a bung hole and the stopper used to seal it is a bung. The latter is generally made of white silicone.

Sizes
A barrel is one of several units of volume, with dry barrels, fluid barrels (UK beer barrel, US beer barrel), oil barrel, etc. The volume of some barrel units is double others, with various volumes in the range of about 100 –.

English wine casks
Pre-1824 definitions continued to be used in the US, the wine gallon of 231 cubic inches being the standard gallon for liquids (the corn gallon of 268.8 cubic inches for solids). In Britain, the wine gallon was replaced by the imperial gallon. The tierce later became the petrol barrel. The tun was originally 256 gallons, which explains from where the quarter, 8 bushels or 64 (wine) gallons, comes.

Brewery casks
Although it is common to refer to draught beer containers of any size as barrels, in the UK this is strictly correct only if the container holds 36 imperial gallons. The terms "keg" and "cask" refer to containers of any size, the distinction being that kegs are used for beers intended to be served using external gas cylinders. Cask ales undergo part of their fermentation process in their containers, called casks.

Casks are available in several sizes, and it is common to refer to "a firkin" or "a kil" (kilderkin) instead of a cask.

The modern US beer barrel is 31 USgal, half a gallon less than the traditional wine barrel. (26 U.S.C. §5051 )

Dry goods
Barrels are also used as a unit of measurement for dry goods (dry groceries), such as flour or produce. Traditionally, a barrel is 196 lb of flour (wheat or rye), with other substances such as pork subject to more local variation. In modern times, produce barrels for all dry goods, excepting cranberries, contain 7,056 cubic inches, about 115.627 L.

In the northeastern United States, nails, bolts, and plumbing fittings were commonly shipped in small rough barrels. These were small, 18 inches high by about 10–12 inches in diameter. The wood was the quality of pallet lumber. The binding was sometimes by wire or metal hoops or both. This practice seems to have been prevalent up till the 1980s. Older hardware stores probably still have some of these barrels.

title: Barrel


text:
T. J. Cobden-Sanderson

Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson (Sanderson; 2 December 1840 – 7 September 1922) was an English artist and bookbinder associated with the Arts and Crafts movement.

Life
Sanderson was born in Alnwick, Northumberland. His father, James, was a District Surveyor of taxes, thirteen years younger than his wife, Mary Ann (née Rutherford How). Sanderson attended a number of schools including the Royal Grammar School Worcester before entering Owen's College (Manchester University) and then Trinity College, Cambridge to study law. He left without taking a degree, and entered Lincoln's Inn as a barrister. In 1882 he married (Julia Sarah) Anne Cobden, a socialist, and daughter of Richard Cobden, and they both took the surname Cobden-Sanderson.

As a friend of William Morris, Cobden-Sanderson was involved with the Arts and Crafts ideology, and during a dinner party with the Morrises he was persuaded by Morris's wife Jane Burden to take up book-binding. In about 1884 he opened a workshop, abandoning his law practice. In 1887 Cobden-Sanderson suggested a new group be named the "Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society," and in so doing gave the movement its name. His wife was concerned that his interests were too abstract and she encouraged him to become a bookbinder. In 1893 he set up the Doves Bindery in Hammersmith, London, naming it after a nearby pub, The Dove. It was his wife who took credit for keeping the business running. By 1900 he had established the Doves Press. Emery Walker became a partner in 1900 and oversaw the creation of the Doves Type used for all of their books. They produced a number of letterpress books, including a five-volume Doves Bible.

By 1909 Cobden-Sanderson and his partner Emery Walker were at the height of a protracted and bitter dispute involving the rights to the Doves Type in the dissolution of their partnership. As part of the partnership dissolution agreement, all rights to the Doves Type were to pass to Emery Walker upon the death of Cobden-Sanderson. Yet, when the press closed in 1916 Cobden-Sanderson threw the type along with its punches and matrices into the Thames. In this time, as there was no digitization, destroying the punches and matrices constituted destroying the typeface itself.

Until recently the Doves Typeface was thought to have been lost forever. However, a digital version of the typeface was painstakingly recreated by Robert Green from 2010 to 2013. In 2015, after searching the riverbed of the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge with help from the Port of London Authority, Green managed to recover 150 pieces of the original type.

Cobden-Sanderson was a friend of John Russell, Viscount Amberley and his wife Kate, and made godfather of their son, the Nobel Prize in Literature-winning philosopher and activist Bertrand Russell; it 'had been long arranged that, boy or girl, (he) was to be godfather'. Amberley had hoped that, in the event of his death, Cobden-Sanderson and the other godfather, biologist D. A. Spalding (who had tutored the Amberleys' children and lived in the household), as staunch atheists, would shield his son from a religious upbringing; after his parents' deaths Bertrand was however taken in by his grandparents, John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (Prime Minister from 1846–52, and again from 1865-6) and his second wife, Frances, daughter of Gilbert Elliot, 2nd Earl of Minto, under threat of legal action. When Russell was convicted in 1918 for a public lecture against inviting the United States to participate in the First World War on the side of the United Kingdom, Cobden-Sanderson sent an encouraging letter of support ('with old and constant affection') expressing that he wished Russell's mother was alive to see her son's actions, part of what he considered 'a life fitted to the wonderful scene about (Russell)'.

title: T. J. Cobden-Sanderson