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Vehicle registration plates of Japan

In Japan, the national government issues vehicle registration plates for motor vehicles through the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Land Transportation Offices nationwide. However, the local municipality rather than the national government registers certain vehicles with small engine displacements.

The number on the top line is a vehicle class code which begins with a 0 through 9 to indicate specific vehicle classification. This is signified by the length, width and height of the vehicle as well as engine displacement. Broadly speaking, passenger automobiles with engine displacements at or smaller than 2000 cc receive 5-series plates, while passenger automobiles with engine displacements larger than 2000 cc or more receive 3-series license plates.

Official vehicles of the Imperial household are exempt from the requirement to display such plates. Official vehicles of the Self-Defense Forces and the foreign diplomats are required to display other plates.

The plates are installed on both the front and rear of the vehicle, with the rear plate permanently attached to the vehicle with a prefecture seal completely covering one of the attaching plate bolts. The plate is only removed when the vehicle is sold secondhand to someone from a different prefecture, has reached the end of service and has been sold for scrap, or exported. New vehicles are not delivered to the purchaser until the plates have been attached at the dealership.

Since November 1, 1970, a "jikō-shiki" (字光式) plate has been offered for private vehicles at the owner's request. The green characters on this type of plate are replaced with molded green plastic that can be illuminated from behind the plate. From May 19, 1998, specific numbers can also be requested if the numbers are not already in use. From 2010, these are also available in blue version of vehicle registration plates started in 1973.

The international vehicle registration code for Japan is J.

Appearance
* These plates are issued by municipal governments.

 * Large
 * 44x22 cm (17.3x8.7 inch)
 * (for over 8 tons vehicle, or capacity of 30 people or more)

 * Medium
 * 33x16.5 cm (13x6.5 inch)

 * Small
 * 23x12.5 cm (9x4.9 inch)

 * Extra small
 * about 20x10 cm (7.8x3.9 inch)
 * (differs according to each municipality)

Until 31 December 1974, kei cars had small green and white license plates. After this date, they received medium plates, now in black and yellow to distinguish them from regular cars.

The illustration shows what a plate might look like. The top line contains the name of the issuing office (Tama, shown, is in Tokyo) and a vehicle class code. The bottom line contains a hiragana character and a four-digit serial number divided into two groups of two digits separated by a hyphen. Any leading zeroes are replaced by centered dots.

White plates can have the following hiragana (bold indicates rental vehicle characters):

さすせそたちつてとなにぬねのはひふほまみむめもやゆよらりるろれわ

Green plates can have the following hiragana:

あいうえかきくけこを

Some characters, including ones with a dakuten or a handakuten, be used on any plates, including the yellow and black ones:

おばだがぱざびぢぎぴしじぶづぐぷずへべでげペぜぼどごぽぞゑゐん

A license plate in Japan thus follows this format: KK?*H##-## (e.g., 足立500き21-41), where KK is the name of the issuing office in kanji, H is a hiragana, ? is a 5 for vehicles less than 2000 cc and a 3 for vehicles greater than 2000 cc (other numbers are less common—1 for large trucks, 2 for buses, etc. ), * is a number from 0 to 99 (pre-1971 license plates will omit this), and # is a number from 0* to 9 (*leading zeroes are replaced by centered dots).

Special use plates

Vehicles owned by personnel with the United States military in Japan under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) have a "Y" on white plates, or an "A" on yellow plates, where the hiragana character is normally displayed. Earlier versions of the SOFA license plate displayed the letters "K", "M", "G", "H" and "E". These letters indicated the car was imported into Japan under SOFA and was left-hand drive. Today, cars with an "E" indicate that Japanese sales tax has not been paid and the vehicle will not remain in Japan when the military member departs. Since the 1980s, military commands have discouraged servicemembers assigned to Japan from shipping their vehicles from the U.S. into the country, so this is rarely seen. Military members who retire in Japan use the hiragana "よ". Many opt to purchase second-hand domestic vehicles through used car dealers off-base, and from other servicemembers departing Japan at on-base "lemon lots".

The official imperial cars have a special number plate with the kanji 皇 and a one-digit number below.

Out of country plates

Because the Japanese writing system, particularly the kana, is unique to Japan, standard-issue Japanese license plates are considered unacceptable for international travel. If motorists wish to take their vehicles abroad with them, the Ministry of Transport will issue them with plates with the hiragana and kanji scripts replaced by Roman letters. The hiragana prefix is replaced by a Kunrei-shiki romanization of that character. The kanji prefecture/office code is replaced by a two- or three-letter abbreviation, the first two letters representing the prefecture, the third (if present) representing the office within the prefecture. All the numerical portions of the plate remain the same.

Using the example given above, the plate (足立50Kき21-41) would then read TKA 50K KI 21-41 (TKA for Tokyo Adachi).

Vehicle class code system
In addition to plate size and color, Japanese plates since 1962 have identified the vehicle type (signified by length, width and height as well as engine displacement) by use of a vehicle class code signified by a number on the top line of the plate for all vehicles with three or more wheels. The vehicle class code system is not widely understood outside of Japan, and as a result, Japanese vehicles displaying "vanity" Japanese license plates at overseas shows and events are often unwittingly misrepresented.

Motorbikes and other two wheeled vehicles do not use this system.

In 1967, double digit vehicle codes were introduced for the first time, once all previous possible combinations were used. For example, 3 would become 33, and then 34, 35, etc. This began in October 1967 in the more populous prefectures initially for the most common vehicle classes such as 3 and 5. In April 1971 all vehicle codes become double digit across the country. Double digit codes finally stopped being issued in 1999.

By the early 1970s, three wheeled passenger cars were no longer in production and some prefectures began to issue the double digit codes 77, 78 and 79 as an 'overflow series' for passenger cars 2000cc and under. This practice stopped in 1999.

By May 1998, some prefectures were beginning to run out of all possible combinations of double digit vehicle codes for the most common classes (notably 599 and 799) and began issuing triple digit vehicle codes.

Transportation offices and markings
In 2006, several new location names, known as Gotōchi (ご当地) numbers, were approved by the MLIT for places that wanted to increase their recognition for purposes such as tourism. Criteria included the need for 100,000 vehicles in the area and the avoidance of an imbalance in the prefecture. The new locations began appearing in 2006 on plates for vehicles registered in certain specific cities, towns and villages in or near the places marked below in green.

title: Vehicle registration plates of Japan


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Nicomachus of Thebes

Nicomachus of Thebes (Νικόμαχος; fl. 4th century BC) was an ancient Greek painter, a native of Thebes, and a contemporary of the great painters of the Classical period. He trained under his father Aristides, also a painter.

Pliny gives a list of his works; among them a Rape of Proserpina, Victory in a Quadriga, Apollo and Diana, and Cybele seated on a Lion. Many of his works were taken to Rome. Pliny tells us that he was a very rapid worker and claims that he was one of the painters who used only four colors. Plutarch mentions his paintings as possessing the Homeric merit of ease and absence of effort. Cicero equally praises his works. Vitruvius observes that if his fame was less than his contemporaries, it was the fault of fortune rather than a lack of talent.

Nicomachus was taught by his father, Aristodemus, who was also a painter. Among Nicomachus's students were his young brother Ariston, his son Aristides of Thebes, and Philoxenus of Eretria.

List of works

 * Rape of Proserpina (located in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, in the cella of Minerva)
 * Victory in a Quadriga (located in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus)
 * Ulysses
 * Apollo and Diana
 * Cybele seated on a Lion
 * Bacchantes and Satyrs
 * Scylla (located in the Temple of Peace, Rome)
 * Monument to Telestis (originally in Sicyon)

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

title: Nicomachus of Thebes


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Maltese cuisine

Maltese cuisine reflects Maltese history; it shows strong Italian influences as well as influences from Spanish, French, Provençal, and other Mediterranean cuisines, with some later British culinary influence. Having to import most of its foodstuffs, being positioned along important trade routes, and having to cater for the resident foreign powers who ruled the islands opened Maltese cuisine to outside influences. The traditional Maltese stewed rabbit (stuffat tal-fenek) is often identified as the national dish.

History

Malta's history and geography had an important influence on its cuisine. Having to import most of its foodstuffs, being positioned along important trade routes, and having to cater for the resident foreign powers who ruled the islands, opened Maltese cuisine to outside influences from very early on. Foreign dishes and tastes were absorbed, transformed and adapted. Italian (specifically Sicilian), Middle Eastern and Arabic foods exerted a strong influence, but the presence in Malta of the Knights of St John and, more recently, the British brought elements from further afield.

The Knights hailed from many European countries, particularly France, Italy and Spain. They brought influences from these countries. Aljotta, for example, a fish broth with plenty of garlic, herbs, and tomatoes, is the Maltese adaptation of bouillabaisse. The Knights' contacts and wealth brought also food from the New World; it has been suggested that Malta may have been one of the first countries in Europe (after Spain) where chocolate was first tasted.

The British military presence meant a market of a garrison and their families and, later, mass tourism from the UK. British food products, condiments and sauces like English mustard, Bovril, HP Sauce and Worcestershire sauce are still a subtle but pervasive presence in Maltese cooking. Other imports were only nominal. The Maltese word "aljoli" is one of the variations on aioli across the Mediterranean; the Maltese version of the sauce is based on herbs, olives, anchovies and olive oil. Similarly, while the Maltese word "taġen" is related to "tajine", in Maltese the word refers exclusively to a metal frying pan.

Cuisine and identity

There are a number of junctures in which development in Maltese cuisine related to issues of identity. The most significant example is the traditional Maltese stuffat tal-fenek (rabbit stew), often identified as the national dish, quite possibly started off as a form of symbolic resistance to the hunting restrictions imposed by the Knights of St John. The dish was to become popular after the lifting of restrictions in the late 18th century (and by which time the indigenous breed, the Tax-Xiber rabbit, had multiplied and prices dropped) and the domestication of rabbits, a technique which could have been imported from France thanks to the French Knights.

The popularity of pork and its presence in various dishes could be attributed to Malta being on the edge of the Christian world. Consuming a food which is prohibited in the Muslim culinary culture could have been a way of self-identification by distinguishing oneself from the other. In addition to pork dishes (such as grilled pork cuts or stuffed flank) and the exclusive predominance of pork in indigenous Maltese sausages, adding some pork to dishes such as kawlata (a vegetable soup) and ross il-forn (baked rice) has been common practice in the Maltese vernacular cuisine for centuries.

For the Café Europe event held during the Austrian Presidency of the EU in 2006 the "representative" Maltese pastry chosen was the maqrut.

Regional
Despite Malta's small size there are some regional variations. This is especially the case with Gozo. This is evidenced in some names such as the Gozitan cheeselet (ġbejna t'Għawdex) and ftira Għawdxija, flatbread topped or filled with potatoes or ġbejniet with eggs, grated cheese, tomatoes, anchovies, olives, ricotta and Maltese sausage as other possible ingredients.

Other Gozitan variants include the use of ingredients. Gozitan cheeselets, for example, are used as filling for ravioli instead of the usual ricotta.

Seasonal
The strongest seasonal variations are seen in desserts and sweets. Prinjolata, kwareżimal, karamelli tal-ħarrub, ftira tar-Randan, figolla and qagħaq tal-għasel are all examples of sweets associated with a particular season.

Because Catholic fasting during Lent involved mostly meats and dairy products, fish such as Lampuki were a popular dish during this period as were stewed snails (bebbux), stuffed artichokes (qaqoċċ mimli) and fritters (sfineġ) of ġbejna, vegetables or fish (particularly whitebait and salted cod).

During the Holy Week bakers also bake a large bagel typically studded with some almonds on top called qagħqa tal-appostli (lit. apostles' bagel). Usually coinciding with the spring, there are also seasonal variations to certain dishes at the time of Lent as in, for example, adding fresh broad beans to dishes such as kusksu (a vegetable and pasta dish).

During the month of November għadam tal-mejtin (lit. bones of the dead, in ossa dei morti) are prepared. These are a layer of marzipan sandwiched between sweet pastry and topped with white icing (normal icing and not buttercream icing).

Qaghaq tal-Ghasel, in English, honey rings, are a traditional Maltese sweet. They consist of a pastry with a stuffing of sorts inside, made into a ring shape, with slits along the ring for the filling to dark filling to ooze out. The filling is traditionally a mixture of honey, molasses, aniseed, cinnamon and cloves, however some people add cocoa powder for a hint of chocolate. Although traditionally made for Christmas, it became so popular that people started making it all year round, and nowadays many are unaware that it was originally made for Christmas. The cake has a meaning behind it too. The fact that it is a ring means "eternal happiness" and because the filling oozes out, the phrase continues as "overflowing with goodness".

title: Maltese cuisine


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2004–05 Heineken Cup

The 2004–05 Heineken Cup was the tenth edition of the Heineken Cup. Competing teams, from England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. The winners of the pools, together with the two best runners-up, qualified for the knock-out stage. The French club Toulouse won a nail-biting final over fellow French side Stade Français by 18–12 after extra time. Toulouse became the first club to win the event three times.

Format
In the pool matches teams received:
 * four points for a win
 * two points for a draw
 * a bonus point for scoring four or more tries
 * a bonus point for losing by seven or fewer points

The teams that qualified for the knockout stage are indicated in bold type on a green background. Their seeds in the knockout stage are indicated next to the team name.

Final
Toulouse became the competition's first three-time champions.

title: 2004–05 Heineken Cup


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Vasco da Gama Bridge

The Vasco da Gama Bridge (Ponte Vasco da Gama; ) is a cable-stayed bridge flanked by viaducts that spans the Tagus River in Parque das Nações in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

It is the second longest bridge in Europe, after the Crimean Bridge, and the longest one in the European Union. It was built to alleviate the congestion on Lisbon's 25 de Abril Bridge, and eliminate the need for traffic between the country's northern and southern regions to pass through the capital city.

Construction began in February 1995; the bridge was opened to traffic on 29 March 1998, just in time for Expo 98, the World's Fair that celebrated the 500th anniversary of the discovery by Vasco da Gama of the sea route from Europe to India.

Along with the 25 de Abril Bridge, the Vasco da Gama is one of two bridges that span the Tagus River in Lisbon.

Description
The bridge carries six road lanes, with a speed limit of 120 km/h, the same as that on motorways, except on one section which is limited to 100 km/h. On windy, rainy, and foggy days, the speed limit is reduced to 90 km/h. The number of road lanes will be enlarged to eight when traffic reaches a daily average of 52,000.

 * Bridge and access road sections
 * 1) North access roads: 945 m
 * 2) North viaduct: 488 m
 * 3) Expo viaduct: 672 m; 12 sections
 * 4) Main bridge: main span: 420 m; side spans: 203 m each (total length: 829 m); cement pillars: 150 m-high; free height for navigation in high tides: 45 m;
 * 5) Central viaduct: 6.351 km; 80 pre-fabricated sections 78 m-long; 81 pillars up to 95 m-deep; height from 14 m to 30 m
 * 6) South viaduct: 3.825 km; 45 m sections; 84 sections; 85 pillars
 * 7) South access roads: 3.895 km; includes the toll plaza (18 gates) and two service areas

Construction and cost
The $1.1 billion project was split into four parts, each built by a different company, and supervised by an independent consortium. There were up to 3,300 workers simultaneously on the project, which took 18 months of preparation and 18 months of construction. The financing is via a build-operate-transfer system by Lusoponte, a private consortium that receives the first 40 years of tolls for both Lisbon bridges. Lusoponte's capital is 50.4% from Portuguese companies, 24.8% from French, and 24.8% from British.

The bridge has a life expectancy of 120 years, having been designed to withstand wind speeds of 250 km/h and hold up to an earthquake 4.5 times greater than the standards of building resistance in Lisbon. The deepest foundation piles, up to 2.2 m in diameter, were driven down to 95 m under mean sea level. Environmental pressure throughout the project resulted in the left-bank viaducts being extended inland to preserve the marshes underneath, as well as the lamp posts throughout the bridge being tilted inwards so as not to cast light on the river below.

Toll
Northbound traffic (to Lisbon) is charged a toll while travelling southbound is free. Tolls are collected through a toll plaza located on the south bank of Tagus, near Montijo. As of 2024, bridge tolls range from €3.20 (passenger cars) to €13.55 (trucks).

title: Vasco da Gama Bridge


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Lost-wax casting

Lost-wax casting – also called investment casting, precision casting, or cire perdue (borrowed from French) – is the process by which a duplicate sculpture (often a metal, such as silver, gold, brass, or bronze) is cast from an original sculpture. Intricate works can be achieved by this method.

The oldest known examples of this technique are approximately 6,500 years old (4550–4450 BC) and attributed to gold artefacts found at Bulgaria's Varna Necropolis. A copper amulet from Mehrgarh, Indus Valley civilization, in Pakistan, is dated to circa 4,000 BC. Cast copper objects, found in the Nahal Mishmar hoard in southern Israel, which belong to the Chalcolithic period (4500–3500 BC), are estimated, from carbon-14 dating, to date to circa 3500 BC. Other examples from somewhat later periods are from Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC. Lost-wax casting was widespread in Europe until the 18th century, when a piece-moulding process came to predominate.

The steps used in casting small bronze sculptures are fairly standardized, though the process today varies from foundry to foundry (in modern industrial use, the process is called investment casting). Variations of the process include: "lost mould", which recognizes that materials other than wax can be used (such as tallow, resin, tar, and textile); and "waste wax process" (or "waste mould casting"), because the mould is destroyed to remove the cast item.

Process
Casts can be made of the wax model itself, the direct method, or of a wax copy of a model that need not be of wax, the indirect method. These are the steps for the indirect process (the direct method starts at step 7):

 * 1) Model-making. An artist or mould-maker creates an original model from wax, clay, or another material. Wax and oil-based clay are often preferred because these materials retain their softness.
 * 2) Mouldmaking. A mould is made of the original model or sculpture. The rigid outer moulds contain the softer inner mould, which is the exact negative of the original model. Inner moulds are usually made of latex, polyurethane rubber or silicone, which is supported by the outer mould. The outer mould can be made from plaster, but can also be made of fiberglass or other materials. Most moulds are made of at least two pieces, and a shim with keys is placed between the parts during construction so that the mould can be put back together accurately. If there are long, thin pieces extending out of the model, they are often cut off of the original and moulded separately. Sometimes many moulds are needed to recreate the original model, especially for large models.
 * 3) Wax. Once the mould is finished, molten wax is poured into it and swished around until an even coating, usually about 3 mm ($1/8$ inch) thick, covers the inner surface of the mould. This is repeated until the desired thickness is reached. Another method is to fill the entire mould with molten wax and let it cool until a desired thickness has set on the surface of the mould. After this the rest of the wax is poured out again, the mould is turned upside down and the wax layer is left to cool and harden. With this method it is more difficult to control the overall thickness of the wax layer.
 * 4) Removal of wax. This hollow wax copy of the original model is removed from the mould. The model-maker may reuse the mould to make multiple copies, limited only by the durability of the mould.
 * 5) Chasing. Each hollow wax copy is then "chased": a heated metal tool is used to rub out the marks that show the parting line or flashing where the pieces of the mould came together. The wax is dressed to hide any imperfections. The wax now looks like the finished piece. Wax pieces that were moulded separately can now be heated and attached; foundries often use registration marks to indicate exactly where they go.
 * 6) Spruing. The wax copy is sprued with a treelike structure of wax that will eventually provide paths for the molten casting material to flow and for air to escape. The carefully planned spruing usually begins at the top with a wax "cup," which is attached by wax cylinders to various points on the wax copy. The spruing does not have to be hollow, as it will be melted out later in the process.
 * 7) Slurry. A sprued wax copy is dipped into a slurry of silica, then into a sand-like stucco, or dry crystalline silica of a controlled grain size. The slurry and grit combination is called ceramic shell mould material, although it is not literally made of ceramic. This shell is allowed to dry, and the process is repeated until at least a half-inch coating covers the entire piece. The bigger the piece, the thicker the shell needs to be. Only the inside of the cup is not coated, and the cup's flat top serves as the base upon which the piece stands during this process. The core is also filled with fire-proof material.
 * 8) Burnout. The ceramic shell-coated piece is placed cup-down in a kiln, whose heat hardens the silica coatings into a shell, and the wax melts and runs out. The melted wax can be recovered and reused, although it is often simply burned up. Now all that remains of the original artwork is the negative space formerly occupied by the wax, inside the hardened ceramic shell. The feeder, vent tubes and cup are also now hollow.
 * 9) Testing. The ceramic shell is allowed to cool, then is tested to see if water will flow freely through the feeder and vent tubes. Cracks or leaks can be patched with thick refractory paste. To test the thickness, holes can be drilled into the shell, then patched.
 * 10) Pouring. The shell is reheated in the kiln to harden the patches and remove all traces of moisture, then placed cup-upward into a tub filled with sand. Metal is melted in a crucible in a furnace, then poured carefully into the shell. The shell has to be hot because otherwise the temperature difference would shatter it. The filled shells are then allowed to cool.
 * 11) Release. The shell is hammered or sand-blasted away, releasing the rough casting. The sprues, which are also faithfully recreated in metal, are cut off, the material to be reused in another casting.
 * 12) Metal-chasing. Just as the wax copies were chased, the casting is worked until the telltale signs of the casting process are removed, so that the casting now looks like the original model. Pits left by air bubbles in the casting and the stubs of the spruing are filed down and polished.

Prior to silica-based casting moulds, these moulds were made of a variety of other fire-proof materials, the most common being plaster based, with added grout, and clay based. Prior to rubber moulds gelatine was used.

Jewellery and small parts
The methods used for small parts and jewellery vary somewhat from those used for sculpture. A wax model is obtained either from injection into a rubber mould or by being custom-made by carving. The wax or waxes are sprued and fused onto a rubber base, called a "sprue base". Then a metal flask, which resembles a short length of steel pipe that ranges roughly from 3.5 to 15 centimeters tall and wide, is put over the sprue base and the waxes. Most sprue bases have a circular rim which grips the standard-sized flask, holding it in place. Investment (refractory plaster) is mixed and poured into the flask, filling it. It hardens, then is burned out as outlined above. Casting is usually done straight from the kiln either by centrifugal casting or vacuum casting.

The lost-wax process can be used with any material that can burn, melt, or evaporate to leave a mould cavity. Some automobile manufacturers use a lost-foam technique to make engine blocks. The model is made of polystyrene foam, which is placed into a casting flask, consisting of a cope and drag, which is then filled with casting sand. The foam supports the sand, allowing shapes that would be impossible if the process had to rely on the sand alone. The metal is poured in, vaporizing the foam with its heat.

In dentistry, gold crowns, inlays and onlays are made by the lost-wax technique. Application of Lost Wax technique for the fabrication of cast inlay was first reported by Taggart. A typical gold alloy is about 60% gold and 28% silver with copper and other metals making up the rest. Careful attention to tooth preparation, impression taking and laboratory technique are required to make this type of restoration a success. Dental laboratories make other items this way as well.

Textiles
In this process, the wax and the textile are both replaced by the metal during the casting process, whereby the fabric reinforcement allows for a thinner model, and thus reduces the amount of metal expended in the mould. Evidence of this process is seen by the textile relief on the reverse side of objects and is sometimes referred to as "lost-wax, lost textile". This textile relief is visible on gold ornaments from burial mounds in southern Siberia of the ancient horse riding tribes, such as the distinctive group of openwork gold plaques housed in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. The technique may have its origins in the Far East, as indicated by the few Han examples, and the bronze buckle and gold plaques found at the cemetery at Xigou. Such a technique may also have been used to manufacture some Viking Age oval brooches, indicated by numerous examples with fabric imprints such as those of Castletown (Scotland).

Glass sculptures

The lost-wax casting process may also be used in the production of cast glass sculptures. The original sculpture is made from wax. The sculpture is then covered with mold material (e.g., plaster), except for the bottom of the mold which must remain open. When the mold has hardened, the encased sculpture is removed by applying heat to the bottom of the mold. This melts out the wax (the wax is 'lost') and destroys the original sculpture. The mold is then placed in a kiln upside down with a funnel-like cup on top that holds small chunks of glass. When the kiln is brought up to temperature (1450-1530 degrees Fahrenheit), the glass chunks melt and flow down into the mold. Annealing time is usually 3–5 days, and total kiln time is 5 or more days. After the mold is removed from the kiln, the mold material is removed to reveal the sculpture inside.

Black Sea
Cast gold knucklebones, beads, and bracelets, found in graves at Bulgaria's Varna Necropolis, have been dated to approximately 6500 years BP. They are believed to be both some of the oldest known manufactured golden objects, and the oldest objects known to have been made using lost wax casting.

Middle East
Some of the oldest known examples of the lost-wax technique are the objects discovered in the Nahal Mishmar hoard in southern Land of Israel, and which belong to the Chalcolithic period (4500–3500 BC). Conservative Carbon-14 estimates date the items to around 3700 BC, making them more than 5700 years old.

Near East
In Mesopotamia, from c. 3500–2750 BC, the lost-wax technique was used for small-scale, and then later large-scale copper and bronze statues. One of the earliest surviving lost-wax castings is a small lion pendant from Uruk IV. Sumerian metalworkers were practicing lost-wax casting from approximately c. 3500–3200 BC. Much later examples from northeastern Mesopotamia/Anatolia include the Great Tumulus at Gordion (late 8th century BC), as well as other types of Urartian cauldron attachments.

South Asia
The oldest known example of applying the lost-wax technique to copper casting comes from a 6,000-year-old (c. 4000 BC) copper, wheel-shaped amulet found at Mehrgarh, Pakistan.

Metal casting, by the Indus Valley civilization, produced some of the earliest known examples of lost-wax casting applied to the casting of copper alloys, a bronze figurine, found at Mohenjo-daro, and named the "dancing girl", is dated to 2300-1750. Other examples include the buffalo, bull and dog found at Mohenjodaro and Harappa, two copper figures found at the Harappan site Lothal in the district of Ahmedabad of Gujarat, and likely a covered cart with wheels missing and a complete cart with a driver found at Chanhudaro.

During the post-Harappan period, hoards of copper and bronze implements made by the lost-wax process are known from Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Gold and copper ornaments, apparently Hellenistic in style, made by cire perdue were found at the ruins at Sirkap. One example of this Indo-Greek art dates to the 1st century, the juvenile figure of Harpocrates excavated at Taxila. Bronze icons were produced during the 3rd and 4th centuries, such as the Buddha image at Amaravati, and the images of Rama and Kartikeya in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. A further two bronze images of Parsvanatha and a small hollow-cast bull came from Sahribahlol, Gandhara, and a standing Tirthankara (2nd~3rd century) from Chausa in Bihar should be mentioned here as well. Other notable bronze figures and images have been found in Rupar, Mathura (in Uttar Pradesh) and Brahmapura, Maharashtra.

Gupta and post-Gupta period bronze figures have been recovered from the following sites: Saranath, Mirpur-Khas (in Pakistan), Sirpur (District of Raipur), Balaighat (near Mahasthan now in Bangladesh), Akota (near Vadodara, Gujarat), Vasantagadh, Chhatarhi, Barmer and Chambi (in Rajesthan). The bronze casting technique and making of bronze images of traditional icons reached a high stage of development in South India during the medieval period. Although bronze images were modelled and cast during the Pallava Period in the eighth and ninth centuries, some of the most beautiful and exquisite statues were produced during the Chola Period in Tamil Nadu from the tenth to the twelfth century. The technique and art of fashioning bronze images is still skillfully practised in South India, particularly in Kumbakonam. The distinguished patron during the tenth century was the widowed Chola queen, Sembiyan Maha Devi. Chola bronzes are the most soughtafter collectors’ items by art lovers all over the world. The technique was used throughout India, as well as in the neighbouring countries Nepal, Tibet, Ceylon, Burma and Siam.

Southeast Asia
The inhabitants of Ban Na Di were casting bronze from c. 1200 BC to 200 AD, using the lost-wax technique to manufacture bangles. Bangles made by the lost-wax process are characteristic of northeast Thailand. Some of the bangles from Ban Na Di revealed a dark grey substance between the central clay core and the metal, which on analysis was identified as an unrefined form of insect wax. It is likely that decorative items, like bracelets and rings, were made by cire perdue at Non Nok Tha and Ban Chiang. There are technological and material parallels between northeast Thailand and Vietnam concerning the lost-wax technique. The sites exhibiting artifacts made by the lost-mould process in Vietnam, such as the Dong Son drums, come from the Dong Son, and Phung Nguyen cultures, such as one sickle and the figure of a seated individual from Go Mun (near Phung Nguyen, the Bac Bo Region), dating to the Go Mun phase (end of the General B period, up until the 7th century BC).

West Africa
Cast bronzes are known to have been produced in Africa by the 9th century AD in Igboland (Igbo-Ukwu) in Nigeria, the 12th century AD in Yorubaland (Ife) and the 15th century AD in the kingdom of Benin. Some portrait heads remain. Benin mastered bronze during the 16th century, produced portraiture and reliefs in the metal using the lost wax process.

Egypt
The Egyptians were practicing cire perdue from the mid 3rd millennium BC, shown by Early Dynastic bracelets and gold jewellery. Inserted spouts for ewers (copper water vessels) from the Fourth Dynasty (Old Kingdom) were made by the lost-wax method. Hollow castings, such as the Louvre statuette from the Fayum find appeared during the Middle Kingdom, followed by solid cast statuettes (like the squatting, nursing mother, in Brooklyn) of the Second Intermediate/Early New Kingdom. The hollow casting of statues is represented in the New Kingdom by the kneeling statue of Tuthmosis IV (British Museum, London) and the head fragment of Ramesses V (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge). Hollow castings become more detailed and continue into the Eighteenth Dynasty, shown by the black bronze kneeling figure of Tutankhamun (Museum of the University of Pennsylvania). Cire Perdue is used in mass-production during the Late Period to Graeco-Roman times when figures of deities were cast for personal devotion and votive temple offerings. Nude female-shaped handles on bronze mirrors were cast by the lost-wax process.

Mediterranean
The lost-wax technique came to be known in the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age. It was a major metalworking technique utilized in the ancient Mediterranean world, notably during the Classical period of Greece for large-scale bronze statuary and in the Roman world.

Direct imitations and local derivations of Oriental, Syro-Palestinian and Cypriot figurines are found in Late Bronze Age Sardinia, with a local production of figurines from the 11th to 10th century BC. The cremation graves (mainly 8th-7th centuries BC, but continuing until the beginning of the 4th century) from the necropolis of Paularo (Italian Oriental Alps) contained fibulae, pendants and other copper-based objects that were made by the lost-wax process. Etruscan examples, such as the bronze anthropomorphic handle from the Bocchi collection (National Archaeological Museum of Adria), dating back to the 6th to 5th centuries BC, were made by cire perdue. Most of the handles in the Bocchi collection, as well as some bronze vessels found in Adria (Rovigo, Italy) were made using the lost-wax technique. The better known lost-wax produced items from the classical world include the "Praying Boy" c. 300 BC (in the Berlin Museum), the statue of Hera from Vulci (Etruria), which, like most statues, was cast in several parts which were then joined. Geometric bronzes such as the four copper horses of San Marco (Venice, probably 2nd century) are other prime examples of statues cast in many parts.

Examples of works made using the lost-wax casting process in Ancient Greece largely are unavailable due to the common practice in later periods of melting down pieces to reuse their materials. Much of the evidence for these products come from shipwrecks. As underwater archaeology became feasible, artifacts lost to the sea became more accessible. Statues like the Artemision Bronze Zeus or Poseidon (found near Cape Artemision), as well as the Victorious Youth (found near Fano), are two such examples of Greek lost-wax bronze statuary that were discovered underwater.

Some Late Bronze Age sites in Cyprus have produced cast bronze figures of humans and animals. One example is the male figure found at Enkomi. Three objects from Cyprus (held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) were cast by the lost-wax technique from the 13th and 12th centuries BC, namely, the amphorae rim, the rod tripod, and the cast tripod.

Other, earlier examples that show this assembly of lost-wax cast pieces include the bronze head of the Chatsworth Apollo and the bronze head of Aphrodite from Satala (Turkey) from the British Museum.

East Asia
There is great variability in the use of the lost-wax method in East Asia. The casting method to make bronzes till the early phase of Eastern Zhou (770-256 ) was almost invariably section-mold process. Starting from around 600, there was an unmistakable rise of lost-wax casting in the central plains of China, first witnessed in the Chu cultural sphere. Further investigations have revealed this not to be the case as it is clear that the piece-mould casting method was the principal technique used to manufacture bronze vessels in China. The lost-wax technique did not appear in northern China until the 6th century BC. Lost-wax casting is known as rōgata in Japanese, and dates back to the Yayoi period, c. 200 BC. The most famous piece made by cire perdue is the bronze image of Buddha in the temple of the Todaiji monastery at Nara. It was made in sections between 743 and 749, allegedly using seven tons of wax.

Northern Europe
The Dunaverney (1050–910 BC) and Little Thetford (1000–701 BC) flesh-hooks have been shown to be made using a lost-wax process. The Little Thetford flesh-hook, in particular, employed distinctly inventive construction methods. The intricate Gloucester Candlestick (1104–1113 AD) was made as a single-piece wax model, then given a complex system of gates and vents before being invested in a mould.

Americas
The lost-wax casting tradition was developed by the peoples of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, northwest Venezuela, Andean America, and the western portion of South America. Lost-wax casting produced some of the region's typical gold wire and delicate wire ornament, such as fine ear ornaments. The process was employed in prehispanic times in Colombia's Muisca and Sinú cultural areas. Two lost-wax moulds, one complete and one partially broken, were found in a shaft and chamber tomb in the vereda of Pueblo Tapado in the municipio of Montenegro (Department of Quindío), dated roughly to the pre-Columbian period. The lost-wax method did not appear in Mexico until the 10th century, and was thereafter used in western Mexico to make a wide range of bell forms.

Indirect evidence

Some early literary works allude to lost-wax casting. Columella, a Roman writer of the 1st century AD, mentions the processing of wax from beehives in De Re Rustica, perhaps for casting, as does Pliny the Elder, who details a sophisticated procedure for making Punic wax. One Greek inscription refers to the payment of craftsmen for their work on the Erechtheum in Athens (408/7–407/6 BC). Clay-modellers may use clay moulds to make terracotta negatives for casting or to produce wax positives. Pliny portrays as a well-reputed ancient artist producing bronze statues, and describes Lysistratos of Sikyon, who takes plaster casts from living faces to create wax casts using the indirect process.

Many bronze statues or parts of statues in antiquity were cast using the lost wax process. Theodorus of Samos is commonly associated with bronze casting. Pliny also mentions the use of lead, which is known to help molten bronze flow into all areas and parts of complex moulds. Quintilian documents the casting of statues in parts, whose moulds may have been produced by the lost wax process. Scenes on the early-5th century BC Berlin Foundry Cup depict the creation of bronze statuary working, probably by the indirect method of lost-wax casting.

India
The lost-wax method is well documented in ancient Indian literary sources. The Shilpa Shastras, a text from the Gupta Period (c. 320–550 AD), contains detailed information about casting images in metal. The 5th-century AD Vishnusamhita, an appendix to the Vishnu Purana, refers directly to the modeling of wax for making metal objects in chapter XIV: "if an image is to be made of metal, it must first be made of wax." Chapter 68 of the ancient Sanskrit text Mānasāra Silpa details casting idols in wax and is entitled Maduchchhista Vidhānam, or the "lost wax method". The 12th century text Mānasollāsa, allegedly written by King Someshvara III of the Western Chalukya Empire, also provides detail about lost-wax and other casting processes.

In a 16th-century treatise, the Uttarabhaga of the Śilparatna written by Srïkumāra, verses 32 to 52 of Chapter 2 ("Linga Lakshanam"), give detailed instructions on making a hollow casting.

Theophilus
An early medieval writer Theophilus Presbyter, believed to be the Benedictine monk and metalworker Roger of Helmarshausen, wrote a treatise in the early-to-mid-12th century that includes original work and copied information from other sources, such as the Mappae clavicula and Eraclius, De dolorous et artibus Romanorum. It provides step-by-step procedures for making various articles, some by lost-wax casting: "The Copper Wind Chest and Its Conductor" (Chapter 84); "Tin Cruets" (Chapter 88), and "Casting Bells" (Chapter 85), which call for using "tallow" instead of wax; and "The Cast Censer". In Chapters 86 and 87 Theophilus details how to divide the wax into differing ratios before moulding and casting to achieve accurately tuned small musical bells. The 16th-century Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini may have used Theophilus' writings when he cast his bronze Perseus with the Head of Medusa.

America
The Spanish writer Releigh (1596) in brief account refers to Aztec casting.

title: Lost-wax casting


text:
Talk:Tod H. Mikuriya

Update
Update: Tod Mikuriya passed away this morning, I will update his article to reflect this when I get a chance to think about what to say... 5/20/2007

Sorry, no more time to work on this now. I was starting to write something like this:

 * Mikuriya's controversial views have occasionally brought him into conflict with authorities. In 1996, California's Proposition 215 passed, apparently legalizing marijuana for some medical uss in California (for the complex legal issues, see Medical marijuana). Following passage, Mikuriya approved and monitored its use by more than 7,000 patients, most of them seen at ad hoc clinics arranged by cannabis clubs in rural counties. Mikuriya's practice is particularly controversial because many California doctors who approve cannabis do so only for terminal conditions; Mikuriya has approved it to alleviate physical or emotional pain.) ...

In 2003 and 2004 he was apparently charged by the California medical board of failing to follow proper standards of care in 17 cases and was in danger of losing his license. There's quite a bit of this about this on the Net but I still haven't found out how it all turned out! Does anyone have a) a succinct description of the whole story, and one that is preferably not exclusively based on accounts from the pro-marijuana-legalization organizations? [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 12:05, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)

npov
Seems pretty obviously biased. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.254.20.154 (talk) 02:23, 19 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry, but that's not an adequate explanation. Viriditas (talk) 09:24, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

Tod Mikuriya's sisters, Mary Jane and Beverly, have chosen the National Institute of Health's National Library of Medicine to house Dr. Mikuriya's archives. Story by Mary Jane Mikuriya in O'Shaughnessy's Summer 2009 issue at: http://www.pcmd4u.org/OShaughnessys/New_Issue_files/Summer%2009%201-28_2.pdf —Preceding unsigned comment added by Doctorfranklucido (talk • contribs) 06:39, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

title: Talk:Tod H. Mikuriya


text:
Category:Dispute resolution

Dispute resolution is the process of resolving disputes between parties and includes lawsuits (litigation), arbitration, mediation, conciliation, and many types of negotiation. Violence could theoretically be included as part of this spectrum, but it is usually not, because it is usually illegal to use violence to resolve disputes (Just War theory excepted).

For dispute resolution in Wikipedia see Category:Wikipedia dispute resolution

title: Category:Dispute resolution


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Flying shuttle

The flying shuttle is a type of weaving shuttle. It was a pivotal advancement in the mechanisation of weaving during the initial stages of the Industrial Revolution, and facilitated the weaving of considerably broader fabrics, enabling the production of wider textiles. Moreover, its mechanical implementation paved the way for the introduction of automatic machine looms.

The brainchild of John Kay, the flying shuttle received a patent in the year 1733. Its implementation brought about an acceleration of the previously manual weaving process and resulted in a significant reduction in the required labour force. Formerly, a broad-cloth loom necessitated the presence of a weaver on each side, but with the advent of the flying shuttle, a solitary operator could handle the task proficiently. Prior to this breakthrough, the textile industry relied upon the coordination of four spinners to support a single weaver.

The widespread adoption of the flying shuttle by the 1750s dramatically exacerbated this labour imbalance, marking a notable shift in textile production dynamics.

History
The history of this device is difficult to accurately ascertain due to poor documentation at the time. Nonetheless, there are two general schools of thought around this: first those that believe that it appears to have been invented in the region of Languedoc of southern France (one year before its introduction in England), but was destroyed by state cloth inspectors of the rent-seeking Ancien Regime; second, those that believe it simply originated where it was industrialized, that is in England.

Operation
In a typical frame loom, as used previous to the invention of the flying shuttle, the operator sat with the newly woven cloth before them, using treadles or some other mechanism to raise and lower the heddles, which opened the shed in the warp threads. They then had to reach forward while holding the shuttle in one hand and pass this through the shed; the shuttle carried a bobbin for the weft. The shuttle then had to be caught in the other hand, the shed closed, and the beater pulled forward to push the weft into place. This action (called a "pick") required regularly bending forward over the fabric. More importantly, the coordination between the throwing and catching of the shuttle required that the weaver was weaving narrow cloth (typically 60 in or less). If the loom was for weaving broad cloth multiple weavers were needed. One to operate the treadles, one on the left side at the shed, and one on the right side at the shed. These two reached across the loom, through the shed, passing the shuttle back and forth.

The flying shuttle employs a board, called the "race," which runs, side to side, along the front of the beater, forming a track on which the shuttle runs. The lower threads of the shed rest on the track and the shuttle slides over them. At each end of the race, there is a box which catches the shuttle at the end of its journey, and which contains a mechanism for propelling the shuttle on its return trip. The shuttle itself has some subtle differences from the older form. The ends of the shuttle are bullet-shaped and metal-capped, and the shuttle generally has rollers to reduce friction. The weft thread is made to exit from the end rather than the side, and the thread is stored on a pirn (a long, conical, one-ended, non-turning bobbin) to allow it to feed more easily. Finally, the flying shuttle is generally somewhat heavier, so as to have sufficient momentum to carry it all the way through the shed.

Social effects
The increase in production due to the flying shuttle exceeded the capacity of the spinning industry of the day and prompted the development of powered spinning machines. Beginning with the spinning jenny and the waterframe until ultimately culminating in the spinning mule, which could produce strong, fine thread in the quantities needed these innovations transformed the textile industry in Great Britain. The innovation was seen as a threat to the livelihood of spinners & weavers, which resulted in an uprising that had Kay's patent largely ignored. It is often incorrectly written that Kay was attacked and fled to France, but in fact he simply moved there to attempt to rent out his looms, a business model that had failed him in England.

The flying shuttle produced a new source of injuries to the weaving process; if deflected from its path, it could be shot clear of the machine, potentially striking and injuring workers. Turn-of-the-century injury reports abound with instances in which eyes were lost or other injuries sustained and, in several instances (for example, an extended exchange in 1901), the British House of Commons was moved to take up the issue of installing guards and other contrivances to reduce these injuries.

Obsolescence
The flying shuttle dominated commercial weaving through the middle of the twentieth century. However, by that time, other systems had begun to replace it. The heavy shuttle was noisy and energy-inefficient (since the energy used to throw it was largely lost in the catching); also, its inertia limited the speed of the loom. Projectile and rapier looms eliminated the need to take the bobbin/pirn of thread through the shed; later, air- and water-jet looms reduced the weight of moving parts further. Flying shuttle looms are still used for some purposes, and old models remain in use.

title: Flying shuttle


text:
Acoustic mirror

An acoustic mirror is a passive device used to reflect and focus (concentrate) sound waves. Parabolic acoustic mirrors are widely used in parabolic microphones to pick up sound from great distances, employed in surveillance and reporting of outdoor sporting events. Pairs of large parabolic acoustic mirrors which function as "whisper galleries" are displayed in science museums to demonstrate sound focusing.

Between the World Wars, before the invention of radar, parabolic sound mirrors were used experimentally as early-warning devices by military air defence forces to detect incoming enemy aircraft by listening for the sound of their engines.

During World War II on the coast of southern England, a network of large concrete acoustic mirrors was in the process of being built when the project was cancelled owing to the development of the Chain Home radar system. Some of these mirrors are still standing today.

Acoustic aircraft detection
Before World War II and the invention of radar, acoustic mirrors were built as early warning devices around the coasts of Great Britain, with the aim of detecting incoming enemy aircraft by the sound of their engines. The most famous of these devices still stand at Denge on the Dungeness peninsula and at Hythe in Kent. Other examples exist in other parts of Britain (including Sunderland, Redcar, Boulby, Kilnsea and Selsey Bill), and Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq in Malta. The Maltese sound mirror is known locally as "the ear" (il-Widna).

The Dungeness mirrors, known colloquially as the "listening ears", consist of three large concrete reflectors built in the 1920s–1930s. Their experimental nature can be discerned by the different shapes of each of the three reflectors: one is a long curved wall about 5 m high by 70 m long, while the other two are dish-shaped constructions approximately 4 - 5 m in diameter. Microphones placed at the foci of the reflectors enabled a listener to detect the sound of aircraft far out over the English Channel. The reflectors are not parabolic, but are actually spherical mirrors. Spherical mirrors can be used for direction finding by moving the sensor rather than the mirror; another unusual example was the Arecibo Observatory.

Acoustic mirrors had a limited effectiveness, and the increasing speed of aircraft in the 1930s meant that they would already be too close to engage by the time they had been detected. The development of radar put an end to further experimentation with the technique. Nevertheless, there were long-lasting benefits. The acoustic mirror programme, led by Dr William Sansome Tucker, had given Britain the methodology to use interconnected stations to pinpoint the position of an enemy in the sky.

The system they developed for linking the stations and plotting aircraft movements was given to the early radar team and contributed to their success in World War II.

Modern uses
Parabolic acoustic mirrors called "whisper dishes" are used as participatory exhibits in science museums to demonstrate focusing of sound. Examples are located at Bristol's We The Curious, Ontario Science Centre, Albuquerque's ¡Explora!, Baltimore's Maryland Science Center, Oklahoma City's Science Museum Oklahoma, San Francisco's Exploratorium, the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Jodrell Bank Observatory, St. Louis Science Center, Parkes Observatory in Australia and on the north campus lawn of North Carolina State University.

A pair of dishes, typically 2 to 3 m in diameter, is installed facing each other, separated by around a hundred metres. A person standing at the focus of one can hear another person speaking in a whisper at the focus of the other, despite the wide separation between them.

Parabolic microphones depend on a parabolic dish to reflect sound coming from a specific direction into the microphone placed at the focus. They are extremely directional: sensitive to sounds coming from a specific direction. However, they generally have poor bass response because a dish small enough to be portable cannot focus long wavelengths (= low frequencies).

Small portable parabolic microphones are used to record wildlife sounds such as bird song, in televised sports events to pick up the conversations of players, such as in the huddle during American Football games, or to record the sounds of the sport, and in audio surveillance to record speech without the knowledge of the speaker.

Locations

Acoustic aircraft detection mirrors are known to have been built at:
 * Denge, Kent
 * Abbot's Cliff, Kent (at OS grid reference TR27083867)
 * Boulby, Yorkshire
 * Dover, Kent, at Fan Bay (OS grid reference TR352428)
 * Hartlepool, County Durham, in the Clavering area
 * Hythe, Kent
 * Malta – five sound mirrors were planned for Malta, serialled alphabetically, but only the Magħtab wall is known to have been built:
 * A. Il-Widna, "the ear": Magħtab
 * B. Zonkor
 * C. Ta Karach
 * D. Ta Zura
 * E. Tal Merhla
 * Joss Gap, Kent
 * Kilnsea, Yorkshire
 * Leros, Greece
 * Redcar, Yorkshire
 * Seaham, County Durham
 * Selsey, Sussex – converted into a residence
 * Sunderland, at Namey Hill (OS grid reference NZ38945960 )
 * Warden Point, Isle of Sheppey, Kent – the Warden Point mirror, sited on a cliff-top, fell onto the beach below ca 1978-9

Modern acoustic mirrors built for entertainment
 * Pennypot, Royal Military Canal
 * Wat Tyler country park, near Pitsea, Essex – modern sculpture in the form of functional sonic mirrors
 * The Brickyard (NC State) – North Carolina State University campus
 * Discovery Green in downtown Houston has a sculpture made of limestone called the Listening Vessels.
 * Very Large Array – Socorro County, New Mexico Visitor's Center has a 'whispering gallery' pair of dishes

title: Acoustic mirror


text: Category:Swiss Air Force

title: Category:Swiss Air Force


text:
Yakovlev Yak-36

The Yakovlev Yak-36, also known as Izdeliye V, (NATO reporting name "Freehand") is a Soviet technology demonstrator for a VTOL combat aircraft.

Design and development
From 1960, the Yakovlev Design Bureau began work on a VTOL system, using the compact and lightweight Tumansky RU-19-300 turbojet engine, drafting a proposal for the Yak-104, a converted Yak-30 jet trainer with two vertically mounted Ru-19 engines between the inlet ducts of the standard Yak-30 powerplant. Work on the Yak-104 was terminated in favour of an aircraft with a single lift/cruise engine with rotating nozzles, similar to the Hawker Siddeley P.1127, which was nearing completion in England. Unable to find a suitable engine or convince the government to order the development of one, the Yakovlev bureau was forced to follow a different course.

In response to a contract for the development of a single-seat V/STOL fighter in 1961, Yakovlev proposed a twin-engined aircraft with a large nose air intake, engines in the forward fuselage and swivelling exhaust nozzles, one for each engine on either side of the lower fuselage near the centre of gravity of the aircraft. The fighter version was not proceeded with but four technology demonstrators, (initially designated Izdeliye V) based on the fighter studies were ordered.

Four prototypes were completed, one of which was used only for static testing. The second was used for takeoff and landing tests, including free hovering. The third incorporated improvements found in testing, including an improved autopilot which automatically selected optimal air flow for hover stability. This prototype crashed, but was later rebuilt. The fourth prototype crashed in February 1971 and was not rebuilt.

Construction
The airframe had a semi-monocoque fuselage with bicycle-type landing gear, short cropped delta wings of 37° leading edge sweep, with 5° anhedral, attached to the fuselage in a mid position. The fuselage was substantial forward of the wing trailing edges, due to accommodating the engines, cockpit, fuel tanks and equipment bays as close to the centre of gravity as possible, tapering sharply to the swept tail surfaces with a high-set tailplane. Control of the aircraft was by conventional rudder, ailerons and elevators in normal flight and by compressed engine bleed air blown from control nozzles at the wingtips, rear fuselage tip and at the end of a long boom extending forwards from the top lip of the air intakes.

Two underwing hard points could carry bombs, podded machine guns or rocket pods, but the Yak-36 had insufficient excess thrust and range for effective use as a combat aircraft.

Operational history
The first tethered hover flight took place on 9 January 1963. There were initial problems with hot gas reingestion where hot exhaust gasses are sucked back into the intakes causing poor airflow through the engines and loss of thrust. The suction effect of the exhaust on the ground (which made a higher engine power needed) and problems with control systems caused further difficulties. After modifications, the first untethered vertical flight was made on 23 June 1963, followed by the first full transition to horizontal flight on 16 September 1963.

On 24 March 1966, the first complete flight was made from vertical takeoff transition to horizontal flight deceleration to vertical flight and vertical landing. After much testing and practice the first public presentation of the Yak-36 was made on 9 July 1967 at an air show at Moscow-Domodedovo airport, marking the 50th Anniversary of the October Revolution. After the promising results obtained from the flight test programme of the Yak-36, the next development step was the Yakovlev Yak-36M which flew for the first time on 27 September 1970.

Operators

 * Soviet Air Force
 * Soviet Air Force

Aircraft on display
The second Yak-36 prototype, b/n 35, is now on display at the Central Air Force Museum at Monino, outside Moscow, Russia.

title: Yakovlev Yak-36


text:
Jenny Nyström

Jenny Eugenia Nyström (13 or 15 June 1854 in Kalmar, Sweden – 17 January 1946 in Stockholm) was a painter and illustrator mainly known as the creator of the Swedish image of the jultomte on Christmas cards and magazine covers, thus linking the Swedish version of Santa Claus to the gnomes and tomtar of Scandinavian folklore.

Background
Her father was a school teacher and piano teacher, and also the cantor of the Kalmar Castle Church. When Jenny Nyström was eight years old, the family moved to Gothenburg, where her father had found a better paying teaching job.

She studied at the Kjellbergska flickskolan. In 1865 she started in the Gothenburg art school Göteborgs Musei-, Rit- och Målarskola, today known as Konsthögskolan Valand, and in 1873 she was admitted to the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm, where she studied for eight years. Thanks to a scholarship, this was followed by studies in Paris 1882–1886, at Académie Colarossi and Académie Julian.

Career

While in Paris, Nyström discovered the booming postcard market, and tried to persuade the Swedish publishing house Bonnier to start producing postcards, but they declined. Lille Viggs äventyr på julafton ("Little Vigg's Adventures on Christmas Eve"), written by the author Viktor Rydberg inspired Nyström. She made drawings accompanying this tale. Viktor Rydberg saw them and suggested the Bonniers publishing company to release the book. After they declined, publisher S. A. Hedlund released it in 1871. The short Christmas tale for all ages was widely printed and has since become a Christmas classic in Sweden. Jenny Nyström eventually became Sweden's most productive painter and illustrator. For many years, her illustrations were distributed by Strålin & Persson AB in Falun.

In 1887, at the age of 33, she married medical student Daniel Stoopendaal (1853-1927), brother of fellow artists Henrik Wilhelm Johan Stoopendaal (1846 - 1906), Ferdinand Jacob Stoopendaal (1850-), and Georg Vilhelm Stoopendaal (1866-1953). Due to tuberculosis Daniel was never able to finish his studies and take up his intended profession. It was instead up to Jenny to support herself, her husband and their son through her artistry, while Daniel handled her business affairs. He died in 1927.

In 1933 her son, Curt Nyström Stoopendahl (1893-1965), followed in her footsteps and also became a popular postcard and poster artist, staying very close to his mother's artistic style. Even his signature, "Curt Nyström", looked like his mother's. Likewise, her brother-in-law, Georg Stoopendaal, already in the beginning of the 19th century found postcards to be a good source of income, unlike his more serious paintings, and his Christmas cards are also clearly inspired by Jenny Nyström's.

Santa Claus and Christmas
Nyström created the Swedish image of the jultomte on numerous Christmas cards and magazine covers, thus linking the Swedish version of Santa Claus to the gnomes of Scandinavian folklore.

Selected illustrations

 * Fornnordiska sagor, Albert Ulrik Bååth, author (1886) (early Norse tales)
 * Den poetiska Eddan, Nils Frederick Sander, author (1893) (the poetic Edda)
 * Barnkammarens Bok (Stockholm: Fahlcrantz & Co. 1903) (the nursery book)

Other sources

 * Forsberg Warringer, Gunnel Jenny Nyström: konstnärinna (1992)
 * Forsberg Warringer, Gunnel Jenny Nyström: målaren och illustratören (1996)

title: Jenny Nyström


text:
Mackensen-class battlecruiser

The Mackensen class was the last class of battlecruisers to be built by Germany in World War I. The design initially called for seven ships, but three of them were redesigned as the Ersatz Yorck-class battlecruiser. Of the four ships of the Mackensen class, Mackensen, Graf Spee, and Prinz Eitel Friedrich were launched, and Fürst Bismarck was not—but none were completed, after wartime shipbuilding priorities were redirected towards U-boats—and the ships were broken up in the early 1920s. The lead ship of the class was named for August von Mackensen, a prominent military commander during the war. In response to the Mackensen-class ships, the British Royal Navy laid down the Admiral-class battlecruisers, all but one of which would eventually be cancelled; the sole survivor, HMS Hood (51), was completed after the end of the war.

The design of the Mackensens was a much improved version of the previous Derfflinger-class battlecruiser. The most significant improvement was a new, more powerful 35 cm gun, compared to the 30.5 cm gun of the earlier ships. The Mackensen-class ships also featured more powerful engines that gave the ships a higher top speed and a significantly greater cruising range. The Mackensen design provided the basis for the subsequent Ersatz Yorck class, armed with 38 cm main-battery guns, after the Battle of Jutland in 1916 made the need for the larger guns clear.

Design
The fourth and final Naval Law, passed in 1912, governed the building program of the German navy during World War I. The Imperial Naval Office (Reichsmarineamt) decided the Navy should construct one battleship and one battlecruiser every year between 1913 and 1917, with an additional unit of both types in 1913 and 1916. Design work on the new class began in 1912, with construction intended to begin in the 1914 budget year. The question about the main battery for the new battlecruisers was the most pressing; the previous Derfflinger-class battlecruiser was armed with 30.5 cm guns, though some consideration had been given to redesigning the last two ships—SMS Lützow and SMS Hindenburg—with 35 cm guns.

The 35 cm guns were heavier than the 30.5 cm guns, and there were problems with enlarging the new ships to accommodate the heavier armament. The Imperial dry docks were deep enough only for ships with a draft of 9 m, and simply accepting an increased displacement on the same hull as the Derfflinger class would entail a reduction in speed. This meant that an increase in displacement would necessitate a longer and wider hull to keep any increases in draft minimal and avoid reducing the speed. The constraints on enlarging the hull were compounded by restrictions on width imposed by the locks of the canal in Wilhelmshaven. As a result, Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz, the head of the RMA, prohibited a design displacement greater than 30,000 t.

The initial design was approved on 30 September 1912, though the heads of the General Navy Department—Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Günther von Krosigk and Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Reinhard Scheer—and the Weapons Department head, Vizeadmiral Gerhard Gerdes, had to submit any revisions they deemed were necessary. The design staff suggested using triple or even quadruple gun turrets to keep the displacement under the 30,000-ton limit. Another suggested alternative was to use six 38 cm (15 in) guns in twin turrets, one forward and two aft; Wilhelm II accepted that design on 2 May 1913, though Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, the commander in chief of the High Seas Fleet, preferred the 30.5 cm gun of the Derfflinger-class ships. As a compromise, the new battlecruisers were to be armed with eight 35 cm (13.8 inch) guns.

The question of whether the new ships should be powered entirely by oil-fired boilers was less controversial. The design staff was generally in agreement with the standard practice of using coal-fired boilers for two-thirds of the power plant, with the remainder being oil-fired boilers. Coal-fired boilers were preferred because the coal, stored in the sides of the ship, provided additional protection, particularly for the battlecruisers, which carried less armor than their battleship counterparts. The finalized design was approved on 23 May 1914.

General characteristics

The Mackensen-class ships were 223 m long and had a beam of 30.4 m and a draft of 9.3 m forward and 8.4 m aft. The ships were designed to displace 31,000 t on a standard load, and up to 35,300 t fully laden. The Mackensens' hulls were composed of longitudinal steel frames, over which the outer hull plates were riveted. This was the same type of construction as in the preceding Derfflinger-class battlecruisers, and was intended to save weight compared to the traditional method of construction, which incorporated both longitudinal and transverse frames. The ships' hulls contained 18 watertight compartments and a double bottom that ran for 92 percent of the length of the hull. This was significantly greater than the older Derfflinger-class ships, which had a double bottom for only 65 percent of the length of the hull.

Experience with previous battlecruiser designs led to the adoption of a continuous upper deck, which raised the level of the deck aft. This was necessary because the aft decks of earlier designs were usually awash when steaming at high speed, even in calm seas. The ships were also equipped with a bulbous bow to reduce drag on the hull, the first time the feature was used in the German Navy. The ships as designed required a crew of 46 officers and 1,140 enlisted sailors. Service as a squadron flagship would increase that number by an additional 14 officers and 62 sailors. The vessels carried a number of small boats, including two picket boats, one barge, two launches, two cutters, and three yawls.

Machinery
The ships of the Mackensen class were equipped with four sets of marine-type turbine engines, each of which drove a three-bladed screw propeller that was 4.2 m in diameter. The turbines mounted in Fürst Bismarck were equipped with Föttinger fluid transmission, while those on the other three ships were two sets of direct-coupled turbines with geared transmissions. The ships had 24 coal-fired marine-type single ended boilers and eight oil-fired marine-type boilers. The power plants were designed to provide 90000 PS and 295 revolutions per minute. Maximum speed was rated at 28 kn. The ships were equipped with a pair of rudders mounted side by side, as opposed to the tandem rudders used on the Derfflinger-class ships.

The ships' turbines were equipped with Föttinger gears, which significantly improved performance at cruising speeds and provided a corresponding increase in range of about 20 percent. The vessels were designed to store 800 t of coal and 250 t of oil in purpose-built storage spaces; the hull areas between the torpedo bulkhead and the outer wall of the ship were used to store additional fuel. Maximum fuel capacity was 4,000 t of coal and 2,000 t of oil. This was estimated to give a range of up to about 8,000 nmi at a cruising speed of 14 kn. Electrical power on the vessels was provided by eight diesel generators that put out 2,320 kilowatts at 220 volts.

Armament

The Mackensens were equipped with a main battery of eight new 35 cm SK L/45 guns in four twin gun turrets. The turrets were mounted in superfiring pairs fore and aft of the main superstructure. The guns were placed in Drh LC/1914 mountings, which could elevate to 20 degrees and depress to −5 degrees. The guns were supplied with a total of 720 armor-piercing shells, or 90 per gun. The weapons were designed to fire 600 kg (1,323 lb) shells at a rate of fire of around 2.5 shots per minute. The shells were fired with a muzzle velocity of 820 m/s. As with other heavy German guns, these weapons used a fore propellant charge in a silk bag with a main charge in a brass case. These guns could hit targets out to a maximum distance of 23300 m.

The ships' secondary battery consisted of fourteen 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 quick-firing guns mounted in armored casemates along the central superstructure. Each gun was supplied with 160 rounds, and had a maximum range of 13500 m, though this was later extended to 16800 m. The guns had a sustained rate of fire of 7 rounds per minute. The shells were 45.3 kg (99.8 lb), and were loaded with a 13.7 kg (31.2 lb) RPC/12 propellant charge in a brass cartridge. The guns fired at a muzzle velocity of 835 meters per second (2,740 ft/s). The guns were expected to fire around 1,400 shells before they needed to be replaced.

The ships were also armed with eight 8.8 cm (3.45 in) L/45 Flak guns in single pedestal mounts. Four were arranged around the rear superfiring main battery turret and the other four around the forward conning tower. The Flak guns were emplaced in MPL C/13 mountings, which allowed depression to −10 degrees and elevation to 70 degrees. These guns fired 9 kg (19.8 lb) shells, and had an effective ceiling of 9150 m at 70 degrees.

As was standard for warships of the period, the Mackensens were equipped with submerged torpedo tubes. There were five 60 cm tubes: one in the bow, and two on each flank of the ship. The torpedoes were the H8 type, which were 9 m long and carried a 210 kg (463 lb) Hexanite warhead. The torpedoes had a range of 8000 m when set at a speed of 35 kn; at a reduced speed of 28 kn, the range increased significantly to 15000 m.

Armor
The Mackensen-class ships were protected with Krupp cemented steel armor, as was the standard for German warships of the period. Specific figures for the arrangement of the armor layout have not survived, but according to naval historian Erich Gröner "The outfit of Krupp armour was similar to that of the [preceding] Derfflinger class". The figures listed here are those for the Derfflinger class. They had an armor belt of 300 mm thickness in the central citadel of the ship, where the most important parts of the vessel were located. This included the ammunition magazines and the machinery spaces. The belt was reduced in less critical areas, to 120 mm forward and 100 mm aft. The belt tapered down to 30 mm at the bow, though the stern was not protected by armor at all. A 45 mm torpedo bulkhead ran the length of the hull, several meters behind the main belt. The main armored deck ranged in thickness from 30 mm in less important areas to 80 mm in the sections that covered the more critical areas of the ship.

The forward conning tower was protected with heavy armor: the sides were 300 mm thick and the roof was 130 mm. The rear conning tower was less well armored; its sides were only 200 mm, and the roof was covered with 50 mm of armor plate. The main battery gun turrets were also heavily armored: the turret sides were 270 mm and the roofs were 110 mm. The 15 cm guns had 150 mm worth of armor plating in the casemates; the guns themselves had 70 mm shields to protect their crews from shell splinters.

Construction and cancellation
Seven ships were originally planned in the class: Mackensen, Graf Spee, Prinz Eitel Friedrich, "A"/Ersatz Friedrich Carl, and three other vessels. The last three ships were redesigned as the Ersatz Yorck-class battlecruiser, leaving four ships to be built to the Mackensen design. The first two ships were ordered on 14 August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I. Mackensen was funded through the 1914 budget, while funding for Graf Spee came from the war budget. Mackensen—ordered under the provisional name Ersatz Victoria Louise, as a replacement for the old protected cruiser SMS Victoria Louise—was named after Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) August von Mackensen. The ship was laid down on 30 January 1915 at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, under construction number 240. She was launched on 21 April 1917; at the small launching ceremony, Generaloberst (Colonel General) Josias von Heeringen gave the speech and the ship was christened by Mackensen's wife. Construction was halted about 15 months before she would have been completed. The British mistakenly believed the ship to have been completed, and so they included the ship on the list of vessels to be interned at Scapa Flow instead of the fleet flagship SMS Baden. Mackensen was stricken from the German navy, according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, on 17 November 1919. She was sold for scrap and eventually broken up in 1922 at Kiel-Nordmole.

Graf Spee was named for Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee, the commander of the East Asia Squadron; he was killed when his squadron was annihilated at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914. Graf Spee was laid down on 30 November 1915 in the Schichau yards in Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), under the provisional name Ersatz Blücher, to replace the large armored cruiser SMS Blücher that had been sunk at the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915. She was launched on 15 September 1917. At the launching ceremony, Großadmiral Prince Heinrich gave the speech and Spee's widow Margarete christened the ship. Construction stopped about 12 months away from completion; Graf Spee was the furthest along of all four ships when work was halted. She too was struck on 17 November 1919; on 28 October 1921 the unfinished hull was sold for 4.4 million Marks and broken up in Kiel-Nordmole.

Prinz Eitel Friedrich, ordered as Ersatz Freya (a replacement for SMS Freya) was named for one of Kaiser Wilhelm II's sons, Eitel Friedrich. She was laid down in 1915 at Blohm & Voss under construction number 241. She was 21 months away from completion when she was launched to clear the slip on 13 March 1920 and was broken up at Hamburg in 1921. At the launching ceremony, dockyard workers named the ship Noske, after Reichswehr Minister Gustav Noske. "A"/Ersatz Friedrich Carl, which was to have been named Fürst Bismarck for the famous German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and ordered as a replacement for SMS Friedrich Carl, was also laid down 1915 at the Wilhelmshaven Imperial Shipyard under construction number 25. She was about 26 months from completion when work ended. She was never launched; instead, the vessel was broken up on the slip in 1922.

Experience at the Battle of Jutland led the RMA to conclude that ships with 38 cm guns, heavier armor, and a higher top speed were necessary. The Mackensen design was used as the basis for the Ersatz-Yorck class, which incorporated the larger guns and more armor for the main battery turrets and barbettes. More powerful engines were unavailable to compensate for the extra weight, so the designers were forced to accept a reduced speed. Nevertheless, like the Mackensens, the three ships ordered under the Ersatz-Yorck design were never completed. In response, the British ordered the four Admiral-class battlecruisers, though the British designed the class under the mistaken impression that the Mackensen class would be armed with 38.6 cm guns and would be capable of 30 kn. Three of the four Admiral-class ships were cancelled; only HMS Hood (51) was completed after the end of the war.

The primary reason construction halted on the four ships was the shifting of construction materials and manpower from capital ships to U-boats in the last two years of the war. The RMA filed a report dated 1 February 1918 stating that capital ship construction had ground to a halt primarily for this reason. Some thought was given to convert all four of the ships into dry grain carriers after the war, but the proposals ultimately came to nothing.

title: Mackensen-class battlecruiser


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First Bank (Romania)

First Bank is a Romanian bank founded in 1995 as Pater Bank. Since May 2024, the financial institution has been controlled by the Italian group Intesa Sanpaolo.

History
Five years after it was founded, Pater Bank was sold in 2000 to Piraeus Bank, and its name was changed to reflect its new owner. Piraeus Bank sold its Romanian subsidiary to J.C. Flowers & Co. on 28 June 2018, who changed the bank's name to First Bank on 12 September 2018.

As of the following month, its shareholding structure became as follows:
 * J.C. Flowers & Co. - 76.1%
 * EBRD - 19%
 * Natural persons - 4.9%

In April 2020, First Bank acquired and absorbed the Romanian subsidiary of Bank Leumi. In May 2024, the bank was acquired by the Italian group Intesa Sanpaolo.

title: First Bank (Romania)


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Homie

 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was Dicdef --Rlandmann 12:18, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: Dictdef. You know, though, this is my favorite new word.  French, Spanish, and Italian all have a word for pisano to mean "guy from my neighborhood/village," and English lacked one until "homie" came along.  Not really at Wiktionary level.  Geogre 12:33, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Merge & redirect, per Wile E. Heresiarch's suggestion. Geogre 00:49, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * I don't know maybe an article explaining it's usage and how this word is in every language. Williamb 12:46, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete - dicdef - unless somebody turns it into a cultural analysis Cutler 13:58, Aug 8, 2004 (UTC)
 * Perhaps redirect to a slang article if an appropriate one exists. This seems like an article that will pop up again if it's deleted. -- Stevietheman 15:26, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Merge & redirect to urban slang. (Guess it's time to start an article on that.) Agreed w/ Stevietheman that homie will get recreated if it's deleted. Wile E. Heresiarch 19:20, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Is "urban" a euphemism for "hip hop" or for "African American"? Either way, it's a cop-out. I agree with merge and redirect, not with the proposed title. -- Jmabel 00:21, Aug 10, 2004 (UTC)
 * Comment: Jmabel, the first time I heard the word, the speaker was white, and it was 1978. "Urban" has become less of a euphemism these days than an umbrella term for a host of subcultures.  If we're more precise than that with the term, we'll end up with a POV debate, I think. The term probably arose in Black English, but it spread remarkably quickly - probably because it was a word standard English needed.  Geogre 00:49, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep and improve. Spleeman 20:28, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep, and expand... following the 'pisano'/cultural analysis theme?. If we are gonna keep it, I'll work on it. Already have Homie the clown on clown so theres potential cross reference.  I think this has the potential to be more than a dictdef if it's treated in a scholarly manner.Pedant 00:30, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * I thought homie was just short for homeboy, or is the former term more dominant than the latter? Pcb21| Pete 11:51, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * Good point that Homeboy and Homegirl ought to redirect as well. The funny thing is that I think the slang speakers have been gender aware and have, indeed, made "homie" preferred over "homeboy."  That's kind of a side issue at this point, given the votes, though. Geogre 17:43, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)

 * Rather than redirect to another WP page, it might be better to transwiki and soft redirect them to Wiktionary (see Soft redirect) using the template. Pcb21| Pete 18:23, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)

This discussion is closed. Results: 2 deletes 5 keeps. Keep. DJ Clayworth 16:25, 25 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Homie


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User:Skovski

Hi

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User talk:Skovski

Leave messages here

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text:
Common Rotation

Common Rotation is an American indie folk rock band consisting of Eric Kufs, (vocals, guitar), Adam Busch (vocals, saxophone, harmonica, glockenspiel), and Jordan Katz (vocals, trumpet, banjo). The three are childhood friends from New York City and have been making music together for almost 20 years.

History
The band was formed by Kufs and Busch while they were in high school in East Meadow, New York in the early 1990s with two other members, and was originally known as 28 Orange Street. They debuted at the Nassau County Folk Festival, and soon began performing hundreds of gigs each year throughout the northeastern United States. As 28 Orange Street, the quartet released their first album, titled Common Rotation.

The band recorded its first record as Common Rotation with the help of They Might Be Giants, who subsequently backed them on the recording and allowed them to open on their first major tour across the United States. In 2007 they toured the United Kingdom, albeit without Jordan Katz, alongside David Berkeley.

Common Rotation have self-released five full length records and 'A Song A Day' for over ten years online at the website "The Union Maid".

Collaborations
Common Rotation can be heard on Dan Bern's two albums, Live in Los Angeles and Live in New York and provided the soundtrack to the film "Drones". "True Hollywood Romance" from The ClearChannel EP is featured as theme music in Kevin Pollak's comedy special, The Littlest Suspect. Common Rotation recorded Twisted Sister's, "We're Not Gonna Take It" with Mike Viola for the latest installment of Engine Room Recordings Guilt by Association series, Guilt by Association Vol. 3.

The band recorded "Salty South" with the Indigo Girls for their live record, Staring Down The Brilliant Dream.

In other media
Peter Stass's documentary film How to Lose chronicled the band's efforts to protest Clear Channel's monopoly on the musical touring market by playing in fan's homes from Alaska to Europe. Amber Benson's music video for Wasted Words follows the band while performing for the Yupik peoples in the remote fishing villages of Kotlik and Russian Mission, Alaska.

Their song "Clear Channel" was featured in British Indie filmmaker Evan Richards' 2006 film, "In a Day."

Personnel
Busch is also known for his work as an actor (The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Professional, Grey's Anatomy, House, American Dreamz). Katz has worked with hip hop groups (De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, Ghostface Killah, Neon Trees, Lucinda Williams, Jennifer Nettles, The Rhythm Roots Allstars). Kufs is a singer-songwriter who has completed his first solo collection of songs, "A Dust Bowl Full O' Cherries.

Compilations

 * "We're Not Gonna Take It" (Twisted Sister cover) from Guilt by Association Vol. 3 (2011).

title: Common Rotation


text: Category:Industrial Revolution

title: Category:Industrial Revolution


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Steve Jackson (British game designer)

Steve Jackson (born 20 May 1951) is a British game designer, writer, game reviewer and co-founder of UK game publisher Games Workshop.

History
Steve Jackson began his career in games in 1974 as a freelance journalist with Games & Puzzles magazine. In early 1975, Jackson co-founded the company Games Workshop with school friends John Peake and Ian Livingstone. They started publishing with the monthly newsletter, Owl and Weasel, on which Jackson did most of the writing, and they sent copies of the first issue to subscribers of the Albion fanzine; Brian Blume, co-partner of American publisher TSR, received one of these copies and in return sent back a copy of TSR's new game Dungeons & Dragons. Jackson and Livingstone felt that this game was more imaginative than any other contemporary games being produced in the UK, and so worked out an arrangement with Blume for an exclusive deal to sell D&D in Europe. In late 1975, Jackson and Livingstone organized their first convention, the initial Games Day. While selling game products directly from their flat, their landlord evicted them in summer 1976 after people kept going there looking for a physical store. By 1978 the first Games Workshop store had opened, in London.

At a Games Day convention in 1980 Jackson and Livingstone met Geraldine Cooke, an editor at Penguin Books. They persuaded her to consider publication of a book about the role-playing hobby. This was originally intended to be an introductory guide, but the idea of an interactive gamebook seemed more appealing. After several months Cooke decided that this was viable and commissioned Jackson and Livingstone to develop it. In 1980, Jackson and Livingstone began to develop the concept of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series, the first volume of which (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain) was published in 1982 by Puffin Books (a subsidiary imprint of Penguin). Jackson and Livingstone would go on to individually write many volumes each, with further authors adding even more. Steve Jackson notably wrote Sorcery!, a four-part series utilizing the same system as Fighting Fantasy but where Fighting Fantasy mainly targeted children, Steve Jackson's Sorcery! was marketed to an older audience. Jackson and Livingstone attributed the gamebooks' popularity to their difficulty.

After the success of the Fighting Fantasy series, Jackson designed the first interactive telephone role-playing game, FIST, which was based loosely on the concepts of the gamebooks. Jackson and Livingstone sold their Games Workshop stake in 1991. In the mid-1990s Jackson spent 2.5 years as a games journalist with the London Daily Telegraph. He then set up computer games developer Lionhead Studios with Peter Molyneux. Jackson left Lionhead in 2006 when Microsoft bought the company. He is an honorary professor at Brunel University in London, where he teaches the Digital Games Theory and Design MA.

He is often mistaken for the American game designer with the same name. The American Jackson wrote three books in the Fighting Fantasy series, which adds to the confusion, especially as these books were simply credited to "Steve Jackson" without any acknowledgement that it was a different person.

Books

 * The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (1982) with Ian Livingstone, Puffin Books
 * Sorcery! 1–4 (1983–85), Puffin Books
 * The Citadel of Chaos (1983), Puffin Books
 * Starship Traveller (1984), Puffin Books
 * House of Hell (1984), Puffin Books
 * Fighting Fantasy: The Introductory Role-playing Game (1984), Puffin Books
 * Appointment with F.E.A.R. (1985), Puffin Books
 * The Tasks of Tantalon (1985), Oxford University Press
 * Creature of Havoc (1986), Puffin Books
 * The Trolltooth Wars (1989), Puffin Books
 * Secrets of Salamonis (2022), Scholastic

Video games

 * Lost Eden (1995), Virgin Interactive
 * Close Combat: Invasion – Normandy (2000), Strategic Simulations, Inc.
 * Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (2001), Laughing Jackal
 * The Movies (Premiere Edition) (2005), Activision
 * Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (2009), Big Blue Bubble
 * Sorcery! 1 – The Shamutanti Hills (2013), Inkle
 * Sorcery! 2 – Kharé – Cityport of Traps (2013), Inkle
 * Sorcery! 3 – The Seven Serpents (2015), Inkle
 * Sorcery! 4 – The Crown Of Kings (2016), Inkle

Other

 * BattleCards – a card game first published in 1993 that features a unique scratch-and-slay system
 * Fantasy Interactive Scenarios by Telephone (F.I.S.T.) – a telephone-based single-player roleplaying game similar to Fighting Fantasy

title: Steve Jackson (British game designer)


text:
Steve Jackson (American game designer)

Steve Jackson (born 1953) is an American game designer whose creations include the role-playing game GURPS and the card game Munchkin.

Education
Steve Jackson was born in 1953, and is a 1974 graduate of Rice University, where he was a resident of Sid Richardson College. Jackson briefly attended the University of Texas School of Law, but left to start a game design career.

1970s: Metagaming Concepts
While working at Metagaming Concepts, Jackson developed Monsters! Monsters! (ca. 1976) based on a design by Ken St. Andre connected to his Tunnels & Trolls role-playing game, and Godsfire (1976), a space conquest game by Lynn Willis. Jackson got his first design for the company published as Ogre (1977), followed by G.E.V. (1978), which were both set in a futuristic universe that Jackson created.

Jackson became interested in Dungeons & Dragons, but did not like the various-sized dice or the combat rules, and bemoaned the lack of tactics, so he designed Melee in response. Jackson joined the SCA to gain a better understanding of combat, but as his interest grew he started fighting in SCA live-action combat as Vargskol, the Viking-Celt. Metagaming also published his game Wizard.

Jackson realized that Melee could be expanded into a complete fantasy role-playing game, and started working on The Fantasy Trip before Melee was even published. The Fantasy Trip was initially scheduled for release in February 1978, but the design and development required more work than Jackson had anticipated and the game was not released until March 1980. Howard Thompson, owner of Metagaming, decided to release The Fantasy Trip as four separate books instead of a more expensive boxed set, and changed his production methods so that Jackson would be unable to check the final proofs of the game. As a result of these actions, Jackson left Metagaming and founded Steve Jackson Games later that year.

1980s: Steve Jackson Games
His game Raid on Iran was an immediate success. Jackson bought The Space Gamer from Metagaming, and sold the rights to The Fantasy Trip to Metagaming. However, Thompson sought legal action against SJG for the rights to the short wargame One-Page Bulge, and the lawsuit was settled with an agreement that was reached on November 26, 1981, leaving Jackson with the full rights to One-Page Bulge, and to Ogre and G.E.V. (whose ownership was questioned during the legal proceedings). Jackson wanted to purchase The Fantasy Trip from back Thompson after Metagaming closed down in April 1983, but Thompson declined the offered price of $250,000.

Jackson designed or co-designed many of the games published by SJ Games, including minigames such as Car Wars (1981) and Illuminati (1983), Undead (1981), and a published version of an informal game played on college campuses, called Killer. Jackson wanted to get into computer gaming software in the early 1980s, but instead wound up licensing gaming rights to Origin Systems, which produced games such as Autoduel (1985) and Ogre (1986).

Jackson had an idea in the middle of 1981 for designing and publishing a new detailed and realistic roleplaying system, intending it to be logical and organized well, and wanted it to adaptable for any kind of setting and play level. Jackson announced GURPS in 1983, although his time spent managing magazines delayed development of GURPS until 1984, making the combat system book Man to Man: Fantasy Combat from GURPS (1985) available for Origins 1985, and the full GURPS Basic Set appeared the next year in 1986. Sean Punch replaced Jackson in 1995 as the line editor for GURPS.

Recent years
Jackson also designed the strategy card games Munchkin (2001) and Ninja Burger (2003), and the dice games Zombie Dice (2010) and Cthulhu Dice (2010), as well as Zombie Dice variants Trophy Buck (2011) and Dino Hunt Dice (2013).

Jackson has exhibited his elaborate Chaos Machine at several science fiction or wargaming conventions, including the 2006 Worldcon.

On May 11, 2012, Steve Jackson's Kickstarter funding project for the 6th Edition of his Ogre game became the highest grossing boardgame project at Kickstarter, with 5,512 backers pledging a total of $923,680. The success of the Ogre Designer's Edition project prompted the launch of a second successful project - running from Nov 29, 2019, through Jan 6, 2020 - to help re-launch the popular Car Wars franchise as well.

The two "Steve Jacksons"
Jackson is often mistaken for Steve Jackson, a British gamebook and video game writer who co-founded Games Workshop. The confusion is exacerbated by the fact that while the UK Jackson was co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series, the US Jackson also wrote three books in this series (Scorpion Swamp, Demons of the Deep, and Robot Commando), and the books did not acknowledge that this was a different 'Steve Jackson'.

1990 Secret Service incident and legal actions
The United States Secret Service raided the offices of Steve Jackson Games on March 1, 1990 based on suspicion of illegal hacker activity by game designer Loyd Blankenship, and seized (among other materials and media) his manuscript for GURPS Cyberpunk; when Jackson went to Secret Service headquarters the next day to ask them to return his book drafts, the Secret Service agents told him that they believed GURPS Cyberpunk was a "handbook for computer crime", despite his protestations that it was just a game. Through the newly created civil-rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation, SJG filed a lawsuit against the government, which went to trial in early 1993 as Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service. SJG won the lawsuit, receiving $50,000 in damages.

Personal interests
Jackson is an avid collector of Lego (especially pirate-themed) sets. He has written a miniatures game that uses Pirate sets, Evil Stevie's Pirate Game, and has run it at several conventions.

Jackson has combined his fondness for model trains and LEGO through the LEGO train community and has been an active member of several LEGO users groups including TBRR (Texas Brick Railroad) and the Texas LEGO Users Group.

Honors

 * Jackson has received over a dozen Origins Awards.
 * In 1982, he became the youngest game designer to be inducted into the Charles Roberts Awards Hall of Fame.
 * His role-playing game GURPS and card game Munchkin were named to the Origins Hall of Fame for 1999 and 2012 respectively.
 * He was honored as a "famous game designer" by being featured as the king of clubs in Flying Buffalo's 2011 Famous Game Designers Playing Card Deck.

title: Steve Jackson (American game designer)