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Thomas Anstey Guthrie

Thomas Anstey Guthrie (8 August 1856 – 10 March 1934) was an English writer (writing as F. Anstey or F.T. Anstey), most noted for his comic novel Vice Versa about a boarding-school boy and his father exchanging identities. His reputation was confirmed by The Tinted Venus and many humorous parodies in Punch magazine.

Early life and family

He was born in Kensington, London, to Augusta Amherst Austen, an organist and composer, and Thomas Anstey Guthrie. He was educated at King's College School and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and was called to the bar in 1880.

Guthrie's younger brother was the physician Leonard Guthrie (1858–1918).

Writing career
The popular success of his story Vice Versa (1882) with its topsy turvy substitution of a father for his schoolboy son, at once made his reputation as a humorist of an original type. In 1883, he published a serious novel, The Giant's Robe, which George Gissing described as 'very poor stuff'. Anstey discovered (and again in 1889 with The Pariah) that it was not as a serious novelist but as a humorist that the public insisted on regarding him. As such, his reputation was further confirmed by The Black Poodle (1884), The Tinted Venus (1885), A Fallen Idol (1886), and other works.

Guthrie became an important member of the staff of Punch magazine, in which his voces populi and his humorous parodies of a reciter's stock-piece (Burglar Bill, &c.) represent his best work. In 1903, his successful farce The Man from Blankley's based on a story that originally appeared in Punch, was first produced by Sir Charles Hawtrey at the Prince of Wales Theatre, in London. It starred Hawtrey, Arthur Playfair and Faith Stone. After London, it played in New York, Washington DC, Detroit and Chicago. He wrote Only Toys (1903) and Salted Almonds (1906).

Many of Anstey's stories have been adapted into theatrical productions and motion pictures.

The Tinted Venus was adapted into a silent film, The Tinted Venus, in 1921.

The Tinted Venus was adapted by S. J. Perelman, Ogden Nash, and Kurt Weill into One Touch of Venus in 1943. A 1948 film, One Touch of Venus, was based on Guthrie's book and the musical.

Vice Versa was adapted as a play in 1883 and has been filmed many times, usually transposed in setting and without any credit to the original book. Another of his novels, The Brass Bottle, has also been filmed more than once, including The Brass Bottle (1964). His Tourmalin's Time Cheques (1891) is one of the earliest stories featuring the science fiction concept of intentional and frequent movement in time, and probably the first to investigate the practical paradoxes such a concept would create.

Guthrie wrote an autobiography, under both his pen and true names, in 1936 entitled A Long Retrospect.

Death
Guthrie died on 10 March 1934.

1880s

 * Vice Versa (1882)
 * The Black Poodle And Other Tales (1884)
 * The Giant's Robe (1884)
 * The Tinted Venus (1885)
 * A Fallen Idol (1886)
 * Burglar Bill And Other Pieces (1888)
 * The Pariah (1889)

1890s

 * Voces Populi (1890)
 * Tourmalin's Time Cheques (1891)
 * Mr. Punch's Model Music-Hall Songs And Dramas (1892)
 * The Talking Horse And Other Tales (1892)
 * The Travelling Companions (1892)
 * The Man From Blankley's And Other Sketches (1893)
 * Mr. Punch's Pocket Ibsen (1893)
 * Under the Rose (1894)
 * Lyre and Lancet (1895)
 * The Statement of Stella Maberly, Written By Herself (1896)
 * Baboo Jabberjee, B. A. (1897)
 * Puppets at Large (1897)
 * Love Among The Lions (1898)
 * Paleface And Redskin (1898)

1900s

 * The Brass Bottle (1900)
 * A Bayard From Bengal (1902)
 * Only Toys! (1903)
 * Salted Almonds (1906)
 * Winnie, An Everyday Story (1909)

Later

 * In Brief Authority (1915)
 * Percy and Others (1915)
 * The Last Load (1925)
 * The Would-Be Gentleman (Adapted From Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme) (1927)
 * The Imaginary Invalid (Adapted From Molière's Le Malade imaginaire) (1929)
 * Humour and Fantasy (1931 – omnibus volume of short stories and four novels)
 * A Long Retrospect (1936 – autobiography)

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

title: Thomas Anstey Guthrie


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Howard T. Odum

Howard Thomas Odum (September 1, 1924 – September 11, 2002), usually cited as H. T. Odum, was an American ecologist. He is known for his pioneering work on ecosystem ecology, and for his provocative proposals for additional laws of thermodynamics, informed by his work on general systems theory.

Biography
Odum was the third child of Howard W. Odum, an American sociologist, and his wife, Anna Louise (née Kranz) Odum (1888–1965). He was the younger brother of Eugene Odum. Their father "encouraged his sons to go into science and to develop new techniques to contribute to social progress". Howard learned his early scientific lessons about (a) birds from his brother, (b) fish and the philosophy of biology while working after school for marine zoologist Robert Coker, and (c) electrical circuits from The Boy Electrician (1929) by Alfred Powell Morgan.

Howard Thomas studied biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he published his first paper while still an undergraduate. His education was interrupted for three years by his World War II service with the Army Air Force in Puerto Rico and the Panama Canal Zone, where he worked as a tropical meteorologist. After the war, he returned to the University of North Carolina and completed his B.S. in zoology (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1947.

In 1947, Odum married Virginia Wood, and they later had two children. After Wood's death in 1973, he married Elisabeth C. Odum (who had four children from her previous marriage) in 1974. Odum's advice on how to manage a blended family was ; Elisabeth's was to hold back on discipline and new rules.

In 1950, Odum earned his Ph.D. in zoology at Yale University, under the guidance of G. Evelyn Hutchinson. His dissertation was titled The Biogeochemistry of Strontium: With Discussion on the Ecological Integration of Elements, which brought him into the emerging field of systems ecology. He made a meteorological "analysis of the global circulation of strontium, [and] anticipated in the late 1940s the view of the earth as one great ecosystem".

While at Yale, Howard began his lifelong collaborations with his brother Eugene. In 1953, they published the first English-language textbook on systems ecology, Fundamentals of Ecology. Howard wrote the chapter on energetics, which introduced his energy circuit language. They continued to collaborate in research as well as writing for the rest of their lives. For Howard, his energy systems language (which he called "energese") was itself a collaborative tool.

From 1956 to 1963, Odum worked as the director of the Marine Institute of the University of Texas. During this time, he became aware of the interplay of ecological-energetic and economic forces. He taught in the Department of Zoology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was one of the professors in the new curriculum of Marine Sciences until 1970.

That year he moved to the University of Florida, where he taught in the Environmental Engineering Sciences Department, founded and directed the Center for Environmental Policy, and founded the university's Center for Wetlands in 1973; it was the first center of its kind in the world that is still in operation today. Odum continued this work for 26 years until his retirement in 1996.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Odum was also chairman of the International Biological Program's Tropical Biome planning committee. He was supported by large contracts with the United States Atomic Energy Commission, resulting in participation by nearly 100 scientists, who conducted radiation studies of a tropical rainforest. His featured project at University of Florida in the 1970s was on recycling treated sewage into cypress swamps. This was one of the first projects to explore the now widespread approach of using wetlands as water quality improvement ecosystems. This is one of his most important contributions to the beginnings of the field of ecological engineering.

In his last years, Odum was Graduate Research Professor Emeritus and Director of the Center for Environmental Policy. He was an avid birdwatcher in both his professional and personal life.

The Ecological Society awarded Odum its Mercer Award to recognize his contributions to the study of the coral reef on Eniwetok Atoll. Odum also received the French Prix de Vie, and the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, considered the Nobel equivalent for bioscience. Charles A. S. Hall described Odum as one of the most innovative and important thinkers of the time. Hall noted that Odum, either alone or with his brother Eugene, received essentially all international prizes awarded to ecologists. The only higher education institute to award honorary degrees to both Odum brothers was Ohio State University, which honored Howard in 1995 and Euene in 1999.

Odum's contributions to ecosystems ecology have been recognized by the Mars Society, who named their experimental station the "H. T. Odum Greenhouse" at the suggestion of his former student Patrick Kangas. Kangas and his student, David Blersch, made significant contributions to the design of the waste water recycling system on the station.

Odum's students have furthered his work at institutions around the world, most notably Mark Brown at the University of Florida, David Tilley and Patrick Kangas at the University of Maryland, Daniel Campbell at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Enrique Ortega at the UNICAMP in Brazil, and Sergio Ulgiati at the University of Siena. Work done at these institutions continues to evolve and propagate the Odum's concept of emergy. His former students Bill Mitsch, Robert Costanza, and Karin Limburg are some former students who have been recognized internationally for their contributions to ecological engineering, ecological economics, ecosystem science, wetland ecology, estuarine ecology, ecological modeling, and related fields.

Work: an overview
Odum left a large legacy in many fields associated with ecology, systems, and energetics. He studied ecosystems all over the world, and pioneered the study of several areas, some of which are now distinct fields of research. According to Hall (1995, p.ix), Odum published one of the first significant papers in each of the following areas: Odum's contributions to these and other areas are summarized below.
 * Ecological modeling (Odum 1960a)
 * Ecological engineering (Odum et al. 1963)
 * Ecological economics (Odum 1971)
 * Estuarine ecology (Odum and Hoskins 1958)
 * Tropical ecosystems ecology (Odum and Pidgeon 1970)
 * General systems theory

Odum also wrote on radiation ecology, systems ecology, unified science, and the microcosm. He was one of the first to discuss the use of ecosystems for life-support function in space travel. Some have suggested that Odum was technocratic in orientation, while others believe that he sided with those calling for "new values".

A new integrative approach in ecology
In his 1950 Ph.D. thesis, Odum gave a novel definition of ecology as the study of large entities (ecosystems) at the "natural level of integration". In the traditional role of an ecologist, one of Odum's doctoral aims was to recognize and classify large cyclic entities (ecosystems). However, another one of his aims was to make predictive generalizations about ecosystems, such as the whole world for example. For Odum, as a large entity, the world constituted a revolving cycle with high stability. It was the presence of stability, which Odum believed enabled him to talk about the teleology of such systems. While he was writing his thesis, Odum felt that the principle of natural selection was more than empirical, because it had a teleological, "stability over time" component. As an ecologist interested in the behavior and function of large entities over time, Odum sought to give a more general statement of natural selection so that it was equally applicable to large entities as it was to small entities traditionally studied in biology.

Odum also wanted to extend the scope and generality of natural selection to include large entities such as the world. This extension relied on the definition of an entity as a combination of properties that have some stability with time. Odum's approach was motivated by Lotka's idea's on the energetics of evolution.

Ecosystem simulation
Odum used an analog of electrical energy networks to model the energy flow pathways of ecosystems. His analog electrical models had a significant role in the development of his approach to systems and have been recognized as one of the earliest instances of systems ecology.

Electron flow in the electrical network represented the flow of material (e.g. carbon) in the ecosystem, charge in a capacitor was analogous to storage of a material, and the model was scaled to the ecosystem of interest by adjusting the size of electrical component.

Ecological analog of Ohm's Law
In the 1950s Odum introduced his electrical circuit diagrams of ecosystems to the Ecological Society of America. He claimed that energy was driven through ecological systems by an "ecoforce" analogous to the role of voltage in electrical circuits.

Odum developed an analogue of Ohm's Law which aimed to be a representation of energy flows through ecosystems. In terms of steady state thermodynamics, Ohm's Law can be considered a special case of a more general flux law, where the flux ($$J$$) "is proportional to the driving thermodynamic force ($$X$$) with conductivity ($$C$$)", or $$J = CX$$.

Kangas states that Odum concluded that as thermodynamic systems, ecosystems should also obey the force-flux law, and that Ohm's law and passive electrical analog circuits can be used to simulate ecosystems. In this simulation, Odum attempted to derive an ecological analog for electrical voltage. Voltage, or driving force, is related to the biomass in pounds per acre. The analogous concept required is the biomass activity, that is, the thermodynamic thrust, which may be linear. Exactly what this is in nature is still uncertain, as it is a new concept.

Such a consideration led Odum to ask two important methodological questions:

 * What is the electrical significance of a function observed in nature?
 * Given an electrical unit in a circuit, what is it in the ecological system?

For example, what is a diode in nature? One needs a diode to allow biomass to accumulate after the voltage of the sun has gone down, or else the circuit reverses. Higher organisms like fish are diodes.

The Silver Springs study
Silver Springs is a common type of spring-fed stream in Florida with a constant temperature and chemical composition. The study Odum conducted here was the first complete analysis of a natural ecosystem.

Odum started with an overall model and in his early work used a diagramming methodology very similar to the Sankey diagrams used in chemical process engineering.

Starting from that overall model, Odum "mapped in detail all the flow routes to and from the stream. He measured the energy input of sun and rain, and of all organic matter - even those of the bread the tourists threw to the ducks and fish - and then measured the energy that gradually left the spring. In this way he was able to establish the stream's energy budget."

Ecological and biological energetics
Around 1955 Odum directed studies into radioecology, which included the effects of radiation on the tropical rainforest in El Verde, Puerto Rico (Odum and Pidgeon), and the coral reefs and ocean ecology at Eniwetok atoll. The Odum brothers were approached by the Atomic Energy Commission to undertake a detailed study of the atoll after nuclear testing; the atoll was sufficiently radioactive that upon their arrival the Odums were able to produce an autoradiographic image of a coral head by placing it on photographic paper. These studies were early applications of energy concepts to ecological systems, and explored the implications of the laws of thermodynamics when used in these new settings.

From this view, biogeochemical cycles are driven by radiant energy. Odum expressed the balance between energy input and output as the ratio of production (P) to respiration (R): P-R. He classified water bodies based on their P-R ratios, which separated autotrophic from heterotrophic ecosystems: "[Odum's] measurements of flowing water metabolism were measurements of whole systems. Odum was measuring the community as a system, not adding up the metabolism of the components as Lindeman and many others had done". This reasoning appears to have followed that of Odum's doctoral supervisor, G. E. Hutchinson, who thought that if a community were an organism then it must have a form of metabolism. However, Golley notes that Odum attempted to go beyond the reporting of mere ratios, a move which resulted in the first serious disagreement in systems energetics.

Maximum power theory and the proposal for additional laws of thermodynamics/energetics
In a controversial move, Odum and Richard Pinkerton (at the time physicist at the University of Florida) were motivated by Alfred J. Lotka's articles on the energetics of evolution, and subsequently proposed the theory that natural systems tend to operate at an efficiency that produces the maximum power output, not the maximum efficiency.

Energy Systems Language
By the end of the 1960s, Odum's electronic circuit ecological simulation models were replaced by a more general set of energy symbols. When combined to form systems diagrams, these symbols were considered by Odum and others to be the language of the macroscope which could portray generalized patterns of energy flow: "Describing such patterns and reducing ecosystem complexities to flows of energy, Odum believed, would permit discovery of general ecosystem principles." Some have attempted to link it with the universal scientific language projects which have appeared throughout the history of natural philosophy.

Kitching claimed that the language was a direct result of working with analogue computers, and reflected an electrical engineer's approach to the problem of system representation: "Because of its electrical analogy, the Odum system is relatively easy to turn into mathematical equations ... If one is building a model of energy flow then certainly the Odum system should be given serious consideration... "

Emergy
In the 1990s in the latter part of his career, Odum and David M. Scienceman developed the idea of emergy as a specific use of the term embodied energy. Some consider the concept of "emergy", sometimes briefly defined as "energy memory", as one of Odum's more significant contributions, but the concept is neither free from controversy nor without its critics. Odum looked at natural systems as being formed by the use of various forms of energy in the past: "emergy is a measure of energy used in the past and thus is different from a measure of energy now. The unit of emergy (past available energy use) is the emjoule, as distinguished from joules used for available energy remaining now." This was conceived as a principle of maximum empower, which might explain the evolution of self-organising open systems. However, the principle has only been demonstrated in a few experiments and is not widely recognized in the scientific community.

Ecosystem ecology and systems ecology
For J. B. Hagen, the maximum power principle, and the stability principle could be easily translated into the language of homeostasis and cybernetics systems. Hagen claims that the feedback loops in ecosystems were, for Odum, analogous to the kinds of feedback loops diagrammed in electronic circuits and cybernetic systems. This approach represented the migration of cybernetic ideas into ecology and led to the formulation of systems ecology. In Odum's work these concepts form part of what Hagen called an, "ambitious and idiosyncratic attempt to create a universal science of systems".

Macroscope
Hagen identified the systems, thinking of Odum as a form of holistic thinking, who contrasted the holistic thinking of systems science with reductionistic microscopic thinking, and used the term macroscope to refer to the holistic view, which was a kind of "detail eliminator" allowing a simple diagram to be created.

Microcosms
Odum was a pioneer in his use of small closed and open ecosystems in classroom teaching, which were often constructed from fish tanks or bottles and have been called microcosms. His microcosm studies influenced the design of Biosphere 2.

Ecological economics
Ecological economics is an active field between economics and ecology with annual conferences, international societies, and an international journal. From 1956 to 1963, Odum worked as Director of the Marine Institute of the University of Texas. During this time Odum became aware of the interplay of ecological-energetic and economic forces. He therefore funded the research into the use of conventional economic approaches to quantify dollar values of ecological resources for recreational, treatment and other uses. This research calculated the potential value of primary production per bay surface area.

For Hall the importance of Odum's work came through his integration of systems, ecology, and energy with economics, together with Odum's view that economics can be evaluated on objective terms such as energy rather than on a subjective, willingness to pay basis.

Ecological engineering
Ecological engineering is an emerging field of study between ecology and engineering concerned with the designing, monitoring and constructing of ecosystems. The term ecological engineering was first coined by Odum in 1962, before he worked at the University of Florida. Ecological engineering, he wrote, is "those cases where the energy supplied by man is small relative to the natural sources but sufficient to produce large effects in the resulting patterns and processes." Ecological engineering as a practical field was developed by his former graduate student Bill Mitsch, who started and continues to edit the standard journal in the field and helped to start both international and U.S. societies devoted to ecological engineering, and has written two textbooks on the subject One of Odum's last papers was his assessment of ecological engineering that was published in the journal Ecological Engineering in 2003, a year after Odum died.

General systems theory
In 1991, Odum was elected the 30th president of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, formerly named the International Society for General Systems Research. He presented many papers on the general systems theory at its annual conferences, and edited the last published General Systems Yearbook. The second, revised edition of his major lifework was retitled Ecological and General Systems: An Introduction to Systems Ecology (1994). Some of his energy models and simulations contained general systems components. Odum has been described as a "technocratic optimist", and his approach was significantly influenced by his father, who was also an advocate of viewing the social world through the various lenses of physical science. Within the processes on earth, Odum (1989) believed humans play a central role: he said that the "human is the biosphere's programmatic and pragmatic information processor for maximum performance".

Publications
Odum wrote around 15 books and 300 papers, and a Festschrift volume (Maximum Power: The Ideas and Applications of H. T. Odum, 1995) was published in honor of his work.

Odum was also honored by the journal Ecological Engineering for his contributions to the field of ecological engineering and general ecology in recognition of his 70th birthday. The publication included over 25 letters from distinguished scientists from all over the world including Mitsch (lead editorial), John Allen, Robert Ulanowitcz, Robert Beyers, Ariel Lugo, Marth Gilliland, Sandra Brown, Ramon Margalef, Paul Risser, Eugene Odum, Kathy Ewel, Kenneth Watt, Pat Kangas, Sven Jørgensen, Bob Knight, Rusong Wang, John Teal, Frank Golley, AnnMari and Bengt-Owe Jansson, Joan Browder, Carl Folke, Richard Wiegert, Scott Nixon, Gene Turner, John Todd, and James Zuchetto.

Books

 * 2007, Environment, Power and Society for the Twenty-First Century: The Hierarchy of Energy, with Mark T. Brown, Columbia University Press.
 * 2001, A Prosperous Way Down: Principles and Policies, with Elisabeth C. Odum, University Press of Colorado.
 * 2000, with E. C. Odum, Modeling for all Scales: An introduction to System Simulation, Academic Press.
 * 1999, Heavy Metals in the Environment: Using Wetlands for Their Removal.
 * 1999, Biosphere 2 : Research, Past and Present, with Bruno D. V. Marino.
 * 1996, Environmental Accounting: EMERGY and environmental decision making.
 * 1993, Ecological Microcosms, with Robert J. Beyers.
 * 1984, Cypress Swamps with Katherine C. Ewel.
 * 1983, Systems Ecology : an Introduction.
 * 1976, Energy Basis for Man and Nature, with Elisabeth C. Odum.
 * 1970, with Robert F. Pigeon (eds), A Tropical Rain Forest; a Study of Irradiation and Ecology at El Verde, Puerto Rico, United States Atomic Energy Commission, National Technical information service.
 * 1971, Environment, Power and Society, 1971
 * 1967, (ed.) Work Circuits and System Stress, in Young, Symposium on Primary Productivity and Mineral Cycling, University of Maine Press.
 * 1953, Fundamentals of Ecology, with Eugene P. Odum, (first edition).

Articles (selection)

 * 1998, eMergy Evaluation, paper presented at the International Workshop on Advances in Energy Studies: Energy flows in ecology and economy, Porto Venere, Italy, May 27.
 * 1997, EMERGY Evaluation and Transformity, in Kreith ed. CRC Handbook of Mechanical Engineering.
 * 1992, Environmental Generalist, in Acta Cientifica.
 * 1991, Emergy and Biogeochemical Cycles, in Rossi & Tiezzi ed Physical Chemistry.
 * 1989, Emergy and Evolution, In 33rd Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, UK.
 * 1989, Comments and thanks to Students and Associates, Handout on the Occasion of the Celebration in Chapel Hill, N.C, in: "Advances in Understanding Ecological Systems", August 31-September 2.
 * 1984, Embodied Energy and the Welfare of Nations, Jansson ed, Integration of Economy and Ecology.
 * 1977, The ecosystem, energy, and human values, in: Zygon, Volume 12 Issue 2 Page 109–133.
 * 1975, Energy Quality and Carrying Capacity of the Earth, response at prize awarding ceremony of Institute La Vie, Paris.
 * 1973, Energy, ecology and economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Science. in: AMBIO, 2 (6), 220–227.
 * 1963, with W. L. Slier, R. J. Beyers & N. Armstrong, Experiments with engineering of marine ecosystems, in: Publ. Inst. Marine Sci. Univ. Tex. 9:374-403.
 * 1963, Limits of remote ecosystems containing man, in: The American Biology Teacher. 25 (6): 429–443.
 * 1960a, Ecological potential and analog circuits for the ecosystem, in: Amer. Sci. 48:1-8.
 * 1960b, Ten classroom sessions in ecology in: The American Biology Teacher. 22 (2): 71–78.
 * 1958, with C. M. Hoskin, Comparative studies of the metabolism of Texas bays, in: Publ. Inst. March Sci., Univ. tex., 5:16-46.
 * 1955, with E. P. Odum, Trophic structure and productivity of a windward coral reef community on Eniwetok Atoll, in: Ecological Monographs. 35, 291–320.
 * 1950, The Biogeochemistry of Strontium: With Discussion on the Ecological Integration of Elements, A dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Yale University in candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

title: Howard T. Odum


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National Guard (Iraq)

The Iraqi National Guard (ING; الحرس الوطني, al-Ḥaras al-Waṭanī) was an armed force originally established by the United States Coalition Provisional Authority. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, CPA Administrator Paul Bremer disbanded the apparatus of the Iraqi Armed Forces through Coalition Provisional Authority Order 2. U.S. divisions of Combined Joint Task Force 7 then began recruiting and training auxiliary forces, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, in order to combat the insurgency.

History
"On 20 June 2004, with the concurrence of the Iraqi Interim Government, the ICDC was redesignated as the Iraqi National Guard (ING)."

As the ICDC became the ING, the United States Army was "..ordered to expand their efforts to train and equip the new ING forces. The 1st Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division in particular devoted a significant amount of resources to establishing these units. In ..Tikrit, units of the 1st ID designed a 3-week course that included training on rifle marksmanship, conduct of traffic checkpoints, map reading, basic drill, and first aid. The ING soldiers continued to improve their skills as they conducted joint missions with Coalition forces. Iraqi Colonel Shaker Faris Al Azawi, commander of the 203d ING Battalion, commented, “Our relationship with the Coalition forces is very good. They give us ammunition, supplies, vehicles, and experience, and the training they’ve given us is very important. Because of it, we’re operating at a very high level.” In addition to providing training to the ING, the 1st ID, with support from Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq’s nascent logistics structure," provided "equipment to the new ING units."

Despite attacks by the Iraqi insurgency, the Iraqi National Guard was able to recruit many Iraqis from the vast ranks of the unemployed.

However, there have been several instances where the ING have refused to take military action against fellow Iraqis, deserted, or allegedly aided the resistance. ING units in Fallujah came under attack after the First Battle of Fallujah. In August 2004, insurgents in Fallujah kidnapped the Commanders of the 505th and 506th ING Battalions. One was beheaded. One of the battalion's headquarters was overrun, and insurgents "stole a fleet of ING trucks and cars, 10 rocket-propelled grenades, 300 AK-47s, machine guns, ammunition, computers, radios and furniture." Mass desertions from the two battalions followed. I Marine Expeditionary Force ordered the new battalion commanders to reform their units; an assessment at the time noted that if the reformation was successful, it would be "the third time these two units have been reformed and refitted with equipment and weapons after such desertions (UPI, Marines Disband, 15 Aug 04). The new battalion commanders are now discussing with U.S. forces the possibility moving their soldiers and their families to more secure, isolated bases outside the city."

"..ICDC troops and police were sometimes so enmeshed in local dynamics that they used their status and power to engage in corrupt practices.." (Salmoni, 54)

"National Guard battalions based On the Kurdish militia (peshmerga) or Shi'a militias, performed adequately. Battalions based on Sunnis did not. Disaffected from the Iraqi government and angry at the Coalition, at this stage in the war, Sunnis generally sympathized with the insurgency and had no intention of fighting their fellow tribesmen or family members. There is little doubt that the U.S. military could have done a better job advising and training the Iraqis. Few commanders embedded advisers with local forces."

In September 2004, a senior member, General Talib al-Lahibi was arrested on suspicion of having links with insurgent groups. In October 2004, the commander of the 507th ING Battalion, Colonel Mohamed Essa Baher, in Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad, barely escaped assassination. Lieutenant Colonel "Haydar Rasool, an Iraqi national guard battalion commander based in Baghdad, says he has lost more than 30 of his 1,000 men over the past year."

In December 2004, it was announced that the Iraqi National Guard would be dissolved and merged into the New Iraqi Army. At this time its strength was officially over 40,000 men. The merger was planned to take place on Iraqi Army Day, January 6, 2005.

New National Guard
In 2016 the Iraqi parliament approved a draft law to recreate a National Guard. The draft law has raised disputes between political parties, and parliament has not yet set a date to take further action. Supporters believe the proposal eventually will be approved.

title: National Guard (Iraq)


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Mohill

Mohill (, meaning "soft ground") is a town in County Leitrim, Ireland. The town of Carrick-on-Shannon is approximately 16 km (10 miles) away.

History
The Justinian plague of Mohill devastated the local population in the 6th century. Mohill, or Maothail Manachain, is named for St. Manachan, who founded the Monastery of Mohill-Manchan here AD. Some sources and folklore say the shrine of Manchan was kept at the Monastery of Mohill-Manchan, before being moved to Lemanaghan in county Offaly for some unrecorded reason. The Monastery was taken over by Augustinians in the 13th century and was later closed in the 16th century, after the time of King Henry VIII. The site of the church is now occupied by a Church of Ireland church and graveyard.

Ownership of the town passed to the Crofton family during the plantations and areas around the town were owned by the Clements family (Lord Leitrim), who built the nearby Lough Rynn estate and was also the owner of what is now Áras an Uachtaráin (Viceregal Lodge, Dublin). Mohill Poor Law Union was formed 12 September 1839 and covered an area of 215 sqmi. The population falling within the union at the 1831 census had been 66,858. The new workhouse, built in 1840–42, occupied a 6 acre site and was designed to accommodate 700 inmates. During the great famine, Anthony Trollope wrote a voyeuristic narrative on Mohill in his novel The Macdermots of Ballycloran, an early work.

Hyde Street is named after Rev Arthur Hyde, grandfather of Douglas Hyde, first President of Ireland, who spent part of his childhood in the town. Through at least the 19th and 20th centuries, an impressive number of annual fairs were held at Mohill on: 14 January, February 4, February 25 (Monaghan Day), 8 April, 8 May (or 10 May), 3 June, 1 July, 31 July (or 2 August), 19, 9 and 30 August September, 19 October, 11 November, and 2 December. Back in 1925, Mohill town had population of 755 people, and contained 29 houses licensed to sell alcohol.

Religion
The Roman Catholic parish of Mohill also includes the nearby church areas of Eslin and Gorvagh and is administered from St Patrick's Church at the top of the town. The Church of Ireland is located at the bottom (east) of the town where the Augustinian Monastery once stood.

Transport
The town was served by the narrow-gauge Cavan and Leitrim Railway, which closed in 1959. Mohill railway station opened on 24 October 1887 and finally closed on 1 April 1959.

The R201 regional road runs through the centre of the town, as does the R202. The nearest station is Dromod railway station on the Dublin–Sligo railway line. Mohill is served four times daily Monday to Saturday by the Locallink Ballinamore to Carrick on Shannon bus service which also gives two daily connections to Dromod.

Events
The town hosts a large Agricultural Show and Summer festival in August. On the last Sunday in August.

Sport
The parish of Mohill currently has two Gaelic Football Clubs, Mohill who play in Division One and Eslin a Division Two team. The Mohill Club also fields teams in Divisions 3 and 5, whilst Eslin field their second team in Division 5 also. Both Clubs have won Senior Titles in the past and in fact, Mohill Faugh-an-Bealaghs won the first-ever Leitrim Championship in 1890, defeating Ballinamore in the final. Ironically Eslin won their first title the following year by defeating Mohill in the Final. Eslin won the last of their three titles in 1917 but have won several Junior Championships in the meantime. Mohill won the last of their five Senior Titles in 2006 defeating St. Marys by one point in a game which saw them complete a dramatic comeback. Mohill and Eslin have often amalgamated for underage competition under the name St. Manachans, named after the patron saint of the parish.

One of Leitrim and Ireland's greatest footballers, Packy McGarty, was born in Mohill. McGarty had the distinction of playing for his county over four decades from 1949 to 1973, but his finest hour was in the 1958 Connacht Final, despite the heartbreaking defeat to Galway. There was in fact at one time three Senior teams in the parish as Gorvagh also had a club. In fact, Gorvagh were the kingpins of Leitrim football in the 1920s and are the only team in the county to win four titles in a row between 1924 and 1928, when they were led by their inspirational captain Jack Bohan. The top scorer on the Leitrim team in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s was Cathal Flynn who was born in Gorvagh and formed a lethal partnership with McGarty during this period.

Mohill also had a successful soccer team, Mohill Town FC and a Hurling club, St. Finbarrs but sadly both are now defunct. Some Mohill players do however still line out with the neighbouring Gortlettragh Hurling Club. Mohill also has a well known Basketball Club and in 2008 the Mohill Under 16 Girls basketball team won the National Title in the Community Games competition. Mohill is also home to the South Leitrim Harriers who hunt throughout the winter in the surrounding countryside. Mohill also had a very successful athletic club which its participants won multiple races all over the country.

Culture
In 1856 Slater's Directory described Mohill as a prosperous, thriving market town: "(Main Street) contains several good shops well-stocked with the various articles of fashion and of local requisites. Great progress is manifest in its general appearance and of its size is considered one of the most stirring, and is certainly the most thriving town of any in the surrounding counties".

Education
Primary school(s): St. Manchan's National School (an amalgamation of St. Joseph's Girls National School and St. Michael's Boys National School, opened in 2005) and the Hunt National School.

Secondary school(s): Mohill Community College — an amalgamation of Marian College and Mohill Vocational School, opened in 2008.

Services
Mohill Fire Station has nine retained personnel, with one Scania Class B appliance and one Dennis Class B Appliance. Mohill responds to on average 70 calls per year with 10% RTC's.

People
Mohill is closely associated with Turlough Carolan, the blind harpist, who lived in the town after his marriage. Douglas Hyde, the first president of Ireland, whose family originated from the town, also spent some of his childhood there. Thomas Moran from Drumrahill, near the town, was a renowned 20th-century ballad singer whose songs were collected by the BBC. Matthew Sadlier, a 20-year-old from Mohill, was among 1500 passengers of the RMS Titanic who did not survive the sinking in 1912.

The cleric Charles Reynolds, born and reared at Saint Mary's Priory of Mohill, was a leading figure in the 1535 Irish clerical revolt against Henry VIII. Reynolds was attainted of treason in 1536, for persuading the Pope to excommunicate Henry VIII of England.

Townlands

 * Breandrum
 * Eslinbridge
 * Gorvagh
 * Mohill
 * Shannagh
 * Treanmore
 * Turlough Carolan, harpist
 * Frances Emilia Crofton, artist and past resident of Lakefield (now a ruin near Mohill)
 * William Henry Drummond, poet
 * Douglas Hyde, Irish president
 * Katherine Lynch, comedian
 * James McCombs, New Zealand parliamentarian
 * Thomas Moran, singer
 * Peter Murphy, Australian businessman
 * Charles Reynolds, cleric and revolutionary

title: Mohill


text:
Mountshannon

Mountshannon (, historically anglicised as Ballybolan) is a village in east County Clare, Ireland. It is part of the Catholic parish Mountshannon-Whitegate. The village is on the western shore of Lough Derg, north of Killaloe. Mountshannon won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1981.

History
The village was designed and built from scratch by Alexander Woods, a Limerick merchant, who intended it as a purely Protestant settlement from which the surrounding Catholic population would be so impressed by the thrift and industry of the settlers that they would quickly convert to the Reformed Church; even as late as the 1830s there was not a single Catholic resident in the village. In fact the reverse happened - it was the Catholics who colonised the village, and the Protestant church in a wooded churchyard bears mute testimony to Woods and his scheme.

Mountshannon was home to the last manually operated telephone exchange in Ireland. The exchange was finally converted to automatic service at noon on May 28, 1987.

Amenities
Mountshannon is close to Inis Cealtra, or Holy Island, an uninhabited island that was once home to a monastic settlement. The island has a round tower, and the ruins of several small churches, as well as part of four high crosses and a holy well. The cemetery on this island is still in use, the coffins being transported from the Clare side in small boats. Boat trips can be taken from the harbour to the island. Mountshannon is also on the route of the East Clare Way walking trail.

There is a maze in the centre of town in a small park with views of Lough Derg. The maze features information about the development of the Irish spiritual tradition. Alongside is a picnic area made out of wood carved by local artists, encircled by willow hedging. In the entrance is a stone with a hole facing toward Holy Island. The maze is modelled on the pavement labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France.

Mountshannon village has two pubs, a restaurant, a petrol station/shop and a pizzeria. The town has been a recurring winner in the Tidy Towns competition having won the national prize in 1981, silver in 2004 and numerous bronzes over the years. It also took bronze in its population category in 2010.

Harbour
Mountshannon Harbour is a sheltered, south-facing harbour, used in the summer months with cruisers, who pull up for the night and visit the village. A separate bathing area is used by local families. A slipway is available for launching small craft.

White-tailed Sea Eagles
A breeding pair of white-tailed eagles nested on a nearby island in Lough Derg in 2012. This marked a success for the Irish reintroduction programme which started in County Kerry in the summer of 2007. In early May 2013, the first eaglets were born in Ireland since the re-introduction programme began; one in the Killarney National Park and two here. In 2014 and 2015 further chicks were hatched.

Civil parish
The village of Mountshannon lies in the civil parish of Inishcaltra. In 1898, the parishes of Inishcaltra and Clonrush were transferred from County Galway to County Clare.

Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland parish of Mountshannon and Tuamgraney encompasses the villages of Mountshannon and Tuamgraney. This parish contains the 10th century St. Cronan's Church, Tuamgraney, the oldest church in continuous use in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Festivals
Mountshannon hosts a number of events such as the Mountshannon Trad Festival, the Lough Derg Rally, and the annual Mountshannon Festival of Arts which usually takes place around the end of May into the beginning of June.

Annalistic references
See Annals of Inisfallen

 * AI922.2 Tomrair son of Elgi, a Jarl of the foreigners, on Luimnech (the Lower Shannon), and he proceeded and plundered Inis Celtra and Muicinis, and burned Cluain Moccu Nóis; and he went on Loch Rí and plundered all its islands, and he ravaged Mide.

title: Mountshannon


text:
Talk:Judah Loew ben Bezalel

Maharal`s birthdate
I think it is very problematic to state 1525 as birth year of the Maharal. The exact birth year is unknown and many sources and scholars assume that the Maharal was born in 1512. Some think he might be born around 1520, and it is only a minority of scholars who believe Rabbi Loew to be born in 1525. For centuries the Maharal was believed to be born in 1511 and until now there is no proof that he was born later.

 * Do you have any supporting evidence, e.g. an article discussing this? JFW | T@lk  22:10, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

For example Andre Neher, an outstanding Maharal-expert, supports 1512. mz 13:42, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Maharal`s Death Date
August 22, 1609 does not compute to Elul 18, 5369 in the Gregorian or Julian calendars. Bohemia and Moravia changed to the Gregorian calendar in 1584, and 18 Aug 1609 seems to convert to 18 Elul using the Gregorian calendar. I tend to assume that the Jewish Yahzeit would be the more accurate, and would probably use 18 Aug.
 * Based on the Maharal's monument epitaph as quoted by Gal Ed, Megilas Yuchsin and others, the death date is Thursday 18 Elul [5]369 that computes to September 7th in the Julian Calendar (in use in Prague at the time) or September 17th 1609. I edited the article accordingly. KosherJava (talk) 02:58, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Low or Loew
Most English sources I am aware of give his name as Loew, not Low. Should this be the default here as well? Jayjg 16:33, 26 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * It makes preciously little difference. We could try googling for both, and the most frequent term wins :-). JFW | T@lk  22:41, 26 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * Googling for "Maharal Low" gives 888 results, most of which seem Wikipedia mirrors. "Maharal Loew" gives >600 links to other important sites (e.g. OU.ORG), suggesting that we ought to move this page. I'm doing it now. JFW | T@lk  22:43, 26 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Actually, it's Löw. Loew is the standard German transcription. Googling "Rabbi Löw" gives 2900 results, "Rabbi Loew" 2300, while "Rabbi Low" only 570. -- mz 13:39, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Right, but most English keyboards don't have the umlaut, so English typically uses oe. Jayjg 02:40, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Shelley
I removed:

 * It has also been thought that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was based partly on the story of the Maharal's golem.

This rather bold and imaginitive assertion lacked a source. Unless anyone can support this I suspect it may not be worthy of inclusion. JFW | T@lk  15:15, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

removed the description of Golem as homunculus - it being inaccurate.

Golem Stories
I added it because it focuses on the Maharal, in the production I saw

Great sentence!
I love this sentence: "According to the myth he supposedly created using mystical magical powers based on the esoteric knowledge of how God created Adam, but there is no contemporary evidence that this is true." It's not so much the missing object, or the hidden Beatles reference. It's the assurance, for those who believe that he actually "created [something] using mystical magical powers based on the esoteric knowledge of how God created Adam" that "there is no contemporary evidence that this is true." Whew, you can't imagine the relief I felt!

Maybe we should rewrite this? 85.164.238.95 (talk) 10:44, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

 * I deleted the crazy part
 * Willi5willi5 (talk) 00:02, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

 * It's not at all crazy. There's no reason he couldn't have created a golem.  There's just no evidence that he did.  -- Zsero (talk) 01:14, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Tomb photo?
Is the tomb still in existence? The photo in the article is B&W and looks pretty old. --24.21.149.124 (talk) 09:57, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes it is still in existence. You can find newer versions on flickr, though some of the photos on flickr are actually the incorrect one.KosherJava (talk) 17:12, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Maharal's education
The article states that "He received his formal education in various yeshivas (Talmudical schools)." Do we have any evidence of this? My understanding is that he was an autodidact; there seems to be more documentation of this (or at least of the myth, if it is one), whereas there is no evidence of his having studied in any yeshiva at all. AngerBoy (talk) 05:19, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

Golem
I have removed most of the material about the golem legend. There is no point in listing the various versions of the story. There is consensus among historians and critics that they date from the 1830s and there have been so many of them that the list could go on endlessly. The subject is treated in detail in the main article, Golem. Marshall46 (talk) 12:57, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Gur Aryeh
This is the complete thing at HebrewBooks.org. http://www.hebrewbooks.org/44297 71.163.117.143 (talk) 21:27, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Judah Loew ben Bezalel


text:
Newmarket-on-Fergus

Newmarket-on-Fergus, historically known as Corracatlin, is a town in County Clare, Ireland. It is 13 kilometres from Ennis, 8 kilometres from Shannon Airport, and 24 kilometres from Limerick.

History
The English rendering of the name 'Newmarket-on-Fergus' probably owes its origin to the fact that an older 'Market' at nearby Bunratty (on the Ogarney River) predated the 'newer' market located at the village and hence Newmarket-on-Fergus; there is also a popular myth attributing the name-change to Lord Inchiqin who supposedly renamed the village after the famous racecourse, and following a victory at the horse-racing centre in England having wagered Dromoland Estate on the race. In the grounds of his neo-Gothic mansion, Dromoland Castle, is the most extensive hill-fort in Ireland, Mooghaun Hill-Fort, with several acres of ground encompassed within its treble walls. It is supposed to have been the site of a prehistoric walled village and a meeting- place in about 500 BC. It is regarded as the oldest ring fort of its kind in Europe. The Gaelic name Cora Chaitlín is reputed to have its origins in a 19th-century famine where weirs were placed across the river Canny at Newtown Canny (i.e. Limerick Road near the present entrance to O'Regan Park) and Finn mill race, in which to snare eels, hence Cathleen's Weir. The proper and original name is transliterated 'Tradaree' from the Gaelic 'Tradraigh'; the village being the centre of that ancient district of Tradaree which extended from Bunratty in the south and to Latoon in the north.

One of the earliest known references to the area was in the Book of Survey and Distribution, written in 1636 by James Frost. In it he mentions the main landowners of the area, among them the Earl of Thomond.

There is also mention of Bonratty (later Bunratty) of which Newmarket was in the Barony of, in a 1574 document written by Edward White. His document was written to give an accurate account of the lands of Thomond of which at the time there had been several incorrect descriptions made.

The Parish of Newmarket-on-Fergus is a union of seven ancient parishes: Bunratty, Fenloe, Kilnasoolagh, Drumline, Clonloghan, Kilconry and Kilmaleery. During the Penal Law period of 1744, the High Sheriff of Clare, John Westropp, had all the Churches in these seven Parishes closed.

In a letter to The Secretaries of the Baptist Irish Society dated 20 December 1823, a travelling preacher named W. Thomas stopped over in Newmarket for a night and wrote a letter the aforementioned Society. In it he described the difficulties that people had in hearing a sermon with some people walking miles over land just to hear the word of God. He also gives an insight into the poverty of the time describing children in various states of dress akin to their poorness. He also describes the children's eagerness to learn scripture by heart.

In March 1854, about two miles from the centre of the village an immense amount of gold was found in what appeared to be a hastily hidden trove concealed in a stone chamber under a cam of slight elevation, near the lake of Mooghaun, or Lougha- traska.

At 5 August 1920, during the War of Independence the village was the scene of a successful attack on the police barracks. With help from a turncoat, the Irish Republican Army entered the barracks and captured the present members of the Royal Irish Constabulary. The IRA seized weapons and official police documents before leaving.

In a 1962 published autobiography, 'My Father Marconi', Degna Marconi, the daughter of the inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi, describes in detail holidaying on the Dromoland Estate in 1905.

In late June 2004, the first summit to take place between the US and the enlarged EU 25 Member States took place in Newmarket at Dromoland Castle.

In the Spring of 2007, six skeletal remains were found during the archaeological monitoring of improvement works to a local water network near Barnhill, Newmarket-on-Fergus. Dating showed that the remains were Pre-Christian.

Geography
The town is situated about 10 km from Ennis. As its name implies, it lies close to the River Fergus. The main N18 Limerick–Ennis road passed through Newmarket until the town was bypassed in 2002. That main bypass road was renamed as the M18 on 28 August 2009 as part of a national programme to increase the amount of motorways available to road users.

Neighbouring towns and villages include Clarecastle, Ennis, Cratloe, Sixmilebridge, Quin and Shannon.

To the west of the town is Lough Gash, a turlough (disappearing lake) of considerable size.

People
The earliest census to record the population of Newmarket took place in 1659. Newmarket, listed as Corraeathelin in the census as a part of the Barony of Bunratty showed the population as just 9 people living within the confines the village. As of 2016 census, the population of Newmarket-on-Fergus was given as 1,784.

The town is the birthplace of Irish nationalist William Smith O'Brien. Irish President Michael D. Higgins, though born in Limerick, was educated in Ballycar National School.

Commerce and tourism
The town has several small shops and public houses. The proximity of Shannon Airport, and the presence of several places of interest nearby (such as Bunratty Castle and Craggaunowen) brings some tourism to the area, providing business for local bed and breakfast establishments and hotels, like Dromoland Castle. On the grounds of Dromoland Castle is Mooghaun, a late Bronze Age hill fort.

Newmarket-on-Fergus houses the O'Regan Park, established on a site of about 6 hectares bought and donated by Brendan O'Regan. The park officially opened in 2003.

Education
There are four primary schools in the parish: Scoil na Maighdine Muire/Newmarket-on-Fergus National School, Ballycar National School, Stonehall National School and Clonmoney National School. For secondary education, students attend schools in Ennis and Shannon.

Transport
Newmarket-on-Fergus is located on the R471/R458. The N18/M18 is located 1 km away on the Newmarket-on-Fergus bypass. The nearest railway station is in Sixmilebridge. There is a bus service that services the area on an hourly basis

title: Newmarket-on-Fergus


text:
Rutja

Rutja is a village in Haljala Parish, Lääne-Viru County, northern Estonia. It is located on the coast of the Bay of Finland and on the western shore of the Selja River. It neighbours Karepa in the east.

Rutja has beautiful beaches and (mainly pine) forests. It was first mentioned in 1489.

A disused Soviet military airfield Rutja Airfield is located in Rutja. It was home to 66th Soviet Attack Air Regiment which flew up to 45 Su-17 aircraft.

title: Rutja


text:
O'Brien's Bridge

O'Brien's Bridge or O'Briensbridge is a village in east County Clare, Ireland, on the west bank of the River Shannon, in a civil parish of the same name. It is named for the bridge across the Shannon at that point, built by Turlough O'Brien in 1506.

Location
The parish of O'Briensbridge, which includes the village of O'Brien's Bridge, is in the barony of Tulla Lower. It was formerly part of the parish of Killaloe. It is 9.66 by and covers 4624 ha, including a detached district 4.8 by to the southwest. The parish is bounded on the east by the River Shannon. The narrow northern section in mountainous, rising to 527 m, and the western part of the parish is also upland. There were two castles in the parish. The one at the village of O'Brien's Bridge was inhabited by Murtagh O'Brien, Baron of Inchiquin, in 1580. It is now entirely gone. The other, Aherinagh, was still reasonably well preserved at the end of the 19th century. In 1580 it belonged to Donogh, son of Conor MacNamara.

History
The first bridge across the river here was built in 1506 by Turlough O'Brien, first Earl of Thomond and his brother, the Bishop of Killaloe. This first bridge was made of wood, and was burned in 1510 by Gearóid Mór FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare. The O'Briens rebuilt the bridge, this time erecting two castles, each with walls 12 ft thick, one on each side of the river. The castles stood in the water close to shore, and were connected by a 7-arch wooden bridge that rose to 15 ft above the water. This bridge was destroyed in 1537 by Leonard Grey, the Lord Deputy of Ireland under King Henry VIII of England, after an extended battle against the O'Briens, who had rebelled. A 12-arch stone bridge was built next. It was replaced around 1750, partially replaced in 1842, and modified to include a navigation arch in the 1920s.

At the eastern end of today's 12-arch bridge lies the village of Montpelier in County Limerick.

The ancient river-crossing here is believed to be identical with Áth Caille (meaning "Ford of the Wood"): one of the three fords mentioned in the Triads of Ireland, the others being Áth Clíath (Dublin) and Áth Lúain (Athlone).

Sports
The local soccer club is Bridge Celtic AFC, which was formed in 1963 and currently plays in the Clare Soccer League. The club won the Clare Premier title in 2006/07, for the first time in 28 years.

Townlands
The parish contains the townlands of Aharinaghmore, Ardataggle, Ballybrack, Ballycar North, Ballycar South, Ballyknavin, Cappakea, Carrownagowan, Cloghera, Clonboy, Coolnalira, Coumbrack, Earlhill, Fahy Beg, Fahy More North, Fahy More South, Glenlon North, Glenlon South, Kilcredaun, Kilroughil, Knockaderreen, Knockdonagh, Lackareagh Beg, Lackareagh More, Magherareagh, O'Briensbridge, Ross, Roo East, Roo West and Trough.

title: O'Brien's Bridge


text:
Oysterhaven

Oysterhaven (Cuan Oisre) is a sea-inlet on the coast of County Cork, Ireland, immediately to the east of Kinsale harbour, that is in County Cork. The townlands bordering the northern and eastern sides of the inlet are also known as Oysterhaven.

During the Siege of Kinsale, the English forces besieging the town brought supplies to their camp (which was located to the north of the town) by ship into Oysterhaven and thence by boat up the creek to Brown's Mills.

Oysterhaven is now home to a watersports and "outdoor education" centre.

title: Oysterhaven


text:
Vox populi

Vox populi is a Latin phrase (originally Vox populi, vox Dei -The voice of the people is the voice of the God) that literally means "voice of the people". It is used in English in the meaning "the opinion of the majority of the people". In journalism, vox pop or man on the street refers to short interviews with members of the public.

Man on the street
American television personality Steve Allen as the host of The Tonight Show further developed the "man on the street" interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that have become commonplace on late-night TV. Usually the interviewees are shown in public places, and supposed to be giving spontaneous opinions in a chance encounter – unrehearsed persons, not selected in any way. As such, journalists almost always refer to them as the abbreviated vox pop. In U.S. broadcast journalism, it is often referred to as a man on the street interview or MOTS.

The results of such an interview are unpredictable at best, and therefore vox pop material is usually edited down very tightly. This presents difficulties of balance, in that the selection used ought to be, from the point of view of journalistic standards, a fair cross-section of opinions.

Although the two can be quite often confused, a vox pop is not a form of a survey. Each person is asked the same question; the aim is to get a variety of answers and opinions on any given subject. Journalists are usually instructed to approach a wide range of people to get varied answers from different points of view. The interviewees should be of various ages, sexes, classes and communities so that the diverse views and reactions of the general people will be known.

Generally, the vox pop question will be asked of different persons in different parts of streets or public places. But as an exception, in any specific topic or situation which is not concerned to general people, the question can be asked only in a specific group to know what the perception/reaction is of that group to the specific topic or issue; e.g., a question can be asked to a group of students about the quality of their education.

With increasing public familiarity with the term, several radio and television programs have been named "vox pop" in allusion to this practice.

Vox populi, vox Dei
The Latin phrase Vox populi, vox dei, 'The voice of the people [is] the voice of the gods', is an old proverb.

An early reference to the expression is in a letter from Alcuin of York to Charlemagne in. The full quotation from Alcuin reads:

Writing in the early 12th century, William of Malmesbury refers to the saying as a "proverb".

Of those who promoted the phrase and the idea, Archbishop of Canterbury Walter Reynolds brought charges against King Edward II in 1327 in a sermon "Vox populi, vox Dei".

Cultural references

 * "Vox Populi" is a paper by Sir Francis Galton, first published in the 7 March 1907 issue of Nature, that demonstrates the "wisdom of the crowd" by a statistical analysis of the guesses from a weight-judging contest.
 * A variant was used in the 1920 United States presidential election, in which the main candidates were Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox: "Cox or Harding, Harding or Cox? / You tell us, populi, you got the vox."
 * In CollegeHumor's actual play Dungeons & Dragons show Dimension 20: The Unsleeping City, Kingston Brown holds the title of "Vox Populi of New York City", the individual selected to be the voice of the people of New York, regarding matters involving magical forces from the Dream Realm.
 * The "Vox Populi" are a faction in the 2013 video game BioShock Infinite as a communist revolutionary force led by Daisy Fitzroy against the tyrant Zachary Comstock.
 * Vox Populi is referenced in the film V for Vendetta when V performs his alliterative speech for Evey.
 * Sherlock Holmes, in the story "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange", asks Watson to give judgment regarding a criminal, and after his choice to let him go, Sherlock quotes the phrase "Vox Populi, Vox Dei" and sends the criminal free.
 * After his acquisition of Twitter, Elon Musk conducted a poll asking whether or not he should reinstate the account of the former President Donald Trump. Upon the results of the poll, Musk tweeted "The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei."  This poll stated "Reinstate former President Trump" and after 15,085,458 votes, resulted in 51.8% voting "Yes." Musk used the phrase, once again, in response to a poll he posted on Twitter on November 23, 2022. That poll asked, "Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?" After being active for one day, the results were 72.4% in favor of account amnesty. 3,162,112 accounts voted. To this, Musk tweeted "The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei."

title: Vox populi


text:
Michael Bryant

Michael Bryant is the name of:

 * Michael Bryant (actor) (1928–2002), British stage and television actor
 * Michael Bryant (cricketer) (born 1959), English cricketer
 * Michael Bryant (politician) (born 1966), Canadian lawyer and former Attorney-General of Ontario
 * Michael Bryant (soccer) (born 1995), American soccer player
 * Mike Bryant (born 1960), English musician
 * Michael Bryant or Alan Brennert (born 1954), American author, television producer and screenwriter

title: Michael Bryant


text:
Portmagee

Portmagee is a village in County Kerry, Ireland. The village is located on the Iveragh peninsula south of Valentia Island, and is known locally as 'the ferry', in reference to its purpose as a crossing point to the island. Access to Valentia Island is now via the Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge (R565 road) from Portmagee, which was built in 1970 and named in memory of a member of the IRA executed in 1942 for his part in the shooting dead of Detective George Mordaunt in Dublin.

Name
The name Portmagee (Port Magee and Magee's Port as it was formerly known) comes from Captain Theobald Magee, a notorious 18th-century smuggler. Having served in the army of King James as an officer, Magee 'retired' to a life of merchant shipping between France, Portugal and Ireland. Thanks to the many inlets around the South West coast, his trade in contraband spirits, textiles and tea and tobacco was hard to police and therefore very profitable. He married Bridget Morgell, the widow of a rich Dingle merchant and also the daughter of the then representative for Dingle, Thomas Crosbie. There is some suspicion that Magee's death in a Lisbon monastery was due to some exile imposed by the powerful MP. However, his wife and sons continued the family business of smuggling.

Tourism
In December 2012, Portmagee was awarded the Fáilte Ireland National Tourism Town Award, the first town to be awarded the accolade.

Places of interest
The village serves as a departure point for tourists travelling to visit 'Skellig Michael', an island off the coast featuring a 6th-century monastic settlement. Skellig Michael (from Sceilig Mhichíl in the Irish language, meaning Michael's rock), also known as Great Skellig, is a steep rocky island in the Atlantic Ocean about 9 mi from the coast of County Kerry. It is the larger of the two Skellig Islands. Probably founded in the 7th century, for 600 years the island was a centre of monastic life for Irish Christian monks. The Gaelic monastery, which is situated almost at the summit of the 230-metre-high rock became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. It is one of Europe's better known but least accessible monastic sites. Since the extreme remoteness of Skellig Michael has until recently discouraged visitors, the site is exceptionally well preserved. The very spartan conditions inside the monastery illustrate the ascetic lifestyle practiced by early Irish Christians. The monks lived in stone 'beehive' huts (clochans), perched above nearly vertical cliff walls.

Another monastery, Illaunloughan, is located in the Portmagee Channel north of the town.

South of the town are the popular Kerry Cliffs.

Skellig Rangers
The local GAA team, Skellig Rangers, was founded in 1895 (originally as Portmagee G.A.A, before adopting its present name in the 1930s), and plays at Pairc Chill Imeallach in Portmagee.

title: Portmagee


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Gimme Gimme Gimme (TV series)

Gimme Gimme Gimme is a BBC television sitcom by Tiger Aspect Productions that was first aired in three series from 1999 to 2001. It was written by Jonathan Harvey, who developed the series with Kathy Burke.

The title from the show stems from both the main characters' continual search for a male partner, and the theme music is a cover of ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)". The first two series were originally shown on BBC Two and were deemed successful enough for the third series to be shown on BBC One.

Burke received two BAFTA nominations for Best Comedy Performance for playing the lead character, Linda La Hughes. The show received a nomination in the Best Scripted Comedy category for its third series.

Premise
Gimme Gimme Gimme centres on loudmouthed Londoner Linda La Hughes (played by comedian and director Kathy Burke) and her gay flatmate, actor Tom Farrell (played by James Dreyfus). A modern twist on the traditional "odd couple" format, much of Gimme Gimme Gimme's humour springs from its lubricious innuendo subplot, which comes from the mouths of both Tom and Linda.

Linda is characterised by her red hair, white glasses and plump, lycra-clad figure. Boorish, unattractive Linda is convinced she is a "stunner"; in series three she is finally diagnosed with reverse body dysmorphic disorder. It is suggested that Linda and Tom first met at a nightclub, bonded instantly (due to both being on ecstasy), and decided to live together. What follows is, as writer Jonathan Harvey describes, "one long comedown". Linda often tells humorous anecdotes about her family and childhood which suggest abuse or neglect (such as how she apparently slept on a doormat as a baby, lived in a kennel as a child, and was left in a car-boot for the two weeks her aunt went on holiday), but she always thinks of these as positive experiences. She also claims that her Daddy now lives in an iron lung, although the only proof she has is a photo of a sideboard. Linda also lived in a convent and was sent to a borstal as a teenager. She has crushes on Liam Gallagher (in whom she lost interest after series one as she "couldn't bring up another bird's child"), Robbie Williams, and both male members of Hear'Say. She also imagines having sex with Dale Winton in a toilet cubicle.

Tom is melodramatic yet fails in his desire to get acting roles. He believes himself to be truly gifted in the art of acting, and often blames his failures on his agent or society itself. He did appear in one episode of EastEnders and often brags about it, delaying for as long as he can the fact that he was in one scene, had one line, and did nothing but buy a cagoule from Bianca Jackson's market stall. He also appeared in Daylight Robbery as an extra, standing in a queue in the background. He had one line but it was cut due to timekeeping. He insists that the entire series was ruined due to the axing of his line. Tom has an obsession with appearing to be middle-class even though he hails from a working-class background, possibly because he also hates his parents. It is often suggested that Tom has no friends whatsoever (apart from Linda and his housemates) but unlike Linda he usually tries to pretend he is popular. Tom is in love with the actor Simon Shepherd.

Although they appear to loathe each other, Tom and Linda are beholden to each other due to the simple fact that nobody else can tolerate them. They are in many ways alike: selfish, unsuccessful, and physically and personally unattractive - although Tom less so. The hapless duo live in a Kentish Town flat (69 Paradise Passage, Kentish Town) rented from elderly ex-prostitute Beryl Merit (Rosalind Knight), who lives in the upstairs flat. Other regular characters are the middle-class, horny married couple Jez (Brian Bovell) and Suze (Beth Goddard), who live in the basement flat. Many of the storylines revolve around the fact that Tom and Linda find Jez sexually attractive and (particularly Linda) despise the oblivious Suze. Another recurring character is Sugar Walls (Elaine Lordan), Linda's celebrity sister. Many of the other characters can be just as hapless as Tom and Linda; Beryl still engages in sexual activities such as S&M and picking up young and married men, while Jez and Suze generally lack common sense. For example, they once cancelled their holiday to the Algarve and paid £500 to stay in their own back garden after Linda opened it up as a campsite.

On at least one occasion the fourth wall is broken when a previous series was referenced by Linda.

At the end of series three, Tom finally got his big break in TV soap opera Crossroads. The last episode ended with Tom leaving the flat and Linda taking off her hair (revealing it to be a wig) and sitting in the flat alone.

Regular
Linda La Hughes (Kathy Burke) – Linda is portrayed as an unattractive middle-aged woman who usually wears skin tight, colourful clothing. Linda grabs any opportunity to bluntly flirt with any man she sees. She is delusional about her appearance; in the Series 3 episode "Trauma", she's finally diagnosed with reversed body dysmorphic disorder. Her age is uncertain as she has announced different ages through the three series. Linda, originally from Portsmouth, has a large family consisting of a son named Zippy; two cousins, Simon who has a wonky eye, Velma who works in Soho who has an act called "Snatch and Ladders"; two aunties, Nitty and Ivy; an uncle called Tyrone; and a sister called Sharon Hughes who changed her name to Sugar Walls. Her Mother, called "Queenie" (and oddly referred to in one episode as "Dolly") died when Linda was a child but there is some uncertainty as to the cause; Linda tells Tom's mum that she collapsed in a paddling pool in Pinner, but her sister Sugar Walls states that she electrocuted herself on her own Slendertone pads. Her Daddy hides from her, although she thinks he's in an iron lung, but he does send her Christmas presents. When Linda is asked what her father's name is by her son Zippy, she replies "Daddy". She is unexpectedly reunited with her 28-year-old son; she says she was 15 when she gave birth to him.

Thomas Thessalonius "Tom" Farrell (James Dreyfus) – Tom is a 30-year-old wannabe (but bad) actor who has only had small roles on TV and on stage. Tom is openly gay and seizes every possible opportunity to get a boyfriend. Throughout Series 1, he often refers to using drugs once at home when he mistook a sleeping tablet for an E, the other when reading what "middle class" people should do "the middle class person will not go to sleazy night club and get off his tits on ecstasy". He also tends to exaggerate a lot. Series 3 concludes with him moving to Nottingham to join the cast of Crossroads.

Beryl Merit (Rosalind Knight) – Beryl is the elderly landlady of 69 Paradise Passage. She is a retired prostitute but stays involved in criminal activities such as shoplifting and bootlegging; in the Series 2 episode "Glad to be Gay?" she's seen to be an escort. Her best friend is Renée, a fellow former prostitute whom she often mentions and is seen chatting to on the phone, but who never appears.

Jez Littlewood (Brian Bovell) – Jez is Tom and Linda's hunky middle-class neighbour. When Tom and Linda first meet Jez, they think one of them has slept with him, but actually he had just slept on the sofa. Both Tom and Linda constantly lust after him; whilst Tom tends to be subtle about his feelings, Linda boorishly propositions Jez at every opportunity – even in Suze's presence. However, Jez is devoted to his wife.

Suze Littlewood (Beth Goddard) – Suze is Jez's ditzy wife. She can sometimes be nice but on other occasions she can be hyperactive and rather irritating, unintentionally coming off as a burden. Tom and Linda loathe Suze for standing in the way of their pursuit of Jez. Linda, especially, showers her with vicious insults, most of which go way over her head. She and Jez have a voracious – often vociferous – sex life. In the Series 3 episode "Secrets and Flies" (featuring Linda's own long-lost son), she gives birth to their baby boy, Lee-on-Solent "Lee" Littlewood. Suze has also stated that she is a "committed vegetarian", with a liking for spinach pie and quorn placenta.

Recurring
Norma (Doña Croll) – Tom's agent who features in every series.

Sharon Hughes/Sugar Walls (Elaine Lordan) is Linda's famous sister. She is a model, but is more famous for her promiscuity than her modelling career. She appears in series 1 and returns in series 2.

Simon Shepherd is Tom's celebrity crush. Simon is famous for starring in Peak Practice. He appears in every series.

Guest appearances

 * Michele Austin
 * Frances Barber
 * Mark Benton
 * Adrian Bower
 * Moya Brady
 * Richard Cant
 * Debbie Chazen
 * Charlie Condou
 * Phil Daniels
 * Hazel Douglas
 * Mel Giedroyc
 * Jonathan Harvey
 * William Hope
 * Anna Keaveney
 * Rose Keegan
 * Simon Shepherd
 * Chris Langham
 * Nimmy March
 * Geraldine McNulty
 * Melinda Messenger
 * Ann Mitchell
 * Mark Monero
 * Patsy Palmer
 * Sue Perkins
 * Su Pollard. Pollard played a character called Heidi Honeycombe; when she appeared, Linda greeted her with "Heidi! Hi!" (a reference to Hi-de-Hi! in which Pollard starred).
 * Rowland Rivron
 * Zita Sattar
 * David Schneider
 * Christopher Simon
 * Sophie Stanton
 * Ronan Vibert
 * Dale Winton
 * The Pink Singers

Production
The series was filmed in front of a live studio audience in Studio 2 at The London Studios, South Bank, London.

Writer Jonathan Harvey appeared in three episodes; as a guest at the series 1 wedding, once as make-up artist Louis, and then as a customer in a sofa store.

Episodes
Gimme Gimme Gimme has broadcast three series and 19 episodes in total. The first series premiered on BBC Two on 8 January 1999 and lasted for six episodes, concluding on 12 February 1999. Following this, a Millennium special was screened at the end of the year on 29 December 1999. A second series commenced on 14 January 2000 and finished on 18 February 2000, again including six episodes. A short sketch included as part of Comic Relief was broadcast on 16 March 2001. Due to the high viewing figures and success the show received, it was moved to BBC One for a six-episode third series which was the last. Each episode was written by Jonathan Harvey and directed by Liddy Oldroyd for the first two series and the special; the third series was directed by Tristram Shapeero.

Home media
Gimme Gimme Gimme' has been released entirely on VHS and DVD on Region 2 in the United Kingdom via Video Vision Ltd. and Universal Home Entertainment. Each series were released as individual sets and a complete collection. The original DVD sets were made available on the same days as the VHS sets. On Region 4 in Australia, where only the first two series are available, the sets are have identical content to the UK releases. The series was re-released on Region 2 DVD under Universal's subsidiary, Universal Playback.

From November 2020, the entire series was made available on BBC iPlayer for one year. In December 2022, it became available to stream on BritBox.

title: Gimme Gimme Gimme (TV series)


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Ringaskiddy

Ringaskiddy is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It is located on the western side of Cork Harbour, south of Cobh, and is 15 km from Cork city, to which it is connected by the N28 road. The village is a port with passenger ferry, with two bi-weekly sailings to Roscoff in France. A ferry service to Swansea in Wales closed in 2012.

During the 20th century, Ringaskiddy changed from a fishing village to a centre of transport and industrial activity. It is now one of the largest employment hubs in the pharmaceuticals sector in the region. The village is close to a number of tourist areas, including Crosshaven, Curraghbinny and Monkstown. A motorway project, to connect Cork city with Ringaskiddy, was given the "green light" by the supreme court in March 2021.

Places of interest
Barnahely Castle, later known as Warren's Castle, is located near Ringaskiddy. Originally the site of an Anglo-Norman castle, a new fortification was built here during the 15th or 16th century. In 1796, the site was bought and a mansion house (incorporating the remnants of the earlier castle) was built by the Warren family. The remaining ruins of the castle include a rectangular bawn.

A Martello tower sits on a hilltop at Ringaskiddy, and is one of several other forts and towers designed to protect Cork Harbour. It is accessed via the Loughbeg road and overlooks the harbour.

There are two beaches near Ringaskiddy: Lough beach (also known locally as Luc beach) and Gobby beach. Lough beach, a sandy beach with shallow water, is served by an access path and seasonal toilet facilities. Gobby beach is a rocky beach with direct views over Spike Island.

In mid-2020, a Ringaskiddy Tidy Towns group was set up.

Industry
Ringaskiddy is an important industrial centre, particularly for pharmaceutical companies such as Centocor, GlaxoSmithKline, Hovione, Novartis, Pfizer, and Recordati. Most of the world's supply of the erection-treatment drug Viagra is manufactured there. As of 2021, more than 3,800 people were reportedly employed in the Ringaskiddy area.

The Port of Cork facilities at Ringaskiddy handle much of the vehicle imports for the southern part of Ireland, with 34,000 trade vehicles imported through Cork in 2017.

Incinerator proposal
An application to build a domestic waste incinerator in Ringaskiddy was rejected by An Bord Pleanála in 2011. The incinerator's proposed owners, Indaver Ireland, said the facility would relieve pressure on landfill, while locals and environmentalists feared the incinerator would impact on public health and the environment in the area. Indaver Ireland said that they had not abandoned their plans, and in 2018 were granted planning permission for the plant. However, this decision was subject to a legal challenge and, as of 2021, the High Court was due to rule on whether An Bord Pleanála could reconsider its permission decision, or if the entire planning process had to be restarted.

Amenities
Amenities in Ringaskiddy, and nearby Shanbally, include a church, primary school, shop, preschool and community centre. The local Gaelic Athletic Association club is Shanbally GAA. Ringaskiddy also has a café (Perry Street Café) and bar/restaurant (the Ferry Boat Inn).

The National Maritime College of Ireland was officially opened in Ringaskiddy in 2006, and has drawn a student population to the village. The college provides the only training in Ireland of Merchant Navy personnel, and the Irish Naval Service also carry out their non-military training there. The Irish Naval Service base at Haulbowline is 3 kilometres (2 miles) from Ringaskiddy on the L2545 local road.

title: Ringaskiddy


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The Bagford Ballads

The Bagford Ballads were English ballads collected by John Bagford (1651 - 1716) for Robert Harley, first Earl of Oxford. Bagford was originally a cobbler, but he became a book collector in his later years, and he assembled this set of ballads from the materials he had been collecting. Harley was interested in all sorts of antiquarian literature, and the Harleian collection is a major contribution to scholarship.

The Bagford Ballads are generally folk compositions that document the last years of the Stuart reign in the close of the 17th century (a subject that was not remote for Harley). Therefore, in contrast to what Thomas Percy would collect, these ballads were not primarily antiquarian or efforts at preserving a vanished literature. Rather, they seem to have been selected for their value as genuine folk art and populist ephemera.

After Harley's death, the Bagford Ballads were obtained by the Duke of Roxburge. They were published by the Ballad Society in 1878, edited by Joseph Woodfall Ebsworth.

title: The Bagford Ballads


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Monheim am Rhein

Monheim am Rhein (Monnem) is a town on the right (eastern) bank of the river Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Monheim belongs to the district of Mettmann – with the southern suburbs of Düsseldorf to the north, and the Bergisches Land to the south. It consists of the city districts (from north to south) Baumberg (about one third) and Monheim (two thirds).

Adjacent cities and districts
The following cities and districts border Monheim am Rhein: to the north Düsseldorf, to the east Langenfeld (also part of the district of Mettmann), to the south Leverkusen and (both divided by the river Rhine) Cologne to the southwest, and Dormagen to the west (part of the district of Neuss).

History
Monheim has approximately 850 years of recorded history. It was first documented in 1150 as a fishermen's village in the Grafschaft (Earldom) Berg. It became the administrative centre for the surrounding villages (including many of the villages that now form Düsseldorf) in 1363, and stayed in that position until Napoleon formed the Rhine Confederation in 1806. Monheim, Baumberg and Hitdorf were then combined into a municipal corporation. Monheim gained city status in 1960, ten years after it finally incorporated the neighbouring villages Baumberg and Hitdorf. At the end of 1974 Monheim was incorporated by Düsseldorf as part of a major municipal corporation reform. After a successful complaint in the federal state's constitutional court in Münster, the city became independent again on 1 July 1976, but lost Hitdorf to Leverkusen. Since 1994 the official city name has been Monheim am Rhein.

Sites of interest

 * Schelmenturm  – The 26m-high (85 ft) landmark of Monheim is a tower from the early 15th century, which was part of the former fortification built by the Earls of Berg. Since 1972, the tower has been reorganised, also being used as a cultural meeting place.
 * Deusserhaus – The Deusser manor house, built around 1848, today is the museum of the Heimatbund (local history society) Monheim e.V.
 * Haus Bürgel – This house is located on the border between Baumberg and Düsseldorf in a landscape conservation area called "Urdenbacher Kämpe", a flood plain of the Rhine. The earliest source from 1019 states that the "Castrum in Burgela" was built in the 4th century as part of the Roman defences against the Franks on the left bank of the Rhine. In the 14th century, the broadly meandering river changed its bed after a flood, so that Haus Bürgel is actually on the right bank of the Rhine today. Some remains of the Roman walls are still visible, although the place was transformed into a larger Frankish manor house. In recent years, it has been used as a museum and biological-environmental research and information station.
 * Gänselieselbrunnen – The fountain known locally as Gänselieselbrunnen is located next to the town hall of Monheim am Rhein.
 * Friedenskirche - The Friedenskirche (Peace Church) is a Protestant church in Monheim-Baumberg, built from 1968 to 1974 according to the plans of Walter Maria Foerderer and an outstanding example of Brutalism in the Rhineland.
 * Franz Boehm Memorial - The Catholic priest Franz Boehm, who became a parish priest in St. Gereon in 1938, was a resistance fighter against the Nazi regime who died in 1945 in the Dachau concentration camp. A life-size bronze bust was erected in his honor in 2020 to mark his 140th birthday. Behind the life-size bust are two panes, each measuring 4.2 meters by 2.25 meters, which was designed by Thomas Kesseler using the silkscreen technique.

Transport
Monheim is part of both of the public transport associations Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) and the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS), situated on their borders. There are several bus lines running between the city districts, neighbouring towns, and the closest S-Bahn railway stations on the border with Langenfeld, Langenfeld-Berghausen station and Langenfeld (Rheinland) station, as well as Düsseldorf. The Monheim ticket has enabled citizens of Monheim to use public transport free of charge within Monheim am Rhein and the neighbouring town Langenfeld (VRR tariff zone 73) as well as to the near train station in Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf-Hellerhof station since 1 April 2020. This was prolonged by the town council until 31 March 2025.

Many of Monheim's residents are commuters to nearby Düsseldorf (20 minutes) and Cologne (30 minutes). The A59 is connected to Monheim which connects to the nearby A46, as is the A542 which connects with the nearby A3 and A1.

The town is in the vicinity of both Düsseldorf Airport and the Cologne Bonn Airport.

Twin towns – sister cities
Monheim am Rhein is twinned with:

 * 🇦🇹 Wiener Neustadt, Austria (1971)
 * 🇮🇱 Tirat Carmel, Israel (1989)
 * 🇩🇪 Delitzsch, Germany (1990)
 * 🇫🇷 Bourg-la-Reine, France (2000)
 * 🇵🇱 Malbork, Poland (2005)
 * 🇹🇷 Ataşehir, Turkey (2015)

title: Monheim am Rhein


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Evelyn Baring

Evelyn Baring may refer to:

 * Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer (1841–1917), Consul-General of Egypt from 1883 to 1907
 * Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale (1903–1973), his son, and Governor of Kenya from 1952 to 1959
 * Evelyn Baring, 4th Earl of Cromer (born 1946) British peer and business man

title: Evelyn Baring


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Roosky

Roosky, Ruskey, or Rooskey is a village on the River Shannon in the northern midlands of Ireland, near the point where counties Leitrim, Longford, and Roscommon meet. The N4 road from Dublin to Sligo passes by the Leitrim side of the village.

History
In 1798 the local rebels defeated the army of General Lake on the shores of Lough Bofin as part of the 1798 rebellion. There was also a 'Pleasure House' on the shores of the same lake, including a man-made beach only accessible to people from the Anglo-Irish Protestant class, which was later burned down. The Protestant church, in the centre of the village, was also attacked at this time.

Roosky was a lively market village in the mid 20th Century. The bridge was the scene of conflict during the Irish Civil War in 1922 and was also an important focal point for the National Farmers Association strike in 1967.

The portion of the village in County Leitrim was formerly known as Georgia or Gorteenoran (Goirtín Óráin) and constituted 5 houses and three licensed premises in 1925. This name is not in use today.

Facilities
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Roman Catholic church built in 1844, holds regular masses.The village has a supermarket, a Chinese restaurant, a Garda Station and a number of pubs. The community centre is located on the site of the old primary school.

Culture
The Shannon Key West Hotel was an entertainment venue in the village, until it went into liquidation, closing its doors on 18 October 2011. Every year, the village holds the 'Rooskey Heritage Festival,' usually in July.

Tourism
Roosky is a destination for anglers, as the River Shannon and the nearby loughs are well stocked with coarse fish including roach, perch and bream. The harbour and marina are especially busy in the summer, with cruise vessels regularly stopping here.

The Rooskey Heritage Festival is also held annually in the village. This community festival includes live music and heritage displays and promotes Rooskey village as a tourist destination. There are also art exhibitions, watersport displays and markets. Proceeds raised by the festival go towards the next year's festival and community projects which have included commissioning a wooden sculpture for the village, promoting the village's rich history by using plaques near points of interest and organising events all year celebrating heritage.

Outdoor activities that take place locally include watersports, horse-riding, pony-trekking and walking.

Education
The village is served by the local primary school, Our Lady of Mount Carmel N.S., which was opened in 1997. An afterschool was built on the school grounds in the late 2010's and early 2020's at the back of the school.

Industry
On 8 May 2002, a fire destroyed much of the premises of the Glanbia pork processing plant. Furthermore, the following year it was announced that the plant would not be rebuilt. On the Leitrim side of the village, there is also a test tube making factory.

Rail access
The nearest railway station is located on the County Leitrim side of the River Shannon at Dromod which is on the Dublin–Sligo railway line.

Sport
Roosky is represented in GAA and soccer by Kilglass Gaels and Dynamo Rooskey, respectively.

There are three 18-hole golf courses in the area.

People

 * Albert Reynolds, politician and 9th Taoiseach of Ireland, born in Roosky.
 * John Bannon (1829–1913), Jesuit priest
 * John Waters (born 1955) columnist and author

title: Roosky


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Rosscarbery

Rosscarbery is a village and census town in County Cork, Ireland. The village is on a shallow estuary, which opens onto Rosscarbery Bay. Rosscarbery is in the Cork South-West (Dáil Éireann) constituency, which has three seats.

History
The area has been occupied since at least the Neolithic period, as evidenced by several Neolithic sites such as portal dolmens. The area is also home to a number of Bronze Age remains, including a number of stone circles and ring forts. There are two inscribed stones in Burgatia, and several (later) holy wells nearby.

Rosscarbery was home to the School of Ross, a major centre of learning, at one time being a university town, and one of the major cities in Europe, around the 6th century. Due to its popularity as a centre of pilgrimage it was also known as Ros Ailithir ("Wood of the Pilgrims"). The hereditary chieftains of the area, or tuath, were the O'Learys, known as Uí Laoghaire Ruis Ó gCairbre, until it passed to Norman control in the early thirteenth century. The entire region had belonged to the ancient Corcu Loígde, of whom the O'Learys were one of the leading septs.

In March 1921, during the Irish War of Independence, Tom Barry's 3rd Cork (IRA) Brigade attacked and destroyed the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in Rosscarbery. Two RIC officers were killed in the attack, and nine others were injured. There is a plaque on the site of the former barracks, beside the current Garda station, commemorating the event.

Demographics
In the 20 years between the 1991 and 2011 census, the population of Rosscarbery grew by approximately 17%, from 455 to 534 people. As of the 2016 census, the population was 490.

As a tourist area, there are a number of holiday homes around Rosscarbery, which results in an annual swell in population during summer months.

Religion
The Church of Ireland's dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross were effectively merged during rationalisation in the 1860s. The bishop of this tridiocese, Paul Colton, is based in Cork.

There is a cathedral in Rosscarbery, an unusual feature for what is now a relatively small settlement. It is a Church of Ireland cathedral - St. Fachtna's Cathedral. St Fachtna's is the smallest cathedral in Ireland, and is the size of a typical parish church.

The Catholic church, in the diocese of Cork and Ross, is also called St. Fachtna's and dates from 1820.

Square
An annual horse fair is held in Rosscarbery's square every year in August.

Beaches
Rosscarbery is a tourist destination in the summertime, being in proximity to at least three beaches. The nearest of these, the "Warren Beach", is about a mile from the village, and is designated a blue flag beach, along with the nearby Owenahincha beach. Extensive coastal erosion at Warren Beach resulted in remedial works being undertaken throughout 2004 and 2005. Rosscarbery Pitch & Putt Club is located at the beach.

Estuary
Rosscarbery has a tidal estuary and mudflat on the south side of the main road and causeway (N71) and a large brackish lagoon on the north side. At the west end of the causeway, south of the main road is a small lagoon with reed beds.

Antiquities
Bohonagh is a recumbent stone circle located 2.4 km east of Rosscarbery. It dates to the Bronze Age and a boulder-burial is located nearby.

Castle Salem is also near the village, and was the home to the Morris family from around 1660 until the early 1800s. The castle is now a guest house and run by the family who bought the castle in 1895.

Transport
Rosscarbery is on the N71 road that runs through counties Cork and Kerry. The nearest town is Clonakilty (10 km to the north-east).Cork city is 53 km to the north-east.

There are bus routes serving Rosscarbery that operate along the N71.

The nearest airport is Cork Airport.

Sport
The local Gaelic Athletic Association club is Carbery Rangers, founded in 1887. In November 2003, Carbery Rangers won their first ever football County Junior A title, and subsequently a Junior Munster, Intermediate County, Munster, and All-Ireland titles. The club has since graduated to the senior ranks.

Rosscarbery Rowing Club competes at regattas in West Cork and at the Irish Coastal Rowing Federation Championships each August.

People

 * Fachtna of Rosscarbery (died c. 600), founder of Ros Ailithir monastery.
 * Airbertach mac Cosse (died c. 1016), was a poet and the lector and superior of Ros Ailithir monastery.
 * William Thompson (1775-1833), the Irish political and philosophical writer and socialist reformer, was also connected with Rosscarbery
 * Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa (1831-1915), a leader of the Irish Fenian movement, was from Rosscarbery
 * Tom Barry (1897–1980), a leader of the Irish War of Independence, is also associated with the area. Born in Kerry to Cork parents, as of the 1901 census records his family were living in Killorglin, where Barry's father [also Thomas] was posted to Killorglin barracks as an RIC constable. Tom Barry had moved to Rosscarbery with his family by 1911, and a Rosscarbery house bears a plaque to this effect. In his memoir, Guerrilla Days in Ireland, Barry recalls riding a cow through the main street to amuse other boys.
 * John Hodnett (b.1999), a rugby union player for Munster.

Annalistic references
See Annals of Inisfallen (AI)

 * AI924.1 Kl. Gothbraid, grandson of Ímar, went by sea westwards and took the hostages of the south of Ireland by sea to Ros Ailithir.
 * AI933.2 Repose of Ólchobar, abbot of Ros Ailithir.
 * AI954.2 Repose of Dub Inse, learned bishop of Ireland, and of Cellachán, king of Caisel, and of Éladach the learned, abbot of Ros Ailithir, and of Uarach, bishop of Imlech Ibuir, and of Célechair, abbot of Cluain Moccu Nóis and Cluain Iraird, and of Cormac Ua Maíl Shluaig, learned sage of Mumu, and of Lugaid Ua Maíl Shempail, abbot of Domnach Pátraic, and of Cenn Faelad son of Suibne, anchorite of Cluain Ferta Brénainn.

title: Rosscarbery