History.

Marcin Jakubowski founded the group in 2003. In the final year of his doctoral thesis at the University of Wisconsin, he felt that his work was too closed off from the world's problems, and he wanted to go a different way. After graduation, he devoted himself entirely to OSE.  OSE made it to the world stage in 2011 when Jakubowski presented his Global Village Construction Set TED Talk. Soon, the GVCS won Make magazine's Green Project Contest. The Internet blogs Gizmodo and Grist produced detailed features on OSE. Jakubowski has since become a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow (2012) and TED Senior Fellow (2012).  In December 2013, Marcin married Catarina Mota. She co-chaired the Open Hardware Summit 2012, served on the board of directors of the Open Source Hardware Association, taught as an adjunct faculty member at ITP-NYU, and was a fellow of the National Science and Technology Foundation of Portugal.  Catarina finished her PhD dissertation on the social impact of open and collaborative practices for the development of physical goods and technologies. She was a visiting scholar at ITP-NYU, Research Chair at the Open Source Hardware Association, TED Fellow, and member of NYC Resistor.  Open Source Ecology is also developing in Europe as OSE Europe.  In 2016, OSE and the Open Building Institute joined forces to make affordable, ecological housing widely accessible.< The initiative has prototyped the Seed Eco-Home – a 1400 square foot home with the help of 50 people in a 5-day period – demonstrating that OSE's Extreme Manufacturing techniques can be apply to rapid swarm builds of large structures. Materials for the Seed Eco-Home cost around US$30,000. Further, OBI has prototyped the Aquaponic Greenhouse – which was also built in 5 days with 50 people.

Factor e Farm.

The Factor e Farm is the headquarters where the machines are prototyped and tested. The farm also serves as a prototype. Using the Open Source Ecology principles, Marcin and Catarina have built four prototype modules which comprise their home. An added greenhouse demonstrates how a family can grow vegetables and fish. Outside, there is also a large garden including fruit trees.

Current progress.

In 2020, OSE is planning its most ambitious collaborative design effort by hosting an Incentive Challenge on the HeroX platform - to produce a professional grade, open source, 3D printed cordless drill that can be manufactured in distributed locations around the world. This project is intended to provide a proof-of-concept for the efficiency of open source development applied to hardware - in addition to its proven success with software.  In 2019, OSE began running its Open Source Microfactory STEAM Camps.  In 2018, the project achieved 33% completion.  In 2014, 12 of the 50 machines were designed, blueprinted, and prototyped, with four of those reaching the documentation stage.  On October 2011 a Kickstarter fundraising campaign collected US$63,573 for project expenses and the construction of a training facility. The project has been funded by the Shuttleworth Foundation and is a semifinalist in the Focus Forward Film Festival.

List of machines.

The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) comprises 50 industrial machines:

GVCS replication.

The first time the Global Village Construction Set product was created by another group was in October, 2011; Jason Smith with James Slade and his organization Creation Flame developed a functioning open source CEB press. A group in Baltimore, Maryland, and a group in Dallas, Texas also began manufacturing GVCS machines.

Open Source Ecology (OSE) is a network of farmers, engineers, architects and supporters, whose main goal is the eventual manufacturing of the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS). As described by Open Source Ecology "the GVCS is an open technological platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 types of industrial machines that it takes to build a small civilization with modern comforts". Groups in Oberlin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and California are developing blueprints, and building prototypes in order to pass them on to Missouri. The devices are built and tested on the "Factor e Farm" in rural Missouri. Recently, 3D-Print reports OSE has been experimenting with RepRap 3-D printers as suggested by academics for sustainable development.


Announcements and highlights.

2008.

Major topics included:  Speakers included Marissa Mayer, David Glazer, Alex Martelli, Steve Souders, Dion Almaer, Mark Lucovsky, Guido van Rossum, Jeff Dean, Chris DiBona, Josh Bloch, Raffaello D'Andrea, Geoff Stearns

2009.

Major topics included:  Speakers included Aaron Boodman, Adam Feldman, Adam Schuck, Alex Moffat, Alon Levi, Andrew Bowers, Andrew Hatton, Anil Sabharwal, Arne Roomann-Kurrik, Ben Collins-Sussman, Jacob Lee, Jeff Fisher, Jeff Ragusa, Jeff Sharkey, Jeffrey Sambells, Jerome Mouton and Jesse Kocher  Attendees were given a HTC Magic.

2010.

Major topics included:  Speakers included Aaron Koblin, Aaron Koblin, Adam Graff, Adam Nash, Adam Powell, Adam Schuck, Alan Green, Albert Cheng, Albert Wenger, Alex Russell, Alfred Fuller, Amit Agarwal, Amit Kulkarni, Amit Manjhi, Amit Weinstein, Andres Sandholm, Angus Logan, Arne Roomann-Kurrik, Bart Locanthi, Ben Appleton, Ben Chang, Ben Collins-Sussman.  Attendees were given a HTC Evo 4G at the event. Prior to the event US attendees received a Motorola Droid while non-US attendees received a Nexus One.

2011.

Major topics included:  Attendees were given a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Series 5 Chromebook and Verizon MiFi.  The after party was hosted by Jane's Addiction.

2012.

The I/O conference was extended from the usual two-day schedule to three days. There was no keynote on the final day. Attendees were given a Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7, Nexus Q and Chromebox. The after party was hosted by Paul Oakenfold and Train.  Major topics included:

2013.

Google I/O 2013 was held at the Moscone Center, San Francisco. The amount of time for all the $900 (or $300 for school students and faculty) tickets to sell out was 49 minutes, even when registrants had both Google+ and Wallet accounts by requirement. A fleet of remote-controlled blimps streamed a bird's-eye view of the event. Attendees were given a Chromebook Pixel. The after party was hosted by Billy Idol.  Major topics included:

2014.

Major topics included:  Attendees were given a LG G Watch or Samsung Gear Live, Google Cardboard, and a Moto 360 was shipped to attendees after the event.

2015.

Major topics included:  Attendees were given an Nexus 9 tablet and an improved version of Google Cardboard

2016.

Sundar Pichai moved Google I/O to Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA for the first time. Attendees were given sunglasses and sunscreen due to the amphitheater's outside conditions, however many attendees were sunburned so the talks were relatively short. There was no hardware giveaway.  Major topics included:

2017.

Major topics included:  Attendees were given a Google Home and $700 in Google Cloud Platform Credits. The afterparty was hosted by LCD Soundsystem.

2018.

Major topics included:  Attendees were given an Android Things kit and a Google Home Mini. The after party was hosted by Justice with Phantogram opening.

2019.

Major announcements:  The afterparty was hosted by The Flaming Lips. There was no hardware giveaway.

2020.

The 2020 event was originally scheduled on May 12–14. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event was considered for alternative formats and eventually cancelled.

Google I/O (or simply I/O) is an annual developer conference held by Google in Mountain View, California. "I/O" stands for input/output, as well as the slogan "Innovation in the Open". The event's format is similar to Google Developer Day.


Early life.

Eugène Schneider was born on 29 March 1805 in Bidestroff, in the départment of Moselle, France. He was the brother of Adolphe Schneider (1802–45), who served as a Deputy from 1842 to 1845. His father died when he was young, and he took a modest job in a trading house in Reims, then in the bank of Baron François-Alexandre Seillière.

Business career.

Schneider showed great aptitude for business, and at the age of 25 was appointed a director of the forges at Bazeilles.  In 1833, his brother was appointed managing director of Le Creuzot, and he was added as co-manager the same year. He made a powerful contribution to the prosperity of this establishment.  After his brother died Schneider became the sole director of Le Creuzot, and soon was a powerful industrialist.  In the crisis year of 1848 Charles de Wendel and Eugène Schneider saved the foundry at Fourchambault from bankruptcy by co-signing a huge bank loan.  Schneider obtained a monopoly in supplying arms to the French government, supplied the materials for government-encouraged railway construction. What would become the Comité des forges was founded in 1864. The Committee had the goals of managing relations between the industry and government, promoting exports and coordinating prices.  Eugène Schneider was the first President. There were ten members, each representing a region.

Political career.

After his brother's death Eugène Schneider was elected General Counselor of Couches and Montcenis. He was elected Deputy of the 5th college of Saône-et-Loire (Autun) on 13 September 1845.  During the July Monarchy, Schneider was a deputy until 24 February 1848, sitting with the government majority.  During the French Second Republic Schneider ran unsuccessfully in 1848 for election to the Constituent Assembly, and again ran unsuccessfully in 1849 for election to the Legislative Assembly.  On 20 January 1851, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, President of the Republic, invited Schneider to join an interim cabinet as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, which he kept until 10 April 1851. Schneider was then appointed Commander of the Legion of Honour.  Schneider supported the "coup d'état" of 2 December 1851 that launched the Second French Empire. He became a member of the consultative commission, and on 29 February 1852 was elected to the "Corps législatif" for the 2nd constituency of Saône-et-Loire, running as the official candidate.  He was reelected in turn of 22 June 1857, 1 June 1863 and 24 May 1869. Schneider was President of the Corps from 2 April 1867 to 4 September 1870.  When Jérôme David was reappointed Vice-President in June 1869, this was seen as a promise to the reactionary party, and Schneider submitted his resignation. He agreed to remain only at the personal request of the emperor.  He was a member of the "Corps législatif" until 4 September 1870, always sitting with the dynastic majority.

Death.

Schneider died on 27 November 1875 in Paris. He was buried in the San Charles church in Le Creusot (Saône-et-Loire).

Legacy.

He is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

Joseph Eugène Schneider (29 March 1805 – 27 November 1875) was a French industrialist and politician. In 1836, he co-founded the Schneider company with his brother, Adolphe Schneider. For many years he was a Deputy, and he was briefly Minister of Commerce and Agriculture in 1851.


Early life and education.

Reed was born and raised in Detroit, to a family of Polish and Native American descent. She has one older brother named Corey. Reed was raised in a conservative Catholic family, though she has also stated that she attended a Baptist church growing up and did not enjoy it. "I absolutely hated it and I knew that I would never fit in," Reed said.  She graduated from Roseville High School in 2003. Reed studied dance from an early age and was a dance captain in high school. She was an active member of her local community theatre and starred in the musicals "Annie", "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Grease". She attended Wayne State University and was a part of the Bachelor of Fine Arts program, but left the program when she questioned whether it was the right fit for her. "I auditioned for the prestigious BFA conservatory program," she said. "They were very strict about the methods of acting, very particular about how we do things and I started questioning whether or not it was the right place for me, and whether or not [one] truly needed a degree to be an artist." She moved to Chicago and appeared in a number of local productions. In December 2008, she moved to Hollywood to pursue a screen career.

Career.

In 2010, she guest starred in "", "", "Rizzoli & Isles" and "The Hard Times of RJ Berger".  She co-starred as Allison Argent, the female lead of the MTV series "Teen Wolf" that premiered in 2011. Before the third season of "Teen Wolf", Reed wanted to move on from the show, do different things and explore other areas of film creatively. She approached executive producer of the show, Jeff Davis, who supported her decision. Reed left the show in March 2014 in the form of Allison Argent's death at the end of Season 3. Reed also stated that her desire to leave the show had to do with the difference in age to her character. Reed was 29-years old playing a 17-year old by the end of season three. She appeared in the February 23, 2016 episode, "The Maid of Gévaudan" as the first Argent werewolf hunter Marie-Jeanne Valet. While promoting "Gotham", Reed said that she would love to be a part of a reboot or spin-off of "Teen Wolf".  Reed's film credits include "Skyline" opposite Donald Faison and Eric Balfour, and "Crazy, Stupid, Love" with Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Steve Carell and Julianne Moore.  Reed starred in the horror film "Ghostland," written and directed by french filmmaker Pascal Laugier. The film was first released in France on March 14, 2018.  On July 22, 2017, Reed was cast in the fourth season of the Fox television series "Gotham" as Sofia Falcone, the daughter of Carmine Falcone. The fourth season of "Gotham" premiered on September 21, 2017. Reed's portrayal of Falcone is the first time the comic-book character has been in a television show or movie.  On September 6, 2018, it was reported that Reed had been cast in the lead of the DC Universe television series "Swamp Thing". Reed is set to portray as Abby Arcane, a smart and caring CDC Doctor who returns to her hometown in Louisiana and investigates what seems to be a deadly swamp-born virus but soon discovers that the swamp hold mystical and terrifying secrets. "Swamp Thing" premiered in May 31 of 2019.  On November 9, 2019, it was reported that Reed was cast in an Upcoming thriller film "Escape the Field" which will be directed by Emerson Moore. The film's release date is still unknown at this time.

Personal life.

Reed married Peter John Nottoli in Roseville, Michigan, in 2008; she filed for divorce on September 12, 2011 and they divorced in Los Angeles County on May 31, 2012. Reed and Oliver Trevena started dating in June till September 2011. She was in a relationship with her "Teen Wolf" co-star Daniel Sharman from early 2012 until June 2013. In July 2013, Reed started dating television presenter Darren McMullen. During her relationship with McMullen she was rumored to have had a brief fling with actor Joshua Jackson in June 2016. McMullen and Reed broke up in early 2019.  Reed has said she moved out of her hometown because it "was completely small-minded and not accepting of things that I'm accepting of." Reed campaigned for Hillary Clinton leading up to the 2016 United States Presidential Election.  Reed lists golf as one of her hobbies when she's not acting.

Crystal Marie Reed (born February 6, 1985) is an American actress. She came to prominence for portraying Allison Argent in the series "Teen Wolf" from 2011 to 2014. Reed departed from the series after the third season, but made a guest appearance in the fifth season as Allison's ancestor Marie-Jeanne Valet.


Biography.

Born in Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, Hetzel studied law in Strasbourg, and founded a publishing company in 1837. He was the publisher of Honoré de Balzac, whose "Comédie humaine" began to be appear in 1841, and of Victor Hugo and Émile Zola. In 1843, he founded the "Nouveau magazine des enfants" ("New Children's Magazine"). Hetzel was a well-known republican, and in 1848 he became chief of cabinet for Alphonse de Lamartine (then minister of Foreign Affairs), and afterward for the minister of the Navy. He went into self-imposed exile in Belgium after the coup d'état which ushered in the Second Empire, and there he continued his political and editorial activities, notably by clandestinely publishing Hugo's "Les Châtiments", a harsh pamphlet against the Second Empire.  When the political regime was changed in France, he returned home and published Proudhon and Baudelaire. An important edition of the tales by Charles Perrault, illustrated by Gustave Doré, dates from this period. He founded the "Bibliothèque illustrée des Familles" ("The Family Illustrated Library"), which was renamed to "" ("Education and Entertainment Magazine") in 1864. His goal was to have scientists, authors and illustrators collaborating to create educational works for the whole family.  Hetzel's fame comes mostly for his editions of the "Voyages extraordinaires" ("Extraordinary Journeys") by Jules Verne. The stories were originally published in biweekly chapters as a series in his "Magasin". Once all chapters of a story were printed there, the story would appear in book form. Typically this happened towards the end of the year so the books could be purchased as Christmas presents for older children. Originally, there were three editions: one economical, without illustrations; another one in small format, with a few illustrations; and a third one in a bigger in-octavo format and richly illustrated. It is the last edition that is now very popular among book collectors.  Hetzel discovered Jules Verne, but scholars still debate to what extent Hetzel "made" Verne, or if it was Verne who "made" Hetzel's publishing career. Each benefited from the other, and their relationship went beyond that of author and publisher.  Hetzel rejected Verne's 1863 manuscript for "Paris in the Twentieth Century" because he thought it presented a vision of the future that was far too negative and unbelievable for contemporary audiences, though to many present-day scholars the story was remarkably accurate in its predictions. Verne locked the manuscript away and no longer wrote futuristic, dystopian stories. "Paris in the Twentieth Century" was first published in France in 1994.  Hetzel was an atheist. Writing under the pseudonym P.-J. Stahl, he was the author of many stories for children and young people. He died in Monte Carlo in 1886. After Hetzel's death, the publishing business was directed by his son and was later purchased by Hachette in 1914.

See also.

For more examples of the pictures featured in the books:

Pierre-Jules Hetzel (January 15, 1814 – March 17, 1886) was a French editor and publisher. He is best known for his extraordinarily lavishly illustrated editions of Jules Verne's novels highly prized by collectors today.


Signs and symptoms.

Complications.

The risk of serious complications from spinal fusion surgery for kyphosis is estimated to be 5%, similar to the risks of surgery for scoliosis. Possible complications include inflammation of the soft tissue or deep inflammatory processes, breathing impairments, bleeding, and nerve injuries. According to the latest evidence, the actual rate of complications may be substantially higher. Even among those who do not suffer from serious complications, 5% of patients require reoperation within five years of the procedure, and in general it is not yet clear what one would expect from spine surgery during the long-term. Given that the signs and symptoms of spinal deformity cannot be changed by surgical intervention, surgery remains essentially a cosmetic choice. However, the cosmetic effects of surgery are not necessarily stable.

Diagnosis.

Classification.

There are several kinds of kyphosis (ICD-10 codes are provided):

Grading.

Kyphosis can be graded in severity by the Cobb angle. Also, "sagittal balance" can be measured. The sagittal balance is the horizontal distance between the center of C7 and the superior-posterior border of the endplate of S1 on a lateral radiograph.

Treatments.

A diagnosis of kyphosis is generally made through observation and measurement. Idiopathic causes, such as vertebral wedging or other abnormalities, can be confirmed through X-ray. Osteoporosis, a potential cause of kyphosis, can be confirmed with a bone density scan. Postural thoracic kyphosis can often be treated with posture reeducation and focused strengthening exercises. Idiopathic thoracic kyphosis due to vertebral wedging, fractures, or vertebral abnormalities is more difficult to manage, since assuming a correct posture may not be possible with structural changes in the vertebrae. Children who have not completed their growth may show long-lasting improvements with bracing. Exercises may be prescribed to alleviate discomfort associated with overstretched back muscles. A variety of gravity-assisted positions or gentle traction can minimize pain associated with nerve root impingement. Surgery may be recommended for severe idiopathic kyphosis.

Brace.

Body braces showed benefit in a randomised controlled trial.  The Milwaukee brace is one particular body brace that is often used to treat kyphosis in the US. Modern CAD/CAM braces are used in Europe to treat different types of kyphosis. These are much easier to wear and have better in-brace corrections than reported for the Milwaukee brace. Since there are different curve patterns (thoracic, thoracolumbar, and lumbar), different types of brace are in use, with different advantages and disadvantages.

Physical therapy.

In Germany, a standard treatment for both Scheuermann's disease and lumbar kyphosis is the Schroth method, a system of physical therapy for scoliosis and related spinal deformities. It involves lying supine, placing a pillow under the scapular region and posteriorly stretching the cervical spine.

Surgery.

Surgical treatment can be used in severe cases. In patients with progressive kyphotic deformity due to vertebral collapse, a procedure called a kyphoplasty may arrest the deformity and relieve the pain. Kyphoplasty is a minimally invasive procedure, requiring only a small opening in the skin. The main goal is to return the damaged vertebra as close as possible to its original height.

Kyphosis is an abnormally excessive convex curvature of the spine as it occurs in the thoracic and sacral regions. Abnormal inward concave "lordotic" curving of the cervical and lumbar regions of the spine is called lordosis. It can result from degenerative disc disease; developmental abnormalities, most commonly Scheuermann's disease; osteoporosis with compression fractures of the vertebra; multiple myeloma; or trauma. A normal thoracic spine extends from the 1st thoracic to the 12th thoracic vertebra and should have a slight kyphotic angle, ranging from 20° to 45°. When the "roundness" of the upper spine increases past 45° it is called kyphosis or "hyperkyphosis". Scheuermann's kyphosis is the most classic form of hyperkyphosis and is the result of wedged vertebrae that develop during adolescence. The cause is not currently known and the condition appears to be multifactorial and is seen more frequently in males than females.


Habitat and distribution.

The blackjack oak grows in poor, thin, dry, rocky or sandy soils where few other woody plants can thrive, usually on low ground, from sea level up to approximately in altitude. Some say that it does not have the beautiful form of many oaks, but is nonetheless a valuable tree for growing in problem sites. Some say that the tree is "tough but ugly", but also underappreciated. At times the tree has even been actively eradicated to provide more room for trees deemed to be more commercially valuable.  It is sometimes an understory tree in pine stands on sandy knolls in the southeastern US. Along the coastal plain of New Jersey the probability of finding this species is increased in relatively sunny, open areas such as those near coastal salt marshes. It often occurs near scarlet and post oaks as well as pitch pine; understory companions include winged sumac, bracken, sweetfern, and bayberry, and can be found as far north as parts of Ohio and New York.  A variety, "Quercus marilandica" Münchhausen var. "ashei" Sudworth, grows in the western portions of its range – northern Texas, Oklahoma, and into southern Kansas. In this area, blackjack and post oak form a semi-savanna area composed of forested strips intermixed with prairie grass glades along the eastern edge of the southern Great Plains. This semi-savanna is known as the Cross Timbers. Scrub forms of "Q. marilandica" dominate on many chert glades along with "Q.stellata" in Arkansas's Ozark plateau.  Blackjack oak sometimes hybridizes with bear oak ("Quercus ilicifolia"), forming a hybrid known as "Q." × "brittonii".  Blackjacks in the Cross Timbers can grow from high with a trunk diameter of, but seldom reach more than. The leaves are from in length and about the same width. Blackjack acorns provide food for both whitetail deer and wild turkey. Blackjacks may, however, cause tannic acid poisoning in cattle.

Uses.

The wood is very dense and produces a hot flame when burned, which functions as an excellent source of heat for barbecues and wood-burning stoves. However, the wood is not desirable for wood fireplaces because the heat causes popping, thereby increasing the risk of house fires.  Traditionally blackjack wood is used as both a fuel and smoke wood for barbecue in Oklahoma.

Quercus marilandica, the blackjack oak, is a small oak, one of the red oak group "Quercus" sect. "Lobatae". It is native to the eastern and central United States, from Long Island to Florida, west as far as Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. There are reports of a few isolated populations in southern Michigan, but these appear to represent introductions.


Description.

Wallace's giant bee is a black resin bee with well developed and large jaws. The species exhibits strong sexual dimorphism: females may reach a length of, with a wingspan of, but males only grow to about long. Only females have large jaws. "M. pluto" is believed to be the largest living bee species, and remains the largest extant bee species described. It is "as long as an adult's thumb". Wallace's giant bee is easily distinguished from other bees due to its large size and jaws, but also a notable white band on the abdomen.

Distribution and habitat.

Wallace's giant bee has only been reported from three islands of the North Moluccas in Indonesia: Bacan, Halmahera and Tidore. Very little is known about its distribution and habitat requirements, although it is thought that it is restricted to primary lowland forests. The islands have become home to oil palm plantations that now occupy much of the former native habitat. This has caused the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to label this species as Vulnerable.

Discovery and rediscovery.

The species was originally collected by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1858, and given the common name "Wallace's giant bee"; it is also known as the "giant mason bee". It was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1981 by Adam C. Messer, an American entomologist, who found six nests on the island of Bacan and other nearby islands. The bee is among the 25 "most wanted" lost species that are the focus of Global Wildlife Conservation's "Search for Lost Species" initiative.  After 1981, the bee was not observed in the wild for the next 37 years. In 2018, two specimens were collected in Indonesia, one on Bacan in February and the other on Halmahera in September. They were subsequently sold on eBay, highlighting the lack of protection that is afforded to the rare species. In 2019, a single female was found by Clay Bolt, living in a termite nest in Indonesia. This specimen was filmed and photographed before being released.

Ecology.

Wallace's giant bees build communal nests inside active nests of the tree-dwelling termite "Microcerotermes amboinensis", which may have served to hide their existence even from island residents. The bee uses tree resin to build compartments inside the termite nest, which protects its galleries. Female bees leave their nests repeatedly to forage for resin, which comes frequently from "Anisoptera thurifera". The bee's large jaws assist in resin gathering: the female makes large balls of resin which are held between the jaws. The association of the bee with the termite may be obligate.

Megachile pluto, also known as Wallace's giant bee or raja ofu/rotu ofu ("king/queen of the bees" in Indonesian), is a very large Indonesian resin bee. It is the largest known living bee species. It was believed to be extinct until several specimens were discovered in 1981. There were no further confirmed sightings until two were collected and sold on eBay in 2018. A live female was found and filmed for the first time in 2019.


History.

In the beginning August Strauss and his two sons, including Engelbert (*1908) traded in brooms and brushes that were manufactured in Kassel, a district of Biebergemünd. Due to its focus on manufacturing brooms (German "Besen") this district is still commonly called "Besenkassel".  In 1948 after the war Engelbert Strauss continued the family trading tradition and founded the company bearing his name. He expanded the product range to include work protection clothing. The first products were gloves, which still play a central role in the company’s portfolio.  In the 1960s the company switched to mail order business, and started its catalogue business in 1973. The product range was gradually expanded to include garments and shoes.  In 1994 a new 40,000 sqm building with a logistics centre was erected on the company grounds in Biebergemünd, around 50 km northeast of Frankfurt am Main.  The company’s new 50,000 sqm flagship store, was erected on the company grounds in Biebergemünd in 2015.

General management.

Today, the third and fourth generation manages the family company jointly. Engelbert’s son, Norbert Strauss, and his two sons, Steffen and Henning Strauss, are the managing directors. The company employs 1,200 staff.

Awards.

Engelbert Strauss was nominated ‘Top National Employer 2017’ in the category ‘Clothing, footwear and sports equipment’. Also, the company won the prize as ‘the most popular family business’ in the category textile company and 33rd out of 100 overall.  In 2015 the company was awarded the German Logistics Prize and in 2016 it was awarded the European Logistics Prize.

In popular culture.

Dorfrocker a German music group from the Lower Franconian Kirchaich. Their music belongs to the "Party Rock" section and contains elements of folk music, rock music, hit song and country music. Dorfrocker have appeared in over 120 television shows, have played in over 1200 live concerts at home and abroad and have more than 150,000 Facebook fans. The group consists of the three brothers Tobias, Markus and Philipp Thomann, who perform at concerts together with their live band. In 2017 they were nominated for the ECHO in the category "Folk Music". Songs include Auf der Alm (2011), So kenn i di (2014) and Englebert Strauss (2019)

Engelbert Strauss GmbH & Co. KG, which is based in Biebergemünd, Hesse, Germany is a German brand manufacturer, mail order company and retailer that sells workwear, safety footwear and personal protective equipment.


Variations in his name.

Leo Birinski – surname after his mother, approx. from 1908 his civil and stage name.  Other variations in spelling and form: "Leo G. Birinski, Leo Birinsky, Lev G. Birinski, Lev Birinskij, Lav Birinski, Birinszki Leó, Lev Birinszkij, Leon Birinski, etc."  Leo Gottesmann – surname after his father, used as his civil name until at least 1906.

Biography.

The circumstances of Birinski's early life are quite indefinite; different sources offer eight possibilities of his place and date of birth.  He was probably born on June 8, 1884, in Lysianka, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire (in present-day Ukraine). He occasionally presented this information in official documents, and it is supported by some indirect evidence, although it is impossible to prove definitively because the local birth records for Lysianka were not preserved.  His father, Hersch Gottesmann, was born in Borschiv in eastern Galicia and was a salesman (he indicated "Agent" as his employment in registration forms).  His mother, Carna, born Berinska or Birinska, was a tenant's daughter from Lysianka. Birinski spent his childhood in Ukraine and Czernowitz, the capital city of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bukovina.  At the beginning of the 20th century (either in 1901 or 1904, according to the sources consulted), he moved to Vienna. He worked in a bookshop, turned to translating and started to write by himself. From his Viennese era come three of Birinski's plays: the tragedies "Der Moloch" ("The Moloch") and "Raskolnikoff" (after the novel "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky), and his most successful comedy (or tragicomedy, according to Birinski) "Narrentanz" ("Dance of Fools"), written in 1912. In March 1920, the already-mentioned suicide rumour, caused by a mistaken identity with his younger namesake, Leon Gottesmann, was spread in the local newspapers. Although repeatedly denied, the report was included into several contemporary encyclopedias. In fact, in April 1921 Birinski left Vienna and moved to Berlin.  In Germany, Birinski probably married Jewish pianist Felicia Aschkenas, born probably in 1902 in Warsaw. He worked primarily for the movie industry, wrote many screenplays, and together with Paul Leni, directed the motion picture "Das Wachsfigurenkabinett". During his German era he demonstrably participated in the screenplays of thirteen films, e.g. "Tragedy of Love" with Marlene Dietrich, "Varieté" by Ewald André Dupont, and pictures by Gennaro Righelli. Birinski also wrote stage play "Der heilige Teufel (Rasputin)". Its German text was not found, just the later English version. Probably in September 1927 Birinski left for the USA; two years later, his wife followed him. They both identified themselves to the immigration officers by Nicaraguan passports. Birinski had even listed the city of Bluefields in Nicaragua as his birthplace. Most probably this was just a false identity.  In the United States, he continued his work as an author of motion picture stories and screenplays (he participated in the ten documented films). The first Birinski's American work was probably direction of "Das große Glück" – the German version of "A Ship Comes In" from 1928. Some of his pictures belong among the so-called "major" films of the period: e.g. "Mata Hari" with Greta Garbo or Mamoulian ́s movies "The Song of Songs", with Marlene Dietrich, and "The Gay Desperado". He once again tried the work of film director with "Flirtation" in 1934. The last known picture by Birinski was the spy comedy "The Lady Has Plans" in 1942. An adaptation for the radio series, Lux Radio Theater, was also created, and broadcast in April 1943 on the CBS radio network with Rita Hayworth and William Powell in the leads. Birinski also wrote several stage plays in the USA. On Broadway his play "Nowhere Bound" was presented in January 1935 at the Imperial Theatre, and "The Day Will Come" in September 1944 at the National Theatre. In addition to these works, a manuscript of a stage play "The Holy Devil (Rasputin)" was found among the papers left by Herman Bernstein (a journalist and writer who died in August 1935). This play was probably never performed or published.  The last seven years of Birinski's life are enfolded in mist again. According to the extant death certificate, Leo Birinski died on October 23, 1951 at Lincoln Hospital in The Bronx, New York City. The certificate includes almost no information about the deceased. It appears that Birinski died in poverty and probably entirely alone (without any relatives or heirs). He was buried at Potter's Field at Hart Island in a mass-grave ("plot 45, section 2, no. 14"). In 2009, Birinski's relatives living in Israel and United States were found.

References.

This article is partially based on a translation from the article in Czech Wikipedia.

Leo Birinski (June 8, 1884 – October 23, 1951) was a playwright, screenwriter and director. He worked in Austria-Hungary, Germany and in the United States. As a playwright in Europe he gained his biggest popularity in 1910 – 1917, then he was forgotten. From the 1920s to 1940s he worked mainly as a screenwriter, first in Germany, later in the United States, to which he emigrated in September 1927. In the United States he returned to writing the stage plays. He was writing in German and later on in the United States, in English. Until recently, only a minimal amount of information about his life was available. In addition there were many legends and rumours concerning Birinski's person, some of them even spread by himself. For example, the false report of his "suicide" in 1920 even found its way from the newspaper obituaries into encyclopedias.


History.

Castle Tioram may date to the thirteenth- or fourteenth century. It appears to have originally been a principal stronghold of Clann Ruaidhrí. Eilean Tioram, the island the fortress sits upon, is first recorded in a charter of Cairistíona Nic Ruaidhrí, daughter of Ailéan mac Ruaidhrí. According to early modern tradition, preserved by the seventeenth-century "Sleat History", the castle was erected by Ailéan's granddaughter, Áine Nic Ruaidhrí. The castle certainly served as the seat of the latter's Clann Raghnaill descendants for centuries.  As such, Castle Tioram is the traditional seat of the Clanranald (Clann Raghnaill) branch of Clan Donald. The castle was seized by Government forces in around 1692 when the clan chief Allan Macdonald of Clanranald joined the Jacobite Court in France, despite having sworn allegiance to the British Crown. A small garrison was stationed in the castle until the Jacobite rising of 1715 when Allan recaptured and torched it, purportedly to keep it out of the hands of Hanoverian forces. It has been unoccupied since that time, although there are some accounts suggesting it was partially inhabited thereafter including for the storage of firearms from the De Tuillay in the 1745 Jacobite Uprising and Lady Grange's account of her kidnapping.

Restoration proposals.

The castle is now in extremely poor condition and in 1998 was closed to the public at the insistence of the present owner despite the objections of the Highland Council's archaeologist; the walls were in surprisingly good condition, requiring only minor repairs. However, a major structural collapse occurred at the north west curtain wall in 2000.  Proposals to restore the castle by the new owners, Anta Estates, were announced in 1997 and received planning consent from Highland Council. This included the creation of a clan centre/museum, domestic apartments, and some public access. However, Historic Scotland refused Scheduled Monument Consent; a decision upheld after a local public inquiry.  The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, now part of Historic Environment Scotland, holds a substantial archive of research information, drawings, and photographs lodged by the current owners.

Eilean Tioram.

The castle can be reached on foot across the tidal causeway, but there is no access to the interior because of the risk of falling masonry. Eilean Tioram is one of 43 tidal islands that can be walked to from the mainland of Great Britain and one of 17 that can be walked to from the Scottish mainland.

Castle Tioram () (, meaning "dry castle") is a ruined castle that sits on the tidal island Eilean Tioram in Loch Moidart, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland. It is located west of Acharacle, approximately from Fort William. Though hidden from the sea, the castle controls access to Loch Shiel. It is also known to the locals as "Dorlin Castle". The castle is a scheduled monument.


Background.

After the senior line of the Árpád dynasty died out in 1301, the succession to the throne of the Kingdom of Hungary became contested by several foreign monarchs and other runners-up. One of them was Charles Robert of Anjou, the Pope's champion. Over several years Charles drove his foreign opponents out of the country and installed himself on the Hungarian throne. At that time Hungary was a confederation of small kingdoms, principalities, and dukedoms. However, his rule remained nominal in many parts of the Kingdom because several powerful magnates, local kings, dukes, and princes still did not recognize him as the supreme king. Initially, Charles's chief adversary was Máté Csák, who controlled several counties in western and northern parts of the Hungary. However, eventually he allied himself with the Aba family, which ruled the eastern Hungarian Kingdom.  In 1312, Charles besieged Sáros Castle, (now part of Slovakia - Šariš Castle) controlled by the Abas. After the Abas received additional reinforcement from Máté Csák (according to "Chronicon Pictum" almost Máté's entire force as well as 1,700 mercenary spearmen), Charles Robert of Anjou was forced to retreat to the loyal Szepes county (today the region of Spiš), whose Saxon inhabitants subsequently reinforced his own troops. The Abas benefited from the retreat. They decided to use the gathered opposition forces to attack the town of Kassa (today Košice) because of its strategic importance, and partially due to the fact that just few months before Charles had Amadeus Aba assassinated by the Kassa's German colonists. Charles marched on Kassa and engaged his adversaries.

The battle.

The opposition forces abandoned the siege of Kassa and positioned their troops on a hill near the Tarca (Torysa River). Charles I of Hungary was forced to position his troops in flat agricultural land under that hill. Although the numbers are uncertain, the king's army consisted of his own men, an Italian unit of Knights Hospitaller, and a 1,000-men strong infantry unit of Zipser Saxons. Because of contradicting versions in contemporary chronicles, it is not clear to what extent the Aba family was helped by Máté Csák's forces.  The battle commenced when the rebels made a surprise attack during or just after the Mass in the king's camp. A bloody mêlée followed, causing heavy casualties among knights on both sides. At one point, even the king's battle standard was lost and Charles himself had to fight under the standard of the Knights Hospitaller. In the crucial moment of the battle, a reinforcement from Kassa came and saved the king's cause. The rebel army, after it lost its commanders in the battle, was routed.

Aftermath.

Some of the key leaders of the Aba (family) perished in the battle and part of their domain was divided between the King and his loyal followers. The loss of the key ally was also an important blow to Máté Csák. Although he managed to control much of his territories until his death in 1321, his power started to decline just after the battle and he could never again launch any major offensive against the king.  The immediate consequence was that Charles I of Hungary gained control over the northeastern part of the country. But the long-term consequences of the victory were even more important. The battle drastically reduced magnates' opposition against him. The King extended his power base and prestige. The position of Charles as King of Hungary was now secured militarily and resistance against his rule came to its end. However, the Angevin rule over Hungary lasted only 74 years and the Abas continued to play an important role in Hungary even during the Angevin administration.

External links.

Official Websites:

The Battle of Rozgony or Battle of Rozhanovce was fought between King Charles I of Hungary and the family of Palatine Amade Aba on 15 June 1312, on the Rozgony (today Rozhanovce) field. "Chronicon Pictum" described it as the "most cruel battle since the Mongol invasion of Europe". Despite many casualties on the King's side, his decisive victory brought an end to the Aba family's rule over the eastern Kingdom of Hungary, weakened his major domestic opponent Máté Csák III, and ultimately secured power for Charles I of Hungary.


Childhood.

Valdemar was the son of Canute Lavard, Duke of Schleswig, the chivalrous and popular eldest son of King Eric I of Denmark. Valdemar's father was murdered by King Magnus I of Sweden days before the birth of Valdemar; his mother, Ingeborg of Kiev, daughter of Grand Prince Mstislav I of Kiev and Christina Ingesdotter of Sweden, named him after her grandfather, Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh of Kiev.  As a possible contender to the throne, and with his rivals quickly gaining power, Valdemar was raised at Ringsted in the court of Danish nobleman Asser Rig of Fjenneslev (ca. 1080-1151). Asser was a member of the Hvide noble family and had been raised together with Valdemar's father Canute Lavard. Valdemar was raised together with Asser's sons, including Absalon (c. 1128–1201) who would become his trusted friend and minister. The other brother was Esbern Snare.

Struggle for the throne.

In 1146, when Valdemar was fifteen years old, King Eric III of Denmark abdicated and a civil war erupted. The pretenders to the throne were: Sweyn III Grathe, son of King Eric II of Denmark, the son of King Eric I; and Canute V, son of Magnus I of Sweden, the son of King Niels of Denmark, brother of King Erik I. Valdemar himself held Jutland, at least Schleswig, as his possession. The civil war lasted the better part of ten years.  In 1157, the three agreed to divide the country in three among themselves. Sweyn hosted a great banquet for Canute, Absalon, and Valdemar, during which he planned to dispose of all of them. Canute was killed, but Absalon and Valdemar escaped. Valdemar returned to Jutland. Sweyn quickly launched an invasion, only to be defeated by Valdemar in the Battle of Grathe Heath on 23 October 1157. He was killed during flight, supposedly by a group of peasants who stumbled upon him as he was fleeing from the battlefield. Valdemar, having outlived all his rival pretenders, became the sole king of Denmark.

Sole reign.

In 1158, Absalon was elected bishop of Roskilde, and King Valdemar I made him his chief advisor. The king reorganized and rebuilt war-torn Denmark. He built Sønderborg Castle as a fortified fortress, constructed on an islet in the Als Strait ("Als Sund") that later was connected to Als Island. At Absalon's instigation, he declared war upon the Wends who were raiding the Danish coasts. They inhabited Pomerania and the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea. In 1168, the Wendish capital, Arkona, was taken, and the Wends became Christians and subject to Danish suzerainty. Danish influence had reached into Pomerania. In 1175, King Valdemar I built Vordingborg Castle as a defensive fortress and as a base from which to launch raids against the German coast.

Issue.

Valdemar married Sophia of Minsk (c. 1141–1198), the daughter of Richeza of Poland, dowager queen of Sweden, from her marriage to Prince Volodar of Minsk. She was the half-sister of King Canute V of Denmark. Valdemar and Sophia had the following children:  After Valdemar's death, Sophia married Landgrave Louis III of Thuringia.  Valdemar also had a son, Christopher ( 1150-1173), with his lover, Tove. Christopher was duke of Jutland from 1170 until his death.

Valdemar I of Denmark (14 January 1131 – 12 May 1182), also known as Valdemar the Great (), was King of Denmark from 1146 until his death in 1182. The reign of King Valdemar I saw the rise of Denmark, which reached its zenith under his second son, and successor, King Valdemar II of Denmark.


Historical use of the term.

The term Tertiary was first used by Giovanni Arduino during the mid-18th century. He classified geologic time into primitive (or primary), secondary, and tertiary periods based on observations of geology in northern Italy. Later a fourth period, the Quaternary, was applied.  In the early development of the study of geology, the periods were thought by scriptural geologists to correspond to the Biblical narrative, the rocks of the Tertiary being thought to be associated with the Great Flood.  In 1828, Charles Lyell incorporated a Tertiary Period into his own, far more detailed system of classification. He subdivided the Tertiary Period into four epochs according to the percentage of fossil mollusks resembling modern species found in those strata. He used Greek names: Eocene, Miocene, Older Pliocene, and Newer Pliocene.  Although these divisions seemed adequate for the region to which the designations were originally applied (parts of the Alps and plains of Italy), when the same system was later extended to other parts of Europe and to America, it proved to be inapplicable. Therefore, the use of mollusks was abandoned from the definition and the epochs were renamed and redefined.

Modern equivalents.

The Tertiary's time span lies between the Mesozoic Era and the Quaternary, although no longer recognized as a formal unit by the International Commission on Stratigraphy.  The span of the Tertiary is subdivided into the Paleocene Epoch (56–66 million years BP), the Eocene Epoch (33.9–56 million years BP), the Oligocene Epoch (23–33.9 million years BP), the Miocene Epoch (5.3–23 million years BP) and the Pliocene Epoch (2.6–5.3 million years BP), extending to the first stage of the Pleistocene Epoch, the Gelasian stage.

Tertiary ( ) is a widely used, but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start of the Cenozoic Era, and extended to the beginning of the Quaternary glaciation at the end of the Pliocene Epoch. The time span covered by the Tertiary has no exact equivalent in the current geologic time system, but it is essentially the merged Paleogene and Neogene periods, which are informally called the Lower Tertiary and the Upper Tertiary, respectively.


Biography.

Zhang Jinghui was born in Tai'an, southwest of Mukden, Liaoning Province. The area was a battlefield in the First Sino-Japanese War and he joined the Honghuzi irregular cavalry forces of the Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin at an early age. These forces were recruited as mercenaries by the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05.  In the final years of the Qing dynasty, Zhang Zuolin was appointed Viceroy of Three Northeast Provinces with his base at Fengtian, and with the Xinhai Revolution managed to obtain recognition of his forces as part of the new Republic of China military. At that time he was appointed commander of the Beiyang Army’s 27th Infantry Brigade. However, with the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916, the Beiyang Army split into several mutually hostile factions.  Zhang Jinghui deserted Zhang Zuolin to join Wu Peifu's Zhili clique. He later rejoined Zhang Zuolin and served as his Minister of War in the Beiyang Government from May 1926 to June 1927 and as Minister of Enterprises from June 1927 to June 1928. Within a year he was appointed governor of the Harbin and China Eastern Railway Special District in northern Manchuria. However, following the death of Zhang Zuolin in the Huanggutun Incident on 4 June 1928, Zhang Jinghui’s relations with his son and successor, Zhang Xueliang, deteriorated. Nevertheless, both men participated in a national unity conference called by Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek in January 1929 in Nanjing.  However, the political balance was changed after the Mukden Incident and the successful invasion of Manchuria by the Japanese Kwantung Army in 1931. Zhang called a conference in his office on 27 September 1931 to organize an "Emergency Committee of the Special District", with the goal of achieving the secession of Manchuria from China. Following the expulsion of pro-Kuomintang Gen. Ma Zhanshan from Qiqihar, Zhang proclaimed his territory to be self-governing and was inaugurated as governor on 7 January 1932. Uncertain of the intentions of the Soviet Union to the north, and unable to withstand the Japanese military presence to the south, Zhang reached an agreement with the Japanese and accepted an appointment as governor of Heilongjiang Province in the new Japanese-run state of Manchukuo. His refusal, though, to leave his stronghold in Harbin to take up residence in Qiqihar created friction with the Kwangtung Army leadership. However, when Ma Zhanshan agreed to terms with the Japanese on 14 February 1932 in exchange for the post of Governor of Heilongjiang Province, Zhang was set aside. Ma revolted in April 1932 and Zhang took his place as Minister of Defense of the Empire of Manchukuo.  On 21 May 1935, Zhang succeeded Zheng Xiaoxu as Prime Minister of Manchukuo at the instigation of the Kwantung Army over the objections of Emperor Puyi. As Prime Minister of Manchukuo, Zhang preferred to take a passive figurehead role, allowing the Japanese advisors seconded from the Kwantung Army to handle all aspects of day-to-day administration while he spent his days copying Buddhist sutras. Reviled by modern Chinese historians for his pro-Japanese stance, and nicknamed “the Tofu Prime Minister” even in his lifetime, Zhang was recorded to have only once spoken out against the Japanese administration--to criticize the forced sale of lands to Japanese colonists. In 1943 he was the official delegate from Manchukuo to the Greater East Asia Conference held in Tokyo. That same year a false report was published in " Time Magazine" that Zhang had poisoned his family and killed his Japanese advisor and other members of the Manchukuo government before committing suicide.  Zhang held the position of Prime Minister until the collapse of Manchukuo following the Soviet Red Army's invasion of Manchuria in August 1945.  Following World War II he was held in custody by the Soviet Union in Siberia and extradited to the People's Republic of China in 1950, where he was imprisoned at the Fushun War Criminals Management Centre. He died of heart failure nine years later in 1959.

Zhang Jinghui (Chang Ching-hui; ; Hepburn: "Chō Keikei"); (1871 – 1 November 1959) was a Chinese general and politician during the Warlord era. He is noted for his role in the Japanese puppet regime of Manchukuo in which he served as its second and final Prime Minister.


Life.

Robinson was the oldest of four children of John Robinson, a Ludlow schoolmaster, and his wife Eliza. He was educated at Horatio Russell's academy in Ludlow until he was thirteen, when he took a year's drawing tuition with Richard Penwarne before being apprenticed to a Ludlow bookseller and printer, Richard Jones.  While continuing to study art, his initial career was in bookselling, in 1850 working for the Bromsgrove bookseller Benjamin Maund, then in 1851 for the London-based Whittaker & Co. In 1852 he exhibited an oil painting, "On the Teme Near Ludlow", at the Royal Academy. That same year he began taking photographs, and five years later, following a meeting with the photographer Hugh Welch Diamond, decided to devote himself to that medium, in 1855 opening a studio in Leamington Spa, selling portraits.  In 1856, with Rejlander, he was a founding member of the Birmingham Photographic Society.  In 1859 he married Selina Grieves, daughter of a Ludlow chemist, John Edward Grieves.  In 1864, at the age of 34, Robinson was forced to give up his studio due to ill-health from exposure to toxic photographic chemicals. Gernsheim (1962) has shown that thereafter he preferred the easier'scissors and paste-pot' method of making his combination prints, rather than the more exacting darkroom method employed by Rejlander.  Relocating to London, Robinson kept up his involvement with the theoretical side of photography, writing the influential essay "Pictorial Effect in Photography (1869), Being Hints on Composition and Chiaroscuro for Photographers", published in 1868. Around this time his health had improved sufficiently to open a new studio in Tunbridge Wells with Nelson King Cherrill, and in 1870 he became vice-president of the Royal Photographic Society. He advocated strongly for photography to be regarded as an art form.  The partnership with Cherrill dissolved in 1875, Robinson continuing the business until his retirement in 1888. Following internal disputes within the Photographic Society, he resigned in 1891 to become one of the early members of the rival Linked Ring society, in which he was active until 1897, when he was also elected an honorary member of the Royal Photographic Society.  Robinson was an early supporter of the Photographic Convention of the United Kingdom and took part in this institution's long running debates about photography as an art form. He was invited to serve as the President of the PCUK in 1891 but, as he described later, 'I felt compelled to decline, knowing that I could not carry out the duties as they should be carried out, having a defect of voice which would not allow me to read my own address'. He was subsequently persuaded to serve as President in 1896, when his presidential speeches were read out by a colleague.  He died aged 70 and was buried in Tunbridge Wells in early 1901.

Works.

He was one of the most prominent art photographers of his day. His third and the most famous composite picture, "Fading Away" (1858) was both popular and fashionably morbid. He was a follower of the pre-Raphaelites and was influenced by the aesthetic views of John Ruskin. In his Pre-Raphaelite phase he attempted to realize moments of timeless significance in a "mediaeval" setting, anticipating the work of Julia Margaret Cameron, Burne-Jones and the Symbolists. According to his letters, he was influenced by the paintings of J.M.W. Turner. He defended composite photography, asserting that the creation of combination photographs were as demanding of the photographer as paintings were of the artist. Robinson compared the making of" Fading Away" with Zeuxis' legendary combining of the best features of five young ladies from Crotona to produce his picture of Helena.

Publications.

Robinson was author of a number of texts in which he promoted the photography as an art form, his books being widely used photographic reference material in the late 19th century.

Henry Peach Robinson (9 July 1830, Ludlow, Shropshire – 21 February 1901, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent) was an English pictorialist photographer best known for his pioneering combination printing - joining multiple negatives or prints to form a single image; an early example of photomontage. He joined vigorously in contemporary debates in the photographic press and associations about the legitimacy of 'art photography' and in particular the combining of separate images into one.


Ally of Caesar.

When Julius Caesar conquered the Atrebates in Gaul in 57 BC, as recounted in his "Commentarii de Bello Gallico", he appointed Commius as king of the tribe. Before Caesar's first expedition to Britain in 55 BC, Commius was sent as Caesar's envoy to persuade the Britons not to resist him, as Caesar believed he would have influence on the island. However he was arrested as soon as he arrived. When the Britons failed to prevent Caesar from landing, Commius was handed over as part of the negotiations. Commius was able to provide a small detachment of cavalry from his tribe to help Caesar defeat further British attacks. During Caesar's second expedition to Britain Commius negotiated the surrender of the British leader Cassivellaunus. He remained Caesar's loyal client through the Gaulish revolts of 54 BC, and in return Caesar allowed the Atrebates to remain independent and exempt from tax, and in addition appointed Commius to rule the Morini.  However this loyalty was not to last, as related by Aulus Hirtius in the final book of the "De Bello Gallico", written after Caesar's death. While Caesar was in Cisalpine Gaul in the winter of 53, the legate Titus Labienus believed that Commius had been conspiring against the Romans with other Gaulish tribes. Labienus sent a tribune, Gaius Volusenus Quadratus, and some centurions to summon Commius to a sham meeting at which they would execute him for his treachery, but Commius escaped with a severe head wound. He vowed never again to associate with Romans.

Enemy of Caesar.

In 52 BC the Atrebates joined the pan-Gaulish revolt led by Vercingetorix, and Commius was one of the leaders of the army that attempted to relieve Vercingetorix at the Siege of Alesia. After Vercingetorix was defeated Commius joined a revolt by the Bellovaci and persuaded some 500 Germans to support them, but this too was defeated and Commius sought refuge with his German allies.  In 51 BC he returned to his homeland with a small mounted war-band for a campaign of agitation and guerrilla warfare. That winter Mark Antony, a legionary legate at the time, ordered Volusenus to pursue him with cavalry, something Volusenus was more than happy to do. When the two groups of horsemen met Volusenus was victorious, but sustained a spear-wound to the thigh. Commius escaped and sued for peace through intermediaries. He offered hostages and promised he would live where he was told and no longer resist Caesar, on the condition that he never again had to meet a Roman. Antony granted his petition.  A 1st century AD source, Sextus Julius Frontinus's "Strategemata", tells how Commius fled to Britain with a group of followers with Caesar in pursuit. When he reached the English Channel the wind was in his favour but the tide was out, leaving the ships stranded on the flats. Commius ordered the sails raised anyway. Caesar, following from a distance, assumed they were afloat and called off the pursuit.  This suggests that the truce negotiated with Antony broke down and hostilities resumed between Commius and Caesar. However John Creighton suggests that Commius was sent to Britain as a condition of his truce with Antony - where better to ensure that he never again met a Roman? - and that Frontinus's anecdote either refers to an escape prior to the truce, or is historically unreliable, perhaps a legend Frontinus heard while governor of Britain (75 to 78 AD). Creighton argues that Commius was in fact set up as a friendly king in Britain by Caesar, and his reputation was rehabilitated by blaming his betrayal on Labienus (who deserted Caesar for Pompey in the civil war of 49 - 45 BC).  Commius's name appears on coins of post-conquest date in Gaul, paired with either Garmanos or Carsicios. This suggests he continued to have some power in Gaul in his absence, perhaps ruling through regents. Alternatively, Garmanos and Carsicios may have been Commius's sons who noted their father's name on their own coins.

King in Britain.

By about 30 BC Commius had established himself as king of the Atrebates in Britain, and was issuing coins from Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester). It is possible that Commius and his followers founded this kingdom, although the fact that, when Caesar was unable to bring his cavalry to Britain in 55 BC, Commius was able to provide a small detachment of horsemen from his people, suggests that there were already Atrebates in Britain at this time. Coins marked with his name continued to be issued until about 20 BC, and some have suggested, based on the length of his "floruit", that there may have been two kings, father and son, of the same name. However, if Commius was a young man when appointed by Caesar he could very well have lived until 20 BC. Some coins of this period are stamped "COM COMMIOS", which, if interpreted as "Commius son of Commius", would seem to support the two kings theory.  Three later kings, Tincomarus, Eppillus and Verica, are named on their coins as sons of Commius. From about 25 BC Commius appears to have ruled in collaboration with Tincomarus. After his death Tincomarus appears to have ruled the northern part of the kingdom from Calleva, while Eppillus ruled the southern part from Noviomagus (Chichester). Eppillus became sole ruler ca. AD 7. Verica succeeded him about 15, and ruled until shortly before the Roman conquest of 43.

Name.

The name Commius (British "*Combios" 'cutter, smiter, killer') is thought to derive from the Celtic verb "*kom·binati" 'to cut, smite, kill' (Welsh "cymynu", Old Irish "com·ben").

Popular culture and fiction.

French Nobel laureate Anatole France wrote a lengthy short story about the Romanization of Belgic Gaul from the point of view of Commius, whose name he recasts in Germanic form as Komm. The story, "Komm of the Atrebates," appears in France's historical fiction collection "Clio" and can be read in English translation online.  Commius appeared in the 2001 French movie "Vercingétorix."  Caesar (Masters of Rome #5) by Colleen McCullough. A minor character in the series but portrayed accurately to history within a historical fiction novel.

Commius (Commios, Comius, Comnios) was a king of the Belgic nation of the Atrebates, initially in Gaul, then in Britain, in the 1st century BC.


Design.

The "Foudre" class was designed to load a mechanized regiment aboard and act as its logistical support vessel once in theatre. Each ship of the class displaces 11,300 tonnes at standard load and 12,000 tonnes at full load. The vessels are long with a beam of and a draught of.  The "Foudre" class carry large stowage areas which can be used to ferry battle tanks and vehicles, a 52-ton elevating platform, a lateral ramp and a flight deck able to simultaneously operate several helicopters. Three rotations of such ships can ferry a whole armoured regiment with its 22 AMX-30 or Leclerc battle tanks, 44 AMX 10 RC heavy armoured cars, 22 "véhicules de l'Avant Blindé", 41 all-terrain light vehicles (including 16 MILAN anti-tank missile systems), 54 TRM 4000 trucks, 15 TRM 2000 light trucks, 5 fuel trucks, 2 tug trucks, 6 120 mm mortars, 67 towed containers and one beach carpeting system, overall 3300 tonnes.  The hull is built around a well deck which constitutes three-quarters of the length of the ship, and can accommodate up to eight landing craft. The landing craft can be put to sea by filling ballast tanks and lowering the ship, and opening the rear door.  The aeronautical installations allow all-weather operations of transport helicopters, intended to carry commandos. 4 Super-Puma or 2 Super-Frelon helicopters can be accommodated in the hangar.

Propulsion.

The "Foudre" class is equipped with two SEMT Pielstick 16 PC 2.5 V400 diesels connected to two adjustable-blade propellers and one beam propeller. There is an auxiliary beam propeller (1,000 hp). This gives the ships a speed of and an effective range of at.  The electrical plant consists of five SACM-Unidiesel diesels alternators creating 4,250 kW (5 × 850 kW) of electrical power.

Armament.

Ships of the "Foudre" class are supplied with three surface-to-air Mistral systems for air defence. They are also equipped with three 30 mm Breda-Mauser guns and four 12.7 mm M2-HB Browing machine guns.

Service history.

In 1999, "Siroco" was deployed to East Timor as part of the International Force for East Timor.  In June 2010, French defence minister Hervé Morin offered "Foudre" to the Argentine Navy during his visit to Buenos Aires. Argentina had already declined the transfer of the in the past and is more interested in seeking French support for a locally built amphibious ship instead.  In October 2011 it was announced that Chile and France had finalized negotiations for sale of "Foudre" to Chile for around USD80 million.  In December 2011 "Foudre" entered service in the Chilean Navy as "Sargento Aldea". The 2013 French White Paper on Defence and National Security said that "Siroco" would be decommissioned, a decision confirmed in October 2014.

The "Foudre"-class landing platform dock was a class of landing platform docks designed and used by the French Navy. The vessels have operated from 1990 until the present. In 2011 "Foudre" was sold to the Chilean Navy. "Siroco" was sold to the Brazilian Navy in 2015.


Origins of Danish rule.

Because of the Kalmar Union, Iceland had been under the control of the Crown of Denmark since 1380, although formally it had been a Norwegian possession until 1814. In 1874, one thousand years after the first acknowledged settlement, Denmark granted Iceland home rule. The constitution, written the same year, was revised in 1903 and the extent of Iceland's home rule increased in 1904. A minister for Icelandic affairs, residing in Reykjavík, was made responsible to the "Althing", the Icelandic parliament.

Establishment of the kingdom.

On 1 December 1918, the Act of Union, an agreement with Denmark, recognized Iceland as a fully sovereign state, an independent country in personal union with Denmark through a common monarch. The Kingdom of Iceland established its own flag and coat of arms and asked that Denmark represent its foreign affairs and defence interests on its behalf while retaining full control over its foreign affairs and defence. Iceland opened its first Embassy in 1920. The Act would be reviewed in 1940 and could be revoked three years later if agreement to continue it could not be reached.

World War II, British occupation and the establishment of the republic.

The German occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940 severed communications between Iceland and Denmark. As a result, on 10 April, the Althing passed two resolutions investing the Icelandic cabinet with the power of head of state and declaring that Iceland would accept full responsibility for both foreign policy and coastal surveillance. A year later, on 15 May 1941 the Althing adopted a law creating the position of regent for Sveinn Björnsson in order to represent the monarchy. During the first year of World War II, Iceland strictly enforced a position of neutrality and took action against both British and German forces that violated it. On 10 May 1940, Operation "Fork" was launched by the United Kingdom when military forces sailed into Reykjavík harbour and began an invasion of Iceland. The government of Iceland issued a protest against what it called a "flagrant violation" of Icelandic neutrality. On the day of the invasion, Prime Minister Hermann Jónasson read a radio announcement instructing Icelanders to treat the British troops as guests. The Allied occupation of Iceland lasted until 1941 when the Government of Iceland asked the United States to take over its defence. The defence of Iceland was the United States' first participation in World War II.  At its peak, Britain had approximately 25,000 troops stationed in Iceland, all but eliminating unemployment in Reykjavík and other strategically important places. In July 1941, the "Althingi" adopted the American–Icelandic defence agreement, passing responsibility for Iceland's defence to the United States. As many as 40,000 American soldiers were then stationed on the island, outnumbering the native population of adult men. (Iceland's total native population during the war was approximately 120,000.)  Following a constitutional referendum in May 1944, Iceland formally became a republic on 17 June 1944. Many Danes felt offended at its timing, as Denmark was still occupied by Germany. The king in Copenhagen, Christian X, nonetheless sent a message of congratulations to the Icelandic people.

The Kingdom of Iceland (; ) was a sovereign and independent country with a constitutional and hereditary monarchy that was established by the Act of Union with Denmark signed on 1 December 1918. It lasted until 17 June 1944 when a national referendum established the Republic of Iceland in its place.


Life.

Cecília Schelingová was born at Krivá na Orave as the tenth of eleven children to Pavol Scheling and Zuzana Pániková on 24 December 1916 and was baptized right after her birth.  Her initial studies spanned from 1922 until 1930 and her call to the religious life began to blossom in 1929 when the Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross arrived in her hometown to educate there. On 6 July 1931 - with her mother going with her to the motherhouse - she requested to join the congregation but she could not pronounce her profession or join the order until she completed a nursing course as well as a radiological course that the order requested she do. The postulant then commenced her period of novitiate on 28 January 1936. She made her initial vows on 30 January 1937 while assuming the religious name of "Zdenka". She began to work at the hospital at Humenné from 1937 near modern Ukraine and then relocated to the hospital at Bratislava in 1942 where she worked in the radiological department. She made her solemn profession on 28 January 1943. In 1952 she began to serve in the x-ray area.  The communists soon assumed total power in the nation in 1948 and started their mass persecution of religious and priest alike with countless arrested and tortured with some sent in droves to the hospital for treatment. She aided the ailing priest Sandtner and celebrated forbidden Mass with him and managed to get him to remain in hospital when authorities deemed his condition to have improved instead of watching him being sent back to prison. In February 1952 she aided the politically-vocal condemned priest Stefan Kostial flee from his fate which would have been death in Siberia when she slipped sleeping pills into a guard's tea allowing the priest to flee; she organized this on 19 February - a day before the priest was to appear in court. Kostial had been jailed and then hospitalized after being tortured. On 29 February 1952 she attempted to aid three priests and three seminarians flee but she failed to do this and was instead arrested and tortured. Before her court appearance she lived in a cold and windowless cell. Schelingová was sentenced on 17 June 1952 to over a decade of imprisonment of a period that was defined as 1952 until 1964 and from that point to 1955 she was sent from prison to prison (such as in Bratislava and Brno) where she was often beaten and tortured. Torture saw her right breast torn apart from continual kicks and breast cancer soon set in as a result. She soon was admitted into a prison ward of the Prague hospital in 1954 where it was amputated without anesthesia. Helen Korda - a political prisoner who herself underwent an operation around the same time - agreed to look after the recovering Schelingová.  Apolónia Galis (d. 21 June 2003) visited her in prison with a guard present though secretly bought her cakes with vitamins contained in them in order to take care of her health. Government officials secured her release from prison on 16 April 1955 - a decade before her actual release date - so that she would not die on the government's watch. But police harassment saw her no longer welcome at the motherhouse of her order and from the hospital where she worked. It was Galis who lived in Trnava took her in. She was admitted into the Trnava hospital on 19 April 1955 and she remained there in ill health until her death.  Schelingová died at dawn on 31 July 1955 after she received the sacraments for the final time. Her remains were relocated in 1979 and then for the final time on 6 June 2003. On 6 April 1970 the regional Bratislava court ruled that the late nun was in fact innocent having received a "false and artificial accusation" that had been motivated for political purposes rather that in the pursuit of justice.

Beatification.

The beatification process commenced on 22 February 2000 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the official "nihil obstat" to the cause and titled the late religious as a Servant of God. This allowed for a diocesan process to open to investigate the life of the nun and it spanned from 18 September 2000 until its solemn closure on 12 January 2003 which led to the C.C.S. validating the process on 31 January 2003 in Rome; the C.C.S. then received the Positio dossier from the postulation in 2003.  Theologians discussed and approved the cause on 2 May 2003 while the C.C.S. themselves approved it as well on 3 June 2003. The pope approved the cause on 7 July 2003 and determined that - though not murdered - her persecution and her declining health after her prison time made her a martyr. She received beatification from Pope John Paul II on 14 September 2003 when the pope visited Slovakia. Her niece Marge Van Lierde - along with her husband and two children - attended the celebration and were seated in the eighth row.  The process for the miracle needed for her sainthood was investigated in the Archdiocese of Denver in the United States of America and Archbishop Samuel Joseph Aquila oversaw the start of the diocesan process on 16 October 2013 and its conclusion on 28 February 2016.  The current postulator assigned to this cause is the Rev. Ľudovít Pokojný.

Cecília Schelingová (24 December 1916 – 31 July 1955), also known as Zdenka, was a Slovak Roman Catholic professed religious of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross and a victim of communist persecution in the former Czechoslovakia. Schelingová worked for the most part in the hospital at Bratislava before her arrest and aided priests fleeing persecution from the totalitarian communist regime in her home nation.


Family.

Her father was Sancho Alfonso, 1st Count of Alburquerque, who was an illegitimate son of King Alfonso XI of Castile and his mistress Eleanor of Guzman, and a brother of King Henry II of Castile. Her mother was Infanta Beatrice, Countess of Alburquerque, who was daughter of Peter I of Portugal and Ines de Castro. Eleanor was born in Aldeadavila de la Ribera, now in National Park since 2002 of Arribes del Duero Natural Park, province of Salamanca.  Eleanor's brother was Ferdinand, 2nd Count of Alburquerque.

Marriage.

Eleanor was originally betrothed to Frederick, illegitimate son of Henry II of Castile, however this engagement was broken off.  Upon the death of the sickly John I of Castile on October 9 of 1390 the Regency Council addressed the issue of the heir presumptive, Infante Henry at the time eleven years of age and his brother Infante Ferdinand, who was then ten years. It was agreed that Ferdinand could not marry before his brother Henry reached the age of fourteen. Then he would be granted the privileges and social policies majority.  Peter I of Castile was murdered in March 1369 by his bastard brother Henry. The representatives of the clergy, the nobility, the state of the gentry and merchants, as well as the authorized legal representatives of some Castillian cities agreed that Henry's grandson Infante Henry should marry the granddaughter of the murdered Peter, the English princess Catherine of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt. As the elder brother, Henry, fulfilled these requirements then so should his brother Infante Ferdinand, with a good wife who was honorable and rich.  It was then heard that Eleanor of Alburquerque was sixteen and old enough to marry. She expressed her agreement in marriage but could not take place as Ferdinand was not yet ten years old. She owned the towns of Haro, Briones, Vilforado, Ledesma with the five towns, Albuquerque, the Codesera, Azagala, Alconchel, Medellin, Alconétar and Villalon, a gift from John I of Castile. This made Eleanor a very attractive offer to Ferdinand.  In 1394, Eleanor and Ferdinand were married. They had seven children:

Later life.

In 1412, Ferdinand and Eleanor became King and Queen of Aragon after the Compromise of Caspe. However they reigned for only four years, when Ferdinand died in 1416, aged 36 years. Eleanor, who was then 42 years old, retired to Medina del Campo. In 1435 her sons, the princes of Aragon were taken prisoners of the Genoese after the naval battle of Ponza.  The Royal Palace of Medina del Campo, birthplace of her husband and her children, was transformed into the Convent of Santa María la Real. There, Eleanor witnessed her children fighting against the royalist party led by Álvaro de Luna. Eleonor lost some of her possessions as a benefit for the latter.  Eleanor died in Medina del Campo, province of Valladolid, in 1435. Her grave is in the Convent of Santa María la Real, in a simple grave on the floor. It has a tablet that is stone Toledo dark, with the Royal Arms carved on it.

Eleanor, 3rd Countess of Alburquerque (1374 – 16 December 1435) became Queen consort of Aragon by her marriage to Ferdinand I of Aragon. In Spanish, she is known as "Leonor Urraca de Castilla, condesa de Alburquerque".


Privacy and security.

As this required collection and accumulation of very detailed behavioral data about the user for the purpose of the predictive function as well as fraud detection, which is then being traded between hundreds of entities, RTB is causing privacy concerns and attracting attention from privacy regulating bodies. According to UK's ICO report, companies involved in RTB "were collecting and trading information such as race, sexuality, health status or political affiliation" without consent from affected users. Simon McDougall of ICO reported, in June 2019, that "sharing people’s data with potentially hundreds of companies, without properly assessing and addressing the risk of these counterparties, raises questions around the security and retention of this data."

How it works.

A typical transaction begins with a user visiting a website. This triggers a bid request that can include various pieces of data such as the user's demographic information, browsing history, location, and the page being loaded. The request goes from the publisher to an ad exchange, which submits it and the accompanying data to multiple advertisers who automatically submit bids in real time to place their ads. Advertisers bid on each ad impression as it is served. The impression goes to the highest bidder and their ad is served on the page.  The bidding happens autonomously and advertisers set maximum bids and budgets for an advertising campaign. The criteria for bidding on particular types of consumers can be very complex, taking into account everything from very detailed behavioural profiles to conversion data. Probabilistic models can be used to determine the probability for a click or a conversion given the user history data (aka user journey). This probability can be used to determine the size of the bid for the respective advertising slot.

Demand-side platforms.

Demand-side platforms (DSPs) give buyers direct RTB access to multiple sources of inventory. They typically streamline ad operations with applications that simplify workflow and reporting. DSPs are directed at advertisers. The technology that powers an ad exchange can also provide the foundation for a DSP, allowing for synergy between advertising campaigns.  The primary distinction between an ad network and a DSP is that DSPs have the technology to determine the value of an individual impression in real time (less than 100 milliseconds) based on what is known about a user's history.

Supply-side platforms.

Large publishers often manage multiple advertising networks and use supply-side platforms (SSPs) to manage advertising yield. Supply-side platforms utilize data generated from impression-level bidding to help tailor advertising campaigns. Applications to manage ad operations are also often bundled into SSPs. SSP technology is adapted from ad exchange technology.

Challenges with mobile implementation.

An individual's browser history is more difficult to determine on mobile devices. This is due to technical limitations that continue to make the type of targeting and tracking available on the desktop essentially impossible on smartphones and tablets. The lack of a universal cookie alternative for mobile web browsing also limits the growth and feasibility of programmatic ad buying. Mobile real time bidding also lacks universal standards.

Real-time bidding (RTB) is a means by which advertising inventory is bought and sold on a per-impression basis, via programmatic instantaneous auction, similar to financial markets. With real-time bidding, advertising buyers bid on an impression and, if the bid is won, the buyer's ad is instantly displayed on the publisher's site. Real-time bidding lets advertisers manage and optimize ads from multiple ad-networks by granting the user access to a multitude of different networks, allowing them to create and launch advertising campaigns, prioritize networks and allocate percentages of unsold inventory, known as backfill.


Life and work.

Honnold was born in Sacramento, California, the son of community college professors Dierdre Wolownick and Charles Forrest Honnold. His paternal roots are German and his maternal roots are Polish. He started climbing in a climbing gym at the age of 5 and was climbing "many times a week" by age 10. He participated in many national and international youth climbing championships as a teenager.  "I was never, like, a bad climber [as a kid], but I had never been a great climber, either," he says. "There were a lot of other climbers who were much, much stronger than me, who started as kids and were, like, instantly freakishly strong like they just have a natural gift. And that was never me. I just loved climbing, and I've been climbing all the time ever since, so I've naturally gotten better at it, but I've never been gifted."  After graduating from Mira Loma High School as part of the International Baccalaureate Programme in 2003, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, to study civil engineering. His maternal grandfather died and his parents got divorced during his first year of college, and Honnold skipped many of his classes to boulder by himself at Indian Rock. He described the experience as "heinous.... I didn't live in a dorm. We had a family friend who let me sublet his two-bedroom apartment in town. In my one year at Berkeley, I never met anybody. I never spoke to anybody."  He dropped out of Berkeley and spent time living at home and driving around California to go climbing. "I'd wound up with my mom's old minivan, and that was my base," he said. "I'd use it to drive to Joshua Tree to climb or I'd drive to LA to see my girlfriend. My orbit was tiny and really cheap. I destroyed that van fairly quickly; it died on me one day, and for the next year I lived just on my bicycle and in a tent."  In 2007, he bought a 2002 Ford Econoline E150 van, allowing him to focus on climbing and follow the weather.  According to a 2011 "Alpinist" profile: He gained mainstream recognition after his 2012 solo of the "Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome" was featured in the film "Alone on the Wall" and a subsequent "60 Minutes" interview.  In November 2011, Honnold and Hans Florine missed setting the record time on the Nose route on Yosemite's El Capitan by 45 seconds. At the time the record stood at 2:36:45, as set by Dean Potter & Sean Leary in November 2010. On June 17, 2012, the two set a new record of 2:23:46 (or 2:23:51) on that same route.  In November 2014, Clif Bar announced that they would no longer sponsor Honnold, along with four other climbers, mostly free soloists. "We concluded that these forms of the sport are pushing boundaries and taking the element of risk to a place where we as a company are no longer willing to go," the company wrote in an open letter.  On June 3, 2017, he made the first free solo ascent of El Capitan, completing the 2,900-foot Freerider route (5.12d VI) in 3 hours and 56 minutes. The feat, described as "one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever", was documented by climber and photographer Jimmy Chin and documentary filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi, as the subject of the documentary "Free Solo". Among other awards, the film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (2018).  On June 6, 2018, Honnold teamed up with Tommy Caldwell to break the speed record for the Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite. They completed the approximately 3,000-foot route in 1:58:07, becoming the first climbers to complete the route in under two hours.

Personal life.

Honnold lived in a van for over a decade. "I don't think 'van life' is particularly appealing," he says. "It's not like I love living in a car, but I love living in all these places. I love being in Yosemite; I love being basically wherever the weather is good; I love being able to follow good conditions all over. And be relatively comfortable as I do it. And so that pretty much necessitates living in a car... If I could, like, miraculously teleport a house from place to place, I'd prefer to live in a nice comfortable house. Though, honestly, the van is kind of nice. I like having everything within arm's reach. When I stay in a hotel room – like, sometimes you get put up in a really classy hotel room, and it's really big, and you have to walk quite a ways to the bathroom, and you're like, 'Man, I wish I had my [pee] bottle.' Who wants to walk all the ways to the bathroom in the middle of the night when you could just lean over and grab your bottle and go?" The van he lives in is custom-outfitted with a kitchenette and cabinets.  In 2017, Honnold bought a home in the Las Vegas area. "I didn't have any furniture at first, so I lived in the van in the driveway for the first couple weeks. It felt more like home than an empty house did." Around the same time, he replaced the Ford Econoline van he had lived in since 2007 and put 200,000 miles on with a new 2016 Ram ProMaster, which he still lives and travels in for most of the year.  Honnold is a vegetarian, and he does not drink alcohol or use other drugs. He is an avid reader with interests in classic literature, environmentalism, and economics, and he describes himself as a militant, anti-religion atheist and a feminist.  Between climbs, he runs or hikes to maintain fitness.  Honnold met Sanni McCandless at a book signing in 2015; they became a couple soon after. Sanni and her relationship with Honnold feature prominently in "Free Solo". On December 25, 2019, Honnold announced, via social media, that he and McCandless are engaged.  Dierdre Wolownick, Alex Honnold's mother, is the oldest woman (at the age of 66) to climb El Capitan.

Philanthropy.

In 2012, Honnold started giving away one-third of his income to solar projects that increased energy access world-wide. Soon, this idea expanded to form the Honnold Foundation. The Honnold Foundation's mission is "promoting solar energy for a more equitable world.".  "The Honnold Foundation envisions a world where all people have equal access to opportunity and live in balance with the environment. We [the foundation's team] believe in solar as a proven, environmentally sound solution to global energy poverty, and we award grants to bold and ethical organizations driving innovation in the solar industry."

Filmography.

While Honnold is best known for his starring role in the Oscar-winning documentary "Free Solo", he has also appeared in a number of other films.

Alexander Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his free solo ascents of big walls. His 2017 accomplishment of free soloing El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park, is regarded by some as one of the greatest athletic achievements of all time.


Origin.

Zumba was founded in 1998 by Pérez in Cali, Colombia. Pérez, an aerobics instructor, forgot to bring his regular music to his aerobics class. He happened to have cassette tapes of Latin dance music—salsa and merengue—and danced to them instead, which Pérez later taught as "Rumbacize". In 2001, Pérez partnered with Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion, and the trio released a series of fitness videos sold via infomercial. Insight Venture Partners and the Raine Group made an investment in 2012. The company expanded into class instruction and by 2015, according to Perlman, there were 14 million Zumba students in 186 countries.  The word "Zumba" is a neologism that was expressly created as a brand name. The original name was "Rumbacize", a combination of rumba (a Spanish word "party" and various dances) and Jazzercize.

Choreography.

Zumba choreography is composed using all or some of the sixteen core steps. There are four basic rhythms: salsa, reggaeton, merengue and cumbia, and each basic rhythm has four core steps.

Classes.

Zumba classes are typically about an hour long and are taught by instructors licensed by Zumba Fitness, LLC. In one Zumba class, a person can burn up to 600 kcal, depending on the energy put forth. The music comes from the following dance styles: cumbia, salsa, merengue, mambo, flamenco, chachacha, reggaeton, soca, samba, hip hop music, axé music and tango. Zumba is one of the most versatile fitness workouts, as classes can be geared for any fitness level.  There are ten types of classes, for different levels of age and exertion.  Zumba instructors have the option to become ZINTM Members (Zumba Instructor Network members) to receive monthly music and bimonthly training DVDs to assist with the creation of music and choreography for their personal Zumba classes. By 2019, there are more than 100,000 Zumba instructors around the world.

Benefit.

Zumba is a total-body cardio and aerobic workout, which provides a large calorie consumption. A study shows that a person burns 300 to 900kcal with an hour-long Zumba exercise.  Because Zumba offers different options, proponents of the Zumba program claim that it is safe for all ages, meaning that anyone from age 0 to 100 can participate in this form of aerobic exercise. Some of the classes are specifically aimed at elderly people, to help them build strength, improve motion and posture, and socialize.  Besides its high calorie burning benefit, Zumba can help lower the risk of heart disease, reduce the blood pressure and bad cholesterol, and increase your good cholesterol.

Legal status.

In June 2017, Zumba was banned in Iran for being un-Islamic. Shortly after, in August 2017, six people were arrested after being accused of 'trying to change lifestyles' by teaching Zumba.

Events.

The annual ZINcon takes place in the US, where Zumba instructors from all over the world are reunited and attend master classes, speciality training and a Zumba concert. In addition to the Annual Zumba Convention, Zumba also holds a number of shorter one-day Academies where instructors can meet and attend master classes and rhythm sessions. These events are held in cities globally. In January 2016, the first Zumba Cruise took place.

Products.

In 2005, the Zumba Academy was launched to license instructors for teaching Zumba classes. Zumba sold DVDs via infomercials in 2002. More than 10 million DVDs have been sold. In July 2012, Zumba released the compilation album "Zumba Fitness Dance Party". In 2007 the company launched a clothing line called Zumba Wear. As of 2012, official apparel sales amounted to $10 million per year.  In 2010 Zumba released its first fitness video game on 30 November 2010., it had sold 3 million copies. The "Zumba Fitness 2" video game was released in November 2011. A similar game was released on the Xbox 360 as "Zumba Fitness Rush" in February 2012. "Zumba Fitness Core" was released in October 2012 for the Wii and Xbox 360. The game includes new features such as nutrition tips and ability to set personal goals. "" was released on 5 November 2013. It features a new World Tour mode that unlocks songs from seven global destinations as a player progresses, as well as authentic customs, local rhythms and native dance styles. The game was followed by "Zumba Kids" on 19 November 2013. All of the Zoë Mode-developed Zumba titles run on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3. In November 2019, "Zumba Burn It Up!" was released by 505 Games, for the Nintendo Switch, the first Zumba game in 6 years. It will be released in Japan on June 18, 2020.

Zumba is an exercise fitness program created by Colombian dancer and choreographer Alberto "Beto" Pérez during the 1990s. Zumba is a trademark owned by Zumba Fitness, LLC. The Brazilian pop singer Claudia Leitte has become the international ambassador to Zumba Fitness.