Playing career.

Dallas Stars.

Jokinen was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the sixth round, 192nd overall, at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He spent four seasons before his NHL debut playing for Oulun Kärpät of the SM-liiga, the top Finnish league.  In his rookie year in 2005–06, Jokinen gained a great reputation as a top shootout specialist in the NHL. Until being stopped by Vesa Toskala, he was a remarkable nine-for-nine in shootouts before his first unsuccessful attempt. He can be seen pulling some unique dekes, such as the one-handed, slide-in goal (as made famous by Peter Forsberg) — also known as "The Paralyzer" — in shootouts. On November 16, 2007, Jokinen scored four goals against the Colorado Avalanche in a 6–1 win.

Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes.

At the NHL trade deadline, on February 26, 2008, Jokinen was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning (along with Mike Smith, Jeff Halpern and a 2009 fourth-round draft pick) in exchange for Brad Richards and Johan Holmqvist. Jokinen finished with 16 goals and 42 points.  On February 4, 2009, Jokinen was placed on waivers by the Lightning and later, on February 7, 2009, was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Wade Brookbank, Josef Melichar and a 2009 fourth-round draft pick. During the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs, on April 21, he scored the latest regulation game-winning goal in NHL playoff history, with 0.2 seconds remaining in the third period, as the Hurricanes defeated the New Jersey Devils 4–3 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-finals.  On June 29, 2009, the Hurricanes signed Jokinen to a two-year, $3.4 million contract ($1.5 million in 2009–10 and $1.9 million in 2010–11). As of November 19, 2009, Jokinen had scored a total of 25 goals in 46 shootout attempts, with an impressive 54.3% success rate. Eight of those shootout goals were game-winners.  Jokinen re-signed with his former Finnish club Kärpät during the 2012–13 NHL lockout and committed himself to remain with the club until the resumption of the NHL season in January 2013.

Pittsburgh Penguins.

On March 26, 2013, Jokinen was placed on waivers by Hurricanes. On April 3, 2013, Jokinen was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a conditional sixth- or seventh-round pick in 2013. In his first game with the Penguins, Jokinen scored Pittsburgh's lone goal in regulation and tallied the only shootout goal for the team in a 2–1 victory over the New York Rangers. During the 2013–14 season, on October 8, 2013, Jokinen scored his first hat-trick with the Penguins in a 5–2 win over his former team, the Carolina Hurricanes. Jokinen enjoyed his most productive season since 2010, totaling 21 goals and 57 points in 81 games with the Penguins, playing alongside Evgeni Malkin for most of the season.

Florida Panthers.

On July 1, 2014, as an unrestricted free agent, Jokinen signed a four-year, $16 million contract with the Florida Panthers. During his second season with the club, Jokinen scored 18 goals and 60 points, the second-best offensive output of his career. During six playoff games, Jokinen contributed one goal and three assists.

Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings.

On June 30, 2017, following the 2016–17 season and with one-year remaining on his contract, Jokinen was bought-out by the Panthers. On July 7, 2017, as a free agent, Jokinen signed a one-year, $1.1 million contract with the Edmonton Oilers. In the 2017–18 season, he struggled to find his role with Edmonton, adding just 1 assist in 14 games. On November 14, 2017, he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Mike Cammalleri. Jokinen recorded 1 goal and 4 assists in 18 games for the club.

On January 16, 2018, Jokinen was placed on waivers by the Kings, and was then claimed off waivers by the Columbus Blue Jackets on January 17. On February 26, 2018, Jokinen and Tyler Motte were traded to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Thomas Vanek. As a result of this trade, Jokinen became the fourth player in NHL history, behind Dennis O'Brien, Dave McLlwain and Mark Arcobello, to play for four different NHL teams in a single season. He also joins the exclusive club of scoring at least a point in each of the four different hockey clubs he played for in one NHL season, along with O'Brien and Arcobello.

International play.

Jokinen has played for the Finnish national team in multiple tournaments, including the 2006 and 2014 Winter Olympics, winning a silver and bronze medal.  In 2016, Jokinen and teammate Aleksander Barkov Jr. were selected to represent Team Finland at the 2016 IIHF World Championship. They won silver after a 2–0 loss to Team Canada.

Jussi Petteri Jokinen (born April 1, 1983) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward currently playing for Oulun Kärpät of the Finnish Liiga. He was drafted by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Dallas Stars in 2001 in the sixth round, 192nd overall, and spent his first three NHL seasons with the team. Jokinen has also played in the NHL for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, Columbus Blue Jackets and Vancouver Canucks.


Biography.

Post was born in Haarlem and was the son of Jan Janszoon Post, a highly regarded glass painter trained in Leiden, and Francijntje Verbraken of Haarlem. His elder brother was Pieter Post, one of the most important architects of Dutch classicism. Little is known of his life before his trip to Brazil.  He was born in Haarlem circa 1612 and he most likely received his early training from his father and his elder brother. He was a contemporary of Frans Hals, who painted his portrait, and prominent Haarlem landscape painters such as the brothers Jacob and Salomon van Ruysdael, Adriaen and Isaac van Ostade, and in particular Pieter de Molijn. It is likely that a Dutch master also taught him before he left for Brazil, though he was not registered in the guild until after his return. Although it is not universally accepted, Post scholar Erik Larsen believes De Molijn was the master under whom Post studied, because Molyn is mentioned in Houbraken as the teacher of several other landscape painters, such as Allart van Everdingen. Post won a commission at court likely through the connections of his older brother and was encouraged to travel abroad by John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen. At the time, Haarlem experienced an outbreak of the plague, so that his going to Brazil may have seemed a good option. Post lived in Brazil from 1637 to 1644. He received 800 guilders for a landscape painting in the West Indies commissioned by Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, leading Larsen to believe that Post set out for The Netherlands via Africa shortly before Nassau departed Brazil. After he returned to The Netherlands, he joined the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke in 1646, and was appointed officer in 1656–7 and 1658. In 1650, he married Jannetje Bogaert, the daughter of Professor Salomon Bogaert of the Haarlem ‘Latijnsche School’. He had two sons, who died before his death and one daughter that did survive him, but died shortly thereafter.  Post continued to paint Brazilian scenes until 1669, and the lack of dated paintings in the 1670s suggests he stopped ten years before his death. Whitehead and Boeseman claim that Post developed an alcohol problem, which may be the reason so little is known of the last decade of his life. He died in Haarlem and was buried in the St. Bavochurch on February 17, 1680.

Work.

Post produced approximately 140 paintings during his lifetime. Of these, nearly half are dated, making it possible to track the evolution of his work between 1637, the day he landed in Brazil, and 1669, the date of his last letter. The paintings Post produced while he was in Brazil drastically differ from those he painted after he left Brazil. While he was in Brazil, he produced a large number of sketches and etchings, but only completed six paintings. They are the paintings dated from 1637–1640, and later presented by Nassau to Louis XIV in 1679.  His Brazilian works strongly resemble the landscapes by his Haarlem contemporaries in terms of composition, style, and technique. Wolfgang Stechow describes Post’s landscapes as ‘the old bottle filled with new wine’. These works depict specific locations in Dutch Brazil, identifiable because of the representation of recognizable topography and buildings; most also include water. Post includes a selection of Brazilian vegetation, and occasionally features birds and other small animals in the foreground. These may have been inspired by his traveling companion, the naturalist Georg Marcgraf. The skies are a curious gray, seemingly heavy with rain, an aspect that is emphasized by the fact that they take up at least half the canvas. The subdued color scheme, especially when compared to his post-Brazilian production, lends them a somber almost reverential quality characteristic of Dutch tonal landscapes from the 1620s to the 1640s.

Brazilian landscapes from Haarlem.

Post continued to paint images of Brazil upon his return to The Netherlands in 1642; however, his work undergoes a radical transformation. In addition to Post’s wonderful imagination, the evolution of his work may also be consequent of a change in popular style. The further he was from Brazil, in both time and space, the more imaginary his paintings became as he incorporated bright colors and exotic elements. Those paintings executed in The Netherlands have brighter colors with dark foliage framing an idealized baroque composition. These works are in striking contrast to the stark, realistic qualities of his early work. The landscapes are open, full of resources, and most important, conquered. They evolve to show a more condensed view and desired depth with greener flora, bluer skies, and brighter horizons. However, the horizontal blues advancing towards the middle distance accentuate the difference in color. This deep blue may be a disintegration of the green pigment, which results from the disappearance of yellows, while the blues remain.  Upon Post’s return to The Netherlands, he also increased the number of figures and incorporated greater diversity into his work. Nearly every painting he completed in The Netherlands includes a large group of people interacting in some way, whether they are dancing or working in the sugar mills. Typically, these figures are slaves. Unlike his Brazilian work, the figures are no longer subjects placed in the foreground; instead, they seem to become part of the landscape. Four of the six paintings completed in Brazil only have a few figures, with the exception of Porto Calvo (1639) depicting more, and The River of São Francisco (1638), which does not have any figures. While Post was in charge of documenting the land, Albert Eckhout, another one of Nassau’s artists, was in charge of documenting the native people.

Frans Janszoon Post (17 November 1612 – 17 February 1680) was a painter during the Dutch Golden Age. He was the first European artist to paint landscapes of the Americas, during and after the period of Dutch Brazil In 1636 he traveled to Dutch Brazil in northeast of South America at the invitation of the governor Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen. His works were widely collected in The Netherlands, Europe, and Brazil, with the works showing an idealized vision of Dutch colonial rule.


History.

Like corvettes, sloops of that period were specialised convoy-defence vessels. However, while corvettes were based on a mercantile design with triple expansion engines, sloops were conventional naval vessels with turbine engines. Sloops were larger and faster with a heavy armament of high angle 4-inch guns which had superior anti-aircraft fire control via the Fuze Keeping Clock, while retaining excellent anti-submarine capability. They were designed to have a longer range than a destroyer at the expense of a lower top speed, while remaining capable of outrunning surfaced Type VII and Type IX U-boats.  In World War II, "Black Swan"-class sloops sank 29 U-boats. The most famous sloop commander was Captain Frederic John Walker. His sloop became one of the most successful submarine hunters, taking part in the sinking of eleven U-boats.  After the war, sloops continued in service with the Royal Navy, Egyptian Navy, Indian Navy, Pakistan Navy and the West German Navy. In April 1949, was attacked on the Yangtze River by the Communist People's Liberation Army.  Also, several "Black Swan" sloops fought in the Korean War.

"Black Swan" class.

Royal Navy.

The first two ships were built under the 1937 Programme, being ordered from Yarrow and Company, Scotstoun, on 1 January 1938. The second pair was built under the 1939 Programme, being ordered from Furness Shipbuilding Company on 21 June 1939. A further ten RN ships were ordered under the 1940 War Programme on 13 April 1940; however six of these (the orders placed with White of Cowes, Thornycroft at Woolston, and Swan Hunter on Tyneside for two ships each) were subsequently replaced by orders for an equal number of escort destroyers.  There were incremental improvements as the building developed, and the "Woodcock" and "Wren" when completed were practically indistinguishable from the Modified "Black Swan" class.

Royal Indian Navy.

Two ships were ordered under the 1939 Programme, the order being placed with Denny on 8 September 1939. The second pair were ordered under the 1940 Programme, this order with Thornycroft being placed on 29 August 1940. The first two were used as survey ships after the War. The second pair were transferred to the Pakistan Navy in 1948. The third pair (which were of the Modified "Black Swan" class – see below)

Modified "Black Swan" class.

Royal Navy.

Fourteen sloops for the RN were in the 1940 Supplementary War Programme. The first two were ordered from Denny, Dunbarton, on 9 January 1941, ten more were ordered on 27 March 1941 (two each from Cammell Laird, Scotts, Thornycroft, Yarrow and John Brown), and a final pair from Fairfield, Govan, on 18 July 1941. The contract with John Brown was transferred to Devonport Dockyard on 3 March 1942, and then to Denny on 8 December 1942.  Another fourteen ships were authorised in the 1941 Programme, but the last three ships (the names "Star", "Steady" and "Trial" had been approved) were not ordered under this programme. The first of the eleven actually ordered was contracted with Thornycroft on 3 December 1941, with a further pair from Stephens, Linthouse, on 18 December. Eight more were ordered in 1942, two on 11 February, two on 3 March (originally from Portsmouth Dockyard), two on 12 August and two on 5 October. However the order for two sloops were ordered at Portsmouth was moved to Chatham Dockyard on 21 June 1943, and they were laid down there, but were cancelled on 15 October 1945.  Two more sloops were authorised in the 1942 Programme; the names would have been "Waterhen" and "Wryneck" but they were never ordered in that year's Programme. The 1944 Programme re-instated these two vessels, as well as the twelfth sloop authorised under the 1941 Programme, and now named as "Partridge". These three ships were ordered on 9 October 1944, but they were all cancelled on 15 October 1945. These had been intended to be further modified and enlarged, with a beam of. Two further ships planned under the 1944 Programme would have been named "Woodpecker" (ii) and "Wild Swan", but these were never ordered and the intention to build was dropped when the 1945 Programme was compiled.

Royal Indian Navy.

Two ships for the Indian Navy were included in the 1941 Programme, the order being placed with Yarrow on 10 September 1941.

The "Black Swan" class and Modified "Black Swan" class were two classes of sloop of the Royal Navy and Royal Indian Navy. Twelve "Black Swan"s were launched between 1939 and 1943, including four for the Royal Indian Navy; twenty-five Modified "Black Swan"s were launched between 1942 and 1945, including two for the Royal Indian Navy; several other ships were cancelled.


Playing career.

Early career.

Ward spent his junior career with the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League (WHL). After appearing in one game for the Rebels in 2000–01, Ward played three full seasons with the team from 2001–2004, leading them to the WHL finals twice. Ward was drafted 25th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Upon graduating from the WHL, Ward signed a multi-year, entry-level contract with the Hurricanes on May 13, 2004. Due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, he was assigned to Carolina's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters, for the season.

Carolina Hurricanes.

Joining the Hurricanes for the 2005–06 NHL season, Ward largely served in a backup role to Swiss goalie Martin Gerber during the regular season. He made his NHL debut on October 5, 2005, replacing Gerber after the starter injured his hamstring. He saved 10 of 11 shots in the third period, as the Hurricanes lost 5–2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He made his first NHL start the following game two days later in the club's home opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ward turned aside Mario Lemieux, Žigmund Pálffy and Sidney Crosby in a shootout, as the Hurricanes won 3–2. Ward completed his NHL rookie season with 14 wins and 8 losses, along with a 3.68 goals against average. In the opening round of the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Hurricanes faced a two-win deficit against the Montreal Canadiens. With Gerber struggling in the series, Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette turned to Ward. The goaltending switch prompted Carolina to a series comeback, advancing to the second round against the New Jersey Devils, where he played opposite his personal hero, Martin Brodeur. After eliminating the Devils, the Hurricanes defeated the Buffalo Sabres in seven games. Facing the Edmonton Oilers in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, he helped the Hurricanes to the franchise's first Stanley Cup. In doing so, he became the first rookie goaltender to lead his team to the Stanley Cup as a starter since Patrick Roy in 1986. Against Edmonton, he also became the first rookie goaltender to both play and record a shutout in the Finals since Roy. He tied the rookie record for wins in the playoffs (15), previously held by Roy and Ron Hextall, and became the first rookie goalie to win the Conn Smythe Trophy since Hextall in 1987.  After his heroics in the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Ward became the Hurricanes starting goaltender for the 2006–07 season. He recorded season stats of 30–21–6 and 37–25–5 in the 2006–07 and 2007–08 campaigns, respectively. The Hurricanes would miss the playoffs both years. The Hurricanes, however, would reach the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2008–09 season before bowing out to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Ward went 8–10 with a 2.67 GAA during the playoffs.  Ward and the Hurricanes struggled to begin the 2009–10 season, as Ward went 2–9–3 to start the campaign. On November 8, 2009, in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ward was injured when he was cut on the leg by the skate of opposing forward Rick Nash. As Ward was helped into the dressing room, he left a trail of blood on the ice. After returning from his injury, Ward finished the season with an 18–23–5 record, a 2.69 GAA and.916 save percentage as the Hurricanes failed to qualify for the post-season.  Ward was selected to participate in the 2011 NHL All-Star Game, along with teammates Eric Staal, Jamie McBain, and Jeff Skinner. Ward was the first overall pick in the 2011 NHL All-Star Game Fantasy Draft, selected by All-Star Game captain, Eric Staal.  Ward was credited with an empty-net goal against the New Jersey Devils on December 26, 2011, when a misplaced pass from Ilya Kovalchuk found its way into the empty goal after a rebound from Ward. He is the tenth goalie in NHL history to do this.  Ward recorded his 500th game with the Carolina Hurricanes on February 27, 2015.  During the offseason, Ward re-signed with the Hurricanes to a two-year, $6.6 million contract on June 16, 2016.  On March 22, 2018, during a game against the Arizona Coyotes, the puck got stuck in his skate without his knowledge. His skates crossed the goal line when he went back into the net, ultimately resulting in an own goal. Despite this, the Hurricanes ended up winning that game 6–5.

Chicago Blackhawks.

On July 1, 2018, Ward signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. He went 16–12–4 in 33 appearances for the team during the 2018–19 season.

Retirement.

On August 28, 2019, Ward signed a one-day contract with the Hurricanes and subsequently retired from professional hockey. He retired as the Hurricanes' franchise leaders in wins (318) and shutouts (27).

International play.

Ward's performance in his NHL rookie season earned him consideration on a list of 81 candidates to play for Team Canada in the 2006 Winter Olympics. He was one of nine goalies selected; he was not, however, named to the Canadian squad. Additionally, Ward was named a part of the summer camp roster for Team Canada in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but did not make the final roster cut.  Ward was a member of the Canadian team that won gold at the 2007 IIHF World Championship in a 4–2 win against Finland in Moscow, as well as a member of the team that won silver at the 2008 IIHF World Championship in a 5–4 loss to Russia.

Personal life.

Born in St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Ward is the second child of Ken and Laurel Ward. He grew up in the Lakeridge neighbourhood of Saskatoon and the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park, Alberta, spending his adolescent years in the latter. He attended junior high at F.R. Haythorne Jr. High School and high school at Salisbury Composite High School in Sherwood Park, until he graduated.  Ward is a fan of his native province's team the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). On March 25, 2007, Ward shaved his head for the St. Baldrick's Foundation.  Ward and his wife Cody have a son and a daughter.

Cameron Kenneth Ward (born February 29, 1984) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played the majority of his fifteen-year professional career for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Chicago Blackhawks during his final season before signing a one-day contract to officially retire as a Hurricane in 2019.


As general.

During Catulus' consulship, the Romans found out the wandering Cimbri and Teutones were planning to invade Italy. Catulus, as junior consul, was sent to defend the passes through the Alps from Noricum against the Cimbri while the senior consul, Gaius Marius, campaigned against the Teutones and their allies the Ambrones in Gaul. While he was up in the Alps, Catulus pacified much of the territory's tribes with the help Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who served Catulus as a legate. Catulus found his task impractical, because there were multiple passes and he would have to divide and weaken his army; he decided to retreat to a more defensible position. During the retreat Catulus became worried the Cimbri would corner his army, therefore he decide to attempt to score a minor victory in order to extricate his troops from the region. He led his army onto a mountain, which overlooked the Cimbri camp, he then ordered his men to remain ready for battle while he had a camp raised in view of the barbarians. When night fell Catulus attacked the Cimbri then used the chaos this caused to cross a stream and continue his march southwards. Catulus marched until he reached the Atesis River; there he ordered his men to construct fortifications on both sides of the river with a bridge between them. When the Cimbri arrived, they made camp and investigated Catulus' defences. Their scouts reported, they could not cross the river anywhere in the immediate area, so they decided to dam the Atesis by throwing earth, rocks and trees into the stream creating a makeshift dam. Unnerved by the diminishing water flow the Romans started to break camp. Catulus unsuccessfully tried to get his troops back to their stations. When the Cimbri finally launched their assault they found just one cohort defending the camp on the far side of the river. These men fought with courage and somehow managed to escape. Catulus had retreated in the face of the enemy twice, but he had kept his army intact. The following year (101) his command was prolonged and he was given proconsular powers.  The Cimbri, who had advanced into the Po Valley, were eventually defeated on the Raudine plain, near Vercellae, by the combined armies of Catulus and Gaius Marius. Catulus commanded the Roman centre during the battle and redeemed himself by leading his men to victory. For his part in the victory over the Cimbri he was awarded a Triumph. Despite their joint success, the two commanders regarded each other as bitter rivals and after the war built competing temples to demonstrate divine favour.  When the chief honour for victory over the Cimbri was given to Marius, Catulus turned vehemently against his former co-commander and sided with Sulla to expel Marius, Cornelius Cinna and their supporters from Rome. When Cinna and Marius regained control of the city in 87 BC, Catulus was prosecuted by Marius's nephew, Marcus Marius Gratidianus. Rather than accept the inevitable guilty verdict, he committed suicide.

As author.

Catulus was a distinguished orator, poet and prose writer, and was well versed in Greek literature. He wrote a history of his consulship ("De consulatu et de rebus gestis suis") in the manner of Xenophon. A non-extant epic on the Cimbrian War, sometimes attributed to him, was more likely written by Archias. Catulus's contributions to Latin poetry are considered his most significant literary achievements. He is credited with introducing the Hellenistic epigram to Rome and fostering a taste for short, personal poems that comes to fruition with the lyric oeuvre of Valerius Catullus in the 50s BC. Among his circle of literary friends, who ranged widely in social position and political sympathies, were Valerius Aedituus, Aulus Furius, and Porcius Licinius.  Pliny lists him among distinguished men who wrote short poems that were less than austere ("versiculi parum severi"). Only two epigrams by Catulus have been preserved, both directed at men. Cicero preserves one of Catulus's couplets on the celebrated actor Roscius, who is said to make an entrance like a sunrise: "though he is human, he seems more beautiful than a god."  The other epigram, modelled directly after Callimachus, is quoted by Aulus Gellius and may be paraphrased in prose as follows:  "The willingness of a member of the highest Roman aristocracy to toss off imitations of Hellenistic sentimental erotic poetry (homosexual at that)," notes Edward Courtney, "is a new phenomenon in Roman culture at this time."

As builder.

Catulus was a man of great wealth, which he spent in beautifying Rome. Two buildings were known as "Monumenta Catuli": the Temple of "Fortuna Huiusce Diei" (the "Fortune of This Day"), to commemorate the day of Vercellae, and the "Porticus Catuli", built from the sale of the Cimbrian spoils.

Marriage and descendants.

Three wives are attested for Catulus:  An approximate chronology of the marital affairs of Catulus:

Quintus Lutatius Catulus (149–87 BC) was a consul of the Roman Republic in 102 BC, and the leading public figure of the "gens Lutatia" of the time. His colleague in the consulship was Gaius Marius. During their consulship the Cimbri and Teutones marched south again and threatened the Republic. While Marius marched against the Teutones in Gaul, Catulus had to keep the Cimbri from invading Italy. In this he failed; the Cimbri succeeded in invading the Po Valley. In 101 BC, as proconsul, he helped Marius defeat the Cimbri at Vercellae. After Vercellae the two feuded and Catulus sided with Sulla in the civil war of 88–87 BC. When the Marians regained control of Rome in 87 BC, Catulus committed suicide rather than face prosecution.


History.

Praga was founded in 1907 to build motor cars as a venture between entrepreneur František Ringhoffer and the company "1. českomoravská továrna na stroje" ("First Bohemian-Moravian Machine Works", later a founding part of the ČKD factories). Ringhoffer only stayed for one year and in 1909 the trade name "Praga" ("Prague" in Latin) was adopted. One of its early models was built under licence from the Italian company of Isotta Fraschini.  Praga also diversified into building engines and gearboxes for other applications such as aircraft and tanks.  In 1929 Praga merged with ČKD, one of Czechoslovakia's largest engineering companies.  In 1929 ČKD's BD motorcycle was re-branded under the Praga marque. This was an advanced four-stroke single-cylinder unit construction double overhead camshaft model of 500cc designed in 1927 by JF Koch. The "BD" designation was retained as its model name.  In 1932 Praga added a second motorcycle model, the BC. This had a single overhead camshaft engine of 350cc, shaft drive and a pressed steel frame. Praga ended production of both motorcycle models in 1933.  The factory was largely destroyed by air raids in 1945. After the Second World War it was rebuilt and resumed truck and bus construction. The firm was nationalized in October 1945. Passenger cars (only the mid-sized Lady) were also manufactured in small numbers until 1947, for use by government officials.  The M53/59 Praga was a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun developed in the late 1950s. It consists of a heavily modified Praga V3S 6 wheel drive truck chassis and twin 30 mm AA autocannon.  In 2006, Praga was purchased by British International Truck Alliance with the intention to produce trucks with the name of Praga in Lublin, Poland. In 2007 it produces gearboxes and hydraulic machinery.  In June 2011 the company unveiled at Dutch Supercar Challenge in Belgium, the new car Praga R4 with eight-cylinder engine of 520 hp, which has not been so far homologated for normal road traffic. According to company owner Petr Ptáček, there will follow gradual steps, so new Praga cars will not be seen only at racetracks, but we could meet them in normal traffic.  In 2016, the company plans first deliveries of supersport road cars Praga R1R, in a limited edition of 68 cars. It will be the first road car of Praga since 1947.

Products.

Automobiles.

All Praga automobile production stopped by 1947, but was restarted in 2011 when Praga constructed the R4S. It utilizes a 3.2 liter V8 based on the Suzuki Hayabusa engine and produces 530 BHP, with a total weight of only 88 kilograms. A feature on the R4S are the markings for camber and toe, which eliminates the need of advanced tools, with a specific amount of "clicks" representing a certain degree of camber or toe.

Praga is a manufacturing company based in Prague, Czech Republic. The company produced automobiles, karts and planes. Praga V3S was used by the Czechoslovak Army for more than half a century.


Architectural history.

The house, on an irregular site at the tip of the Île Saint-Louis in the heart of Paris, was designed by architect Louis Le Vau. It was built between 1640 and 1644, originally for the financier Jean-Baptiste Lambert (d. 1644) and continued by his younger brother Nicolas Lambert, later president of the Chambre des Comptes. For Nicolas Lambert, the interiors were decorated by Charles Le Brun, François Perrier, and Eustache Le Sueur, producing one of the finest, most-innovative, and iconographically coherent examples of mid-17th-century domestic architecture and decorative painting in France.  The entrance gives onto the central square courtyard, around which the "hôtel" was built. A wing extends to the right at the rear, embracing a walled garden. At the same time, Louis Le Vau constructed a residence for himself adjacent to the Hôtel Lambert. He lived there between 1642 and 1650. It was where all of his children were born and his mother died. After the architect's own death in 1670, his "hôtel" was bought by the La Haye family, who owned the other residence as well. Both buildings were then joined and their façades combined. Both painters worked on the internal decoration for almost five years, producing the gallant allegories of Le Brun's grand Galerie d'Hercule (still "in situ", but heavily damaged in the 2013 fire described below) and the small Cabinet des Muses, with five canvases by Le Sueur that were purchased for the royal collection (now in the Louvre) and the earlier ensemble, the Cabinet de l'Amour, which in its original configuration featured an alcove for a canopied bed upon which the lady of the house would receive visitors, according to the custom of the day. Significantly the alcove was eliminated about 1703. All the ensembles featured themes of love and marriage. However, the paintings have since been dispersed.  In the 1740s, the Marquise du Châtelet and Voltaire, her lover, used the Hôtel Lambert as their Paris residence when not at her country estate in Cirey. The marquise was famed for her "salon" there. Later, the Marquis du Châtelet sold the Lambert to Claude Dupin and his wife Louise-Marie Dupin, who continued the tradition of the "salon". The Dupins were ancestors of writer George Sand, who, because of her relationship with the Polish composer Chopin, was also a frequent guest of the 19th-century Polish owners of the property.

A political salon.

In 1843, the hôtel particulier was bought by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, member of the powerful family of Polish magnates. He and his brother, Konstanty Adam, were leaders of the liberal aristocratic faction of the Great Emigration from Poland, following the collapse of the November Uprising of 1830–1831. A political group formed around Adam Czartoryski, and his palatial residence in central Paris, surrounded by the natural'moat' of the river Seine, lent its name to his political faction.  The political beliefs of the "Hôtel Lambert" faction were derived from the 3 May Constitution, which its members had supported. The Hôtel Lambert played an important role in keeping the "Polish question" alive in European politics, by continually keeping the Polish cause on the agenda. It also served as a safe harbour for Polish emigés and royalists, exiled from their country after the unsuccessful uprising against Russia. Among other notable politicians who took part in the Hôtel Lambert's activities were Władysław Czartoryski, son of Adam, Józef Bem, Henryk Dembiński, Karol Kniaziewicz, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Władysław Stanisław Zamoyski, Władysław Ostrowski and Leon Kaplinski. Initially a political think tank and a discussion club, the political faction also worked on the preservation and promotion of Polish culture. An Historical and Literary Society began in 1832 and the idea of a Polish library, which exists to this day just along the Quai d'Orleans nearby, was conceived in the Hôtel Lambert in 1838. Plans laid for two schools teaching Polish (one for girls, one for boys) and were established in Batignolles. There was support for numerous commercial enterprises, especially in the fields of publication and printing. Over time, it became one of the most important hubs of Polish culture in the world, especially after the January Uprising, when Polish language and culture became heavily persecuted during the enforced Russification in the Russian Partition of Poland itself.  The Hôtel Lambert drew some renowned politicians and artists of the epoch, including Alexandre Walewski, Charles Forbes René de Montalembert, Frédéric Chopin, Zygmunt Krasiński, Alphonse de Lamartine, George Sand, Honoré de Balzac, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Eugène Delacroix, and Adam Mickiewicz. In fact, Chopin's "La Polonaise" was composed expressly for the Polish ball held there every year.

20th and 21st centuries.

The Hôtel Lambert was discreetly split into several luxurious apartments. It was once the home of actress Michèle Morgan, Mona von Bismarck, and of Alexis von Rosenberg, Baron de Redé, who rented the ground floor from 1947 until his death. De Redé entertained his lover Arturo Lopez-Willshaw (1900–1962), who continued to maintain a formal residence with wife Patricia in Neuilly. Redé and Lopez-Willshaw's dinner parties and balls were at the center of "le tout Paris". In 1969 de Redé staged his most famous ball, the Bal Oriental, with guests such as Jacqueline de Ribes, Guy de Rothschild, Salvador Dalí, Brigitte Bardot, Dolores Guinness, and Margrethe II of Denmark.  In 1975, the Czartoryski heirs sold the Hôtel Lambert to Baron Guy de Rothschild, whose wife, Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, was a close friend of de Redé; they used it as their Paris residence.  In September 2007, the Hôtel Lambert was sold by the Rothschilds to Prince Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani, brother of the Emir of Qatar for the purported sum of 80 million euros ($111 million). A UNESCO World Heritage-listed building, it was in need of restoration, as parts of its wooden structure were rotting, staircases were sagging, and paint was cracked and discoloured.  The Prince's plan for a comprehensive overhaul of the building sparked controversy and became the subject of legal action brought by French conservationists. The scheme included plans to install air-conditioning, elevators, an underground car park with an exit through the notable curved garden wall, and a number of security measures. This involved digging under the garden and raising the 17th-century garden wall 80 cm. One heritage architect claimed the plans had "the aesthetics of a James Bond villa". Former tenant Michèle Morgan suggested that super-rich clients wanting a tailor-made luxury modern residence should consider a larger site on the outskirts of Paris rather than a cramped position limited on all sides by the river Seine and listed monuments. However, Alain-Charles Perrot, the architect in charge of the project, suggested that there was an element of racism in the objections.  After several years of wrangling, a truce was overseen by the Ministry of Culture and Paris City Hall, and the renovation was given the go-ahead under the supervision of Bâtiments de France, which safeguards historic monuments. Work began in 2010.  On 10 July 2013 a portion of the building was severely damaged by a fire which started in the roof during renovation work. The Cabinet des Bains with a series of ceiling frescoes by Eustache Le Sueur was completely destroyed, and another series of frescoes by Charles Le Brun in the Gallery of Hercules was heavily damaged by smoke and water. The restoration and renovation took a further three years.

The Hôtel Lambert () is a "hôtel particulier," a grand mansion townhouse, on the Quai Anjou on the eastern tip of the Île Saint-Louis, in 4th arrondissement of Paris. In the 19th century, the name "Hôtel Lambert" also came to designate a political faction of Polish exiles associated with Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, who had purchased the Hôtel Lambert.


History.

Origin.

The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was introduced originally in 1992 as the NWA-ECW Heavyweight Championship with Jimmy Snuka becoming the inaugural champion on April 25. However, its origin is attributed to events that began in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an organization with many members promotions. In the early 1990s, Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) was a member of the NWA and by 1994, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the world title of the NWA, was vacant. Consequently, a tournament was organized to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion and on August 27, NWA-ECW Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in the finals to win the title. However, Douglas immediately relinquished the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and instead proclaimed himself the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion. ECW subsequently seceded from the NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). The ECW World Heavyweight Championship was thus established, spun off from the NWA title. It remained active until April 11, 2001, when ECW closed and World Wrestling Entertainment subsequently purchased its assets.

Recommission.

By 2005, WWE began reintroducing ECW through content from the ECW video library and a series of books, which included the release of "The Rise and Fall of ECW" documentary. With heightened and rejuvenated interest in the ECW franchise, WWE organized ECW One Night Stand on June 12, a reunion event that featured ECW alumni. Due to the financial and critical success of the production, WWE produced the second ECW One Night Stand on June 11, 2006, which served as the premiere event in the relaunch of the ECW franchise as a third WWE brand, complementary to Raw and SmackDown. On June 13, Paul Heyman, former ECW owner and newly appointed figurehead for the ECW brand, recommissioned the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to be the brand's world title and awarded it to Rob Van Dam as a result of winning the WWE Championship at One Night Stand 2006. Heyman had originally stated that either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship would "become" the ECW World Heavyweight Championship if a competitor designated to the ECW brand became WWE Champion or World Heavyweight Champion at the event. However, Rob Van Dam later declared that he would hold both titles simultaneously instead. The title became known as the ECW World Championship in June 2006, and later simply as the ECW Championship in August 2007.

Brand designation.

Following the events of the WWE brand extension, an annual WWE draft was established, in which select members of the WWE roster are reassigned to a different brand. ECW was revived as a third brand in 2006 to rival Raw and SmackDown and continued to operate until February 16, 2010, rendering the title inactive once again.

Championship belt designs.

Soon after its recommissioning, the ECW World Heavyweight Championship belt design was updated to a design similar to the belt used prior to ECW's original closure in 2001, which featured a black leather strap with a snakeskin pattern on the rear, snaps to wrap around the waist of the wrestler who wore it, and five pieces made of gold. In the middle of the strap was a large center piece, which featured a design of a blue globe in the center, and to the left and right of the globe were a pair of baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire. At the top of the piece, a purple ECW logo and the words "World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion" were engraved with the words "Heavyweight Wrestling" in red, which gave the text a blood-like appearance. In addition, the entire piece was engraved with a pattern similar to that of a steel cage. Along the strap, on both ends, were four smaller pieces which featured a design similar to that of the center piece. The new belt as of June 20, 2006 was differentiated by a full black strap with barbed wire tooling, red ECW logos, and the innards of the steel cage pattern outlined in black.  On July 22, 2008, ECW General Manager Theodore Long introduced a new belt design for the ECW Championship belt. This design features a large black leather strap with five platinum pieces. The large center piece features a design of a phoenix over a globe in the center with its wings expanded and rays of light emitting from it. At the top of the piece, the WWE logo and the words "World Wrestling Entertainment" are engraved with "ECW" in large letters engraved prominently over the phoenix. A nameplate, which has the name of the champion etched, is located below it and at the bottom of the piece, the word "Champion" is engraved. Additionally, the entire piece is bordered by a jagged saw-like pattern. Along the strap, on both ends, are four small biker cross-shape pieces which feature a design similar to that of the center piece.

Reigns.

Overall, there have been 49 ECW World Heavyweight Championship reigns shared among 32 individuals. The inaugural champion was Jimmy Snuka, who won the title by defeating Salvatore Bellomo in April 1992. The Sandman holds the most reigns as champion, with five. Shane Douglas, in his fourth reign, had the longest reign in the title's history which lasted 406 days, while Ezekiel Jackson, in his first (and only, due to his defeating of Christian on the television finale of "ECW") reign, had the shortest as the title was retired immediately. Jackson is recognized as the final ECW Champion, but holds the shortest reign at 3 minutes. Christian's second reign was the longest under WWE at 205 days.

The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey Superleague, it is the highest level of ice hockey competition in the United Kingdom.


Description from Seitz.

L. alcon Schiff. (= areas Esp., euphemus Godt.) (83 a). Large, the male above deep blue, but without brilliant gloss. The female black-brown, dusted with dark blue in the basal area. The dark violet-grey underside has numerous ocelli. "L. alcon" is easily distinguished from the following species ("coeligena", "euphemus", "arcas", "arion", "arionides"...) by the male bearing on the blue disc of the forewing no other black spots but the discocellular lunule. Central Europe and North Asia, from the coast of the North Sea (Hamburg, Bremen, Belgium) to the Mediterranean, and from France to the Altai, Dauria and Tibet, ab. "nigra" Wheel, has the males strongly darkened, the females being quite black above. In ab. "cecinae" Hormuz. the ocelli of the underside are absent or strongly reduced. In ab. "pallidior" Schultz the margin is grey instead of black. — "marginepunctata" Gillm. has a row of black dots before the margin, almost parallel with it; found by Hafner at Loitsch and other places in Carniolia.— In the form "rebeli" Hirschke the blue of the upperside is more brilliant and more extended, the dark margin being reduced, in the female only the apical area black; Styria. — "monticola" Stgr. (83 a) has a narrow black margin like "rebeli", but the blue is very deep and dark, so dull as in true "alcon"; from the Alps of Switzerland and the Caucasus. — Egg white, finely reticulated, laid on the flowers of the food-plant ("Gentiana pneumonanthe"). The larva generally does not break through the shell on the upperside, so that the holes of empty eggs are not easily noticed. At first grey, later on reddish brown with dark dorsal line and dark head. The butterflies occur on damp meadows where "Gentiana" grows; they are plentiful in such places, sometimes even in abundance, from the end of May into July, in the North not before the end of June.

Taxonomy.

There are five subspecies:  There has been controversy over whether "Phengaris rebeli", currently regarded as an ecotype within the Alcons, should be listed as a separate species. The two types are morphologically indistinguishable and molecular analysis has revealed little genetic difference, mostly attributable to localized habitat adaptation. Still some maintain that they should be treated as distinct species, especially for conservation purposes, because they parasitise different host ant colonies and parasitise these ants at different rates, and also rely on different host plant species ("Gentiana pneumonanthe" in the case of "Phengaris alcon" and "Gentiana cruciata" in the case of "Phengaris rebeli").

Ecology.

The species can be seen flying in mid- to late summer. It lays its eggs onto the marsh gentian ("Gentiana pneumonanthe"); in the region of the Alps they are sometimes also found on the related willow gentian ("Gentiana asclepiadea"). The caterpillars eat no other plants.

Parasitic relationship.

Like some other species of Lycaenidae, the larval (caterpillar) stage of "P. alcon" depends on support by certain ants; it is therefore known as a myrmecophile.  Alcon larvae leave the food plant when they have grown sufficiently (4th instar) and wait on the ground below to be discovered by ants. The larvae emit surface chemicals (allomones) that closely match those of ant larvae, causing the ants to carry the Alcon larvae into their nests and place them in their brood chambers. Once adopted into a nest, Alcon larvae are fed the regurgitations of nurse ants (just as other ant brood), a process called trophallaxis. This parasitic method is known as the "cuckoo" strategy and is an alternative to the predatory strategy employed by most other members of the genus such as "Phengaris arion". Though less common, the cuckoo strategy has been found to have several advantages over the predatory strategy. For one, it is more trophically efficient than preying directly on other ant grubs, and as a result, significantly more cuckoo-type larvae can be supported per nest than predatory larvae. Another advantage of cuckoo feeding is that individuals, having pursued a higher degree of social integration, have a higher chance of surviving when a nest is overcrowded or facing food shortage because ants preferentially feed the larvae; compared to the type of scramble competition that can devastate predatory larvae, this contest competition results in much lower mortality. Though the cuckoo strategy has its advantages, it also comes with important costs; with greater host ant specialization comes much more limited ecological niches.  When the Alcon larva is fully developed it pupates. Once the adult hatches it will leave the ant nest.  Over time, some ant colonies that are parasitized in this manner will slightly change their larva chemicals as a defence, leading to an evolutionary "arms race" between the two species.  Generally, Lycaenidae species which have a myrmecophilous relationship with the ant genus "Myrmica" are locked to primary host specificity. The Alcon blue is unusual in this regard in that it uses different host species in different locations throughout Europe, and often uses multiple host species even within the same location and population. Though it may be adopted into the nests of multiple "Myrmica" species within a given site, there is typically one "primary" species with which the locally adapted larvae can best socially integrate, leading to drastically higher survival rates. Across Europe, Alcons are known to use "Myrmica scabrinodis", "Myrmica ruginodis", "Myrmica rubra", "Myrmica sabuleti," "Myrmica scabrinodis, Myrmica schencki," and rarely "Myrmica lonae," and "Myrmica specioides".

Predation.

"P. alcon" larvae are sought underground by the "Ichneumon eumerus" wasp. On detecting a "P. alcon" larva the wasp enters the nest and sprays a pheromone that causes the ants to attack each other. In the resulting confusion the wasp locates the butterfly larva and injects it with its eggs. On pupation, the wasp eggs hatch and consume the chrysalis from the inside.

Phengaris alcon, the Alcon blue or Alcon large blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae and is found in Europe and across the Palearctic to Siberia and Mongolia.


History.

It was on this spot that the first bridge of Paris, called the Grand-Pont, crossed the Seine from antiquity. In 886, during the siege of Paris and the Norman attacks, this structure was destroyed and replaced by a plank bridge, named the Pont des Planches de Milbray (Milbray plank bridge). This bridge was destroyed by the floods of 1406. On May 31, 1412, Charles VI of France ordered the construction of the first version of the bridge to be named "Notre-Dame". This structure was composed of solid wood and connected the Île de la Cité to the rue Saint-Martin. The bridge took seven years to build and had sixty houses atop it, thirty on each side. The houses were noted by Robert Gauguin as being "remarkable for their height, and the uniformity of construction" and was called the "handsomest in France." King Charles' wooden bridge collapsed on October 25, 1499 near 9 a.m., likely due to structural instabilities caused by the lack of repairs.  Stone foundations were laid for a new bridge that same year, while a ferry filled the transportation void. This time, the bridge was built with stone, as an arch bridge under the direction of Italian architect, scholar and Franciscan Friar, Fra Giovanni Giocondo, who had also overseen the building of the Petit Pont. The construction was completed in 1507, still overhung with sixty stone and brick buildings all built to one tall gabled design, and would become a spot of frequent commerce and trading: here was located the tiny boutique of the "marchand-mercier" Edme-François Gersaint, a leading Parisian art dealer, whose shop-sign was painted by Antoine Watteau. The houses upon the bridge were the first to be given numbers. In 1660 the bridge was refurbished to honour the arrival in Paris of the daughter of the king Philip IV of Spain, Maria Theresa of Spain who became queen of France by marrying Louis XIV. Between 1746 and 1788 the houses along the bridge were demolished for sanitary purposes and because of the danger the structures caused to the bridge's stability.  In 1853, a new stone structure was completed atop the existing stone foundation, although this reincarnation was only composed of five arches. The new bridge was subsequently the cause of not fewer than thirty-five water traffic accidents between 1891 and 1910 and was given the unofficial name the "pont du Diable" (Devil's Bridge). Thus, in order to facilitate the passage of boats and the flow of the Seine, a decision was made to rebuild the bridge, this time in metal. The new work was directed by Jean Résal, who had also worked on the Pont Mirabeau and Pont Alexandre III; it was inaugurated in 1919 by Raymond Poincaré, President of the French Republic. The structure has remained the same since.

Inscription.

Beneath one of the arches, there is a distich in Latin from Italian poet Jacopo Sannazaro, best known for his master-work "Arcadia", which depicted an idyllic land. The inscription reads:  This quote translates as "Joconde (Giacondo) put up this twin bridge here for you, Sequana; you are able to speak of this priest with authority" or "in this you can swear that he was the bridge-builder", punning on two possible meanings of "pontifex". This refers to the architect, Fra Giovanni Giocondo, and the numerous bridges that had been built earlier upon that spot.

Access.

The Pont Notre-Dame is centrally located in Paris' 4th arrondissement, connecting the Île de la Cité, one of the two natural islands on the Seine within the city limits, to the Rive Droite ().

The Pont Notre-Dame is a bridge that crosses the Seine in Paris, France linking the "quai de Gesvres" on the Rive Droite with the "quai de la Corse" on the Île de la Cité. The bridge is noted for being the "most ancient" in Paris, in the sense that, while the oldest bridge in Paris that is "in its original state" is undoubtedly the Pont Neuf, a bridge in some form has existed at the site of the Pont Notre-Dame since antiquity; nonetheless, it has been destroyed and reconstructed numerous times, a fact referred to in the Latin inscription on it to honor its Italian architect, Fra Giovanni Giocondo. (See below.) The bridge once was lined with approximately sixty houses, the weight of which caused a collapse in 1499.


Origin.

Grigory Potemkin was a minister and lover of the Russian Empress Catherine II's. After the Russian annexation of Crimea from the Ottoman Empire and liquidation of the Cossack Zaporozhian Sich (see New Russia), Potemkin became governor of the region. Crimea had been devastated by the war, and the Muslim Tatar inhabitants of Crimea were viewed as a potential fifth column of the Ottoman Empire; Potemkin's major tasks were to pacify and rebuild by bringing in Russian settlers. In 1787, as a new war was about to break out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, Catherine II, with her court and several ambassadors, made an unprecedented six-month trip to New Russia. One purpose of this trip was to impress Russia's allies prior to the war. Another purpose was to familiarize herself, supposedly directly, with her new possessions. To help accomplish this, Potemkin set up "mobile villages" on the banks of the Dnieper River. As soon as the barge carrying the Empress and ambassadors arrived, Potemkin's men, dressed as peasants, would populate the village. Once the barge left, the village was disassembled, then rebuilt downstream overnight.

Historical accuracy.

Modern historians are divided on the degree of truth behind the Potemkin village story, and some writers argue that the story is an exaggeration. According to Simon Sebag-Montefiore, Potemkin's most comprehensive English-language biographer, the tale of elaborate, fake settlements, with glowing fires designed to comfort the monarch and her entourage as they surveyed the barren territory at night, is largely fictional. Aleksandr Panchenko, an established specialist on 19th-century Russia, used original correspondence and memoirs to conclude that the Potemkin villages are a myth. He writes: "Based on the above said we must conclude that the myth of 'Potemkin villages' is exactly a myth, and not an established fact." He writes that "Potyomkin indeed decorated existing cities and villages, but made no secret that this was a decoration".  The close relationship between Potemkin and the empress would make it difficult for him to deceive her. Thus, if there were deception, it would have been mainly directed towards the foreign ambassadors accompanying the imperial party.  Although "Potemkin village" has come to mean, especially in a political context, any hollow or false construct, physical or figurative, meant to hide an undesirable or potentially damaging situation, it is possible that the phrase cannot be applied accurately to its own original historical inspiration. According to some historians, some of the buildings were real, and others were constructed to show what the region would look like in the near future, and at least Catherine and possibly also her foreign visitors knew which were which. According to these historians, the claims of deception were part of a defamation campaign against Potemkin.  According to a legend, in 1787, when Catherine passed through Tula on her way back from the trip, the local governor Mikhail Krechetnikov attempted a deception of that kind in order to hide the effects of a bad harvest.

In the United States legal system.

"Potemkin village" is a phrase that has been used by American judges, especially members of a multiple-judge panel who dissent from the majority's opinion on a particular matter, to refer to an inaccurate or tortured interpretation and/or application of a particular legal doctrine to the specific facts at issue. Use of the phrase is meant to imply that the reasons espoused by the panel's majority in support of its decision are not based on accurate or sound law, and their restrictive application is merely a masquerade for the court's desire to avoid a difficult decision.  In "Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey" (1992), chief justice of the United States, William Rehnquist, wrote that "Roe v. Wade" "stands as a sort of judicial Potemkin Village, which may be pointed out to passers-by as a monument to the importance of adhering to precedent".  "The affidavit is the Potemkin Village of today’s litigation landscape," wrote William G. Young of the District of Massachusetts. "Purported adjudication by affidavit is like walking down a street between two movie sets, all lawyer-painted façade and no interior architecture."

Other uses.

Sometimes, instead of the full phrase, just "Potemkin" is used, as an adjective. For example, the use of a row of trees to screen a clearcut area from motorists has been called a "Potemkin forest". For example, the glossary entry for "clearcut" in "We Have The Right To Exist: A Translation of Aboriginal Indigenous Thought" states that "Much of the extensive clearcut in northern Minnesota is insulated from scrutiny by the urbanized public by a Potemkin forest, or, as the D.N.R. terms it, an aesthetic strip – a thin illusion of forest about six trees deep, along most highways and fronting waters frequented by tourists." Another example is the phrase "Potemkin court", which implies that the court's reason to exist is being called into question; differing from the phrase "kangaroo court" with which the court's standard of justice is being impugned.  Many of the newly constructed base areas at ski resorts are referred to as Potemkin villages. These create the illusion of a quaint mountain town, but are actually carefully planned theme shopping centers, hotels and restaurants designed for maximum revenue. Similarly, in "The Geography of Nowhere", American writer James Howard Kunstler refers to contemporary suburban shopping centers as "Potemkin village shopping plazas".  Hardcore punk band Propagandhi released an album in 2005 called "Potemkin City Limits". The cover depicts children playing in a city that is drawn on the ground, a façade city. Their 2009 album "Supporting Caste" has a song called "Potemkin City Limits", about the statue of Francis the Pig in Alberta, Canada.  The United States' president Donald Trump's business councils have been described as Potemkin Villages after several high-profile CEO participants resigned in August 2017. Trump's "" describes a stunt in which he lured Holiday Inn executives into investing in an Atlantic City, New Jersey, casino by directing his construction manager to rent dozens of pieces of heavy equipment, in advance of a visit by the executives, to move dirt around on the proposed casino site, creating the illusion that construction was under way.

In politics and economics, a Potemkin village is any construction (literal or figurative) whose sole purpose is to provide an external façade to a country which is faring poorly, making people believe that the country is faring better. The term comes from stories of a fake portable village built solely to impress Empress Catherine II by her former lover Grigory Potemkin, during her journey to Crimea in 1787. While modern historians claim accounts of this portable village are exaggerated, the original story was that Potemkin erected phony portable settlements along the banks of the Dnieper River in order to impress the Russian Empress; the structures would be disassembled after she passed, and re-assembled farther along her route to be viewed again as if another example. The term is a translation of the (IPA: ; romanization: "potyómkinskiye derévni").


History.

Design of a horse-drawn, 3.7 cm anti-tank gun (designated 3.7 cm Pak L/45) by Rheinmetall commenced in 1924 and the first guns were issued in 1928. By the early 1930s, it was apparent that horse-drawn artillery was obsolescent, and the gun was modified for motorized transport by substituting magnesium-alloy wheels and pneumatic tires for the original spoked wooden wheels, allowing it to be towed at highway speeds. Re-designated the 3.7 cm Pak 35/36, it began to replace the 3.7 cm Pak L/45 in 1934 and first appeared in combat in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. It formed the basis for many other nations' anti-tank guns during the first years of World War II. The KwK 36 L/45 was the same gun, but used as the main armament on several tanks, most notably the early models of the Panzer III. The Soviets copied the Pak 36 carriage design for their 45 mm M1937 AT gun.

Operational history.

During the May 1940 Western Campaign, the Pak 36, being a relatively small-calibre weapon, was found to be inadequate against heavy Allied tanks like the British Mk II Matilda and the French Char B1 and Somua S35, although it was effective against the most common light tanks of the era, such as the French R35 which represented the majority of the armoured vehicles during the Battle of France.  In June 1941, Soviet tank forces consisted of 10,661 T-26, 2,987 T-37/T-38/T-40/T-50s, 59 T-35, 442 T-28, 7,659 BT, 957 T-34, and 530 KVs for a combined total of approximately 23,295 tanks. Thus, during the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa, the Pak 36 could still penetrate the armour of the majority of Soviet AFVs at ranges up to 1000 m from the front, with the notable exception of the T-28s and T-35s, which it could penetrate only at under 100 m; the Pak 36 could not penetrate the relatively thick armour of the T-34s and KV-1s. By late 1941, the widespread introduction of the T-34 on the Eastern Front made the Pak 36 obsolete, considering its poor performance against it. This led to the Pak 36 being nicknamed ""Heeresanklopfgerät"" () by German anti-tank crews for its inability to affect the T-34 aside from notifying its presence by futilely bouncing rounds off its armour, regardless of the angle or distance.  The addition of tungsten-core shells ("Pzgr. 40") slightly improved the armour penetration of the Pak 36, finally enabling it to damage the T-34, but only by a direct shot to the rear or side armour from point-blank range - an unlikely and dangerous scenario. However, despite its continued impotence against the T-34, it remained the standard anti-tank weapon for many units until 1942. The advantages of the Pak 36 were its relative ease of handling and mobility (it could be brought into action very rapidly by as few as two men since it weighed only 432 kg); good quality optics/aiming devices; ease of concealment due to its small size; and high rate of fire.  The Pak 36 began to be replaced by the new 5 cm Pak 38 in mid-1941. As it was gradually replaced, many were removed from their carriages and added to Sd.Kfz. 251 halftracks for use as light anti-armour support. The guns were also passed off to the forces of Germany's allies fighting on the Eastern Front, such as the 3rd and 4th Romanian Army. This proved particularly disastrous during the Soviet encirclement (Operation Uranus) at the Battle of Stalingrad when the Romanian forces, already demoralized and understrength, bore the brunt of the main Soviet armored thrust and were unable to stop the Soviet advances due to their grossly inadequate anti-tank weaponry. The Pak 36 also served with the armies of Italy, Finland, Hungary, and Slovakia.  Although the Pak 36 quickly became ineffectual in the European and Russian theatres, in China the gun was still viable as an effective anti-tank gun. It could destroy the Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go and Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks, since their armour protection was quite weak. For example, during the Battle of Taierzhuang, Chinese Pak 36s destroyed a good number of Japanese tanks.  This was a type of tungsten-core ammunition, being lighter and with a higher muzzle velocity, produced in small quantities.

3.7 cm Pak 36 L/45 ammunition.

Penetration figures given for Pzgr 40 and an armoured plate 30 degrees from the horizontal.

Stielgranate 41.

In 1943, the introduction of the Stielgranate 41 shaped charge meant that the Pak 36 could now penetrate most armour, although the low velocity of the projectile limited its range. The Pak 36s, together with the new shaped charges, were issued to Fallschirmjäger units and other lightly equipped troops. The gun's low weight meant that it could be easily moved by hand, and this mobility made it ideal for their purpose.

The Pak 36 ("Panzerabwehrkanone 36") is a 3.7 cm caliber German anti-tank gun used during the Second World War. It was the main anti-tank weapon of Wehrmacht "Panzerjäger" units until 1942. Developed by "Rheinmetall" in 1933, it was first issued to the German Army in 1936, with 9,120 being available by the beginning of the war in September 1939 and a further 5,339 produced during the war. As the predominant anti-tank gun design in the world during the late 1930s, demand was high for the Pak 36, with another 6,000 examples produced for export and the design being copied by the Soviet Union as the 45 mm anti-tank gun M1932 (19-K) and by other nations such as Japan.


Metallurgy.

Electrical steel is an iron alloy which may have from zero to 6.5% silicon (Si:5Fe). Commercial alloys usually have silicon content up to 3.2% (higher concentrations usually provoke brittleness during cold rolling). Manganese and aluminum can be added up to 0.5%.  Silicon increases the electrical resistivity of iron by a factor of about 5; this change decreases the induced eddy currents and narrows the hysteresis loop of the material, thus lowering the core loss. However, the grain structure hardens and embrittles the metal; this change adversely affects the workability of the material, especially when rolling it. When alloying, the concentration levels of carbon, sulfur, oxygen and nitrogen must be kept low, as these elements indicate the presence of carbides, sulfides, oxides and nitrides. These compounds, even in particles as small as one micrometer in diameter, increase hysteresis losses while also decreasing magnetic permeability. The presence of carbon has a more detrimental effect than sulfur or oxygen. Carbon also causes magnetic aging when it slowly leaves the solid solution and precipitates as carbides, thus resulting in an increase in power loss over time. For these reasons, the carbon level is kept to 0.005% or lower. The carbon level can be reduced by annealing the alloy in a decarburizing atmosphere, such as hydrogen.

Grain orientation.

Electrical steel made without special processing to control crystal orientation, non-oriented steel, usually has a silicon level of 2 to 3.5% and has similar magnetic properties in all directions, i.e., it is isotropic. Cold-rolled non-grain-oriented steel is often abbreviated to CRNGO.  Grain-oriented electrical steel usually has a silicon level of 3% (Si:11Fe). It is processed in such a way that the optimal properties are developed in the rolling direction, due to a tight control (proposed by Norman P. Goss) of the crystal orientation relative to the sheet. The magnetic flux density is increased by 30% in the coil rolling direction, although its magnetic saturation is decreased by 5%. It is used for the cores of power and distribution transformers, cold-rolled grain-oriented steel is often abbreviated to CRGO.  CRGO is usually supplied by the producing mills in coil form and has to be cut into "laminations", which are then used to form a transformer core, which is an integral part of any transformer. Grain-oriented steel is used in large power and distribution transformers and in certain audio output transformers.  CRNGO is less expensive than CRGO. It is used when cost is more important than efficiency and for applications where the direction of magnetic flux is not constant, as in electric motors and generators with moving parts. It can be used when there is insufficient space to orient components to take advantage of the directional properties of grain-oriented electrical steel.

Amorphous steel.

This material is a metallic glass prepared by pouring molten alloy onto a rotating cooled wheel, which cools the metal at a rate of about one megakelvin per second, so fast that crystals do not form. Amorphous steel is limited to foils of about 50 μm thickness. The mechanical properties of amorphous steel make stamping laminations for electric motors difficult. Since amorphous ribbon can be cast to any specific width under roughly 13 inches and can be sheared with relative ease, it is a suitable material for wound electrical transformer cores. In 2019 the price of amorphous steel outside the US is approximately $.95/pound compared to HiB grain-oriented steel which costs approximately $.86/pound. Transformers with amorphous steel cores can have core losses of one-third that of conventional electrical steels.

Lamination coatings.

Electrical steel is usually coated to increase electrical resistance between laminations, reducing eddy currents, to provide resistance to corrosion or rust, and to act as a lubricant during die cutting. There are various coatings, organic and inorganic, and the coating used depends on the application of the steel. The type of coating selected depends on the heat treatment of the laminations, whether the finished lamination will be immersed in oil, and the working temperature of the finished apparatus. Very early practice was to insulate each lamination with a layer of paper or a varnish coating, but this reduced the stacking factor of the core and limited the maximum temperature of the core.  ASTM A976-03 classifies different types of coating for electrical steel.

Magnetic properties.

The typical relative permeability (μ) of electrical steel is 4,000 times that of vacuum.  The magnetic properties of electrical steel are dependent on heat treatment, as increasing the average crystal size decreases the hysteresis loss. Hysteresis loss is determined by a standard Epstein tester and, for common grades of electrical steel, may range from about 2 to 10 watts per kilogram (1 to 5 watts per pound) at 60 Hz and 1.5 tesla magnetic field strength.  Electrical steel can be delivered in a semi-processed state so that, after punching the final shape, a final heat treatment can be applied to form the normally required 150-micrometer grain size. Fully processed electrical steel is usually delivered with an insulating coating, full heat treatment, and defined magnetic properties, for applications where punching does not significantly degrade the electrical steel properties. Excessive bending, incorrect heat treatment, or even rough handling can adversely affect electrical steel's magnetic properties and may also increase noise due to magnetostriction.  The magnetic properties of electrical steel are tested using the internationally standard Epstein frame method.

Practical aspects.

Electrical steel is much more costly than mild steel—in 1981 it was more than twice the cost by weight.  The size of magnetic domains in sheet electrical steel can be reduced by scribing the surface of the sheet with a laser, or mechanically. This greatly reduces the hysteresis losses in the assembled core.

Electrical steel (lamination steel, silicon electrical steel, silicon steel, relay steel, transformer steel) is an iron alloy tailored to produce specific magnetic properties: small hysteresis area resulting in low power loss per cycle, low core loss, and high permeability.


Resistance.

Niklot began his open resistance when the German King (later Emperor) Lothar III granted the Obotrite realm to his Danish vassal Canute Lavard. Together with Pribislav of Wagria, son of Budivoj and nephew of Henry, Niklot fought Lothar and Canute. After the murder of Canute in 1131, Niklot and Pribislav partitioned the Obotrite territory, with Niklot receiving the eastern lands. In order to weaken Pribislav in the following years, Niklot allied with Saxon lords, especially Count Adolf II of Holstein, allowing Slavic pirates to attack the Danes.

Wendish Crusade.

The prince's Saxon allies turned against him during the 1147 Wendish Crusade. Although Niklot resisted the siege of his fortress at Dobin, he was forced to pay tribute to the Christian crusaders. He subsequently arranged peaceful terms with Adolf of Holstein, Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony and Henry of Ratzeburg.

Religion.

After the death of Obotrite Prince Henry, a Christian, Niklot allegedly renounced Christianity in favor of traditional pagan beliefs. However, this is uncertain; according to Helmold's "Chronica Slavorum", Niklot promised to Christianize his lands as part of the peace agreement, and in the late 1150s he wrote to Henry the Lion: Let the god, who is heaven, be your God; you be our god, and it sufficeth us. You honor Him, and in turn we shall honor you.

Death.

By 1158, King Valdemar the Great of Denmark began to pay Henry the Lion for assistance, leading Niklot to retaliate. The Danish king and the Saxon duke then allied in 1160. While the Danes harried the coast and distracted the Rani, the Saxons killed Niklot at his stronghold of Burg Werle; the Obotrite territory was largely partitioned by the Christians. Niklot's death ended Slavic control in Mecklenburg up to the Peene River. His son Pribislav recovered his inheritance as Prince of Mecklenburg in 1167 as a Saxon vassal. His other son Wertislaw was the father of Nicholas I, Lord of Mecklenburg.

Niklot or Nyklot (1090 – August 1160) was a chief or prince of the Slavic Obotrites and an ancestor of the House of Mecklenburg. He became chief of the Obotrite confederacy, including the Kissini and the Circipani, between the years 1130 and 1131. He remained in this position until his death in 1160. At the same time he was Lord of ("Herr zu") Schwerin, Quetzin and Malchow. For nearly 30 years he resisted Saxon princes, especially Henry the Lion during the Wendish Crusade.


Early life and family.

Cassidy was born on November 25, 1986, in Los Angeles. She is the only daughter from the short-lived relationship of actor and singer David Cassidy and fashion model Sherry Williams. Cassidy's paternal grandparents were actors Jack Cassidy and Evelyn Ward and she is the niece of teen idol and television producer Shaun Cassidy and actor Patrick Cassidy and Ryan Cassidy. Cassidy has a younger half-brother named Beau, born in 1991, from her father's third marriage to Sue Shifrin.  After Cassidy's parents ended their relationship, she was raised by her mother and stepfather Richard Benedon. David Cassidy spoke of his absence from Katie's life, saying in February 2017: "I've never had a relationship with her. I wasn't her father. I was her biological father but I didn't raise her. She has a completely different life. I'm proud of her. She's very talented. It's hard for me to even accept how old she is now." In her youth, Cassidy was on the competitive cheerleader team the California Flyers. A resident of Bell Canyon, California, she attended Calabasas High School.

Acting career.

In 2003, Cassidy made her television and acting debut appearing in an episode of the Lifetime drama series "The Division". Cassidy has continued to guest appear in television shows such as "Celebrity Apprentice 4", "Listen Up!" and "New Girl". In 2005, Cassidy appeared in a recurring role on The WB's series "7th Heaven" over the course of four episodes. That same year, she also appeared on the UPN teen drama series "Sex, Love & Secrets".  In 2006, Cassidy made her film debut as Tiffany Madison in the horror film "When a Stranger Calls". Cassidy has gone on to have notable supporting roles in films "Click", "Taken" and "Live!".  In February 2006, Cassidy was cast as Kelli Presley in the Dimension Films horror-slasher film "Black Christmas", a remake of the 1974 film. The film centers on an escaped maniac who returns to his childhood home on Christmas Eve, which is now a sorority house, and one by one kills all of the sorority sisters. The film was released on December 15, 2006 to negative reviews from critics. The film was a moderate success, making over $50 million worldwide.  In 2007, Cassidy appeared on The CW's supernatural drama series "Supernatural". Cassidy played the role of Ruby, a demon. Making her debut in the show's third season, Cassidy appeared in six episodes. In 2008, though her character returned for the show's fourth season, Cassidy was replaced by actress Genevieve Cortese.  In October 2008, "Variety" announced Cassidy had been cast on the CBS horror mystery limited series "Harper's Island". Cassidy portrayed the role of Patricia "Trish" Wellington, a bride-to-be. The series centered on a group of family and friends who gather for a wedding on an island known for its sinister past full of gruesome murders. In each episode, at least one character is killed off. Cassidy and her fellow cast members were not told about their characters' deaths until the day they received a script. The series premiered on April 9, 2009 to 10.21 million viewers. Despite ratings failing to maintain the pilot's success, CBS aired the remainder of the series with the series finale airing on July 11, 2009.  In February 2009, The CW cast Cassidy as a lead in the drama series "Melrose Place", a reboot of the 1990s series of the same name. Cassidy portrayed the role of Ella Simms, a publicist who resides in a West Hollywood apartment complex and centers on its residents. The series premiered on September 8, 2009 to 2.31 million viewers. Despite mixed reviews, Cassidy's performance was praised by critics and was cited as "the best thing about the "Melrose" reboot" by "New York" magazine. The CW canceled the series in May 2010 due to low ratings.  In April 2010, Cassidy appeared in another remake; this time the horror classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street", originally released in 1984 of the same name. Cassidy portrays the false protagonist Kris Fowles; a high school student who becomes a victim to Freddy Krueger. Filming began in Chicago with the film earning over $31 million in its opening weekend. Cassidy was nominated for a Teen Choice Award in the Horror/Thriller Actress category for her role, which she lost to Megan Fox. Cassidy's work in the horror genre has led to her being labelled a Scream Queen.  Shortly after the release of "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Variety" announced Cassidy had been cast in the adventure comedy film "Monte Carlo". The film, which also stars Leighton Meester and Selena Gomez, follows three friends who pose as wealthy socialites while on holiday in Monte Carlo. Production began in May 2010 with filming taking place in Monaco, Budapest, Paris, and Texas. The film was released on July 1, 2011 and received mixed to negative reviews from critics, and went on to gross $39 million worldwide. In June 2010, The CW announced Cassidy would have a major recurring arc in the fourth season of the teen drama series "Gossip Girl". Cassidy portrayed Juliet Sharp, who attends Columbia University and sets out to ruin the life of the show's central character Serena van der Woodsen. Cassidy made her first appearance in the season premiere and went on to appear in over 11 episodes of the season.  In May 2012, Cassidy was cast as the title character in the film adaptation of the graphic novel "The Scribbler", alongside Eliza Dushku, Michelle Trachtenberg and Gina Gershon. She plays Suki, a young woman with dissociative identity disorder.  In March 2011, Cassidy was cast in the ABC drama pilot "Georgetown" as Nikki, a smart and quick-witted junior staffer in the White House Communications Office with connections to the First Lady. The pilot was created by "Gossip Girl" executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. The series was not picked up by ABC.  In February 2012, Cassidy landed the main cast role of Laurel Lance / Black Canary in The CW's series "Arrow", which is based on the Green Arrow comic books. The series premiered on October 10, 2012. Cassidy left the show as a series regular after her character was killed off in episode 18 of the fourth season on April 6, 2016. On May 17, 2016, she guest-starred in the Arrowverse spin-off series "The Flash" for the second time, but as the metahuman Black Siren, Laurel's Earth-2 doppelgänger, in the second-season episode "Invincible". On July 23, 2016, it was announced that Cassidy had signed a deal with Warner Bros. to appear across multiple CW Arrowverse shows. On March 27, 2017, it was announced that Cassidy would return to "Arrow" as a series regular for season 6; reprising the role of Black Siren. She continued in that role for the remaining duration of the show. The season 8 episode "Leap of Faith" marked her directorial debut.  In 2016 Cassidy portrayed the character of Sharon (a character inspired by late fashion model and actress Sharon Tate) in the direct-to-digital-HD horror film "Wolves at the Door", loosely based on the Manson Family's murders.  Cassidy also stars in the 2017 PS4 game "Hidden Agenda".

Personal life.

Cassidy is a spokeswoman for the charity H.E.L.P. Malawi.  In 2016, Cassidy began dating Matthew Rodgers. The couple announced their engagement on June 5, 2017. Cassidy and Rodgers wed on December 8, 2018. Cassidy filed for divorce on January 8, 2020 in Los Angeles.

Katherine Evelyn Anita Cassidy (born November 25, 1986) is an American-French actress and director. Following several minor television roles, she came to attention as a scream queen after starring in the horror films "When a Stranger Calls" (2006), as Kelli Presley in "Black Christmas" (2006) and as Ruby in the third season of the horror series "Supernatural" (2007–08). Following a supporting role in the action film "Taken" (2008), Cassidy played leading roles in the mystery horror series "Harper's Island" (2009) and the remake of the drama series "Melrose Place" (2009–10). She starred as Kris Fowles in the slasher film remake "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (2010) and had a recurring role as Juliet Sharp during the fourth season of the teen drama "Gossip Girl" (2010–12).


Works.

The traditional Sami singing of the joik was important in his music, as well as in his painting and in written works. He was first recognised as an artist for his joik during the 1960s, with his first recording "Joikuja" from 1968, which contained modernised joik. Valkeapeää wrote the music to the motion picture "Ofelaš", internationally known as "The Pathfinder" in 1987, which was directed by Nils Gaup.  As a writer, he mainly wrote in Sami with his work translated into other languages and eventually published eight collections of poems. One of his best known is "Beaivi áhčážan" which has been translated to English, titled "The Sun, My Father".  Nils-Aslak Valkeapää died in his sleep in Helsinki on 26 November 2001.  Posthumous publication of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää's work includes two poems included on his godson Niko Valkeapää's eponymous début album. An article published by the Music Information Center Norway stated, "In his trademark, understated style, Niko composes melodies that weave their way into and out of his godfather’s words. Nils Aslak Valkeapää was one of the foremost exponents of Sami art and culture through his long and distinguished career as a poet, composer and artist. Says Niko on his godfather’s influence: 'I can’t deny that Nils Aslak was a role model for me – he was a figure that I would look up to. He has been a source of inspiration and I have included two of his poems on my album to pay homage to him.”  A recording of Nils-Aslak Valkeapää performing his joik forms the centrepiece of "Prayer for the Earth", a track on "The Songs of Distant Earth", the 1994 album by British musician Mike Oldfield.

Personal life.

Valkeapää was bisexual, but hid his sexuality throughout his life.

Written works.

Poems

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, known as Áillohaš in the Northern Sami language (23 March 1943 – 26 November 2001), was a Finnish Sami writer, musician and artist. He was born in Enontekiö in Lapland province, Finland. He lived most of his life in Käsivarsi, close to the border of Sweden, and also in Skibotn in Norway. Valkeapää was born to a family of traditional reindeer herders, but was trained as a school teacher. His most well-known international debut was when he performed at the opening ceremony of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. He received the Nordic Council Literature Prize for "The Sun, My Father" in 1991.


Background.

Born in Székelyudvarhely, the ninth of eleven children in a family of Transylvanian Saxons, his ties to Communism began at an early age when he became a member of the Communist Party of Hungary (KMP).  Later he was expelled from his university for his political ideas and would become a building worker, until 1936 when he joined the Popular Front in the Spanish Civil War. He became commissar of the Rakosi Battalion of XIII International Brigade. After the collapse of Republican Spain, he was interned in France until 1941, when he was finally able to return to Hungary, where he became Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee, an underground Communist movement.  In December 1944 he was arrested by a detachment of the Arrow Cross Party. He was to be executed, and was transported to the prison of Sopronkőhida, then into Germany; but the intercession of his elder brother, Endre, a fascist under-secretary, saved his life. László Rajk was released on 13 May 1945.  He went home to Hungary and took part in party politics. He became a member of all the leader corporations of the party (MKP) and the Extemporal Parliament. Rajk was a member of the High National Council from 7 December 1945 to 2 February 1946. On 20 March 1946 he was appointed minister of the Interior. In this post he organized the Hungarian Communist Party's private army and secret police (an organization analogous to the KGB, Securitate, Stasi and so on), the ÁVH (originally AVO), and he became directly responsible for this. Under the cover of "struggle against fascism and reaction" and "defence of the power of proletariat", he prohibited and liquidated several religious, nationalist, and maverick establishments and groups (the number of these was about 1,500), and set up the first show trials.  He was reassigned from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 5 August 1948 to 30 May 1949. Rákosi, who saw Rajk as a threat to his power, decided to accuse him on false charges and had him arrested on 30 May 1949 on trumped-up charges. Rajk, who was popular among the Communists before, soon became the "chained dog" of Tito, Horthy and "the imperialist".

Trial.

László Rajk was accused of being a "Titoist Spy", an agent for western imperialism and one who planned on restoring capitalism and jeopardizing Hungary's independence. During his time in prison, Rajk was tortured and was promised acquittal if he took responsibility for the charges brought against him. Stalin's NKVD emissary coordinated with Hungarian General Secretary Mátyás Rákosi and his ÁVH to orchestrate Rajk's show trial.  At his trial, held between 16 and 24 September 1949, in the large assembly hall of the headquarters of the Metal and Engineering Workers' Trade Union in Budapest, he confessed to all the charges brought against him. After his confession the prosecution decided, against the promise made, to call for the heaviest sentences to be brought down upon him and the other seven men who stood trial with him. Rajk was to be made an example for the beginning of Stalin's anti-Titoist purges. Rajk, along with Drs Tibor Szönyi and András Szalai, was sentenced to death. Rajk was executed on 15 October 1949.

Post-trial/reburial.

The Rajk trial marked the beginning of the anti-Titoist drive movement of Stalin. His trial also marked the beginning of the removal of all political parties in Hungary. The purges, however, left the economy in a truly disastrous state whereby a lack of capital inflow doomed the building projects that were underway. A vast number of the intelligentsia were then employed on the sort of manual labouring duties usually reserved for skilled professionals. The result left the country with an inadequate infrastructure and unsatisfactorily manufactured goods. The government was also using too many men to search for spies within the country and not enough to perform the productive work to sustain the economy.  Dissatisfaction with Rákosi's rule began to surface. On 28 March 1956, following numerous demonstrations, Rajk was rehabilitated in spite of his responsibility for the excesses of the secret police ÁVH which he had founded in 1946, including initial large purges and executions under his direction. The rehabilitation speech, even though it was not publicized, had vast consequences for Rákosi, who had used the Rajk guilt as an explanation for the other purges that followed. Now that he had to admit that he was, indeed, wrong, it would end up ruining Rákosi's rightful authority. Lászlo Rajk was then reburied, before 100,000 mourners, on 6 October 1956, along with two other men who lost their lives during the purges. (This was a precursor to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which began on 23 October.)

List of defendants in the Rajk trial.

15 people were executed and 78 others were sentenced to prison in relation to the Rajk case.

Play.

László Rajk: the events of his political and family life, beginning circa 1945, his trial, execution, reburial, atonement, and ending with the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and Russia's armed invasion of Hungary, are all portrayed in Robert Ardrey's 1958 play, "Shadow of Heroes".

László Rajk (8 March 1909 – 15 October 1949) was a Hungarian Communist politician, who served as Minister of Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was an important organizer of the Hungarian Communists' power (for example, organizing the State Protection Authority (ÁVH)), but he eventually fell victim to Mátyás Rákosi's show trials.


Life.

Labre was born in 1748 in the village of Amettes, near Arras, in the former Province of Artois in the north of France. He was the eldest of fifteen children of a prosperous shopkeeper, Jean-Baptiste Labre, and his wife, Anne Grandsire.  Labre had an uncle, a parish priest, living some distance from his family home; this uncle gladly received him, and undertook his early education for the priesthood. At the age of sixteen, he approached his uncle about becoming a Trappist monk, but his parents told him he would have to wait until he grew older. When Benedict was about eighteen, an epidemic fell upon the city, and uncle and nephew busied themselves in the service of the sick. While the uncle took care of the souls and bodies of the people, Benedict went to and fro caring for the cattle. Among the last victims of the epidemic was Labre's uncle.  Labre set off for La Trappe Abbey to apply to the Order, but did not come up to their requirements. He was under age, he was too delicate; he had no special recommendations. He later attempted to join the Carthusians and Cistercians, but each order rejected him as unsuitable for communal life. He was, for about six weeks, a postulant with the Carthusians at Neuville. In November 1769 he obtained admission to the Cistercian Abbey of Sept-Fonts. After a short stay at Sept-Fonts his health gave way, and it was decided that his vocation lay elsewhere.  Labre, according to Catholic tradition, experienced a desire, which he considered was given to him by God and inspired by the example of Alexius of Rome and that of the Franciscan tertiary pilgrim, Saint Roch, to "abandon his country, his parents, and whatever is flattering in the world to lead a new sort of life, a life most painful, most penitential, not in a wilderness nor in a cloister, but in the midst of the world, devoutly visiting as a pilgrim the famous places of Christian devotion."  Labre joined the Third Order of Saint Francis and settled on a life of poverty and pilgrimage. He first traveled to Rome on foot, subsisting on what he could get by begging. He then traveled to most of the major shrines of Europe, often several times each. He visited the various shrines in Loreto, Assisi, Naples, and Bari in Italy, Einsiedeln in Switzerland, Paray-le-Monial in France, and Santiago de Compostela in Spain. During these trips he would always travel on foot, sleeping in the open or in a corner of a room, with his clothes muddy and ragged. On one occasion he stopped at the farmhouse of Matthieu and Marie Vianney, who would later become the parents of Curé d'Ars. He lived on what little he was given, and often shared the little he did receive with others. He is reported to have talked rarely, prayed often, and accepted quietly the abuse he received.  In so doing, Labre was following in the role of the mendicant, the "Fool-for-Christ," found more often in the Eastern Church. He would often swoon when contemplating the crown of thorns, in particular, and, during these states, it is said he would levitate or bilocate. He was also said to have cured some of the other homeless he met and to have multiplied bread for them. In the last years of his life (his thirties), he lived in Rome, for a time living in the ruins of the Colosseum, and would leave only to make a yearly pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Loreto. He was a familiar figure in the city and known as the "saint of the Forty Hours" (or "Quarant' Ore") for his dedication to Eucharistic adoration.  The day before he died, Labre collapsed in the church of Santa Maria ai Monti, blocks from the Colosseum, and despite his protestations was charitably taken to a house behind the church at Via dei Serpenti 2. He died there of malnutrition on 16 April 1783, during Holy Week, and was buried in the Church of Santa Maria ai Monti.

Veneration.

Labre's confessor, Marconi, wrote his biography and attributed 136 separate cures to his intercession within three months of his death. Those miracles were instrumental in the conversion of the Reverend John Thayer, the first American Protestant clergyman to convert to Catholicism, who was resident in Rome at the time of St. Benedict's death. A cult grew up around him very soon after his death; he was declared Blessed by Blessed Pius IX in 1860, and canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1881. Benedict is patron saint of the homeless. His feast day is observed on April 16.

Benedict Joseph Labre, () (25 March 1748 – 16 April 1783), was a French mendicant, Franciscan tertiary, and Catholic saint.