Early life.

Marie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore was born a duchess of the Grand Ducal House of Mecklenburg to Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin - the then Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his first wife, Princess Augusta Reuss of Köstritz (1822–1862) - in the Schloss Ludwigslust. She was eight years old when her mother died in 1862. Her father married twice more.

Marriage.

She married the third son of Alexander II of Russia, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (22 April 1847 – 17 February 1909), her second cousin, on 28 August 1874, being one of the very few Royals with Slavic patriline to ever marry a male dynast of the House of Romanov. She had been engaged to George Albert I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, but broke it off as soon as she met Vladimir. It took three more years before they were permitted to marry as she had been raised a Lutheran and refused to convert to the Russian Orthodox Church.  Emperor Alexander II finally agreed to let Vladimir marry her without insisting on her conversion to Orthodoxy. Upon her marriage she took the Russian name of "Maria Pavlovna" - the name she is best known by. Maria remained Lutheran throughout most of her marriage, but converted to Orthodoxy later in her marriage, some said to give her son Kirill a better chance at the throne. As a result of marrying the son of a Russian Emperor, she took on a new style "Her Imperial Highness"; the couple had four sons and one daughter.

Life in Russia.

In Russia, she lived at the Vladimir Palace situated on the Palace Embankment on the Neva River. Socially ambitious, it was there that she established her reputation as being one of the best hostesses in the capital. An addiction to gambling, which saw her defy a prohibition by Nicholas II on the playing on roulette and baccarat in private homes, resulted in her temporarily being banned from Court.  In 1909, her husband died and she succeeded him as president of the Academy of Fine Arts.  Her Grand Ducal court, was in the later years of the reign of her nephew, Emperor Nicholas II the most cosmopolitan and popular in the capital. The Grand Duchess was personally at odds with the Emperor and Empress Consort. She wasn't the only Romanov who feared the Empress would "be the sole ruler of Russia" after Nicholas took supreme command of the Russian armies on 23 August 1915 (O.S.), hoping this would lift morale. It was widely speculated that along with her sons, she contemplated a coup against the Emperor in the winter of 1916–17, that would force the Tsar's abdication and replacement by his son Tsesarevich Alexei, and her son, Grand Duke Kirill or Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, as regent. There is no documentary evidence to support this, though the Duma president Mikhail Rodzianko famously reported that she said that the Empress must be "annihilated".

Escape from Russia.

The Grand Duchess held the distinction to be the last of the Romanovs to escape Revolutionary Russia, as well as the first to die in exile. She remained in the war-torn Caucasus with her two younger sons throughout 1917 and 1918, still hoping to make her eldest son Kirill Vladimirovich the Tsar. As the Bolsheviks approached, the group finally escaped aboard a fishing boat to Anapa in 1918. Maria spent fourteen months in Anapa, refusing to join her son Boris in leaving Russia. When opportunities for escape via Constantinople presented themselves she refused to leave for fear she would be subjected to the indignity of delousing. She finally agreed to leave when the general of the White Army warned her that his side was losing the civil war. Maria, her son Andrei, Andrei's mistress Mathilde Kschessinska, and Andrei and Mathilde's son Vladimir, boarded an Italian ship headed to Venice on 13 February 1920.  Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia encountered Maria at the port of Novorossiysk in early 1920: "Disregarding peril and hardship, she stubbornly kept to all the trimmings of bygone splendour and glory. And somehow she carried it off... When even generals found themselves lucky to find a horse cart and an old nag to bring them to safety, Aunt Miechen made a long journey in her own train. It was battered all right--but it was hers. For the first time in my life I found it a pleasure to kiss her..."  She made her way from Venice to Switzerland and then to France, where her health failed. Staying at her villa (now the Hotel La Souveraine), she died on 6 September 1920, aged 66, surrounded by her family at Contrexéville.

Jewels.

The Grand Duchess had a passion for jewels, and her collection was renowned. It included a 100 carat emerald once owned by her great-great-great-grandmother, Empress Catherine the Great and the 5 carat ruby of Josephine de Beauharnais. Following the Revolution, a family friend Albert Stopford, rescued the jewels from her Palace safe and smuggled them out of Russia. After the Duchess's death, they were sold by her children to support their lives in exile. Queen Mary, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom purchased a Bolin tiara of diamond loops with pearl drops, now worn by Queen Elizabeth II, although the original gold frame has been replaced by Garrad with one of platinum; Her niece by marriage, Queen Marie, Queen Consort of Romania purchased a sapphire kokoshnik-style tiara by Cartier and Nancy Leeds (later Princess Christopher of Greece), the ruby parure. Some of her emeralds were purchased by Barbara Hutton, and later by actress Elizabeth Taylor, who had them recut.  In 2008 a collection of cufflinks, cigarette cases and other small jewellery items belonging to the Vladimir family were discovered in the archives of the Swedish foreign ministry, having presumably been deposited at the Swedish Embassy in St Petersburg following the Revolution. They were sold on behalf of the Vladimir heirs; some of the proceeds were used to restore the Grand Duchess's tomb in Contrexéville.

Children.

Her eldest surviving son, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich, of Russia married, in 1905, his first cousin Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, daughter of Vladimir's sister the Duchess of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Other than the fact that first cousin marriages were not allowed, she was also the former wife of Ernst Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, the brother of the Empress. This marriage was not approved by Nicholas II and Cyril was stripped of his imperial titles. The treatment of her son created a strife between her husband and the Emperor. However, after several deaths in the family put Cyril third in the line of succession to the Imperial Throne, Nicholas agreed to reinstate Cyril's Imperial titles, and the latter's wife was acknowledged as HIH Grand Duchess Viktoria Fedorovna.

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna "Miechen" of Russia (Russian; Мари́я Па́вловна; born Duchess Marie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; 14 May [O.S. 2 May] 1854 — 6 September 1920), better known as Maria Pavlovna the Elder, was the eldest daughter of Grand Duke Frederick Francis II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin by his first wife, Princess Augusta Reuss of Köstritz. A prominent hostess in St Petersburg following her marriage to the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, she was known as the "grandest of the grand duchesses" and had an open rivalry with her sister-in-law the Empress Maria Feodorovna.


Early life.

Born on 2 October 1887, near Bahía Blanca, Argentina, Violet Constance Jessop was the oldest daughter of Irish immigrants William and Katherine Jessop. She was the first of nine children, six of whom survived. Jessop spent much of her childhood caring for her younger siblings. She became very ill as a child with what is presumed to have been tuberculosis, which she survived despite doctors' predictions that her illness would be fatal. When Jessop was 16 years old, her father died due to complications from surgery and her family moved to England, where she attended a convent school and cared for her youngest sister while her mother was at sea working as a stewardess. When her mother became ill, Jessop left school and, following in her mother's footsteps, applied to be a stewardess. Jessop had to dress down to make herself less attractive in order to be hired. At age 21, her first stewardess position was with the Royal Mail Line aboard the "Orinoco" in 1908.

RMS "Olympic".

In 1911, Jessop began working as a stewardess for the White Star vessel. "Olympic" was a luxury ship that was the largest civilian liner at that time. Jessop was on board on 20 September 1911, when "Olympic" left from Southampton and collided with the British warship. There were no fatalities and despite damage, the ship was able to make it back to port without sinking. Jessop chose not to discuss this collision in her memoirs.

RMS "Titanic".

Jessop boarded as a stewardess on 10 April 1912, at age 24. Four days later, on 14 April, it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic, where "Titanic" sank about two hours and forty minutes after the collision. Jessop described in her memoirs how she was ordered up on deck, because she was to function as an example of how to behave for the non-English speakers who could not follow the instructions given to them. She watched as the crew loaded the lifeboats. She was later ordered into lifeboat 16; and as the boat was being lowered, one of "Titanic"s officers gave her a baby to look after. The next morning, Jessop and the rest of the survivors were rescued by the. According to Jessop, while on board "Carpathia", a woman, presumably the baby's mother, grabbed the baby she was holding and ran off with it without saying a word.

HMHS "Britannic".

During the First World War, Jessop served as a stewardess for the British Red Cross. On the morning of 21 November 1916, she was on board, a White Star liner that had been converted into a hospital ship, when it sank in the Aegean Sea due to an unexplained explosion. During a major diving expedition on the wreck in 2016, it was determined that the ship had struck a deep sea mine. This was shown in the documentary film of that dive, "The Mystery of the Britannic".  "Britannic" sank within 55 minutes, killing 30 of the 1,066 people on board. British authorities hypothesized that the ship was either struck by a torpedo or hit a mine planted by German forces. Conspiracy theories have even circulated that suggest the British were responsible for sinking their own ship.  While "Britannic" was sinking, Jessop and other passengers were nearly killed by the boat's propellers that were sucking lifeboats under the stern. Jessop had to jump out of her lifeboat, resulting in a traumatic head injury which she survived. In her memoirs, she described the scene she witnessed as "Britannic" went under: "The white pride of the ocean's medical world... dipped her head a little, then a little lower and still lower. All the deck machinery fell into the sea like a child's toys. Then she took a fearful plunge, her stern rearing hundreds of feet into the air until with a final roar, she disappeared into the depths."  Jessop returned to work for the White Star Line in 1920.

Later life.

After the war, Jessop continued to work for the White Star Line, before joining the Red Star Line and then the Royal Mail Line again. During her tenure with Red Star, Jessop went on two around the world cruises on the company's largest ship,. In her late thirties, Jessop had a brief marriage, and in 1950 she retired to Great Ashfield, Suffolk. Years after her retirement, Jessop claimed to have received a telephone call, on a stormy night, from a woman who asked Jessop if she saved a baby on the night that "Titanic" sank. "Yes," Jessop replied. The voice then said "I was that baby," laughed, and hung up. Her friend and biographer John Maxtone-Graham said it was most likely some children in the village playing a joke on her. She replied, "No, John, I had never told that story to anyone before I told you now." Records indicate that the only baby on lifeboat 16 was Assad Thomas, who was handed to Edwina Troutt, and later reunited with his mother on "Carpathia".  Jessop, often winkingly called "Miss Unsinkable", died of congestive heart failure in 1971 at the age of 83.

In popular culture.

In the 1958 film "A Night To Remember", a scene depicts naval architect Thomas Andrews (Michael Goodliffe) instructing a stewardess to be seen wearing her lifebelt as an example to the other passengers. Many scenes from this film inspired similar and in some cases, almost dialogue-identical scenes in James Cameron's later 1997 blockbuster "Titanic", including a similar scene between Andrews and a stewardess named Lucy.  In "Britannic", a TV movie made in the year 2000, the main character is Vera Campbell, played by Amanda Ryan, a woman apprehensive about travelling on "Britannic" due to surviving the sinking of "Titanic" four years earlier. This character background is almost certainly lifted from the real-life Jessop, who survived both sinkings.  In 2006, "Shadow Divers" John Chatterton and Richie Kohler led an expedition to dive HMHS "Britannic." The dive team needed to accomplish a number of tasks including reviewing the expansion joints. The team was looking for evidence that would change the thinking on RMS "Titanic"s sinking. During the expedition, Rosemary E. Lunn played the role of Violet Jessop, re-enacting her jumping into the water, from her lifeboat which was being drawn into "Britannic"s still turning propellers.  The character of Jessop is also featured in the stage play "Iceberg – Right Ahead!" by Chris Burgess, staged for the first time Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate, March 2012, to commemorate the centenary of the sinking of "Titanic". It was billed as "A dramatic account of the last twelve hours in the life of an 'unsinkable ship'. From the calm afternoon of 14 April 1912 to the rescue by RMS "Carpathia" on the morning of 15 April". Jessop's role was played by Amy-Joyce Hastings.

Violet Constance Jessop (2 October 1887 – 5 May 1971) was an Irish Argentine ocean liner stewardess, memoirist and nurse who is known for surviving the disastrous sinkings of in 1912 and her sister ship in 1916. In addition, she had been onboard, the eldest of the three sister ships, when it collided with a British warship,, in 1911.


Etymology.

The English name "goat's-rue" is a translation of the Latin "Ruta capraria", used for the plant in 1554 when it was considered to be related to "Ruta graveolens", or common rue. "Galega bicolor" is a synonym.

Distribution.

Widely distributed throughout temperate regions of the world, predominantly in Europe, the plant is a hardy perennial that blooms in the summer months on grasslands, wetlands, and riverbanks, and is classified as an invasive weed in many parts of North America. It has also been found in South America, North Africa, Pakistan, Turkey, and New Zealand.  In 1891 in the United States, "G. officinalis" was introduced experimentally at Utah State University for potential use as a forage crop, but escaped cultivation and is now an agricultural pest. As a result, it has been placed on the Federal Noxious Weed List in the United States. It was collected in Colorado, Connecticut and New York prior to the 1930s, and in Maine and Pennsylvania in the 1960s, but the populations appear to have died out.

Chemistry and herbalism.

Although not thoroughly studied with 21st century methods, "G. officinalis" has been analyzed for its constituents, which include galegine, hydroxygalegine, several guanidine derivatives, such as 4-hydroxygalegine flavones, flavone glycosides, kaempferol, and quercetin. In addition to its purported effect to lower blood glucose levels and induce diuresis, goat's rue was used as an herbal tonic in folk medicine practices of medieval Europe to treat bubonic plague, worms, and snake bites.

Relation to metformin.

Once used in traditional medicine over centuries, "G. officinalis" is at the foundation of the biguanide class of antidiabetic drugs, which also included phenformin and buformin (both discontinued).  "G. officinalis" contains the phytochemicals, galegine and guanidine, both of which decrease blood sugar, but were discovered to cause adverse effects in human studies. The study of galegine and related molecules in the first half of the 20th century led to development of oral antidiabetic drugs. Research on other compounds related to guanidine, including biguanide, led ultimately to the discovery of metformin (trade name, Glucophage), used in the 21st century for management of diabetes by decreasing liver glucose production and increasing insulin sensitivity of body tissues.

Adverse effects.

Goat's rue may interfere with prescribed diabetes drugs, iron absorption, and anticoagulants. It may cause headache or muscular weakness, and its safety during pregnancy or breastfeeding is unknown.

Galega officinalis, commonly known as galega, goat's-rue, French lilac, Italian fitch, or professor-weed, is an herbaceous plant in the Faboideae subfamily. It is native to the Middle East, but has been naturalized in Europe and western Asia. The plant has been extensively cultivated as a forage crop, an ornamental, a bee plant, and as green manure.


Education and career.

Aavik studied history at the University of Tartu and the University of Nezin in 1905. He was a member of the Young Estonia movement and obtained a Doctorate in Romance languages at the University of Helsinki in 1910. Aavik taught Estonian and French at Tartu University between 1926 and 1933. In 1934 he was appointed by the Estonian Ministry of Education as Chief Inspector of Secondary Schools, a position he held until 1940. He fled Soviet occupation in 1944 and lived in Stockholm for the remainder of his life.

Estonian language development.

Johannes Aavik found that Estonian, which had for centuries been the language of peasants, needed innovation, as its sphere of usage widened rapidly with the emergence of a modern nation. There was a need for standardization of grammar and orthography as well as new technical terminology. Aavik added that the language also needed to be versatile and euphonic. In 1912 he started writing articles to literary journals, making propositions how to develop Estonian language. He suggested intensive borrowing from Finnish; many of his suggestions were quickly widely accepted and have become part of standard Estonian vocabulary. From 1914 he started to artificially create well sounding new word stems to replace awkward compound words. Thus, he proposed "relv" ("weapon") instead of "sõjariist" (literally, "war tool"), "roim" ("crime") instead of "kuritöö" ("evil deed") and "veenma" ("convince") instead of "uskuma panema" ("put into believing"). He generally tried to avoid the sounds "t" and "s" and preferred shorter words to longer ones. He also favoured "o" in successive syllables to "u", as is common in the South Estonian dialects. Aavik considered many of his neologisms as created out of nothing (see ex nihilo lexical enrichment). However, according to Ghil'ad Zuckermann, many of Aavik's neologisms were influenced by foreign lexical items, for example words from Russian, German, French, Finnish, English and Swedish (Aavik had a broad classical education and knew Ancient Greek, Latin and French). For example, "roim" ("crime") might have been influenced by the English word "crime"; "relv" ("weapon") might have been influenced by the English word "revolver"; and "taunima" ("to condemn, disapprove") might have been influenced by the Finnish word "tuomita" ("to condemn, to judge").  Aavik tried to modernize even the grammar. He advocated the usage of i-plural instead of t(d)-plural ("keelis" pro "keeltes") and the i-superlative instead of the ordinary superlative ("suurim" pro "kõige suurem"), as well as –nd instead of –nud in active past participle. He proposed inflectional affixes to the ma-infinitive, but only some of them entered into popular usage. He also tried to introduce a future form of verbs and a female personal pronoun, but these got little positive response.  Aavik published numerous essays and translations to propagate his ideas; he had vocal supporters as well as opponents. In 1919, he published a dictionary of 2000 novelty words. His principles (utility, aesthetics and native quality) were summarized in "Keeleuuenduse äärmised võimalused" (Extreme Perspectives of Language Innovation; Tartu, 1924).  Language innovation slowly died away after the 1927 act that made it compulsory for schools to teach standard Estonian as put down in Estonian Orthographic Dictionary (1925, chief editor J. V. Veski) and Estonian Grammar (by Elmar Muuk, 1927). However, some words proposed by Aavik and fallen into oblivion have been picked up and re-introduced by more recent literati.  An essay on linguistic innovation in Estonian by Paul Saagpakk can be found in his Estonian-English Dictionary.

Johannes Aavik ( in Randvere, Saaremaa, Estonia (then Russian Empire) – 18 March 1973 in Stockholm, Sweden) was an Estonian philologist and Fennophile who played a significant role in the modernization and development of the Estonian language.


Taxonomy.

When Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot first described the yellow-headed caracara in 1816, he gave it the scientific name "Polyborus chimachima", putting it in the same genus as the crested caracaras. In 1824, German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix created the genus "Milvago" for this species and the closely related chimango caracara.

Description.

The yellow-headed caracara is in length and weighs on average. Like many other birds of prey, the female is larger than the male, weighing against the male's. Apart from the difference in size, there is no significant sexual dimorphism in this species. It is broad-winged and long-tailed, somewhat resembling a small "Buteo". The adult has a buff head, with a black streak behind the eye, and buff underparts. The upper plumage is brown with distinctive pale patches on the flight feathers of the wings, and the tail is barred cream and brown. The head and underparts of immature birds have dense brown mottling.  The voice is a characteristic screamed "".

Distribution and habitat.

This is a bird of savanna, swamps and forest edges. Resident from Costa Rica south through Trinidad and Tobago to northern Argentina (the provinces of Misiones, Chaco, Formosa, Corrientes and Santa Fe), it is typically found from sea level to, and occasionally to above mean sea level. In southern South America, it is replaced by a close relative, the chimango caracara, whose range overlaps with that of the yellow-headed caracara in southern Brazil, northern Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. A larger and stouter paleosubspecies, "Milvago chimachima readei", occurred in Florida and possibly elsewhere some tens of thousand years ago, during the Late Pleistocene. According to the Peregrine Fund database, the yellow-headed caracara is expanding its range into Nicaragua.

Behavior and ecology.

The yellow-headed caracara is omnivorous, and will eat reptiles, amphibians and other small animals as well as carrion. Birds are rarely if ever taken, and this species will not elicit warning calls from mixed-species feeding flocks that cross its path even in open cerrado habitat. It will also remove and eat ticks from cattle and Baird's tapir ("Tapirus bairdii"), and is sometimes called the "tickbird". It has been observed also to forage for small invertebrates in the fur of brown-throated three-toed sloths and capybaras. In addition, at least younger birds are fond of certain fruits, such as those of the oil palm ("Elaeis guineensis") and pequi ("Caryocar brasiliense"). It lays from five to seven brown-marked buff eggs in a stick nest in a tree.  The yellow-headed caracara has benefited from forest clearing for cattle ranching. Its status in Trinidad has changed from rare to fairly common, and it was first seen on Tobago in 1987. It adapts readily to urban areas and, together with species such as the American black vulture ("Coragyps atratus"), it is among the most commonly seen bird of prey in Latin American cities. Consequently, this wide-ranging species has been assigned a risk level of Least Concern category on the IUCN Red List. In Panama City for example, as a result of the increased urban sprawl, yellow-headed caracara pairs are frequently seen along the rooftops in suburban neighborhoods.

The Hyundai Tiburon () known as the Hyundai Coupé (현대 쿠페) in the European Market is a sports coupe that was produced by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai from 1996 to 2008.


Playing career.

Rozsíval was drafted in the fourth round, 105th overall, by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. To adjust to North American play, he moved to Canada to play junior hockey with the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Before making his debut with the Penguins, he played for the Syracuse Crunch in the American Hockey League (AHL). He made his NHL debut in the 1999–2000 season.  Rozsíval joined the New York Rangers after the 2004–05 NHL lockout as a free agent. On 29 April 2007, Rozsíval ended the Rangers' longest home playoff game since 1971 by scoring on Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller at 16:43 of the second overtime period. In the 2007–08 season, Rozsíval led all defensemen in shorthanded goals, with two.  On 1 July 2008, Rozsíval signed a four-year contract extension with the Rangers worth a total of $20 million. On 22 February 2009, Rozsíval switched his jersey number to 33 when former Rangers' player Harry Howell had his number 3 retired.  On 10 January 2011, Rozsíval was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes for Wojtek Wolski. He did not record any points during the Coyotes' run to the 2012 Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Kings. He was injured on a play just seconds before Dustin Penner's overtime series winner after a hit from Dustin Brown, and had to be assisted off the ice. On 11 September 2012, Rozsíval was signed as a free agent by the Chicago Blackhawks on a one-year contract. The Blackhawks would win the Stanley Cup during the lockout-shortened 2012–13 season, defeating the Boston Bruins 3–2 in Game 6. In Game 1 of that series, Rozsíval shot a puck that deflected off Dave Bolland and Andrew Shaw into the net for the game-winning triple-overtime goal. Rozsíval was credited with an assist. On 5 July 2013, Rozsíval signed a two-year contract extension to remain with the Blackhawks.  Rozsíval recorded one goal and twelve assists over 65 games during the 2014–15 NHL season. He appeared in ten games during the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but sustained a critical ankle injury during the Blackhawks’ second round series against the Minnesota Wild. The injury required surgery and between 12 and 16 weeks of rehabilitation. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup that year and Rozsíval’s name was engraved on the cup for a second time.  On 22 September 2015, Rozsíval signed a one-year contract extension with the Blackhawks. He made his 2015–16 debut for the Blackhawks on 14 November. In March 2016, the Professional Hockey Writers Association nominated Rozsival for the NHL's Masterton Trophy, which is awarded annually to the player who 'best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.'  At the end of the 2015–16 season, Rozsival signed another one-year contract extension with the Blackhawks. On 28 February 2017, Chicago agreed to extend Rozsival's contract through the 2017–2018 season. In the Blackhawks’ penultimate 2016–17 regular season game, Nick Ritchie of the Anaheim Ducks punched Rozsíval in the face as retaliation for a cross-check he delivered to Corey Perry. Rozsíval suffered a facial fracture that required surgical repairs. The NHL suspended Ritchie for two games (one regular season and one playoff game) on the basis that Ritchie's punch was unexpected and Rozsíval was not prepared to fight or defend himself. Rozsíval missed the Blackhawks 2016–17 finale and the entire 2017 playoffs due to the injury. He was later diagnosed with post-concussion symptoms and was placed on the Blackhawks long-term disabled list before the 2017–18 NHL season. He was subsequently ruled out for the entirety of the season.

Personal life.

Rozsival and his wife Jana have two sons: Daniel (who currently plays for the Chicago Mission u16 team) and Dominick.

Michal Rozsíval (; born 3 September 1978) is a Czech former professional ice hockey defenceman. He last played for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He joined the team in 2012, previously playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1999 until 2004, the New York Rangers from 2005 to 2011, and the Phoenix Coyotes in 2011–12. He is a two time Stanley Cup winner with the Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015.


Design.

"De Ruyter" was designed during the Great Depression, which, in addition to being a period of economic depression, was also a period in which pacifism was widespread in the Netherlands. For these reasons, the design was officially called a "flottieljeleider" (flotilla leader) instead of a cruiser, and every effort was made to cut costs.  Its function was to aid the two existing cruisers of the in the defence of the Dutch East Indies; the idea was that with three cruisers, there would always be two cruisers available, even if one cruiser had to be repaired.  However, due to the cost-cutting policy that went into her design, "De Ruyter" was not quite up to her task. Her main battery (7 × 150 mm guns) was underpowered in comparison to other light cruisers of the time (for example the British ), and the class had inadequate armour as well and lacked long range anti-aircraft guns. However, her fire control system was excellent.

Service history.

During World War II, "De Ruyter" saw repeated action in the Dutch East Indies in fruitless attempts to ward off the Japanese invasion. She was damaged by air attack in the Battle of Bali Sea on 4 February 1942, but not seriously. She fought in the Battle of Badung Strait on 18 February. In the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February, "De Ruyter" was the flagship of the Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman, with his flag captain Eugène Lacomblé (who had previously served on board the ship as a lieutenant). Off the north coast off Java on the evening of the 27th the remains of the ABDA fleet was surprised by the Japanese heavy cruisers and. Several minutes after the Dutch cruiser "Java" had been torpedoed and sunk, "De Ruyter" was hit by a single Type 93 torpedo fired by "Haguro" at about 23:40 and was set on fire; the torpedo also disabled the ship's electrical systems and left the crew unable to combat the fire or the flooding. The "De Ruyter" sank at about 02:30 the next morning with the loss of 367 men, including Admiral Doorman and Captain Lacomblé.

Wreck.

The wreck of "De Ruyter" was discovered by specialist wreck divers on 1 December 2002 and declared a war grave, with the ship's two bells—one now in the Kloosterkerk in the Hague—being recovered. The wreck of, was also found the same day by the same divers. The same dive group then found on 12 August 2004.  In 2016 it was discovered that the wrecks of "De Ruyter" and "Java", and much of "Kortenaer" had disappeared from the seabed, although their imprints on the ocean floor remained. Over 100 ships and submarines of various countries sank during the war in the seas around Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia; many are designated as war graves. There is known to be illegal scavenging of these wrecks, often using explosives; the Netherlands Defence Ministry suggested that "De Ruyter", "Java", and "Kortenaer" may have been illegally salvaged. In February 2017 a report was issued confirming the salvaging of the three wrecks.

HNLMS" De Ruyter" () was a unique light cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy. She was originally designed as a ship with a lighter armament due to financial problems and the pacifist movement. Later in the design stage, an extra gun turret was added and the armor was improved. She was the seventh ship of the Dutch Navy to be named after Admiral Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter.


Design and development.

The Nieuport 11 was a smaller, simplified version of the Nieuport 10, designed specifically as a single-seat fighter. Like the "10" the "11" was a sesquiplane, a biplane with a full-sized top wing with two spars, and a lower wing of much narrower chord and a single spar. Interplane struts in the form of a "Vee" joined the upper and lower wings. The sesquiplane layout reduced drag and improved the rate of climb, as well as offering a better view from the cockpit than either biplane or monoplane, while being substantially stronger than contemporary monoplanes. Unfortunately, the narrow lower wing was sometimes subject to aeroelastic flutter at high air speeds, a problem that manifested itself on the later "vee-strut" Nieuport fighters, as well as the German Albatros D.III. Nieuport 11s were supplied to the French "Aéronautique Militaire", the British Royal Naval Air Service, the Imperial Russian Air Service, Belgium, and Italy. 646 Nieuport 11s were produced by the Italian Macchi company under licence, When Romania suffered military setbacks and needed aircraft, several RNAS Nieuport 11s, along with Nieuport 12s were provided.

Nieuport 16.

In 1916 an improved version appeared as the Nieuport 16, which was a strengthened Nieuport 11 airframe powered by a Le Rhône 9J rotary engine. Visible differences included a larger aperture in front of the "horse shoe" cowling and a headrest for the pilot. The Nieuport 16 was an interim type pending the delivery of the slightly larger Nieuport 17 C.1 whose design was begun in parallel with the 16, and remedied the 16's balance problems, as well as improving performance.

Operational history.

The Nieuport 11 reached the French front in January 1916, and 90 were in service within the month.  This small sesquiplane outclassed the Fokker "Eindecker" in every respect, including speed, climb rate and maneuverability. It featured ailerons for lateral control rather than the Fokker's wing warping, giving lighter, quicker roll response, and its elevator was attached to a conventional tail plane which provided better pitch control as opposed to the all-moving, balanced "Morane type" elevators of the Fokker.  The Fokker's sole remaining advantage was its synchronized machine gun, which fired forward through the arc of its propeller. At the time, the Allies lacked a similar system, and the Nieuport 11's Lewis machine gun was mounted to fire over the propeller, allowing uninterrupted forward fire. The Lewis was not synchronizable, due to its open bolt firing cycle design which resulted in an unpredictable rate of fire. Clearing gun jams and replacing ammunition drums in flight were challenging though, and the drums limited ammunition supply.  During the course of the Battle of Verdun in February 1916, the combination of the Nieuport 11s technical advantages and its concentration in dedicated fighter units allowed the French to establish air superiority, forcing radical changes in German tactics. The impact of the Nieuport was so dramatic that in mid to late 1916 several captured examples were repaired, rearmed with a synchronised "Spandau" gun, and flown at the front. One of these was N1324, briefly flown by Kurt Student in August 1916. Others were supplied by Idflieg to a number of manufacturers, requesting copies be built which had considerable direct and indirect influence on German fighter design.  Some Nieuport 11s and 16s were fitted to fire Le Prieur rockets from the struts for attacks on observation balloons and airships.  By March 1916 the "Bébé" was being replaced by both the Nieuport 16 and the much improved Nieuport 17, although Italian-built examples remained in first line service longer, as did Russian examples. Thereafter the Nieuport 11s continued to be used as trainers.

The Nieuport 11 (or Nieuport XI C.1 in contemporary sources), nicknamed the "Bébé", was a French World War I single seat sesquiplane fighter aircraft, designed by Gustave Delage. It was the primary aircraft that ended the Fokker Scourge in 1916. The type saw service with several of France's allies, and gave rise to the series of "vee-strut" Nieuport fighters that remained in service (latterly as trainers) into the 1920s.


Description and meaning.

All versions of "Isle of the Dead" depict a desolate and rocky islet seen across an expanse of dark water. A small rowing boat is just arriving at a water gate and seawall on shore. An oarsman maneuvers the boat from the stern. In the bow, facing the gate, is a standing figure clad entirely in white. Just behind the figure is a white, festooned object commonly interpreted as a coffin. The tiny islet is dominated by a dense grove of tall, dark cypress trees—associated by long-standing tradition with cemeteries and mourning—which is closely hemmed in by precipitous cliffs. Furthering the funerary theme are what appear to be sepulchral portals and windows on the rock faces.  Böcklin himself provided no public explanation as to the meaning of the painting, though he did describe it as “a dream picture: it must produce such a stillness that one would be awed by a knock on the door”. The title, which was conferred upon it by the art dealer Fritz Gurlitt in 1883, was not specified by Böcklin, though it does derive from a phrase in an 1880 letter he sent to the painting's original commissioner. Not knowing the history of the early versions of the painting (see below), many observers have interpreted the oarsman as representing the boatman Charon, who ferried souls to the underworld in Greek mythology. The water would then be either the River Styx or the River Acheron, and his white-clad passenger a recently deceased soul transiting to the afterlife.

Origins and inspiration.

"Isle of the Dead" evokes, in part, the English Cemetery in Florence, Italy, where the first three versions were painted. The cemetery was close to Böcklin's studio and was also where his infant daughter Maria was buried. (In all, Böcklin lost 8 of his 14 children.)  The model for the rocky islet was perhaps Pontikonisi, a small, lush island near Corfu, which is adorned with a small chapel amid a cypress grove, perhaps in combination with the mysterious rocky island of Strombolicchio near the famous volcano Stromboli, Sicily. (Another less likely candidate is the island of Ponza in the Tyrrhenian Sea.)  Michael Webber says it was painted in the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro, and that it inspired the composer Rachmaninoff. This claim is supported by the similarity between the painting and the island of St. George near Perast, which is lined by cypress groves and houses a church dedicated to Saint George.

Versions.

Böcklin completed the first version of the painting in May 1880 for his patron Alexander Günther, but kept it himself. In April 1880, while the painting was in progress, Böcklin's Florence studio had been visited by Marie Berna, née Christ (widow of financier Dr. Georg von Berna [1836–1865] and soon-to-be wife of the German politician Waldemar, Count of Oriola [1854–1910]). She was struck by the first version of this "dream image" (now in the Kunstmuseum Basel), which sat half completed on the easel, so Böcklin painted a smaller version on wood for her (now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City). At Berna's request, he added the coffin and female figure, in allusion to her husband's death from diphtheria years earlier. Subsequently, he added these elements to the earlier painting. He called these works ("Tomb Island"). (Sometimes the "Basel" version is credited as the first one, sometimes the "New York".) It was acquired by the Gottfried Keller-Stiftung in 1920.  The third version was painted in 1883 for Böcklin's dealer Fritz Gurlitt. Beginning with this version, one of the burial chambers in the rocks on the right bears Böcklin's own initials: "A.B.". (In 1933, this version was put up for sale, and a noted Böcklin admirer Adolf Hitler acquired it. He hung it first at the Berghof in Obersalzberg and then, after 1940, in the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin. It is now at the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.)  Financial imperatives resulted in a fourth version in 1884, which was ultimately acquired by the entrepreneur and art collector Baron Heinrich Thyssen and hung at his Berliner Bank subsidiary. It was burned after a bomb attack during World War II and survives only as a black-and-white photograph.  A fifth version was commissioned in 1886 by the Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig, where it still hangs. In 1888, Böcklin created a painting called ("Isle of Life"). Probably intended as an antipole to the "Isle of the Dead", it also shows a small island, but with all signs of joy and life. Together with the first version of the "Isle of the Dead", this painting is part of the collection of the Kunstmuseum Basel.

Works inspired by "Isle of the Dead".

Drama.

Theatre  Film  Television

Isle of the Dead () is the best-known painting of Swiss Symbolist artist Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901). Prints were very popular in central Europe in the early 20th century—Vladimir Nabokov observed in his 1936 novel "Despair" that they could be "found in every Berlin home".


Course.

The source of the Bièvre is in Guyancourt, département Yvelines. From there, it flows through the following départements and towns:  The river enters Paris near Stade Charléty (close to the border between the 13th and 14th arrondissements), and reaches the Seine River in the Latin Quarter (5th arrondissement) close to Île de la Cité.  The Bièvre was diverted from its original course in 1148 by the monks of the abbey of Saint-Victor. This diversion is reflected in maps of Paris dating from the 13th century. Historically the river was heavily industrialized with mills, which led to the straightening of the river. Tanneries, butcher shops and dye-makers were built along its banks, leading to serious pollution concerns.  Starting in the 18th century, the river was gradually culverted. Eleven km are canalised under slabs and 5 km have disappeared under rubble and urbanisation in Paris. In modern times the Bièvre forms a rainwater system.

Restoration project.

In 2003, 200m of the Bièvre was re-opened in the Parc des Près in Fresnes. At the same time, over twenty direct wastewater connections to the Bièvre were eliminated. When the river is completely disconnected from the wastewater system, the stormwater from the river will no longer flow into a wastewater treatment plant but will instead flow directly into the River Seine, which is expected to lead to significant savings in wastewater treatment costs.  Another section of the Bièvre between Massy and Verrières was re-opened in 2006.

The Bièvre is a long river of the Île-de-France région that flows into the Seine (left bank) in Paris. The name translates to "Beaver River" in English.


Background.

Aircraft.

The aircraft involved in the accident was a leased Airbus A310-304, registration, serial number 596, that was delivered new to Aeroflot on 11 December 1992. Powered with two General Electric CF6-80C2A2 engines, the airframe had its maiden flight as on 11 September 1991, and was one of five operating for Russian Airlines, an autonomous division of Aeroflot – Russian International Airlines that was set up for serving routes to the Russian Far East and Southeast Asia. On average, the crew of three operating the aircraft had logged 900 hours on the type.

Passengers and Crew.

Of the 63 passengers on board, 40 were Russian nationals, including about 30 airline employees and family members. The remaining 23 foreigners were mostly businessmen from Hong Kong and Taiwan who were looking for economic opportunities in Russia.  The captain of Flight 593 was Andrey Viktorovich Danilov, 40, who was hired by Aeroflot in November 1992. He had accrued over 9,675 hours of flight time, including 950 hours in the A310, of which 895 hours were as captain. The first officer was Igor Vasilyevich Piskaryov, 33, hired by Aeroflot in October 1993, who had 5,885 hours of flight time, including 440 hours in the A310. The relief pilot was Yaroslav Vladimirovich Kudrinsky, 39, who was hired by Aeroflot in November 1992; he had over 8,940 flying hours, including 907 hours in the A310. Kudrinsky also had experience in the Yakovlev Yak-40, Antonov An-12, and Ilyushin Il-76. There were nine flight attendants on board the plane.

Accident.

On 23 March 1994, the jet aircraft was en route from Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow to Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong with 75 occupants aboard, of whom 63 were passengers.  Relief pilot Kudrinsky was taking his two children on their first international flight, and they were brought to the cockpit while he was on duty. Five people were thus on the flight deck: Kudrinsky, co-pilot Piskaryov, Kudrinsky's children Eldar and Yana, and another pilot, Vladimir Makarov, who was flying as a passenger.  With the autopilot active, Kudrinsky, against regulations, let the children sit at the controls. First, his daughter Yana took the pilot's left front seat. Kudrinsky adjusted the autopilot's heading to give her the impression that she was turning the plane, though she actually had no control of the aircraft. Shortly thereafter, Kudrinsky's son Eldar occupied the pilot's seat. Unlike his sister, Eldar applied enough force to the control column to contradict the autopilot for 30 seconds. This caused the flight computer to switch the plane's ailerons to manual control while maintaining control over the other flight systems. A silent indicator light came on to alert the pilots to this partial disengagement. The pilots, who had previously flown Soviet-designed planes that had audible warning signals, apparently failed to notice it.  Eldar was the first to notice a problem, when he observed that the plane was banking right. Shortly after, the flight path indicator changed to show the new flight path of the aircraft as it turned. Since the turn was continuous, the resulting predicted flight path drawn on screen was a 180-degree turn. This indication is similar to those shown when in a holding pattern, where a 180-degree turn is required to remain in a stable position. This confused the pilots for nine seconds, during which time the plane banked past a 45-degree angle to almost 90 degrees, steeper than the design allowed. The A310 cannot turn this steeply while maintaining altitude, and the plane started to descend quickly. The increased g-forces on the pilots and crew made it extremely difficult for them to regain control. The autopilot, which no longer controlled the ailerons, used its other controls in order to compensate, pitching the nose up and increasing thrust. As a result, the plane began to stall; the autopilot, unable to cope, disengaged completely. A second, larger indicator light came on to alert the pilots of the complete disengagement, and this time they did notice it. At the same time, the autopilot's display screen went blank. To recover from the stall, an automatic system lowered the nose and put the plane into a nosedive. The reduced g-forces enabled Kudrinsky to re-take his seat. Piskaryov then managed to pull out of the dive, but over-corrected, putting the plane in an almost vertical ascent, again stalling the plane, which fell out of the sky into a corkscrew dive. Although Kudrinsky and Piskaryov regained control and leveled out the wings, they did not know how far they had descended during the crisis and their altitude by then was too low to recover. The plane crashed at high vertical speed, estimated at. All 75 occupants died on impact.  The aircraft crashed with its landing gear up, and all passengers had been prepared for an emergency, as they were strapped into their seats. No distress calls were made prior to the crash. Despite the struggles of both pilots to save the aircraft, it was later concluded that if they had just let go of the control column, the autopilot would have automatically taken action to prevent stalling, thus avoiding the accident.  The wreckage was located on a remote hillside in the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain chain, approximately east of Mezhdurechensk, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia; the flight data recorders were found on the second day of searching. Families of western victims placed flowers on the crash site, while families of Chinese victims scattered pieces of paper with messages written on them around the crash site.  The airline originally denied that the children were in the cockpit, but accepted the fact when the Moscow-based magazine "Obozrevatel" (, ) published the transcript on the week of 28 September 1994. The Associated Press said that, according to the transcript, "the Russian crew almost succeeded in saving the plane". "The New York Times" said that "A transcript of the tape printed in the magazine Obozrevatel shows that the Russian crew nearly managed to save the Airbus plane and the 75 people on board, but that it was hampered by the presence of children and its unfamiliarity with the foreign-made plane." "The New York Times" also stated that an analysis by an aviation expert published in "Rossiiskiye Vesti" (, ) supported that analysis.

In popular culture.

The events of Flight 593 were featured in "Kid in the Cockpit", a Season 3 (2005) episode of the Canadian TV series "Mayday" (called "Air Emergency" and "Air Disasters" in the U.S. and "Air Crash Investigation" in the UK and elsewhere around the world). The flight was also included in a "Mayday" Season 6 (2007) "Science of Disaster" special titled "Who's Flying the Plane?"

Flight number.

The airline has modified its schedules and reassigned flight numbers;, the only flight servicing Hong Kong is numbered SU212 and is operated daily.

Aeroflot Flight 593 was a regular passenger flight from Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, to Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong. On 23 March 1994, the aircraft operating the route, an Airbus A310-304 flown by Aeroflot – Russian International Airlines, crashed into a mountain range in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, killing all 63 passengers and 12 crew members on board.


Biography.

The only known primary source for details of Marietta Robusti's life is Carlo Ridolfi's "Life of Tintoretto", first published in 1642, although she is mentioned briefly in Raffaelo Borghini's "Il Riposo della Pitura e della Scultura" of 1584. These two sources disagree on the year of her birth: according to Borghini, she was born in 1555, but Carlo Ridolfi indicates that she was born in 1560.  Marietta Robusti was probably born in 1560 and died when she was thirty during child birth. She lived in Venice all her life. She was the eldest daughter of the painter Jacopo Robusti, from whom she inherited her nickname, la Tintoretta (translated as "little dyer girl", after Jacopo's father's occupation as a "tintore", or dyer). She is thus variously known as Marietta Robusti, Marietta Tintoretto, and la Tintoretta. She was followed by three brothers and four sisters.  Since conventions of the time dictated that women remained in the privacy of the domestic sphere and were not welcome in the public world of art production and sale, Robusti and her female contemporaries gained access to the art world through their artist fathers or brothers. Robusti's artistic training consisted of serving an apprenticeship in the collaborative environment of her father's workshop, where she probably contributed to her father's paintings with backgrounds and figure blocking, as was the usual distribution of labor in painting workshops of the time. Though Robusti's social and economic autonomy was no greater than other artisan women she had quite a following, changing the ideals of femininity within the arts. After her death, Carlo Ridolfi stated she was one of the most illustrious women of her time, having the same manner of skill as her father while displaying "sentimental femininity, a womanly grace that is strained and resolute." While Robusti worked in her father's studio it was also said she worked on altarpieces as an assistant but her achievements were buried under the name of her father. After her death the decline in work produced by Tintoretto was ascribed to grief for his daughter, rather than the loss of a skillful assistant.  After Marietta Robusti's death she became a muse for Romantic painters such as Léon Cogniet who produced "Tintoretto Painting His Dead Daughter" in 1846 and Eleuterio Pagliano who painted "Tintoretto and His Daughter" in 1861. The trope of women artists being transformed from creators to subjects for male counterparts made her a motif for male creativity, displaying a dying muse of quietly suffering femininity.  Evidence suggests that Robusti received no commissions for major religious works such as altarpieces or other church decorations, and that she was mainly a portraitist.  Ridolfi describes Robusti's close relationship with her father at great length. Not only did she learn at his knee, as a child she also liked to dress like a boy so that she could go everywhere with Jacopo. Emperor Maximilian and King Philip II of Spain both expressed interest in hosting her as a court painter, but her father refused their invitations on her behalf because he couldn't bear to part with her. In 1578 he arranged for her to marry a Venetian jeweler and silversmith, Jacopo Augusta, to ensure she would always stay near him. Jacopo also had Marietta instructed in singing and playing the harpsichord, clavichord, and lute.  She died of unrecorded causes in 1590, and was buried in Santa Maria del’Orto in Venice.

Attributions and assessment.

The only painting that can be conclusively attributed to Marietta Robusti is her "Self Portrait" (c. 1580; Uffizi Gallery, Florence). This portrait depicts Marietta posed before a harpsichord, holding a musical text that has been identified as a madrigal by Philippe Verdelot, "Madonna per voi ardo". It has been postulated that the inclusion of this text, whose opening lines are "My Lady, I burn with love for you and you do not believe it", suggests that the painting was created for a male viewer, possibly Marietta's husband.  Other attributions include: "Old Man and a Boy" (c. 1585; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), which was long considered one of Tintoretto's finest portraits and was not revealed to be Robusti's until 1920; "Portrait of Ottavio Strada" (c. 1567-68; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam); and two small paintings of the "Virgin and Child" (dates unknown, Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio). "Portrait of Two Men" (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden), signed "MR", is thought to be Marietta Robusti's only surviving signed work.

Marietta Robusti (1560? – 1590) was a Venetian painter of the Renaissance period. She was the daughter of Tintoretto and is sometimes referred to as "Tintoretta".


Life and career.

Born at Windsheim in Bavaria, Otto Strasser took an active part in World War I. On 2 August 1914, he joined the Bavarian Army as a volunteer. He rose through the ranks to lieutenant and was twice wounded. He returned to Germany in 1919 where he served in the Freikorps that put down the Bavarian Soviet Republic which was organized on the principles of workers' councils. At the same time, he also joined the Social Democratic Party. In 1920 he participated in the opposition to the Kapp Putsch. However, he grew increasingly alienated with his party's reformist stance, particularly when it put down a workers' uprising in the Ruhr, and he left the party later that year. In 1925, he joined the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party), in which his brother, Gregor had been a member for several years, and worked for its newspaper as a journalist, ultimately taking it over with his brother. He was focused particularly on the socialist elements of the party's programme and led the party's left faction in northern Germany together with his brother and Joseph Goebbels. His faction advocated support for strikes, nationalisation of banks and industry, and – despite acknowledged differences – closer ties with the Soviet Union. Some of these policies were opposed by Hitler, who thought they were too radical and too alienating from parts of the German people (middle class and Nazi-supporting nationalist industrialists in particular), and the Strasser faction was defeated at the Bamberg Conference (1926), with Joseph Goebbels joining Hitler. Humiliated, he nonetheless, along with his brother Gregor, continued as a leading Left Nazi within the Party, until expelled from the NSDAP by Hitler in 1930.

After expulsion.

Following his expulsion, he set up his own party, the Black Front, composed of like-minded former NSDAP members, in an attempt to split the Nazi Party. His party proved unable to counter Hitler's rise to power in 1933, and Strasser spent the years of the Nazi era in exile. The Nazi Left itself was annihilated during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934 – in which his brother was killed – leaving Hitler as undisputed party leader and able to pacify both industrialists and the military into accepting his new National Socialist regime. In addition to the "Black Front", Strasser at this time headed the Free German Movement outside Germany which sought to enlist the aid of Germans throughout the world in bringing about the downfall of Hitler and his vision of Nazism.

Exile.

Strasser fled first to Austria, then to Prague, Switzerland and France. In 1940, he went to Bermuda by way of Portugal, leaving a wife and two children behind in Switzerland. In 1941, he emigrated to Canada, where he was the famed "Prisoner of Ottawa". During this time, Goebbels denounced Strasser as the Nazis' "Public Enemy Number One" and a price of $500,000 was set on his head. He settled for a time in Montreal. In 1942, he lived for a time in Clarence, Nova Scotia on a farm owned by a German-speaking Czech, Adolph Schmidt, then moved to nearby Paradise where he lived for more than a decade in a rented apartment above a general store. As an influential and uncondemned former Nazi Party member still faithful to many doctrines of National Socialism, he was initially prevented from returning to West Germany after the war, first by the Allied powers and then by the West German government.  During his exile, he wrote articles on Nazi Germany and its leadership for a number of British, American and Canadian newspapers, including the "New Statesman", and a series for the "Montreal Gazette", which was ghostwritten by then "Gazette" reporter and later politician Donald C. MacDonald.

Return to Germany.

Strasser claimed to have been invited by East Germany in 1950 to become a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, but declined in hopes that he would be permitted to return to Bavaria, which was then under US occupation. In his view, West Germany constituted an American colony and East Germany a Russian colony. He eventually regained his citizenship and settled in Munich.  He attempted to create a new "nationalist and socialist"-oriented party in 1956, the German Social Union (often called a successor to the 1949–1952, eventually forbidden Socialist Reich Party of Germany), but his organisation was unable to attract any support. For the rest of his life, Strasser continued to advocate for Strasserite Neo-Nazism until his death in Munich in 1974.  Otto Strasser claimed he was a dissenting Nazi regarding racial policies. During his later life, he claimed to have actively opposed such policies within the national socialist movement; for example, by organizing the removal of Julius Streicher from the German Völkisch Freedom Party.

Otto Johann Maximilian Strasser (also, see ß; 10 September 1897 – 27 August 1974) was a German politician and an early member of the Nazi Party. Otto Strasser, together with his brother Gregor Strasser, was a leading member of the party's left-wing faction, and broke from the party due to disputes with the dominant "Hitlerite" faction. He formed the Black Front, a group intended to split the Nazi Party and take it from the grasp of Hitler. This group also functioned during his exile and World War II as a secret opposition group.


Biography.

Munclinger was the son of Josef Munclinger, an operatic bass and opera-stage manager at the National Theater Prague. His mother was an actress at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava.  After graduation at the Prague Conservatory in 1948, Munclinger studied conducting (he was a pupil of Václav Talich) and composition at Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. In 1952 he also graduated in musical science, aesthetic, philosophy and oriental studies at Charles University.

Editor and translator.

Since 1946 he devoted himself to Baroque music. For the first time ever he translated Arnold Dolmetsch's "The Interpretation of the Music of the 17th and 18th Centuries Revealed by Contemporary Evidence" and several other major HIP works into Czech.  He discovered and edited a large number of archive compositions (he collaborated e.g. with Supraphon Music Publishing, IMC, New York and Bärenreiter-Verlag). He also participated in "Musica Antiqua Bohemica" series – his František Benda and Franz Xaver Richter flute concerti recording from 1955 was awarded Grand Prix du Disque (Jean-Pierre Rampal - flute, Milan Munclinger – conductor, Prague Chamber Orchestra/Ars Rediviva, Supraphon SUA 190 37, in part reedited in 2002. - See External links: "Benda, Stamitz, Rosetti Flute Concertos").  In 1951 he founded the ensemble Ars Rediviva whose performances and recordings played an important role in the revival of Baroque music in Czechoslovakia.

Other activities.

He also occupied himself by jazz improvisation and premiered compositions of modern composers (André Jolivet, Ilja Hurník), a number of new works were written for him. He conducted orchestras (e.g. Czech Philharmonic, Prague Radio Orchestra) as well as ensembles focused on early music (Ars Rediviva Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Musici de Praga).  He was a co-founder of the Czechoslovak Musical Youth and of the Czech Society for Early Music. Since the 1970s he taught the performance and study of old music at the Conservatoire in Prague.

Collaboration with Jean-Pierre Rampal.

With his teacher and friend Jean-Pierre Rampal he collaborated from 1951 till his death in 1986. He was a juror at music performers' competitions (Concours de flûte Jean-Pierre Rampal, 1980 and 1983) and lecturer at performance courses in Bayreuth and Nice (Académie Internationale d'Été Jean-Pierre Rampal). He dedicated to Rampal e.g. his reconstructions of Bach's concerts BWV 1055, 1056 and 1059.  Rampal wrote about Munclinger in his book "Musique, ma vie" (English: "Music, My Love", Random House, 1989) and dedicated to him his C. P. Bach performances.

Milan Munclinger (3 July 1923 Košice, Slovakia, Czechoslovakia – 30 March 1986 Prague, Czechoslovakia) was a significant Czech flautist, conductor, composer and musical scientist.


Ars Rediviva chamber ensemble.

The group was founded in 1951 in Prague by flautist and musicologist Milan Munclinger and his wife, pianist and harpsichordist Viktorie Švihlíková (she was later succeeded by Josef Hála). The original lineup also consisted of two prominent members of the Czech Philharmonic, cellist František Sláma and oboist Stanislav Duchoň (later succeeded by violinists Václav Snítil and Antonín Novák). From 1951 to 1956 Václav Talich collaborated with Ars Rediviva.

Ars Rediviva orchestra, soloists.

The band's repertoire consisted largely of chamber music, the works of J. S. Bach ranking high on the list. Depending on score requirements, the ensemble's size expanded regularly up to the chamber orchestra having mainly Czech Philharmonic instrumentalists as members (a complete string group with its section leaders, prominent wind-players, for example solo flautists Géza Novák and František Čech, solo oboist Jiří Mihule, solo bassoonists Karel Bidlo and František Herman, solo horn-players Miroslav Štefek and Zdeněk Tylšar, solo double-bass player František Pošta, etc.). Ars Rediviva collaborated with the Czech Philharmonic Choir, Czech singers (Karel Berman, Ladislav Mráz, Jana Jonášová, Virginia Walterová, Ludmila Vernerová, etc.), and foreign artists, specializing in performances of Baroque and Classical music (e.g. András Adorján, Theo Altmeyer, Maurice André, Nedda Casei, Otto Peter, Jean-Pierre Rampal).

Ars Rediviva season performances (1954-1994).

In 1954, the ensemble started giving season performances in Wallenstein Pallace, and later in Rudolfinum) in Prague (6 concerts, later 12 concerts per year). In four decades, several hundreds of compositions were introduced here, including scores of premiered archive pieces. Live recordings of Ars Rediviva performances in Rudolfinum are deposited in the Czech Museum of Music.

Repertoire, recordings.

Ars Rediviva was the first ensemble in Czechoslovakia to record a large number of works of Johann Sebastian Bach (LPs of the complete Brandenburg concertos, The Art of Fugue, The Musical Offering, trio sonatas, flute sonatas, cantatas, concerto reconstructions, etc.), Bach's sons (Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: sonatas, sinfonie symphonies, concerts; Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: sinfonies symphonies, sonatas; Johann Christian Bach: chamber music, symphonies), Antonio Vivaldi (concertos, sonatas, "Stabat Mater"), Jean-Philippe Rameau (e.g. "Pièces en Concerts"), François Couperin ("Les Apothéoses", "Les Goûts réunis"), Georg Philipp Telemann (concertos, orchestral suites, "Nouveaux Quatuors", "Tafelmusik", "Essercizii musici", "Der harmonische Gottesdienst", cantatas), Jan Dismas Zelenka (trio sonatas ZWV 181, orchestral works, "Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae"), František Benda (sonatas, flute concertos), Jiří Antonín Benda ("Ariadne auf Naxos", "Bendas Klage", sonatas, concertos), etc. (for more see External links: Ars Rediviva Discography). The ensemble recorded for Supraphon, Panton, Columbia, Ariola, CBS, Orfeo, Nippon, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, as well as for broadcasting and television companies and film industry (awards: Grand Prix du Disque, Supraphon Golden Lion, etc.).  Jan Tausinger, Ivan Jirko, Ilja Hurník, and other Czech composers dedicated their neoclassical compositions to Ars Rediviva (e.g. Hurník's "Sonata da Camera", "Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra").

Ars Rediviva was a Czech classical instrumental music group, whose historically-informed performances played a key role in the revival of Baroque music in Czechoslovakia.


Names.

When immature and "white", this mushroom may be known as common mushroom, white mushroom, button mushroom, cultivated mushroom, table mushroom, and champignon mushroom. When immature and "brown", it may be known variously as Swiss brown mushroom, Roman brown mushroom, Italian brown mushroom, cremini/crimini mushroom, chestnut mushroom, and baby bella.  When marketed in its mature state, the mushroom is brown with a cap measuring. This form is commonly sold under the names portobello mushroom, portabella mushroom, and portobella mushroom, but the etymology is disputed.

Taxonomy.

The common mushroom has a complicated taxonomic history. It was first described by English botanist Mordecai Cubitt Cooke in his 1871 "Handbook of British Fungi", as a variety (var. "hortensis") of "Agaricus campestris". Danish mycologist Jakob Emanuel Lange later reviewed a cultivar specimen, and dubbed it "Psalliota hortensis" var. "bispora" in 1926. In 1938, it was promoted to species status and renamed "Psalliota bispora". Emil Imbach (1897–1970) imparted the current scientific name of the species, "Agaricus bisporus", after the genus "Psalliota" was renamed to "Agaricus" in 1946. The specific epithet "bispora" distinguishes the two-spored basidia from four-spored varieties.

Description.

The pileus or cap of the original wild species is a pale grey-brown in color, with broad, flat scales on a paler background and fading toward the margins. It is first hemispherical in shape before flattening out with maturity, and in diameter. The narrow, crowded gills are free and initially, pink, then red-brown and finally a dark brown with a whitish edge from the cheilocystidia. The cylindrical stipe is up to tall by 1–2 cm wide and bears a thick and narrow ring, which may be streaked on the upper side. The firm flesh is white, although stains a pale pinkish-red on bruising. The spore print is dark brown. The spores are oval to round and measure approximately 4.5–5.5 μm × 5–7.5 μm, and the basidia usually two-spored, although two-tetrasporic varieties have been described from the Mojave Desert and the Mediterranean, with predominantly heterothallic and homothallic lifestyles, respectively.  This mushroom is commonly found worldwide in fields and grassy areas following rain, from late spring through to autumn, especially in association with manure. In many parts of the world it is widely collected and eaten; however, resemblance to deadly or poisonous lookalikes (see below) should be noted.

Lookalike species.

The common mushroom could be confused with young specimens of the deadly poisonous destroying angel ("Amanita" sp.), but the latter may be distinguished by their volva or cup at the base of the mushroom and pure white gills (as opposed to pinkish or brown of "A. bisporus"). Thus it is always important to clear away debris and examine the base of such similar mushrooms, as well as cutting open young specimens to check the gills. Furthermore, the destroying angel grows in mossy woods and lives symbiotically with spruce.  A more common and less dangerous mistake is to confuse "A. bisporus" with "Agaricus xanthodermus", an inedible mushroom found worldwide in grassy areas. "A. xanthodermus" has an odor reminiscent of phenol; its flesh turns yellow when bruised. This fungus causes nausea and vomiting in some people.  The poisonous European species "Entoloma sinuatum" has a passing resemblance as well, but has yellowish gills, turning pink, and it lacks a ring.

Cultivation history.

The earliest scientific description of the commercial cultivation of "A. bisporus" was made by French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in 1707. French agriculturist Olivier de Serres noted that transplanting mushroom mycelia would lead to the propagation of more mushrooms.  Originally, cultivation was unreliable as mushroom growers would watch for good flushes of mushrooms in fields before digging up the mycelium and replanting them in beds of composted manure or inoculating 'bricks' of compressed litter, loam, and manure. Spawn collected this way contained pathogens and crops commonly would be infected or not grow at all. In 1893, sterilized, or pure culture, spawn was discovered and produced by the Pasteur Institute in Paris, for cultivation on composted horse manure.  Today's commercial variety of the common mushroom originally was a light brown color. The white mushroom was discovered one morning in 1925 growing among a bed of brown mushrooms at the Keystone Mushroom Farm in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Louis Ferdinand Lambert, the farm's owner and a mycologist by training, brought the white mushroom back to his laboratory. As with the reception of white bread, it was seen as a more attractive food item and became very popular. Similar to the commercial development history of the navel orange and Red Delicious apple, cultures were grown from the mutant individuals, and most of the cream-colored store mushrooms marketed today are products of this 1925 chance natural mutation.  "A. bisporus" is now cultivated in at least seventy countries throughout the world. Global production in the early 1990s was reported to be more than, worth more than US$2 billion. In the U.S., the white button form of "A. bisporus" alone accounts for about 90% of mushrooms sold.

Nutritional profile.

In a 100-gram serving, raw white mushrooms provide of food energy and are an excellent source (> 19% of the Daily Value, DV) of the B vitamins, riboflavin, niacin, and pantothenic acid (table). Fresh mushrooms are also a good source (10–19% DV) of the dietary mineral phosphorus (table).  While fresh "A. bisporus" only contains 0.2 micrograms (8 IU) of vitamin D as ergocalciferol (vitamin D2), the ergocalciferol content increases substantially after exposure to UV light.

Research.

Some mushrooms contain hydrazine derivatives, including agaritine and gyromitrin, that have been evaluated for carcinogenic activity. Agaritine, a hydrazine, poses no toxicological risk to humans when mushrooms are consumed in typical amounts.

Agaricus bisporus is an edible basidiomycete mushroom native to grasslands in Europe and North America. It has two color states while immature – white and brown – both of which have various names, with additional names for the mature state.


History.

19th century.

The "Marina de Guerra del Perú" was established on 8 October 1821 by the government of general José de San Martín. Its first actions were undertaken during the War of Independence (1821–1824) using captured Spanish warships. The Peruvian Naval Infantry was also formed during the war with Spain, performing successfully in their first battle where they seized Arica from the Spanish.  Shortly afterwards it was engaged in the war against the Gran Colombia (1828–1829) during which it conducted a blockade against the seaport of Guayaquil and then assisted in the subsequent Peruvian occupation. The Navy saw further action during the war of the Peru-Bolivian Confederacy (1836–1839) and during the Chincha Islands War with Spain (1866).  The breakout of the War of the Pacific (1879–1883) caught the Peruvian Navy unprepared and with inferior forces in comparison to the Chilean Navy. Even so, hit-and-run tactics carried out by Peruvian Admiral Miguel Grau, commander of the ironclad, famously delayed the Chilean advance by six months until his death and defeat at the Battle of Angamos.

20th century.

Following the War of the Pacific, the Peruvian Navy had to be completely rebuilt. In 1900 the force consisted of only one cruiser of 1,700 tons displacement, a screw-driven steamer, and ten smaller ships – the latter described by a contemporary British publication as "of no real value". The lengthy process of expansion and rebuilding started in 1907 with the acquisition from the United Kingdom of the scout cruisers and "Coronel Bolognesi", followed by the arrival of two submarines, "Ferré" and "Palacios", from France in 1911. During the Presidency of Augusto B. Leguía (1919–1930) a Navy Ministry was established as well as a Navy Aviation Corps, both in 1920.  Border conflicts with Colombia in 1911 and 1932 and a war with Ecuador in 1941 saw Peruvian warships involved in some skirmishes in support of the Army. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought World War II to the Pacific and even though Peru did not declare war on the Axis until 1945, its Navy was involved in patrol missions against possible threats by the Imperial Japanese Navy from early 1942 up to mid-1945.  During the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s the Peruvian Navy carried out a major buildup programme which allowed it to take advantage over its traditional rival, the Chilean Navy. The navy purchased one cruiser the BAP "Almirante Grau" (CLM-81) from the Netherlands, eight "Carvajal"-class frigates from Italy – four newly purchased and four ex-"Lupo"-class frigates – as well as six PR-72P-class corvettes from France. The buildup proved to be temporary due to the economic crisis of the second half of the 1980s, forcing the decommissioning of several warships and resulting in a general lack of funds for maintenance.  The economic upturn of the 1990s and into the 2000s would later permit some improvement, although at a reduced force level compared to the early 1980s.

21st century.

Into the 21st century, the Peruvian Navy began to modernize their ships. In 2008, the Type 209/1100 submarines were modernized while the "Carvajal"-class frigates began to be modernized in 2011. The Type 209/1200 submarines began to be modernized in late-2017 beginning with the BAP "Chipana" (SS-34).  SIMA has continued to construct ships for the Navy. In 2013, SIMA partnered with Posco Daewoo Corporation and Daesun Shipbuilding of South Korea to construct two "Makassar"-class landing platform docks. The, recently launched on 25 April 2017, as well as the BAP Paita which is currently under construction will provide Peru with increased expeditionary warfare capabilities, with the ability to accommodate multiple Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel, newly purchased LAV IIs and helicopters.  In 2018, a modernization program was initiated to upgrade Peru's Type 209/1200 submarines, the BAP "Chipana""," BAP "Angamos", BAP "Antofagasta" and BAP "Pisagua", with a contract with ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems being made for further assistance with SIMA"."

Organization.

The current Commander-in-Chief of the Peruvian Navy is Admiral Nicolas Rios Polastri. Naval Forces are subordinated to the Ministry of Defense and ultimately to the President as Commander-in-Chief of the Peruvian Armed Forces. They are organized as follows:  Operational units are divided between three commands:  Pacific Operations General Command, it comprises the following units:  Amazon Operations General Command, tasked with river patrolling in the Peruvian portion of the Amazon Basin.  Directive General of Captains and Coast Guard, oversees Coast Guard operations

Coast Guard.

Coast Guard, tasked with law enforcement on Peruvian territorial waters, rivers and lakes. The Peruvian Coast Guard often performs anti-drug trafficking operations within the nation's waters.

Naval Aviation.

The Naval Aviation Force : (Fuerza de Aviación Naval, AVINAV) is the air branch of the Peruvian Navy, its roles include anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, maritime surveillance, reconnaissance and transport of marine personnel. It is also responsible for airborne operations of the Peruvian Marines.

Bases.

Although most of the fleet is based at Callao, this has not been considered an ideal location since it is also the main outlet for Peruvian trade, causing space and security problems. In the 1980s the building of a new naval base at Chimbote was considered though high costs and a poor economic situation made the project unfeasible.

Peacekeeping operations.

The Peruvian Navy has been actively involved in several United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. As of June 2006 Naval Infantry and Special Operations troops have been deployed to United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) (embedded in the Argentine forces ) and United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Peruvian naval officers have also been deployed to United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) as United Nations Militar Observers (UNMOs). By 2012 the Peruvian Navy sent its first officer to serve in United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei.

The Peruvian Navy (, abbreviated MGP, literally "Peruvian War Navy") is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to from the Peruvian littoral. Additional missions include assistance in safeguarding internal security, conducting disaster relief operations and participating in international peacekeeping operations.


Biography.

Audouin was born in Paris and was educated in the field of medicine. In 1824 he was appointed assistant to Pierre André Latreille, professor of entomology at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, where in 1833 he became Latreille's successor. In 1838 he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences.  His principal work, "Histoire des insectes nuisibles à la vigne" (1842), was completed after his death by Henri Milne-Edwards and Émile Blanchard. Many of his papers appeared in the "Annales des sciences naturelles", which, with Adolphe Theodore Brongniart and Jean-Baptiste Dumas, he founded in 1824, as well as in the proceedings of the Société entomologique de France, of which he was one of the founders in 1832. In 1833, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.  Audouin also contributed to other branches of natural history. With Brongniart and Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent, he was co-author of the "Dictionnaire Classique d'Histoire Naturelle", and with Henri Milne-Edwards, he collaborated on a study of marine animals found in French coastal waters. He also completed Marie Jules César Savigny's ornithological section of "Description de l'Egypte" (1826). Audouin also studied amphibians and reptiles, and from 1827 to 1829 he described four new species of lizards and one new species of frog.  In 1843, mycologist David Gruby named the fungal species "Microsporum audouinii" after him. Audouin's gull ("Larus audouinii") is an ornithological species named in his honor, as is the red alga "Audouinella", and in the French language, the term "poche copulatrice d'Audouin" (the copulatory pouch of Audouin) is another name for the spermatheca.

Jean Victor Audouin (27 April 1797 – 9 November 1841), sometimes Victor Audouin, was a French naturalist, an entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and malacologist.


Plot.

Former L.A. SWAT officer Jeff Talley is a hostage negotiator in Los Angeles. One day, Talley negotiates with a man who has taken his wife and son hostage after learning his wife was cheating on him. Shortly after Talley denies a SWAT commander's request to give snipers the order to open fire, the despondent man kills his wife, son, and himself. Traumatized, Talley moves with his family and becomes police chief in Bristo Camino, a fictional suburban hamlet in nearby Ventura County.  A year later, Talley finds himself in another hostage situation. Two troubled teenaged brothers, Dennis and Kevin Kelly, and a sociopathic accomplice, Marshall "Mars" Krupcheck, all very well-armed, take Walter Smith and his two children, Jennifer and Tommy, hostage in the Smith home after a failed robbery attempt. Dennis had told his younger brother to wait in the car, not anticipating the siege to come, but Kevin refused.  A female police officer, Carol Flores, responds after Tommy turns on the silent alarm. She is shot twice by Mars after being informed by dispatch that the red truck (parked by the hostage takers in front of the house) is a stolen vehicle just before Talley arrives. She dies in front of him. Traumatized and unwilling to put himself through another tragedy, Talley hands authority over to the county sheriff and leaves.  Smith had been laundering money for a mysterious right-wing militia and mafia syndicate through offshore shell corporations. He was preparing to turn over a batch of important encrypted files recorded on a DVD when he was taken hostage. To prevent the incriminating evidence from being discovered, the syndicate orders a ruthless operative, known as "the Watchman", to kidnap Talley's wife and daughter. Talley is instructed by "the Watchman", to return to the hostage scene, regain authority, and stall for time until the organization can launch its own attack against Smith's house. Otherwise, Talley's wife and daughter will be murdered.  Dennis forces Kevin and Mars to tie up the children, while he knocks out Smith and finds a small fortune in cash, money which the syndicate had paid Smith. In an attempt to end the standoff and secure the DVDs himself, Talley meets with Dennis and agrees to provide a helicopter in exchange for half of the money.  When the helicopter arrives, Dennis and Kevin bring the money to Talley and prepare to leave, but Mars refuses to leave without Jennifer, with whom he has become infatuated. Talley says the helicopter will only carry three passengers and insists Jennifer stay behind, but the deal breaks down and the boys and Jennifer return to the house. Talley learns that Mars is a sociopath who could turn on the hostages and his own accomplices at any moment. Mars does, in fact, kill Kevin, just as Kevin is about to release the children. Mars then kills Dennis.  The syndicate dispatches fake FBI agents to recover the DVD and they storm the house; Talley is instructed to not go near the house. Jennifer manages to stab Mars, but not fatally, and locks herself and Tommy in the panic room.  Hearing their screams, Talley breaches the house and is attacked by Mars, who then kills most of the fake agents using his pistol and multiple homemade Molotov cocktails. Mars is then shot in the side by the only surviving agent. The agent tracks down Talley and the children, and demands the encrypted DVD. When Talley asks that the children be allowed to leave, the fake agent shoots Talley, but it is not a fatal wound. After Talley gives him the DVD, Mars reappears, carrying two homemade Molotov cocktails, distracting the agent long enough to be killed by Talley. Mars then prepares to throw his last Molotov, but collapses to his knees, weakened by his injuries. He makes eye contact with Jennifer, then drops the Molotov and immolates himself.  Talley escapes with the children by shooting the indoor glass waterfall, which extinguishes the fire caused by Mars' first Molotov. He and a recovered Smith then go to a rundown inn where Talley's wife and daughter are being held captive by the Watchman and his crew.  Smith, feigning hatred for Talley, is freed in exchange for the family. While demanding that the Watchman kill Talley, Smith shoots the Watchman in the head. This allows Talley to kill the other gunmen in similar fashion and rescue his own family.

Production.

The film's plot is roughly the same as Crais's novel. The main difference is that the novel's complicated subplot involving powerful West Coast Mafia crime lord Sonny Benza was removed, with the film giving little explanation of Walter Smith's criminal associates. The film also makes the first group of hostage-takers somewhat younger in age than depicted in the novel. In addition, the criminal syndicate in the film were portrayed as domestic right-wing extremists rather than a Mafia.  Filming took place in the Malibu area (in western Los Angeles County). The exterior views of Smith's lavishly appointed house were filmed at a real house in the unincorporated Topanga Canyon area, between Malibu and Los Angeles; the interior scenes were done on sound stages in Hollywood.  The character Mars, played by Ben Foster, was modeled after Bay Area rap artist Mars by Robert Crais after a friend Dennis Bsharah urged him to look into the horrorcore genre. In the movie adaptation, Foster strongly resembles the rapper. Jonathan Tucker's name was later changed to Dennis.  The movie's opening scenes were filmed in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles, just east of downtown.  The fictional city of Bristo Camino was possibly intended to be a representation of Ojai or Moorpark. Bristo Bay is the name of Bristo Camino in the 2001 Robert Crais "novel".

Reception.

Critical response.

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 35% based on 155 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.  Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four.

Box office.

The film earned $34,639,939 at the United States box office and a total worldwide gross of $77,944,725.

Home media.

"Hostage" was released on DVD & VHS June 21, 2005.

Hostage is a 2005 American action thriller film produced by and starring Bruce Willis and directed by Florent Emilio Siri. The film was based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Robert Crais, and was adapted for the screen by Doug Richardson.


Early life.

LeClair was born on July 5, 1969 in St. Albans, Vermont, a town close to the Canada–US border. He is the son of Robert "Butch" LeClair, a manager of a paint store, and Beverly (Clark), a surgical nurse. LeClair has three older sisters, Mary Kay, Nancy and Susan, and a younger brother, Joseph.  While familiar with the game of hockey, LeClair's father Butch had never actually played the sport himself. Until the 1960s, there was no organized hockey in the Saint Albans area. Despite this, LeClair took notice and asked his father for a pair of hockey skates at the age of six. Butch recalls how the kids in the area first played:  At first, they played in an old railroad shed. Then they got a bunch of people who signed a note and built Coote Field Arena. It was just a metal shack with a lunch bar and an old tractor to scrape the ice. It was kind of primitive, but it worked very well. It produced some good hockey.  Richard Benoit, the father of John's friend Jeremy, created a homemade rink for the kids in his backyard by flooding his volleyball court. Benoit added boards around the edge and installed lights so they could play at night. There was also a shack complete with a heater for the kids to go to warm up if needed.

High school and college years.

When LeClair was a freshman at Bellows Free Academy, he didn't make the very competitive high school team. So, he continued to play in community leagues. In his sophomore year, LeClair made the team and earned attention. "We'd be dumping the puck in (during a line change), and there would be John, in the corner on his knees and hands, five against one, somehow getting the puck out of the corner," recalls Luke Cioffi, a teammate and childhood friend of LeClair's.  Soon, the young LeClair was attracting attention. College scouts began to take notice when he participated as a junior in "Hockey Night in Boston", a showcase for young talent. LeClair decided to pursue college, and he was accepted at the University of Vermont (UVM). At UVM, LeClair's college career was hampered by injuries. Over the course of his sophomore and junior years, he appeared in only 28 games. After missing the first month of his senior season due to meningitis, he finished the season strong with 25 goals and 20 assists in only 33 games.

Playing career.

Montreal Canadiens.

LeClair was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens with the 33rd pick in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft after graduating from Bellows Free Academy (B.F.A.) High School in St. Albans, Vermont. One of the most highly recruited hockey players in New England, LeClair put his NHL aspirations on hold to attend the University of Vermont on a full scholarship. His fans didn't have to wait long to see him score in his first collegiate game. After the final game of his senior year he signed with the Canadiens and, less than a week later, played and scored in his first NHL game. As a member of the Canadiens, LeClair was on the Stanley Cup-winning team in 1993, where he scored two overtime game-winning goals during the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals.

Philadelphia Flyers and the Legion of Doom.

On February 9, 1995, a Montreal team desperate to salvage a difficult season traded LeClair, along with Éric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Mark Recchi and Philadelphia's 3rd round choice in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft (Martin Hohenberger). LeClair gelled immediately with new line-mate Eric Lindros and quickly became one of the NHL's most feared goal scorers.  With the Flyers he played left-wing on the famed "Legion of Doom" line, centered by Lindros and Mikael Renberg on right-wing. The trio was not only effective at scoring but they were also a dominant physical presence on the ice. In 1998, LeClair became the first American-born NHL player to record three consecutive 50-goal seasons and the second Flyer to do so, behind Tim Kerr. Following the 1997–98 NHL season, LeClair had two consecutive 40 goal seasons.  LeClair played for the Flyers for 10 seasons and was one of the most productive players in franchise history, scoring 333 goals and an additional 35 in the playoffs, statistics good enough to place him in the top 10 Flyers' career goal scorers.

Pittsburgh Penguins.

On July 23, 2005, as a result of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement which finally introduced a salary cap to the NHL, the Flyers were forced to part ways with their longtime alternate captain, and they bought out LeClair's contract to create cap space. Rumors had LeClair going to the Boston Bruins or perhaps the Toronto Maple Leafs. Instead, LeClair signed a two-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins on August 15, 2005. LeClair had a successful season in Pittsburgh during the 2005–06 NHL season, finishing fourth on the team in scoring as he passed the 400-goal mark and had his ninth 50+ point season.

Other information.

LeClair is president of the "John LeClair Foundation" which awards grants to non-profit Vermont organizations that sponsor programs for children. He currently divides his time between Haverford Township, Pennsylvania and his hometown of St. Albans, Vermont. LeClair was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009, the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, and the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame in 2014.

John Clark LeClair (born July 5, 1969) is an American former professional ice hockey player who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins. With the Flyers, LeClair became the first American-born player to score 50 goals in three consecutive NHL seasons while playing on the Legion of Doom line with Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg. LeClair was a member of the Montreal Canadiens' Stanley Cup winning team in 1993.