Biography.

Born in Sveaborg (now part of Helsinki), Vissarion Belinsky lived in the town of Chembar (now Belinsky in Belinsky District of Penza Oblast) and in Penza, where he studied in (1825–1829). In 1829–1832 he was a student of Moscow University. In Moscow he published his first famous articles.  In 1839 Belinsky went to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he became a respected critic and editor of two major literary magazines: "Otechestvennye Zapiski" ("Notes of the Fatherland"), and "Sovremennik" ("The Contemporary"). In both magazines Belinsky worked with younger Nikolay Nekrasov.  He was unlike most of the other Russian intellectuals of the 1830s and 1840s. The son of a rural medical doctor, he was not a wealthy aristocrat. The fact that Belinsky was relatively underprivileged meant, among other effects, that he was mainly self-educated; this was partly due to being expelled from Moscow University for political activity. But it was less for his philosophical skill that Belinsky was admired and more for emotional commitment and fervor. “For me, to think, to feel, to understand and to suffer are one and the same thing,” he liked to say. This was, of course, true to the Romantic ideal, to the beliefs that real understanding comes not only from mere thinking (reason), but also from intuitive insight. This combination of thinking and feeling pervaded Belinsky's life.  Ideologically, Belinsky shared, but with exceptional intellectual and moral passion, the central value of most of Westernizer intelligentsia: the notion of the individual self, a person (lichnost’(личность)), that which makes people human, and gives them dignity and rights. With this idea in hand (which he arrived at through a complex intellectual struggle) faced the world around him armed to do battle. He took on much conventional philosophical thinking among educated Russians, including the dry and abstract philosophizing of the German idealists and their Russian followers. In his words, “What is it to me that the Universal exists when the individual personality [lichnost’] is suffering.” Or: “The fate of the individual, of the person, is more important than the fate of the whole world.” Also upon this principle, Belinsky constructed an extensive critique of the world around him (especially the Russian one). He bitterly criticized autocracy and serfdom (as “trampling upon everything that is even remotely human and noble”) but also poverty, prostitution, drunkenness, bureaucratic coldness, and cruelty toward the less powerful (including women). Belinsky worked most of his short life as a literary critic. His writings on literature were inseparable from these moral judgments. Belinsky believed that the only realm of freedom in the repressive reign of Nicholas I was through the written word. What Belinsky required most of a work of literature was “truth.” This meant not only a probing portrayal of real life (he hated works of mere fantasy, or escape, or aestheticism), but also commitment to “true” ideas — the correct moral stance (above all this meant a concern for the dignity of individual people): As he told Nikolai Gogol (in a famous letter) the public “is always ready to forgive a writer for a bad book [i.e. aesthetically bad], but never for a pernicious one [ideologically and morally bad].” Belinsky viewed Gogol's recent book, "Correspondence with Friends", as pernicious because it renounced the need to “awaken in the people a sense of their human dignity, trampled down in the mud and the filth for so many centuries.”  Fyodor Dostoevsky read aloud at several public events Belinsky's letter, which called for the end of serfdom. A secret press was assembled to print and distribute Belinsky's letter. For these offenses Dostoevsky was arrested, convicted and condemned to death in 1849, a sentence later commuted to 4 years incarceration in the prison camps of Siberia.  In his role as perhaps the most influential liberal critic and ideologist of his day, Belinsky advocated literature that was socially conscious. He hailed Fyodor Dostoyevsky's first novel, "Poor Folk" (1845), however, Dostoevsky soon thereafter broke with Belinsky.  Inspired by these ideas, which led to thinking about radical changes in society's organization, Belinsky began to call himself a socialist starting in 1841. Among his last great efforts were his move to join Nikolay Nekrasov in the popular magazine "The Contemporary" (also known as "Sovremennik"), where the two critics established the new literary center of St. Petersburg and Russia. At that time Belinsky published his "Literary Review for the Year 1847".  In 1848, shortly before his death, Belinsky granted full rights to Nikolay Nekrasov and his magazine, "The Contemporary" ("Sovremennik"), to publish various articles and other material originally planned for an almanac, to be called the Leviathan.  Belinsky died of consumption on the eve of his arrest by the Tsar's police on account of his political views. In 1910, Russia celebrated the centenary of his birth with enthusiasm and appreciation.  His surname has variously been spelled "Belinsky" or "Byelinski". His works, in twelve volumes, were first published in 1859–1862. Following the expiration of the copyright in 1898, several new editions appeared. The best of these is by S. Vengerov; it is supplied with profuse notes.  Belinsky early supported the work of Ivan Turgenev. The two became close friends and Turgenev fondly recalls Belinsky in his book "Literary Reminiscences and Autobiographical Fragments". The British writer Isaiah Berlin has a chapter on Belinsky on his 1978 book "Russian Thinkers". Here he points out some deficiencies of Belinsky's critical insight:  He was wildly erratic, and all his enthusiasm and seriousness and integrity do not make up for lapses of insight or intellectual power. He declared that Dante was not a poet; that Fenimore Cooper was the equal of Shakespeare; that "Othello" was the product of a barbarous age...  But further on in the same essay, Berlin remarks:  Because he was naturally responsive to everything that was living and genuine, he transformed the concept of the critic's calling in his native country. The lasting effect of his work was in altering and altering crucially and irretrievably, the moral and social outlook of the leading younger writers and thinkers of his time. He altered the quality and the tone both of the experience and of the expression of so much Russian thought and feeling that his role as a dominant social influence overshadows his attainments as a literary critic. Berlin's book introduced Belinsky to playwright Tom Stoppard, who included Belinsky as one of the principal characters in his trilogy of plays about Russian writers and activists: "The Coast of Utopia" (2002)

Streets named after Belinsky.

Belinsky Street and Belinsky Lane, close to Red Square in Moscow, were named after Belinsky from 1920–1994.

Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky (; – ) was a Russian literary critic of Westernizing tendency. Belinsky played one of the key roles in the career of poet and publisher Nikolay Nekrasov and his popular magazine "Sovremennik". He was the most influential of the Westernizers, especially among the younger generation. He worked primarily as a literary critic, because that area was less heavily censored than political pamphlets. He agreed with Slavophiles that society had precedence over individualism, but he insisted the society had to allow the expression of individual ideas and rights. He strongly opposed Slavophiles on the role of Orthodoxy, which he considered a retrograde force. He emphasized reason and knowledge, and attacked autocracy and theocracy.


Early life.

Mikita was born in Sokolče, Slovak Republic, as Stanislav Guoth and raised in a small farming community there until late 1948, but moved to St. Catharines, Ontario, as a young boy. He was adopted by his aunt and uncle, Anna and Joe Mikita, who gave him their surname. Stan, considered himself Slovak, and mentioned in interviews how proud he was of his Slovak origin.

Playing career.

After three starring junior seasons with the St. Catharines Teepees of the Ontario Hockey Association, Mikita was promoted to the parent Chicago Black Hawks in. In his second full year, in 1961, the Black Hawks won their third Stanley Cup. The young centre led the entire league in goals during the playoffs, scoring a total of six.  The following season was his breakout year. Mikita became a star as centre of the famed "Scooter Line", with right wing Ken Wharram and left wingers Ab McDonald and Doug Mohns. Combining skilled defense and a reputation as one of the game's best faceoff men using his innovative curved stick, Mikita led the league in scoring four times in the decade, tying Bobby Hull's year-old single-season scoring mark in with 97 points (a mark broken two years later by former teammate Phil Esposito and currently held by Wayne Gretzky). The season, an 87-point effort from Mikita, was the last year a Chicago player won the scoring title until Patrick Kane's 106-point season.  In his early years, Mikita was among the most penalized players in the league, but he then decided to play a cleaner game and went on to win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for particularly sportsmanlike conduct combined with excellence twice. Mikita's drastic change in behavior came after he returned home from a road trip. His wife told him that while their daughter, Meg, was watching the Black Hawks' last road game on television, she turned and said, "Mommy, why does Daddy spend so much time sitting down?" The camera had just shown Mikita in the penalty box again.  During his playing career, in 1973, Mikita teamed up with Chicago businessman Irv Tiahnybik to form the American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association (AHIHA), to bring together deaf and hard-of-hearing hockey players from all over the country, and he founded the Stan Mikita School for the Hearing Impaired, inspired by a friend's deaf son who was an aspiring goalie. He also helped bring the Special Olympics to Chicago, bringing his family out to volunteer at races.

Curved stick use.

Mikita and teammate Bobby Hull were a well-known forward duo in the 1960s, gaining notoriety for using sticks with curved blades. Such sticks gave a comparative advantage to shooters versus goaltenders. As a result, the NHL limited blade curvature to 1⁄2" in 1970. Mikita reportedly began the practice after his standard stick got caught in a bench door, bending the blade before he hit the ice; he soon was borrowing a propane torch from team trainers to create a deliberate curve.  Mikita was also one of the first players to wear a helmet full-time, after a December 1967 game in which an errant shot tore a piece off one of his ears (it was stitched back on).

Retirement.

Mikita's later years were marred by chronic back injuries, leading to his retirement during the 1979–80 season. At that time, only Gordie Howe and Phil Esposito had scored more points in the NHL, and just six players had appeared in more games. Mikita was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, and into the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.  After retiring, Mikita became a golf pro at Kemper Lakes Golf Club. His other business interests, under Stan Mikita Enterprises, included making the small plastic sauce containers that accompany chicken nuggets at McDonald's. He owned Stan Mikita's Village Inn in the 1960s and 1970s, located in the Oakbrook Shopping Center, Oak Brook, Illinois.  Mikita provided the foreword to the children's book "My Man Stan" by Tim Wendel. Mikita is featured as a main character in the book.  He became a goodwill ambassador for the Blackhawks' organization, and in fall of 2011, the Blackhawks raised a statue honouring Mikita at Gate 31⁄2 at Chicago's United Center. For three decades the Blackhawks Alumni Association has hosted an annual golf tournament named in Mikita's honour.  Mikita ranks 14th in regular season points scored in the history of the NHL, and just three other players (Steve Yzerman, Alex Delvecchio, and Nicklas Lidström) have appeared in more games while playing for only one team over their careers.  Mikita appeared as himself in a cameo role in the film "Wayne's World", which featured a "Stan Mikita" doughnut shop, spoofing the Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons (co-founded by Hockey Hall of Fame member Tim Horton). A restaurant named "Stan Mikita's" and closely resembling the movie's version opened in 1994 at the Virginia amusement park Kings Dominion and at Paramount Carowinds in Charlotte.

Illness and death.

On May 24, 2011, Mikita was diagnosed with oral cancer and began external beam radiation therapy. On January 30, 2015, the "Chicago Tribune" released this statement from his wife: "Stan has been diagnosed with suspected Lewy body dementia, a progressive disease, and was under the care of compassionate and understanding care givers". In June, 2015, it was stated that Mikita had no memory of his former life and was being cared for by his wife Jill.  Mikita died at the age of 78 on August 7, 2018. He was survived by his wife, four children and nine grandchildren. On September 14, 2019, it was reported by the Boston University CTE Center, that upon performing a posthumous study of Mikita's brain, it was found that he suffered from stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, at the time of his death. This marked Mikita as the first hall of famer to ever have been diagnosed with the disease.

Career statistics.

Statistics via HockeyDB

Stanley Mikita (born Stanislav Guoth; May 20, 1940 – August 7, 2018) was a Slovak-born Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League, generally regarded as the best centre of the 1960s. In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players.


History.

The city traces its history to 1795 when the British industrialist Charles Gascoigne founded a metal factory near the Zaporizhian Cossacks settlement Kamianyi Brid. The settlement around the factory was known as "Luganskiy Zavod". In 1882 the factory settlement Luganskiy Zavod was merged with the town of Kamianyi Brid into the city of Luhansk. Located in the Donets Basin, Luhansk developed into an important industrial center of Eastern Europe, particularly as a home to the major locomotive-building company Luhanskteplovoz. The city was occupied by Nazi Germany between 14 July 1942 and 14 February 1943.  On 5 November 1935, the city was renamed Voroshilovgrad (; ) in honour of Soviet military commander and politician Kliment Voroshilov. On 5 March 1958, with the call of Khrushchev not to give names of living people to cities, the old name was reinstated. On 5 January 1970, after the death of Voroshilov on 2 December 1969, the name changed again to Voroshilovgrad. Finally, on 4 May 1990, a decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR gave the city back its original name.  In 1994 a referendum took place in the Donetsk Oblast and the Luhansk Oblast, with around 90% supporting the Russian language gaining status of an official language alongside Ukrainian, and for the Russian language to be an official language on a regional level; however, the referendum was annulled by the Ukrainian government.  During the War in Donbass, separatists seized governmental buildings in the region, proclaiming the Luhansk People's Republic. An independence referendum, unconstitutional under the Ukrainian law, was held on 11 May 2014. This referendum was not recognized as legitimate by any government except South Ossetia. Ukraine does not recognize the referendum, while the EU and US said the referendums were illegal. The Republic of South Ossetia, a state with very limited international recognition, considered the referendum legitimate and recognized its outcome.  On 25 June 2014, Luhansk was officially pronounced as the capital of the Luhansk People's Republic by the government of the separatist republic.  In August 2014, Ukrainian government forces completely surrounded rebel-held Luhansk. Heavy shelling caused civilian casualties in the city. On 17 August, Ukrainian soldiers entered the rebel-controlled Luhansk and for a time had control over a police station.  After the Ilovaisk counteroffensive, LPR forces regained Lutuhyne and other Luhansk suburbs. Ukrainian forces withdrew from the Luhansk International Airport on 1 September after heavy fighting.  Luhansk became the capital and the administrative center of the rebel state of Luhansk People's Republic. The administration of the Luhansk Oblast was moved to Sievierodonetsk by the government of Ukraine.

Higher education.

Some of the more prestigious universities in Ukraine have their home in Luhansk. Luhansk is the location of the main campus of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Luhansk, East Ukrainian Volodymyr Dahl National University and of Luhansk State Medical University.

Demographics.

In the Ukrainian Census of 2001, 49.6% of the inhabitants declared themselves as ethnically Ukrainians and 47% declared themselves as ethnically Russian. The most widespread native language was Russian, at 85.3% of the population. Ukrainian was the native language for 13.7% of the population, and there was also smaller numbers of speakers of Armenian (0.2%) and Belarusian (0.1%).

Sport.

Lugansk is home to Zorya Luhansk which now plays in the Ukrainian Premier League annual football championship and plays at the Avanhard Stadium. The club won the 1972 Soviet Top League.  The other football team was Dynamo Luhansk.

Merheleva Ridge.

On 7 September 2006, archaeologists in Ukraine announced that an ancient structure had been discovered near Luhansk, which the press reported as a pyramid antedating those in Egypt by at least 300 years. The stone foundations of the structure were said to resemble Aztec and Mayan pyramids in Mesoamerica. It was later concluded that the site in question was not a pyramid but was still of great interest.

Gallery.

During 2014 and 2015, Luhansk has been the scene of intense fighting and most of these buildings are damaged to some extent. Some may be destroyed.

Climate.

Luhansk features hot summer humid continental climate ("Dfa"), it has both the highest and lowest temperature recorded in Ukraine; a record high of was recorded on 12 August 2010 while a record low of was recorded on 8 January 1935.

International relations.

Luhansk is twinned with:

Luhansk or Lugansk (, ;,,, ;, ), formerly known as Voroshilovgrad (1935–1958 and 1970–1990), is internationally recognized as a city in eastern Ukraine, but effectively, Luhansk is the capital and administrative center of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), an unrecognized state that was established in 2014.


Name.

The name "Heimskringla" comes from the fact that the first words of the first saga in the compilation ("Ynglinga saga") are "Kringla heimsins", "the orb of the Earth".

Manuscript history.

The earliest parchment copy of the work is referred to as "Kringla", now in the Reykjavík National Library, catalogued as Lbs fragm 82. This is now a single vellum leaf from c. 1260, a part of the Saga of St. Olaf; the rest of the manuscript was lost to fire in 1728.

Summary.

"Heimskringla" consists of several sagas, often thought of as falling into three groups, giving the overall work the character of a triptych. The saga narrates the contests of the kings, the establishment of the kingdom of Norway, Viking expeditions to various European countries, ranging as far afield as Palestine in the saga of Sigurd the Crusader. The stories are told with a life and freshness, giving a picture of human life in all its reality. The saga is a prose epic, relevant to the history not only of Scandinavia but the regions included in the wider medieval Scandinavian diaspora. The first part of the "Heimskringla" is rooted in Norse mythology; as the collection proceeds, fable and fact intermingle, but the accounts become increasingly historically reliable.  The first section tells of the mythological prehistory of the Norwegian royal dynasty, tracing Odin, described here as a mortal man, and his followers from the East, from Asaland and Asgard, its chief city, to their settlement in Scandinavia (more precisely to east-central Sweden, according to Snorri). The subsequent sagas are (with few exceptions) devoted to individual rulers, starting with Halfdan the Black.  A version of "Óláfs saga helga", about the saint Olaf II of Norway, is the main and central part of the collection: Olaf's 15-year-long reign takes up about one third of the entire work.  Thereafter, the saga of Harald Hardrada narrates Harald's expedition to the East, his brilliant exploits in Constantinople, Syria, and Sicily, his skaldic accomplishments, and his battles in England against Harold Godwinson, the son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, where he fell at the battle Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 only a few days before Harold fell at the Battle of Hastings. After presenting a series of other kinds, the saga ends with Magnus V of Norway.

Contents.

"Heimskringla" contains the following sagas (see also List of Norwegian monarchs):

Sources.

Snorri explicitly mentions a few prose sources, now mostly lost in the form that he knew them: "Hryggjarstykki" ('spine pieces') by Eiríkr Oddsson (covering events 1130-61), "Skjǫldunga saga", an unidentified saga about Knútr inn gamli, and a text called "Jarlasǫgurnar" ('sagas of the jarls', which seems to correspond to the saga now known as "Orkneyinga saga").  Snorri may have had access to a wide range of the early Scandinavian historical texts known today as the'synoptic histories', but made most use of:  Snorri also made extensive use of skaldic verse which he believed to have been composed at the time of the events portrayed and transmitted orally from that time onwards, and clearly made use of other oral accounts, though it is uncertain to what extent.

Historical reliability.

Up until the mid-19th century, historians put great trust in the factual truth of Snorri's narrative, as well as other old Norse sagas. In the early 20th century, this trust was largely abandoned with the advent of "saga criticism", pioneered by Lauritz and Curt Weibull. These historians pointed out that Snorri's work had been written several centuries after most of the events it describes. In Norway, the historian Edvard Bull famously proclaimed that "we have to give up all illusions that Snorri's mighty epic bears any deeper resemblance to what actually happened" in the time it describes. A school of historians has come to believe that the motives Snorri and the other saga writers give to their characters owe more to conditions in the 13th century than in earlier times.  "Heimskringla" has, however, continued to be used as a historical source, though with more caution. It is not common to believe in the detailed accuracy of the historical narrative and historians tend to see little to no historical truth behind the first few sagas, however, they are still seen by many as a valuable source of knowledge about the society and politics of medieval Norway. The factual content of the work tends to be deemed more credible where it discusses more recent times, as the distance in time between the events described and the composition of the saga was shorter, allowing traditions to be retained in a largely accurate form, and because in the twelfth century the first contemporary written sources begin to emerge in Norway.

Influence.

Whereas prior to "Heimskringla" there seems to have been a diversity of efforts to write histories of kings, Snorri's "Heimskringla" seems thereafter to have been the basis for Icelandic writing about Scandinavian kings, and was expanded by scribes rather than entirely revised. "Flateyjarbók", from the end of the fourteenth century, is the most extreme example of expansion, interweaving Snorri's text with many "þættir" and other whole sagas, prominently "Orkneyinga saga", "Færeyinga saga", and "Fóstbrœðra saga".  The text is also referenced in "Journey to the Center of the Earth" by Jules Verne; the work is the one Professor Liedenbrock finds Arne Saknussem's note in.

Editions and translations.

History of translations.

By the mid-16th century, the Old Norse language was unintelligible to Norwegian, Swedish or Danish readers. At that time several translations of extracts were made in Norway into the Danish language, which was the literary language of Norway at the time. The first complete translation was made around 1600 by Peder Claussøn Friis, and printed in 1633. This was based on a manuscript known as "Jofraskinna".  Subsequently, the Stockholm manuscript was translated into Swedish and Latin by Johan Peringskiöld (by order of Charles XI) and published in 1697 at Stockholm under the title "Heimskringla", which is the first known use of the name. This edition also included the first printing of the text in Old Norse. A new Danish translation with the text in Old Norse and a Latin translation came out in 1777–83 (by order of Frederick VI as crown prince). An English translation by Samuel Laing was finally published in 1844, with a second edition in 1889. Starting in the 1960s English-language revisions of Laing appeared, as well as fresh English translations.  In the 19th century, as Norway was achieving independence after centuries of union with Denmark and Sweden, the stories of the independent Norwegian medieval kingdom won great popularity in Norway. Heimskringla, although written by an Icelander, became an important national symbol for Norway during the period of romantic nationalism. In 1900, the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, subsidized the publication of new translations of Heimskringla into both Norwegian written forms, landsmål and riksmål, "in order that the work may achieve wide distribution at a low price".

Translations.

The most recent English translation of "Heimskringla" is by Alison Finlay and Anthony Faulkes and is available open-access.

Heimskringla () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name "Heimskringla" was first used in the 17th century, derived from the first two words of one of the manuscripts ("kringla heimsins", "the circle of the world").


Etymology.

"Quetta", which is a variation of "Kōṭ", is a Pashto word meaning "fortress".

History.

The immediate area has long been one of pastures and mountains, with varied plants and animals relative to the dry plains to the west.  From 11th century CE and the land of Quetta was owned and ruled by the royal tribe of Pashtuns Kasi. It was captured by Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi during his invasion of South Asia. In 1543, Mughal emperor Humayun came to Quetta en route to Safavid Persia, leaving his son and future Mughal emperor Akbar here. In 1709, the region was a part of Afghan Hotak dynasty and stayed a part until 1747 when Ahmed Shah Durrani conquered it and made it a part of Durrani Empire. The first European visited Quetta in 1828, describing it as "mud-walled fort surrounded by three hundred mud houses".  In 1876 Quetta was occupied by the British and subsequently incorporated into British India. In 1856, British General John Jacob had urged his government to occupy Quetta given its strategic position on the western frontier. British Troops constructed the infrastructure for their establishment. By the time of the earthquake on 31 May 1935, Quetta had developed into a bustling city with a number of multi-storey buildings and so was known as "Little London". The epicenter of the earthquake was close to the city and destroyed most of the city's infrastructure, killing an estimated 40,000 people.

Geography.

Climate.

Quetta has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen "BSk") with a significant variation between summer and winter temperatures. Summer starts about late May and goes on until early September with average temperatures ranging from. The highest temperature in Quetta is which was recorded on 10 July 1998. Autumn starts in mid-September and continues until mid-November with average temperatures in the range. Winter starts in late November and ends in late February, with average temperatures near. The lowest temperature in Quetta is which was recorded on 8 January 1970. Spring starts in early March and ends in mid-May, with average temperatures close to. Unlike more easterly parts of Pakistan, Quetta does not have a monsoon season of heavy rainfall. Highest rainfall during 24 hours in Quetta is which was recorded on 17 December 2000, Highest monthly rainfall of was recorded in March 1982, also the year of the highest annual rainfall, at. In the winter, snowfall has become quite erratic (December, January and February).  The city saw a severe drought from 1999 to 2001, during which the city did not receive snowfall and below normal rains. In 2002 the city received snow after a gap of five years. In 2004 and 2005, the city received normal rains after three years without snowfall while in 2006, 2007 and 2009 the city received no snow. In 2008 Quetta received a snowfall of in four hours on 29 January, followed on 2 February by in 10 hours – the city's heaviest snowfall in a decade. During the winter of 2010 it received no snow and saw below normal rains due to the presence of El-Nino over Pakistan.

Demographics.

The population of the city is around one million. In 2016, it was estimated at 1,140,000, but the 2017 Census revealed a total of 1,001,205. This makes it the largest city in Balochistan province and one of the major cities of Pakistan. The scholars disagree about the demographics of the city. According to some, the city has a Pashtun plurality followed by Baloch people, other indigenous people of Balochistan, Hazaras and lastly the settlers from other areas of Pakistan. Others think the city has a Pashtun majority followed by Balochs Hazaras, Brahui, Punjabis and Muhajir people. Urdu being national language is used and understood by all the residents and serves as a lingua franca.  According to Reuters and the BBC, there are as many as 500,000-600,000 Hazaras living in Quetta and its surrounding areas.

Administration.

At the local level, the city is governed by a municipal corporation consisting of 66 ward members which elects a mayor and a deputy mayor.

Transportation.

Quetta is on the western side of Pakistan and is connected to the rest of the country by a network of roads, railways and its international airport close to its center.  At an altitude of above sea level, Quetta Airport is the second highest airport in Pakistan. Pakistan International Airlines has regular flights to and from the other major cities of Pakistan including Islamabad, Gwadar, Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.  Quetta Railway Station is one of the highest railway stations in Pakistan at above sea level. The railway track was laid in the 1890s during the British era to link Quetta with rest of the country. The extensive network of Pakistan Railways connects Quetta to Karachi in the south, by a track, Lahore in the northeast (1,170 km or 727 miles) and Peshawar further northeast (1,587 km or 986 miles). A metalled road runs alongside the railway that connects Quetta to Karachi via the nearby town of Sibi to Jacobabad and Rohri in the plain of the River Indus.

Education.

Quetta serves as the learning centre for the Balochistan province. The city has a number of government and private colleges, including the following:

Sports.

Cricket and football are the two most popular sports among the people of Quetta. Football teams from Quetta include Quetta Zorawar, Muslim FC, Hazara Green Football, Baluch Football and Quetta Bazigars Club. The Quetta Bears represent the city in List A tournaments, while the Quetta Gladiators compete in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).  Boxing is highly popular, as well. In hockey, Quetta has produced Zeeshan Ashraf and Shakeel Abbasi, who were members of the Pakistan's national hockey team.

Muhammad Waseem.

Muhammad Waseem is a professional boxer he is from Quetta. Known for his quick and swift style of boxing, Waseem is nicknamed "Falcon".

Facilities.

The Shaheed Nauoroz Stadium is the largest stadium in the city. The city also has Ayub National Stadium, a multipurpose stadium used for football and cricket and Bugti Stadium for cricket.  Local facilities were created in the city for mountain climbing and caving as well as water sports. Hayatullah Khan Durrani (Pride of Performance) is the chief executive of Hayat Durrani Water Sports Academy the Balochistan's first and only Rowing, Canoeing, Kayaking, Sailing, rough swimming and boating academy where all such facilities provides free to the youth members at Hanna Lake. In kayaking, Muhammad Abubakar Durrani, National Junior Champion was selected for the world Junior Canoeing Championship in 2009 in Moscow.

Quetta ( "Kwaṭa"; ; ; ; ; formerly known as Shalkot () is the provincial capital and largest city of Balochistan, Pakistan. It is also the 10th largest city of Pakistan. It was largely destroyed in the 1935 Quetta earthquake, but was rebuilt and has a population of 1,001,205 according to the census of 2017. Quetta is at an average elevation of above sea level, making it Pakistan's only high-altitude major city. The city is known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan," due to the numerous fruit orchards in and around it, and the large variety of fruits and dried fruit products produced there.


Geography.

Sestriere has 929 inhabitants and is located on the pass that links Val Chisone and Val Susa, at above mean sea level The village is completely surrounded by mountains, which have been exploited to build one of the biggest ski resorts in Italy. The main mountains around Sestriere are: Monte Fraiteve in the north-east, Monte Sises, Punta Rognosa di Sestriere and Monte Motta in the south-east. Sestriere is divided into several smaller hamlets: Sestriere Colle, on the pass top, Sestriere Borgata, in Val Chisone, Champlas du Col and Champlas Janvier, in Val Susa.

History.

Formerly, the pass belonged to the municipality of Cesana, but from 18 October 1934 the area was unified with the hamlet of Borgata (formerly belonging to Pragelato) to create the new municipality of Sestriere. The ski resorts at Sestriere were built in the 1930s by Giovanni Agnelli and have been further developed after the Second World War by his nephew Giovanni Nasi.

Tourism.

Winter sports.

Sestriere is a popular skiing resort; during the winter holidays the population goes up to about 20,000 people. Together with the villages of Pragelato, Claviere, Sauze d'Oulx, Cesana Torinese and San Sicario, and Montgenèvre in France, it makes up the Via Lattea (Milky Way) skiing area. Sestriere is connected to 146 skiable pistes, for a total of up to of trails, of which 120 are provided with artificial snow. Sestriere has also one of the few facilities where it is possible to ski at night on a floodlit run.  It regularly hosts FIS Alpine Ski World Cup events, and it hosted the FIS World Championships in 1997, and the IPC World Championships in 2011. It was a main venue during the 2006 Winter Olympic Games and the 2006 Winter Paralympics, hosting all the men's alpine skiing competitions and being the site of one of the three Olympic Villages. The two hotel towers, one of which was part of the Olympic Village, were built in the 1930s by FIAT's founder Giovanni Agnelli, and have become the symbol of the village; these were the first buildings of the village.

Linked resorts (Via Lattea).

Pragelato - the resort is part of the Via Lattea (Milky Way), is connected to this area by the Pattemouche-Anfiteatro cableway, built in 2006. Claviere - This small resort is just over the border in Italy and is included in the Monts de la lune lift pass. It is where the Olympic cross country ski teams practised for the Olympics in 2006.  San Sicario - The biathlon and Alpine skiing events were held there in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. They also held the bobsleigh and luge events here. One can attempt the Olympic women's super G and downhill courses.  Sauze d'Oulx - Free Style Skiing Olympic events held here in 2006. The resort is acclaimed for its lively après-ski.  Serre Chevalier - Nearby French resort with over of skiing. There is a free day of skiing here on your lift pass.  Montgenèvre - Nearby French resort with over of pistes. Montgenevre's ski area has 8 green runs, 12 blue, 22 red and 10 black slopes and is linked to the Via Lattea (Milky Way) ski area. There is a free day of skiing here on your lift pass.

Summer sports.

In the summertime it is possible to play golf on Europe's highest 18-hole course.  It is also a starting and arrival point in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia. It was the scene of the moment in Lance Armstrong's career when he rode away from the field in a breakaway uphill finish to take the stage in the 1999 Tour de France, which was the first time he won the race, although he was later stripped of his seven victories.  Due to its location across two valleys, Sestriere is close to several hiking paths.  Sestriere organized an International Athletics Meeting from 1988 until 1995 and in 2004. Due to Sestiere's altitude the organizers aimed to meet conditions that enabled athletes to perform on world record level. The Ferrari company sponsored the meeting and set a new Ferrari car as prize for breaking world records.

Transportation.

Due to its position, Sestriere can only be reached by car or bus.  Trains from Torino stop in Oulx (Val Susa). From there, several buses bring passengers to Sestriere.  The highway also stops in Oulx, but a municipal road leads to the village in 20 minutes.

Sestriere (,, ) is an alpine village in Italy, a "comune" (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is situated in Val Susa, from the French border. Its name derives from Latin: "ad petram sistrariam", that is at sixty Roman miles from Turin.


Early years.

The first recorded proposal of a Wikimedia news site was a two-line anonymous post on January 5, 2003, on Wikipedia community's Meta-Wiki. Daniel Alston, who edited Wikipedia as Fonzy, claimed to have been the one who posted it. The proposal was then further developed by German freelance journalist, software developer, and author Erik Möller. Early opposition from long-time Wikipedia contributors, many of them pointing out the existence of Wikipedia's own news summaries, gave way to detailed discussions and proposals about how it could be implemented as a new project of the Wikimedia Foundation.  In November 2004, a demonstration wiki was established to show how such a collaborative news site might work. A month later, in December 2004, the site was moved out of the "demo" stage and into the beta stage. A German language edition was launched at the same time. Soon editions in Italian, Dutch, French, Spanish, Swedish, Bulgarian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Thai, Norwegian, Chinese, Turkish, Korean, Hungarian, Greek, Esperanto, Czech, Albanian, and Tamil (in that chronological order) were set up.  On March 13, 2005, the English edition of Wikinews reached 1,000 news articles. A few months later in September 2005, the project moved to the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license. It reached 5,000 articles on April 29, 2006, and 10,000 on September 5, 2007.

Interviews.

Wikinews reporters have conducted interviews with several notable people, including an interview in December 2007 with Israeli President Shimon Peres by Wikinews reporter David Shankbone. Shankbone had been invited to conduct the interview by the America-Israel Friendship League and the Israeli foreign ministry.  Other notable interviews have included writers, actors, and politicians, such as Augusten Burroughs, several 2008 U.S. Republican Party nomination hopefuls as well as various U.S. independent and third party presidential candidates, Tony Benn, Eric Bogosian, Nick Smith, John Key, and World Wide Web co-inventor Robert Cailliau.

Criticism.

Wikinews has been criticized for its perceived inability to be neutral or include only verified and true information. Robert McHenry, former editor-in-chief of the "Encyclopædia Britannica", criticized the credibility of the project:  McHenry was skeptical about Wikinews' ability to provide a neutral point of view and its claim to be evenhanded: "The naïveté is stunning."  In a 2007 interview Sue Gardner, at that time a special adviser to the board of the Wikimedia Foundation and former head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Internet division, CBC.ca, dismissed McHenry's comment, stating:  Wikinews has also had issues with maintaining a separate identity from Wikipedia, which also covers major news events in real-time. Columnist Jonathan Dee of "The New York Times" pointed out in 2007 that "So indistinct has the line between past and present become that Wikipedia has inadvertently all but strangled one of its sister projects, the three-year-old Wikinews... [Wikinews] has sunk into a kind of torpor; lately it generates just 8 to 10 articles a day... On bigger stories there's just no point in competing with the ruthless purview of the encyclopedia." Andrew Lih and Zachary M. Seward commented on the continuing issue in a 2010 piece in the Nieman Journalism Lab, "Why Wikipedia beats Wikinews as a collaborative journalism project." Lih wrote "it's not clear that the wiki process really gears itself towards deadlines and group narrative writing" and that "if you're trying to write something approaching a feature piece, it's much harder to get more than two or three people to stay consistent with the style." Lih considers Wikipedia's stricter "formula" for article composition an advantage in a large wiki with many editors.

Wikinews is a free-content news source wiki and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. The site works through collaborative journalism. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has distinguished Wikinews from Wikipedia by saying "on Wikinews, each story is to be written as a news story as opposed to an encyclopedia article." The neutral point of view policy espoused in Wikinews distinguishes it from other citizen journalism efforts such as Indymedia and OhmyNews. In contrast to most projects of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikinews allows original work under the form of original reporting and interviews.


Ecology.

"Zostera marina" is found on sandy substrates or in estuaries, usually submerged or partially floating. Most "Zostera" are perennial. They have long, bright green, ribbon-like leaves, the width of which are about. Short stems grow up from extensive, white branching rhizomes. The flowers are enclosed in the sheaths of the leaf bases; the fruits are bladdery and can float.  "Zostera" beds are important for sediment deposition, substrate stabilization, as substrate for epiphytic algae and micro-invertebrates, and as nursery grounds for many species of economically important fish and shellfish. "Zostera" often forms beds in bay mud in the estuarine setting. It is an important food for brant geese and wigeons, and even (occasionally) caterpillars of the grass moth "Dolicharthria punctalis".  The slime mold "Labyrinthula zosterae" can cause the wasting disease of "Zostera", with "Z. marina" being particularly susceptible, causing a decrease in the populations of the fauna that depend on "Zostera".  "Zostera" is able to maintain its turgor at a constant pressure in response to fluctuations in environmental osmolarity. It achieves this by losing solutes as the tide goes out and gaining solutes as the tide comes in.

Distribution.

The genus as a whole is widespread throughout seashores of much of the Northern Hemisphere as well as Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and southern Africa. The discovery of "Z. chilensis" in 2005 adds an isolated population on the Pacific coast of South America to the distribution. One species ("Z. noltii") occurs along the land-locked Caspian Sea.

Uses.

Eelgrass has been used for food by the Seri tribe of Native Americans on the coast of Sonora, Mexico. The rhizomes and leaf-bases of eelgrass were eaten fresh or dried into cakes for winter food. It was also used for smoking deer meat. The Seri language has many words related to eelgrass and eelgrass-harvesting. The month of April is called "xnoois ihaat iizax", literally "the month when the eelgrass seed is mature".  "Zostera" has also been used as packing material and as stuffing for mattresses and cushions.  On the Danish island of Læsø it has been used for thatching roofs. Roofs of eelgrass are said to be heavy, but also much longer-lasting and easier to thatch and maintain than roofs done with more conventional thatching material. More recently, the plant has been used in its dried form for insulation in eco-friendly houses and as a ground cover in permaculture gardens, once its salt layer washed off (ex: Friland, Danish eco-village)  "Zostera" can also be utilized to produce biomass energy using the Jean Pain method.

Zostera is a small genus of widely distributed seagrasses, commonly called marine eelgrass or simply eelgrass. The genus "Zostera" contains 15 species.


History.

The Beveridge curve, or UV curve, was developed in 1958 by Christopher Dow and Leslie Arthur Dicks-Mireaux. They were interested in measuring excess demand in the goods market for the guidance of Keynesian fiscal policies and took British data on vacancies and unemployment in the labour market as a proxy, since excess demand is unobservable. By 1958, they had 12 years of data available since the British government had started collecting data on unfilled vacancies from notification at labour exchanges in 1946. Dow and Dicks-Mireaux presented the unemployment and vacancy data in an unemployment-vacancy (UV) space and derived an idealised UV-curve as a rectangular hyperbola after they had connected successive observations. The UV curve, or Beveridge curve, enabled economists to use an analytical method, later known as UV-analysis, to decompose unemployment into different types of unemployment: deficient-demand (or cyclical) unemployment and structural unemployment. In the first half of the 1970s, that method was refined by economists of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), in London, so that a classification arose that corresponded to the 'traditional' classification: a division of unemployment into frictional, structural and deficient demand unemployment. Both the Beveridge curve and the Phillips curve bear implicit macroeconomic notions of equilibrium in markets, but the notions are inconsistent and conflicting. Most likely, because the curve enabled economists to analyze many of the problems that Beveridge had addressed, like mismatch between unemployment and vacancies, at aggregate level and industry levels and trend v. cyclical changes and measurement problems of vacancies, the curve was named in the 1980s after William Beveridge, who never drew the curve, and the exact origin of the name remains obscure.

Movements.

The Beveridge Curve can move for the following reasons:  Skill shortages should not be confused with "labour shortages", which identify an objective lack of workers in the market, independently of their skills, and it may arise because of limited geographical mobility, ageing populations or a labour market approaching full employment during an economic boom. Along with labour surpluses, labour shortages are one of the most traditional examples of labour market imbalances. What distinguishes an objective shortage of labour from a skill-related shortage (i.e. a special case of skill mismatch) is just the presence of a pool of unemployed individuals (non-discouraged job seekers) willing to take up jobs in the labour market considered at the ongoing rate. Nevertheless, even in presence of unemployment and assuming that there is an adequate demand for labour in the market, it could still be difficult to point to a skill shortage for at least two reasons: if whether the unemployment we observe is frictional (just a short-term consequence of costly "search"), cyclical (caused by the business cycle) or structural cannot be established or if whether the position offered is accessible and/or attractive (such as whether or not the wage posted is competitive or at least rising with respect to other segments of the market that are not reporting unmet labour demands) cannot be established. In addition, skill shortages may be caused by both "horizontal" skill mismatch, when workers have qualifications/skills which are different than the one required by the firms, or by "vertical" skill mismatch, when workers' skills and qualifications are lower level than what firms require. In the literature, scholars have also referred to skill mismatch and sometimes even to skill shortages to define a situation of the skills of the employed workers and those required by being jobs were different. To avoid any possible confusion, that form of mismatch affecting only employed individuals will be referred as "on-the-job" mismatch, in the more general case of workers being both over and under skilled for their jobs (vertical on-the-job mismatch) or have different skills/qualifications (horizontal on-the-job mismatch) and as skill gap to refer to employed workers whose skills are lower than those required by their jobs. It follows that skill mismatch, as it is defined here, can result in the occurrence of both skill shortages and on-the-job mismatches (both vertical and horizontal).  Economists generally believe that labour markets adjust to such imbalances, especially over time, but it is also possible for such mismatches to persist for many years or decades. In such instances, adverse equilibria, characterized by more structural unemployment, long-term unfilled vacancies and/or lower labour force participation may arise, and employers may eventually be forced to hire workers who possess lower or just different skills, giving place to the mismatch "on the job". Public policy interventions to change or improve the match of workers to employers might be appropriate in such cases.

A Beveridge curve, or UV curve, is a graphical representation of the relationship between unemployment and the job vacancy rate, the number of unfilled jobs expressed as a proportion of the labour force. It typically has vacancies on the vertical axis and unemployment on the horizontal. The curve, named after William Beveridge, is hyperbolic-shaped and slopes downward, as a higher rate of unemployment normally occurs with a lower rate of vacancies. If it moves outward over time, a given level of vacancies would be associated with higher and higher levels of unemployment, which would imply decreasing efficiency in the labour market. Inefficient labour markets are caused by mismatches between available jobs and the unemployed and an immobile labour force.


Early years.

Pabst was born in Raudnitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (today's Roudnice nad Labem, Czech Republic), the son of a railroad official. While growing up in Vienna, he studied drama at the Academy of Decorative Arts and initially began his career as a stage actor in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. In 1910, Pabst traveled to the United States, where he worked as an actor and director at the German Theater in New York City.  When World War I began, Pabst returned to Europe, where he was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Brest. While imprisoned, Pabst organised a theatre group at the camp. Upon his release in 1919, he returned to Vienna, where he became director of the Neue Wiener Bühne, an avant-garde theatre.

Career.

Pabst began his career as a film director at the behest of Carl Froelich who hired Pabst as an assistant director. He directed his first film, "The Treasure", in 1923. He developed a talent for "discovering" and developing the talents of actresses, including Greta Garbo, Asta Nielsen, Louise Brooks, and Leni Riefenstahl.  Pabst's best known films concern the plight of women, including "The Joyless Street" (1925) with Greta Garbo and Asta Nielsen, "Secrets of a Soul" (1926) with Lili Damita, "The Loves of Jeanne Ney" (1927) with Brigitte Helm, "Pandora's Box" (1929), and "Diary of a Lost Girl" (1929) with American actress Louise Brooks. He also co-directed with Arnold Fanck a mountain film entitled "The White Hell of Pitz Palu" (1929) starring Leni Riefenstahl.  After the coming of sound, he made a trilogy of films that secured his reputation: "Westfront 1918" (1930), "The Threepenny Opera" (1931) with Lotte Lenya (based on the Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill musical), and "Kameradschaft" (1931). Pabst also filmed three versions of Pierre Benoit's novel "L'Atlantide" in 1932, in German, English, and French, titled "Die Herrin von Atlantis", "The Mistress of Atlantis", and "L'Atlantide", respectively. In 1933, Pabst directed "Don Quixote", once again in German, English, and French versions.  After making "A Modern Hero" (1934) in the USA and "Street of Shadows" (1937) in France, Pabst (who was planning to emigrate to the United States) was caught in France in 1938 whilst visiting his mother, when war was declared, and was forced to return to Nazi Germany. Under the auspices of propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels, Pabst made two films in Germany, during this period; "The Comedians" (1941) and "Paracelsus" (1943).  Pabst directed four opera productions in Italy in 1953: "La forza del destino" for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence (conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos, the cast included Renata Tebaldi, Fedora Barbieri, Mario del Monaco, Aldo Protti, Cesare Siepi), and a few weeks later, for the Arena di Verona Festival, a spectacular "Aïda", with Maria Callas in the title role (conducted by Tullio Serafin, with del Monaco), "Il trovatore" and again "La forza del destino".  He directed "The Last Ten Days" (1955), the first post-war German feature film to feature Adolf Hitler as a character.

Death.

On 29 May 1967, Pabst died in Vienna at the age of 81. He was interred at the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna.

Filmography.

References.

Notes Further reading  "The Other Eye", Filmessay on G.W.Pabst, by Hannah Heer & Werner Schmiedel (A/USA 1991/92)

Georg Wilhelm Pabst (25 August 1885 – 29 May 1967) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He started as an actor and theater director, before becoming one of the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic.


CAcert Inc. Association.

CAcert Inc. is an incorporated non-profit association registered in New South Wales (Australia) since July 2003 which runs CAcert.org. It has members living in many different countries and a board of 7 members. It was founded by Duane Groth in 2003. In 2004, the Dutch internet pioneer Teus Hagen became involved with the community-driven certificate authority and served as board member and in 2008 as president.

Certificate Trust status.

As per 29 August 2018 the certificates issued by CAcert do not have status of being trusted by most browsers hence users will be warned about untrusted certificate. As for email use, MS Outlook will not accept using these certificates either. CAcert use their own certificate on their HTTPS pages on their website.

Web of trust.

To create higher-trust certificates, users can participate in a web of trust system whereby users physically meet and verify each other's identities. CAcert maintains the number of assurance points for each account. Assurance points can be gained through various means, primarily by having one's identity physically verified by users classified as "Assurers".  Having more assurance points allows users more privileges such as writing a name in the certificate and longer expiration times on certificates. A user with at least 100 assurance points is a Prospective Assurer, and may—after passing an Assurer Challenge—verify other users; more assurance points allow the Assurer to assign more assurance points to others.  CAcert sponsors key signing parties, especially at big events such as CeBIT and FOSDEM. CAcert's web of trust has 365,201 verified users as of 2019-02-14.

Root certificate descriptions.

Since October 2005, CAcert offers Class 1 and Class 3 root certificates. Class 3 is a high-security subset of Class 1.

Inclusion status.

The habit to include a list of CAs in the browser was established with Netscape Navigator v.3.0. It was 1996, the dawn of the first browser war, and little emphasis was put on the security implications of making such a list. The key concern was the users' ability to quickly access secured web pages, almost irrespectively of the signing CA. Browsers needed to not skip any important CA included by their competitors.  CAcert arrived much later. Discussion for inclusion of its root certificate in Mozilla and derivatives (such as Mozilla Firefox) started in 2004. Mozilla had no CA certificate policy at the time. Eventually, they developed a policy which required that CAcert improved their management system and deepened their formal verifications, auditing in particular. CAcert withdrew its request for inclusion at the end of April 2007. Progress toward Mozilla requirements and a new request for inclusion can hardly be expected in the near future. At the same time, the CA/Browser Forum was established to allow peaceful discussion among browser producers. Mozilla's advice was adopted, and, in addition, Extended Validation Certificates began to be issued.  FreeBSD used to include CAcert root certificate but removed it in 2008 following Mozilla's policy. In 2014 it was removed from Ubuntu, Debian, and OpenBSD. In 2018 it was removed from Arch Linux.  The following operating systems or distributions include the CAcert root certificate, or have it available in an installable package:

CAcert.org is a community-driven certificate authority that issues free public key certificates to the public. CAcert has over 334,000 verified users and has issued over 1,285,000 certificates. CAcert.org heavily relies on automation and therefore issues only Domain-validated certificates (and not Extended validation or Organization Validation certificates).


Legal status.

Hitchhiking is a historically common (autonomous) practice worldwide and hence there are very few places in the world where laws exist to restrict it. However, a minority of countries have laws that restrict hitchhiking at certain locations. In the United States, for example, some local governments have laws outlawing hitchhiking, on the basis of drivers' and hitchhikers' safety. In 1946, New Jersey arrested and imprisoned a hitchhiker, leading to intervention by the American Civil Liberties Union. In Canada, several highways have restrictions on hitchhiking, particularly in British Columbia and the 400-series highways in Ontario. In all countries in Europe, it is legal to hitchhike and in some places even encouraged. However, worldwide, even where hitchhiking is permitted, laws forbid hitchhiking where pedestrians are banned, such as the Autobahn (Germany), Autostrade (Italy), motorways (United Kingdom and continental Europe) or interstate highways (United States), although hitchhikers often obtain rides at entrances and truck stops where it is legal at least throughout Europe with the exception of Italy.

Decline.

In 2011, "Freakonomics Radio" reviewed sparse data about hitchhiking, and identified a decline in hitchhiking in the US since the 1970s, which it attributed to a number of factors, including lower air travel costs due to deregulation, the presence of more money in the economy to pay for travel, more numerous and more reliable cars, and a lack of trust of strangers. Fear of hitchhiking is thought to have been spurred by movies such as "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) and a few real stories of imperiled passengers, notably the kidnapping of Colleen Stan in California. See, below.  Julian Portis points out that the rise of faster highways, such as freeways, motorways, and expressways, has made hitchhiking more difficult. He adds:  Some British researchers discuss reasons for hitchhiking's decline in the UK, and possible means of reviving it in safer and more-organized forms.  In recent years, hitchhikers have started efforts to strengthen their community. Examples include the annual Hitchgathering, an event organized by hitchhikers, for hitchhikers, and websites such as hitchwiki and hitchbase, which are platforms for hitchhikers to share tips and provide a way of looking up good hitchhiking spots around the world.

Safety.

Limited data is available regarding the safety of hitchhiking. Compiling good safety data requires counting hitchhikers, counting rides, and counting problems: a difficult task.  Two studies on the topic include a 1974 California Highway Patrol study and a 1989 German federal police study. The California study found that hitchhikers were not disproportionately likely to be victims of crime. The German study concluded that the actual risk is much lower than the publicly-perceived risk; the authors did not advise against hitchhiking in general. They found that in some cases there were verbal disputes or inappropriate comments, but physical attacks were very rare.  Recommended safety practices include:

Around the world.

Cuba.

In Cuba, picking up hitchhikers is mandatory for government vehicles, if passenger space is available. Hitchhiking is encouraged, as Cuba has few cars, and hitch hikers use designated spots. Drivers pick up waiting riders on a first come, first served basis.

Israel.

In Israel, hitchhiking is commonplace at designated locations called "trempiyadas" ( in Hebrew, derived from the “German” "trampen"). Travelers soliciting rides, called "trempists", wait at trempiyadas, typically junctions of highways or main roads outside of a city.

Nepal.

In Nepal, hitchhiking is very common in rural areas. Many do not own cars so hitchhiking is a common practice especially in and around villages.

Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, hitchhiking is legal and official signs indicate where one may wait for a ride. These designated hitchhiking locations are called "liftershalte" or "liftplaats" in Dutch, and they are particularly common in university towns.

Poland.

Hitchhiking in Poland has a long history and is still popular. It was legalised and formalised in 1957 so hitchhikers could buy booklets including coupons from travel agencies. These coupons were given to drivers who took hitchhikers. By the end of each season drivers who collected the highest number of coupons could exchange them for prizes, and others took part in a lottery. This so-called "Akcja Autostop" was popular till the end of the 1970s, but the sale of the booklet was discontinued in 1995.

Ireland.

Hitchhiking in Ireland is legal, unless it takes place on motorways. A backpacker will most likely still get a lift if the car has enough space to park. Local police (Gardaí) usually let backpackers get away with a verbal warning.

United States.

Hitchhiking became a common method of traveling during the Great Depression.  Warnings of the potential dangers of picking up hitchhikers were publicized to drivers, who were advised that some hitchhikers would rob drivers and, in some cases, sexually assault or murder them. Other warnings were publicized to the hitchhikers themselves, alerting them to the same types of crimes being carried out by drivers. Still, hitchhiking was part of the American psyche and many people continued to stick out their thumbs, even in states where the practice had been outlawed.  Today, hitchhiking is legal in 44 of the 50 states, provided that the hitchhiker is not standing in the roadway or otherwise hindering the normal flow of traffic. Even in states where hitchhiking is illegal, hitchhikers are rarely ticketed. For example, the Wyoming Highway Patrol approached 524 hitchhikers in 2010, but only eight of them were cited (hitchhiking was subsequently legalized in Wyoming in 2013).  In several urban areas, a variation of hitchhiking called slugging occurs, motivated by HOV lanes.

Notable hitchhikers.

Numerous victims on the Highway of Tears disappeared while hitchhiking. Notable individual hitchhikers include:

References.

Notes Bibliography

Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free.


Naming.

The island is known as "Càlino" in Italian and "Kilimli" or "Kelemez" in Turkish.

Geography.

The island is roughly rectangular in shape, with a length of and a width of, and covers an area of. Moreover, on the north side there is a peninsula which stretches in a northwest direction.  Kalymnos is mostly mountainous with complicated topography. There are three main chains going from W-NW to E-SE, and a fourth which extends NW the length of the peninsula. The coastline is very irregular, with many sheltered coves. There are some springs, one among them being thermal. The soil is mainly limestone-based, but in the valleys there is a compact bank of volcanic tuff, the relic of an ancient volcano, located in Vigles, between the villages of Myrties and Kantouni. The island is mainly barren, except for the two fertile valleys of Vathys and Pothia, where olives, oranges and vines are grown. There is also an ostrich farm in Argos, near the airport.  Earthquakes are a frequent occurrence around Kalymnos, a fact that is connected with the volcanoes in surrounding islands. The last earthquake occurred was the 2017 Aegean Sea earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7M, which injured two people in Kalymnos.

Archipelago of Kalymnos.

Kalymnos is neighbored by the small island of Telendos, which was once part of Kalymnos, but split off after a major earthquake in 554 AD and is now separated from Kalymnos by a channel of water (about 800 m wide).  Between Kalymnos and Kos lies the islet of Pserimos which is inhabited and, with an area of, is one of the largest of the lesser islands of the Dodecanese. Near Pserimos lies the islet of Platí, and about to the NE lies the small islet of Kalolimnos.

History.

Inhabited originally by Carians, in Antiquity Kalymnos depended on Kos, and followed its history. The island's Hellenistic Temple of Apollo was excavated by the British archaeologist Charles Newton in the nineteenth century; many of the finds he made, including important epigraphic inscriptions, are in the British Museum's collection. In the Middle Ages it was under the influence of the Byzantine Empire, and during the 13th century it was used by the Venetian Republic as a naval base. In 1310 it came under the control of the Knights of Rhodes, and later (mainly in 1457 and 1460) was often attacked by the Ottomans, who eventually conquered it in 1522. Unlike Rhodes and Kos, during the Ottoman period there was no Turkish immigration to Kalymnos.  According to the Ottoman General Census of 1881/82-1893, the kaza of Kalymnos had a total population of 9,716, consisting of 9,482 Greeks, 64 Muslims and 170 foreign citizens.  On May 12, 1912, during the Italo-Turkish War, Kalymnos was occupied by Italian sailors of the Regia Marina. Italy took control of the island along with other islands of the Dodecanese (except Kastellorizo initially) until 1947, when the Dodecanese were finally united with mainland Greece, as part of the modern Greek state.

Religion.

The majority of Kalymnians are Orthodox Christians. The island belongs to that small part of Greece that does not depend on the Church of Greece, but rather on the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople based in Istanbul, Turkey. Kalymnos belongs to the Metropolis of Leros, Kalymnos and Astypalaia.

Sponge diving.

Kalymnos is known and billed as the "Sponge-divers' island". Sponge diving has long been a common occupation on Kalymnos and sponges were the main source of income of Kalymnians, bringing wealth to the island and making it famous throughout the Mediterranean. The Kalymnians harvested sponges from the sea-bed as close as Pserimos or as far as North Africa. Early diving was done without equipment (free diving), using a harpoon. Sponges are still fished individually, by hand.  The Greek sponge trade was centered close in the Dodecanese, featuring Kalymnos until mid-80s, when a disease hit the eastern Mediterranean destroying a great number of sponges and damaging the sponge-fishing industry as a result. Today, Kalymnos faces a lack of sponges due to the outbreak of a disease which has decimated sponge crops.  An annual celebration, Sponge Week, occurs a week after Easter to honour this "Kalymnian gold.” Much has been written, sung and filmed about the legendary courage and recklessness of the sponge divers themselves.

Climbing.

Kalymnos is a popular rock climbing and bouldering location with more than 3000 climbing routes set in the limestone rock of the island and a climate that allows climbing all year around. The island has seen a boom in climbing related tourism since 1997, when the Italian Andrea di Bari started establishing the first routes.

Economy.

Being mostly barren (only 18% of the land can be cultivated), agriculture has always played a minor role in the economy of the island, except for the valley of Vathi. The island is famous for its citrus fruits grown in this area.  Another industrial activity typical of Kalymnos was the production of painted head scarfs, which were the most original component of the female dress.  In recent times, tourism has become important for the island, particularly for rock climbing. In 2006, the island also acquired an airport, the Kalymnos Island National Airport in Argos, a village between Pothia and Brosta (the villages which are opposite of Telendos), to better link the island with the mainland.  Since the beginning of the 20th century, there has been much emigration from Kalymnos (the 1925 population was some 24,000 inhabitants as compared to 16,500 in 2012), especially to the United States and Australia. The cities of Darwin and Melbourne in Australia, and Tarpon Springs, Gary, IN, and Campbell, OH in the United States are home to large Greek communities of Kalymnian descent.  Kalymnian emigrants and their descendants also form a substantial portion of the bridge painting industry in the USA. Some researchers link this to the sponge diving tradition and way of life as both trades involve dangerous work with long periods away from home.

Kalymnos, () is a Greek island and municipality in the southeastern Aegean Sea. It belongs to the Dodecanese island chain, between the islands of Kos (south, at a distance of ) and Leros (north, at a distance of less than ): the latter is linked to it through a series of islets. Kalymnos lies between two and five hours away by sea from Rhodes.


Pilgrimage Church of Saint John of Nepomuk

The impulse and preparation of the church.

The pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk near the monastery in Žďár(currently Zdar Estate with New generation museum) was built thanks to the longtime, close and immensely fruitful cooperation of two extraordinary people. The impulse was given by Václav Vejmluva, an abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Žďár, who was a proven devotee of John of Nepomuk before he was beatified as well as after he was canonized. The preparation of the project dates back to the period from late April to the beginning of August 1719 and is considered a direct reaction of the abbot to the discovery of preserved tissue in the tomb of John of Nepomuk in the St. Vitus Cathedral on 15 April 1719. The design of the building was entrusted to famous architect Jan Blažej Santini-Aichel to whom abbot Vejmluva is alleged to have presented his ideas about the new sanctuary and the symbols used, which was fully compliant with the requirement of the Church: “Fathers propose, artists create“. The architect then worked on the basis of the outline. Santini dealt with the project quite individually, without any respect to the traditions concerning the shapes of religious buildings; he only accepted the contemporary viewpoint of the structure of a pilgrimage destination. The architect melded the abbot's idea of the church in which the main role was to be played by the pattern of a star, into an extraordinarily impressive form which was only appreciated by the modern time, yet not always. Friedrich Radnitzký, a member of the Central Committee, referred to the church as a "visually mysterious phenomenon" as late as 1886. The project was finished unusually quickly but this was nothing exceptional for Santini. Moreover, the abbot and the architect had cooperated together for many years and they were both specialists on symbology and the teaching of the Cabala which they used to a substantial extent in the project. Santini knew very well what the abbot wanted from him. Thus the resulting architecture must have been affected positively by the atmosphere of mutual understanding. The definitive shape of the building does not differ much from the first design and only a few changes were made.

Description.

Ground plan.

The central church along with its adjacent cloister is uniformly projected and built structure. Architecture of this building is very minimalistic and enormously effective. It combines Baroque and Gothic elements which in fact points to the age when John of Nepomuk lived, worked and was martyred. The construction of church is based on geometry of circle while constantly repeating number five as a reference to Nepomuk's five stars. Those stars, according to a legend, appeared above his body when he had died. This is a good example of how Santini used to project his structures—practically just by using compass to draft whole building on arcs of circles which radius was generally multiple of building's module. In case of church of Saint Jan Nepomuk Santini used number 5, Nepomuk's stars, number 3 which references to the Trinity, and number 6 which references to Saint Mary because John of Nepomuk was perceived as her adorer. Therefore, on the perimeter of church take turns five chapels with triangular ground plan and five with oval ground plan. At the same time the whole church resembles cut through choir of a Gothic cathedral and its buttress. The centrality of Nepomuk's church builds up a vertical as a symbolical phenomenon. This very vertical tends to raise visitors look up to the symbolical heaven.

Central area.

In inner area of the church there are oval perimeter chapels which are connected with central cylinder space by narrower ogive arches. The central area which is covered by vault with lunettes, is carried by ten pillars. In first floor there are tribunes corresponding to chapels in the basement. Second floor is decorated with the gallery counting ten pieces of art which are arranged round the heel of the vault. Stucco decoration is limited to motives of intersecting and cut rib arches similar to Gothic vaults. As on the other Santini's buildings, even here light is used to build inner space. This approach is based on baroque interpretation of light as a sign of god's presence. Some call this'sacral light'. The illumination of church's interior creates unique paradox. Meanwhile, central area is illuminated only indirectly the side walkway parts of the church are awash with light. This light permeates into central area of the church by ogive arches placed in places where should stand the bearing pillars. The stucco decoration underlines this paradox by creating relation between wall and arch belonging to that particular wall. This makes a feeling that the wall is only a shell and the whole building is carried by light itself. The entire church is then perceived also as a reliquary in where the relic of tongue of Saint John Nepomuk dwells.

Main altar.

The main altar on eastern side is placed into high arcade. The peak of the altar reaches to the railing on the gallery on the second floor. Carving of five angels on the main altar (with its count five pointing to John Nepomuk) and four evangelists are made by hands of a sculptor coming from Chrudim named Jan Pavel Čechpauer in years 1725–27. Three of five angels are bearing a sphere standing for heaven sky decorated with five stars. On the sphere stands figure of st. John Nepomuk. The sculpture is a work of Řehoř Theny. He made also the reliefs on the litter for the silver pilgrimage statue of St. John Nepomuk from year 1729 made by prague goldsmith Jan Diesbach. This statue disappeared after year 1784. The choice of contacting sculptors close to Matthias Braun was on purpose because Santini collaborated on his realizations many times actually with Braun whose'sculpture language' was apparently very close to Santini's personality.

Surrounding.

Around the church is built a ring cloister divided into ten sections by five chapels and five gates all this on a circular ground plan. Roof of each chapel originally culminated into five Pylons. These pointed to the meaning of light and symbolized eternity. The cloister along with chapels was a place where pilgrims prayed and also hid when the weather turned bad. Not only the church itself but also its surrounding – cloister with chapels – illustrates Santini's great architectonic and creative potency.

Big fire.

On the 17 July 1784 the church burned out and there was a real danger of its complete destruction. Fortunately local citizens with great help of Matěj Sychra managed to cover the whole area and in the end saved it for future generations. Permission to restore the church was given by the gubernium (administrative unit) in 1792 with the conditions that the church would no longer be a pilgrimage church, and that the cemetery of Žďár nad Sázavou would be moved to the church area. Nowadays, the cemetery is no longer in use and is in fact being slowly moved out, to give the place the original look as it had in baroque times.

The Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk (Czech: "Poutní kostel svatého Jana Nepomuckého") at Zelená hora (former German name: "Grünberg", meaning "Green Hill") is a religious building at the edge of Žďár nad Sázavou, Czech Republic, near the historical border between Moravia and Bohemia. It is the final work of Jan Santini Aichel, a Bohemian architect who combined the Borrominiesque Baroque with references to Gothic elements in both construction and decoration.


Biography.

Early years.

Mercadante was born illegitimate in Altamura, near Bari in Apulia; his precise date of birth has not been recorded, but he was baptised on 17 September 1795. Mercadante studied flute, violin and composition at the conservatory in Naples, and organized concerts among his compatriots. The opera composer Gioachino Rossini said to the conservatory Director, Niccolo Zingarelli, "My compliments, Maestro – your young pupil Mercadante begins where we finish". In 1817 he was made conductor of the college orchestra, composing a number of symphonies, and concertos for various instruments – including six for flute about 1818–1819, and whose autograph scores are in the Naples conservatory, where they were presumably first performed with him as soloist. The encouragement of Rossini led him to compose for the opera, where he won considerable success with his second such work ("Violenza e Constanza"), in 1820. His next three operas are more or less forgotten, but an abridged recording of "Maria Stuarda, Regina di Scozia" was issued by Opera Rara in 2006. His next opera "Elisa e Claudio" was a huge success, and had occasional revivals in the 20th century, most recently by Wexford Festival Opera in 1988. He worked for a time in Vienna, in Madrid, in Cádiz, and in Lisbon, but re-established himself in Italy in 1831. He was invited by Rossini to Paris in 1836, where he composed "I Briganti" for four of the best-known singers of the time, Giulia Grisi, Giovanni Battista Rubini, Antonio Tamburini and Luigi Lablache, all of whom worked closely with Bellini. While there, he had the opportunity to hear operas by Meyerbeer and Halévy, which imparted a strong influence on him, especially the latter's "La Juive". This influence took the form of greater stress on the dramatic side.

Return to Italy, 1831.

When Mercadante returned to Italy after living in Spain and Portugal, Donizetti's music reigned supreme in Naples, an ascendancy which did not end until censorship problems with the latter's "Poliuto" caused a final break. But Mercadante's style began to shift with the presentation of "I Normanni a Parigi" at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 1832: "It was with this score that Mercadante entered on the process of development in his musical dramaturgy which, in some aspects, actually presaged the arrival of Verdi, when he launched, from 1837 on, into master works of his artistic maturity: the so-called "reform operas".  The beginnings of the so-called "reform movement", of which Mercadante was part, arose from the publication of a manifesto by Giuseppe Mazzini which he wrote in 1836, the "Filosofia della musica".  In the period after 1831 he composed some of his most important works. These included "Il giuramento" which was premiered at La Scala in November 1837. One striking and innovative characteristic of this opera has been noted:..it marks the first successful attempt in an Italian opera premiered in Italy of depriving the prima donna, or some other star singer, of her until-then inalienable right of having the stage to herself at the end. By doing this, Mercadante sounded what was to be the death knell of the age of bel canto.  Early in following year, while composing "Elena da Feltre" (which premiered in January 1839), Mercadante wrote to Francesco Florimo, laying out his ideas about how opera should be structured, following the "revolution" begun in his previous opera: I have continued the revolution I began in "Il giuramento": varied forms, cabalettas banished, crescendos out, vocal lines simplified, fewer repeats, more originality in the cadences, proper regard paid to the drama, orchestration rich but not so as to swamp the voices, no long solos in the ensembles (they only force the other parts to stand idle to the detriment of the action), not much bass drum, and a lot less brass band.  "Elena da Feltre" followed; one critic found much to praise in it: These temporarily put him in the forefront of composers then active in Italy, although he was soon passed by Giovanni Pacini with "Saffo" and Giuseppe Verdi with several operas, especially "Ernani".

Later works.

Some of Mercadante's later works, especially "Orazi e Curiazi", were also quite successful. Many performances of his operas were given throughout the 19th century and it has been noted that some of them received far more than those of Verdi's early operas over the same period of time.  Throughout his life he generated more instrumental works than most of his contemporary composers of operas due to his lifelong preoccupation with orchestration, and, from 1840, his position as the Director of the Naples conservatory for the last thirty years of his life. From 1863 he was almost totally blind and dictated all his compositions.  In the decades after his death in Naples in 1870, his output was largely forgotten, but it has been occasionally revived and recorded since World War II, although it has yet to achieve anything like the present-day popularity of the most famous compositions by his slightly younger contemporaries: see Donizetti's compositions and Bellini's compositions.  The French soloist Jean-Pierre Rampal notably recorded several Mercadante concertos for flute and string orchestra*, including the grand and romantic E minor concerto, which has since gained some popularity among concert flautists.

References.

Notes Sources

Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante (baptised 17 September 179517 December 1870) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as prolific a number of works as either; and his development of operatic structures, melodic styles and orchestration contributed significantly to the foundations upon which Giuseppe Verdi built his dramatic technique.


Life.

A native of Paris, Boucher was the son of a lesser known painter Nicolas Boucher, who gave him his first artistic training. At the age of seventeen, a painting by Boucher was admired by the painter François Lemoyne. Lemoyne later appointed Boucher as his apprentice, but after only three months, he went to work for the engraver Jean-François Cars. In 1720, he won the elite Grand Prix de Rome for painting, but did not take up the consequential opportunity to study in Italy until five years later, due to financial problems at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. On his return from studying in Italy he was admitted to the refounded Académie de peinture et de sculpture on 24 November 1731. His "morceau de réception" (reception piece) was his "Rinaldo and Armida" of 1734.  Boucher married Marie-Jeanne Buzeau in 1733. The couple had three children together. Boucher became a faculty member in 1734 and his career accelerated from this point as he was promoted Professor then Rector of the Academy, becoming inspector at the Royal Gobelins Manufactory and finally "Premier Peintre du Roi" (First Painter of the King) in 1765. Boucher died on 30 May 1770 in his native Paris. His name, along with that of his patron Madame de Pompadour, had become synonymous with the French Rococo style, leading the Goncourt brothers to write: "Boucher is one of those men who represent the taste of a century, who express, personify and embody it."  Boucher is famous for saying that nature is "trop verte et mal éclairée" (too green and badly lit).  Boucher was associated with the gemstone engraver Jacques Guay, whom he taught to draw. He also mentored the Moravian-Austrian painter Martin Ferdinand Quadal as well as the neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David in 1767. Later, Boucher made a series of drawings of works by Guay which Madame de Pompadour then engraved and distributed as a handsomely bound volume to favored courtiers.

Painting.

Boucher took inspiration from artists such as Peter Paul Rubens and Antoine Watteau. Boucher's early works celebrate the idyllic and tranquil portrayal of nature and landscape with great elan. However, his art typically forgoes traditional rural innocence to portray scenes with a definitive style of eroticism as his mythological scenes are passionate and intimately amorous rather than traditionally epic. Boucher's paintings of a flirtatious shepherd and shepherdess in a woodland setting, featured in "The Enjoyable Lesson" ("The Flute Players") of 1748 and "An Autumn Pastoral" ("The Grape Eaters") of 1749, were based upon characters in a 1745 play by Boucher's close friend Charles-Simon Favart. Boucher's characters in those paintings later inspired a pair of figurines created by the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, c. 1757–66. Marquise de Pompadour (mistress of King Louis XV), whose name became synonymous with Rococo art, was a great admirer of his work. Marquise de Pompadour is often referred to as the "godmother of Rococo" and Boucher's portraits were central to her self-presentation and cultivation of her image. For instance, Boucher's 'Sketch for a Portrait of Madame de Pompadour', displayed in the Starhemburg room at Waddesdon Manor, acts as a surviving example of the oil preparation prior to the, now lost, portrait. In one hand she holds her hat, in the other she picks up a pearl bracelet with a portrait of the king – symbolising the relationship upon which her status depends.  Boucher's paintings such as "The Breakfast" (1739), a familial scene, show how he was as a master of the genre scene, where he regularly used his own wife and children as models. These intimate family scenes are contrasting to the licentious style seen in his "Odalisque" portraits.  The dark-haired version of the "Odalisque" portraits prompted claims by the art critic Denis Diderot that Boucher was "prostituting his own wife", and the "Blonde Odalisque" was a portrait that illustrated the extramarital relationships of the King. Boucher gained lasting notoriety through such private commissions for wealthy collectors and, after Diderot expressed his disapproval, his reputation came under increasing critical attack during the last years of his career.

Theatrical and tapestry designs.

Along with his painting, Boucher also designed theater costumes and sets, and the ardent intrigues of the comic operas of Charles Simon Favart closely paralleled his own style of painting. Tapestry design was also a concern. For the Beauvais tapestry workshops he first designed a series of "Fêtes italiennes" ("Italian festivals") in 1736, which proved to be very successful and often rewoven over the years, and then, commissioned in 1737, a suite of the story of Cupid and Psyche. During two decades' involvement with the Beauvais tapestry workshops Boucher produced designs for six series of hangings in all, like.  Boucher was also called upon for designs for court festivities organized by that section of the King's household called the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi and for the opera and for royal châteaux Versailles, Fontainebleau and Choisy. His designs for all of the aforementioned augmented his earlier reputation, resulting in many engravings from his work and even reproduction of his designs on porcelain and biscuit-ware at the Vincennes and Sèvres factories. The death of Oudry in 1755 put an end to its contribution to Beauvais but his collaboration with the Gobelins lasted until 1765, when he stepped down from his position as an inspector.

Drawings and prints.

Boucher was a very prolific and varied draftsman. His drawings served not only as preparatory studies for his paintings and as designs for printmakers but also as finished works of art for which there was a great demand by collectors. Boucher followed standard studio practices of the time, by first working out the overall composition of his major canvases, and then making chalk studies for individual figures, or groups of figures. He also relied on oil and gouache sketches in the preparation of major commissions.  Gradually he made more and more sketches as independent works for the market. The (Metropolitan Museum of Art), a free and painterly sketch in gouache, was long considered a preparatory sketch for Madame de Pompadour's private altarpiece "La lumière du monde" (ca. 1750, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon). Recent scholarship suggests, however, that it was made at least 10 years later as an autonomous work. In the last decade of his career the artist began to favor brown chalk, a fabricated medium.  Boucher was also a gifted engraver and etcher. Boucher etched some 180 original copperplates. He made many etchings after Watteau. He thus helped propagate a taste for reproductions of drawings. When his own drawings began to sell, 266 of them were etched in stipple substitutes by Gilles Demarteau. These were printed in red ink so they resembled red chalk drawings which could be framed as little pictures. They could then be hung in the small blank spaces of the elaborately decorated paneling of luxury dwellings.  Boucher's most original inventions were decorative, and he contributed to the fashionable style of chinoiserie, after having etched 12 'Figures Chinoises' (Chinese figures) by Watteau.

Works by François Boucher.

This is an incomplete list of works by François Boucher.

François Boucher (,, ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories, and pastoral scenes. He was perhaps the most celebrated painter and decorative artist of the 18th century.


Description.

The sessile oak is a large deciduous tree up to tall, in the white oak section of the genus ("Quercus" sect. "Quercus") and similar to the pedunculate oak, "Q. robur", with which it overlaps extensively in range. The leaves are long and broad, evenly lobed with five to six lobes on each side and a petiole. The male flowers are called catkins, produced in the spring. The fruit is an acorn long and broad, which matures in about six months.

Comparison with pedunculate oak.

Significant botanical differences from pedunculate oak ("Quercus robur") include the stalked leaves, and the stalkless (sessile) acorns from which one of its common names is derived. It occurs in upland areas over with higher rainfall and shallow, acidic, sandy soils. Its specific epithet "petraea" means "of rocky places". "Quercus robur", on the other hand, prefers deeper, richer soils at lower altitude. Fertile hybrids with "Quercus robur" named "Quercus × rosacea" are found wherever the two parent species occur and share or are intermediate in characters between the parents.  Charles Darwin, in Chapter II of "On the Origin of Species", noted that the sessile and pedunculate oaks had been described as both distinct species and mere varieties depending on the authority consulted.

Uses.

Sessile oak is one of the most important species in Europe both economically and ecologically. Oak timber is traditionally used for building, ships and furniture. Today the best woods are used for quality cabinetmaking, veneers and barrel staves. Rougher material is used for fence construction, roof beams and specialist building work. It is also a good fuel wood. During autumns with good acorn crops (the mast years) animals are traditionally grazed under the trees to fatten them.

Pontfadog Oak.

The Pontfadog Oak, once considered to be the oldest oak tree in the UK, was a sessile oak. This grew near Chirk in North Wales. It was understood to be over 1,200 years old, an age that was due to regular pollarding for much of its life. The hollow trunk had a girth of. It was lost in April 2013 when it blew down in high winds.

Quercus petraea, commonly known as the sessile oak, Cornish oak, or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran.