title: "Biosphere 2" content: be prioritized over degree of closure. The other faction backed project management and the overall mission objectives. On February 14, a portion of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) resigned. "Time" Magazine wrote: "Now, the veneer of credibility, already bruised by allegations of tamper-prone data, secret food caches and smuggled supplies, has cracked ... the two-year experiment in self-sufficiency is starting to look less like science and more like a $150 million stunt". In fact, the SAC was dissolved because it had deviated from its mandate to review and improve scientific research and became involved in advocating management changes. A majority


title: "Biosphere 2" content: of the SAC members chose to remain as consultants to Biosphere 2. The SAC's recommendations in their report were implemented including a new Director of Research [Dr. Jack Corliss], allowing import/export of scientific samples and equipment through the facility airlocks to increase research and decrease crew labor, and to generate a formal research program. Some sixty-four projects were included in the research program that Walford and Alling spearheaded developing. Undoubtedly the lack of oxygen and the calorie-restricted, nutrient-dense diet contributed to low morale. The Alling faction feared that the Poynter group were prepared to go so far as to import


title: "Biosphere 2" content: food, if it meant making them fitter to carry out research projects. They considered that would be a project failure by definition. In November 1992, the hungry Biospherians began eating seed stocks that had not been grown inside the Biosphere 2. Poynter made Chris Helms, PR Director for the enterprise, aware of this. She was promptly dismissed by Margret Augustine, CEO of Space Biospheres Ventures, and told to come out of the biosphere. This order was, however, never carried out. Poynter writes that she simply decided to stay put, correctly reasoning that the order could not be enforced without effectively


title: "Biosphere 2" content: terminating the closure. Isolated groups tend to attach greater significance to group dynamic and personal emotional fluctuations common in all groups. Some reports from polar station crews exaggerated psychological problems. So, although some of the first closure team thought they were depressed, psychological examination of the biospherians showed no depression and fit the explorer/adventurer profile, with both women and men testing very similar to astronauts. One of the psychologists noted, "If I was lost in the Amazon and was looking for a guide to get out, and to survive with, then [the biospherian crew] would be top choices." Among the


title: "Biosphere 2" content: problems and miscalculations encountered in the first mission were unanticipated condensation making the "desert" too wet, population explosions of greenhouse ants and cockroaches, morning glories overgrowing the rainforest area, blocking out other plants and less sunlight (40-50% of outside light) entering the facility than originally anticipated. Biospherians intervened to control invasive plants when needed to preserve biodiversity, functioning as "keystone predators". In addition, construction itself was a challenge; for example, it was difficult to manipulate the bodies of water to have waves and tidal changes. Engineers came up with innovative solutions to supplement natural functions the Earth's biosphere normally performs,


title: "Biosphere 2" content: e.g. vacuum pumps to create gentle waves in the ocean without endangering marine biota, sophisticated heating and cooling systems. All the technology was selected to minimize outgassing and discharge of harmful substances which might damage Biosphere 2's life. There was controversy when the public learned that the project had allowed an injured member to leave and return, carrying new material inside. The team claimed the only new supplies brought in were plastic bags, but others accused them of bringing food and other items. More criticism was raised when it was learned that, likewise, the project injected oxygen in January 1993


title: "Biosphere 2" content: to make up for a failure in the balance of the system that resulted in the amount of oxygen steadily declining. Some thought that these criticisms ignored that Biosphere 2 was an experiment where the unexpected would occur, adding to knowledge of how complex ecologies develop and interact, not a demonstration where everything was known in advance. H.T. Odum noted: “The management process during 1992-1993 using data to develop theory, test it with simulation, and apply corrective actions was in the best scientific tradition. Yet some journalists crucified the management in the public press, treating the project as if it


title: "Biosphere 2" content: was an Olympic contest to see how much could be done without opening the doors”. The oxygen inside the facility, which began at 20.9%, fell at a steady pace and after 16 months was down to 14.5%. This is equivalent to the oxygen availability at an elevation of 4,080 meters (13,400 ft). Since some biospherians were starting to have symptoms like sleep apnea and fatigue, Walford and the medical team decided to boost oxygen with injections in January and August 1993. The oxygen decline and minimal response of the crew indicated that changes in air pressure are what trigger human


title: "Biosphere 2" content: adaptation responses. These studies enhanced the biomedical research program. Managing CO levels was a particular challenge, and a source of controversy regarding the Biosphere 2 project's alleged misrepresentation to the public. Daily fluctuation of carbon dioxide dynamics was typically 600 ppm because of the strong drawdown during sunlight hours by plant photosynthesis, followed by a similar rise during the nighttime when system respiration dominated. As expected, there was also a strong seasonal signature to CO levels, with wintertime levels as high as 4,000-4,500 ppm and summertime levels near 1,000 ppm. The crew worked to manage the CO by occasionally turning


title: "Biosphere 2" content: on a CO scrubber, activating and de-activating the desert and savannah through control of irrigation water, cutting and storing biomass to sequester carbon, and utilizing all potential planting areas with fast-growing species to increase system photosynthesis. In November 1991, investigative reporting in the Village Voice alleged that the crew had secretly installed the CO scrubber device, and claimed that this violated Biosphere 2's advertised goal of recycling all materials naturally. Others pointed out there was nothing secret about the carbon dioxide device and it constituted another technical system augmenting ecological processes. The carbon precipitator could reverse the chemical reactions and


title: "Biosphere 2" content: thus release the stored carbon dioxide in later years when the facility might need additional carbon. Many suspected the drop in oxygen was due to microbes in the soil. The soils were selected to have enough carbon to provide for the plants of the ecosystems to grow from infancy to maturity, a plant mass increase of perhaps 20 tons (18,000 kg). The release rate of that soil carbon as carbon dioxide by respiration of soil microbes was an unknown that the Biosphere 2 experiment was designed to reveal. Subsequent research showed that Biosphere 2's farm soils had reached a more


title: "Biosphere 2" content: stable ratio of carbon and nitrogen, lowering the rate of CO release, by 1998. The respiration rate was faster than the photosynthesis (possibly in part due to relatively low light penetration through the glazed structure and the fact that Biosphere 2 started with a small but rapidly increasing plant biomass) resulting in a slow decrease of oxygen. A mystery accompanied the oxygen decline: the corresponding increase in carbon dioxide did not appear. This concealed the underlying process until an investigation by Jeff Severinghaus and Wallace Broecker of Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory using isotopic analysis showed that carbon dioxide


title: "Biosphere 2" content: was reacting with exposed concrete inside Biosphere 2 to form calcium carbonate, thereby sequestering both carbon and oxygen. During the transition period between missions, extensive research and system improvements had been undertaken. Concrete was sealed to prevent uptake of carbon dioxide. The second mission began on March 6, 1994, with an announced run of ten months. The crew was Norberto Alvarez-Romo (Capt.), John Druitt, Matt Finn, Pascale Maslin, Charlotte Godfrey, Rodrigo Romo and Tilak Mahato. The second crew achieved complete sufficiency in food production. On April 1, 1994 a severe dispute within the management team led to the ousting of


title: "Biosphere 2" content: the on-site management by federal marshals serving a restraining order, and financier Ed Bass hired Stephen Bannon, manager of the Bannon & Co. investment banking team from Beverly Hills, California, to run Space Biospheres Ventures. Some biospherians and staff were concerned about Bannon, who had previously investigated cost overruns at the site. Two former Biosphere 2 crew members flew back to Arizona to protest the hire and broke into the compound to warn current crew members that Bannon and the new management would jeopardize their safety. At 3 am on April 5, 1994, Abigail Alling and Mark Van Thillo, members


title: "Biosphere 2" content: of the first crew, allegedly vandalized the project from outside, opening one double-airlock door and three single door emergency exits, leaving them open for approximately fifteen minutes. Five panes of glass were also broken. Alling later told the Chicago Tribune that she "considered the Biosphere to be in an emergency state... In no way was it sabotage. It was my responsibility." About 10% of the biosphere's air was exchanged with the outside during this time, according to systems analyst Donella Meadows, who received a communication from Ms. Alling in which she explained that she and Van Thillo judged it their


title: "Biosphere 2" content: ethical duty to give those inside the choice of continuing with the drastically changed human experiment or leaving, as they didn't know what the crew had been told of the new situation. “On April 1, 1994, at approximately 10 AM … limousines arrived on the biosphere site … with two investment bankers hired by Mr. Bass … They arrived with a temporary restraining order to take over direct control of the project … With them were 6-8 police officers hired by the Bass organization … They immediately changed locks on the offices … All communication systems were changed (telephone and


title: "Biosphere 2" content: access codes), and [we] were prevented from receiving any data regarding safety, operations, and research of Biosphere 2.” Alling emphasized several times in her letter that the “bankers” who suddenly took over “knew nothing technically or scientifically, and little about the biospherian crew.” Four days later, the captain Norberto Alvarez-Romo (by then married to Biosphere 2 chief executive Margaret Augustine) precipitously left the Biosphere for a "family emergency" after his wife's suspension. He was replaced by Bernd Zabel, who had been nominated as captain of the first mission but who was replaced at the last minute. Two months later, Matt


title: "Biosphere 2" content: Smith replaced Matt Finn. The ownership and management company Space Biospheres Ventures was officially dissolved on June 1, 1994. This left the scientific and business management of the mission to the interim turnaround team, who had been contracted by the financial partner, Decisions Investment Co. Mission 2 was ended prematurely on September 6, 1994. No further total system science has emerged from Biosphere 2 as the facility was changed by Columbia University from a closed ecological system to a "flow-through" system where CO could be manipulated at desired levels. Steve Bannon left Biosphere 2 after two years, but his departure


title: "Biosphere 2" content: was marked by a civil lawsuit filed against Space Biosphere Ventures by the former crew members who had broken in. During a 1996 trial, Bannon testified that he had called one of the plaintiffs, Abigail Alling, a "self-centered, deluded young woman" and a "bimbo." He also testified that when the woman submitted a five-page complaint outlining safety problems at the site, he promised to shove the complaint "down her fucking throat." Bannon attributed this to "hard feelings and broken dreams." At the end of the trial, the jury found for the plaintiffs and ordered Space Biosphere Ventures to pay them


title: "Biosphere 2" content: $600,000, but also ordered the plaintiffs to pay the company $40,089 for the damage they had caused. Some have observed that Bannon orchestrated the hostile take-over and destruction of Biosphere 2 as a revolutionary total system global ecology laboratory, not because of any interest in ecological science. A special issue of the Ecological Engineering journal edited by Marino and Howard T. Odum (1999), published as "Biosphere 2: Research Past and Present" (Elsevier, 1999) represents the most comprehensive assemblage of collected papers and findings from Biosphere 2. The papers range from calibrated models that describe the system metabolism, hydrologic balance, and


title: "Biosphere 2" content: heat and humidity, to papers that describe rainforest, mangrove, ocean, and agronomic system development in this carbon dioxide-rich environment. Though several dissertations and many scientific papers used data from the early closure experiments at Biosphere 2, much of the original data has never been analyzed and is unavailable or lost, perhaps due to scientific politics and in-fighting. Some of the controversy at Biosphere 2 stemmed from the long-standing division in science between analytic, reductionist science and integrative, holistic science. Rebecca Reider expanded her history of science thesis at Harvard into a book on Biosphere 2. She noted that because Biosphere


title: "Biosphere 2" content: 2's creators were perceived as outsiders to academic science, the project was scrutinized but sometimes poorly understood in the media. She noted that Biosphere 2 broke a number of unspoken taboos: “’Science’ could be performed only by official scientists, only the right high priests could interpret nature for everyone else….’Science’ was separate from art (and the thinking mind was separate from the emotional heart)…’Science’ required some neat intellectual boundary between humans and nature; it did not necessarily involve humans learning to live with the world around them. Finally, ‘science’ must follow a specific method: think up a hypothesis, test it


title: "Biosphere 2" content: and get some numbers to prove you were right”. After Columbia University assumed management, the scrutiny ceased because it was assumed they were "proper" scientists. The dichotomy is a false one as there are many valid approaches to science. John Allen, the inventor of Biosphere 2, wrote: “Four basic ways uneasily co-exist in science to deal with understanding complex systems: [1] prolonged naturalist observation, description of observed regularities and classification of parts… [2] analyzing component parts of the object of study, formulating restricted hypotheses, and then, holding all else other than the chosen part as constant as possible, measure changes


title: "Biosphere 2" content: produced by measured impacts...[3] accept complexity as an irreducible element, and then to search for the organized structure that enables us to examine the entity as a whole, to ascertain its specific laws or regularities…[4] Put into an operating model a synthesis of these three approaches, together with test principles of engineering, to test the validity of the existent thinking’s predictive powers, and to provide a fecund base for new observations. This full interplay of observation, analysis and structuring to make a working apparatus in order to test and extend our knowledge of biospherics is the approach we used to


title: "Biosphere 2" content: create Biosphere 2. This interplay of all four scientific approaches is required to study Earth’s biosphere, the most complex entity yet encountered.” One view of Biosphere 2 was that it was "the most exciting scientific project to be undertaken in the U.S. since President John F. Kennedy launched us toward the moon". Others called it "New Age drivel masquerading as science". John Allen and Roy Walford did have mainstream credentials. John Allen held a degree in Metallurgical-Mining Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Roy Walford received his doctorate of medicine from


title: "Biosphere 2" content: the University of Chicago and taught at UCLA as a Professor of Pathology for 35 years. Mark Nelson obtained his Ph.D. in 1998 under Professor H.T. Odum in ecological engineering further developing the constructed wetlands used to treat and recycle sewage in Biosphere 2, to coral reef protection along the Yucatán coast where the corals were collected. Linda Leigh obtained her PhD with a dissertation on biodiversity and the Biosphere 2 rainforest working with Odum. Abigail Alling, Mark van Thillo and Sally Silverstone helped start the Biosphere Foundation where they worked on coral reef and marine conservation and sustainable agricultural


title: "Biosphere 2" content: systems. Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum co-founded Paragon Space Development Corporation which has studied the first mini-closed system and the first full animal life cycle in space and assisted in setting world records in high altitude descents. Questioning the credentials of the participants (despite the contribution in the preparation phase of Biosphere 2 of worldwide top-level scientists and among others the Russian Academy of Sciences), Marc Cooper wrote that "the group that built, conceived, and directs the Biosphere project is not a group of high-tech researchers on the cutting edge of science but a clique of recycled theater performers that


title: "Biosphere 2" content: evolved out of an authoritarian—and decidedly non-scientific—personality cult". He was referring to the Synergia Ranch in New Mexico, where indeed many of the Biospherians did practice theater under John Allen's leadership, and began to develop the ideas behind Biosphere 2. They also founded the Institute of Ecotechnics and began innovative field projects in challenging biomes to advance the healthy integration of human technologies and the environment where many of the biospherian candidates gained experience in operating real-time complex projects. One of their own scientific consultants was earlier critical. Dr. Ghillean Prance, director of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, designed


title: "Biosphere 2" content: the rainforest biome inside the Biosphere. Although he later changed his opinion, acknowledging the unique scope of this experiment and contributed to its success as a consultant, in a 1983 interview (8 years before the start of the experiment), Prance said, "I was attracted to the Institute of Ecotechnics because funds for research were being cut and the institute seemed to have a lot of money which it was willing to spend freely. Along with others, I was ill-used. Their interest in science is not genuine. They seem to have some sort of secret agenda, they seem to be guided


title: "Biosphere 2" content: by some sort of religious or philosophical system." Prance went on in the 1991 newspaper interview to say "they are visionaries..And maybe to fulfill their vision they have become somewhat cultlike. But they are not a cult, per se...I am interested in ecological restoration systems. And I think all sorts of scientific things can come of this experiment, far beyond the space goal... When they came to me with this new project, they seemed so well organized, so inspired, I simply decided to forget the past. You shouldn't hold their past against them." Poynter in her memoir rebuts the critique


title: "Biosphere 2" content: that because some of the creative team of Biosphere 2 weren't highly credentialed scientists, that that ad hominem argument invalidates the results of the endeavor. "“Some reporters hurled accusations that we were unscientific. Apparently because many of the SBV managers were not themselves degreed scientists, this called into question the entire validity of the project, even though some of the world’s best scientists were working vigorously on the project’s design and operation. The critique was not fair. Since leaving Biosphere 2, I have run a small business for ten years that sent experiments on the shuttle and to the space


title: "Biosphere 2" content: station, and is designing life support systems for the replacement shuttle and future moon base. I do not have a degree, not even an MBA from Harvard, as John [Allen] had. I hire scientists and top engineers. Our company’s credibility is not called into question because of my credentials: we are judged on the quality of our work”. H.T. Odum noted that mavericks, outsiders have often contributed to the development of science: “The original management of Biosphere 2 was regarded by many scientists as untrained for lack of scientific degrees, even though they had engaged in a preparatory study program


title: "Biosphere 2" content: for a decade, interacting with the international community of scientists including the Russians involved with closed systems. The history of science has many examples where people of atypical background open science in new directions, in this case implementing mesocosm organization and ecological engineering with fresh hypotheses”. The Biosphere 2 Science Advisory Committee, chaired by Tom Lovejoy of the Smithsonian Institution, in its report of August 1992 reported: "The committee is in agreement that the conception and construction of Biosphere 2 were acts of vision and courage. The scale of Biosphere 2 is unique and Biosphere 2 is already providing unexpected


title: "Biosphere 2" content: scientific results not possible through other means (notably the documented, unexpected decline in atmospheric oxygen levels.) Biosphere 2 will make important scientific contributions in the fields of biogeochemical cycling, the ecology of closed ecological systems, and restoration ecology." Columbia University assembled outside scientists to evaluate the potential of the facility after they took over management, and concluded the following: "A group of world-class scientists got together and decided the Biosphere 2 facility is an exceptional laboratory for addressing critical questions relative to the future of Earth and its environment." In December 1995 the Biosphere 2 owners transferred management to Columbia


title: "Biosphere 2" content: University of New York City which embarked on a successful eight-year run at the Biosphere 2 campus. Columbia ran Biosphere 2 as a research site and campus until 2003. Subsequently, management reverted to the owners. In 1996, Columbia University changed the virtually airtight, materially closed structure designed for closed system research, to a "flow-through" system, and halted closed system research. They manipulated carbon dioxide levels for global warming research, and injected desired amounts of carbon dioxide, venting as needed. During Columbia's tenure, students from Columbia and other colleges and universities would often spend one semester at the site. Important research


title: "Biosphere 2" content: during Columbia's tenure demonstrated the devastating impacts on coral reefs from elevated atmospheric CO2 and acidification that will result from continued global climate change. Frank Press, former president of the National Academy of Sciences, described these interactions between atmosphere and ocean, taking advantage of the highly controllable ocean mesocosm of Biosphere 2, as the “first unequivocal experimental confirmation of the human impact on the planet”. Studies in Biosphere 2’s terrestrial biomes showed that a saturation point was reached with elevated CO2 beyond which they are unable to uptake more. The studies' authors noted that the striking differences between the Biosphere


title: "Biosphere 2" content: 2 rainforest and desert biomes in their whole system responses “illustrates the importance of large-scale experimental research in the study of complex global change issues". In January 2005, Decisions Investments Corporation, owner of Biosphere 2, announced that the project's campus was for sale. They preferred a research use to be found for the complex but were not excluding buyers with different intentions, such as big universities, churches, resorts, and spas. In June 2007 the site was sold for $50 million to CDO Ranching & Development, L.P. 1,500 houses and a resort hotel were planned, but the main structure was still


title: "Biosphere 2" content: to be available for research and educational use. On June 26, 2007, the University of Arizona announced it would take over research at the Biosphere 2. The announcement ended fears that the structure would be demolished. University officials said private gifts and grants enabled them to cover research and operating costs for three years with the possibility of extending funding for ten years. It was extended for ten years, and is now engaged in research projects including research into the terrestrial water cycle and how it relates to ecology, atmospheric science, soil geochemistry, and climate change. In June 2011, the


title: "Biosphere 2" content: university announced that it would assume full ownership of Biosphere 2, effective July 1. CDO Ranching & Development donated the land, Biosphere buildings and several other support and administrative buildings. The Philecology Foundation (a nonprofit research foundation founded by Ed Bass) pledged US$20 million for the ongoing science and operations. There are many small-scale research projects at Biosphere 2, as well as several large-scale research projects including: Biosphere 2 Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. It has been owned by the University of Arizona since 2011. Its mission is to serve as


title: "Club for Growth" content: districts in Utah, but were cancelled when the members declared their opposition to the Ex-Im Bank. In addition, the Club for Growth announced a key vote against re-authorization of the Ex-Im Bank. The Club for Growth produced a series of policy papers on the positions taken by major Republican presidential candidates on the government's role in economic growth. The eleven papers examined the records and remarks of the candidates on issues such as tax reform, government spending, entitlement reform, and free trade. The Club concluded that Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio were the most likely candidates to


title: "Mohammad Mosaddegh" content: to attempt such a dangerously unpopular and risky move against Mosaddegh. It would take much persuasion and many U.S. funded meetings, which included bribing his sister Ashraf with a mink coat and money, to successfully change his mind. Mosaddegh became aware of the plots against him and grew increasingly wary of conspirators acting within his government. According to Dr. Donald N. Wilber, who was involved in the plot to remove Mossadegh from power, in early August, Iranian CIA operatives pretending to be socialists and nationalists threatened Muslim leaders with "savage punishment if they opposed Mossadegh," thereby giving the impression that


title: "Paul Samuelson" content: economy is proof that [...] a socialist, command economy can function and even thrive." The Revolutions of 1989 happened during the same year and the Soviet Union broke up two years later. Samuelson's book was the second one that attempted to introduce to a wider audience Keynesian economics, yet by far the most successful one. Canadian economist Lorie Tarshis, who had been a student attending Keynes's lectures at Harvard in the 1930s, published in 1947 an introductory textbook that incorporated his Tarshis's lecture notes, titled "The Elements of Economics". It was attacked by trustees of, and donors, to American colleges


title: "History of Northern Ireland" content: and the RUC led to increased communal strife, culminating in an attack by a unionist mob (which included police reservists) on a march, known as the Burntollet bridge incident, outside Derry on 4 January 1969. Wholescale violence erupted after an Apprentice Boys march was forced through the Irish nationalist Bogside area of Derry on 12 August 1969 by the RUC, which led to large-scale disorder known as the Battle of the Bogside. Rioting continued until 14 August, and in that time 1,091 canisters, each containing 12.5g of CS gas and 14 canisters containing 50g, were released by the RUC. Even


title: "Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences" content: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Swedish: "Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet") (SLU) is a university in Sweden. Although its head office is located in Ultuna, Uppsala, the university has several campuses in different parts of Sweden, the other main facilities being Alnarp in Lomma Municipality, Skara, and Umeå. Unlike other state owned universities in Sweden, it is funded through the budget for the Ministry for Rural Affairs. The University was co-founder of the Euroleague for Life Sciences (ELLS) which was established in 2001. The university has four faculties: Faculty of Landscape planning, Horticulture and Agricultural Sciences, Faculty


title: Chough content: Chough There are two species of passerine birds commonly called chough ( ) that constitute the genus Pyrrhocorax of the Corvidae (crow) family of birds. These are the red-billed chough ("Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax"), and the Alpine chough (or Yellow-billed chough) ("Pyrrhocorax graculus"). The white-winged chough of Australia, despite its name, is not a true chough but rather a member of the family Corcoracidae and only distantly related. The choughs have black plumage and brightly coloured legs, feet, and bills, and are resident in the mountains of southern Eurasia and North Africa. They have long broad wings and perform spectacular aerobatics. Both


title: Chough content: species pair for life and display fidelity to their breeding sites, which are usually caves or crevices in a cliff face. They build a lined stick nest and lay three to five eggs. They feed, usually in flocks, on short grazed grassland, taking mainly invertebrate prey, supplemented by vegetable material or food from human habitation, especially in winter. Changes in agricultural practices, which have led to local population declines and range fragmentation, are the main threats to this genus, although neither species is threatened globally. The first member of the genus to be described was the red-billed chough, named as


title: Chough content: "Upupa pyrrhocorax" by Linnaeus in his "Systema Naturae" in 1758. His genus "Upupa" contained species that had a long curved bill and a short blunt tongue. These included the northern bald ibis and the hoopoe, birds now known to be completely unrelated to the choughs. The Alpine chough was described as "Corvus graculus" by Linnaeus in the 1766 edition of the "Systema Naturae". Although "Corvus" is the crow genus to which the choughs' relatives belong, they were considered sufficiently distinctive to be moved to the new genus, "Pyrrhocorax", by English ornithologist Marmaduke Tunstall in his 1771 "Ornithologia Britannica", The genus


title: Chough content: name is derived from Ancient Greek "purrhos" (, ‘flame-coloured’) and "korax" (, ‘Raven, crow’). "Chough" was originally an alternative onomatopoeic name for the jackdaw, "Corvus monedula", based on its call. The similar red-billed chough, formerly particularly common in Cornwall, became known initially as "Cornish chough" and then just "chough", the name transferring from one species to the other. The fossil record from the Pleistocene of Europe includes a form similar to the Alpine chough, and sometimes categorised as an extinct subspecies of that bird, and a prehistoric form of the red-billed chough, "P. p. primigenius". There are eight generally recognised


title: Chough content: extant subspecies of red-billed chough, and two of Alpine, although all differ only slightly from the nominate forms. The greater subspecies diversity in the red-billed species arises from an early divergence of the Asian and geographically isolated Ethiopian races from the western forms. The closest relative of the choughs as indicated by a study of molecular phylogeny is the ratchet-tailed treepie ("Temnurus temnurus") and they form a clade that is sister to the remaining living members of the corvidae. The genus "Pyrrhocorax" species differ from "Corvus" in that they have brightly coloured bills and feet, smooth, not scaled tarsi and


title: Chough content: very short, dense nasal feathers. Choughs have uniformly black plumage, lacking any paler areas as seen in some of their relatives. The two "Pyrrhocorax" are the main hosts of two specialist chough fleas, "Frontopsylla frontalis" and "F. laetus", not normally found on other corvids. The Australian white-winged chough, "Corcorax melanorhamphos", despite its similar shape and habits, is only distantly related to the true choughs, and is an example of convergent evolution. Choughs breed in mountains, from Morocco and Spain eastwards through southern Europe and the Alps, across Central Asia and the Himalayas to western China. The Alpine chough is also


title: Chough content: found in Corsica and Crete, and the red-billed chough has populations in Ireland, the UK, the Isle of Man, and two areas of the Ethiopian Highlands. Both species are non-migratory residents throughout their range, only occasionally wandering to neighbouring countries. These birds are mountain specialists, although red-billed choughs also use coastal sea cliffs in Ireland, Great Britain, and Brittany, feeding on adjacent short grazed grassland or machair; the small population on La Palma, one of the Canary Islands, is also coastal. The red-billed chough more typically breeds in mountains above in Europe, in North Africa and in the Himalayas. In


title: Chough content: that mountain range it reaches in the summer, and has been recorded at altitude on Mount Everest. The Alpine chough breeds above in Europe, in Morocco, and in the Himalayas. It has nested at , higher than any other bird species, and it has been observed following mountaineers ascending Mount Everest at an altitude of . Where the two species occur in the same mountains, the Alpine species tends to breed at a higher elevation than its relative, since it is better adapted for a diet at high altitudes. The choughs are medium-sized corvids; the red-billed chough is 39–40 centimetres


title: Chough content: (15–16 in) in length with a 73–90 centimetres (29–35 in) wingspan, and the Alpine chough averages slightly smaller at 37–39 (14.5–15.5 in) length with a wingspan. These birds have black plumage similar to that of many "Corvus" crows, but they are readily distinguished from members of that genus by their brightly coloured bills and legs. The Alpine chough has a yellow bill and the red-billed chough has a long, curved, red bill; both species have red legs as adults. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile of each species has a duller bill and legs than the adult and its


title: Chough content: plumage lacks the glossiness seen in older birds. Other physical distinctions are summarised in the table below. The two choughs are distinguishable from each other by their bill colour, and in flight the long broad wings and short tail of the red-billed give it a silhouette quite different from its slightly smaller yellow-billed relative. Both species fly with loose deep wing beats, and frequently use their manoeuvrability to perform acrobatic displays, soaring in the updraughts at cliff faces then diving and rolling with fanned tail and folded wings. The red-billed chough's loud, ringing "chee-ow" call is similar in character to


title: Chough content: that of other corvids, particularly the jackdaw, although it is clearer and louder than the call of that species. In contrast, the Alpine chough has rippling "preep" and whistled "sweeeooo" calls quite unlike the crows. Small subspecies of both choughs have higher frequency calls than larger races, as predicted by the inverse relationship between body size and frequency. Choughs are monogamous, and show high partner and site fidelity. Both species build a bulky nest of roots, sticks and plant stems lined with grass, fine twiglets or hair. It is constructed on a ledge, in a cave or similar fissure in


title: Chough content: a cliff face, or in man-made locations like abandoned buildings, quarries or dams. Red-billed will also sometimes use occupied buildings such as Mongolian monasteries. The choughs are not colonial, although in suitable habitat several pairs may nest in close proximity. Both species lay 3–5 normally whitish eggs blotched with brown or grey, which are incubated by the female alone. The chicks hatch after two to three weeks. Red-billed chough chicks are almost naked, but the chicks of the higher altitude Alpine chough hatch with a dense covering of natal down. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge in


title: Chough content: 29–31 days after hatching for Alpine chough, and 31–41 days for red-billed. The Alpine chough lays its eggs about one month later than its relative, although breeding success and reproductive behaviour are similar. The similarities between the two species presumably arose because of the same strong environmental constraints on breeding behaviour. The first-year survival rate of the juvenile red-billed chough is 72.5 percent, and for the Alpine it is 77%. The annual adult survival rate is 83–92% for Alpine, but is unknown for red-billed. In the summer, both choughs feed mainly on invertebrates such as beetles, snails, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and


title: Chough content: fly larvae. Ants are a favoured food of the red-billed chough. Prey items are taken from short grazed pasture, or in the case of coastal populations of red-billed chough, areas where plant growth is hindered by exposure to coastal salt spray or poor soils. The chough's bill may be used to pick insects off the surface, or to dig for grubs and other invertebrates. The red-billed chough typically excavates to in the thin soils of its feeding areas, but it may dig to in suitable conditions. Plant matter is also eaten, and red-billed chough will take fallen grain where the


title: Chough content: opportunity arises; it has been reported as damaging barley crops by breaking off the ripening heads to extract the corn. Alpine choughs rely more on fruit and berries at times of year when animal prey is limited, and will readily supplement their winter diet with food provided by tourist activities in mountain regions, including ski resorts, refuse dumps and picnic areas. Both "Pyrrhocorax" species feed in flocks on open areas, often some distance from the breeding cliffs, particularly in winter. Feeding trips may cover distance and in altitude. In the Alps, the development of skiing above has enabled more Alpine


title: Chough content: choughs to remain at high levels in winter. Where their ranges overlap, the two chough species may feed together in the summer, although there is only limited competition for food. An Italian study showed that the vegetable part of the winter diet for the red-billed chough was almost exclusively "Gagea" bulbs, whilst the Alpine chough took berries and hips. In June, red-billed choughs fed mainly on caterpillars whereas Alpine choughs ate cranefly pupae. Later in the summer, the Alpine chough consumed large numbers of grasshoppers, while the red-billed chough added cranefly pupae, fly larvae and beetles to its diet. In


title: Chough content: the eastern Himalayas in November, Alpine choughs occur mainly in Juniper forests where they feed on juniper berries, differing ecologically from the red-billed choughs in the same region and at the same time of year, which dig for food in the soil of the villages' terraced pastures. Predators of the choughs include the peregrine falcon, golden eagle and Eurasian eagle-owl, while the common raven will take nestlings. In northern Spain, red-billed choughs preferentially nest near lesser kestrel colonies; the falcon, which eats only insects, provides a degree of protection against larger predators, and the chough benefits in terms of a


title: Chough content: higher breeding success. The red-billed chough is occasionally parasitised by the great spotted cuckoo, a brood parasite for which the Eurasian magpie is the primary host. The choughs host bird fleas, including two "Frontopsylla" species which are "Pyrrhocorax" specialist. Other parasites recorded on choughs include a cestode "Choanotaenia pirinica", and various species of chewing lice in the genera "Brueelia", "Menacanthus" and "Philopterus". Blood parasites such as "Plasmodium" have been found in red-billed choughs, but this is uncommon, and apparently does little harm. Parasitism levels are much lower than in some other passerine groups. Both "Pyrrhocorax" species have extensive geographical ranges


title: Chough content: and large populations; neither is thought to approach the thresholds for the global population decline criteria of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and they are therefore evaluated as being of Least Concern. However, some populations, particularly on islands such as Corsica and La Palma are small and isolated. Both choughs occupied more extensive ranges in the past, reaching to more southerly and lower altitude areas than at present, with the Alpine chough breeding in Europe as far south as southern Italy, and both the decline and range fragmentation continue. Red-billed


title: Chough content: choughs have lost ground in most of Europe, and Alpine choughs have lost many breeding sites in the east of the continent. In the Canary Islands, the red-billed chough is now extinct on two of the islands on which it formerly bred, and the Alpine was lost from the archipelago altogether. The causes of the decline include the fragmentation and loss of open grasslands to scrub or human activities such as the construction of ski resorts, and a longer-term threat comes from global warming which would cause the species' preferred Alpine climate zone to shift to higher, more restricted areas,


title: Chough content: or locally to disappear entirely. The red-billed chough, which breeds at lower levels, has been more affected by human activity, and the declines away from its main Alpine breeding areas have seen it categorised as "vulnerable" in Europe. Only in Spain is it still common, and it has recently expanded its range in that country by nesting in old buildings in areas close to its traditional mountain breeding sites. Although these are mainly mountain species with limited interactions with humans, the red-billed chough has a coastal population in the far west of its range, and has cultural connections particularly with


title: Chough content: Cornwall, where it appears on the Cornish Coat of Arms. A legend from that county says that King Arthur did not die but was transformed into a red-billed chough, and hence killing this bird was unlucky. The red-billed chough was formerly reputed to be a habitual thief of small objects from houses, including burning wood or lighted candles, which it would use to set fire to haystacks or thatched roofs. As a high altitude species with limited contact with humans until the development of mountain tourism activities, the Alpine chough has little cultural significance. It was, however, featured together with


title: Chough content: its wild mountain habitat in Olivier Messiaen’s "Catalogue d'oiseaux" ("Bird catalogue"), a piano piece written in 1956–58. "Le chocard des alpes" ("The Alpine Chough") is the opening piece of Book 1 of the work. A group of choughs may be referred to fancifully or jocularly as a "chattering" or "clattering". (See also: List of collective nouns) Chough There are two species of passerine birds commonly called chough ( ) that constitute the genus Pyrrhocorax of the Corvidae (crow) family of birds. These are the red-billed chough ("Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax"), and the Alpine chough (or Yellow-billed chough) ("Pyrrhocorax graculus"). The white-winged chough


title: Masdevallia content: Masdevallia Masdevallia, abbreviated Masd in horticultural trade, is a large genus of flowering plants of the Pleurothallidinae, a subtribe of the orchid family (Orchidaceae). There are over 500 species, grouped into several subgenera. The genus is named for Jose Masdeval, a physician and botanist in the court of Charles III of Spain. These plants are found from Mexico to southern Brazil, but mostly in the higher regions (2,500-4,000 m ASL) of the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. They may be epiphytes, terrestrials or growing as lithophytes on damp rocks. The plants are characterized by an abbreviated to


title: Masdevallia content: elongate and creeping rhizome that gives rise to stems that lack pseudobulbs. The stem bears a single, fleshy, erect to pendent, ovate to lanceolate leaf. The flowers are triangular and occur singly or in racemose inflorescences. They are characterized by a showy calyx and reduced corolla. The sepals are fused at the base and frequently caudate. The petals flank the semiterete column and the tongue-shaped lip is flexibly hinged to a free column foot. The species are sensitive to inappropriate cultural conditions and will show signs of stress by leaf spotting or dropping. They can generally be grown in pots


title: Masdevallia content: with sphagnum or seedling grade wood chips although a few species produce descending inflorescences and are best accommodated in baskets. In both cases the rhizome should remain at the surface of the medium in order to prevent rot. Most of these plants are from high altitude cloud forests and require very cool conditions and abundant moisture throughout the year. They cannot tolerate dryness, low humidity, or excessive temperatures and the plants are very easy to kill. They will simply drop all their leaves and suddenly collapse if allowed to dry completely or are exposed to high temperatures. Many members of


title: Masdevallia content: this genus from very high altitude cloud forests defy cultivation. Most of the species from this genus are considered less difficult in cultivation than plants from the genus "Dracula", and some of them are very easy to cultivate and have a 'weedy' habit such as Veitch's masdevallia, but the majority of these species are usually very difficult to maintain in cultivation unless the plants can be kept cool and moist all the time. Low humidity conditions or watering the plants with a water source which contains high levels of dissolved salts will result in the leaves yellowing and rapidly dying


title: Masdevallia content: from the tips back to the rhizome. The plants should be provided with rain water or distilled water or a very pure water source. The medium should always remain moist as the plants do not have any significant storage structures like most orchids. "Masdevallia" was found to be polyphyletic and the taxonomy of the group is unresolved but the currently accepted taxonomy proceeds as follows: Masdevallia Masdevallia, abbreviated Masd in horticultural trade, is a large genus of flowering plants of the Pleurothallidinae, a subtribe of the orchid family (Orchidaceae). There are over 500 species, grouped into several subgenera. The genus


title: Penance content: minister, in addition to being anointed. In Methodism, the minister is bound by the Seal of the Confessional, with "The Book of Discipline" stating "All clergy of The United Methodist Church are charged to maintain all confidences inviolate, including confessional confidences"; any confessor who divulges information revealed in confession is subject to being defrocked in accordance with canon law. As with Lutheranism, in the Methodist tradition, corporate confession is the most common practice, with the Methodist liturgy including "prayers of confession, assurance and pardon". The traditional confession of "The Sunday Service", the first liturgical text used by Methodists, comes from


title: "English Electric Lightning" content: replaced by two additional aircraft, the last of which was delivered in June 1972. The multirole F.53s served in the ground-attack and reconnaissance roles as well as an air defence fighter, with Lightnings of No 6 Squadron RSAF carrying out ground-attack missions using rockets and bombs during a border dispute with South Yemen between December 1969 and May 1970. One F.53 (53–697) was shot down by Yemeni ground fire on 3 May 1970 during a reconnaissance mission, with the pilot ejecting successfully and being rescued by Saudi forces. Saudi Arabia received Northrop F-5E fighters from 1971, which resulted in the


title: "Peter Mandelson" content: a close ally and trusted adviser to Tony Blair, Mandelson was Labour's election campaign director for the 1997 general election, which Labour won decisively. He was appointed as a Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office, where his job was to co-ordinate within government. A few months later, he also acquired responsibility for the Millennium Dome, after Blair decided to go ahead with the project despite the opposition of most of the cabinet (including the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who had been running it). Jennie Page, the Dome project's chief executive, was abruptly sacked after a


title: Borscht content: Borscht Borscht () is a sour soup commonly consumed in Eastern Europe and across Russia. The variety most often associated with the name in English is of Ukrainian origin, and includes beetroots as one of the main ingredients, which gives the dish its distinctive red color. It shares the name, however, with a wide selection of sour-tasting soups without beetroots, such as sorrel-based green borscht, rye-based white borscht and cabbage borscht. Borscht derives from an ancient soup originally cooked from pickled stems, leaves and umbels of common hogweed ("Heracleum sphondylium"), a herbaceous plant growing in damp meadows, which lent the


title: Borscht content: dish its Slavic name. With time, it evolved into a diverse array of tart soups, among which the beet-based red borscht has become the most popular. It is typically made by combining meat or bone stock with sautéed vegetables, which – as well as beetroots – usually include cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes and tomatoes. Depending on the recipe, borscht may include meat or fish, or be purely vegetarian; it may be served either hot or cold; and it may range from a hearty one-pot meal to a clear broth or a smooth drink. It is often served with "smetana" or


title: Borscht content: sour cream, hard-boiled eggs or potatoes, but there exists an ample choice of more involved garnishes and side dishes, such as ' or ', that can be served with the soup. Its popularity has spread throughout Eastern Europe and the former Russian Empire, and – by way of migration – to other continents. In North America, borscht is often linked with either Jews or Mennonites, the groups who first brought it there from Europe. Several ethnic groups claim borscht, in its various local guises, as their own national dish consumed as part of ritual meals within Eastern Orthodox, Greek Catholic,


title: Borscht content: Roman Catholic, and Jewish religious traditions. The English word "borscht", also spelled "borsch", "borsht", or "bortsch", comes from Yiddish ('). The latter derives from the word ('), which is common to East Slavic languages, such as Ukrainian or Russian. Together with cognates in other Slavic languages, it comes from Proto-Slavic "*bŭrščǐ" 'hogweed' and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European "*bhr̥sti-" < "*bhares-/bhores-" 'point, stubble'. Common hogweed ("") was the soup's principal ingredient before it was replaced with other vegetables, notably beetroot. The beetroot borscht was invented in what is now Ukraine and first popularized in North America by Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern


title: Borscht content: Europe. Typical Ukrainian borscht is traditionally made from meat or bone stock, sautéed vegetables, and beet sour (i.e., fermented beetroot juice). Depending on the recipe, some of these components may be omitted or substituted for. The stock is typically made by boiling meat, bones, or both. Beef, pork or a combination of both are most commonly used, with brisket, ribs, shank and chuck considered to give the most flavorful results, especially if cooked on a high flame. Marrow bones are considered best for the bone stock. Meat stock is usually cooked for about two hours, whereas bone stock takes four


title: Borscht content: to six hours to prepare. Meat and bones are usually removed afterwards and the meat is only added back into the soup about 10–15 minutes before the borscht is done. Some recipes call for smoked meats, resulting in a distinctively smoky borscht, while others use poultry or mutton stock. Fasting varieties are typically made with fish stock to avoid the use of meat, while purely vegetarian recipes often substitute forest mushroom broth for the stock. The vegetables most commonly added to borscht are beetroots, white cabbage, carrots, parsley root, potatoes, onions and tomatoes. Some recipes may also call for beans,


title: Borscht content: tart apples, turnip, celeriac, zucchini or bell peppers. Parsnip may be used as a substitute for parsley root, and tomato paste is often used as well as or instead of fresh tomatoes. The traditional technique of preparing the soup is to precook the vegetables – by sautéing, braising, boiling or baking – separately from the meat and only then to combine them with the stock. This distinctive feature of borscht derives from the practice of slow cooking in the Russian oven (traditional masonry stove, used for both cooking and heating), wherein the differences in cooking times of individual ingredients had


title: Borscht content: to be taken into account in order to ensure that all components reach doneness at the same time. The importance of this method is reflected in the Russian language, where a variant in which all vegetables are added raw directly into the stock is referred to by the diminutive form ' rather than '. Vegetables are usually julienned, except for potatoes and zucchini, which are diced. The beetroots may be partially baked before being sprinkled with vinegar or lemon juice to preserve the color and braised separately from other vegetables. Onions, carrots, parsley root, turnip and other root vegetables are


title: Borscht content: sautéed (traditionally in animal fat, especially lard or butter) and then mixed with tomatoes or tomato paste. Dry beans are boiled separately. Potatoes and cabbage are boiled in the stock for about 15 minutes before the precooked vegetables are added. The dominant tastes in borscht are sweet and sour. This combination is traditionally obtained by adding beet sour. It is made by covering sliced beetroots with lukewarm preboiled water and allowing bacteria to ferment some of the sugars present in beetroots into dextran (which gives the liquid a slightly viscous consistency), mannitol, acetic acid and lactic acid. Stale rye bread


title: Borscht content: is often added to hasten the process, but usually omitted in Jewish recipes, as "chametz" (leavened bread) would make the sour unfit for Passover meals. Sugar, salt and lemon juice may be also added to balance the flavor. After about 2–5 days (or 2–3 weeks without the bread), the deep red, sweet and sour liquid may be strained and is ready to use. It is added to borscht shortly before the soup is done, as prolonged boiling would cause the tart flavor to dissipate. The beet sour is known in Slavic languages as "kvas" (literally 'sour, acid'; compare kvass) and


title: Borscht content: in Yiddish as ' (from a Slavic word originally referring to any brine obtained by steeping salted meat or vegetables in water; compare Russian ' 'pickle juice', Polish "" 'broth'). Apart from its employment in borscht, it may be also added to prepared horseradish or used as pot roast marinade. As the traditional method of making borscht with beet sour often requires planning at least several days ahead, many recipes for quicker borscht replace the beet sour with fresh beetroot juice, while the sour taste is imparted by other ingredients, such as vinegar, lemon juice or citric acid, tomatoes, tart


title: Borscht content: apples, dry red wine, dill pickle juice, sauerkraut juice, or a fermented rye flour and water mixture. The soup is typically flavored with a wide selection of herbs, spices and condiments. Salt, black pepper, garlic, bay leaves and dill are among the most commonly used. Other aromatics often added to borscht include allspice, celery stalks, parsley, marjoram, hot peppers, saffron, horseradish, ginger and prunes. Some recipes require flour or roux to further thicken the borscht. A common opinion is that a good borscht should be thick enough for a spoon to stand upright in it. As the home country of


title: Borscht content: beetroot borscht, Ukraine boasts great diversity of the soup's regional variants, with virtually every province having its own recipe. Differences between particular varieties may regard the type of stock used (meat, bone, or both), the kind of meat (beef, pork, poultry, etc.), the choice of vegetables and the method of cutting and cooking them. For example, although the typical recipe calls for beef and pork, the Kiev variant uses mutton or lamb as well as beef, while in the Poltava region, the stock for borscht is cooked on poultry meat, that is, chicken, duck or goose. The use of zucchini,


title: Borscht content: beans and apples is characteristic of the Chernihiv borscht; in this variant, beetroots are sautéed in vegetable oil rather than lard, and the sour taste comes solely from tomatoes and tart apples. The Lviv borscht is based on bone stock and is served with chunks of Vienna sausages. Many regional recipes for borscht have also developed in Russian cuisine. Examples include the Moscow borscht, served with pieces of beef, ham and Vienna sausages; Siberian borscht with meatballs; and Pskov borscht with dried smelt from the local lakes. Other unique Russian variants include a monastic Lenten borscht with marinated kelp instead


title: Borscht content: of cabbage and the Russian Navy borscht ("), the defining characteristic of which is that the vegetables are cut into square or diamond-shaped chunks rather than julienned. As well as the thick borschts described above, Polish cuisine offers a ruby-colored beetroot bouillon known as ', or clear red borscht. It is made by combining strained meat-and-vegetable stock with wild mushroom broth and beet sour. In some versions, smoked meat may be used for the stock and the tartness may be obtained or enhanced by adding lemon juice, dill pickle brine, or dry red wine. It may be served either in


title: Borscht content: a soup bowl or – especially at dinner parties – as a hot beverage in a twin-handled cup, with a croquette or a filled pastry on the side. Unlike other types of borscht, it is not whitened with sour cream. ', or Christmas Eve borscht, is a variant of the clear borscht that is traditionally served during the Polish Christmas Eve supper. In this version, meat stock is either omitted or replaced with fish broth, usually made by boiling the heads cut off from fish used in other Christmas Eve dishes. The mushrooms used for cooking the mushroom broth are


title: Borscht content: reserved for " (small filled dumplings), which are then served with the borscht. Ashkenazi Jews living in Eastern Europe adopted beetroot borscht from their Slavic neighbors and adapted it to their taste and religious requirements. As combining meat with milk is proscribed by kosher dietary laws, Jews have developed two variants of the soup: meat (') and dairy ('). The meat variant is typically made from beef brisket (pork is never used) and cabbage, while the dairy one is vegetarian, blended with sour cream or a mixture of milk and egg yolks. Both variants typically contain beetroots and onions, and


title: Borscht content: are flavored with beet sour, vinegar or citric acid for tartness and beet sugar for sweetness. Galician Jews traditionally liked their borscht particularly sweet. Jewish borscht may be served either hot or cold, typically with a hot boiled potato on the side. In prewar Eastern Europe it was traditionally put up to ferment around Purim so that it would be ready four weeks later for the Passover holiday. In the summertime, cold borscht is a popular alternative to the aforementioned variants, which are normally served hot. It consists of beet sour or beet juice blended with sour cream, buttermilk, soured


title: Borscht content: milk, kefir or yogurt. The mixture has a distinctive pink or magenta color. It is served refrigerated, typically over finely chopped beetroot, cucumbers, radishes and green onion, together with halves of a hard-boiled egg and sprinkled with fresh dill. Chopped veal, ham, or crawfish tails may be added as well. This soup probably originated in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which comprised the territories of modern-day Lithuania and Belarus, and it is still part of the culinary traditions of these and neighboring nations. The Lithuanian language is the only one in the region which actually refers to it as 'cold


title: Borscht content: borscht' ('). In Belarusian it is known simply as ', or 'cold soup'; in Polish as "chłodnik litewski", or 'Lithuanian cold soup'; and in Russian as "", or 'beetroot soup'. Although in the English language "borscht" refers almost invariably to a beet-based soup, in some culinary cultures there exist soups with the same or similar names where beetroots are absent or merely optional. The principal common trait among them is a tart flavor obtained by adding various sour-tasting ingredients. Green borscht ("), a light soup made from leaf vegetables, is an example common in Ukrainian and Russian cuisines. The naturally


title: Borscht content: tart-tasting sorrel is most commonly used, but spinach, chard, nettle, garden orache and occasionally dandelion, goutweed or ramsons, may be added as well, especially after the spring season for sorrel has passed. Like beetroot borscht, it is based on meat or vegetable broth and is typically served with boiled potatoes and hard-boiled eggs, sprinkled with dill. There is also a variety of Ukrainian green borscht which includes both sorrel and beetroots. In Polish cuisine, white borscht (', also known as ' or ", 'sour soup') is made from a fermented mixture of rye flour or oatmeal and water. It is


title: Borscht content: typically flavored with garlic and marjoram, and served over eggs and boiled fresh sausage; the water in which the sausage was boiled is often used instead of meat stock. In the Carpathian Mountains of southern Poland, variants of borscht are also made in which the tart taste comes from dairy products, such as whey or buttermilk. Although the deep red color of beetroot borscht may remind those unfamiliar with Polish cuisine of blood, the kind of borscht that does contain animal (usually poultry) blood mixed with vinegar is dark brownish-gray in color and aptly called "gray borscht" ('), which is


title: Borscht content: a regional name of the Polish blood soup better known as '. In Romanian and Moldovan cuisines, a mixture of wheat bran or cornmeal with water that has been left to ferment, similar to, but less cloudy than that used in Polish white borscht, is called '. It is used to impart a sour taste to a variety of tangy Romanian soups, known as either also ' or '. Variants include ' (with meatballs), ' (with tripe), ' (with fish) and " (with beetroots). The Armenian version of borscht is a hot soup made with beef stock, green peppers and


title: Borscht content: other vegetables, which may or may not include beetroots, and flavored with parsley and cilantro. In ethnic Mennonite cuisine, "borscht" refers to a whole range of seasonal vegetable soups based on beef or chicken stock – from spring borscht made with spinach, sorrel and chard to summer borscht with cabbage, tomatoes, corn and squash to fall and winter borscht with cabbage, beets and potatoes. In Chinese cuisine, a soup known as ", or "Russian soup", is based on red cabbage and tomatoes, and lacks beetroots altogether; also known as "Chinese borscht", it originated in Harbin, close to the Russian border


title: Borscht content: in northeast China, and has spread as far as Hong Kong. In Shanghai's Haipai cuisine, tomatoes are the main ingredient; beef and its broth, onions and cabbages are also added, while flour, rather than sour cream, is used for thickening. The diversity of borscht styles is matched by the wide choice of garnishes and side dishes with which various kinds of borscht may be served. Most often, borscht is served with sour cream, the East European version of which, known as ", is runnier than its American counterpart. The sour cream may be served in a separate pitcher for the


title: Borscht content: diners to add the desired amount themselves or the borscht may come already "whitened", that is, blended with sour cream. Sometimes the cream is thickened with flour before being added to the soup. Yogurt and a mixture of milk and yolks are possible substitutes. Chopped herbs are often sprinkled on the surface of the soup; dill is most common, but parsley, chives or scallion are often added as well. Individual helpings may be spiced up with minced hot peppers or garlic. Many kinds of borscht are served over halves or quarters of hard-boiled chicken or quail eggs. Navy beans, broad


title: Borscht content: beans or string beans are also a common addition. Meat, removed from the stock on which the borscht was based, may be cut into smaller chunks and either added back into the soup or served on the side with horseradish or mustard. Bacon and sausages are also commonly used as borscht garnishes. Borscht based on bone stock may be served Old Polish style, with marrow from the bones. Some kinds of the soup, such as Poltava borscht, may be served with "," or thick noodles of wheat or buckwheat flour. Siberian borscht is eaten with boiled meatballs (') of minced


title: Borscht content: beef and onion. In Poland and parts of western Ukraine, borscht is typically ladled over ', or bite-sized ear-shaped dumplings made from pasta dough wrapped around mushroom, buckwheat or meat filling. Mushroom-filled " are particularly associated with Polish Christmas Eve borscht. Borscht, like any other soup in East Slavic cuisines, is seldom eaten by itself, but rather accompanied by a side dish. At a minimum, spoonfuls of borscht are alternated with bites of a slice of bread. Buckwheat groats or boiled potatoes, often topped with pork cracklings, are other simple possibilities, but a range of more involved sides exists as


title: Borscht content: well. In Ukraine, borscht is often accompanied with ', or savory, puffy yeast-raised rolls glazed with oil and crushed garlic. In Russian cuisine, borscht may be served with any of assorted side dishes based on ', or the East European variant of farmer cheese, such as ', ' or '. ' are baked round cheese-filled tarts; ' are small pancakes wherein the cheese is mixed into the batter; and a ' is a casserole of buckwheat groats baked with cheese. ', or baked dumplings with fillings as for ', are another common side for both thick and clear variants of


title: Borscht content: borscht. Polish clear borscht may be also served with a croquette or '. A typical Polish croquette (') is made by wrapping a ' (thin pancake) around a filling and coating it in breadcrumbs before refrying; ' (literally, 'little ') are variously shaped filled hand-held pastries of yeast-raised or flaky dough. An even more exquisite way to serve borscht is with a coulibiac, or a large loaf-shaped pie. Possible fillings for croquettes, ' and coulibiacs include mushrooms, sauerkraut and minced meat. Borscht derives from a soup originally made by the Slavs from common hogweed (", also known as cow parsnip),


title: Borscht content: which lent the dish its Slavic name. Growing commonly in damp meadows throughout the north temperate zone, hogweed was used not only as fodder (as its English names suggest), but also for human consumption – from Eastern Europe to Siberia, to northwestern North America. The Slavs collected hogweed in May and used its roots for stewing with meat, while the stems, leaves and umbels were chopped, covered with water and left in a warm place to ferment. After a few days, lactic and alcoholic fermentation produced a mixture described as "something between beer and sauerkraut". This concoction was then used


title: Borscht content: for cooking a soup characterized by a mouth-puckering sour taste and pungent smell. As the Polish ethnographer wrote in 1830, "Poles have been always partial to tart dishes, which are somewhat peculiar to their homeland and vital to their health." The earliest written reference to the Slavic hogweed soup can be found in "" ("Domestic Order"), a 16th-century Russian compendium of moral rules and homemaking advice. It recommends growing the plant "by the fence, around the whole garden, where the nettle grows", to cook a soup of it in springtime and reminds the reader to, "for the Lord's sake, share


title: Borscht content: it with those in need". Simon Syrenius (), a 17th-century Polish botanist, described "our Polish hogweed" as a vegetable that was well known throughout Poland, Ruthenia, Lithuania and Samogitia (that is, most of the northern part of Eastern Europe), typically used for cooking a "tasty and graceful soup" with capon stock, eggs, sour cream and millet. More interested in the plant's medicinal properties than its culinary use, he also recommended pickled hogweed juice as a cure for fever or hangover. Hogweed borscht was mostly a poor man's food. The soup's humble beginnings are still reflected in Polish fixed expressions, where


title: Borscht content: "cheap like borscht" is the equivalent of "dirt cheap" (also attested as a calque in Yiddish and Canadian English), whereas adding "two mushrooms into borscht" is synonymous with excess. For the professors of the University of Kraków, who led a monastic way of life in the 17th century, hogweed borscht was a fasting dish which they ate regularly (sometimes with deviled eggs) from Lent till Rogation days. It was uncommon on the royal table, although according to the 16th-century Polish botanist Marcin of Urzędów – citing , a court physician to the Jagiellonian kings of Hungary – the Polish-born King


title: Borscht content: Vladislaus II used to have a Polish hogweed-based dish prepared for him at his court in Buda. With time, other ingredients were added to the soup, eventually replacing hogweed altogether, and the names ' or ' became generic terms for any sour-tasting soup. In 19th-century rural Poland, this term included soups made from barberries, currants, gooseberries, cranberries, celery or plums. When describing the uses of common hogweed, John Gerard, a 17th-century English botanist, observed that "the people of [Poland] and Lithuania [used] to make [a] drink with the decoction of this herb and leaven or some other thing made of


title: Borscht content: meal, which is used instead of beer and other ordinary drink." It may suggest that hogweed soup was on some occasions combined with a fermented mixture of water and barley flour, oatmeal or rye flour. Such soured, gelatinous flour-and-water mixture, originally known as kissel (from the Proto-Slavic root "*kyslŭ", 'sour') had been already mentioned in "The Tale of Bygone Years", a 12th-century chronicle of Kievan Rus', and continued to be a staple of Ukrainian and Russian cooking until the middle of the 19th century. In Poland, a soup based on diluted kissel became known as either ' (from Middle High


title: Borscht content: German ' 'sour') or ' and later – to distinguish it from the red beetroot borscht – as ' 'white borscht'. The earliest known Polish recipes for borscht, written by chefs catering to Polish magnates (aristocrats), are from the late 17th century. , head chef to Prince , included several borscht recipes in his ' ("A Collection of Dishes"), the first cookbook published originally in Polish, in 1682. They include such sour soups as lemon borscht and "royal borscht", the latter made from assorted dried, smoked or fresh fish and fermented rye bran. A manuscript recipe collection from the family


title: Borscht content: court, dating back to ca. 1686, contains an instruction for making hogweed borscht mixed with poppy seeds or ground almonds. As this was a Lenten dish, it was garnished, in a ' fashion typical of Baroque cuisine, with mock eggs made from finely chopped pike that was partly dyed with saffron and formed into oval balls. An alternative recipe for the almond borscht replaced pickled hogweed with vinegar. Borscht also evolved into a variety of sour soups to the east of Poland. Examples include onion borscht, a recipe for which was included in a 1905 Russian cookbook, and sorrel-based green


title: Borscht content: borscht, which is still a popular summer soup in Ukraine and Russia. "A Gift to Young Housewives" by Elena Molokhovets, the best-selling Russian cookbook of the 19th century, first published in 1861, contains nine recipes for borscht, some of which are based on kvass, a traditional Slavic fermented beverage made from rye bread. Kvass-based variants were also known in Ukraine at that time; some of them were types of green borscht, while others were similar to the Russian "". Before the advent of beet-based borscht, cabbage borscht was of particular importance. Made from either fresh cabbage or sauerkraut, it could


title: Borscht content: be indistinguishable from the Russian '. Indeed, the mid-19th-century "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language" defines ' as "a kind of """ with beet sour added for tartness. The significance of cabbage as an essential ingredient of borscht is manifest in the Ukrainian proverb, "without bread, it's no lunch; without cabbage, it's no borscht." Beet ('), a plant native to the Mediterranean Basin, was already grown in antiquity. Only the leaves were of culinary use, as the tapered, tough, whitish and bitter-tasting root was considered unfit for human consumption. It is likely that beet greens were used in


title: Borscht content: variants of green borscht long before the invention of the beetroot-based red borscht. Beet varieties with round, red, sweet taproots, known as beetroots, were not reliably reported until the 12th century and did not spread to Eastern Europe before the 16th century. , a Polish Renaissance poet and moralist, included the earliest known Polish recipe for pickled beetroots in his 1568 book, "Life of an Honest Man". It would later evolve into ', or ", a beet-and-horseradish relish popular in Polish and Jewish cuisines. also recommended the "very tasty brine" left over from beetroot pickling, which was an early version


title: Borscht content: of beet sour. The sour found some applications in Polish folk medicine as a cure for hangover and – mixed with honey – as a sore throat remedy. It may never be known who first thought of using beet sour to flavor borscht, which also gave the soup its now-familiar red color. 's Polish-German dictionary published in 1806 was the first to define " as a tart soup made from pickled beetroots. The fact that certain 19th-century Russian and Polish cookbooks, such as "Handbook of the Experienced Russian Housewife" (1842) by and "The Lithuanian Cook" (1854) by , refer to


title: Borscht content: beetroot-based borscht as "Little Russian borscht" (where "Little Russian" is a term used at the time for ethnic Ukrainians under imperial Russian rule) suggests that this innovation took place in what is now Ukraine, whose soils and climate are particularly well suited to beet cultivation. Ukrainian legends, probably of 19th-century origin, attribute the invention of beetroot borscht either to Zaporozhian Cossacks, serving in the Polish army, on their way to break the siege of Vienna in 1683, or to Don Cossacks, serving in the Russian army, while laying siege to Azov in 1695. Spanish conquistadors brought potatoes and tomatoes from


title: Borscht content: the Americas to Europe in the 16th century, but these vegetables only became commonly grown and consumed in Eastern Europe in the 19th century. Eventually, both became staples of peasant diet and essential ingredients of Ukrainian and Russian borscht. Potatoes replaced turnips in borscht recipes, and tomatoes – fresh, canned or paste – took over from beet sour as the source of tartness. The turnip is rarely found in modern recipes, and even then, together with potatoes. In Ukraine, beet sour and tomatoes were both used for some time until the latter ultimately prevailed during the last third of the


title: Borscht content: 19th century. Over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, borscht's popularity spread beyond its Slavic homeland, largely due to such factors as territorial expansion of the Russian Empire, Russia's growing political clout and cultural stature, and waves of emigration out of the country. As Russia grew to cover most of northern and central Eurasia, borscht was introduced to the cuisines of various peoples inhabiting the territories both within and adjacent to the empire, from Finland to the Caucasus and Iran, to Central Asia and China, to Alaska (Russian America). Borscht's westward expansion was less successful; Germans used to


title: Borscht content: scoff at the soup along with other East European fare. What helped familiarize Western Europe with borscht was the practice of Russian emperors, as well as Russian and Polish aristocrats, to employ celebrated French chefs, who later presented their own versions of the dish as a foreign curiosity back in France. One of the first French chefs to do so was , who worked briefly for Emperor Alexander I in 1819. In his take on borscht, the original Russian soup served only as inspiration for an extravagant ' dish with an air of eastern exoticism. Apart from vegetables and beet


title: Borscht content: sour, his recipe calls for a roast chicken, a fried chicken, a duck, a piece of veal, an oxtail, a marrow bone, one pound of bacon, and six large sausages, and suggests serving with beef quenelles, deviled eggs and croûtons. , 's apprentice, who was mostly fascinated by the soup's vivid ruby-red color, simplified his master's recipe, while also securing the place of ' ("borscht soup") in French cuisine. and , both of whom had been employed at Polish aristocratic courts, presented borscht to the French public as a Polish soup; their cookbook, ', published in 1856, contains a borscht


title: Borscht content: recipe under the descriptive name, ' ("Polish-style beet-juice soup"), which had been changed to "" by the third edition in 1868. In 1867, beetroot borscht was served, along with herrings, sturgeon, coulibiac, Pozharsky cutlets and vinaigrette salad, at a Russian-themed dinner at the International Exposition in Paris, strengthening its international association with Russian culture. Mass migration from the Russian Empire to North America – initially mosty by members of persecuted religious minorities – was instrumental in bringing borscht across the Atlantic. The earliest waves of migration occurred at a time when cabbage-based borscht was still the dominant variant of the


title: Borscht content: soup in at least parts of Russia. The Mennonites, who began arriving in Canada and the United States from Russia's Volga region in the 1870s, still eschew beetroots in their borscht; instead, Mennonite varieties include ' (with cabbage or sauerkraut) and ' (sorrel-based "summer borscht"). According to the "Jewish Encyclopedia" published in 1906, cabbage-based "kraut borscht" was also more popular than the beet-based variant in American Jewish cuisine at the time. Subsequent Jewish immigration helped popularize the red borscht in America. In the 1930s, when most American hotels refused to accept Jewish guests due to widespread anti-Semitism, New York Jews


title: Borscht content: began flocking to Jewish-owned resorts in the Catskill Mountains for their summer vacations. The area grew into a major center of Jewish entertainment, with restaurants offering all-you-can-eat Ashkenazi Jewish fare, including copious amounts of borscht. Grossinger's, one of the largest resorts, served borscht throughout the day, every day of the year. The region became known, initially in derision, as the "Borscht Belt", reinforcing the popular association between borscht and American Jewish culture. As most visitors arrived in the summertime, the borscht was typically served cold. Marc Gold was one of its largest suppliers, producing 1,750 short tons (1,590 tonnes) a


title: Borscht content: year in his business's heyday. Gold's borscht consists of puréed beetroots seasoned with sugar, salt and citric acid; it is usually blended with sour cream and served as a refreshing beverage, more aptly described as a "beet smoothie". Such kind of "purplish, watery broth" is, according to Nikolai Burlakoff, author of "The World of Russian Borsch", "associated in America with borsch, in general, and Jewish borsch in particular." In the Soviet Union, borscht was one of the most popular everyday dishes. It was described by James Meek, a British correspondent in Kiev and Moscow, as "the common denominator of the


title: Borscht content: Soviet kitchen, the dish that tied together ... the high table of the Kremlin and the meanest canteen in the boondocks of the Urals, ... the beetroot soup that pumped like a main artery through the kitchens of the east Slav lands". Among Soviet leaders, the Ukrainian-born Leonid Brezhnev was especially partial to borscht, which his wife continued to personally cook for him even after they had moved into the Kremlin. The soup has even played a role in the Soviet space program. In March 1961, as part of a communications equipment test, a pre-recorded recipe for borscht was broadcast


title: Borscht content: from the Korabl-Sputnik 4 spacecraft. The craft, carrying animals and a mannequin, had been launched into low Earth orbit in preparation for manned space flights. Actual borscht eventually made its way into outer space as space food for Soviet and, later, Russian cosmonauts. Originally, a puréed version of borscht was supplied in tubes. All ingredients for the space borscht (which include beef, beetroots, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, onions, parsley root and tomato paste) were cooked separately, then combined one by one in strictly controlled order, sterilized, packed into tubes, sealed airtight and autoclaved. In the 1970s, the tubes were replaced with


title: Borscht content: packages of rehydratable freeze-dried borscht with regular-size bits of cooked vegetables. Borscht is often associated with its role in religious traditions of various denominations (Eastern Orthodox, Greek and Roman Catholic, and Jewish) that are common in Eastern Europe. In East Slavic countries, "memorial borscht" is served as the first course at a post-funeral wake. According to a traditional belief, the soul of the departed either feeds on or is carried up to heaven by puffs of steam rising from bowls of borscht and other hot dishes, such as blini, porridge, boiled potatoes or freshly baked bread. In the region of


title: Borscht content: Polesye, straddling the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, the same steaming-hot dishes, including borscht, are given as an offering to the souls of deceased ancestors during the annual semi-pagan remembrance ceremony known as " or Forefathers' Night. In Poland and Ukraine, borscht is usually one of the dishes served at a Christmas Eve dinner. Celebrated after the first star has appeared in the sky on December 24 (Roman Catholic) or January 6 (Greek Catholic), it is a meal which is at the same time festive and fasting, a multicourse affair (traditionally, with twelve distinct dishes) that excludes ingredients of land-animal origin. Christmas Eve


title: Borscht content: borscht is, therefore, either vegetarian or based on fish stock and is not typically mixed with sour cream. In Ukraine, the soup contains vegetables that are sautéed in vegetable oil rather than lard, as well as beans and mushrooms. It may be also thickened with wheat flour dry-roasted in a pan instead of the usual roux. The Polish version of Christmas Eve borscht is a clear ruby-red broth. Both Ukrainian and Polish variants are often served with ". While Christmas in Poland is traditionally linked to red borscht, Lent – the fasting period that leads up to Easter – is


title: Borscht content: associated with a meatless version of white borscht, or ". Youths used to celebrate Holy Saturday, the last day of the fast, with a mock "funeral" of the white borscht, in which a pot of the soup was either buried in the ground or broken, sometimes – to the crowd's amusement – while being carried by an unsuspecting boy on his head. On the next day, the white borscht would reappear on the Easter table, but this time, in its more coveted, meat-based guise with sausage, bacon and eggs. In Eastern European Ashkenazi Jewish tradition, vegetarian borscht served with sour


title: Borscht content: cream and boiled potatoes on the side, known as ", is considered an essential dish during the Passover period. As the holiday is observed in spring (March or April), the preparation of Passover borscht used to provide an opportunity to use up the beet sour left over from pickled beetroots that had been consumed during winter, remaining potatoes that had been stored throughout the winter and sour cream that was readily available in the new calving season. Cold borscht blended with sour cream is also popular on Shavuot (Feast of Weeks), a holiday customarily associated with dairy foods, observed in


title: Borscht content: late May or early June. Seudah Shlishit, or the third meal of the Shabbat, often includes borscht as well. In its currently most popular, beet-based version, borscht most likely originated in what is now Ukraine. Borscht's role as a staple of everyday Ukrainian diet is reflected in the Ukrainian saying, "borscht and porridge are our food" (compare the equivalent Russian saying, where borscht is replaced with ""). The hearty soup in which the beetroot is just one of sundry vegetables, as opposed to the typically Polish clear beet broth, is still known in Poland as "Ukrainian borscht". Borscht is associated


title: Borscht content: with and claimed by several ethnic groups, especially Ukrainians, Russians, Poles, Lithuanians and Ashkenazi Jews, as their own national or ethnic dish and cultural icon. Such claims are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as the soup's history predates the emergence in Eastern Europe of modern nation states with their ever-shifting borders. Borscht, in the words of Burlakoff, "is perfectly suited to a global culture." He describes it as "a global phenomenon", in which "local variants are so numerous and diverse that it is hard sometimes for a non-specialist to grasp that any single example of it is something that is part


title: Borscht content: of a unified tradition." In his view, borscht "is an almost perfect example of ... 'glocalization' – a phenomenon that is global in distribution but reflective of local needs and ways in its variants and adaptation; ... a highly localized product that became globalized, and in the process adapted to conditions other than the original ones." However, according to Irina Perianova, a Russian linguist and anthropologist, "people tend to be very proprietal about their food and proud of it." Perianova offers competing Russian and Ukrainian views on the origin and ingredients of borscht as an example of "a common connection


title: Borscht content: between culinary and territorial claims", which results in the culinary area turning into "a battlefield generating and proliferating all kinds of myths." In the Soviet Union, government-sponsored cookbooks, such as "The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food" curated by Anastas Mikoyan, "Cookery" and "Directory of Recipes and Culinary Production", promoted a unified Soviet cuisine with standardized and nutritionally "rational" versions of traditional dishes. The same cooking techniques and recipes were taught in culinary vocational schools throughout the country, establishing a common cooking style in Soviet cafés and restaurants. Though inspired by the cuisines of the country's various ethnic groups, many


title: Borscht content: recipes were presented as part of an overall Soviet heritage, disassociated from their individual geographic origins. By many people both inside and outside the Soviet Union, borscht was increasingly seen not as an ethnic Ukrainian soup, but as a Soviet or – metonymically – Russian dish. This approach was criticized by William Pokhlebkin, a preeminent Russian food writer, who unequivocally described beet-based borscht as one of the "dishes of Ukrainian cookery" which "have entered the menu of international cuisine". "One could understand", he wrote, "and forgive foreigners for calling borscht or "" Russian national dishes, but when it turns out


title: Borscht content: that they gleaned the information from Soviet cookbooks or from restaurant menus, one is embarrassed for our authors and chefs, who popularize the national cuisines of our peoples [that is, the ethnic groups of the Soviet Union] with such ignorance." According to Meek, Pokhlebkin and the Soviet Union are dead, yet Borshchland lives on. Recipes, like birds, ignore political boundaries. ... The faint outline of the Tsarist-Soviet imperium still glimmers in the collective steam off bowls of beetroot and cabbage in meat stock, and the soft sound of dollops of sour cream slipping into soup, from the Black Sea to


title: Borscht content: the Sea of Japan and, in emigration, from Brooklyn to Berlin. Borscht Borscht () is a sour soup commonly consumed in Eastern Europe and across Russia. The variety most often associated with the name in English is of Ukrainian origin, and includes beetroots as one of the main ingredients, which gives the dish its distinctive red color. It shares the name, however, with a wide selection of sour-tasting soups without beetroots, such as sorrel-based green borscht, rye-based white borscht and cabbage borscht. Borscht derives from an ancient soup originally cooked from pickled stems, leaves and umbels of common hogweed ("Heracleum


title: "Finsbury Park station" content: you go" customers to touch in and out. London Buses routes 4, 19, 29, 106, 153, 210, 236, 253, 254, 259, W3 and W7, and night routes N19, N29, N253 and N279 serve the station and bus station. The railway station is featured in the music video for Jim Diamond's number one hit "I Should Have Known Better". In JoWood Productions' transport game "Traffic Giant", the opening video shows a station platform (similar to a typical London Underground station) bearing the station name Finsbury Park. Finsbury Park is also a character created by the comedian Harry Hill and the station's


title: "Scrubs (TV series)" content: high definition. John Inwood opined that older episodes could be rereleased in HD, as well. From the very beginning, he filmed the show with widescreen delivery in mind so the whole series could be aired in high definition when the market evolved. All nine seasons have been released on DVD in 4:3 format. However, the eighth season was also released on Blu-ray Disc in the original widescreen format. Music plays a large role in "Scrubs". A wide variety of rock, pop, and indie artists are featured, and almost every episode ends with a musical montage summing up the themes and


title: Seriema content: Seriema The seriemas are the sole living members of the small bird family Cariamidae, which is also the only surviving lineage of the order Cariamae. Once believed to be related to cranes, they have been placed near the falcons, parrots and passerines, as well as the extinct Phorusrhacidae (terror birds). The seriemas are large, long-legged territorial birds that range from 70 to 90 cm. They live in grasslands, savanna, dry woodland and open forests of Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. There are two species of seriemas, the red-legged seriema ("Cariama cristata") and the black-legged seriema ("Chunga burmeisteri"). Names for


title: Seriema content: these birds in the Tupian languages are variously spelled as "siriema", "sariama", and "çariama", and mean "crested". Both species are around long (the red-legged seriema is slightly bigger than the black-legged, with 90 and 70–85 cm respectively). They forage on foot and run from danger rather than fly (though they can fly for short distances, and they roost in trees). They have long legs, necks, and tails, but only short wings, reflecting their way of life. They are among the largest ground-dwelling birds endemic of the Neotropics (only behind rheas). They are brownish birds with short bills and erectile crests,


title: Seriema content: found on fairly dry open country, the red-legged seriema preferring grasslands and the black-legged seriema preferring scrub and open woodland. They give loud, yelping calls and are often heard before they are seen. They have sharp claws, with an extensible and very curved second toe claw. Ecologically, the seriema is the South American counterpart of the African secretary bird. They feed on insects, snakes, lizards, frogs, young birds, and rodents, with small amounts of plant food (including maize and beans). They often associate with grazing livestock, probably to take insects the animals disturb. When seriemas catch small reptiles, they beat


title: Seriema content: the prey on the ground (Redford and Peters 1986) or throw it at a hard surface to break resistance and also the bones. If the prey is too large to swallow whole, it will be ripped into smaller pieces with a sickle claw by holding the prey in the beak and tearing it apart with the claw. In contact with humans, the seriemas are always suspicious and if they feel threatened by them, usually spread its wings and face them. They walk in pairs or small groups. Although perfectly capable of flying, they prefer to spend most of their time


title: Seriema content: on land. They only take flight when necessary, so as to escape a predator. Overnight they take shelter in the treetops, where they also build their nests. The breeding biology of the seriemas is poorly known, and much of what is known comes only from the red-legged seriemas. Pairs appear to be territorial and avoid others of their species while breeding, and fights between rivals have been observed. These fights involved kicking rivals, can go on for long periods of time, and involve much calling by the involved birds. Seriemas build a large bulky stick nest, lined with leaves and


title: Seriema content: dung, which is placed in a tree off the ground. The placement of the nest is so that the adults can reach the nest by foot rather than flying, through hops and the occasional flutter. Both sexes are involved in building the nest. They lay two or three white or buff eggs sparsely spotted with brown and purple. The female does most of the incubation, which lasts from 24 to 30 days. Hatchlings are downy but stay in the nest for about two weeks; after which they leave the nest and follow both parents. They reach full maturity at the


title: Seriema content: age of four to five months. It is unknown when fledged chicks reach sexual maturity. There are two living species of seriemas. The red-legged seriema, or crested cariama ("Cariama cristata") is found from eastern Brazil, to central Argentina. It is bigger and nests on the ground or in bushes or trees up to above the ground. The black-legged seriema ("Chunga burmeisteri") is found in northwest Argentina and Paraguay. It nests in trees. These birds are thought to be the closest living relatives of a group of gigantic (up to tall) carnivorous "terror birds", the phorusrhacids, which are known from fossils


title: Seriema content: from South and North America. Several other related groups, such as the idiornithids and bathornithids were part of Palaeogene faunas in North America and Europe and possibly elsewhere too. However, the fossil record of the seriemas themselves is poor, with two prehistoric species, "Chunga incerta" from the Pliocene of Argentina and "Noriegavis santacrucensis" from the Miocene of Argentina, having been described to date. Some of the fossils from the Eocene fauna of the Messel Pit (i.e. "Salimia" and "Idiornis") have also been suggested to be seriemas, as has the massive predatory "Paracrax" from the Oligocene of North America, though their


title: Seriema content: status remains uncertain. Seriema The seriemas are the sole living members of the small bird family Cariamidae, which is also the only surviving lineage of the order Cariamae. Once believed to be related to cranes, they have been placed near the falcons, parrots and passerines, as well as the extinct Phorusrhacidae (terror birds). The seriemas are large, long-legged territorial birds that range from 70 to 90 cm. They live in grasslands, savanna, dry woodland and open forests of Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. There are two species of seriemas, the red-legged seriema ("Cariama cristata") and the black-legged seriema ("Chunga


title: "Sweden during the late 19th century" content: First Chamber protectionists were almost exclusively elected, and in the Second all the twenty-two members for Stockholm were disqualified, owing to one of their number not having paid his taxes a few years previously, which prevented his being eligible. Instead, then, of twenty-two free traders representing the majority of the Stockholm electors, twenty-two protectionists, representing the minority, were elected, and Stockholm was thus represented in the Riksdag by the choice of a minority in the capital. This singular way of electing members for the principal city in the kingdom could not fail further to irritate the parties. One result of