title: "Low-Income Housing Tax Credit" content: financial markets deteriorated in the second half of 2008, so did the C corporations’ profits that are typically offset by tax credits, like the LIHTC. As a result, the market for LIHTCs was decimated. The development of new tax credit properties and rehabilitation activities for older affordable housing properties froze completely. Congress took action in February 2009 to help restart the LIHTC market. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 created two gap-financing programs to help tax credit properties, which were ready to begin construction, get additional financing. First, Title XII of the Recovery Act appropriated $2.25 billion to


title: "Longleaf pine" content: Longleaf pine The longleaf pine ("Pinus palustris") is a pine native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Maryland, extending into northern and central Florida. It reaches a height of and a diameter of . In the past, before extensive logging, they reportedly grew to with a diameter of . The tree is a cultural symbol of the Southern United States, being the official state tree of Alabama and the unofficial state tree of North Carolina. The bark is thick, reddish-brown, and scaly. The leaves are dark green and needle-like, and occur


title: "Longleaf pine" content: in bundles of three. They often are twisted and in length. It is one of the two Southeastern U.S. pines with long needles, the other being slash pine. The cones, both female seed cones (ovulate strobili) and male pollen cones (staminate strobili), are initiated during the growing season before buds emerge. Pollen cones begin forming in their buds in July, while seed conelets are formed during a relatively short period of time in August. Pollination occurs early the following spring, with the male cones long. The female (seed) cones mature in about 20 months from pollination; when mature, they are


title: "Longleaf pine" content: yellow-brown in color, long, and broad, opening to , and have a small, but sharp, downward-pointing spine on the middle of each scale. The seeds are long, with a wing. Longleaf pine takes 100 to 150 years to become full size and may live to be 500 years old. When young, they grow a long taproot, which usually is long; by maturity, they have a wide spreading lateral root system with several deep 'sinker' roots. They grow on well-drained, usually sandy soil, characteristically in pure stands. Longleaf pine also is known as being one of several species grouped as a


title: "Longleaf pine" content: southern yellow pine or longleaf yellow pine, and in the past as pitch pine (a name dropped as it caused confusion with pitch pine, "Pinus rigida"). The species epithet "palustris" is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat. The scientific name meaning "of marshes" is a misunderstanding on the part of Philip Miller, who described the species, after seeing longleaf pine forests with temporary winter flooding. Longleaf pine is highly pyrophytic (resistant to wildfire). Periodic natural wildfire selects for this species by killing other trees, leading to open longleaf pine forests or savannas. New seedlings do not


title: "Longleaf pine" content: appear at all tree-like and resemble a dark-green fountain of needles. This form is called the grass stage. During this stage, which lasts for 5–12 years, vertical growth is very slow, and the tree may take a number of years simply to grow ankle high. After that, it makes a growth spurt, especially if no tree canopy is above it. In the grass stage, it is very resistant to low intensity fires because the terminal bud is protected from lethal heating by the tightly packed needles. While relatively immune to fire at this stage, the plant is quite appealing to


title: "Longleaf pine" content: feral pigs; the early settlers' habit of releasing swine into the woodlands to feed may have been partly responsible for the decline of the species. Longleaf pine forests are rich in biodiversity. They are well-documented for their high levels of plant diversity, in groups including sedges, grasses, carnivorous plants, and orchids. These forests also provide habitat for gopher tortoises, which as keystone species, dig burrows that provide habitat for hundreds of other species of animals. The red-cockaded woodpecker is dependent on mature pine forests and is now endangered as a result of this decline. Longleaf pine seeds are large and


title: "Longleaf pine" content: nutritious, forming a significant food source for birds (notably the brown-headed nuthatch) and other wildlife. Nine salamander species and 26 frog species are characteristic of pine savannas, along with 56 species of reptiles, 13 of which could be considered specialists on this habitat. The Red Hills Region of Florida and Georgia is home to some of the best-preserved stands of longleaf pines. These forests have been burned regularly for many decades to encourage bobwhite quail habitat in private hunting plantations. Vast forests of longleaf pine once were present along the southeastern Atlantic coast and Gulf Coast of North America, as


title: "Longleaf pine" content: part of the eastern savannas. These forests were the source of naval stores - resin, turpentine, and timber - needed by merchants and the navy for their ships. They have been cutover since for timber and usually replaced with faster-growing loblolly pine and slash pine, for agriculture, and for urban and suburban development. Due to this deforestation and overharvesting, only about 3% of the original longleaf pine forest remains, and little new is planted. Longleaf pine is available, however, at many nurseries within its range; the southernmost known point of sale is in Lake Worth, Florida. The yellow, resinous wood


title: "Longleaf pine" content: is used for lumber and pulp. Boards cut years ago from virgin timber were very wide, up to , and a thriving salvage business obtains these boards from demolition projects to be reused as flooring in upscale homes. The extremely long needles are popular for use in the ancient craft of coiled basket making. The stumps and taproots of old trees become saturated with resin and will not rot. Farmers sometimes find old buried stumps in fields, even in some that were cleared a century ago, and these usually are dug up and sold as fatwood, "fat lighter", or "lighter


title: "Longleaf pine" content: wood", which is in demand as kindling for fireplaces, wood stoves, and barbecue pits. In old-growth pine, the heartwood of the bole is often saturated in the same way. When boards are cut from the fat lighter wood, they are very heavy and will not rot, but buildings constructed of them are quite flammable and make extremely hot fires. The longleaf pine is the official state tree of Alabama. And although all pines are technically the official state tree of North Carolina, it is commonly believed to be the official state tree of North Carolina due to it being referenced


title: "Longleaf pine" content: by name in the first line of the official North Carolina State Toast as well as the state's highest honor being named the "Order of the Long Leaf Pine". Before European settlement, longleaf pine forest dominated as much as stretching from Virginia south to Florida and west to East Texas. Its range was defined by the frequent widespread fires that occurred throughout the southeast. In the late 19th century, these virgin timber stands were "among the most sought-after timber trees in the country." This rich ecosystem now has been relegated to less than 5% of its presettlement range due to


title: "Longleaf pine" content: clear-cutting practices: As they stripped the woods of their trees, loggers left mounds of flammable debris that frequently fueled catastrophic fires, destroying both the remaining trees and seedlings. The exposed earth left behind by clear-cutting operations was highly susceptible to erosion, and nutrients were washed from the already porous soils. This further destroyed the natural seeding process. At the peak of the timber cutting in the 1890s and first decade of the new century, the longleaf pine forests of the Sandhills were providing millions of board feet of timber each year. The timber cutters gradually moved across the South; by


title: "Longleaf pine" content: the 1920s, most of the "limitless" virgin longleaf pine forests were gone. In "pine barrens" most of the day. Low, level, sandy tracts; the pines wide apart; the sunny spaces between full of beautiful abounding grasses, liatris, long, wand-like solidago, saw palmettos, etc., covering the ground in garden style. Here I sauntered in delightful freedom, meeting none of the cat-clawed vines, or shrubs, of the alluvial bottoms. – John Muir Efforts are being made to restore longleaf pine ecosystems within its natural range. Some groups such as the Longleaf Alliance are actively promoting research, education, and management of the longleaf


title: "Longleaf pine" content: pine. The USDA offers cost-sharing and technical assistance to private landowners for longleaf restoration through the NRCS Longleaf Pine Initiative. Similar programs are available through most state forestry agencies in the longleaf's native range. In August 2009, the Alabama Forestry Commission received $1.757 million in stimulus money to restore longleaf pines in state forests. Four large core areas within the range of the species provide the opportunity to protect the biological diversity of the coastal plain and to restore wilderness areas east of the Mississippi River. Each of these four (Eglin Air Force Base: 187,000+ ha; Apalachicola National Forest: 228,000+


title: "Longleaf pine" content: ha; Okefenokee-Osceola: 289,000+ ha; De Soto National Forest: 200,000+ ha) have nearby lands that offer the potential to expand the total protected territory for each area to well beyond 500,000 ha. These areas would provide the opportunity not only to restore forest stands, but also to restore populations of native vertebrate animals threatened by landscape fragmentation. Notable eccentric populations exist within the Uwharrie National Forest in the central Piedmont region of North Carolina. These have survived owing to relative inaccessibility, and in one instance, intentional protection in the 20th century by a private landowner (a property now owned and conserved


title: "Longleaf pine" content: by the LandTrust for Central North Carolina). The United States Forest Service is conducting prescribed burning programs in the 258,864-acre Francis Marion National Forest, located outside of Charleston, South Carolina. They are hoping to increase the longleaf pine forest type to by 2017 and in the long term. In addition to longleaf restoration, prescribed burning will enhance the endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers' preferred habitat of open, park-like stands, provide habitat for wildlife dependent on grass-shrub habitat, which is very limited, and reduce the risk of damaging wildfires. Since the 1960s, longleaf restoration has been ongoing on almost 95,000 acres of state


title: "Longleaf pine" content: and federal land in the sandhills region of South Carolina, between the piedmont and coastal plain. The region is characterized by deep, infertile sands deposited by a prehistoric sea, with generally arid conditions. By the 1930s, most of the native longleaf had been logged, and the land was heavily eroded. Between 1935 and 1939, the federal government purchased large portions of this area from local landowners as a relief measure under the Resettlement Administration. These landowners were resettled on more fertile land elsewhere. Today, the South Carolina Sand Hills State Forest comprises about half of the acreage, and half is


title: "Longleaf pine" content: owned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as the adjacent Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge. At first, restoration of forest cover was the goal. Fire suppression was practiced until the 1960s, when prescribed fire was introduced on both the state forest and the Sandhills NWR as part of the restoration of the longleaf/wiregrass ecosystem. Nokuse Plantation is a 53,000-acre private nature preserve located around 100 miles east of Pensacola, Florida. The preserve was established by M.C. Davis, a wealthy philanthropist who made his fortune buying and selling land and mineral rights, and who has spent $90 million purchasing


title: "Longleaf pine" content: land for the preserve, primarily from timber companies. One of its main goals is the restoration of longleaf pine forest, to which end he has had 8 million longleaf pine seedlings planted on the land. A 2009 study by the National Wildlife Federation says that longleaf pine forests will be particularly well adapted to environmental changes caused by climate disruption. Longleaf pine The longleaf pine ("Pinus palustris") is a pine native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Maryland, extending into northern and central Florida. It reaches a height of and a


title: "Schuylkill River" content: badly ice damaged improvements, a common problem with northern canals. The success of these projects and the rosy promise of anthracite (a new wonder fuel in the day) to alleviate energy problems spurred canal construction for the next decade in the east, and commercial opportunities funded three decades of investment from Illinois to the Atlantic Ocean, including the ambitious 1824 Main Line of Public Works bill to connect Philadelphia with the newly emerging states of the Northwest Territory via the Allegheny & Ohio valleys at Pittsburgh and to Lake Erie— leveraging the wide-ranging branches of the Susquehanna River in the


title: Tinariwen content: and was "safe and free." During Ag Lamida's captivity, several other members of Tinariwen fled from the conflict and resettled temporarily in the southwestern United States to record their sixth album, "Emmaar", with guests including Josh Klinghoffer, Fats Kaplin, Matt Sweeney, and Saul Williams. Recording took place at Joshua Tree National Park in California, which features a desert environment similar to that of Tinariwen's homeland. "Emmaar" was released worldwide in February 2014. Tinariwen then embarked on a tour of Europe and North America, but without group leader Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, who decided to remain in Mali to attend to family


title: "Underarm bowling" content: rather than being a true "lobster". In cricket, lob bowling is a largely disused style of bowling. It became illegal under Law 24.1 to use underarm bowling without prior agreement before the match following the incident in the 1980-81 World Series. The last regular bowler of lobs in international cricket was George Simpson-Hayward, in the period before the First World War. He bowled with a lower trajectory than most earlier lob bowlers, imparting great spin to the ball with constant variation of pace as well. Others famous "lobsters" include Digby Jephson. As an underarm bowler he had an action a


title: "Ricky Ponting" content: Symonds making 50. Australia won two of their three-round robin matches against the Indians, but the tables were turned in the finals, which the tourists won 2–0. The tour of the West Indies was the first overseas Test series for Australia in 25 months, and the first for Ponting's new look bowling attack. In five previous Test series in 1999 and 2003, he averaged 98.71, with four hundreds. He also averaged 42.80 in 25 ODIs from four tours—1995, 1999, 2003 and the 2007 World Cup. After eight months of consecutive cricket from the World Twenty20, Ponting was surprised about how


title: "Nova Scotia New Democratic Party" content: distributed home-made buttons to satire an organized attempt to shame members of the NDP caucus who did not support former leader Helen MacDonald and gaining over 2/3 support from convention delegates for their name change. The youth wing was reconstituted in 2004 under its current name, the Nova Scotia Young New Democrats (NSYND) and has remained ideologically in step with that of the party proper. Nova Scotia New Democratic Party The Nova Scotia New Democratic Party is a progressive, social-democratic provincial party in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is aligned with the federal New Democratic Party (NDP). It was founded as


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: Qutb Minar complex The Qutb complex is a collection of monuments and buildings from the Delhi Sultanate at Mehrauli in Delhi in India. The Qutub Minar in the complex, named after Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, was built by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, who later became the first Sultan of Delhi of the Mamluk dynasty. The Minar was added upon by his successor Iltutmish (a.k.a. Altamash), and much later by Firoz Shah Tughlaq, a Sultan of Delhi from the Tughlaq dynasty in 1368 AD. The Qubbat-ul-Islam Mosque (Dome of Islam), later corrupted into Quwwat-ul Islam, stands next to the Qutb Minar. Many subsequent rulers,


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: including the Tughlaqs, Alauddin Khalji and the British added structures to the complex. Apart from the Qutb Minar and the Quwwat ul-Islam Mosque, other structures in the complex include the Alai Gate, the Alai Minar, the Iron pillar, the ruins of several earlier Jain temples, and the tombs of Iltutmish, Alauddin Khalji and Imam Zamin. Today, the adjoining area spread over with a host of old monuments, including Balban's tomb, has been developed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, and INTACH has restored some 40 monuments in the Park. It is also the venue


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: of the annual 'Qutub Festival', held in November–December, where artists, musicians and dancers perform over three days. The Qutb Minar complex, which drew 3.9 million visitors in 2006, was India's most visited monument that year, ahead of the Taj Mahal (with 2.5 million visitors). The Alai Darwaza is the main gateway from southern side of the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque. It was built by the second Khalji Sultan of Delhi, Ala-ud-din Khalji in 1311 AD, who also added a court to the pillared to the eastern side. The domed gateway is decorated with red sandstone and inlaid white marble decorations, inscriptions in


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: Naskh script, latticed stone screens and showcases the remarkable craftsmanship of the Turkish artisans who worked on it. This is the first building in India to employ Islamic architecture principles in its construction and ornamentation. The Slave dynasty did not employ true Islamic architecture styles and used false domes and false arches. This makes the Alai Darwaza, the earliest example of first true arches and true domes in India. It is considered to be one of the most important buildings built in the Delhi sultanate period. With its pointed arches and spearhead of fringes, identified as lotus buds, it adds


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: grace to the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque to which it served as an entrance. The Qutb Minar is inspired by the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan, it is an important example of early Afghan architecture, which later evolved into Indo-Islamic Architecture. The Qutb Minar is 72.5 metres (239 ft) high, has five distinct storeys, each marked by a projecting balcony carried on muqarnas corbel and tapers from a diameter 14.3 metres at the base to 2.7 metres at the top, which is 379 steps away. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with surrounding buildings and monuments. Built as


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: a Victory Tower, to celebrate the victory of Muhammad Ghori over the Rajput king, Prithviraj Chauhan, in 1192 AD, by his then viceroy, Qutb-ud-din Aibak, later the first Sultan of Mamluk dynasty. Its construction also marked the beginning of Muslim rule in India. Even today the Qutb remains one of the most important "Towers of Victory" in the Islamic world. Aibak however, could only build the first storey, for this reason the lower storey is replete with eulogies to Muhammad Ghori. The next three floors were added by his son-in-law and successor, Iltutmish. The minar was first struck by lightning


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: in 1368 AD, which knocked off its top storey, after that it was replaced by the existing two floors by Firoz Shah Tughlaq, a later Sultan of Delhi 1351 to 1388, and faced with white marble and sandstone enhancing the distinctive variegated look of the minar, as seen in lower three storeys. Thus the structure displays a marked variation in architectural styles from Aibak to that of Tughlaq dynasty. The inside has intricate carvings of the verses from the Quran. The minar made with numerous superimposed flanged and cylindrical shafts in the interior, and fluted columns on the exterior, which


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: have a 40 cm thick veneer of red and buff coloured sandstone; all surrounded by bands of intricate carving in Kufic style of Islamic calligraphy, giving the minar the appearance of bundled reeds. It stands just outside the Quwwatul mosque, and an Arabic inscription suggests that it might have been built to serve as a place for the muezzin, to call the faithfuls for "namaz". Also marking a progression in era, is the appearance of inscriptions in a bold and cursive Thuluth script of calligraphy on the Qutb Minar, distinguished by strokes that thicken on the top, as compared to


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: Kufic in earlier part of the construction. Inscriptions also indicate further repairs by Sultan Sikander Lodi in 1503, when it was struck by lightning once again. In 1802, the cupola on the top was thrown down and the whole pillar was damaged by an earthquake. It was repaired by Major R. Smith of the Royal Engineers who restored the Qutub Minar in 1823 replacing the cupola with a Bengali-style "chhatri" which was later removed by Governor General, Lord Hardinge in 1848, as it looked out of place, and now stands in the outer lawns of the complex, popularly known as


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: Smith's Folly. After an accident involving school children, entry to the Qutub Minar is closed to public since 1981, while Qutub archaeological area remains open for public. In 2004, Seismic monitors were installed on the minar, which revealed in 2005 Delhi earthquake, no damage or substantial record of shakes. The reason for this has been cited as the use of lime mortar and rubble masonry which absorbs the tremors; it is also built on rocky soil, which further protects it during earthquakes. Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque (Arabic: قوة الإسلام ) (Might of Islam) (also known as the "Qutub Mosque" or the "Great


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: Mosque of Delhi") was built by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, founder of the Mamluk or Slave dynasty. It was the first mosque built in Delhi after the Islamic conquest of India and the oldest surviving example of Ghurids architecture in Indian subcontinent. The construction of this Jami Masjid (Friday Mosque), started in the year 1193 AD, when Aibak was the commander of Muhammad Ghori's garrison that occupied Delhi. To leave the imprint of his religion to the new territory, Aibak decided to erect a mosque epitomising the might of Islam and chose his site, the heart of the captured Rajput citadel of


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: Qila Rai Pithora. The Qutub Minar was built simultaneously with the mosque but appears to be a stand-alone structure, built as the 'Minar of Jami Masjid', for the muezzin to perform adhan, call for prayer, and also as a "qutub", an Axis or Pole of Islam. It is reminiscent in style and design of the "Adhai-din-ka Jhonpra" or Ajmer mosque at Ajmer, Rajasthan, also built by Aibak during the same time, also constructed by demolishing earlier temples and a Sanskrit school, at the site. Of the site selected by Aibak for the construction of a mosque, Ibn Battuta, the 14th


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: century Arab traveller, says, before the taking of Delhi it had been a Hindu temple, which the Hindus called "elbut-khana", but after that event it was used as a mosque'. Archaeological Survey of India states that the mosque was raised over the remains of a temple and, in addition, it was also constructed from materials taken from other demolished temples, a fact recorded on the main eastern entrance. According to a Persian inscription still on the inner eastern gateway, the mosque was built by the parts taken by destruction of twenty-seven Hindu and Jain temples built previously during the reigns


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: of the Tomaras and Prithviraj Chauhan, and leaving certain parts of the temple outside the mosque proper. Historical records compiled by Muslim historian Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai attest to the iconoclasm of Qutb-ud-din Aibak. This pattern of iconoclasm was common during his reign. Some medieval Muslim historians and travellers often ascribed the construction of the complex to Mamluk Sultan Iltutmish, rather than to Qutb ud-Din Aibak as is commonly accepted. Ibn Batuta also states that near the eastern gate of the mosque were two very big idols of copper connected together by stones. Every one who left the mosque


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: treaded over them. The mosque is one of the earliest extant mosques in India. The original dimensions of the mosque had a courtyard measuring by . The prayer hall, located on the west measures by . The mosque has grey colonnades made of greystone with three bays in east and two bays deep on the north and the south. Extensions were made to the mosque during 1296 when its dimensions in north and south were extended by . The famous iron pillar is located on the stone pavement in front of it, while Qutub Minar is located west of the


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: main entrance. The central arch of the mosque is ogee in shape and is wide and tall. The side arches are smaller in size. The screen is sculpted with religious texts and floral patterns. Desai believes that the mosque was not constructed in scientific style but in Corbel style as indicated by the variations in the pattern of the arches. The mosque is built on a raised and paved courtyard, measuring . X , surrounded by pillared cloisters added by Iltutmish between 1210 and 1220 AD. The stone screen between prayer hall and the courtyard, stood 16 mt at its


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: highest was added in 1196 AD, the corbelled arches had Arabic inscriptions and motifs. Entrances to the courtyard, also uses ornate "mandap" dome from temples, whose pillars are used extensively throughout the edifice, and in the sanctuary beyond the tall arched screens. What survives today of the sanctuary on the western side are the arched screens in between, which once led to a series of aisles with low-domed ceilings for worshippers. Expansion of the mosque continued after the death of Qutb. Qutbuddin's successor Iltutmish, extended the original prayer hall screen by three more arches. By the time of Iltutmish, the


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: Mamluk empire had stabilised enough that the Sultan could replace most of his conscripted Hindu masons with Muslims. This explains why the arches added under Iltutmish are stylistically more Islamic than the ones erected under Qutb's rule, also because the material used wasn't from demolished temples. Some additions to the mosque were also done by Alauddin Khalji, including the Alai Darwaza, the formal entrance to the mosque in red sandstone and white marble, and a court to the east of the mosque in 1300 AD. The mosque is in ruins today but indigenous corbelled arches, floral motifs, and geometric patterns


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: can be seen among the Islamic architectural structures. To the west of the Quwwat ul-Islam mosque is the tomb of Iltutmish which was built by the monarch in 1235. The iron pillar is one of the world's foremost metallurgical curiosities. The pillar, 7.21-metre high and weighing more than six tonnes, was originally erected by Chandragupta II Vikramaditya (375–414 AD) in front of a Vishnu Temple complex at Udayagiri around 402 AD, and later shifted by Anangpal in the 10th century CE from Udaygiri to its present location. Anangpal built a Vishnu Temple here and wanted this pillar to be a


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: part of that temple. The estimated weight of the decorative bell of the pillar is 646 kg while the main body weighs 5,865 kg, thus making the entire pillar weigh 6,511 kg. The pillar bears an inscription in Sanskrit in Brahmi script dating 4th century AD, which indicates that the pillar was set up as a "Vishnudhvaja", standard of god, on the hill known as Vishnupada in memory of a mighty king named Chandra, believed to Chandragupta II. A deep socket on the top of this ornate capital suggests that probably an image of Garuda was fixed into it, as


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: common in such flagpoles. The tomb of the Delhi Sultanate ruler, Iltutmish, a second Sultan of Delhi (r. 1211–1236 AD), built 1235 CE, is also part of the Qutb Minar Complex in Mehrauli, New Delhi. The central chamber is a 9 mt. sq. and has squinches, suggesting the existence of a dome, which has since collapsed. The main cenotaph, in white marble, is placed on a raised platform in the centre of the chamber. The facade is known for its ornate carving, both at the entrance and the interior walls. The interior west wall has a prayer niche ("mihrab") decorated


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: with marble, and a rich amalgamation of Hindu motifs into Islamic architecture, such as bell-and-chain, tassel, lotus, diamond emblems. In 1914, during excavations by Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI) Gordon Sanderson, the grave chamber was discovered. From the north of the tomb 20 steps lead down to the actual burial vault. At the back of the complex, southwest of the mosque, stands an L-shaped construction, consisting of Alauddin Khilji's tomb dating ca 1316 AD, and a "madrasa", an Islamic seminary built by him. Khalji was the second Sultan of Delhi from Khalji dynasty, who ruled from 1296 to 1316 AD.


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: The central room of the building, which has his tomb, has now lost its dome, though many rooms of the seminary or college are intact, and since been restored. There were two small chambers connected to the tomb by passages on either side. Fergusson in his book suggested the existence, to the west of the tomb, of seven rooms, two of which had domes and windows. The remains of the tomb building suggest that there was an open courtyard on the south and west sides of the tomb building, and that one room in the north served as an entrance.


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: It was the first example in India, of a tomb standing alongside a "madrasa". Nearby stands the Alai Minar, an ambitious tower, he started constructing to rival the Qutb Minar, though he died when only its first storey was built and its construction abandoned thereafter. It now stands, north of the mosque. The tomb is in a very dilapidated condition. It is believed that Ala-ud-din's body was brought to the complex from Siri and buried in front of the mosque, which formed part of the madrasa adjoining the tomb. Firoz Shah Tughluq, who undertook repairs of the tomb complex, mentioned


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: a mosque within the madrasa. Alauddin Khalji started building the Alai Minar, after he had doubled the size of Quwwat ul-Islam mosque. He conceived this tower to be two times higher than Qutb Minar in proportion with the enlarged mosque. The construction was however abandoned, just after the completion of the first-story core; soon after death of Alauddin in 1316, and never taken up by his successors of Khalji dynasty. The first storey of the Alai Minar, a giant rubble masonry core, still stands today, which was evidently intended to be covered with dressed stone later on. Noted Sufi poet


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: and saint of his times, Amir Khusro in his work, "Tarikh-i-Alai", mentions Ala-ud-din's intentions to extend the mosque and also constructing another minar. A short distance west of the enclosure, in Mehrauli village, is the Tomb of Adham Khan who, according to legend drove the beautiful Hindu singer Roopmati to suicide following the capture of Mandu in Madhya Pradesh. When Akbar became displeased with him he ended up being heaved off a terrace in the Agra Fort. Several archaeological monuments dot the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, including the Balban's tomb, Jamali Kamali mosque and tomb. There are some summer palaces in


title: "Qutb Minar complex" content: the area: the Zafar Mahal, the Jahaz Mahal next to Hauz-i-Shamsi lake, and the tombs of the later Mughal kings of Delhi, inside a royal enclosure near the dargah shrine of Sufi saint, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. Here an empty space between two of the tombs, "sargah", was intended for the last king of Delhi, who died in exile in Rangoon, Burma, in 1862, following his implication in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Also standing nearby is the "Moti Masjid" mosque in white marble.The ruins of the alai minar are currently in the qutb complex. Qutb Minar complex The Qutb complex


title: "Xidian University" content: the world by "Academic Ranking of World Universities". Departments Departments The school is one of the National Instruction Bases for Integrated Circuit Talents by Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. Microelectronics and Solid-State Electronics is one of the National Key Disciplines. The school has 2 undergraduate programs, 5 master's programs and 2 doctoral programs. Around 1,800 undergraduates and 850 postgraduate students are enrolled in the School. Departments Departments Departments Departments Departments Departments School of Microelectronics Departments Departments Departments Departments Departments Research at Xidian University consists of: Xidian University has four State Key Laboratories: Xidian University has 5


title: "Gamble House (Pasadena, California)" content: porches and its free-form terraces, front and rear. The third floor was planned as a billiard room but was used as an attic by the Gamble family. The living room was designed without any entry doors so that the room would be as open and inviting as possible. It also consisted of a spacious sitting room, which was decorated with five rugs that were designed by Charles Greene using watercolor. Across from the fireplace, there is a window the leads to the terrace, which overlooks the garden. The expansive window was designed to let light brighten the room during the


title: "Air Berlin" content: February 1979). In 1980, two Boeing 737-200 were leased from Air Florida. In 1981, Air Berlin USA continued its weekly scheduled Boeing 707 service on the Berlin Tegel Airport - Brussels - Orlando route; however, by 1982, the 707s had been phased out, and during most of the 1980s, Air Berlin USA operated only a single 737-200 or (from 1986) a 737-300. In 1990 and 1991, two Boeing 737-400s were also placed into service. German reunification led to significant changes to the Berlin aviation market, since German airlines gained access to the city. In 1991, Air Berlin (which had 90


title: "Fiddler crab" content: Fiddler crab A fiddler crab, sometimes known as a "calling crab", may be any of approximately 100 species of semi-terrestrial marine crabs which make up the genus Uca. As members of the family Ocypodidae, fiddler crabs are most closely related to the ghost crabs of the genus "Ocypode". This entire group is composed of small crabs – the largest being slightly over two inches across. Fiddler crabs are found along sea beaches and brackish inter-tidal mud flats, lagoons and swamps. Fiddler crabs are most well known for their sexually dimorphic claws; the males’ major claw is much larger than the


title: "Fiddler crab" content: minor claw while the females’ claws are both the same size. Like all crabs, fiddler crabs shed their shells as they grow. If they have lost legs or claws during their present growth cycle, a new one will be present when they molt. If the large fiddle claw is lost, males will develop one on the opposite side after their next molt. Newly molted crabs are very vulnerable because of their soft shells. They are reclusive and hide until the new shell hardens. Fiddler crabs exhibit a constant circadian rhythm in a controlled laboratory setting that mimics the ebb and


title: "Fiddler crab" content: flow of the tides. The crabs turn dark in the day and light in the dark. Found in mangroves, in salt marshes, and on sandy or muddy beaches of West Africa, the Western Atlantic, the Eastern Pacific and the Indo-Pacific, fiddler crabs are easily recognized by their distinctively asymmetric claws. Fiddler crabs communicate by a sequence of waves and gestures; males have an oversized claw or "chela"; used in clashes of ritualised combat of courtship over a female and signal their intentions between conspecifics. The movement of the smaller claw from ground to mouth during feeding explains the crabs' common


title: "Fiddler crab" content: name; it looks as if the animal were playing the larger claw like a fiddle. The crab's smaller claw picks up a chunk of sediment from the ground and brings it to the mouth, where its contents are sifted through (making the crab a detritivore). After anything edible is salvaged, be it algae, microbes, fungus, or other decaying detritus, the sediment is replaced in the form of a little ball. The presence of these sediment balls near the entrance to a burrow is a good indication of its occupation. Some experts believe that the feeding habits of fiddler crabs play


title: "Fiddler crab" content: a vital role in the preservation of wetland environments; by sifting through the sands, they aerate the substrate and prevent anaerobic conditions. Fiddler crabs live rather brief lives of no more than two years (up to three years in captivity). Male fiddler crabs use the major claw to perform a waving display as a form of female courtship. Females choose their mate based on claw size and also quality of the waving display. In many fiddler crab species, the female occupies the burrow of their mate while she lays her clutch of eggs. Research shows that the male major claw


title: "Fiddler crab" content: size is also correlated with burrow width; the width of the burrow influences incubation temperature. Therefore, the female will choose a male mate whose claw size indicates the best burrow environment for her clutch of eggs. The waving display is also thought to indicate to females the overall healthiness of the male; a more vigorous display is more difficult to do and thus requires the male to be in prime health condition, which suggests that the male will help produce viable offspring. Male versus male competition also occurs as fighting with the major claws. If a male loses his larger


title: "Fiddler crab" content: claw, the smaller one will begin to grow larger and the lost claw will regenerate into a new (small) claw. For at least some species of fiddler crabs, however, the small claw remains small, while the larger claw regenerates over a period of several molts, being about half its former size after the first molt. The female fiddler carries her eggs in a mass on the underside of her body. She remains in her burrow during a two-week gestation period, after which she ventures out to release her eggs into the receding tide. The larvae remain planktonic for a further


title: "Fiddler crab" content: two weeks. Fiddler crabs such as "Uca mjoebergi" have been shown to bluff about their fighting ability. Upon regrowing a lost claw, a crab will occasionally regrow a weaker claw that nevertheless intimidates crabs with smaller but stronger claws. This is an example of dishonest signalling. The dual functionality of the major claw of fiddler crabs has presented an evolutionary conundrum in that the claw mechanics best suited for fighting do not match up with the mechanics best suited for a waving display. The internal classification of the genus "Uca" is unstable, but it contains around 100 species arranged among


title: "Fiddler crab" content: 9 subgenera: Fiddler crabs are occasionally kept as pets. The fiddler crabs sold in pet stores generally come from brackish water lagoons. Because they live in lower salinity water, pet stores may call them fresh-water crabs, but they cannot survive indefinitely in fresh water. Fiddler crab A fiddler crab, sometimes known as a "calling crab", may be any of approximately 100 species of semi-terrestrial marine crabs which make up the genus Uca. As members of the family Ocypodidae, fiddler crabs are most closely related to the ghost crabs of the genus "Ocypode". This entire group is composed of small crabs


title: Antipolo content: grouped into two districts. Each of these districts elect at-large eight city councilors, while the two "ex officio" officers are the city's Liga ng mga Barangay president and Sangguniang Kabataan Federation president. Apart from legislating city ordinances, it also reviews the ordinances enacted by its barangays and makes recommendations for modification if they are found to be inconsistent with existing laws and city ordinances. On the other hand, ordinances and certain resolutions of the Sangguniang Panlungsod are transmitted to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Rizal for compliance review. Elective city officials serve a term of three years and may serve up


title: Vologda content: Vologda Vologda () is a city and the administrative, cultural, and scientific center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the Vologda River within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: 293,046 (2002 Census); The city serves as a major transport hub of the Northwest of Russia. The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation has classified Vologda as an historic city, one of forty-one in Russia and one of only three in Vologda Oblast. 224 buildings in Vologda have been officially recognized as cultural heritage monuments. Two conflicting theories exist as to the date of Vologda's foundation. The year 1147


title: Vologda content: is the official date first fixed in 1780 by Alexey Zasetsky in his book "Stories about miracles of Gerasimus of Vologda". The story mentions that in 1147 the Trinity Monastery was founded close to the Vologda River. The date of the foundation of the monastery is then taken as the date of the foundation of the city of Vologda and is mentioned in official city documents. This date, which would make Vologda to be of the same age as Moscow, is, however, not supported by any scientific data and is considered by authoritative sources to be fictional. The story was


title: Vologda content: only written in 1666 by a certain Foma, who got a request from Archbishop Markel to produce the vita of Gerasimus. Foma himself admitted that he had no sufficient data on the biography. The story contains many contradicting details. Besides, the monastic life in the Russian north was not known in the 12th century: the first monastery in Vladimir was founded in 1152, in Rostov in 1212, in the Belozersk area in 1251. Archeological excavations do not confirm this date either. Instead, they demonstrate that the city of Vologda was founded in the 13th century. The year 1264 was the


title: Vologda content: first mention of Vologda when it was included in the list of possessions of the Novgorod Republic in the agreement between the Republic and the Grand Prince of Vladimir. This date is also supported by archaeological data. The nucleus of Vologda in the 13th century was not located in the area which is now the city center, but rather the area known now as "Lazy ground" (), close to the Resurrection church. This area was the center of Vologda up to 1565. Until that year, no stone constructions existed in Vologda: all of the city fortifications, bridges, houses, churches, and


title: Vologda content: industrial enterprises were made of wood. The unique position of Vologda on important waterways connecting Moscow, Novgorod, and the White Sea (via the Northern Dvina) made it attractive for the Novgorod Republic, as well as for the princes of the Tver and the Moscow, who fought numerous wars between the 13th and the 15th centuries. In 1371, Dmitry Prilutsky, a monk from the Nikolsky Monastery in Pereslavl-Zalessky, founded Nikolsky Monastery, now known as Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, close to the city. Dmitry Donskoy, the Grand Prince of Moscow, was the chief benefactor of the monastery and viewed it as a stronghold of


title: Vologda content: the influence of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the Northern lands in competition with Novgorod. In 1397, during the reign of Vasily I, Vologda was added to the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Subsequently, the city was several times attacked by Novgorod forces. During the Muscovite Civil War, Vologda played a key role. After Vasily II the Blind, the Grand Prince of Moscow, was defeated by Dmitry Shemyaka in 1447, he swore to never start a war against Shemyaka, was exiled to Vologda, and got the city as a personal possession. From there Vasily traveled to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery where


title: Vologda content: the hegumen released him from the oath. The civil war continued, and in 1450, Vologda was besieged by the troops of Dmitry Shemyaka; however, they did not manage to occupy the town. After the death of Vasily in 1462, Vologda passed to the possession of his son Andrey Menshoy and became the center of the Principality of Vologda. In 1481, after the death of Andrey who had no successors, Vologda passed to Ivan III, the Grand Duke of Moscow, and was included to the Grand Duchy of Moscow. During the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Vologda became one of


title: Vologda content: the major transit centers of Russia's trade. The foreign trade was conducted mostly with England, Holland, and other western countries via the White Sea. Arkhangelsk was the major foreign trade haven, and Vologda stood on the waterway connecting Moscow with Arkhangelsk. The trade with Siberia was conducted via the Sukhona and the Vychegda Rivers, and Vologda also played an important role as a transit center. The state courtyard was built in the city on the bank of the Vologda River. In 1553, Vologda was visited by the English seafarer Richard Chancellor who officially established diplomatic relations between the Tsardom of


title: Vologda content: Russia and England. In 1554, trading agent John Gass described Vologda to English merchants as a city with an abundance of bread where the goods were twice as cheap as in Moscow and Novgorod, and that there was no city in Russia that would not trade with Vologda. Following the reports of John Gass, in 1555 England opened a trading office in the city, and the first Russian ambassador sent to England for negotiations became Osip Nepeya, a native of Vologda. In 1565, Ivan the Terrible introduced the policy of Oprichnina and included Vologda into the structure of Oprichnina lands.


title: Vologda content: That year, he visited the city for the first time and decided to make it the center of Oprichnina and consequently the capital of the country. The Tsar ordered to build a new fortress. It was decided to build it not in the former town center, but rather in another part of the town, limited on the one side by the river, and on the other side by what are now Leningradskaya, Oktyabrskaya, and Mira Streets. The fortress was surrounded by a moat. Ivan the Terrible traveled to Vologda in person to supervise the foundation of the fortress on April


title: Vologda content: 28, 1566, which was the day to celebrate the memory of Saint Jason (Nason in Russian tradition) and Saint Sosipater. Therefore, the territory of the fortress located in the new part of Vologda was named the "Nason-gorod" (Nason-town). The other name of the Nason-gorod was the Vologda Kremlin (currently the name is sometimes referred only to the Bishop's courtyard). Between 1568 and 1570, a new cathedral was built in the new fortress. The Saint Sophia Cathedral became the first stone building in Vologda. The design of the cathedral copied the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. This was the idea


title: Vologda content: of Ivan the Terrible who wanted to make his new capital similar to Moscow. He personally supervised the construction, headed by the architect Razmysl Petrov. In 1571, Vologda became the center of the Diocese of Vologda and Perm that was formed in 1492 and previously had its main church in the distant settlement of Ust-Vym in Perm lands. Thereby, Vologda was strengthened not only in trading, military and political influence, but also in ecclesiastical affairs. However, in 1571 Ivan the Terrible unexpectedly stopped the construction work in Vologda and left the city for good. Presumably, this was connected with his


title: Vologda content: decision to abolish Oprichnina, and Vologda was not needed as the second capital any longer. According to the legend, when Ivan visited the Saint Sophia Cathedral, a little stone fell from the roof on his head. The superstitious Tsar who received a serious head injury took it as an sign of misfortune and decided to leave the city. In any case, it is known that the Tsar wanted even to demolish the cathedral, and that the cathedral was never consecrated during his lifetime. The consecration took place only during the reign his son Feodor I in 1587. Parts of the


title: Vologda content: incomplete fortress which were later in the 17th century strengthened with wooden walls stayed up to the 19th century when they were disassembled by the city authorities and local residents and used as a material for stone building. The Time of Troubles for Vologda began with a plague epidemic in 1605. In 1608, when Russia was split into areas controlled by Tsar Vasily Shuysky and areas controlled by the pretender False Dmitry II supported by Polish troops, the people of Vologda made an oath to False Dmitry. By gaining Vologda not only did he get control over Russian and English


title: Vologda content: trading warehouses, but he also positioned himself to gain control over northern Russia. However, abuses and property seizures by he new administration sent to Vologda caused extreme discontent among the population. As a result, Vologda denounced False Dmitry II and supported Shuysky. Moreover, in February 1609 a national home guard headed by Nikita Vysheslavtsev was formed in Vologda and went to fight against False Dmitry II. In 1612, people of Vologda rendered sizable food and military help to the home guard organized by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, which eventually defeated Polish troops. However, after the city sent huge military


title: Vologda content: forces to support the second home guard, it remained without sufficient protection, and on September 22, 1612 one of the Lithuanian extortionate groups seized Vologda without resistance, later burning down the city and killing and imprisoning many of its inhabitants. After 1613, Vologda quickly recovered due to its convenient location and once again became an important center of foreign trade. During the reign of Peter the Great, Vologda became one of the main military bases of Russia. Military and technical equipment for fortresses and military ships under construction was stored there. Vessels which delivered food supplies to Arkhangelsk were constructed


title: Vologda content: in Vologda. Peter intended to hold them on Lake Kubenskoye, north of Vologda. However, after personally inspecting the lake in 1692, he abandoned the idea deciding that the lake is improper for that purpose. Peter the Great visited Vologda on no less than ten occasions, on six of which (in 1692, 1693, 1694, 1702, 1722, and 1724) he stayed in the city for extended time. He always stayed in a small house of the Dutch merchant Goutman, which in 1872 was bought by the city authorities, and in 1885 was transformed into the memorial museum of Peter the Great and


title: Vologda content: became the first museum of Vologda. However, after St. Petersburg was founded and foreign trade was rerouted to the Baltic Sea, the importance of Vologda as a center of foreign trade decayed. In 1722, Peter issued the decree restricting trade through Arkhangelsk, which damaged Vologda even further. In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708, Vologda lost its functions as an administrative center and was included as a town of Archangelgorod Governorate. The revival began only during the reign of Catherine the Great who in 1780 made Vologda the center of Vologda Viceroyalty, a successor of Archangelgorod


title: Vologda content: Governorate. In 1796, the viceroyalty, administered by a governor-general, was transformed into Vologda Governorate, the borders of which stretched up to the Ural mountains in the east. The center of Vologda was rebuilt according to the plan of a provincial city issued in 1781. The street network is still in use now. A new economic lifting of the city was connected with a steamship movement across the Sukhona River and with the building of a new railroad line connecting Vologda with Yaroslavl and Moscow (1872), with Arkhangelsk (1898), with St. Petersburg and Vyatka (1905). In 1871, the Danish merchant Friedrich


title: Vologda content: Buman opened a specialized butter factory in the manor of Fominskoye, from Vologda. It was the first butter factory both in Vologda Governorate and in Russia. Since then Vologda became the center of the butter industry, and the Vologda butter, a special type of butter with the taste of nuts invented by Nikolay Vereschagin and Buman, became a world trademark. In 1911, the manor of Fominskoye together with the Buman's creamery was given to the state and became the base for the Vologda dairy institute. Thereby Vologda turned to one of the largest dairy centers of Russia. Since the 15th


title: Vologda content: century, Vologda was a political exile destination and was even known as "Siberia close to the capital". In the 19th–20th centuries, such persons as Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov (later the Minister of Foreign Affairs), Nikolai Berdyaev (the famous Russian philosopher), Boris Savinkov (later known as a successful terrorist), Mariya Ulyanova, and Alexander Bogdanov were sent to Vologda. Anatoly Lunacharsky chose to go there to join Bogdanov, and to marry Anna Alexandrovna Malinovskaya, Bogdanov's sister. Soviet power was established in Vologda in December 1917, and up to the summer of 1918 co-existed with the "zemstvo" and municipal administration. In February 1918,


title: Vologda content: Vologda became the "diplomatic capital of Russia" for several months. Embassies located in Saint Petersburg were threatened by the German army, so Western powers, led by American Ambassador David R. Francis, relocated them to Vologda. However, pressured by the Bolsheviks, on July 24, 1918 the diplomats were compelled to leave Vologda and repatriate via Arkhangelsk. During the Russian Civil War, Vologda was the location of the headquarters of the 6th Red Army. The army opposed the White Army under command of Evgeny Miller and the military forces of Entente in northern Russia. In 1929, the Vologda Governorate was abolished and


title: Vologda content: included into the structure of a new formation, Northern Krai, which also included former Arkhangelsk and Northern Dvina Governorates, as well as the Komi-Zyryan Autonomous Oblast. The administrative center of Northern Krai was located in Arkhangelsk. In December 1936, Northern Krai was abolished and divided into the Komi ASSR and Northern Oblast, with the administrative center still located in Arkhangelsk. On September 23, 1937, Northern Oblast was divided into Arkhangelsk Oblast and Vologda Oblast by the decision of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union. According to the same decision, districts of former Cherepovets Okrug of Leningrad Oblast were


title: Vologda content: attached to Vologda Oblast. These districts currently make for the western part of Vologda Oblast. Thereby the current borders of Vologda Oblast were determined. In the 1930s, a flax factory, a coach-repair factory, and a sawmill, "Northern Communard," were constructed. During World War II, martial law was declared in Vologda, and its industrial enterprises shifted to military production. In the fall of 1941, Finnish troops crossed the borders of Vologda Oblast, and Vologda thus became a front city. The inhabitants were mobilized to dig trenches. In the city, bomb-proof shelters and elementary shelters were under construction, systems of air defense


title: Vologda content: which protected the railway junction and the military-industrial enterprises were developed. As a result, though attempts of bombardments were numerous, no bombs fell on the city. To commemorate these events, a monument to the air defense forces was later erected on Zosimovskaya Street in Vologda. The monument has the shape of an anti-aircraft gun. In addition, Vologda was a railway hub used to supply the army and to evacuate equipment. It also served as a large hospital center. Residents of Vologda donated blood, money, and jewellery. The tank detachment "Vologda Collective Farmer" was funded by these donations. To commemorate these


title: Vologda content: events the monument to the tank T-34 was built on Mira Street. Between 1961 and 1985, Anatoly Drygin was the first secretary of the CPSU Vologda Oblast Committee and the head of the oblast. During this period, notable changes in many aspects of economy both of the city and of the oblast occurred. In particular, a bearing plant, a mechanical plant, and an optical-mechanical factory were built in Vologda. A polytechnical university was opened. A large-scale poultry farm was established. A major construction initiative was carried out, and, in particular, the first buildings higher than five floors were constructed. The


title: Vologda content: city expanded, with new residential areas built; in particular, Byvalovo, GPZ, the 5th and the 6th Microdistricts. In 1976, the Vologda trolleybus system opened. In November 1991, the city administration was formed and the reform of local governments began. In October 1993, the Soviets of People's Deputies of all levels were abolished. After the dissolution of the Vologda Soviet, the City Duma was established. The first Duma elections took place on March 20, 1994. This first Duma only had six seats, but in 1995, after the next elections, it was expanded to thirty deputies. On July 25, 1996, the City


title: Vologda content: Duma adopted the main city document: the Charter of Vologda. On October 6, 1996, the first mayoral elections in the history of Vologda took place. Alexey Yakunichev was elected and became the head of the city. His term ended in 2008. In 2003, the construction of a ring road started. Before that, the М8 highway connecting Moscow and Arkhangelsk run through the city center causing congestion. After the completion, the ring road connects the highways А114 (Vologda – Novaya Ladoga), Р5 (Vologda – Medvezhyegorsk), and М8 (Moscow – Arkhangelsk). On August 25, 2005, the City Duma approved the new Charter


title: Vologda content: of Vologda. Even though the deputies introduced more than four hundred amendments and the document increased more than twice in volume as compared with the Charter of 1996, the changes were relatively minor. On October 12, 2008, Yevgeny Shulepov was elected to be the City Head. Vologda is the administrative center of the oblast and, within the framework of administrative divisions, it also serves as the administrative center of Vologodsky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is, together with one rural locality, incorporated separately as the city of oblast significance of


title: Vologda content: Vologda (one of the four in Vologda Oblast)—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Vologda is incorporated as Vologda Urban Okrug. Vologda's climate is humid continental (Köppen climate classification "Dfb"). Winter is long and cold but not severe and lasts for five months. Spring and autumn are cool, summer is warm, the coldest months are December and January, the warmest month is July. Rain is most frequent in the summer and autumn. The population of the city and the oblast consists mainly of ethnic Russians.


title: Vologda content: A considerable part of the city population are government officials and civil servants of different levels — according to various estimates, their number reaches fifty thousand people. The reason is that Vologda is not only a big city but also the administrative center of Vologda Oblast. Around 43 million hectares of farmland is unused, hence government has announced giving away free land. Vologda will lend 468,000 hectares of land for agriculture and raising livestock purpose. Vologda is one of the best preserved big cities of Russia combining traditional wooden architecture and stone monuments. In Vologda, 193 monuments of architecture and


title: Vologda content: history are designated as cultural monuments of federal significance. The most known of them are Of 116 historical cities of Russia only 16 have monuments of wooden architecture. Vologda is among them. Vologda's trademark products include Vologda lace, butter, and flax. In Vologda, there are ten museums, four showrooms of the Vologda Regional Art Gallery, and the gallery "Red bridge". The largest cultural center of the Russian North is the Vologda State Museum Reserve. Its structure now includes the following museums, Additionally, Vologda is home to a unique Russian private museum of political history—the Museum of Diplomatic Corps which highlights


title: Vologda content: the short stay of diplomatic corps in Vologda in 1918. The following annual theater festivals are held in Vologda: Among annual exhibitions which take place in Vologda are the following: Many notable Russian writers and poets were born or worked in Vologda. The best known of them were Konstantin Batyushkov, Varlam Shalamov, Nikolay Rubtsov, and Vasily Belov and Vladimir Gilarovsky. Contemporary literature of Vologda is represented by a number of authors which include Nata Suchkova, Maria Markova, Galina Schekina, and Anton Chorny. Vologda is a major transportation hub, located at the intersection of highways, railways, and waterways. The public transport


title: Vologda content: network is well developed in the city: There are both bus and trolleybus lines. The city has four big automobile bridges: two automobile bridges across the Vologda River and two bridges across railways. There is one pedestrian bridge (the Red bridge) in the city center. Vologda is the largest sorting and transit spot of the Northern Railway. It includes the stations Vologda-1, Vologda-2, Rybkino, and Losta. The stretch between Vologda-2 and Losta is the most active one in the railroad network of the Russian Federation, with more than 120–150 pairs of trains running through it daily. Suburban trains and long


title: Vologda content: distance trains originate from the railway station of Vologda-1. The Vologda Airport is situated 10 km from the city centre along the Arkhangelsk highway. Yak-40 aircraft carry out regular passenger flights to Moscow, Ukhta, Velikiy Ustyug, Kichmengsky Gorodok, and Vytegra. Helicopters Mi-2 and Mi-8 are used by the Vologda aviation company. They are used for the emergency aircraft and for the oil pipeline service . The following highways go through Vologda: The new ring road with modern exits connecting roads A-114, Р-5 and М-8 (the Arkhangelsk destination) is under construction around Vologda. The Arkhangelsk direction is still not connected by


title: Vologda content: the ring road. The municipal transportation of Vologda is carried out by bus and trolleybus routes, and also by lines of fixed-route taxis. Regular bus service started in Vologda in 1929, the trolleybus service was open in 1976. As of November 2009, in Vologda there were five trolleybus routes, nineteen municipal bus routes, and about forty "marshrutkas" (routed taxis). The main transport companies are the open society "VologdaElectroTrans" (trolleybuses), PATP-1 and PATP-32 (municipal bus routes). Currently, there are more than ten thousand enterprises of various patterns of ownership in Vologda. The most notable ones are: Traditional national crafts are presented


title: Vologda content: by the closed joint-stock company «Snowflake» (lace), limited liability company "Hope" and other enterprises. Vologda has large sports objects such as the stadiums "Dynamo", "Locomotive", "Vityaz", the swimming pools "Dynamo" and "Lagoon", the sports and concert complex "Spectrum", fitness centers, regional athletic spots. Vologda is a home to: Vologda Vologda () is a city and the administrative, cultural, and scientific center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the Vologda River within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: 293,046 (2002 Census); The city serves as a major transport hub of the Northwest of Russia. The Ministry of Culture of the


title: Cunedda content: Scotland in the 380s or earlier by the Emperor Magnus Maximus. Alternatively, he may have been a frontier chieftain who was granted Roman military rank, a practice attested elsewhere along the empire's borders at the time. In all likelihood, Padarn's command in Scotland was assumed after his death by his son, Edern (), and then passed to Edern's son, Cunedda. According to Old Welsh tradition contained in section 62 the "Historia Brittonum", Cunedda came from Manaw Gododdin, the modern Clackmannanshire region of Scotland: Maelgwn, the great king, was reigning among the Britons in the region of Gwynedd, for his ancestor,


title: "West Country English" content: West Country English West Country English is one of the English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country. The West Country is often defined as encompassing the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, the City of Bristol and Gloucestershire; Herefordshire is sometimes also included. However, the northern and eastern boundaries of the area are hard to define. In the adjacent counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Oxfordshire it is possible to encounter similar accents and, indeed, much the same


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: 30 Rockefeller Plaza 30 Rockefeller Plaza is an American Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Formerly called the RCA Building from 1933 to 1988, and later the GE Building from 1988 to 2015, it was renamed the Comcast Building in 2015, following the transfer of ownership to new corporate owner Comcast. Its name is often shortened to 30 Rock. The building is most famous for housing the headquarters and New York studios of television network NBC, as well as the Rainbow Room restaurant. At high, the 66-story building is the


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: 22nd tallest in New York City and the 47th tallest in the United States. It stands 400 feet (122 m) shorter than the Empire State Building. 30 Rockefeller Center underwent a $170 million floor-by-floor interior renovation in 2014. The construction of Rockefeller Center occurred between 1932 and 1940 on land that John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased from Columbia University. The Rockefeller Center site was originally supposed to be occupied by a new opera house for the Metropolitan Opera. By 1928, Benjamin Wistar Morris and designer Joseph Urban were hired to come up with blueprints for the house. However, the new


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: building was too expensive for the opera to fund by itself, and it needed an endowment, and the project ultimately gained the support of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The planned opera house was canceled in December 1929 due to various issues. Raymond Hood, Rockefeller Center's lead architect, came up with the idea to negotiate with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and its subsidiaries, National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO), to build a mass media entertainment complex on the site. By May 1930, RCA and its affiliates had made an agreement with Rockefeller Center managers. RCA would lease of


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: studio space; get naming rights to the western part of the development; and develop four theaters, at a cost of $4.25 million per year. A skyscraper at 30 Rockefeller Plaza's current site was first proposed in the March 1930 version of the complex's blueprint, and the current dimensions of the tower were finalized in March 1931. The skyscraper would be named for RCA as part of the agreement. Designs for the Radio City Music Hall and the RCA Building were submitted to the New York City Department of Buildings in August 1931, by which time the both buildings were to


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: open in 1932. Work on the steel structure of the RCA Building started in March 1932, and the building's structural steel was up to the 64th floor by September of that year. The famous photograph "Lunch atop a Skyscraper" was taken on September 20, 1932, during the construction of the 69th floor. The structure of the RCA Building was slated to open on May 1, 1933. Its opening was delayed until mid-May because of a controversy over "Man at the Crossroads", a painting by Diego Rivera that was removed from the RCA Building. NBC was one of the first tenants


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: in the new RCA Building, and with 35 studios packed into the lower base of the building, it was also one of the largest tenants. RCA's chief engineer O. B. Hanson was faced with designing an area of the building that was large enough to host 35 studios with as few structural columns as possible. This was achieved by placing all the studios in the 16-story, windowless center part of the building, which would have otherwise been used as an unprofitable office space. Over of utility wires stretched through this part of the building, which was powered by direct current


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: because the use of alternating current would cause transmissions to become spotty. Two floors were reserved for future TV studios, and five more stories were reserved for audience members and guests. During the building's early years, NBC housed both the Red Network and the Blue Network within 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The building also hosted daily tours of the NBC Studios. Studio 8H was the largest of the studios in the RCA Building, with the capacity to seat 1,400 guests. The Rockefeller family's Standard Oil Company moved into the RCA Building in 1934. The New York Museum of Science and Industry


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: leased some of the unpopular space on the RCA Building's lower floors after Nelson Rockefeller became a trustee of the museum in fall 1935. Westinghouse moved into the 14th through 17th floors of the RCA Building. The Rockefeller family moved into various floors and suites throughout the same building in order to give potential tenants the impression of occupancy. In particular, the family's office took up "Room 5600" on the entire 56th floor, while the family's Rockefeller Foundation took up the entire floor below, and two other organizations supported by the Rockefellers also moved into the building. By 1937, there


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: were 392 employees of Room 5600, and by the time World War II was over, Room 5600 comprised the entire 54th through 56th floors. The family offices became a hub for the family's political activity, with ties to both the Democratic and Republican parties at the city, state, and national levels. Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Nelson Mandela, Richard Gere, and Bono all came to the offices at one point or another. The family moved out in 2014, and this space is now occupied by Rockefeller Family and Associates, whose offices span the 54th to 56th floors. John D. Rockefeller had


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: a private vault in the basement of the building, accessible via a private elevator from his office. Shortly after the RCA Building's opening, there were plans to use the building above the 64th floor as a public "amusement center". That section of the building had several terraces, which could be used as a dance floor, observatory and landscaped terrace gardens. On the 65th floor, there was also a two-story space for a dining room with a high ceiling. Frank W. Darling quit his job as head of Rye's Playland in order to direct the programming for the proposed amusement space.


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: In July 1933, the managers opened an observation deck atop the RCA Building, which consisted of terraces on the 67th, 69th, and 70th floors. It was a great success: the 40-cents-per-head observation deck saw 1,300 daily visitors by late 1935. Meanwhile, the floors below the observatory were planned as a restaurant, solarium, game room, and ballroom, which would later become the Rainbow Room. The Rainbow Room opened on October 3, 1934. To transport visitors to the top floors, Westinghouse installed eight express elevators in the RCA Building. They moved at an average speed of and made up 13% of the


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: building's entire construction cost. One elevator reached a top speed of and was dubbed "the fastest passenger elevator ride on record". These elevators cost about $17,000 a year to maintain by 1942. By the mid-1950s, the Museum of Science and Industry had moved out of the RCA Building's lower floors. The former museum space became office and retail space that was twice as profitable. Much of the street-level space was also transformed into a studio for the "Today" Show. In 1985, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission declared that the entire original Rockefeller Center would officially become a city


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: landmark. A year afterward, the observatory was closed to make way for an expansion of the Rainbow Room, which in turn isolated the observation deck from its elevators. The elevators from the ground level only reached the 65th floor, and observatory visitors were required to transfer to another "shuttle" elevator that went between the 65th and 69th floors. The RCA Building was renamed the GE Building in 1988, two years after General Electric re-acquired the RCA Corporation. In 1996, NBC bought the space it had leased in the center for over sixty years. The building's address became the title of


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: the NBC sitcom "30 Rock" (2006–2013), which follows the cast and crew of a fictional television show filmed inside the building. Aside from two live episodes, which were produced at NBC's facilities inside the building, the series used the building mostly for exterior and occasional lobby shots, while interior scenes were filmed at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens. From the end of 1960 through October 1993, the building's mezzanine level housed the New York City weather forecast office of the National Weather Service; it was relocated to eastern Long Island, on the grounds of Brookhaven National Laboratory at


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: Upton, New York. KWO35, the NOAA Weather Radio station serving the majority of the Tri-State area, originally transmitted from atop the building and remained there until 2014. Due to interference with a U.S. Coast Guard radio channel, the transmitter was eventually relocated atop the MetLife Building. A weather radar station was also located atop the building (it was previously used as "Doppler 4000" during WNBC-TV's local newscasts). Plans for the reopening of the observation deck were announced in November 2003. The existing elevator shafts were lengthened so that the observatory could be accessed without going through the Rainbow Room to


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: get to the "shuttle" elevators. The deck reopened in November 2005 after a historically sensitive renovation by Gabellini Sheppard Associates. In June 2014, Comcast was granted permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to make modifications to the building to reflect its ownership of NBCUniversal. The GE Building would be officially known as the Comcast Building. Comcast planned to replace the neon GE lettering from the top of the building with a tall, LED-lit Comcast wordmark and NBC logo, and add a NBC logo on the building western's facade. Additionally, a new marquee was added to the Avenue of the Americas


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: entrance, advertising it as the home of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". On July 1, 2015, the name change and new signage were made official. In November 2018, the toy store FAO Schwarz opened a location at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. 30 Rockefeller Plaza is tall and anchors the entire Rockefeller Center complex. 30 Rockefeller Plaza was built as a single structure occupying the entire block between Sixth Avenue and Rockefeller Plaza, and its design was influenced by John Todd's desire for the building to use its air rights to their maximum potential. It has three main segments: the 66-story-tall


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: tower rising from the eastern part of the base; a windowless segment in the middle of the base; and a shorter 20-story tower on the western part of the base. Some sources give 30 Rockefeller Plaza's height as 70 stories, but this arises from an hyperbolic press release by Merle Crowell, the complex's publicist during construction. As an icon of the complex, 30 Rockefeller Plaza's architecture, with its limestone facade and Gothic-inspired four-leafed spandrels, influenced the design of the rest of the complex. The design of 30 Rockefeller Center was affected greatly by the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which restricted the


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: height that the street-side exterior walls of New York City buildings could rise before they needed to incorporate setbacks that recessed the buildings' exterior walls away from the streets. Hood also created a guideline that all of the office space in the complex would be no more than from a window, which was the maximum distance that sunlight could permeate the windows of a building at New York City's latitude. Although the RCA Building was recessed so far into the block that it could have simply risen as a slab without any setbacks, Hood decided to include setbacks anyway because


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: they represented "a sense of future, a sense of energy, a sense of purpose," according to the architecture expert Alan Balfour. The setbacks on the northern and southern sides of 30 Rockefeller Plaza allow the building to comply with Hood's 27-foot guideline, but the eastern elevation's setbacks are merely for show, according to Balfour. The eastern tower contains the famous Rainbow Room restaurant on the 65th floor, while the Rockefeller family office occupied the tower's 54th through 56th floors until 2014. The tower also serves as the headquarters of NBC, and houses NBC Studios, NBC News, MSNBC, and network flagship


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: station WNBC; and until 1988, the NBC Radio Network. Although NBC has continuously occupied the building since 1933, it did not own the space it occupied until 1996, when it gained ownership within a condominium arrangement. The base of the tower is set back from the side streets in order to comply with the 1916 zoning law without having as many setbacks on higher floors. As a result, the walls of 30 Rockefeller Plaza rise straight up in a "slab"-like format—a rarely constructed architectural form before the complex was erected—with only gentle setbacks above the 30th floor. All of the


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: tower's offices were specified so that no office was more than from a window, the maximum distance where sunlight can permeate the offices. From 1937 on, the top of the tower also contained neon letters spelling "RCA", though these were later replaced by "GE" letters, and in 2014, replaced again with Comcast and NBC logos. Below the building is the complex's shopping concourse, connected to the lobby via escalators. The open lobby's rich materials and reduced black and beige ornamental scheme is enhanced by dramatic lighting. Granite covers the building base to a height of and the shaft has a


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: refined facade of Indiana Limestone with aluminum spandrel panels. Part of NBC's space also extends into the central part of the tower. Since the middle of a block was seen as typically not a well-desired location for Manhattan office space, this segment was planned without windows, which was suitable for NBC's studios. This section of the building contains a "Garden of the Nations" atop its roof. In 1936, the central section's roof temporarily housed a prototype of an apartment, which was used to advertise the Rockefeller Apartments between 54th and 55th Streets. Afterward, the roof was proposed as the site


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: of a solar heat-powered "management and conference center". 1250 Avenue of the Americas, formerly also known as the RCA Building West, serves as the western annex of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The building is accessed mainly from Sixth Avenue. It is made of the same material as the original RCA Building, with a similar design. The facade of the annex rises straight from the sidewalk, set back from the corners because there were private properties at these corners at the time of the building's construction in 1935. Lee Lawrie's carved rendering of Wisdom is located above the east entrance of the


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: main building and is flanked by his renderings of Sound on the left and Light on the right. The Wisdom frieze above the entrance is accompanied by an inscription that reads: "Wisdom and Knowledge shall be the stability of thy times," from Isaiah 33:6 (KJV). Lawrie's three renderings are complemented by two limestone bas-reliefs by Leo Friedlander: one of Production on the north elevation, and one of Radio on the south elevation. The lobby wall of 30 Rockefeller Plaza originally contained the controversial "Man at the Crossroads" mural by Diego Rivera. It was destroyed in 1934 and replaced by a


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: mural from Josep Maria Sert called "American Progress". "American Progress" depicts a vast allegorical scene of men constructing modern America and contains figures of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Sert's other murals, all located in the northern ground-floor corridor, include "Time"; "Spirit of Dance"; "Man's Triumph in Communication"; "Conquest of Disease"; "Abolition of Bondage"; "Fraternity of Men"; and "Contest-1940", depicting different aspects of the world and mankind. Frank Brangwyn complemented Sert's works with four murals on the southern corridor, all of which symbolize humans' relationship with spirituality. 1230 Avenue of the Americas, the annex building to 30


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: Rockefeller Plaza, contains two works of art on its exterior. The recessed entrance portal is filled with a mosaic mural of "Intelligence Awakening Mankind" by Barry Faulkner. The portal itself is located underneath four limestone panels by Gaston Lachaise, each of which signifies an aspect of civilization as it related to the original Radio City complex. The 65th floor of the building is an event room and restaurant named the Rainbow Room, previously run by the Cipriani family. Opened in 1934, it was the first restaurant to be located in a high-rise building and remained the highest elevated restaurant in


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: the United States for decades. Suffering from a decline in business following the financial crisis of 2007–08, the restaurant closed in 2009. In 2012, it was declared a New York City landmark by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission. On September 17, 2013, it was announced that the Rainbow Room would reopen in fall 2014 after undergoing a full restoration, along with a new executive chef and management team. After a years-long restoration process by Gabellini Sheppard Associates, it reopened to the public on October 5, 2014, with new owner-operator Tishman Speyer and chef Jonathan Wright at the helm. The


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: renovation includes the landmarked dance floor and a new cocktail lounge called SixtyFive. The observation deck atop the skyscraper, dubbed "Top of the Rock", is built to resemble the deck of an ocean liner. It offers sightseers a bird's eye view of the city, competing with the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State Building 200 feet (61 m) higher. It is often considered the best panoramic city view, if only because it offers a view of the aforementioned Empire State Building, which cannot be seen from its own observation deck. The timed entry system and larger observation deck also


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: results in shorter waiting times compared to the Empire State. The frameless safety glass around the perimeter of the deck dates to 2005, when the facility reopened to the public. In the renovation by Gabellini Sheppard Associates, the original limestone and cast aluminum architectural details were conserved and new interiors were added. The "Top of the Rock" had also been co-opted for NBC's "Sunday Night Football" during the 2006–07 season, with the top player/MVP in that night's game according to John Madden and Al Michaels receiving the honor of being that night's "Rock Star" in the form of a glass


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: trophy display on the observation deck; this was a replacement for the Horse Trailer Award formerly awarded on ABC's "Monday Night Football". The Horse Trailer honor was restored for the 2007–08 season. The observation deck was also used in a key scene in the 2011 science fiction film "The Adjustment Bureau". The Comcast Building is well known for housing the headquarters of NBC, the New York facilities of NBC Studios, and NBCUniversal Cable. In 1996, NBC bought the of space it had leased since 1933. The purchase allowed the company to introduce new technologies and renovate the space; it also


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: gave them options to renew the lease on the "Today Show" studios, broadcast from a nearby building, 10 Rockefeller Plaza. NBC occupies floors 2–19, 21, 27, 46–47, and 51 (leasing the floors it occupies above the 16th). The building's studios include Studio 8H, the home of "Saturday Night Live." Studio 8H was once the largest radio studio in the world, originally home to the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. It was converted into a television studio in 1950. "The Tonight Show" was also taped at the building in Studio 6B from the early Jack Paar years until 1972,


title: "30 Rockefeller Plaza" content: when the show moved to Burbank, California. In 2014, "The Tonight Show" returned to Studio 6B with its latest incarnation, "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". "Tonight"s companion program, "Late Night", now branded "Late Night with Seth Meyers", has been produced from the building since it started in 1982; the relocation of "Tonight" back to New York in 2014 brought the two shows under one roof for the first time. During its run, Rosie O'Donnell broadcast her syndicated talk show from the building. 30 Rockefeller Plaza 30 Rockefeller Plaza is an American Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of


title: "1920 in Germany" content: should be left in the hands of the German government with a warning that if the neutral zone were not re-evacuated as soon as practicable, a further district of Germany would be occupied by the Entente. The French government, however, raised difficulties; and declared that if the Germans were allowed to send forces into the Ruhr District, they (the French) should be allowed to occupy Frankfurt, Homburg, and other neighbouring German towns, with the sanction of the Allies, during the period that the German troops were in the neutral zone. Owing to these differences of opinion between the Allied governments


title: "Interstate 480 (Nebraska–Iowa)" content: west and with U.S. Route 75, known as the Kennedy Freeway, to the south. Going north, I-480 passes the Hanscom Park neighborhood to the west and the Vinton Street Commercial Historic District to the east. At exit 1A, I-480 intersects Martha Street, which before January 1, 2003, was the eastern end of Nebraska Highway 38. North of Martha Street, I-480 passes the Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens. At the Leavenworth Street exit, the highway divides the Leavenworth neighborhood from the Old Market neighborhood. Shortly after the Leavenworth Street exit is the Harney Street exit, which provides access to U.S.


title: "Pinus strobus" content: Pinus strobus Pinus strobus, commonly denominated the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada west through the Great Lakes region to southeastern Manitoba and Minnesota, United States, and south along the Appalachian Mountains and upper Piedmont to northernmost Georgia and perhaps very rarely in some of the higher elevations in northeastern Alabama. The Native American Haudenosaunee denominated it the "Tree of Peace". It is known as the "Weymouth pine" in the United Kingdom, after Captain George Weymouth of the


title: "Pinus strobus" content: British Royal Navy, who brought its seeds to England from Maine in 1605. "Pinus strobus" is found in the nearctic temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome of eastern North America. It prefers well-drained or sandy soils and humid climates, but can also grow in boggy areas and rocky highlands. In mixed forests, this dominant tree towers over many others, including some of the large broadleaf hardwoods. It provides food and shelter for numerous forest birds, such as the red crossbill, and small mammals such as squirrels. Eastern white pine forests originally covered much of north-central and north-eastern North America. Only


title: "Pinus strobus" content: one percent of the old-growth forests remain after the extensive logging operations of the 18th century to early 20th century. Old growth forests, or virgin stands, are protected in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Other protected areas with known virgin forests, as confirmed by the Eastern Native Tree Society, include Algonquin Provincial Park, Quetico Provincial Park, and Algoma Highlands in Ontario, Canada; Estivant Pines, Huron Mountains, Porcupine Mountains State Park, and Sylvania Wilderness Area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States; Hartwick Pines State Park in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan; Menominee Indian Reservation in Wisconsin; Lost 40 Scientific


title: "Pinus strobus" content: and Natural Area (SNA) and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota; White Pines State Park, Illinois; Cook Forest State Park, Hearts Content Scenic Area, and Anders Run Natural Area in Pennsylvania; and the Linville Gorge Wilderness in North Carolina. Small groves or individual specimens of old growth eastern white pines are found across the range of the species in the USA, including in Ordway Pines, Maine; Ice Glen, Massachusetts; and Adirondack Park, New York. Many sites with conspicuously large specimens represent advanced old field ecological succession. The tall stands in Mohawk Trail State Forest and William Cullen Bryant Homestead


title: "Pinus strobus" content: in Massachusetts are examples. As an introduced species, "Pinus strobus" is now naturalizing in the Outer Eastern Carpathians subdivision of the Carpathian Mountains in Czech Republic and southern Poland. It has spread from specimens planted as ornamental trees. Like most members of the white pine group, "Pinus" subgenus "Strobus", the leaves ("needles") are in fascicles (bundles) of 5, or rarely 3 or 4, with a deciduous sheath. They are flexible, bluish-green, finely serrated, long, and persist for 18 months, i.e., from the spring of one season until autumn of the next, when they abscise. The seed cones are slender, long


title: "Pinus strobus" content: (rarely longer than that) and broad when open, and have scales with a rounded apex and slightly reflexed tip. The seeds are long, with a slender wing, and are dispersed by wind. Cone production peaks every 3 to 5 years. The branches are spaced about every 18 inches on the trunk with 5-6 branches appearing like spokes on a wagon wheel. While eastern white pine is self-fertile, seeds produced this way tend to result in weak, stunted, and malformed seedlings. Mature trees are often 200–250 years old, and some live to over 400 years. A tree growing near Syracuse, New


title: "Pinus strobus" content: York was dated to 458 years old in the late 1980s and trees in Michigan and Wisconsin were dated to approximately 500 years old. The eastern white pine has the distinction of being the tallest tree in eastern North America. In natural pre-colonial stands it is reported to have grown as tall as . There is no means of accurately documenting the height of trees from these times, but eastern white pine may have reached this height on rare occasions. Even greater heights have been reported in popular, but unverifiable, accounts such as Robert Pike's "Tall Trees, Tough Men". Total


title: "Pinus strobus" content: trunk volumes of the largest specimens are approximately , with some past giants possibly reaching . Photographic analysis of giants suggests volumes closer to . "Pinus strobus" grows approximately annually between the ages of 15 and 45 years, with slower height increments before and after that age range. The tallest presently living specimens are tall, as determined by the Native Tree Society (NTS). Three locations in southeastern United States and one site in northeastern United States have trees that are tall. The southern Appalachian Mountains have the most locations and the tallest trees in the present range of "Pinus strobus".


title: "Pinus strobus" content: One survivor is a specimen known as the "Boogerman Pine" in the Cataloochee Valley of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At tall, it is the tallest accurately measured tree in North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It has been climbed and measured by tape drop by the Native Tree Society. Before Hurricane Opal broke its top in October 1995, Boogerman Pine was tall, as determined by Will Blozan and Robert Leverett using ground-based measurements. The tallest specimens in Hartwick Pines State Park in Michigan are tall. In northeastern USA, 8 sites in 4 states currently have trees over tall,


title: "Pinus strobus" content: as confirmed by the Native Tree Society. The Cook Forest State Park of Pennsylvania has the most numerous collection of eastern white pines in the Northeast, with 110 trees measuring that height or more. The Park's "Longfellow Pine" is the tallest presently living eastern white pine in the Northeast, at tall, as determined by being climbed and measured by tape drop. The Mohawk Trail State Forest of Massachusetts has 83 trees measuring or more tall, of which 6 exceed . The "Jake Swamp Tree" located there is tall. The Native Tree Society maintains precise measurements of it. A private property


title: "Pinus strobus" content: in Claremont, New Hampshire has approximately 60 specimens that are tall. Besides the aforementioned sites, sites with tall specimens typically have one to 15 specimens. Diameters of the larger pines range from , which translates to a circumference (girth) range of . However, single-trunked white pines in both the Northeast and Southeast with diameters over are exceedingly rare. Notable big pine sites of or less will often have no more than 2 or 3 trees in the diameter class. Unconfirmed reports from the colonial era gave diameters of virgin white pines of up to . Because the eastern white pine


title: "Pinus strobus" content: tree is somewhat resistant to fire, mature survivors are able to re-seed burned areas. In pure stands mature trees usually have no branches on the lower half of the trunk. The white pine weevil ("Pissodes strobi") and white pine blister rust ("Cronartium ribicola"), an introduced fungus, can damage or kill these trees. Mortality from white pine blister rust in mature pine groves was often 50–80% during the early 20th century. The fungus must spend part of its life cycle on alternate hosts of the genus "Ribes", the native gooseberry or wild currant. Foresters proposed that if all the alternate host


title: "Pinus strobus" content: plants were removed that white pine blister rust might be eliminated. A very determined campaign was mounted and all land owners in commercial pine growing regions were encouraged to uproot and kill all native gooseberry and wild currant plants. The ramifications for wildlife and habitat ecology were of less concern at the time than timber industry protection. Today native wild currants are relatively rare plants in New England, and planting wild currants or wild gooseberries is strongly discouraged, or even illegal in some jurisdictions. As an alternative, new strains of commercial currants have been developed which are highly resistant to


title: "Pinus strobus" content: white pine blister rust. Mortality in white pines from rust is only about 3% today. It is listed as rare in Indiana. In the 19th century, the harvesting of Midwestern white pine forests played a major role in America's westward expansion through the Great Plains. A quarter million white pines were harvested and sent to lumber yards in Chicago in a single year. The white pine had aesthetic appeal to contemporary naturalists such as Henry David Thoreau ("There is no finer tree.") Beyond that, it had commercial applications. It was considered “the most sought and most widely utilized of the


title: "Pinus strobus" content: various forest growths of the northwest.” Descriptions of its uses are quoted below from a contemporary source: The species was imported in 1620 to England by Captain George Weymouth, who planted it for a timber crop, but had little success because of white pine blister rust disease. Old growth pine in the Americas, of various "Pinus" species, was a highly desired wood since huge, knot-free boards were the rule rather than the exception. Pine was common and easy to cut, thus many colonial homes used pine for paneling, floors and furniture. Pine was also a favorite tree of loggers since