title: Pear content: moderate source of dietary fiber and no other essential nutrients in significant amounts (table, USDA National Nutrient Database). Pears grow in the sublime orchard of Alcinous, in "Odyssey" vii: "Therein grow trees, tall and luxuriant, pears and pomegranates and apple-trees with their bright fruit, and sweet figs, and luxuriant olives. Of these the fruit perishes not nor fails in winter or in summer, but lasts throughout the year." 'A Partridge in a Pear Tree' is the first gift in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" cumulative song. This verse is repeated twelve times in the song. The pear tree was an


title: Pear content: object of particular veneration (as was the Walnut) in the Tree worship of the Nakh peoples of the North Caucasus – see Vainakh mythology and see also Ingushetia – the best-known of the Vainakh peoples today being the Chechens of Chechnya in the Russian Federation. Pear and walnut trees were held to be the sacred abodes of beneficent spirits in pre-Islamic Chechen religion and, for this reason, it was forbidden to fell them. Pear The pear () tree and shrub are a species of genus Pyrus , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the pomaceous fruit of the same name. Several


title: "Pope Urban IV" content: the Minnesänger died shortly after 1265. Two centuries later, the pope became a major character in a legend which grew up about the Minnesänger, which is first attested in 1430 and propagated in ballads from 1450. The legendary account makes Tannhäuser a knight and poet who found the Venusberg, the subterranean home of Venus, and spent a year there worshipping the goddess. After leaving the Venusberg, Tannhäuser is filled with remorse and travels to Rome to ask Pope Urban IV if it is possible to be absolved of his sins. Urban replies that forgiveness is as impossible as it would


title: "Prairie dog" content: Prairie dog Prairie dogs (genus Cynomys) are herbivorous burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. The five species are: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah, and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In Mexico, prairie dogs are found primarily in the northern states, which lie at the southern end of the Great Plains: northeastern Sonora, north and northeastern Chihuahua, northern Coahuila, northern Nuevo León, and northern Tamaulipas. In the United States, they range primarily to the west of the Mississippi River, though they have also been introduced in


title: "Prairie dog" content: a few eastern locales. Despite the name, they are not actually canines. Prairie dogs are named for their habitat and warning call, which sounds similar to a dog's bark. The name was in use at least as early as 1774. The 1804 journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition note that in September 1804, they "discovered a Village of an animal the French Call the Prairie Dog". Its genus, "Cynomys", derives from the Greek for "dog mouse" (κυων "kuōn", κυνος "kunos" – dog; μυς "mus", μυός "muos" – mouse). The black-tailed prairie dog ("Cynomys ludovicianus") was first described by Lewis


title: "Prairie dog" content: and Clark in 1804. Lewis described it in more detail in 1806, calling it the "barking squirrel". On average, these stout-bodied rodents will grow to be between long, including the short tail, and weigh between . Sexual dimorphism in body mass in the prairie dog varies 105 to 136% between the sexes. Among the species, black-tailed prairie dogs tend to be the least sexually dimorphic, and white-tailed prairie dogs tend to be the most sexually dimorphic. Sexual dimorphism peaks during weaning, when the females lose weight and the males start eating more, and is at its lowest when the females


title: "Prairie dog" content: are pregnant, which is also when the males are tired from breeding. Prairie dogs are chiefly herbivorous, though they eat some insects. They feed primarily on grasses and small seeds. In the fall, they eat broadleaf forbs. In the winter, lactating and pregnant females supplement their diets with snow for extra water. They also will eat roots, seeds, fruit, and buds. Grasses of various species are eaten. Black-tailed prairie dogs in South Dakota eat western bluegrass, blue grama, buffalo grass, six weeks fescue, and tumblegrass, while Gunnison’s prairie dogs eat rabbit brush, tumbleweeds, dandelions, saltbush, and cacti in addition to


title: "Prairie dog" content: buffalo grass and blue grama. White-tailed prairie dogs have been observed to kill ground squirrels, a competing herbivore. Prairie dogs live mainly at altitudes ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 ft above sea level. The areas where they live can get as warm as in the summer and as cold as in the winter. As prairie dogs live in areas prone to environmental threats, including hailstorms, blizzards, and floods, as well as drought and prairie fires, burrows provide important protection. Burrows help prairie dogs control their body temperature (Thermoregulation) as they are 5–10 °C during the winter and 15–25 °C in


title: "Prairie dog" content: the summer. Prairie dog tunnel systems channel rainwater into the water table which prevents runoff and erosion, and can also change the composition of the soil in a region by reversing soil compaction that can result from cattle grazing. Prairie dog burrows are long and below the ground. The entrance holes are generally in diameter. Prairie dog burrows can have up to six entrances. Sometimes the entrances are simply flat holes in the ground, while at other times they are surrounded by mounds of soil either left as piles or hard packed. Some mounds, known as dome craters, can be


title: "Prairie dog" content: as high as high. Other mounds, known as rim craters, can be as high as 1 m. Dome craters and rim craters serve as observation posts used by the animals to watch for predators. They also protect the burrows from flooding. The holes also possibly provide ventilation as the air enters through the dome crater and leaves through the rim crater, causing a breeze though the burrow. Prairie dog burrows contain chambers to provide certain functions. They have nursery chambers for their young, chambers for night, and chambers for the winter. They also contain air chambers that may function to


title: "Prairie dog" content: protect the burrow from flooding and a listening post for predators. When hiding from predators, prairie dogs use less-deep chambers that are usually a meter below the surface. Nursery chambers tend to be deeper, being two to three meters below the surface. Highly social, prairie dogs live in large colonies or "towns" and collections of prairie dog families that can span hundreds of acres. The prairie dog family groups are the most basic units of its society. Members of a family group inhabit the same territory. Family groups of black-tailed and Mexican prairie dogs are called "coteries", while "clans" are


title: "Prairie dog" content: used to describe family groups of white-tailed, Gunnison’s, and Utah prairie dogs. Although these two family groups are similar, coteries tend to be more closely knit than clans. Members of a family group interact through oral contact or "kissing" and grooming one another. They do not perform these behaviors with prairie dogs from other family groups. A prairie dog town may contain 15–26 family groups. There may also be subgroups within a town, called "wards", which are separated by a physical barrier. Family groups exist within these wards. Most prairie dog family groups are made up of one adult breeding


title: "Prairie dog" content: male, two to three adult females and one to two male offspring and one to two female offspring. Females remain in their natal groups for life and are thus the source of stability in the groups. Males leave their natal groups when they mature to find another family group to defend and breed in. Some family groups contain more breeding females than one male can control, so have more than one breeding adult male in them. Among these multiple-male groups, some may contain males that have friendly relationships, but the majority contain males that have largely antagonistic relationships. In the


title: "Prairie dog" content: former, the males tend to be related, while in the latter, they tend not to be related. Two to three groups of females may be controlled by one male. However, among these female groups, there are no friendly relations. The average prairie dog territory takes up 0.05–1.01 hectares. Territories have well-established borders that coincide with physical barriers such as rocks and trees. The resident male of a territory defends it and antagonistic behavior will occur between two males of different families to defend their territories. These interactions may happen 20 times per day and last five minutes. When two prairie


title: "Prairie dog" content: dogs encounter each other at the edges of their territories, they will start staring, make bluff charges, flare their tails, chatter their teeth, and sniff each other's perianal scent glands. When fighting, prairie dogs will bite, kick and ram each other. If their competitor is around their size or smaller, the females will participate in fighting. Otherwise, if a competitor is sighted, the females signal for the resident male. Prairie dog copulation occurs in the burrows, and this reduces the risk of interruption by a competing male. They are also at less risk of predation. Behaviors that signal that a


title: "Prairie dog" content: female is in estrus include underground consorting, self-licking of genitals, dust-bathing, and late entrances into the burrow at night. The licking of genitals may protect against sexually transmitted diseases and genital infections, while dust-bathing may protect against fleas and other parasites. Prairie dogs also have a mating call which consists of a set of 2 to 25 barks with a 3- to 15-second pause between each one. Females may try to increase their reproduction success by mating with males outside their family groups. When copulation is over, the male is no longer interested in the female sexually, but will prevent


title: "Prairie dog" content: other males from mating with her by inserting copulatory plugs. For black-tailed prairie dogs, the resident male of the family group fathers all the offspring. Multiple paternity in litters seems to be more common in Utah and Gunnison’s prairie dogs. Mother prairie dogs do most of the care for the young. In addition to nursing the young, the mother also defends the nursery chamber and collects grass for the nest. Males play their part by defending the territories and maintaining the burrows. The young spend their first six weeks below the ground being nursed. They are then weaned and begin


title: "Prairie dog" content: to surface from the burrow. By five months, they are fully grown. The subject of cooperative breeding in prairie dogs has been debated among biologists. Some argue prairie dogs will defend and feed young that are not theirs, and it seems young will sleep in a nursery chamber with other mothers; since most nursing occurs at night, this may be a case of communal nursing. In the case of the latter, others suggest communal nursing occurs only when mothers mistake another female's young for their own. Infanticide is known to occur in prairie dogs. Males which take over a family


title: "Prairie dog" content: group will kill the offspring of the previous male. This causes the mother to go into estrus sooner. However, most infanticide is done by close relatives. Lactating females will kill the offspring of a related female both to decrease competition for the female’s offspring and for increased foraging area due to a decrease in territorial defense by the victimized mother. Supporters of the theory that prairie dogs are communal breeders state that another reason for this type of infanticide is so that the female can get a possible helper. With their own offspring gone, the victimized mother may help raise


title: "Prairie dog" content: the young of other females. The prairie dog is well adapted to predators. Using its dichromatic color vision, it can detect predators from a great distance; it then alerts other prairie dogs of the danger with a special, high-pitched call. Constantine Slobodchikoff and others assert that prairie dogs use a sophisticated system of vocal communication to describe specific predators. According to them, prairie dog calls contain specific information as to what the predator is, how big it is and how fast it is approaching. These have been described as a form of grammar. According to Slobodchikoff, these calls, with their


title: "Prairie dog" content: individuality in response to a specific predator, imply that prairie dogs have highly developed cognitive abilities. He also writes that prairie dogs have calls for things that are not predators to them. This is cited as evidence that the animals have a very descriptive language and have calls for any potential threat. Alarm response behavior varies according to the type of predator announced. If the alarm indicates a hawk diving toward the colony, all the prairie dogs in its flight path dive into their holes, while those outside the flight path stand and watch. If the alarm is for a


title: "Prairie dog" content: human, all members of the colony immediately rush inside the burrows. For coyotes, the prairie dogs move to the entrance of a burrow and stand outside the entrance, observing the coyote, while those prairie dogs that were inside the burrows will come out to stand and watch as well. For domestic dogs, the response is to observe, standing in place where they were when the alarm was sounded, again with the underground prairie dogs emerging to watch. There is debate over whether the alarm calling of prairie dogs is selfish or altruistic. It is possible that prairie dogs alert others


title: "Prairie dog" content: to the presence of a predator so they can protect themselves. However, it is also possible that the calls are meant to cause confusion and panic in the groups and cause the others to be more conspicuous to the predator than the caller. Studies of black-tailed prairie dogs suggest that alarm-calling is a form of kin selection, as a prairie dog’s call alerts both offspring and nondescended kin, such as cousins, nephews and nieces. Prairie dogs with kin close by called more often than those that did not have kin nearby. In addition, the caller may be trying to make


title: "Prairie dog" content: itself more noticeable to the predator. Predators, though, seem to have difficulty determining which prairie dog is making the call due to its "ventriloquistic" nature. Perhaps the most striking of prairie dog communications is the territorial call or "jump-yip" display of the black-tailed prairie dog. A black-tailed prairie dog will stretch the length of its body vertically and throw its forefeet into the air while making a call. A jump-yip from one prairie dog causes others nearby to do the same. Ecologists consider this rodent to be a keystone species. They are an important prey species, being the primary diet


title: "Prairie dog" content: in prairie species such as the black-footed ferret, swift fox, golden eagle, red tailed hawk, American badger, coyote and ferruginous hawk. Other species, such as the golden-mantled ground squirrel, mountain plover, and the burrowing owl, also rely on prairie dog burrows for nesting areas. Even grazing species, such as plains bison, pronghorn, and mule deer have shown a proclivity for grazing on the same land used by prairie dogs. Nevertheless, prairie dogs are often identified as pests and exterminated from agricultural properties because they are capable of damaging crops, as they clear the immediate area around their burrows of most


title: "Prairie dog" content: vegetation. As a result, prairie dog habitat has been affected by direct removal by farmers, as well as the more obvious encroachment of urban development, which has greatly reduced their populations. The removal of prairie dogs "causes undesirable spread of brush", the costs of which to livestock range may outweigh the benefits of removal. Black-tailed prairie dogs comprise the largest remaining community. In spite of human encroachment, prairie dogs have adapted, continuing to dig burrows in open areas of western cities. One common concern which led to the widespread extermination of prairie dog colonies was that their digging activities could


title: "Prairie dog" content: injure horses by fracturing their limbs. However, according to writer Fred Durso, Jr., of "E Magazine", "after years of asking ranchers this question, we have found not one example." Another concern is their susceptibility to bubonic plague. Until 2003, primarily black-tailed prairie dogs were collected from the wild for the exotic pet trade in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Europe. They were removed from their underground burrows each spring, as young pups, with a large vacuum device. They can be difficult to breed in captivity, but breed well in zoos. Removing them from the wild was a far more


title: "Prairie dog" content: common method of supplying the market demand. They can be difficult pets to care for, requiring regular attention and a very specific diet of grasses and hay. Each year, they go into a period called rut that can last for several months, in which their personalities can drastically change, often becoming defensive or even aggressive. Despite their needs, prairie dogs are very social animals and come to seem as though they treat humans as members of their colony, answering barks and chirps, and even coming when called by name. In mid-2003, due to cross-contamination at a Madison, Wisconsin-area pet swap


title: "Prairie dog" content: from an unquarantined Gambian pouched rat imported from Ghana, several prairie dogs in captivity acquired monkeypox, and subsequently a few humans were also infected. This led the CDC and FDA to issue a joint order banning the sale, trade, and transport within the United States of prairie dogs (with a few exceptions). The disease was never introduced to any wild populations. The European Union also banned importation of prairie dogs in response. While largely seen by exotic pet owners and vendors as unfair, the monkeypox scare was not the only zoonosis incident associated with prairie dogs. All "Cynomys" species are


title: "Prairie dog" content: classed as a "prohibited new organism" under New Zealand's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing it from being imported into the country. Prairie dogs are also very susceptible to bubonic plague, and many wild colonies have been wiped out by it. Also, in 2002, a large group of prairie dogs in captivity in Texas were found to have contracted tularemia. The prairie dog ban is frequently cited by the CDC as a successful response to the threat of zoonosis. Prairie dogs that were in captivity at the time of the ban in 2003 were allowed to be kept


title: "Prairie dog" content: under a grandfather clause, but were not to be bought, traded, or sold, and transport was permitted only to and from a veterinarian under quarantine procedures. On 8 September 2008, the FDA and CDC rescinded the ban, making it once again legal to capture, sell, and transport prairie dogs. Although the federal ban has been lifted, several states still have in place their own ban on prairie dogs. The European Union has not lifted its ban on imports from the U.S. of animals captured in the wild. Major European Prairie Dog Associations, such as the Italian "Associazione Italiana Cani della


title: "Prairie dog" content: Prateria" (AICDP), remain against import from the United States, due to the high death rate of wild captures. Several zoos in Europe have stable prairie dog colonies that generate enough surplus pups to saturate the EU internal demand, and several associations help owners to give adoption to captive-born animals. Prairie dogs in captivity may live up to ten years. In companies that use large numbers of cubicles in a common space, employees sometimes use the term "prairie dogging" to refer to the action of several people simultaneously looking over the walls of their cubicles in response to a noise or


title: "Prairie dog" content: other distraction. This action is thought to resemble the startled response of a group of prairie dogs. Prairie dog Prairie dogs (genus Cynomys) are herbivorous burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. The five species are: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah, and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In Mexico, prairie dogs are found primarily in the northern states, which lie at the southern end of the Great Plains: northeastern Sonora, north and northeastern Chihuahua, northern Coahuila, northern Nuevo León, and northern Tamaulipas. In the United States,


title: Pharmacology content: scientific patents and law, consultation, biotech and pharmaceutical employment, the alcohol industry, food industry, forensics/law enforcement, public health, and environmental/ecological sciences. The word "pharmacology" is derived from Greek , "pharmakon", "drug, poison, spell" and , "-logia" "study of", "knowledge of" (cf. the etymology of "pharmacy"). Pharmacology Pharmacology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of drug action, where a drug can be broadly defined as any man-made, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemical or physiological effect on the cell, tissue, organ, or organism (sometimes the word pharmacon is used as a term


title: "Philip Glass" content: for St. Ann's Warehouse; this interview was given away to public radio listeners as a pledge drive thank you gift in 2010. Ira and Glass recorded a version of the composition Glass wrote to accompany his friend Allen Ginsberg's poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra." In an interview, Glass said Franz Schubert—with whom he shares a birthday—is his favorite composer. In June 2012, Glass was featured on the cover of issue No. 79 of "The Fader". In 1978 Sylvère Lotringer conducted a 14-page interview with Glass in Columbia University's philosophy department publication of Semiotext(e) called "Schizo-Culture: The Event, The Book". Glass counts


title: Pub content: Pub A pub, or public house, is an establishment licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, which traditionally include beer (such as ale) and cider. It is a relaxed, social drinking establishment and a prominent part of British, Irish, Breton, New Zealand, Canadian, South African and Australian cultures. In many places, especially in villages, a pub is the focal point of the community. In his 17th-century diary Samuel Pepys described the pub as "the heart of England". Pubs can be traced back to Roman taverns, through the Anglo-Saxon alehouse to the development of the tied house system in the 19th century. In


title: Pub content: 1393, King Richard II of England introduced legislation that pubs had to display a sign outdoors to make them easily visible for passing ale tasters, who would assess the quality of ale sold. Most pubs focus on offering beers, ales and similar drinks. As well, pubs often sell wines, spirits, and soft drinks, meals and snacks. The owner, tenant or manager (licensee) is known as the pub landlord or landlady, or publican. Referred to as their "local" by regulars, pubs are typically chosen for their proximity to home or work, the availability of a particular beer or ale or a


title: Pub content: good selection, good food, a social atmosphere, the presence of friends and acquaintances, and the availability of recreational activities such as a darts team, a skittles team, and a pool or snooker table. The pub quiz was established in the UK in the 1970s. The inhabitants of the British Isles have been drinking ale since the Bronze Age, but it was with the arrival of the Roman Empire on its shores in the 1st Century, and the construction of the Roman road networks that the first inns, called tabernae, in which travellers could obtain refreshment, began to appear. After the


title: Pub content: departure of Roman authority in the 5th Century and the fall of the Romano-British kingdoms, the Anglo-Saxons established alehouses that grew out of domestic dwellings. The Anglo-Saxon alewife would put a green bush up on a pole to let people know her brew was ready. These alehouses quickly evolved into meeting houses for the folk to socially congregate, gossip and arrange mutual help within their communities. Herein lies the origin of the modern public house, or "pub" as it is colloquially called in England. They rapidly spread across the kingdom, becoming so commonplace that in 965 King Edgar decreed that


title: Pub content: there should be no more than one alehouse per village. A traveller in the early Middle Ages could obtain overnight accommodation in monasteries, but later a demand for hostelries grew with the popularity of pilgrimages and travel. The Hostellers of London were granted guild status in 1446 and in 1514 the guild became the Worshipful Company of Innholders. A survey in 1577 of drinking establishment in England and Wales for taxation purposes recorded 14,202 alehouses, 1,631 inns, and 329 taverns, representing one pub for every 187 people. Inns are buildings where travellers can seek lodging and, usually, food and drink.


title: Pub content: They are typically located in the country or along a highway. In Europe, they possibly first sprang up when the Romans built a system of roads two millennia ago. Some inns in Europe are several centuries old. In addition to providing for the needs of travellers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places. In Europe, it is the provision of accommodation, if anything, that now distinguishes inns from taverns, alehouses and pubs. The latter tend to provide alcohol (and, in the UK, soft drinks and often food), but less commonly accommodation. Inns tend to be older and grander establishments: historically


title: Pub content: they provided not only food and lodging, but also stabling and fodder for the traveller's horse(s) and on some roads fresh horses for the mail coach. Famous London inns include The George, Southwark and The Tabard. There is however no longer a formal distinction between an inn and other kinds of establishment. Many pubs use "Inn" in their name, either because they are long established former coaching inns, or to summon up a particular kind of image, or in many cases simply as a pun on the word "in", as in "The Welcome Inn", the name of many pubs in


title: Pub content: Scotland. The original services of an inn are now also available at other establishments, such as hotels, lodges, and motels, which focus more on lodging customers than on other services, although they usually provide meals; pubs, which are primarily alcohol-serving establishments; and restaurants and taverns, which serve food and drink. In North America, the lodging aspect of the word "inn" lives on in hotel brand names like Holiday Inn, and in some state laws that refer to lodging operators as innkeepers. The Inns of Court and Inns of Chancery in London started as ordinary inns where barristers met to do


title: Pub content: business, but became institutions of the legal profession in England and Wales. The 18th century saw a huge growth in the number of drinking establishments, primarily due to the introduction of gin. Brought to England by the Dutch after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, gin became very popular after the government created a market for "cuckoo grain" or "cuckoo malt" (grain that was unfit to be used in brewing and distilling) by allowing unlicensed gin and beer production while imposing a heavy duty on all imported spirits. As thousands of gin-shops sprang up all over England, brewers fought back by


title: Pub content: increasing the number of alehouses. By 1740 the production of gin had increased to six times that of beer and, because of its cheapness, it became popular with the poor, leading to the so-called Gin Craze. Over half of the 15,000 drinking establishments in London were gin shops. The drunkenness and lawlessness created by gin was seen to lead to the ruination and degradation of the working classes. The different effects of beer and gin were illustrated by William Hogarth in his engravings "Beer Street" and "Gin Lane". The Gin Act 1736 imposed high taxes on retailers and led to


title: Pub content: riots in the streets. The prohibitive duty was gradually reduced and finally abolished in 1742. The Gin Act 1751, however, was more successful. It forced distillers to sell only to licensed retailers and brought gin shops under the jurisdiction of local magistrates. By the early 19th century, encouraged by lower duties on gin, the gin houses or "Gin Palaces" had spread from London to most cities and towns in Britain, with most of the new establishments illegal and unlicensed. These bawdy, loud and unruly drinking dens so often described by Charles Dickens in his "Sketches by Boz" (published 1835–1836) increasingly


title: Pub content: came to be held as unbridled cesspits of immorality or crime and the source of much ill-health and alcoholism among the working classes. Under a banner of "reducing public drunkenness" the Beer Act of 1830 introduced "beer houses", a new lower tier of premises permitted to sell alcohol. At the time, beer was viewed as harmless, nutritious and even healthy. Young children were often given what was described as small beer, brewed to have a low alcohol content, as the local water was often unsafe. Even the evangelical church and temperance movements of the day viewed the drinking of beer


title: Pub content: very much as a secondary evil and a normal accompaniment to a meal. The freely available beer was thus intended to wean drinkers off the evils of gin, or so the thinking went. Under the 1830 Act any householder who paid rates could apply, with a one-off payment of two guineas (roughly equal in value to £ today), to sell beer or cider in his home (usually the front parlour) and even to brew his own on his premises. The permission did not extend to the sale of spirits and fortified wines, and any beer house discovered selling those items


title: Pub content: was closed down and the owner heavily fined. Beer houses were not permitted to open on Sundays. The beer was usually served in jugs or dispensed directly from tapped wooden barrels on a table in the corner of the room. Often profits were so high the owners were able to buy the house next door to live in, turning every room in their former home into bars and lounges for customers. In the first year, 400 beer houses opened and within eight years there were 46,000 across the country, far outnumbering the combined total of long-established taverns, pubs, inns and


title: Pub content: hotels. Because it was so easy to obtain permission and the profits could be huge compared to the low cost of gaining permission, the number of beer houses continued to rise; in some towns nearly every other house in a street might be a beer house. Finally in 1869 the growth had to be checked by magisterial control. New licensing laws were introduced making harder to get a licence, and the regime which operates today was established. Although the new licensing laws prevented new beer houses from being created, those already in existence were allowed to continue and many did


title: Pub content: not close until near the end of the 19th century. A very small number remained into the 21st century. The vast majority of beer houses applied for the new licences and became pubs. These usually small establishments can still be identified in many towns, seemingly oddly located in the middle of terraced housing part way up a street, unlike purpose-built pubs that are usually found on corners or at road junctions. Many of today's respected real ale micro-brewers in the UK started as home-based beer house brewers under the 1830 Act. The beer houses tended to avoid the traditional pub


title: Pub content: names like "The Crown", "The Red Lion", "The Royal Oak" etc. and, if they did not simply name their place "Smith's Beer House", they would apply topical pub names in an effort to reflect the mood of the times. There was regulation of public drinking spaces in England from at least the 15th century. In 1496, under, Henry VII, an act was passed, "against vagabonds and beggers" (11 Hen. VII c2), that included a clause empowering two justices of the peace, "to rejecte and put awey comen ale-selling in tounes and places where they shall think convenyent, and to take


title: Pub content: suertie of the keepers of ale-houses in their gode behavyng by the discrecion of the seid justices, and in the same to be avysed and aggreed at the tyme of their sessions." More legislation was introduced in the following centuries, together with licence fees, which became in income stream for the crown. Tavern owners were required to possess a licence to sell ale, and a separate licence for distilled spirits. From the mid-19th century on the opening hours of licensed premises in the UK were restricted. However licensing was gradually liberalised after the 1960s, until contested licensing applications became very


title: Pub content: rare, and the remaining administrative function was transferred to Local Authorities in 2005. The Wine and Beerhouse Act 1869 reintroduced the stricter controls of the previous century. The sale of beers, wines or spirits required a licence for the premises from the local magistrates. Further provisions regulated gaming, drunkenness, prostitution and undesirable conduct on licensed premises, enforceable by prosecution or more effectively by the landlord under threat of forfeiting his licence. Licences were only granted, transferred or renewed at special Licensing Sessions courts, and were limited to respectable individuals. Often these were ex-servicemen or ex-policemen; retiring to run a pub


title: Pub content: was popular amongst military officers at the end of their service. Licence conditions varied widely, according to local practice. They would specify permitted hours, which might require Sunday closing, or conversely permit all-night opening near a market. Typically they might require opening throughout the permitted hours, and the provision of food or lavatories. Once obtained, licences were jealously protected by the licensees (who were expected to be generally present, not an absentee owner or company), and even "Occasional Licences" to serve drinks at temporary premises such as fêtes would usually be granted only to existing licensees. Objections might be made


title: Pub content: by the police, rival landlords or anyone else on the grounds of infractions such as serving drunks, disorderly or dirty premises, or ignoring permitted hours. The Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 required the closure of all public houses in Wales on Sundays, and was not repealed until 1961. Detailed licensing records were kept, giving the Public House, its address, owner, licensee and misdemeanours of the licensees, often going back for hundreds of years. Many of these records survive and can be viewed, for example, at the London Metropolitan Archives centre. A favourite goal of the Temperance movement led by Protestant


title: Pub content: nonconformists was to sharply reduce the heavy drinking by closing as many pubs as possible. In 1908 Prime Minister H.H. Asquith—although a heavy drinker—took the lead by proposing to close about a third of the 100,000 pubs in England and Wales, with the owners compensated through a new tax on surviving pubs. The brewers controlled the pubs and organized a stiff resistance, supported by the Conservatives, who repeatedly defeated the proposal in the House of Lords. However, the "People's Tax" of 1910 included a stiff tax on pubs. Beer and liquor consumption fell in half from 1900 to 1920, in


title: Pub content: part because there were many new leisure opportunities. The restrictions were tightened by the Defence of the Realm Act of August 1914, which, along with the introduction of rationing and the censorship of the press for wartime purposes, restricted pubs' opening hours to 12 noon–2:30 pm and 6:30 pm–9:30 pm. Opening for the full licensed hours was compulsory, and closing time was equally firmly enforced by the police; a landlord might lose his licence for infractions. Pubs were closed under the Act and compensation paid, for example in Pembrokeshire. There was a special case established under the State Management Scheme


title: Pub content: where the brewery and licensed premises were bought and run by the state until 1973, most notably in Carlisle. During the 20th century elsewhere, both the licensing laws and enforcement were progressively relaxed, and there were differences between parishes; in the 1960s, at closing time in Kensington at 10:30 pm, drinkers would rush over the parish boundary to be in good time for "Last Orders" in Knightsbridge before 11 pm, a practice observed in many pubs adjoining licensing area boundaries. Some Scottish and Welsh parishes remained officially "dry" on Sundays (although often this merely required knocking at the back door


title: Pub content: of the pub). These restricted opening hours led to the tradition of lock-ins. However, closing times were increasingly disregarded in the country pubs. In England and Wales by 2000 pubs could legally open from 11 am (12 noon on Sundays) through to 11 pm (10:30 pm on Sundays). That year was also the first to allow continuous opening for 36 hours from 11 am on New Year's Eve to 11 pm on New Year's Day. In addition, many cities had by-laws to allow some pubs to extend opening hours to midnight or 1 am, whilst nightclubs had long been granted


title: Pub content: late licences to serve alcohol into the morning. Pubs near London's Smithfield market, Billingsgate fish market and Covent Garden fruit and flower market could stay open 24 hours a day since Victorian times to provide a service to the shift working employees of the markets. Scotland's and Northern Ireland's licensing laws have long been more flexible, allowing local authorities to set pub opening and closing times. In Scotland, this stemmed out of a late repeal of the wartime licensing laws, which stayed in force until 1976. The Licensing Act 2003, which came into force on 24 November 2005, consolidated the


title: Pub content: many laws into a single Act. This allowed pubs in England and Wales to apply to the local council for the opening hours of their choice. It was argued that this would end the concentration of violence around 11.30 pm, when people had to leave the pub, making policing easier. In practice, alcohol-related hospital admissions rose following the change in the law, with alcohol involved in 207,800 admissions in 2006/7. Critics claimed that these laws would lead to "24-hour drinking". By the time the law came into effect, 60,326 establishments had applied for longer hours and 1,121 had applied for


title: Pub content: a licence to sell alcohol 24 hours a day. However nine months later many pubs had not changed their hours, although some stayed open longer at the weekend, but rarely beyond 1:00 am. A "lock-in" is when a pub owner lets drinkers stay in the pub after the legal closing time, on the theory that once the doors are locked, it becomes a private party rather than a pub. Patrons may put money behind the bar before official closing time, and redeem their drinks during the lock-in so no drinks are technically sold after closing time. The origin of the


title: Pub content: British lock-in was a reaction to 1915 changes in the licensing laws in England and Wales, which curtailed opening hours to stop factory workers from turning up drunk and harming the war effort. Since 1915, the UK licensing laws had changed very little, with comparatively early closing times. The tradition of the lock-in therefore remained. Since the implementation of Licensing Act 2003, premises in England and Wales may apply to extend their opening hours beyond 11 pm, allowing round-the-clock drinking and removing much of the need for lock-ins. Since the smoking ban, some establishments operated a lock-in during which the


title: Pub content: remaining patrons could smoke without repercussions but, unlike drinking lock-ins, allowing smoking in a pub was still a prosecutable offence. Ireland banned smoking in early 2004 in pubs and clubs. In March 2006, a law was introduced to forbid smoking in all enclosed public places in Scotland. Wales followed suit in April 2007, with England introducing the ban in July 2007. Pub landlords had raised concerns prior to the implementation of the law that a smoking ban would have a negative impact on sales. After two years, the impact of the ban was mixed; some pubs suffered declining sales, while


title: Pub content: others developed their food sales. The Wetherspoon pub chain reported in June 2009 that profits were at the top end of expectations; however, Scottish & Newcastle's takeover by Carlsberg and Heineken was reported in January 2008 as partly the result of its weakness following falling sales due to the ban. Similar bans are applied in Australian pubs with smoking only allowed in designated areas. By the end of the 18th century a new room in the pub was established: the saloon. Beer establishments had always provided entertainment of some sort—singing, gaming or sport. Balls Pond Road in Islington was named


title: Pub content: after an establishment run by a Mr. Ball that had a duck pond at the rear, where drinkers could, for a fee, go out and take a potshot at the ducks. More common, however, was a card room or a billiard room. The saloon was a room where, for an admission fee or a higher price of drinks, singing, dancing, drama, or comedy was performed and drinks would be served at the table. From this came the popular music hall form of entertainment—a show consisting of a variety of acts. A most famous London saloon was the Grecian Saloon in


title: Pub content: The Eagle, City Road, which is still famous because of a nursery rhyme: "Up and down the City Road / In and out The Eagle / That's the way the money goes / Pop goes the weasel." This meant that the customer had spent all his money at The Eagle, and needed to pawn his "weasel" to get some more. The meaning of the "weasel" is unclear but the two most likely definitions are: a flat iron used for finishing clothing; or rhyming slang for a coat ("weasel and stoat"). A few pubs have stage performances such as serious drama,


title: Pub content: stand-up comedy, musical bands, cabaret or striptease; however, juke boxes, karaoke and other forms of pre-recorded music have otherwise replaced the musical tradition of a piano or guitar and singing. The public bar, or tap room, was where the working class were expected to congregate and drink. It had unfurnished floorboards, sometimes covered with sawdust to absorb the spitting and spillages (known as "spit and sawdust"), bare bench seats and stools. Drinks were generally lower quality beers and liquors. Public bars were seen as exclusive areas for only men; strictly enforced social etiquettes barred women from entering public bars (some


title: Pub content: pubs did not lift this rule until the 1980s). This style was in marked contrast to the adjacent saloon or lounge bar, that by the early 20th century, was where male or accompanied female middle-class drinkers would drink. It had carpeted floors, upholstered seats, and a wider selection of better quality drinks that cost a penny or two more than those served in the public bar. By the mid 20th century, the standard of the public bar had generally improved. Pub patrons only had to choose between economy and exclusivity (or youth and age: a jukebox or dartboard). By the


title: Pub content: 1970s, divisions between saloons and public bars were being phased out, usually by the removal of the dividing wall or partition. While the names of saloon and public bar may still be seen on the doors of pubs, the prices (and often the standard of furnishings and decoration) are the same throughout the premises. Most present day pubs now comprise one large room, although with the advent of gastropubs, some establishments have returned to maintaining distinct rooms or areas. The "snug" was a small private room or area which typically had access to the bar and a frosted glass window,


title: Pub content: set above head height. A higher price was paid for beer in the snug and nobody could look in and see the drinkers. It was not only the wealthy visitors who would use these rooms. The snug was for patrons who preferred not to be seen in the public bar. Ladies would often enjoy a private drink in the snug in a time when it was frowned upon for women to be in a pub. The local police officer might nip in for a quiet pint, the parish priest for his evening whisky, or lovers for a rendezvous. Campaign for


title: Pub content: Real Ale (CAMRA) have surveyed the 50,000 pubs in Britain and they believe that there are very few pubs that still have classic snugs. These are on a historic interiors list in order that they can be preserved. Until the early 19th century, beer establishments used to bring the beer out to the table or benches, as remains the practice in beer gardens and some other drinking establishments in Germany. Beer would be tapped directly from a barrel sat on a table, or kept in a separate taproom and brought out in jugs. Gin houses of this time had developed


title: Pub content: from gin shops and the serving counter had stayed, as part of that evolution. The feature was adopted by public houses and began to appear in them from the 1820s. The main room was the public room with a large serving bar copied from the gin houses, the idea being to serve the maximum number of people in the shortest possible time. Other, more private, rooms had no serving bar and had the beer brought to them from the public bar. There are a number of pubs in central or northern England which still retain this set up but these


title: Pub content: days the beer is fetched by the customer from the taproom or public bar. One of these is The Vine, known locally as The Bull and Bladder, in Brierley Hill near Birmingham, another the Cock at Broom, Bedfordshire a series of small rooms served drinks and food by waiting staff. In the Manchester district the public bar was known as the "vault", other rooms being the lounge and snug as usual elsewhere. By the early 1970s there was a tendency to change to one large drinking room and breweries were eager to invest in interior design and theming. Isambard Kingdom


title: Pub content: Brunel, the British engineer and railway builder, introduced the idea of a circular bar into the Swindon station pub in order that customers were served quickly and did not delay his trains. These island bars became popular as they also allowed staff to serve customers in several different rooms surrounding the bar. A "beer engine" is a device for pumping beer, originally manually operated and typically used to dispense beer from a cask or container in a pub's basement or cellar. The first beer pump known in England is believed to have been invented by John Lofting (b. Netherlands 1659-d.


title: Pub content: Great Marlow Buckinghamshire 1742) an inventor, manufacturer and merchant of London. The London Gazette of 17 March 1691 published a patent in favour of John Lofting for a fire engine, but remarked upon and recommended another invention of his, for a beer pump: "Whereas their Majesties have been Graciously Pleased to grant Letters patent to John Lofting of London Merchant for a New Invented Engine for Extinguishing Fires which said Engine have found every great encouragement. The said Patentee hath also projected a Very Useful Engine for starting of beer and other liquors which will deliver from 20 to 30


title: Pub content: barrels an hour which are completely fixed with Brass Joints and Screws at Reasonable Rates. Any Person that hath occasion for the said Engines may apply themselves to the Patentee at his house near St Thomas Apostle London or to Mr. Nicholas Wall at the Workshoppe near Saddlers Wells at Islington or to Mr. William Tillcar, Turner, his agent at his house in Woodtree next door to the Sun Tavern London." "Their Majesties" referred to were William and Mary, who had recently arrived from the Netherlands and had been appointed joint monarchs. A further engine was invented in the late


title: Pub content: eighteenth century by the locksmith and hydraulic engineer Joseph Bramah (1748–1814). Strictly the term refers to the pump itself, which is normally manually operated, though electrically powered and gas powered pumps are occasionally used. When manually powered, the term "handpump" is often used to refer to both the pump and the associated handle. After the development of the large London Porter breweries in the 18th century, the trend grew for pubs to become tied houses which could only sell beer from one brewery (a pub not tied in this way was called a Free house). The usual arrangement for a


title: Pub content: tied house was that the pub was owned by the brewery but rented out to a private individual (landlord) who ran it as a separate business (even though contracted to buy the beer from the brewery). Another very common arrangement was (and is) for the landlord to own the premises (whether freehold or leasehold) independently of the brewer, but then to take a mortgage loan from a brewery, either to finance the purchase of the pub initially, or to refurbish it, and be required as a term of the loan to observe the solus tie. A trend in the late


title: Pub content: 20th century was for breweries to run their pubs directly, using managers rather than tenants. Most such breweries, such as the regional brewery Shepherd Neame in Kent and Young's and Fuller's in London, control hundreds of pubs in a particular region of the UK, while a few, such as Greene King, are spread nationally. The landlord of a tied pub may be an employee of the brewery—in which case he/she would be a manager of a managed house—or a self-employed tenant who has entered into a lease agreement with a brewery, a condition of which is the legal obligation (trade


title: Pub content: tie) only to purchase that brewery's beer. The beer selection is mainly limited to beers brewed by that particular company. The Beer Orders, passed in 1989, were aimed at getting tied houses to offer at least one alternative beer, known as a guest beer, from another brewery. This law has now been repealed but while in force it dramatically altered the industry. Some pubs still offer a regularly changing selection of guest beers. Organisations such as Wetherspoons, Punch Taverns and O'Neill's were formed in the UK in the wake of the Beer Orders. A PubCo is a company involved in


title: Pub content: the retailing but not the manufacture of beverages, while a Pub chain may be run either by a PubCo or by a brewery. Pubs within a chain will usually have items in common, such as fittings, promotions, ambience and range of food and drink on offer. A pub chain will position itself in the marketplace for a target audience. One company may run several pub chains aimed at different segments of the market. Pubs for use in a chain are bought and sold in large units, often from regional breweries which are then closed down. Newly acquired pubs are often


title: Pub content: renamed by the new owners, and many people resent the loss of traditional names, especially if their favourite regional beer disappears at the same time. In 2009 about half of Britain's pubs were owned by large pub companies. A brewery tap is the nearest outlet for a brewery's beers. It is usually a room or bar in the brewery itself, although the name may be applied to the nearest pub. The term is not applied to a brewpub which brews and sells its beer on the same premises. A "country pub" by tradition is a rural public house. However, the


title: Pub content: distinctive culture surrounding country pubs, that of functioning as a social centre for a village and rural community, has been changing over the last thirty or so years. In the past, many rural pubs provided opportunities for country folk to meet and exchange (often local) news, while others—especially those away from village centres—existed for the general purpose, before the advent of motor transport, of serving travellers as coaching inns. In more recent years, however, many country pubs have either closed down, or have been converted to establishments intent on providing seating facilities for the consumption of food, rather than a


title: Pub content: venue for members of the local community meeting and convivially drinking. The term "roadhouse" was originally applied to a coaching inn, but with the advent of popular travel by motor car in the 1920s and 1930s in the United Kingdom, a new type of roadhouse emerged, often located on the newly constructed arterial roads and bypasses. They were large establishments offering meals and refreshment and accommodation to motorists and parties travelling by charabanc. The largest roadhouses boasted facilities such as tennis courts and swimming pools. Their popularity ended with the outbreak of the Second World War when recreational road travel


title: Pub content: became impossible, and the advent of post-war drink driving legislation prevented their full recovery. Many of these establishments are now operated as pub restaurants or fast food outlets. Pubs that cater for a niche clientele, such as sports fans or people of certain nationalities are known as theme pubs. Examples of theme pubs include sports bars, rock pubs, biker pubs, Goth pubs, strip pubs, karaoke bars and Irish pubs. The micropub movement in Britain was started by Martyn Hiller. Micropubs are small community pubs with limited opening hours, and focus strongly on local cask ale. It became easier to start


title: Pub content: a small pub after the passing of the 2003 Licensing Act, which became effective in 2005. In 1393, King Richard II of England compelled landlords to erect signs outside their premises. The legislation stated "Whosoever shall brew ale in the town with intention of selling it must hang out a sign, otherwise he shall forfeit his ale." This law was to make alehouses easily visible to passing inspectors, borough ale tasters, who would decide the quality of the ale they provided. William Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare, was one such inspector. Another important factor was that during the Middle Ages a


title: Pub content: large proportion of the population would have been illiterate and so pictures on a sign were more useful than words as a means of identifying a public house. For this reason there was often no reason to write the establishment's name on the sign and inns opened without a formal written name, the name being derived later from the illustration on the pub's sign. The earliest signs were often not painted but consisted, for example, of paraphernalia connected with the brewing process such as bunches of hops or brewing implements, which were suspended above the door of the pub. In


title: Pub content: some cases local nicknames, farming terms and puns were used. Local events were often commemorated in pub signs. Simple natural or religious symbols such as 'The Sun', 'The Star' and 'The Cross' were incorporated into pub signs, sometimes being adapted to incorporate elements of the heraldry (e.g. the coat of arms) of the local lords who owned the lands upon which the pub stood. Some pubs have Latin inscriptions. Other subjects that lent themselves to visual depiction included the name of battles (e.g. Trafalgar), explorers, local notables, discoveries, sporting heroes and members of the royal family. Some pub signs are


title: Pub content: in the form of a pictorial pun or rebus. For example, a pub in Crowborough, East Sussex called "The Crow and Gate" had for some years an image of a crow with gates as wings. A "British Pathe News" film of 1956 shows artist Michael Farrar-Bell at work producing inn signs. Most British pubs still have decorated signs hanging over their doors, and these retain their original function of enabling the identification of the pub. Today's pub signs almost always bear the name of the pub, both in words and in pictorial representation. The more remote country pubs often have


title: Pub content: stand-alone signs directing potential customers to their door. Pub names are used to identify and differentiate each pub. Modern names are sometimes a marketing ploy or attempt to create "brand awareness", frequently using a comic theme thought to be memorable, "Slug and Lettuce" for a pub chain being an example. Interesting origins are not confined to old or traditional names, however. Names and their origins can be broken up into a relatively small number of categories. As many pubs are centuries old, many of their early customers were unable to read, and pictorial signs could be readily recognised when lettering


title: Pub content: and words could not be read. Pubs often have traditional names. A common name is the "Marquis of Granby". These pubs were named after John Manners, Marquess of Granby, who was the son of John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland and a general in the 18th century British Army. He showed a great concern for the welfare of his men, and on their retirement, provided funds for many of them to establish taverns, which were subsequently named after him. All pubs granted their licence in 1780 were called the Royal George , after King George III, and the twentieth anniversary


title: Pub content: of his coronation. Many names for pubs that appear nonsensical may have come from corruptions of old slogans or phrases, such as "The Bag o'Nails" (Bacchanals), "The Goat and Compasses" (God Encompasseth Us), "The Cat and the Fiddle" ("Chaton Fidèle": Faithful Kitten) and "The Bull and Bush", which purportedly celebrates the victory of Henry VIII at "Boulogne Bouche" or Boulogne-sur-Mer Harbour. Traditional games are played in pubs, ranging from the well-known darts, skittles, dominoes, cards and bar billiards, to the more obscure Aunt Sally, Nine Men's Morris and ringing the bull. In the UK betting is legally limited to certain


title: Pub content: games such as cribbage or dominoes, played for small stakes. In recent decades the game of pool (both the British and American versions) has increased in popularity as well as other table based games such as snooker or table football becoming common. Increasingly, more modern games such as video games and slot machines are provided. Pubs hold special events, from tournaments of the aforementioned games to karaoke nights to pub quizzes. Some play pop music and hip-hop (dance bar), or show football and rugby union on big screen televisions (sports bar). Shove ha'penny and Bat and trap were also popular


title: Pub content: in pubs south of London. Some pubs in the UK also have football teams composed of regular customers. Many of these teams are in leagues that play matches on Sundays, hence the term "Sunday League Football". Bowling is found in association with pubs in some parts of the country and the local team will play matches against teams invited from elsewhere on the pub's bowling green. Pubs may be venues for pub songs and live music. During the 1970s pubs provided an outlet for a number of bands, such as Kilburn and the High Roads, Dr. Feelgood and The Kursaal


title: Pub content: Flyers, who formed a musical genre called Pub rock that was a precursor to Punk music. Some pubs have a long tradition of serving food, dating back to their historic usage as inns and hotels where travellers would stay. Many pubs were drinking establishments, and little emphasis was placed on the serving of food, other than sandwiches and "bar snacks", such as pork scratchings, pickled eggs, salted crisps and peanuts which helped to increase beer sales. In South East England (especially London) it was common until recent times for vendors selling cockles, whelks, mussels, and other shellfish to sell to


title: Pub content: customers during the evening and at closing time. Many mobile shellfish stalls would set up near pubs, a practice that continues in London's East End. Otherwise, pickled cockles and mussels may be offered by the pub in jars or packets. In the 1950s some British pubs would offer "a pie and a pint", with hot individual steak and ale pies made easily on the premises by the proprietor's wife during the lunchtime opening hours. The ploughman's lunch became popular in the late 1960s. In the late 1960s "chicken in a basket", a portion of roast chicken with chips, served on


title: Pub content: a napkin, in a wicker basket became popular due to its convenience. Family chain pubs which served food in the evenings gained popularity in the 1970s, and included Berni Inn and Beefeater. Quality dropped but variety increased with the introduction of microwave ovens and freezer food. "Pub grub" expanded to include British food items such as steak and ale pie, shepherd's pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash, Sunday roast, ploughman's lunch, and pasties. In addition, dishes such as burgers, chicken wings, lasagne and chilli con carne are often served. Some pubs offer elaborate hot and cold snacks free to


title: Pub content: customers at Sunday lunchtimes, to prevent them getting hungry and leaving for their lunch at home. Since the 1990s food has become a more important part of a pub's trade, and today most pubs serve lunches and dinners at the table in addition to (or instead of) snacks consumed at the bar. They may have a separate dining room. Some pubs serve meals to a higher standard, to match good restaurant standards; these are sometimes termed gastropubs. A gastropub concentrates on quality food. The name is a portmanteau of gastronomy and pub, and was coined in 1991 when David Eyre


title: Pub content: and Mike Belben took over The Eagle pub in Clerkenwell, London. The concept of a restaurant in a pub reinvigorated both pub culture and British dining, though has occasionally attracted criticism for potentially removing the character of traditional pubs. In 2011 "The Good Food Guide" suggested that the term has become irrelevant. CAMRA maintains a "National Inventory" of historical notability and of architecturally and decoratively notable pubs. The National Trust owns thirty-six public houses of historic interest including the George Inn, Southwark, London and The Crown Liquor Saloon, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The highest pub in the United Kingdom is the


title: Pub content: Tan Hill Inn, Yorkshire, at above sea level. The remotest pub on the British mainland is The Old Forge in the village of Inverie, Lochaber, Scotland. There is no road access and it may only be reached by an walk over mountains, or a sea crossing. Contenders for the smallest public house in the UK include: The list includes a small number of parlour pubs, one of which is the Sun Inn in Leintwardine, Herefordshire. The largest pub in the UK is The Moon Under Water, Manchester; the venue used to be a cinema. A number of pubs claim to


title: Pub content: be the oldest surviving establishment in the United Kingdom, although in several cases original buildings have been demolished and replaced on the same site. Others are ancient buildings that were used for purposes other than as a pub previously in their history. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans, Hertfordshire, holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest pub in England, as it is an 11th-century structure on an 8th-century site. Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham is claimed to be the "oldest inn in England". It has a claimed date of 1189, based on the fact it is


title: Pub content: constructed on the site of the Nottingham Castle brewhouse; the present building dates from around 1650. Likewise, The Nags Head in Burntwood, Staffordshire only dates back to the 16th century, but there has been a pub on the site since at least 1086, as it is mentioned in the Domesday Book. There is archaeological evidence that parts of the foundations of The Old Ferryboat Inn in Holywell may date to AD 460, and there is evidence of ale being served as early as AD 560. The Bingley Arms, Bardsey, Yorkshire, is claimed to date to 905 AD. Ye Olde Salutation


title: Pub content: Inn in Nottingham dates from 1240, although the building served as a tannery and a private residence before becoming an inn sometime before the English Civil War. The Adam and Eve in Norwich was first recorded in 1249, when it was an alehouse for the workers constructing nearby Norwich Cathedral. Ye Olde Man & Scythe in Bolton, Greater Manchester, is mentioned by name in a charter of 1251, but the current building is dated 1631. Its cellars are the only surviving part of the older structure. The town of Stalybridge in Greater Manchester is thought to have had the pubs


title: Pub content: with both the longest and shortest names in the United Kingdom — The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn and the Q Inn. The Q Inn is still open, but the "Old 13th" etc has been redeveloped as a house or houses. The building retains a pub sign, and a blue plaque from 1995 recording the recognition of the name in the Guinness Book of Records. The number of pubs in the UK has declined year on year, at least since 1982. Various reasons are put forward for this, such as the failure of some establishments to keep


title: Pub content: up with customer requirements. Others claim the smoking ban of 2007, intense competition from gastro-pubs, the availability of cheap alcohol in supermarkets or the general economic climate are either to blame, or are factors in the decline. Changes in demographics may be an additional factor. In 2015 the rate of pub closures came under the scrutiny of Parliament in the UK, with a promise of legislation to improve relations between owners and tenants. The Lost Pubs Project listed 31,301 closed English pubs on 19 July 2016, with photographs of over 16,000. In the fifteen years to 2017 a quarter of


title: Pub content: London's pubs had closed. The closures have been ascribed to factors such as changing tastes, rise in the cost of beer due to applied taxes and the increase in the Muslim population. Inns and taverns feature throughout English literature and poetry, from The Tabard Inn in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" onwards. The highwayman Dick Turpin used the Swan Inn at Woughton-on-the-Green in Buckinghamshire as his base. Jamaica Inn near Bolventor in Cornwall gave its name to a 1936 novel by Daphne du Maurier and a 1939 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. In the 1920s John Fothergill (1876–1957) was the innkeeper of


title: Pub content: the Spread Eagle in Thame, Berkshire, and published his autobiography: "An Innkeeper's Diary" (London: Chatto & Windus, 1931). During his idiosyncratic occupancy many famous people came to stay, such as H. G. Wells. United States president George W. Bush fulfilled his lifetime ambition of visiting a 'genuine British pub' during his November 2003 state visit to the UK when he had lunch and a pint of non-alcoholic lager (Bush being a teetotaler) with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Dun Cow pub in Sedgefield, County Durham in Blair's home constituency. There were approximately 53,500 public houses in 2009 in


title: Pub content: the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller villages no longer have a local pub. Many of London's pubs are known to have been used by famous people, but in some cases, such as the association between Samuel Johnson and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, this is speculative, based on little more than the fact that the person is known to have lived nearby. However, Charles Dickens is known to have visited the Cheshire Cheese, the Prospect of Whitby, Ye Olde Cock Tavern and many others. Samuel Pepys is also associated with


title: Pub content: the Prospect of Whitby and the Cock Tavern. The Fitzroy Tavern is a pub situated at 16 Charlotte Street in the Fitzrovia district, to which it gives its name. It became famous (or according to others, infamous) during a period spanning the 1920s to the mid-1950s as a meeting place for many of London's artists, intellectuals and bohemians such as Dylan Thomas, Augustus John, and George Orwell. Several establishments in Soho, London, have associations with well-known, post-war literary and artistic figures, including the Pillars of Hercules, The Colony Room and the Coach and Horses. The Canonbury Tavern, Canonbury, was the


title: Pub content: prototype for Orwell's ideal English pub, "The Moon Under Water". The Red Lion in Whitehall is close to the Palace of Westminster and is consequently used by political journalists and Members of Parliament. The pub is equipped with a Division bell that summons MPs back to the chamber when they are required to take part in a vote. The Punch Bowl, Mayfair was at one time jointly owned by Madonna and Guy Ritchie. The Coleherne public house in Earls Court was a well-known gay pub from the 1950s. It attracted many well-known patrons, such as Freddie Mercury, Kenny Everett and


title: Pub content: Rudolph Nureyev. It was used by the serial-killer Colin Ireland to pick up victims. Jack Straw's Castle was a pub named after Jack Straw, one of the three leaders of Peasants' Revolt, the pub was active since 14th Century until its destruction by The Blitz during second world war. In 1966 The Blind Beggar in Whitechapel became infamous as the scene of a murder committed by gangster Ronnie Kray. The Ten Bells is associated with several of the victims of Jack the Ripper. In 1955, Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the United Kingdom, shot David Blakely as he


title: Pub content: emerged from "The Magdala" in South Hill Park, Hampstead, the bullet holes can still be seen in the walls outside. It is said that Vladimir Lenin and a young Joseph Stalin met in the "Crown and Anchor" pub (now known as "The Crown Tavern") on Clerkenwell Green when the latter was visiting London in 1903. The Angel, Islington was formerly a coaching inn, the first on the Great North Road, the main route northwards out of London, where Thomas Paine is believed to have written much of "The Rights of Man". It was mentioned by Charles Dickens, became a Lyons


title: Pub content: Corner House, and is now a Co-operative Bank. The Eagle and Child and the Lamb and Flag, Oxford, were regular meeting places of the Inklings, a writers' group which included J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The Eagle in Cambridge is where Francis Crick interrupted patrons' lunchtime on 28 February 1953 to announce that he and James Watson had "discovered the secret of life" after they had come up with their proposal for the structure of DNA. The anecdote is related in Watson's book "The Double Helix". and commemorated with a blue plaque on the outside wall. The


title: Pub content: major soap operas on British television each feature a pub, and these pubs have become household names. The Rovers Return is the pub in "Coronation Street", the British soap broadcast on ITV. The Queen Vic (short for the Queen Victoria) is the pub in "EastEnders", the major soap on BBC One and the Woolpack in ITV's "Emmerdale". The sets of each of the three major television soap operas have been visited by some of the members of the royal family, including Queen Elizabeth II. The centrepiece of each visit was a trip into the Rovers, the Queen Vic, or the


title: Pub content: Woolpack to be offered a drink. The Bull in the BBC Radio 4 soap opera "The Archers" is an important meeting point. Although "British" pubs found outside of Britain and its former colonies are often themed bars owing little to the original British pub, a number of "true" pubs may be found around the world. In Scandinavia, especially Denmark, a number of pubs have opened which eschew "theming", and which instead focus on the business of providing carefully conditioned beer, often independent of any particular brewery or chain, in an environment which would not be unfamiliar to a British pub-goer.


title: Pub content: Some import British cask ale, rather than beer in kegs, to provide the full British real ale experience to their customers. This newly established Danish interest in British cask beer and the British pub tradition is reflected by the fact that some 56 British cask beers were available at the 2008 European Beer Festival in Copenhagen, which was attended by more than 20,000 people. In Ireland, pubs are known for their atmosphere or "craic". In Irish, a pub is referred to as "teach tábhairne" ("tavernhouse") or "teach óil" ("drinkinghouse"). Live music, either sessions of traditional Irish music or varieties of


title: Pub content: modern popular music, is frequently featured in the pubs of Ireland. Pubs in Northern Ireland are largely identical to their counterparts in the Republic of Ireland except for the lack of spirit grocers. A side effect of "The Troubles" was that the lack of a tourist industry meant that a higher proportion of traditional bars have survived the wholesale refitting of Irish pub interiors in the 'English style' in the 1950s and 1960s. New Zealand sports a number of Irish pubs. The most popular term in English-speaking Canada used for a drinking establishment was "tavern", until the 1970s when the


title: Pub content: term "bar" became widespread as in the United States. In the 1800s the term used was "public house" as in England. A fake "English looking" pub trend started in the 1990s, built into existing storefronts, like regular bars. Most universities in Canada have campus pubs which are central to student life, as it would be bad form just to serve alcohol to students without providing some type of basic food. Often these pubs are run by the student's union. The gastropub concept has caught on, as traditional British influences are to be found in many Canadian dishes. On 16 March


title: Pub content: 2012, Malcolm McDowell (with fellow English actor Gary Oldman in attendance to pay tribute) received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, aptly outside the Pig n’ Whistle British pub on Hollywood Boulevard. Pub A pub, or public house, is an establishment licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, which traditionally include beer (such as ale) and cider. It is a relaxed, social drinking establishment and a prominent part of British, Irish, Breton, New Zealand, Canadian, South African and Australian cultures. In many places, especially in villages, a pub is the focal point of the community. In his 17th-century diary Samuel


title: "Potsdamer Platz" content: 1987 Wim Wenders movie "Der Himmel über Berlin" (English title: "Wings of Desire)" were filmed on the old, almost entirely void Potsdamer Platz before the Berlin Wall fell. In one scene an old man named Homer, played by actor Curt Bois, searches in vain for Potsdamer Platz, but finds only rubble, weeds and the graffiti-covered Berlin Wall. The movie thus gives a good impression of the surroundings at the time, which are completely unlike what can be seen today. After the initial opening of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, Potsdamer Platz became one of the earliest locations where


title: "Polaris Sales Agreement" content: political parties". Apart from anything else, it was estimated to cost as much as £100 million over ten years. Nonetheless, the Foreign Office argued that Britain must support the MLF. The Nassau Agreement had invigorated the MLF effort in the United States. Kennedy appointed Livingston T. Merchant to negotiate the MLF with the European governments, which he did in February and March 1963. While reaffirming support for those parts of the Nassau Agreement concerning the MLF, the British were successful in getting them omitted from the Polaris Sales Agreement. The British team completed drafting the agreement in March 1963, and


title: "Pope Sixtus IV" content: time at the very liberal and cosmopolitan University of Padua, which maintained considerable independence from the Church and had a very international character. As Pope, he issued a papal bull allowing local bishops to give the bodies of executed criminals and unidentified corpses to physicians and artists for dissection. It was that access to corpses which allowed the anatomist Vesalius, along with Titian's pupil Jan Stephen van Calcar, to complete the revolutionary medical/anatomical text "De humani corporis fabrica". Pope Sixtus's tomb was destroyed in the Sack of Rome in 1527. Today, his remains, along with the remains of his nephew


title: "Panama Canal" content: in their natural habitat. The largest island on Gatun Lake is Barro Colorado Island. It was established for scientific study when the lake was formed, and is operated by the Smithsonian Institution. Many important scientific and biological discoveries of the tropical animal and plant kingdom originated here. Gatun Lake covers about , a vast tropical ecological zone and part of the Atlantic Forest Corridor. Ecotourism on the lake has become an industry for Panamanians. Gatun Lake also provides drinking water for Panama City and Colón. Fishing is one of the primary recreational pursuits on Gatun Lake. Non-native peacock bass were


title: "Peppered moth" content: Peppered moth The peppered moth ("Biston betularia") is a temperate species of night-flying moth. Peppered moth evolution is an example of population genetics and natural selection. The wingspan is 55mm. median (45–62 mm.) It is relatively stout-bodied, with forewings relatively narrow-elongate. The wings are white, "peppered" with black, and with more or less distinct cross lines, also black. The black speckling varies in amount, in some examples it is almost absent, whilst in others it is so dense that the wings appear to be black sprinkled with white. The antennae of males are strongly bipectinate. "Biston betularia" is found in


title: "Peppered moth" content: China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet), Russia, Mongolia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Europe and North America. In Great Britain and Ireland, the peppered moth is univoltine ("i.e.", it has one generation per year), whilst in south-eastern North America it is bivoltine (two generations per year). The lepidopteran life cycle consists of four stages: ova (eggs), several larval instars (caterpillars), pupae, which overwinter live in the soil, and imagines (adults). During the day, the moths typically rest on trees, where


title: "Peppered moth" content: they are preyed on by birds. The caterpillar is a twig mimic, varying in colour between green and brown. On a historical note, it was one of the first animals to be identified as being camouflaged with countershading to make it appear flat (shading being the main visual cue that makes things appear solid), in a paper by Edward Bagnall Poulton in 1887. It goes into the soil late in the season, where it pupates in order to spend the winter. The imagines emerge from the pupae between late May and August, the males slightly before the females (this is


title: "Peppered moth" content: common and expected from sexual selection). They emerge late in the day and dry their wings before flying that night. The males fly every night of their lives in search of females, whereas the females only fly on the first night. Thereafter, the females release pheromones to attract males. Since the pheromone is carried by the wind, males tend to travel up the concentration gradient, i.e., toward the source. During flight, they are subject to predation by bats. The males guard the female from other males until she lays the eggs. The female lays about 2,000 pale-green ovoid eggs about


title: "Peppered moth" content: 1 mm in length into crevices in bark with her ovipositor. A mating pair or a lone individual will spend the day hiding from predators, particularly birds. In the case of the former, the male stays with the female to ensure paternity. The best evidence for resting positions is given by data collected by the peppered moth researcher Michael Majerus, and it is given in the accompanying charts. These data were originally published in Howlett and Majerus (1987), and an updated version published in Majerus (1998), who concluded that the moths rest in the upper part of the trees. Majerus


title: "Peppered moth" content: notes: Creationist critics of the peppered moth have often pointed to a statement made by Clarke "et al". (1985): "... In 25 years we have only found two "betularia" on the tree trunks or walls adjacent to our traps, and none elsewhere". The reason now seems obvious. Few people spend their time looking for moths up in the trees. That is where peppered moths rest by day. From their original data, Howlett and Majerus (1987) concluded that peppered moths generally rest in unexposed positions, using three main types of site. Firstly, a few inches below a branch-trunk joint on a


title: "Peppered moth" content: tree trunk where the moth is in shadow; secondly, on the underside of branches and thirdly on foliate twigs. The above data would appear to support this. Further support for these resting positions is given from experiments watching captive moths taking up resting positions in both males (Mikkola, 1979; 1984) and females (Liebert and Brakefield, 1987). Majerus, "et al.", (2000) have shown that peppered moths are cryptically camouflaged against their backgrounds when they rest in the boughs of trees. It is clear that in human visible wavelengths, "typica" are camouflaged against lichens and "carbonaria" against plain bark. However, birds are


title: "Peppered moth" content: capable of seeing ultraviolet light that humans cannot see. Using an ultraviolet-sensitive video camera, Majerus et al. showed that "typica" reflect ultraviolet light in a speckled fashion and are camouflaged against crustose lichens common on branches, both in ultraviolet and human-visible wavelengths. However, "typica" are not as well camouflaged against foliose lichens common on tree trunks; though they are camouflaged in human wavelengths, in ultraviolet wavelengths, foliose lichens do not reflect ultraviolet light. During an experiment in Cambridge over the seven years 2001–2007 Majerus noted the natural resting positions of peppered moths, and of the 135 moths examined over half


title: "Peppered moth" content: were on tree branches, mostly on the lower half of the branch, 37% were on tree trunks, mostly on the north side, and only 12.6% were resting on or under twigs. There are several melanic and non-melanic morphs of the peppered moth. These are controlled genetically. A particular colour morph can be indicated in a standard way by following the species name in the form "morpha "morph name"". The use of "form" in the method of "Biston betularia" f. "formname" in detailing these variations is also a widespread practice. These forms are often accidentally elevated to subspecies status when they


title: "Peppered moth" content: appear in literature. Not adding the "f." (forma) or morpha implies that the taxon is a subspecies instead of a form, as in "Biston betularia carbonaria" instead of "Biston betularia f. carbonaria". Rarely, forms have been elevated to species status, as in "Biston carbonaria". Either of these two circumstances might lead to the erroneous belief that speciation was involved in the observed evolution of the peppered moth. This is not the case; individuals of each morph interbreed and produce fertile offspring with individuals of all other morphs; hence there is only one peppered moth species. By contrast, different subspecies of


title: "Peppered moth" content: the same species can theoretically interbreed with one another and will produce fully fertile and healthy offspring, but in practice do not, as they live in different regions or reproduce in different seasons. Full-fledged species are either unable to produce fertile and healthy offspring, or do not recognize each other's courtship signals, or both. European breeding experiments have shown that in "Biston betularia betularia", the allele for melanism producing morpha "carbonaria" is controlled by a single locus. The melanic allele is dominant to the non-melanic allele. This situation is, however, somewhat complicated by the presence of three other alleles that


title: "Peppered moth" content: produce indistinguishable morphs of morpha "medionigra". These are of intermediate dominance, but this is not complete (Majerus, 1998). In continental Europe, there are three morphs: the white morph typica (syn. morpha/f. "betularia"), the dark melanistic morph carbonaria (syn. "doubledayaria"), and an intermediate form medionigra. In Britain, the typical white morph is known as typica, the melanic morph is carbonaria, and the intermediate phenotype is named insularia. In North America, the melanic black morph is morpha swettaria. In "Biston betularia cognataria", the melanic allele (producing morpha "swettaria") is similarly dominant to the non-melanic allele. There are also some intermediate morphs. In


title: "Peppered moth" content: Japan, no melanic morphs have been recorded; they are all morpha "typica". The evolution of the peppered moth over the last two hundred years has been studied in detail. At the start of this period, the vast majority of peppered moths had light coloured wing patterns which effectively camouflaged them against the light-coloured trees and lichens upon which they rested. However, due to widespread pollution during the Industrial Revolution in England, many of the lichens died out, and the trees which peppered moths rested on became blackened by soot, causing most of the light-coloured moths, or "typica", to die off


title: "Peppered moth" content: due to predation. At the same time, the dark-coloured, or melanic, moths, "carbonaria", flourished because they could hide on the darkened trees. Since then, with improved environmental standards, light-coloured peppered moths have again become common, and the dramatic change in the peppered moth's population has remained a subject of much interest and study. This has led to the coining of the term "industrial melanism" to refer to the genetic darkening of species in response to pollutants. As a result of the relatively simple and easy-to-understand circumstances of the adaptation, the peppered moth has become a common example used in explaining


title: "Peppered moth" content: or demonstrating natural selection to laypeople and classroom students through simulations. The first "carbonaria" morph was recorded by Edleston in Manchester in 1848, and over the subsequent years it increased in frequency. Predation experiments, particularly by Bernard Kettlewell, established that the agent of selection was birds who preyed on the "carbonaria" morph. Subsequent experiments and observations have supported the initial evolutionary explanation of the phenomenon. The evolution of the industrial melanism mutation has been shown to be due to the insertion of a transposable element into the first intron of the "cortex" gene, resulting in an increase in the abundance


title: "Peppered moth" content: of the "cortex" transcript, which is expressed in developing wings, though the exact mechanism how this results in melanization is unclear. Peppered moth The peppered moth ("Biston betularia") is a temperate species of night-flying moth. Peppered moth evolution is an example of population genetics and natural selection. The wingspan is 55mm. median (45–62 mm.) It is relatively stout-bodied, with forewings relatively narrow-elongate. The wings are white, "peppered" with black, and with more or less distinct cross lines, also black. The black speckling varies in amount, in some examples it is almost absent, whilst in others it is so dense that


title: Psychotherapy content: and others. Since the 1960s, however, the use of Freudian-based analysis for the treatment of mental disorders has declined substantially. Different types of psychotherapy have been created along with the advent of clinical trials to test them scientifically. These incorporate subjective treatments (after Beck), behavioral treatments (after Skinner and Wolpe) and additional time-constrained and centered structures, for example, interpersonal psychotherapy. In youth issue and in schizophrenia, the systems of family treatment hold esteem. A portion of the thoughts emerging from therapy are presently pervasive and some are a piece of the armamentarium of ordinary clinical practice. They are not just


title: Phish content: does not appear together on any of the tracks. Anastasio and McConnell also appeared on Gordon's 2008 album "The Green Sparrow", while Gordon and Fishman appeared on Anastasio's 2006 album "Bar 17". Anastasio continued his solo career with his own band, and released his fourth solo album "Shine" in 2005. He reunited with Oysterhead for one-off performance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2006. Gordon played with Leo Kottke and the Benevento/Russo Duo. At Rothbury in 2008, he played with his newest project, Ramble Dove, which is the name of the country outfit he fronted in his directorial feature


title: "Pioneer program" content: program probes would five years later. In 1978, the end of the program saw a return to the inner Solar System, with the Pioneer Venus Orbiter and Multiprobe, this time using orbital insertion rather than flyby missions. The new missions were numbered beginning with Pioneer 6 (alternate names in parentheses). The spacecraft in Pioneer missions 6, 7, 8, and 9 comprised a new interplanetary space weather network: Pioneer 6 and Pioneer 9 are in solar orbits with 0.8 AU distance to the Sun. Their orbital periods are therefore slightly shorter than Earth's. Pioneer 7 and Pioneer 8 are in solar


title: "Public limited company" content: process and Companies House's record for an Electronic Company formation is 23 minutes. Because the electronic process requires compatible software that works with Companies House eFiling service, companies are usually formed through a Company Formation Agent. Every company must deliver an annual return to Companies House at least once every twelve months. It has 28 days from the date to which the return is made up to do this. Failure to file a return is a criminal offence, for which the officers of the company may be fined. There is an annual document-processing fee of £40 if filed by paper


title: "Ponte Vecchio" content: Ponte Vecchio The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge", ) is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, noted for still having shops built along it, as was once common. Butchers initially occupied the shops; the present tenants are jewelers, art dealers and souvenir sellers. The Ponte Vecchio's two neighbouring bridges are the Ponte Santa Trinita and the Ponte alle Grazie. The bridge spans the Arno at its narrowest point where it is believed that a bridge was first built in Roman times, when the via Cassia crossed the river at this point. The Roman


title: "Ponte Vecchio" content: piers were of stone, the superstructure of wood. The bridge first appears in a document of 996. After being destroyed by a flood in 1117 it was reconstructed in stone but swept away again in 1333 save two of its central piers, as noted by Giovanni Villani in his "Nuova Cronica". It was rebuilt in 1345. Giorgio Vasari recorded the traditional view of his day that attributed its design to Taddeo Gaddi — besides Giotto one of the few artistic names of the trecento still recalled two hundred years later. Modern historians present Neri di Fioravanti as a possible candidate.


title: "Ponte Vecchio" content: Sheltered in a little loggia at the central opening of the bridge is a weathered dedication stone, which once read "Nel trentatrè dopo il mille-trecento, il ponte cadde, per diluvio dell' acque: poi dieci anni, come al Comun piacque, rifatto fu con questo adornamento". The Torre dei Mannelli was built at the southeast corner of the bridge to defend it. The bridge consists of three segmental arches: the main arch has a span of the two side arches each span . The rise of the arches is between 3.5 and 4.4 meters (11½ to 14½ feet), and the span-to-rise ratio


title: "Ponte Vecchio" content: 5:1. It has always hosted shops and merchants who displayed their goods on tables before their premises, after authorization of the Bargello (a sort of a lord mayor, a magistrate and a police authority). The back shops ("retrobotteghe") that may be seen from upriver, were added in the seventeenth century. It is said that the economic concept of bankruptcy originated here: when a money-changer could not pay his debts, the table on which he sold his wares (the "banco") was physically broken ("rotto") by soldiers, and this practice was called "bancorotto" (broken table; possibly it can come from "banca rotta"


title: "Ponte Vecchio" content: which means "broken bank"). Not having a table anymore, the merchant was not able to sell anything. During World War II, the Ponte Vecchio was not destroyed by Germans during their retreat on the advance of the liberating British 8th Army on August 4, 1944, unlike all other bridges in Florence. This was allegedly, according to many locals and tour guides, because of an express order by Hitler. Access to Ponte Vecchio was, however, obstructed by the destruction of the buildings at both ends, which have since been rebuilt using a combination of original and modern design. In order to


title: "Ponte Vecchio" content: connect the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence's town hall) with the Palazzo Pitti, in 1565 Cosimo I de' Medici had Giorgio Vasari build the Vasari Corridor above it. To enforce the prestige of the bridge, in 1593 the Medici Grand Dukes prohibited butchers from selling there; their place was immediately taken by several gold merchants. A decree was made in 1595 that excluded butchers from selling their meats (only goldsmiths are not prohibited) from this bridge that is constantly applied to this day. The corporative association of butchers had monopolised the shops on the bridge since 1442. A stone with an inscription


title: "Ponte Vecchio" content: from Dante ("Paradiso" xvi. 140-7) records the spot at the entrance to the bridge where Buondelmonte de' Buondelmonti was murdered on behalf of the Amidei, in 1215, initiating the urban fighting of the Guelfs and Ghibellines. In 1900, to honour and mark the fourth century of the birth of the great Florentine sculptor and master goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, the leading goldsmiths of the bridge commissioned the most renowned Florentine sculptor of the time Raffaello Romanelli to create a bronze bust of Cellini to stand atop a fountain in the middle of the Eastern side of the bridge, where it stands


title: "Ponte Vecchio" content: to this day. Between 2005 and 2006, 5,500 padlocks, known as love locks, which were attached to the railings around the bust of Cellini, were removed by the city council. According to the council, the padlocks were aesthetically displeasing and damaged the bust and its railings. There is now a fine for attaching love locks to the bridge. The bridge was severely damaged in the 1966 flood of the Arno. The bridge is mentioned in the aria "O mio babbino caro" by Giacomo Puccini. Ponte Vecchio The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge", ) is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge


title: "Peenemünde Army Research Center" content: raid shelters for the prisoners. A year later on July 18, August 4, and August 25, the U.S. Eighth Air Force conducted three additional Peenemünde raids to counter suspected hydrogen peroxide production. As with the move of the V-2 Production Works to the Mittelwerk, the complete withdrawal of the "development" of guided missiles was approved by the Army and SS in October 1943. On August 26, 1943, at a meeting in Albert Speer's office, Hans Kammler suggested moving the A-4 Development Works to a proposed underground site in Austria. After a site survey in September by Papa Riedel and Schubert,


title: Pig content: Pig A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the even-toed ungulate family Suidae. Pigs include the domestic pig and its ancestor, the common Eurasian wild boar ("Sus scrofa"), along with other species. Related creatures outside the genus include the peccary, the babirusa, and the warthog. Pigs, like all suids, are native to the Eurasian and African continents. Juvenile pigs are known as piglets. Pigs are highly social and intelligent animals. With around 1 billion individuals alive at any time, the domestic pig is among the most populous large mammals in the world. Pigs are omnivores


title: Pig content: and can consume a wide range of food. Biologically, pigs are very similar to humans, thus are frequently used for human medical research. The "Online Etymology Dictionary" provides anecdotal evidence as well as linguistic, saying that the term derives probably from Old English *"picg", found in compounds, ultimate origin unknown. Originally "young pig" (the word for adults was "swine"). Apparently related to Low German "bigge", Dutch "big" ("but the phonology is difficult" -- "OED"). ... Another Old English word for "pig" was "fearh", related to "furh" "furrow," from PIE *"perk"- "dig, furrow" (source also of Latin "porc-us" "pig," see "pork").


title: Pig content: "This reflects a widespread IE tendency to name animals from typical attributes or activities" [Roger Lass]. Synonyms "grunter", "oinker" are from sailors' and fishermen's euphemistic avoidance of uttering the word pig at sea, a superstition perhaps based on the fate of the Gadarene swine, who drowned. The "Online Etymology Dictionary" also traces the evolution of sow, the term for a female pig, through various historical languages: Old English "sugu", "su" "female of the swine," from Proto-Germanic *"su"- (cognates: Old Saxon, Old High German "su", German "Sau", Dutch "zeug", Old Norse "syr"), from PIE root *"su"- (cognates: Sanskrit "sukarah" "wild boar,


title: Pig content: swine;" Avestan "hu" "wild boar;" Greek "hys" "swine;" Latin "sus" "swine", "suinus" "pertaining to swine"; Old Church Slavonic "svinija" "swine;" Lettish "sivens" "young pig;" Welsh "hucc", Irish "suig" "swine; Old Irish "socc" "snout, plowshare"), possibly imitative of pig noise; note that Sanskrit "sukharah" means "maker of (the sound) "su". It is entirely likely that the word to call pigs, "soo-ie," is similarly derived. The adjectival form (technically for the subfamily rather than genus name) is "suine" (comparable to "bovine", "canine", etc.); for the family, it is "suid" (as with "bovid", "canid"). A typical pig has a large head with a