<p>Spiegel Grove, also known as Spiegel Grove State Park, Rutherford B. Hayes House, Rutherford B. Hayes Summer Home and Rutherford B. Hayes State Memorial was the estate of Rutherford B. Hayes, the nineteenth President of the United States, located at the corner of Hayes and Buckland Avenues in Fremont, Ohio. Spiegel is the German and Dutch word for mirror. The traditional story is that the estate was named by Sardis Birchard, an uncle of Rutherford B. Hayes, for the reflective pools of water that collected on the property after a rain shower. The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center is also located here.</p><br>
<p>President Hayes and his wife Lucy Webb Hayes are buried at a memorial on the property. Hayes died in 1893 and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery next to his wife who had died in 1889. Following the gift of this home to the state of Ohio for the Spiegel Grove State Park, their bodies were reinterred at Spiegel Grove in 1915.</p><br>
<p>"Old Whitey", a war horse that served during the Civil War and belonged to then-Major (later Major General) Hayes became the mascot of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The horse was buried at Spiegel Grove upon his death in 1879, with a grave marker reading Old Whitey A Hero of Nineteen Battles 1861-1865.</p><br>
<p>Spiegel Grove was declared a National Historic Landmark on January 29, 1964.</p><br>
<p>On October 15, 1966, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>Design</h2><br>
<p>The house was built around 1860 as a two-story brick mansion. It featured many bedrooms and a wrap-around porch. In 1880, the house was expanded with the addition of 5 new rooms, and the massive staircase that led all the way up to the 4th floor. In 1889, 6 more rooms were added to the house, giving it its current appearance. After all the expansions, the house had over 30 rooms and 10,000 ft&sup2; of living space.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Since then, the house has been open for tourists. For a fee, visitors can view the various rooms as well as furniture, books, and other items in the house. Visitors are allowed to access most of the rooms on the first and second floors. The third and fourth floors are currently not open to the public.</p><br>
<p>Prospect State Scenic Viewpoint, is a state park south of the community of Prospect on Oregon Route 62 in Jackson County, in the USA state of Oregon. It was formerly known as Mill Creek Falls Scenic Area, a private hiking area that was developed by Willamette Industries along the Rogue River. Both Mill Creek Falls and Pearsony Falls are contained within the area, with Barr Creek Falls close by.</p><br>
<p>A hydroelectric dam was built in the 1920s which drained the narrow valley containing the group of falls. A group of large boulders appeared. These have become a local attraction known as the Avenue of the Giant Boulders.</p><br>
<h2>Mill Creek Falls</h2><br>
<p>The Mill Creek Falls is the centerpiece attraction within the Mill Creek Scenic Area. A trailhead developed by Boise Cascade ends on a fork that leads to the Avenue of Boulders to the left and Mill Creek Falls and Barr Creek Falls to the right. The waterfall totals 173 feet high on Mill Creek shortly before it meets the Rogue River and is one of the tallest cascades in Oregon. Mill creek has low sinuosity and has a gently sloping terrain. Yet, it flows through unstable banks which produce large amounts of sediment. Historically, the Mill Creek Falls area has moderate to frequent fires, primarily from lightning, having been entirely burned at least once in the past. For this reason it&#39;s common to see charred trees and snags surrounding the waterfall area.</p><br>
<h2>Barr Creek Falls</h2><br>
<p>Along the Mill Creek Falls trailhead is Barr Creek Falls, a three drop waterfall also known as Bear Creek Falls. It totals 240 feet fall in three drops, the tallest and last drop is 150 feet. The name comes from the presence of a cattle bar next to the waterfall to prevent cattle from straying out of the boundaries of private ranches that neighbor the river.</p><br>
<p>The Old Manse is a historic manse in Concord, Massachusetts, United States famous for its American historical and literary associations. It is open to the public as a nonprofit museum owned and operated by the Trustees of Reservations. The house is located on Monument Street, with the Concord River just behind it. The property neighbors the North Bridge, a part of Minute Man National Historical Park.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Emerson years</h3><br>
<p>The Old Manse was built in 1770 for the Rev. William Emerson, father of minister William Emerson and grandfather of transcendentalist writer and lecturer Ralph Waldo Emerson. The elder Rev. Emerson was the town minister in Concord, chaplain to the Provincial Congress when it met at Concord in October 1774 and later a chaplain to the Continental Army. Emerson observed the fight at the North Bridge, a part of the Concord Fight, from his farm fields while his wife and children witnessed the fight from the upstairs windows of their house.</p><br>
<p>Emerson died in October 1775 in West Rutland, Vermont, while returning home from Fort Ticonderoga. His widow, Phebe Emerson, remarried to the Rev. Ezra Ripley, who succeeded Emerson as the minister at First Parish Church in Concord. Their family continued to live in the Old Manse. Ripley served as Concord&#39;s town minister for 63 years.</p><br>
<p>In October 1834, Ralph Waldo Emerson moved to Concord and boarded at the Manse where he lived with his aging step-grandfather Ezra Ripley. He shared the home with his mother Ruth, his brothers Charles, and his aunt Mary. While there, he wrote the first draft of his essay "Nature", a foundational work of the Transcendentalist movement. Also while living at the Old Manse, on January 24, 1835, Emerson proposed in a letter to Lydia Jackson. After their marriage, they moved elsewhere in Concord, to a home he named "Bush", now known as the Ralph Waldo Emerson House.</p><br>
<h3>Hawthorne years</h3><br>
<p>In 1842, the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne rented the Old Manse for $100 a year. He moved in with his wife, transcendentalist Sophia Peabody, on July 9, 1842, as newlyweds. Peabody had previously visited Concord and met Ralph Waldo Emerson while working on a bas-relief portrait medallion of his brother Charles Emerson, who had died in 1836. She praised the town to Hawthorne, who responded, "Would that we could build our cottage this very now amid the scenes. My heart thirsts and languishes to be there". Prior to their arrival at the Manse, Henry David Thoreau created a vegetable garden for the couple.</p><br>
<p>The Hawthornes lived in the house for three years. In the upstairs room that Hawthorne used as his study, one can still view affectionate sentiments that the two etched into the window panes. The inscription reads:</p><br>
<p>On the first anniversary of his marriage, Hawthorne and his neighbor, poet Ellery Channing, searched the neighboring Concord River for the body of Martha Hunt, a local woman who drowned. Hawthorne wrote of the incident, "I never saw or imagined a spectacle of such perfect horror... She was the very image of death-agony." The incident inspired the climactic scene in his novel The Blithedale Romance (1852).</p><br>
<p>The Hawthornes hosted several notable guests while living here. In May 1845, future President of the United States Franklin Pierce visited along with their mutual Bowdoin College friend Horatio Bridge. Peabody recalled the meeting fondly and recorded her first impression of Pierce as "loveliness and truth of character and natural refinement."</p><br>
<p>During his time in the Old Manse, Hawthorne published about twenty sketches and tales, including "The Birth-Mark" and "Rappaccini&#39;s Daughter", which would be included in the collection Mosses from an Old Manse (1846). One description of the house he wrote notes: "Between two tall gateposts of roughhewn stone... we behold the gray front of the old parsonage, terminating the vista of an avenue of black ash trees." The Hawthornes were forced out of the home for not paying their rent. Returning to Concord seven years later, by then living on the other side of town at The Wayside, Sophia Hawthorne visited the Old Manse on October 1, 1852, and referred to it as "the beloved old house".</p><br>
<h3>Modern history</h3><br>
<p>The house remained in use by the Emerson-Ripley family until 1939, and was conveyed to the Trustees of Reservations on November 3, 1939. The house was conveyed complete with all its furnishings, and contains a remarkable collection of furniture, books, kitchen implements, dishware, and other items, as well as original wallpaper, woodwork, windows and architectural features.</p><br>
<p>The Old Manse was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 and a Massachusetts Archaeological/Historic Landmark the same year.</p><br>
<p>The Manse is open seasonally for guided tours given by the Trustees of Reservations. The garden, originally created by Thoreau, has been recreated. The on-site book store in the house specializes in the American Revolution, women&#39;s history, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Transcendentalism, and sustainability.</p><br>
<p>Saeftinghe or Saaftinge was a town in the southwest Netherlands, located in eastern Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, near Nieuw-Namen. It existed until 1584. It is now a swamp known as the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe  and an official nature reserve area. The land is a crosspoint where the river Scheldt meets the salty waters of the North Sea in the estuary Western Scheldt. It is a treacherous place where the tides easily consume large stretches of land in a matter of seconds and must not be explored without an experienced guide.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Saeftinghe was drained in the 13th century under the management of the abbey of Ter Doest. Willem van Saeftinghe was one of the best known occupants of the abbey and gave his name to the stretch of land claimed from the sea. Up to 1570, the land was very fertile polder. Agriculture, peat burning and trade turned Saeftinghe into one of the most prosperous places in the region. There were three additional settlements nearby: Namen, Sint-Laureins, and Casuwele.</p><br>
<p>Most of the land around the town was lost in the All Saint&#39;s flood of 1570 (the Allerheiligenvloed). Four years later the drowned land reached into what is now Belgium. Only Saeftinghe and some surrounding land managed to remain dry.</p><br>
<p>In 1584, during the Eighty Years&#39; War, Dutch soldiers found themselves forced to destroy the last intact dike and Saeftinghe sunk into the waters of the Scheldt. Attempts to reclaim the area were made throughout history; the most serious project taking place in 1907, but even then only the was conquered from the sea. Nowadays a hamlet is located within the reclaimed portions of land, called.</p><br>
<p>Saaftinge itself has never been retrieved.</p><br>
<p>In 1970, all of the area was incorporated into the municipality of Hulst, when Graauw en Langendam and Clinge ceased to exist.</p><br>
<p>Within the historical municipal limits, Saaftinge today has a population of 55. The flag consists of a blue lion rampant on a white field. The lion originates from the personal shield of Willem van Saeftinghe.</p><br>
<h2>The legend</h2><br>
<p>A legend of Saeftinghe attributes the All Saint&#39;s flood to capturing a mermaid and not setting her free. This caused the region to be cursed by the merman, and led to the flood that destroyed the towns of Sint-Laureins, Namen and Casuwele, killing all inhabitants. The legend holds that a tower bell calls for help from the sunken town.</p><br>
<h2>Visitor centre</h2><br>
<p>A visitor centre opened in Emmadorp in 1997, from where excursions to the nature reserve depart. From 1997 to 2007, an average of around 12,000 visitors per year went on excursions.</p><br>
<p>The Lamb, sometimes called Lamb Island or just Lamb, is a small , uninhabited island between the islands of Fidra and Craigleith in the Firth of Forth, off the southeast coast of Scotland. The Lamb can be reached by boat from North Berwick, although there are no landing facilities and little to attract visitors when compared to Fidra and the Bass Rock. Its coordinates are at</p><br>
<p>The Lamb is flanked by two "sheep dogs" - North and South Dog Islands - which are basically small skerries.</p><br>
<p>Like the other islands off North Berwick, the Lamb is a result of ancient volcanic activity, millions of years ago.</p><br>
<h2>Ownership</h2><br>
<p>The Lamb, along with North and South Dog Islands, was previously owned by the Brazilian Camilo Agasim-Pereira, Baron of Dirleton and Fulwood.</p><br>
<h2>Footnotes</h2><br>
<p>The Eisriesenwelt  is a natural limestone and ice cave located in Werfen, Austria, about 40 km south of Salzburg. The cave is inside the Hochkogel mountain in the Tennengebirge section of the Alps. It is the largest ice cave in the world, extending more than 42 km and visited by about 200,000 tourists every year.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Tennengebirge mountains were formed during the late Tertiary period, during the Würm glaciation period of the Pleistocene. The mountain range, one of the massifs in the Austrian Alps, is the largest karst plateau in the Salzburger Alps, and the Eisriesenwelt is located at the rim of this plateau. Although the cave has a length of 42 km, only the first kilometer, the area that tourists are allowed to visit, is covered in ice. The rest of the cave is formed of limestone.</p><br>
<p>Eisriesenwelt was formed by the Salzach river, which eroded passageways into the mountain. The ice formations in the cave were formed by thawing snow which drained into the cave and froze during winter.</p><br>
<p>Since the entrance to the caves is open year-round, chilly winter winds blow into the cave and freeze the snow inside. In summer, a cold wind from inside the cave blows toward the entrance and prevents the formations from melting.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first official discovery of Eisriesenwelt was by Anton Posselt, a natural scientist from Salzburg, in 1879, though he only explored the first two hundred meters of the cave. Before his discovery, the cave was known only to locals, who, believing that it was an entrance to Hell, refused to explore it. In 1880, Posselt published his findings in a mountaineering magazine, but the report was quickly forgotten.</p><br>
<p>In 1955 a cable car was built, shortening the 90-minute climb to 3 minutes. Today the Eisriesenwelt cave is owned by the, which has leased it to the Salzburg Association of Cave Exploration since 1928. The Forest Commission still receives a percentage of the entrance fees.</p><br>
<h2>Visiting</h2><br>
<p>The cave is open from May 1 to October 26 every year. Its operating hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in July and August and 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in May/June and September/October. Temperatures inside the cave are usually below freezing, and warm clothing is recommended. Photography is not permitted once visitors are inside the cave.</p><br>
<p>The tour begins at the entrance to the cave, and continues inwards to Posselt Hall, a large room with a stalagmite called Posselt Tower in the centre. Past the Posselt Tower, one encounters an ashen cross on the wall of the cave, marking the farthest point of exploration of Anton Posselt. From there one can see the Great Ice Embankment, a massive formation that rises to a height of 25 metres and represents the area of greatest ice growth. Next is Hymirs Castle, named after a giant in Norse mythology. Here stalactites create a formation called Friggas Veil, or the Ice Organ.</p><br>
<p>Next on the tour is the Alexander von Mörk Cathedral, one of the largest rooms in the cave and the final resting place of von Mörk&#39;s ashes. The final stop on the tour is the Ice Palace, a kilometre into the cave and 400 metres underground. From here, visitors must turn around and walk back through the caves to reach the entrance. The round-trip tour through the cave takes around one hour and 15 minutes.</p><br>
<p>Bennett Place, sometimes known as Bennett Farm, in Durham, Durham County, North Carolina, was the site, in late April 1865, of the largest surrender of Confederate soldiers ending the American Civil War, on April 26, 1865.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>After Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman&#39;s March to the Sea, he turned north through the Carolinas for the Carolinas Campaign. Confederate President Jefferson Davis met his General Joseph E. Johnston in Greensboro, North Carolina, while Sherman had stopped in Raleigh.</p><br>
<p>Though Davis wished to continue the war, Johnston sent a courier to the Union troops encamped at Morrisville, with a message to General Sherman, offering a meeting between the lines to discuss a truce. Johnston, whose army was still an active fighting force encamped in Greensboro, realized they could not continue the war now that Robert E. Lee had surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.</p><br>
<p>Johnston, escorted by a detachment of about 60 troopers of the 5th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment, traveled east along the Hillsborough Road toward Durham Station. Sherman was riding west to meet him, with an escort of 200 men from the 9th and 13th Pennsylvania, 8th Indiana and 2nd Kentucky Cavalry. The farm of James and Nancy Bennett was the closest and most convenient place for privacy.</p><br>
<p>The first day&#39;s discussion (April 17) was intensified by the telegram Sherman handed to Johnston, informing of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. They met the following day, April 18, and signed terms of surrender. However, on April 24, Grant arrived and informed Sherman that the terms had been rejected by the presidential cabinet in Washington because they exceeded the terms that Grant had given Lee and included civil matters. The opposing generals met again on April 26, 1865, and with the assistance of Gen. John M. Schofield, agreed to new terms omitting the controversial sections. The agreement disbanded all active Confederate forces in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, totaling 89,270 soldiers, as the largest group to surrender during the Civil War.</p><br>
<h3>Bennett family leaves and site dedicated</h3><br>
<p>James and Nancy Bennett were like many families who suffered tremendously during the four years of war. They lost a son and son-in-law: Lorenzo, who served in the 27th North Carolina, buried in Winchester, Virginia; and their daughter Eliza&#39;s husband, Robert Duke, who died in a Confederate Army hospital and is buried in Lynchburg, Virginia. Their 3rd child, Alfonzo, was not in the war but died during the Civil War years (1864). The Bennetts never fully recovered from the war, and in 1878, James Bennett died and the family moved to the new community of Durham to begin a life without him.</p><br>
<p>The Bennett Farm was abandoned and fell into ruin; a fire finally destroying the farmhouse in 1921. In 1923 the Unity monument was dedicated on the site. In 1960 the Bennett Farm site was fully reclaimed and restored by local preservationists. It was then turned over to the State of North Carolina and made a state historic site.</p><br>
<h2>Largest surrender of the American Civil War</h2><br>
<p>The difficulty in reaching a surrender agreement lay in part in Johnstons desire, influenced by President Davis, for more than the purely military surrender that Major General Sherman offered. Shermans original terms matched those offered by Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant to General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, but Johnston along with General John C. Breckinridge, also serving as Secretary of War for the Confederacy, insisted on resolutions of political issues, including the reestablishment of state governments, return of some weapons to state arsenals and civil rights after the war. Sherman, in accordance with Lincolns stated wishes for a compassionate and forgiving end to the war, agreed on terms that included the political issues. He was unaware that on March 3, Lincoln had given Grant orders to only discuss military matters with Lee. United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton identified many problems and loopholes within Sherman and Johnstons original terms and persuaded the cabinet to unanimously reject them. In response, Jefferson Davis ordered Johnston to disband his infantry and escape with his mounted troops. However, Johnston disobeyed his orders and agreed to meet again with Major General Sherman at the Bennett Farm again on April 26, 1865. The rival generals agreed to new surrender terms identical to the ones Grant gave Lee, along with some supplemental terms written by Schofield pertaining to rations and return of the paroled soldiers to their homes. The surrender agreement ended the war for the 89,270 soldiers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Three more primary surrenders would follow in Citronelle, Alabama; Galveston, Texas; and Doaksville, Oklahoma.</p><br>
<h2>Bennett Place State Historic Site</h2><br>
<p>The home of James and Nancy Bennett, simple yeoman farmers, served as the site of the surrender negotiations between Major General William T. Sherman and General Joseph E. Johnston April 17, 18, and 26, 1865. It was the largest surrender of the American Civil War, officially ending the fighting in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The original house burned in 1921 and was reconstructed as a one-story log structure covered by weatherboards with a gable roof and a shed addition. Also on the property are a log kitchen and smokehouse.</p><br>
<p>In 1923, the Unity Monument was placed on the site to commemorate this historic event. Among the many contributors to the preservation of this historic landmark were the Duke, Everett, and Morgan families.</p><br>
<p>Today, Bennett Place State Historic Site belongs to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and is located in the west end of Durham, near Duke University. The site is open to the public, Tuesday-Saturday, 9am-5pm, with a visitor center, museum, theater presentation, "Dawn of Peace", research library, gift shop, and the reconstruction of the Bennett Farm. Living history programs and the commemoration of the surrender take place throughout the year. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.</p><br>
<p>On April 15, 2010, the Bennett Place Historic Site unveiled a new painting by renowned Civil War artist Dan Nance, entitled "The First Meeting". On the same day, the site gave its first William Vatavuk Scholarship, a yearly scholarship for students who wish to major in history in college. The scholarship honors the late William Vatavuk, who wrote Dawn of Peace, the first guidebook for the historic site.</p><br>
<p>Mowich Lake is a lake located in the northwestern corner of Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State at an elevation of 4,929 ft. The name "Mowich" derives from the Chinook jargon word for deer.</p><br>
<p>Access to the lake is provided by a 17 mi long unpaved road which opens to vehicles in mid June to early July. Mowich Lake is also a busy campground during the summer with 30 walk-in tent camping spots. Bathrooms, tables, and trash bins are provided.</p><br>
<p>From the Mowich campground, hikers can reach the Wonderland Trail, Eunice Lake, Tolmie Peak, Spray Park, and Spray Falls. Old-growth trees, waterfalls, creeks, cliffs, and wildflower meadows are also located in and around the area.</p><br>
<p>Fishing is generally poor at Mowich Lake because the area is not stocked with fish and no habitat is provided for natural spawning.</p><br>
<p>The Baker River, or Asquamchumauke, is a 36.4 mi river in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire in the United States. It rises on the south side of Mount Moosilauke and runs south and east to empty into the Pemigewasset River in Plymouth. The river traverses the towns of Warren, Wentworth, and Rumney. It is part of the Merrimack River watershed.</p><br>
<p>The Baker River&#39;s name recalls Lt. Thomas Baker (1682–1753), whose company of 34 scouts from Northampton, Massachusetts passed down the river&#39;s valley in 1712 and destroyed a Pemigewasset Indian village. It was along this river on April 28, 1752 that John Stark and Amos Eastman were captured by Abenaki warriors and taken to Saint-François-du-Lac, Quebec, near Montreal. John Stark&#39;s brother William Stark escaped, and David Stinson was killed during the ambush.</p><br>
<p>On the 1835 Thomas Bradford map of New Hampshire, the river is shown as "Bakers" River, originating on "Mooshillock Mtn."</p><br>
<h2>Major tributaries</h2><br>
<p>Tributaries greater than 5 mi long, listed from upstream end to downstream end of Baker River:</p><br>
<p>*Berry Brook</p><br>
<p>*Pond Brook</p><br>
<p>*South Branch Baker River</p><br>
<p>*Halls Brook</p><br>
<p>*Stinson Brook</p><br>
<p>There is a large fish hatchery on the Baker River in the town of Warren.</p><br>
<p>Cerro San Cristóbal  is a hill in northern Santiago, Chile. It rises 850 m AMSL and about 300 m above the rest of Santiago; the peak is the second highest point in the city, after Cerro Renca. Cerro San Cristóbal was named by the Spanish conquistadors for St Christopher, in recognition of its use as a landmark. Its original indigenous name is Tupahue.</p><br>
<h2>History and attractions</h2><br>
<p>Cerro San Cristóbal began to be used in 1903 with the installation of the Mills Observatory, currently known as the Manuel Foster Observatory, twin of the Lick Observatory of the University of California.</p><br>
<p>On its summit there is a sanctuary dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, with a 22-meter statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an amphitheater and a chapel. The statue of the Immaculate Conception measures 14 meters tall, and the pedestal on which it rests is 8.3 meters in height. It weighs 36,610 kilograms. Within the pedestal there is a small chapel in which Pope John Paul II prayed and blessed the city of Santiago on April 1, 1987. The statue is lit up at night by lights placed on its sides, allowing it to be viewed from all over Santiago both day and night.</p><br>
<p>At the foot of the statue there is an amphitheater for holding masses or other religious ceremonies. Near the statue, there is also a small chapel for praying.</p><br>
<p>At the foothills of Cerro San Cristóbal are the Chilean National Zoo and a Japanese-style garden, and up there are also two municipal pools, Tupahue and Antilén.</p><br>
<p>Cerro San Cristóbal houses Santiago&#39;s largest public park: the Santiago Metropolitan Park (Parque Metropolitano).</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>The summit of Cerro San Cristóbal can be reached by foot (about a 45-minute walk, involving a 300m change in elevation), by car via the road joining the Santiago Metropolitan Park, or by the Funicular of Santiago (the base of which sits next to the Zoo at the North end of Pio Nono in Barrio Bellavista).</p><br>
<p>A cable car provided service to the top of the hill from the Pedro de Valdivia entrance since 1980 until 2009, when the gearbox controlling the system&#39;s speed exploded, leaving the system unusable. A project was presented in 2011 to open for tender on the system, giving it new cabins and restore infrastructure. The service was expected to be back in 2012, however the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning received only one offer that was rejected, so the tender was ended and a new public contest was announced, that began in 2013.</p><br>
<p>Then, in December 2014 it was announced that the cable car would re-open in the second semester of 2016 after a series of maintentenance and remodeling works to be done from March 2015, costing US$9,5 million. These works complete the installation of the new 46 cabin network, of which 8 will be enabled for the transport of bicycles, strollers or wheelchairs. The transport cabins have a 6-person capacity and the system was reopened on November 2016.</p><br>
<p>From the top of the hill, visitors can enjoy two pools - Tupahue and Antilén - or access the National Zoo of Chile, at the Bellavista entrance to Cerro San Cristóbal. The newly inaugurated Children’s Park of Cerro San Cristóbal provides a new entrance to the hill via Avenida Perú.</p><br>
<p>Buvuma Island  is the largest island in the Buvuma Islands chain, in Lake Victoria in Africa.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The chain of islands known as Buvuma Islands consists of more than fifty islands and is located a few kilometres off the northern shores of Lake Victoria, Uganda in the Napoleon Gulf. Buvuma is approximately 25 km, by water, south of the major city of Jinja, and around 90 km, south-east of the national capital, Kampala. It is part of the wider Buganda region, and was administered as part of Mukono but was recently made into a district of its own by the government of Uganda.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The main island is Buvuma, with a land area of around 200 square-miles (517 km²), and a population of around 20,000. It is forested, and is a destination for intrepid bird-watching tourists. The forest is being cut and burned to provide three boats a day full of charcoal for the nearby city of Jinja. There are twenty-six gazetted Forest Reserves in Buvuma.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation and health</h2><br>
<p>There is a somewhat unreliable ferry to the mainland. There are also unofficial small boat services from Kiyindi, a major fishing village on the shores of Lake Victoria. Boat taxis provide transportation daily from the islands to Masese, a landing site near Jinja. There are two health centres, but no electricity on the island. Sleeping sickness and tsetse flies are major concerns. Because of the communities&#39; heavy reliance on the lake water, which is infested with parasites, inhabitants are susceptible to Bilharzia.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>The area is very poor compared to other parts of Uganda because funds allocated to it are often diverted before they reach the island.</p><br>
<p>The waters around the islands are rich in fish, and the local Bavuma and Basoga are fishermen.</p><br>
<p>In 2012, Bidco Palm Oil Limited, a regional edible oil manufacturer, unveiled plans to establish a 6,500 hectare palm oil plantation and processing factory, beginning in 2013. With another 3,500 hectare, in a planned outgrowers&#39; scheme, the entire Bidco Palm Oil Project on Buvuma Island is expected to grow to 10,000 hectare, when completed.</p><br>
<h2>Education and religion</h2><br>
<p>Most adults are illiterate and speak no English (one of the official languages of Uganda).</p><br>
<p>One third of the population is Muslim, one third is animist, and the other one third is Christian. The longest running missionary project is Youth With A Mission (YWAM) on Lingira Island. They have a primary health care and community development project that has been running since 1991. On the main island of Buvuma, the World Gospel Mission does some limited child immunization, clean water projects, trains traditional birth attendants, and sponsors a primary school.</p><br>
<h2>Parliamentary representative</h2><br>
<p>The Buvuma elected Parliamentary representative (2005) was William Nsubuga.</p><br>
<h2>Geology and deforestation</h2><br>
<p>The islands are of ironstone formation overlying quartzite and crystalline schists. Other islands are Bugaia, Lingira (pop. 1000), and Namiti. Rusinga and Mfangano are within Kenyan borders. The 1911 Britannica said: "Most of these islands are densely forested, and some of them attain considerable elevation. Their scenery is of striking beauty." Except at the highest elevations, Rusinga and Mfangano are today largely deforested.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Rusinga island is connected by a causeway to the mainland. There are a few tourist lodges, and the island is accessible via several roads leading from Kisumu and Homa Bay as well through the nearby Ruma National Park. It can be reached from the north by a dirt road from the Kakamega Forest or by air from the Maasai Mara.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeological research</h2><br>
<p>Rusinga is rich in fossils, and Mary Leakey found the skull of Proconsul africanus on the island. The Miocene floras of Rusinga and Mfwanganu islands are subject to a long-term study by paleobotanists. There was an archaeological prospection carried out by the Tervuren Museum, Belgium, in 1968 (published 1971), on Buvuma and Bugaia islands at Munyama Cave, Tonge Cave, and Nakisito, plus another 47 sites. Pottery materials from 13,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C. were found.</p><br>
<p>Lake Pleasant is a lake located in the Adirondack Park in New York in the United States. The lake is in the town of Lake Pleasant in Hamilton County.</p><br>
<p>The lake is about four miles long and about one mile wide with its length oriented in an approximate northeast to southwest direction, with the widest part being at the northeast end. The village of Speculator is at its northern tip, and the hamlet of Lake Pleasant, the county seat, is by the western end. NY Route 8 traverses the north side of the lake, and South Shore Road goes around the south part.</p><br>
<p>Lake Pleasant is linked to Sacandaga Lake by the Sacandaga Outlet, a small stream that passes under Route 8. The Sacandaga River drains Lake Pleasant and flows out the northern end by Speculator.</p><br>
<p>The lake is ringed with seasonal and year-round domiciles. A public beach is at the north end in Speculator. Most commercial development is found along Route 8 and adjacent to Speculator, while the area along South Shore Road is primarily residential.</p><br>
<h2>Fishing</h2><br>
<p>Fish species present in the lake are smallmouth bass, walleye, yellow perch, rainbow trout, brown trout, rock bass, chain pickerel, sunfish, and black bullhead. There is a state owned public hand launch on the north shore near the outlet and also navigable channel from Sacandaga Lake.</p><br>
<p>Mount Lyell is the highest point in Yosemite National Park, at 13,114 ft. It is located at the southeast end of the Cathedral Range, 1.2 mi northwest of Rodgers Peak. The peak as well as nearby Lyell Canyon is named after Charles Lyell, a well-known 19th century geologist. The peak had one of the last remaining glaciers in Yosemite, Lyell Glacier. The Lyell Glacier is currently considered to be a permanent ice field, not a living glacier.</p><br>
<p>Mount Lyell divides the Tuolumne River watershed to the north, the Merced to the west, and the Rush Creek drainage in the Mono Lake Basin to the southeast.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing</h2><br>
<p>The most common approach to Mount Lyell is from Tuolumne Meadows on a highly traveled section of the John Muir Trail. The round trip is approximately 25 mi and involves 4,500 ft of elevation gain when starting from the Tuolumne Wilderness Office. The hike is easy from Tuolumne Meadows, following the Tuolumne River to the head of the Lyell Canyon, and becomes moderate as it approaches Donohue Pass. Before reaching Donahue Pass, the route leaves the trail and heads south towards Mount Lyell.</p><br>
<p>Most summit ascents are done either over or around the Lyell Glacier. Seasonal and year-to-year variations on the glacier make it necessary to assess current conditions before choosing a route to the summit. The northwest Ridge, from the saddle between Mount Lyell and nearby Mount Maclure, offers climbing with high snow levels on the glacier. Low snow levels increases the grade to class 3 to 4 on the exposed granite ledges, in which cases it may be easier to ascend the glacier more directly to the summit.</p><br>
<p>The summit block of Mount Lyell is composed of dark volcanic granite, similar to its neighbors do the southeast, Rodgers Peak, Mount Davis, Banner Peak, and Mount Ritter. This rock is very loose and unstable for climbing, making the ascent to the summit plateau dangerous when the glacier is low, exposing the lower reaches of the summit block. For this reason, some climbers consider Mount Lyell and nearby Mount Maclure to actually be geologically part of the Ritter Range.</p><br>
<p>The grade of the East Arete likewise increases with low snow conditions, going from class 3 to class 4 (the looseness of the rock underlying the glacier on the East Arete makes it somewhat dangerous in low snow conditions). Other routes exist on the south and west sides, but of greater difficulty and longer approaches.</p><br>
<p>The Garo Hills  are part of the Garo-Khasi range in Meghalaya, India. They are inhabited mainly by tribal dwellers, the majority of whom are Garo people. It is one of the wettest places in the world. The range is part of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion.</p><br>
<p>People who reside in the Garo Hills are known as the Garos. Besides the Garo hills, there are Garo settlements in the plains of Assam and Bangladesh. The Garos call themselves A·chik (Locally used).</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>Garo Hills comprises 5 districts. Tura is the largest town with a population of about 70,000 located at the foothills of often cloud covered Tura peak. The town is centrally located to other popular game/wild life sanctuaries in the district such as Balpakram and Nokrek, natural caves (the Siju Cave being one of the longest in Asia). These places are rich reserves of natural flora and fauna.</p><br>
<h2>Society</h2><br>
<p>The traditional Garo female dress is a piece of cloth around the waist and a blouse or vest. The men usually wear, in addition to cloth, a turban. Males and females both wear bangles and earrings. The chief meals of the Garos consist of rice with onions, capsicum and salt thrice a day. Practically all types of animal foods are taken. The liquor is not distilled, but prepared by brewing food grains.</p><br>
<p>The society is matrilineal like the Khasis and the Jaintias. Till death, the new-born baby belongs to the mothers family, irrespective of sex, even after marriage. Marriage within the clan is completely prohibited and severely punishable for both the Khasis and the Garos. Till now, the institution of Bachelors Dormitories which is gradually disappearing amongst the tribes of North Eastern Region, are found in the Garo villages. In such dormitories young people stay and live together till they are married. They receive various training in the dormitories like making various Achik music instruments, wrestling or traditional sports, making of traditional bamboo baskets. This institution is similar to ancient agoges of Sparta. The Khasis and Garos are now mostly Christians. But before that, they used to be nature-worshipers.</p><br>
<p>Garo Hills known for its abundance of wildlife attracts naturalists and photographers to capture the multifaceted sights of a unique range of flora and fauna. Two mountain ranges - the Arabella range and the Tura range, pass through the Garo Hills, forming the great Balpakram valley in between. The headquarters town of Tura is 323 km via Guwahati, at an altitude of 657 m. The highest point in the Garo Hills is Nokrek Peak with elevation of 1412 m.</p><br>
<p>Tura has an amazing landscape of hills against a backdrop of low-lying plains. A sunset view can be best seen from Tura Peak at 1,400 m and its summit can be reached by a 5 km trek, partly by hiking and also by rock-climbing.</p><br>
<h2>Places of interest</h2><br>
<p>These are locations in and around Garo Hills which are tourist spots. These include:</p><br>
<p>Nokrek Peak: The highest point of the Garo Hills region of the State, Nokrek Peak stands 1412 metres above sea level. The mother germo plasm of Citrus-indica have been discovered by science researchers within Nokrek Range. This discovery led to the establishment of the National CitrusGene Sanctuary-cum-Biosphere Reserve at Nokrek covering an area of forty seven square kilometres.</p><br>
<p>Tura Peak: A majestic hill stands on the eastern flank of Tura, the largest town in the Garo Hills region of the State. It peaks 872metres above sea level. A tourist-bungalow, an observatory and a Cinchona-plantation are located at Tura Peak and its environs. (A tourist-bungalow, an observatory and a Cinchona-plantation are NO MORE at Tura Peak)</p><br>
<p>Imilchang Dare: This waterfall is located close to Asakgre village in South Garo Hills district. The deep, wide pool at the bottom of the fall with its wide and expansive surroundings make it an exciting swimming pool, full of fish of varied size and colour.</p><br>
<p>Balpakram: A National Wildlife Park, located in SouthGaro Hills and 167 km from Tura. It is home to the rare Lesser Panda, the Indian bison and the Stag like Serow. A variety of medicinal herbs locally called "dikges" grow abundantly in Balpakram.</p><br>
<p>Napak Lake: Located at a distance of 112 km from Tura, ideal for fishing and bird watching with the river Simsang flowing nearby. ( This must be TASEK lake, River Simsang doesn&#39;t flow anywhere near this area)</p><br>
<p>Siju Caves: The famous limestone caves of Siju are located near Simsang River in Siju village.</p><br>
<p>Borkona Kali Ashram: Located about 40 km from Tura on Tura- Mankachar road is oldest Hindu Mutt founded by Muslim Saint about 100 years ago. Presently headed by Sri Sri Shyamanand Brahmachari.</p><br>
<p>Belbari Vidya Bharati Residential School: The residential school of Belbari- Joyphar is about 3 km from Borkona Kali Ashram is biggest residential school in rural Garo Hills. It hosts students from all major and minor tribal groups of Meghalaya.</p><br>
<p>The Khasi Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi range in the Indian state of Meghalaya , and is part of the Patkai range and of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion. In older sources in particular, the alternative transcription Khasia Hills is seen.</p><br>
<p>The region is inhabited mainly by tribal Khasi dwellers, which are traditionally in various chieftainships, states known as the Khasi Hill States. One of its capitals, Cherrapunji, is considered one of the wettest places in the world.</p><br>
<p>The region came under the Khasi Hills district, which was divided into West Khasi Hills and East Khasi Hills districts on 28 October 1976.</p><br>
<p>The highest peak is Lum Shyllong which is 1,968 m high. It is situated a few kilometers south of Shillong town.</p><br>
<h2>Administration</h2><br>
<p>Administratively, the Khasi Hills used to be a part of the Khasil Hills district. The district was divided into East Khasi Hills district and West Khasi Hills district on 28 October 1976. On 4 June 1992, the Ri-Bhoi District was carved out of the East Khasi Hills District.</p><br>
<p>The Lushai  Hills  are a mountain range in Mizoram and Tripura, India. The range is part of the Patkai range system and its highest point is 2,157 m high Phawngpui, also known as Blue Mountain.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>The hills are for the most part covered with dense bamboo jungle and rank undergrowth; but in the eastern portion, owing probably to a smaller rainfall, open grass-covered slopes are found, with groves of oak and pine interspersed with rhododendrons. The Blue Mountain is the highest peak in Lushai hills.</p><br>
<h2>Inhabitants</h2><br>
<p>These hills are inhabited by the Lushais and other Mizo tribes, but the population is extremely scanty. From the earliest known times the original inhabitants were Kukis, and the Lushais were not heard of until 1840, when they invaded the district from the north. Their first attack upon British territory took place in November 1849, and after that date they proved one of the most troublesome tribes on the north-east frontier of India; but operations in 1890 resulted in the complete pacification of the northern Lushai villages, and in 1892 the eastern Lushais were reduced to order.</p><br>
<p>The management of the South Lushai hill country was transferred from Bengal to Assam in 1898. To obtain more efficient control over the country the district has been divided into eighteen circles, each in charge of an interpreter, through whom all orders are transmitted to the chiefs. The Welsh Presbyterian Mission began work at Aizawl in 1897, and the people have shown unexpected readiness to accept education.</p><br>
<h2>Bibliography</h2><br>
<p>T. H. Lewin, Wild Races of N.E. India (1870)</p><br>
<p>Lushai Hills Gazetteer (Calcutta, 1906)</p><br>
<p>The Villa Farnesina is a Renaissance suburban villa in the Via della Lungara, in the district of Trastevere in Rome, central Italy.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The villa was built for Agostino Chigi, a rich Sienese banker and the treasurer of Pope Julius II. Between 1506–1510, the Sienese artist and pupil of Bramante, Baldassarre Peruzzi, aided perhaps by Giuliano da Sangallo, designed and erected the villa. The novelty of this suburban villa design can be discerned from its differences from that of a typical urban palazzo (palace). Renaissance palaces typically faced onto a street and were decorated versions of defensive castles: rectangular blocks with rusticated ground floors and enclosing a courtyard. This villa, intended to be an airy summer pavilion, presented a side towards the street and was given a U shaped plan with a five bay loggia between the arms. In the original arrangement, the main entrance was through the north facing loggia which was open. Today, visitors enter on the south side and the loggia is glazed.</p><br>
<p>Chigi also commissioned the fresco decoration of the villa by artists such as Raphael, Sebastiano del Piombo, Giulio Romano, and Il Sodoma. The themes were inspired by the Stanze of the poet Angelo Poliziano, a key member of the circle of Lorenzo de Medici. Best known are Raphaels frescoes on the ground floor; in the loggia depicting the classical and secular myths of Cupid and Psyche, and The Triumph of Galatea. This, one of his few purely secular paintings, shows the near-naked nymph on a shell-shaped chariot amid frolicking attendants and is reminiscent of Botticellis The Birth of Venus. This same "Galatea" loggia has a horoscope vault that displays the positions of the planets around the zodiac on the patron&#39;s birth date, 29 November 1466. The two main ceiling panels of the vault give his precise time of birth, 9:30 pm on that date.</p><br>
<p>At first floor level, Peruzzi painted the main salone with trompe-l&#39;œil frescoes of a painted grand open loggia with city and countryside views beyond. The perspective view only works from a fixed point in the room otherwise the illusion is broken. In the adjoining bedroom, Sodoma painted scenes from the life of Alexander the Great, the marriage of Alexander and Roxana, and Alexander receives the family of Darius.</p><br>
<p>The villa became the property of the Farnese family in 1577 (hence the name of Farnesina). Also in the 16th century, Michelangelo proposed linking the Palazzo Farnese on the other side of the River Tiber, where he was working, to the Villa Farnesina with a private bridge. This was initiated, remnants of a few arches are in fact still visible in the back of Palazzo Farnese towards via Giulia on the other side of the Tiber, but was never completed.</p><br>
<p>Later the villa belonged to the Bourbons of Naples and in 1861 to the Spanish Ambassador in Rome, Bermudez de Castro, Duke of Ripalta. Today, owned by the Italian State, it accommodates the Accademia dei Lincei, a long-standing and renowned Roman academy of sciences. Until 2007 it also housed the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe (Department of Drawings and Prints) of the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Roma.</p><br>
<p>The main rooms of the villa, including the Loggia, are open to visitors.</p><br>
<p>Watsons Hotel , now known as the Esplanade Mansion, is India&#39;s oldest surviving cast iron building. It is located in the Kala Ghoda area of Mumbai . Named after its original owner, John Watson, the building was fabricated in England and constructed on site between 1860 and 1863.</p><br>
<p>The hotel was leased on 26 August 1867 for the terms of 999 years at yearly rent of Rupees 92 and 12 annas to Abdul Haq. It was closed in the 1960s and was later subdivided and partitioned into smaller cubicles that were let out on rent as homes and offices. Neglect of the building has resulted in decay and, despite its listing as a Grade II–A heritage structure, the building is now in a dilapidated state.</p><br>
<h2>Design</h2><br>
<p>Watsons hotel was designed by the civil engineer Rowland Mason Ordish, who was also associated witah the St Pancras Station in London. The building was fabricated in England from cast iron components and was assembled and constructed on site. The external cast-iron frame closely resembles other high-profile 19th century buildings such as Londons Crystal Palace. The main façade of the hotel is distinguished by building wide open balconies on each floor that connected the guest rooms, which were built around the atrium in a courtyard arrangement.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>John Hudson Watson was born in 1818 in Castle Carrock, England to a farming family. He ran a successful drapery business in Bombay. His original plan for the building was to use it as additional office and showroom for his thriving drapery and tailoring businesses nearby. started to begin to ship pre-fabricated cast iron components from England as early as October 1865. The hotel was built between 1867 and 1869. The original design, as displayed on the painting in the Watson Institute, included plans for traditional European mansard roof, however it was never built.</p><br>
<p>John Watson opened the hotel as an exclusive whites-only hotel, and it one of the most renowned hotels in the city in those days. Then it was handed over to Hannah Maria Watson, by then the Secretary of State for India, wherein she entered into a lease deed with Sardar Abdul Haq, Diler ul Mulk, Diler ul Daula, for a term of nine hundred and ninety nine years on 26 August 1867.</p><br>
<p>Later on, another indenture was made on the date 22-12-1885, between the trustees of Port Trust of Bombay and Sardar Diler ul Mulk in which land on the Wellington Reclamation Estate in island of Bombay admeasurment of 8129 sq.yrds. was leased by the Sardar Abdul Haq for a term of fifty years from 01-01-1880.</p><br>
<p>The five-storied structure housed 130 guest rooms, as well as a lobby, restaurant and a bar at the ground level. The hotel also had a 30 x atrium, originally used as a ballroom, with a glass skylight. At its peak, Watson&#39;s hotel employed English waitresses in its restaurant and ballroom, inspiring a common joke at the time: "If only Watson had imported the English weather as well."</p><br>
<p>By 1920, Watson’s ceased to be a hotel and had been renamed Mahendra Mansion. It 1944, it was renamed Esplanade Mansion.</p><br>
<p>In 1960 it was converted into housing and offices accommodating.</p><br>
<p>After Watson&#39;s death, the hotel lost its popularity to the rival Taj Hotel. In the 1960s the hotel was closed. Sometime after this, it was subdivided and partitioned into small cubicles with independent access and let out on rent. Over the years, apathy toward the building by the residents has resulted the building decaying, and it is now in a dilapidated state. The atrium was subsequently used as a dumping ground and has several illegal constructions., building had 53 families and 97 commercial establishments. Most of the commercial establishments are chambers of lawyers attached to the adjacent Bombay Civil & Session Courts and the nearby Bombay High Court.</p><br>
<p>Sadik Ali, current owner of Esplanade Mansion, came to be the proprietor in early 80s after the building&#39;s then owners, the Tatas, sold it to him. He plans to redevelop the building in partnership with the tenants (it is virtually impossible for long term tenants to be removed in India).</p><br>
<h2>Notable guests</h2><br>
<p>Among the hotels notable guests was Mark Twain, who wrote about the citys crows he saw outside his balcony in Following the Equator. It was also the first place in India to screen the Lumière Brothers&#39; Cinematographe invention in 1896.</p><br>
<p>Muhammad Ali Jinnah used to play pool in the hotel, to make a little extra money for himself.</p><br>
<p>A popular myth surround the hotel was that the staff at Watson&#39;s Hotel denied Indian industrialist Jamsetji Tata access to the hotel. In retaliation he built the Taj Hotel, a hotel that stands near the Gateway of India, in 1903.</p><br>
<h2>Current state</h2><br>
<p>The buildings poor state of affairs has been commonly remarked, and efforts by heritage activists to persuade its present owner to invest in restoration have been unsuccessful. One of the possible reasons proffered for apathy is the fact that the rent collected is low as it has been frozen by government legislation. Just a few days after its nomination, part of the buildings western façade, originally balconies developed into small offices, collapsed, killing one person and crushing several cars and motorcycles parked in the street below. The building is listed as a Grade II–A heritage structure. On 13 June 2010, the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) gave its approval for the 130-year-old structure to be restored. The restoration work will be carried out by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).</p><br>
<p>The Maroon Bells are two peaks in the Elk Mountains, Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, separated by about a third of a mile. The mountains are on the border between Pitkin County and Gunnison County, Colorado, United States, about 12 miles southwest of Aspen. Both peaks are fourteeners. Maroon Peak, at 4,317.0 m, is the 27th highest peak in Colorado. North Maroon Peak, at 4,273.0 m, is the 50th highest. The view of the Maroon Bells to the southwest from the Maroon Creek valley is commonly photographed. The peaks are located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness of White River National Forest.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>A US Forest Service sign on the access trail refers to these mountains as "The Deadly Bells" and warns would-be climbers of "downsloping, loose, rotten and unstable" rock that "kills without warning". Unlike other mountains in the Rockies that are composed of granite and limestone, the Bells are composed of metamorphic sedimentary mudstone that has hardened into rock over millions of years. Mudstone is weak and fractures readily, giving rise to dangerously loose rock along almost any route. The mudstone is responsible for the Bells&#39; distinctive maroon color. The Bells got their "deadly" name in 1965 when eight people died in five separate accidents.</p><br>
<p>Maroon Lake (9,580&#39;) occupies a basin that was sculpted by Ice-Age glaciers and later dammed by landslide and rockfall debris from the steep slopes above the valley floor.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>The Maroon Bells are an increasingly popular destination for day and overnight visitors; over 300,000 people visit the Bells every season. Due to the volume of people, a bus service runs everyday from 8am-5pm from mid-June through the first weekend in October. During these times, and with just a few exceptions, personal vehicle access is limited to those with handicap placards or disability license plates. The bus runs from Aspen Highlands to Maroon Lake every 20 minutes. The Maroon Bells scenic area features several hiking trails ranging from short hikes near Maroon Lake to longer hikes into the Maroon-Snowmass Wilderness.</p><br>
<h2>Protection and Preservation</h2><br>
<p>Because the Maroon Bells area receives such high levels of visitor use, the USFS has established a long-term plan to protect and preserve the scenic area and larger wilderness areas. Solutions include the required use of bear canisters for backcountry campers, management of day and overnight use, leashed dog education and ticketing, reduction of heavy horse use in high use areas, and prohibiting overnight camping and excessive day use at particular sites.</p><br>
<p>Mount Hunter or Begguya is a mountain in Denali National Park in Alaska. It is approximately 8 mi south of Denali, the highest peak in North America. "Begguya" means child  in the Dena&#39;ina language. Mount Hunter is the third-highest major peak in the Alaska Range.</p><br>
<p>Mount Hunter has a complex structure: it is topped by a large, low-angled glacier plateau, connecting the North (Main) Summit and the South Summit (13,965 ft). Long, corniced ridges extend in various directions; between them are exceptionally steep faces.</p><br>
<h2>Naming of the mountain</h2><br>
<p>The native name for the mountain is Begguya, meaning "Denalis Child". Early prospectors referred to the mountain as Mount Roosevelt. In 1903, Robert Dunn, a reporter for the New York Commercial Advertiser, visited the area as part of Frederick Cooks attempt to climb Mount McKinley. He bestowed the name of his aunt Anna Falconnet Hunter (1885–1941), who financed his trip, on a high nearby mountain, prominent from the northwest. This was, in fact, a different peak, now known as Kahiltna Dome. The name Hunter was mistakenly applied to the present-day Mount Hunter by a government surveyor in 1906.</p><br>
<p>In October 2010, the South Summit was named Mount Stevens, after Ted Stevens (1923–2010), a former senator of Alaska.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing history</h2><br>
<p>Despite being much lower in elevation than Denali (formerly Mount McKinley), Mount Hunter is a more difficult climb, due to its steep faces and corniced ridges; it also sees far less traffic than its larger neighbor.</p><br>
<p>Fred Beckey, Heinrich Harrer and Henry Meybohm completed the first ascent in 1954, via the long West Ridge; this was a great accomplishment for the time, and used techniques such as extensive front-pointing which were unusual in the climbing world.</p><br>
<p>Beginning in 1977, with Michael Kennedy and George Lowe&#39;s climb of a route on the northwest face of Mount Hunter, this steep rock and ice face has been the scene of many landmark hard climbs.</p><br>
<h3>Notable ascents</h3><br>
<p>1954 West Ridge - first ascent of peak by Fred Beckey, Heinrich Harrer and Henry Meybohm</p><br>
<p>1977 Lowe-Kennedy, on the north face.</p><br>
<p>1979 South Spur by John Mallon Waterman (solo, 145 days)</p><br>
<p>1981 Moonflower Buttress (Alaska Grade 6: 5.8 A3 AI6 6100&#39;) first ascent to last rock band by Mugs Stump and Paul Aubry (NZ).</p><br>
<p>1983 Moonflower Buttress to summit, first complete ascent by Todd Bibler and Doug Klewin.</p><br>
<p>1989 Northwest Face first ascent by Conrad Anker and Seth S.T. Shaw, summit attained July 3, 1989.</p><br>
<p>1994 Deprivation, (Alaska Grade 6, Alpine ED+, 90deg ice) first ascent by Scott Backes and Mark Francis Twight.</p><br>
<p>1994 Wall of Shadows, (Alaska Grade 6, AI6+ 5.9 A4) first ascent by Greg Child and Michael Kennedy.</p><br>
<p>The New York Cancer Hospital  in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City was a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884. Located at 455 Central Park West between West 105th and 106th Streets, and built between 1884 to 1886 with additions made between 1889 and 1890, it was designed by Charles Coolidge Haight in the Late Gothic and French Chateau styles &ndash; inspired by the chateaux of the Loire Valley. It was the first hospital in the United States dedicated specifically for the treatment of cancer, and the second in the world after the London Cancer Hospital.</p><br>
<p>Around 1955, the hospital became Towers Nursing Home, and the building began its decline. It was designated a New York City landmark in 1976, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and was converted into luxury condominium apartments in 2001-05 designed by Perkins Eastman Architects.</p><br>
<h2>Beginning</h2><br>
<p>In the summer of 1884, former President Ulysses S. Grant developed throat cancer. He lived in a brownstone at 3 East 66th Street, and his ensuing decline caught the attention of the nation. Considered incurable, as well as contagious and shameful, Grant&#39;s death the following year brought awareness of the disease. Although his cancer was inoperable, others were more fortunate, since the development of anesthesia in the mid-19th century had finally given doctors a surgical treatment for cancer.</p><br>
<p>In the year of Grants diagnosis, John Jacob Astor III, Elizabeth H. Cullum, John E. Parsons, Thomas A. Emmet, Joseph W. Drexel and other prominent New Yorkers laid the cornerstone for the New York Cancer Hospital, the countrys first to devote itself exclusively to the care of cancer patients. Designed by Charles C. Haight and completed in 1887, the first portion of the hospital, designated solely for women, was at the southwest corner of 106th and Central Park West. At the dedication, Grant&#39;s physician, Fordyce Barker, said that cancer was not due to misery, to poverty, or bad sanitary surroundings, or to ignorance or to bad habits, but a disease afflicting the cultured, the wealthy and the inhabitants of salubrious localities.</p><br>
<p>In 1890 the hospital was expanded south, and in both sections Haight designed circular wards, about 40 feet in diameter, in part to facilitate better observation by a nurse at a central desk and in part because the design offered more space between the heads of the beds. Ventilation was a key concern, so a duct ran up the centers of the wards to remove what was said to be intense odors caused by the disease. Haight worked the round wards into the exterior architecture, which he executed in deep red brick and soft brown Belleville brownstone, with great conical towers irregularly placed on the three fronts.</p><br>
<p>The big, broad towers gave the hospital the character of a French château, like the Château de Chambord at Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, France, and made it one of the most important pieces of institutional architecture in New York even till today. It is widely said it would much more readily be taken for an art museum than for a hospital.</p><br>
<h2>Medical innovation</h2><br>
<p>During the hospitals inauguration, treatment for cancer was mostly palliative. The hospital offered what was considered the best treatments available for that time. Cancer treatment then meant, at best, easing pain and making the sufferer as comfortable as possible. Many patients came to the New York Cancer Hospital, in effect, to die, assuaged by morphine. Other forms of relief included carriage rides in Central Park and Sunday services in the hospitals Chapel of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, patron saint of the suffering.</p><br>
<p>From its beginnings, the NYCH seemed fraught with misfortune. Just months after laying the cornerstone to the new hospital, one of its primary benefactors, Elizabeth Hamilton Cullum, succumbed to uterine cancer. Coincidentally, John Jacob Astors wife, Charlotte Augusta Astor also died of uterine cancer just a week shy of the hospitals grand opening in December 1887, missing her chance to be presumably cured. Due in part to his generous financial contributions to the facility, the New York Cancer Hospital&#39;s first wing was appropriately dedicated the "Astor Pavilion".</p><br>
<p>Inspired as much by modern medical theory as by 16th-century French châteaux, the architect Charles Haight&#39;s round towers were designed to deter germs and dirt from accumulating in sharp corners, which at the time was considered a harboring ground for disease. An air shaft ran vertically through the center of each tower to prevent air from stagnating in the wards. This design was considered the very latest in 19th-century ventilation technology: The New York Times commented in 1888 that "altogether, the features marked a new departure in hospital construction and make this admirable structure a model of its kind."</p><br>
<p>The 20th century brought new techniques in cancer treatment, including radiation therapy. In 1921, Marie Curie visited the New York Cancer Hospital, by then renamed the General Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases, to see the brick and steel vault where the hospital kept its four grams of radium—at the time the largest accumulation in the world. Dr. Edward H. Rogers, who was escorting her, assured The Times that there is no case on record of anyone being injured in health by radium. He denied that Curie had been harmed by the radioactive material, saying she had been ill recently only from anemia. In this period the hazards of radium were beginning to emerge, sparking defensive claims by its proponents. She died in 1934, unsurprisingly due to radium poisoning. In retrospect, early radiation treatments were often worse than the disease they were meant to cure. Radiation caused severe burns and, in some cases, additional cancers. New York Cancer Hospital may have been hailed a success for its good intentions, but there was no end to the suffering of those within. Plagued by the growing death rate, the NYCH had its own crematorium located in the basement of the facility, all the more dreadful by the vision, through its gothic windows, of the tall smokestack to the west of the main building.</p><br>
<p>Largely because cancer remained so deadly, the hospital soon ran into financial troubles. It came to be known as "the Bastille," a place to be feared and avoided by patients and patrons. At the turn of the century, administrators of the beleaguered hospital changed its name to the General Memorial Hospital, and again in the early 1920s to the General Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases. Through the decades, the hospital endured its arduous dedication for its principle grounds of finding a cure for cancer.</p><br>
<p>In 1955, the General Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases moved out of the outdated Central Park West facility to its new location on the East Side. There it grew to become what is present day Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. It was during this time that the former New York Cancer Hospital building began its decline. Under the new ownership of nursing home magnate Bernard Bergman, it was turned into a facility called Towers Nursing Home. The nursing home later became infamous for its negligence and lack of standards. The elderly patients testified to "atrocious conditions," including inadequate heat, pest infestations, physical abuse and negligence. The patients weren&#39;t the only ones being neglected either. The old facilities were unkempt, filthy, and a "pungent odor" filled the air. The once immaculate building, became a sad derelict place. A state and federal investigation ensued, following a probe into allegations of Medicaid and Tax fraud that ultimately caused the home to close its doors in 1974. The former New York Cancer Hospital was left in such a disastrous condition following the closure of the nursing home that there were talks of demolition before the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the hospital building a historic landmark in 1976.</p><br>
<h2>Redevelopment</h2><br>
<p>The medical hospital, neglected, lay overgrown and vandalized for many decades. In the neighborhood the building become popularly known as "the castle" due to its gothic round towers. Through the years, many promising developers expressed interest in the decaying property. Among some of them were hotelier and real-estate developer Ian Schrager, best known as part owner of Studio 54, whose attempt to renovate the landmark into luxury apartments failed. The old hospital lay abandoned for nearly three decades until March 2000, when the Chicago-based developer MCL Companies became involved. With generous financing, Daniel E. McLean, president and chief executive of the MCL Companies bought the property for $21 million and began construction. But like numerous predecessors he was forced to halt the work due to financial holdups following the September 11 attacks. McLean envisioned a plan that called for massive renovation of the old hospital remnant into modern luxury condominiums, that includes a new modern 26-story tower adjacent to the landmark building. Among the new tenants would be Columbia University, who bought several entire floors to use as residence to house senior faculty and visiting dignitaries. The purchase by Columbia, as well as a new construction loan, allowed McLean&#39;s project to get back on track after work was halted due to lack of money following 9/11.</p><br>
<p>By early 2005, construction on the old landmark hospital, now called 455 Central Park West, had come to completion as condominiums, with units that sell for as much as $7 million. The new apartments in the old hospital building feature cavernous circular rooms, and lofty ceilings, those in the tower have splendid views overlooking Central Park. Tenants enjoy such amenities as a spa, indoor pool, and 24-hour concierge service. The building was, even then, reputed to be haunted.</p><br>
<p>The Alabama State Capitol, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the First Confederate Capitol, is the state capitol building for Alabama. It is located on Capitol Hill, originally Goat Hill, in Montgomery. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960.</p><br>
<p>Alabama has had five political capitals during its history. The first was the territorial capital in St. Stephens in 1817, followed by the state convention in Huntsville in 1819, then the first "permanent" capital in Cahaba in 1820. It was then moved to Tuscaloosa in 1826, until coming to rest in Montgomery in 1846. The current structure is the state&#39;s fourth purpose-built capitol building, with the first at Cahaba, the second at Tuscaloosa, and the last two in Montgomery. The first capitol building in Montgomery, located where the current building stands, burned after only two years. The current building was completed in 1851, although additional wings were added over the course of the following 140 years.</p><br>
<p>The current capitol building temporarily served as the Confederate Capitol while Montgomery served as the first political capital of the Confederate States of America in 1861, before being moved to Richmond, Virginia. Meeting in the Senate Chamber, the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States was drawn up by the Montgomery Convention on February 4, 1861. The convention also adopted the Permanent Constitution here on March 11, 1861. Over one hundred years later the third Selma to Montgomery march ended at the front marble staircase of the Capitol, with the marches and events surrounding them directly leading to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.</p><br>
<p>Architecturally, the building is Greek Revival in style with some Beaux-Arts influences. The central core of the building, as well as the east wing to the rear of the structure, is three-stories over a below-grade basement. The north and south wings are two-stories over a raised basement. The front facade that is seen today is approximately 350 ft wide and 119 ft tall from ground level to the top of the lantern on the dome.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>First capitol building</h3><br>
<p>The first capitol building to be built in Montgomery was designed by Stephen Decatur Button of Philadelphia. Andrew Dexter, one of Montgomery&#39;s founders, kept a prime piece of property empty in anticipation of the capital eventually being moved to Montgomery from Tuscaloosa. This property, atop what was then known as Goat Hill due to its use as a pasture, was chosen as the site for the new capitol building. Construction began in 1846, with the new building presented to the state on December 6, 1847.</p><br>
<p>Button&#39;s building was stuccoed brick, with two full stories set over a rusticated raised basement. A two-story monumental portico with six Composite columns, topped by a broad pediment, was centered on the middle five bays of the front elevation. A central dome, 40 ft in diameter, sat directly on a supporting ring at the main roof level behind the portico. The dome was crowned with an elaborate lantern patterned after the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. This first capitol building burned on December 14, 1849, little more than two years after its completion. The ruins were cleared by March 1850, with a new building soon to follow.</p><br>
<h3>Current capitol building</h3><br>
<p>The current capitol building was built from 1850 to 1851, with Barachias Holt as supervising architect. Holt, originally from Exeter, Maine, was a master mechanic by trade. Following his work on the capitol he created a successful sash, door, and blind factory in Montgomery.</p><br>
<p>The new building utilized the brick foundations and general layout of Buttons previous structure, with modifications by Holt. The modifications included a full three-story building over a basement and a three-story front portico, this time without a pediment. Holts dome was a departure from the previous work also, this time the wood and cast iron dome was supported on a ring of Corinthian columns and topped with a simple twelve-sided glazed lantern. John P. and James D. Randolph were the principal contractors. had previously completed extensive brickwork on the William Nichols-designed campus for the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. Randolph was in charge of the carpentry work, which was at least partially accomplished by subcontractors. Nimrod E. Benson and Judson Wyman were the building supervisors.</p><br>
<p>The new capitol building was first occupied by the Alabama Legislature on October 1, 1851. The clock over the portico was installed in February 1852. The clock, along with a bell, was purchased by the City of Montgomery and presented to the state in 1852. In proportion to the capitol building, the clock appears as a square white box with black dials and crowned with a gabled roof. The dials are 10 ft in diameter with 4 ft minute hands and a 3 ft hour hands. It has been criticized as architecturally inappropriate on various occasions since its initial installation. With the secession of Alabama and six other Deep South states and subsequent formation of the Confederacy in February 1861, the building served as its first capitol until May 22, 1861. A commemorative brass marker in the shape of a six-pointed star is set into the marble floor of the front portico at the precise location where Jefferson Davis stood on February 18, 1861, to take his oath of office as the only President of the Confederate States of America.</p><br>
<p>In 1961 Governor John Patterson flew a seven-starred version of the Stars and Bars over the capitol for several days in celebration of the centennial of the Civil War. His successor, George Wallace, raised the Confederate Battle Flag over the dome on April 25, 1963, the date of his meeting with USA Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to discuss desegregation at the University of Alabama, as a symbol of defiance to the federal government. The flag remained there for almost 30 years. Several African American legislators and members of the state chapter of the NAACP were arrested in 1988 after attempting to remove the flag. The flag was removed during renovations to the dome in 1991, and its return was barred by a 1993 state court decision, which ruled that a state statute from 1895 allows only the national and state flags to fly over the capitol building.</p><br>
<p>The building served as home to the Alabama Legislature until 1985, when it moved to the Alabama State House. Officially, this move was temporary, since the Alabama Constitution requires that the Legislature meet in the capitol. In 1984, a constitutional amendment was passed that allowed the Legislature to move to another building if the capitol were to be renovated. The renovation started in 1985 and was completed in 1992 by the architecture group Holmes and Holmes. Upon the reopening of the building, the Governor of Alabama and numerous other state offices moved back into the building, but the legislature remained at the State House.</p><br>
<p>On May 7, 2009, the legislature reconvened in the capitol building for the first time since September 20, 1985, due to flooding in the State House. This required some adapting, as the capitol did not have desks in the House chamber and those in the Senate chamber were 1861 replicas. Neither chamber has a computerized voting system. The capitol building&#39;s heating and air conditioning is supplied from the State House. Because the electricity had been turned off in the State House due to the flooding, there was no air conditioning in the capitol.</p><br>
<h2>The building</h2><br>
<h3>The exterior</h3><br>
<p>The original core of the building, as well as the subsequent additions, is essentially Greek Revival in style. The 1851 three-story core of the building features bays delineated by Doric pilasters and a monumental three-story hexastyle portico utilizing the Composite order. The original core of the building is 150 x, with an original central rear judiciary wing measuring 40 x. The first extension to the rear added another 70 x. Each side-wing is 100 x.</p><br>
<p>The additions started with an extension to the east wing on the building&#39;s rear facade in 1885. Then a south wing with Beaux-Arts influences was added in 1906. An externally identical north wing was completed in 1912. The matching side-wings were designed by Montgomery architect Frank Lockwood, in consultation with Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White. The symmetrical north and south side-wings are each joined to the 1851 structure with a hyphen. Each hyphen features a recessed two-story Ionic portico on the west facade. Both of the adjoining side-wings feature two-story hexastyle Ionic entrance porticoes on their north and south elevations, respectively. The west and east facades of these wings also feature decorative two-story hexastyle pseudo-porticoes with engaged Ionic columns. A new east wing addition with a new three-story tetrastyle portico was built during the 1985–92 restoration. The new portico includes columns that match the Composite order originals of the main entrance portico on the 1851 west elevation.</p><br>
<h3>The interior</h3><br>
<p>Upon entering the ground floor of the capitol building, one enters the main stair-hall. It is the location of cantilevered stairways that spiral up to the third floor. The twin cantilevered spiral staircases are among the buildings finest original architectural features. Due to his renown in Alabama and surrounding states as a bridge builder, the Alabama Legislature passed a special law that exempted him from the states manumission laws, which normally required that freed slaves leave the state within one year of gaining their freedom. During the post-war Reconstruction Era he served two terms in the Alabama House of Representatives, in the building that he had helped to design and build.</p><br>
<p>Immediately east of the stair-hall is the ground floor of the rotunda. From there, hallways leading to offices branch off into the north and south wings. The next major room on the ground floor is the old Supreme Court Chamber, part of the original capitol plan. Located in the east (rear) wing, it is the only portion of the wing dating back to 1851. It is a large rectangular room, one story high, with a concave entry wall and two robust Ionic columns visually dividing the space near the center of the room. Later east wing expansions continue on eastward from this room.</p><br>
<p>The second floor is accessed via the main stairhall. From there the open rotunda is accessed to the east. The rotunda leads to the east wing offices, the old Senate Chamber to the north and the old House of Representatives Chamber to the south.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the capitol building is centered on the axial rotunda, which is topped by a large dome. The rotunda is open from the second floor and through the third floor to the top of the dome. The dome interior is decorated with eight painted murals by Roderick MacKenzie, a Scottish-born artist who relocated to Alabama. The murals illustrate MacKenzie&#39;s artistic interpretation of the history of Alabama. They were executed on canvas from 1926 to 1930 at his Mobile studio and then shipped to Montgomery by railroad for installation in July 1930.</p><br>
<p>The murals depict the hostile meeting of Hernando de Soto and Tuskaloosa in 1540, the establishment of the colonial French capital of Mobile by Pierre Le Moyne d&#39;Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville from 1702 to 1711, the surrender of William Weatherford to Andrew Jackson in 1814, pioneers settling the Alabama wilderness in 1816, the drafting of the Constitution of Alabama in 1818, wealth and leisure during the antebellum era from 1840 to 1860, the inauguration of Confederate President Jefferson Davis on the capitol steps in 1861, and, finally, prosperity following the development of resources from 1874 to 1930.</p><br>
<p>Both legislative chambers date to the original 1851 construction. Both of them are rectangular in shape and extend upward through the third floor, with a mezzanine gallery on that level. The galleries in both chambers are supported by Corinthian columns. Those in the old Senate Chamber are gilded, while those in the old House of Representatives Chamber are simply painted. The old Senate Chamber is the smaller of the two legislative chambers, with a mezzanine in a circular pattern stretching around all four sides of the room, broken only above lectern platform. The old House Chamber is larger, with a curvilinear mezzanine on three walls that merges into each side wall before reaching the lectern platform wall.</p><br>
<p>The Old House Chamber was the site of several events leading to the Civil War. The Alabama Succession Convention met here on January 11, 1861, and voted to withdraw from the Union. Then, the Confederate States of America was organized here via a provisional constitution on February 4, 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected as its first president on February 9, 1861, and finally the permanent Confederate constitution brought into effect on March 11, 1861.</p><br>
<h2>The grounds</h2><br>
<p>The landscape plan for Capitol Hill surrounding the capitol building was originally designed by the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted in 1889. The grounds of Capitol Hill were surrounded by a cast iron fence from the 19th century into the first decades of the 20th. It was later removed and reused to enclose the Old Augusta Cemetery on Wares Ferry Road. The grounds still contain many trees and scrubs from the Olmsted design, in addition to numerous monuments.</p><br>
<h3>The main steps</h3><br>
<p>The principal access to the capitol building was originally via a long flight of steps leading to the front portico. These were much narrower than those in place today. They were replaced by new steps fabricated from Alabama marble in 1942. The modern steps are the same width as the portico and are edged with raised marble planters.</p><br>
<p>It was here that the third Selma to Montgomery march ended on March 25, 1965, with 25,000 protesters at the foot of the capitol steps on Dexter Avenue. Prominent protesters included Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Coretta Scott King, Ralph Bunche, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, John Lewis, James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, and Joan Baez. A delegation from the protestors attempted to see Governor George Wallace to give him a petition that asked for an end to racial discrimination in Alabama. The governor had sent word that he would see the delegation, but they were denied entry to the capitol grounds twice and told no one would be let through. State police surrounded the capitol and prevented the marcher&#39;s delegation entry to the grounds. Martin Luther King, Jr. then gave an impassioned speech at the base of the steps:</p><br>
<p>The delegation was later let through into the capitol, but were told that Wallace&#39;s office was closed for the day. The delegation later left, without having been able to give their petition to anyone. It read:</p><br>
<p>These steps remain as they were in 1965, although repairs were made during the 1992 renovation of the building. The steps have continued to be the rallying point for civil demonstrations over the succeeding years. Memorial Selma to Montgomery marches have ended at the steps on several occasions. The most recent, in honor of what would have been King&#39;s 83rd birthday, was held on January 15, 2012. On this occasion the marchers were greeted by Governor Robert J. Bentley.</p><br>
<p>The steps have seen protests by LGBT groups and immigration groups in recent years as well. The annual Vigil for Victims of Hate and Violence, sponsored by Equality Alabama, took place on the capitol steps on February 20, 2011, to heighten awareness of the lack of hate crime legislation to protect LGBT people in the state. Hundreds of protesters converged at the steps on December 17, 2011, to protest the passage of Alabama&#39;s strict new immigration law, Alabama HB 56.</p><br>
<h3>Confederate Memorial Monument</h3><br>
<p>On the north side of Capitol Hill there is a monument dedicated to Alabama&#39;s more than 122,000 Confederate veterans of the Civil War, known as the Confederate Memorial Monument. The 88 ft tall monument was dedicated on December 7, 1898, although it had been planned as early as November 1865. Funding for the monument included $20,000 in the form of two grants from the state legislature, $10,000 contributed by the Ladies Memorial Association of Alabama, $6,755 from the Historical and Monumental Association of Alabama that was formed in 1865 to support the erection of this monument, and $5,000 from politicians.</p><br>
<p>Design of the monument was done by Gorda C. Doud and executed by sculptor Alexander Doyle of New York City. The design features a stepped base surmounted by statuary representing the four branches of the military. Centered on top of this is a monumental bronze and limestone column, topped with a bronze figure by Doyle representing "Patriotism." The cornerstone was laid by Jefferson Davis on April 29, 1886.</p><br>
<p>The base was built with Alabama limestone from Russellville, but problems occurred with the limestone for the column being found to be faulty. Although records are not complete, recent analysis has indicated that the column was eventually built using stone from Bedford, Indiana. Relations between Doyle and his monument clients had soured by the late 1880s. The remaining granite figures for the base, representing the military branches, were contracted from Barnicoat Monuments in Quincy, Massachusetts.</p><br>
<p>Critics have repeatedly called for the monument&#39;s removal, stating that it promotes white supremacy. These removal attempts have met with considerable resistance from preservationists and others. The monument was vandalized in 2007, with black paint sprayed on the granite and limestone.</p><br>
<p>On the morning of June 24, 2015, state workers wordlessly removed the four flagpoles with flags intact containing the three Flags of the Confederate States of America, along with the Confederate Battle Flag on the orders of Governor Robert J. Bentley. This was done in the wake of the Charleston church shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015, after many companies and states, including South Carolina, responded to calls to remove the Battle Flag from being displayed in public venues or sold in stores. Bentley cited he found no laws or policies requiring the flags to stay up, and wanted to prevent any distractions to come from state legislative work.</p><br>
<h3>Avenue of Flags</h3><br>
<p>The Avenue of Flags is another major feature of the Alabama State Capitol grounds. It is a grouping of the flags of the USA states, with a native stone from each state, engraved with its name, set at the base of each flagpole. The flagpoles are arranged in a semi-circle between the Ionic portico of the capitol building&#39;s south wing and Washington Avenue. It was completed during the term of Governor Albert Brewer, being officially dedicated on April 6, 1968.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>The areas that are open for tourists are the entry stairhall, the old Governors Office, the old State Supreme Court, the old Supreme Court Library, the rotunda, the old House of Representatives, and the old Senate Chamber. Its buildings and grounds are maintained by the Alabama Historical Commission.</p><br>
<p>The Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, was the last home for Arizona&#39;s Territorial government, until Arizona became a state in 1912. Initially all three branches of the new state government occupied the four floors of the statehouse. As the state expanded the branches relocated to adjacent buildings and additions. The 1901 portion of the Capitol is now maintained as the Arizona Capitol Museum with a focus on the history and culture of Arizona. The Arizona State Library occupies the 1938 addition.</p><br>
<h2>Arizona Capitol Museum</h2><br>
<p>Museum Exhibits, Events and Programs focus on the evolution of Arizona from Territory to State and how Arizonans continue to affect their state through civic engagement. Topics include: Arizona state symbols, Arizona Approaching statehood, and the Arizona Constitution.</p><br>
<p>Visitors can enter the Historic House Chamber where the people can sit at the desks. There is also a room dedicated to the 140 changes in the Arizona Constitution over 100 years of statehood. The Governors office on the second floor has a wax figure of Arizonas First State Governor, George W.P. Hunt, and an exhibit that includes a flag used by Teddy Roosevelt&#39;s Rough Riders.</p><br>
<p>One impressive display shows the enormous silver and copper punchbowl service from the USS Arizona, as well as a bronze sculpture that was ensconced outside the Admiral&#39;s stateroom and used as a centerpiece at state dinners where ever the USS Arizona was docked. Both of these historical artifacts survived the sinking of the Arizona because they had been removed from the ship for cleaning prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The punchbowl service is the only one of its kind and is composed of etched copper panels depicting desert scenes set into a silver bowl ornamented with mermaids, dolphins, waves, and other nautical themes.</p><br>
<p>Of particular interest is the display of a collection of gifts received by Arizona as part of the "Merci Train" sent by France to the United States following World War II. The French wanted to thank America for sending 250 railroad cars full of fuel, oil, and food in 1948 during a time that the European countries were devastated by World War II. Tens of thousands of French citizens donated objects to be sent to the United States and it was decided that because the outpouring of goods was so great, one boxcar would be sent to each state with one being shared between the District of Columbia and the Territory of Hawaii. All of the items were to be loaded in "Forty and Eight"-type boxcars, named after the sign painted on them which stated that 40 men or 8 horses could be loaded inside. Each car was to be adorned with the coats of arms of all of the provinces of France. The capitol building displays work by the noted Arizona artist Lon Megargee.</p><br>
<p>The museum is launching a rental program for private rental. For the first time in history, this historic building will be the backdrop for receptions, business dinners and weddings.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The building was created as part of an effort to demonstrate that the Arizona Territory was ready for statehood. A design contest was won by James Riely Gordon, whose original plan called for the Capitol to be much larger, with a more prominent rotunda and large wings for both houses of the legislature on each side of the current building. Funding deficits meant the project had to be reduced, so the legislative wings were discarded from the plan and a small lead-alloy top substituted for Gordon&#39;s decorative dome.</p><br>
<p>Construction of the Capitol began in 1898, and it began operation in 1901. In 1918 and 1938, expansions were added on the west side of the building, which had the same architecture and increased the total square footage from the original 40,000 to a final 123,000. It was home to the Legislature until 1960, when the current house and senate buildings were constructed, and the Governors Office until 1974, when the executive tower was built. The state at that time had a plan of converting the original Capitol into a museum dedicated to Arizonas history. The original opening of the Arizona Capitol Museum was announced by Governor Bruce Babbitt at his inauguration in 1978, and hosted over 40,000 schoolchildren in that first year in 1979. After a restoration, the building was re-opened as a museum in 1981. In the 1990s, more than $3 million was spent to renovate the Capitol and rooms were restored to their original design. Again, due to budget deficits, construction was stopped on a few rooms on the third floor and they remain incomplete. The Capitol is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>On January 14, 2010, the Arizona State Department of Administration reported that it had sold the surrounding state buildings to private investors: the tower, the two flanking legislative buildings, and other state structures. The Old Capitol was not part of this transaction.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The building is made largely from materials indigenous to Arizona, including malapai, granite, and the copper dome. The design is optimized for the desert climate of Arizona, with thick masonry walls that insulate the interior, skylights, and round "bullseye" clerestory windows to let heat out of the legislative chambers. The building is topped with a windvane similar to the Winged Victory of Samothrace, visible through a skylight from within the rotunda.</p><br>
<h2>Capitol Mall Renovation Proposal</h2><br>
<p>As Arizonas population has grown, the Capitol complex itself has become increasingly crowded. The Senate and House buildings, opened in 1960, have been deteriorating. The Senate in particular is prone to constant plumbing problems, and occasionally a broken pipe floods the entire building. The Capitol itself is now used exclusively as a museum, and serves over 70,000 visitors each year, including more than 50,000 school children. In the past complaints had been made that the site was not pleasing aesthetically, and compare the Senate and House buildings as oversized "bunkers" which eclipse the beauty of the Capitol. A task force appointed by the state legislature in 2007 reported that the complex is "barely" adequate to suit the states current needs and "wholly" inadequate to suit the state&#39;s future needs. As a result, proposals were made in 2008 to renovate or rebuild the Capitol site, to a grander site, as well as a site that will serve the needs of the government more adequately. To date, keeping the integrity of the museum in original condition, including the "cramped" spaces of the Senate and the House have been the main focus for the Capitol Museum curator and staff. The building, as it was used in the past is part of the state history.</p><br>
<p>Proposals for relocating some office and meeting space back into the Capitol included the House and Senate buildings undergo either a drastic rebuilding and expansion, or a complete demolition and construction of new facilities for the House and Senate. A past Arizona State University study planned a comprehensive redesign for the entire Capitol mall and complex.</p><br>
<h2>Arizona State Capitol Museum gallery</h2><br>
<p>The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the House of Representatives, as well as the office of the Governor of the State of Connecticut. The Connecticut Supreme Court  sits across Capitol Avenue in a different building.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The current building is the third capitol building for the State of Connecticut since the American Revolution.</p><br>
<p>The General Assembly of Connecticut (state legislature) met alternately in Hartford and New Haven since before the American Revolution. When in Hartford, the General Assembly met in the Old State House, designed in 1792 by Charles Bulfinch, and when sitting in New Haven, in a State House designed in 1827 by Ithiel Town. After the Civil War, the complications of this plan began to be evident, and both Hartford and New Haven competed to be sole state capital. Hartford won, and the new sole capital needed one central capitol building. The General Assembly authorized a million dollar project, and two competitors, James G. Batterson and Richard M. Upjohn, vied to be awarded the project. Upjohn won, but Batterson, a stone importer and merchant and not an architect, was named the building contractor. Batterson then continually revised the Upjohn plan to more and more closely resemble his own plan. The central tower, for example, is Battersons, not Upjohns. Battersons extensive elaboration of Upjohns plan ended up more than doubling the cost to over $2,500,000.</p><br>
<p>Richard M. Upjohn&#39;s design is in the Eastlake style, with French and Gothic Revival styled elements. Construction of the building began in 1871. The building was completed in 1878, and it opened for the session of the General Assembly of Connecticut in January 1879. The New York Times described the newly constructed building: "a vast mass of white marble (is) this imposing structure, and in the dazzling sunshine of a New-England Summer noon sparkles like a fairy palace of frost work."</p><br>
<p>The site of the Capitol was chosen since it is adjacent to Bushnell Park and had access to more surrounding open space than the older building in the immediate downtown. The site was originally the location of the old Trinity College and was then known as "Trinity Hill", and the city street to the immediate east is still named Trinity Street. (Trinity College relocated to a new campus south of the downtown.)</p><br>
<p>There are some galleries of historical artifacts on the buildings main floor, principally battle standards of Civil War units. The flags were deposited with the state by 10,000 of the states veterans, who formed a procession to the Capitol, and deposited 30 regimental flags on September 17, 1879. This action was taken to make the building a memorial to the Civil War.</p><br>
<p>The building suffered some crowding of offices, and the introduction of partition walls and other temporary expediants which detracted from the plan of the building up to 1979 and 1989 when efforts began at restoration.</p><br>
<p>The State Capitol was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1971.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The building is one of the largest Eastlake style buildings. The exterior is of marble from East Canaan, Connecticut and granite from Westerly, Rhode Island. The building is roughly rectangular, the interior spaces organized around two open interior courts that run vertically to large skylights. In the center is a third circular open rotunda beneath the dome. The larger hall of the House of Representatives forms an extension on the south side.</p><br>
<p>The buildings ornately decorated facades display statuary and include several statues, medallions and carved tympana over the doors (except the west, which only has statues). The statues are of politicians and other people important to the states history, such as: the Reverend Thomas Hooker (1586–1647), Major John Mason (1600–1672), Governor John Winthrop, Jr. (1605/1606–1676), Roger Sherman (1721–1793), Revolutionary War Governor Jonathan Trumbull (1710–1785), Noah Webster (1758–1843), General Joseph Hawley (1826–1905), Civil War Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (1802–1878), and United States Senator Orville Hitchcock Platt (1827–1905). There are 24 niches for sculpture, eight of which are still empty. The last one added was that of Ella T. Grasso (b. 1919), the first female governor of the state, who died in 1981 of cancer shortly after resigning her office.</p><br>
<p>There are high relief scenes from the state&#39;s history in the 16 tympana above the doors, except for the carving above the main north door, which is of the state seal. The typanum of the main east door holds The Charter Oak by Charles Salewski, the first piece of sculpture created for the Capitol. The interior floors used white marble and red slate from Connecticut, and some of the colored marble is from Italy.</p><br>
<p>The statues, medallions, and tympana are grouped by period. The north facade has six statues, five tympana, and two medallions, and the carvings are of pre-Revolutionary War figures. The east and west facades contain people from the Revolutionary War or government service, and the south facade&#39;s figures are from the Civil War and onwards.</p><br>
<p>The central domed tower is distinctive. The dome itself is 32 ft tall; on top of that is a cupola 55 ft in height, and the drum below is 75 ft, making the drum taller than the 70 ft height of the main walls. The overall height of the tower is 257 ft.</p><br>
<p>The building&#39;s dome originally had a large statue on top of it, named The Genius of Connecticut, which was taken down in 1938 after being damaged in the great hurricane of that year. The statue was cast in bronze from a plaster original, and was 17.833 ft tall, and weighed 7,000 lb. It was executed in Rome, Italy and was cast in Munich, Germany. During World War II, the piece was donated to the federal government and melted down as part of the war effort to make ammunition and machine parts. The original plaster statue is now at the capitol, and has been coated in bronze. In 2002, Proposed Bill No. 5273 before the General Assembly sought authorization to make a new casting of the statue to restore the design for the capitol dome.</p><br>
<p>The project finally passed in 2009, and a new bronze cast has been made. It has not yet been mounted on the summit of the dome, awaiting an additional $200,000 in funding.</p><br>
<p>At the exterior base of the dome are 12 statues in six pairs representing Agriculture, Commerce, Education/Law, Force/War, Science/Justice, and Music.</p><br>
<p>The interior has two matching ornate open stairwells and all of the building interior is painted in a multi-colored scheme continuing the 1870s Eastlake design aesthetic throughout.</p><br>
<h2>Contemporary use</h2><br>
<p>The Connecticut State Capitol today houses the chambers of the Connecticut State Senate and the Connecticut House of Representatives. It also contains the offices of the Governor of Connecticut, Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, Connecticut Secretary of State, and several legislative committee offices. Typically, offices located in the Capitol are three digits, while offices located in the adjacent Legislative Office Building are four digits.</p><br>
<p>The Capitol Building is open to the public, with self-guided and guided tours available on weekdays. Guided tours begin inside the West Entrance of the Legislative Office Building.</p><br>
<p>Lake Kawaguchi is located in the border Fujikawaguchiko and Minobu, southern Yamanashi Prefecture near Mount Fuji, Japan. It is the second largest of the Fuji Five Lakes in terms of surface area, and is located at the lowest elevation. It is situated at an altitude of approximately 800 metres, which accounts for its relatively cool summers and frequently icy winters. It also has the longest shoreline of any of the Fuji Five Lakes.</p><br>
<p>The lake is within the borders of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.</p><br>
<p>The lake has no natural outlet, and flooding of settlements on its shores was a problem until the construction of a canal, completed in 1914, to connect it to a tributary of the Sagami River.</p><br>
<p>As with the other Fuji Five Lakes, the area is a popular resort, with many lakeside hotels, windsurfing facilities, camp sites, and excursion boats. Japanese crucian carp and wakasagi were introduced to the lake in the Meiji period, and sports fishing is also popular. Lake Kawaguchi is the most popular of the Fuji Five Lakes in terms of tourists, and has the most developed tourist infrastructure. The area also serves as a major hub for those wishing to climb Mount Fuji during the climbing season (July and August).</p><br>
<p>In 2013 the lake was added to the World Heritage List as part of the Fujisan Cultural Site.</p><br>
<p>Monte Fitz Roy  is a mountain in Patagonia, on the border between Argentina and Chile. It is located in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, near El Chaltén village. First climbed in 1952 by French alpinists Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone, it remains among the most technically challenging mountains for mountaineers on Earth.</p><br>
<p>Patagonia clothing founder Yvon Chouinard used Monte Fitz Roy as the basis for the company&#39;s logo, after his ascent of the mountain, and subsequent film, in 1968.</p><br>
<h2>Discovery</h2><br>
<p>Argentine explorer Francisco Moreno first saw the mountain on 2 March 1877. He named it Fitz Roy, in honour of Robert FitzRoy, who, as captain of the HMS Beagle had travelled up the Santa Cruz River in 1834 and charted large parts of the Patagonian coast.</p><br>
<p>Cerro is a Spanish word meaning hill, while Chaltén comes from a Tehuelche (Aonikenk) word meaning "smoking mountain", due to a cloud that usually forms around the mountain&#39;s peak. Fitz Roy, however, was only one of a number of peaks the Tehuelche called Chaltén.</p><br>
<h2>Setting</h2><br>
<p>It has been agreed by Argentina and Chile that their international border detours eastwards to pass over the main summit, but a large part of the border to the south of the summit, as far as Cerro Murallón, remains undefined. The mountain is the symbol of the Argentine Santa Cruz Province, which includes its representation on its coat of arms.</p><br>
<h2>Notable ascents</h2><br>
<p>1952 Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone via Southeast Ridge (aka Franco-Argentine Ridge)(First Ascent - February 2, 1952)</p><br>
<p>1965 Carlos Comesaña and José Luis Fonrouge (from Argentina) via Supercanaleta (1,600m, TD+ 5.10 90deg) in 2-1/2 days (Second Ascent)</p><br>
<p>1968 Southwest Ridge aka The Californian Route (3rd ascent of peak). FA by Yvon Chouinard, Dick Dorworth, Chris Jones, Lito Tejada-Flores and Douglas Tompkins (all from USA).</p><br>
<p>1972 Southeast Ridge (4th ascent of peak). Ian Wade, Dave Nicol, Mo Anthoine, Guy Lee, Larry Derby & Eddie Birch. Ian & Larry from USA others UK.</p><br>
<p>In 1980 following the Col Americano route Gino Casassa, Chilean, monitor of the Andinism Federation of Chile, and Walter Bertsch, from Austria, arrived the peak together. Alejandro Izquierdo (Chilean too), arrived just to 2800 mts.</p><br>
<p>1984 Franco Argentina Route by Marcos Couch, Eduardo Brenner, Alberto Bendiger y Pedro Friedrich.</p><br>
<p>2002 Dean Potter, solo Supercanaleta</p><br>
<p>2009 Colin Haley, solo Supercanaleta</p><br>
<p>2009 Matthew McCarron, solo The Californian Route</p><br>
<p>2012 Jorge Morales and Alejandro Heres broke the speed record of ascent.</p><br>
<p>2014 Between the 12th and 16 February, Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold completed the first ascent of the much discussed "Fitz Traverse", climbing across the iconic ridge-line of Cerro Fitz Roy and its satellite peaks in southern Patagonia.</p><br>
<p>The Rengstorff House was one of the first houses to be built in Mountain View, California. It was built c. 1867 by Henry Rengstorff, a prominent local businessman who operated a ferry between San Francisco and Mountain View. It is built in the Italianate Victorian architecture style. The house&#39;s three-bay front facade features an entrance pavilion topped by a balustrade and a pediment on the middle bay.</p><br>
<p>The house was located about a mile from the present location at Shoreline Park. It was saved from destruction in the 1970s, but remained abandoned for many years, until the 1980s when the house was finally restored. There are stories of Hells Angels driving their motorcycles up and down the dilapidated staircase.</p><br>
<p>The house is open for guided tours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays. Docents in period costume talk about the antique Victorian furnishings and decorative details. The English gardens are open during public hours as well.</p><br>
<p>Winter Hill is a hill on the border of the boroughs of Chorley, Blackburn with Darwen and Bolton, in North West England. It is located on Rivington Moor, Chorley and is 1,496 ft high. Part of the West Pennine Moors, it is a popular walking area, and has been the site of mining activity, aeroplane disasters and murders.</p><br>
<p>Its prominent position made it the ideal site for the Winter Hill TV Mast, transmitting to a large part of North West England. There is also a number of other telecommunication masts and towers around the summit and side of the hill for mobile phones, Professional Mobile Radio users and emergency services. Lancashire Constabulary was the first to use the site for one of their base stations in 1950; they had to build the road and it is said to have been built by policemen.</p><br>
<p>Paths to the summit lead from Belmont & Rivington in Chorley Borough, as well as Horwich and Blackrod in Bolton Borough. The summit can be reached via a short walk from the top of a road pass 1¼ miles west of Belmont. The hill is a distinctive feature on the skyline for most of the borough of Chorley and further afield due to its unusual shape. Winter Hill&#39;s topographic prominence results in it being classified as a Marilyn. The trig point on its summit marks the highest point in Blackburn with Darwen whereas the highest point in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton appears 440 yards away on its south east slope at 1,467 feet above sea level.</p><br>
<p>It offers views over the Greater Manchester Urban Area, including Manchester city centre, the Civic Centre in Oldham, Salford, Werneth Low, Wigan and Bolton. In clear weather conditions, it also offers views of Blackpool Tower, Jodrell Bank Observatory, Snaefell in the Isle of Man, the Cumbrian mountains, Snowdonia in North Wales, Liverpool, Southport, the Irish Sea, Peak District, the Pennines and much of the North West of England. On a clear day the summit offers a view of four national parks - The Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Peak District and Snowdonia.</p><br>
<p>The Rivington area contains remains of Lever Park and the private gardens constructed for William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme in which several listed structures remain today.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The bare hill top was once covered by woodland that may have been destroyed by fire and it is thought that the hill was once inhabited, though no remains have been found. There is a Bronze Age round cairn dating from 1600–1400 BC on the hill. A stone axe dating from 2500 BC has also been found in the area in the River Douglas in Tigers Clough. A flint knife and two arrowheads were also discovered.</p><br>
<h3>Burial mounds</h3><br>
<p>Two burial mounds dating from the Bronze Age are located near the peak. On 24 March 1957, two men discovered "curved lines of stones" sticking out of the peat forming a two feet high wall which surrounded a raised area in the middle. In July 1958, a group from the University of Manchester excavated the central mound only to find it had been excavated 250 years earlier. The site was thought to have originated from 1500 BC in the Middle Bronze Age.</p><br>
<p>The second mound was found higher up the hill on the southern edge of Noon Hill. The site was excavated in August 1958 by the, revealing two lines of stones and human remains.</p><br>
<h3>Two Lads</h3><br>
<p>Two memorial cairns on the hill are known as Wilder Lads or Two Lads. There are differing opinions on why they were erected. Details of the site were recorded in 1776 and 1883. Thomas Hampson in 1883 described Two Lads as the graves of two children of a Saxon king, Edgar and recorded that Winter Hill was previously known as Edgar Hill. The cairns could mark the site on which two boys lost their way on the moor and died of exposure in a snowstorm.</p><br>
<h3>Scotsman's Stump</h3><br>
<p>On 9 November 1838 George Henderson, a Scottish merchant walking over the hill from Bolton to Blackburn, was murdered by gunshot along the road directly opposite where the television station now stands. James Whittle, a 22-year-old collier from Belmont, was brought to court and found guilty of murder. However, he was found not guilty at a second trial in Lancaster. There is an iron post with a plaque on the hill in memory of the victim erected in 1912, replacing a tree that was earlier planted opposite the television station. This is known as Scotsman&#39;s Stump.</p><br>
<h3>Air disaster</h3><br>
<p>On 27 February 1958, a Silver City Bristol 170 Freighter (G-AICS) travelling from the Isle of Man to Manchester crashed into Winter Hill several hundred yards away from the transmitter. Thirty-five people died and seven were injured. The weather that night (note: the ICAO report states that the accident occurred at 9:15 in the morning) was so severe that none of the engineers working in the ITA transmitting station were aware of the crash. Several feet of snow hampered rescue efforts, and a snow cat vehicle had to be diverted from the A6 to cut a path for emergency vehicles though the track had been cleared by people using spades by the time it arrived. A documentary was made about the disaster.</p><br>
<p>There have been several other aircraft crashes around Winter Hill. A two-seater aircraft crashed there in the 1920s. During World War II an American Fairchild UC-61 Forwarder (41-54885) of 5th Air Depot Group crashed on 7 August 1942. In the following year, on 12 November 1943, the crew of a Wellington Bomber (Z8799) from 28 Operational Training Unit, flying from Blackpool to Manchester, were killed when it crashed just to the North of Winter Hill, on Hurst Hill, Anglezarke Moor. The following month, 24 December 1943, an Airspeed Oxford (BM837) of 410 Squadron crashed on the hill. Other crashes have included several Spitfires, Hurricanes and a Gloster Meteor which crashed in 1953. In September 1965 a RAF De Havilland Chipmunk flew into the hill in cloud, without serious injury to the crew. The last crash occurred in October 1968 when a Cessna 172 force-landed between Winter Hill and Rivington Pike.</p><br>
<h3>UFO sightings</h3><br>
<p>UFOs have been reported on Winter Hill. In 1950, a witness described a "dark flat iron shaped object hovering close to the ground" and an encounter with a being that returned to a craft before disappearing. In 1999, in what became known as the "Murphy Incident", a farmer said he saw an object hovering over his cattle field. On investigation, the object moved away and the farmer reported the incident to the police. The farmer returned to the field and discovered the object had reappeared. He reported the incident to the Manchester Aerial Phenomena Investigation Team (MAPIT), who investigated it. While MAPIT was conducting its investigation, they alleged they were being followed by a man in a vehicle. The farmer reported that he was warned by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food but has not been traced since the incident, and the current owner has not spoken about it.</p><br>
<p>The UK government released previously classified information on UFO sightings in May 2006, one picture appeared to show an unidentified object over Winter Hill.</p><br>
<p>Yellowstone Falls consist of two major waterfalls on the Yellowstone River, within Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States. As the Yellowstone river flows north from Yellowstone Lake, it leaves the Hayden Valley and plunges first over Upper Yellowstone Falls and then a quarter mile  downstream over Lower Yellowstone Falls, at which point it then enters the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which is up to 1,000 feet  deep.</p><br>
<h2>Upper Yellowstone Falls</h2><br>
<p>The upper falls (44&deg;42&prime;46&Prime;N latitude, 110&deg;29&prime;59&Prime;W longitude) are 109 feet (33 m) high. The brink of the upper falls marks the junction between a hard rhyolite lava flow and weaker glassy lava that has been more heavily eroded.</p><br>
<h2>Lower Yellowstone Falls</h2><br>
<p>Cascading from the 590,000 year old Canyon Rhyolite lava flow, Lower Yellowstone Falls is the largest volume waterfall in the Rocky Mountains of the United States. These falls (44&deg;43&prime;05&Prime;N latitude, 110&deg;29&prime;46&Prime;W longitude) are 308 ft high, or nearly twice as high as Niagara Falls. The volume of water flowing over Lower Yellowstone Falls can vary from 680 ft3/s in the autumn, to 8,400 ft3/s at peak runoff in late springtime. The flow rate of Lower Yellowstone Falls is much less than that of Niagara Falls, as the Yellowstone River is only 70 ft at the point at which it goes over the lower falls, whereas the Niagara River is 2,600 ft in width as it approaches the crest line of Horseshoe Falls.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>It is likely that Native American tribes knew of the falls for centuries. Captain William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition made a note in his journal about hearing of the falls but did not believe the story. The first European to see the falls was likely French fur trapper Baptise Ducharme who claimed to see the falls in 1824, 1826 and 1839. Jim Bridger and fellow explorer James Gremmell claimed they visited the falls in 1846. In 1851, Bridger provided missionary Father Pierre-Jean De Smet a map showing the location of the falls. The Cook–Folsom–Peterson Expedition, a private group of three explorers named the falls in 1869. The earliest images of the falls were drawn by Private Charles Moore, a member of the USA Army escort of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition which explored the Yellowstone River in August–September 1870. During the Hayden Expedition of 1871, the falls were documented in photographs by William Henry Jackson and later in paintings by Thomas Moran. In January 1887, Frank Jay Haynes took the first winter photographs of the lower falls.</p><br>
<p>Over the years the estimates of the height of Lower Falls has varied dramatically. In 1851 Jim Bridger estimated its height at 250 feet. One outrageous newspaper story from 1867 placed its height at "thousands of feet". A map from 1869 gives the falls its current name of Lower Falls for the first time and estimates the height at 350 feet.</p><br>
<p>However the current map lists the Lower Falls at a height of 308 feet.</p><br>
<h2>Viewing the falls</h2><br>
<p>Today, there are numerous vantage points for viewing the falls. The Canyon loop road skirts the west side of the canyon with several vehicle parking areas. One trail leads down to the brink of the lower falls, a steep third of a mile (600 m). Uncle Tom&#39;s Trail descends from the east down a series of stairs attached to the cliffs.</p><br>
<p>The Lower Falls area is located just to the south and east of Canyon Village in Yellowstone National Park. A one-way loop drive starting south from Canyon Junction takes one to the brink of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and offers four viewpoints, with the first stop at the trail that leads to the top of the Lower Falls. The one-way drive continues east and north past the other viewpoints, rejoining the main Grand Loop road from the east at Canyon Junction once more.</p><br>
<h2>Image Gallery</h2><br>
<p>Wetar is a tropical island which belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku and is the largest island of the Maluku Barat Daya Islands  of the Maluku Islands. It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which include nearby Alor and Timor, but it is politically part of the Maluku Islands. To the south, across the Wetar Strait, lies the island of Timor; at its closest it is 50 km away. To the west, across the Ombai Strait, lies the island of Alor. To the southwest is the very small island of Liran, which is also part of Wetar district  and, further southwest, the small East Timorese island of Atauro. To the north is the Banda Sea and to the east lie Romang and Damar Islands, while to the southeast lie the other principal islands of the Barat Daya Islands. Including Liran, Wetar has an area of 2,651.9 km, and had a population of 7,916 at the 2010 Census.</p><br>
<p>Wetar is one of the 92 officially listed outlying islands of Indonesia.</p><br>
<p>The principal towns on Wetar are Lioppa in the northwest, Ilwaki in the south, Wasiri in the north, Masapun in the east, and Arwala in the northeast. These are connected by roads.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Wetar is 120 km long (measured from to east-most tip to west-most tip), and about 43 km north-to-south. It has an area of approximately 2652 km. It is surrounded by coral reefs and deep seas. The highest point on the island is 1412 m.</p><br>
<p>Wetar is part of a volcanic island arc which includes the other Barat Daya Islands and the Banda Islands, created by the collision of the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is not, however, principally of volcanic origin, being instead mainly oceanic crust that has been lifted by the plate collision. The stratovolcano Gunungapi Wetar forms an isolated island to the north of Wetar.</p><br>
<p>There are a number of gold mines on Wetar, which have been poorly managed and constitute an environmental concern.</p><br>
<p>Along with other nearby islands, it formed part of Wallacea, the area of deep water separated from both the Asian and Australian continental shelves. This region is known for its unusual fauna, and Wetar is no exception. It has 162 species of birds, three of which are endemic, and four of which are endangered. Rainfall is highly seasonal based on the monsoon, and the islands are mostly covered in tropical dry broadleaf forests that are partly deciduous, with many trees losing their leaves in the dry season. It forms part of the Timor and Wetar deciduous forests ecoregion.</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<p>There are a number of Malayo-Polynesian languages endemic to Wetar and the nearby islands of Liran and Atauro. Called Wetarese, they are Aputai, Ili&#39;uun, Perai, and Tugun. There is also Talur, a dialect of Galoli of East Timor. These are spoken by small groups of about 1,000 people each. The national language Indonesian and regional Ambonese Malay are commonly used.</p><br>
<p>The main economic activity on Wetar is subsistence agriculture, principally of sago. Tortoise shells are also gathered and exported to countries where the trade is not banned.</p><br>
<h2>Endemic fauna</h2><br>
<p>Wetar ground-dove</p><br>
<p>Wetar figbird</p><br>
<p>Wetar Island python</p><br>
<p>Wetar lorikeet</p><br>
<p>The Balintang Channel is the small waterway that separates the Batanes and Babuyan Islands, both of which belong to the Philippines, in the Luzon Strait.</p><br>
<h2>Notable events</h2><br>
<h3>2013 shooting incident</h3><br>
<p>The 2013 Guang Da Xing No. 28 incident, also known as the Balintang Channel incident was a fatal shooting incident that occurred on 9 May 2013 involving the Taiwanese fishing boat Guang Da Xing No. 28 and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) patrol boat Maritime Control Surveillance 3001, which led to the death of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) by gunfire from the Philippine vessel. The Philippines&#39; National Bureau of Investigation recommended that homicide be charged against the eight PCG personnel.</p><br>
<p>The Frenchmans Cap is a mountain in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The mountain is situated in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park.</p><br>
<p>At 1,446 m above sea level, it is within the top thirty highest mountains in Tasmania.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The mountain lies east of the West Coast Range, yet due to its prominence, it can be seen from Macquarie Harbour. It lies south of the Lyell Highway from which it can be viewed from various locations, and south west of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.</p><br>
<p>The peaks of the Frenchmans area include Frenchmans Cap (1,443 m), Clytemnestra and Philps Peak (both 1,280 m), and Philps Ridge (1,200 m).</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The mountain lies in traditional lands of Tasmanians. They named the peak maberlek.</p><br>
<p>Even though the peak was an early landmark for ships sailing the west coast, the first recorded use of Frenchmans Cap was in 1822 in connection with Macquarie Harbour Penal Station, from where the peak was visible. The origin of the name is attributed to its appearance from some angles as looking like a Frenchman&#39;s cap, notably the Liberty cap worn during the French Revolution (1789–1799).</p><br>
<p>A variation of that was reported by Henry Widdowson, who wrote in 1829 that the name was derived from "its generally being covered with snow and bearing some resemblance to the shape of dress which invariably adorns the head of a French Cook".</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The distinctive shape of the mountain was used as a guiding beacon by many, largely unsuccessful, parties of escaping convicts as they attempted to struggle through the dense scrub of Western Tasmania to the settled districts further east. It was mentioned as a geographical reference in the account later dictated by convict Alexander Pearce to authorities, following his capture.</p><br>
<p>The earliest European recorded to have ascended was James Sprent and his trigonometrical party in 1853.</p><br>
<p>In 1941 the Frenchmans Cap National Park was created and its boundary was in effect the Franklin River. This park was subsumed into the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park in the 1990s.</p><br>
<p>The country around the mountain is invariably referred to by the books and the material written about the Franklin River. Johnson Dean&#39;s book gives a graphic account with maps and pictures the nature of the country.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>Access to the mountain is usually via hiking and then climbing the summit with the main access point on the Lyell Highway. Parks and Wildlife Service and other authorities in Tasmania have advice about the access and preparation needed - due to the conditions of the area.</p><br>
<p>The track is repeatedly overgrown, due to the vegetation and the rainfall of the area.</p><br>
<p>The walk to the peak along the well marked track typically takes two days. The first day of about 16 km will bring walkers to Lake Vera Hut. This part of the walk includes two steep and prolonged ascents separated by the boggy Loddon Plains. The so-called "Sodden Loddons" are almost always muddy and crossing them may take two hours or more. In wet weather the mud can be waist high. In summer it is only knee high. Water is plentiful (and drinkable) in all seasons. Walk time from Lyell Highway to Lake Vera is between six and eight hours.</p><br>
<p>The second day&#39;s walk is shorter at 9 km, but steeper. After walking along the shores of Lake Vera the next two hours are spent struggling up the steep inclines to Barron Pass. Once on top the walker is presented with a dramatic view of Frenchmans Cap. From Barron Pass it is approximately another two hours to Tahune Hut, depending on fitness and pack weight. Water is again available along the way. Walk time from Lake Vera to Lake Tahune is about four hours.</p><br>
<p>There are two lakes on the way to the summit – Lake Vera, and Lake Tahune – there are huts at both of these locations. Lake Vera Hut was built in 1979 and sleeps 20 people in two two-tier bunk configurations. It is heated by a stove using brickette fuel (similar to heat beads in BBQs).</p><br>
<p>Lake Tahune Hut was built in 1971 and sleeps 16 people snugly, also in two two-tier bunks. It is also heated by a brickette fuel stove. At Tahune, the steep walker&#39;s track to the top of the Cap takes under an hour.</p><br>
<p>If the weather is clear the view includes the West Coast beaches, Lake Burbury and the many peaks – such as Tasmania&#39;s tallest, Mount Ossa – in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.</p><br>
<p>The 50 km plus walk to Frenchmans Cap is typically completed as a return trip on the same track.</p><br>
<h3>Alternative access</h3><br>
<p>There is an option to make it a round trip by walking on from Lake Tahune to the Franklin River at Irenabyss, crossing the river and exiting at Victoria Pass, which is also on the Lyell Highway. The walk from Irenabyss to Victoria Pass traverses rugged country and is recommended only for highly experienced parties. Many parties visit Irenabyss as a long day walk. Lake Tahune to Irenabyss takes about 4 hours. Irenabyss to Victoria Pass takes about 12 hours.</p><br>
<p>For climbers, Frenchmans Cap offers a variety of routes on generally sound, quartzite rock. In keeping with the name of the mountain some of these climbs also have French names including A Toi La Gloire (better known as The Sydney Route), a 380 m, 13-pitch, Australian grade 17 climb on the south-east face and Tierry Le Fronde, a 150 m, six-pitch, Australian grade 16 climb on the Tahune Face. Both of these climbs are traditional or gear climbs.</p><br>
<h3>Climbing</h3><br>
<p>Serious climbing has occurred since the 1960s and names of some earlier pioneering climbers and routes appeared in an article in Rock in 1990 which was written by Stephen Bunton has been steadily improved upon in Jon Nermuts Tasmanian climbing page – and should be read as an introduction on the routes on the main face as well as Gerry Narkowicz&#39;s description in Climb Tasmania/</p><br>
<h2>Painting and photography</h2><br>
<p>Frank Hurley&#39;s black and white images from the 1950s which are in the National Library online collection, are probably the most evocative and easily accessible images close up of the features around Frenchmans Cap.</p><br>
<h2>Literature</h2><br>
<p>Barry Maitlands 2008 mystery novel Bright Air contains a vivid description of a climb of Frenchmans Cap. It also features in For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke and the non-fiction book Hells Gates: The terrible journey of Alexander Pearce, Van Diemen&#39;s Land cannibal by Paul Collins (Hardie Grant, 2002). A more recent book is by Simon Kleinig in 2012.</p><br>
<p>The Kali Gandaki Gorge or Andha Galchi is the gorge of the Kali Gandaki  in the Himalayas in Nepal. By some measures the Kali Gandaki gorge is the deepest canyon in the world, being 5,571 m lower than Annapurna I which bounds it at one point. However, this definition is based on difference in elevation alone, and only a fraction of it results from erosion often associated with canyons. Gorge depth is difficult to define due to disagreement over rim height so this claim is disputed.</p><br>
<p>The upper part of the gorge is also called Thak Khola after the local Thakali people who became prosperous from trans-Himalayan trade. Geologically, the gorge is within a structural graben.</p><br>
<p>The gorge separates the major peaks of Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) on the west and Annapurna (8,091 m) on the east. If one measures the depth of a canyon by the difference between the river height and the heights of the highest peaks on either side, the gorge is the world&#39;s deepest. The portion of the river directly between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna I (7 km downstream from Tukuche) is at an elevation of 2,520 m, 5,571 m lower than Annapurna I. As tectonic activity forced the mountains higher, the river cut down through the uplift. This region is known for shaligram fossils, revered as one of five non-living forms of Lord Vishnu.</p><br>
<p>The Kali Gandaki river source coincides with the Tibetan border and Ganges-Brahmaputra watershed divide. The river then flows south through the ancient kingdom of Mustang. It flows through a sheer-sided, deep canyon immediately south of the Mustang capital of Lo Manthang, then widens as it approaches Kagbeni where high Himalayan ranges begin to close in. The river continues southward past Jomsom, Marpha, and Tukuche to the deepest part of the gorge about 7 km south of Tukuche in the area of Lete. The gorge then broadens past Dana and Tatopani toward Beni.</p><br>
<p>The Kali Gandaki gorge has been used as a trade route between India and Tibet for centuries. Today, it is part of a popular trekking route from Pokhara to Muktinath, part of the Annapurna Circuit. The gorge is within the Annapurna Conservation Area.</p><br>
<p>The pass at the head of the Kali Gandaki Gorge:</p><br>
<p>Its 19th-century name was Kore La. The modern name is not known with certainty. Below is a quotation from Sven Hedin&#39;s visit to the headwaters of the Kali Gandaki in 1904. He points out that the pass is only 315 ft or 96 m above the south bank of the Tsangpo as it flows peacefully a few kilometres to the north in Tibet:</p><br>
<p>"We stand on the frontier between Tibet and Nepal. Behind us to the north we have flat, level land on the southern bank of the Tsangpo. We have mounted only 315 feet from the river to the Kore-la, where the height is 15,292 feet or 4662 metres asl. And from the pass there is a headlong descent to the Kali Gandak, an affluent of the Ganges. By means of a canal cut through the Kore-la the Brahmaputra might be turned into the Ganges. Northern India needs water for irrigation, but the gain would perhaps be small, for the Brahmaputra in Assam would be as much diminished as the Ganges was increased. Tibet would be opened. A new road would be opened for the invasion of India from the north, and therefore on the whole it is perhaps best for all parties concerned to leave things as they are. But the changes here indicated will some time come to pass without artificial aid, for the tentacles of the Kali Gandak are eating back northwards into the mountains much more quickly than the Tsangpo is eroding its valley. Some time or other, perhaps in a hundred thousand years, the Ganges system will have extended its tentacles to the bank of the Tsangpo, and then will be formed a bifurcation which, in the course of time, will bring about a total revolution in the proportions of the two rivers and their drainage areas."</p><br>
<p>Inis Mór  is the largest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay in Ireland and has an area of 31 km&sup2;. Inis Mór has a population of about 840, making it the largest of the Aran Islands in terms of population and largest island off the Irish coast with no bridge or causeway to the mainland. The island is famous for its strong Irish culture, loyalty to the Irish language, and a wealth of Pre-Christian and Christian ancient sites including Dún Aengus, described as "the most magnificent barbaric monument in Europe" by George Petrie.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>Prior to the 20th century, the island was more commonly called Inis Bant or as Árainn na Naomh. The modern Irish name, Árainn Mhór, (which translates as "Great Aran" in English) leads to some confusion with Arranmore, County Donegal. The Irish word Árainn means "long ridge", presumably referring to the island&#39;s geography. Árainn is the legal placename in Irish or English as declared in the Official Languages Act 2003.</p><br>
<h2>Geology and geography</h2><br>
<p>The island is an extension of the Burren. The terrain of the island is composed of limestone pavements with crisscrossing cracks known as "grikes", leaving isolated rocks called "clints".</p><br>
<p>The limestones date from the Visean period (Lower Carboniferous), formed as sediments in a tropical sea approximately 350 million years ago, and compressed into horizontal strata with fossil corals, crinoids, sea urchins and ammonites.</p><br>
<p>Glaciation following the Namurian phase facilitated greater denudation. The result is that Inis Mór and the other islands are among the finest examples of Glacio-Karst landscape in the world. The effects of the last glacial period (the Midlandian) are most in evidence, with the island overrun by ice during this glaciation. The impact of earlier Karstification (solutional erosion) has been eliminated by the last glacial period. So any Karstification now seen dates from approximately 10,000 years ago and the island Karst is thus recent.</p><br>
<p>Solutional processes have widened and deepened the grikes of the limestone pavement. Pre-existing lines of weakness in the rock (vertical joints) contribute to the formation of extensive fissures separated by clints (flat pavement like slabs). The rock karstification facilitates the formation of sub-terrainean drainage.</p><br>
<h2>Climate and agriculture</h2><br>
<p>The island has an unusually temperate climate. Average air temperatures range from 15 °C in July to 6 °C in January. The soil temperature does not usually drop below 6 °C, although the end of 2010 recorded a prolonged period of snow, the first in living memory. Since grass will grow once the temperature rises above 6 °C, this means that the island (like the neighbouring Burren) has one of the longest growing seasons in Ireland or Britain, and supports a diverse and rich plant life.</p><br>
<p>Late May is the sunniest time, and also likely the best time to view flowers, with the gentians and avens peaking but orchid species blooming late.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>The island supports arctic, Mediterranean and alpine plants side by side, due to the unusual environment. Like the Burren, the Aran islands are known for their unusual assemblage of plants and animals.</p><br>
<p>The grikes (crevices) provide moist shelter, thus supporting a wide range of plants including dwarf shrubs. Where the surface of the pavement is shattered into gravel, many of the hardier Arctic or alpine plants can be found. But when the limestone pavement is covered by a thin layer of soil, patches of grass are seen, interspersed with plants like the gentian and orchids.</p><br>
<p>Insects present include the butterfly the pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria euphrosyne), brown hairstreak (Thecla betulae), marsh fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia) and wood white (Leptidea sinapis); the moths, the burren green (Calamia tridens), Irish annulet (Gnophos dumetata) and transparent burnet (Zygaena purpuralis); and the hoverfly Doros profuges.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Inis Mór today is a major tourist destination, with bed and breakfast accommodation scattered across the island. Private minibuses, horse-drawn carriages and bicycles are the main methods of getting about for the numerous tourists who visit the island in the summer months.</p><br>
<p>There is a small museum illustrating the history of Dún Aonghasa and its possible functions, while the Aran Sweater Market is also a focal point for visitors who can trace the culture and history associated with the Aran sweater through the on-site museum. Nearby are a Neolithic tomb and a small heritage park at Dún Eochla, featuring examples of a traditional thatched cottage and poteen distillery.</p><br>
<p>The Tempull Breccain (Church of Brecan), commonly called the Seven Churches of Aran, is a complex of churches and other buildings dedicated to the 5th-century Saint Brecan, once a popular destination for pilgrims. There is a nineteenth-century lighthouse in the centre of the island, said to have views of the mountains of distant County Kerry on a clear day.</p><br>
<p>The island plays host to Ted Fest each year. Established in 2004 it is a celebration of the television sitcom "Father Ted." Festival goers dress as their favourite characters, watch their favourite episodes and take part in various Ted related events and competitions.</p><br>
<h2>Sport</h2><br>
<p>Some of the limestone sea cliffs have attracted interest from rock-climbers.</p><br>
<p>Diving is possible. A particularly popular location for this is Poll na bPéist (hole of worms/sea monsters), located at the southern coast of the island, which is a large naturally formed rectangular pool communicating via underground channels with the sea. Since 2012 Inis Mór has hosted an event as part of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<p>The island is serviced by Aran Ferries ferry from Rossaveal and Doolin and by Aer Arann Island from Inishmore Aerodrome to Connemara Airport.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The island features heavily in Martin McDonagh&#39;s play The Lieutenant of Inishmore.</p><br>
<p>It was also featured in the 1997 film The Matchmaker.</p><br>
<p>The first story in These Precious Hours by Michel Corrigan has a scene set on Inis Mór.</p><br>
<h2>Notable inhabitants</h2><br>
<p>Ceannanach, early Irish missionary, fl. c. 490–500?</p><br>
<p>Saint Fanchea, abbess of Killeaney, fl. 500.</p><br>
<p>Enda of Aran, early Christian missionary, died c. 530.</p><br>
<p>Conchobar Mac Con Rí, reputed supercentenarian, died 1580.</p><br>
<p>Mahon mac Turlough Mantach Ó Briain, Chief of Inis Mór, died 1565.</p><br>
<p>Murrough mac Toirdelbach Ó Briain, Chief of Inis Mór, fl. 1575–1588.</p><br>
<p>Murrough na dTuadh Ó Flaithbheartaigh, Chief of Iar Connacht, fl. 1569–1593.</p><br>
<p>James Concannon, (born 17 March 1847-after 1883), Irish Vintner.</p><br>
<p>Liam O&#39;Flaherty, novelist and short story writer, 28 August 1896 – 7 September 1984.</p><br>
<p>Bridget Dirrane, centenarian, died 2004.</p><br>
<p>Pat Mullen, actor and writer, bef.1901- a.1976.</p><br>
<p>Máirtín Ó Direáin, Irish language poet, 1910–1988.</p><br>
<p>Breandán Ó hEithir, writer and broadcaster, 1930–1990.</p><br>
<p>Tim Robinson (cartographer), author, born 1935.</p><br>
<p>Maura Derrane, RTÉ television presenter, born 1970.</p><br>
<p>Barbara Feeney (née Curran), mother of director John Ford (né John Feeney) was born in the town of Kilronan</p><br>
<h2>Aran in the Irish annals</h2><br>
<p>Annals of Inisfallen (AI)</p><br>
<p>530 – Enda of Aran, died.</p><br>
<p>654 - St Nem Moccu Birn, successor of Enne, of Ara, died on the 14th of June.</p><br>
<p>751 – Repose of Colmán mac Comán, in Ára.</p><br>
<p>755 – Gaimdibhla, Abbot of Aran, died.</p><br>
<p>916 – Egnech, successor of Enda of Ara, bishop and anchorite, died.</p><br>
<p>1110 – Flann Ua Aedha, successor of Énna of Ára, died.</p><br>
<p>1114 – Maelcoluim Ua Cormacain, successor of Ende of Ara, died.</p><br>
<p>AI1015.8 The foreigners of the Isles, viz. with the complement of seven ships, raided the Islands, and they plundered Ara, Inse Mod, and Inis Aingin(?), and carried off one hundred and fifty as booty.</p><br>
<p>AI1016.6 The slaughter of Ára, in which Ua Lochlainn, royal heir of Corcu Modruad, was killed in Port Ciaráin in Ára. It was the Conmaicne who slew him.</p><br>
<p>AI1019.4 A great pestilence, i.e. a colic, in Ára in the above year, and many people died there.</p><br>
<p>1167 - Gillagori Ua Dubhacan successor of Einde of Ara, died.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>The table below reports data on Inishmore&#39;s population taken from Discover the Islands of Ireland (Alex Ritsema, Collins Press, 1999) and the Census of Ireland.</p><br>
<h2>Towns and Villages</h2><br>
<p>Kilronan</p><br>
<p>sandy town</p><br>
<p>Oghill</p><br>
<p>Manister</p><br>
<h2>Annalistic references</h2><br>
<p>AI=Annals of Inisfallen. (AF)M=Annals of the Four Masters.</p><br>
<p>AI1016.6 The slaughter of Ára, in which Ua Lochlainn, royal heir of Corcu Modruad, was killed in Port Ciaráin in Ára. It was the Conmaicne who slew him. Death of Muiredach son of Cadla, king of Conmaicne Mara.</p><br>
<p>AI1019.4 A great pestilence, i.e. a colic, in Ára in the above year, and many people died there.</p><br>
<p>M1186. Conchubhar Ua Flaithbertaigh was killed by Ruaidhri Ua Flaithbertaigh, by his own brother, in Ara.</p><br>
<p>M1560.8. Mahon, the son of Turlough, son of Teige, son of Donough, son of Donnell, son of Turlough Meith OBrien, went into Desmond with the crew of a ship and boat, from the island of Aran. He took prisoners in the southern country, but some assert that the taking of them was of no advantage, and that they only accompanied him through friendship. On his return with his spoils, the wind became rough, and the sky angry; and the ship and boat were separated from each other; and when the ship was making for Aran in the beginning of the night, the sail was swept away from the hands of the men and warriors, and torn to rags off the ropes and tackles, and wafted into the regions of the firmament; and the ship afterwards struck upon a rock, which is at the mouth of Cuan-an-fhir-mhoir, in West Connaught, where she was lost, with her crew, except Mahon and three others. Upwards of one hundred were drowned in that harbour, among whom was Tuathal OMalley, the best pilot of a fleet of long ships in his time.</p><br>
<p>M1565.3. Mahon, the son of Turlough Mantagh, son of Donough, son of Donnell, son of Turlough Meith, was treacherously slain in his own town of Aircin, in Aran, by his own associates and relations. When the chief men of Galway heard of this, they set out to revenge this misdeed upon the treacherous perpetrators, so that they compelled them to fly from their houses; and they the fugitives went into a boat, and put to sea; and where they landed was in the harbour of Ross, in West Corca-Bhaiscinn. Donnell, the son of Conor O&#39;Brien, having heard of this, he hastened to meet them with all the speed that he could exert; and he made prisoners of the greater number of them, and carried them in close fetters to Magh Glae, in the upper part of Corcomroe, in order that their sorrow and anguish might be the greater for being in viev of the place where they had perpetrated the crime; he hanged some of them, and burned others, according as their evil practices deserved.</p><br>
<p>Amba Geshen is the name of a mountain in northern Ethiopia. It is in the South Wollo Zone of the Amhara Region, northwest of Dessie, at a latitude and a longitude of {{coord|11|30|N|39|19|E}}. Part of Ambassel woreda, Amba Geshen is one of the mountains of Ethiopia where most of the male heirs to the Emperor of Ethiopia were interned, usually for life. It was the second of the three such mountains, or amba, said to have been used for this purpose, the other two being Debre Damo and Wehni.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>From some undetermined time, it was the practice that when the Ethiopian emperor assumed the throne, his brothers and other male relatives would be taken to a royal prison, where they would henceforth live until either they were called forth to become the new emperor or they died. Some traditions state this began during the Zagwe dynasty, others even earlier; the first certain mention of the practice was during the reign of Jin Asgad, who confined his brothers and his own sons to Amba Geshen.</p><br>
<p>The use Amba Geshen as a prison was ended by Emperor Na&#39;od, but Manoel de Almeida mentions that "those who were there before" were guarded until the reign of Emperor Gelawdewos, when only the descendants of Emperor Takla Maryam continued to be kept under watch because of their treachery against Emperor Baeda Maryam I.</p><br>
<p>Because it was a natural fortress, the Emperors also kept the imperial treasury there even after it was no longer a royal prison. The Muslims, under Ahmed Gragn, made several attempts to capture Amba Geshen: the Futuh al-Habasha describes the first (in November 1531) and second (in 1533); his final attempt in 1540 was successful, and he put the entire garrison and inhabitants to death. Thomas Pakenham notes that contemporary Ethiopians believe that the True Cross was buried atop Amba Geshen by St Helena of Constantinople.</p><br>
<p>Although the first European to mention Amba Geshen was Francisco Álvares, who witnessed an escaped prince being returned to Amba Geshen, the earliest European to accurately describe Amba Geshen was Almeida, who states it is</p><br>
<p>Almeidez further writes that on top there was a natural pool and spring for water, and covered by kosso and zegba brush and wild cedars. He mentions two churches: Egzyabeher Ab, built by Emperor Lalibela, and Tekle Maryam, begun by Emperor Na&#39;od but completed by his son, Lebna Dengel, which survived Ahmed Gragn&#39;s ravages. However, when Pakenham visited Amba Geshen in 1955, he found that both churches had been rebuilt with tin roofs.</p><br>
<h2>English literature</h2><br>
<p>Another inaccurate account of Amba Geshen, called Mount Amara, was published in Purchas, His Pilgrimage, which was believed by Pakenham to have inspired John Milton&#39;s description of Paradise in Paradise Lost.</p><br>
<p>In Samuel Johnson&#39;s Rasselas, the main character is a prince of Ethiopia who is interned in a mountain sanctuary called the "Happy Valley". To explore the world and find his own happiness, he escapes. Johnson&#39;s account was based on the travel account of Jerónimo Lobo.</p><br>
<p>Kiriwina is the largest of the Trobriand Islands, with an area of 290.5 km². It is part of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. Most of the 12,000 people who live in the Trobriands live on Kiriwina. The Kilivila language, also known as Kiriwina, is spoken on the island. The main town is Losuia.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Operation Chronicle was the name given to the landing of Allied forces on Kiriwina and Woodlark Island on June 30, 1943, during World War II. Following the landing USA Army Engineers supervised construction of Kiriwina Airfield, including a 2,000 metre (6,000 ft) coral-surfaced runway. No. 73 Wing RAAF was based at this field in August 1943.</p><br>
<p>A seaplane base was constructed at Losuia, consisting of an anchorage and jetty.</p><br>
<p>Rock Mary, in Caddo County, Oklahoma, was a prominent landmark on the California Road. It was named in 1849 for Mary Conway, the then 17-year-old niece of James Sevier Conway, the Governor of Arkansas. Mary was the eldest daughter of Dr. John R. Conway, a prominent physician and surveyor, who emigrated to California with his wife and 10 children.</p><br>
<h2>Historical markers</h2><br>
<p>At the base of the rock formation is a plaque with the following inscription:</p><br>
<p>ROCK MARY</p><br>
<p>May 23, 1849</p><br>
<p>This odd and unusual land feature was named on that date by Lieuts. J.E. Simpson and M.P. Harrison when they visited this site, planted a flag on the crest and named the rock for 17 year belle, Mary Conway, an emigrant.</p><br>
<p>Oklahoma Historical Society, 1960</p><br>
<p>A second plaque is located at the crest with the following inscription:</p><br>
<p>THE AMERICAN FLAG</p><br>
<p>ROCK MARY</p><br>
<p>From this point on May 23, 1849 the flag of the United States was unfurled by Lts. J.E. Simpson and M.P. Harrison who gave this rock its name. By this act they established this as a famous landmark relied on by countless thousands of western emigrants.</p><br>
<p>Oklahoma Historical Society, 1960</p><br>
<p>Rock Mary was chosen as a landmark on the southern trail to California, called the California Trail by Captain Marcy. It stood out on the prairie and could be seen from a distance. The formation seen in the picture is low relative to the surrounding land and can not be seen from far away as it is in the breaks of the creek. Marcy picked the hill because of its prominence and just southeast of the foot of the hill was a spring (since gone dry) and a good camp ground with wood available in the nearby breaks.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>The landmark is located on private property where no trespassing is allowed. The Hinton Historical Museum has been granted access management of the property and can allow visitors to enter with advance notice. The museum is located in Hinton, 5 miles east of the Rock.</p><br>
<p>Mount Zuqualla  is an extinct volcano in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Situated in Ada&#39;a Chukala woreda of the Misraq  Shewa Zone, it rises from the plain 30 km south of Debre Zeyit. With a height of 2,989 m, it is known for its crater lake, lake Dembel, an elliptical crater lake with a maximum diameter of about one kilometer, but the trail around the crater is about 6 kilometers long. Both the mountain and the lake is a holy site to the Oromo peopleOromo living nearby. The ambivalent attitude regarding the holiness of the mountain is seen in the Oromo proverb: "Those who live far away worship it, those who live nearby plow it."</p><br>
<p>The lake in the crater has an island monastery, said to have been founded by St Gebre Manfas on the site of a hermitage used by Saint Mercurius. This monastery was destroyed, and a church at the foot of the mountain looted, by Imam Ahmad Gragn in 1531; two churches were later built at the monastery, one dedicated to St Gebre Menfas built by Menelik II in 1880 and designed by the Italian Sebastian Castagna, and the other dedicated to Kidane Mihret built during the reign of Haile Selassie. Various other holy sites are found around the mountain, mostly rock formations, while the monastery is the site of a biannual festival.</p><br>
<p>The explorers Orazio Antinori, Antonelli and Antonio Cecchi used Zuqualla to determine various geographical locations in May 1881. Dr Scott, on behalf of Cambridge University and the British Museum, secured a large and valuable entomological collection near Zuqualla in 1926. Three of the leaders of the attempted 1960 Ethiopian coup fled to Zuqualla from the capital, where the Moja family had land. Two of them lost their lives 24 December while Mengistu Neway, seriously wounded, was captured and brought to the capital for trial.</p><br>
<p>The Semien Mountains  , in northern Ethiopia, north east of Gondar in Amhara region, are part of the Ethiopian Highlands. They are a World Heritage Site and include the Simien Mountains National Park. The mountains consist of plateaus separated by valleys and rising to pinnacles. The tallest peak is Ras Dejen ; other notable heights include Mounts Biuat  and Kidis Yared .</p><br>
<p>Because of their geological origins, the mountains are almost unique, with only South Africa&#39;s Drakensberg having been formed in the same manner and thus appearing similar. Notable animals in the mountains include the walia ibex, gelada, and caracal. There are a few Ethiopian wolves.</p><br>
<h2>Geology and landscape</h2><br>
<p>The Semien Mountains were formed prior to the creation of the Rift Valley, from lava outpourings between 40 and 25 million years ago during the Oligocene period. The volcano is believed to have spread over more than 5000 m and resulted in a thick sequence of basaltic lava some 3,000-3,500 m thick that was deposited on Precambrian crystalline basement. The major part of the Semien Mountains consists of remnants of a Hawaiian-type shield volcano. The Kidus Yared peak is situated near the center of the shield volcano. Ras Dejen (4,533 m), Bwahit (4,430 m) and Silki (4,420 m) were formed from the outer core of this ancient volcano.</p><br>
<p>The extreme escarpment in Semien appears to be a precondition for the formation of the extended uplift of the whole mountain massif 75 million years ago. The dramatic views are due to this volcanic activity. Especially of note is the 2,000 m high escarpment extending in a southwest-northeast direction.</p><br>
<p>There are different types of soils as a result of the difference in geological formation, glaciations, topography, and climate. The Humic Andosol is the dominant soil type which is mainly found at an altitude of 3,000 m. The other types of soil are shallow Andosols, Lithosols, and Haplic Phaeozems that are mainly common in the area between 2,500 and 3,500 m. The Semien Mountains are highly eroded as a result of human land use practices and as a result of the topography of the area.</p><br>
<h2>Human history</h2><br>
<p>Although the word Semien means "north" in Amharic, according to Richard Pankhurst the ancestral form of the word actually meant "south" in Ge&#39;ez, because the mountains lay to the south of Aksum, which was at the time the center of Ethiopian civilization. But as over the following centuries the center of Ethiopian civilization itself moved to the south, these mountains came to be thought of as lying to the north, and the meaning of the word likewise changed.</p><br>
<p>The Semiens are remarkable as being one of the few spots in Africa where snow regularly falls. First mentioned in the Monumentum Adulitanum of the 4th century AD (which described them as "inaccessible mountains covered with snow" and where soldiers walked up to their knees in snow), the presence of snow was undeniably witnessed by the 17th century Jesuit priest Jerónimo Lobo. Although the later traveler James Bruce claims that he had never witnessed snow in the Semien Mountains, the 19th century explorer Henry Salt not only recorded that he saw snow there (on 9 April 1814), but explained the reason for Bruce&#39;s failure to see snow in these mountains – Bruce had ventured no further than the foothills into the Semiens.</p><br>
<p>Despite their ruggedness and altitude, the mountains are dotted with villages linked by tracks. Historically they were inhabited by Ethiopian Jews (the Beta Israel), who after repeated attacks by the zealous Christian Emperors in the 15th century withdrew from the province of Dembiya into the more defensible Semien mountains.</p><br>
<p>Towards the end of the Zemene Mesafint, Dejazmach Wube Haile Mariam maintained his arsenal and treasury on Mount Hai.</p><br>
<p>SemienWaterfall.jpg|Waterfall in Semien Mountains, falling into the Gishe Abbai, near Debarq.</p><br>
<p>Gelada 02.jpg|A gelada in the Semien Mountains</p><br>
<p>Debre Damo is the name of a flat-topped mountain, or amba, and a 6th-century monastery in northern Ethiopia. The mountain is a steeply rising plateau of trapezoidal shape, about 1000 by 400 m in dimension. With a latitude and longitude of {{coord|14|22|26|N|39|17|25|E|type:mountain|display=inline,title}}, it sits at an elevation of 2216 m above sea level. It is north-west of Adigrat, in the Mehakelegnaw Zone of the Tigray Region, close to the border with Eritrea.</p><br>
<p>The monastery, accessible only by rope up a sheer cliff, 15 m high, is known for its collection of manuscripts and for having the earliest existing church building in Ethiopia that is still in its original style, and only men can visit it. Tradition claims the monastery was founded in the 6th century by Abuna Aregawi.</p><br>
<h2>Monastery</h2><br>
<p>The monastery received its first archeological examination by E. Litton, who led a German expedition to northern Ethiopia in the early 20th century. By the time that David Buxton saw the ancient church in the mid-1940s, he found it "on the point of collapse". A few years later, an English architect, DH Matthews, assisted in the restoration of the building, which included the rebuilding of one of its wood and stone walls (a characteristic style of Aksumite architecture).</p><br>
<p>Thomas Pakenham, who visited the church in 1955, records a tradition that Debre Damo had also once been a royal prison for heirs to the Emperor of Ethiopia, like the better-known Wehni and Amba Geshen. The exterior walls of the church were built of alternating courses of limestone blocks and wood, "fitted with the projecting stumps that Ethiopians call &#39;monkey heads&#39;". Once inside, Pakenham was in awe of what he saw:</p><br>
<p>The Braakman was a large tidal inlet in the middle of the Dutch region of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, on the south bank of the Westerschelde west of Terneuzen.</p><br>
<p>It was created by a succession of storm surges in the 14th and 15th centuries, including the St. Elizabeth&#39;s flood (1404) and the St. Elizabeth&#39;s flood (1421). For a long time the Braakman was a natural barrier between east and west Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, and also access to the ports of Boekhoute, Philippine, Axel and Sas van Gent. Over the centuries it steadily spread, drowning at least 15 villages between 1200 and 1601. Then, people fought back. Successive empolderings shrank the Braakman to a remnant, which was finally closed off from the sea in 1952. During the North Sea flood of 1953, this dam proved its worth: it resisted the flood and prevented flooding in the hinterland.</p><br>
<p>The remaining body of water is used for recreation, and part of its seaward end was made into the Braakmanhaven port area.</p><br>
<p>Sof Omar Cave is the longest cave in Ethiopia at 15.1 km long; sources claim it is the longest system of caves in Africa. It is situated to the east of Robe, in the Bale Zone of the Oromia Region in southeastern Ethiopia, through which the Weyib River  flows. It sinks at the Ayiew Maco entrance and reappears at the Holuca resurgence 1 km away. According to tradition Sof Omar was the name of a Muslim holy man who lived in the area and Ayiew the name of his daughter. Maco and Holuca are local names for name and cave, respectively. Long a religious centre, it is sacred both to Islam and the local Oromo traditional religion. The caves are known for their many pillars, particularly in the Chamber of Columns.</p><br>
<h2>History of exploration</h2><br>
<p>The explorer Arthur Donaldson Smith recorded his visit to the cave in 1894. An Italian expedition also visited in 1913. In 1934, Henri Breuil conducted archaeological investigations in the area. The Italians almost certainly visited the cave during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, but apparently none of these early explorers made a through trip from Ayiew Maco to Holuca.</p><br>
<p>In 1967, Eric Robson, Chris Clapham and Kabir Ahmed explored and surveyed the cave, recording 8 km of passage. Following this the Ethiopian Tourist Board published a brochure about the cave. Although the area was not easily accessible and the organized adventure tourist industry did not yet exist, a few intrepid visitors made the trip to the then remote cave.</p><br>
<p>In February 1971 Professor Théodore Monod of the Muséum national d&#39;histoire naturelle in France, Bill Morton (ex Manchester University Speleological Society caver), a geologist at Haile Selassie I University, and Ato Mezmure Hailemeskale recorded another 1 km new passages to the known cave. In the same year Dick Ashford and Malcolm Largen of Haile Selassie University made a study of some of the bats in the cave.</p><br>
<p>In 1972, a British Expedition to Ethiopia arrived with a team which included Dick Ramsden and Tim Renvoize (Preston Caving Club), Simon Amatt (Birmingham Plytechnic Karabiner Club), Dave Catlin (University of Bradford Pothole Club), Paul Ramsden (Whernside Manor Scout Centre), Terry Raynor (9th and 12th Royal Lancers) and Steve Worthington (Sheffield University Speleological Society). With some initial help from Bill Morton the group made a systematic exploration and survey of the Sof Omar caves and published a full report of their findings in Transactions of the Cave Research Group of Great Britain. The team discovered 6.1 km of new passages, bringing the survey total to 15.1 km.</p><br>
<h2>Topography</h2><br>
<p>Approaching from Goro, at Sof Omar the scrubby bush steeply drops 90 m into a canyon. The Web river makes its way from the 4,300 m high Bale Mountains through a 150 km wide outcrop of Anatole limestone to the cave. In earlier times the river made a sharp left meander. At some point the limestone dissolved producing a series of phreatic passages, which became big enough to capture the whole flow of the Web river. Eventually the river abandoned the meander, creating a dry valley running from the cave sink at Ayiew Maco to the resurgence at Holuca. Sof Omar village is situated close to Ayiew Maco in the dry valley. Infill into the valley makes it rise to a high point of about 45 m above the Web, before it drops away to a pebble beach downstream of Holuca.</p><br>
<p>The other dominant feature is a large shakehole 100 m wide and 60 m deep and found on the basalt plateau directly above the cave.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The cave is formed along a network of joints: one set runs approximately north to south and the other east to west. This zig-zag of passages runs in an approximately southeasterly direction. Sof Omar has 42 entrances, but generally only four are useful for gaining entrance:</p><br>
<p>Two upstream Village Entrances (one to the east and one to the west of the village)</p><br>
<p>The Tourist Entrance downstream from the Holuca Resurgence at a point where the abandoned meander forming the dry valley rejoins the Web river</p><br>
<p>A right bank entrance downstream of Holuca accessing the Deep South part of the Clapham&#39;s Climb Series.</p><br>
<p>Entering the cave via either of the Village Entrances the visitor passes a shrine used by the locals. The Ayiew Maco Series is a set of interconnecting passages of varying in width between 1 m and 10 m. Several can be passed through to the pebble beach on the left bank of the river. A less complex series of passages exists on the right bank. These probably connected to those on the left bank until severed by the vadose action of the Web cutting the river passage deeper.</p><br>
<p>The passage at the pebble beach is about 40 m wide—the widest passage in the cave. At the downstream end of the beach the river disappears between two columns. The continuation crosses the Web at Ford 1 and follows the figure-eight passage until the river is reached again at Ford 2. At this point it is possible to see down Safari Straight, the most spectacular view in the cave. The river meanders down this 15 m wide, 20 m high rectangular passage for 300 m.</p><br>
<p>The way onward involves crossing and re-crossing the river from cobble beach to cobble beach at Fords 2, 3, 4 and 5. Small passages exist on both sides. The beach ends after Ford 5 under the 50 m high Great Dome. On the opposite bank a steep rise leads to Molossadie Passage. The deep, short Ford 6, Ford 7 and Ford 8 lead to a cobble beach and the entrance into the Chamber of Columns. Exiting Ford 6 on the left bank it is possible to enter the Railway Tunnel passage, which offers an alternative route into the Molossadie passage and bypasses Fords 7 and 8 into the Chamber of Columns.</p><br>
<p>The river passage continues from the Chamber of Columns meandering for about 200 m to the Big Rapids. This striking feature is formed from a jumble of huge boulders, well worn by the actions of the river. The river passage continues around a curve for about 250 m before flowing around a massive boulder into the sunlight at the Holuca Resurgence. The Web continues running through a canyon. About 250 m downstream the dry valley appears on the left bank.</p><br>
<p>The left side of the canyon from the resurgence to the dry valley is riddled with passages breaking out into the canyon walls, forming many of the unusable entrances to the cave. Most of these are small passages exposed as the river cut its way down. The exception is the 25 m wide Great Hall that follows the north – south joint pattern breaking into the canyon at the resurgence. Hidden at the end of the Great Hall behind boulders is the hard-to-find Chameleon Passage. This runs along the east–west joint pattern. Some small passages lead from Chameleon to Blank Passage and back to the Big Rapids. Several small passages run from Blank Passage to Boulder Chokes.</p><br>
<p>The area surrounded by the river, Great Hall, Chameleon and Blank Passage, contains a criss-cross labyrinth of passages. Two of the most significant, Bill&#39;s Passage and Tautology Passage, run between the river and the Great Hall. These are high rift passages, and climbing them gives access to the 35 m long Balcony that overlooks the Big Rapids 7 m below.</p><br>
<p>Running parallel to the Great Hall and interconnected to it via several passages is Flintstone Passage. This splits into many different passages that break into the left bank of the canyon downstream of Holuca. Away from the river, Flintstone runs into another of the caves&#39; unique passages, Mudwall Passage, which has filled with mud almost to the 3 m high roof. Following the infilling process a vadose trench has been cut the length of the passage revealing that the mud is formed of thin laminations.</p><br>
<p>After 200 m the Mudwall Passage enters into the small Mudwall Chamber. This has been formed by water coming from Link Passage on the west cutting across the line of the Mudwall Passage disappearing into Rimstone Passage to the east. It is this flow of water that formed the chamber. Climbing out of Mudwall Chamber leads to Batshit Passage, whose floor is knee deep in guano. This leads to the large chamber, the Astrodome, which houses a large colony of bats.</p><br>
<p>Link Passage is a narrow rift passage that links back to the Chamber of Columns. A series of small passages at two levels leave Link Passage and heads towards the river passage. One of these leads into the wide Blind Passage, which also emerges into the Chamber of Columns. The upper passage is a tight crawl into the pretentiously named Wembley Stadium. This passage is formed in a fault. The survey of the British expedition in 1972 showed that the Wembley Fault extended from a right bank passage on the river to Wembley Stadium, Mudwall and Rimstone Passages.</p><br>
<p>The shakehole on the plateau is centred on the Wembley Fault line. Obviously the fault played a significant role in the major collapse that created the shakehole. The underground debris from the collapse forms the Big Rapids and is responsible for the boulder chokes seen near Blank Passage.</p><br>
<p>Agia Paraskevi  is a village and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is located in the central part of the island, on the northeast shore of the Bay of Kalloni.</p><br>
<p>The village (pop. 2,195 at the 2011 census) is named after the Church of Agia Paraskevi, which is found in a cave in one of the highest points of the town. The town cemetery is also located here. Presumably built over an old pagan temple, there is a well in the cave, and drinking the water from this well has been said to have conferred the Virgin Mary&#39;s protection. Agia Paraskevi is an old village that is becoming a powerful cultural and economic center for the island. The village is known for its old mansions, unique architecture and for its festivals.</p><br>
<h2>Village layout</h2><br>
<p>The village contains many traditional houses that shows the Venetian and Roman occupation of the island and is a rare, non-commercialized, non-tourist village &mdash; locals sit at tavernas that line the main street and socialize. The people are quite friendly and get around on foot, moped, horse, mule, or donkey; however, the automobile has largely supplanted animals as the main mode of transportation of both people and farm produce.</p><br>
<p>Near the village at Klopedi, are the remains of the ancient Aeolian temple of Napaios Apollo, while Messa, also nearby, boasts the ruins of a big Ionian temple (late 4th&ndash;early 3rd century BC), possibly dedicated to three Greek deities: Zeus, Hera and Dionysos. A monument from a later date, the Early Christian basilica of St. George, restored by the noted mediaevalist, Professor A. Orlandos, may be seen at Halinados, not far away.</p><br>
<p>The school building of Agia Paraskevi is of neoclassical architecture of the early 20th century (1922-1930s) has a rectangular "U" ground-plan shape and shows a perfect symmetry at its openings. The formation of the school-yard area is also very significant. The construction of the school building, one of the most attractive on the island, was financed by revenues from the town’s oil-press, which today has been transformed into a multi-cultural center.</p><br>
<p>The oil press of Agia Paraskevi is a complex of stone-built buildings that serves as a characteristic sample of exceptional industrial architecture of the early 20th century (1910) on the island. Initially, it had been operating as an industrial complex (oil-press and corn-mill) and later on, until 1967, it ran as a community business. In 1984, with the support of the Prefecture of Lesbos, it was restored and transformed into a cultural center. The central building was turned into a multi-cultural hall with a 400-seat capacity, the oil storehouses were converted to a folk art museum while the 11 olives’ storehouses were transformed into modern guest-houses.</p><br>
<p>The only other significant town in the municipal unit of Agía Paraskeví is Nápi (pop. 263), about 3 km to the northeast. In the latest census in 2011 the municipal unit had 2,497 residents. Its land area is 117.697 km².</p><br>
<p>The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building is a complex of several historic buildings located in the Federal Triangle in Washington, D.C., across 12th Street, NW from the Old Post Office. The complex now houses the headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency .</p><br>
<p>One component of the complex was originally called the New Post Office, and housed the headquarters of the Post Office Department until that department was replaced by the United States Postal Service in 1971 and which vacated the building. Subsequently the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) occupied this building, which Congress renamed as the Ariel Rios Federal Building in 1985. BATFE vacated the building in the early 1990s, and EPA moved in after a renovation.</p><br>
<p>To consolidate its headquarters offices, EPA also took occupancy of two adjacent buildings beginning in the late 1990s: the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) building and the Department of Labor Building, on Constitution Avenue, NW. In 2013 Congress renamed the Ariel Rios building in honor of former President Bill Clinton, and the General Services Administration extended the designation to the former ICC and Labor buildings.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The New Post Office Building was constructed in the early 1930s as part of the redevelopment of the Federal Triangle area. At that time one of the city&#39;s most blighted neighborhoods, this area was known as Murder Bay and was a center of crime and prostitution.</p><br>
<p>The plan for the area&#39;s redevelopment was laid out as part of the 1901 McMillan Plan, the first federally funded urban redevelopment plan, and the redevelopment of Federal Triangle began in earnest in the 1930s under the leadership of Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon. Construction on the Post Office Building was completed in 1934.</p><br>
<p>The Post Office headquarters was a central feature of the redevelopment. The neoclassical building was designed by architects William Adams Delano and Chester Holmes Aldrich, who took as their inspiration the Place Vendôme in Paris. The central section of the tri-unit building consists of two huge, back to back, semicircular units with side wings. The semicircle formed by the building&#39;s curve on its eastern façade was to be mirrored by a similarly curved façade built across 12th Street on the site of the Old Post Office Building.</p><br>
<p>Secretary Mellon&#39;s building commission actively sought the demolition of the Old Post Office to fulfill that plan, but preservation efforts—which continued over the course of 50 years—saved the Old Post Office. The second half of the grand plaza was never finished as designed, save for a curve in the northwest corner of the headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service. (The nearby Ronald Reagan Building, completed in 1998, does mirror, to some degree, the semicircle of the west façade of the Clinton Building.)</p><br>
<p>The exterior is decorated with bas relief panels, by Adolph Alexander Weinman.</p><br>
<p>The General Services Administration (GSA) refurbished the former Post Office building with the architectural details of the hallways preserved in the style of the 1920s and 1930s. A seven-story marble spiral staircase is a prominent element of the building&#39;s interior. A chandelier hangs in the center of the staircase and has exposed bulbs to illuminate each floor. It terminates in a dramatic chrome and brass globe.</p><br>
<h2>Building occupants and renaming</h2><br>
<p>The Post Office Department occupied its headquarters building until the early 1970s. The department was reorganized into the United States Postal Service, an independent agency, in 1971, and it then vacated the building. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) was the next occupant, through the early 1990s. Congress renamed the New Post Office Building as the Ariel Rios Federal Building on February 5, 1985, in honor of Ariel Rios, an undercover BATFE special agent, who was killed in the line of duty on December 2, 1982. BATFE moved out of the building in the early 1990s, and EPA moved in after a renovation.</p><br>
<p>In the late 1990s, EPA consolidated its headquarters offices in the Federal Triangle as it moved into two adjacent buildings: the ICC building and the Department of Labor Building, on Constitution Avenue, NW. In December 2012, both houses of Congress unanimously voted to rename the Ariel Rios Building as the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, after Bill Clinton, the 42nd President. GSA administratively renamed the building for Clinton on May 13, 2013. The structure was formally dedicated at a ceremony on July 17, 2013, at which Clinton spoke and former EPA Administratrator Carol Browner attended. The Rios family approved of renaming a building. A reflecting pool at the new ATF headquarters on New York Avenue NW was named for Rios. GSA extended the Clinton building designation to include the former ICC and Labor buildings.</p><br>
<h2>Murals</h2><br>
<p>The Clinton Federal Building was one of the initial locations that integrated various Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals that were originally commissioned and displayed in federally constructed buildings during the 1930s and 1940s. 25 murals were chosen and six have been criticized by visitors and employees as to stereotyping American Indians and integrating inappropriate images.</p><br>
<p>GSA addressed the controversy:</p><br>
<p>"The USA Post Office headquarters murals embody many admirable qualities of American art and culture in the 1930s: a range of visual styles, inventive approaches to subject matter, commitment to bringing creativity and artistic beauty to public spaces, and devotion to the development of American art as a part of national identity. At the same time, engrained cultural attitudes of the 1930s are inevitably present, including stereotypes about women, Native Americans, African Americans, and rural Americans. From Ward Lockwood and Karl Frees depictions of Native Americans and African Americans as subservient to white colonists, to William Palmer and Frank Mechaus emphasis on the aggression of Native Americans and the passive victimhood of women, to Doris Lee&#39;s romanticized views of farm life during the Depression, the murals perpetuate outmoded views of their era. Today, the presence of the murals in this building offers a rare opportunity to experience a full cycle of New Deal artwork in its original context, and serves as a valuable reminder of how American society has changed over time".</p><br>
<p>Controversy over WPA murals was prevalent during their installation and afterward. Nudity and revolutionary sentiments implicit in some murals led to an extended public debate.</p><br>
<h2>Renovation</h2><br>
<p>In 1993, the building was renovated. In 1998, the limestone facade was renovated. In 2007, the south courtyard was renovated.</p><br>
<p>Bảy Núi , also known by the Sino-Vietnamese version Thất Sơn, is a range of small mountains located in the Tri Tôn and Tịnh Biên districts in Vietnam&#39;s An Giang Province, very close to the Cambodian border.</p><br>
<p>The 710-metre Thiên Cấm Sơn (the Cấm Mountains) is the highest among the mountainous region of Thất Sơn and it is the highest peak in the whole Mekong Delta region. Endowed with such spectacular mountainous terrain, Núi Cấm is known as the "Đà Lạt of the Mekong Delta".</p><br>
<h2>Peaks</h2><br>
<p>The common names of the seven mountains in the Thất Sơn range are:</p><br>
<p>Núi Cấm (Thiên Cẩm Sơn, "heaven&#39;s forbidden mountain")</p><br>
<p>Núi Dài Năm Giếng (Ngũ Hồ Sơn)</p><br>
<p>Núi Cô Tô (Phụng Hoàng Sơn)</p><br>
<p>Núi Dài (Ngọa Long Sơn)</p><br>
<p>Núi Tượng (Liên Hoa Sơn)</p><br>
<p>Núi Két (Anh Vũ Sơn)</p><br>
<p>Núi Nước (Thủy Đài Sơn)</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The prince Nguyễn Ánh, who later proclaimed himself the first emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty (1802–1945), sought refuge on the mountain from the Tây Sơn insurgents. Ánh forbade anyone to come to the mountain, hence its Vietnamese name meaning "forbidden mountain". Followers of the Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương tradition, founded in An Giang in 1849, refer to these mountains as Bửu Sơn ("Precious Mountains"), since their founder, Đoàn Minh Huyên, is said to have spent time in meditation in these mountains.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>The mountain is commonly busy with tourists and pilgrims during the festival season, from the 4th to the 7th lunar month. About 3,000 people live on the mountain, with an average of 1,000 visitors per day.</p><br>
<p>Tourists can now visit Bà Chúa Xứ temple complex on Sam mountain, Great Buddha Pagoda and the Nui Cam Natural Reserve (Lam Vien Nui Cam), located nearby.</p><br>
<p>Lake Borgne is a lagoon of the Gulf of Mexico in southeastern Louisiana. Due to coastal erosion, it is no longer actually a lake but rather an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Its name comes from the French word borgne, which means "one-eyed."</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The three large lakes -- Maurepas, Pontchartrain, and Borgne—cover 55% of the Pontchartrain Basin. A brackish marsh land bridge and Lake St. Catherine separate Lake Pontchartrain from Lake Borgne. The Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass are the two open water connections between Pontchartrain and Borgne.</p><br>
<p>Due to coastal erosion, Borgne is now a lagoon connecting to the Gulf of Mexico, but early 18th century maps show it as a lake largely separated from the Gulf by a considerable extent of wetlands which have since disappeared. In a 1902 case before the United States Supreme Court over the oyster banks at the boundary between Louisiana and Mississippi, the State of Mississippi argued that at the time of Louisiana&#39;s admission into the Union, there probably was no such "Lake Borgne" or "Mississippi Sound".</p><br>
<p>The basin contains 483,390 acres (1956 km²) of wetlands, consisting of nearly 38,500 acres (156 km²) of fresh marsh, 28,600 acres (116 km²) of intermediate marsh, 116,800 acres (473 km²) of brackish marsh, 83,900 acres (340 km²) of saline marsh, and 215,600 acres (873 km²) of cypress swamp. Since 1932, more than 66,000 acres (267 km²) of marsh have converted to water in the Pontchartrain Basin — over 22% of the marsh that existed in 1932.</p><br>
<p>The primary causes of wetland loss in the basin are the interrelated effects of human activities and the estuarine processes that began to predominate many hundreds of years ago, as the Mississippi River delta was abandoned.</p><br>
<p>The 1.8-mile-long (2.9 km) IHNC Lake Borgne Surge Barrier was constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS) for southeast Louisiana in response to Hurricane Katrina. The project cost approximately $1.1 billion and was built at the confluence of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the MRGO. It is the largest design-build civil works project in the history of the Corps.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The Mississippi River levees significantly limit the input of fresh water, sediment, and nutrients into the Pontchartrain basin. This reduction in freshwater input plays a role in the critical problem of the Pontchartrain Basin — increased salinity. The construction of the Mississippi River–Gulf Outlet Canal (MRGO), which breaches the natural barrier of the Bayou La Loutre ridge and the Borgne land bridge, has allowed sea water to push farther into the basin. Relative sea level rise of up to 0.96 feet per century also gives saltier waters greater access to surrounding wetlands. As a result, mean monthly salinities have increased since the construction of the MRGO and other canals. In recent years, salinities have stabilized. The heightened salinity has stressed wetlands, especially freshwater marshes and swamps.</p><br>
<p>Since 1932, approximately 24% of the Borgne Land Bridge has been lost to severe shoreline retreat and rapid tidal fluctuations, and the loss rate is increasing. During the same time, 17% of the Maurepas Land Bridge marshes disappeared due to subsidence and spikes in lake salinity. These land bridges prevent estuarine processes, such as increased salinity and tidal scour, from pushing further into the middle and upper basins. Additionally, from 1968 to 1988, 32% of the cypress swamp on the land bridge had either converted to marsh or became open water. If these buffers are not preserved, the land loss rates around Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas will increase dramatically.</p><br>
<p>Several marshes in the basin are vulnerable to rapid loss if adequate protection is not quickly provided.</p><br>
<p>Desert Star Theater is a dinner theater establishment in Murray, Utah. It started out as a small theater called the Gem, which showed silent movies with a piano for music. It was later closed down and demolished, but rebuilt and expanded into the Iris Theater by owner Tony Duvall. After his retirement, the Iris changed hands several times before being renamed the Vista.</p><br>
<p>The National Register of Historic Places, notes Iris Theater, Apartments and Commercial Building, built in 1930, is significant for its role in the urbanization of Murray City. With its combination of entertainment, retail, and residential space, the building represents an elaborate example of the multi-use commercial block common during the early twentieth-century development of the city&#39;s commercial business district. The building was owned by the Duvall family who managed the theater while living in the apartments above the storefronts. The Iris building is also significant as the only commercial building in Murray built in the Art Deco style. Though not a particularly ornate example of the style, the building makes a distinctive contribution to the State Street frontage of the Murray Downtown Historic District. The building is in good condition and is a contributing historic resource of the city.</p><br>
<p>The Iris was considered state-of-the-art at the time. The theater showed both blockbusters (e.g.</p><br>
<p>"Gone with the Wind"), and more obscure fare (e.g. some Thursday nights were reserved for Swedish films shown especially for Swedish immigrants brought to Murray by the smelters). The theater had a stage where local groups could mount theatrical productions. The Iris Theater was a</p><br>
<p>community place. Murray firemen sometimes held conventions there. Many of Murray&#39;s youths,</p><br>
<p>including the Duvall children, worked in the theater. During the Great Depression, Tony Duvall would</p><br>
<p>sometimes let children see a movie in exchange for scrap metal, or sometimes simply for free. Tony</p><br>
<p>Duvall, with partner Joe Lawrence, later built the Murray Theater at 4961 South State. In the 1940s, the Iris would close during the summer while movies were shown in the larger (and cooler) Murray Theater.</p><br>
<p>The theater first became Desert Star when Mike and Alyce Todd attempted to produce a play near This Is The Place Heritage Park. This play was the first to exhibit the common traits found today in Desert Star plays. After the summer ended, they attempted to find an indoor location for their plays. They considered the closed down Vista, and eventually took it and renamed it the Desert Star Playhouse.</p><br>
<p>In 2000, after several successful plays, the city of Murray said that the building had to be brought up to code or torn down. The owner wanted to go with the latter, but the Todds decided to buy the theater and renovate. Today, the playhouse features Dinner and Cabaret theaters, as well as performing two shows in different theaters.</p><br>
<p>Desert Star is known for parody plays, doing comedic spoofs of classic movies and stories. They are also known for political jokes, and their themes tend to revolve around Utah. Each show also ends with a musical olio, in which the performers dress up in various costumes and do musical numbers.</p><br>
<p>The Hochelaga Archipelago , also known as the Montreal Islands, is a group of islands at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa rivers in the southwestern part of the province of Quebec, Canada.</p><br>
<h2>Size</h2><br>
<p>Estimates of the number of islands in the archipelago vary. The most widely accepted number seems to be 234, although the number has been put as high as 325.</p><br>
<h2>Islands</h2><br>
<p>The largest island in the group is the Island of Montreal, which contains most of the city of Montreal and the central section of its metropolitan area. The city has jurisdiction over 74 smaller islands in the archipelago, most notably Nuns Island, Île Bizard, and the two islands that served as the site of Expo 67, namely Saint Helens Island and the artificial Île Notre-Dame.</p><br>
<p>The second-largest island in the archipelago is Île Jésus, which along with the Îles Laval and several smaller islands makes up the city of Laval.</p><br>
<p>Other islands include the Îles de Boucherville, featuring a Québec National Park, Île Perrot, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and the neighbouring Grande-Île, as well as the smaller Dorval Island and Dowker Island.</p><br>
<h3>List of named islands</h3><br>
<p>Île à l&#39;Aigle</p><br>
<p>Île Avelle</p><br>
<p>Île Barwick</p><br>
<p>Île Béique</p><br>
<p>Île Bellevue</p><br>
<p>Île Bizard</p><br>
<p>Île au Bois Blanc</p><br>
<p>Île Bonfoin</p><br>
<p>Îles de Boucherville, including:</p><br>
<p>Île Charron</p><br>
<p>Île de la Commune</p><br>
<p>Île Dufault</p><br>
<p>Île Grosbois</p><br>
<p>Île Lafontaine</p><br>
<p>Île Montbrun</p><br>
<p>Île à Pinard</p><br>
<p>Île Saint-Jean</p><br>
<p>Île Sainte-Marguerite</p><br>
<p>Île Tourte Blanche</p><br>
<p>Île Bourdon</p><br>
<p>Île Boutin</p><br>
<p>Île Cadieux</p><br>
<p>Île aux Canards</p><br>
<p>Île aux Chats</p><br>
<p>Île aux Cerfeuils</p><br>
<p>Île aux Chèvres</p><br>
<p>Île aux Plaines</p><br>
<p>Île Claude</p><br>
<p>Île Daoust</p><br>
<p>Île Deslauriers</p><br>
<p>Île Dixie</p><br>
<p>Île Dorval</p><br>
<p>Île Dowker</p><br>
<p>Île au Foin</p><br>
<p>Île Gagné</p><br>
<p>Île Hiam</p><br>
<p>Île Hog</p><br>
<p>Île Jasmin</p><br>
<p>Île Jésus</p><br>
<p>Île Lamontagne</p><br>
<p>Île Lapierre</p><br>
<p>Îles Laval, including:</p><br>
<p>Île Bigras</p><br>
<p>Île Pariseau</p><br>
<p>Île Ronde</p><br>
<p>Île Verte</p><br>
<p>Île Madore</p><br>
<p>Île Ménard</p><br>
<p>Île Mercier</p><br>
<p>Île Migneron</p><br>
<p>Île Mitan</p><br>
<p>Île de Montréal</p><br>
<p>Île du Moulin de Saint-François</p><br>
<p>Île aux Moutons</p><br>
<p>Île Notre-Dame</p><br>
<p>Îles de la Paix, including:</p><br>
<p>Île au Diable</p><br>
<p>Île du Docteur</p><br>
<p>Île à Tambault</p><br>
<p>Île à Thomas</p><br>
<p>Île aux Veaux</p><br>
<p>Île Paton</p><br>
<p>Île aux Plaines</p><br>
<p>Île Perrot</p><br>
<p>Île Perry</p><br>
<p>Île de Pierre</p><br>
<p>Île aux Pins</p><br>
<p>Île aux Pruches</p><br>
<p>Îles des Rapides de Lachine or Îles du Sault-Saint-Louis, including:</p><br>
<p>Île aux Hérons</p><br>
<p>Île aux Chèvres</p><br>
<p>Île au Diable</p><br>
<p>les Sept-Soeurs</p><br>
<p>Île aux Sternes</p><br>
<p>Île Roussin</p><br>
<p>Île de Roxboro</p><br>
<p>Île Saint-Joseph</p><br>
<p>Île Saint-Laurent</p><br>
<p>Île Sainte-Hélène</p><br>
<p>Île Saint-Pierre</p><br>
<p>Île Sainte-Thérèse</p><br>
<p>Île Serre</p><br>
<p>Île des Sœurs</p><br>
<p>Île Sunset</p><br>
<p>Île Todd</p><br>
<p>Île aux Tourtes</p><br>
<p>Île du Tremblay</p><br>
<p>Île à la Truie</p><br>
<p>Île aux Vaches</p><br>
<p>Îles de Varennes</p><br>
<p>Île Vert</p><br>
<p>Île de la Visitation</p><br>
<p>Île Wight</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The archipelago takes its name from Hochelaga, an Iroquois settlement on the Island of Montreal that was later settled by the French and grew to become the modern city of Montreal.</p><br>
<p>Marmari  is a village and a former municipality in Euboea, Greece, in the southeastern end of the island. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Karystos, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 241.332 km. The Greek National Road 44  runs through Marmari. There are ferry routes with the mainland port of Rafina. The mountains dominate the east. Its main economy are businesses and agriculture. Marmari is located SE of Chalkida, E of Rafina and west of Karystos.</p><br>
<h2>Other</h2><br>
<p>Marmari currently has two schools: a middle school and a junior high school. Marmari is surrounded by beautiful beaches which frequently host surfers from across the globe. Marmari is also home to Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. Marmari is also home to a post office, as well as many taverns. It is approximately one hour away from the port city of Rafina.</p><br>
<p>The Wardha River (Varada River, is one of the biggest rivers in Vidarbha region in India. The Wardha River joins the Wainganga River south of Chamorshi and forms the Pranahita River at Adilabad District, Telangana.</p><br>
<h2>Origin</h2><br>
<p>Wardha originates at an altitude of 777 meters Satpura Range in village khairwani near Multai, Betul District of Madhya Pradesh..........</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<p>From the origin it flows 32 km in Madhya Pradesh and then enters into Maharashtra.after travelling 528 km, it joins the Wainganga forming the Pranahita, which ultimately into the Godavari River.</p><br>
<h2>Tributaries</h2><br>
<p>Kar, Wena, Jam, Erai are the left tributaries. Madu, Bembla, Penganga are the right tributaries.</p><br>
<h2>Dams</h2><br>
<p>A huge dam Upper Wardha Dam is built on Wardha river near *Morshi. It is considered as lifeline for Amravati city and Morshi and Warud Talukas considered as California of India for its orange plantations. A dam on Bembala river under construction, to be considering a lifeline for part of Yavatmal Dist.</p><br>
<p>A Lower Wardha Dam is also being constructed near Dhanodi village.</p><br>
