<p>The Norwood Park Historical District  is a historic district in the Norwood Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It is bordered by Bryn Mawr, Avondale, and Harlem Avenues, and is home to the Noble-Seymour-Crippen House, which was built in 1833 and is widely considered to be the oldest house in Chicago.  The historic district is also home to Norwood Park Public School, William Howard Taft High School, Norwood Park , Myrtle Park, and Norwood Circle Park. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.</p><br>
<p>The district was first settled in 1833, when Mark Noble, Sr., built his house northwest of Chicago, Illinois. However, the area remained sparsely when the Chicago and North Western Railway built a station there in 1864. The Norwood Park Land and Building Association (NPLBA) formed in 1868 to purchase 860 acre of farmland with the intention of developing a suburb. The organization was led by Thomas H. Seymour, a broker at the Chicago Board of Trade, and educator John Eberhart. The town was named after the novel Norwood, or Village Life in New England by Henry Ward Beecher; "Park" was added because another Illinois post office already held the Norwood name.</p><br>
<p>The Cortez Mountains are located in north central Nevada in the United States. The range lies in a southwest-northeasterly direction between Crescent Valley and Pine Valley. Mount Tenabo is the principal peak of the range, at 9,153 feet above sea level. Surrounding ranges include: the Shoshone Range to the northwest, the Pinon and Sulphur Springs ranges to the east, the Simpson Park Mountains to the south and the Toiyabe Range to the southwest across the narrow Cortez Canyon.</p><br>
<p>The northeastern end of the range reaches the Humboldt River at Palisade about 9.5 mi southwest of Carlin.</p><br>
<p>The Bureau of Land Management oversees 70% of the range, while privately held land accounts for the other 30%. Vegetation is primarily pinyon-juniper, montane shrub, and sagebrush steppe. At least four different species of mice live in the range. The side-blotched lizard and the chisel-toothed kangaroo rat are also found in the mountains.</p><br>
<p>The Crystal Cascades is a cascade waterfall on the Freshwater Creek in the Far North region of Queensland, Australia.</p><br>
<h2>Location and features</h2><br>
<p>The Crystal Cascades is located in a relatively unspoilt section of the upper Freshwater Creek, in the Redlynch Valley, west of Cairns, with numerous waterfalls and swimming waterholes popular with locals and tourists. The largest waterhole is sited alongside a sheer cliff which locals and tourists climb to jump into the adjoining deep waterhole. The most famous part of the cliff is called "No Fear" which is the highest perch from which to jump. In 2014 an 18yearold man drowned when he failed to resurface after slipping over the edge of the waterfall, while swimming in a restricted area.</p><br>
<p>Mount Clay is a peak located in Thompson and Meserve&#39;s Purchase in Coos County in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It is a rise about 0.9 mi long and a few hundred feet tall, with summit elevation of 5,533 ft; it lies on the ridge joining the summits of Mount Washington, about 0.9 mi to the south-southeast, with that of Mount Jefferson, about 1.3 mi north.</p><br>
<p>The Appalachian Trail, coinciding there with the Gulfside Trail, rises about a hundred feet approaching it northbound, and passes 0.1 mi from the summit, 200 ft below it. The 1.2 mi Mt. Clay Loop passes over the summit. The Jewell Trail is a popular choice as a relatively less strenuous route to Mt. Washingtons summit; hikers ascending it, eastbound, from the vicinity of the cog rail base station join the Gulfside Trail about 0.4 mi from Clays summit and about 200 ft below, and give up about 100 ft in descending the southern tail of Clay, before resuming the ascent of Washington.</p><br>
<p>The mountain is named for Henry Clay, 19th-century senator and USA Secretary of State from Kentucky, known as "The Great Compromiser". In 2003, the New Hampshire state legislature, participating in a Reagan Legacy project, made it state law that Mt. Clay "shall hereafter be called and known as Mount Reagan," after President Ronald Reagan. The legal force of this is limited to actions by the state of New Hampshire. The USA Board on Geographic Names (BGN) voted in May 2010 not to change the name of the mountain. Maps used in connection with foot travel in the Presidentials are typically published by the USA Geological Survey (which adheres by law to BGN&#39;s naming), and by the Appalachian Mountain Club and two New England companies, all three of whom use "Clay" and make no mention of "Reagan".</p><br>
<p>Although well over 4,000 ft in height above sea level, the Appalachian Mountain Club does not consider Mount Clay a "four-thousand footer" because it stands less than 200 ft above the col on the ridge from Washington, making it a secondary summit of that peak.</p><br>
<p>The Macy–Colby House is a historically significant saltbox house at 257 Main Street in Amesbury, Massachusetts. It is a historic house museum and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2008. In addition to its great age, it is notable for its association with Thomas Macy, an early settler of Nantucket and the subject of a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, and for its long association with the locally significant Colby family.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Macy–Colby House was originally built by Thomas Macy, probably about 1649, and sold to Anthony Colby in 1654. The saltbox structure was extensively modified by Obadiah Colby (1706–1749) in the early 1740s.</p><br>
<p>Thomas Macy (1608–1682) was Amesbury&#39;s first town clerk; he held many town offices, and was involved in numerous land transactions. He left Amesbury in 1659 after years of conflict with local Puritan leaders. He became the first European settler to establish his family on the island of Nantucket. Macy became the subject of a poem by the 19th-century poet John Greenleaf Whittier entitled "The Exile", depicting the plight of Quakers in the religiously intolerant Puritan society of colonial Massachusetts.</p><br>
<p>Anthony Colby (1605–1660/61) came to America with the Winthrop fleet in 1630. He first settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was in Salisbury, Massachusetts, by 1640. He was one of the first settlers of the new town of Amesbury in 1650. He was active in town affairs, served in various offices, and was part owner of a local sawmill.</p><br>
<p>Anthony Colby’s descendants owned the Macy–Colby property for 245 years; nine generations of Colbys lived in this house. In 1899, Moses Colby (1822–1901) donated the house and property to the Bartlett Cemetery Association as a memorial to the Colby and Macy families, and to the people of Amesbury, Massachusetts. The property is maintained by the Friends of the Macy–Colby House Association, and is open to the public on Saturdays in the summer.</p><br>
<p>This house dates to ca. 1745 according to the Massachusetts Historical Commission/ Massachusetts Cultural Resources Information System.</p><br>
<p>The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, head church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, is located at 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, on the east side of Logan Square in Philadelphia. It was built from 1846-1864 and was designed by Napoleon LeBrun &ndash; from original plans by the Reverend Mariano Muller and the Reverend John B. Tornatore &ndash; with the dome and Palladian facade designed by John Notman added after 1850. The interior was largely decorated by Constantino Brumidi.</p><br>
<p>The cathedral is the largest Catholic church in Pennsylvania, and was listed on the USA National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The cathedral has been the site of two papal Masses, one celebrated by Pope John Paul II in 1979, and the other by Pope Francis in 2015. The current rector of the cathedral is the Reverend Gerald Dennis Gill.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>On the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 1846, Bishop Kenrick, then Bishop of Philadelphia, issued a pastoral letter announcing his determination to build a cathedral.</p><br>
<p>Before Saint Peter and Paul was built Philadelphia had two previous Cathedrals; the first Catholic Church in Philadelphia was Saint Josephs which was built in 1733. As the Catholic Church grew a new church called Saint Marys was built in 1763 which eventually was granted to be Philadelphias first cathedral in 1810. As the Catholic Church continued to grew Saint Johns was eventually made the new cathedral in 1838 when a larger church was needed and it was Saint John&#39;s that remained the Cathedral until Bishop Kenrick began work on the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.</p><br>
<p>It was the bishop&#39;s intention to avoid running into debt, so the cathedral was long in building. He chose for the site a plot of ground adjoining the seminary at Eighteenth and Race Streets. Construction on the cathedral began shortly thereafter but was not completed until 1864. This was less than 2 years after the Philadelphia Nativist Riots, which represented the height of Anti-Catholicism and Know-Nothingism in Philadelphia and, according to local lore, greatly influenced the design of the building. The Cathedral was built with only very high clerestory windows that according to parish histories would inhibit vandalism. In order to protect the windows of the Cathedral Basilica from possible future riots, the builders would throw stones into the air to determine the height of where the windows would be placed.</p><br>
<h2>Building</h2><br>
<p>With its grand façade, vaulted dome, ornate main altar, eight side chapels and main sanctuary that comfortably holds 2,000 worshippers, the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is the largest brownstone structure and one of the most architecturally notable structures in the city of Philadelphia.</p><br>
<p>The cathedral, presented in a Roman-Corinthian style of architecture, is modeled after the Lombard Church of St. Charles (San Carlo al Corso) in Rome. Its Palladian façade and aqua oxidized-copper dome are in the Italian Renaissance manner, as is the spacious interior, which features an oversized apse of stained glass and red antique marble in proportions reminiscent of Roman churches. A baldichino (canopy) over the main altar and the three altars on each of the side aisles point up this Italian Renaissance flavor. In the bowels of the building is the compact "Crypt of the Bishops".</p><br>
<h3>Architects and designers</h3><br>
<p>The basilica was designed by Napoleon LeBrun based on plans drawn up by the Reverend Mariano Muller and the Reverend John B. Tornatore, and by John Notman who added the dome and facade.</p><br>
<p>LeBrun was a native Philadelphian born to French-Catholic parents. He designed numerous churches throughout Philadelphia, including St. Patricks Catholic Church, Twentieth Street (1841); the Seventh Presbyterian Church (1842); the Scots Presbyterian Church (1843); the Catholic Church of St. Peter the Apostle (German), Fifth Street (1843); and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Holy Nativity (1844), no longer standing. Other notable buildings he designed include the Philadelphia Academy of Music.</p><br>
<p>Notman is most noted for his Philadelphia ecclesiastical architecture for the Protestant Episcopal Church, including St. Marks Church, Locust Street (1850); St. Clements Church, Twentieth Street (1857); and the Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square. He also designed the Athenaeum of Philadelphia and parts of the New Jersey State House.</p><br>
<p>Constantino Brumidi painted the ceiling mural in the dome &ndash; The Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven (1868) &ndash; and the round portraits of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John on its pendentives. Brumidi was a Greek/Italian-American painter, best known for his murals in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., especially the Apotheosis of George Washington in the dome of the rotunda.</p><br>
<p>Architect Henry D. Dagit renovated the cathedral interior, 1914-15, adding the apse behind the High Altar. DAscenzo Studios executed the apses stained glass windows and mosaic murals.</p><br>
<p>The four bronze statues in niches on the building&#39;s main facade &ndash; Mary, Jesus, St. Peter and St. Paul &ndash; were added in 1915.</p><br>
<h2>Ordinaries of Philadelphia</h2><br>
<p>Under the main altar of the Cathedral is a crypt with the remains of most of the Bishops and Archbishops, and of several other clergymen, of Philadelphia. The crypt can be reached by stairs behind the main altar. The crypt is the final resting place of:</p><br>
<p>Michael Francis Egan, O.S.F., first Bishop of Philadelphia, consecrated October 28, 1810, died 1814.</p><br>
<p>Henry Conwell, second Bishop of Philadelphia, consecrated 1820, died April 22, 1842.</p><br>
<p>Francis Patrick Kenrick, third Bishop of Philadelphia, elevated to Archbishop of Baltimore in 1851, died 1863.</p><br>
<p>James Frederick Wood, fifth Bishop and first Archbishop of Philadelphia, died June 20, 1882.</p><br>
<p>Patrick John Ryan, sixth Bishop and second Archbishop of Philadelphia, died February 3, 1911.</p><br>
<p>Edmond Prendergast, seventh Bishop and third Archbishop of Philadelphia, died February 26, 1918.</p><br>
<p>Dennis Joseph Dougherty, eighth Bishop, fourth Archbishop of Philadelphia, and first to be elevated to Cardinal, died May 31, 1951.</p><br>
<p>John Krol, tenth Bishop, sixth Archbishop of Philadelphia, and third to be elevated to Cardinal, died March 3, 1996.</p><br>
<p>Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua, eleventh Bishop, seventh Archbishop of Philadelphia, and fourth to be elevated to Cardinal, died January 31, 2012.</p><br>
<h3>Other burials</h3><br>
<p>Francis Patrick O&#39;Neill, pastor of St. James, Philadelphia, 1843–1882, died 1882.</p><br>
<p>Maurice Walsh, pastor of St. Paul’s Philadelphia, 1832–1888, died 1888.</p><br>
<p>James Corcoran, professor at Saint Charles Seminary, died 1889.</p><br>
<p>Ames J. Carroll, bishop, died 1913.</p><br>
<p>Francis I. Clark, bishop, died 1918.</p><br>
<p>D. Cletus Benjamin, bishop, died May 15, 1961.</p><br>
<p>Gerald P. O&#39;Hara, bishop, died July 16, 1963</p><br>
<p>Francis Brennan, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, the first American to receive an appointment to the Roman Curia, died July 2, 1968.</p><br>
<p>Gerald V. McDevitt, bishop, died September 29, 1980.</p><br>
<p>John Patrick Foley, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, seventh Philadelphia priest to be elevated to Cardinal, died December 11, 2011.</p><br>
<p>Mount Stewart is a 19th-century house and garden in County Down, Northern Ireland, owned by the National Trust. Situated on the east shore of Strangford Lough, a few miles outside the town of Newtownards and near Greyabbey, it was the Irish seat of the Vane-Tempest-Stewart family, Marquesses of Londonderry. The house and its contents reflect the history of the Vane-Tempest-Stewart family, who played a leading role in British and Irish social and political life.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Mount Stewart was formed by the Stewart family (later Vane-Tempest-Stewart), holders of the title Marquess of Londonderry since 1816. The family bought the estate in 1744 with money acquired by Alexander Stewart (1699–1781). This new wealth came from the sales of materials like linen. At the time, the house was known as Mount Pleasant.</p><br>
<p>Alexander Stewarts son, Robert Stewart, became the first Marquess of Londonderry. In about 1800 he added a temporary wing to the west. He died in 1821 leaving the house to his son, also Robert, better known as Viscount Castlereagh, one of Britains most famous Foreign Secretaries. Castlereagh lived in Mount Stewart during his childhood until he went to University in Cambridge.</p><br>
<p>Lord Castlereagh inherited his fathers title only a year before his own death. The next owner of the house was his half-brother, Charles, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (1778–1854). He married twice but it was his later marriage which increased the familys finances greatly. His second wife was Lady Frances Anne Vane-Tempest. She was the greatest heiress of her time. This huge new wealth prompted the refurbishment and enlargement of the newly renamed Mount Stewart.</p><br>
<p>Controversially the Londonderrys, while spending £150,000 on the refurbishment only gave £30 to famine relief in Ireland in the 1840s. This remodelling created the present exterior of Mount Stewart. The small Georgian house and the small portico on the west wing were demolished and the house was increased to eleven bays. On the entrance front, a huge portico was added in the centre, and a smaller half portico was added to the other side.</p><br>
<p>The marriage also brought in much of the Vane-Tempest property, including land. Wynyard Park, County Durham was redesigned in the Neo-classical style. The couple bought Seaham Hall, also in County Durham, and then later bought Holdernesse House on London&#39;s Park Lane. This was later renamed Londonderry House.</p><br>
<p>The 4th Marquess of Londonderry married the widow of Viscount Powerscourt and lived at her home, Powerscourt, near Dublin. The 5th Marquess lived at his wife&#39;s ancestral property, Plas Machynlleth in Wales, and his son, the 6th Marquess, lived at Wynyard. These long periods of neglect nearly destroyed Mount Stewart.</p><br>
<p>The 7th Marquess (1878–1949), a well-known Ulster Unionist politician, and his wife brought a new lease of life to the house and its plain grounds. The Marchioness of Londonderrys ancestral home was Dunrobin Castle in Scotland and it was that houses gardens which inspired the Mount Stewart&#39;s. She also redesigned and redecorated much of the interior, for example, the huge drawing room, smoking room, the Castlereagh Room and many of the guest bedrooms. She named the latter after European cities including Rome and Moscow.</p><br>
<h3>The Gardens</h3><br>
<p>After the houses interior, the Marchioness redesigned the gardens in the most lavish way possible. Prior to her husbands succession to the Marquessate in 1915 the gardens had been plain lawns with large decorative pots. She added the Shamrock Garden, the Sunken Garden, increased the size of the lake, added a Spanish Garden with a small hut, the Italian Garden, the Dodo Terrace, Menagerie, the Fountain Pool and laid out walks in the Lily Wood and rest of the estate. In 1957, she gave the gardens to the National Trust.</p><br>
<h3>The National Trust</h3><br>
<p>The National Trust took over the gardens in 1957. The last chatelaine of the house (and the last surviving child of the 7th Marquess), Lady Mairi Bury (née Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Dowager Viscountess Bury), gave the house and most of its contents to the Trust in 1977. The Trust operates the property under the name "Mount Stewart House, Garden & Temple of the Winds". Lady Mairi was the last Londonderry family member to live at Mount Stewart, and the last member of this Anglo-Irish family to live in Ireland. She died at Mount Stewart on 18 November 2009, at the age of 88. On her death her daughter Lady Rose Lauritzen, wife of the American art historian, became the live-in family member; she lives also in Venice.</p><br>
<p>In 1999, the Mount Stewart Gardens were added to the United Kingdom "Tentative List" of sites for potential nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.</p><br>
<p>In 2015, the National Trust completed an extensive restoration of the house and its contents as well as the purchase of the wider estate re-uniting it and plan to open for visitor access.</p><br>
<h2>The House</h2><br>
<p>Mount Stewart had many good and bad times. It was in almost permanent use when the 3rd Marquess was alive and was greatly extended to become the principal family residence. It was increased in size greatly with a collection of new rooms which were suitable to house the familys growing art collections, furnishings and general treasures. The main room was (and still is) the Drawing Room. This looks out onto the main gardens and in the past it would have been possible to see Strangford Lough. Another main entertaining room was the Dining Room which looks out onto the entrance front and was almost twice its present size, but was altered to make a new kitchen some time after its construction and lavish decoration. One of the most stunning rooms at Mount Stewart is that of the private Chapel&#39;. This hidden gem is a double-height room with stained glass windows and Italian paintings on its walls.</p><br>
<h2>The Estate</h2><br>
<p>The present-day estate of Mount Stewart extends to 950 acre with a large lake and many monuments and farm buildings.</p><br>
<h3>The Temple of the Winds</h3><br>
<p>This octagonal building was inspired by the Grand Tour the 1st Marquess took in his youth. Many country houses in the UK had adaptations of the temples their owners had seen on their tours of the Mediterranean. It is similar to ones at Shugborough and West Wycombe Park, both National Trust properties. It was designed by architect James Athenian Stuart in 1782–83.</p><br>
<p>Amistad Reservoir  is a reservoir on the Rio Grande at its confluence with the Devils River 12 mi northwest of Del Rio, Texas. The lake is bounded by Val Verde County on the United States side of the international border and by the state of Coahuila on the Mexican side of the border; the American shoreline forms the Amistad National Recreation Area. The reservoir was formed in 1969 by the construction of Amistad Dam. The dam and lake are managed jointly by the governments of the United States and Mexico through the International Boundary and Water Commission. The name of the dam and lake is the Spanish word for "friendship". The reservoir is also known as Lake Amistad.</p><br>
<h2>Hydrology</h2><br>
<p>Amistad Reservoir is part of the Rio Grande, which forms its principal inflow at its northwestern end. The other major inflow is the Devils River, which enters from the north. The reservoir occupies a series of meanders between the two rivers; its outflow passes through Amistad Dam on the lakes southern side, from which the Rio Grande continues southeastward toward the Gulf of Mexico. Since it is filled by the Rio Grande (and its tributaries, the Rio Conchos and Pecos River), Amistads drainage basin includes a vast area of West Texas, central New Mexico, southern Colorado, southeastern Chihuahua, and northern Coahuila.</p><br>
<h2>Fish and plant life</h2><br>
<p>Amistad Reservoir is stocked with species of fish intended to improve the utility of the reservoir for recreational fishing. Fish found in Amistad Reservoir include largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, Guadalupe bass, and catfish. Substantial aquatic vegetation grows in the lake, primarily hydrilla.</p><br>
<p>The Amistad gambusia, a fish species endemic to the area, was eliminated in the wild when the filling of the reservoir in 1969 submerged Goodenough Spring, its only known habitat, under approximately 70 ft of water. Two captive populations didn&#39;t survive, and the fish was extinct by 1987.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The area now covered by the reservoir was long inhabited by Indigenous Americans, who sheltered in caves along the rivers and left numerous cave paintings. After the Mexican–American War, American pioneers such as John Coffee Hays travelled through the area in developing a reliable road from San Antonio to El Paso.</p><br>
<p>A 1944 treaty between the United States and Mexico proposed the construction of a major dam and reservoir on the Rio Grande to provide flood control, water conservation, irrigation, hydroelectric power, and recreation to the area. Amistad Dam&#39;s construction began in December 1964 and was completed in November 1969, after which the reservoir was filled, flooding a series of valleys around the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Devils River. The dam and the reservoir are managed by the International Boundary and Water Commission, which was established in 1889 by the governments of the United States and Mexico to maintain the border, allocate river waters between the two nations, and provide for flood control and water sanitation.</p><br>
<h2>Recreational uses</h2><br>
<p>During the construction of the dam, the land around the American shore of the coming reservoir was designated as the Amistad National Recreation Area. The lake provides year-round, water-based recreation opportunities, including boating, fishing, swimming, scuba diving and water-skiing, as well as other recreational opportunities for picnicking, camping, and hunting. The area is rich in archaeology and rock art, and contains a wide variety of plant and animal life. The lake is home to yearly nationally-televised fishing tournaments. It is also near the flight path of USAF trainers.</p><br>
<p>The Logan Rock  near the village of Treen in Cornwall, England, UK, is an example of a logan or rocking stone. Although it weighs some 80 tons, it was dislodged in 1824 by a group of British seamen, intent on showing what the Navy could do. However following complaints from local residents for whom the rock had become a tourist attraction and source of income, the seamen were forced to restore it. Today the Logan Rock still rocks, but with much less ease than it did in the past. The South West Coast Path, which follows the coast of south-west England from Somerset to Dorset passes by on the cliffs to the north.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The rock is an eighty-ton granite boulder perched on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the English Channel, on a headland one mile south of Treen. The rock is within Treryn Dinas, an Iron Age promontory fort, or cliff castle, with five lines of fortification. The rock is finely balanced due to the actions of weathering, and prior to its restoration in 1824 it could be rocked by applying only a little pressure. As well as the logan stone itself, the name Logan Rock is also applied to the surrounding tip of the headland. Cripp&#39;s Cove lies to the east beneath the rock. A number of stacks are located around the edge of Logan Rock including Great Goular, Horrace, and Seghy. The area is within the Treen Cliff Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), notified in 1951 for its marine heathland and rare plants. It is within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the Penwith Heritage Coast and is owned and managed by the National Trust.</p><br>
<p>The Runnel Stone Marine Conservation Zone was designated on 29 January 2016, covers 20 km² and is based on a 3.5 km arc measured from the National Coastwatch Institution lookout based at Gwennap Head. Included is much of the coast from Gwennap Head to Hall Dinas on the east side of Treryn Dinas. The MCZ protects habitats ranging from exposed rock on the coast to soft sediments on the sea floor and animals such as pink sea fan (Eunicella verrucosa) which can be found on the eastern side of the headland.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The original Cornish language name for the rock, recorded in 1870 as Men Amber, is Men Omborth, meaning balanced stone. The word "logan" (properly pronounced "logg-un") is probably derived from the word "log", which in an English dialect means "to rock". In fact, in some parts of the UK, rocking stones or logan stones are called logging stones. Bray, writing in 1832, notes the expression to log the childs cradle&#39; in relation to logan stone as an example of ancient British dialect recorded on Dartmoor in Devon.</p><br>
<p>Some have suggested that it comes from a Cornish expression for the movement that someone makes when drunk. Davies Gilbert writes:</p><br>
<p>The Cornish word Leghen means "a thin flat stone", whilst its root word, Legh, can also mean "rickets", a disease caused by deficiency of vitamin D and Calcium which can lead to bone deformity.</p><br>
<p>It should also be noted that the name for rocking stones could be a modified form of the Danish word "logre," which means to wag the tail, and this suggests possible Norse origin. Danes in particular established a kingdom in Great Britain before 1000 AD, Norway maintained nominal control over the Hebrides in northern Scotland until the late Middle Ages, and Vikings frequently raided along the British coastal areas between 800 and 1000 AD Thus, a Norse origin for the word Logan, while speculative, cannot be ruled out.</p><br>
<h2>Story of the rock</h2><br>
<p>The Logan Rock is one of the best known rocking stones for several reasons. For example, Modred, in William Mason&#39;s dramatic poem "Caractacus," addressing the characters Vellinus and Elidurus, says of the Logan Rock:</p><br>
<p>However, another reason that the Logan Rock of Treen is remembered is that it was the centre of a famous drama. In April 1824, Lieutenant Hugh Goldsmith, R.N. (nephew of the famous poet Oliver Goldsmith), and ten or twelve of his crew of the cutter HMS Nimble, armed with bars and levers rocked the huge granite boulder until it fell from its cliff-top perch. Goldsmith was apparently motivated to disprove the claim of Dr Borlase, who wrote in Antiquities of Cornwall in 1754 that:</p><br>
<p>Goldsmith was determined to demonstrate that nothing was impossible when the courage and skill of British seamen were engaged. The Logan Rock slid aside and was caught in a narrow crevice (it did not fall from the cliff as claimed by some).</p><br>
<p>This upset the local residents considerably, since Logan Rock had been used to draw tourists to the area. Treen had become a lucrative tourist destination. Sir Richard R. Vyvyan was particularly unhappy. The local residents demanded that the British Admiralty strip Lieutenant Goldsmith of his Royal Navy commission unless he restored the boulder to its previous position at his own expense.</p><br>
<p>However, Davies Gilbert persuaded the Lords of the Admiralty to lend Lieutenant Goldsmith the required apparatus for replacing the Logan Rock. The Admiralty sent thirteen capstans with blocks and chains from the dock yard at Plymouth, and contributed £25 towards expenses. Gilbert also raised more funds.</p><br>
<p>After months of effort, at 4.20pm on Tuesday, 2 November 1824, in front of thousands of spectators and with the help of more than sixty men and block and tackle, the Logan Rock was finally repositioned and returned to "rocking condition" (Michell 1974). Apparently the total final cost of this enterprise was £130 8s 6d. The original receipt for this expenditure can be found today in The Logan Rock public house in Treen. However, it is not clear how much of the remaining £105 Goldsmith had to make up out of his own pocket.</p><br>
<p>For some time after, the rock was kept chained and padlocked, but eventually these restrictions were removed, and the rock was set free. Tourism declined and this was blamed on the condition of Logan Rock. For a while, Treen was nicknamed Goldsmiths Deserted Village&#39;. The anchor holes used to haul the huge rock back into place are still visible in the surrounding rocks. However, it apparently no longer vibrates or "logs" as easily as it did before. Francis Kilvert on his visit on 27 July 1870:</p><br>
<p>Nonetheless, local historian Craig Weatherhill asserts that a series of rhythmic heaves against the south-western corner of the rock will set it moving, after which, the motion can be kept going with the efforts of one hand. He also mentions another smaller logan on the headland, the Lady Logan Rock, which legend tells is a giantess petrified by curses from the dying husband she had just murdered.</p><br>
<p>On an 1879 visit, Alfred Phillips of Kilburn, found that he ″... was able to shake with little difficulty″. In one of her last works, a biography of her childhood, Virginia Woolf mentions visiting Loggan rock with her father and setting it rocking. The episode probably occurred in the early 1890s, when Woolf spent each summer in nearby St Ives.</p><br>
<h2>Folklore</h2><br>
<p>"Observer", a letter writer to the Cornishman in 1879, uses the ″venerable belief of our fore-fathers″ who believed in the St Levan witches riding over the Logan Rock, to dispel the contemporary belief, that electric light (which was being introduced to Penzance) was dangerous.</p><br>
<p>The Piute Range is located in the Mojave Desert, primarily in northeast San Bernardino County, California, United States, with a north portion in Nevada. Most of the range is the eastern border of the Mojave National Preserve, a National Park Service natural area and park.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The mountains lie to the east of Lanfair Valley and southeast of the New York Mountains and Castle Mountains, and northeast of the Piute Mountains. They trend in a north-south direction, and form the western perimeter of the north-south Piute Valley which extends north past Cal-Nev-Ari to Searchlight.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Fort Piute, one of a chain of military stations constructed to protect travellers on the Mojave Road from San Bernardino across the Mojave Desert to Fort Mojave on the Colorado River, lies at the southeastern end of the range near Piute Spring.</p><br>
<h2>4-Valley water divide, endorheic Mohave National Preserve</h2><br>
<p>The southern end of the extensive McCullough Range converges with four valleys and three mountain ranges at a water divide point. West of the McCulloughs lie the endorheic Roach and Ivanpah Dry Lakes of Ivanpah Valley; the valley extends north into Las Vegas southwest, a tributary to the Las Vegas Wash. Ivanpah Valley turns southeast to meet the water divide point. Northeast of the water divide point is the southwest Eldorado Valley, also endorheic with its Eldorado Dry Lake. Southwest, the Piute Valley drains south, then Piute Wash turns east and descends steeply at the Dead Mountains to its outfall at the Colorado River and Needles.</p><br>
<p>The Mojave National Preserve is mostly endorheic with the west bordering on Baker, California and the twin dry lakes of Silver Dry Lake and Soda Dry Lake. The northeast preserve corner is anchored by the water divide point. The northeast borders of the New York and smaller Castle Mountains meet the north of the Piute Range; to the west of the Piute&#39;s, east of the New York Mountains is the southerly draining endorheic Lanfair Valley.</p><br>
<p>The Piute Valley Watershed is the first major watershed southeast of Las Vegas to drain into the western side of the south-flowing Colorado River.</p><br>
<p>The Ashfork Bainbridge Steel Dam, the first large steel dam in the world, and one of only three ever built in the United States, was constructed in 1898 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway  to supply water for railway operations near Ash Fork, Arizona. It is named for the town of Ash Fork, and for Francis H. Bainbridge, a civil engineer and graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute , a member of the Rensselaer Society of Engineers, and an engineer for ATSF. The dam has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.</p><br>
<h2>Background</h2><br>
<p>The ATSF and other railroads had to make special provisions for water supply in desert conditions, as non condensing steam locomotives consumed a prodigious amount of water. The usual approach was to construct a dam to retain surface water, or to drill a series of wells, and store the water in a water tank. Railroad communities often grew up around these reservoirs or water stops. Ash Fork had been such a town from when the ATSF first arrived some years earlier although it had been a way point for stagecoach lines previously.</p><br>
<p>Railroads in the USA and elsewhere had been leaders in structural development. The masonry arch bridges and viaducts of the early 19th century had given way to bridges made mostly of steel, with considerable economy of material, construction cost, and time, and Bainbridge speculated that similar savings might be possible for dams. This dam was a significant departure from the more typical masonry construction. Already familiar with the construction of the ATSFs many steel bridges, Bainbridge decided to see whether steel construction could replace masonry in dams as well. The dams light weight and prefabricated components must have made assembly easy relative to the laborious job of quarrying and setting stone.</p><br>
<p>Steel dams use relatively thin steel plates in contact with the water surface, with a framework of steel behind them transmitting the load to the ground. The plates are slanted upwards in the direction of water flow, so that the weight of the water puts compressive forces on the girders holding the plates up. This transmits force to the ground without the bending moment that a vertical wall of plates would engender. It was believed that these dams could be constructed faster and more cheaply than masonry dams.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The dam lies about 3 mi to the east of Ash Fork, in Johnson Canyon, and about 15 mi west of Williams, Arizona. It is near the former USA Route 66 and Interstate 40. About a mile upstream lies Stone Dam, a masonry structure constructed 13 years later. The Grand Canyon Railway originates in Williams, branching from the ATSF main that this dam served, and runs northeast to the Grand Canyon.</p><br>
<h2>Construction details</h2><br>
<p>The dam was fabricated by the Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Company and shipped to the site in pieces for erection. Construction of the dam began in 1897 and was completed March 5, 1898, at a total cost of US$63,519.</p><br>
<p>The structure gets its scalloped appearance from 24 curved 3/8 inch steel plates (alternately loose and rigid to compensate for a temperature range from 104 &deg;F to minus 4 °F) that slope downstream. The central steel section is 184 ft long, 46 ft high, and weighs about 460,000 lb. No spillway was provided; instead, the dam was designed to withstand overtopping of 6 ft of water pouring directly over its crest.</p><br>
<p>It holds about 36,000,000 USgal of water when full.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The dam is an Arizona Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. A professional journal wrote in 1902 that Ash Fork Dam "has so many novel features of an experimental character that it is specially interesting and instructive to the engineering profession."</p><br>
<p>In a survey in 1955, George Lamb said "it appears to be in as good condition as if it was just built." It is still in use, unlike the other two steel dams in the United States.</p><br>
<p>The Kaibab National Forest (part of the United States Forest Service holdings) is now the owner of the dam, after acquiring it through a land exchange.</p><br>
<p>It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 with a structure ID of #76000373.</p><br>
<p>Lake Kaweah is a reservoir near Lemon Cove in Tulare County, California. The lake is formed by Terminus Dam on the Kaweah River. The river originates in the San Joaquin Valley beneath the Sierra Nevada mountains and drains about 560 square miles into Lake Kaweah. From Lake Kaweah, the river flows toward the city of Visalia, splitting into the Kaweah River and St. Johns River as it flows west into the Tulare Lakebed. The lake has a capacity of 185,000 acre.ft. A project to raise the lake 21 ft was completed in 2004. The lake now impounds an additional 42,000 acre.ft and downstream flood protection to downstream communities and agricultural land has been increased.</p><br>
<p>Because its primary purpose is flood control, Lake Kaweah is maintained at a very low level or empty for most of the year, and generally only fills between May and June. Due to the limited capacity of the reservoir, large spills of floodwater often occur after large rain storms. In the winter, water is released as quickly as possible to ensure room for floodwater which can then be released at a controlled rate. During floods in 1997, the reservoir filled and emptied twice because of this operation regime.</p><br>
<p>At the upper end of Lake Kaweah is the small town of Three Rivers, which sits at the entrance to Sequoia National Park.</p><br>
<p>The Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College at Louisiana State University was founded in 1992 and is a vibrant, diverse, and prestigious academic community located at the heart of LSU. The Ogden Honors College typically admits the top 10% of incoming LSU freshmen, and provides its students with a curriculum of rigorous seminar classes, mentoring relationships with top LSU faculty, and opportunities for undergraduate research, culminating in the Honors Thesis. Its focus on community service, study abroad, internships and independent research helps today’s high-achieving students become tomorrow’s leaders. The Ogden Honors College is led by Dean Dr. Jonathan Earle, who joined the University in 2014. Since 2005, Ogden Honors students have been awarded with more than 90 prestigious national and international fellowships, including 16 Goldwater Scholarships, 8 Truman Scholarships, 18 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, 5 Critical Language Scholarships, and 3 Udall Scholarships. In December 2014, LSU announced that they had received a $12 million investment from Roger Ogden, notable alumnus and philanthropist, the largest unrestricted endowed gift in LSU history. Shortly after, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved the renaming of the college to be the "Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College" in honor of Ogden&#39;s late father and son.</p><br>
<h2>History and setting</h2><br>
<p>In 1992, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved the transformation of the honors program at the University—a collection of courses in a number of departments across campus—into the LSU Honors College. Bill Seay served as the Colleges first and only dean until 2003 when Nancy Clark assumed the role. The third and current dean is Dr. Jonathan Earle who joined the university in 2014. The Honors College was initially located in the Old Presidents House on Highland Road.</p><br>
<p>The French House</p><br>
<p>In 1999, the Honors College moved into the French House, Renaissance-style chateau originally constructed as a center for intensive study of the French language, literature, and culture. Plans for renovating the French House have been set in motion as the University attempts to raise money through a major capital campaign.</p><br>
<p>Laville Honors House</p><br>
<p>Located near the French House is the Laville Honors House, a residence hall for students enrolled in the College. The Laville Honors House includes an East Hall, West Hall, and central lobby. The East and West wings are mirror images of one another. Plans were approved by the Louisiana Board of Regents in 2008 to add 3,600 ft&sup2; of new space and renovate 110,500 ft&sup2; of existing residence hall space, which included expanding lounges and study space and providing for faculty residence on the first floor. The West Hall renovations were complete in fall 2010. The renovations of the East Hall and addition of a central lobby were completed in April 2012 at a cost of $14 million.</p><br>
<h2>Courses, undergraduate thesis, and awards</h2><br>
<p>There are three different types of Honors courses at the University. Courses offered through the Honors College are designated by the HNRS prefix and include interdisciplinary courses which generally exist as seminar-lecture pairs and feature the history, politics, philosophy, art, languages, and literature of specific civilizations or time periods. Academic departments across campus also offer honors equivalent courses. Students may also choose to "Honors Option" a course by entering into a contract with a professor of an upper level course and fulfilling a set of agreed upon requirements that go beyond the expectations laid out in the course&#39;s syllabus.</p><br>
<p>Students in the College have the opportunity to complete an undergraduate thesis, graduate with College Honors, and earn two different distinctions. Sophomore Honors Distinction is bestowed upon a student who completes 20 hours or more of Honors courses by the end of the second year, maintains a 3.5 cumulative GPA in Honors courses and in all course work, and completes one Honors interdisciplinary course. Upper Division Honors Distinction can be earned by completing Honors work in courses at the 3000 level or above, including three to six hours of research, and by writing and defending an undergraduate thesis in the student’s main field of study. Students who attain both Sophomore and Upper Division Honors Distinction graduate with College Honors—a designation that appears on a student&#39;s diploma.</p><br>
<h2>Admission and enrollment</h2><br>
<p>Although the LSU Honors College accepts continuing and transfer students, most of the incoming students enroll as college freshmen. Recommended SAT scores (V+M) and GPA for prospective high school students are 1320 and 3.5 respectively. Students may also have a minimum composite score of 30 on the ACT and should complete the writing component of the SAT or ACT for consideration.</p><br>
<p>Today, the LSU Honors College has a student enrollment of about 2,000. Applications for fall 2006 reached 2,400 by December 15. The Honor College enrollment grew by 33 percent in the fall of 2007.</p><br>
<p>The Kirthar Mountains   are a mountain range located in the Pakistani provinces of Balochistan and Sindh. The mountains extend southward for about 190 mi from the Mula River in east-central Balochistan to Cape Monze on the Arabian Sea. The Kirthar Mountains form the boundary between the lower Indus Plain  and southern Balochistan . It consists of a series of parallel rock hill ridges rising from 4,000 ft in the south to nearly 8,000 ft in the north.</p><br>
<p>The maximum elevation in the Sindh segment of the mountains was reported in April 2009, as 7,056 ft above sea-level. An old map, by the British Army Corps of Engineers, calls it Barugh Hill, along with a surveyed height of 7,122 ft. Barugh, means "big fat mountain" in the Brahui language, the language of the Sasoli tribe, who still live in that area. Barough is a branch of the Kirthar mountains, off Dadu, and the highest mountain peak of Sindh, situated a few miles north-west of the upcoming Gorakh Hill Station, at 5,688 ft from sea level. The next highest is a 6,880 ft peak, known locally as Kutte-Ji-Kabar (Dog&#39;s Grave). There are also a number of other peaks in the Sindh segment of the Kirthar Mountains exceeding 5,500 ft; these all receive occasional snowfall during the winter rains.</p><br>
<p>Kirthar has a simple mountain structure of the regular anticlinal type, with the arches steepest towards the north and the west and gently dipping towards the south and the valley of the Indus. The inhabitants of the Kirthar Mountains are chiefly Brahui, Sindhi, and Baloch tribes, on both sides, who subsist by flock grazing. Major Baloch tribes of Kirthar are Burfat, Gabol, Marri, Bozdar, Lund, Nohani, Bugti, Lashari, and others.</p><br>
<p>Lake Mohave is a reservoir on the Colorado River between the Hoover Dam and Davis Dam in Cottonwood Valley defining the border between Nevada and Arizona in the United States. This 67 mile stretch of the Colorado River flows past Boulder City, Nelson, Searchlight, Cottonwood Cove, Cal-Nev-Ari, and Laughlin to the west in Nevada and Willow Beach and Bullhead City to the east in Arizona. A maximum width of 4 miles wide and an elevation of 647 ft, Lake Mohave encompasses 28,260 acres of water. As Lake Mead lies to the north of the Hoover Dam, Lake Mohave and adjacent lands forming its shoreline are part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area administered by the USA National Park Service.</p><br>
<h2>Resorts and recreation</h2><br>
<p>There are three resorts on Lake Mohave: Katherine Landing and Willow Beach in Arizona and Cottonwood Cove in Nevada. Katherine Landing and Cottonwood Cove resorts offer lodging, RV parks with utility hook-ups, campgrounds, a restaurant a store, and marinas with gas docks. Popular recreational activities in Lake Mohave are swimming, kayaking, fishing, boating, and skiing. There are kayaking, scuba diving, and fishing supplies in Bullhead City, which borders the southernmost point of Lake Mohave. Lake Mohave offers year-round recreational opportunities. Its clear water caters to boaters, swimmers, and fishermen while its desert rewards hikers, wildlife photographers, and roadside sightseers. It is also home to thousands of desert plants and animals, adapted to survive in an extreme place where rain is scarce and temperatures soar.</p><br>
<h3>Scuba diving</h3><br>
<p>Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which encompasses Lake Mead, Lake Mohave and a portion of the Colorado River, offers good diving opportunities for both novice and advanced divers. At Lake Mohave, divers can explore Black Canyon, which has excellent diving conditions. Advanced divers can check out Ringbolt Rapids, where swift water makes for an additional challenge. Work Barge on the Arizona side has a 38-foot tow barge that sank in 1946. Cabinsite Point has two boat wrecks to view.</p><br>
<h3>Personal Watercraft</h3><br>
<p>PWCs allowed to be operated within Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which encompasses Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, include any four-stroke, and two-strokes meeting EPA 2006 emission standards.</p><br>
<p>As of December 31, 2012 many two-stroke personal watercraft are no longer allowed to operate within Lake Mead National Recreation Area. These include any PWC with a carbureted two-stroke engine. Enforcement began January 1, 2013 as part of a ten-year phase-in, based on the final rule to prohibit these PWCs being approved in April 2003.</p><br>
<h3>Hot Springs</h3><br>
<p>The volcanic origin of Black Canyon and Cottonwood Valley has resulted in a number of hot springs along the northern portion of Lake Mohave. Gold Strike Hot Springs is located very close to the shore which is accessible from a trailhead 1.2 miles south of the Hoover Dam. These springs are also available from the Gold Strike Hot Springs Trail Head two miles east of the Hoover Dam in Boulder City, Nevada. Due to the easy two mile hike from public parking and consistent pools, these springs are frequently visited. Two Mile Hot Springs and Arizona Hot Springs are within a few miles of this same area and offer a more private experience.</p><br>
<h2>Fish species</h2><br>
<h3>Native fish</h3><br>
<p>Razorback sucker (endangered)</p><br>
<p>Bonytail chub (endangered)</p><br>
<h3>Introduced fish</h3><br>
<p>Rainbow trout</p><br>
<p>Largemouth bass</p><br>
<p>Smallmouth bass</p><br>
<p>Striped bass</p><br>
<p>Crappie</p><br>
<p>Sunfish</p><br>
<p>Channel catfish</p><br>
<p>Common carp</p><br>
<p>Threadfin shad</p><br>
<h2>Fish enhancement projects</h2><br>
<p>The non-native sport fishery in Lake Mohave is enhanced by a Nevada Division of Wildlife program which places artificial habitat bundles in coves around the reservoir. The habitats are composed primarily of bundled salt cedar trees attached to wooden pallets. When placed in the water, the structures create cover for sport fish.</p><br>
<p>Additionally, Lake Mohave contains one of the largest and most genetically diverse population of razorback sucker remaining in the wild. Each spring, a multi-agency group of fish biologists use underwater lights to collect approximately 30,000 razorback sucker larvae along the shore of Lake Mohave, which would otherwise be eaten by introduced fishes. Larvae are then transported by boat to Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery where they grow in protected raceways for up to three years. When individuals have reached approximately 14 inches in length, they are released back into Lake Mohave in order to avoid predation by larger, introduced game fish such as striped bass.</p><br>
<p>Lake Mohave from Spirit Mountain 3.jpgLake Mohave from Spirit Mountain 3.</p><br>
<p>The Burt Henry Covered Bridge, also known as the Henry Covered Bridge or just the Henry Bridge, is a covered bridge that spans the Walloomsac River near Bennington, Vermont. A Town lattice truss bridge, it carries River Road, just south of the village of North Bennington. Originally built about 1840, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as Bennington County&#39;s oldest covered bridge. it was rebuilt in 1989 by the Vermont Agency of Transportation.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Henry Covered Bridge is located on northwestern Bennington, southwest of the village of North Bennington and the campus of Bennington College. It carries River Road across the westward-flowing Walloomsac River, about 0.5 mi west of its junction with Vermont Route 67A. The historic Henry House stands just south of the bridge. The bridge is a single-span Town lattice truss structure, with a total length of 121 ft, and a width of 18.5 ft and a roadway width of 15 ft, sufficient for one modern travel lane. The sides are finished in novelty siding, while the ends are finished horizontal flushboarding, with vertical boarding sheltering the trusses just inside the portal. The siding on the sides does not always extend to the gabled roof, providing light into the structure.</p><br>
<p>The bridge&#39;s original construction date was estimated to be sometime in the 1830s. At one time, an attempt to strengthen the bridge was made by doubling the trusses, so that heavily laden trucks could pass over the bridge; this was deemed ineffective, and the change was eventually reversed. The bridge was completely rebuilt in 1989.</p><br>
<p>The Henry House, also known as William Henry House, is a historic house at 138 Murphy Road in Bennington, Vermont. Built in 1769 and extensively reworked in 1798, it is one of Vermont&#39;s oldest surviving houses, and an important example of evolutionary architecture in the state during the 18th century. Now a bed and breakfast inn, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Henry House is located outside the village of North Bennington, Vermont, on the south side of the Walloomsac River, just south of the Burt Henry Covered Bridge. It is set on 25 acre of meadow, maple and pine. The main block of the house is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, with gabled roof and clapboard siding. Extending to the north and rear are ells, one of which appears to be a porch that was enclosed at a relatively early date. A two-story porch extends across the east side, supported by massive square posts. The interior of the main block has nearly intact finishes, including flooring, woodwork, door hinges and other hardware, although some parts were recycled from other old buildings during a 1930s restoration.</p><br>
<p>The house was built in 1769 for Elnathan Hubbell, and was extensively altered for William Henry about 1797. The Henrys were prominent in the settlement and politics of southwestern Vermont for many years, with Henrys son representing the state in the United States Congress. The house was built just eight years after settlement began in the area, and is one of the states oldest surviving buildings. The fact that it was altered in the 18th century is also important, as it provides a window into changing construction methods.</p><br>
<p>It was the birthplace of Horace Chapin Henry, an early Seattle businessman.</p><br>
<p>The house is now operated as the Henry House Inn, a bed and breakfast establishment.</p><br>
<p>The Cincinnati Tennis Club was founded in 1880 just five years after tennis was introduced in America, and is today one of the oldest active tennis clubs in the United States.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Stewart Shillito, the son of John Shillito, the founder of the Cincinnati department store, Shillitos, had seen tennis played while on vacation at the fashionable seaside resort of Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, and in 1878 he decided to build a court at his fathers home on Highland Avenue and Oak Street in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Mt. Auburn.</p><br>
<p>After the first court was built, interest spread rapidly among enthusiastic friends of Shillito, and by 1880, Cincinnati was ready for a tennis club.</p><br>
<p>On December 3, 1880, Edmund H. Pendleton presided over a meeting held at the Burnet House in Cincinnati, the purpose being the organization of a tennis club. A constitution was drawn up and the following officers were nominated and elected: President - Jeptha Garrand; Secretary - Howard S. Winslow; and Treasurer - Albert C. Barney.</p><br>
<p>In one week, 86 players were enrolled as members, and the south wing of Music Hall was leased for indoor play until May 1881, making Cincinnati the site of some of the earliest indoor play in America. The lease on Music Hall was renewed for an additional year, but soon thereafter the decision was made to terminate the agreement. (The story is that the roof leaked, and the club members wanted a discount on the rent because of it.) With the termination of the lease, the era of the nineteenth century indoor tennis ended in Cincinnati.</p><br>
<p>At the time one of the officers of the Club, Howard S. Winslow, lived on Oak Street and Reading Road. His father generously made available to the members if the Club (CTC) sufficient ground to lay three grass courts at the rear of his property which was adjacent to a lane. The city fathers, seeing growing tennis activity, named the lane Tennis Lane. It continues to bear that name today.</p><br>
<p>The CTC remained at that location through 1885, when it moved, with no explanation, to a new location on Arbigust Street (now called Vernon Place).</p><br>
<p>For the next 13 years the Club occupied two different locations on Vernon Place. During these years the Club grew in terms of membership and activity, and in two of the three years, 1891 and 1893, the club sponsored the Ohio State Adult Championship. Having moved twice in 13 years, the club began looking in 1898 for a more permanent address.</p><br>
<p>Among the members of CTC were John B. Keys and John Scarborough. Each owned tracts of land which they were interested in developing into a subdivision. They both hoped to do the club a favor, and at the same time enhance the value of their holdings by encouraging the club to locate on their property. John Keys offered as a gift 3 acre of land on Bedford Avenue adjoining the new Cincinnati Golf Club. John Scarborough offered the Club what is substantially its present location, not as a gift, but rent free for the first few years. Mr. Scarborough agreed to lay out four courts and build a club house at his own expense.</p><br>
<p>Finally in the spring of 1899, Scarboroughs offer was excepted because Keys property on Bedford was considered "too far out in the country and somewhat inaccessible".</p><br>
<p>Thirty-eight members from Vernon Place along with many new members brought the membership to 186 when the courts were opened. Some of the improvements promised in the Scarborough agreements were not completed until 1900.</p><br>
<p>In the first year at the new location there were four courts, the present courts 1, 2, 9 and 10. In 1904 three more courts were added to the upper tier, the present 6, 7 and 8. In 1925 three courts were added to the lower tier, courts 3, 4 and 5. The original club house was torn down in 1905 and replaced with the present structure in 1906.</p><br>
<h2>The Tri-State Tournament</h2><br>
<p>Between the years of 1903 and 1968, and with the exception of about 10 years, the Club hosted the popular and well-known tournament known as the Tri-State Tennis Tournament. This event attracted many of the best male and female players from around the country and the world, and the tournament was always one of the major events on the major tennis schedule during the Pre-Open Era.</p><br>
<p>In 1904 the Cincinnati Enquirer reported: "Such a number of noted tennis players from cities throughout the United States has been entered that the Tri-State Tournament ranks very high, being surpassed in importance only by the National Lawn Tennis Association Tournament at Newport, R.I."</p><br>
<p>Many great players, both men and women, participated in the tournament. Its list of winners reads like a "Whos Who" of tennis - Nat Emerson, Beals Wright, Bill Tilden, George Lott, Bobby Riggs, Frank Parker, Bill Talbert, Tony Trabert, Barry MacKay, May Sutton, Alice Marble, Pauline Betz, and Dorothy Bundy, to name but a few.</p><br>
<p>This tournament eventually would grow into what is now known as the Western & Southern Open. The tournament, now held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, is the oldest tournament in the nation played in its original city.</p><br>
<h2>Nat Emerson and Tony Trabert</h2><br>
<p>The Club has had a number of nationally ranked players, the first being Nat Emerson who won the Tri-State Tournament when it was first played in 1899, and was a finalist several times afterward. He was ranked No. 7 in Men&#39;s Singles by the USTA in 1908. Another nationally prominent player in the early years was Reuben A. Holden, Jr., who won the NCAA Singles Championship in 1910 while a student at Yale University. It was 41 years later in 1951, when Club member Tony Trabert playing for the University of Cincinnati won the NCAA Singles title. Barry MacKay of Dayton also won the NCAA Singles title in 1957, while at the University of Michigan.</p><br>
<p>Trabert was one of the most prominent players in the modern history of tennis. He played on the United States Davis Cup team and was later the captain. He won the French singles twice, 1954-55 as well as the Wimbledon and USA singles in 1955, making him one of only nine men in tennis history to have won three of the four major titles in a calendar year. He was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1970. Court 2 at the tennis club has been dedicated in his honor.</p><br>
<p>Bill Talbert was ranked in the USA Top 10 13 times between 1941 & 1954. He won nine Grand Slam doubles titles, and also reached the men’s doubles finals of the USA National Championship nine times. He also was a Davis Cup player and one of the most successful Davis Cup captains in USA history. He was enshrined into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1967 and was in the first class, along with his former protégé Tony Trabert, enshrined into the Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Fame. After his playing career, he was Tournament Director of the US Open. Talbert and Trabert were both coached by Howard Zaeh, as well as many hundreds of others who went on to play around the world.</p><br>
<h2>Davis Cup</h2><br>
<p>Throughout this long period the Club continued to bring world class players and teams to Cincinnati, including a Davis Cup tie in 1952, the first ever to be played here. All this activity did much to further the interest in tennis in Cincinnati and in the Ohio Valley area.</p><br>
<h2>Prominent Members</h2><br>
<p>In addition to a number of outstanding players, CTC has had distinguished and prominent citizens in its membership. To name a few, William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; Potter Stewart, Justice of the Supreme court; Neil McElroy, Secretary of Defense in the Eisenhower Administration and President and Chairman of the Procter & Gamble Company. Too numerous to mention are other members who have been leaders in the business community, medical, legal and teaching professions. From 1993 to 1995, member J. Howard Frazer served as president of the USTA - the first Cincinnatian ever to direct the national organization. Another member, Alvin Bunis, founded the first tennis senior tour—the first senior tour in either tennis or golf.</p><br>
<h2>National Register of Historic Places</h2><br>
<p>CTC has occupied its present site at Dexter and Wold Avenues since 1899, and on March 29, 1983 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of Interior for its leadership in the development and advancement of the sport of tennis in the Cincinnati and Ohio Valley Area.</p><br>
<h2>National Father Son Clay Court Championships</h2><br>
<p>Since 1974, the club has played host to the United States Tennis Association&#39;s National Father & Son Clay Court Championships.</p><br>
<h2>Further reading</h2><br>
<p>From Bustles to Shorts, Four Generations at the Cincinnati Tennis Club, by Stanley Lewis</p><br>
<p>From Club Court to Center Court, The Evolution of Professional Tennis in Cincinnati, by Phillip S. Smith</p><br>
<p>The Cincinnati Tennis Club, A Brief History, by Edmund Adams</p><br>
<p>The Cargo Muchacho Mountains are located in the southeast Colorado Desert in the Lower Colorado River Valley, in Imperial County, California in the United States. Much of the range&#39;s geology was described by the geologist John T. Dillon.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The range lies in a northwest-southeasterly direction, southeast of the Imperial Valley and northwest of the Colorado River and Yuma, AZ&ndash;Winterhaven, CA. The range lies south and southeast of the Chocolate Mountains and east of the Algodones Dunes. Pilot Knob is a volcanic plug formed landmark peak to the south of the range.</p><br>
<p>The mountains are home to the American Girl Mine, and the Golden Bee and Cargo mines. The All American Canal passes to the south of the range.</p><br>
<p>Slovak Paradise  is a mountain range in eastern Slovakia. It is a part of the Spiš-Gemer Karst, which in turn is a part of the Slovak Ore Mountains, a major subdivision of the Western Carpathians. It is located between the towns of Spišská Nová Ves in the north and Dobšiná in the south. It is particularly known for its gorges and waterfalls. It is very popular with hikers as it has a number of unusual routes through gorges and waterfalls. There are numerous sections where fixed ladders are used to climb. The area is protected by Slovak Paradise National Park .</p><br>
<h2>Characteristics</h2><br>
<p>Slovak Paradise is a plain with high plateaus (800–1000 m AMSL). The highest mountain is Ondrejisko at 1,270 m. The area is mainly built of karst limestone (Geravy, Glac, Pelc and Skala plains) and dolomite (Tri kopce). The karst plateaus show phenomena such as sinkholes and limestone pavements (lapies). The climate is moderately cold.</p><br>
<p>Typical features are canyons, gorges, and ravines (Sokol, Suchá Belá, Piecky and Kyseľ), which form picturesque rocky scenes with waterfalls, and which were created mainly by the Hnilec and Hornád rivers and their tributaries. Eighty percent of the area is covered with spruce forests combined with yew trees.</p><br>
<p>There are more than 200 caves and underground abysses. Among the caves, Dobšinská ľadová jaskyňa (Dobšinská Ice Cave) and Medvedia jaskyňa (Bear Cave) are the best known ones.</p><br>
<p>There were many settlements of woodcutters, colliers and smelters in Slovak Paradise once, which were turned into tourist centers; for example, Dobšinská Maša, Dedinky, Mlynky, and Stratená.</p><br>
<h2>Fauna</h2><br>
<p>Notable and rare animals include the brown bear (Ursus arctos), golden eagle, common kestrel and the black stork. Quite common are red deer and wild boars, wolf (Canis lupus), lynx (Lynx lynx), and the otter (Lutra lutra).</p><br>
<h2>Flora</h2><br>
<p>The area is covered with Norway spruce (Picea abies), European beech (Fagus sylvatica), fir, larch, and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris).</p><br>
<p>Important endemic plants in the area are the Carpathian harebell (Campanula carpatica), Pulsatilla slavica, Hesperis silvestris, Liguria sibirica, and Saxifraga paniculate. Other plants found in this area are the mountain tassel flower (Soldanella montana), martagon lily (Lilium martagon), and variegated monk&#39;s hood (Aconitum variegatum).</p><br>
<p>Marapi  is a complex volcano in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Its name means Mountain of Fire, and it is the most active volcano in Sumatra. Its elevation is 2,891.3 m. A number of cities and towns are situated around the mountain, including Bukittinggi, Padang Panjang and Batusangkar.</p><br>
<p>According to legend, the mountain is the site first settled by the Minangkabau people after their ship landed on the mountain when it was the size of an egg and surrounded by water. There are large numbers of upright burial stones in the region which are oriented in the direction of the mountain, indicating its cultural significance.</p><br>
<p>Since August 3, 2011 Alert Level has been established by Center of Vulcanology and Mitigation Geology Disaster.</p><br>
<p>Damflask Reservoir is situated at grid reference five miles  west of the centre of Sheffield in the Loxley valley close to the village of Low Bradfield and within the city&#39;s boundaries. The reservoir has a capacity of 4,250.9 million litres  and has a surface area of 47 hectares  with a maximum depth of 27 metres . The dam wall is approximately 400 metres  wide with a height of 28 metres .</p><br>
<h2>Construction</h2><br>
<p>Damflask reservoir was built as one of a group of reservoirs in the Bradfield area (the others being Strines, Agden and Dale Dike reservoirs) to supply both fresh drinking water and a guaranteed supply of running water to the population and industries respectively of Sheffield. It was completed in 1896 with the dam walls being constructed from local stone, and its original purpose was primarily as a compensation reservoir to ensure a continuous flow of water to the River Loxley downstream. It takes its name from Damflask village which was washed away in the Great Sheffield flood of 11 March 1864; the village stood near the site of the current dam wall and had a public house (Barrell Inn), corn mill, paper mill, wire mill, blacksmith&#39;s shop and a few dwellings. The village was never rebuilt after the flood because plans were already in hand to construct Damflask Reservoir.</p><br>
<h2>Ownership and use</h2><br>
<p>Damflask Reservoir was built by the Sheffield Waterworks Company, and is owned today by Yorkshire Water which is part of the Kelda Group; they have opened the facility to various recreational groups. Three rowing clubs (City of Sheffield Rowing Club, Sheffield University Rowing Club and Sheffield Hallam University Rowing Club) are all active on the reservoir as is the. It is also open to anglers all the year round who fish mainly for Bream, Pike, Roach and European perch. The woodlands around the reservoir have always been popular with walkers although they were restricted to permitted paths and rights of way for many years. However, in August 2002 Yorkshire Water opened all the area under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, allowing access to previously restricted areas. A £60,000 project was completed by Yorkshire Water at the start of 2015 to allow better access for disabled people to the circular walking route around the reservoir. This includes widening of access points to allow wheelchair entry, tactile paving and improved information boards.</p><br>
<p>Kalampaki  is a village and a former municipality in the Drama regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Doxato, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 81.064 km. It is 12 km to the south of Drama. The Kalambaki municipal unit consists of the villages of Kalampaki, Ftelia, Agia Paraskevi, Kalamonas and Nerofraktis. Most of the population is employed in the agricultural sector, with tobacco, corn and cotton being the main products.</p><br>
<p>The population of Kalambaki consists mainly of descendants of four population groups, Pontus Greeks, Greeks of Eastern Thrace, Greeks of Asia Minor (mainly from Cappadocia, whose ancestors spoke Turkish but were Greek Orthodox Christians in religion) and Greeks whose ancestors had been living in Kalambaki already before the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) was ratified.</p><br>
<p>In the vicinity of Kalambaki Roman milestones have been discovered indicating that the ancient Via Egnatia passed very close by.</p><br>
<p>Every year on January 18, the feast day of Saint Athanasius, a religious festival named the "Kourbani" is held in Kalambaki.</p><br>
<p>It is possibly the Christian equivalent of the Muslim Kurban. During this day a dish consisting of veal in a type of wheat known as pligouri is produced and shared among the participants in the festival.</p><br>
<p>The Pomahaka River is in South Otago in New Zealand&#39;s South Island. It is a tributary of the Clutha River, flowing south for 80 km from the Old Man Range of mountains to join the Clutha just north of Balclutha. Along its path it passes the Blue Mountains and the forestry town of Tapanui in the area known locally as West Otago.</p><br>
<p>For a short part of its length, the river forms the boundary between Otago and Southland regions.</p><br>
<p>Major flooding of the Pomahaka in 1978 led to the relocation of the town of Kelso and caused damage severe enough to lead to the closure of the Tapanui Branch railway.</p><br>
<p>The Pomahaka River has been suffering from declining water quality in recent years due to land use intensification, and many have said that this has led to a decline in the trout and salmon fishery.</p><br>
<p>Deer Island is one of the American Thousand Islands. It lies between mainland Canada and United States, within the Saint Lawrence River, in the Town of Alexandria, close to Alexandria Bay, New York. It is owned entirely by the Russell Trust Association and is used as a Skull and Bones retreat.</p><br>
<p>The island lies near Boldt Castle and can be seen up close from several Canadian and USA tour vessels that operate in the local waterways. The land on the island is densely overgrown, with a small lodge on the southern corner of the island.</p><br>
<h2>Deer Island structures</h2><br>
<p>"Foot of the Island" Building Ruins - 44.365171&deg; latitude, -75.908477&deg; longitude</p><br>
<p>Outlook Building Ruins - 44.360468&deg; latitude, -75.905316&deg; longitude</p><br>
<p>Stone Cottage Ruins - 44.361285&deg; latitude, -75.905711&deg; longitude</p><br>
<p>Yale University Skull & Bones Society Lodge - 44.359063&deg; latitude, -75.909345&deg; longitude</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>The island is covered in indigenous trees, made up of mostly White Pine, Black Oak, Hemlock, and Sugar Maple — typical of the Canadian Shield — as is much of the surrounding area. There are several abandoned ruins located throughout the 50 acre island, now overgrown and barely visible beneath the growth.</p><br>
<p>Arlington Antebellum Home & Gardens is a former plantation house and 6 acre of landscaped gardens near downtown Birmingham, Alabama. The two-story frame structure was built between 1845–50 and features antebellum-era Greek Revival architecture. The house serves as a decorative arts museum, featuring a collection of 19th-century furniture, textiles, silver, and paintings. The garden features a restored garden room that is used for special events. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 1970.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Built between 1845 and 1850 by William S. Mudd in Elyton, the second county seat of Jefferson County, Birmingham, a city that Mudd helped to establish, eventually grew to encompass the former site of Elyton. Arlington is one of the only surviving structures from the time of Elyton and is Birmingham&#39;s only antebellum mansion. Arlington was used by Union troops while planning the burning of the University of Alabama.</p><br>
<p>The ashes of former Birmingham mayor George G. Siebels, Jr. are interred at Arlington.</p><br>
<p>Lake Singkarak  is a lake in West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located between the cities of Padang Panjang and Solok. It has an area of 107.8 km², being approximately 21 km long and 7 km wide. The natural outlet for excess water is the Ombilin river which flows eastward to the Strait of Malacca. A hydroelectric project, however, has diverted most of the lake outflow to the Anai river which flows westward into the Indian Ocean near Padang. This Singkarak power station uses this water to generate power for the West Sumatra and Riau provinces. A species of fish called ikan bilih  is endemic to the lake, and is harvested for human consumption. A railway line, which connects Padang and Sawahlunto-Sijunjung, skirts the length of the lake on the eastern side.</p><br>
<p>The Soutpansberg,  meaning "Salt Pan Mountain" in Afrikaans, is a range of mountains in far northern South Africa. It is located in Vhembe District, Limpopo. It is named for the salt pan  located at its western end. The mountain range reaches the opposite extremity in the Matikwa Nature Reserve, some 107 km due east. The range as a whole had no Venda name, as it was instead known by its sub-ranges which include Dzanani, Songozwi and others. Of late it is however known as Tha vhani ya muno, meaning "mountain of salt".</p><br>
<p>The Soutpansberg forms part of the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve, which was designated as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2009. The latter reserve also includes the Blouberg Range, Kruger National Park, Makgabeng Plateau, Makuleke Wetlands and the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The mountain is intersected by two defiles, the Waterpoort in the west, containing the Sand River (Polokwane) and a railway line, and Wyllie&#39;s Poort, which allows N1 road traffic to pass from Louis Trichardt to Musina. Lajuma is the highest peak at 1,747 m. The Nzhelele River and its tributary the Mutamba, the Nwanedi River and its tributary the Luphephe River, as well as the Levubu River and its main tributaries, the Mutshindudi and Mutale Rivers, and the Letaba River rise in the slopes of the Soutpansberg Mountains. The Brak River, a tributary of the Sand River, flows diagonally at the western end of the Soutpansberg, separating it from the Blouberg further west.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>First Europeans</h3><br>
<p>The first white person to reach, and name, the mountain was Coenraad de Buys, a colonist who fled from Graaff Reinet after a failed rebellion in 1795. He settled near the mountain in 1820 and was the patriarch of a half-caste clan, the "Buysvolk" or Buys People, who are still to be found at Buysdorp. De Buys was followed by voortrekker Louis Tregardt who sojourned at the salt pan from May to August 1836. In November 1836 Tregardt moved camp to the vicinity of the later Schoemansdal and Louis Trichardt town, where he stayed until June 1837. From June to August 1837 Tregardt&#39;s party camped at the Doorn River, on the current Doorn River farm, whereafter they departed for good to find a trading route to the sea.</p><br>
<h3>Early settlement</h3><br>
<p>Eleven years later, in 1848, a settlement named Zoutpansbergdorp was established at the site of an earlier Tregardt camp. It was founded by Jan Valentyn Botha, who led a faction of Andries Potgieters trek. Potgieter died at Zoutpansbergdorp in 1852, and his son shortly afterwards. In 1855 the towns de facto leader was Stephanus Schoeman who named the growing, though disorderly reed-hut settlement Schoemansdal, after himself. Augmented by renegades, the town was a successful ivory trading centre by 1855, when its population numbered 200.</p><br>
<p>Venda hunters supplied the Voortrekkers with ivory, and were in return supplied with fire arms. Relations between the Voortrekkers and Venda soured due to taxation, cattle rustling and lax control over the supply of fire arms. Total discord broke out in 1866, when the voortrekkers intervened in a Venda succession dispute, and one claimant, Makhado, attacked an outlying voortrekker settlement. Despite the arrival of a relief commando, the Venda&#39;s mountain strongholds could not be taken. The voortrekkers abandoned the town on 15 July 1867 and established Pietersburg. An open-air museum was established to recreate the modest settlement.</p><br>
<h3>First town</h3><br>
<p>In October 1898 the Boere returned to regain control over the territory. General Piet Jouberts commando occupied a strategic position over the Doorn River in preparation. In November, Mphefus kraal suffered a three-pronged attack and his royal village was torched. Mphefu&#39;s clan fled across the Limpopo River to Zimbabwe. The farms Rietvlei and Bergvliet were set aside in 1898 for a new town, and Trichardtsdorp was proclaimed the next year, named in honour of Louis Tregardt. Today the town commemorates his full name, Louis Trichardt.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<h3>Plant diversity</h3><br>
<p>Approximately 2,500 to 3,000 vascular plant taxa, comprising 1,066 genera and 240 families are known to occur in the mountain. A species list from plots done at the Mutshidudi catchment area revealed 109 plant families, 397 genera and 619 species. 24 plant species are endemic to the mountain, and an additional 33 to the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve. 594 species of tree are native to the mountain or its direct vicinity.</p><br>
<p>The Soutpansberg&#39;s immense floristic diversity can be attributed to several distinct floristic elements acting on it, namely Tropical, Moçambique coastal, Lowveld, Afromontane, Bushveld, Waterberg, Kalahari and Limpopo Valley. Approximately 10% of Soutpansberg plants can be considered succulent, and 32% of the endemic flora can be regarded as succulents.</p><br>
<p>Of the mountain&#39;s endemic flora, the Asclepiadaceae with 5 genera and 6 species displays a high generic diversity. Aloe presents the highest species diversity among native genera with 5 endemic species, and the monotypic Zoutpansbergia is the only endemic genus. The floral endemics include Encephalartos hirsutus, Duvalia procumbens, Euphorbia rowlandii, E. aeruginosa, E. zoutpansbergensis, Ceratotheca saxicola, Stapelia clavicorona, Tylophora coddii, Huernia nouhuysii, Aloe angelica, A. petrophila, A. soutpansbergensis, A. vossii, Combretum vendae, Blepharis spinipes, Mystacidium braybonae, Justicia montis-salinarum, Khadia borealis, Orbeanthus conjunctus, Streptocarpus parviflorus subsp. soutpansbergensis, Searsia magalismontana subsp. coddii, Vangueria soutpansbergensis and Pavetta tschikonderi.</p><br>
<p>The tropical floristic element, which reaches its southern distribution within the Soutpansberg, accounts for the species Brackenridgea zanguebarica, Millettia stuhlmannii, Oxytenanthera abyssinica, Trilepisium madagascariense, Brachystegia utilis-torrei (assimilated into a dominant B. spiciformis genome) and Syzygium masukuense. These species are not associated with the central Zimbabwean Miombo floristic element, but rather with the Eastern Highlands floristic element, and particularly its foothills.</p><br>
<h3>Reptile diversity</h3><br>
<p>A total of at least 116 reptile species have been recorded in the Soutpansberg. This biodiversity is remarkably high for such a small area and makes up 36% of the total number of reptile species that have been recorded in South Africa. This is roughly the same number of species (119) that occur in the Kruger National Park. The diversity is high compared to biodiversity hotspots of the world and the species diversity per unit area is higher than that of most of these hotspots. The Soutpansberg rock lizard, Soutpansberg worm lizard, Soutpansberg dwarf gecko and the Soutpansberg flat lizard are all endemic and named after this range.</p><br>
<h3>Invertebrates</h3><br>
<p>The Soutpansberg is known for a high level of endemism of its invertebrate fauna.</p><br>
<h3>Conservation</h3><br>
<p>In today’s world, natural areas are under a lot of pressure from human activity. Exploitation of natural resources, human encroachment due to expanding developments, poaching and general pollution – these all affect the Soutpansberg in some way. At the moment the mountains are a World Heritage Site and they form part of the newly proclaimed Vhembe Biosphere reserve.</p><br>
<p>Organisms endemic to the Soutpansberg</p><br>
<p>Monte Pissis is an extinct volcano in La Rioja Province, Argentina. The mountain is the third-highest in the Western Hemisphere, and is located about 550 km north of Aconcagua.</p><br>
<p>Monte Pissis is named after Pedro José Amadeo Pissis, a French geologist who worked for the Chilean government.</p><br>
<p>Due to its location in the Atacama Desert, the mountain has very dry conditions but there is an extensive glacier (with crevasses, which is unique in the region)</p><br>
<h2>Elevation</h2><br>
<p>A 1994 Argentine expedition claimed —using GPS technology available at the time— that the elevation of Monte Pissis was 6,882 m, higher than Ojos del Salado. Ten years later, with the use of higher precision systems, several other surveys proved that those measurements were inaccurate: in 2005, an Austrian team performed a DGPS survey of Pissis&#39; summit and found the elevation to be 6,793 m. In 2006 an international expedition surveyed the height on the summit, and found results in agreement with an elevation around 6,800 m. This was later confirmed by a 2007 Chilean-Argentine-European expedition, which surveyed both Ojos del Salado and Monte Pissis and provisionally found the former to be 6,891 m and the latter 6,793 m.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Monte Pissis is a large andesitic-dacitic volcanic centre. It was formed between 6.6 and 6.2 million years ago. Like Cerro Bonete Chico it is one of the large volcanic complexes formed at that time over a deforming Nazca slab. Volcanism in the area ceased about 2 million years ago.</p><br>
<p>Monte Pissis, Cerro Bonete Chico and Incapillo form a large volcanic complex that is among the highest in the world. Incapillo formed after Monte Pissis had ceased erupting, and hydrothermal activity at Incapillo may continue to this day.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing</h2><br>
<p>Until recently, this mountain had received very little attention. The first successful recorded ascent was achieved in 1937 by Polish climbers Osiecki and Szczepanski. The mountain was not climbed again until 1985.</p><br>
<p>The opening of mining in the area has resulted in the construction of basic roads in the last 15 years. This has developed the tourism in the Atacama Desert and now more people ascend the mountain, usually with a previous stop in Fiambalá to organise the climb. Approaching it from neighboring Chile is also possible but involves a longer way.</p><br>
<p>As the mountain is very high and remote, a long approach is required but the ascent is easy and does not require any specific climbing skill. Nevertheless, warm clothing and good shoes are required as temperature during the night can drop as low as -30 &deg;C and winds can be very strong. Usually most teams ascend the peak during December to March, the warmest period of the year.</p><br>
<p>The peak is one of the most heavily glaciated peaks in the Atacama Desert, although the glaciated area starts only at 5,900 m and the size of the glacier is small compared to the overall surface of the mountain.</p><br>
<p>From the base of the mountain 4,500 m several days of hike are required. The summit is usually reached directly from a high camp at 5,900 m at the edge of the glacier.</p><br>
<p>Lennoxlove House is a historic house set in woodlands half a mile south of Haddington in East Lothian, Scotland. The house comprises a 15th-century tower, originally known as Lethington Castle, and has been extended several times, principally in the 17th, 19th and 20th centuries. The house is protected as a category A listed building, and is described by Historic Scotland as "one of Scotland&#39;s most ancient and notable houses." The wooded estate is included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.</p><br>
<p>It is now the seat of the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The lands of Lethington were acquired by Robert Maitland of Thirlestane in 1345. The Maitland family constructed the earliest part of the building, the L-plan tower house at the south-west of the building. Mary of Guise stayed at Lethington in 1548 when she came to see Haddington with Piero Strozzi. The following year it was burned by the English troops who were then occupying Haddington. Prominent members of the Maitland family included the poet Richard Maitland (1496–1586), his son William Maitland of Lethington (1525–1573), Secretary of State to Mary, Queen of Scots, and his son James Maitland of Lethington (b.1568). It was then acquired by his uncle, John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane (1537–1595), it was said in an underhanded manner. Sir John Scot of Scotstarvet, writing in the seventeenth century, commented thus: "Yet the conquest he made of the barony of Liddington from his brother&#39;s son, James Maitland, was not thought lawful nor conscientious." James Maitland had become a Catholic and was obliged to leave Scotland. The coach house was built around 1676, to designs by Sir William Bruce. Lethington remained in the Maitland family until after the death of John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale in 1682.</p><br>
<h3>Lennoxlove</h3><br>
<p>The property was purchased by the trustees of Frances Teresa Stuart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox following her death in 1702 for the benefit of her "neare and deare kinsman the said Walter Stuart". Walter Stuart was the eldest son of Alexander, 5th Lord Blantyre, and was to become the 6th Lord Blantyre on the death of his father in 1704. The Duchess had stipulated that the property be called "Lennox&#39;s Love to Blantyre", this was subsequently shortened to Lennoxlove. It remained in the ownership of the Blantyre-Stewarts for almost two centuries. When the 12th Lord Blantyre died in 1900 without male heirs, the property passed into the ownership of his daughter, Ellen Stewart, and her husband Sir David Baird, 3rd Baronet of Newbyth, Prestonkirk. Their younger son, Major William Baird, commissioned the architect Sir Robert Lorimer to oversee extensive refurbishment of the house in 1912. Lennoxlove is now the seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, having been purchased by the 14th Duke in 1946. It is open to the public during the summer, accommodates corporate events and weddings, and can be rented privately by groups.</p><br>
<h2>Lennoxlove Book Festival</h2><br>
<p>This festival was started in November 2009, and it is being continued in November 2010.</p><br>
<h2>Art collection</h2><br>
<p>Lennoxlove is home to one of Scotlands most important collections of portraits, including works by Anthony van Dyck, Canaletto, Sir Peter Lely, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Sir Henry Raeburn, and others. It also houses important pieces of furniture, porcelain and other fine artefacts, many of which came from the now demolished Hamilton Palace in Lanarkshire. The collections include the Boulle cabinet given to the Duchess by King Charles II and a silver jewellery box that belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots, that purportedly held the Casket letters showing her complicity in the murder of Lord Darnley, together with her death mask. There is also the map and compass carried by Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitlers deputy, who flew to Scotland in 1941 on a mission to involve the 14th Duke of Hamilton in helping negotiate peace between Britain and Germany.</p><br>
<p>The very rare and important 17-piece Lennoxlove toilet service in silver-gilt can now be seen in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. It was discovered in its custom travelling-case in a tower room of the house shortly after it changed hands in 1900. It was made in Paris, almost certainly for Frances Teresa Stuart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (1647-1702). The pieces come from a number of different makers and years, and the service was assembled around 1672.</p><br>
<p>Lantau Peak or Fung Wong Shan  is the second highest peak in Hong Kong and the highest point on Lantau Island, with a height of 934 m above sea level. It is most famous for the sunrise scenery viewed from the summit.</p><br>
<h2>Name origin</h2><br>
<p>The mountain is actually made up of a pair of peaks, one is known as "Fung Shan" (male phoenix mountain) and the other is "Wong Shan" (female phoenix mountain), together they form "Fung Wong Shan".</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Lantau Peak is located in central Lantau Peak, with an elevation of 934 meters above sea level (23 metres shorter than Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong&#39;s highest peak). Under the Köppen climate classification, Lantau Peak features a subtropical highland climate. Due to its elevation, strong winds and fog occur throughout the year. Winter is cold with temperatures often dip below 0 ° C; summer is warm with temperatures reaching tops of 18-22 ° C, which can be considered as a summer resort in Hong Kong; the spring is cool to cold but very humid, while the autumn is cool and dry, but also because of its climate similar to Tai Mo Shan, winter might experiences frost and snow and other winter special weather phenomena, even more than Tai Mo Shan and Ngong Ping also much more cold (because it is isolated from urban areas and often experiences strong winds throughout the year). Because there is no weather station at the top of Lantau Peak, the Ngong Ping Weather Station of the Hong Kong Observatory can only be used as reference for its temperature. The temperature in the vicinity of Ngong Ping is lower than that at Chek Lap Kok. It is estimated that the temperature of Lantau Peak is about 7 ℃ lower than that of Ngong Ping.</p><br>
<h2>Sunrise</h2><br>
<p>The peak is one of the most popular hiking spots in Hong Kong and can be reached by the Lantau Trail.</p><br>
<p>Most hikers begin their climb from the Youth Hostel near Ngong Ping before dawn in order to catch a view of the sunrise.</p><br>
<p>Sunset Peak or Tai Tung Shan  is the third highest peak in Hong Kong. It is situated on Lantau Island within Lantau South Country Park and Lantau North Country Park and stands at a height of 869 m above the sea level. The second highest Lantau Peak is on the western part of the island.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>Sunset peak is only accessible by foot. It can be reached as a side trip on section 2 of the 70-km long Lantau Trail. Section 2 is 6.5 km long and goes from Nam Shan, a campsite very near Mui Wo on the South Lantau road (altitude about 120 m), to Pak Kung Au, another campsite on the Tung Chung road (altitude about 340 m). Both campsites are served by a number of bus routes going to Mui Wo, Tung Chung, and other destinations on Lantau island.</p><br>
<p>Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park, known as Scout&#39;s Rest Ranch, is a living history state park located west of North Platte, Nebraska. The ranch was established in 1878 with an initial purchase of 160 acres south of the Union Pacific tracks by William  Cody. The 4,000 acre ranch was sold in 1911 and has been under the management of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission since 1964. The 25 acre historic state park, deemed a National Historic Landmark in 1978, is open weekdays from April to October. The house and outbuildings can be toured, including a museum documenting Cody’s life from a Pony Express rider to his Wild West shows.</p><br>
<h2>Founding of the Cody-North Ranch</h2><br>
<p>In 1877 Cody contacted Major Frank North, the leader of the Pawnee Scouts, who was living in Sidney, Nebraska. Cody founded the Cody-North Partnership with the North brothers to form a cattle business. North found land along the Dismal River, 65 miles north of North Platte, on which cattle could graze and a ranch could be built. Cody continued touring his “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West” show while North purchased cattle at the north end of the Texas cattle trail, near Ogallala, Nebraska. North hired cowboys to help operate the ranch while Cody was on tour.</p><br>
<p>The ranch grew in size to encompass seven thousand acres. 2,500 acres were planted for alfalfa and 2,500 were corn. The Omaha Bee reported on Cody’s ranching operations several times. The Bee described the ranch as one of the most improved farms in Nebraska. In cooperation with Isaac Dillon, a neighboring rancher, Cody and Dillon built a 12 mile irrigation ditch, capable of watering 6,000 acres of crops. This property was financially viable for Cody. By the 1880s, however, other homesteaders had begun to move into this area of Nebraska and had taken grazing land. In 1882 the Cody-North Ranching Operation ended and was bought out by John Bratt.</p><br>
<h2>Founding of Cody Ranch ("Scout's Rest Ranch")</h2><br>
<p>During the time of owning the Cody-North Ranch, in 1878, Cody began buying land surrounding North Platte. The first purchase of land was 160 acres for $750, south of the Union Pacific tracks that run through North Platte. Cody purchased nearly 4,000 more acres adjacent to North Platte. An eighteen-room mansion on the property which was a treeless prairie. Cody had land in Kansas that had many tall, established trees and wanted trees on his new ranch. Al Goodman, his brother-in-law, discovered why trees would not grow on his new property or the North Platte area. Goodman found issues of water absorption and planted many cottonwoods and box-elder around the property, able to withstand the conditions. The ranch now had many growing trees. This information was shared with the people of North Platte to increase tree population in the area.</p><br>
<p>Louisa (Cody’s wife) and their daughters moved to North Platte in February 1878. They monitored the property, where Cody wanted to retire. Cody showed his new land and brought out family, friends, and celebrities. These guests, along with his family, spent time with the cowboys employed on the ranch. The ranch grew with the help of the Goodmans, who maintained the ranch and managed the high-grade livestock and thoroughbred horses. By 1885, 1,200 acres were planted as corn, 100 acres of alfalfa, 50 of broomcorn, and a small oat field. The ranch was operated with 80 horses and 30 men, rising to 60 men in busy seasons. When the trees grew, the southern portion of the ranch turned into a wooded park with deer, several young buffaloes, and a large lake. This area of land would be called “Scout’s Rest Ranch”. Cody had the words “Scout’s Rest Ranch” painted on the roof of the large barn, so that it could be read from the Union Pacific tracks a mile away.</p><br>
<p>This ranch was revolutionary for the time. Cody imported many blooded cattle and thoroughbred horses at a time when that was not common. The land was transformed from treeless prairie to a forested area. Despite advancements and profitable years, operating costs were high and Cody sold the ranch in 1911 for $100,000.</p><br>
<h2>Modern History</h2><br>
<p>The original two-story house was built in 1886 for Al and Julia Goodman. Al and Julia Goodman are Cody’s sister and brother-in-law who managed the ranch. This house was built by Patrick Walsh, a native of North Platte, for $3,900. In 1964 the house was purchased by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission as part of the process for making Scout’s Rest Ranch a State Historical Park, Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park. A Lincoln County Historical Society was organized to help raise money for the purchase of Buffalo Bill Cody&#39;s house. The group raised $37,500 and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to cover the other $75,000 required for the purchase. Another $90,000 was planned to be spent on restoring the grounds and buildings. Since 1964, the State Historical Park has been open to the public.</p><br>
<h3>Park Information</h3><br>
<p>Map of Scout&#39;s Rest Ranch Historic Buildings</p><br>
<p>The Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park is 25 acres and contains 4 original structures. The structures on the park include the Second Empire style mansion built in 1886 for the Goodmans, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Other buildings are the cob house, used for storing corncobs that were kindling for the house stoves, the ice house that was built in 1886 along with the main house, and the original barn, built in 1887, used for storing the thoroughbred livestock and has “Scout&#39;s Rest Ranch” painted on the roof.</p><br>
<h3>Flood of 2011</h3><br>
<p>During flooding on the Platte River in the summer of 2011, the site was closed, exhibits moved and berms were built around the buildings. The flooding came close to the compound but was not as severe as expected.</p><br>
<p>Hotel Petersberg is a hotel and official guest house of the Federal Republic of Germany, termed the "Bundesgästehaus" . It is located on the Petersberg, a prominent mountain of the Siebengebirge near Bonn, Germany. With a height of 331 m, it overlooks the cities of Königswinter, on the right bank of the Rhine river, and Bonn on the opposite side.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1834 the area was sold to the merchant Joseph Ludwig Mertens. His wife Sibylle Mertens-Schaafhausen built a summer residence on the Petersberg, and became known as the Rheingräfin ("countess of the Rhine").</p><br>
<p>At the end of the 19th century the Nelles brothers from Cologne had bought the area and started to add buildings. In 1892 they opened up the eponymous hotel that could easily be reached via the newly built Petersbergbahn, a rack railway that continued in intermittent operation until 1958. In 1912 Ferdinand Mülhens&#39; rack and pinion railway, owner of the 4711 company, bought the property. Under the direction of the architect Heinrich Müller-Erkelenz the hotel was converted during the next two years into a spa. Terraces to overlook the Rhine and a new access route were built in the 1930s.</p><br>
<h3>Seat of Allied High Commission</h3><br>
<p>After World War II the Hotel Petersberg became the seat of the Allied High Commission for Germany. The Occupation Statute was issued here on September 21, 1949. Several weeks later, November 22, 1949, the Petersberg Agreement was signed between Chancellor Adenauer and the Western Allies. The Allied High Commission resided on the Petersberg until 1955, when West Germany gained its sovereignty.</p><br>
<h3>The Federal Guest House</h3><br>
<p>The German Federal government needed to host foreign guests and by 1955 started to rent out the Hotel Petersberg (then managed by the Hotel Breidenbacher Hof of Düsseldorf). When the lease expired in 1969, the Hotel Petersberg quickly ran into economic difficulties and was closed shortly thereafter. The buildings were then maintained only as far as preventing them from falling into ruin. In 1978, the government bought the Petersberg with its buildings from the Mülhens family for 18.5 million DM to develop a representative guest house for its visitors. A five-year reconstruction was completed in 1990 following the plans of Horst Linde. Most heads of states that visited the Federal Republic, while Bonn was its capital, have stayed on the Petersberg. A helicopter pad provides easy access. The fact that the mountain has only one access road facilitates security matters.</p><br>
<p>After the German government moved to Berlin, the Petersberg continued in use as an official guest and conference house and has been dubbed the "German Camp David." In December 2001 the Petersberg was the place of the first Bonn Agreement. Also its follow-up conference took place here on December 2, 2002.</p><br>
<p>The Hotel is open to the public and managed by the Steigenberger Hotel Group. Michael Schumacher married his wife Corinna on the Petersberg in 1995.</p><br>
<h2>List of conferences on the Petersberg</h2><br>
<p>1949: Petersberg Agreement</p><br>
<p>1992: Petersberg Tasks, meetings concerning the European Security and Defence Policy</p><br>
<p>1992: Western European Union Council of Ministers: the Petersberg Declaration</p><br>
<p>1999: EU summit meeting</p><br>
<p>1999, May 6: Conference about the crisis in Kosovo</p><br>
<p>2000: 15th EU conference of foreign ministers</p><br>
<p>2001, December: The Agreement on Provisional Arrangements in Afghanistan Pending the Re-Establishment of Permanent Government Institutions (the so-called Bonn Agreement) was signed at the Bonn Conference by representatives of anti-Taliban forces and several other Afghan political parties and groups</p><br>
<p>2002, December: Follow-up conference to the Bonn Agreement</p><br>
<p>2005, November 5: "Partnership with Africa" conference</p><br>
<h2>Distinguished guests on the Petersberg</h2><br>
<p>1938: Neville Chamberlain, British Premier, during the Sudetenland crisis. He was the first official foreign dignitary on the Petersberg</p><br>
<p>1954: Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia</p><br>
<p>1955: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, (Shah of Persia, with his wife Soraya)</p><br>
<p>1960: King Rama IX of Thailand</p><br>
<p>1965: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom</p><br>
<p>1967: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi with his wife Farah Diba</p><br>
<p>1973: Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (following his special wish, the Hotel was reopened for several days for his visit. During this time he wrecked a Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC, the Federal Republic&#39;s gift to him, on his first drive down the mountain)</p><br>
<p>1990: Nicephore Soglo (Premier of Benin)</p><br>
<p>1990: Mikhail Gorbachev, with his wife Raisa</p><br>
<p>1990: Nelson Mandela</p><br>
<p>1991: Boris Yeltsin</p><br>
<p>1992: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom</p><br>
<p>1993: Yasser Arafat</p><br>
<p>1993: Emperor Akihito of Japan</p><br>
<p>1994: USA president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary</p><br>
<p>1994: Queen Margrethe II of Denmark</p><br>
<p>1998: King Hussein of Jordan</p><br>
<p>2004: Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt</p><br>
<p>Gazi  is a town and a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit of Crete in Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Malevizi, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies 6 km west of Heraklion, on the north coast of Crete. With 12,606 inhabitants , it was the seat of the municipality of Gazi , which comprised several nearby villages with a total population of 19,221 and an area of 95.81 km².</p><br>
<p>Villages of Gazi municipal unit, by community:</p><br>
<p>Gazi (17.7 km²): Gazi, Agia Marina, Agios Dimitrios, Agios Panteleimon, Ammoudara, Council-Houses, Kavrochori, Kefalogiannis, Koluvas, 62 Martyres, Xiropotamos, Kalessa.</p><br>
<p>Rodia (21.6 km²): Rodia, Kapetanaki Metochi, Linoperamata, Pantanassa, Palaiokastro, Savatiana Monastery.</p><br>
<p>Fodele (24.4 km²): Fodele, Agios Panteleimon Monastery, Fodele beach.</p><br>
<p>Achlada (21.6 km²): Achlada, Agia Pelagia, Lygaria, Made.</p><br>
<p>Kalesia (10.5 km²): Ano Kalesia and Kato Kalesia</p><br>
<p>Fodele is claimed as the birthplace of the painter El Greco, but this is disputed. His family were from the area and there is a Museum of El Greco in the village.</p><br>
<p>The ruins of a Genoese castle are at Palaiokastro ("Old Castle").</p><br>
<p>Agia Pelagia is a seaside resort village.</p><br>
<p>Avdella  is a village and a former municipality in Grevena regional unit, West Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been a municipal unit of Grevena. It is a seasonal Vlach  village in the Pindus mountains, at 1250–1350 metres altitude. Its summer population is about 3000, but in the winter there are only a few watchmen. The 2011 census recorded 280 inhabitants.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first foundation of Avdella remains unknown. Perhaps it was connected to the creation of settlements on the mountain range of Smolikas with the delivery of veterinary surgeon activity of region. In the beginning, Vlach families created small family settlements which were fused and became a single settlement such as current Avdella. The foundation and the growth of Avdella is associated with the rise of livestock-farming taking into account the pastoral habits of the locals. Before 1800, the village was situated in the "Fantines", but the residents, mostly large families of Vlach shepherds moved to the current position due to better climate.</p><br>
<p>Under Ottoman rule, Avdella was in the kaza of Grevena, Sanjak of Serfice (modern Servia), Vilayet of Monastir (modern Bitola).</p><br>
<p>The first Romanian school in the region of modern Greece was founded in Avdella in 1867 by local Aromanian Apostol Margarit.</p><br>
<p>Some authors claim that Avdella was a center of pro-Romanian sentiment in the beginning of the 20th century. It is said to have been burned in October 1905 by Greek antartes because of this. Others claim it was a stronghold of Greek nationalism, contributing leaders such as Zisis Verros and Ioannis Hatzigiannis to the Greek forces in the Macedonian Struggle.</p><br>
<p>On 14 July 1944, the village was burned again by a group of German Nazis, during their retreat.</p><br>
<h2>Population</h2><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Yanaki and Milton Manaki, photography and cinema pioneers</p><br>
<p>Apostol Mărgărit, Aromanian educator and activist</p><br>
<p>Piss Pot Island is an island on the South Branch Potomac River west of Romney in Hampshire County, West Virginia. Piss Pot Island received its unflattering name before 1755, the year it was included on Joshua Frys and Peter Jeffersons Carte de la Virginie et du Maryland. Uncommon for islands of its size and geologic nature, Piss Pot Island has remained approximately the same size since the eighteenth century. The island is forested primarily with American sycamores and silver maples. It continues to be popular with fishermen and canoers on the South Branch Potomac River. Mill Creek empties into the South Branch to its western shore and Wergman Run enters the river to its northeast.</p><br>
<p>Piss Pot Island is currently owned by the Williams family of Sycamore Dale, the historic brick plantation house located to its east on South Branch River Road (County Route 8). It is easily viewed from the Northwestern Turnpike (USA Route 50) in Vanderlip and the Romney Bridge.</p><br>
<p></text></p><br>
<p></revision></p><br>
<p>Victoria Quays  is a large canal basin in Sheffield, England. It was constructed 1816–1819 as the terminus of the Sheffield Canal  and includes the former coal yards of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. The basin ceased operation as a cargo port in 1970 and the site and buildings were largely neglected. A restoration and redevelopment of 1992–1994 reopened the site providing new office and business space and leisure facilities as well as berths for leisure canal boats. There are a number of Grade II listed buildings on the site. These include the original Terminal Warehouse of 1819, the Straddle Warehouse , a grain warehouse , and a curved terrace of coal merchant&#39;s offices .</p><br>
<h2>Local businesses</h2><br>
<p>As well as local businesses including Nabarro(International Law Firm) and Servelec(UK headquartered technology group) there is Victoria Junction Café and sandwich shop, Livingwell gym, Hilton hotel, Narrowboat moorings, a brokerage and chandlery service (C.V. Marine) & two wide beam hotel boats (Houseboathotels, Sheffield) providing hotel accommodation on the water.</p><br>
<p>In early 2015 Sheffield Creative Agency &#39;We Are&#39; purchased 3,500 sq ft of office space on the ground floor of the Grade II-listed Grain and Terminal Building which had been vacant for 20 years</p><br>
<p>Blaine Island is an island on the Kanawha River in the city of South Charleston, West Virginia. It is roughly 80 acre in size. Blaine Island serves as the South Charleston Manufacturing Site for the Union Carbide Corporation, a subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide purchased Blaine Island in 1927 in order to expand their petrochemical manufacturing operations in South Charleston. The company previously had petrochemical plants in South Charleston in 1925 and Clendenin in 1920, which holds the distinction as the world&#39;s first petrochemical plant.</p><br>
<p>For this reason, locals occasionally refer to the island as "Carbide Island".</p><br>
<p>Blaine Island is named for a man of the surname of Blaine who erected a mill there before 1823. Blaine&#39;s mill was of log construction and its dam extended from the south side of the Kanawha River to the island. Fleming Cobb, an early settler, planted two pear trees on Blaine Island that he had brought from Tidewater Virginia in the 1780s, some of the first fruit trees known to be transplanted west of the Allegheny Mountains.</p><br>
<p>Today, Blaine Island is a multi-company site. Bayer Corporation owns and operates the Polyols Production Unit, formerly owned by Union Carbide. Today, Union Carbide provides staffing, services, and utilities to Bayer.</p><br>
<p>The Grand Serail ; also known as the Government Palace) is the headquarters of the Prime Minister of Lebanon. It is situated atop a hill in downtown Beirut a few blocks away from the Lebanese Parliament.</p><br>
<p>The Grand Serail is a historic building, the most important of three Ottoman monuments on the Serail hill. The other two are the Council for Development and Reconstruction and the Hamidiyyeh clock tower.</p><br>
<p>This historic building has earned its importance through successive roles which it held since 1832</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>The Barracks</h3><br>
<p>After its short-lived victory over the Ottomans in 1831, an Egyptian military contingent took position and set up its barracks on the western side of a hill overlooking Beirut and outside its walls. Ibrahim Pasha selected this hill for military reasons. It was a high hill overlooking Suq-al Munajjidin (the weavers bazaar), this Suq, known today as the banks street (shari al Massarif), was located on a strategic area within downtown Beirut, and close to Talat al American (American Hill), near Bab Yaacub (Jacobs Gate). In his book "Taqwim al Ikbal" Sheik Abdel Basit al Unsi describes that hill as being well situated, west of the city, away from the population and overseeing the sea and Beirut. Thus because of its situation, it allows the contingent to control the city and its suburbs.</p><br>
<p>While the Egyptians were on that hill, the people customarily referred to it as the "Al Thakanat" (the barracks) because it was the lodging place that was selected by Ibrahim Pasha for his troops.</p><br>
<h3>The Garrison</h3><br>
<p>In 1840, the Ottoman Empire with the support of the Prussian, Russian, and English navies, recaptured authority over Syria. The Ottoman military authority took interest in the hill overlooking Beirut and set up a military base there. The building was first used as the headquarters of military and civilian departments and then, after its expansion, it turned into the headquarters of Ottoman governors. Beirutis referred to it then as al Quishleh (modern Kışla), a Turkish word for "Garrison" or "soldiers quarter". Construction and fortification of the barracks was started in 1853 and was further expanded during the Crimean war. Until 1856 the Grand Serail only consisted of a single floor, another floor was added and the ground floor then served as the cavalry stables. Between 1877 and 1894 major structural modifications were made which gave the Serail its final form.</p><br>
<h3>The Hospital and the Courthouse</h3><br>
<p>Sultan Abdülaziz (ruled 1861–1876) ordered the building of a hospital (Hastahane in Turkish, usually shortened to Hastane in current modern Turkish), which was built in 1865, people referred to it as the military infirmary. The hospital building included two wings. Its northern wing housed a drugstore (ajzah). When the French entered the city in 1918, they turned the hospital into a courthouse. Later the courthouse was moved to another location and the building became the Institute of Fine Art of the Lebanese University.</p><br>
<p>however the war that raged through Beirut destroyed most parts of the courthouse and turned them into ruins until prime minister Rafik Hariri donated the sum needed for its reconstruction and renovation. Since its inauguration in 1992, the building serves as the headquarters of the Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction.</p><br>
<h3>The Hamidiyyeh Clock Tower</h3><br>
<p>In 1897, a clock tower was built near the Grand Serail to celebrate the anniversary of Sultan Abdul Hamid IIs coronation and to make up for the absence of a public clock indicating mandatory Muslim prayer times especially that many foreign institutions had built western style clock towers. The construction of the clock tower was approved by the Sultan following a letter of supplication from Beiruts governor Rashid Bey. The ceremonial laying of the first stone took place on 9 January 1897 (the birthday of the Sultan) in the presence of high officials, military representatives and members of the municipality of Beirut.</p><br>
<h3>The High Commission</h3><br>
<p>In 1918 after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World war one, the Flag of the Arab Revolt was briefly hoisted over the Grand Serail until the arrival of the allied forces who entered Lebanon by land and from the sea and occupied Beirut and the entire Lebanese coast on 8 October 1918. French colonel Depiepape was appointed by the commander of the allied forces General Allenby, he took control of the grand Serail and became the military governor of the country. With the removal of the Flag of the Arab Revolt, the Grand Serail was turned into the headquarters of the French Governor, who was granted the title of high commissioner of the French Government in the Levant. From then on the Grand Serail was referred to as the High Commission. In 1926 the French introduced changes to the northern facade of the Grand Serail. Thus a lobed arch balcony above the decorated entrance replaced the northern arched gate, which was moved to the southern entrance. The new balcony became a loggia for high commissioners and prime ministers&#39; speeches. The French also removed a crown from over the arch of the northern entrance because it contained an engraved marble tablet showing the symbol of the Ottoman Empire.</p><br>
<h3>The Presidential Headquarters</h3><br>
<p>Sheik Bechara El Khoury, who was the first post-independence President of Lebanon, holding office from 21 September 1943 to 18 September 1952, turned the Serail into the presidential headquarters before moving it to the Qantari Palace in Beirut.</p><br>
<h3>The Prime Minister's Headquarters</h3><br>
<p>The Grand Serail became the headquarters of the Lebanese prime minister Riad as-Solh who was the first Prime Minister of Lebanon (1943–1945),</p><br>
<h2>Architecture and Renovation</h2><br>
<h3>The Grand Serail</h3><br>
<p>The Grand Serail followed the architectural design epitomizing the new Ottoman military organization known as the “New Order” (niẓām cedīd). Its elevated location and austere façade copied the Selimiye Barracks in Istanbul. The finished structure consisted of two tall floors with the longer façade spreading over 80 m. The eastern façade is adorned by an arcaded protruding portico flanked by two symmetrical wings each divided by three rows of 16 windows. The monumentality of the building was further emphasized in 1861 when the military hospital was constructed.</p><br>
<p>Particularly hit during the civil war, the Serail was a scarred site at the end of the hostilities. Its renovation to its present state of grandeur is a symbol of the vision and challenge involved in the BCD reconstruction. Restoration was completed in 900 work days in 1998.</p><br>
<p>Today, the Grand Serail is a blend of heritage architecture with a modern interior and high-tech amenities. A faithful adaptation of the original Ottoman structure resulted in a larger, more functional building. The external walls were completely restored and stone from demolished buildings was used in the additional floor, thereby preserving a homogeneous facade. All contracting and handicrafts, including stone, marble, steel or carpentry works, were carried out by Lebanese firms.</p><br>
<p>The Serail covers 39,700 sq. m of floor space. The Grand Serails four wings are disposed around a large courtyard which flanked at the center by a limestone and Carrera marble fountain. Both the exterior and interior facades are covered by a total of 588 arches and arcades (282 lobes arches, 197 pointed arches, 6 rounded arches, 11 mandolin arches, 92 pointed arcades). The north gate is constitutes the central structural element of the four facades. It is 11 m high and 7 m in width and was inspired by the Beiteddine Palaces gates. In the middle of entrances arch a marble tablet was inscribed under the request of prime minister Rafik Hariri which reads: "لو دامت لغيرك لما اتصلت إليك " which vaguely translates:"If _political_ rule lasts perpetually for anyone, it would not have reached you". The two upper floors comprise the Prime Ministers residence and office, offices for his staff, as well as the cabinet room and ministers&#39; offices. The ground floor consists of a banquet hall, two receptions areas, a press room and a courtyard. Finally, an underground level includes a car-park, offices and rooms for the personnel. In all the Grand Serail includes 430 rooms and chambers in addition to the quarters for the maintenance and other service rooms.</p><br>
<h3>The Hamidiyyeh Clock Tower</h3><br>
<p>The Hamidiyyah Clock Tower was designed by Youssef Aftimus, and restored in 1994 to its original condition. The Clock Tower stands 25 m tall, it was the tallest structure in Beirut at the time of its completion. It was built of Beiruti sandstone, Jounieh limestone, Damascene Basalt and Deir el Qamar red stone. The clock towers 300 kg bell, suspended on the third floor was accessible by a set of 125 cast iron steps inside the towers 4 by 4 m shaft. This floor has four miniature neo-orientalist style balconies topped by the four large French made clock faces which were especially imported by the Ottoman embassy.</p><br>
<p>Buckley Island is an island on the Ohio River in Wood County, West Virginia between Marietta, Ohio and Williamstown, West Virginia. The Interstate 77 bridge over the Ohio crosses the island&#39;s western portion. Throughout its history, Buckley Island has also been known as Kerrs Island, Duvall Island, and Meigs Island. The island is a part of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge and can only be accessed by boat.</p><br>
<p>The earliest known reference to the island is a 1770 journal entry by George Washington who was surveying the area at the time. Many of the early settlers of the island experienced trouble with bands of Indians who were hunting down the white settlers. The island changed hands several times throughout the 1700 and 1800&#39;s until it was bought by the Buckeye and Eureka Pipeline Company in 1897 who turned the island into an amusement park. A flood in 1907 washed away much of the park. The Buckley family bought the island in 1911 and it remained in their family until it was sold to the Fish and Wildlife Service for $400,000 in 1998.</p><br>
<p>The Muskingum River empties into the Ohio River just below Buckley Island while the Little Muskingum River empties just above it.</p><br>
<p>Mount Chocorua  is a summit in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. At an elevation of 3,490 ft it is the easternmost peak of the Sandwich Range. Although the range is not outstanding for its elevation, it is very rugged and has excellent views of the surrounding lakes, mountains, and forests. Mount Chocorua&#39;s bare summit can be seen from almost every direction and can be identified from many points throughout central New Hampshire and western Maine.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Mount Chocorua is located in the town of Albany and is the easternmost peak of the Sandwich Range in New Hampshires White Mountain National Forest. The Sandwich Range is located north of the Lakes Region and south of the Kancamagus Highway. The range extends about 30 mi east-west from Conway on the Saco River to Campton on the Pemigewasset. Chocoruas summit is a picturesque rocky cone, and the mountain is purported to be one of the most photographed in the world (AMC Guide, page 310). One of the most photographed sites is from Chocorua Lake, which often casts a perfect reflection of the mountain top. This lakeside view of Mount Chocorua was chosen to represent the White Mountain National Forest on a quarter issued by the USA Mint in 2013 as part of its America the Beautiful coin series.</p><br>
<h2>Hiking trails</h2><br>
<p>Mount Chocorua is a popular destination for hikers. Although it is under 3,500 ft in elevation, its bare and rocky summit commands excellent views in all directions. Since most trails begin at much lower elevations, a hike to the summit is a strenuous exercise. There are many trails up the mountain, and they can be quite crowded during the summer months. Especially popular are the Piper Trail (4.2 mi each way from the east), the Champney Falls Trail (from the north), and the Liberty Trail (from the southwest).</p><br>
<h2>Legends</h2><br>
<p>It is believed that Chocorua was the name of a Native American man in the 18th century, although no authentic records of his life exist. The usual story is that in about 1720 Chocorua was on friendly terms with settlers and in particular the Campbell family that had a home in the valley now called Tamworth. Chocorua was called away and left his son in the care of the Campbell family. The boy found and drank a poison that Mr. Campbell had made to eliminate troublesome foxes, and Chocorua returned to find his son had died. Chocorua, distraught with grief, pledged revenge on the family. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Campbell returned home one afternoon to find his wife and children had been slain. Campbell suspected Chocorua and pursued him up the mountain that today bears his name. Chocorua was wounded by a shot from Campbell&#39;s rifle. Before Campbell could reach Chocorua, he uttered a curse upon the white settlers and their homes, livestock, and crops, and leapt from the summit to his death.</p><br>
<p>There are at least three other versions of the legend of Chocorua. One is that Chocorua simply fell from a high rock on the mountain while hunting. A second is the white settlers pursued Chocorua up the mountain after an Indian massacre, and he was not shot at all but simply leapt to his death. The third is that all the white settlers pursued him with guns, pitchforks, and torches. They collapsed of exhaustion as Chocorua reached the top, and the settlers decided to torch the remaining trees up to the summit, and in doing so they burned and exposed the topsoil of the last 1,270 ft. As the flames drew closer and closer to Chocorua, he cursed the white men and leapt to his death.</p><br>
<h3>The curse</h3><br>
<p>Although the exact words of Chocorua&#39;s curse (or even if there was a curse) are not known, it has been reported (Mudge, page 34) to be as follows.</p><br>
<p>"May the Great Spirit curse you when he speaks in the clouds and his words are fire! Lightning blast your crops! Wind and fire destroy your homes! The Evil One breathe death on your cattle! Panthers howl and wolves fatten on your bones!"</p><br>
<p>Another version appears in the story "Chocorua&#39;s Curse", by Lydia Maria Child, contained in The Token (1830):</p><br>
<p>A curse upon ye, white men! May the Great Spirit curse ye when he speaks in the clouds, and his words are fire! Chocorua had a son — and ye killed him while the sky looked bright! Lightning, blast your crops! Wind and fire destroy your dwellings! The Evil Spirit breathe death upon your cattle! Your graves lie in the war path of the Indian! Panthers howl, and wolves fatten over your bones! Chocorua goes to the Great Spirit — his curse stays with the white men!</p><br>
<h2>Cultural references</h2><br>
<p>Among the most notable artists who have painted in the White Mountains was John Frederick Kensett (1816–1872). A painter of the Hudson River School, his Mount Chocorua (1864–66) typifies American Luminism. This important art movement, containing a transcendental realism of the sublime, incorporates an inner illumination of an almost spiritual light (color), expressive geometric effects of composition (space), and the isolation of the American wilderness setting (silence).</p><br>
<p>Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) mentions Mount Chocorua in stanza XXI of his poem "The Man with the Blue Guitar". It is also the subject of his poem "Chocorua To Its Neighbor".</p><br>
<p>The American composer Alan Hovhaness (1911–2000), who often climbed the White Mountains during his childhood, composed a piano sonata named "Mt. Chocorua" (Op. 335) in 1982.</p><br>
<p>Mount Chocorua features prominently in songs by New Hampshire native rock band Scissorfight, including "Mount Chocorua Woman" from the 1996 album Guaranteed Kill.</p><br>
<p>Most of the events in John Bellairs&#39; novel The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt happen near this mountain.</p><br>
<p>The Blackstone Hotel is a historic 290 ft 21-story hotel located on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Drive in the Michigan Boulevard Historic District in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The Blackstone is famous for hosting celebrity guests, including numerous USA presidents, for which it was known as the "Hotel of Presidents" for much of the 20th century,</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The hotel and the adjacent Blackstone Theatre were built on the site of Timothy Blackstones mansion by John and Tracy Drake, sons of Blackstones former business partner, the hotel magnate John Drake. John and Tracy Drake also developed the Drake Hotel. Their father had been a director of Blackstone&#39;s Chicago and Alton Railroad. At the time of the opening, the hotel and theatre were located at the southern edge of the Chicago Theatre District at Michigan Avenue and Hubbard Court (which was first renamed 7th Street and later Balbo Drive).</p><br>
<p>The hotel was named for Timothy Blackstone, a notable Chicago business executive and politician, who served as the founding president of the Union Stock Yards, president of the Chicago and Alton Railroad, and mayor of La Salle, Illinois. It was built from 1908 to 1910 and designed by Marshall and Fox. The original construction was capitalized at $1.5 million ($ million today), including a $600,000 to $750,000 bond issue by the Drake Hotel Company. In the 1920s, the Drake Hotel Company undertook some financing arrangements which included extending their debt to construct the Drake Hotel. They used the Blackstone Hotel as collateral for one loan in 1927. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 rippled into the hotel industry, leaving the Chicago Title and Trust Company with 30 Chicago hotels in receivership and causing the Drakes to default in 1932. The hotel ended up belonging to Metropolitan Life, which held the mortgage. MetLife leased the Blackstone to hotelier Arnold Kirkeby in 1936, and Kirkeby bought the hotel outright in 1941. Kirkeby sold the hotel to Sheraton Hotels in 1954 and it was renamed the Sheraton-Blackstone Hotel. The hotel endured troubles in the late 1960s, as the neighborhood surrounding it declined, and Sheraton finally sold the property to local hotelier Mark Friedman on September 12, 1973 for $5 million and the hotel became the Blackstone Hotel again. In 1995, the Blackstone was sold to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.</p><br>
<p>On May 29, 1998, the Blackstone Hotel was designated as a Chicago Landmark. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 8, 1986. It is also a historic district contributing property for the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District.</p><br>
<p>The hotel closed in 2000 after Occupational Safety and Health Administration building inspectors found safety problems during a 1999 inspection. The buildings owner, Heaven on Earth Inns Corp, run by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, looked into several options before selling the property to Rubloff, Inc., which in 2001 announced plans to convert the building into condominiums priced as high as $8.5 million. Rubloffs plans were unsuccessful due to financing difficulties and a lackluster market for buyers of Blackstone condominiums. Even two rounds of price cuts were not enough to spur interest in the condo opportunities and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi&#39;s non-profit organization was unable to obtain financing.</p><br>
<p>The years of neglect following the closing of the hotel took a toll on the buildings appearance with both the interior and exterior facade crumbling. In 2005, it was announced that the hotel would undergo a $112 million renovation and acquisition with a planned opening in 2007 in a deal between Marriott International/Renaissance Hotels and Sage Hospitality, a Denver, Colorado-based company. The hotels restoration process was quite lengthy because of the extensive interior damage. They eventually were approved for $18 million in tax-increment financing. The final cost of the restoration came to $128 million, of which the city of Chicago provided $13.5 million for street-front improvement, including the restoration and recasting of over 10,000 pieces of decorative terra cotta, and federal historical tax credits because the building is a historical landmark. The Chicago Landmark status necessitated renovation oversight by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.</p><br>
<p>Sage had been interested in the property long before the condominium conversion was attempted. as the Renaissance Blackstone Hotel. Sage uses the Renaissance brand "for hotels that are very unique in terms of location, style, design, or historic values". The other parties involved in the restoration were local architect Lucien Lagrange and hotel interior design, development, and procurement firm Gettys, for design work. James McHugh Construction Co. was responsible for construction. The engineering firm handling the exterior renovation was Illinois-based Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.</p><br>
<p>The restoration resulted in 332 rooms, 12 suites, and 13,230 ft&sup2; of meeting space. The 21-story hotel is now equipped with a health club, a business center, and a street-level Starbucks cafe with outdoor seating area. As part of the restorations, sconces and chandeliers were restored.</p><br>
<p>Only two guest rooms were preserved during the restoration: the famous ninth-floor "smoke-filled room" and the original tenth-floor presidential suite. They both retained their original floors, fireplaces, and structural shapes. However, the Presidential Suites famed hidden passage behind the fireplace—which allowed the president to exit through the hotels eastern stairwell unnoticed—has been converted into closet space. Notable features that failed to survive the renovation were a barbershop, which has been converted to a rentable meeting room named "the barbershop", and the theater, which was converted to the Blackstone&#39;s bar and restaurant.</p><br>
<p>On June 7, 2017, The Blackstone was transferred from Marriott&#39;s Renaissance Hotels division to their Autograph Hotels division and returned to its historic name, The Blackstone Hotel.</p><br>
<h2>Hotel and politics</h2><br>
<p>The Blackstone Hotel has been dubbed "The Hotel of Presidents". It was once considered one of Chicagos finest luxury hotels, and a dozen 20th-century USA presidents have stayed at the hotel. In addition, the Blackstone has also become part of Chicagos history as the city that has hosted more United States presidential nominating conventions (26) than any other two American cities, a history which goes back to the 1860 Republican National Convention hosted at the Wigwam. The hotel has a special room designed for use by presidents which was separated from the rest of the hotel by hollowed out walls in which the Secret Service could operate. In 1911, Republican businessman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald—then president of Sears, Roebuck & Company—invited African American educator Booker T. Washington and a few dozen of Chicagos leading citizens to discuss raising funds for Washingtons Tuskegee Institute. Washington became the hotel&#39;s first African American guest. As a result of the meeting, Rosenwald became a supporter and trustee of Tuskegee, and the following year initiated a campaign to fund the construction and support of schools throughout the South to provide an education to black children, by the time of his death building nearly 5000 schools educating well over half a million African American children.</p><br>
<p>In 1920, Warren G. Harding was selected as the Republican candidate for the presidency at the Blackstone. Although the convention was being held at the Chicago Coliseum, a group of Republican leaders met at the Blackstone on the night of June 11 to come to a consensus. When Raymond Clapper of United Press reported on the decision-making process, the reporter stated it had been made "in a smoke-filled room". The phrase entered American political parlance to denote a political process which is not open to scrutiny.</p><br>
<p>In addition, the Blackstone is where Franklin Delano Roosevelts third-term Democratic presidential nomination was forged in 1940, where Harry S. Truman stayed when he received the 1944 Democratic vice presidential nomination and where Dwight D. Eisenhower heard the news of his first-ballot 1952 Republican presidential nomination. In all, guests have included at least 12 USA presidents: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter. During Kennedys visit he was informed of the Cuban Missile Crisis.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The Blackstone Hotel was designed by architect Benjamin Marshall, of Marshall and Fox, in 1909. Sources vary as to the precise style in which Marshall designed the building. According to the Landmarks Division of the City of Chicagos Department of Planning and Development, the hotels exterior and interior are considered an excellent example of neoclassical Beaux-Arts architecture; the nomination form for the buildings listing on the USA National Register of Historic Places classifies the structure as distinctly Second Empire. However, the two styles are related, and the Blackstone Hotel demonstrates elements from both schools. The design was influenced by Marshalls trip to Paris, after which he completed the hotel.</p><br>
<p>The Blackstone is a 22-floor rectangular structure and its structural steel frame is cased in tile and plaster fireproofing. On the exterior south and east (front) elevations is a one-story base of pink granite, Above the granite base are four stories of white, glazed terra cotta. The large windows of the second and third floor, which once poured natural light into the lobby, ballroom, and restaurants, have mostly been covered for a theater. The majority of the building rises as a 12-story shaft of red brick dotted with white, terra cotta window surrounds; above this section is a belt course of terra cotta and two stories of red brick. Above this, the original design included an intermediate terra cotta cornice topped by a cast-iron railing. This has been removed and replaced with red brick and white glazed brick, flush with the rest of the building. The mansard roof was originally decorated with small spires around the perimeter, and 2 very tall flagpoles.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>In addition to its celebrity guests and its contributions to political parlance, the Blackstone has a place in popular culture. Among its uses in cinema, it hosted the banquet where Al Capone smashes a guests head with a baseball bat in the Brian De Palma film The Untouchables, a party in The Hudsucker Proxy, and Tom Cruises pre-pool tourney stay in The Color of Money. Also, the 1996–2000 television series Early Edition was set in this building, featuring a man (Kyle Chandler) who lives in the hotel and receives the newspaper a day in advance.</p><br>
<p>The Moyka River  is a small river in Russia that encircles the central portion of Saint Petersburg, effectively making it an island. The river, originally known as Mya, derives its name from the Ingrian word for "slush" or "mire". It is 5 km long and 40 m wide.</p><br>
<p>The river flows from the Fontanka River near the Summer Garden past the Field of Mars, crosses Nevsky Avenue and the Kryukov Canal before entering the Neva River delta. It is also connected with the Neva by the Swan Channel and the Winter Channel.</p><br>
<p>In 1711 Peter the Great ordered the consolidation of the banks of the river. After the Kryukov Canal linked it with the Fontanka River four years later, the Moyka became so much clearer that its name was changed from Mya to Moyka, associated with the Russian verb "to wash".</p><br>
<p>In 1736 the first Moyka quay was constructed in wood. Four bridges originally spanned the river: the Blue, the Green, the Yellow, and the Red. The 99 m-wide Blue Bridge, now hardly visible underneath Saint Isaac&#39;s Square, remains the widest bridge in the whole city.</p><br>
<p>Magnificent 18th-century edifices lining the Moyka quay include the Stroganov Palace, Razumovsky Palace, Yusupov Palace, New Holland Arch, Circular Market, St. Michael&#39;s Castle, and the last accommodation and museum of Alexander Pushkin.</p><br>
<p>In 1798 work started to construct a stately embankment faced with red granite and adorned with ornate railings. After the completion of construction works in 1811, it was discovered that the water of the river became so muddy that its use for cooking has been officially forbidden ever since.</p><br>
<p>15 bridges cross the Moyka. Most of these have historical and artistic interest:</p><br>
<p>Green Bridge (Zelyony most, 1806–08, by William Heste)</p><br>
<p>Red Bridge (Krasny most, 1808–14, by William Heste)</p><br>
<p>Potseluyev Bridge (Potseluyev most, 1808–16, by William Heste)</p><br>
<p>Blue Bridge (Siny most, 1818, 1842–43, by William Heste and )</p><br>
<p>Postoffice Bridge (Pochtamtsky most, 1823–24, by Wilhelm von Traitteur)</p><br>
<p>Big Stables Bridge (Bolshoy Konyushenny most, 1828, by George Adam)</p><br>
<p>Tripartite Bridge (Malo-Konyushenny most, 1829–31, by George Adam and Wilhelm von Traitteur)</p><br>
<p>First Engineer Bridge (Pervy Inzhenerny most, 1824–25, by George Adam and Wilhelm von Traitteur)</p><br>
<p>First Sadovy Bridge (Pervy Sadovy most, 1835–36, by Pierre Dominique Bazaine)</p><br>
<p>Yellow Bridge (Pevchesky most, 1839–40, by George Adam)</p><br>
<p>The Rogers-Post Site, located on the North Slope of the USA state of Alaska, is the location of a plane crash that killed humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post on August 15, 1935, during an aerial tour of Alaska. It is about 11 mi southwest of Barrow, on the north side of Walakpa Bay near the mouth of the Walakpa River. The flight was described by the AP as prelude to a planned Trans-Siberian flight to Moscow. The pair were flying from Fairbanks to Barrow when they encountered fog and low-visibility. Locating a hole in the fog at Walakpa Bay, they landed. They spent some time with a small party of Alaska Natives and received directions for the short distance remaining to Barrow. They were barely airborne, around 50 ft, when the motor failed. The aircraft plummeted into the lagoon and overturned. It was the first fatal air accident Barrow had known.</p><br>
<p>The first monument at the site was dedicated three years after the crash and financed through nationwide public subscription. It was designed in Oklahoma, home of both Rogers and Post, and built from poured concrete. The design was essentially two cubes, the smaller atop the larger, with a pink granite memorial marker quarried near the Rogers family home in Claremore, Oklahoma. The elaborate dedication ceremonies involved a four-way CBS radio broadcast from Barrow, the United States Capitol, the Oklahoma State Capitol, and the Texas State Capitol.</p><br>
<p>The second monument, built 15 years later, is a concrete obelisk consisting of four diminishing rectangular blocks, and is more slender and almost 10 feet (3 m) taller than the first monument. It was built by then 72-year-old Jesse Stubbs (November 30, 1879 – March 14, 1960), who claimed to be a childhood friend of Rogers and arrived in Anchorage in summer 1953 intending to walk from there to Barrow, only getting as far as Fairbanks where he, and his dog Quacco, caught a plane flight for the remainder of the journey. The Stubbs monument memorializes not only Rogers and Post, but also the Alaskan veterans of World War II. Both monuments overlook the lagoon crash site.</p><br>
<p>The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.</p><br>
<p>Lake Temescal is a small reservoir in the Oakland Hills, in northeastern Oakland, California. It is the centerpiece of Temescal Regional Recreation Area, also known as Temescal Regional Park . It is a part of the East Bay Regional Park District.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The lake received its name from the stream which is its source, Temescal Creek, which was dammed in 1868 to create a reservoir to provide drinking water for the greater East Bay area, pumped by the Contra Costa Water Company, owned by Anthony Chabot. Prior to being dammed, Lake Temescal was a sag pond, a depression caused by the Hayward Fault. The bulk of the manual labor of removing soil and digging to bedrock was provided by Chinese immigrants, who probably immigrated to work to build the railroads. Herds of wild mustangs were used to compact the tons of dirt that were brought to create the dam. The dam is 600 ft long and 16 ft wide and rises 105 ft above the creek.</p><br>
<p>The shores of the lake were a popular camping spot with bohemian artists and writers in the late 1800s. The British painter J.H.E. Partington lived here in a tent with his family when they arrived in Oakland in 1889.</p><br>
<p>During the first half of the 20th century, the tracks of the Sacramento Northern Railroad ran along the eastern side of the lake. At that time, an electric train called the Comet crossed directly over the lake.</p><br>
<p>In 1936, Lake Temescal opened to the public as one of the first three parks established by the East Bay Regional Park District. Its early amenities included a beach-like shore for swimming, a boathouse built by the WPA, a well established trail around the lake, and numerous picnic benches.</p><br>
<h2>Present day function</h2><br>
<p>The lake currently supports an artificial recreational beach and is stocked periodically with rainbow trout, largemouth bass, redear sunfish, bluegill, and catfish. The park is open to all visitors from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. and receives around 200,000 visitors a year.</p><br>
<p>The lake is constantly becoming shallower due to sediment runoff and must be periodically dredged. Today it is approximately 20 ft at its deepest point; previously it was 80 ft deep.</p><br>
<p>Since the dam crosses the Hayward Fault, there is a possibility of dam failure in the event of an earthquake, which would cause serious flooding in parts of Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville. However, due to the additional fill placed between the dam and Highway 24, any hydraulic failure is now unlikely.</p><br>
<p>During the 1991 Oakland firestorm, water-equipped helicopters refilled at Lake Temescal, largely draining it.</p><br>
<p>The building is available for event rentals, such as weddings.</p><br>
<p>Mount Feathertop is the second-highest mountain in the Australian state of Victoria and is a member of the Australian Alps located entirely within the Alpine National Park. It rises to 1,922 m and is usually covered in snow from June to September. Unlike many other Victorian mountains, Mount Feathertop has steep summit slopes instead of a rounded summit dome.</p><br>
<p>Mount Feathertop&#39;s proximity to the Mount Hotham ski resort has led to it becoming a popular backcountry skiing destination. A sizable snow cornice usually forms along the summit ridge in winter, the collapse of which has claimed the life of a number of people who stood on it. Snow remaining in the summit gullies in spring gives the appearance of feathers - hence the name "Feathertop".</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Mount Feathertop was named in 1851 by Jim Brown and Jack Wells, stockmen who worked on Cobungra Station and were the first Europeans to systematically explore the Bogong High Plains.</p><br>
<p>Dr (later Baron) Ferdinand von Mueller was the first non- aboriginal to climb Mount Feathertop. Unaware that the peak had already been named, he proposed that it might be named Mount La Trobe after Charles La Trobe who was Victoria&#39;s lieutenant-governor at the time. Members of the Bright Alpine Club made the first winter ascent in September 1889.</p><br>
<p>A track from Harrietville was cut in 1906 along a similar route to the current Bungalow Spur track and a rough shelter was built near a spring on a flat area below the treeline. The shelter was replaced by Feathertop Hut in 1912.</p><br>
<p>In 1925, the Feathertop Bungalow was built, with materials and prefabricated sections transported by packhorse and sled. It had 24 guest beds and provided commercial accommodation on the mountain before being lost in the Black Friday bushfire of 1939.</p><br>
<h2>Vegetation</h2><br>
<p>Forests of Mountain Ash cover the lower slopes of Mount Feathertop up to an altitude of about 1,000 m where Snow Gums begin to dominate. Above the treeline at around 1,700 m, vegetation consists of alpine shrubland and grassland.</p><br>
<h2>Access routes</h2><br>
<p>The main access routes on Mount Feathertop are the Razorback (north and south), Bon Accord Spur, Bungalow Spur, North-west Spur, and Diamantina Spur. Hiking on the East Ridge, North-east Spur, and Champion Spur has been possible at times after fires but the routes are now overgrown and rarely used.</p><br>
<p>The North Razorback track is the shortest and easiest route to Mount Feathertop but it is along a ridgeline and can be very exposed during bad weather. It is possible to drive to within 4 km of the summit during summer but a winter road closure leaves a walk or ski of 7.3 km.</p><br>
<p>The South Razorback is a very popular walk in summer and it is a spectacular ski tour in winter. It starts at Diamantina Hut on the Great Alpine Road near the Mount Hotham ski resort and is relatively flat but is also very exposed during bad weather. The south Razorback track covers a distance of 11 km from its start to the summit.</p><br>
<p>The Bon Accord Spur track starts in Harrietville and climbs up to the Razorback to join the South Razorback track near the Big Dipper, approximately 1.5 km from Diamantina Hut.</p><br>
<p>The Bungalow Spur track also starts near Harrietville at an elevation of 480 m. It was built for pack horses servicing the former Feathertop Bungalow and climbs gradually but continually for 9 km until it reaches Federation Hut. The track then continues for another 2 km until reaching the summit, joining the Razorback and North West Spur tracks along the way.</p><br>
<p>The Tom Kneen track along the North West Spur is a steep and hard climb starting near Stony Creek and reaching the Melbourne University Mountaineering Club hut after 7.5 km. From the hut, it continues across Feathertop&#39;s west face to join the track from Federation Hut to the summit. This route was named after a skier who died in an avalanche on Feathertop during 1985.</p><br>
<p>The Diamantina Spur track climbs from the Kiewa River West Branch for 4 km before joining the South Razorback track about 3 km from Mount Feathertop&#39;s summit. It offers great views of Mount Feathertop but climbs steeply (very in places) and involves some scrambling over loose shale.</p><br>
<h2>Mountain huts</h2><br>
<p>There are two intact huts on the mountain and the ruins of several more.</p><br>
<p>In 1906, at the instigation of Jim Tobias and the Harrietville Progress Society, a rough track to the mountain from Harrietville was cut running close to the present track up Bungalow Spur. A shelter shed was also built near a spring on a flat area below the treeline. In 1912 it was replaced by Feathertop Hut. The hut was mainly used as a base for summer excursions, but was occasionally used for climbing and snow walks. The hut survived the 1939 bushfires but by the 1960s it was in poor condition. Federation Hut was built higher up the hill to replace it and Feathertop Hut collapsed in the late 1970s.</p><br>
<p>The Feathertop Bungalow was built in 1925 and operated successfully as a 26-bed hotel for two years before problems with land tenure forced the owners to sell it to the railways at a knock down price. After a few years of neglect the railways realised its potential and operated it successfully for a decade before it burnt down in the Black Friday bushfires of 1939 and was never rebuilt. The site is visible on the Bungalow Spur track but few signs of the Bungalow remain.</p><br>
<p>Razorback Hut was strategically placed halfway between Diamantina Hut and the Feathertop Bungalow. It appears to have been built after the First World War. It was a fairly basic refuge hut measuring 14 x 10 with a dirt floor and a single window. It was burnt in the 1939 bushfires and never replaced</p><br>
<p>In 1966 the Melbourne University Mountaineering Club built a large hut at the top of the North-West Spur to serve as a base for winter alpine activities in memory of two club members who had died in a climbing accident in New Zealand. The hut was designed by Peter Kneen, a final-year Civil Engineering student at Melbourne University. It is a geodesic dome clad with aluminium sheeting and includes a spacious upstairs sleeping area. Materials were carried to the site from the roadhead on the North Razorback track. The silver aluminium cladding was painted its current drab green in March 1977.</p><br>
<p>Federation Hut was originally built in 1968-69 by the Federation of Victorian Walking Clubs and is situated on the treeline at the top of Bungalow Spur near Little Feathertop. The hut was renovated and reclad in timber by Ian Stapleton in 1988, and destroyed by the 2003 Eastern Victorian alpine bushfires before being rebuilt in 2005 by Parks Victoria.</p><br>
<h2>Accidents</h2><br>
<p>Victorian Minister Tim Holding disappeared at the mountain on 31 August 2009 when he failed to return from his solo hiking journey.</p><br>
<p>Sixty searchers were deployed in the field by Monday evening, 31 August 2009, including Victorian Police Search and Rescue, Mt Hotham Ski Patrol, Bush Search and Rescue and the State Emergency Service. He was found during the morning on Tuesday 1 September, one day after searchers were deployed on Monday. Uninjured, he reported that he had lost his footing on an icy slope, and slid down into a gully. Disoriented, and with poor visibility, he waited for rescue, using a reflective space blanket to attract attention.</p><br>
<p>Graeme Nelson, a 56-year-old doctor from Eden in south-eastern New South Wales, died on 24 August 2011 while skiing with friends in Avalanche Gully on Mount Feathertop. Dr Nelson is believed to have slipped in icy conditions and fell 700 metres down an icy slope, dying before his skiing companions could climb down to reach him.</p><br>
<p>Tom Kneen, cousin of Peter Kneen who designed the MUMC Hut, died in August 1985 when he and three companions strayed onto the snow cornice in a virtual whiteout near the summit.</p><br>
<p>Steven Galland died on Feathertop in 1983 when he fell whilst digging a snow cave on an MUMC trip.</p><br>
<p>South of the summit pyramid at the start of the Razorback there is a hill with a small cairn and a plaque in remembrance of Molly Hill who may have been the first skier to die in Victoria. Mary (Molly) Ann Hill was with a group from the Ski Club of Victoria that was stuck at the Feathertop Bungalow during six days of poor weather. On Friday 2 September 1932 a group of six set out for Hotham Heights. After they climbed to the Razorback, Molly slipped on a steep patch of ice and slid over 60 metres down a steep slope before hitting a tree. A rescue party was quickly organised and she was stretchered to Harrietville from where she was driven to hospital in Bright. Molly Hill died of head injuries later that night and was buried in the Cheltenham cemetery.</p><br>
<p>The Willapa Hills is a geologic, physiographic, and geographic region in southwest Washington. When described as a physiographical province, the Willapa Hills are bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Columbia River to the south, the Olympic Mountains to the north, and the Cascade Range to the east. Some definitions place the Puget Lowland physiographic province east of the Willapa Hills. Included within the province are the Black Hills, the Doty Hills, and a number of broad river valleys, some of which open up into broad estuaries on the Pacific such as Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay. Other definitions do not include the Black Hills. The USGS GNIS defines the Willapa Hills as bounded by the Columbia River to the south and the Chehalis River to the north, without giving specific east and west bounds. The Willapa Hills are one of the Pacific Coast Ranges, which continue north as the Olympic Mountains and south, across the Columbia River, as the Oregon Coast Range.</p><br>
<p>The highest point is 3,087 ft Boistfort Peak. The Willapa Hills are the lowest uplands in the entire Pacific Coast Range system. Almost all of the land is privately held and has been repeatedly logged. Only a few long corners remain with virgin forest. Alders less than twenty years old are typically harvested for pulp mills.</p><br>
<p>The Willapa Hills receive abundant rainfall and a number of rivers originate in the region, including the Chehalis River, Willapa River, North River, Bone River, Niawiakum River, Palix River, Bear River, Naselle River, Grays River, and Elochoman River, among others.</p><br>
<p>The Bath Assembly Rooms, designed by John Wood, the Younger in 1769, are a set of elegant assembly rooms located in the heart of the World Heritage City of Bath in England which are now open to the public as a visitor attraction. They are designated as a Grade I listed building.</p><br>
<p>During the Georgian era Bath became fashionable, and the architects John Wood, the Elder, and his son, John Wood the Younger, laid out new areas of housing for residents and visitors. Assembly rooms had been built early in the 18th century, but a new venue for balls, concerts and gambling was envisaged in the area between Queen Square, The Circus and the Royal Crescent. Robert Adam submitted a proposal that was rejected as too expensive. John Wood, the Younger raised funding through a Tontine and construction started in 1769. The New or Upper Assembly Rooms opened with a grand ball in 1771 and became the hub of fashionable society, being frequented by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, along with the nobility of the time.</p><br>
<p>The Bath stone building has rooms arranged in a U shape. There are four main function rooms in the complex: the 100 ft ballroom — the largest Georgian interior in Bath; the tea room; the card room; and the octagon. The rooms have Whitefriars crystal chandeliers and are decorated with fine art. In the 20th century they were used as a cinema and in 1931 were taken over by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and restored. They were bombed and burnt out during the Second World War, with restoration undertaken by Sir Albert Richardson before reopening in 1963. They are now owned by the National Trust and operated by Bath and North East Somerset Council for public functions. The basement of the building provides a home to the Fashion Museum.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Several areas of Bath had undergone development during the Stuart period, and development increased during Georgian times in response to the increasing number of visitors to the spa and resort town who required accommodation. The architects John Wood, the Elder and his son John Wood, the Younger laid out the new quarters in streets and squares, the identical façades of which gave an impression of palatial scale and classical decorum. Much of the creamy gold Bath stone used for construction throughout the city was obtained from the limestone Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines, which were owned by Ralph Allen (1694–1764).</p><br>
<p>Much of the development at this time consisted of new residential areas away from the old city centre. Queen Square was the first speculative development by John Wood, the Elder, who lived in one of the houses. The Circus consists of three long, curved terraces designed by the elder John Wood to form a circular space or theatre intended for civic functions and games. The games give a clue to the design, the inspiration behind which was the Colosseum in Rome. The most spectacular of Bath&#39;s terraces is the Royal Crescent, built between 1767 and 1774 and designed by the younger John Wood. Gay Street links Queen Square to The Circus. All of which were designed by John Wood, the Elder in 1735 and completed by his son John Wood, the Younger.</p><br>
<p>The heart of the Georgian city was Woods Pump Room, which, together with its associated Lower Assembly Rooms, was designed by Thomas Baldwin, a local builder responsible for many other buildings in the city, including the terraces in Argyle Street and the Guildhall, The Lower Assembly Rooms consisted of two buildings. The first built in 1708 for Thomas Harrison overlooking Parade Gardens between North Parade and Bath Abbey. A large ballroom was added in 1720, with further enlargement in 1749 and 1810 when it became known as The Kingston Assembly Rooms. In 1728 another building, known as Lindseys Assembly Rooms, was constructed, lasting until demolition around 1820 for the building of York Street. Harrison&#39;s Lower Assembly Rooms were devastated by a fire in 1821 and rebuilt, lasting until demolition in 1933 for road improvements on the site now known as "Bog Island".</p><br>
<p>In around 1770 the neoclassical architect Robert Adam designed Pulteney Bridge, a three-arched bridge spanning the River Avon. He used as his prototype an original, but unused, design by Andrea Palladio for the Rialto Bridge in Venice. Adam also submitted plans for the new Assembly Rooms but these were rejected as too costly. John Wood, the Younger raised funding for the construction of the Assembly Rooms by the use of a Tontine, an investment plan that is named after the Neapolitan banker Lorenzo de Tonti, who is credited with inventing it in France in 1653. It combines features of a group annuity and a lottery. Each subscriber pays an agreed sum into the fund, and thereafter receives an annuity. As members die, their shares devolve to the other participants, and so the value of each annuity increases. On the death of the last member, the scheme is wound up. Construction started in 1769 and was completed in 1771, when a grand opening was held.</p><br>
<p>The Assembly Rooms formed the hub of fashionable Georgian society in the city, the venue being described as "the most noble and elegant of any in the kingdom". They were originally known as the Upper Rooms as there was also a lower assembly room in the city, which closed soon after the Upper Rooms opened. They served the newly built fashionable area which included The Circus, Queen Square and the Royal Crescent.</p><br>
<p>People would gather in the rooms in the evening for balls and other public functions, or simply to play cards. Mothers and chaperones bringing their daughters to Bath for the social season, hoping to marry them off to a suitable husband, would take their charge to such events where, very quickly, one might meet all the eligible men currently in the City. At one concert in 1779, attended by around 800 ladies and gentlemen, 60 members of the nobility were present. During the season, which ran from October to June, at least two balls a week were held, in addition to a range of concerts and other events. Scenes such as this feature in the novels of Jane Austen, who lived in Bath with her parents and sister from 1801 to 1805. Her two novels set in Bath, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published in 1818 and both mention the Assembly Rooms:</p><br>
<p>Charles Dickens also visited Bath on several occasions. He gave public readings in the Assembly Rooms and mentions them in The Pickwick Papers (published in 1837):</p><br>
<p>George Bridgetower, an Afro-Polish-born virtuoso violinist, made his debut at the Assembly Rooms in 1789. Another young violinist, Thomas Linley the younger, played a series of concerts between 1771 and 1776. Many of the concerts during the late 18th and early 19th centuries were organised by Venanzio Rauzzini.</p><br>
<p>In the 20th century several changes took place, with the Ballroom becoming a cinema, until the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings became the owners in 1931. The building was restored by A Mowbray Green in 1938, with Oliver Messel as the interior designer. During the Bath Blitz of 25/26 April 1942, one of the retaliatory raids on England by the Baedeker Blitz following the RAF&#39;s raid on Lübeck, the Assembly Rooms were bombed and burnt out inside. After the cessation of hostilities in Europe, they were restored by Sir Albert Richardson, with work being completed in 1963. The ballroom ceiling had to be repaired after it collapsed in 1989.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The limestone building has a slate hipped roof. It is rectangular with a projecting doric portico entrance and an extension to the rear. The interior is laid out in a U shape, with the larger Ball Room and Tea Room along either side with the octagonal Card Room at the end. The rooms have Whitefriars crystal chandeliers and are decorated with pictures by Thomas Gainsborough, Allan Ramsay (artist), Edwin Long and William Hoare.</p><br>
<p>The Ballroom has five chandeliers and capacity for up to 500 people. It is over 100 ft long and nearly 45 ft wide. The ceiling is 42 ft high. The Tea Room holds up to 250 people. It was the location for a banquet attended by The Prince of Wales for the BBC television series the Great British Menu. It is 60 ft long and 42 ft wide. The Octagon is named for the shape of the room has four fireplaces. It is 42 ft across. It originally held an organ in the musicians gallery. In 1777 the Card Room was added. This is now used as a bar.</p><br>
<h2>Current use</h2><br>
<p>Today the rooms are owned by the National Trust and operated by Bath and North East Somerset Council. The main rooms are still available for hire for private functions. They are also used for concerts, including ones that are part of the Bath International Music Festival.</p><br>
<p>The basement of the building provides a home to the Fashion Museum, which was known before 2007 as the Museum of Costume. The collection was started by Doris Langley Moore, who gave her collection to the city of Bath in 1963. It focuses on fashionable dress for men, women and children from the late 16th century to the present day and has more than 30,000 objects. The earliest pieces are embroidered shirts and gloves from about 1600.</p><br>
<p>The grandeur of the building make it a popular location for feature films and television series set in the Georgian period. The BBC have used it as a location for the filming of an adaptation of Northanger Abbey in 1986 and in 1995 Persuasion.</p><br>
<p>Corumbá Lake  is an artificial lake formed by the damming of the Corumbá River in southern Goiás State, Brazil. It is located 10 km from the city of Caldas Novas, famous for its hot springs. The lake, which began to fill in 1996, supplies the hydroelectric plant, Usina Hidrelétrica Corumbá I. It is fed by the Pirapitanga River, Peixe River, Piracanjuba River and São Bartolomé River.</p><br>
<p>The deepest part of Corumbá Lake is near the dam and reaches 90 metres. The perimeter of the lake is quite irregular; to walk around it one would need to travel more than 100 kilometres.</p><br>
<p>With an area of 65 km², it provides the visitor with several water sports such as jet-ski, motorboats, and wind surfing.</p><br>
<p></text></p><br>
<p></revision></p><br>
