<p>Uffmoor Wood is a semi-natural woodland in Worcestershire, in the</p><br>
<p>English Midlands. It is one of over a thousand woods cared for by the Woodland Trust. The wood has an area of 84.84 hectare, and. Sitting at the foot of the Clent Hills and about 3 km southwest of Halesowen, Uffmoor Wood is a popular recreational destination for local people. Adjacent to Hagley Woods, where the mystery of Who put Bella in the Wych Elm? was discovered, and the site of several pre-war murders, Uffmoor has developed a reputation for the supernatural.</p><br>
<h2>Woodland Trust</h2><br>
<p>The wood is owned and managed by the charity Woodland Trust. In May 2017 the Trust announced that it was suspending public access to the wood because of misbehaviour, including: dirt bike scrambling; dog fouling; drug peddling and public sexual acts.</p><br>
<p>Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site is a historic house museum located in the Getty Square neighborhood of Yonkers, New York. Originally the family seat of Philipse Manor, it is Westchester County’s oldest standing building. It is located at Warburton Avenue and Dock Street, and is currently owned and operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The southwest corner, the oldest part of the structure, was built around 1682 by Dutch-born merchant and trader Frederick Philipse, a son-in-law of Stephanus Van Cortlandt, who &mdash; by the time of his death &mdash; had amassed a 52,000 acre estate along the Hudson River that encompassed the entire modern city of Yonkers and much of lower Westchester County.</p><br>
<p>During Philipse&#39;s life, the building was used primarily as a stopover point on the long journey up and down the river between his home in New Amsterdam and the northern parts of his estate. His grandson, Frederick Philipse II, and his great-grandson, Frederick Philipse III, successively enlarged and enhanced the building, making it the primary family residence.</p><br>
<p>On November 28, 1776, nearly five months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the start of the American Revolution, Frederick Philipse III and over 200 of his contemporaries signed a document declaring their allegiance to the British crown and their unwillingness to support the Revolutionary cause. Because of his Loyalism, Philipse was branded a traitor and placed under arrest on orders signed by General George Washington. He was held in Connecticut for a time, but was given special permission to travel back to Yonkers to settle his affairs on the condition he was not to aid the British cause. In violation of his parole, he and his family fled to British-occupied New York City and later to Great Britain, leaving their estate and Philipse Manor Hall behind to be attained.</p><br>
<p>Philipse family holdings, which included the Philipse Patent, a 250 square mile tract that became todays Putnam and part of Dutchess counties, were sold at public auction by New Yorks Commissioners of Forfeitures following the Revolution. Philipse Manor Hall was occupied by various families throughout the 19th century. In 1868, the building became Yonkers&#39; municipal center (as Village Hall, and later, as City Hall) and remained such until 1908. During this period, an elaborate monument to those Yonkers natives who had died during the American Civil War was installed on the east lawn (1891).</p><br>
<p>By 1908, the growing complexity of city government had made the building nearly obsolete as a government center. Public meetings were held, and options such as adding wings onto the building and tearing it down outright were discussed. The question became moot when Eva Smith Cochran, matriarch of a wealthy local carpet milling family, stepped in and donated $50,000 to the city as a nominal reimbursement for their care of the building during the previous 40 years. This allowed the City to turn ownership of the building over to the State of New York. Between that time and the 1960s, the building was owned by the state but cared for by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. Since the dissolution of the Society, the building is owned, maintained and curated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.</p><br>
<p>From 1911 to 1912, the most intense restoration project in the building&#39;s history brought the house back to a semblance of its colonial appearance. The building has been open as a museum of history, art and architecture since 1912.</p><br>
<p>The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.</p><br>
<p>In 2011 with the daylighting of the Saw Mill River in Van Der Donck Park, Philipse Manor Hall once again bordered an above-ground river.</p><br>
<h2>Collections</h2><br>
<p>The house is home to a ca. 1750 papier-mâché and plaster Rococo ceiling, one of two in-situ ceilings of its type in the United States. The elaborate ceiling is covered in designs and motifs relevant to Frederick Philipse III’s lifestyle. For example, his love of music is represented by lute players, bagpipers and singers; his enthusiasm for hunting is represented by hunting dogs and game birds; and his education in the arts and sciences is represented by busts of Alexander Pope and Sir Isaac Newton.</p><br>
<p>Also of architectural significance is the 1868 City Council Chamber, designed by John Davis Hatch. The Chamber’s high, vaulted ceiling and woodwork are intentionally reminiscent of a typical English manor house’s great hall.</p><br>
<p>Throughout the house are paintings from the Cochran Collection of American Portraiture. This collection was put together by agents of Alexander Smith Cochran (son of Eva Smith Cochran and owner of the family’s carpet mills) and features works by Charles Willson Peale and John Trumbull. Represented among the 60 paintings are nearly all of the Presidents of the United States, from Washington to Calvin Coolidge, as well as war heroes, historical figures, and members of the Philipse family.</p><br>
<h2>Further reading</h2><br>
<p>Great Houses of the Hudson River, Michael Middleton Dwyer, editor, with preface by Mark Rockefeller, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, published in association with Historic Hudson Valley, 2001.</p><br>
<p>Hempstead Harbor is a bay on the coast of New York in Long Island Sound, between the towns of Oyster Bay on the east and North Hempstead on the west, in Nassau County, Long Island, New York. It is sometimes called Roslyn Harbor.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Before World War I shacks were built on the marsh flats in the town-owned Hempstead Bay wetlands. They served as shelters for duck hunters, fishermen and weekend campers. Over time the summer cabins became cottages passed down through generations. Until 1970, folk singer Burl Ives, spent occasional summer weekends in a cottage near the Hempstead Town Dock. Storms and erosion have taken their toll. Town officials and conservationists came to consider them an intrusion. The Town stopped granting new leases in 1964.</p><br>
<p>Hempstead Harbor Park is a recreational beach park owned by the Town of North Hempstead, on the west shore of the harbor in Port Washington. It lies immediately west and north of Bar Beach. A fireworks display takes place there every Memorial Day.</p><br>
<p>The proposed United States Navy seaplane tender USS Hempstead (AVP-43) was named for Hempstead Bay, but the contract for the ship&#39;s construction was cancelled in 1943 before construction began.</p><br>
<p>The Sitka Pioneer Home is an assisted living home, located in the USA state of Alaska at 120 Katlian Street in downtown Sitka. Operated by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services under its Division of Pioneer Homes, it is the oldest and third-largest of the six homes in the Pioneer Home system. The building was designed by the Tacoma firm of Heath, Gove & Bell.</p><br>
<p>Currently, the Sitka Pioneer Home is the third largest Alaska Pioneer Home and can care for 75 residents including those suffering from Alzheimer&#39;s disease or other forms of dementia. The home uses a three-tiered system of care: tier I or "Independent", tier II or "Basic Assistance", and tier III or "24-Hour Care".</p><br>
<p>The property, including the Totem Park located across Katlian Street, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>A contingent of USA Marine Corps had been stationed from 1879 to 1892 in a group of barracks built by Russian in the 1800s, located at the actual site of Sitka Pioneer Home. When the troops were withdrawn and the base closed in 1912, the site, which had expanded with the addition of several buildings, remained unused.</p><br>
<p>When the Territory of Alaska was established in August 1912, Sitka representatives asked to the Navy Department the permission to create the Sitka Pioneer Home in the area.</p><br>
<p>The Sitka Pioneer Home was opened in September 1913 on a $10,000 budget. The home struggled financially until the 1930s, when the federal and territorial governments appropriated around $400,000 to replace the dilapidated and fire-prone buildings, creating a new home capable of caring for 170 men. In 1949, upon mandate from the territorial legislature, an expansion was constructed, with women permitted to be taken under care.</p><br>
<p>The Pioneer Home has also played a large part in Sitka&#39;s Alaska Day festivities. The parade through downtown ends close to the grounds and hundreds of people mingle at a free reception inside the home with live entertainment traditionally provided by the New Archangel Dancers. The annual Alaska Day croquet tournament takes place on the grounds at the same time.</p><br>
<h2>Prospector statue</h2><br>
<p>A statue entitled The Prospector, sculpted by Alonzo Victor Lewis, serves as the centerpiece of the grounds of the Sitka Pioneer Home. The sculpture was supposed to be modeled after real-life pioneer William Clark "Skagway Bill" Fonda, a resident of Skagway and originally of Fonda, New York. This statue is the larger of two models that Lewis created. The smaller of which sits in Seattles Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park in Pioneer Square. After more than three tons of clay and 21 years of fundraising, the sculpture was finally shipped to Sitka in time for its dedication at 1949s Alaska Day.</p><br>
<p>The Ateneo de Madrid  is a private cultural institution located in the capital of Spain that was founded in 1820. Its full name is Ateneo Científico, Literario y Artístico de Madrid .</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The roots of the Athenæum trace to the ideals of Francophiles and liberals of the early 19th century.</p><br>
<p>After the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, the Afrancesado, who had joined the French cause and supported Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain, were exiled with him upon the triumph of the Supreme Central Junta and the Cádiz Cortes, which enacted in 1812 the first Spanish liberal constitution.</p><br>
<p>The restoration of Ferdinand VII in 1814 after the previous year&#39;s Treaty of Valençay, however, brought a return to absolutism and the flight of the Spanish patriots of Cádiz. Much of the enlightened aristocracy, that for one reason or another had been persecuted in Spain, took refuge in France and England.</p><br>
<p>The return of the exiles during the "liberal triennium" from 1820 to 1823 allowed the creation of the Spanish Athenæum, directed by Juan Manuel de los Rios. When King Ferdinand reasserted his absolutism in 1823, however, that institution&#39;s scholars went into London exile.</p><br>
<p>Ferdinands death in 1833, an amnesty the following year, and the support of liberals for the cause of Isabella II, still a child, over that of the pretender Don Carlos, her uncle, created a new atmosphere of tolerance during the regency of Ferdinands widow Maria Christina.</p><br>
<p>In 1835 the former Spanish Ateneo of 1820 was reborn as the Ateneo Científico y Literario de Madrid under the patronage of Salustiano Olózaga, Ángel de Saavedra, Antonio Alcalá Galiano, Ramón de Mesonero Romanos, Francisco López Olavarrieta, Francisco Fabra and Juan Manuel de los Rios.</p><br>
<p>In 1923 the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera suspended the activities of the Ateneo.</p><br>
<p>During the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939, the Ateneo remained open and managed to preserve the integrity of its facilities, especially its library, thanks to the work of Bernardo G. de Candamo, the only member of the Republican governing council to remain in Madrid during the war. Although the 36-year Spanish State of General Franco subsumed the Ateneo to the ideological goals of his Falange party, the subsequent transition to democracy has enabled it to regain its position as a centre of culture of the first order.</p><br>
<p>In 2013, the severe reduction of the grants from the city of Madrid under the 2008–2012 Spanish financial crisis threatened bankruptcy for the Ateneo. The Ateneo council tried to cover the losses by auctioning works of art, either donated by sympathetic artists or part of the historic heritage. The Regional Heritage Council of Madrid forbade the sale of an 1855 collection of engravings (The Disasters of War and Los Caprichos) by Francisco de Goya. What the regional council allowed to auction includes 14 works by Antonio López, Eusebio Sempere, Josep Guinovart, José Moreno Villa, Alberto Corazón and Carmen Laffon, that earned the Ateneo 140,000 euros.</p><br>
<h2>Office and membership</h2><br>
<p>The Athenæum&#39;s first home was in the Palacio de Abrantès, but it is currently housed at 21 Prado Street (not to be confused with the Paseo del Prado) in Madrid &mdash; a modernist building opened by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo in 1884. The building, designed by architects Enrique Fort and Luis de Landecho, is adorned with Greek Revival paintings by Arturo Mélida. It has an auditorium, work room, classrooms, exhibition hall, library and archive. The Ateneo has 19 sections that are active in multiple cultural and scientific arenas.</p><br>
<p>Prominent Spaniards &mdash; including Laureano Figuerola, Segismundo Moret, Gumersindo de Azcárate, Antonio Alcalá Galiano, Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, Miguel de Unamuno, Fernando de los Ríos and Manuel Azaña &mdash; have served as presidents of the Ateneo. On May 28, 2009 Carlos París Amador was elected president. Members have included six Prime Ministers, all Spanish Nobel Prize winners, Spanish politicians of the Second Republic and the members of the Generations of 1898, of 1914 and 1927.</p><br>
<p>The former North Western Hotel is on the east side of Lime Street, Liverpool, England, fronting Lime Street railway station. The building is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Built as a railway hotel 1871 by the London and North Western Railway the hotel served Lime Street railway station. The design was by Alfred Waterhouse, containing 330 rooms. The hotel closed in 1933, subsequently becoming Lime Street Chambers for a while before closing once again. In 1994 the building was bought by John Moores University and, at a cost of £6 million, was converted into a hall of residence for students, opening in 1996.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The building is constructed in stone with a slate roof in the Renaissance Revival style resembling a French château. The baroque details are in the Second Empire style, common for this time period. It has five storeys, a basement and an attic, and is in 21 bays. The end bays and the bays flanking the three-bay centre are carried up into towers. The central entrance is round-arched, and is flanked by Doric columns.</p><br>
<p>Kilkis  is an industrial city in Central Macedonia, Greece. there were 22,914 people living in the city proper, 28,745 people living in the municipal unit, and 51,926 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city of the regional unit of Kilkis.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>Kilkis is located in a region that was multi-ethnic in the recent past and is known by several different names. The name of the city in early Byzantine times was Kallikon, and was also known as Kalkis or Kilkis by the Greeks. In church Codix of 1732 it is mentioned as Kilkisi (Κηλκήση). In the South Slavic languages it is known as Kukush (Кукуш, Kukuš), while it was called Kilkitsi or Kılkış by the Ottoman Turks.</p><br>
<h2>Administration</h2><br>
<h3>Municipality</h3><br>
<p>The municipality Kilkis was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 7 former municipalities, that became municipal units:</p><br>
<p>Cherso</p><br>
<p>Doirani</p><br>
<p>Gallikos</p><br>
<p>Kilkis</p><br>
<p>Kroussa</p><br>
<p>Mouries</p><br>
<p>Pikrolimni</p><br>
<p>The municipality has an area of 1,599.604 km, the municipal unit 319.834 km.</p><br>
<h3>Communities</h3><br>
<p>The municipal unit Kilkis consists of the following communities (settlements):</p><br>
<p>Kilkis (Kilkis, Argyroupoli, Zacharato, Kolchida, Metalliko, Xirovrysi, Sevasto)</p><br>
<p>Chorygi</p><br>
<p>Efkarpia</p><br>
<p>Kastanies</p><br>
<p>Kristoni</p><br>
<p>Leipsydrio (Leipsydrio, Akropotamia, Ano Potamia, Kato Potamia)</p><br>
<p>Megali Vrysi</p><br>
<p>Melanthio</p><br>
<p>Messiano (Mesiano, Dafnochori, Leventochori, Palaio Gynaikokastro)</p><br>
<p>Stavrochori</p><br>
<p>Vaptistis (Vaptistis, Kyriakaiika)</p><br>
<h3>Province</h3><br>
<p>The province of Kilkis (Επαρχία Κιλκίς) was one of the provinces of the Kilkis Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality Kilkis, and the municipal unit Polykastro. It was abolished in 2006.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Ancient age</h3><br>
<p>Findings dating back to as early as the Bronze and Iron Age have been excavated in the vicinity of Kilkis, including ancient tombs of the 2nd millennium BC.</p><br>
<p>In classical antiquity, the wider region of Kilkis was ruled by the kingdom of Macedon. At the time, Kilkis was in the center of a region called Krestonia. When Phillip II of Macedon visited Krestonia, the locals offered him olives from Krestonia valley, something that he had never eaten before. At that time, many towns flourished in the region, such as Idomeni, Atalanti (Axioupoli nowadays), Gortynia (Gorgopi nowadays), Planitsa (Fyska nowadays), Terpillos, Klitae (Xylokeratia nowadays), Vragylos (Metalliko nowadays), Ioron (Palatiano nowadays), Chaetae (Tsaousitsa nowadays), Carabia (Limnotopos nowadays), Bairos (Kastro nowadays), Morrylos (Ano Apostoli nowadays), Doveros (Doirani nowadays), Evropos and Kallindria.</p><br>
<h3>Roman and Byzantine era</h3><br>
<p>In 148 BC, the Romans took over the area. In late antiquity the area of Kilkis saw invasions of different tribes, such as the Goths, the Huns, the Avars and the Slavs, some of whom gradually settled in the Balkan Peninsula.</p><br>
<p>In the Middle Ages, Kilkis changed hands several times between the Byzantine and Bulgarian Empires. In the 10th century, it was sacked by the Bulgarians, and some of the inhabitants moved to Calabria, in southern Italy, where they founded the village of Gallicianò. During the reign of the Palaeologus dynasty, the region saw the completion of a number of important infrastructure works.</p><br>
<h3>Ottoman rule</h3><br>
<p>The period of prosperity ended in 1430, when Thessalonica and the entire region of Macedonia came under Ottoman rule. After 1850, there was one Greek church, "Panagia tou Kilkis", (Madonna of Kilkis), at the foot of Saint George hill and one Greek school.</p><br>
<p>By the mid-19th century Kilkis was a primarily Bulgarian-populated town.,, British Diplomatic Documents concerning Bulgarian National Question, 1878-1893, Sofia 1993 (bilingual edition), p. 286</p><br>
<p>According to one estimate, there were about 500 Greeks, 500 Turks and 4500 Bulgarians in the town at the time. An 1873 Ottoman study concluded that the population of Kilkis consisted of 1,170 households of which there were 5,235 Bulgarian inhabitants, 155 Muslims and 40 Romani people. A Vasil Kanchov study of 1900 counted 7,000 Bulgarian and 750 Turkish inhabitants in the town. Another survey in 1905 established the presence of 9,712 Exarchists, 40 Patriarchists, 592 Uniate Christians and 16 Protestants.</p><br>
<p>In the late 19th and early 20th century, Kilkis was part of the Salonica Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.</p><br>
<p>In 1904-1908, the Greek inhabitants of Kilkis participated in the Macedonian Struggle ("Greek armed struggle for Macedonia"). The leaders of Greek efforts were Georgios Samaras, Ioannis Doiranlis and Petros Koukidis with their armed corps. Evangelia Traianou-Tzoukou and Ekaterini Stampouli were the leaders for the Greek education and hospitalization of Macedonian fighters. Great support to the Greek efforts was given by the Chatziapostolou family. The Chatziapostolou family owned a great farm in Metalliko, the field crop of which was almost completely given to fund the Greek efforts. The farm also served a shelter for the Macedonian fighters.</p><br>
<h3>First and Second Balkan Wars</h3><br>
<p>During the First Balkan War of 1912, the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Balkan League and forced to concede almost all of its European territories, leaving Kilkis within the new boundaries of Bulgaria. In the Second Balkan War of 1913, the Greek army captured the city from the Bulgarians after the three-day Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas between June 19 and June 21. The battle was costly, with over 8,652 casualties on the Greek side and 7,000 on the Bulgarian side. The significance of the Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas can be appreciated by the fact that Greece named a battleship after the city, the Kilkís. Kilkis was almost completely destroyed by the Greek Army after the battle and virtually all of its 13,000 pre-war Bulgarian inhabitants were expelled to Bulgaria. The new town was built closer to the railway tracks to Thessaloniki, around the Greek church of St. George, and was settled by Greeks who were expelled from Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Yugoslavia, especially from Strumica; they built the Church of the Pentekaídeka Martýrōn ("15 Martyrs", named after the main Patriarchal church in Strumica). The resettled Greeks were so many that Kilkis was temporarily renamed Néa Stromnítsa (New Strumica).</p><br>
<p>In the mid-1920s, after the Asia Minor Catastrophe, waves of refugees came to Kilkis, thus giving a new boost to the region and contributing to the increase of its population. Likewise, the Turks (a generic term for all Muslims, whether of Turkish, Albanian, Greek, or Bulgarian origin) of the region had to leave for the new Turkish state in the exchange of populations. In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, World War I and the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) most of the Turkish and Bulgarian population of Kilkis emigrated, and many Greeks from Bulgaria and Turkey settled in the area, as prescribed by the Treaty of Lausanne. In fact, a very large segment of the population of Kilkis regional unit are in origin Caucasus Greeks (that is, Eastern Pontic Greeks) from the former Russian Imperial province of Kars Oblast in the South Caucasus. They left their homeland in the South Caucasus for Kilkis and other parts of Greek Macedonia, as well as southern Russia and Georgia, between 1919 and 1921, that is, between the main Greece-Turkey population exchange and Russia&#39;s cession of the Kars region back to Turkey as part of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk. By 1928, 1,679 Refugee families containing 6,433 individuals had been resettled in Kilkis. Barely two decades later, World War II broke out and the region was devastated once again.</p><br>
<h3>World War II</h3><br>
<p>During the occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers in World War II, Kilkis was included in the Bulgarian zone of occupation, which was expanded to include the prefectures of Kilkis and Chalkidiki, after the Nazis allowed so. The most significant event during the occupation were clashes between the communist-led EAM and collaborationist Security Battalions.</p><br>
<h2>Sport teams</h2><br>
<p>Kilkis hosts the football club Kilkisiakos F.C. with earlier presence in 2nd-tier division of Greek championship and the handball club G.A.S. Kilkis which has won a Greek cup.</p><br>
<h2>People</h2><br>
<p>Viki Chadjivassiliou, journalist</p><br>
<p>Petar Darvingov, officer and military historian</p><br>
<p>Nikos Vergos, footballer</p><br>
<p>Gotse Delchev, revolutionary from the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (1872–1903)</p><br>
<p>Loukas Mavrokefalidis, professional basketball player (1984)</p><br>
<p>Konstantinos Vasileiadis, professional basketball player (1984)</p><br>
<p>Hristo Smirnenski, poet (1898–1923)</p><br>
<p>Savvas Tsitouridis, politician, ex-minister</p><br>
<p>Dimitar Vlahov, revolutionary (1878–1953)</p><br>
<p>Killiney Hill stands in the former townland of Mount Mapas, or Scalpwilliam, first mentioned under that name in the beginning of the 17th century. Former residents included Captain Edward Maunsell, who served as the High Sheriff of County Dublin in 1755, followed by Colonel the Hon. Henry Loftus, MP for Bannow in County Wexford. Loftus planted the hill and built nearby roads. In 1790 Lord Clonmell lived here and constructed a park which he filled with deer.</p><br>
<p>Killiney Hill and Dalkey Hill are both part of Killiney Hill Park, a small public park overlooking the villages of Dalkey to the north and Killiney to the west. In 1887 it was dedicated to public use by Prince Albert Victor of Wales, in memory of Queen Victoria&#39;s Jubilee, and called Victoria Hill. The park is crossed by a number of walking tracks, and with views in all directions, is used by walkers and hikers from the surrounding areas.</p><br>
<p>Mount Barbaro or Mount Gauro in Italy Monte Barbaro or Monte Gauro, is one of the eruptive vents of the Phlegraean Fields, a volcanic field of Italy located in Campania.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Mount Barbaro is a tuff cone Its structure consists of layers of ash either parallel or overlapping them, including lenticular masses of pumice agglomerated. The tuff cone was built on unknown and covered by a paleosol represented mainly by deposits of the Archiaverno, another tuff cone located to the west.</p><br>
<p>The crater, oval, is fused to another unnamed crater west. Its rim is the highest in the south and rises to 331 m.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The date of the volcanic eruption that formed the Mount Barbaro is unknown but it was manifested by phreatomagmatic eruption.</p><br>
<p>The Battle of Mount Gaurus was fought in 342 BC at the foot of the mountain during First Samnite War. The ancient Romans, led by Marcus Valerius Corvus, defeated the Samnites.</p><br>
<p>The Vienna Basin  is a sedimentary basin between the Eastern Alps and the Carpathian Mountains.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The fairly level area has the shape of a spindle, over an area of 50 km by 200 km. In the north it stretches up to the Marchfeld plateau beyond the Danube River. In the southeast, the Leitha Mountains separate it from the Little Hungarian Plain. In the west, it borders on the Gutenstein Alps and Vienna Woods mountain ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps. The Danube enters the basin at the Vienna Gate water gap near Mt. Leopoldsberg, it leaves at Devín Gate in the Little Carpathians east of Hainburg.</p><br>
<p>From the late 12th century onwards, the fortresses of Wiener Neustadt and Hainburg were erected at the southeastern and eastern rim as a defensive wall against attacks from the Hungarian lands downstream the Danube River. Nevertheless, the forces of King Matthias Corvinus entered the Vienna Basin during the Austrian-Hungarian War in 1485 to begin the Siege of Vienna. It was again invaded by Ottoman troops, who besieged the city in 1529 and 1683.</p><br>
<h2>Structuring</h2><br>
<p>More than 80% of the basin area belong to the Austrian states of Lower Austria and Vienna, the northern parts on the Morava (March) and Thaya Rivers are part of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Along the southern and western rim geothermal and mineral water springs occur in several spa towns like Baden, Bad Vöslau and Bad Fischau-Brunn.</p><br>
<p>Parts:</p><br>
<p>Vienna Basin proper. The part within the Czech Republic is called Dolnomoravský úval (Lower Morava Vale), whilst that within Slovakia is called Borská nížina (Bor Lowland, part of the Záhorie region)</p><br>
<p>Marchfeld (Moravské pole) in Lower Austria</p><br>
<p>Chvojnice Hills (Chvojnická pahorkatina) in Slovakia.</p><br>
<p>The Bor Lowland and Chvojnice Hills are known collectively as Záhorská nížina (Záhorie Lowland).</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Vienna Basin formations are a series of sedimentary layers that were deposited in the Neogene. It was formed by pull apart mechanism and the Vienna Basin fault system on which the Vienna Basin lies remains seismically active. Significant earthquakes that propagated across the Vienna Basin include the Neulengbach earthquake of 1590, and the strong temblor that hit Carnuntum in the mid-4th century.</p><br>
<p>Chilbosan  is a mountain in North Hamgyong province , North Korea. The name translates as seven treasures, stemming from the legend that Chilbo-san has seven treasures buried in it. Chilbo-san is particularly noted for its views when covered in snow. The mountain is commonly divided into Inner Chilbo, Outer Chilbo, and Sea Chilbo. Amongst the main attractions apart from the views is the Kaesim Temple, dating from the 9th century.</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<p>Major part of the mountain is covered by mixed broadleaf and coniferous forest and protected in a 30,000 ha national park. It has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports populations of Oriental storks and critically endangered Baer&#39;s pochards.</p><br>
<p>Rookwood Pottery is an American ceramics company located in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1880, and successful until the Great Depression, production has been intermittent and at a low level since 1967.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, daughter of wealthy Joseph Longworth, founded Rookwood Pottery in 1880 after being inspired by what she saw at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, including Japanese and French ceramics. The first Rookwood Pottery was located in a renovated school house on Eastern Avenue which had been purchased by Marias father at a sheriffs sale in March 1880. Storer named it Rookwood, after her father&#39;s country estate near the city in Walnut Hills. The first ware came from the kiln on Thanksgiving Day of that year. Through years of experimentation with glazes and kiln temperatures, Rookwood pottery became a popular American art pottery, designed to be decorative as well as useful. Clara Chipman Newton was the archivist and general assistant, as well as a china decorator, for the first decade of the pottery; she shared with Storer the responsibility for overseeing the decoration and glazing. The artist Laura Anne Fry worked at Rookwood as a painter and teacher from 1881 to 1888.</p><br>
<p>The second Rookwood Pottery building, on top of Mount Adams, was built in 1891–1892 by H. Neill Wilson, who was son of prominent Cincinnati architect James Keys Wilson.</p><br>
<p>The earliest work from the pottery is relief-worked on colored clay, in red, pinks, greys and sage greens. Some were gilt, or had stamped patterns, and some were carved. Often these were painted or otherwise decorated by the purchaser of the "greenware" (unfinished piece), a precursor to today&#39;s do-it-yourself movement. However, such personally decorated pieces are not usually considered Rookwood for purposes of sale or valuation.</p><br>
<p>After this period, Storer sought a "standard" look for Rookwood and developed the "Standard Glaze", a yellow-tinted, high-gloss clear glaze often used over leaf or flower motifs. A series of portraits — often of generic American Indian characters or historical figures — were produced using the Standard Glaze. A variant on the Standard Glaze was the less-common but very collectible "tiger eye" which appears only on a red clay base. Tiger Eye produces a golden shimmer deep within the glaze; however, the results of this glaze were unpredictable.</p><br>
<p>Rookwood also produced pottery in the Japonism trend, after Storer invited Japanese artist Kitaro Shirayamadani to come to Cincinnati in 1887 to work for the company. Davis Collamore & Co., a high-end New York City importer of porcelain and glass, were Rookwood&#39;s representatives at the Exposition Universelle, Paris 1889.</p><br>
<p>In 1894, Rookwood introduced three glazes: "Iris" a clear, colorless glaze, "Sea Green" which was clear but green-tinted, and "Aerial Blue" which was clear but blue-tinted. The latter glaze was produced for just one year, while the two former glazes were used for more than a decade.</p><br>
<p>With increased interest in the American Arts & Crafts Movement, a matte glaze was needed which could be used over under-glaze decoration (largely floral and scenic). Rookwood introduced a "Vellum" glaze in 1904, which presented a matte surface through which the slightly frosted-appearing decoration beneath could be seen.</p><br>
<p>One of the last glaze lines of Rookwood was "Ombroso," not used until after 1910. Ombroso, used on cut or incised pottery, is a brown or black matte glaze.</p><br>
<p>In 1902, Rookwood began producing architectural pottery. Under the direction of William Watts Taylor, this division rapidly gained national and international acclaim. Many flat pieces were used around fireplaces in homes in Cincinnati and surrounding areas, while custom installations found their places in grand homes, hotels, and public spaces. Original Rookwood-installed tiles can be viewed in Carew Tower, Union Terminal and Dixie Terminal in Cincinnati, as well as the Rathskeller Room at the Seelbach Hilton in Louisville, Kentucky. In New York City, the Vanderbilt Hotel, Grand Central Station, Lord & Taylor, and several subway stops feature Rookwood tiles.</p><br>
<p>The 1920s were highly prosperous years for Rookwood. The pottery employed about 200 workers, including future sculptor Erwin Frey, and received almost 5,000 visitors to the Mount Adams business each year.</p><br>
<p>The company was hit hard by the Great Depression. Art pottery became a low priority, and architects could no longer afford Rookwood tiles and mantels. By 1934, Rookwood showed its first loss, and by 1936 the company was operating an average of just one week a month. Several employees, most notably Harold Bopp, William Hentschel and David Seyler, left the company and started Kenton Hills Porcelains in Erlanger, Kentucky. On April 17, 1941, Rookwood filed for bankruptcy. Through these tough times, ownership of the company changed hands, but the Rookwood artists remained.</p><br>
<p>In 1959, Rookwood was purchased by the Herschede Clock Company, and production moved to Starkville, Mississippi. Unable to recover from the losses experienced during the Great Depression, production ceased in 1967.</p><br>
<h2>Revival</h2><br>
<p>By 1982, Rookwood was in negotiations to be sold to overseas manufacturers. Michigan dentist and art pottery collector Arthur Townley used his life savings to purchase all of the remaining Rookwood assets. During his tenure as Rookwood’s owner, Townley produced small quantities of pieces to maintain the original trademarks. Townley refused offers to sell Rookwood for over two decades, but eventually collaborated with Cincinnati investors in 2004 to move the company back to Cincinnati. In July 2006, after approximately one year of negotiations, the Rookwood Pottery Company entered into a contract to acquire all of the remaining assets of the original Rookwood Pottery from Townley. These assets included, among other things, the trademarks, more than 2,000 original molds, and hundreds of glaze recipes used by the original Rookwood Pottery Company.</p><br>
<p>In 2007, the company created a plaque for Fountain Square, Cincinnati.</p><br>
<p>In 2011, Martin and Marilyn Wade gained sole ownership of the company. It operates from a production studio in the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati. The company is in full production, having invested in new kilns and equipment and hired new staff. Rookwood Pottery also works with many major institutions to create awards and commemorative pieces. Rookwood Pottery artist Roy Robinson, for example, designed the Center Court Rookwood Cup for the ATP World Tour.</p><br>
<p>In 2012, the historic Monroe Building of Chicago completed a restoration of its original architectural elements to include the reconditioning and replacement of thousands of original Rookwood Pottery tiles. In 2013, a fireplace created by Rookwood Pottery, in collaboration with artists at the University of Cincinnati, was installed at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Describing the collaboration, co-owner Marilyn Wade said: “Our goal in working with these three talented artists is to reposition Rookwood Pottery to what it was originally – a forward-thinking company with its eye on the future, willing to take risks, and in the vanguard of the industry, by affiliating ourselves with like-minded artists.” That same year, Rookwood Pottery was featured on the Martha Stewart Living Blog and on the Science Channel program “How It’s Made”.</p><br>
<p>In 2017, Rookwood Pottery Company and the Cincinnati Zoo teamed up to create a Fiona ornament, dedicated to a premature hippo.</p><br>
<p>A dedicated gallery of Rookwood Pottery is in the Cincinnati Wing of the Cincinnati Art Museum.</p><br>
<p>Mille Lacs Lake  is a large but shallow lake in the USA state of Minnesota. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs, Aitkin, and Crow Wing, roughly 100 miles north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.</p><br>
<p>Mille Lacs means "thousand lakes" in French. In the Ojibwe language, the lake is called Misi-zaaga&#39;igan ("grand lake").</p><br>
<h2>Physical features</h2><br>
<p>Mille Lacs is Minnesota&#39;s second-largest inland lake at 132,516 acre, after Red Lake. The maximum depth is 42 feet. 20- to 38-foot depth ranges cover much of the main lake. Gravel and rock bars cover the southern half of the lake. Two islands in the center make up Mille Lacs National Wildlife Refuge, the smallest in the United States.</p><br>
<h2>Fishing</h2><br>
<p>Shallow reef-top fishing exists on all sides of the lake. Deep-water angling takes place on the southern deep gravel and rocks as well as on dozens of mud flats in the north half of the lake. Shoreline break fishing on varied bottom types occurs all around the lake. The weed line is at nine to twelve feet. There are many local fisherman&#39;s names for some features of the lake. Spirit Island, the small rock-made island in the south west region of the lake, is often referred to as Bird Crap Island or Stinky Stony Island.</p><br>
<p>The lake has many species of fish including walleye, northern pike, muskie, jumbo perch, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, black crappie, burbot, and tullibee. It is one of Minnesota&#39;s most popular fishing lakes. Ice fishing houses number in the thousands during the winter. It is a prime spawning grounds for walleye. Billions of walleye eggs and fry are produced there every year. In the absence of a thermocline, fish can travel the whole area of the lake.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Archaeologists indicate that it is one of the earliest known sites of human settlement in the state of Minnesota. The Rum River drains from Lake Mille Lacs into the Mississippi River to the south in Anoka. Father Hennepin State Park, Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, and portions of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation lie along the lake. On early French maps, the lake was also known as Lac Buade or Minsisaugaigun. On a 1733 Henry Popple map, for example, Mille Lacs Lake is shown as "Lake Miſsiſsucaigan or Baude&quot as late as 1843 it was referred to as "Mini Sagaigonin or Mille Lacs" on government maps.</p><br>
<p>In the Dakota language, the lake is known as mde waḳaŋ (Spiritual/Mystic Lake), which was the basis for the name of the Mdewakanton division of the Santee Sioux. In Ojibwe, the lake is known as Misi-zaagaigan megwe Midaaswaakogamaakaan (Grand/Great/Big Lake in the Region of a Thousand Lakes), or simply as Misi-zaagaigan, as it is the largest lake in the Brainerd Lakes Area. The lake was thus named "Mille Lacs Lake" as the Brainerd Lakes Area was called "Region of Thousand Lakes" (pays des mille lacs) in French.</p><br>
<p>In 2013, a windblown wall of ice called an ice shove damaged houses on the lake shore.</p><br>
<h2>Towns on Mille Lacs Lake</h2><br>
<p>Garrison, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Isle, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Malmo Township, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Onamia, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Vineland, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Wahkon, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Wealthwood Township, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>The Occoquan River is a tributary of the Potomac River in Northern Virginia, where it serves as part of the boundary between Fairfax and Prince William counties. The river is 24.7 mi long, and its watershed covers about 590 square miles. It is formed by the confluence of Broad Run and Cedar Run in Prince William County; Bull Run, which forms Prince William County&#39;s boundary with Loudoun and the northerly part of Fairfax counties, enters it east-southeast of Manassas, as the Occoquan turns to the southeast. It reaches the Potomac at Belmont Bay. The Occoquan River is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The name Occoquan is derived from a Doeg Algonquian word translated as "at the end of the water".</p><br>
<p>The river is a scenic area, and many local high schools and colleges use the river for the sport of rowing.</p><br>
<p>Between c. 1900 and 1976, it was frequently called "Occoquan Creek," but a campaign to restore its status as a river was successfully conducted by Rosemary Selecman.</p><br>
<h2>Dams</h2><br>
<p>The Occoquan has three dams along its length. The first is at the town of Occoquan, a reservoir belonging to the, which serves as a source of drinking water for parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties. The Occoquan Reservoir stretches from Occoquan to Bull Run. Further upriver is Lake Jackson. The dam that creates Lake Jackson is at Virginia State Route 234, Dumfries Road, and is a former hydroelectric facility. Today the dam contains the lake, but has not produced electricity in several decades. There is a third dam up Broad Run from its confluence with Cedar Run; this dam forms Lake Manassas, which is the primary water supply for the city of Manassas.</p><br>
<h2>Parks</h2><br>
<p>Sandy Run Regional Park is at Fairfax Station and consists of the northeastern arm of the Occoquan Reservoir. The park is used exclusively for the education, practice, and competition of rowing. The high schools who use this park for rowing are members of the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association (VASRA). The member schools which call this park their home are Robinson Secondary School, W. T. Woodson High School, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, James Madison High School, Fairfax High School, Oakton High School, West Springfield High School, Langley High School, J. E. B. Stuart High School, and South County Secondary School.</p><br>
<p>Fountainhead Regional Park is also in Fairfax Station, further upriver from Sandy Run Regional Park, past Bull Run. Lake Braddock Secondary School, Westfield High School and Woodbridge High School, also VASRA members, use the park for rowing.</p><br>
<p>The Occoquan River is bordered by three parks administered by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. The three parks are Bull Run, Occoquan, and Fountainhead. In addition to horse riding, trailing cycling, fishing and boating access, the Bull Run to Occoquan trail travels through all three parks from the beginning of the river to its end. The Oxford Boathouse also exists here, hosting Hylton High School, Potomac High School, Gar-Field High School, and Forest Park High School.</p><br>
<p>Zoji La is a high mountain pass in Jammu and Kashmir, India, located on the Indian National Highway 1D between Srinagar and Leh in the western section of the Himalayan mountain range. Though often referred to as Zojila Pass in the foreign press, the correct English translation is Zoji Pass or simply Zojila, since the suffix La itself means pass in several Himalayan languages.The usage of the word "La" can also be seen in the Khardung La, Fotu La, Namika La and Pensi La etc. In modern-day North Indian languages, La  and Darra  are both used interchangeably to mean a mountain pass.</p><br>
<p>Zoji La is 9 km from Sonamarg and provides a vital link between Ladakh and Kashmir Valley. It runs at an elevation of approximately 3,528 m, and is the second highest pass after Fotu La on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway. It is often closed during winter, though the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is working to extend traffic to most parts of the year. The Beacon Force unit of the BRO is responsible for clearing and maintenance of the road during Winter.</p><br>
<p>During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, Zoji La was seized by Pakistani supported invaders in 1948 in their campaign to capture Ladakh. The pass was re-captured by Indian forces on 1 November in an assault codenamed Operation Bison, which achieved success primarily due to the surprise use of tanks, then the highest altitude at which tanks had operated in combat in the world.</p><br>
<p>Cross River  is the main river in southeastern Nigeria and gives its name to Cross River State. It originates in Cameroon, where it takes the name of the Manyu River. Although not long by African standards its catchment has high rainfall and it becomes very wide. Over its last 80 km to the sea its flows through swampy rainforest with numerous creeks and forms an inland delta near its confluence with the Calabar River, about 20 km wide and 50 km long between the cities of Oron on the west bank and Calabar, on the east bank, more than 30 km from the open sea. The delta empties into a broad estuary which it shares with a few smaller rivers. At its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean, the estuary is 24 km wide. The eastern side of the estuary is in the neighbouring country of Cameroon.</p><br>
<p>The major tributary of Cross river is the river Aloma coming from Benue State to merge with the Cross river in Cross River State.</p><br>
<p>Cross River State is connected with a major highway to its sister state Akwa Ibom. The distance between Oron and Calabar is 21 km by boat and about 200 km by road. The population of the lower Cross River traditionally use water transport and Calabar has long had a major seaport, in the Calabar River about 10 km from its confluence with the Cross River and about 55 km from the sea. The Itu bridge on the Cross River is along Itu-Calabar highway and is reported to be one of the landmark achievements of the Gowon administration when it was completed in 1975.</p><br>
<p>The Cross River forms a boundary between two tropical moist forest ecoregions, the Cross-Niger transition forests which lie west of the river, between the Cross and Niger Rivers, and the Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests, which lie to the east between the Cross River and the Sanaga River of Cameroon.</p><br>
<p>Garnish Island , is an island in Glengarriff harbour, part of Bantry Bay in southwest Ireland, which is a popular tourist attraction. The Office of Public Works, which maintains the gardens on the island, uses the name Ilnacullin  to differentiate it from Garinish Island in County Cork.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The garden was designed by Harold Peto, (1854–1933), for its owner John Annan Bryce, (1841–1923), a native of Belfast, who, with his wife Violet, purchased the island from the War Office in 1910. Violet died in 1939 and their son Roland bequeathed the island to the Irish nation in 1953. It was taken over and is still maintained by the Office of Public Works. Renowned for its gardens and architecture (a mansion was designed by Peto but was never built), the island has played host to writers including George Bernard Shaw and George William Russell.</p><br>
<p>There is a restored Martello tower on the island dating from the time of the Napoleonic Wars. The Garnish tower, like others in Cork, but unlike other Irish Martello towers, has a straight cylindrical shape that does not splay out at its base.</p><br>
<p>Mains electricity was brought to the island in the early 1950s via overhead cable</p><br>
<h2>The Gardens</h2><br>
<p>The island of Ilnacullin extends to 15 hectare and is renowned for its gardens which flourish in the mild humid micro-climate of Glengarriff harbour assisted by a mainly pine shelter belt. Structures include a clock tower, a Grecian temple, a Martello Tower, and an Italian casita.</p><br>
<h2>Getting there</h2><br>
<p>Access is by one of several ferry services to the island from the village of Glengarriff. These ferries generally include a tour of the nearby seal colony. The island is paywalled, the admission charge is €5.00 per person. Landing by private craft is also possible at the main landing point used by ferries. A private slipway is used by staff working on the island.</p><br>
<p>The Islas Marías  are an archipelago of four islands that belong to Mexico. They are located in the Pacific Ocean, some 100 km off the coast of the state of Nayarit. They are part of the municipality  of San Blas, Nayarit., the islands are still being used as a penal colony, containing the Islas Marias Federal Prison.</p><br>
<p>In 2010 the archipelago was designated the Islas Marías Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The islands have an aggregate area of 244.970 km². 1,116 people lived on Isla María Madre as of the census of 2005. The other islands are uninhabited. The main settlement is Puerto Balleto, with a population of 602.</p><br>
<p>Isla María Madre is the largest of the islands, with a surface area of 145.282 km². It houses the Islas Marías Federal Prison which was established there in 1905. The next two largest islands are Isla María Magdalena (70.440 km²) and, further south, Isla María Cleofas (19.818 km²). They were named after three women called Mary in the Biblical New Testament: respectively, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and are referred to as the Tres Marias. A smaller island, Isla San Juanito, with an area of 9.105 km² lies off the north coast of Isla María Madre.</p><br>
<p>The islands are listed from north to south in the following table:</p><br>
<p>The first European to discover the islands was Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, a cousin of Hernan Cortez in 1532, who gave them the name Islas Magdalenas. He found no evidence of prior habitation by the Native Americans.</p><br>
<p>In addition to prisoners, on Maria Madre island there are employees of diverse institutions of the federal government, such as the Secretariat of Public Education, the Secretariat of the Environment, the Secretariat of Communications and Transport, post office, and the Secretariat of the Navy. Another group of settlers is made up of religious ministers and acolytes of the Catholic Church, nuns of the Order of Social Service, and invited teachers, technicians and their relatives.</p><br>
<p>The colony is governed by a state official who is both the governor of the islands and chief judge. The military command is independent and is exercised by an officer of the Mexican Navy.</p><br>
<h2>Populated places</h2><br>
<p>All populated places of the Islas Marías are on Isla María Madre. They are listed from north to south in the following table:</p><br>
<p>Each populated center features a different economic activity. The primary population center is Puerto Balleto, the location of the administrative offices and the primary centers of commerce and recreation. It is subdivided into four jefaturas:</p><br>
<p>Balleto, 21&deg;38&prime;02&Prime;N latitude, 106&deg;32&prime;21&Prime;W longitude</p><br>
<p>Bellavista, 21&deg;38&prime;19&Prime;N latitude, 106&deg;32&prime;30&Prime;W longitude</p><br>
<p>Unit Habitacional Miguel Hidalgo (UHMH), 21&deg;38&prime;13&Prime;N latitude, 106&deg;32&prime;26&Prime;W longitude</p><br>
<p>Primero de Mayo, 21&deg;38&prime;20&Prime;N latitude, 106&deg;32&prime;23&Prime;W longitude</p><br>
<p>The Stelvio Pass  is a mountain pass in northern Italy, at an elevation of 2,757 m above sea level. It is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps, and the second highest in the Alps, just 13 m below Frances Col de lIseran .</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The pass is located in the Ortler Alps in Italy between Stilfs ("Stelvio" in Italian) in South Tyrol and Bormio in the province of Sondrio. It is about 75 km from Bolzano and a mere 200 m from the Swiss border. The Umbrail Pass runs northwards from the Stelvio&#39;s western ramp, and the "Three Languages Peak" (Dreisprachenspitze) above the pass is so named because this is where the Italian, German, and Romansh languages meet.</p><br>
<p>The road connects the Valtellina with the mid Venosta valley (the Vinschgau) and Meran. Adjacent to the pass road there is a large summer skiing area. Important mountains nearby include Ortler, Thurwieserspitze, Trafoier Eiswand, :de:Monte Scorluzzo, Piz Umbrail, and Piz Cotschen/Rötlspitz/Punta Rosa.</p><br>
<h2>Stelvio Bike Day</h2><br>
<p>Each year on the last Saturday of August or first Saturday of September the Stelvio National Park administration organizes the Stelvio Bike Day. On that day the roads from Bormio and Prad to the pass, as well as the road from Santa Maria Val Müstair to the Umbrail Pass are closed to all traffic except for bicycles. On average around 12,000 cyclists participate in the Bike Day, with the majority taking the road from Prad to the pass and the descent over the Umbrail pass to Val Müstair.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The original road was built in 1820–25 by the Austrian Empire to connect the former Austrian province of Lombardy with the rest of Austria, covering a climb of 1,871 m The engineer and project manager was Carlo Donegani (1775–1845). Since then, the route has changed very little. Its seventy-five hairpin turns, 48 of them on the northern side numbered with stones, are a challenge to motorists. Stirling Moss went off the road here during a vintage car event in the 1990s, with an onboard video of his incident being shown on satellite TV.</p><br>
<p>Before the end of World War I, it formed the border between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Italian Kingdom. The Swiss had an outpost and a hotel (which was destroyed) on the Dreisprachenspitze (literally, Three-Language-Peak). During World War I, fierce battles were fought in the ice and snow of the area, with gun fire even crossing the Swiss area at times. The three nations made an agreement not to fire over Swiss territory, which jutted out in between Austria (to the north) and Italy (to the south). Instead they could fire down the pass, as Swiss territory was up and around the peak. After 1919, with the expansion of Italy, the pass lost its strategic importance.</p><br>
<p>The Stelvio Pass retains an importance for sport when it is open from May through November. Countless cyclists and motorcyclists struggle to get to the highest stretch of road in the Eastern Alps. It is the highest finish of any Grand Tour. The Giro d&#39;Italia often crosses the Stelvio Pass (it was crossed by the Giro for the first time in 1953, when Coppi beat Koblet). As the highest peak, it has been named the Cima Coppi in each edition. The last winner on the pass was Mikel Landa Meana in 2017. Every year, the pass is closed to motor vehicles on one day in late August when about 8,000 cyclists ride and around 25 runners run to the top of the Stelvio.</p><br>
<p>Bormio regularly hosts World Cup ski racing, usually in late December for a men&#39;s downhill event; its Pista Stelvio is among the most challenging courses on the circuit.</p><br>
<p>The Stelvio Pass was also picked by the British automotive show Top Gear as its choice for the "greatest driving road in the world", although their search was concentrated only in Europe. This conclusion was reached in the first episode of the shows 10th series after the team went in search of a road that would satisfy every "petrolheads" driving fantasies. Top Gear later decided that the Transfăgărășan Highway in Romania was a superior driving road.</p><br>
<p>In 2008, Moto Guzzi started selling a Stelvio model, named after the famous mountain pass. Alfa Romeo debuted its Stelvio crossover SUV at the 2016 Los Angeles Motor Show.</p><br>
<h3>Appearances in Giro d'Italia (since 1953)</h3><br>
<p>The Loe , also known as Loe Pool, is the largest natural freshwater lake  in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The earliest recorded appearance of this simple name form was in 1337, when it was called "La Loo", but is mentioned as the lake in 1302; Situated between Porthleven and Gunwalloe and downstream of Helston, it is separated from Mount&#39;s Bay by the shingle bank of Loe Bar. Both the Loe  and Loe Bar are situated within the Penrose Estate, which is administered by the National Trust, and are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest by Natural England. It is within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is considered a classic Geological Conservation Review Site. The South West Coast Path, which follows the coast of south-west England from Somerset to Dorset passes over Loe Bar.</p><br>
<h2>Formation of Loe Bar</h2><br>
<p>The Loe was originally the estuary of the River Cober, a ria or drowned river valley now blocked by a sand and shingle bar with a fresh water lake behind. The valley can be traced several kilometres out to sea. The age of the bar is disputed, with estimates ranging from several thousand years to c. 700 years. With the melting of ice-sheets and glaciers after the last ice age, sea levels rose and reached their present levels about 6,000 years ago during what is known as the Flandrian Marine Trangression. The most likely origin is a barrier beach, (formed by wave action rather than by tides) that gradually moved onshore, as the sea level rose during the Holocene. The shingle coming from drowned terraces of the former river that flowed down the English Channel (the nearest onshore source is 120 miles away in East Devon). The bar itself is a sediment sink as far as the overall beach budget is concerned. The deposits have been tentatively dated as Eocene and compared with Gunwalloe beach material, very little of the Loe Bar shingle is locally derived. The composition of the Bar deposits are: Chalk flint 86%, Quartz 9%, Grit 2.6%, Greensand chert 2% and Serpentine 0.5%.</p><br>
<p>The bar has increased significantly in historic times. Leland who visited the west country in 1542, reported that the bar was breached once in 3–4 years by storms causing sea water to mix with fresh in the pool, but it soon resinstated. Carews Survey of Cornwall (1602) warns wayfarers using the bar as a footpath against times when the bar is washed away by the rivers force "and some have so miscarried". Early maps such as Speed (1674) and Tindal (1732) do not show the bar but Martyns New and Accurate Map of the County of Cornwall (1784) shows the Loe Bar&#39;. However sea water still accumulated in the Loe from gales in the nineteenth century and had to be released by cutting the bar. The deepest sediments retrieved from the pool date from the first quarter of the 19th century. Cutting the bar would often reduce the height in the pool by because of the strong rush of water exiting from the pool (so that the breach in the bar was at least that deep) leaving much of the lake empty, and 1875 on was probably the first time in its history that the pool was predominantly fresh throughout the year rather than salt or brackish, producing significant changes in the lake ecology.</p><br>
<p>Daniel Defoe in his tour around Great Britain writes that the River Cober makes a tolerable good harbour and several ships are loaded with tin, although over one hundred years before Defoe, Richard Carew (1602) described Loe Bar as "The shingle was relatively porous and fresh water could leave and seawater enter depending, on the relative heights of the pool and sea" Daniel Defoe, writing in the early 18th century, appears to state that ships were then able to trade up the Cober to Helston; this would seem to be the origin of other documentary sources claiming a port for the town in the historic period. There is no known archaeological evidence for the existence of a port at Helston and there is no primary evidence to support Defoe’s account.*</p><br>
<p>To prevent flooding in parts of Helston, the Bar has occasionally been breached, a practice known locally as "cutting", with the last occurring in 1984. The Bar has always resealed itself.</p><br>
<p>The 2013 investigations by the Camborne School of Mines project team, show a chart of a cross-section of part of the valley between Loe Bar and Helston as being built up from a depth of twenty-five feet of silt, upon a belt seven feet deep of sea sand, above layers of peat from the remains of vegetation or of the ancient forest, that once covered Mount&#39;s Bay.</p><br>
<h2>Historical records</h2><br>
<p>13th century: The townspeople of Helston buy the rights to the port of Gweek at the head of the Helford River.</p><br>
<p>1272 and 1302: King Edward I granted certain lands in or near Helston to William de Treville on condition that he should, at his own expense, bring a boat and fishing-hook and net for the King&#39;s use on the Loe, as often as he should visit the Borough.</p><br>
<p>1281: The first documentation of the name Penrose; John de Penrose.</p><br>
<p>1534–43: Visits by John Leland. First to mention "... the casting up of sands that made a bar stopping the River Cober from flowing out to Sea".</p><br>
<p>1602: Richard Carew. "The shingle was relatively porous and fresh water could leave and seawater enter depending, on the relative heights of the pool and sea".</p><br>
<p>1771: Penrose bought by the Rogers family for £11,000.</p><br>
<p>1780: Adit constructed to prevent back-flooding of the Castle Wary silver and lead mine, also known as Wheal Pool.</p><br>
<p>1796: Wreck of an unidentified troopship with over 600 drowned (possibly one of Admiral Christian&#39;s West Indies convoy)</p><br>
<p>1807: Over one hundred people were drowned when the Captain of HMS Anson, beached the 44-gun frigate on the Bar when caught in storm on her way to the Brest blockade. A memorial cross to the dead can be seen on the coastal slope near Carminowe Creek. A consequence of this disaster was the development of the rocket life-saving apparatus by Henry Trengrouse who witnessed the wreck, and an Act of Parliament for the Christian burial for those lost at sea.</p><br>
<p>1837: Report on the possibility of creating a harbour by the civil-engineer James Rendle. The estimated cost of £118,523 was considered too expensive to take the project further.</p><br>
<p>circa 1850: Tin waste from the mines at Porkellis Moor begin to block the inner face of the Bar reducing the porosity.</p><br>
<p>1865: Breach of the Bar.</p><br>
<p>1874: The last known occurrence of manual cutting.</p><br>
<p>1881: The pool was frozen from end to end and youngsters skated on the ice.</p><br>
<p>1889: Enlargement of the 1780 adit which regulated outflow.</p><br>
<p>1924: Freak wave caused flooding in Helston.</p><br>
<p>1938: Mining activity ceased up river.</p><br>
<p>circa 1940: Loe Bar mined and timber baulks or booms moored on the surface of the Loe to prevent seaplanes landing. A pillbox was built near Bar Lodge. By 2010 erosion had caused the pillbox to fall onto the beach.</p><br>
<p>1974: Ownership of the Penrose Estate (apart from the house) is transferred to the National Trust.</p><br>
<p>1979: First time a channel is cut by JCB.</p><br>
<p>1984: Heavy rains in October and November lead to the last cutting of the 20th century.</p><br>
<h2>Mining</h2><br>
<p>The extraction of metals in the Cober valley was carried out for centuries with silver and lead being mined at Wheal Pool (also known as Castle Wary mine) in 1780. In the mid-19th century tin-waste (leavings) from mines on Porkellis Moor was reducing the porosity of the bar. From Trenear to the Loe tinners were able to work-up (extract) the waste as recorded in October 1880 following heavy rain the week before. Mining activity ceased in the Cober valley in 1938.</p><br>
<h2>Site of Special Scientific Interest</h2><br>
<p>The beach from Porthleven to Gunwalloe is important for coastal geomorphology as it is formed by a barrier beach moving onshore during the Holocene and maintained by a predominantly south-west wave regime. During storms the Bar can be overrun by the sea forming a series of washover fans resulting in, annual laminated sediments, which are unique in Great Britain.</p><br>
<p>The habitat is unique in Cornwall with rare species of plants, bryophytes, algae and insects. It is also an important overwintering site for nearly eighty species of birds and up to 1,200 wildfowl. At the last assessment on 8 September 2010 the lake was found to be unfavourable condition, with no change from the previous assessment. The reasons being inappropriate water levels and water pollution, due to agriculture run off and discharge from the sewage treatment works below Helston.</p><br>
<h3>Flora</h3><br>
<p>The pool provides a scarce habitat in Cornwall with rare species of algae, bryophytes and flowering plants. Aquatic plants include amphibious bistort (Persicaria amphibia), horned pondweed (Zannichellia palustris), perfoliate pondweed (Potamogeton perfoliatus), shore-weed (Littorella uniflora) and six-stamened waterwort (Elatine hexandra). In 1898 a stonewort (Nitella hyalina) was first discovered in Britain at Penrose Creek by Canon G R Bullock-Webster. The last record was in 1914.</p><br>
<p>An area on the east side of Loe Pool has been cleared for the re-introduction of strapwort (Corrigiola litoralis), a plant identified by Natural England as a plant at high risk of going extinct by 2020. The plant was first recorded on the beach near the tin mine at Helston (which is on Loe Pool) by F Borone in 1800. By 1908 it was becoming rarer and was last recorded here in 1915, its loss was believed to have been caused by a lack of fluctuating water levels following work to the adit (outflow from the lake). By the 20th-century strapwort was only growing, within the UK, at Slapton Ley in south Devon. Seed was grown in a greenhouse at Paignton Zoo, Devon by the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT), and in May 2015 over 1,000 seedlings were planted on the east side of Loe Pool.</p><br>
<h3>Fauna</h3><br>
<p>Loe Bar is the only site in Britain where the subspecies leechi of the sandhill rustic (Luperina nickerlii) moth is found. Two pupae were found in the sand by the lepidopterists&#39; Barry Goater and M Leech in September 1974. The larvae of leechi feed on the base of the stems and the roots of sand couch-grass (Elymus farctus), from September to early-July. The moths fly from late-July to September. Four sub-species of the sandhill rustic occur in the British Isles.</p><br>
<p>Porcellio dilatatus is an uncommon species of woodlouse with scattered records from most of the British Isles. Loe Pool is the only Cornish site. Also found on each of the inhabited islands of the Isles of Scilly.</p><br>
<h2>Folklore</h2><br>
<p>The Loe is reputed to be the lake in which Sir Bedivere cast King Arthur&#39;s sword, Excalibur,</p><br>
<p>A local legend states that the giant Tregeagle was doomed to remove the sand from Gunwalloe to Porthleven, from which the sea would return it. In the course of one of his journeys he is said to have dropped a bag of sand at the entrance of Helston harbour and so to have formed the Bar. Local superstition also warns that the Loe claims a victim every seven years, a legend shared with other waters such as the River Dart.</p><br>
<p>The Old Orchard Street Theatre in Bath, Somerset, England was built as a provincial theatre before becoming a Roman Catholic Church and since 1865 has been a Masonic Hall. It is a Grade II listed building.</p><br>
<h2>Theatre</h2><br>
<p>In 1705 the first theatre opened in Bath. It was on a site which The building by George Trim was small and cramped and made little profit in the years before its demolition in 1738. The site it was on is now the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases. A New Theatre opened in Kingsmead Street in 1723 and operated until 1751.</p><br>
<p>In 1747 John Hippisley proposed the construction of a new theatre and a revised version in 1748 just before his death. The planning was taken over by John Palmer, a local brewer and chandler. The site for a new theatre was chosen by John Wood, the Elder, who laid out much of the city, on the site of the old orchard of Bath Abbey.</p><br>
<p>Palmer obtained a royal patent in 1768 which enabled the use of the title ‘Theatre Royal’; the first to achieve this outside London. He continued to manage the theatre until 1785 when he was appointed as Comptroller-General of the Post Office, and handed control to two existing members of the company, William Keasberry and William Wyatt Dimond. Keasberry (1726–1797) was associated with the theatre as actor and manager from 1757 to 1795, first acting as manager during the season of 1760.</p><br>
<p>In 1772 the young actor John Henderson joined the company and developed into a popular leading man before moving to theaters in London. Sarah Siddons joined the company between 1778 and 1782 and was among many leading actors of the day who performed at the theatre. During these years, the theatre performed an increasing number of plays written by women, and it has been suggested that this was due chiefly to the presence of Siddons in the company, as well as being related to the retirement of David Garrick. In 1791 Robert William Elliston made one of his earliest performances at the theatre.</p><br>
<p>The building was used as a theatre until 1805, when the present Theatre Royal opened. In the early years of the 19th century, Jane Austen was familiar with the theatre in Orchard Street, which is believed to be the original of that described in chapter 12 of Northanger Abbey.</p><br>
<h2>Catholic church</h2><br>
<p>After four years standing empty the building was converted into a Roman Catholic chapel by the authorities of Prior Park and Downside Abbey and consecrated in 1809. It was adapted by Henry Goodridge.</p><br>
<p>After the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 removed many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the chapel became a church and was a site for the ordination of bishops, including Peter Augustine Baines. The vaults which had been used to store scenery was used to create stone tombs with 286 bodies being interred.</p><br>
<p>The congregation grew and in the 1850s and early 1860s a new St Johns Church was designed and built by Charles Francis Hansom. In 1863 the congregation transferred to St Johns Church and most of the bodies which had been in the vaults moved to a new churchyard.</p><br>
<h2>Masonic Hall</h2><br>
<p>The building stood empty until 1866 when it and adjacent buildings in Pierrepont Place were acquired by the Masonic Royal Cumberland Lodge No. 53 for £636, to become their meeting hall.</p><br>
<p>The building was damaged during the Baedeker Blitz of 1942.</p><br>
<p>The hall is now the meeting place of eight Craft Lodges and 15 other Degrees.</p><br>
<p>The Llano County Courthouse and Jail were erected separately, but added to the National Register of Historic Places in Texas on December 2, 1977 as one entry. The courthouse, located in the middle of Llano&#39;s historic square, was built in 1893. The exterior is made of sandstone, marble, and granite. The interior of the courthouse was damaged by fire in 1932 and again in 1951. It is still in use today by local government. The jail was erected in 1895, with the prisoner cells on the second and third floors, and the ground level solely for the office and living accommodations for the sheriff and his family. The jail was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark 1979, Marker 9448. The courthouse was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark 1980, Marker number 9446.</p><br>
<h2>The four courthouses of Llano County</h2><br>
<p>The present courthouse is Llano County&#39;s fourth, one of which was only for temporary purposes.</p><br>
<h3>1859–1880 courthouse</h3><br>
<p>The original 1859 box-like structure courthouse burned down in 1880, destroying all the county records.</p><br>
<h3>1880–1885 temporary courthouse</h3><br>
<p>Architect C.S. Jones and builder J. K. Finely erected the $1550 a temporary courthouse in 1880, pending the construction of a permanent structure. Its two rooms contained a fireproof vault, with one room being for county administrative personnel, and the second room for the legal and law enforcement personnel.</p><br>
<h3>1885–1892 courthouse</h3><br>
<p>A new courthouse was erected in 1885, designed by architect Alfred Giles, who also designed the Brooks County Courthouse, Fredericksburg Memorial Library, Kendall County Courthouse, Live Oak County Courthouse, Presidio County Courthouse, Wilson County Courthouse, as well as courthouses in the counties of Goliad and Kerr The structure mirrored exactly the 1882 Gillespie County courthouse, and was temporarily rented for church services. This structure burned down January 22, 1892. County records were saved. Remains of the building were sold.</p><br>
<h3>1893–present courthouse</h3><br>
<p>The current two-story courthouse was designed in a Romanesque Revival style by A.O. Watson and Jacob Larmour. Watson also designed the DeWitt County courthouse. The firm of J. A. and G. H. Wilson of Sulphur Springs, Texas, was awarded the contract for a brick building trimmed with granite, at a cost of $47,000.</p><br>
<p>Construction of the present-day courthouse was completed on August 1, 1893. A foundation of granite supports the marble and granite columns, with a brick and stone exterior. F. Heierman and Bros. of Austin manufactured the interior iron stairway treads. Ornamental newels and balusters are of wood. The tower with colonnades and cupola was placed in the southwest corner, accessible only on the south and west. The roof of each corner pavilion section is pyramidal, with the main section truncated pyramid. A clock was added to the tower at a later date.</p><br>
<h2>Llano County Jail</h2><br>
<p>The Llano County Jail was designed by F.W. and W.S. Hull, and built in 1895 by the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St Louis, Missouri. Gray granite used to build the jail was quarried from within Llano county. The jail, which was also built in a Romanesque Revival style, has been known as "Red Top" for its red roof. The first floor was used by the sheriff and his family for his office and the family living quarters. The second floor had four cells and two drunk tanks. The third and fourth floors housed the gallows.</p><br>
<p>The Cass County Courthouse in Atlantic, Iowa, United States was built in 1934 as the first courthouse in the state built with funding from the Public Works Administration . It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 as a part of the PWA-Era County Courthouses of Iowa Multiple Properties Submission.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Cass County was organized in 1853. The first county commissioners met in Indiantown and chose a place called Lewis as the county seat where they used a two-story house for the courthouse. The Rock Island Railroad extended tracks to Atlantic and the town offered the county land for a new courthouse. In 1869, the county accepted Atlantic&#39;s offer and constructed a small frame building on the site. The building soon proved to be inadequate and the county rented the nearby Park House to provide additional space. In 1888, the county erected a new two-story stone courthouse building which was destroyed by fire in March 1932.</p><br>
<p>Because of the Great Depression, the first referendum to build a new courthouse failed in the General Election of 1932. The following year President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began the Public Works Administration, and Cass County was the first county to apply for a grant. Voters passed the second referendum in 1933 and the county retained the Des Moines architectural firm of Dougher, Rich & Woodburn to design the new building. C.C. Larsen Co. of Council Bluffs, Iowa won the bid to construct the building and work began in March 1934. The new building was dedicated on December 26, 1934, with Governor Clyde L. Herring as the main speaker.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The architectural style of the building is known as Depression Modern or PWA Moderne. The building features a symmetrical façade with a central section flanked by two lower wings. The exterior is composed of buff colored brick and Bedford limestone trim. It is three-stories tall above a raised basement. On the interior central corridors on each floor extend the length of the building with the offices opening onto the corridors. The building features multi-colored terrazzo floors, marble wainscoting and acoustic tiles. The court room was originally decorated in dark wood tones and Art Deco ornamentation.</p><br>
<p>Dougher, Rich & Woodburn was able to save three other Iowa counties money by providing a similar design for their county’s new courthouse. Newspapers in Buchanan and Humboldt counties printed drawings that were nearly identical when they were planning to build new courthouses in the 1930s.</p><br>
<p>Garden Island is an island in the municipality of Frontenac Islands, Frontenac County, in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Part of the Thousand Islands, it is located in the St. Lawrence Seaway, approximately 2 miles  south of Kingston, northwest of Wolfe Island, and is approximately 65 acre in size.</p><br>
<p>From the mid-1830s to around 1914, Delino Dexter Calvin and, later, his son, Hiram Augustus, operated a shipping and lumber operation based on the island. There was small industry consisting of timber transported to the island on ships and then assembled into large rafts that were floated down the Saint Lawrence River to Quebec City for transport to Britain. Now somewhat of a ghost town, few remnants of the original village exist.</p><br>
<p>The history of the former shipyard is the subject of an exhibit at the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The geology of Garden Island is consistent with Wolfe Island and Howe Island as they are all part of the Township of Frontenac Islands.</p><br>
<h3>Precambrian geology</h3><br>
<p>The bedrock of the island consists of metamorphic and igneous Precambrian rocks, which are part of the Frontenac Terrane of the Central Metasedimentary Belt. This is consistent with a significant amount of the geology of Frontenac County. The metamorphic rocks, were deposited as sediments and consolidated into sedimentary rocks at least 950 million years ago. The combination of a deep burial of sedimentary rocks and the penetration of magma which resulted in igneous rocks. Erosion then revealed the metamorphic and igneous rocks. The metamorphic rocks that are found in the area include: schist, gneiss, amphibolites, quartzite, and marble. The igneous rocks found include: quartz monzonites, granites, diorites, gabbro, diabase, and andesite.</p><br>
<h3>Paleozoic geology</h3><br>
<p>About 500 million years ago, a shallow ocean covered the area and deposited eroded sediment.</p><br>
<h3>Surficial geology</h3><br>
<p>Ending approximately 10,000 years ago, the Wisconsinian glacier deposited the remaining overburden in the Frontenac Islands, including Garden Island. This, the last period of glaciation in North America, transported large amounts of eroded Paleozoic and Precambrian rock from the north and deposited over the bedrock surface. The mass of the ice from the glacier induced a downward force which enabled the Atlantic Ocean to flow inward creating what is called the Champlain Sea.</p><br>
<h2>Delino Dexter Calvin</h2><br>
<p>In 1844, Delino Dexter Calvin, an American businessman, rented space on Garden Island to conduct his timber exportation business as the location was ideal as it provided a sheltered bay for building rafts of timber and for access to retrieve the bound rafts. Further, it allowed Calvin to operate within the British (commonwealth) system which enabled shipping to Great Britain. Vertically integrated, Calvin arranged shipment via company offices in Liverpool and Glasgow.</p><br>
<p>The rafts were fastened together into units called "drams" that could be as large as one-half mile in length. In the early timber days, the rafts were powered either by sail or by the men using long oars known as "sweeps". The men, usually French-Canadians, would guide the rafts through the currents of the St. Lawrence to Quebec, a trip that could last over a month. Later, the rafts would be guided by tug-boats.</p><br>
<h3>Ship building</h3><br>
<p>To subsidize timber activities and stabilize employment of his company men, Calvin started a lucrative shipbuilding business on Garden Island. In 1836, the first vessel was built for the timber trade, the 140-ton Queen Victoria. In 1837, two more 140-ton ships were constructed, the William Penn and the Hannah Counter.</p><br>
<h3>Company community</h3><br>
<p>In 1862, Calvins company purchased the entire island. To conduct operations on the island, a small community of about 750 people resided on the island, mostly workers in Calvins companies and their families. The island included three streets: Broadway, Fancy Street and Blanchette Avenue. Houses were built by the company and rented to workers and their families. As the island community grew, so did their needs. Garden Island soon included a butcher, baker and a general store that sold dairy farmed on an island dairy farm. In 1867 telegraph wires dotted the island, and in 1890 the telephone arrived. Calvin was a generous benefactor to his employees, subsidizing a school, a library, post office, and several fraternal societies: a Temperance society, an Orange Lodge and a Masonic Lodge. The library was referred to as a "Mechanics Institute" which carried over 6,000 books as a result of a Carnegie Endowment. The island was so self-contained, that it utilized its own currency.</p><br>
<p>In the panic that ensued after a recession, rather than laying off employees, Calvin, instead chose to reduce wages to maintain constant employment for all. In keeping with his own person beliefs of abstention, the island embraced prohibition.</p><br>
<p>As timber resources dwindled in the Great Lakes region, the mainstay of Calvins business retreated similarly. By 1921, the population of Garden Island had dwindled to only four residents. The islands "village status" was renounced and it was placed under the Township of Wolfe Island.</p><br>
<p>The island is owned today by descendants of Calvin who utilize it as a summer retreat. The ferry from Wolfe Island offered service to Garden Island until 1976 when it was discontinued.</p><br>
<p>The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, known to many simply as Sheppard Pratt, is a psychiatric hospital located in Towson, a northern suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1853, it is one of the oldest private psychiatric hospitals in the nation. Its original buildings, designed by architect Calvert Vaux, and its Gothic gatehouse, built in 1860 to a design by Thomas and James Dixon, were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Founded in 1853 by the Baltimore merchant Moses Sheppard, (1771/1773?-1857), with an endowment of $560,000 (1860s money value) after a visit and inspiration by the well-known mental health rights advocate and social reformer Dorothea Lynde Dix, the hospital was originally called the Sheppard Asylum. Located on the former country estate "Mount Airy Farm" of Baltimore merchant Thomas Poultney, between the old York Road (then the Baltimore and York Turnpike) and (North) Charles Street Avenue, southwest of the suburban/rural Baltimore County seat of then called Towsontown (todays Towson). The original buildings were designed by the famous architect Calvert Vaux and constructed on what had previously been a 340 acre farm, which had been purchased in 1858. The cornerstone of the original building was laid in the spring of 1862. Earlier Gatehouse designs in 1860 by Thomas and James Dixon of Baltimore, and with hospital plans furnished by Dr. D.T. Brown of the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum, to be constructed of stone and brick with a frontage of 375 feet. Originally accommodating 150 patients, the facility was designed according to the Kirkbride Plan.</p><br>
<p>Sheppard stipulated that the following conditions were to be imposed for the Asylum:</p><br>
<p>“Courteous treatment and comfort of all patients; that no patient was to be confined below ground; all were to have privacy, sunlight and fresh air; the asylum&#39;s purpose was to be curative, combining science and experience for the best possible results; and that only income, not principal would be used to build and operate the asylum.”</p><br>
<p>As a result of these financial restraints, the Asylum did not open until 1891, 34 years after Sheppard&#39;s death, and thirty-one after construction had first started. It also left it with financial uncertainty, putting its long-term future in doubt.</p><br>
<p>The future of the Asylum was greatly enhanced five years later when in 1896, the estate of Baltimore merchant, businessman, banker, steamship line owner and philanthropist, Enoch Pratt, (1808-1896) bequeathed a substantial amount of his remaining fortune, approx. $2 million, (after founding, constructing and endowing the citys public circulating library system, the first in the country, with the Enoch Pratt Free Library on West Mulberry Street near Cathedral Street in 1882-1886) to complete the construction and expand the asylum as originally planned decades before with the stipulation that the name be changed to "The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital". Mr. Pratt knew Mr. Sheppard as a fellow merchant on Light Street, several blocks away from his establishment on South Charles Street during his early business career. He also admired and thought well of the original Sheppard Asylum trustees for having tried to maintain faithfulness with Mr. Sheppards requests and desires that he expressed before his death. After some legal controversy with Pratt family members and the Maryland legal community about the explicit terms of Pratt&#39;s will and bequest, the changes and visions were approved and upheld by the Maryland courts.</p><br>
<p>In 2000, Sheppard Pratt retained the services HDR, Inc. to design a major expansion to the campus, which would be the largest addition to Sheppard Pratt since its inception. The new addition was as large as the original buildings, encompassing over 270,000 ft&sup2, effectively doubling the size of the facility. with the expansion and renovation complete, patient rooms have been moved from the hospital&#39;s twin historic Victorian-era buildings to more modern facilities.</p><br>
<p>Today the hospital is one of the leading mental health providers in the United States. It has been constantly ranked in the top 10 by US News and World Report.</p><br>
<h2>The Retreat at Sheppard Pratt</h2><br>
<p>The Retreat consists of a 14-bed unit designed for those seeking a "comprehensive evaluation and intensive treatment" experience in a psychotherapeutic milieu, unencumbered by the payment policies of third parties. The program at the Retreat includes 38 hours of group programming and 6-8 individual sessions with clinicians each week. The Retreat offers an elegantly appointed setting for an intermediate length of stay of several weeks to several months, where all residents stay at least 20 days.</p><br>
<p>The Retreat offers a multi-disciplinary treatment approach to a variety of psychiatric conditions that can be treated safely and effectively in a voluntary, unlocked environment. Individualized treatment at The Retreat includes specialized practices such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation</p><br>
<p>The Magic Castle, located at 7001 Franklin Avenue in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, is a nightclub for magicians and magic enthusiasts, as well as the clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts. It bills itself as "the most unusual private club in the world."</p><br>
<h2>Country Club of Magic</h2><br>
<p>The Magic Castle is a performance venue, restaurant and private club. A typical evening features several magic and sometimes variety arts performances, as well as a full service dining room and several bars in a country club atmosphere. A dress code of formal party attire is strictly enforced. Entry is only allowed to members and their guests.</p><br>
<p>The lobby of the Castle has no visible doors to the interior, and visitors must say a secret phrase to a sculpture of an owl to gain access, exposing the entrance to the club. Magicians perform in several different theaters, including the intimate Close-up Gallery, a larger Parlour of Prestidigitation, and the large stage in the Palace of Mystery. Nightly, five different magic performances are showcased in these three different theaters, and on weekends additional performances are added in the Peller theatre as well as Hat and Hare Pub and W.C. Fields Bar. Informal performance areas near the five bars give magician members the space for impromptu magic for guests and other patrons. In the music room, a piano is played by invisible "Irma," the Castle&#39;s "resident ghost," who takes musical requests.</p><br>
<p>In addition, there are regular Houdini Séances at the castle in the Houdini Seance room, conducted by Leo Kostka, Rob Zabrecky, or Misty Lee.</p><br>
<p>Those under 21 years of age are not permitted during evening performances. However, on Saturdays and Sundays, the Castle hosts an "all-ages" brunch and performances which are open to members and their guests, including those under the age of 21. During brunch, the Castle&#39;s "Junior Members" (ranging in age from 13 to 20 years old) perform in the Close-up Gallery.</p><br>
<h2>Magic Castle Junior Group</h2><br>
<p>The Magic Castle is also known for its Junior Program (the Magic Castle Junior Group). The Junior Group comprises highly skilled young magicians, many of whom have gone on to professional careers in magic. One week a year, billed as "Future Stars Week," performers from the Junior Group are showcased in evening performances in the Castle&#39;s showrooms.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The principal building of the Magic Castle is a Chateau-style or Chateauesque residence built in 1909 by banker, real estate developer and philanthropist, Rollin B. Lane. The house was designed by architects Lyman Farwell and Oliver Dennis and constructed as a near duplicate of the 1897 Kimberly Crest House and Gardens in Redlands, California that the architects had designed over a decade earlier. Ownership of the building remained in the Lane family until 1955 when it was sold to Thomas O. Glover, whose family still owns the property. In September 1961, the building was leased to Milt Larsen, Bill Larsen., and Irene Larsen, who began converting it to its present state. The Magic Castle opened for business on January 2, 1963. Over the years several additions have been made to the original structure, allowing for the inclusion of several theaters, bars, a library and other meeting spaces. The Magic Castle was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1989.</p><br>
<p>One of the Castle&#39;s most famous performers was the late Dai Vernon, an expert in sleight of hand, who often sat in the bar area entertaining and teaching. Vernon was the Magician-in-Residence at the Castle for many years, up until his death in 1992.</p><br>
<p>Other famous magicians who have been regular performers at the Magic Castle include Mark Wilson, Jay Ose, Senator Crandall, Johnny Platt, Kuda Bux, and Billy McComb. Many "celebrity magic hobbyists" have also performed at the Magic Castle, including Cary Grant, Orson Welles, Steve Martin, Johnny Carson, Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Alexander.</p><br>
<p>On October 31, 2011, the Magic Castle suffered damage from a fire that started in the attic. Significant interior refurbishing was necessary as a result of extensive water damage caused by fighting the fire. The Magic Castle was reopened in its entirety in February 2012.</p><br>
<h2>Academy of Magical Arts</h2><br>
<p>The Academy of Magical Arts is a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation organized and devoted to the promotion and development of the art of magic.</p><br>
<p>Although begun in 1952 as a loose association of magicians by William Larsen, Sr., the Academy was incorporated and its organization formalized in 1962 by his son, William Larsen, Jr., who together with Milt Larsen, another son of William Larsen, Sr., built the Academy into an international organization whose headquarters has been the Magic Castle since 1963.</p><br>
<h3>History</h3><br>
<p>The Academy of Magical Arts was created by William Larsen and announced in the April 1952 issue of his independent magazine of magic, Genii; of which all the subscribers were automatically accorded membership. "Academy Awards" were presented by Larsen over the next several months for outstanding contributions in various areas of the magic arts. William Larsen, Sr. died at the age of 48 in July 1953. His wife and his eldest son, Bill Jr. continued the publication of the magazine but the "Academy" lacked any formal structure and the organization became dormant. In 1962, William Larsen&#39;s younger son, Milt, undertook the job of leasing and restoring an ornately styled, 1909 mansion in Hollywood, California and turning it into a meeting place for magicians which he called the "Magic Castle." As part of their plan to revive the Academy and locate it in the "Magic Castle," William Larsen, Jr. filed articles of incorporation and created a nonprofit corporation, in 1962. The Magic Castle opened its doors on January 2, 1963 as the home of the Academy of Magical Arts, Inc. From an initial membership of 50, the Academy has grown to a worldwide membership of over 5,000 today.</p><br>
<h3>Membership</h3><br>
<p>There are nearly 2,500 magician members in the Academy today. To become a regular member, one must first be actively practicing or involved with magic as a career or hobby and audition before the Academy&#39;s membership reviewing committee. Associate members are people who love magic and the academy. Most of the members are in the entertainment business, law, finance, and medical fields. Some of these associate members are friends of magician members who enjoy the atmosphere of the Academy. Associate Member applications must be approved by the Board of Directors. Honorary members and VIP members are presented by the Board of Directors to magicians, celebrities and individual members of the Academy who have contributed to the advancement of the art of magic. It is also possible to become a junior magician if you are between the age of 13 and 20. Membership in the Junior Group is open to anyone seriously interested in magic who is from 13 to 19 years of age. One may apply if 20 years old, but must be able to be a member in the Group for one full year. These junior magicians are only allowed limited use of the facilities. You must be interested to be a magician to get acceptance to be a member.</p><br>
<h3>Education</h3><br>
<p>The Academy of Magic offers classes that are available to the public. The Basic Magic class is designed to provide the skills and knowledge necessary to perform basic magic. The class combines instructor presentation, step-by-step explanation, hands-on instruction, group practice sessions and individual performance. Classes are held one night per week for six weeks, from 7:45 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. During the six weeks, the students receive a temporary six week pass that grants the privileges of a regular member, excluding magician member&#39;s lectures. They are allowed to bring one friend to stay at the castle on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday brunch, but not to the classes. Men must wear a jacket and tie and women must wear a dress or skirt; no casual wear is permitted.</p><br>
<h3>Awards</h3><br>
<p>Performing awards are given in different categories at the annual "Academy of the Magical Arts Awards" event. Nominees for the performing awards are chosen from among that year&#39;s performers at The Magic Castle.</p><br>
<p>Other awards include Literary and Life Fellowships awards which go to individuals who, in the view of the Academy, have made significant contributions to the field of magic.</p><br>
<p>These are the awards given by the Academy of Magical Arts:</p><br>
<p>Magician of the Year (1968; 1970–present)</p><br>
<p>Stage Magician of the Year (1968–present)</p><br>
<p>Close-Up Magician of the Year (1968–present)</p><br>
<p>Lecturer of the Year (1968–present)</p><br>
<p>Award of Merit (1968; 1970–1990; 1992–2004; 2006–2007; 2009–2011; 2013)</p><br>
<p>Creative Fellowship (1968–present)</p><br>
<p>Literary Fellowship (1968–2012)</p><br>
<p>Masters Fellowship (1968–present)</p><br>
<p>Performing Fellowship (1968–present)</p><br>
<p>Special Fellowship (1968; 1970–1984; 1986–2010; 2012–2013)</p><br>
<p>Junior Achievement Award (1976–1982; 1984–1986; 1989–1990; 1992; 1995–2011; 2013)</p><br>
<p>Parlour Magician of the Year (1983–present)</p><br>
<p>Lifetime Achievement Fellowship (1985–2009)</p><br>
<p>Comedy Magician of the Year (2003–2006)</p><br>
<p>Bar Magician of the Year (2004–2005)</p><br>
<p>Special Award for Technical Achievement (2006)</p><br>
<p>One of the five winners of the 1974 Award of Merit is The Magic Castle itself.</p><br>
<h2>Events, television and movies</h2><br>
<p>The annual Soapy Smith night, in honor of the famed confidence man, takes place July 8. Proceeds go to the Dai Vernon Fund.</p><br>
<p>Nickelodeon&#39;s Halloween special, Mystery Magical Special was filmed here in 1986.</p><br>
<p>The Fox Broadcasting Companys Halloween television special, Count DeClues Mystery Castle, starring Max Maven was shot here in 1992.</p><br>
<p>Portions of the 1995 horror film Lord of Illusions were set in the Magic Castle.</p><br>
<p>TV promos were hosted at the Magic Castle on the Disney Channel for the premiere of the 2005 Disney Channel Original Movie, Now You See It....</p><br>
<p>Duran Duran held their famous 1984 press conference here for their American Sing Blue Silver Tour.</p><br>
<p>The Monk episode, "Mr. Monk and the Magician" was shot on location in the Magic Castle. Actor and magician Steve Valentine was filmed in the theaters auditorium with Jarrad Paul and Tony Shaloub, using his talents in the role of the evil magician Karl Torini, who murdered a friend of Monks and became a formidable adversary.</p><br>
<p>Neil Patrick Harris commissioned a Harry Houdini aquarium for installation at the Magic Castle in 2012. The aquarium was built by the team from the TV show Tanked.</p><br>
<p>NBC&#39;s 1973/74 drama The Magician featured Bill Bixby as a crime-solving stage illusionist Anthony "Tony" Blake who lived in a posh apartment at the Magic Castle.</p><br>
<p>Scenes from the Netflix series Love episode, "Magic" were filmed at the Magic Castle.</p><br>
<p>Portions of the film Shade are filmed in the first floor bar and outside the Parlor of Prestidigitation at The Magic Castle.</p><br>
<p>The Keokuk County Courthouse in Sigourney, Iowa, United States was built in 1911. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource, and as a contributing property in the Public Square Historic District in 1999. The courthouse is the fourth building the county has used for court functions and county administration.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Keokuk County built its first courthouse in Sigourney in 1845 for $218. The 24 by building, which was constructed of logs, also housed the jail and served as a schoolhouse, public hall and hotel. Lancaster became the county seat in the late 1840s and a two-story frame courthouse was built there in 1848 for $699. By the mid-1850s the county seat was back in Sigourney. A new courthouse was built in 1858 for $17,200. It was remodeled over the years until the present courthouse was begun in 1909. It was completed in 1911 at a cost of $150,000.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The building was designed in the Classical Revival style by the Des Moines architectural firm Wetherell & Gage, and built by J.L Simmons. The Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago influenced the design of the building. It is capped by a clock tower and cupola. Other historic structures on the courthouse square include a fountain, bandstand, and a Civil War Monument.</p><br>
<p>The Polk County Courthouse in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, was built in 1906. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. The courthouse is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Polk County built its first courthouse in 1847 for $2,015. The building, which was constructed of brick, measured 26 by. The second courthouse was built in 1858 for $94,000. The two-story Italianate structure, designed by J.C. Farrand, featured a dome. An addition was made to the building at a later date.</p><br>
<p>The present courthouse was built in 1906 on the same square as the previous courthouse. It was built for $750,000 in the Beaux-Arts style. The four-story structure features a tall three-stage clock tower. The original columns, stairways, and walls were constructed in marble. Murals on the fourth floor were painted by Charles A. Cummings and Edward Simmons. It is one of the largest county courthouses in the state, and one the most architecturally significant.</p><br>
<p>The Thimble Islands is an archipelago consisting of small islands in Long Island Sound, located in and around the harbor of Stony Creek in the southeast corner of Branford, Connecticut.</p><br>
<p>The archipelago of islands made up of Stony Creek pink granite bedrock were once the tops of hills prior to the last ice age. As a result, the Thimble Islands are much more stable than most other islands in Long Island Sound, which are terminal moraines of rubble deposited by retreating glaciers.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Known to the Mattabeseck Indians as Kuttomquosh, "the beautiful sea rocks," they consist of a jumble of granite rocks, ledges and outcroppings resulting from glaciation, numbering between 100 and 365 depending on where the line is drawn between an island and a mere rock. The islands serve as a rest stop for migrating seals.</p><br>
<p>The first European to discover the islands was Adrian Block in 1614. Legend says that Captain Kidd buried his treasure here, causing intermittent interest among treasure hunters who believe they have unearthed a clue to its location, although more interest is generally paid to Gardiners Island, 30 miles (48 km) away.</p><br>
<p>The islands themselves - long prized by sailors on the Sound as a sheltered deep-water anchorage - comprise 23 that are inhabited (most of them wooded), numerous barren rocks and hundreds of reefs visible only at low tide.</p><br>
<p>Although they are said to be named for the thimbleberry, a relative of the black raspberry, that plant is seldom seen in the area, and is more frequent in northern New England. Other species of blackberry and raspberry, however, are sometimes referred to by residents of the area as thimbleberries.</p><br>
<p>In Reflections in Bullough&#39;s Pond, Diana Muir describes the important nineteenth century oyster farming industry that thrived around these islands. Muir spent childhood summers on Lewis Island in a mansion built by an oystering fortune.</p><br>
<h3>Historic district</h3><br>
<p>The Thimble Islands are included in the Stony Creek&ndash;Thimble Islands Historic District, a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The 1,400 acre area of the district includes the Thimble Islands plus the access road to the islands (Thimble Islands Road between Route 146 and Long Island Sound) and surrounding properties in the Stony Creek section of Branford. It includes the Stick Style House, which is separately listed on the National Register.</p><br>
<p>The historic district area includes 346 buildings and four other structures. Georgian architecture is represented.</p><br>
<h2>Islands</h2><br>
<p>The largest Thimble Islands are:</p><br>
<p>Horse Island, the largest island at 17 acre, is owned by Yale University and is maintained as an ecological laboratory by Yale&#39;s Peabody Museum of Natural History.</p><br>
<p>Money Island (12 acres / 4.9 ha), bears an entire village of 32 houses and a library.</p><br>
<p>Governor Island (10 acres / 4.07 ha) has 14 houses.</p><br>
<p>Rogers Island (7.75 acres / 3.14 ha), also known as Yon Comis Island, one of several Thimbles owned by Christine Svenningsen</p><br>
<p>Bear Island is home to a granite quarry, which exported high-quality stone to such constructions as the Lincoln Memorial, Grant&#39;s Tomb, and the base of the Statue of Liberty. A much larger quarry, Stony Creek Quarry, just north on the mainland is still working and supplied the distinctive pink/orange Stony Creek granite for the Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Terminal, and Columbia University.</p><br>
<p>Davis Island, President William Taft established his "Summer White House" on Davis Island for two years</p><br>
<p>High Island</p><br>
<p>Pot Island</p><br>
<p>Outer Island is used by Southern Connecticut State University for ecological studies and is part of Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge.</p><br>
<p>Other named Thimble Islands are Hen Island, East Stooping Bush Island, Potato Island, Smith Island, Cut in Two Island (East and West), tiny Phelps Island, Wheeler Island aka Ghost Island, Mother in Law Island aka Prudden Island, West Crib Island, East Crib Island, Little Pumpkin Island, Lewis Island, Kidd&#39;s Island, Reel Island, Beldens Island, Burr Island, Jepson Island, Wayland Island, and Frisbie Island, which is maintained as a sanctuary for wild birds.</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<p>As with most of southern New England, the ecology of the islands has been heavily influenced by thousands of years of intermittent human occupation. One particularly intrusive event was the felling of all the trees on every island during the American Revolutionary War to eliminate hiding places for British ships.</p><br>
<p>The plant species of the islands were extensively studied by Yale botanist Lauren Brown; although the islands represent a unique ecological niche, combining a thin layer of soil, a high concentration of salt, and extreme exposure to weather, no unique, unusual, or rare plant species have been found; instead, the shrubs and trees represented are generally similar to those on the nearby mainland, selecting only those that reproduce by berries or other fruit carried by birds to the islands, for example raspberries, blackberries, sassafras, cherries, etc. The exception is large stands of pitch pine, whose airborne seeds are apparently able to travel from the mainland. Poison ivy has established itself in many sites on the islands, in some places thick enough to forbid entire areas from human intrusion.</p><br>
<p>In contrast to the mainland, oaks are particularly absent, even though blue jays are capable of ingesting acorns and carrying them from place to place. Nevertheless, some infrequent oak, maple, beech, and other trees do appear in scattered locations about the islands; from their locations they appear to have been deliberately planted by residents, or they are the descendants of such plantings. Other cultivated plants, such as ivy and some types of climbing roses, have established themselves on the islands to the point of becoming invasive species.</p><br>
<p>Mammals other than human beings are generally not found on the islands; although a rare squirrel or deer may be seen, they appear to be isolated arrivals, and no mammalian populations have established themselves other than bats, voles, and some mouse and rat infestations closely associated with the human habitations. Snakes are occasionally sighted; it is not known whether they arrived on their own, or were carried in as stowaways with loads of cargo.</p><br>
<h2>Culture and recreation</h2><br>
<p>The inhabited islands bear a total of 81 houses: 14 islands have only one, one (Governor) has 14, one (Money) has 32, and the rest have between two and six. The houses are built in a variety of styles, ranging from a 27-room Tudor mansion, with tennis and basketball courts and a caretaker&#39;s residence on 7.75 acre on Rogers Island, to small summer cottages built on stilts or small clusters of buildings connected by wooden footbridges. Some of the houses cover a small island completely, while Money Island, 12 acres (49,000 m²) in size, bears an entire village of 32 houses, a church and post office buildings, concealed among tall trees. Some of the houses were once occupied year-long, but now are only used in the summer. The exposed nature of the houses makes them dangerous during storms; local residents still talk about the hurricane of 1938, which killed seven people. The exclusivity of the houses has made them quite expensive, therefore residents are divided between local families who have owned their homes for generations, and more recent residents who tend to be wealthy. The least expensive houses, on Money Island, are appraised at about $600,000.</p><br>
<p>Only six islands get electrical power through underwater cables from the shore; the rest use some combination of generator, solar power, batteries or kerosene and propane. About half the islands get fresh water through underwater pipes from shore; the rest use wells or rainwater, or have containers of water delivered. No sewers serve the islands, requiring the use of septic tanks for all sewage treatment.</p><br>
<p>Current and past well-known residents of the islands range from General Tom Thumb on Cut in Two Island East to Garry Trudeau, Doonesbury cartoonist and Jane Pauley, broadcast journalist. President William Taft established his "Summer White House" on Davis Island for two years. Actor Frank Converse purchased a 2 acre Thimble Island in 1975. Residents of the area tend to protect the privacy of island dwellers, obeying the 5 mi-an-hour speed limit for motorboats and never landing without an invitation.</p><br>
<p>Sailing through the islands can be tricky for those unfamiliar with the area, because of the disorientation caused by the myriad of similar islands (particularly at night), the hidden underwater rocks and ledges, and the complex currents caused by the tides acting on the channels between the rocks.</p><br>
<p>In the warm season, a small ferry, transports people and goods between the islands and the Stony Creek harbor on the hour from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Prior to telephones, islanders hung a red flag on the dock to request a ferry visit. An on-call water taxi has recently been added, and three take passengers on. Kayak tours are also available. Many residents have their own boats, and some occasionally arrive by seaplane.</p><br>
<h3>Sailing Club</h3><br>
<p>The Thimble Island Sailing Club is a club of more than 100 members centered in the Thimbles. Currently, they race JYs for younger children, Cooks, Blue Jays, Lasers, and Cat Boats. Races are every Sunday during summer.</p><br>
<p>Baranof Island, also sometimes called Baranov Island, Shee or Sitka Island  is an island in the northern Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle, in Alaska. The name Baranof was given in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain U. F. Lisianski to honor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov. It was called Sheet’-ká Xáatl  by the native Tlingit people. It is the smallest of the ABC islands of Alaska.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The island has a land area of 1,607 square miles, which is slightly smaller than the State of Delaware. It measures 105 mi by 30 mi at its longest point and perpendicular widest point, respectively. It has a shoreline of 617 mi. Baranof Island hosts the highest mountain in the Alexander Archipelago, and is the eighth largest island in Alaska, the tenth largest island in the United States, and the 137th largest island in the world. Its center is near 57&deg;0&prime;N latitude, 135&deg;0&prime;W longitude. Most of the island lies within the limits of Tongass National Forest. A large part has been officially designated as the South Baranof Wilderness. A little bay called Ommaney Bay is located in the south end of the island. the escort carrier bears its name.</p><br>
<h2>Communities</h2><br>
<p>The population of the island was 8,532 at the 2000 census.</p><br>
<p>Almost the entire area of the island is part of the City and Borough of Sitka (Sitka also extends northward onto Chichagof Island). The only part of Baranof that is not in Sitka is a tiny sliver of land (9.75 km²) at the extreme southeast corner, which is in the Petersburg Census Area, and includes the town of Port Alexander. This section had a 2000 census population of 81 persons. The towns of Baranof Warm Springs, Port Armstrong, and Port Walter are also located on the eastern side of the island. Goddard, a now-abandoned settlement about 16 mi south of Sitka, features a few private homes and hot springs with two public bathhouses. There are also five year-round salmon hatcheries, one located just north of Port Alexander at Port Armstrong, another located just north of Baranof Warm Springs at Hidden Falls, two are located in the city of Sitka one at the Sitka Sound Science Center, and another in the Sawmill Cove Business Park; the other just south of Sitka near Medvejie Lake. The latter is accessible by private road from Sitka. All of these communities, except for Port Alexander and Port Armstrong, are under the jurisdiction of the City and Borough of Sitka, of which, Sitka serves as the borough seat.</p><br>
<p>Fishing, seafood processing, and tourism are important industries on the island, which is also famous for brown bears and Sitka deer.</p><br>
<h2>Social and economic history</h2><br>
<p>The first European settlement on island was established in 1799 by Alexander Baranov, the chief manager and first governor of the Russian-American Company for whom the island and Archipelago are named. The island was the center of Russian activity in North America during the period from 1804 to 1867 and was the headquarters of the Russian fur-trading interest.</p><br>
<p>Around 1900, Baranof Island was subject to many small-scale mining ventures, especially centered on Sitka and on the north side of the island around Rodman Bay. Canneries, whaling stations, and fox farms were established on Baranof Island and smaller islands around it, though most had been abandoned by the beginning of World War II. The remains of these outposts are still evident, though most exist in a dilapidated condition.</p><br>
<p>In February 1924 the Alaska Territorial Game Commission hired Charlie Raatakainen to transplant mainland goats from near Juneau to Bear Mountain. Raatakainen hired a group of Finns aboard his boat the Pelican to complete the job, though one of the group died in the process.</p><br>
<p>The 1939 Slattery Report on Alaskan development identified the island as one of the areas where new settlements would be established through immigration. This plan was never implemented.</p><br>
<h2>Fictional accounts</h2><br>
<p>Louis LAmours novel "Sitka" describes conflict between the Russian fur trading empire and Yankee settlers.</p><br>
<p>The Yiddish Policemen&#39;s Union is a 2007 alternate-history novel by Michael Chabon about a Jewish Yiddish-speaking territory in Sitka, including most of Baranov Island. The novel proceeds from the counter-factual premise that the Slattery Report had actually been implemented.</p><br>
<p>Local Author John Straley has written a number of mystery novels set on and around Baranof Island.</p><br>
<p>The Muscatine County Courthouse in Muscatine, Iowa, United States was built in 1909. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. The courthouse is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Muscatine County was established in 1837 and Bloomington, as Muscatine was then called, was named the county seat. The first courthouse was built in 1840 of brick. It was constructed for $15,000. It was destroyed by fire and a second courthouse was built in 1867 for $29,000. The two-story building featured a dome and a statue of the goddess of justice.</p><br>
<p>The present court house was built beginning in 1907 in the same location as the previous courthouse. It was built in the Beaux Arts style.</p><br>
<p>Lanín is an ice-clad, cone-shaped stratovolcano on the border of Argentina and Chile. It forms part of two national parks: Lanín in Argentina and Villarrica in Chile. It is a symbol of the Argentine province of Neuquén, being part of its flag and its anthem. Although the date of its last eruption is not known, it is estimated to have occurred within the last 10,000 years. Following the 1906 Valparaíso earthquake a local newspaper reported the volcano to have erupted, however in a work published in 1917 by Karl Sapper claims the news was disputed.</p><br>
<p>The ascent is regulated by the management of Argentine National Parks and the Argentine National Gendarmerie, and is technically relatively simple but has however a much higher level of exposure than the neighbouring volcanoes. The nearest towns, usually employed as a base for climbers, are Pucón in Chile and Junín de los Andes in Argentina.</p><br>
<p>There are two paths to the summit: one on the north, starting at 1,200 metres above mean sea level near Tromen Lake and the international Mamuil Malal Pass, accessible via Neuquén&#39;s Provincial Route 60; and one on the south, starting beside Huechulafquen Lake, accessible via Provincial Route 61.</p><br>
<h2>Geography and geology</h2><br>
<p>Lanín lies at the Atlantic-Pacific water divide of the Andes, being for that reason located in the Argentina-Chile border according to the 1881 border treaty between these countries. To the north and south lies the Tromen and Paimun Lakes respectively.</p><br>
<p>Lanín is the easternmost volcano of a north-west south-east oriented chain of 3 large stratovolcanoes volcanoes, Villarrica being the westernmost volcano and Quetrupillán the one in the middle. This alignment is attributed to the existence a fault beneath the volcanoes. In historical times Lanín has been the least active of these volcanoes. Apart from Quetrupillán and Villarrica there a number of old eroded remains of stratovolcanoes in the alignment.</p><br>
<p>The volcano itself lies rests above a basement of gneisses, felsic plutons and volcaniclastic sequences. The basement rocks constitute a tectonically elevated block limited in the west by the north-south Reigolil-Pirihueico Fault. Ages of ranging from Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene have been suggested for the oldest known parts of the volcano which are dacitic lava flows with columnar joints.</p><br>
<p>Basalt is the most common rock of the volcano. Lanín shows overall higher alkali (Na2O plus K2O) to silica ratio than Villarrica, which is interpreted as reflecting a lesser degree of partial melting underneath the volcano and showing that the volcanoes of the chain have distinct source regions in Earth&#39;s mantle. Another petrologic characteristic of Lanín is its bimodal volcanism.</p><br>
<p>The Cube Microplex is a social art experiment existing in the form of a cinema and event venue in Bristol, England. It operates as a non-profit cooperative. Since opening in 1998 it has hosted artistic and cultural events including films and music performances as well as providing a focal point for the local artistic community. The building includes a 108-seat theatre/cinema as well as a bar serving local and ethical products. All participants provide their involvement in the project voluntarily and are unwaged.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The wooden theatre at the heart of the Cube was adapted from a workshop by volunteers for an Amateur Dramatics group in 1964. The building itself has a long history as a community arts venue, built in 1916 as workshops for the Bristol Deaf Centre; and converted by a team of amateur theatre enthusiasts in 1964 into a theatre with 108-seat auditorium and fly tower. A projection room and cinema screen were added in the 1970s.</p><br>
<p>The Cube opened its doors in its present form in October 1998 after about a six-month lead in period during which funding, equipment, business contracts and business plan were worked on. The team of four who started the Cube consisted of film maker/writer Jack Davies, screenwriter and film festival activist Julian Holman, and two stilt-walkers: Kevin Dennis and Graeme Hogg.</p><br>
<p>Hogg (known as Hogge) and Dennis had been running an underground (as in mostly illegal and unlicensed) film screening event called Club Rombus for two years and this experience provided the foundation of what the Cube was to become. After acquiring a lease to the building, this small group managed to organise and recruit further volunteers.</p><br>
<p>In July 2001 a serious fire originating in the New Mayflower kitchen destroyed most of the internal storeys and timber of 4 and 5 King Square and although the Cube itself only sustained minor odour and smoke stain damage, its entranceway was effectively destroyed meaning it was cut off from use by the general public.</p><br>
<p>After extensive rebuilding work, the Cube re-opened in August 2002.</p><br>
<p>In December 2013, a fund-raising project to buy the freehold of the Cube&#39;s building was successful in reaching its £185,000 target.</p><br>
<p>On 1 April 2014 the Cube official became owned by Microplex Holdings Ltd, a non-profit Industrial and Provident Society and Community Land Trust (CLT) set up by Cube volunteers whose charter is to secure and maintain the freehold of the Cube Cinema as a community arts space in perpetuity.</p><br>
<h2>Programme</h2><br>
<p>The Cubes public programme averages over 350 events per year, with a monthly average attendance of 1500. While its programme strategy includes screening films on theatrical release, the programme as a whole takes the notion of Cinema&#39; as something to experiment with, remix and expand into other art forms, an approach that has given it an international standing. The Cube aims to reflect in its repertoire the diversity of both its members and its volunteer culture. Along with its cinema, music, performance and education programmes, the Cube hosts a wide range of local and international artists and community-initiated events. Weekends often feature live music and performances. The building is also periodically hired to third parties to put on their own events. The Cube has played hosts to seasons and festivals, including the Venn Festival, Ladyfest Bristol, Bristol Radical History Group, and Independent Heroine festivals.</p><br>
<p>Its anti-corporate ethos led to projects such as Kate Rich and Kayle Brandon&#39;s Cube-Cola, based on an open source cola recipe, and Feral Trade which supplies various products to its bar using only personal social networks, including fair trade coffee from a farming cooperative in El Salvador. It has its own in-house improvising orchestra, the Orchestra Cube.</p><br>
<p>The Cube has a history of setting up temporary cinemas in exotic locations, including a tin mine in Cornwall. and in 2015 to Nepal following the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.</p><br>
<h2>The Cube Cinema Ltd</h2><br>
<p>The Cube Cinema was incorporated in 1998 as a company limited by guarantee, constituted as a democratically run worker&#39;s co-operative. Due to its open volunteering policy, it is essentially programmed and managed by its audience. Cube workers range in age from 8 to 65 and are artists, filmmakers, musicians, computer technicians, students, nurses, teachers, adults with special needs, temps, mechanics, retirees and children. Some have worked at the Cube for several months, others for more than a decade. For many volunteers, the Cube has been their first opportunity to participate in the arts in depth; for others it provides a platform from which to incubate and produce diverse art projects.</p><br>
<p>Hussain Sagar is a heart shaped lake in Hyderabad built by Ibrahim Quli Qutub Shah in 1563, during the rule of Ibrahim Quli Qutub Shah. It is spread across an area of 5.7 square kilometers and is fed by River Musi. A large monolithic statue of the Gautama Buddha, erected in 1992, stands on Gibraltar Rock in the middle of the lake. It also separates Hyderabad from its twin city Secunderabad. The maximum depth of the lake is 32 feet.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Hussain Sagar was built across a tributary of the river Musi river in 1563 by Ibrahim Quli Qutub Shah. The lake was named after Hussain Shah Wali, who helped to design it. It is an artificial lake that holds water perennially fed by canals from Musi river. Hussain Sagar was the main source of water supply to Hyderabad before Himayat Sagar and Osman Sagar were built on river Musi.</p><br>
<h2>Heart Of The World Recognition by UNWTO</h2><br>
<p>Hussain Sagar, a heritage site of India was declared as the Heart of the World by UNWTO on 27 September 2012, on the occasion of World Tourism Day, for being the Worlds Largest Heart Shaped Mark, the Worlds Heritage Heart shaped Mark, and the Worlds Wonderful Heart Shaped Mark on the face of the earth among the heart shaped marks formed by the heart shaped lakes and islands that exist in the world. Logo for the Heart of the World&#39; was inaugurated by H.E. Mr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General, United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Madrid-Spain, in the year 2013.</p><br>
<p>World&#39;s Largest Heart Shaped Mark:</p><br>
<p>Hussain sagar lake is the largest heart shaped mark among the marks formed by 78 heart shaped lakes and 9 heart shaped islands on the face of the earth.</p><br>
<p>World&#39;s Heritage Heart shaped Mark:</p><br>
<p>Hussain lake is one of the Qutub Shahi monuments of Hyderabad-Telangana, out of which Golconda Fort, Qutub Shahi Tombs and Charminar were already placed in the tentative list of World Heritage Sites of UNESCO.</p><br>
<p>World&#39;s Wonderful Heart Shaped Mark:</p><br>
<p>This lake has many outstanding universal values of love around it in addition to its heart shape, the symbol of love, which explore the wonder of love in the world. King built the lake for his peoples drinking & irrigation purpose out of his love towards his people. King Ibrahim named the lake after Hazrath Hussain Shawali (Sufi saint, medical practitioner and architect of the lake) as sign of gratitude for Hussains treatment that was given to the king during his sickness and made him recover from the sickness. Many historical monuments were placed on the bank.</p><br>
<h2>Landmarks and attractions</h2><br>
<p>The road on the Tank Bund was widened in 1946 when Sir Mirza Ismail was the prime minister of Hyderabad Deccan. Further widening and beautification of the Tank bund took place during 1987-88 by the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N.T.Rama Rao with the addition of fountains with dancing waters, tantalizing colored lights at night and bronze statues of renowned personalities.</p><br>
<h3>Patton Tank</h3><br>
<p>The Pakistan M47 Patton tank is a war trophy given to the 54th Infantry Division who had disabled it during the Battle of Basantar in Pakistan, during 15–17 December 1971. It was given to the city by the battalion after the India Pakistan war of 1971.</p><br>
<h3>Buddha statue</h3><br>
<p>An 18-meter high monolithic statue of Lord Buddha towers over the lake from atop the Rock of Gibraltar. The idea was a part of the Buddha Poornima project in 1985. The statue was chiseled out of a white granite rock, weighing 450 tons. It was carved by 200 sculptors for two years. The statue was transported to Hyderabad in November 1988. After initial problems, the statue was erected on 12 April 1992 on a red lotus pedestal.</p><br>
<h3>Lumbini Park</h3><br>
<p>Lumbini Park is an urban park of 7.5 acres (0.030 km; 0.0117 sq mi) adjacent to Hussain Sagar. It was constructed at a cost of INR 2.35 crores on 5 acres of land as a part of the Buddha Poornima project. It has various attractions such as laser auditorium, boating facilities and musical fountains.</p><br>
<h3>Birla Mandir</h3><br>
<p>Birla Mandir refers to different Hindu temple built by the Birla family in different cities.All these temples are magnificently build with white marble on a 280 feet (85 m) high hillock called the Naubath Pahad located to the south of Hussain Sagar. The construction took 10 years and was consecrated in 1976 by Swami Ranganathananda of Ramakrishna Mission.</p><br>
<h3>Sanjeevaiah Park</h3><br>
<p>Sanjeevaiah Park is a public green space and park located to the north of the lake. Built on 92 acres (37 ha), the park is named</p><br>
<p>after Damodaram Sanjivayya, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The park is managed by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority and the park won the Best open landscape award during the 2010 Indian national trust for art and cultural heritage award presentations.</p><br>
<h3>Prasad's IMAX</h3><br>
<p>Prasads IMAX is a multiplex of an area of 2,35,000 sq ft, housing an IMAX movie theater, a five screen multiplex, food court, multinational fast food outlets, a gaming zone and a shopping mall covering two levels of the complex. It is Indias 3rd IMAX theater.</p><br>
<h3>NTR Gardens</h3><br>
<p>NTR Gardens is a small urban park of 55 acre adjacent to Hussain Sagar lake. Constructed in several phases since 1999, the park is presently being maintained by the Buddha Purnima Project Authority that functions under the directives of the Government of Telangana. The park is named after and houses the memorial of N T Rama Rao, a matinee idol and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh who died on 18 January 1996.</p><br>
<h3>Tomb of Saidani Maa Sahebaa</h3><br>
<p>Sayedani Maa Tomb is an Archaeological Survey of India declared heritage site located at the north end of Tank Bund. Saidani Maa Saheba was a saint of the Nizam era. An example of Islamic architecture, the tomb has been carved intricately with marble lattice work.</p><br>
<h3>Sailing</h3><br>
<p>Hussain Sagar lake is a popular spot for sailing. Regattas have been held here since 1971 jointly by the EME Sailing Association and the Secunderabad Sailing Club. Hyderabad Sailing Week has been conducted here since 1984 when the first laser boats were introduced by the Laser Class Association of India. The event has grown from 10 laser entries in 1984 to 110 laser entries in 2009. In August 2009 the lake was witness to the monsoon regatta in which sailors from all over India participated. Different classes of sailboats and yachts were raced including four J24, eighteen Hobie Cat and Fourtyseven Optimist (dinghy).</p><br>
<p>The Yacht Club of Hyderabad located at Sanjeevaiah Park, started in 2009 and instituted the Monsoonregatta.com the same year. The club started with just 3 boats now boast of more than 45 on it premises including Lasers, Optimists, Omegas, Kayaks and many safety and rescue vessels. The club trains youngsters to compete at the national level.</p><br>
<h3>Statues of Icons of Telugu culture</h3><br>
<p>34 well-sculptured bronze statues, mounted on high platforms, of Telugu people who played iconic role in the development of Telugu culture line the Tank Bund road. The following 34 personalities are commemorated in the order of appearance from Secunderabad.</p><br>
<p>Rudrama Devi</p><br>
<p>Asaf Jah VI</p><br>
<p>Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan</p><br>
<p>Komaram Bheem</p><br>
<p>Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy</p><br>
<p>Gurajada Apparao</p><br>
<p>Ballari Raghava</p><br>
<p>Alluri Sita Rama Raju</p><br>
<p>Sir Arthur Cotton</p><br>
<p>Tripuraneni Ramaswamy Chowdary</p><br>
<p>Pingali Venkayya</p><br>
<p>Makhdoom Mohiuddin</p><br>
<p>Suravaram Pratapareddy</p><br>
<p>Gurram Jashuva</p><br>
<p>Matnoori Krishna Rao</p><br>
<p>Srirangam Srinivasa Rao</p><br>
<p>Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu</p><br>
<p>Thyagaraja</p><br>
<p>Ramadasu</p><br>
<p>Sri Krishnadevaraya</p><br>
<p>Kshetrayya</p><br>
<p>Potuluri Virabrahmendra Swami</p><br>
<p>Bramha Naidu</p><br>
<p>Molla</p><br>
<p>Tana Shah</p><br>
<p>Siddhendra Yogi</p><br>
<p>Yogi Vemana</p><br>
<p>Potana</p><br>
<p>Annamacharya</p><br>
<p>Yerrapragada</p><br>
<p>Tikkana</p><br>
<p>Nannayya</p><br>
<p>Gautamiputra Satakarni</p><br>
<h3>Other attractions</h3><br>
<p>Secretariat buildings, Hyderabad Boat Club on the southern side, Secunderabad Sailing Club, Hotel Marriott on the northern side and Raj Bhavan on the western banks. Eat street is a famous street for outdoor eateries and shops located on the west side of the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<p>Hussain Sagar is serviced by MMTS Train stations at Necklace Road, James Street and Sanjeevaiah Park. Necklace Road runs along the lake and connects important locations on its banks.</p><br>
<p>The Hussain Sagar Jn was a 2 platform railway station earlier but was dismantled in the mid 1980s. It is now a Railway controlling cabin with three routes diverging towards Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Begumpet.</p><br>
<h2>Environmental conditions and conservation</h2><br>
<p>Hussain Sagar Lake forms an important part of Hyderabad but now has become the main sewage collection zone of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. As a result of heavy anthropogenic pressures such as unplanned urbanization, the entire ecosystem of Hussain Sagar Lake has changed. The water quality has deteriorated considerably during the last three decades. The lake has become shallow due to siltation and accumulation of plant debris. A 2008 study of the lake&#39;s water and sediment has found that it has exceeded its eutrophic condition, reaching hypereutrophic status. Many undesirable changes in the structure of biological communities have resulted, and some important species have either declined or completely disappeared. Realising the importance of conservation of Hussain Sagar Lake, a project has been formulated. This project shall be implemented by APPCB, Hyderabad, India. In this respect, a project feasibility report has been prepared for the approval and financing. In spite of the commission of a sewage treatment plant on the western side, large amount of untreated sewage and industrial effluents continue to flow into the lake.</p><br>
<p>The West Maui Mountains or West Maui Volcano, known to the Hawaiians as Maui Komohana and to geologists as Mauna Kahalawai, forms a much eroded shield volcano that constitutes the western one-quarter of the Hawaiian Island of Maui. Since its last eruption approximately 320,000 years ago, the West Maui Mountains have undergone substantial stream erosion.</p><br>
<p>The three moku or districts of west Maui are Lāhaina, Kāanapali, and Wailuku. Wailuku is also known as Pūalikomohana, or Nā Wai Ehā which means the four waters. The 4 waters are the ahupuaa (smaller land division than district), which are Waikapū, Wailuku, Waiehu, and Waihee.</p><br>
<p>The port of Lāhainā lies on the southwestern slope.</p><br>
<p>The summit peak is called Puu Kukui, at 5,788 ft elevation. Pu&#39;u Kukui translates into "candlenut hill".</p><br>
<h2>Puu Kukui Watershed Preserve</h2><br>
<p>Established in 1988, the Puu Kukui Preserve is the largest private nature preserve in the State of Hawaii. Since 1994, the 8,661 acre preserve has been managed by Maui Land & Pineapple Company in participation with The Nature Conservancy and the State Natural Area Partnership. These groups work together to protect the watershed lands of the West Maui mountain.</p><br>
<h2>Geological history</h2><br>
<p>The West Maui Mountains were formed through at least three series of major volcanic eruptions during its shield building period.</p><br>
<p>Mount Tantalus , is an extinct cinder cone in the southern Koolau Range on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. It also has a summit crater, Tantalus Crater. The cinder cone formed after the demise of Koolau Volcano, during a time of rejuvenated stage volcanism in southeastern Oahu that also formed Punchbowl Crater, Diamond Head and Koko Head. Tantalus overlooks the modern city of Honolulu, which is built on top of Tantalus cinders.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The six-mile Tantalus Loop was a popular wagon trail from the late 1800s for views and picnic parties. It had "rugged canyons, wooded valleys, aromatic eucalyptus giants, stag-horn fern, pungent guava", monkeypod, shower cassias, and myrtle, with a two-room, corrugated-roofed "Half-Way House", managed by 1900&#39;s forester David Haugh, offering a welcome stop for trekkers. Many immigrant families of note settled there "in cool picturesque seclusion", including Waterhouses, Giffords, Wilders, Dickeys, Davies, Isenbergs, Browns, and Alexanders. A 25-foot cliff of pitch-black volcanic sand was an attraction on Tantalus until it was mined for blacktopping paths and yards.</p><br>
<p>As part of the USA Armys Coast Artillery defense system a Fire Control Station was built on Tantalus. In conjunction with the Fire Control Station at Diamond Head, the two positions were used to control coast artillery batteries at Fort DeRussey and Fort Ruger. The southern slope of Tantalus was bombed in Operation K, Japans unsuccessful second attack on Oahu, which took place March 4, 1942.</p><br>
<p>Today, Tantalus is a popular destination for hikers, road bicyclists, and skateboarders as well as one of the most frequented tourist spots on Oahu.</p><br>
<p>Tantalus is a "Mountain (2,013 feet high) behind Honolulu, named by early Punahou students for the Greek god who, always thirsty, was punished by being placed in a pool of water. When he tried to drink, the water receded. (Thrums Annual, 1928:105-106.) Perhaps similarly, as the students climbed, the peak seemed always to recede. See Puu-ohi&#39;a. The same students (including children of the Emersons and Gulicks) also named Olympus, Round Top and Sugarloaf."</p><br>
<h2>Popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Tantalus Crater is a setting in the novel Micro by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston.</p><br>
<p>The Robinson Center is a performance, convention, and exhibition space at Statehouse Plaza in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas.</p><br>
<p>The most notable architectural feature of the complex is the south façade of the Robinson Center Music Hall, a building constructed in 1939 to a design by Eugene Stern of the local architectural firm Wittenberg & Delony. It is adorned with columns that echo the Greek Revival style also found in the centerpiece of the plaza, the Old State House Museum. The music hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007, as the Joseph Taylor Robinson Municipal Auditorium. Additional meeting space complementing Robinson Center&#39;s offerings are located to the east of the Old State House, inside the Statehouse Convention Center.</p><br>
<p>The center is named for Joseph Taylor Robinson, a powerful former USA Senator and Congressman and Arkansas governor, and is one of several locations and facilities that bear his name.</p><br>
<p>The Robinson Center Music Hall and Performance Theater is the primary performance space for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, traveling productions of popular Broadway plays and musicals, and various concerts throughout the year. It seats 2,609.</p><br>
<p>The adjoining exhibition hall and meeting areas host conventions for a wide variety of organizations.</p><br>
<p>Robinson Center is administered by the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, a city government division which maintains its main office there.</p><br>
<p>Puncak Jaya or Carstensz Pyramid  is the highest summit of Mount Jayawijaya or Mount Carstensz in the Sudirman Range of the western central highlands of Papua Province, Indonesia . Other summits are East Carstensz Peak , Sumantri  and Ngga Pulu . Other names include Nemangkawi in the Amungkal language, Carstensz Toppen and Gunung Soekarno.</p><br>
<p>At 4,884 m above sea level, Puncak Jaya is the highest mountain in Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea (which consists of the Indonesian West Papua region plus Papua New Guinea), on the continent of Australia (which consists of New Guinea, the country of Australia, Timor, other islands, and submerged continental shelf), and in Oceania, as well as the 5th highest mountain in political Southeast Asia.</p><br>
<p>It is also the highest point between the Himalayas and the Andes, and the highest island peak in the world. Some sources claim Papua New Guinea&#39;s Mount Wilhelm, 4,509 m, as the highest mountain peak in Oceania, on account of Indonesia being part of Asia (Southeast Asia).</p><br>
<p>The massive, open Grasberg mine is within 4 kilometers of Puncak Jaya.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Discovery</h3><br>
<p>The highlands surrounding the peak were inhabited before European contact, and the peak was known as Nemangkawi in Amungkal. Puncak Jaya was named "Carstensz Pyramid" after Dutch explorer Jan Carstenszoon who first sighted the glaciers on the peak of the mountain on a rare clear day in 1623. The sighting went unverified for over two centuries, and Carstensz was ridiculed in Europe when he said he had seen snow near the equator.</p><br>
<p>The snowfield of Puncak Jaya was reached as early as 1909 by a Dutch explorer, Hendrik Albert Lorentz with six of his Dayak Kenyah porters recruited from the Apo Kayan in Borneo. The predecessor of the Lorentz National Park, which encompasses the Carstensz Range, was established in 1919 following the report of this expedition.</p><br>
<h3>Climbing history</h3><br>
<p>In 1936 the Dutch Carstensz Expedition, unable to establish definitely which of the three summits was the highest, attempted to climb each. Anton Colijn, Jean Jacques Dozy and Frits Wissel reached both the glacier covered East Carstensz and Ngga Pulu summits on December 5, but through bad weather failed in their attempts to climb the bare Carstensz Pyramid. Because of extensive snow melt Ngga Pulu has become a 4,862 m subsidiary peak, but it has been estimated that in 1936 (when glaciers still covered 13 square km of the mountain; see map) Ngga Pulu was indeed the highest summit, reaching over 4,900 m.</p><br>
<p>The now highest Carstensz Pyramid summit was not climbed until 1962, by an expedition led by the Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer (of Seven Years in Tibet fame, and climber of the Eiger North Face) with three other expedition members – the New Zealand mountaineer Philip Temple, the Australian rock climber Russell Kippax, and the Dutch patrol officer Albertus (Bert) Huizenga. Temple had previously led an expedition into the area and pioneered the access route to the mountains.</p><br>
<p>When Indonesia took control of the province in 1963, the peak was renamed Poentja Soekarno (Simplified Indonesian: Puncak Sukarno) or Sukarno Peak, after the first President of Indonesia; later this was changed to Puncak Jaya. Puncak means peak or mountain and Jaya means victory, victorious or glorious. The name Carstensz Pyramid is still used among mountaineers.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Puncak Jaya is the highest point on the central range, which was created in the late Miocene Melanesian orogeny,</p><br>
<p>caused by oblique collision between the Australian and Pacific plates and is made of middle Miocene limestones.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>Access to the peak requires a government permit. The mountain was closed to tourists and climbers between 1995 and 2005. As of 2006, access is possible through various adventure tourism agencies.</p><br>
<h2>Glaciers</h2><br>
<p>While Puncak Jaya&#39;s peak is free of ice, there are several glaciers on its slopes, including the Carstensz Glacier, West Northwall Firn, East Northwall Firn and the recently vanished Meren Glacier in the Meren Valley (meren is Dutch for "lakes").</p><br>
<p>Being equatorial, there is little variation in the mean temperature during the year (around 0.5 °C) and the glaciers fluctuate on a seasonal basis only slightly. However, analysis of the extent of these rare equatorial glaciers from historical records show significant retreat since the 1850s, around the time of the Little Ice Age Maximum which primarily affected the Northern Hemisphere, indicating a regional warming of around 0.6 °C per century between 1850 and 1972.</p><br>
<p>The glacier on Puncak Trikora in the Maoke Mountains disappeared completely some time between 1939 and 1962. Since the 1970s, evidence from satellite imagery indicates the Puncak Jaya glaciers have been retreating rapidly. The Meren Glacier melted away sometime between 1994 and 2000.</p><br>
<p>An expedition led by paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thompson in 2010 found that the glaciers are disappearing at a rate of seven metres thickness per year and should have vanished by 2015.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing</h2><br>
<p>Puncak Jaya is one of the more demanding climbs in one version of the Seven Summits peak-bagging list, despite having the lowest elevation. It is held to have the highest technical rating, though not the greatest physical demands of that list&#39;s ascents.</p><br>
<p>The standard route to climb the peak from its base camp is up the north face and along the summit ridge, which is all hard rock surface. Despite the large mine, the area is highly inaccessible to hikers and the general public. The standard route to access base camp as of 2013 is to fly into the nearest major town with an airport, Timika, and then take a small aircraft over the mountain range and onto an unimproved runway at one of the local villages far down from the peak. It is then typically a five-day hike via the Jungle route to the base camp through very dense jungle and with regular rainfall, making the approach probably the "most miserable" of the Seven Summits. Rain during most days of the hike inbound and out are not uncommon. Unlike the other Seven Summits, if one sustains an injury on the inbound hike, there is little or no ability to get rescued via helicopter. Anyone injured must evacuate by foot over very difficult and slippery terrain.</p><br>
<p>The descent from the peak&#39;s base camp can take three to four days. Anecdotally, it appears most injuries occur during the descent due to a combination of exhaustion and difficulty controlling hiking speed on the wet and slippery terrain.</p><br>
<p>An additional complication is relatively common work strikes by the climbing porters that accompany most expeditions, occasionally halting their work to demand (and usually receive) higher pay before agreeing to continue. The one-day summit bid is technically challenging for those with little rock climbing experience, and it can be quite cold with temperatures at or below freezing near the summit. Patches of snow sometimes appear on the route up or on the ropes of the Tyrolean traverse just below the summit.</p><br>
<p>The Tañon Strait  is a body of water, separating the islands of Negros and Cebu in the Visayas, Philippines. The strait, which is about 100 mi long, connects the Visayan Sea in the north to the Bohol Sea in the south. Its width varies from 5 to 27 km, with the narrowest point in the south. In the north the strait is closed off by the Don Islands, the largest of which is Bantayan. The cities of San Carlos, Negros Occidental, Bais, Negros Oriental and Toledo, Cebu have deepwater port facilities. The Tañon Strait is known for whale and dolphin watching, with tour boats operating from Bais City.</p><br>
<h2>Protected area</h2><br>
<p>The Tañon Strait protected seascape was established by President Ramos under Proclamation No. 1234 of 1998.</p><br>
<h2>Controversy</h2><br>
<p>On February 7, 2008 the Supreme Court of the Philippines ordered the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Energy to comment on a certiorari petition filed for baleen and toothed whales, dolphins, porpoises including the Irrawaddy dolphins, and other cetacean species in the Tañon Strait to stop oil exploration by Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (JAPEX) in the protected waterway. The strait serves as a marine wildlife reserve that provides grounds for breeding, feeding and resting to 11 species of marine mammals. The court was asked to recognize the petitioners as "Filipino mammals" with constitutional rights.</p><br>
<p>JAPEX subsequently abandoned oil exploration in the area, saying that initial drilling had shown lack of commercial opportunity. However the Supreme Court case continued.</p><br>
<p>The White House of the Chickasaws in Milburn, Oklahoma was built in 1895. It was designed by Dallas architect W.A. Waltham when the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. At the time of its construction, the house was on the north edge of the community of Emet, OklahomaEmet, where Johnston operated a store, but its formal street address is now 6379 E. Mansion Dr., Milburn, Oklahoma</p><br>
<p>On July 21, 1902, Johnston Murray, the son of Oklahoma Governor William H. Murray, was born at the mansion.</p><br>
<p>The house is now a historic house museum owned by the Chickasaw Nation and has been restored to a 1900 appearance. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 5, 1971, under Criteria A and C. At that time, the house was still owned by descendants of the Governor.</p><br>
<h2>Construction</h2><br>
<p>The house design was a gingerbread style, commonly used in Victorian architecture during the late 19th Century.</p><br>
<p>The center section of the house had four rooms. From south to north these were:</p><br>
<p>Parlor room (aka music room)</p><br>
<p>Sitting room (aka library)</p><br>
<p>State dining room</p><br>
<p>Kitchen.</p><br>
<p>Two-room wings flanked the center. The one on the west was separated from the sitting room by an open breezeway. This wing comprised Governor Johnston"s bedroom and office.</p><br>
<p>General construction lumber was obtained locally, but most of the finishing lumber was transported by wagon from Denison, Texas. The two ornate fireplaces inside the house had mantles and facings made of cherry mahogany, which were brought from Chattanooga, Tennessee. The porch that originally encircled the house used imported walnut for the ornamental woodwork.</p><br>
<p>The house is well-preserved. Only a few changes have been made to the original design. Around 1903 or 1904, the breezeway was removed and replaced with a stairway that led to the attic area, where a bedroom and bathroom had been added. Indoor bathrooms were added later, and lighting changed from the original coal-oil lamps (both hanging and standing).</p><br>
<p>Taps Combe Camp  is an Iron Age hill fort in North Somerset, England. The hill fort is situated approximately 1.8 mi east from the village of Brockley. The hill fort is shaped a lot like a "D", and is approximately 50 metres  by 50 metres  wide.</p><br>
<h2>Background</h2><br>
<p>Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC. The reason for their emergence in Britain, and their purpose, has been a subject of debate. It has been argued that they could have been military sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe, sites built by invaders, or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and consequent pressure on agriculture. The dominant view since the 1960s has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain. Deposits of iron ore were located in different places to the tin and copper ore necessary to make bronze, and as a result trading patterns shifted and the old elites lost their economic and social status. Power passed into the hands of a new group of people. Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe believes that population increase still played a role and has stated " provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress burst out into open warfare. But I wouldn&#39;t see them as having been built because there was a state of war. They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed, but this was not the only, or even the most significant, factor in their construction".</p><br>
<p>Staldmestergården  is a historic building on Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located at 21 Frederiksholms Kanal, in between Christiansborg Rising Grounds and Christian IVs Brewhouse. Originally for the administration personnel of the royal stables, it now houses the Ministries of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Staldmestergården was built from 1703 to 1705 as a residence for the staff working at the Royal Stables at neighbouring Copenhagen Castle.</p><br>
<p>In the early 20th century, the central administration lacked space and the stables administration had to vacate the building. One of the institutions which in 1910 moved in, was the Kultus Ministry. After it was split into a Ministry of Education and a Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs in 1916, they continued to share the building.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>Staldmestergården is a large L-shaped building, with two storeys and a cellar, designed in the Italian Baroque style which Marselis had had the opportunity to study during his years in Italy. It is built in yellow brick and has a hipped roof in red tiles. The main entrance is located in the short wing facing the canal. The portal is carved in limestone from Stevns and is also in the Italian Baroque style.</p><br>
<p>The Lee County Courthouse in Fort Madison, Iowa, United States was built in 1842. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. The courthouse serves the court functions and county administration for the northern part of Lee County, and is the county’s first courthouse. Southern Lee County is served from a courthouse in Keokuk in a former Federal Courthouse building. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the USA Post Office and Courthouse.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Construction began on the courthouse in 1841. The courthouse and the jail were completed the following year for about $12,000. The basement walls are constructed of stone and the upper walls are faced in brick. Four large Tuscan columns hold up the porch roof on the Greek Revival style building. After it was completed the seat of county government moved to West Point. From 1843 to 1845 the Fort Madison courthouse was rented out. County voters chose Fort Madison as the county seat in an election in 1845, and the courthouse has been used for county business since that time. The Iowa General Assembly established Keokuk as the second county seat in 1848, making Lee County as the only Iowa county that has more than one courthouse. The Sullivan Line was used to divide the county into northern and southern sections. The Fort Madison courthouse was extensively remodeled in 1876, and included the construction of a cupola that was part of the building&#39;s original designs. It was lost in a fire in 1911, and not replaced when the building was renovated. Two additions were built onto the rear of the courthouse, probably during the above-mentioned renovations.</p><br>
<p>The Louisa County Courthouse in Wapello, Iowa, United States was built in 1928. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. The courthouse is the fourth building the county has used for court functions and county administration.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The county’s first courthouse was a privately owned structure built of logs in a community then named Middle Wapello. A brick courthouse was built by the county in 1840. A new courthouse was built in Wapello in 1854 for $9,577.69. Columbus Junction desired to be the county seat and they raised $25,000 and built a two-story brick building for a courthouse. When they failed to become the county seat the building became a school.</p><br>
<p>The present courthouse was built on the same site as the 1854 building. The two-story building was designed in the Art Deco style. It was constructed of tan colored bricks and trimmed in stone. It was built for around $100,000.</p><br>
<p>The Linn County Courthouse is located on May’s Island in the middle of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It, along with the Veterans Memorial Building and two other buildings, is a contributing property to the May&#39;s Island Historic District that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The courthouse is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The county’s first courthouse was built for $40,000 in 1842 in Marion. The building was two-stories tall and constructed of brick. As Cedar Rapids vied for Marion to be the county seat a second courthouse was built in Marion in 1855. Cedar Rapids deeded a plot of land to the county for a courthouse in 1919. Even though voters failed to support a $1.3 million bond referendum to build the courthouse the board of supervisors continued to plan for a new building. In 1922 voters passed a smaller bond referendum.</p><br>
<p>The present courthouse was designed by Urbana, Illinois architect Joseph Royer in the Beaux-Arts style. It was completed in 1925 for just under $500,000. Royer also designed the former county jail that sat behind the courthouse.</p><br>
<p>The building sustained significant damage from a flood in 2008. Renovations of the building were completed in 2014.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The Linn County Courthouse is a three-story Bedford stone structure built on a granite foundation. The building consists of a main block flanked by two short wings. Classical elements are found in the full entablature and the protruding, nine-bay entrance porch. Ten fluted columns in the Ionic order support the entablature and parapet. Decorative stone panels separate two floors of windows. A stone balustrade surrounds the terrace, and balconies on the first floor windows flank the entrance pavilion. The side elevations and the rear of the building provide a simpler appearance, but the cornice surrounds most of the building. The interior walls were built of travertine and marble covers the floors.</p><br>
<p>The LoDaisKa Site is a prominent archaeological site in the USA state of Colorado, located within a rockshelter near Morrison. The rockshelter was first inhabited by people of the Archaic through the Middle Ceramic period, generally spanning 3000 BC to 1000 AD.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Located near the town of Morrison, off USA Route 285,</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Within the Denver basin, prehistoric cultural periods are traditionally identified as: Paleo-Indian, Archaic and Ceramic periods. Within the LoDaisKa Site five defined complexes were assigned from A to E by Cynthia C. Irwin (later Cynthia Irwin-Williams) and Henry Irwin, complex E being the oldest phase.</p><br>
<h3>Paleo-Indians</h3><br>
<p>The period immediately preceding the first humans coming into Colorado was the Ice Age Summer starting about 16,000 years ago. For the next five thousand years the landscape would change dramatically and most of the large animals would become extinct. Receding and melting glaciers created the Plum and Monument Creeks, the Castle Rock mesas and unburied the Rocky Mountains. Large mammals, such as the mastodon, mammoth, camels, giant sloths, cheetah, bison antiquus and horses roamed the land. There were a few Paleo-Indian cultures, distinctive by the size of the tools they used and the animals they hunted. People in the first, Clovis complex period, had large tools to hunt the megafauna animals of the early Paleo-Indian period. With time, the climate warmed again and lakes and savannas receded. The land became drier, food became less abundant, and as a result of the giant mammals became extinct. People adapted by hunting smaller mammals and gathering wild plants to supplement their diet. A new cultural complex was born, the Folsom tradition, with smaller projectile points to hunt smaller animals. Aside from hunting smaller mammals, people adapted by gathering wild plants to supplement their diet.</p><br>
<p>The earliest artifacts at the LoDaisKa rockshelter date from the Paleo-Indian period; the remains were from Complex E.</p><br>
<h3>Archaic periods</h3><br>
<p>People of the Archaic period (generally between 5500 and 1 BC) were hunters of small game, such as deer, antelope and rabbits, and gatherers of wild plants. The people moved seasonally to hunting and gathering sites. Late in the Archaic period, about AD 200-500, corn was introduced into the diet and pottery-making became an occupation for storing and caring food.</p><br>
<p>LoDaisKa site is considered to be a Mount Albion complex, which was an Early Archaic culture of the Plains from about 4050 to 3050 BC, particularly distinguished by their Mount Albion corner-notched projectile. Magic Mountain, in the western foothills near Denver, and Mount Albion were both similar or related to the Albion Boarding House phase. A report published in 1966 found no correlation between the complexes.</p><br>
<h3>Ceramic periods</h3><br>
<p>The Early Ceramic, or Woodland, period began in the Plains about AD 1 with the defining distinction of the creation of cordwrapped pottery, development of settlement areas, and use of smaller projectile points for bow and arrow technology. Artifacts found reveal into the Middle Ceramic period. Few Colorado rockshelters have been shown to have been inhabited for such a long period of time.</p><br>
<h3>Archaeology</h3><br>
<p>The LoDaisKa site artifacts include a hides, macrobotanical remains, wood artifacts, and a substantial collection of nonperishable artifacts from 3000 BC to AD 1000, which are classified into five site specific complex periods, from A through E.</p><br>
<h4>Artifacts by complex period</h4><br>
<p>Nelson also identified the general presence of seven lumps of red and yellow ochre stones, possibly the paint stones in Complex D. Stone cists used to store seeds were also mentioned, the time and culture is unknown.</p><br>
<p>In 1961, researchers reported the results of radiocarbon dating the site: they concluded that the earliest occupation of the site was around 3000 BC and that it was inhabited until at least AD 1000. As well, projectile points from LoDaisKa resemble and are contemporaneous with those found at such Great Plains sites such as the McKean Site in Wyoming and Signal Butte in Nebraska; all these sites were inhabited during the time known in the eastern United States as the Woodland period.</p><br>
<h4>Excavation and studies</h4><br>
<h3>Historical significance</h3><br>
<p>Findings by the earliest archaeologists to investigate LoDaisKa were highly influential: regional archaeologists often interpreted their findings in accordance with what was known of LoDaisKa, and many other sites were excavated in part to answer questions that had resulted from research at LoDaisKa. In 2003, the LoDaisKa Site (designated site ID 5JF142) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, qualifying because of the importance of the archaeological evidence found there.</p><br>
<p>Tell Ramad  is a prehistoric, Neolithic tell at the foot of Mount Hermon, about 20 km southwest of Damascus in Syria. The tell was the site of a small village of 2 hectare, which was first settled in the late 8th millennium BC.</p><br>
<p>The tell was discovered by French customs officers, M Company and Lieutenant Potut. Laurisson Ward visited again in 1939 and collected material from the surface, now in the Peabody Museum. Tell Ramad lay somewhat forgotten until it was rediscovered by W.J. van Liere and Henri de Contenson, the latter leading excavations in 8 seasons between 1963 and 1973.</p><br>
<p>Notable features from the earliest stage include a number of 3–4 metre diameter, lime-plaster floored, clay lined oval pits with ovens & clay bins that were suggested to have been used as houses. There was nothing to suggest a break in occupation between level I and II of the site. Burial customs appear to have been unchanged between the two periods. Burials were mostly done in communal graves, with little deposits of grave goods. Different flint tools were found at the site in both periods, including sickles and arrowheads.</p><br>
<p>Tell Ramad is notable as one of the few sites fundamental to our understanding of the origin of agriculture with finds including various types of domesticated wheat, barley and flax. The mammal fauna from level I at Tell Ramad shows that both sheep and goats were fully and simultaneously domesticated at the site, although the sheep-to-goat ratio is more than 3 to 1.</p><br>
<h2>Footnotes</h2><br>
<h2>Further reading</h2><br>
<p>de Contenson, H. Cauvin, M.-C. Courtois, L. Ducos, P. Dupeyron, M. van Zeist, W. - Ramad. Site Néolitique en Damascène (Syrie) aux VIIIe et VIIe Millénaires Avant l´Ère Chrétienne, Bibliothèque Archéologique et Histoire, Tome 157, Beirut, 2000.</p><br>
<p>van Zeist, W. Bakker-Heeres, J.A.H. - Archaeobotanical Studies in the Levant 1. Neolithic Sites in the Damascus Basin: Aswad, Ghoraifé, Ramad - Palaeohistoria, 24, 165-256, 1982.</p><br>
<p>Vogel, J.C. Waterbolk, H.T. - Groningen Radiocarbon Dates VII - Radiocarbon, 9, 107-155, 1967.</p><br>
<p>Ferembach, D. - Étude anthropologique des ossements humains néolithiques Tell Ramad (Syrie). Annales archéologiques de Syrie, 19, 49-70, 1969.</p><br>
<p>de Contenson, H. Troisiéme campagne á Tell ramad 1966: rapport préliminaire. Annales Archéologiques de Syria XVII (1–2), 17–24, 1967.</p><br>
<p>de Contenson, H. Découvertes récentes dans la domaine du Néolithique en Syrie, L&#39;Anthropologie, 70, 388-391, 1966.</p><br>
<p>de Contenson, H. van Liere, W.J. Premiers pas vers une chronologie absolue à Tell Ramad, Annales Archéologiques Arabes Syriennes, 16, 175-176, 1966.</p><br>
<p>de Contenson, H. van Liere, W.J. Sondages à Tell Ramad en 1963: rapport préliminaire, Annales Archéologiques Arabes Syriennes, 14, 190, 1964.</p><br>
<p>de Contenson, H. van Liere, W.J. A Note on Five Early Neolithic Sites in Inland Syria 13, 175-209, 1963.</p><br>
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<p>Kodumanal is a village located in the Erode district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was once a flourishing ancient trade city known as Kodumanam, as inscribed in Patittrupathu of Sangam Literature. The place is an important archaeological site, under the control of State Archaeological Department of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the northern banks of Noyyal River, a tributary of the Cauvery.</p><br>
<h2>The ancient city</h2><br>
<p>The inhabitants of this destroyed ancient city of Chera dynasty were highly skilled craftsmen, who were specialized in making beads and high-quality iron. The place is referred to in Sangam literature as an important industrial centre that had links with the Chola port city of Kaveripoompattinam, now called Poompuhar.</p><br>
<h2>Roman trade route</h2><br>
<p>The city played a major role in Indo-Roman trade and relations, as the ancient city is located on the mid-way of a Roman trade route, linking Muziris port on the Malabar Coast with the Kaveripoompattinam (Puhar) Port in the Coromandel Coast.</p><br>
<h2>Megalithic tombs</h2><br>
<p>Excavations have been carried out and it came out with the layers of a megalithic-cum-early tombs of historic period. Also there were two female and one male human skeleton were recovered from a pit burial in this site. A set of 300 megalithic tombs of different types and sizes were observed and recorded in this area. The ancient city has been destroyed in time and now the area is available with the remains of a megalithic settlement dating back to the 2nd century BC. Apparently, this was the centre for the Romans who visited to obtain beryls from Kodumanal. The megalithic communities that flourished in this site belong to the period of 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD.</p><br>
<h2>Iron and metal</h2><br>
<p>The iron and steel furnaces and iron artefacts produced in these places revealed the technical advancement made by the iron smelters around 500 BC. The excavated sword bit contained spheroidal graphite phase and forge welding of high-carbon cutting edge. This place was once celebrated for its trade in precious stones like garnet, carnelian, lapis lazuli, sapphire and quartz. The people of this city were experts in manufacturing the finest iron.</p><br>
<h2>Collections</h2><br>
<p>Excavations uncovered ancient iron objects such as arrow heads and swords. They also produced Roman artefacts, iron melting furnaces, beads, shell bangles and pottery with the Tamil Brahmi scripts (from the habitation deposits and burials). Other artifacts uncovered during the excavation of this site include roulette pottery, Roman silver coins, and gold and silver spirals. A bronze statue of a lion and the iron melting furnaces were important to deciphering the site&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>Duddingston House is an 18th-century mansion in Edinburgh, Scotland, located south-east of the village of Duddingston. It was built in the 1760s for James Hamilton, 8th Earl of Abercorn, and was designed by Sir William Chambers. It is now protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds of the house are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The lands of Duddingston were purchased by James Hamilton, 8th Earl of Abercorn (1712–1789), in 1745 from the Duke of Argyll. During the Jacobite rising of 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie&#39;s cavalry camped in the park, before the Battle of Prestonpans.</p><br>
<p>After Lord Abercorn&#39;s death in 1789, the estate passed to his heirs but the house was let. The Benhar Coal Mining Company bought a large part of the 1,500 acre estate in the 1880s, and in 1894 Duddingston Golf Club was developed in the grounds. Holyrood High School was built in the park in the 1960s, to the west of the house. By this time the house was in poor repair, and in 1959 it was bought, along with 9 acres, by a Mr E. Gladstone, who restored the house and opened it as a hotel in 1963. In the 1990s the stables and service block courtyard of the house were converted into town houses, while the main house was restored by the Burrell Company as offices.</p><br>
<p>Ellison&#39;s Cave is a pit cave located in Walker County, on Pigeon Mountain in the Appalachian Plateaus of Northwest Georgia. It is the 12th deepest cave in the United States and features the deepest, unobstructed underground pitch in the continental US named Fantastic Pit. The cave is over 12 miles long and extends 1063 feet vertically.</p><br>
<h2>Pits</h2><br>
<p>Ellison&#39;s features a number of underground vertical pitches including the two deepest pits in the continental United States: Fantastic (586 feet) and Incredible (440 feet). These two pits lie on opposite sides of the cave. Nearby and parallel to Fantastic are Smokey I (500 feet), Smokey II (262 feet), and other extremely deep pitches. There are over 7 routes to reach the bottom level of the cave from the Fantastic side. Fantastic and Smokey I both extend to TAG Hall, a passage at the bottom of the cave. To reach Fantastic, or the large pits on the Fantastic side, cavers must also descend the Warm Up pit (125 feet).</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Ellisons is a solution cave in the Ridge and Valley geologic region of northwest Georgia and lies within a bedrock fault in Pigeon Mountain. During the Ordovician Period, tectonic subduction responsible for forming the Appalachians left a number of seismically active fault lines stretching from northern Alabama to eastern Tennessee. Continued orogeny created a large fault zone in the bedrock throughout the southern Appalachians and northern Georgia. This fracturing along with the proliferation of gypsum and limestone contributes to the exceptional depth of Ellisons.</p><br>
<h2>Incidents</h2><br>
<p>March 10, 1999 - A caver climbing the Incredible pit became tangled in multiple ropes and was stranded 140 feet off the cave floor underneath water falling into the pit. The incident resulted in fatality due to hypothermia.</p><br>
<p>February 12, 2011 - Two University of Florida students died of hypothermia after becoming stuck on rope near a waterfall close to the bottom of a 120-foot pit. It was reported that the students were underexperienced and underprepared for the cave.</p><br>
<p>May 26, 2013 - A caver was rescued and hospitalized after falling 40 feet in the cave. It took 21 hours to evacuate the caver, including hauling up Fantastic Pit.</p><br>
<p>March 26, 2016 - A 22-year-old man suffering from exhaustion and cold was rescued from the bottom of Fantastic Pit after emerging from the lower part of the cave. After being hauled up both Fantastic and the Warm Up Pit, he was able to walk down the mountain on his own.</p><br>
<h2>Visiting</h2><br>
<p>The cave and surrounding area are managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and are open year-round. Due to the technical and dangerous nature of Ellison&#39;s Cave, it is generally explored by only the most experienced and capable cavers. Beginning cavers and spelunkers are severely discouraged from entering and negotiating the cave. The vertical sections of the cave require extensive knowledge and practice of single rope technique climbing, including practice on heavy ropes and in wet environments. The horizontal portions of the cave also feature technical and somewhat dangerous free climbing and bouldering environments. Careful preparation, including bringing the proper gear and clothing, is essential.</p><br>
