<p>Gulf St Vincent is a large inlet of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia. It is bordered by Yorke Peninsula on its west, the mainland and Fleurieu Peninsula to its east and with its entrance as being a line from Troubridge Point on Yorke Peninsula to Cape Jervis on Fleurieu Peninsula.</p><br>
<p>Adelaide, the South Australian capital, lies midway along the gulfs east coast. Other towns located on the gulf, from west to east include Edithburgh, Port Vincent, Ardrossan and Port Wakefield and Normanville. It was named "Gulph of St. Vincent" by Matthew Flinders on 30 March 1802, in honour of Admiral John Jervis (1st Earl of St Vincent). It was later mapped by Nicolas Baudin, who named it as Golphe Josephine, after his meeting with Flinders at Encounter Bay on 8 April 1802. Due to Flinders lengthy imprisonment on Mauritius during his return to England, the publication of Baudin&#39;s map preceded that of Flinders by three years.</p><br>
<p>The Adelaide Desalination Plant which is located on Gulf St Vincent&#39;s eastern shore in Lonsdale, South Australia, supplies the Adelaide metropolitan area with desalinated water from the gulf. It officially opened in 2013.</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<p>The Gulf teems with crustacea and polychaeta, as well as various species of sea squirts and sea urchins. The benthos is a soft sediment shelf, with species of zosteraceae around the mouth of the Port River.</p><br>
<p>The Irma Hotel is a landmark in Cody, Wyoming. It was built by William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, the city&#39;s co-founder and namesake who named it after his daughter Irma Cody. A focal point is a famous back bar made of cherry that was a gift given by Queen Victoria to Buffalo Bill.</p><br>
<p>The Irma opened with a party on November 18, 1902, to which Cody invited the press and dignitaries from as far away as Boston. The hotel quickly became the social center of Cody. In the meantime, Buffalo Bill was under pressure from creditors and was forced to sign over the hotel to his wife Louisa in 1913, who was at that time on bad terms with him. After Codys death in 1917 the hotel was foreclosed upon and sold to Barney Link. Before the end of the year Links estate sold the property back to Louisa, who kept it until she died in 1925. The new owners, Henry and Pearl Newell, gradually expanded the hotel, building an annex around 1930 on the west side to accommodate automobile-borne visitors. After her husbands death in 1940, Pearl Newell operated the hotel until her own death in 1965. She left the hotels extensive collection of Buffalo Bill memorabilia to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and stipulated that proceeds from the estate be used as an endowment for the museum.</p><br>
<p>The Irma Hotel is still open for business as both a hotel and restaurant. It is included on the National Register of Historic Places, listed in 1973.</p><br>
<p>Gilf Kebir   is a plateau in the New Valley Governorate of the remote southwest corner of Egypt, and southeast Libya. Its name translates as "the Great Barrier". This 7,770 km&sup2; sandstone plateau, roughly the size of Puerto Rico, rises 300 m from the Libyan Desert floor.</p><br>
<p>The name Gilf Kebir was given to the plateau by Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein in 1925, as it had no local name. It is known for its rugged beauty, remoteness, geological interest, and the dramatic cliff paintings-pictographs and rock carvings-petroglyphs which depict an earlier era of abundant animal life and human habitation.</p><br>
<h2>Geography and climate</h2><br>
<p>The Uweinat mountain range at the very south of the plateau extends from Egypt into Libya and Sudan.</p><br>
<h3>Climate</h3><br>
<p>Gilf Kebir Plateau lies in the heart of the eastern part of the vast Sahara Desert, and, thus, gets some of the most extreme climates on Earth. This is the driest place on the planet, not only because the area is totally rainless (the annual average rainfall amount hardly reaches 0.1 mm) but also because the geological aridity index/dryness ratio is over 200, which means that the solar energy received at the ground evaporate 200 times the amount of precipitation received. Rainfall may fall every twenty years in Gilf Kebir.</p><br>
<h3>Wadis</h3><br>
<p>The plateau is crisscrossed by Wadis (dry, seasonal riverbeds). These include:</p><br>
<p>Wadi Akhdar وادى الاخضر</p><br>
<p>Wadi Bakht وادى البخت</p><br>
<p>Wadi Dayiq وادى الضيق</p><br>
<p>Wadi Firaq وادى فراق</p><br>
<p>Wadi Gazayir وادى الجزائر</p><br>
<p>Wadi Maftuh وادى مفتوح</p><br>
<p>Wadi Mashi وادى مشى</p><br>
<p>Wadi Sura وادي صورة</p><br>
<p>Wadi Wassa وادى وسع</p><br>
<p>Wadi Hamra وادي حمراء</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Petroglyphs</h3><br>
<p>The Gilf Kebir is known for its prehistoric Neolithic petroglyphs</p><br>
<p>Karkur Talh and Karkur Murr: major eastern valleys of the Uweinat contain one of the richest concentrations of rock art in the whole Sahara.</p><br>
<p>Western Uweinat: Shelters under the huge granite boulders in the western Uweinat contain numerous paintings, including the famous sites of Ain Doua.</p><br>
<p>Jebel Arkenu, Jebel Kissu & Yerguehda Hill, the lesser granite massifs around Uweinat have many smaller sites.</p><br>
<p>Mogharet el Kantara in the southern Gilf Kebir contains only one known rock art site, a cave discovered by Shaw & party in 1936.</p><br>
<p>Wadi Sura in the southwestern Gilf Kebir: the "Cave of Swimmers", discovered by the Hungarian Count László Almásy (The English Patient), plus many other paintings nearby.</p><br>
<p>The North-western half of the Gilf Kebir aside from Wadi Sura has only a few scattered engravings, of an apparently very ancient age.</p><br>
<p>In January 2003, Zarzora Expeditions and Jacopo Foggini independently announced the discovery of a major new rock art site in the Western Gilf Kebir (Foggini-Mestekawi Cave).</p><br>
<p>Saharan rock art has been found to resemble art of Nile valleys. The Saharan area was more wet until mid-Holocene or about 4000 BC, when the monsoon retreated southwards, forcing humans to migrate. Some retreated eastward to the Nile valley, taking with them their beliefs and influencing Egyptian art.</p><br>
<h3>20th century exploration</h3><br>
<p>The hills of the Gilf Kebir were first seen from a distance by European explorers in 1910 - with W. J. Harding-King in 1910 and 1911, and Dr. Ball and Lieutenant Moore in 1918. The high southern part of the plateau was sighted for the first time by Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein in 1925, and on another expedition in the following year he fixed the eastern escarpment of the plateau and first realised the true size of the plateau. In 1930 an expedition headed by Ralph Alger Bagnold followed the same route. In the winter of 1930-1 P. A. Clayton surveyed some of the area.</p><br>
<p>The western side of the Gilf Kebir was explored in 1932 by the Clayton-Almásy Expedition, headed by Sir Robert East Clayton and Count László E. Almásy, and accompanied by Patrick A. Clayton, Squadron Leader H. W. G. J. Penderel, three Arabian car drivers and a cook. The expedition explored the area by Gypsy Moth plane, by car and on foot.</p><br>
<h3>WWII archeology</h3><br>
<p>The plateau was the site for various British logistical operations during the Second World War, and due to the extremely dry conditions and lack of population, remains of this occupation are often found intact. A large airbase, including huge navigation arrows laid out in army petrol cans, can still be seen.</p><br>
<p>It was also the site of the recent discovery of a bag which had been lost in the Second World War by a dispatch rider (Alec Ross) of the Long Range Desert Group, part of the British Army. This contained the rider&#39;s personal letters and photographs, and had been well preserved.</p><br>
<h2>Literary setting</h2><br>
<p>The Gilf Kebir is the setting for part of Michael Ondaatje&#39;s novel The English Patient.</p><br>
<p>It also plays an important role in Paul Sussman&#39;s The Hidden Oasis.</p><br>
<h2>Curiosity</h2><br>
<p>In 2006, Gilf Kebir Desert was the site of an extreme sports record from Italian runner Stefano Miglietti. On 14 December 2006, Miglietti crossed the desert by foot, taking only 3 days and 5 hours to cover the full 340 km trail, running at an average speed of 9 km/h. Miglietti started from Wadi Mashi and arrived at Silica Glass, a desert close to the Gilf Kebir desert.</p><br>
<p>The Pelham Islands are a group of islands in western Long Island Sound which belonged to Thomas Pell, Lord of Pelham Manor in the 17th century. The islands, and most of the surrounding area, were purchased from the Siwanoy Indians by Pell in 1654, creating Pelham Manor. This large tract of land would eventually become the present day Town & Village of Pelham and Pelham Manor, Town of Eastchester, and cities of New Rochelle and Mount Vernon in Westchester County, and the Pelham Bay and Eastchester sections within the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Several of the Pelham Islands became part of New Rochelle after Jacob Leisler’s purchase of 6,000 acres from the Pell family in 1688. The remaining islands became part of Bronx County in 1895 with the establishment of the current Westchester-Bronx County line.</p><br>
<h2>Islands</h2><br>
<p>City Island - originally known as “Great Minnefords”, the 235 acre island is the largest of the group. Before the Revolutionary War, Benjamin Palmer renamed it "City Island" as part of his plans to create a great port city. The onset of the Revolutionary War brought an end to those plans. It remained part of the Town of Pelham until June 6, 1895, when the present boundary line between Westchester and Bronx Counties was established, placing City Island within Bronx County, City of New York.</p><br>
<p>Davids Island - a 78-acre island in New Rochelle. The island has been used as farmland by the early Huguenot settlers, a military hospital for injured Civil War soldiers, a USA Army Fort (Fort Slocum), and a USA Army Air Defense Command "Nike" missile site during the Cold War.</p><br>
<p>Goose Island - a series of rocky outcroppings located in New Rochelle</p><br>
<p>Hart Island - originally known as “Little Minnefords”, the 101 acre island lies off the eastern shore of City Island, The federal government took possession of the island during the Civil War for use as a training facility. The City of New York purchased Hart Island in 1868 and has been used as a quarantine site for infected individuals during the Yellow Fever Epidemic, a reformatory for vicious boys, a home for German prisoners of war during World War II, a "Nike" missile installation used by the USA Army Air Defense Command during the Cold War, and a facility for the rehabilitation of drug addicts. It is currently used as a potters field.</p><br>
<p>High Island - an 8-acre island was purchased in 1762 by Captain John Wooley, which he then named "High Island" for its elevated center. A radio broadcasting company bought the island in 1962 and built an automobile bridge to City Island. WCBS and WFAN currently operate the 529-foot antenna tower on the island.</p><br>
<p>Hunters Island - the 19th century country estate of the wealthy New York City merchant John Hunter. When the City developed Pelham Bay Park in 1937, the stretch of water between Hunter&#39;s Island and the land opposite City Island Bridge, was filled, converting the Island into a peninsula.</p><br>
<p>Rat Island - a 2.5 acre island which has been used as a typhoid quarantine hospital, an artists and writers colony and a fisherman’s campsite.</p><br>
<p>The Blauzes - a pair of small islands in City Island Harbor made of Manhattan schist bedrock.</p><br>
<p>The Chimney Sweeps - a pair of small, uninhabited islands made entirely of bedrock. The islands were acquired by the City of New York on April 29, 1939, and are now part of Pelham Bay Park.</p><br>
<p>Travers Island - a former island connected by landfill to mainland New Rochelle, and is the summer home of the New York Athletic Club.</p><br>
<p>Twin Island - a former island which was connected to Rodman&#39;s Neck by landfill in the 1930s. They are now part of Orchard Beach in Pelham Bay Park</p><br>
<p>Tomb KV17, located in Egypts Valley of the Kings and also known by the names "Belzonis tomb", "the Tomb of Apis", and "the Tomb of Psammis, son of Nechois", is the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I of the Nineteenth Dynasty. It is one of the best decorated tombs in the valley, but now is almost always closed to the public due to damage. It was first discovered by Giovanni Battista Belzoni on 16 October 1817. When he first entered the tomb he found the wall paintings in excellent condition with the paint on the walls still looking fresh and some of the artists paints and brushes still on the floor.</p><br>
<p>The longest tomb in the valley, at 137.19 meters (450.10 feet), it contains very well preserved reliefs in all but two of its eleven chambers and side rooms. One of the back chambers is decorated with the Ritual of the Opening of the Mouth, which stated that the mummys eating and drinking organs were properly functioning. Believing in the need for these functions in the afterlife, this was a very important ritual. A very long tunnel (corridor K) leads away deep into the mountainside from beneath the location where the sarcophagus stood in the burial chamber. Recently, the excavation of this corridor was completed. It turned out that there was no secret burial chamber&#39; or any other kind of chamber at the end. Work on the corridor was just abandoned upon the burial of Seti.</p><br>
<p>The sarcophagus removed on behalf of the British consul Henry Salt is since 1824 in the Sir John Soane&#39;s Museum in London. KV17 was damaged when Jean-François Champollion, translator of the Rosetta Stone, removed a wall panel of 2.26 x 1.05 m (7.41 x 3.44 ft) in a corridor with mirror-image scenes during his 1828-29 expedition. Other elements were removed by his companion Rossellini or the German expedition of 1845. The scenes are now in the collections of the Louvre, the museums of Florence and Berlin.</p><br>
<p>The tomb became known as the "Apis tomb" because when Giovanni Belzoni found the tomb a mummified bull was found in a side room off the burial hall.</p><br>
<p>A number of walls in the tomb have collapsed or cracked due to excavations in the late 1950s and early &#39;60s causing significant changes in the moisture levels in the surrounding rocks.</p><br>
<p>Oak Hill is a mansion and plantation located in Aldie, Virginia that was for 22 years a home of James Monroe, the fifth USA President. It is located approximately 9 mi south of Leesburg on USA Route 15, in an unincorporated area of Loudoun County, Virginia. Its entrance is 10,300 ft north of Gilberts Corner, the intersection of 15 with USA Route 50. It is a National Historic Landmark, but privately owned and not open to the public.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The main mansion of the property was constructed in 1822 for Monroe, who subsequently split time between this estate and another home at Monroe Hill on the grounds of the University of Virginia after his term as President. Oak Hill was Monroes only residence for three years, from 1827 to 1830, and it was one of his residences during 22 years. The mansion was built in 1820, during Monroes presidency. Before that, Monroe&#39;s residence at the estate was the clapboard building known in recent years as the Monroe Cottage.</p><br>
<p>The architecture is distinctive for "its unusual pentastyle portico". It is suggested that Thomas Jefferson, his close friend, may well have drawn plans for Oak Hill; the construction was supervised by James Hoban, designer and builder of the White House. The estate is a designated USA National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<h2>Purchase</h2><br>
<p>Monroe and his uncle Joseph Jones jointly purchased 4,400 acres (18 km²) of land in Loudoun County in 1794. When Jones died without direct heirs in 1805, Monroe gained sole possession of the property. However, Monroe continued to live primarily at Highland, his residence in Albemarle County&mdash;until 1826, when he was forced to sell that property to pay debts he had incurred while serving as President.</p><br>
<h2>Attempted sale</h2><br>
<p>Monroe had put Oak Hill on the market in 1809, and placed an advertisement in The Washingtonian on December 23 of that year:</p><br>
<p>He also attempted to sell the land in 1825, but failed to receive an acceptable bid both times.</p><br>
<h2>Retirement</h2><br>
<p>In 1822, Monroe began construction on the main house, a two-story brick mansion in the Federal style. He hired James Hoban, the designer of the White House, to serve as architect. Monroe’s longtime friend and political mentor Thomas Jefferson offered many design suggestions.</p><br>
<p>Monroe and his wife, Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, retired to Oak Hill after he finished his second term as President in 1825. In August 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette and President John Quincy Adams were guests of the Monroes there. Elizabeth Monroe died at Oak Hill on September 23, 1830. After her death, Monroe moved to New York City to live with his youngest daughter and remained there until his own death on July 4, 1831.</p><br>
<p>After Monroes death, the property passed out of the Monroe family. John W. Fairfax, later a lieutenant colonel in the Confederate States Army, bought Oak Hill in 1852. His wife remained there while Fairfax was away fighting in the American Civil War; it was visited by General George G. Meade of the Union Army on the invitation of Mrs. Fairfax about a week prior to the Battle of Gettysburg. The property passed out of the hands of John Fairfax after the war, but was later repurchased by his eldest son, Henry, a civil engineer and state senator. The estate remained in the Fairfax family until after Henry Fairfaxs death in 1916. The mansion was enlarged by the addition of two wings in 1922 while owned by Frank C. Littleton and his wife, but the central facade looks much as it did during Monroe&#39;s lifetime. The property remains in private hands today as the residence of Thomas DeLashmutt and his wife; it is not open to the public.</p><br>
<p>Two USA Navy ships have been named USS Oak Hill after the estate.</p><br>
<p>Kvarken , Finnish Merenkurkku lit. "throat of the sea") is the narrow region in the Gulf of Bothnia separating the Bothnian Bay  from the Bothnian Sea. The distance from Swedish mainland to Finnish mainland is around 80 km while the distance between the outmost islands is only 25 km. The water depth in the Kvarken region is only around 25 m. The region also has an unusual rate of land rising at about 10 mm a year.</p><br>
<p>On the Finnish side of Kvarken, there is a large archipelago, the Kvarken Archipelago, which includes the large islands Replot, Björkö and a large number of smaller islands. Most of it is belongs to the municipality of Korsholm. Most of the small islands are inhabited. The archipelago is smaller on the Swedish side of the region, and the islands have much steeper shores. The Kvarken region was historically important also, because mail was delivered across Kvarken when the sea was completely frozen from the Swedish to the Finnish coast. This mail route was used frequently during the period of Swedish rule.</p><br>
<p>In the group of islands in the “middle” of the Kvarken region, in Swedish called Valsöarna &ndash; Finnish Valassaaret, is a 36 m lighthouse designed by Henry LePaute who worked for Gustave Eiffel&#39;s engineering bureau. The structural similarity between the lighthouse (built in 1885) and the Eiffel tower (built in 1889) is quite obvious. The lighthouse is now automated as are most lighthouses in Finland.</p><br>
<h2>World Heritage Site</h2><br>
<p>In 2006, parts of the Kvarken Archipelago were added as an extension to the World Heritage Site of the High Coast (located on the western shore of the Gulf of Bothnia) in Sweden, because it is “continuously rising from the sea in a process of rapid glacio-isostatic uplift, whereby the land, previously weighed down under the weight of a glacier, lifts at rates that are among the highest in the world. As a consequence of the advancing shoreline, islands appear and unite, peninsulas expand, lakes evolve from bays and develop into marshes and peat fens. This property is essentially a ‘type area’ for research on isostasy; the phenomenon having been first recognized and studied here.” Most Finnish parts of the High Coast/Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage Site are situated in the Korsholm municipality.</p><br>
<h2>Bridge</h2><br>
<p>There have been proposals for a bridge across the strait, at a cost of about 1.5 to 2 billion euros. There are islands in the strait, and the sum of the lengths of the probably three bridge parts would be about 40 km. The Swedish minister of finance has said it is an interesting idea, but the idea is still decades from being brought to fruition. There is a debate in the coastal cities on both sides, like Umeå and Vaasa. The official view from the Swedish and Finnish governments is that it is much too expensive. The natural values in the area also makes a bridge dubious.</p><br>
<p>The American Cordillera is a chain of mountain ranges  that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica. It is also the backbone of the volcanic arc that forms the eastern half of the Pacific Ring of Fire.</p><br>
<p>From north to south, this sequence of overlapping and parallel ranges begins with the Alaska Range and the Brooks Range in Alaska and runs through the Yukon into British Columbia. The main belt of the Rocky Mountains along with the parallel Columbia Mountains and Coast Ranges of mountains and islands continue through British Columbia and Vancouver Island. In the United States, the Cordillera branches include the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades, and various small Pacific coastal ranges. In Mexico, the Cordillera continues through the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental, as well as the backbone mountains of the Baja California peninsula.</p><br>
<p>The ranges of the Cordillera from Mexico northwards are collectively called the North American Cordillera or Western Cordillera in the United States and Canada, and also named as the Canadian Cordillera or Pacific Cordillera in Canada.</p><br>
<p>The Cordillera continues on through the mountain ranges of Central America in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and becomes the Andes Mountains of South America. The Andes with their parallel chains and the island chains off the coast of Chile continue through Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile to the very tip of South America at Tierra del Fuego. In addition, the range can possibly be followed through the curved South Georgia Ridge across the Southern Ocean to the mountains of Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula.</p><br>
<p>Valsöarna  or Valassaaret  is a small archipelago located in the Kvarken region of the Gulf of Bothnia. The islands are situated in the territorial waters of Finland and are the last you see when going by boat or ferry from Vaasa, Finland to Umeå, Sweden. They are a part of Korsholm municipality and are an important bird sanctuary. They are included in the newly established UNESCO world nature heritage site in the archipelago of Kvarken.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>The Name</h3><br>
<p>The name Valsöarna is of Swedish origin, meaning "the whale&#39;s islands." It is believed that the name was derived from the stone-clad shores and the moraine which resembles a whale. The Finnish name Valassaaret is believed to have been derived from the Swedish word.</p><br>
<h3>An old route between Finland and Sweden</h3><br>
<p>The Valsöarna is the shortest route to the Swedish island Holmsö only 23 km away. During winter, the waters of Kvarken are completely iced and it was possible to walk over to the neighbouring country that way. Today, this is not possible thanks to the active ferry traffic and icebreakers that traffic there.</p><br>
<p>This fact was used during the Finnish War by Russian general Barclay de Tolly who used this route in November 1809 when marching over to Umeå. The march to Sweden with about 3700 soldiers was successful but failed on the return trip. The severe cold of the Spring and the lack of food took their toll on the men and it is estimated that 400 died from the cold alone. The remains of these soldiers were still present around Valsöarna in the 1900s. In memory of the fallen men, there is now a memorial mound of stones raised on Äbbskär. A saying tells the tale that the inhabitants of Valsöarna grew tired upon always finding skeletons everywhere around the islands and collected them all in one place, which today is the mound of stones.</p><br>
<h3>The Lighthouse is built</h3><br>
<p>There was a sailmark made out of a tree on the island in the 1850s but that became inefficient for use in the dangerous waters of Kvarken as traffic increased. The long thought-of lighthouse became reality after five boats ran aground on the same night in 1879. The lighthouse was designed by Henry Lepaute who worked for Gustave Eiffels engineering company and built by the same company in France that manufactured the components for the Eiffel Tower.</p><br>
<p>The lighthouse was initially intended to be placed on Äbbskär. However, after digging and ground analysis, it was concluded that Äbbskär had no suitable ground for the lighthouse and it was decided that it should be moved to Storskär. The hole that was dug on Äbbskär is still there today with a sea guard station as neighbour.</p><br>
<p>For the move over to Storskär, a bridge of stone was built between it and Äbbskär. The road also built in connection to the bridge got the name Kärleksstigen (" the love path"). The lighthouse was securely fastened on the mountain on Storskär in 1886, and still stands there today, fire-red, 36 m high and with 175 steps inside.</p><br>
<p>The lighthouse amazed and even scared people with its fire-red color fuelling rumors. The best known rumor was that if you touched the lighthouse, you got seriously burned from it. This rumor was so widespread that it lived long until the 1950s.</p><br>
<p>In 1963 the lighthouse was first automated and later, in the 1980s, electrified. The lens system was removed in conjunction with the electrification and is now on display in Vaasa Seamuseum.</p><br>
<p>The lighthouse was closed from the public in 2013. It was found that it was impossible to repair or reconstruct the lighthouse to fulfill modern safety and accessibility standards without substantially modifying the architecture.</p><br>
<p>Wakefield is a village in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and the commercial center of the town. Together with the village of Peace Dale, it is treated by the USA Census as a component of the census-designated place identified as Wakefield-Peacedale, Rhode Island. West Kingston, another South Kingstown village, was the traditional county seat of Washington County. Since 1991, the Washington County Courthouse has been in Wakefield. The Sheriff&#39;s Office which handles corrections is also in Wakefield.</p><br>
<p>The Wakefield village center along Main Street (old Boston Post Road) between Belmont Avenue and Columbia Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 as Wakefield Historic District. The district is significant for being an early commercial and industrial center. The district includes 53 properties over an area of 400 acre, which is separately listed on the National Register.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Wakefield was a focus for settlement due to its location on the Saugatucket River and the old Post Road, which was laid out early in the 18th century. Settlement began in the early 18th century with establishment of a small mill on the Saugatucket River. A tavern and stagecoach stop were established in 1745 and a snuff mill was built around 1765. The textile industry began to become an important source of economic activity in 1807 when a carding mill was established on the Saugatucket River. By 1822, the village had about 60 residents and consisted of nine houses, a store, the carding mill, a grist mill, a saw mill, and a blacksmith shop. A Baptist church was built in 1830 and an Episcopal church followed in 1840.</p><br>
<p>The local textile mill continued to operate and expand through the 19th century, but in the mid-century, as nearby Peace Dale grew as a manufacturing center and factories were established in other water power sites in the area, Wakefield became the commercial center of South Kingstown. It underwent considerable growth in the 1840s, including the development of some major retail stores. A Roman Catholic priest was assigned to Wakefield in 1852 and the first Catholic church was built two years later. Kenyons Department Store was founded in 1856. A carriage manufacturing operation was established in 1874, and in 1876 the Narragansett Pier Railroad started operation, with a station in Wakefield. It is now a bike trail called the William C. ONeill Bike Path. In 1877, the South Kingstown Town Hall was built in the village. A bank and several other major businesses arrived in the 1880s. By 1895, Wakefield had a population of 1,543, and had begun to coalesce with the villages of Peace Dale and Rocky Brook, forming a roughly contiguous settlement with a total population of 3,285.</p><br>
<p>The Wakefield Mill underwent several ownership changes and expansions in the 20th century. In 1903, it was sold to the Wakefield Woolen Company, which installed new looms and carding equipment for producing high-grade woolen fabrics. It sold again in 1922 and four more times between World War II and 1984. Beginning in the 1950s, parts of the mill complex began to be converted to other uses, but as of 1984, much of the complex was still used for textile manufacturing.</p><br>
<p>Wakefield&#39;s first hospital was started in a house in 1919, and a new South County Hospital building was built in 1925 on a 6 acre tract that formerly had been the town farm.</p><br>
<p>Beginning in the late 1950s, commercial activity in Wakefield migrated away from the central business district to new commercial areas on the periphery of the community. As of 1984, the village was considered the largest shopping area in South County.</p><br>
<h2>Education</h2><br>
<p>Matunuck Elementary (K-4)</p><br>
<p>Peacedale Elementary (K-4)</p><br>
<p>Wakefield Elementary (K-4)</p><br>
<p>West Kingston Elementary (K-4)</p><br>
<p>Broad Rock Middle School (5-6)</p><br>
<p>Curtis Corner Middle School (7-8)</p><br>
<p>South Kingstown High School (9-12)</p><br>
<h2>Contributing Properties</h2><br>
<p>Buildings in Wakefield that are identified as contributing properties in the historic district include:</p><br>
<p>Wakefield Baptist Church (236 Main St)</p><br>
<p>Armstrong, Nathaniel C. House (235 Main St)</p><br>
<p>Armstrong, John H. House (225 Main St)</p><br>
<p>Hera Gallery (327 Main St)</p><br>
<p>Bell Block (345 Main St)</p><br>
<p>Rat Island is a privately owned island in New York City. It is approximately 2.5 acres in size and located in City Island Harbor, which is a part of Long Island Sound. It is about halfway between City Island and Hart Island and south of High Island. It is one of the Pelham Islands.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The small irregular island is about 2.5 acre in area. It has a dual-humped appearance and is mostly a lump of Manhattan schist bedrock. There is a small channel that cuts into the bedrock on the southern side of the tiny island that was used for launching small boats. This channel is filled with mussel shells. There is a purple-bluish "beach" made of mussel shells mixed with bird bones on the west side of the island with some reed grass.</p><br>
<p>The highest point on the island is usually covered in gull bird guano and is underwater during high tide storms. The largest inhabitant of the island is usually a great blue heron that sleeps on the island during daytime.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Rat Island was included in the purchase by Thomas Pell in 1654. During the typhoid fever scares of the 1800s, Rat Island was used by Pelham, New York as a typhoid quarantine hospital for about 40 infected people called the "Pelham Pesthouse". The remains of cobblestone walls and foundations are still there. It was abandoned due to storm floods. Local legends say there was also a lighthouse for a while.</p><br>
<p>New York City purchased the island in 1888. It became a mini colony for writers and artists in the early 20th century. It was bought by Dr. H. A. Parmentier in 1908. He subsequently leased the island to the Mount Vernon Club in 1931.</p><br>
<p>It was owned by a Brooklyn lawyer until 1972 when it was sold to Edmund "Red" Brennen. He said he bought it to do salvage work and store equipment. For many years crane buckets and lattice booms and other equipment were visible. resident of nearby City Island. Schibli said he has no immediate plans for physical changes to the island, but is considering renaming it Malina Island after his granddaughter.</p><br>
<p>In summer months, a couple dozen people may come to the island. In the past, during summer the Parks Department used to put waste drums so they may contain their garbage. Sometimes, the local first responders use it to practice rescue missions with boats and helicopters.</p><br>
<p>In August 2016, a polyester copy of the statue of the Swiss freedom fighter William Tell (the original can be found in Altdorf, Uri, Switzerland) has been erected on the island for the 725th Swiss National Day.</p><br>
<p>In March 2017, Schibli was sued unsuccessfully in a People&#39;s Court episode for fees charged by an engineer who he asked to give an estimate on what was needed to put a more permanent statue of William Tell on the island.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>It is not known how the island received its name. It has been proposed by Red Brennan and others including former prison workers that prisoners escaping from Hart Island nearby, nicknamed "rats", used the small island to rest before swimming on to City Island and freedom. Another theory is that when the island housed typhoid victims in the 19th century it presumably attracted vermin.</p><br>
<p>Cascade Pass  is a 5,392 ft mountain pass over the northern Cascade Range, east of Marblemount, Washington, USA</p><br>
<p>Although an important pass, providing the easiest connection from the Cascade River to the head of Lake Chelan, it is now inside North Cascades National Park, and crossed by only a hiking trail.</p><br>
<p>From the west, one reaches it by hiking an easy 3.5 mile trail from the end of the Cascade River Road (elev. 3,600 ft). From the east, it is accessible via a trail from Stehekin up the Stehekin River valley.</p><br>
<p>The summit of the pass, being at the tree line, is known for its views in all directions. It is also a key departure point for mountaineering; to the north, the gentle ridge of the Sahale arm leads up Sahale Mountain to the summit, as well as to the meadows of Boston Basin and the summits above. To the south, Mixup Arm leads to Mixup Peak and Magic Mountain, as well as to Cache Col, making Cascade Pass the start of the high-level Ptarmigan Traverse.</p><br>
<p>The pass was originally a major route for Native Americans trading between the coast and the interior. Among the first white men to explore and map the Skagit Pass was New York newspaperman Frank Wilkeson. Alexander Ross probably crossed the Cascades via Cascade Pass in 1814. His writings are too vague to be certain about his precise route.</p><br>
<p>The Grandes Jorasses  is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif, on the boundary between Haute-Savoie in France and Aosta Valley in Italy.</p><br>
<p>The first ascent of the highest peak of the mountain (Pointe Walker) was by Horace Walker with guides Melchior Anderegg, Johann Jaun and Julien Grange on 30 June 1868. The second-highest peak on the mountain (Pointe Whymper, 4,184 m; 13,727 ft) was first climbed by Edward Whymper, Christian Almer, Michel Croz and Franz Biner on June 24, 1865, using what has become the normal route of ascent and the one followed by Walker&#39;s party in 1868.</p><br>
<p>The summits on the mountain (from east to west) are:</p><br>
<p>Pointe Walker (4,208 m; 13,806 ft) &ndash; named after Horace Walker, who made the first ascent of the mountain</p><br>
<p>Pointe Whymper (4,184 m; 13,727 ft) &ndash; named after Edward Whymper, who made the first ascent of this, the second-highest summit</p><br>
<p>Pointe Croz (4,110 m; 13,484 ft) &ndash; named after Michel Croz, a guide from Chamonix</p><br>
<p>Pointe Elena (4,045 m; 13,271 ft) &ndash; named after Princess Elena of Savoy</p><br>
<p>Pointe Margherita (4,065 m; 13,337) &ndash; named after Queen Margherita of Savoy, wife of King Umberto I of Italy</p><br>
<p>Pointe Young (3,996 m; 13,110 ft) &ndash; named after Geoffrey Winthrop Young</p><br>
<h2>North face</h2><br>
<p>Located on the French side of the mountain, the north face is one of the three great north faces of the Alps, along with the north faces of the Eiger and the Matterhorn (known as the Trilogy). One of the most famous walls in the Alps, it towers 1200 m (3,900 ft) above the Leschaux Glacier, stretching 1 km from end to end. The classic route on the face is the Walker Spur (Cassin/Esposito/Tizzoni, 1938, TD+/ED1, IV, 5c/6a, A1, 1200 m) which leads directly to the summit of Pointe Walker. The other major buttress on the mountain is the Croz Spur, which leads to the summit of Pointe Croz. In her solo ascents of the six most difficult north faces of the Alps, Alison Hargreaves chose this route in preference to the Walker Spur.</p><br>
<h2>South face</h2><br>
<p>On the Italian side of the mountain, the south face can be accessed from the Boccalatte cabin, above the hamlet of Planpincieux in the Italian Val Ferret, part of the Courmayeur municipality.</p><br>
<h2>Summit ridge</h2><br>
<p>From the Col des Hirondelles, the summit ridge connects Pt. Walker to the other summit points and then descends to the Col des Grandes Jorasses where a bivouac shelter is located - the Bivouac E Canzio hut. The ridge forms the French-Italian border, almost all of which is above 4,000 m (13,000 ft).</p><br>
<h2>Sources</h2><br>
<p>Mount Gongga, also known as Minya Konka , is the highest mountain in Sichuan province, China. It is also known to locals as "The King of Sichuan Mountains". Situated in the Daxue Shan mountain range, between Dadu River and Yalong River, part of the Hengduan mountainous region, Mount Gongga is the easternmost 7,000 m peak in the world and the third highest peak outside the Himalaya/Karakoram, after Tirich Mir and Kongur Tagh.</p><br>
<p>The peak has large vertical relief over the deep nearby gorges.</p><br>
<h2>Mountaineering history</h2><br>
<p>According toArnold Heim:.</p><br>
<p>The Geographical Journal.</p><br>
<p>Vol. 87, No. 5 (May, 1936), pp. 444-450.</p><br>
<p>Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) an early remote measurement of the mountain, then called Bokunka, was performed by the expedition of Graf Béla Széchenyi 1877-80. They came to a height of 7600 meter. 45 years later the mountain, this time called Gang ka, was sketched by missionary J. H. Edgar, again from remote.</p><br>
<p>In 1930 ( puts the date at 1929) the explorer Joseph Rock, making an attempt to measure its altitude, miscalculated its height as 30,250 ft and cabled the National Geographic Society to announce Minya Konka as the highest mountain in the world. This measurement was viewed with suspicion from the start, and the Societys decision to check Rocks calculations before publication was well-founded. Following discussions with the Society, Rock reduced the claim to 7,803 m in his formal publication. In 1930 Swiss geographer Eduard Imhof measured 7,590 m.</p><br>
<p>A second, better-equipped American team returned in 1932, and did an accurate survey of the peak and its environs. Their summit altitude measurement agreed with Imhof&#39;s figure of 7,590 m. Two members (Terris Moore, and Richard Burdsall) of this small expedition (only four climbing members, including Arthur B. Emmons and Jack T. Young) succeeded in climbing to the summit. They began on the west side of the mountain and climbed the Northwest Ridge.</p><br>
<p>This was a remarkable achievement at the time, considering the height of the mountain, its remoteness, and the small size of the group. In addition, this peak was the highest summit reached by Americans until 1958 (though Americans had by that time climbed to higher non-summit points). The book written by the expedition members, "Men Against The Clouds" remains a mountaineering classic.</p><br>
<p>The Himalayan Index lists five additional ascents of Gongga Shan, and seven unsuccessful attempts. A number of deaths have occurred on Gongga Shan, which earned a reputation as a difficult and dangerous mountain. In 1981, eight Japanese climbers died of a fall during an unsuccessful attempt. Until 1999, more climbers had died trying to climb the mountain than had reached the summit.</p><br>
<p>The SummitPost reports that until 2003 the mountain was successfully climbed only eight times. In total 22 climbers reached the summit. In total 16 climbers died.</p><br>
<p>On October 7th, 2017, Chinese media reported that Pavel Korinek, a Czech national, had reached the top of Mount Gongga, marking the first time in fifteen years that the mountain had been successfully climbed.</p><br>
<p>Lake Horowhenua is located in the Horowhenua, an area of the southern Manawatu-Wanganui region in New Zealand&#39;s North Island. It covers an area of 3.9 km&sup2;.</p><br>
<p>The lake, also known as Punahau, lies on a sandy plain 2 km west of Levin and 5 km from the coast of the Tasman Sea. It is a shallow lake, only some 2 m deep, fed by various small streams, and is drained by the Hokio Stream.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The lake was once surrounded by podocarp forest as the centre of a rich wetland ecosystem. Today the trees are gone and the wetland has been substantially drained. The lake is owned by the Māori Muaūpoko iwi, who, with the help of the Horowhenua Lake Trust, are actively attempting to restore the wetland system (that also contains the smaller Lake Papaitonga) to its former state as a conservation area.</p><br>
<p>In the 1820s the Muaūpoko were attacked by Te Rauparaha and the Ngati Toa. Two island pā on the lake were destroyed and heavy casualties suffered by the Muaūpoko people.</p><br>
<h2>Water Quality</h2><br>
<p>Between 1952 and 1987 treated sewage from Levin was dumped into the lake. This has contributed significantly to the current eutrophic state of the lake.</p><br>
<p>The River Kent is a short river in the county of Cumbria in England. The river originates in hills surrounding Kentmere, and flows for around 20 miles  into the north of Morecambe Bay. The Lake District National Park includes the upper reaches of the river within its boundaries.</p><br>
<p>The river passes through Kentmere, Staveley, Burneside, Kendal and Sedgwick. Near Sedgwick, the river passes through a rock gorge which produces a number of low waterfalls. This section is popular with kayakers as it offers high quality whitewater for several days after rain.</p><br>
<p>The village of Arnside lies alongside the Kent estuary.</p><br>
<p>On high spring tides, a tidal bore known as the Arnside Bore forms in the estuary opposite Arnside. The wave is often about 0.5m high.</p><br>
<h2>Tributaries</h2><br>
<p>The rivers Mint, Sprint and Gowan join the Kent to the north of Kendal, with the river also joined by the River Gilpin and River Winster as it nears its estuary.</p><br>
<p>Lingmell Gill (into Kentmere Reservoir)</p><br>
<p>Skeel Gill and Bryant&#39;s Gill</p><br>
<p>Ullstone Gill</p><br>
<p>Nunnery Beck</p><br>
<p>Kill Gill</p><br>
<p>Hall Gill</p><br>
<p>Park Beck</p><br>
<p>Hall Beck</p><br>
<p>River Gowan</p><br>
<p>River Sprint</p><br>
<p>River Mint</p><br>
<p>River Gilpin</p><br>
<p>River Bela</p><br>
<p>River Winster</p><br>
<h2>Energy</h2><br>
<p>Near the source of the river is Kentmere Reservoir, which was constructed in the mid-19th century to control the flow of the river for the benefit of water mills. The river was used to power numerous mills in the past,</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>The river is a designated Special Area of Conservation, primarily as an important habitat for the endangered White-clawed Crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes).</p><br>
<p>Fish species include salmon and trout. In the twentieth century fish ladders were constructed alongside the dams of mill-ponds to allow migratory fish to swim up to Kentmere. In 2013 DEFRA funding was announced for eel passes at Stramongate weir in Kendal and Basinghyll fish counter.</p><br>
<p>The Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska is the largest piedmont glacier in the world. Situated at the head of the Alaska Panhandle, it is about 65 km wide and 45 km long, with an area of some 3,900 km&sup2;. It is named in honor of Alessandro Malaspina, an Italian explorer in the service of the Spanish Navy, who visited the region in 1791. In 1874, W.H. Dall, of what is now the USA National Geodetic Survey, bestowed the name "Malaspina Plateau" on it, not realizing its true geological character.</p><br>
<p>It arises where several valley glaciers, primarily the Seward Glacier and Agassiz Glacier, spill out from the Saint Elias Mountains onto the coastal plain facing the Gulf of Alaska between Icy Bay and Yakutat Bay. Although it fills the plain, nowhere does it actually reach the water and so does not qualify as a tidewater glacier.</p><br>
<p>The Malaspina is up to 600 m thick in places, with the elevation of its bottom being estimated to be as much as 300 m below sea level. There are two lakes on its margins: Oily Lake to the northwest, at the foot of the Samovar Hills between the Agassiz and Seward glaciers, and Malaspina Lake to the southeast, close to Yakutat Bay.</p><br>
<p>Radar data and aerial photographs dating back to 1972 provide evidence that the Malaspina-Seward glacier system lost about 20 m of its thickness between 1980 and 2000; because the glacier is so large, that amount of shrinkage was sufficient to contribute 1/2 of one percent of the rise in the global sea level.</p><br>
<p>Nearly all of the glacier is encompassed by the southeast lobe of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.</p><br>
<p>In October 1969, the glacier became a National Natural Landmark.</p><br>
<p>The Pennsylvania Railroads class H8, H9s and H10s steam locomotives were of the 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type, the last three classes of such built by the railroad. The three classes differed only in cylinder diameter and thus tractive effort, each subsequent class increasing that measurement by an inch. The first H8 was built in 1907 and the last H10 in 1916; within a few years they were replaced on heavy freight assignments by 2-8-2s and 2-10-0. They became the railroads standard light freight locomotive, replacing all other class H 2-8-0s, and a number remained in service until the end of PRR steam locomotive operation in 1957. 968 class H8 of various subclasses were constructed, along with 274 class H9s and 273 class H10s. A number of H8 locomotives were rebuilt to H9s specification.</p><br>
<p>Class H10s was built primarily for PRR Lines West, and featured a typical Lines West tender with sloping side coal boards at the top, to enable a bigger load of coal to be carried.</p><br>
<p>Some locomotives of this type were leased to the PRR-owned Long Island Rail Road, becoming the primary freight-hauling type on that system.</p><br>
<h2>Survivors</h2><br>
<p>7688, an H10s built in 1915 by the Lima Locomotive Works, has been preserved by the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It joins two earlier examples of the H class at the museum. #7688 was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as Consolidation Freight Locomotive No. 7688.</p><br>
<p>Mount Agung or Gunung Agung is a volcano in Bali, Indonesia, southeast of Mt Batur volcano, also in Bali. Gunung Agung stratovolcano is the highest point on Bali. It dominates the surrounding area, influencing the climate, especially rainfall patterns. From a distance, the mountain appears to be perfectly conical. From the peak of the mountain, it is possible to see the peak of Mt Rinjani on the nearby island of Lombok, to the east, although both mountains are frequently covered in clouds.</p><br>
<p>Balinese believe that Mt Agung is a replica of Mt Meru, the central axis of the universe. The most important temple on Bali, Pura Besakih, is located high on the slopes of Gunung Agung.</p><br>
<p>Gunung Agung is an active volcano, with a large and deep crater that occasionally emits smoke and ash. The last major eruption is currently ongoing 2017.</p><br>
<h2>Eruptions</h2><br>
<h3>1843 eruption</h3><br>
<p>Agung erupted in 1843, as recorded in a report by Heinrich Zollinger:</p><br>
<h3>1963–64 eruption</h3><br>
<p>The eruption of 1963 was one of the largest and most devastating eruptions in Indonesia&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>On February 18, 1963, local residents heard loud explosions and saw clouds rising from the crater of Mount Agung. On February 24, lava began flowing down the northern slope of the mountain, eventually traveling 7 km in the next 20 days. On March 17, the volcano erupted (VEI 5), sending debris 8 to 10 km into the air and generating massive pyroclastic flows.</p><br>
<p>These flows devastated numerous villages, killing an estimated 1,100–1,500 people. Cold lahars caused by heavy rainfall after the eruption killed an additional 200. A second eruption on May 16 led to pyroclastic flows that killed another 200 inhabitants. Minor eruptions and flows followed and lasted almost a year.</p><br>
<p>The lava flows missed, sometimes by mere yards, the Mother Temple of Besakih. The saving of the temple is regarded by Balinese as miraculous and a signal from the gods that they wished to demonstrate their power but not destroy the monument that the Balinese had erected.</p><br>
<p>Andesite was the dominant lava type with some samples mafic enough to be classified as basaltic andesite.</p><br>
<h3>2017 seismic activity and eruption</h3><br>
<p>In September 2017, the area experienced 844 volcanic earthquakes, peaking at 300 to 400 earthquakes on 26 September. The frequency and intensity of these quakes caused much alarm among seismologists, as similar volcanoes have historically been known to erupt with even fewer warning signs.</p><br>
<p>In late September, as a result of the increased rumbling and seismic activity around the volcano, the alert level was raised to the highest level and about 122,500 people were evacuated from their houses around the volcano. The Indonesian National Disaster Management Authority declared a 12-kilometer exclusion zone around the volcano on September 24. Evacuees gathered in sports halls and other community buildings around Klungkung, Karangasem, Buleleng, and other areas. The monitoring station is located in Tembuku, Rendang, Karangasem Regency, from which the intensity and frequency of tremors were closely monitored for signs of imminent eruption.</p><br>
<p>By late October 2017, the activity of the volcano decreased significantly, leading to lowering of the highest status of emergency on October 29.</p><br>
<p>On 21 November, activity increased once again. A phreatic eruption took place, with the ash cloud top reaching 3,842 m above sea level. Thousands of people immediately fled the area, and over 29,000 temporary refugees were reported to be housed in over 270 locations nearby.</p><br>
<p>Early on Saturday 25 November a magmatic eruption began. The resulting eruption plume was reported to rise about 1.5-4 km above the summit crater, drifting towards the south and dusting the surroundings with thin layer of dark ash, leading some airlines to cancel flights bound for Australia and New Zealand. An orange glow was later observed around the crater at night, suggesting that fresh magma had indeed reached the surface. On 23:37, 26 November 2017 (GMT), another eruption occurred, the second in less than a week. Australia&#39;s Bureau of Meteorology reported on 27 November that ash from the eruption had been observed at an altitude of 9,144 m.</p><br>
<p>On 27 November the Indonesian National Disaster Management Authority from Level 3 (Siaga, or Alert) to Level 4 (Awas, or Warning), the highest official warning level, as from 6.00 am on 27 November. At the same time, a general warning was issued for all persons to refrain from any activity of any kind in the Estimated Danger Zone (Zona Perkiraan Bahaya) located within 8 km of the crater of Gunung Agung and, as well, in the wider sectoral area in the northeast region towards the sea and the south and southeastern hinterland of the mountain out to 10 km from the crater.</p><br>
<p>Naucratis or Naukratis  was a city of Ancient Egypt, on the Canopic branch of the Nile river, and 45 mi  southeast of the open sea and Alexandria. It was the first and, for much of its early history, the only permanent Greek colony in Egypt; it was a symbiotic nexus for the interchange of Greek and Egyptian art and culture.</p><br>
<p>The modern site of the city has become an archaeological find of the highest significance and the source of not only many beautiful objects of art now gracing the museums of the world but also an important source of some of the earliest Greek writing in existence, from the inscriptions on its pottery.</p><br>
<p>The sister port of Naucratis was the harbour town of Thonis/Heracleion, which was undiscovered until 2000.</p><br>
<h2>Background</h2><br>
<p>Archaeological evidence suggests that the history of the ancient Greeks in Egypt dates back at least to Mycenaean times and more likely even further back into the proto-Greek Minoan age. This history is strictly one of commerce as no permanent Greek settlements have been found of these cultures to date.</p><br>
<p>After the collapse of Mycenaean Greek civilization and the ensuing Greek dark ages (c1100 - 750 BC) a "renaissance" of Greek culture flourished in the 7th century BC and with it came renewed contact with the East and its two great river civilizations of Mesopotamia and the Nile.</p><br>
<p>The first report of Greeks in 7th century BC Egypt is a story in the Histories of Herodotus of Ionian and Carian pirates forced by storm to land on or near the Nile Delta. It relates the plight of the Saite Pharaoh Psammetichus I (Psamtik) (c. 664-610) of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt overthrown and in desperation, seeking the advice of the Oracle of Leto at Buto who cryptically advises him to enlist the aid of "brazen men" who would "come from the sea." Inspired upon seeing the bronze armor of the shipwrecked pirates, he offers them rewards in return for their aid in his campaign of return to power. Upon the success of this endeavor he makes good on his word and bestows on the mercenaries two parcels of land (or "camps" στρατόπεδα) on either side of the Pelusian branch of the Nile.</p><br>
<p>At present these sites remain uncertain but this may be a reference to the city of Daphnae.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Literary</h3><br>
<p>In 570 BC the Pharaoh Apries (Wahibre, reigned 589-570 BC) led the descendants of this mercenary army made up of 30,000 Carians and Ionians against a former general turned rebel by the name of Amasis. Although fighting valiantly they suffered defeat and Amasis II became Pharaoh (reigned 570-526 BC). Amasis shut down the "camps" and moved the Greek soldiers to Memphis where they were employed "to guard him against the native Egyptians."</p><br>
<p>Herodotus: "Amasis was partial to the Greeks, and among other favors which he granted them, gave to such as liked to settle in Egypt the city of Naucratis for their residence." Notice that he says "gave the city (polis)" which seems to indicate the existence (now borne out by archaeological evidence) of a "city" already there. This older city, settlement more likely, was no doubt small and inhabited by a mix of native Egyptians, Greeks and possibly even Phoenicians. Thus it seems the city was turned over to the Greeks, "chartered", in the years immediately following 570 BC. The earlier date of c. 625 BC put forward by archaeologists may be the actual establishment of a settlement at the site.</p><br>
<p>Amasis indeed converted Naucratis into a major treaty-port and commercial link with the west. This was done most likely as a means to contain the Greeks and concentrate their activities in one place under his control. It became not the colony of any particular city-state but an emporion (trading post)</p><br>
<p>According to Herodotus the walled shrine known as the Hellenion was a co-operative enterprise financed by nine eastern Greek cities:</p><br>
<p>Four Ionian: Chios, Klazomenai, Teos and Phocaea</p><br>
<p>Four Dorian: Rhodes, Halicarnassus, Knidos and Phaselis</p><br>
<p>One Aeolian: Mytilene</p><br>
<p>Miletus, Samos and Aegina had their own separate sanctuaries. Thus the natives of at least twelve Greek city-states worked in a collaboration that was not only rare but proved to be lasting.</p><br>
<p>Naucratis later became an important center of Greek culture under the Roman Empire, producing several celebrated orators of the Second Sophistic in the second and early third centuries AD. The third century writer Athenaeus came from Naucratis.</p><br>
<h3>Archaeological</h3><br>
<p>The site was discovered by Flinders Petrie who dug there in 1884-5. He was followed by Ernest Arthur Gardner, and finally David George Hogarth, in 1899 and 1903.</p><br>
<p>The archaeological focus fell into two areas of northern and southern quarters. Found farthest south was a large Egyptian storehouse or treasury (A on sketch at right - originally identified by Petrie as the "great temenos") and just north of that a Greek mudbrick Temple of Aphrodite roughly 14m. x 8m. (curiously not mentioned in Herodotus&#39; list.) Directly east of this temple was unearthed a small factory for faience scarab seals.</p><br>
<p>In the northern section were found several temple ruins (E: Temple of Hera, F: Temple of Apollo & G: Temple of Dioscuri) including what may be Herodotus&#39; Hellenion discovered by Hogarth in 1899 (directly east of F.) "None of the votive pottery found here need have arrived earlier than the reign of Amasis, so it may well be that the Hellenion was founded as the result of his reorganization of the status of Naucratis, while the independent sanctuaries... are of the earlier years of the town."</p><br>
<p>More recently American archaeologists W. Coulson and A. Leonard founded "The Naucratis Project" in 1977 carrying out surveys in 1977–1978 and further surveys and excavations to the south of the site from 1980 to 1982 (under the auspices of the American Research Center in Egypt.) Unfortunately they found the original northern sanctuary section submerged under a lake formed by the risen water table and roughly 15 meters deep. This part of the site remains under water today making further work there difficult if not impossible.</p><br>
<p>Their assessment of the approach taken and methods used by their predecessors was less than complimentary. "Unfortunately, much of the emphasis of the early excavators was placed on these religious structures at the expense of the commercial and domestic quarters. Consequently our knowledge of the mercantile character of ancient Naukratis - the very facet of its early history that made it so exceptional - has suffered greatly. Furthermore, the later historical sequences, such as the Hellenistic and Roman periods, were almost totally neglected."</p><br>
<p>Also discouraging to them was the destruction wrought by the local populace on the site. "Already in Petrie&#39;s day about a third of the halfmile</p><br>
<p>by quarter-mile site of Naukratis had been dug away by the local farmers for use as high-phosphate fertilizer (sebakh) in their fields" and "In the intervening 100 years or so, the sebakhin have totally destroyed this eastern portion of the site."</p><br>
<p>The barrier of the high water table made it impossible for them to find anything older than the Ptolmaic era. They agreed with Hogarth that the "great temenos" of Petrie was actually an Egyptian building and that indeed the entire south section of the town appeared to be non-Greek.</p><br>
<p>Overall most of the finds were vases (some whole, most fragmentary) used as votives in the temples, but also stone statuettes and scarab seals. These are scattered to museums and collections around the world, the earlier material largely brought to Britain (mostly in the British Museum) and the later to the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria.</p><br>
<h2>Impact</h2><br>
<p>The Egyptians supplied the Greeks with mostly grain but also linen and papyrus while the Greeks bartered mostly silver but also timber, olive oil and wine. Naukratis, and the associated Greek "forts" in the general delta area, as demonstrated by accounts given above, became a ready source of mercenary fighting men for the Saite pharaohs, men with superior hoplite armor and tactics, and also possessing invaluable naval expertise.</p><br>
<p>Naucratis soon became a profound source of inspiration to the Greeks by re-exposing them to the wonders of Egyptian architecture and sculpture lost to them since the Bronze Age. Egyptian artifacts soon began their flow along the Greek trade routes finding their way into the homes and workshops of the Ionian Greek world and, via Aegina, the city-states of mainland Greece. Although Greek art and ideas in turn came back the other way their absorption into a largely xenophobic Egyptian culture was strictly minimal.</p><br>
<p>Although Herodotus claimed that geometry (γεωμετρία) was first known in Egypt and then passed into Greece it is now generally accepted by scholars that what the Greeks learned were more like "surveying techniques" and hardly deserve the designation "geometry" in the sense of a purely intellectual mathematical practice. Indeed, Greeks like Thales were already accomplished geometricians before their travel to Egypt and very likely Herodotus assumed that because the Egyptian γεωμετρία was older, the Greeks must have got it from there.</p><br>
<p>In terms of our modern understanding of the Greeks, and in particular the early use of their nascent Greek alphabet, the finds of Naucratis have turned out to be foundational. "The inscriptions on the pottery have yielded what Mr. Ernest Gardner considers - apparently on firm grounds - to be the oldest Ionic inscriptions, as well as some in the Korinthian, Melian, and Lesbian alphabets." Of particular interest are the several examples of an evolutionary variation from the original Phoenician alphabetic script. Much has also been learned by comparing these alphabets with the forms they assumed a century later, forms that were destined to become universal across the Hellenic world.</p><br>
<p>Naucratis was not only the first Greek settlement in Egypt but also Egypt&#39;s most important harbor in antiquity until the rise of Alexandria and the shifting of the Nile led to its decline.</p><br>
<p>Nevertheless, the ancient city of Heracleion/Thonis also rivalled Naucratis as an important port city of Egypt, especially from the 6th to the 4th century BC.</p><br>
<h2>Herodotus</h2><br>
<p>Herodotus tells us that the prostitutes of Naucratis were "peculiarly alluring" and relates the story of Charaxus, brother of the poet Sappho, who traveled to Naucratis to purchase (for a "vast sum") the freedom of one Rhodopis, a bewitchingly beautiful Thracian slave and courtesan. After obtaining her freedom, she set up a house of ill-repute, built up a thriving business and amassed a small fortune. As a measure of thanks she commissioned an expensive votive offering to the gods, eventually placed at Delphi and which could be seen still in the historian&#39;s day.</p><br>
<p>An Athenian cup found in one of the sanctuaries has a dedication inscribed from a worshipper named "Herodotus" and dates from the time the great historian was known to have visited there</p><br>
<p>The Manawatū River is a major river of the lower North Island of New Zealand.</p><br>
<p>The river has its headwaters to the northwest of Norsewood in the Ruahine Ranges of the Tararua District. It flows initially eastward before turning south-west near Ormondville, flowing 40 km before turning north-west near Woodville. At this point the river enters the Manawatū Gorge. Beyond the gorge it again turns south-west, flowing through the city of Palmerston North, and finally becomes the Manawatū Estuary as it enters the Tasman Sea at Foxton Beach.</p><br>
<p>The river, along with the more northern Whanganui River, gives its name to the Manawatū-Whanganui region. The river&#39;s name comes from the Māori words manawa (heart, spirit) and tū (stand still, or depressed), therefore heart standing still with fear, or depressed spirit. Haunui was in pursuit of his wife and arrived at this river clutching his chest when he named this river.</p><br>
<h2>Physical environment</h2><br>
<p>The river is unique among New Zealand rivers, starting on the east side of the main dividing range and having its outflow to the west. The explanation for this is the uplift of the central ranges. The ranges moved upwards at the same time as the gorge was eroded by the river, instead of the more usual erosion of an already existing range. This suggests that the river is an old one, as it must have existed before the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges.</p><br>
<p>Major tributaries of the river include the Makakahi, Mangahao, Pohangina and Oroua Rivers. The Manawatūs total length is 180 km, making it only the 12th-longest in the country, but at 102 m3/s it is one of the countrys greatest rivers in terms of flow, and second only to the Waikato River among North Island rivers.</p><br>
<p>The Manawatū River flooded in February 2004, displacing over 3000 people (primarily from Marton and Feilding) and damaging over 1000 Manawatū farms. The cost of the flood in terms of insurance payouts was NZ$122 million. Further damage was prevented by the opening of the Moutoa floodgates, which intercept the river between Foxton and Shannon.</p><br>
<h2>Water quality</h2><br>
<p>The Manawatū tops a 2009 pollution measurement of 300 rivers and streams across North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, research by the Cawthron Institute has found. The river is fouled with industrial waste, treated sewage, and nutrient land runoff from dairy farms. A 2010 report listed the Manawatū as unsuitable for contact recreation.</p><br>
<p>In 2006 Fonterra were criticised for an application to discharge 8,500 m&sup3; of wastewater into the Manawatū River. In 2009, the Cawthron Institute found that the river had the highest gross primary production (GPP) compared to 300 rivers and streams in the Western world. High GPP rates are an indication of poor ecological health and can lead to various environmental issues. In 2011, the Horizons Regional Council laid blame with the Palmerston North City Council for "considerable" and "sustained" breaches of one of its discharge consents, and some degree of non-compliance with two others. A report by the Ministry for the Environment ranked 76 New Zealand sites for water clarity and E. coli levels. Using those measures, they found four other New Zealand rivers rate worse than the Manawatū (the Waitara, Whanganui, Waipa and Rangitikei).</p><br>
<p>Nevado Ojos del Salado is a stratovolcano in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border and the highest active volcano in the world at 6,893 m. It is also the second highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere and the highest in Chile. It is located about 600 km north of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere at 6,961 m.</p><br>
<p>Due to its location near the Atacama Desert, the mountain has very dry conditions with snow usually only remaining on the peak during winter, though heavy storms can cover the surrounding area with a few feet of snow even in summer. Despite the generally dry conditions, there is a permanent crater lake about 100 m in diameter at an elevation of 6,390 m on the eastern side of the mountain. This is most likely the highest lake of any kind in the world.</p><br>
<p>The ascent of Ojos del Salado is mostly a hike except for the final section to the summit which is a difficult scramble that may require ropes. The first ascent was made in 1937 by Jan Alfred Szczepański and Justyn Wojsznis, members of a Polish expedition in the Andes.</p><br>
<p>Its name, meaning roughly "Eyes of the Salty One" in Spanish, comes from the enormous deposits of salt that, in the form of lagoons or “eyes”, appear in its glaciers.</p><br>
<h2>Volcanic activity</h2><br>
<p>Ojos del Salado is an active volcano, but the question of whether it should be considered currently (or "historically") active is arguable. According to the Smithsonian Institution&#39;s Global Volcanism Program, the most recent known eruption was around 1,300 years ago, with large error. However, there is also some evidence for a minor ash emission in 1993, which would definitely qualify the volcano as historically active. The presence of fumaroles high on the mountain and recent-looking lava flows, albeit of uncertain age, also argues in favor of a categorization as "active." By these definitions, Ojos del Salado is the highest historically active volcano on Earth. If the older date is accepted, the title of "highest historically active volcano" might reside instead with the somewhat lower Llullaillaco volcano, which certainly has erupted in historic times (most recently in 1877) and is considered active.</p><br>
<h3>Composition</h3><br>
<p>Salado&#39;s rock is predominantly potassium-rich dacite and rhyodacite. Its lavas are high in biotite, hornblende, plagioclase, and opaques, with lower levels of augite, quartz, and hypersthene.</p><br>
<h2>Elevation</h2><br>
<p>The elevation of Ojos del Salado has been the subject of debate.</p><br>
<p>A 2006 article in Andes Magazine offered that Ojos del Salado may be higher than Aconcagua, although the argument was premised on older, less accurate altitude surveys. The results of these older surveys assigned Ojos del Salado an elevation of 7,057 m, which would have made it nearly 100 m higher than Aconcagua. As early as 1955, an estimate was made that the elevation of Ojos del Salado was 7,100 m, but that was "simply based on the altitude of the final camp, and the hours of ascent to the summit." In 1956 the first Chilean expedition led by the retired lieutenant René Gajardo measured the height of Ojos del Salado as 7,084 m with a pocket pressure altimeter. Apart from being an inexact method, the height shown by the altimeter was far too high as air pressure is generally lower in the afternoon, the time at which the team reached the summit.</p><br>
<p>An expedition to the area in the 90s claimed that nearby Monte Pissis was even higher than Ojos del Salado. Later measurements using more precise equipment showed that Ojos del Salado is about 100 m higher than Pissis. Furthermore, in 2007 a Chilean–Argentine–European expedition organized by Andes Magazine and Azimut 360 performed a survey on both Ojos del Salado and Monte Pissis using more accurate instruments. It found the former to be 6,891 m and the latter 6,793 m Although this fits within recent handheld GPS surveys, which have estimated the mountain to be between 6,880 m and 6,910 m, the vertical error margin of the expeditions equipment, 10 m, leaves uncertainty as to the mountains more precise altitude.</p><br>
<p>Ojos del Salado has two summits, one in Argentina and the other in Chile (the border between the two countries runs between the two summits). The difference in elevation of the two summits is less than 1 m</p><br>
<h2>Motorized partial ascent</h2><br>
<p>Ojos del Salado has been a popular mountain for attaining the highest altitude aboard a land vehicle.</p><br>
<p>The current record height for a four-wheeled vehicle was set on 21 April 2007 by the Chilean duo of Gonzalo Bravo G. and Eduardo Canales Moya. Reaching a height of 6,688 meters (21,942 ft.) with a modified Suzuki Samurai the duo beat the previous record of 6,646 m which had been set on 13 March 2007 by German Matthias Jeschke in a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon.</p><br>
<p>Jeschke currently holds the high altitude record for trucks reaching a height of 6,675 meters (21,899 ft) with a Mercedes Benz Zetros truck on 6 March 2015. This is also a world record for diesel-powered motors.</p><br>
<p>On 19 April 2015 Chilean Gianfranco Bianchi reached an altitude of 6,472 m (21,233 ft) with a Suzuki RMZ 450 and set the latest record for motorbikes.</p><br>
<p>The latest record attempt commenced on 6 November 2017 and again involves Matthias Jeschke. With two RMMV HX trucks Jeschke attempts to gain two world records, one for construction at altitude (6,500 m) and the other by beating the current 6,688 m record.</p><br>
<p>Østensjøvannet is a lake located in the Østensjø borough in Oslo, Norway. It is well known for the wide variety of birds and other wildlife that can be found there. It is currently a wildlife preserve, though urban development posed a serious threat to the lake and its environs during the 1980s and early 1990s.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>Østensjøvannet ("Østensjø lake") is named after the Østensjø farm (old Norse Austansjór). The first element is austan east of, and the last element is sjór sea, lake. The farm was situated on the lakes east side. The last element is the finite form of vann water; lake. The meaning of the name is then the lake belonging to Østensjø&#39;.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>Østensjøvannet is well known for its birdlife, and over 200 different species of birds have been sighted at or near the lake, quite a significant number by Norwegian standards.</p><br>
<p>Other wildlife is regularly sighted at the lake, but the variety of species is not much different from surrounding places, such as Østmarka.</p><br>
<p>Fishing during the summer is forbidden, while ice-fishing is allowed.</p><br>
<h2>Cultural history</h2><br>
<p>Finds in the area suggest that people may have been living in the area as far back as the stone age. Farming in the area started around 500 AD. At various locations surrounding the lake, there are burial mounds from the Viking Age.</p><br>
<p>Abildsø gård, located on the lakes west side, was Norways second farm school. It was where Minna Wetlesen started Europes, and possibly the worlds first "household" - school where girls and young women could learn about running a household and performing the various tasks related to it.</p><br>
<h2>Environmental issues</h2><br>
<p>The lake itself has been a wildlife preserve since 1992, while Abildsø gård was preserved by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvar) in 1997. In 2002, the Oslo city council passed plans for the "Østensjøvannet Environmental Park", which in effect preserves the various habitats and "green areas" surrounding the lake.</p><br>
<p>Situated inside the Oslo city limits, surrounded on all sides by built-up areas, has put a considerable strain on the lake, both in terms of pollution (especially caused by leaks from less-than-perfectly maintained sewage systems) and plans for using the fields and forested areas surrounding the lake for various purposes, including housing, a cemetery and even a small golf course. The sewage systems affecting the lake have been better maintained in recent years, and the environmental state of the lake is currently much better than it was a decade or two ago.</p><br>
<p>Altamont Pass, formerly Livermore Pass, is a low mountain pass in the Diablo Range of Northern California between Livermore in the Livermore Valley and Tracy in the San Joaquin Valley. The name is actually applied to two distinct but nearby crossings of the range. The lower of the two, at an elevation of 741 ft, carries two railroad rights-of-way  and Altamont Pass Road, part of the old Lincoln Highway and the original alignment of US 50 before it was bypassed c. 1937. The bypass route travels over the higher summit, at 1,009 ft, and now carries Interstate 580, a major regional highway heavily congested by Central Valley suburbanization.</p><br>
<p>Of the two railroad lines through the old pass, one is still in use: the original Western Pacific line now owned by Union Pacific. It carries freight trains as well as the Altamont Corridor Express, which operates between Stockton, Livermore, Pleasanton, Fremont, and San Jose. The abandoned right-of-way was used by the Southern Pacific, now also part of Union Pacific. This line was the Bay Area&#39;s original connection to the transcontinental railroad, from 1869 until 1879, when a sea level ferry crossing at the Carquinez Strait replaced it. The route remained in use for other purposes, but it was abandoned in 1984 in favor of trackage rights on the ex-Western Pacific line.</p><br>
<p>From 1966 to 2008, the Altamont Pass area was home to the Altamont Speedway, which became famous as the site of the 1969 Altamont Free Concert, a large outdoor concert featuring The Rolling Stones and marred by violence. The pass is also known for the Altamont Pass Wind Farm, one of the earliest in the United States.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>From the time of the California Gold Rush, what is now Altamont Pass was called Livermore&#39;s Pass after Robert Livermore, the owner of the Rancho Las Positas and a way station near the pass. After the railroad was built through the pass in 1869, Altamont, formerly The Summit, was established in 1872. Eventually the pass took the name of the town, but the site is now essentially uninhabited.</p><br>
<p>The Palmer House Hilton is a famous and historic hotel in Chicago in the city&#39;s Loop area. Currently operating as the Palmer House - A Hilton Hotel, it is a Historic Hotel of America member, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Three Palmer House hotels have been located at the corner of State and Monroe streets in Chicago.</p><br>
<h3>First Palmer House</h3><br>
<p>The first (known as "The Palmer") was built as a wedding present from Potter Palmer to his bride Bertha Honoré. It opened on September 26, 1871, but burned down just 13 days later on October 9, 1871 in the Great Chicago Fire. Palmer immediately set to work rebuilding, and with a $1.7 million signature loan (believed to be the largest individual loan ever secured at that time), constructed one of the fanciest hotels worldwide in postfire Chicago.</p><br>
<h3>Second Palmer House</h3><br>
<p>Designed by architect John M. Van Osdel, the second Palmer House Hotel was seven stories. Its amenities included oversized rooms, luxurious decor, and sumptuous meals served in grand style. The floor of its barber shop was tiled and silver dollars were embedded in a diamond pattern. Constructed mainly of iron and brick, the hotel was widely advertised as, "The World&#39;s Only Fire Proof Hotel." Famous visitors included presidential hopefuls James Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Ulysses S. Grant, William Jennings Bryan, and William McKinley; writers Mark Twain, L. Frank Baum, and Oscar Wilde; and actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse. It was completed in 1875.</p><br>
<h3>Third Palmer House</h3><br>
<p>By the 1920s, the business in downtown Chicago could support a much larger facility, and the Palmer Estate decided to erect a new 25-story hotel. They hired Holabird & Roche to design the building. Between 1923 and 1925, the hotel was rebuilt on the same site.</p><br>
<p>In December 1945, Conrad Hilton bought the Palmer House for $20 million and it was thereafter known as The Palmer House Hilton. In 2005, Hilton sold the property to Thor Equities, but it remains part of the Hilton chain.</p><br>
<p>The architecture firms of Loebl Schlossman & Hackl and David Fleener Architects completely renovated and restored the hotel between 2007 and 2009. The total cost was over $170 million. The hotel has a total of 1,639 guest rooms, making it the second-largest hotel in the city after the Hyatt Regency Chicago. It has recently had its name adjusted to Palmer House - A Hilton Hotel.</p><br>
<p>In 1970, the hotel was the site of the murder of Evelyn Okubo, a young Japanese-American racial justice activist attending a Japanese American Citizens League convention held there.</p><br>
<p>Ennerdale Water is the most westerly lake in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is a glacial lake, with a maximum depth of 150 feet , and is ½ mile to a mile  wide and 2½ miles  long.</p><br>
<p>The lake lies in the eponymous valley of Ennerdale, surrounded by some of the highest and best-known fells in Cumbria including: Great Gable (899 m), Green Gable, Brandreth, High Crag, Steeple and Pillar.</p><br>
<p>To the west of the lake lies the hamlet of Ennerdale Bridge, consisting of two pubs and a few houses. It is close to the port of Whitehaven.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>" Anunds valley. The name Ennerdale seems originally to have derived from Anundar, gen. sing. of the ON pers. n. Anundr/Qnundr, and ON dalr valley, but there has been cross-influence between this p.n. and Ehen&#39;, the name of the river which flows through the valley." (ON is Old Norse.)</p><br>
<p>The lake has been referred to in guidebooks and maps variously as "Brodewater" (1576), "Brodwater" (1695), "Broad Water" (1760), "Ennerdale Water" (1784) and "Ennerdale Lake" in Otley&#39;s Guide (1823). It is now the Ordnance Survey convention to name it "Ennerdale Water".</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Ennerdale Water is fed by the River Liza and other streams, and in turn feeds the River Ehen, which runs to the Irish Sea.</p><br>
<h3>Water abstraction</h3><br>
<p>Although the lake is natural, in 1902 a shallow weir was added to what is probably a glacial moraine to maintain the level. The lake is owned by United Utilities, which abstracts water to serve customers in the Whitehaven area.</p><br>
<p>United Utilities plans to stop using Ennerdale as a source of water by 2025, as the Environment Agency has confirmed that it will withdraw the abstraction licence to protect the environment of Ennerdale, its lake and the River Ehen.</p><br>
<h2>Environmental protection measures</h2><br>
<p>Ennerdale has been designated a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Species of interest include the Arctic char. The site contains a variety of habitats apart from the open water of the lake itself.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Despite being sited on Wainwright&#39;s coast-to-coast walk, the valley is not much visited by tourists.</p><br>
<p>Due to the remote location, the lack of a public road up the valley, and its management by the Forestry Commission, the National Trust and United Utilities, Ennerdale Water has not been as spoiled as other lakes in the National Park by construction, activity on the lake or the trappings of tourism.</p><br>
<h2>Notable facts</h2><br>
<p>Though the Lake District is a popular UK location for film shoots, Ennerdale has been left relatively in the shadow, with only a few brief exceptions. The closing sequences of the film 28 Days Later (2002), directed by Danny Boyle, were filmed around the Ennerdale area, and include a sweeping, panoramic view of the lake.</p><br>
<p>In 1810 a large carnivore killed hundreds of sheep in and around Ennerdale before it was hunted down and killed. The locals dubbed it the Girt (dialect: "great") Dog of Ennerdale, though it was said to have had the traits of both a dog and a large cat.</p><br>
<p>Once a year, during the last week in August, the Ennerdale Show brings local people together with agricultural displays, competitions, arts and crafts.</p><br>
<p>Former US President Bill Clinton first proposed to his wife Hillary on the banks of Ennerdale Water in 1973.</p><br>
<p>Tablas is the largest of the islands that comprise the province of Romblon in the Philippines. The name of the island was of Spanish origin. Before the colonization of the Philippines, Tablas was known as the Island of Osigan. At the time of contact with Westerners, Osigan had a population of two hundred and fifty people living in small villages. Wax was produced in this island.</p><br>
<p>Odiongan, on the west central coast of the island, is a major port and the largest municipality of Romblon in terms of population. Tablas is administratively subdivided into the municipalities of Alcantara, Calatrava, Ferrol, Looc, Odiongan, San Agustin, San Andres, Santa Fe, and Santa Maria.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The island lies about 50 km east from the southern part of Mindoro Island. The northern tip of Tablas is about 12 km from Romblon Island. Mount Payaopao (also known as Tablas Summit on old maps) at the northeastern extremity of the island, is the highest peak on the island at 2,182 ft high and the second highest in the province (after Mount Guiting-Guiting).</p><br>
<p>A wooded central range of hills traverses the length of Tablas. The west coast is formed by the western slope of the central mountain ridge, which is narrow and well defined. The summits in the middle of the island are 1,600 to 2,000 feet high. In the center of the island is Bitaogan Peak, 2,164 ft high, which appears as a rounded knob from east and west and sharp from north and south. Mount Lunas, at the back of Looc Bay, is a black ridge 1,556 ft high, long and rounded from east and west and sharp from north and south; with it the range breaks off to the low pass from Looc Bay to the town of Alcantara on the east coast. The southern part of Tablas is a group of many sharp conical hills, all bare and grassy except Malbug Hill, 904 ft high, and Calaton Point, 835 ft high, on the east coast, which are dark and wooded. The shore line is largely mangrove, with many beaches of coral sand and some limestone cliffs. The shore reef is continuous except off Guinauayan Point.</p><br>
<p>There is no good natural harbor except Looc Bay, a large indentation on the west side, but sheltered anchorage may be found on either side of the island, according to the season of the year.</p><br>
<p>Cabalian Point, the southern extremity of Tablas Island, is low and sandy and hard to distinguish at night, a lighthouse was built during the American Colonial period.</p><br>
<h2>Education</h2><br>
<p>Romblon State University is a premier institution for higher education in the MIMAROPA Region. The University has a large campus in Odiongan town and a few more around Romblon province.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>Main occupations are fruit and vegetable farming, fisheries, farm animal breeding and fishing. Tablas is one of largest producers of pili nuts.</p><br>
<p>Tablas was established an economic zone,. (TEZI), on 2015 under the powers of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)</p><br>
<h2>Language</h2><br>
<p>The Asi language is a Visayan language spoken, along with the Romblomanon and Onhan languages, in the province of Romblon, Philippines. Tagalog is spoken by the locals as the second language. Foreigners are a welcome diversion for college students, who are the main part of the population who can speak English.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Due to insignificant commercialization Tablas has been little impacted by tourism and still offers a strong traditional Philippines cultural experience. Accommodations and resorts, though, are available around the island. there are a lot of resorts now, for example Binucot Beach Resort and Bar or Sunset Cove Resort, both located at Binucot Beach which means "hidden beach" in the Philippine language.</p><br>
<h3>Attractions</h3><br>
<p>Tropical Tablas has retained its original character. The Wildlife and landscape appears untouched as deep-green vegetation is crossed by rivers and streams. Tablas Island provides a wide variety of outdoor activities. Visitors can explore wonderful waterfalls and caves surrounded by tropical nature. Sig-Kop Cave, Mablaran Falls, Garing Falls, Mainit Falls, or turquoise colored Linao D Victo are natural attractions in Tablas. In the middle of the island scenery becomes hilly and mountainous. The highest mountain is Mt. Payaopao with 665 meters (2182 feet) located in the municipal of San Augustin. But it is not necessary to climb mountains to get stunning views. Through partial winding roads arise magnificent outlooks on surrounding nature. Roads are mostly paved with asphalt some are covered with gravel. Tablas is not nearly as frequented by tourists compared to Boracay. Therefore, the beaches are deserted and quiet.</p><br>
<h4>Waterfalls</h4><br>
<p>Mainit Falls, located about an hour hike north of Poctoy Port, is on a private property and not signposted, but is open to the public.</p><br>
<p>Dubduban-Bita Falls in Brgy. Dubduban, 3 km. from the town proper of San Agustin is a 7-tier cascade amidst dense vegetations and cool surroundings.</p><br>
<p>"Mablaran falls", located in Brgy. Linawan San Andres, Romblon at least 8 km from the town proper of...</p><br>
<h4>Lakes</h4><br>
<p>Tinagong Dagat in Brgy. Kabibihan in Calatrava are two small, semi-circular saltwater lakes located only about 10 m from the sea. The largest has a maximum diameter of 108 m, the smaller about 35 m. Both are deep and have cave-like formations under. One peculiar thing about Tinagong Dagat is that when it is high tide, Tinagong Dagat is in low tide and vice versa.</p><br>
<h4>Beaches</h4><br>
<p>Aglicay and Binay-we beaches in Alcantara</p><br>
<p>Atabay and Guin-awayan beaches in Ferrol</p><br>
<p>Binucot (Dolphin) Beach in Ferrol/Bunsoran</p><br>
<p>Puro Island, just off the coast of Santa Fe</p><br>
<p>Saptos beach in Mabini, San Andres is one of rarest of all because of shoe shaped rock formation. It has also white sand.</p><br>
<h4>Wildlife</h4><br>
<p>The Wildlife and landscape appears untouched as deep-green vegetation is crossed by rivers and streams. A portion of the native forest cover has been removed and converted to coconut plantations, or rough grazing. However, the remaining small areas of watershed forest support several species of endemic wildlife that occur only on Tablas, or on just Tablas and Romblon Island. These include the Tablas Fantail Rhipidura sauli, the Tablas Drongo Dicrurus menagei, the Romblon Hawk Owl Ninox spilonota, and the Tablas Bulbul Hypsipetes (siquijorensis) cinereiceps. The frogs Platymantis_lawtoni and Platymantis levigatus are endangered species endemic to Tablas and other islands of Romblon province. In Ferrol at Malcoms Cove, monkeys, sea turtles and the Philippine eagle. In Santa Fe the whale shark (the earths largest fish) is known to breed. The waters off Looc team with numerous species of tropical fish and sea life in the protected sanctuary. Binucot Beach has manatee, dolphin and sea turtles.</p><br>
<h4>Scuba Diving</h4><br>
<p>Tablas has only one Dive Center, which operates out of Binucot Sunset Cove Resort near Ferrol. First Buddy Divers is a full service dive centre that offers both PADI and TDI courses. They can cater to recreational and technical divers.</p><br>
<p>The diving on Tablas Island is world class and virtually unexplored. The water is a comfortable 26 Celsius and the visibility is generally +20m and as diving tourism is fairly new here crowds are non-existent; on any given day you may be the only person diving on the entire island.</p><br>
<p>There are numerous walls around the island that go down to +60m and are covered in both soft and hard corals. Caves are commonly found along these walls as they are made of soft rock. Reefs around the island are extensive.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<h3>By water</h3><br>
<p>Access to Tablas is usually by ferry from the Port of Batangas City in southern Luzon and disembarking at the Port of Odiongan in Barangay Poctoy.</p><br>
<p>Montenegro Lines serves Odiongan from the Port of Batangas City six days per week with Roll-on/roll-off vessels, then heading to Romblon Island from Poctoy and returning the next day. Travel time from Batangas to Poctoy takes about 8–10 hours. Travel time from Poctoy Pier to Odiongan town is about 10 minutes by motorcycles. Tricycles are also readily available.</p><br>
<h3>By air</h3><br>
<p>The main commercial airport of the province of Romblon is Tugdan Airport (IATA: TBH – ICAO: RPVU) located in the southeastern coast of Tablas in Barangay Tugdan, in the town of Alcantara.</p><br>
<p>From Manila, Philippine Airlines (PAL) serves Tugdan three times a week. Beginning February 2017, Cebu Pacific started flying from Manila to Tablas four times weekly - Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, using ATR 72-600 aircraft.</p><br>
<h2>Images</h2><br>
<p>Sibuyan is a crescent-shaped island, the second largest in an archipelago comprising Romblon Province, Philippines. Located in the namesake Sibuyan Sea, it has an area of 445 km&sup2;. The island has two prominent peaks, Mount Guiting-Guiting with a height of 2,058 m and Mount Nailog with a height of 789 m. The people speak the Sibuyanon dialect of Romblomanon, a Visayan language.</p><br>
<p>Sibuyan has been dubbed by some local and international natural scientists as "the Galápagos of Asia", because it has remained in isolation from the rest of the world since its formation. Never in its geological history has it ever been connected with any part of the Philippine archipelago. Seismic forces pushed up a 2,000 m peak from the earth’s crust, forming a series of smaller peaks and slopes. The peak is Mt. Guiting-Guiting (literally means "the saw-toothed mountain", in reference to its jagged ridge). Because of the steep slopes, much of its original forest remains untouched, and the rest is the island as we find it today.</p><br>
<p>Primary forests cover 140 km&sup2, which is 33% of the land area of Sibuyan. However, most of the lower altitude forest has been logged or is secondary. Mt. Guiting-guiting Natural Park (equivalent to the IUCN category of National Park) was established to protect these forests, which are mainly in the centre and north of the island, and covers an area of 157 km&sup2; out of Sibuyan’s total area of 445 km&sup2;. The park features a scenic landscape with twin towering peaks set amidst closed canopy forests. Its forests remain largely intact, and include the entire elevational gradient from lowland dipterocarp forest (at 200 to 900 m) and mangroves, through montane forest (above 700 m) to mossy forest, heathland and montane grassland around the peaks.</p><br>
<p>On June 21, 2008, the passenger ferry MV Princess of the Stars of Sulpicio Lines (now Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp.) capsized off the coast of the island. The vessel was sailing through the Sibuyan Strait from Manila en route to Cebu City in the height of Typhoon Frank. That accident have caused the death of hundreds of people.</p><br>
<h2>Political subdivision</h2><br>
<p>The island is shared by three municipalities; Cajidiocan, Magdiwang, and San Fernando.</p><br>
<h2>Biodiversity</h2><br>
<p>Sibuyan has a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna which are threatened by an emerging aggressive promotion of mining industry by the country&#39;s government. Exact figures on numbers of total plant species are hard to give, as biologists stumble upon species yet unidentified by the scientific community. In one study, the National Museum identified 1,551 trees in a single hectare, with 123 species of trees, and of this number, 54 are found nowhere else in the world. Hence, it has been proclaimed as one of the world’s most diverse and dense forests. There are estimated to be 700 vascular plant species on the island. Nepenthes sibuyanensis, a pitcher plant species, is also endemic as its scientific name suggests. There are 131 species of birds and ten species of fruit bats, and many dwelling mammals, reptiles, and rodents yet to be fully catalogued. Three subspecies are endemic to Sibuyan: Colasisi loriculus philippensis bournsi, the Philippine Pygmy-woodpecker Dendrocopos maculatus menagei, and the Orange-bellied Flowerpecker Dicaeum trigonostigma sibuyanicum, all of which were recorded there in the early 1990s. Five species of threatened mammals, one fruit bat and four rodents, are endemic to Sibuyan, and the critically endangered fruit bat Nyctimene rabori occurs there.</p><br>
<h2>Current environmental issue</h2><br>
<p>Sibuyan Island remains as one of the most unspoiled ecosystems in the Philippines and the world. The water of the Cantingas River as well as most of the other smaller rivers and rivulets on the island was tested to be one of the best water quality for human consumption worldwide. The drinking water of Sibuyanons come direct and untreated from rivers, springs and holes drilled at mountain slopes or from the ground. The Sibuyanons Against Mining advocacy group, with the Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment Inc. (Sibuyan ISLE), has been fighting for the conservation and protection of the island against mining activities considering its vast impact on the ecology, culture and society of the island.</p><br>
<p>Mount Guiting-Guiting  is the highest mountain in the province of Romblon located at the heart of Sibuyan Island, one of the seven islands of Romblon province in the Philippines. Guiting-Guiting, in the local Romblomanon dialect, means "jagged". Though the length and duration of the climb is relatively shorter, two days to climb up and one day to descend, this mountain is still acknowledged as the most difficult and technically challenging Philippine mountain to climb, alongside Mount Halcon in Mindoro and Mount Mantalingajan in Palawan.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In May 1982, under the leadership of Arturo Valdez, a joint team from the Bacolod-based Philippine Mountaineering Society (PMS) and the University of the Philippines (UP), the team assaulted the mountain, the attempt of which was to be the first in history.</p><br>
<p>It was during this expedition that one of the peaks, now known as "Mayos Peak" was named after one of the team members, Mayo Monteza, who celebrated his birthday during the climb, while one of the water spring sources now known as "Bulods Spring" was named after one of the local guides, Bulod, who volunteered (along with another locals) to join the climb.</p><br>
<p>The team failed to take the summit on this first attempt, but came back two weeks afterwards. On 17 June 1982, four climbers became the first to stand at the summit. Their names are Mon Ruiz, Kim Valino, Roel Tan Torres (of UP mountaineers) and Edwin Gatia of the PMS team.</p><br>
<p>The Dornoch Firth  is a firth on the east coast of Highland, in northern Scotland. It forms part of the boundary between Ross and Cromarty, to the south, and Sutherland, to the north.</p><br>
<p>Together with Loch Fleet it is a designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA) for wildlife conservation purposes. Additionally, together with Morrich More, it has the designation of Special Area of Conservation.</p><br>
<p>The total SPA hosts significant populations of the following birds:</p><br>
<p>Breeding season: osprey (Pandion haliaetus)</p><br>
<p>Overwintering: bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), greylag goose (Anser anser), wigeon (Anas penelope), curlew (Numenius arquata), dunlin (Calidris alpina alpina), oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) and teal (Anas crecca).</p><br>
<h2>Dornoch Bridge</h2><br>
<p>In 1991, the firth was bridged, the new Dornoch Firth Bridge providing a shorter route on the A9 road between Inverness and Thurso; until then traffic had to go by way of Bonar Bridge at the head of the inlet.</p><br>
<p>On 16 August 1809 the firth was the scene of the Meikle Ferry disaster when an over-laden ferryboat sank with the loss of 99 lives.</p><br>
<p>Loch Fleet  is a sea loch on the east coast of Scotland, located between Golspie and Dornoch. It forms the estuary of the River Fleet, a small spate river that rises in the hills east of Lairg.</p><br>
<h2>Designations</h2><br>
<p>Loch Fleet Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)</p><br>
<p>Dornoch Firth and Loch Fleet Special Protection Area (SPA)</p><br>
<p>Dornoch Firth and Loch Fleet RAMSAR Site</p><br>
<p>National Nature Reserve (NNR)</p><br>
<h2>Loch Fleet National Nature Reserve</h2><br>
<p>Loch Fleet was designated a National Nature Reserve (NNR) in 1998, and is managed by a partnership between Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) and Sutherland Estates. The NNR extends to 1058 hectares, including the Loch Fleet tidal basin, sand dunes, shingle ridges and the adjacent pine woods, including Balbair Wood and Ferry Wood.</p><br>
<h3>Geography and geology</h3><br>
<p>Loch Fleet is a shallow, bar-built estuary with extensive sand-flats and mud-flats backed by saltmarsh and sand dunes. Beneath the sand dunes lies a bedrock of old Red Sandstone, overlain by shingle ridges, which extend from the western NNR boundary to the current coastline and north from Littleferry to Golspie.</p><br>
<h3>Flora and fauna</h3><br>
<p>On 24 March 1997, the Dornoch Firth and Loch Fleet Special Protection Area (SPA) was established for wildlife conservation. The SPA covers 7,836.33 hectare of Loch Fleet, the Dornoch Firth, Morrich More, the Mound Alderwoods and Tarbat Ness. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee described it as "one of the best examples in northwest Europe of a large complex estuary which has been relatively unaffected by industrial development".</p><br>
<p>The total SPA hosts significant populations of the following birds:</p><br>
<p>Breeding: osprey (Pandion haliaetus) - in the early 1990s there were 10 breeding pairs.</p><br>
<p>Overwintering: bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), greylag goose (Anser anser), wigeon (Anas penelope), curlew (Numenius arquata), dunlin (Calidris alpina alpina), oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) and teal (Anas crecca).</p><br>
<p>Heading inland, the alder woods around the mouth of the river at the Mound are significant.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The ruins of Skelbo Castle are situated on the south side of the loch.</p><br>
<p>The Battle of Littleferry was fought a few days before the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The Sutherland militia came down from the hills above Golspie and fell upon around 500 men led by the Earl of Cromarty. Cromarty&#39;s men were cornered in the Littleferry peninsula on the northeast side of the loch, and were either killed, captured, or drowned in the loch.</p><br>
<p>The Loch of Strathbeg  is a designated Special Protection Area for wildlife conservation purposes. It is located near to Rattray and Crimond in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.</p><br>
<p>The loch is maintained by the RSPB and around the loch there are three hides from which visitors may watch the birds and other wildlife. Access to the loch is through Crimond airfield where there is a car park at the edge of the reserve. There is also the Starnafin Centre from which visitors may also watch the birds from and find out more information about which birds and animals are present locally.</p><br>
<p>The RSPB records over 260 species of bird, 280 species of insect and 26 species of mammal at the reserve.</p><br>
<h2>Formation</h2><br>
<p>The loch is a very recent creation of geological times, forming naturally in a massive storm in 1720. The lagoon, where the loch is now, its small harbour Starny Keppie and the village of Rattray, were cut off from the sea and engulfed by shifting sands.</p><br>
<p>A historical account says that the storm blocked "the outlet of the stream called the burn of Strathbeg into the sea" after which it flowed directly into the loch.</p><br>
<p>There is another stream, the "Burn o’ Rattra" flowing into the loch. Ordnance Survey mapping of the Loch shows four streams ("burns" in Scots) and one exit point into the north sea.</p><br>
<h3>1854 study</h3><br>
<p>In 1854 the loch was estimated at "550 Scotch acres" (2.9 km² ) of which "more than three-fourths" were to be found in the Parish of Crimond and to have an "average depth is about 3½ feet" (approx. 1.1 metres) "its greatest depth does not exceed 6½ feet" (approx. 2 metres). This does not necessarily correspond with conditions today, as the same source also notes that the nearby beach head was at the time saturated and "oozing water" indeed it says that the loch had dropped at least 4 ft since 1817, only 37 years earlier.</p><br>
<h3>1943</h3><br>
<p>In 1943, Loch of Strathbeg was used by the Luftwaffe as an area to drop supplies to spies in the area. The area to the North of the loch was normally the drop point.</p><br>
<p>One drop in 1943 was set up by the British to use a double agent to drop a radio, money and some sabotage equipment in a case.</p><br>
<h3>1945</h3><br>
<p>At the end of World War 2, there was a large beach Minefield at Rattray. During land mine clearance, high pressure water pumps were used at the Loch of Strathbeg to provide a supply of water to jetting nozzles used to wash out land mines from the sand dunes. This work was carried out by 11th Coy Bomb disposal led my Major W.M. Hewitt. During clearance into 1946, a number of Royal Engineer personnel were killed in the minefield.</p><br>
<h2>Maps</h2><br>
<p>Historical maps of the area are available online that show the transition of Strathbeg Bay into Loch Strathbeg (links are provided rather than the image for copyright reasons):</p><br>
<p>The Niavaran Complex  is a historical complex situated in Shemiran , Iran. It consists of several buildings and monuments dating back to the Qajar and Pahlavi eras.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The complex traces its origin to a garden in the region of Niavaran, which was used as a summer residence by Fath-Ali Shah of the Qajar Dynasty.</p><br>
<p>A pavilion was built in the garden by the order of Naser ed Din Shah of the same dynasty, which was initially referred to as Niavaran, and was later renamed Saheb Qaranie. The pavilion of Ahmad Shah Qajar was built in the late Qajar period.</p><br>
<p>During the reign of the Pahlavi Dynasty, a new mansion named Niavaran was built for the imperial family of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. All of the peripheral buildings of the Saheb Qaranie, with the exception of the Ahmad Shahi Pavilion, were demolished, and the present-day structures were built to the north of the Saheb Qaranie. The Ahmad Shahi Pavilion was then used as an exhibition center for presents from world leaders to the Iranian monarchs.</p><br>
<p>2011 Ahmad-Shahi Pavilion Tehran 6214852688 by Kamyar Adl.jpgAhmad Shahi Pavilion</p><br>
<p>Sahebgharanie.JPGThe Saheb Qaranie</p><br>
<p>2011 Sahebqraniyeh Palace Tehran 6250140114.jpgThe Royal office of the Shah within the Saheb Qaranie.</p><br>
<p>Niavaran Palace garden.jpgArea in front of the Niavaran mansion.</p><br>
<p>غروب در پنجره کاخ.jpgThe gate of the Niavaran mansion.</p><br>
<p>تالار کاخ نیاوران، از نمای بالا.jpgInside the Niavaran mansion.</p><br>
<p>Nyavaran Palace.JPGInside the Niavaran mansion.</p><br>
<p>درون کاخ.jpgInside the Niavaran mansion.</p><br>
<p>Kooshk Ahmadshahi.jpgAhmad Shahi Pavilion</p><br>
<p>Inside of ahmadshahi palace.jpgInside the Ahmad Shahi Pavilion.</p><br>
<p>NiavaranPalaceTehran.jpgArea in front of the Pavilion.</p><br>
<p>Ahmad Shahs Pavilion.jpgAhmad Shahi Pavilion</p><br>
<p>Tochal  is a mountain and ski resort located on the Alborz mountain range, adjacent to the metropolitan area of Tehran in northern Iran. It includes a 12 km ridge. Its highest peak, also called Tochal, is at an elevation of 3,933 m.</p><br>
<p>A gondola lift runs from Tehran to the Tochal ski resort and hotel, all as a part of Tochal Complex.</p><br>
<h2>Peaks</h2><br>
<p>A number of peaks are accessible from the Tochal main ridge or by their own climbing paths. Peaks (from west to east) include:</p><br>
<p>Lavarak: accessible by main Tochal ridge or Imamzade Davood climbing path.</p><br>
<p>Bazarak: accessible by main Tochal ridge or Imamzade Davood climbing path.</p><br>
<p>Palang-chal: accessible from Darakeh valley and Palangchal Shelter.</p><br>
<p>Sar-Bazarak: accessible from Palangchal peak and main Tochal ridge.</p><br>
<p>Shah-Neshin: accessible from Tochal main ridge, Hezarcham path and south (Abshar-Dogholoo) ridge.</p><br>
<p>Tochal: The highest peak of the range, accessible by any climbing path that ends on the Tochal main ridge. The usual path from Tehran is by the south ridge (normally from Shirpala shelter and Siahsang hut).</p><br>
<p>Spilit: through Band-yakh-chal and Shervin hut by rock climbing or Klakchal ridge.</p><br>
<p>West Lezon: accessible from Tochal main ridge, Kolakchal shelter or Shirpala shelter.</p><br>
<p>East Lezon or Piaz-chal: accessible from Tochal main ridge, Kolakchal shelter or Shirpala shelter.</p><br>
<p>Kolak-chal: from Kolakchal shelter (through Golab-dareh valley, Vezbad valley or Jamshidieh park)</p><br>
<p>Siah-band: from Dar-abad valley and Dar-abad hut.</p><br>
<h2>Gondola lift</h2><br>
<p>Tochal has a long gondola lift which begins from Velenjak valley at and ends in the last station at 3740m near the main ridge of Tochal. This gondola lift is used for accessing ski resorts and other recreational centers on the mountain. The gondola lift has four stations:</p><br>
<p>Station 1 is at an elevation of and located at the beginning of Velenjak valley (end of Velenjak Street). Parking, inns and some other facilities are available.</p><br>
<p>Station 2 is at and has very limited facilities.</p><br>
<p>Station 5 is at. There is a restaurant and a rescue center. This station is in the middle of one of the ski slopes which is open only in mid winter. This station is also accessible through several climbing paths like Shirpala shelter, Osoon valley and Palang-chal shelter.</p><br>
<p>Station 7 is at and very close to the Tochal main ridge. It is the last station of the gondola lift. This station is in the middle of the Tochal ski slope. The Tochal main peak is 30 minutes walk from this point. This station is also reachable from Hezar-cham climbing path from Station 5.</p><br>
<h2>Location in central Alborz</h2><br>
<h2>Pictures</h2><br>
<p>Tochal view from Milad Tower.jpgMilad Tower&#39;s view to the city and mountains.</p><br>
<p>Loch of Skene is a large lowland, freshwater loch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies approximately 1 mi to the west of the village of Kirkton of Skene and 9 mi west of Aberdeen.</p><br>
<p>The loch is partially man-made being dammed at its outflow on the southern shore to form a reservoir. Before 1905, water from the loch was used in the making of tweed and to turn the mill wheel at the Garlogie Mills. When the mills closed in 1905 the water was used to generate electricity.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>The loch is designated as a Special Protection Area, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Ramsar site for wildlife conservation purposes.</p><br>
<p>The loch supports concentrations of wildfowl in autumn and winter in particular greylag geese, goldeneye ducks and pink-footed geese. Common gulls are also found on the loch.</p><br>
<p>Reedbed and a birch and willow carr fringe the loch perimeter.</p><br>
<p>Pike are found in the loch and a permit is required for fishing.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>The Aberdeen and Stonehaven Yachting Club is based at the loch.</p><br>
<h2>Survey</h2><br>
<p>The loch was surveyed on 17 July 1905 by T.N. Johnston and L.W. Collett and later charted as part of the Sir John Murray&#39;s Bathymetrical Survey of Fresh-Water Lochs of Scotland 1897-1909.</p><br>
<p>Kalyves  is a large village in Crete, Greece, the main village in the municipal unit of Armenoi. It is now a popular tourist resort that has maintained its Cretan character.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Kalyves lies about 20 km east of Chania in the Apokoronas area and is linked with GR-90 (E65). It is on the coast at the entrance of Souda Bay. It essentially consists of one long road, with houses opening directly on to it, with the occasional alley behind. The town is bound on one side by the sea and the other by low hills. On Kastelli Hill, east of the town, are the remains of the fortified settlement Castello Apicorono, identified by some scholars as the site of ancient Ippokoronion, which is thought to have given the Apokoronas region its name. In classical and Byzantine times, Kalives is the likely site of Kissamos, one of the ancient city of Aptera&#39;s two harbours.</p><br>
<p>Kalives is the base of the municipality of Armeni, covering 12 other settlements inland. A short walk out of the village to the west is a collection of stone buildings including a taverna and a chapel known as Koumos built by a local man who spent ten years erecting them. Paths are littered with mosaics, walls stuffed with stones in the shape of fish, snakes and other creatures with rough tables and chairs of stone. Before reaching Kalami village, another beach - Kyani Akti is hidden behind fields of bamboo.</p><br>
<p>Kalyves is a seaside village in the area of Apokoronas in Chania, on Souda Bay, 19 km east of Chania.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<p>Takarunga / Mount Victoria is the highest volcano on Aucklands North Shore, rising to 87 m. Its age is currently unknown. Its lava flows now line much of Devonports waterfront. An important pa once occupied its slopes, and some of the pas earthworks can still be seen. A scoria mound known as Duders Hill, on Takarunga / Mount Victorias southern slopes was mostly quarried away. The name Mount Victoria comes from Queen Victoria and the name Takarunga means "the hill standing above". Jules Dumont d&#39;Urville climbed the hill in 1827.</p><br>
<p>The hill provides panoramic views of Auckland&#39;s Waitematā Harbour and the inner Hauraki Gulf. Over the years the peak and upper slopes have housed a signal station for shipping, artillery emplacements, farmland, and various concrete army bunkers, some from as early as the 1870s. One bunker now serves as the venue for the Devonport Folk Music Club.</p><br>
<p>The slopes of Takarunga / Mount Victoria are also home to Devonport Primary School, Takarunga Playcentre, a tennis court, a cemetery, a water reservoir which maintains supply to the area, and a scenic lookout. The old Signalman&#39;s House is now home to the Michael King Writers Centre which provides writers-in-residence programmes, hosting for visiting writers, residential workshops for experienced writers, and a series of workshops for young poets and emerging writers. The writer-in-residence programmes are supported by Creative New Zealand and the University of Auckland.</p><br>
<p>In the 2014 Treaty of Waitangi settlement with the Tamaki Makaurau Collective of 13 Auckland iwi, the volcano was officially named Takarunga / Mount Victoria and ownership was vested to the collective. It is now co-governed by the collective and Auckland Council in common benefit of the iwi "and all other people of Auckland".</p><br>
<p>Ticao Island, is an island with a total land area of  is one of the three major islands of Masbate province in the Philippines. It is separated from the Bicol Peninsula by the Ticao Pass. The other two major islands are Masbate Island  and Burias Island .</p><br>
<p>The island is divided into the municipalities of Batuan, Monreal, San Fernando and its mother-town, San Jacinto.</p><br>
<p>San Miguel Island is located "just off the northern tip" of Ticao Island.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeological and Ecological Landscape and Seascape of Ticao</h2><br>
<p>Ticao island is known as an archaeological landscape, possessing thousands of pre-colonial artifacts such as the Baybayin-inscripted Rizal Stone, Ticao gold spike teeth, Burial jars of varrying designs and sizes, jade beads, human face rock statues, and the Ticao petrographs. Much of the homes in Ticao island use these archaeological finds to design their interiors. The island is also an ecological frontier for the conservation of manta rays. The island also possesses a rare subspecies of Visayan warty pig, that is almost near extinction.</p><br>
<p>Polygyros  is a town and municipality in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is the capital of Chalkidiki.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Polygyros town (pop. 6,121 at the 2011 census) is built in the shape of an amphitheatre on a plateau on the south west side of the mountain Cholomontas. It is south of Greek National Road 16 (Thessaloniki - Arnaia). Polygyros is located SE of Thessaloniki, NE of Nea Moudania, NW of Sithonia and SW of Arnaia. The municipal unit (the municipality before 2011) has a population of 10,721 inhabitants and a land area of 470.933 km². Other large villages in the municipal unit are Kalýves Polygýrou (1,333), Ólynthos (1,111), Taxiárchis (903), and Vrástama (700).</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>There are different speculations about the origin of Polygyros name. Some claim that it comes from the combination of poly (much) and geros (strong), because of the healthy climate. Others believe that the words poly and ieros (sacred) have given the present name, because of an ancient temple in the area. Also an old landowner, named Polyaros, offers a possible etymology. According to another possible etymology, the name derives from poly and gyros (round), possible due to the towns amphitheatric position.</p><br>
<h2>Municipality</h2><br>
<p>The municipality Polygyros was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 4 former municipalities, that became municipal units:</p><br>
<p>Anthemountas</p><br>
<p>Ormylia</p><br>
<p>Polygyros</p><br>
<p>Zervochoria</p><br>
<p>The municipality has an area of 947.417 km, the municipal unit 470.933 km.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Antiquity</h3><br>
<p>Some situate in the broader area of modern Polygyros the ancient city of Apollonia. Apollonia was one of the 32 cities, which, under the leadership of the Olynthus, constituted the Koinon ton Chalkideon (Chalkidian League). The Koinon was destroyed in 379 BCE by the Spartans, while in 348 BCE Philipp II of Macedon annexed the whole Chalcidice into the Macedonian Kingdom. In 168 BCE Chalcidice was subjected by the Romans.</p><br>
<h3>Byzantine and Ottoman Era</h3><br>
<p>The town of Polygyros is first mentioned in a medieval imperial document, chryssovoulon (with golden stamp), of Eastern Roman Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates about 1080 CE. In 1430, as the rest of the Eastern Roman Empire, Polygyros was conquered by the Ottomans and belonged to the Sanjak of Thessaloniki. On 17 May 1821 the people of Polygyros rose against the Ottoman authority and managed, temporarily, to expel the Ottoman guard. Many residents of Polygyros took part in the 1854&#39;s unsuccessful revolutionary movement against the Ottomans.</p><br>
<h3>Modern Era</h3><br>
<p>Finally, on November 2, 1912 the Greek army, as one of the winners of the First Balkan War, entered Polygyros and incorporated the town in the Greek State.</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<p>Polygyros is famous for its carnival celebrations, which attracts visitors from all over Greece. A nearby location called Panagia (Virgin Mary) is the setting of a famous religious celebration on August 15. Also, cultural societies are active in the fields of folk music and dance. Classic and modern music is cultivated in the municipal conservatory. There is a Folklore Museum in the town, opened in 1998.</p><br>
<h3>Sports</h3><br>
<p>Niki (victory) is the name of Polygyros&#39; football club, which participates in the Greek National Fourth Division Professional League. AOP (Athletic Club of Polygyros) is the local basketball team, participant in the Third National Basketball Division.</p><br>
<h2>Landmarks</h2><br>
<p>The Archaeological Museum of Polygyros has exhibits containing findings from all over Halkidiki and referring to paleolithical and neolithical age, geometric, archaic, classic, hellenistic and Roman period.</p><br>
<p>Archaeological Museum of Polygyros</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<p>The Walter E. Fernald State School, later the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center , was the Western hemisphere&#39;s oldest publicly funded institution serving people with developmental disabilities. Originally a Victorian sanatorium, it became a "poster child" for the American eugenics movement during the 1920s. It later was the scene of medical experiments in the 20th century. Investigations into this research led to new regulations regarding human research in children.</p><br>
<p>The school occupies a 186 acre property off Trapelo Road in Waltham, Massachusetts.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early history</h3><br>
<p>The Fernald Center, originally called the Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children, was founded by reformer Samuel Gridley Howe in 1848 with a $2,500 appropriation from the Massachusetts State Legislature. The school eventually comprised 72 buildings total, located on 196 acre. At its peak, some 2,500 people were confined there, most of them "feeble-minded" boys.</p><br>
<p>Under its third superintendent, Walter E. Fernald (1859–1924), an advocate of eugenics, the school was viewed as a model educational facility in the field of mental retardation. It was renamed in his honor in 1925, following his death the previous year. The institution was involved in several different procedures that used the residents as test subjects some of which include sterilization and radiation experimentation.</p><br>
<p>The institution did serve a large population of mentally retarded children, but The Boston Globe estimates that upwards of half of the inmates tested with IQs in the normal range. In the 20th century, living conditions were spartan or worse; approximately 36 children slept in each dormitory room. There were also reports of physical and sexual abuse.</p><br>
<h3>Nuclear medicine research in children</h3><br>
<p>The Fernald School was the site of the 1946–53 joint experiments by Harvard University and MIT that exposed young male children to tracer doses of radioactive isotopes. Documents obtained in 1994 by the United States Department of Energy revealed the following details:</p><br>
<p>The experiment was conducted in part by a research fellow sponsored by the Quaker Oats Company.</p><br>
<p>MIT Professor of Nutrition Robert S. Harris led the experiment, which studied the absorption of calcium and iron.</p><br>
<p>The boys were encouraged to join a "Science Club", which offered larger portions of food, parties, and trips to Boston Red Sox baseball games.</p><br>
<p>The 57 club members ate iron-enriched cereals and calcium-enriched milk for breakfast. In order to track absorption, several radioactive calcium tracers were given orally or intravenously.</p><br>
<p>Radiation levels in stool and blood samples would serve as dependent variables.</p><br>
<p>In another study, 17 subjects received iron supplement shots containing radioisotopes of iron.</p><br>
<p>Neither the children nor their parents ever gave adequate informed consent for participation in a scientific study.</p><br>
<p>The Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, reporting to the United States Department of Energy in 1994, reported on these experiments:</p><br>
<p>In 1946, one study exposed seventeen subjects to radioactive iron. The second study, which involved a series of seventeen related subexperiments, exposed fifty-seven subjects to radioactive calcium between 1950 and 1953. It is clear that the doses involved were low and that it is extremely unlikely that any of the children who were used as subjects were harmed as a consequence. These studies remain morally troubling, however, for several reasons. First, although parents or guardians were asked for their permission to have their children involved in the research, the available evidence suggests that the information provided was, at best, incomplete. Second, there is the question of the fairness of selecting institutionalized children at all, children whose life circumstances were by any standard already heavily burdened.</p><br>
<p>It has been claimed that the highest dose of radiation that any subject was exposed to was 330 millirem the equivalent of less than one year&#39;s background radiation in Denver. A 1995 class-action suit resulted in a 1998 District court decision awarding the victims a $1.85 million settlement from MIT and Quaker.</p><br>
<p>The school also participated in studies of thyroid function in patients with Down Syndrome and their parents.</p><br>
<p>This study showed that their iodine metabolism was similar to normal controls.</p><br>
<h3>Reform lawsuit</h3><br>
<p>This situation changed in the 1970s, when a class action suit, Ricci v. Okin, was filed to upgrade conditions at Fernald and several other state institutions for persons with mental retardation in Massachusetts. USA District Court Judge Joseph Louis Tauro, who assumed oversight of the case in 1972, formally disengaged from the case in 1993, declaring that improvements in the care and conditions at the facilities had made them "second to none anywhere in the world". A result for Fernald residents of the class action suit which took effect in 1993 was the provision of "a guaranteed level of care, regardless of cost, to compensate for decades of neglect and abuse".</p><br>
<h3>Twenty-first century</h3><br>
<p>The buildings and grounds survived into the 2000s as a center for mentally disabled adults, operated by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation. In 2001, 320 adults resided at Fernald, with ages ranging from 27 to 96 years and an average age of 47 years. According to a December 13, 2004 article in the Boston Globe, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney announced in 2003 that the facility would be closed and the land sold by 2007. In 2003, a coalition of family advocates and state employee unions began a campaign to save Fernald and asked Judge Tauro to resume his oversight of the "Ricci v. Okin" class action lawsuit that had led to improvements at Fernald and the other state facilities beginning in the 1970s.</p><br>
<p>In an August 14, 2007 ruling, Judge Tauro ordered the Department of Mental Retardation to consider the individual wishes of all 185 institution residents before closing the facility. However, in September 2007, the new administration of Governor Deval Patrick appealed Tauros ruling to the First Circuit USA Court of Appeals in Boston. In a statement, the Patrick administration contended that Fernald had become too expensive to continue to operate and that equal or better care could be provided in private, community-based settings for the remaining Fernald residents. The administrations cost claims have been disputed by the Fernald League for the Retarded, Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition of Families and Advocates for the Retarded, Inc. (COFAR) and other family-based organizations, which have continued to advocate for the preservation of Fernald as a site for ICF/MR-level care for its current residents. Those advocacy organizations have proposed a "postage-stamp" plan under which Fernald would be scaled back in size and the remaining portion of the campus sold for development. The Patrick administration, however, has declined to negotiate with those Fernald advocates, and has pressed ahead with its appeal and closure plans.</p><br>
<p>A significant portion of the Waltham campus, encompassing its facilities established through Fernald&#39;s tenure, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Fernald was the subject of a 2007 documentary film "Front Wards, Back Wards" directed by W.C. Rogers, which has been shown on some PBS television stations.</p><br>
<p>The Fernald Center&#39;s last resident was discharged on Thursday, November 13, 2014, after a protracted legal and political battle which cost the Commonwealth of Massachusetts over $40 million in additional costs over the projected closure date of 2010. Remaining residents were integrated into community services or other state-operated programs. The land was purchased by the city of Waltham, which is exploring the possibility of a new high school on the site.</p><br>
<h2>Current status</h2><br>
<p>The state sold the property to the city of Waltham in 2014 for $3.7 million, retaining some rights to profit from future leases. and with some historical preservation conditions. As of 2017, despite considering use of the property as a high school or police station, it remains unused.</p><br>
<p>Innisfallen or Inishfallen is an island in Lough Leane; one of the three Lakes of Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Innisfallen is home to the ruins of Innisfallen Abbey, one of the most impressive archaeological remains dating from the early Christian period found in the Killarney National Park. The monastery was founded in 640 by St. Finian the Leper, and was occupied for approximately 950 years. Over a period of about 300 of these, the monks wrote the Annals of Innisfallen, which chronicle the early history of Ireland as it was known to the monks. The monks were dispossessed of the abbey on August 18, 1594, by Elizabeth I.</p><br>
<p>The location of the monastery on the island is thought to have given rise to the name Lough Leane (Irish Loch Léin), which in English means "Lake of Learning". According to tradition the Irish High King Brian Boru received his education at Innisfallen under Maelsuthain O&#39;Carroll. Maelsuthain has been credited as the possible originator of the Annals.</p><br>
<h2>Access to the island</h2><br>
<p>It is possible for tourists to visit the island during the summer months, with boats leaving from Ross Castle throughout the day.</p><br>
<h2>Structures</h2><br>
<p>While the abbey dates back to the seventh century, the oldest extant structure, dated to the tenth century, is the western two-thirds of the abbey church. The remainder of the church and the main abbey complex were constructed in the thirteenth century. A third structure, an oratory with a Hiberno-Romanesque doorway, dates from the twelfth century.</p><br>
<p>Acoma Pueblo  is a Native American pueblo approximately 60 mi west of Albuquerque, New Mexico in the United States. Three villages make up Acoma Pueblo: Sky City , Acomita, and Mcartys. The Acoma Pueblo tribe is a federally recognized tribal entity. The historical land of Acoma Pueblo totaled roughly 5,000,000 acres. The community retains only 10% of this land, making up the Acoma Indian Reservation. Acoma Pueblo is a National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<p>According to the 2010 United States Census, 4,989 people identified as Acoma. The Acoma have continuously occupied the area for more than 800 years, making this one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States (along with Hopi pueblos). Acoma tribal traditions estimate that they have lived in the village for more than two thousand years.</p><br>
<h2>Names</h2><br>
<p>The English name Acoma was borrowed from Spanish Ácoma (1583) or Acóma (1598). The Spanish name was borrowed from the Acoma word ʔáák’u̓u̓m̓é meaning person from Acoma Pueblo. ʔáák’u̓u̓m̓é itself is derived from ʔáák’u (singular, plural: ʔaak’u̓u̓m̓e̓e̓ʈʂʰa). The name does not have any meaning in the modern Acoma language. Some tribal authorities connect it to the similar word háák’u preparedness, place of preparedness and suggest that this might be the origin of the name. The name does not mean sky city. Other tribal elders assert that it means place that always was while outsiders say it means people of the white rock.</p><br>
<p>Acoma has been spelled in various other ways in historical documents. ákuma, ákomage, Acus, Acux, Aacus, Hacús, Vacus, Vsacus, Yacco, Acco, Acuca, Acogiya, Acuco, Coco, Suco, Akome, Acuo, Ako, and A’ku-me. The Spanish mission name was San Esteban de Acoma.</p><br>
<p>Pueblo is the Spanish word for ‘village’ or ‘small town.’ In general usage, it is applied both to the people and to the unique architecture of the southwestern native tribes.</p><br>
<h2>Language</h2><br>
<p>The Acoma language is classified in the western division of the Keresan languages. In contemporary Acoma Pueblo culture, most people speak both Acoma and English. Elders might also speak Spanish.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Origins and prehistory</h3><br>
<p>Pueblo people are believed to have descended from the Anasazi, Mogollon, and other ancient peoples. These influences are seen in the architecture, farming style, and artistry of the Acoma. In the 13th century, the Anasazi abandoned their canyon homelands due to climate change and social upheaval. For upwards of two centuries, migrations occurred in the area. The Acoma Pueblo emerged by the thirteenth century.</p><br>
<p>The Pueblo is situated on a 365 ft mesa, about 60 mi west of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The isolation and location of the Pueblo has sheltered the community for more than 1,200 years. They sought to avoid conflict with the neighboring Navajo and Apache peoples.</p><br>
<h3>European contact</h3><br>
<p>The first mention of Acoma was in 1539. Estevanico, a slave, was the first non-Indian to visit Acoma and reported it to Marcos de Niza, who related the information to the viceroy of New Spain after the end of his expedition. Acoma was called the independent Kingdom of Hacus. He called the Acoma people encaconados, which meant that they had turquoise hanging from their ears and noses.</p><br>
<p>Captain Hernando de Alvarado of conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronados expedition described the Pueblo (which they called Acuco) in 1540 as "a very strange place built upon solid rock" and "one of the strongest places we have seen." Upon visiting the Pueblo, the expedition "repented having gone up to the place." Further from Alvarados report:</p><br>
<p>It is believed Coronado&#39;s expedition were the first Europeans to encounter the Acoma. (Estevan was a native Moroccan.) Alvarado reported that first the Acoma refused entry even after persuasions but after Alvarado showed threats of an attack the Acoma guards welcomed the Spaniards peacefully noting that they and their horses were tired. The encounter shows that the Acoma had clothing made of deerskin, buffalohide, and woven cotton as well as turquoise jewelry, domestic turkeys, bread, pine nuts, and maize. The village seemed to contain about 200 men.</p><br>
<p>Acoma was next visited by the Spanish 40 years later in 1581 by Fray Agustín Rodríguez and Francisco Sánchez Chamuscado with 12 soldiers, 3 other friars, and 13 others including Indian servants. The Acoma at this time were reported to be somewhat defensive and fearful. This response may have been due to the knowledge of the Spanish enslavement of other Indians to work in silver mines in the area. However, eventually the Rodríguez and Chamuscado party convinced them to trade goods for food. The Spaniard reports say the pueblo had about 500 houses of either three or four stories high.</p><br>
<p>In 1582, Acoma was visited again by Antonio de Espejo for three months. The Acoma were reported to be wearing mantas. Espejo also noted irrigation in Acomita, the farming village in the north valley near San Jose River which was two leagues from the mesa. He saw evidence of intertribal trade with "mountain Querechos". Acoma oral history does not confirm this trade but only tells of common messengers to and from the mesa and Acomita, McCartys Village, and Seama.</p><br>
<p>Juan de Oñate intended on colonizing New Mexico starting from 1595. (He formally held the area by April 1598.) The Acoma warrior Zutacapan heard of this plan and warned the mesa and organized a defense. However, a pueblo elder Chumpo dissuaded war partly to prevent deaths and partly based on Zutancalpos (Zutacapans son) mentioning of the widespread belief that the Spaniards were immortal. Thus, when Oñate visited on October 27, 1598, Acoma met him peacefully with no resistance to Oñate&#39;s demand of surrender and obedience reported. Oñate demonstrated his military power by firing a gun salute. Zutacapan offered to meet Oñate formally in the religious kiva, which is traditionally used as the place to make sacred oaths and pledges. However, Oñate was scared of death and in suspicious ignorance of Acoma customs refused to enter via ladder from the roof into the dark kiva chambers. Purguapo was another Acoma man out of four chosen for Spaniard negotiations.</p><br>
<p>Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá visited Acoma soon after Oñates departure by himself with a dog and a horse and asked for other supplies. Villagrá refused to get off his horse and left to follow after Oñates party. However, Zutacapan convinced him to return to receive supplies. In questioning by Zutacapan, Villagrá said that 103 armed men were two day away from Acoma. Zutacapan then told Villagrá to leave Acoma.</p><br>
<p>On December 1, 1598, Juan de Zaldívar, Oñates nephew, reached Acoma with 20–30 men and peacefully traded with them and had to wait some days for their order of ground corn. On December 4, Zaldívar went with 16 armored men to Acoma to find out about the corn. Zutacapan met them and directed them to the homes with the corn. Zaldívars people then divided into groups to collect the corn. The traditional oral Acoma narrative tells that a group attacked some Acoma women leading Acoma warriors to retaliate. The Spanish documents do not report an attack on the women and say that the division of the men was a reaction to Zutacapans plan to kill Zaldívars party. The Acoma killed 12 of the Spaniards including Zaldívar. Five men escaped although one died from jumping over the citadel leaving four to escape with the remaining camp.</p><br>
<p>On December 20, 1598, Oñate learned of Zaldívars death and after encouraging advice from the friars planned an attack in revenge as well to teach a lesson to other pueblos. Acomas requested help from other tribes to defend against the Spanish. Among the leaders were Gicombo, Popempol, Chumpo, Calpo, Buzcoico, Ezmicaio, and Bempol (a recruited Apache war leader). On January 21, 1599, Vicente de Zaldívar (Juan de Zaldívars brother) reached Acoma with 70 soldiers. The Acoma Massacre started the next day and lasted for three days. On January 23, men were able to climb the southern mesa unnoticed by Acoma guards and breach the pueblo. The Spanish dragged a cannon through the streets toppling adobe walls and burned most of the village killing 800 people (decimated 13% of the 6,000 population) and imprisoning approximately 500 others. The pueblo surrendered at noon on January 24. Zaldívar lost only one of his men. The Spanish amputated the right feet of men over 25 years old and forced them into slavery for 20 years. They also took males aged 12–25 and females over 12 away from their parents putting most of them in slavery for 20 years. The enslaved Acoma were given to government officials and various missions. Two other Indian men visiting Acoma at the time had their right hands cut off and were sent back to their respective Pueblos as a warning of the consequences for resisting the Spanish. On the north side of the mesa, a row of houses still retain marks from the fire started by a cannon during this Acoma War. (Oñate was later exiled from New Mexico for mismanagement, false reporting, and cruelty by Philip III of Spain.)</p><br>
<p>Survivors of the Acoma Massacre rebuilt their community 1599–1620. Oñate forced the Acoma and other local Indians to pay taxes in crops, cotton, and labor. Spanish rule also brought Catholic missionaries into the area. The Spanish renamed the pueblos with the names of saints and started to construct churches at them. They introduced new crops to the Acoma, including peaches, peppers, and wheat. A 1620 royal decree created Spanish civil offices in each pueblo, including Acoma, with an appointed governor to take command. In 1680 the Pueblo Revolt took place, with Acoma participating.</p><br>
<p>The Acoma suffered high mortality from smallpox epidemics, as they had no immunity to such Eurasian infectious diseases. They also suffered raiding from the Apache, Comanche, and Ute. On occasion, the Acoma would side with the Spanish to fight against these nomadic tribes. Forced to formally adopt Catholicism, the Acoma proceeded to practice their traditional religion in secrecy, and combined elements of both in a syncretic blend. Intermarriage and interaction became common among the Acoma, other pueblos, and Hispanic villages. These communities would intermingle in a kind of creolization to form the culture of New Mexico.</p><br>
<h4>San Esteban Del Rey Mission</h4><br>
<p>Between 1629 and 1641 Father Juan Ramirez oversaw construction of the San Estevan Del Rey Mission Church. The Acoma were ordered to build the church, moving 20,000 ST of adobe, straw, sandstone, and mud to the mesa for the church walls. Ponderosa pine was brought in by community members from Mount Taylor, over 40 mi away. The 6,000 ft2 church has an altar flanked by 60 ft-high wood pillars. These are hand carved in red and white designs representing Christian and Indigenous beliefs. The Acoma know their ancestors&#39; hands built this structure, and they consider it a cultural treasure.</p><br>
<p>In 1970 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2007 the mission church was designated as a National Trust Historic Site, the only Native American site in that ranking as identified by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a non-profit organization.</p><br>
<h3>19th and 20th century</h3><br>
<p>During the nineteenth century, the Acoma people, while trying to uphold traditional life, also adopted aspects of the once-rejected Spanish culture and religion. By the 1880s, railroads brought increased numbers of settlers and ended the pueblos&#39; isolation.</p><br>
<p>In the 1920s, the All Indian Pueblo Council gathered for the first time in more than 300 years. Responding to congressional interest in appropriating Pueblo lands, the USA Congress passed the Pueblo Lands Act in 1924. Despite successes in retaining their land, the Acoma had difficulty during the 20th century trying to preserve their cultural traditions. Protestant missionaries established schools in the area, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs forced Acoma children into boarding schools. By 1922, most children from the community were in boarding schools, where they were forced to use English and to practice Christianity. Several generations became cut off from their own culture and language, with harsh effects on their families and societies.</p><br>
<h3>Present day</h3><br>
<p>Today, about 300 two- and three-story adobe buildings stand on the mesa, with exterior ladders used to access the upper levels where residents live. Access to the mesa is by a road blasted into the rock face during the 1950s. Approximately 30 or so people live permanently on the mesa, with the population increasing on the weekends as family members come to visit and tourists, some 55,000 annually, visit for the day.</p><br>
<p>Acoma Pueblo has no electricity, running water, or sewage disposal. A reservation surrounds the mesa, totaling 600 square miles. Tribal members live both on the reservation and outside it. Contemporary Acoma culture remains relatively closed, however. According to the 2000 United States census, 4,989 people identify themselves as Acoma.</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<h3>Governance and reservation</h3><br>
<p>Acoma government was maintained by two individuals: a cacique, or head of the Pueblo, and a war captain, who would serve until their deaths. Both individuals maintained strong religious connections to their work, representing the theocracy of Acoma governance. The Spanish eventually imposed a group to oversee the Pueblo, but, their power was not taken seriously by the Acoma. The Spanish group would work with external situations and comprised a governor, two lieutenant governors, and a council. The Acoma also participated in the All Indian Pueblo Council, which started in 1598 and arose again in the twentieth century.</p><br>
<p>Today, the Acoma controls approximately 500,000 acres of their traditional land. Mesas, valleys, hills, and arroyos dot the landscape that averages about 7,000 ft in altitude with about 10 in of rain each year. Since 1977, the Acoma have increased their domain through several land purchases. On the reservation, only tribal members may own land and almost all enrolled members live on the property. The cacique is still active in the community, and is from the Antelope clan. The cacique appoints tribal council members, staff, and the governor.</p><br>
<p>In 2011 Acoma Pueblo and the Pueblo of Santa Clara were victims of heavy flooding. New Mexico supplied more than $1 million to fund emergency preparedness and damage repair for victims and governor Susana Martinez requested additional funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.</p><br>
<h3>Warfare and weaponry</h3><br>
<p>Historically, engagements in warfare were common for Acoma, like other Pueblos. Weapons used included clubs, stones, spears, and darts. The Acoma later would serve as auxiliaries for forces under Spain and Mexico, fighting against raids and protecting merchants on the Santa Fe Trail. After the nineteenth-century, raiding tribes were less of a threat and Acoma military culture began to decline. The war captain position eventually would change to a civil and religious function.</p><br>
<h3>Architecture</h3><br>
<p>Acoma Pueblo has three rows of three-story, apartment-style buildings which face south on top of the mesa. The buildings are constructed from adobe brick with beams across the roof that were covered with poles, brush, and then plaster. The roof for one level would serve as the floor for another. Each level is connected to others by ladders, serving as a unique defensive aid; the ladders are the only way to enter the buildings, as the traditional design has no windows or doors. The lower levels of the buildings were used for storage. Baking ovens are outside the buildings, with water being collected from two natural cisterns. Acoma also has seven rectangular kivas and a village plaza which serves as the spiritual center for the village.</p><br>
<h3>Family life</h3><br>
<p>About 20 matrilineal clans were recognized by the Acoma. Traditional child rearing involved very little discipline. Couples were generally monogamous and divorce was rare. Funerary rites involved ceremony and quick burial after death, followed by four days and nights of vigil. Women would wear cotton dresses and sandals or high moccasin boots. Traditional clothing for men involved cotton kilts and leather sandals. Rabbit and deer skin was used for clothing and robes, as well.</p><br>
<p>Since the 1970s, Acoma Pueblo has retained control over education services, which have been keys in maintaining traditional and contemporary lifestyles. They share a high school with Laguna Pueblo. Alcoholism, drug use, and other health issues are prominent on the reservation and Indian Health Service hospitals and native healers cooperate to battle health problems. Alcohol is banned on the Pueblo. The community is served by the Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna (ACL) Hospital run by the Indian Health Services and located in Acoma. Today, 19 clans still remain active.</p><br>
<h3>Religion</h3><br>
<p>Traditional Acoma religion stresses harmony between life and nature. The sun is a representative of the Creator deity. Mountains surrounding the community, the sun above, and the earth below help to balance and define the Acoma world. Traditional religious ceremonies may revolve around the weather, including seeking to ensure healthy rainfall. The Acoma also use kachinas in rituals. The Pueblos also had one or more kivas, which served as religious chambers. The leader of each Pueblo would serve as the community religious leader, or cacique. The cacique would observe the sun and use it as a guide for scheduling ceremonies, some which were kept secret.</p><br>
<p>Many Acoma are Catholic, but blend aspects of Catholicism and their traditional religion. Many old rituals are still performed. In September, the Acoma honor their patron saint, Saint Stephen. For feast day, the mesa is opened to the public for the celebration. More than 2,000 pilgrims attend the San Esteban Festival. The celebration begins at San Esteban Del Rey Mission and a carved pine effigy of Saint Stephen is removed from the altar and carried into the main plaza with people chanting, shooting rifles, and ringing steeple bells. The procession then proceeds past the cemetery, down narrow streets, and to the plaza. Upon arriving at the plaza, the effigy is placed in a shrine lined with woven blankets and guarded by two Acoma men. A celebration follows with dancing and feasting. During the festival, vendors sell goods such as traditional pottery and cuisine.</p><br>
<h3>Subsistence</h3><br>
<p>Before contact with the Spanish, Acoma people primarily ate corn, beans, and squash. Mut-tze-nee was a popular thin corn bread. They also raised turkeys, tobacco, and sunflowers. The Acoma hunted antelope, deer, and rabbits. Wild seeds, berries, nuts, and other foods were gathered. After 1700, new foods were noted in the historical record. Blue corn drink, pudding, corn mush, corn balls, wheat cake, peach-bark drink, paper bread, flour bread, wild berries, and prickly pear fruit all became staples. After contact with the Spanish, goats, horses, sheep and donkeys were raised.</p><br>
<p>In contemporary Acoma, other foods are also popular such as apple pastries, corn tamales, green-chili stew with lamb, fresh corn, and wheat pudding with brown sugar.</p><br>
<p>Irrigation techniques such as dams and terraces were used for agricultural purposes. Farming tools were made of wood and stone. Harvested corn would be ground with hands and mortar.</p><br>
<h3>Economy</h3><br>
<p>Historical Acoma economic practices are described as socialistic or communal. Labor was shared and produce was distributed equally. Trading networks were extensive, spreading thousands of miles throughout the region. During fixed times in the summer and fall, trading fairs were held. The largest fair was held in Taos by the Comanche. Nomadic traders would exchange slaves, buckskins, buffalo hide, jerky, and horses. Pueblo people would trade for copper and shell ornaments, macaw feathers, and turquoise. The Acoma would trade via the Santa Fe Trail starting in 1821, and with the arrival of railroads in the 1880s, the Acoma became dependent on American-made goods. This dependency would cause traditional arts such as weaving and pottery making to decline.</p><br>
<p>Today, the Acoma produce a variety of goods for economic benefit. Agriculturally they grow alfalfa, oats, wheat, chilies, corn, melon, squash, vegetables, and fruit. They raise cattle and have natural reserves of gas, geothermal, and coal resources. Uranium mines in the area provided work for the Acoma until their closings in the 1980s. After that, the tribe provided most employment opportunities. However, high unemployment rates trouble the Pueblo. The legacy of the uranium mines has left radiation pollution, causing the tribal fishing lake to be drained and some health problems within the community.</p><br>
<h4>Tourism</h4><br>
<p>Tourism is a major source of income for the tribe. In 2008 Pueblo Acoma opened the Sky City Cultural Center and Haak&#39;u Museum at the base of the mesa, replacing the original, which was destroyed by fire in 2000. The center and museum seek to sustain and preserve Acoma culture. Films about Acoma history are shown and a café serves traditional foods. The architecture was inspired by pueblo design and indigenous architectural traditions with wide doorways in the middle, which in traditional homes make the bringing of supplies easier, Flecks of mica are in the windowpanes, a mineral which is used to create mesa windows. The complex is also fire resistant, unlike traditional pueblos, and is painted in light pinks and purples to match the landscape surrounding it. Traditional Acoma artwork is exhibited and demonstrated at the Center, including ceramic chimneys crafted on the rooftop. Arts and crafts also bring income into the community.</p><br>
<p>Acoma Pueblo is open to the public by guided tour from March thru October, though June and July have periods of closure for cultural activities. It is advisable for visitors to call ahead to confirm whether they are open or not. Photography of the Pueblo and surrounding land is restricted. Tours and camera permits are purchased at the Sky City Cultural Center. While photography may be produced with permit, video recordings, drawings, and sketching are prohibited.</p><br>
<p>The Acoma Pueblo also has a casino and hotel - the Sky City Casino Hotel. The casino and hotel are alcohol-free and are maintained by the Acoma Business Enterprise which oversees most Acoma businesses.</p><br>
<h3>Arts</h3><br>
<p>At Acoma, pottery remains one of the most notable artforms. Men created weavings and silver jewelry, as well.</p><br>
<h4>Pottery</h4><br>
<p>Acoma pottery dates back to more than 1,000 years ago. Dense local clay, dug up at a nearby site, is essential to Acoma pottery. The clay is dried and strengthened by the addition of pulverized pottery shards. The pieces then are shaped, painted, and fired. Geometric patterns, thunderbirds, and rainbows are traditional designs, which are applied with the spike of a yucca. Upon completion, a potter would lightly strike the side of the pot, and hold it to their ear. If the pot does not ring, then the pot will crack during firing. If this was found, the piece would be destroyed and ground into shards for future use.</p><br>
<h2>Communities</h2><br>
<p>Acomita</p><br>
<p>Anzac</p><br>
<p>McCartys</p><br>
<p>Sky Line</p><br>
<p>Old Sky Line</p><br>
<h2>Acoma Pueblo people</h2><br>
<p>Marie Chino, traditional pottery artist</p><br>
<p>Vera Chino, traditional pottery artist</p><br>
<p>Lucy Lewis, traditional pottery artist</p><br>
<p>Susan Sarracino, traditional pottery artist</p><br>
<p>Simon J. Ortiz, poet, author, and educator</p><br>
<p>Anton Docher, "The Padre of Isleta", French priest in Acoma during his long period in Isleta.</p><br>
<p>The Ear of Dionysius  is a limestone cave carved out of the Temenites hill in the city of Syracuse, on the island of Sicily in Italy. Its name comes from its similarity in shape to the human ear.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Ear of Dionysius was most likely formed out of an old limestone quarry. It is 23 metres high and extends 65 metres back into the cliff. Horizontally, it bends in an approximate "S" shape, vertically it is tapered at the top like a teardrop. Because of its shape the Ear has extremely good acoustics, making even a small sound resonate throughout the cave.</p><br>
<h2>Purpose</h2><br>
<p>This cave was dug in Greek/Roman times as a water storage for Syracuse. A narrow tunnel was dug first. This tunnel was widened by digging down and sideways afterwards, giving the cave its unusual shape. The small narrow tunnel is still visible on the top of this artificial cave. An earthquake struck this area causing damage, and the cave became unusable for water storage afterwards.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The name of the cave was coined in 1586 by the painter Caravaggio. It refers to the tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse. According to legend (possibly one created by Caravaggio), Dionysius used the cave as a prison for political dissidents, and by means of the perfect acoustics eavesdropped on the plans and secrets of his captives. Another more gruesome legend claims that Dionysius carved the cave in its shape so that it would amplify the screams of prisoners being tortured in it. Unfortunately, the sound focusing effect can no longer be heard because access to the focal point is no longer possible. The visitors of the cave can however still hear the echo while they are in the Ear of Dionysius.</p><br>
<p>Because of its reputation for acoustic flawlessness, the Ear of Dionysius has also come to refer to a type of ear trumpet that has a flexible tube. The term Ear of Dionysius can also refer to surveillance, specifically that for political gain.</p><br>
<p>There is a strong possibility that this feature is actually of natural origin. It lies on the down slope side of a substantial hill it could well be a slot canyon cut by rainwater run-off in prehistoric times. Comparing it to other slot canyons, especially those in the state of Utah (USA), it shows many similar characteristics. The narrowness of the top opening and widening of the lower part are also common to slot caverns elsewhere, as is its serpentine shape. The highly polished sides also suggest that the phenomenon was created by water. Such a natural feature, especially given its acoustics, would have been valued in the ancient world for its supposed sacred properties and this could have led to its preservation. Had it been man-made, why would the quarriers bother to polish its walls to such a high degree, or remove stone in such an impractical fashion? Given that the building of the extensive necropolis that abuts it on the hillside above involved removing a huge amount of the original overlaying rock, it is also possible that this canyon extended even further before men began quarrying there.</p><br>
<p>Abrakurrie Cave is a wild cave on the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. It is located about 48 km north west of Eucla and is reported to have the largest single cave chamber in the southern hemisphere, and that stencils in the cave are the deepest penetration of Aboriginal art of any cave system in Australia.</p><br>
<p>Visits to the cave occurred as early as the 1880s.</p><br>
<p>The cave was explored by an expedition led by Captain J. M. Thompson in 1935. The explorers described a cave that was 1,200 ft in length, 160 ft wide and 150 ft deep. After progressing a further 250 ft the group found the passage forked into two passages one of which continued a further 1,500 ft leading to a huge cavern.</p><br>
<p>Photographs of the cave were published after the 1935 expedition.</p><br>
<p>It was a well documented cave by the 1960s. which includes Abrakurrie Cave (SE WA Nullarbor SH52-14),Koonalda Cave (Far West SA Nullarbor SH52-15)</p><br>
<p>Cowles Mountain  is a prominent mountain located in the San Carlos neighborhood, within the City of San Diego, San Diego County, California. The 1,593 ft summit is the highest point of the city of San Diego.</p><br>
<p>It is protected within Mission Trails Regional Park.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The mountain is named after George A. Cowles, a 1870s-80s rancher and early businessperson in southwestern San Diego County.</p><br>
<h3>San Diego State University</h3><br>
<p>For many years Cowles Mountain was locally known as "S" Mountain. In 1931, 500 students from San Diego State College, now San Diego State University (SDSU), painted a 400 ft letter "S" on the side of the mountain, after which it took on its popular name. In April 1942, during World War II, the local military ordered the S covered up for the sake of national security. After the war the painting tradition was resurrected.</p><br>
<p>In the 1970s, the annual repainting tradition was ceased for environmental and habitat protection, but suffered a brief resurgence in the late 1980s. The "S" has not been repainted for nearly three decades.</p><br>
<h2>Mission Trails Regional Park</h2><br>
<p>The entire mountain, with marked trails, is a protected area within Mission Trails Regional Park, which opened in 1972.</p><br>
<h3>Trails</h3><br>
<p>The main trail to the summit is a popular hiking destination taking hundreds of people per day to a 360-degree panorama of San Diego County. The hike to the top is 1.5 mi long and an elevation change of about 950 ft. This trail is on the corner of Golfcrest Drive and Navajo Road. A much-less-used but maintained trail begins near the intersection of Boulder Lake Avenue and Barker way. This trail meets the main trail near the summit.</p><br>
<p>On March 25, 2013 the trails of Cowles were closed for maintenance. The trails were reopened in May 2013 after several improvements to water drainage and rock steps.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Cowles Mountain consists of Jurassic and early Cretaceous metavolcanic and shallow intrusive igneous rocks that are resistant to erosion, and never covered by later Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentary overburden. Small plateaus on the south and east slopes are the remnants of an extensive terrestrial, near sea level erosional surface called the Poway Terrace that are now about 1,200 ft in elevation.</p><br>
<p>A prominent former seacliff on the west side rises above a now-dry wave-cut terrace, now mostly covered with suburban developments, at about 600 ft in elevation.</p><br>
<p>Shimokita Peninsula is the remote northeastern cape of the Japanese island of Honshū, stretching out towards Hokkaidō. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, Tsugaru Strait to the north and Mutsu Bay to the west and south. Shaped like an axe pointing west, the peninsula has a thin "axe handle" connecting the mountainous "axe blade" to the mainland of Honshū to the south. The peninsula contains the northernmost point on Honshū, Cape Ōma, and the largest sand dunes in Japan .</p><br>
<p>Administratively the area is a part of Aomori Prefecture, and the bulk of the area falls within the jurisdiction of the city of Mutsu, with a number of small towns and villages along the periphery. Most of the inhabitants live in coastal areas rather than the mountainous interior.</p><br>
<p>Portions of the peninsula are within the borders of Shimokita Hantō Quasi-National Park, including Cape Ōma, the coastline of the village of Sai to the south, including seaside cliffs said to resemble Buddhas at Hotokegaura, Cape Shiriya to the northeast, and the volcanic interior of the peninsula, including Mount Osore and Lake Usori. Tourist attractions include</p><br>
<p>Yagen Valley, known for its hot springs.</p><br>
<p>Economically, the mainstays of the local economy are commercial fishing, forestry, and seasonal tourism. The main commercial centre is the city of Mutsu. The village of Rokkasho, at the southern end of Shimokita Peninsula, home to a range of nuclear facilities.</p><br>
<p>In 2012, Japan set a new world record for ocean drilling depth, reaching 2,111 meters below the seafloor off Shimokita Peninsula.</p><br>
<p>Eye Water is a river in the Scottish Borders, it flows in a general SE direction from its source in the Lammermuir Hills to its estuary at Eyemouth on the east coast of Scotland, having a length of approximately 35 km.</p><br>
<h2>River course</h2><br>
<p>The Eye Water rises on the eastern slopes of Wester Dod at height of 375 metres, it flows SE for 10 km before swinging NE for three km to reach the village of Grantshouse. The Eye Water flows on the southern outskirts of Grantshouse as it again turns SE and runs in a valley between Horseley Hill and Dalks Law alongside the A1 road and the East Coast Main Line railway. The river keeps to the SW side of the A1 passing through the villages of Reston and Ayton where it flows through a pleasant wooded valley on the Ayton Castle estate. The estate was planted with parkland trees when the present Scottish baronial style castle was built in 1851 and many of these remain around the river banks although part of the park has since been planted with mixed woodland.</p><br>
<p>The stretch of the river from Ayton onward previously had some pollution problems as a quantity of sewage effluent from the village of Ayton and Eymouth contaminated the Water. However, in 2005 Scottish Water completed work which collected the sewage from the villages and pumped it directly to the sewage treatment works at Eyemouth on the coast. At Ayton the Eye Water swings NNE for the final five km leg to its estuary. It runs under the A1 road in a wooded gorge and then receives its largest tributary on its northern bank, the Ale Water which rises on Coldingham Moor 10 km to the NW. The Eye Water enters Eyemouth where it flows on the east side of the harbour, with a stone built quay keeping it separate and forming the river&#39;s west bank before the Water eventually enters the harbour lower down near the life boat station.</p><br>
<h2>1948 flood</h2><br>
<p>On August 12, 1948 the Berwickshire region was hit by a calamitous flood when one third of the annual rainfall fell in just six days. The water flowed off the Lammermuir Hills causing the Eye Water and other rivers of the area to overflow and cause much damage. The low lying farm land around Ayton was turned into a large lake with the 18 m high embankment of the ECML railway acting as a dam. There were fears that the embankment would break and Eyemouth would be inundated. The embankment did hold but Eyemouth still received some damage, with reports saying that gales and the impact of the overflowing Eye Water had the “impact of a hurricane”. The flood caused the closure of the local Eyemouth Railway from 13 August 1948 to 29 June of the next year. Between Reston and Granthouse 7 railway bridges were washed away. Those on the ECML were replaced by military bridges, allowing goods trains to resume on 25 October and passenger on 1 November 1948. The temporary bridges weren&#39;t finally replaced until 21 May 1950.</p><br>
<p>Shiprock  is a monadnock rising nearly 1,583 ft above the high-desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico. Its peak elevation is 7,177 ft above sea level. It lies about 10.75 mi southwest of the town of Shiprock, which is named for the peak.</p><br>
<p>Governed by the Navajo Nation, the formation is in the Four Corners region and plays a significant role in Navajo religion, myth, and tradition. It is located in the center of the area occupied by the Ancient Pueblo People, a prehistoric Native American culture of the Southwest United States often referred to as the Anasazi. Shiprock is a point of interest for rock climbers and photographers and has been featured in several film productions and novels. It is the most prominent landmark in northwestern New Mexico.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The Navajo name for the peak, "rock with wings" or "winged rock", refers to the legend of the great bird that brought the Navajo from the north to their present lands. United States Geological Survey maps indicate that the name "Ship Rock" dates from the 1870s.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Shiprock is composed of fractured volcanic breccia and black dikes of igneous rock called minette, or lamprophyre. It is the erosional remnant of the throat of a volcano, and the volcanic breccia formed in a diatreme. The rock probably was originally formed 2,500–3,000 feet (750–1,000 meters) below the Earth&#39;s surface, but it was exposed after millions of years of erosion. Wall-like sheets of minette, known as dikes, radiate away from the central formation. Radiometric age determinations of the minette establish that these volcanic rocks solidified about 27 million years ago. Shiprock is in the northeastern part of the Navajo Volcanic Field—a field that includes intrusions and flows of minette and other unusual igneous rocks that formed about 30 million years ago. Agathla (El Capitan) in Monument Valley is another prominent volcanic neck in this volcanic field.</p><br>
<h2>Religious and cultural significance</h2><br>
<p>Shiprock and the surrounding land have religious and historical significance to the Navajo people. It is mentioned in many of their myths and legends. Foremost is the peak&#39;s role as the agent that brought the Navajo to the southwest. According to one legend, after being transported from another place, the Navajos lived on the monolith, "coming down only to plant their fields and get water." One day, the peak was struck by lightning, obliterating the trail and leaving only a sheer cliff, and stranding the women and children on top to starve. The presence of people on the peak is forbidden "for fear they might stir up the (ghosts), or rob their corpses."</p><br>
<p>Navajo legend puts the peak in a larger geographic context. Shiprock is said to be either a medicine pouch or a bow carried by the "Goods of Value Mountain", a large mythic male figure comprising several mountain features throughout the region. The Chuska Mountains comprise the body, Chuska Peak is the head, the Carrizo Mountains are the legs, and Beautiful Mountain is the feet.</p><br>
<p>Navajo legend has it that Bird Monsters nested on the peak and fed on human flesh. After Monster Slayer, elder of the Warrior Twins, destroyed at Red Mesa, he killed two adult Bird Monsters at Shiprock and changed two young ones into an eagle and an owl. The peak is mentioned in stories from the Enemy Side Ceremony and the Navajo Mountain Chant, and is associated with the Bead Chant and the Naayeeee Ceremony. There are a number of other legends regarding what the Shiprock pinnacle might be. Some Navajo traditionalists argue that it is a geological anomaly that it may have originated as a work of the star people&#39;.</p><br>
<h2>Restrictions of the formation</h2><br>
<p>An injury to a climber in late March 1970 (American Alpine Journal 1971 accident report) caused the Navajo Nation to ban rock climbing not only on Shiprock but all over the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation announced that the ban was "absolute, final and unconditional", and was due to "the Navajo&#39;s traditional fear of death and its aftermath, such accidents and especially fatalities often render the area where they occur as taboo, and the location is sometimes henceforth regarded as contaminated by evil spirits and is considered a place to be avoided." The pinnacle is located on private property areas from the Navajo grazing holders and is currently monitored and overseen by Shiprock tribal community advocates. There are two Navajo chapter tribal government organizations that claim jurisdiction over the formation. The Navajo tribal parks and recreation does not have jurisdiction over the formation due to its not presently being a tribal park. The formation is highly considered a sacred and religious site to the Navajo people.</p><br>
<p>Due to recent deaths, littering, and vandalism, the pinnacle has been under strict evaluation and observation by local Shiprock Pinnacle Tribal Advocates and by two Navajo Chapter government organizations since early 2016. They oversee the area and encourage the public to not drive around the formation as an open access. Hiking, filming, and driving is all prohibited to the public due to its sacred nature and its sacred space. According to the Navajo traditionalists, there is an ecosystem of living and non-living matter that needs to be protected and unharmed. In the Navajo traditional way, people are to respect the ecosystem and not disrupt its processes. It is recommended that the public respect the Navajo people who visit on a daily basis for religious activities and other miscellaneous purposes, as it is Navajo trust land. A core/protection and buffer zones will be established soon. Local Shiprock Pinnacle Tribal Advocates and the two Navajo Chapter organizations also encourage visitors to use common sense etiquette and remember that the Navajo Nation is a sovereign, self-governed nation with rules and laws that must be followed.</p><br>
<p>All areas near the formation are closed off to the public (i.e., anyone non-Native) for the traditional religious purposes and for the safety of the formation and lava dike. It is recommended that the public stay at least 3 mi away from the formation and 20 ft from the lava dikes or wall, when visiting. There are Navajo religious rights (the Fundamental Laws of the Dine (Dine Natural Law) from the Navajo Nation Title 1 Laws), Navajo grazing rights, boundaries, and private properties around and in the formation. As mentioned, the formation is considered a Navajo religious site. It is recommended that the public stay near the paved road and to not get too close to the formation, as mentioned due to that cause. The restrictions were put in place in July 2016 by the delegated tribal authority (i.e., Navajo families and grazing holders that live around the formation, Shiprock Pinnacle Tribal Advocates, and members of the Navajo Chapters & Tribal Council). Visitors without any proper tribal authorization will be considered to be trespassing on Federal Indian Reservation land and are subject to legal sanctions. The tribal police are in effect present at the formation to monitor its use and visitations.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<h2>Images</h2><br>
<p>The Graffiti House, located at 19484 Brandy Road in the eastern end of the town of Brandy Station, Virginia, is believed by the Brandy Station Foundation to have been built in 1858. It is one of few dwellings in the village built before the American Civil War to survive intact to this day. The house is notable because of the Civil War era graffiti on many of the walls. The graffiti found includes names, drawings, names of units, and inscriptions left by soldiers.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Because of its location on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad and the Carolina Road, the house, which was less than 0.25 mi from the train depot, is thought by the Foundation to have been a commercial building as well as a dwelling. The Foundation reports that some graffiti has been removed or destroyed but considerable graffiti still remain. New graffiti were discovered as recently as December 2010.</p><br>
<p>The house was owned James Barbour (brother of the railroads president John S. Barbour Jr.) during the Civil War but the Barbour familys main residence was on a ridge about 1.5 mi to the south (and during the war was used by Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart). Barbour served on the staff of Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell until January 1863.</p><br>
<p>Because of its strategic location near the railroad, this house was used extensively by both the Union Army and Confederate States Army throughout the Civil War. Confederates used it as a field hospital during the Battle of Brandy Station and at other times when battles occurred in the area. It was probably used as a field hospital for wounded soldiers evacuated by train after the Battle of First Bull Run or First Manassas. The earliest known graffiti in the house date to the Second Manassas Campaign in August 1862, as the armies transited Culpeper County.</p><br>
<p>At the outset of the Gettysburg Campaign, the Battle of Brandy Station, the largest cavalry battle ever to take place in North America occurred on June 9, 1863 in the fields adjacent to the Graffiti House and extended to the heights on which the main house stood. After the fighting ended, the lower house was used as a Confederate field hospital. Later that year, Federal troops occupied the building when the Army of the Potomac camped in Culpeper County during the winter of 1863-64. The house was headquarters to Brigadier General Henry Prince, a division commander in the Third Corps of the Army of the Potomac during the Union Army pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia after its retreat from the Battle of Gettysburg, sometimes called the Rapidan campaign but this name could be confused with the beginning of the Overland Campaign, and during the Mine Run Campaign later in 1863.</p><br>
<p>The plaster walls on the houses second floor are covered with an outstanding and unique collection of charcoal and pencil graffiti left by soldiers from both armies. In addition to their autographs, the soldiers drew elaborate pictures of men and women, and wrote inscriptions commemorating their units and their battles. After the war, new paint and wallpaper led to their being forgotten. The graffiti were rediscovered during a renovation in 1993. The Brandy Station Foundation purchased the house in 2002, and its website lists the days it is open for viewing. The house includes a small museum and serves as a headquarters for the Brandy Station Foundation and the Foundations visitor center for the Brandy Station battlefield.</p><br>
<h2>Graffiti that have been identified</h2><br>
<p>Below is listed the names and units of those who have been identified in the Graffiti House:</p><br>
<p>Sergeant Allen Bowman, Co. E, 12th Virginia Cavalry</p><br>
<p>Private Michael Bowman, Co. H 7th Virginia Cavalry</p><br>
<p>Private Hamilton Boyd, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private George Washington Butt, Norfolk Light Artillery (Huger’s Battery)</p><br>
<p>Private James A. J. Cooper, Co. A, 35th Battalion Virginia Cavalry (White’s Comanche’s)</p><br>
<p>Captain Edwin Dillingham, 10th Vermont Infantry</p><br>
<p>Private C. Benton Evans, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private William Evans, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Colonel John Egbert Farnum, Commander, 70th New York Infantry</p><br>
<p>Lieutenant Lyman C. Gale, Co. K, 10th Vermont Infantry</p><br>
<p>Corporal Fayette Gibson, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private Thomas ‘Herb’ Greenwell, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private Uriah Haller, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private William J. Haney, 24th Battalion Virginia Partisan Rangers</p><br>
<p>Private Henry ‘Hal’ Hopkins, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private William Hopkins, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private Bob Lewis, Norfolk Light Artillery (Huger’s Battery)</p><br>
<p>Private George McCabe Jr., Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Lieutenant William J. Marshall, Co. E, 12th Virginia Cavalry</p><br>
<p>Lieutenant Joseph Moore, Norfolk Light Artillery (Huger’s Battery)</p><br>
<p>Private Edward Moreland, Norfolk Light Artillery (Huger’s Battery)</p><br>
<p>Private A Muth, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private George W. Orrison, Co. C, 35th Battalion Virginia Cavalry (White’s Comanche’s)</p><br>
<p>Private David Owens, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private Robert Peed, Norfolk Light Artillery (Huger’s Battery)</p><br>
<p>Private David Owens, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private Dan Quinlan, Massachusetts Light Battery ‘C’</p><br>
<p>Private Elijah Russell, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, Commander, Army of Northern Virginia Cavalry</p><br>
<p>Sergeant Henry Thomas, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private Harry Wagner, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private Harry Wickes, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Private Thomas ‘Frank’ Yates, Breathed’s Battery, Stuart Horse Artillery</p><br>
<p>Below is listed the names of those who have not been identified in the Graffiti House:</p><br>
<p>Lewis Metta</p><br>
<p>Frank E. Kelly</p><br>
<p>M Rown</p><br>
<p>T.E. Kelly</p><br>
<p>Emanuel</p><br>
<p>A.L. Brynn</p><br>
<p>Missolonghi  is a municipality of 34,416 people  in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis Messolongiou . Missolonghi is known as the site of a dramatic siege during the Greek War of Independence, and of the death of poet Lord Byron.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The town is located between the Acheloos and the Evinos rivers and has a port on the Gulf of Patras. It trades in fish, wine, and tobacco. The Arakynthos mountains lie to the northeast. The town is almost canalized but houses are within the gulf and the swamplands. The Messolonghi-Etoliko Lagoons complex lies to the west. In the ancient times, the land was part of the gulf.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<p>The Greek National Road 5/E55 (Ioannina - Patras) passes north of Missolonghi. The town had a railway station on the line to Agrinio but this has been abandoned since the 1970s.</p><br>
<p>The local airport has a hard runway but no scheduled services.</p><br>
<h2>Administration</h2><br>
<p>The municipality Missolonghi (official name: Δήμος Ιεράς Πόλεως Μεσολογγίου) was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 3 former municipalities, that became municipal units:</p><br>
<p>Aitoliko</p><br>
<p>Missolonghi</p><br>
<p>Oiniades</p><br>
<p>The municipal unit Missolonghi is subdivided into 8 communities:</p><br>
<p>Agios Georgios</p><br>
<p>Agios Thomas</p><br>
<p>Ano Koudouni</p><br>
<p>Ellinika</p><br>
<p>Evinochori</p><br>
<p>Missolonghi</p><br>
<p>Mousoura</p><br>
<p>Retsina</p><br>
<p>The municipality has an area of 680.372 km, the municipal unit 280.168 km.</p><br>
<h3>Province</h3><br>
<p>The province of Missolonghi (Επαρχία Μεσολογγίου) was one of the provinces of the Aetolia-Acarnania Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality Missolonghi (except part of the municipal unit Oiniades) and the municipal units Angelokastro, Arakynthos and Makryneia. It was abolished in 2006.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Missolonghi was first mentioned by a Venetian called Paruta when he was describing the naval Battle of Lepanto near Nafpaktos. According to predominant historical opinion, its name came from the combination of two Italian words, mezzo and laghi which means "in the middle of lakes" or messo and laghi (Messolaghi) which means "a place surrounded by lakes". Until 1700, Missolonghi was under Venetian domination. Its inhabitants were mostly fishermen. They lived in cabins which were made of a kind of waterproof straw and reed and stood on stilts above sea water. These cabins or stilt-houses have always been called "pelades". Missolonghi was part of Aetolia until the late-1820s when was Aetolia-Acarnania created.</p><br>
<p>North-west of Missolonghi are the remains of Pleuron (Asfakovouni), a town mentioned in Homer&#39;s works. It participated in the Trojan expedition and was destroyed in 234 BC by Demetrius II Aetolicus. The new town, which was built on the remains of old Pleuron, was one of the most important towns in Aitolia. Its monumental fortification comprised thirty towers and seven gates. The remains of the theatre and an enormous water tank with four compartments still exist.</p><br>
<h3>Greek War of Independence</h3><br>
<p>During the Orlov Revolt in 1770 the fleet of Missolonghi was defeated and the town passed to the Ottomans. Missolonghi revolted on May 20, 1821 and was a major stronghold of the Greek rebels in the Greek War of Independence, being the seat of the Senate of Western Continental Greece. Its inhabitants successfully resisted a siege by Ottoman forces in 1822. The second siege started on April 15, 1825 by Reşid Mehmed Pasha whose army numbered 30,000 men and was later reinforced by another 10,000 men led by Ibrahim Pasha, son of Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt. After a year of relentless enemy attacks and facing starvation, the people of Missolonghi decided to leave the beleaguered city in the "Exodus of its Guards" (The Sortie) on the night of April 10, 1826. At the time, there were 10,500 people in Missolonghi, 3,500 of whom were armed. Very few people survived the Ottoman pincer movement after the betrayal of their plan.</p><br>
<p>Due to the heroic stance of the population and the subsequent massacre of its inhabitants by the Turkish-Egyptian forces, the town of Missolonghi received the honorary title of Hiera Polis (the Sacred City), unique among other Greek cities. The famous British poet and philhellene Lord Byron, who supported the Greek struggle for independence, died in Missolonghi in 1824. He is commemorated by a cenotaph, and a statue located in the town.</p><br>
<h3>Modern era</h3><br>
<p>The town itself is very picturesque but also modern with functional, regular urban planning. Some very interesting buildings representative of traditional architecture can be seen here. People whose names were related to modern Greek history once lived in some of them. The mansion of the Trikoupis family, Palamas House, Valvios Library, Christos and Sophia Moschandreou Gallery of Modern Art emphasize the fact that Missolonghi has always been a city of some wealth and refinement. In addition, the Centre of Culture and Art, Diexodos, which hosts cultural events and exhibitions as well as the Museum of History and Art is housed in a neo-classical building in Markos Botsaris Square and hosts a collection of paintings indicative of the struggle of Missolonghi, further boosting the citys cultural and artistic profile. The Missolonghi Byron Society also, founded in 1991 in the city, is a non profit organisation which is devoted to promoting scholarly and general understanding of Lord Byron&#39;s life and poetry as well as cultivating appreciation for other historical figures in the 19th-century international Philhellenic movement, idealists who, like Byron, gave their fortunes, talents, and lives for the cause of Greek War of Independence. The Messolonghi Byron Center is now located in the upper floor of Byron House.</p><br>
<p>Today, the Entrance Gate remains intact and so does part of the fortification of the Free Besieged which was rebuilt by King Otto. Past the gate, there is the Garden of Heroes where several famous and some anonymous heroes who fought during the Heroic Sortie are buried. The Garden of Heroes is the equivalent of the Elysian Fields for modern Greece. Every year the Memorial Day for the Exodus is celebrated on Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter); the Greek State is represented by high-ranking officials and foreign countries by their ambassadors.</p><br>
<h2>Media</h2><br>
<p>Radiofonikos stathmos Mesolongiou,(radio Missolonghi 92FM),</p><br>
<p>Aixmi radio,</p><br>
<p>Aixmi TV,</p><br>
<h2>Landmarks</h2><br>
<p>Museum of the History and the Art of the Sacred City of Missolonghi,</p><br>
<p>Centre of Culture and Art, Diexodos,</p><br>
<p>Christos and Sophia Mosxandreou Gallery of Modern Art</p><br>
<p>The Missolonghi Byron Society-International Research Center for Lord Byron and Philhellenism,</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Lord Byron died here in 1824 and is commemorated by a cenotaph and a statue</p><br>
<p>Epameinontas Deligeorgis (1829–1879), former Prime Minister of Greece</p><br>
<p>John Lykoudis (1910–1980), major and medical doctor involved in the treatment of peptic ulcer disease</p><br>
<p>Miltiadis Malakasis (1869–1943), poet</p><br>
<p>Kostis Palamas (1859–1943), Greek poet, co-author of the Olympic Hymn</p><br>
<p>Anastasios Papoulas (1859–1935), Greek general and commander-in-chief in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)</p><br>
<p>Antonis Travlantonis (1895–1896), Greek educator, former director of Zosimaia School</p><br>
<p>Charilaos Trikoupis (1832–1896), Prime Minister of Greece</p><br>
<p>Nikolaos Trikoupis (1869–1956), Greek general</p><br>
<p>Spyridon Trikoupis (1788–1873), Prime Minister of Greece, father of Charilaos Trikoupis</p><br>
<p>Charalambos Tseroulis (1879–1929), Greek general</p><br>
<p>Dimitrios Valvis (1814–1886), Prime Minister of Greece</p><br>
<p>Zinovios Valvis (1800–1872), Prime Minister of Greece</p><br>
<p>Sperantza Vrana (1926–2009), actress</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<h2>International relations</h2><br>
<h3>Twin towns—sister cities</h3><br>
<p>Missolonghi is twinned with:</p><br>
