text:
Category: cemeteries
WOW! In Dravosburg, Searching for the Woodmen of the World
Thos. Henry Vallance (1884-1916), one of many Woodmen of the World grave markers at Richland Cemetery, Dravosburg
The image is both bold and secretive, seal and sigil, blunt of message and artful in its old-world, hand-crafted execution. At its center is the stump of a tree, big roots extended like a three-legged beast; on either side are crossed boughs, each leaf in perfect alignment. Ringed around the image in a practical, modern typeface are the words WOODMEN OF THE WORLD MEMORIAL.
Beneath the tree's roots is a small scroll. More often than not–at least in our harsh climate–the words have been worn away. But if you're lucky, you'll find one that still has its Latin inscription clear enough to read: dum tacet clamat, "though silent, he speaks."
Matthew J. and Florence C. Webster
Woodmen of the World grave markers were a new thing to this taphophile until just recently. Sure, any tombstone tourist has tripped over plenty of big granite monuments carved to look like tree trunks, piles of cut wood, or stumps carved with a common surname, sometimes with each limb separately marked for a departed family member. As gravestone fads go, these were a big thing in the 19th Century and the fever lasted well into the 20th. Pretty much any larger cemetery dating from this era will have its share.
But The Woodmen! Not every stump-like grave marker is for a Woodman. In fact, here in the city of Pittsburgh, they seem to be extremely rare. To find one, you've got to kiss a lot of lumber-looking frogs. Woodmen markers will have that impressive insignia bearing the organization's name or the dum tacet clamat phrase. Each will almost certainly date within the 30-ish year period from the 1890s to the 1920s.
Woodmen of the World brass plaque
Annette Stott, professor of art history at The University of Denver, seems to be the authority on Woodmen gravestones. Her article "The Woodmen of the World Monument Program,"(Markers XX: Annual Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, 2003) is a great introduction to the relatively short history of Woodmen of the World's (WOW) membership/insurance policy-gets-you-a-free-gravestone program.
Stott was writing from Colorado, which is perhaps not coincidentally where the Woodmen–a secretive, fraternal order in the mold of Freemasons and Odd Fellows–were founded in 1883. (WOW headquarters moved to Omaha, known as the "Sovereign Camp," in 1890. The insurance side of the business–rebranded as "Woodmen Life"–persists to this day.) She describes a very particular couple of styles for the monuments the Woodmen initially offered to supply their beneficiary members in good standing upon death.
Jacob and Sophia Elicker
When and how the Woodmen spread east is unclear, but they sure found a lot of takers in the Mon Valley. I've had a devil of a time locating any WOW stones in all of my hundreds of walks through giant Allegheny Cemetery; exactly one found (so far) in equally huge Homewood Cemetery. (Though I haven't put in the same amount of time there.)
But Dravosburg–WOWza yowza! Richland Cemetery, just uphill from the bridge to McKeesport, has dozens of Woodmen monuments. There are so many in this medium-sized memorial park that at a certain point, your author just stopped looking. You can't bag them all and I had a cookout to get to.
Wm. G.E. Ward
Stott describes the two original designs offered by the Woodmen program as "a six-and-a-half-foot monument consisting of a shaft surmounted by a draped urn … or a seven-and-a-half-foot tree trunk with the Woodmen of the World emblems carved in high relief."
There is nothing resembling "a draped urn" on any of the WOW monuments at Richland, but tall tree trunks with the Woodmen emblem are in no short supply there. There is a strong similarity in all of these, but they're not cookie-cutter copies, either. The placement of severed limbs, design of the deceased's name plaque, and the monument's base all vary from model to model.
One of these (Peter Wersderfer, below) is decidedly more ornate than all the rest, but whoever decided to face the monument north–so it would be perpetually backlit–never considered the trouble that would cause photographers in the blogosphere a century later. Sigh.
Peter Wersderfer
Theo. S. Wolf
James H. Edwards
Walter H. Smith
Alfred A. Trecanowan
Not Stumped
Alonzo L. Sutton
Even though one being a "member in good standing" was the initial qualification to be in the Woodmen of the World's monument program, one has to assume the big seven- or eight-foot tree trunks had to cost a lot more than a simple flat slab. Money came into the system somewhere and it wasn't going to pay out evenly across-the-board.
So there are many Woodmen grave markers out there with no resemblance to trees or stumps or woodland anything. One can see by the examples below that there were a couple more common, much simpler designs and then a number of outliers that look like the monument carvers added the WOW emblem to other off-the-shelf models in their catalog.
Samuel G. Gilbert
Edward W. Hobbs
Wm. A. Downing
Albert N. Evans
Henry Williams
No snickering! Yes, John O. Cock was a Woodman of the World
Isaac Miller Shick
Louis J. Myers
Charles C. Seitz
Woodwomen of the World?
Grave marker for Martha Ann Tharp (1862-1915), a member of the adjunct "Woodmen Circle."
While there were undoubtedly many many ladies of the frontier who could accurately be described as "woodwomen," it will come as a surprise to no one that a hundred years ago, a person required a Y chromosome to be eligible for the Woodmen of the World.
That doesn't mean women were entirely excluded from memorials. Rather, as is so often the case, they arrived on WOW-branded markers partnered with their husbands or in their own separate, adjunct status.
Stott describes a particular version of this the Western U.S. "Women of Woodcraft, the female auxiliary of the Pacific Jurisdiction Woodmen of the World since 1898, also maintained a monument program."
In Dravosburg, at least, there don't appear to be any Women of Woodcraft, but rather a number of stones bearing typically female names and the seal-like imprint of the alternate Woodmen Circle. That title is objectively less cool than Women of Woodcraft, but we imagine the route to get there was pretty similar.
Insignia of the Woodmen Circle
Lizzy (Woodmen Circle) and Thomas N. Fletcher
Matilda Neel (Woodmen Circle)
Woodmen of the Afterworld
A rare post-1920s Woodmen of the World grave marker.
Woodmen of the World grave markers exist for a relatively slim segment of history–approximately, the 1890s through the 1920s. This tracks with what we found in Dravosburg, although the earliest ones spotted are from 1907. The insurance program likely took some extra time to spread this far east.
Stott describes the end of things as a basic case of an unsustainable business model:
After 1928, no insurance certificates were issued with a monument benefit, and in 1932, with no new money going into the monument fund, it was decided to distribute to each member still holding a monument agreement the exact amount that they had paid in, plus interest. That ended the program.
Richland Cemetery has at least two markers that include the WOW insignia and fall outside this timeline. Clinton Shallenberger (d. 1935, photo above) and William Neel (d. 1945, below) both ended up with WOW-branded grave markers, but it seems unlikely they were paid for by the organization.
William M. Neel, another post-1920s WOW marker
Were these "members in good standing" who'd paid enough into the program back in the day to find a grandfathered-in loophole? Or were they loyal Woodmen to the end who specified the organization's seal on their gravestones–even if the family had to pay for it–as a dying wish?
We'll likely never know–there may be as many reasons as there are after-market Woodmen of the World grave markers. Like their fellow crypto-brotherhoods The Freemasons and The Odd Fellows, The Knights of Pythias, The Frogs, and The Owls, there's what's known, what's imagined, and what we'd rather leave untold to keep some mystery alive in this age of over-exposure, instant reward, and gluttonous narcissism. We can be grateful that maybe that's something that might still be taken to the grave.
All photographs taken in Richland Cemetery, Dravosburg, PA., Sept. 2021.
Headless Boys and Two-Tone Stones: An Allegheny Cemetery Scavenger Hunt
March 21, 2021 March 21, 2021 2 Comments
From grieving family to alien beings in just 150 years. One of many intriguing details in Allegheny Cemetery.
The family is gathered together in grief. Their roles are not entirely clear, but it appears we've got a husband and wife, several school-aged children, and a nanny tending to the youngest of the lot. There is also another, larger, man dressed formally in the kind of double-breasted coat-and-tails popular among the well-to-do of the mid-19th century. Even if the patriarch hadn't quite literally lost his head (and portions of both arms) it's probably safe to say he's the reason the gang is all here.
The figures, intricately carved into an elaborate marble cemetery monument, don't appear as they originally did 150 years ago. Like her father (or maybe it's her father-in-law), mom is also sans-tête, but even more striking is the way the facial features of the entire group have been worn away, leaving a strange alien-like cadre–gaunt, ghostly, and zombified–but awkwardly dressed in Sunday-best human clothes with an out-of-place Greek temple in the background. It's the perfect setup for a gothic sci-fi story.
Breaking up is hard to do. The two-tone stone.
If you've spent any time at all within the beautiful boundaries of Allegheny Cemetery, you know its greatest hits: the rolling landscape, gangs of deer, and gaggles of geese; the Winter mausoleum, resplendent in faux-Egyptian glory, complete with a pair of guardian sphinxes; elegant–if, endangered–stained glass; the hokey Jaws-inspired "shark grave"; Orbit favorite Steelers stones; final resting places of famous (at least, Pittsburgh famous) people like Stephen Foster, Josh Gibson, Lillian Russell, and Stanley Turrentine. The list goes on …
But for those of us who spend enough time in the cemetery to, you know, "check the pulse," there are so many more fascinating details to this 177-year-old burial park that we thought we'd put together a scavenger hunt for those who might be looking for an excuse to get out and poke around.
Below is a collection of favorite oddball, accidental, and unexpected elements from Allegheny Cemetery's 300+ acres that we offer up as a fun, we-still-need-to-be-Covid-safe outdoor hunt for the curious. Much like an office visit with Dr. Love, there are neither bills nor fees for participating. There is also no time limit and the only reward is the satisfaction of getting out there, stretching the legs, and doing the thing–but that's a fine way to spend a sunny spring afternoon.
Happy hunting, y'all!
The headless boy
We're four photos in, and already down as many noggins. The ornate colliding with the real world never fails to generate interesting anomalies. Statues carved from stone that have lost fingers, whole limbs, and yes, their entire cranium are always something to see–and Allegheny Cemetery has plenty of these–but we thought we'd call out two evergreen favorites.
The headless boy (above) sits among a circle of similar–but still intact–statuary in a glorious part of the cemetery, reliably basking in fine views and peaceful tranquility. By contrast, the bird's nest monument (below) is always a hive of activity as a family of sparrows almost always take up residence under the structure's partial roof, atop the cloth-draped column by the headless woman. Yes, again with the science fiction, but it's almost as if the lady's brain has been transformed into a bird's nest that her decapitated body must now lean in close to communicate with.
The bird's nest monument
Get hosed: the fireman's memorial
Hat ornaments! There are many markers that incorporate iconography of the service their occupants pursued, but we particularly like the fireman's memorial (above) with its old-school pointy hat-helmet and large firehose nozzle.
There are plenty of military veterans buried at Allegheny Cemetery, but few got the Union soldier's hat + crossed cannons and cannonballs treatment of this fellow (below).
Union soldier's hat, cannons, and cannonballs
Modern Times: a stone age machine
Most of the big cemetery obelisks are pretty plain. Shaped like mini-Washington Monuments, their whole thing is to be big and simple. But we love the detail on this one (above) where a stonemason has carved an incredibly intricate fantasy machine full of gears, engine belts, flywheels, an anvil, tools–you name it. Its an abstracted imagination of what a fully-mechanical factory might look like. It probably bears little resemblance to real life (even the real life of a hundred years ago) and more to the satire of Chaplin's Modern Times vision of innovation-run-amok.
The bronze toddler, avec tête
Orbit whisperer Paul Schifino pointed this one out to us, and we're glad he did. While including statuary of a young child isn't all that rare (especially when the deceased died young), this one appears to be a bonus, add-on stone to a much more traditional marker. The bronze (?) head and bust was clearly handmade by an artisan and features the flat back of a piece that had previously been mounted … somewhere else. Who's the kid? Where did he come from? We don't know!
The Wilkins family tree
One of the holy grails for American taphophiles are the monuments created by the Woodmen of the World. That mysterious fraternal order/life insurance society provided stones carved to look like tree trunks with severed limbs for just a few decades at the turn of the 20th century.
The Wilkins family tree (above) is not one of these (at least, it doesn't bear the WOTW insignia)–nor are there any in Allegheny Cemetery as far as we can tell. We have reached full-on obsession with finding some–heck, finding one. [Side note: if you know of any Woodmen of the World markers in greater Pittsburgh, please let us know and we'll be on the road faster than you can say Dum Tacet Clamet.] Regardless, the Wilkins didn't skimp when it came to ordering up this extra-large trunk with a dozen or so names carved into the severed limb stumps.
Pick up a couple good books
We love this pair of open book memorials. It would be interesting to know the title of a couple good books (above). History would suggest they're probably two matching Bibles, but with all detail worn away, they could as easily be Lincoln in the Bardo and The Lovely Bones. Let's hope it's something good, because they'll be here a while.
No mystery with this one, though. The square and compass insignia tells us a Freemason planted this stout stone dais with an open book and the two aforementioned tools acting as bookmark. Around the base (not pictured) is additional iconography–a Star of David, cross, etc.
The square and compass: the book of Freemasonry.
Going green: George Hogg's multi-hued monument
Cemeteries–all cemeteries–are dominated by the color gray. Grave markers, large monuments, cenotaphs–they all live somewhere in the very limited spectrum of dirty white to not-quite black. It's why the larger environment looks so great among the turning leaves of fall and against the green grass of spring; it's why they look so stark within the equally monotone grays of winter.
Green also appears every once in a while in the stone itself. The Orbit doesn't have a resident geologist/chemist, but our understanding is that this is the result of some mineral (copper, probably?) oxidizing over its decades exposed to the open air.
Many individual markers and statuary have streaks of iridescent green in their surfaces, but none moreso than the big memorial for George Hogg (above), which has completely mutated into a psychedelic light show of rich, emerald greens, electric neon blues, and washed-out pale cornflower.
Hello, Dali. My Angel Lilla, the melting monument.
A couple oddballs here. My Angel Lilla (above) is nothing special but for the way time and tide have created this weird distortion in the lid. Did some imperfection in the stone cause it to … melt? Does that really happen to rock?
What the artist of the salt and pepper shakers (below) was going for might have been more obvious when it was installed and the details were sharp, but by now it's a total mystery. Are those columns? cannons? some kind of industrial product? And what is binding them–vines? rope? chains? Heck, we've got today's writing prompt for you right here.
The salt and pepper shakers: twin columns of mystery.
Lawrenceville in line
Generally the newer-style, glossy black headstones with etched-in details just look too shiny and too computer-generated for these old blogger's eyes. But we love this view of ninth-ward Lawrenceville–the 40th Street Bridge and Heppenstall mill in the foreground, the chock-a-block row houses rising above–as seen from the top of the hill, across the river in Millvale. Maybe it's just because we like the art better or because this was obviously a Lawrenceville (after-)lifer, but this speaks more about the person than all those clip art shovels and Steelers emblems and musical notes we see on its sister stones.
Have a ball with Bailey Balken's big brown ball
Bailey Balken went rouge when s/he went out (above). Not afraid to mix media or typefaces, Balken's marker includes a pair of flat marble stones inside a brass plaque laid atop a just-a-size-larger granite slab. That alone won't get you in the Orbit scavenger hunt, but the volleyball-sized round rock inserted into the middle will. Looking like a rising loaf of rustic Italian bread, it's unclear what Bailey was after … unless it was some kind of play on ball/Balken. Who knows?
We imagine Thomas Bowater (below) must have been an engineer, or a machinist, or something in that world. That seems the most likely explanation for including a rolling axle/cog/gear as the prominent feature in a gravestone that looks like it came right off the shop floor. This rock rolls.
Rock and roll. The Bowater rolling axle/cog/gear grave.
The Gates to Nowhere
These gates don't really lead to nowhere–there's actually a nice, circular plot back there–but the family clearly didn't get the buy-in they were expecting from the rest of the crew, which left the space largely uninhabited. The result is a pristine little plateau with a great view across the river, down and over the rest of the cemetery, and up to Garfield–all with the ornate decorative blackened stone portico that says to the world you're here–but we don't know why.
Ovdje Počiva: Posthumous Portraits at Beaver Cemetery
Grave marker with ceramic photo inset of Rade Vujnovich, Beaver Cemetery
Like all those famous musicians, Rade Vujnovich was just 27 years old when he died in 1935. Unlike Jimi or Janis, we know very little about the man, but we do get to have one good last look at him. Dressed in an official uniform, hat cocked at a jaunty angle, Mr. Vujnovich stares right back at us with a goofy expression that suggests he's holding back a laugh–or maybe just had one too many šljivovica some time between dressing up and saying cheese.
The information on Rade Vujnovich's grave marker ain't easy to work through. The cross-shaped granite stone was chiseled away in his native Croatian [thank you, Google Translate] and has had 85 years of harsh Western Pennsylvania winters eroding the details. But the mangled translation at least gets us the tidbit that young Rade was laid to rest here, in Beaver Cemetery, by his aunt Pipa and uncle Andja.
Beaver Cemetery in October: fall colors, raised Cyrillic lettering, and grave markers with ceramic photo insets
Every fall we make the trip out to the town of Beaver and visit its eponymous cemetery. Trees are reliably reaching their glorious technicolor peak, headstones come engraved in beautifully modern raised Cyrillic, and the uber-oddball James P. Leaf mausoleum will always ask more questions than it answers.
All that said, it is the collection of early 20th century photo graves (that's our term) that really sets Beaver Cemetery apart. Dozens–more like hundreds–of stone markers that include inset ceramic photographs of the departed fill whole sections of the 46-acre grounds. You'll see these photo graves other places [we first flipped our nut over them at Loretto Cemetery], but not in this quantity.
Men in bushy, un-ironic mustaches; women in big-bowed, broad-necked pre-war fashions of the day. Ceramic photo gravestone insets.
The preserved photographs are fascinating and haunting; a disappearing history in both subject and context. They have all the curiosities of any old portraiture: men in bushy, un-ironic mustaches that actually look good on them; women in the big-bowed, broad-necked pre-war fashions of the day; the dour, flat affect of a population raised in humorless Victorian times. They also come with reliably great old-world names–you try finding anyone in America still named Žita or Cveta, Beniamino or Liberata.
More than that, the photographs are visually arresting in a way our image-oversaturated brains aren't used to seeing. Without fail, the figures appear to look right through us with a ghostly, world-weary knowing from beyond. Beware, they seem to say, or maybe just enjoy it while you can.
"Here lies…"
Cveta Srzmac
That the black-and-white portraits are inset into the grave markers of the humans who sat for them gives the pictures a deep, added pathos. The typically-oblong ceramic discs have lived outside in the elements for decades and almost always show a predictable level of wear-and-tear. Some of the photos are completely gone, leaving awkward oval cutouts in the headstones. For the majority that are still intact, there are hairline cracks across their surfaces, washed-out bits of silver gelatin, insect and grass-cutting debris, and–thankfully, not too often–the gouged and scarred evidence of vandalism.
Ghost couple: Simone Riccitello + 1
Gone girl/gone guy: unknown couple
As if spending one's free time in a cemetery wasn't existentially-draining enough, try picking out the one photograph that sums up your entire life. And then consider it's a picture that will eventually crack, fade, and/or fall out of the rock it was embedded in…or worse. Chipped out with a screwdriver by bored middle school kids on a sleepover jailbreak–what a way to go.
We're nato, we morto, and in between we hang out in cemeteries. Berardino and Liberata Dipliacita
The first wave of photo graves had a relatively short run. We tend to only see the old first-gen, black-and-white discs in the gravestones of those who passed in the 1920s through 1940s. At that point they seem to have gone out of vogue.
We have to wonder if this has something to do with the increased prevalence of photography. At the point where every household had a Kodak Brownie and every drug store could process film, it probably just didn't feel that special to have a framed portrait on the mantle–or one's headstone. But maybe, in the post-war modernist '50s, tastes just changed away from early-century sentimentalism and toward sleek, down-to-business grave markers with little ornament and even less personal detail.
Cracked, faded, and washed-out, but still hanging on. Ceramic photo gravestone insets.
Stephen N. Burich
A trip to the cemetery is admittedly not everyone's cup of tea. It's morbid, they say, or depressing. I've got plenty of time for the graveyard when I'm dead.
That's hard to argue with. But cemeteries are also fascinating repositories of history that one can enjoy with all the fresh air, chirping birds, and fall colors of a nature hike. The arrangement of artifacts is haphazard and their current state has so many random influences–from the whims of the family that organized burial to nature and weather–that the experience is more that of browsing a junk store than visiting a curated collection.
It appears to be another gorgeous day in run of them we've had in this, our greatest season. If you want get out and see some people without any risk of the plague, there's no better place than Beaver Cemetery.
Teresa Ulizio
Getting there: Beaver Cemetery is right on 3rd Street, the town of Beaver's main drag and just past the downtown area. It takes 40-50 minutes to drive there from downtown Pittsburgh. You'll find the photo graves throughout the cemetery, but a good place to start is at the very back (nearest the McDonald's).
Ask the Dust: An Orbit Vacation Postcard from New Mexico's Roadside Memorials
There is only one way to drive from El Rito to Abiquiu, in north-central New Mexico. You'll take state road 554, a curlicued up-and-down route through wild and beautiful country that may as well be another planet for us "back East" folks. Gorgeous mountain views and scrubby desert vegetation join rugged canyons, dry river beds, and dramatic wind-scarred buttes.
What you won't see much are signs of human existence. Sure, we're on a two-lane blacktop that someone had to build, but there aren't any other vehicles on it, nor will you find gas stations, billboards, graffiti, guard rails, or reflectors. You may come across the occasional stand-alone house, a stretch of elevated power line, or barbed wire fencing marking a property boundary, but often, that's about it.
So the memorials that appear with alarming regularity–some dozen or more on the short, sixteen-mile stretch between El Rito and Abiquiu alone–pop from the roadside as the most tender of touches in a landscape otherwise devoid of human intervention. The shapes–vertical and angled in a world of broad horizontals, colored in eye-popping reds, pinks, yellows, and purples found nowhere else around these parts–make the tributes jump from the scraggly earth.
There are some simple wooden crosses, sure, but most of the memorials are unique elaborate displays that include custom ironwork, closely arranged stone formations, photographs, religious dioramas, plastic funeral flowers, garlands, flags, and treasured personal mementos of the departed.
Fabian Lawrence Mata, Ojo Caliente
A little Googling proves that, surprise surprise, Pittsburgh Orbit wasn't the first to take notice of New Mexico's descansos, the Spanish term for this tradition. New Mexico Explorer, a kind of NM Orbit, has a nice intro with some good photos and the Albuquerque Journal ran a 2015 piece about Pam and Doug Rietz' documentation of descansos (but no links to see the pictures!) There are plenty of photo collections out there.
So why cover it here? Well, for one thing, we've written about roadside memorials back home a couple of times [see our Memorial Day 2018 and 2019 stories], so the subject is near and dear. Also, we're jealous–with all due respect to the loving displays on Pennsylvania's rural routes, New Mexico's descansos are just so much more–excuse the apparent contradiction–full of life*. Each one is unique, glorious, heartbreaking, and beautiful in its own way.
And yes, it's a good way to squeeze vacation for an Orbit story.
Jeffrey Zamora, Ohkay Owingeh
Phil Snow, La Madera
Dylan Romero, Abiquiu
D.D.H., Rio Grande gorge
Jamie, Hernandez
Juan Mariscal, Abiquiu
Gilberto "Beto" Maestas, La Chauchia
Baldino Elizardo Gomez, Ojo Caliente
Kenneth and Elmer Martinez, El Rito
* In fairness, though, the relentlessly dry sunny weather in New Mexico naturally elongates the lifetime of a descanso. Pennsylvania's omnipresent rain and thick humidity, plus winter snow and ice, make all SW PA memorials de facto temporary installations. For what it's worth, it is also true that New Mexicans die in motor vehicle accidents at greater than twice the rate of Pennsylvanians. [Source: https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state]
Dying To Get In: The Mid-Century Mausoleum at Penn Lincoln Memorial Park
Penn Lincoln Memorial Park mausoleum and chapel, c. 1960, North Huntingdon
The unusual roofline, viewed from either end, has the perfect semi-circular curves of a series of long sheets of paper, each arched gracefully to bend back in on itself. Across the front of the big building are evenly-spaced openings echoing the same design motif. The big spaces are filled with aluminum grids and stained glass windows that echo the fantastically frenetic line drawings of Ben Shahn or Paul Klee.
In fact, one can imagine the entire structure modeled in miniature, constructed from simple cardboard tubes, thick paper stock, and colored gels. You can almost see the architects–'50s beatnik-meets-big city corporate; all cigarette ash, turtlenecks, and horn rims–as they talk the wary customer through an unexpected design laid out before them in the firm's big conference room.
Penn Lincoln Memorial Park mausoleum and chapel, North Huntingdon, PA
Appearing like a retro-futuristic science-fiction film set, the mausoleum at Penn Lincoln Memorial Park rests atop a gentle hill along Route 30, east of Pittsburgh. Driving by–one would have no good reason to walk or bicycle this stretch of highway–it may not even be obvious what you're seeing as the big building flashes past the driver's side window at 45 MPH.
An industrial R&D laboratory? Experimental school? A sneaker preacher's mega-church? Heck, maybe even some crackpot millionaire's attempt at an ex-urban Utopia. Any of these seem as plausible as something this designy winding up as an "above-ground burial" for Westmoreland County's deceased moderne.
CMS East, Inc., the parent company that owns Penn Lincoln Memorial Park, along with 22 other cemeteries across five states, declined to provide The Orbit with any information on the architect who designed the mausoleum or any history of the design. CMS didn't even respond to our request so it's safe to say we do not recommend having any organization this rude turn your lifeless body to cinder!
The Google Machine offers no more information, so we're left to wonder and speculate.
chapel interior
And that's a shame. Not the wonder part, mind you, but the complete lack of recognition this remarkable construction seems to have received.
I'm no architect, but the artful curved concrete pours, the clean lines with no square corners, and the New Age yoga camp-meets-abandoned spaceport atmosphere all feel like ample source material for some academic's Ph.D. thesis or a full-color spread in a glossy design magazine. At the very minimum, it's worth pulling over to take a walk around the next time you're headed east, toward Jeannette or Greensburg.
Most of metro Pittsburgh was constructed in a relatively short period of the city's great industrial build-up–say, from the 1880s to the start of the Great Depression. So the prevailing design heritage here is curlicued Victorian filigree and blunt worker efficiency. The modernism of mid-century American design–so prevalent in breezy West Coast cities and Sun Belt oases–largely passed us by.
There are some notable exceptions, of course–Gateway Center's gleaming aluminum cladding, Pitt's brutalist expansions throughout Oakland, and (sigh) the old Civic Arena's extraterrestrial colony come to mind.
But the lovely mausoleum at Penn Lincoln Memorial Park reminds us that the brilliant ambition of post-war America extended everywhere–to gasoline stations and dry cleaners, ice cream stands and car dealerships. It even came out here, to the distant suburbs of Pittsburgh, as a place one might entomb their loved-ones forever … in the future.
"above-ground burial" plots
Getting there: Penn Lincoln Memorial Park is on Rt. 30, half way between East McKeesport and North Huntingdon. It's about a half hour's drive from downtown Pittsburgh.
James P. Leaf Mausoleum, Beaver Cemetery
James P. Leaf mausoleum, 1949. Beaver Cemetery.
This blogger has spent a lot of time in the boneyard. So much time, we dare say, that we've hung out more than some cemeteries' (newer) full-time residents. To visit one is a whole enchilada experience: you get to be outside in the introvert's version of Kennywood–usually alone, in near silence, on beautifully-cared-for grounds that feel like a wild city park. Often there are the deer and crows and opossums to back it up. But it's a park alive (ironically) with stories and history, carved images and statuary. Any cemetery has way too much to take in for just a single visit.
Have you seen the back? Large boulders embedded in the Leaf mausoleum.
What these hallowed grounds don't tend to feature so often is the touch of the human hand. Typically, gravestones are professionally-cut, perfectly-engraved, production line affairs. They're marvels of precision stone-cutting and restrained grace, symmetry and classical iconography.
Rarely, however, does one encounter a grave marker that was hand made by the grieving family. [An obvious exception to this is the "DIY gravestones of Highwood Cemetery" (Pittsburgh Orbit, Oct. 30 and Nov. 1, 2015).] It is especially rare to see a stone or tomb that looks like his or her bats-in-the-belfry aunt or brown bottle flu uncle would have built it.
Leaf mausoleum, entry (detail)
That, however, is exactly what Beaver Cemetery's James P. Leaf mausoleum looks like. At approximately the size of a one-car alley garage, it's definitely the right scale for your typical double-crypt couple's tomb–but it sure doesn't look like one. There are none of the straight lines, white stone, or classical features we normally see. Mr. Leaf didn't even receive the customary stained glass rear windows like we peeked in on in Allegheny Cemetery.
Instead, the monument has clearly been constructed by hand, from an oddball collection of irregular stones. These range from the size of a cantaloupe to huge boulders that would crush a house in their falling path. One of these massive rocks has been set to entirely block the front entrance to the tomb, leaving only an oxidized copper Leaf nameplate visible awkwardly above. Water-smoothed river pebbles have been used to create decorative features within the mortar walls and vertically-places stones sit on top to resemble crude castle battlements.
There is a maybe too-good-to-be-true story that the mausoleum was built with stones pulled from each of Pennsylvania's 67 counties that appears in several sources, all unsubstantiated.
Detail: pebble mosaic
James Pinney Leaf (1866-1949) seems an unlikely soul to spend eternity in such a ramshackle final resting place. The son of an engineer, Leaf followed in his father's footsteps, earning a degree in engineering, serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War I, and working on projects and surveys in Rochester, PA, the Ohio canals, Pymatuning Reservoir, on Lake Erie, and along the Ohio River.[1]
So how did a lifelong builder and engineer end up in a cattywumpus backyard barbeque of a crypt like this one? There's got to be a great explanation here.
View into crypt interior
Spoiler Alert: We don't know! The Orbit sat on this story for an entire year, dug into the books with the crew at the Carnegie Library's Pennsylvania Room, consulted professional archivists, talked to Beaver Cemetery staff, and … Zilch. Goose egg. Bubkes. "Nothing burger".
Who James P. Leaf was is well documented–Hillman Library has a huge collection of family papers–but it's a total mystery how such an esteemed veteran, builder, and prominent community member ended up with this pile-of-rocks mausoleum.
One of these memorials is not like the rest. Leaf mausoleum, Beaver Cemetery.
It was a rough week–emotionally and physically. Nobody wants to hear about all that, but you'll no doubt respect the need to just move on and let a mystery be its own mysterious self. Maybe by having this story out there someone who actually knows what's up with the Leaf tomb can enlighten us and we can finally set the record straight.
Currently, we're in the apex of leaf-changing glory. If you're looking for a destination to get your fall colors on, you could do a lot worse than the fun drive out Route 65, past Punks Ice Cream and the murals of the Sewickley Speakeasy, to lovely little Beaver Cemetery. See what you can find out for ol' Orbit, will you?
[1] University of Pittsburgh Library System, Leaf family papers.
Where Do Gravestones Go To Die?
This one's not going anywhere…until it does. Marble monument detail, Allegheny Cemetery
Generally, when one plants a couple thousand pounds of hard stone it stays put…but not always. With around 134,000 long-term residents over 300 acres of land, Allegheny Cemetery would make up one of the larger neighborhoods in the city all on its own. Some of these folks–dead or alive–are going to move around.
There are all sorts of reasons for this: separately-buried individuals are consolidated in family plots, a spouse chooses to spend eternity next to the husband or wife who departed first, buried caskets are migrated into a mausoleum, bodies are disinterred to other facilities across town or way out-of-state.
Last week we ran the story "A Graveyard for Gravestones"–a look at the strange world created by a cemetery's recycling lot. It was meant as humorous look at an unusual, fascinating scene, along with a polite nudge at one of our favorite places in the world to clean up one of its (very few) rough edges.
We had no idea about the reaction this story would generate. Within hours of its initial publishing we heard it from all sides: the cemetery felt it had been misrepresented, neighbors got wild ideas about what was going on within its stone walls, readers called it "nuts". At the mere suggestion that retired grave markers might find a reuse outside of the cemetery we were tarred as "grave robbing" and "the lowest of the low".
SO, in this most teachable of moments–for us here at The Orbit along with our readers, neighbors, and anyone else who's ever wondered about the behind-the-scenes workings of a large, historic cemetery–we talked briefly with David Michener, a man who knows his stuff as president of both Allegheny and Homewood cemeteries.
Shared (replacement) grave marker, Allegheny Cemetery*
First of all, the vast majority of items that have ended up in the cemetery's recycling area are not grave monuments. In the piece, we mention "dozens of…gravestones", which is accurate–there are maybe 30 or so total stones currently retired to the lot. But the stacks of other material in our photos could be misconstrued as many more.
"Ninety percent of what's [removed/recycled] is foundation," says Michener. Foundations are, as the name implies, poured concrete structural elements that are buried under the surface and used to anchor the visible, sculpted portion of the monument. As markers are removed, so is the foundation, and it all ends up in the same place.
"For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," goes the passage from Genesis. It turns out this applies to retired monuments as much as expired human beings. As we saw, when a grave marker has reached its, ahem, "end of life" (sorry) it is removed by the cemetery's grounds crew and taken to a kind of purgatory in the recycling yard. At this point, when the stone has been divorced from its grave and retired from service, it will eventually have any identifying information (the deceased's name) ground down, defaced, or otherwise removed.
"At that point," says Michener, "they're just stones." Allegheny Cemetery does all it can to recycle these no-longer-used materials into its own infrastructure projects–they're deployed as foundations or supports and added as clean fill to stabilize land areas.
As for why there is an obvious delay in processing the retired markers, Michener says, "Our concern is taking care of the place where burials occurred and not our recycle yard." Anyone who's ever visited Allegheny Cemetery's immaculate landscape knows this is true.
Two become one: shared (replacement) grave marker in Allegheny Cemetery*
A couple of the more outrageous criticisms we heard were that families would be shocked to find out the state of their loved ones' markers and would want to be notified so they could come pick them up. "They just need the descendants of the original owner to pay the cemetery to have them put back", was one statement. All of these are patently false.
First, families are the only ones making the decisions on the movement of graves and retirement/replacement of grave markers. "We never–by our own volition–remove a monument", says Michener. If a gravestone has ended up in the recycling yard, it was at the request of the family.
Second, grave markers weigh from hundreds to thousands of pounds. No family takes mom's granite stone home in the trunk of their Buick. "They are entitled to them–they own them", says Michener, but do families ever claim the marker as a memento? "Very very rarely."
To sum up: most gravestones are going to stay right where they are until they crumble to dust all on their own. A very small proportion of them will be removed and retired at the behest of the deceased's loved ones. If the family declines ownership–which is what happens almost every single time–the cemetery takes ownership of the monument and processes it back into raw material to be born again. May we all be so lucky.
* The identifying information [surnames] on these monuments have been intentionally obscured in the photographs at the request of Allegheny Cemetery.
A Graveyard for Gravestones
May 9, 2017 May 14, 2017 6 Comments
Deconstructed building in the graveyard for gravestones
Editor's note: This story generated no small amount of controversy. After a discussion with the cemetery's president, we made the decision to update the story, removing certain identifying details for general public safety. Based on the many questions raised by the piece, we responded with the follow-up story "Where Do Gravestones Go To Die?"
The simple grave marker is nothing out of the ordinary. Gently curved and smoothly hewn, the stone is a standard off-the-shelf/out-of-the-catalog mid-century model we've seen hundreds–perhaps thousands–of times in different plots over the years. About the size of a microwave oven, it has raised block letters on its face which detail only the most basic facts about the deceased: Frederick W. Zinsser, 1878-1942, Father.
What's strange about Frederick Zinsser's headstone is how it arrived in its current position–upside-down, squashed between two felled trees, in a hidden, barren spot just outside the cemetery's otherwise beautifully-groomed and spectacularly-scenic acres of visiting space. Oh, and why is it surrounded by dozens of other gravestones and stray cemetery infrastructure that appear casually tossed in the dirt like children's playthings at the call for dinner?
We're not talking about just a few stones–a pile here and a pile there. No, the graveyard for gravestones is extensive. It's a big, basin-shaped open area just downhill from the older side of the cemetery. By now–in early May–you probably wouldn't even notice it. But when we visited on Easter Sunday the thin shroud of young trees hadn't yet fully sprouted all its leaves, allowing this unsightly broom closet of quickly-tossed granite to be impressively available to the passer-by.
This graveyard-within-a-graveyard contains piles and not-so-neatly-stacked collections of granite monument trimmings, grave edging, foundations, pedestal bases, supporting structural elements, and a least a couple full cemetery buildings, deconstructed and laid out like parts to-be-assembled in an Ikea box.
The stones didn't just get dropped-off yesterday. They've got several years worth of viney overgrowth climbing in, on, and around the various pieces; a number of fall seasons' downed leaves mulching their bases.
In the head-heart continuum, we tend to want the cemetery to be the final place where one may rest in peace…forever. We also know that nothing actually lasts that long. Most of the time, for good or bad, we won't have the chance to confront that reality. But seeing dozens of (literal) set-in-stone, lifetime memorials uprooted from their primary locations and dumped in a strange public-private boneyard junkyard makes it all the more obvious.
We don't know why these gravestones were uprooted or why the cemetery has dumped them so casually right in the middle of the property. The Orbit maintains a strict "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward clarifying these matters, preferring to speculate and wonder over the cruel realities of truth.
That said, it seems like a strange business move for the marketing side of the cemetery. Will customers really want to buy that plot seeing the downed markers so nearby? And–assuming there are legitimate, practical reasons for the markers' removal–why can't the grounds crew at least put the retired stone in some kind of relative respectful order?
We imagine the current market for used gravestones is pretty low. That said, there simply must be more interesting uses for this substantial supply of unique historic, hand-cut, and incredibly-durable pieces than just sweeping them under the cemetery's rug of fallen leaves.
The stockpile could absolutely be turned loose for artists to work with, used to decorate public spaces around the city, or recycled by monument makers into new graves. Speaking from experience, those of us who haunt the cemetery and ponder how the whole thing works would appreciate an educational display explaining how and why all these elements ended up displaced from the humans they once memorialized.
For our purposes, however, it's a kind of weird disaster cool just as it is. The area evokes something between an Easterner's imagination of the catastrophic wreckage following a big earthquake and the post-armageddon chaos that seems more likely every day. In zombie-obsessed Pittsburgh, we can picture the living dead rising from their crypts and casually tossing headstones like beach balls at summer concert. Perhaps the whole thing is social commentary: in just a couple months, The North Side can look forward to a similar scene in the wake of Kenny Chesney's inevitable mid-summer return–only we may end up with more dead bodies around Heinz Field.
All the Way: The Arthur and Alfreda Antignani Mausoleum
Arthur and Alfreda Antignani mausoleum, Allegheny County Memorial Park, Allison Park
The granite mausoleum stands alone inside a marquee plot surrounded by a thin circular cemetery road. A long stretch of musical staff wraps the perimeter with twenty-some bars of melody notation spelled-out; vertical fence posts serve double-duty as measure lines.
Two six-foot-tall ornamental saxophones flank the doorway; a third marks the crest of the roof. Palm to forehead, one can squint through the gauzy haze inside to the mausoleum's stained glass window. There, a backlit treble clef symbol glows where one might normally expect the image of an angel or flowers[1]. The footpath out front is yet another gigantic saxophone, this one rendered minimally in two dimensions on red-brown granite tile. The entrance step is engraved "All the Way".
Saxophone ornament, Antignani mausoleum
All the Way could–and should–be the title of Arthur and Alfreda Antignani's bio-pic. The couple lived large in a Hampton hilltop property they built for themselves and named Skyvue Estate. Our story on what remained of that shag-carpeted, double-bedazzled, rhinestone-encrusted, tchotchke-strewn, twenty-four hour party palace and its grounds [Graceland North: The Antignani Estate Sale, 4 Nov. 2015] is one of the most-read Orbit stories of all time. Though the Antignanis have left this particular stage, we thought it was high time to call for an encore and visit this fascinating couple in their final resting place.
Mausoleum stained glass window
That the Antignanis loved music should come as no surprise. Every inch of Skyvue Estate–from the guitar-shaped patio to the band of frog figurines jamming on the credenza–confirmed as much. So it is fitting that as Alfreda spent the very the last years of her life designing and planning the memorial[2], she'd want the imagery of music–especially Arthur's tenor saxophone–featured prominently.
The touch to include actual musical notation on the small fence–as opposed to any old clip art approximation of stray notes on a staff–was an inspired design decision. If you haven't guessed by now, the melody is, of course, "All the Way".
Saxophone-shaped tile walkway
"All the Way", the Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen standard made famous by Ol' Blue Eyes (among many others) is a classic tear-jerking ballad of life-long love. It may be a songwriting cliché, but a lyric like "Through the good or lean years, And for all the in between years" speaks not to the eros of so many pop songs and rom coms, but to the pragma and philia of a couple that spent over half a century together[3] in what we can only imagine as one of the great eccentric long run romances of our time.
To Arthur and Alfreda Antignani, may you rest in peace, all the way.
Art & Al, R.I.P.
Getting there: The Antignani mausoleum is in Allegheny County Memorial Park, 1600 Duncan Ave., Allison Park. The cemetery has very few above-ground average-sized headstones (possibly none?) so the handful of large memorials/mausoleums stand out really easily–you won't miss it.
[1] For comparison, see Allegheny Cemetery: Mausoleum Stained Glass, Pittsburgh Orbit, Oct. 12, 2016.
[2] "In life and death, eccentric Hampton couple makes beautiful music together", TribLive.com, Dec. 5, 2015.
[3] The Antignanis were married and 1959 and Arthur died (first) in 2011.
Look Out Loretto, Part 2: He's Dead, Wrapped in Plastic
December 14, 2016 June 11, 2021 2 Comments
unknown (detail)
He stands bolt upright, looking straight into the camera. The man is young–probably in his early twenties–dressed formally in jacket and tie with a corsage pinned to the lapel. Black hair is combed flat and parted hard to one side with a pair of troublesome locks springing loose across the forehead just above his eyebrow. The facial expression is curious: fixed formal, let's-get-this-right sternness appears just on the edge of breaking to a suppressed, forbidden smile. This may have been his wedding day.
The small rectangular photograph is preserved in thick, transparent violet-hued Lucite and has one transverse crack across the man's chest. A handful of small dings decorate the surface as if an assailant has taken to it with a crude weapon but gave up before doing any real damage. Otherwise, it is in fine shape.
The combined piece is about the size of a deck of playing cards and mounted to a beautiful marble headstone featuring Jesus on the cross, a pointed arch shape like a cathedral window, and a fading old-world cross-and-sun image we're not familiar with. [Pious Orbit readers: help us out here–what is that thing?]
The irony of the photos mounted to headstones at Loretto Cemetery–most preserved on ceramic discs as we discussed in the previous post, but this and one other encased in thick acrylic–is that for so many, we don't even know the names of the deceased.
What's unique among the vast majority of photo markers here is the complete absence of identification remaining. At one time, the de rigueur details–name, birth and death dates, perhaps an epitaph or Lahke mu Zamlja inscription–almost surely filled the flat faces of the stones. But now on all but a few, they've been completely wiped-clean.
How this came to be, we can only speculate on–but that's what this blogger does best! It seems likely the cause has to do with the underlying material (marble? fieldstone?) and what was literally falling from the sky around Pittsburgh through most of the twentieth century. With the Jones & Laughlin steel mill occupying both sides of the river just downhill from Loretto Cemetery until the 1980s–not to mention plenty more like it up and down each of the rivers–regular doses of acid rain had to do a number on all the headstones made from susceptible materials.
This is a noteworthy turn of the tables for an environment where typically all we know are names and dates, forever left to wonder who these people were.
unknown grave with faded and broken photo
faded and broken ceramic photo (detail), unknown
In Part 1 of this story we looked at a bunch of these headstone photos where the name of the deceased may or may not be known, but at least we got a pretty good (literal) picture of him or her. In almost all cases the ceramic has weathered with irregular cracking throughout the piece, but the image survives with enough clarity to get a sense of the person below the earth.
Not all these photos fared as well, though. First of all, at this point there are roughly an equal number of empty oval cutouts in headstones where the photos simply don't exist any more. It's impossible to know if these were stolen or vandalized or simply dropped out of their markers through a century of freeze-and-thaw cycles.
But even the ones that are still here aren't necessarily all here. The sun had faded a number of the South-facing photos to mere ghosts represented in strange gray negatives. One of the pieces (above) has been broken with only the bottom half remaining. The detail is all gone, leaving just a vague outline of the woman's face and basic description of the house dress she wore in the photo.
faded ceramic photo, unknown
Joseph Andreucci
Consider the plight of Joseph Andreucci (above) whose loved-ones ponied-up for a beautiful deep red and black granite that never suffered the erosion present on so many of the other stones. All this only to have his photo in military dress attire worn- or scraped-through to the iridescent green of oxidizing copper underneath.
The poor fellow below is not only unknown in name, but unknowable as image. It appears that some miscreant took a hammer directly to the photograph, rendering it completely unrecognizable. All that remains is a hint of combed, dark hair above the damage and a suit with jaunty floral accent below.
If it's possible to end both on a high note and six feet under, we'll wrap this whole thing up with the big smile and voluminous curly locks of Anna Vensak. Her passing in 1996 is decidedly outside of the early century/between-the-wars window where we find all the other headstones in the series. But it seems notable for inclusion by virtue of its proximity here at Loretto Cemetery and the monument-maker's continued use of the technique–certainly antiquated by the 1990s–deploying the oval-shaped photo, mortared directly to an inset cutout in the stone.
Anna Vensak
In an age where photographs are so immediate, disposable, and omni-present as they currently are, it's fascinating to think of a time not that long ago when a single image may be all that remains of the legacy of a human being's time here on earth. For that one last opportunity to reach beyond this mortal coil to end up cracked, faded out entirely, or lost in the weeds of Arlington Heights is humbling at best and reaches to full-on existential crisis at worst. Either way, The Orbit will still be here, looking out for you.


An unexpected name stole the show during OTA's in Pittsburgh. Former Central Michigan wide receiver Antonio Brown received quite a bit of attention from the media on hand and by other Pittsburgh Steelers as well, such as quarterback Dennis Dixon, who gave a shout out of props after a long touchdown grab tossed his way by Byron Leftwich. Brown is catching on, "I'm getting better everyday and push myself to the limit everyday," which is evident by the strides he's making on the field.
This entry was posted on May 28, 2010 at 6:37 pm, and is filled under NFL Draft. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.


text:
RASHOMON Commentary
Commentaries • 1h 28m
Recorded in 2001, this commentary features noted critic and historian Donald Richie, author of "The Films of Akira Kurosawa."
Up Next in Commentaries
SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG Com...
This audio commentary featuring director Melvin Van Peebles was recorded in 1997 for the Criterion Collection's laserdisc edition of SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG.
AFTER LIFE Commentary
Recorded in 2021, this audio commentary features Linda C. Ehrlich, PhD, author of "The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema."
LIFE IS SWEET Commentary
This audio commentary features director Mike Leigh and was recorded in London in 2013.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Mickey Newbury Web Board
Home | Profile | Register | Active Topics | Members | Search | FAQ
Forgot your Password? | Admin Options
The Back Porch
The Nightly Vigil New Topic Reply to Topic
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 of 165
"Two tin cans...and...a thousand miles of string..."
Doug L
My last night there, Ailinn, after dinner with Christy, he drove us
to Phoenix Park and then over to Chapelizod. We crossed the bridge
that is called Anna Livia, or Droichead Abhainn na Life. It was
renamed on the 100th anniversary of Joyce's birth. Frank Harte,
the great ballad collector and a dear friend of Christy's, lived
in Chapelizod.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925569-1,00.html
Ailinn
Windchimer
Doug, I liked her limbs and high forehead in the fountain, but I don't know where she rests now. That whole bunch from the Wake, though...they're all waiting for us at the big table.
I found the best way to read Joyce was to drink one shot
of Jameson's per page. It took me about three years to
finish Finnegans Wake. By then I'd learned to walk on glass.
The thing you realize after being on the island a littl ewhile
is that the nearby pub is the neighbourhood's living room. It
belongs to the people. Houses and rooms are small, tighter, and
an evening walk and visit to the pub is a social tradition. The
drink is part of it, sure, but it's the gathering that keeps the
spirit going. There's always a corner where the guitars, whistles
and ballad singers hold court. No matter the cost of a pint - and
it's too much now for everyman - you'll always find the folks in
the pub, three generations of them, having a laugh, heated debate,
telling tall stories, catching up on the news firsthand, making
fun of it all before joining in on the chorus right on key.
For you I undress down to the sheaths of my nerves.
I remove my jewelry and set it on the nightstand.
I unhook my ribs, spread my lungs flat on a chair.
I dissolve like a remedy in water, in wine.
I spill without staining, and leave without stirring the air.
I do it for love. For love I disappear.
Unbelievable! We get one day of heavy sleet and freezing rain every two or three years, and you pick this one for your burial.
I understand Death's contract
and the finite ends of life:
however long a man lives
he lives only to die.
At the end, every scream
pours like a river into silence,
but the most dazzling star
is that which shows the caravan its way
when moss has covered our memories
and grief runs wild through the house.
Muhammed Al-Faituri
More on East Bay...later. Memories, thoughts, and secrets...
"Be careful who you tell your secrets to..."
Believe it or not, I am a simple man...
Ginny G.
"'Bein' lost is worth the comin' home."
Neil Diamond, "Stones"
They're walking slowly down the beach in the wine-colored light as the sun slides toward Hawaii. The Blue Sailors are still. Tiny jellyfish. Stingless almost. Saphires in the sand. The twilit canyons are filling up like clay bowls behind them. Brimful. The laurel is alive with delirious bees in October. A blizzard of broken branches. "You an' me, Ma'am..." he says as light breaks through his bandaged side. He guns the engine when they finally step off the page.
It was after midnite she came up to my room.
Eyes aglow in the moonlight three feet above mine.
Smell of lavender & oranges.
She said quietly, It's time for me to go.
I said, I don't suppose we could
roll around a little for old times sake...
She said, Your credit's all used up
and turned and left me...
I still loved watching her leave...
City Lights Book Sellers, 1970.
Mr Ferlinghetti was always so kind.
I would pass by, nod, go downstairs
with a bottle of wine and grab a book
Nobody ever said a negative word to me
about what I was doing.
I believe I first read Neal Cassidy's The First Third there.
I know I lifted my copy of Howl from the rack
on the landing of the stairs.
[Yeah, I know, but I had no rules;
if i wanted it or needed it,
it was mine.]
My income was $10.00 a day,
between the bloodbank and the doorman gig-
I could not spend money on books.
So much started from that building,
not just for me, but for all of us.
No more the back of the saloon, though I miss it.
The table, the bottle; you painting in the corner.
The figurines on the tabletop.
The dusty pictures on the walls,
the white bearded handsome man
that sings his waltzes quietly in the corner...
The friends stopping by on the odd nite.....
I get up at 5:30 now and tend the farm
before the real work starts - pretending
all day that I belong in the real world.
I go to bed early. I write dirty poetry
and drink Propel water [@#?#].
The room goes on forever....
Spin around for me sweetheart,
I love to listen to you dance.
BarbraG
Dear Hank !!!!!
Is it really you ? I have missed you, my unknown
poet friend. There are those on these porches that
really touched my heart from the beginning and you
are most certainly one of them.
How about doing a New Topic and just say hello if
you will. Well? Will you, Hank? You have so
many friends here, and did you read what Andrew said?
Huh, Hank ? Huh?
WHY you been gone so long, Hank? You come on back,
now, and generate some new stuff that I know is just
waiting to pop out of your chest and your brain.
You have been reading this stuff and finally jumped in.
The water's still fine, and warm.
This request isn't a challenge, friend. Its a heartfelt
I can't remember the first time I saw him but, when I did, I knew he'd seen me many times. Not just from his usual seat, where he must've sat and watched me wallow in my new found fame over and over again... but years and years before...back in "the day"...in himself.
After we met, he said he didn't know whether to sit me down and tell me that "young guns" seldom become "old guns"...or to wait and see whether I'd die...or learn how to live.
Must've been pretty amusing to him; disappearing for weeks...even months at time; then...showing up and sitting down in that same old spot (his spot)...waiting to see if I'd walk in...if I was good enough to keep walking in...or... if he'd hear one day...
Edited by - rodeo on 10/06/2009 11:42:25
Moonlit night, clear night. Lunar reflections upon East Bay. It lights up the entire bay. No lights are needed.
The waterman and his two sons. The Bolivar Lighthouse, sweeping it's broad light for all to see.
Cloudless night. Stars sparkle in the jet black night as brilliant as the most radiant of diamonds. The waves slap, slap, slap the side of the small wooden boat. A rocking rhythm is developed by the occupants of the small craft.
Anchored. Hannah's Reef. A few bites here and there, not much action. It doesn't matter, it was the moment, even to one of the sons not quite nine years old. These are the nuggets of our memory we all remember. Bits and pieces of time...treasures more precious than pure gold...
Edited by - Craig on 10/06/2009 00:11:24
I have marveled at her quiet strength and dignity.
The way she has suffered at the hands of men
yet has not lost her love for all men...
I have marveled at how she has met all
that she feared and in so doing has nothing left
To fear...
I have marveled at one that appears so empty and aching
herself yet can find a wellspring to give others to drink...
I have marveled at how from a cold room
a world away she can appear silently and
warm my cold room and heart of stone...
I have marveled that The Great One
continues to remind me how
wonderful a woman can be...
Oh yes,
So marveled ....
Hankie,
Let's talk, just you and me...
roynnbarb@comcast.net
Melinda said to me that if I could have
a few small victories every day
I might feel better about things.
I said, It's hard to learn new dance steps
when you're still working on
walking upright.
She said, Is there a point to all of this introspection?
I said, I don't know;
I was letting it be your turn to bring the point...
Jump To: Select Forum The Back Porch Open Topic Candle Groups Gathering 2019 Gathering 2018 Gathering 2017 Gathering 2016 Gathering 2015 Gathering 2014 Gathering 2012 Gathering 2013 Gathering 2011 Gathering 2010 Gathering 2008 Gathering 2009 Birthdays January Birthdays! February Birthdays March Birthdays April Birthdays May Birthdays June Birthdays July Birthdays August Birthdays! September Birthdays! October Birthdays! November Birthdays! December Birthdays! Welcome Welcome to the new Mickey Newbury web board! Web Board Support Common Problems -------------------- Home Active Topics Frequently Asked Questions Member Information Search Page
Mickey Newbury Web Board © 2003 Mickeynewbury.com


Common Sense Media editors help you choose kid-friendly Xbox One games for your next family game night. These are the best multiplayer Xbox One games that will keep both kids and parents laughing and competing with each other in friendly, enjoyable play.... In all likelihood, the Kinect for Xbox One will become ever less necessary, just as the original Kinect did for Xbox 360. The Kinect is great for a few specific uses.
In all likelihood, the Kinect for Xbox One will become ever less necessary, just as the original Kinect did for Xbox 360. The Kinect is great for a few specific uses.... "Primadonna" (Marina and The Diamonds). The world's #1 dance game brand is back with Just Dance®4! The latest edition of the record-breaking franchise takes the party to a whole new level of fun with new game modes, coaches and stylish environments.
10/12/2015 · Just Dance Unlimited is a new subscription streaming service available for Wii U, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 system. The service is available to Just Dance 2016 players worldwide to access over... Just Dance 2014 for Xbox One is another cross-gen title for the new Microsoft hardware. The game is as fun as the other versions out there and Kinect 2.0 does a good job tracking players' moves. For a real jump forward we'll have to wait till the next Just Dance for Xbox One, but if you love this franchise you can enjoy it on this brand new hardware too.
22/12/2018 · Unfortunately no, Just Dance 2018 for Xbox One is not compatible with the Xbox 360. Despite that, Ubisoft has released a version of Just Dance 2018 for the Xbox 360. Here are the store links for Despite that, Ubisoft has released a version of Just Dance 2018 for the Xbox 360.
The PS4 has just over 1,800 titles, of which over 500 are exclusives or console exclusives, while the Xbox One has about 1,600 games – with under half the number of exclusives as the PS4.
Just Dance 2019 is an Action game, developed by Ubisoft Paris and published by Ubisoft, which was released in 2018. We Have No FAQs/Guides/Maps - Be the first to submit one!


Huntingdon Valley is a village, as well as a suburban mailing address located in Lower Moreland Township, Upper Moreland Township and Abington Township all in Montgomery County, and in small sections of Upper Southampton Township and Lower Southampton Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania bordering the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States.
The village of Huntingdon Valley is located along Huntingdon Pike. The Lady Washington Inn was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The inn is believed to have held first lady, Martha Washington while George Washington was at Valley Forge.
Domestic violence and emotional abuse are behaviors used by one or both partners in a relationship. Partners may be married or not married; heterosexual, gay, or lesbian; living together, separated or dating. The purpose of domestic violence is to establish control over another.
Domestic abuse can be a felony or misdemeanor depending on the abuser's charges and the criminal history help to determine the severity of the punishment. Sentence may also include a restraining or protective order.
If you have been charged with a domestic abuse crime in Pennsylvania or if you are seeking to establish a protective order, contact the legal team at Keith McAndrews Legal.


text:
· Published August 5, 2020
Dana White says UFC will return to Fight Island in September or October
July 12, 2020; Abu Dhabi, UAE; A general view of the Flash Forum on UFC Fight Island prior to the UFC 251 event on July 12, 2020 on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via USA TODAY Sports
UFC head honcho Dana White did very well to exploit the lack of live sports during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic earlier this summer and in the spring. While team sports have returned, White is not about to put his foot on the brakes.
Dana White announces UFC will return to Fight Island
"Everybody wants to go there now. Octagon girls all wanna go there, everybody wants to go! We're working on fights right now for the next run," White told TMZ Sports on Wednesday. "Obviously, a lot of the big international stars will fight over there and s**t, I mean, this next trip over there, I'll probably end up being there for 5 weeks."
Heading to Abu Dhabi for major events over the past couple months proved to be a major success for White and the UFC. Pretty much in a bubble as virus cases continued to increase here in the United States, events such as UFC 251 went off without any real issues.
The idea of building an entire island to host these events amid a global pandemic was first brought up by White during the spring. Everything came together, leading to some tremendous bouts in the Middle Eastern nation.
White also made sure to tell TMZ Sports that he's set to announce some huge fights at Yas Island for either September or October.


text:
A Computer Portal
Freeware, Shareware and Technology News
What You Need to Know about the New Xiaomi Mi Note 2
makalacius Tech Galaxy S7 Edge, Xiaomi Mi Note 2
Every other day, some new smartphone or the other is being launched somewhere in the world. China seems to be taking a lead. Almost every smartphone being launched now has many unique features including some that one wouldn't have really ever thought of. Constant innovation and R&D seem to be the buzzwords with the smartphone manufacturers and no one is prepared to take a back seat. In the process, the customer is the biggest beneficiary in as much as he keeps getting the latest technology at really attractive and competitive prices at periodic intervals.
The new Xiaomi Mi Note 2 is the latest in the series and is set to be launched by Xiaomi in Beijing, China on Tuesday, October 25, 2016. By the time you get to read this write up, the New Xiaomi Mi Note 2 would have already been launched by the company. Various details right from the expected price, launch date, looks, technical specifications and improvements over the other smartphones available in the market in the same price range have been doing the rounds for quite some time now.
What you need to know about the New Xiaomi Mi Note 2 smartphone is all here.
The new Xiaomi Mi Note 2 smartphone with the two-sided dual curve' design comes with a dual rear camera set up like the one you have seen on the Mi 5s Plus. You have also seen a similar dual-edge display on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. It's a 3 D touch display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. Both these features in the two smartphones mentioned above have been really liked by the users, particularly the millennia, which perhaps constitutes the largest customer base for any new smartphone or phablet.
The new Xiaomi Mi Note 2 smartphone uses the GSM / HSPA / LTE technology. It has a large 4100mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 technology and an iris scanner, which have also been seen in some of the recently launched smartphones. Xiaomi is likely to launch two models of the new Xiaomi Mi Note 2 smartphone – a 6GB RAM/128GB in built storage model and a slightly lower priced one with a 4GB RAM/64GB inbuilt storage. The two models are expected to be priced at CNY 2,999 and CNY 2,799 respectively.
The new Xiaomi Mi Note 2 is expected to have a 5.7 inch Super Amoled (1440×2560 pixels) display with pressure sensitive technology with 23-megapixel and 12-megapixel rear camera having the latest state-of-the-art Sony sensors. The front camera is likely to have an 8-megapixel sensor.
The new Xiaomi Mi Note 2 is expected to have an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner embedded under glass in addition to state-of-the-art Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, NFC and USB Type-C connectivity options. The dual SIM (both Nano), dual stand-by smartphone is expected to run Android 6.0 Marshmallow-based MIUI 8. The platform Chipset is Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 821 with Quad-core (2×2 15 GHz Kryo and 2×1.6 GHz Kryo CPU.
Quite clearly, the New Xiaomi Mi Note 2 smartphone scores over all other smartphones or phablets available today in the same price range. One couldn't have asked for anything more!
Defining Voice over Internet Protocol
makalacius Tech calls, internet, PC, voip
Defining VoIP
VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol is a technology that uses internet protocols to send and receive voice calls. VoIP uses the same protocols used to send an email or data through the internet and uses advanced technology to record and transmit sound packets over a digital network, employing several procedures to break down samples of sound, enhance the quality of voice, compress them and transmit over the network.
What You Should Know About VoIP
Internet protocols are essentially a set of rules used to establish effective communication and VoIP relies on existing protocols to set up a network. Such a network may be used for a home, corporate setting, for public use, etc. When set up, the network can support a wide range of telephony features, devices and services.
Before VoIP
Before digital networks were set up, people had to work with the old Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN, and the network worked fine on many levels, but it is still presented many limitations in an advanced telecommunication industry. VoIP was designed to allow the same telephony, but over a computer network instead of the old circuit-switched systems, VoIP enabled packet-switched systems, which put voice signals into compressed packets, lines them up in sequence and sends them to the recipient, forming an effective conversation. By using packets to relay sound, VoIP allows more information to pass through as opposed to traditional circuit-switched systems.
This results in more enhanced communication and a versatile type of telephony because the sound packets can work on any VoIP-compatible network.
VoIP makes it possible to access a bunch of services that would usually be impossible with traditional telephony. As mentioned, all VoIP telephony is interoperable, which means the services work seamlessly across different networks: but in addition, the services as also portable, working with all IP enabled devices. Phones that have an inbuilt Network Interface Card are capable of supporting VoIP because they have a way to access Media Access Control (MAC) and communicate over a network, PDA, gateways and computers operate the same way, connecting to a network via the NIC and accessing the network server to transmit packets.
Advantages of Using VoIP
Portability and flexibility. Access to the telephone number is not tied to a particular gadget, all that is required is internet access and a computer or VoIP enabled gadget.
Reduced calling costs. Its one of the main reasons people are turning to VoIP. When compared to traditional telephony, VoIP technology offers many more affordable services.
Most service providers offer a whole range of features that would otherwise be impossible to use with a hard-line.
Main disadvantages
Not all networks are perfect so some users may come across bad reception or static.
Video and voice calls can use up lots of bandwidth that would be a problem if the network is congested.
It costs to call regular phone networks. Users may be allowed to make cheap calls on VoIP, but regular call charges may apply when contacting people on other networks.
In the end, VoIP offers more features and opportunities for both businesses and individuals, which is why its popularity has soared in recent years. A few connectivity challenges may appear every once in a while, but they are not enough to water down the efficiency of the technology.


PARTS UNLIMITED AND DRAG SPECIALTIES supplies AFX products to thousands of retailers throughout the United States. Although all Parts Unlimited dealers have access to the full AFX catalog, they may not have exactly what you're looking for in stock. As such, we recommend calling in advance.


text:
\section*{Abstract (Not appropriate in this style!)}%
   \else \small
   \begin{center}{\bf Abstract\vspace{-.5em}\vspace{\z@}}\end{center}%
   \quotation
   \fi
  }%
 }{%
 }%
\@ifundefined{endabstract}{\def\endabstract
  {\if@twocolumn\else\endquotation\fi}}{}%
\@ifundefined{maketitle}{\def\maketitle#1{}}{}%
\@ifundefined{affiliation}{\def\affiliation#1{}}{}%
\@ifundefined{proof}{\def\proof{\paragraph{Proof. }}}{}%
\@ifundefined{endproof}{\def\endproof{\mbox{\ $\Box$}}}{}%
\@ifundefined{newfield}{\def\newfield#1#2{}}{}%
\@ifundefined{chapter}{\def\chapter#1{\par(Chapter head:)#1\par }%
 \newcount\c@chapter}{}%
\@ifundefined{part}{\def\part#1{\par(Part head:)#1\par }}{}%
\@ifundefined{section}{\def\section#1{\par(Section head:)#1\par }}{}%
\@ifundefined{subsection}{\def\subsection#1%
 {\par(Subsection head:)#1\par }}{}%
\@ifundefined{subsubsection}{\def\subsubsection#1%
 {\par(Subsubsection head:)#1\par }}{}%
\@ifundefined{paragraph}{\def\paragraph#1%
 {\par(Subsubsubsection head:)#1\par }}{}%
\@ifundefined{subparagraph}{\def\subparagraph#1%
 {\par(Subsubsubsubsection head:)#1\par }}{}%
\@ifundefined{therefore}{\def\therefore{}}{}%
\@ifundefined{backepsilon}{\def\backepsilon{}}{}%
\@ifundefined{yen}{\def\yen{\hbox{\rm\rlap=Y}}}{}%
\@ifundefined{registered}{\def\registered{\relax\ifmmode{}\r@gistered
                                                \else$\m@th\r@gistered$\fi}%
 \def\r@gistered{^{\ooalign
  {\hfil\raise.07ex\hbox{$\scriptstyle\rm\text{R}$}\hfil\crcr
  \mathhexbox20D}}}}{}%
\@ifundefined{Eth}{\def\Eth{}}{}%
\@ifundefined{eth}{\def\eth{}}{}%
\@ifundefined{Thorn}{\def\Thorn{}}{}%
\@ifundefined{thorn}{\def\thorn{}}{}%
\def\TEXTsymbol#1{\mbox{$#1$}}%
\@ifundefined{degree}{\def\degree{{}^{\circ}}}{}%
\def\BibTeX{{\rm B\kern-.05em{\sc i\kern-.025em b}\kern-.08em
    T\kern-.1667em\lower.7ex\hbox{E}\kern-.125emX}}%
\newdimen\theight
\def\Column{%
 \vadjust{\setbox\z@=\hbox{\scriptsize\quad\quad tcol}%
  \theight=\ht\z@\advance\theight by \dp\z@\advance\theight by \lineskip
  \kern -\theight \vbox to \theight{%
   \rightline{\rlap{\box\z@}}%
   \vss
   }%
  }%
 }%
\def\qed{%
 \ifhmode\unskip\nobreak\fi\ifmmode\ifinner\else\hskip5\p@\fi\fi
 \hbox{\hskip5\p@\vrule width4\p@ height6\p@ depth1.5\p@\hskip\p@}%
 }%
\def\cents{\hbox{\rm\rlap/c}}%
\def\miss{\hbox{\vrule height2\p@ width 2\p@ depth\z@}}%
\def\vvert{\Vert
\def\tcol#1{{\baselineskip=6\p@ \vcenter{#1}} \Column}  %
\def\dB{\hbox{{}}
\def\mB#1{\hbox{$#1$}
\def\nB#1{\hbox{#1}
\def\note{$^{\dag}}%
\makeatother

\section{Introduction}

With advances in technology, fabrication of submicron devices has become
possible. Such systems exhibit quantum coherence which is the subject of
extensive experimental and theoretical studies.

Recently, in a series of papers [1], model considerations of self-sustaining
persistent currents in a set of clean mesoscopic metallic rings have been
presented. In this paper we investigate whether such currents survive in the
presence of scattering driven by impurities and temperature. We will
consider a set of concentric mesoscopic rings stacked along a certain axis
and a set of concentric two-dimensional (2-D) cylinders. Such samples can be
obtained by lithographic methods from metals or semiconductors \cite
{lithograph}.

\section{Quasi One-dimensional Mesoscopic Rings}

Let us consider a set of quasi one-dimensional (1-D) metallic mesoscopic
rings stacked along $y$ axis threaded by the external magnetic flux $\phi _e$%
. We assume that each ring posseses the same number of conducting electrons $%
N_e$ (even or odd). The situation when some of the rings carry an odd number
and other carry an even number of electrons has been considered in \cite
{Wohlleben}. The long range magnetostatic (current-current) interaction
between electrons from different rings is taken into account in the mean
field approximation (MFA).

The gauge-invariant tight-binding Hamiltonian for a single ring is of the
form:
\begin{equation}
\label{1imp}\widehat{H}_1=\stackunder{n=1}{\stackrel{N}{\sum }}%
[(2t+V_n)c_n^{+}c_n-te^{i\theta _{n,n+1}}c_{n+1}^{+}c_n-te^{-i\theta
_{n,n+1}}c_n^{+}c_{n+1}],
\end{equation}
where $t=\hbar ^2/(2m_ea^2)$ is the hopping matrix element, $a$ is the
lattice constant; $c_n^{+},c_n$ are the creation and annihilation operators;
$N$ is the number of sites in each ring (channel); $\theta _{n,n+1}$ comes
from the magnetic flux $\phi :$%
\begin{equation}
\label{2imp}\theta _{n,n+1}=\frac e\hbar \stackrel{r_{n+1}}{\stackunder{r_n}{%
\int }}\underline{A}\cdot d\underline{l}=\frac{2\pi }N\frac \phi {\phi
_0}\equiv \theta ,
\end{equation}

where \underline{$A$} is the vector potential, and $\phi _0=h/e.$

The flux $\phi $ is composed of two parts,
\begin{equation}
\label{3imp}\phi =\phi _e+\phi _I,\quad \phi _I={\cal L}I(\phi ),
\end{equation}
i.e., each electron moves in the external magnetic flux $\phi _e$ and in the
flux coming from the total current $I$ in the system; ${\cal L}$ is the
selfinductance coefficient.

The disorder is given by a random choice of the on-site potentials $V_n$
from a rectangular distribution of width $W=\kappa t,\ \kappa \geq 0$, and
strength $-W/2$ to $W/2$.

In the case of a clean system ($V_n=0$) we can calculate the current $I$ in
the system, diagonalizing the Hamiltonian (\ref{1imp}) directly, by using
the Fourier transform. We get%
$$
I(\phi )=M_tI_1(\phi ),
$$
\begin{equation}
\label{4imp}I_1(\phi )=-\stackunder{\alpha }{\sum }\frac{\partial {\cal E}%
_\alpha }{\partial \phi }=\frac{e\hbar }{Nm_ea^2}\stackunder{\alpha }{\sum }%
f_\alpha \sin \left[ \frac{2\pi }N\left( \alpha -\frac \phi {\phi _0}\right)
\right] ,
\end{equation}
where ${\cal E}_\alpha =2t\left[ 1-\cos \frac{2\pi }N\left( \alpha -\frac
\phi {\phi _0}\right) \right] ,$ $f_\alpha $ is the Fermi-Dirac distribution
function, $\alpha $ is the orbital quantum number for an electron going
around the ring ($\alpha =0,\pm 1,\pm 2,...$); $M_t=MP$, $M$ and $P$ are the
numbers of rings along and perpendicular to $y$ axis respectively $(P\ll N)$.

In this paper we concentrate on a disordered system ($V_n\neq 0$). The
Hamiltonian (\ref{1imp}) can be written in the form of a matrix ($N$x$N$):
\begin{equation}
\label{7imp}\widehat{H}_1=\left(
\begin{array}{cccccc}
2t+V_1 & -te^{-i\theta _{1,2}} &  &  &  & -te^{i\theta _{N,1}} \\
-te^{i\theta _{1,2}} & 2t+V_2 & -te^{-i\theta _{2,3}} &  & 0 &  \\
& -te^{i\theta _{2,3}} & 2t+V_3 & -te^{-i\theta _{3,4}} &  &  \\
&  & ... & ... & ... &  \\
& 0 &  & -te^{i\theta _{N-2,N-1}} & 2t+V_{N-1} & -te^{-i\theta _{N-1,N}} \\
-te^{-i\theta _{N,1}} &  &  &  & -te^{i\theta _{N-1,N}} & 2t+V_N
\end{array}
\right)
\end{equation}
where the base vectors are chosen as follows:%
$$
\begin{array}{c}
c_1^{+}\left| 0\right\rangle =\left| 100...0\right\rangle \equiv \left|
1\right\rangle \\
c_2^{+}\left| 0\right\rangle =\left| 010...0\right\rangle \equiv \left|
2\right\rangle \\
..... \\
c_N^{+}\left| 0\right\rangle =\left| 000...1\right\rangle \equiv \left|
N\right\rangle
\end{array}
$$
$\left| 0\right\rangle =\left| 000...0\right\rangle $ - the vacuum state.

The above matrix we have diagonalized numerically for different $N$ (%
\TEXTsymbol{<}100) and different $W/t$ using the ''Monte Carlo'' method \cite
{Koonin}. We also calculated the current $I_1(\phi ,W/t,T)$ by numerical
differentiation; it is presented in Fig. 1 for $N=80$ by symbols \cite
{LisZipKos}. We see that the impurity scattering leads to the amplitude
reduction and the shift of the maximum of the $I_1(\phi )$ characteristics.
We note \cite{IBM} that elastic scattering has a very similar effect on the $%
I_1(\phi )$ as temperature. Whereas a non-zero temperature leads to a
redistribution of electrons among the energy levels, collisions lead to a
change in the levels themselves. If the average collision time is $\tau $,
then the uncertainty in the electron energy is of the order of $\hbar /\tau
, $ inverse proportional to the elastic scattering mean free path $l_e\sim
(t/W)^2$ \cite{W/t} (the localization length $\xi $ in one dimension). If $%
\tau $ is not too short, it plays a similar role as the temperature \cite
{Abrikosov}.

Because of the limited capacity of computers and long time needed for
computing, it is very difficult to calculate in this way the current $%
I_1(\phi ,W/t,T)$ for $N>100.$ However we want to investigate the
possibility of the existance of self-sustaining current in the system with
impurities. The phenomenon of such current is a collective effect \cite
{SzopZip} and can be obtained only if the number of interacting electrons is
relatively large, i.e. for large (but still mesoscopic) systems. The
selfconsistency formula for the current at $\phi _e=0$, obtained by the use
of Eq. (\ref{3imp}), is of the form:
\begin{equation}
\label{self}I(\phi ,W/t,T)=\frac \phi {{\cal L}},
\end{equation}
where
\begin{equation}
\label{10imp}{\cal L}=\frac{\mu _0\pi R^2}{l^2}\left( \sqrt{l^2-R^2}%
-R\right) ,
\end{equation}
$l=Mb$ is the length of the cylinder made of a set of mesoscopic rings, $b$
is the distance between rings; $\mu _0$ is the magnetic permeability of free
space.

To get a stable, nontrivial solution of Eq. (\ref{self}) we need to consider
a set of mesoscopic rings with $N\gg 100$. Even though exact numerical
solutions of the current in the presence of impurities were performed for
very small samples, they show generic features for all mesoscopic rings \cite
{IBM}. Thus we have fitted an analytical formula to the numerical results of
Fig. 1 and we assumed that it can be used for the qualitative analysis of
Eq. (\ref{self}) for larger rings. $I_1$ is periodic in $\phi /\phi _0$,
with period 1, and can be expressed as a Fourier sum \cite{Gefen}, \cite
{Riedel}. The best fitting, denoted in Fig. 1 by solid line, we have
obtained for the formula:
\begin{equation}
\label{9imp}
\begin{array}{c}
I_1(\phi ,\gamma ,T)=
\stackrel{\infty }{\stackunder{q=1}{\dsum }}\dfrac{4I_0}\pi \left( \dfrac
L{2\gamma }+\dfrac T{T^{*}}\right) \dfrac{\exp \left[ -q\left( \frac L\gamma
+\frac T{T^{*}}\right) \right] }{1-\exp \left[ -q\left( \frac L\gamma
+2\frac T{T^{*}}\right) \right] }\times  \\ \times \cos (qk_FL)\sin \left(
2\pi q\dfrac \phi {\phi _0}\right) ,
\end{array}
\end{equation}
where $I_0=e\hbar \sin (k_Fa)/(Nm_ea^2)$, $k_F=N_e\pi /L$, $L=Na$ is the
circumference of a ring; $T^{*}=\Delta /(2\pi ^2k_B)$ is a characteristic
temperature that separates the high- and low-temperature regimes, $\Delta
=4\pi t\sin (k_Fa)/N$ is the level spacing at zero flux at the Fermi surface
(FS), $k_B$ is the Boltzmann constant; $1/\gamma $ is a disorder parameter, $%
\gamma \cong 10a(t/W)^{3/2}\ln N$.

To account for different values of $\gamma $ ($W/t$) in a set of $M_t$
mesoscopic rings we have performed a quenched average of the current $I(\phi
,\gamma ,T)$, where disorder was given by a Gaussian distribution with
standard deviation $\Delta \gamma =\pm 10\%\overline{\gamma }$, $\overline{%
\gamma }$ is a mean value of $\gamma $. We have obtained a very small
decrease in the amplitude of $[I(\phi ,\gamma ,T)]$, where [...] denotes the
quenched average, comparing to the case with the same disorder in each ring.

In the clean system at $T=0$ $K$ we would have \cite{Gefen}:
\begin{equation}
\label{5imp}I(\phi )=M_t\stackrel{\infty }{\stackunder{q=1}{\sum }}\frac{2I_0%
}{\pi q}\cos (qk_FL)\sin \left( 2\pi q\frac \phi {\phi _0}\right) .
\end{equation}

Now we are in position to look for the self-sustaining currents. They can be
obtained from the self-consistent equation for the total current (\ref{self}%
), where the current $I=M_tI_1$ is taken with the quenched average, $I_1$ is
given by the formula (\ref{9imp}).

The case of a clean system, in the free electron model, has been analysed in
\cite{SzopZip}. Here we extend earlier studies to include the dependences on
disorder and temperature in the tight-binding model with the half-filled
band. The results depend on the number of electrons in a single ring.

In the case of an even number of electrons in each ring the current is
paramagnetic and the stable solutions of Eq. (\ref{self}) being the
intersections of the curves marked by circle correspond to a spontaneous
current $I_s$. They are presented in Fig. 2 for different parameters $%
\overline{\gamma }$. In Fig. 3 we also present the temperature dependence of
persistent current and we see that both temperature and disorder act almost
in the same way.

In the case of an odd number of electrons in each ring the current is
diamagnetic for small $\phi $ and the stable solutions of Eq. (\ref{self})
presented in Fig. 4 correspond to flux trapping, the phenomenon known in
superconductors.

The temperature at which the transition to the state with the
self-sustaining current occurs is denoted by $T_c$. We see that $T_c$
decreases with increasing the impurity content and that flux trapping can be
obtained only in weakly disordered systems.

\section{Two-dimensional Mesoscopic Cylinders}

Let us consider now a set of coaxial closely packed two-dimensional (2-D)
cylinders \cite{Efros}. The appropriate tight-binding Hamiltonian for a
single cylinder is of the form:
\begin{equation}
\label{11imp}
\begin{array}{c}
\widehat{H}=\stackrel{M}{\stackunder{m=1}{\dsum }}\stackrel{N}{\stackunder{%
n=1}{\dsum }}[(2t+V_{nm})c_{nm}^{+}c_{nm}-te^{i\theta
_{n,n+1}}c_{n+1m}^{+}c_{nm}+ \\  \\ -te^{-i\theta
_{n,n+1}}c_{nm}^{+}c_{n+1m}-t_bc_{nm+1}^{+}c_{nm}-t_bc_{nm}^{+}c_{nm+1}],
\end{array}
\end{equation}
where $t_b=\hbar ^2/(2m_eb^2)$ is the hopping element in the $y$ direction, $%
b$ is the lattice constant in the $y$ direction.

In this case to get the current $I$ in a disordered system, we have
performed similar procedures to the previous 1-D case. Finally we have
obtained:
\begin{equation}
\label{13imp}
\begin{array}{c}
I(\phi ,\gamma ,T)=P
\stackrel{M}{\stackunder{m=1}{\dsum }}\stackrel{\infty }{\stackunder{q=1}{%
\dsum }}\dfrac{4I_0(m)}\pi \left( \dfrac L{2\gamma }+\dfrac T{T^{*}}\right)
\dfrac{\exp \left[ -q\left( \frac L\gamma +\frac T{T^{*}}\right) \right] }{%
1-\exp \left[ -q\left( \frac L\gamma +2\frac T{T^{*}}\right) \right] }\times
\\ \times \cos [qk_{F_x}(m)L]\sin \left( 2\pi q\dfrac \phi {\phi _0}\right)
,
\end{array}
\end{equation}
where $1/\gamma $ is a disorder parameter, $\gamma \sim (t/W)^{3/2}\ln N$;

$I_0(m)=e\hbar \sin [k_{F_x}(m)a]/(Nm_ea^2)$, $k_{F_x}(m)$ is the radius of
the FS corresponding to the channel $m$ which depends on the shape of the FS.

After performing a quenched average of $I(\phi ,\gamma ,T)$ over $\gamma $ ($%
W/t$) with the Gaussian distribution we can look for self-sustaining
currents.

In the clean system at $T=0$ $K$ we would have again \cite{IBM}:
\begin{equation}
\label{2Dclean}I(\phi )=P\stackrel{M}{\stackunder{m=1}{\sum }}\stackrel{%
\infty }{\stackunder{q=1}{\sum }}\frac{2I_0(m)}{\pi q}\cos
(qk_{F_x}(m)L)\sin \left( 2\pi q\frac \phi {\phi _0}\right) .
\end{equation}

The self-sustaining currents can be obtained from equations (\ref{self}) and
(\ref{13imp}). It is known that for 2-D systems and for 3-D systems with 2-D
conduction (an example of such structures are high $T_c$ superconductors in
a normal state \cite{StebSzopZip}) persistent currents depend crucially on
the strength of the phase correlation between currents of different channels
\cite{IBM}, \cite{StebSzopZip} and therefore we have analysed three
different cases namely the systems with rectangular, triangular and
half-circular FS. The $k_{F_x}(m)$ is then given by
\begin{equation}
\label{15cimp}k_{F_x}(m)=
\begin{array}{l}
\pm \frac \pi a
\text{ for }|k_{F_y}(m)|\leq \frac \pi b, \\ \ 0\text{\quad for other }%
k_{F_y}(m),
\end{array}
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
\label{15aimp}k_{F_x}(m)=\pm \frac 1a\arccos \left[ -\frac{a^2}{b^2}\cos
(k_{F_y}(m)b)\right] ,
\end{equation}
and
\begin{equation}
\label{15bimp}k_{F_x}(m)=\pm \sqrt{\frac 2{a^2}+\frac 2{b^2}-k_{F_y}^2(m)}
\end{equation}
respectively; $k_{F_y}(m)=m\pi /((M+1)b).$ Such shapes of the FS can be
obtained in the tight-binding approximation depending on the crystal
symmetry and on the band filling.

The most favorable situation is for the rectangular FS (found in bcc
crystals for nearly half filled band) where self-sustaining currents $I_s$
are the easiest to obtain and are the largest. In the second case (crystals
with simple cubic symmetry at half filling), it is possible to obtain
self-sustaining currents only for weakly disordered systems (ballistic
regime) and for the maximal interchannel phase correlation, where $L/l\cong
2+h/3$, $h$ is a positive integer; Fig. 5. In the third case (found at very
low band filling), we have not obtained such currents, for physical values
of parameters, because the interchannel correlations are too small \cite
{StebSzopZip}. The $[I(\phi )]$ characteristics for different shapes of the
FS and for $\overline{\gamma }$ = 50000 \AA\ are presented in Fig. 6.

Self-sustaining currents are a hallmark of a phase coherence. Thus we can
introduce, in analogy to superconductors, a notion of a critical field $H_c$
below which the system is in a coherent state. The system is in a coherent
state if we get at $\phi _e=0$ the nonzero crossing of the currents $I(\phi
) $ and $\frac \phi {{\cal L}}$ (Eq. (\ref{self})). Let us denote by $\phi
_{\max }$ the value of $\phi $ at which $I(\phi )$ reaches its maximum value
$I_{\max }\equiv I(\phi _{\max })$.

If
\begin{equation}
\label{max}I(\phi _{\max })\geq \frac{\phi _{\max }}{{\cal L}},
\end{equation}
we get a non-zero solution. Accepting the interpretation \cite{Bloch} that
the critical field $H_c$ in the cylinder is determined by the maximum value
of the current $I_{\max }$ one finds from Eq. (\ref{max}):
\begin{equation}
\label{Hc}H_c=\frac{{\cal L}I_{\max }}{\mu _0\pi R^2}.
\end{equation}
The magnitude of $I_{\max }$ depends on temperature, disorder and on the
geometry of the FS and can be extracted from Figs. 4, 5.

The critical field $H_c$ as a function of the disorder parameter $1/\gamma $
and temperature $T$ is presented in Figs. 7 and 8 respectively. We see that
it decreases with the increasing disorder and likewise decreases with the
increasing temperature.

\section{Conclusions}

In the presented paper we have addressed the question of whether
self-sustaining currents in nonsuperconducting rings and cylinders survive
in the presence of disorder and finite temperature. The answer to this
question is positive. We have performed some model considerations which show
that self-sustaining currents can be obtained in weakly disordered systems
at temperatures of the order of 1 $K$ in the systems with strong
correlations among the channel currents, i.e. in the systems with the FS
having flat regions.

From the presented $I(\phi )$ characteristics we were able to determine the
critical field $H_c$, below which the system is in a phase coherent state.
We have shown that $H_c$ decreases with increasing disorder and temperature
respectively.

\section{Acknowledgments}

Work was supported by Grant KBN 2P03B 129 14 and partly by Grant KBN PB
1108/P03/95/08. E.Z. acknowledges support from FNRS sabbatical grant at the
University of Liege. She thanks M. Ausloos for stimulating discussions.

\newpage\

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
La  est une ligne du métro d'Osaka au Japon. Elle relie la station de Tenjimbashisuji 6-chōme à celle de Tengachaya. Longue de 8,1 km elle traverse Osaka du nord au sud en passant par les arrondissements de Kita, Chūō, Naniwa et Nishinari. La majorité du tracé de la ligne suit le boulevard Sakaisuji, d'où son nom.

Sur les cartes, sa couleur est marron et la ligne est identifiée avec la lettre K.

Histoire
La ligne Sakaisuji est inaugurée le  entre Tenjimbashisuji 6-chōme et Dobutsuen-mae. La ligne est prolongée à Tengachaya le .

Depuis le , la ligne n'est plus exploitée par le Bureau municipal des transports d'Osaka mais par la compagnie privée Osaka Metro.

Caractéristiques techniques
 Écartement :
 Alimentation :  par caténaire
 Vitesse maximale :

Services et interconnexion
La ligne Sakaisuji est interconnectée au réseau Hankyu à Tenjinbashisuji 6-chome. La ligne Sakaisuji permet donc aux passagers des lignes Hankyu Kyoto et Hankyu Senri d'atteindre le centre-ville d'Osaka sans avoir à passer par le hub d'Umeda.

Dans le sens nord-sud (Tenjinbashisuji 6-chōme jusqu'à Tengachaya), toutes les stations sont desservies par toutes les missions.

Dans le sens sud-nord, toutes les stations sont également desservies, les missions pouvant se terminer à différentes stations ou gares :
 Tenjinbashisuji 6-chōme
 Kita-Senri
 Shōjaku
 Takatsuki
 Kawaramachi (à Kyoto), service semi-express

Stations

Matériel roulant

Les trains de la ligne Sakaisuji circulent en formation de 8 voitures, sous forme d'une seule rame ou de deux rames couplées 6+2. Tous les trains sont composés par des voitures avec 3 portes par côté.

La ligne est parcourue par les rames de la compagnie Osaka Metro suivantes :
 Série 66 (depuis 1990) : 17 rames de 8 voitures

La ligne est parcourue par les rames de la compagnie Hankyu suivantes :
 Série 3300 (depuis 1969)
 Série 5300 (depuis 1979)
 Série 7300 (depuis 1989)
 Série 8300 (depuis 1989)
 Série 1300 (depuis 2014)

Voir aussi

Lien externe
  Site d'Osaka Metro
  Site d'Osaka Metro

Source de la traduction

Ligne du métro d'Osaka
Ligne de chemin de fer dans la préfecture d'Ōsaka
Osaka, Sakaisuji

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Place List
Show largest localities starting with
" & ( - . / 1 3 < ? A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Show all places containing:
Show all largest localities (sorted alphabetically)
Top 30 largest localities (total places):
1. England (1,084)
2. Utah (489)
3. Massachusetts (479)
4. New York (298)
5. California (225)
6. United States (211)
7. Connecticut (210)
8. Idaho (194)
9. Devon (157)
10. France (143)
11. Canada (133)
12. Cornwall (120)
13. Pennsylvania (117)
14. London (112)
15. Illinois (93)
16. Quebec (92)
17. MA (85)
18. Missouri (81)
19. Eng (77)
20. Oregon (74)
21. Ireland (72)
22. Virginia (71)
23. Washington (68)
24. New Jersey (60)
25. Ohio (59)
26. Arizona (57)
27. Essex (56)
28. Wyoming (56)
29. Kent (56)
30. Iowa (54)