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New Stonehenge tourist attraction planned in Wiltshire
Plans have been unveiled for another Stonehenge stone circle to be built in Wiltshire using different-coloured stones from around the world.
Organisers of the £50m project want it to become another major tourist destination in the county, and one which will last for thousands of years.
Archaeologists believe the original Stonehenge was built anywhere from 3000 BC to 2000 BC
New Stonehenge would include yurt huts for visitors to stay in, a planetarium and an observatory.
It would be located about four miles (6 km) from the existing stone circle.
The land is close to Fugglestone Red where Wiltshire Council has proposed a major new housing development as part of its 2009 Core Strategy.
"For tourism in Wiltshire, it will be a huge boost. The new Stonehenge will compliment the old one"
Graham Gould Salisbury City Centre Management
The project is currently in the planning stages while the team behind it seeks funding for consultation on the environmental impact of the proposed structure.
Private investment for the build is currently being sought, with organisers expecting the attraction to make back the outlay within 6-10 years of it opening.
'Homage' to original circle
Project leader Colin Shearing said it will be an "homage" to the original Stonehenge.
He said: "You can't really experience how it was when it was new because it's old, so a new one would give you an opportunity to experience what our ancestors experienced when they went to the original one."
Archaeologists believe the original Stonehenge was built anywhere from 3000 BC to 2000 BC.
Mr Shearing said the new Stonehenge circle would be built with stones imported from different countries around the world, with each one matching a colour of the spectrum.
He said the entire structure will be polished and set into a floor of white quartz granite and surrounded by a white stone wall.
It is planned for the attraction to host events such as summer concerts and festivals as well as conferences and weddings.
Graham Gould, of Salisbury City Centre Management, described it as a "fantastic idea".
He said: "For tourism in Wiltshire, it will be a huge boost. The new Stonehenge will compliment the old one.
"The two can work together, without a doubt."
An English Heritage spokesperson said it is an "ambitious and interesting" project, and the organisation will be watching its development "with interest."
Following a full environmental impact study, organisers hope to apply for planning permission to Wiltshire Council in 2014.
Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-23094202
More info: http://www.newstonehenge.co.uk/
Merlin says "Great idea"
Tags: New Stonehenge, Salisbury City, Wiltshire Council, Wiltshire Tourism
Categories : Stonehenge news, Wiltshire tourism
Mission to save Stonehenge gets underway to reclaim its ancient natural landscape
STONEHENGE yesterday began reclaiming its ancient natural landscape with the closure of a busy road running through the World Heritage site.
Stonehenge is undergoing a massive renovation
The A344, which carried 6,000 cars a day past the monument's Heel Stone, will now be turfed over and the high fences removed to recreate the traditional downland pasture.
The closed section of the A344 is between the junction with the A303, the main road to the southwest, and Byway 12 which severs Stonehenge from its ancient processional approach, the Avenue.
The move is part of a £27million English Heritage programme to protect the site and improve the experience for visitors.
This includes a new visitor's centre, due to open in December, which will be 1.5 miles form the monument instead of on its doorstep.
The remaining section of the A344 will become the route of a new visitor shuttle service to and from the Stones.
The closure fulfils a pledge given by the Government to UNESCO 27 years ago to remove the A344 where it crosses the Avenue.
And this time next year, once the landscaping is complete, visitors will be able to walk in the footsteps of ancient Britons and approach the monument from the Avenue.
Loraine Knowles, Stonehenge Director, English Heritage, said: "The Stones have never failed to impress visitors, but for too long their setting has marred people's appreciation and enjoyment of this special place. At last, this is going to change. For the first time in centuries, when all the works are complete, people will be able to experience this complex and extraordinary monument in a more tranquil, natural setting."
Jan Tomlin, the National Trust General Manager for Wiltshire Landscape, said: "We welcome the closure of the A344 past Stonehenge – it is an important step towards the vision for the future of the monument. We have worked over the past decade to restore much of the land we own around Stonehenge to grassland and this is an important step in linking Stonehenge to the ancient landscape."
John Ingham (http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/409933/Mission-to-save-Stonehenge-gets-underway-to-reclaim-its-ancient-natural-landscape)
Merlin at Stonehenge
Tags: english heritage, Stonehenge news, World Herutage Site
Categories : Stonehenge Visitor Centre
Stonehenge road closed permanently today
A stretch of road running next to Stonehenge will close permanently from today. Part of the A344 in Wiltshire almost touches the heel stone. English Heritage which manages the monument says the road spoils the visitor experience.
A major landscaping project should be finished by next summer, and traffic will be diverted onto nearby roads instead.
Existing A344 and junction with A303 at Stonehenge Bottom
Link: http://www.itv.com/news/west/update/2013-06-24/stonehenge-road-closed-permanently/
TRAFFIC NEWS:
A344 Stonehenge, both ways between B3086 and A303
A344 Wiltshire – A344 in Stonehenge closed in both directions between Airmans Cross and Stonehenge Fork, because of development of the Stonehenge site – permanent closure. Diversion in operation – via A360 Longbarrow roundabout.
Main Changes at Stonehenge
The A344/A303 junction will be closed
The A344 from Stonehenge Bottom to Byway 12 near the stones will be closed
Vehicular traffic on the A344 between Byway 12 and the new visitor centre at Airman's Corner will be restricted
Modifications to Existing Routes
Alongside these changes there will be measures to mitigate the impact of the closure of the A344. Traffic removed from the 344 will be directed along the A360 via Longbarrow Roundabout and Airman's Corner junctions, both of which will be modified to accommodate the re-directed traffic.
The A303/A344 junction is a renowned accident black-spot; its closure will reduce the risk of accidents in this location and was strongly supported by local residents in the public consultation of 2008.
Link: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/our-plans/our-proposals/transportation-and-safety/
Tags: english heritage, St, stonehenge byway, Stonehenge road closure, stonehenge traffic
Categories : Stonehenge Visitor Centre, world heritage site
Stonehenge and Avebury: RIP A344!
Traffic update: http://www.bbc.co.uk/travelnews/wiltshire/roads/planned
The Heritage Journal
Postcards to friends of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site
Today at 7:00am, 27 years after the Government promised UNESCO it would happen, the southern half of the A344 road that runs immediately past Stonehenge, over The Avenue and down to the junction with the A303 was closed forever. It's the first tangible step in the project to bring an element of "splendid isolation" to the stones.
Over the rest of the summer the road surface will be removed and grassed over, the high fences will be taken down and the monument will at last be reunited with its ceremonial landscape.
[Incidentally, all this week there is a recruitment drive for volunteers to work at the new visitor centre and elsewhere under the auspices of the various organisations concerned. Those interested can sign up at Amesbury Library. More details are available from the Salisbury Journal.]
Stonehenge revealed: Why Stones Were a "Special Place"
Lead archaeologist at Stonehenge discusses his team's discoveries in new book
The eerie megaliths of Stonehenge have inspired speculation for centuries.
Druids—and sometimes aliens—have been suspected of planting the 4,500-year-old stones. Is Stonehenge an astronomical calendar or a place of healing or a marker for magical energy lines in the ground? For a long time, no one really knew, though some theories were more grounded in reality than others.
Each year revelers like these travel to Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice.
Photograph by Jim Richardson, National Geographic
But now, we may be a little bit closer to understanding the monumental Neolithic site. Archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson and his colleagues at the Stonehenge Riverside Project, whose research was funded in part by the National Geographic Society, spent seven years excavating Stonehenge and its surroundings. This month, Parker Pearson published the project's findings in a new book, Stonehenge—A New Understanding: Solving the Mysteries of the Greatest Stone Age Monument.
National Geographic writer Rachel Hartigan Shea spoke with Parker Pearson about what he and his colleagues discovered and how modern celebrants greeting the summer solstice at Stonehenge may have gotten the wrong day.
What got you first interested in researching Stonehenge?
Well, I have to say I didn't actually have any interest at all in Stonehenge. I was working with Ramilisonina, a Malagasy archaeologist. He comes from a megalith-building culture, so I thought he'd be interested to see Stonehenge. I took him to take a look, and he said, "What do you mean you don't know what it's for? It's obvious." Then he said, "Mike, have you learned nothing in all of our work together with standing stones in Madagascar?"
He explained to me it was surely built for the ancestors. In Madagascar, they build in stone for the ancestors because it is a permanent medium—permanent like the ancestors—whereas they live in wooden houses because those will perish just like human life will end. I laughed initially and said, "Well, I don't think that's necessarily really going to have anything to do with Britain 5,000 years ago."
But I realized that actually we did have timber circles very close to the stone circle of Stonehenge. That was quite a bombshell for me.
How were the excavations that you worked on at Stonehenge different from previous excavations there?
I think the important thing was not to dig just at Stonehenge but to actually investigate the wider landscape around it and to begin by looking at this area of the timber circles close by. It was there that we found that the place of wood had indeed to do with the living. (See Stonehenge pictures.)
When we came back to Stonehenge and dug there, we recovered some 60 cremation burials inside Stonehenge. What we now know is that Stonehenge was the largest cemetery of its day.
Ramilisonina's ideas about a place in stone for the dead and a place in wood for the living started as a theory but has actually become a fact as a result of our investigations.
The timber circles were located at a site called Durrington Walls. How was that the place of the living?
At Durrington Walls, we have two of these great timber circles—a bit like Stonehenge in wood—at the center of an enormous village. From where we've excavated, you're looking at a fairly dense settlement of houses.
We discovered that they'd been feasting there on a very large scale. We estimate that about four to five thousand people may have gathered there at the time they were building Stonehenge. (Take a Stonehenge quiz.)
We also know that there were seasonal influxes into the settlement at Durrington Walls. Through analysis of the age patterns on the teeth of pigs, we can see that there are particularly high points in the slaughtering patterns. The pigs had given birth in spring, and what we're seeing is a culling in the middle of the winter.
Here we are on the summer solstice, but this evidence suggests that people were gathering in large numbers at the winter solstice. We've been getting it wrong in modern times about when to gather at Stonehenge.
So Stonehenge was built to commemorate the dead?
Stonehenge wasn't built in order to do something, in the same way you might build a Greek temple to use it for worship. It seems much more likely that everything was in the act of building—that you'd construct it, then you'd go away. You'd come back 500 years later, you'd rebuild it in a new format, and then you'd go away.
I think we have to shake off this idea of various sorts of priests or shamans coming in every year over centuries to do their thing. This is a very different attitude to religious belief. It's much more about the moment. It's about what must have been these upwellings of religious—almost millennial—belief, and once the thing is done, then everyone disperses and goes back to their lives.
What do the summer and midwinter solstices have to do with where Stonehenge is located?
One of our discoveries in 2008 was on the avenue that leads out of Stonehenge. As you are moving along the avenue away from Stonehenge, you are looking toward where the sun rises on the midsummer solstice. If you turn 180 degrees and look back toward Stonehenge, that's where the sun sets on the midwinter solstice. Underneath the avenue, we discovered a natural landform, formed in a previous ice age, where there are grooves and ridges that by sheer coincidence are aligned on that solstitial axis.
Right next to this landform are pits dug to hold posts that were put up 10,000 years ago, much older than Stonehenge. Another archaeological team has discovered down by the river next to Stonehenge a huge settlement area for hunters and gatherers, which seems to have been occupied on and off for something like 4,000 years before Stonehenge itself was ever built.
We think that long before Stonehenge this location was already a special place. These hunters and gatherers may have been the people who first recognized this special feature in the land where the earth and the heavens were basically in harmony.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Full Article: : http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130621-stonehenge-summer-solstice-archaeology-science/
Follow Rachel Hartigan Shea on Twitter.
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Tags: Archaeologist, druids, Durrington walls, Parker Pearson, Summer Solstice at Stonehenge
Categories : Ancient Britain, Archaeology, Druid ceremony, durrington walls, stonehenge new theories, world heritage site
Stonehenge gathering marks summer solstice.
Summer solstice: thousands descend on Stonehenge to greet longest day
'Reincarnated king' among 20,000 revellers gathered at ancient monument to watch sun ascend over misty Wiltshire plain
They came in their thousands. Some worshipped, others partied. Many were there simply to enjoy the atmosphere of the summer solstice at Stonehenge.
More than 20,000 people were at the ancient monument to greet the sunrise at 4.52am at the start of the longest day of the year. After a warm, moonlit night the mist and mizzle descended, making it impossible to judge the moment when the sun rose over the Wiltshire plain without an accurate watch.
But it did not matter much. "I've had a lovely time," said Belle Gay, a 21-year-old pagan from Exeter who was on her first pilgrimage to Stonehenge. "It doesn't concern me that we couldn't actually see the sun rise. That's how nature is – you can't control the elements and that's why it's all so special. It's such a beautiful, peaceful place."
Arthur Pendragon, who claims to be a reincarnation of the once and future king and is a poster boy of the pagans at solstice, was keen to make peace his key message
As the sun ascended, invisibly, he called for peace in the east, west, north and south. "That's what it's all about, we want peace and fairness for all," he said.
Pendragon, who sports long white robes, set about knighting new followers to his druidic order, the Loyal Arthurian Warband, which he described as the political wing of the religion. "We're the ones who get into trees to stop roadbuilding and take on people like English Heritage over access to the stones. We're sworn to fight for truth, for honour and for justice."
It was a busy time for the king. Overnight he had also carried out around a dozen "handfasting" ceremonies – the pagan equivalent of weddings. Husband and wife vow that they will stay together "for a year and a day, eternity and beyond or for however long love will last".
The 21st century is proving a good time to be a druid or pagan. Almost 60,000 people in England and Wales described themselves as pagan in the 2011 census.
Professor Ronald Hutton, a leading expert on paganism based at Bristol University, said he believed there were at least 100,000 practising pagans in Britain. He pointed out that only a million Church of England devotees go to mass every Sunday, "so paganism matters"
Rollo Maughfling, who answers to the grand title archdruid of Stonehenge and Britain, said he believed the religion's green credentials were attractive to many younger people. "More and more people, especially younger ones, are being attracted to our way of doing things," he said. "People realise that we see the divine in nature and that is attractive to more and more people in these troubled times."
Steve Harris, 20, from Manchester, had different priorities. "I've lost my mates," he said. He admitted to having drunk an evil-sounding mixture of lager, cider and brandy as well as having smoked "something a bit herbal".
He had been dancing away the early hours in the stone circle, where drummers took turns in keeping the beat going through the night. "We danced for a few hours, we drank for a few hours. Now I think I may have missed my lift."
Harris said he intended to stay "pretty sozzled" between now and next week when he would be at Glastonbury. The solstice at Stonehenge used to be a staging post for many hippy types heading to the music festival but Glastonbury and Stonehenge have changed over the years. Gone are the ugly clashes between revellers and police that resulted in the stones being closed at solstice.
In the 14 years since so-called managed access has been taking place, tensions have eased and the head of Stonehenge for English Heritage, Peter Carson, said he had noticed a greater variety of people attending the solstice. "We're getting more families coming and more overseas visitors. Not everyone is happy at the access but there is much less hostility."
By this time next year major changes at Stonehenge will be complete. On Monday, one of the roads that runs close to the stones will be closed and by this time next year it should be grassed over as part of a project to restore one of the key approaches to the site. A new visitor centre is to be opened in December.
Meanwhile Wiltshire police were delighted with the night and morning. Superintendent Matt Pullen said: "Solstice 2013 has been a great success, with approximately 21,000 people celebrating in the positive, friendly atmosphere as they waited for sunrise. This year there have been a lower number of arrests compared with previous years, 22 were taken into custody mainly in relation to drugs offences."
As the sun rose higher (and, oddly, the temperature dropped) Steve and Debbie Jones, who had made the trek from Hertfordshire, were pushing their one-year-old baby, Stan, in a buggy away from the stones. "We're not pagans, we're not hippies, we just wanted to come and have a look," said Steve. "It was a lovely evening, warm, peaceful, memorable. We'll come back."
This article was by Steven Morris guardian.co.uk,
Tags: Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2013
Categories : Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2013
Summer Solstice Celebrations at Stonehenge 2013
English Heritage is pleased to be providing Managed Open Access to Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice on 20-21 June 2013. Please help us to create a peaceful occasion by taking personal responsibility and following the Conditions of Entry and guidelines set out on these pages. The full Conditions of Entry can also be downloaded from the link at the bottom of this page.
English Heritage have a duty of care to ensure public safety and are responsible for protecting Stonehenge and its surrounding Monuments. If we are to ensure that future access is sustainable, it is essential that everyone observes and abides by these Conditions of Entry.
Celebrating the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge
Stonehenge is an ancient prehistoric site and has been a place of worship and celebration at the time of Summer Solstice since time immemorial.
During Managed Open Access for Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, we support all individuals and groups conducting their own forms of ceremony and celebration providing that they are mutually respectful and tolerant of one another. It is a place seen by many as a sacred site – therefore please respect it and those attending.
English Heritage continues to work closely with the many agencies and people from all sectors of the community and we would like to thank them for their help and support.
Parking and entry to the Monument will be free, subject to the Conditions of Entry. Please do not arrive at the Solstice Car Park or Stonehenge in advance of the opening times listed below:
Timings for Summer Solstice at Stonehenge
SOLSTICE CAR PARK OPENS 1900 hours (7pm) Thursday 20th June
ACCESS TO STONEHENGE 1900 hours (7pm) Thursday 20th June
LAST ADMISSION TO SOLSTICE CAR PARK 0600 hours (6am) Friday 21st June
STONEHENGE CLOSES 0800 hours (8am) Friday 21st June
SOLSTICE CAR PARK TO BE VACATED 1200 hours (12 Noon) Friday 21st June – see Travel and Parking for further information on travel and parking arrangements.
We hope the weather will be kind and wish you a peaceful and celebratory solstice.
Sunset and Sunrise
Sunset and sunrise occur at the following times:
Sunset on Thursday 20th June 2013 is at 2126 hrs (9.26pm)
Sunrise on Friday 21st June 2013 is at 0452 hrs (4.52am)
Travelling to Stonehenge for Summer Solstice: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/summer-solstice/travel-to-stonehenge/
Parking for Summer Solstice at Stonehenge: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/summer-solstice/parking/
Conditions of Entry for Summer Solstice: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/summer-solstice/conditions-entry/
Solstice Traffic Bulletin: http://www.highways.gov.uk/news/press-releases/traffic-bulletin-stonehenge-summer-solstice-advice-for-drivers/
Other stuff about Stonehenge
Hopefully it will be warm and clear at Stonehenge for the Solstice, but it might be worth stating:
there's no shelter at Stonehenge. If it rains you will get wet and muddy
it typically feels colder in Salisbury than it does in London, and it feels colder at Stonehenge than it does in Salisbury. It's not going to be winter-solstice-cold but you might want to bring an extra layer or two
the English Heritage info is worth reading
be careful of your personal safety – it's easy to assume Stonehenge will be full of mystics and gentle hippies. It's not! (Link source: http://salisburyandstonehenge.net/stonehenge-2/stonehenge-summer-solstice-2013)
Follow Stonehenge on Twitter for all the latest Solstice News: https://twitter.com/ST0NEHENGE
Merlin says " Happy Solstice Folks, lets make it a peaceful gathering. Respect the Stones and Respect each other!"
Tags: Conditions of Entry for Summer Solstice, english heritage, Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2013
Categories : Stonehenge news, Summer Solstice 2013
Well worth a visit……………..
Stonehenge Neolithic Houses
Since construction work on the houses ended in May, we've been using the Neolithic houses at Old Sarum for all kinds of activities, including the education workshops we've been explaining in the few previous posts. We've been busy!
We hosted two hugely successful open weekends over the two May bank holidays, helped by some lovely sunny weather. We had lots of visitors coming to see the houses, ask questions and find out about the project. As well as showing off our lovely houses, we've been using these open days to collect information about how visitors move around the houses, what sort of questions people are asking, and also asking people to fill in a survey about how they'd like to see the houses presented at the Stonehenge visitor centre. If you've received a survey in your e-mail inbox, please respond!
The good news is that we will be…
Stonehenge Solstice Ancient Celebration. June 21st 2013
With the Summer Solstice fast approaching we start to see our visitor numbers increase in Wiltshire. It is a bumper time for our tourist industry as people from all over the world descend upon our county and join in with this ancient celebration.
The Summer Solstice is known to Pagans as 'Alban Hefin' which means 'Light of the Shore'. It occurs on the 21st June when the sun is at its highest point in the sky and the days are at their longest. The nights begin to draw in after this date, which is a scary thought as summer has only just got going. The Druids celebrate this event with special ceremonies and rituals that are believed to date back several millennia. Although the 4000 year old monument of Stonehenge has been the centre stage for these ceremonies; Avebury, Woodhenge and the Kennet long barrow have also attracted worshippers at this special time of year.
Looking into our local studies archives I have discovered that the Solstice festivities have not always been peaceful as the Druids would wish.
In 1901, Salisbury Police invoiced the landowner of Stonehenge, Colonel Sir Edmund Antrobus 'for police services rendered' for the night of 20th June. He was charged for one Superintendent, one Inspector, two Sergeants and seven Constables a total of £3. 4s.2d. presumably this would have been for crowd control or public order duties.
During the 1950s the Druid procession was accompanied by the Military Police and members of the Army. The security operation was overseen by the Ministry of Works (a government department responsible for building projects). Public gatherings at Stonehenge increased not only by the number of people but also in disorder. There were reported to be many barrels and crates on site, presumably of beer. The 'high jinks' was quashed in 1956 when young officers threw 'thunderflashes' in to the unruly crowd.
By the early 1970s a small music festival was conceived, which took place in woods near Amesbury during the days leading up to the 21st June. This was the beginning of the Free Festival which continued to grow in popularity and controversy throughout the '70s until 1984 when it ended abruptly.
During the early 80s a new wave of 'new age travellers' replaced the 'hippy' label of the '60s. Large numbers of travellers would congregate on private land and were reported to have committed trespass, criminal damage and public order offences.
On June 1st 1985, events came to a head culminating in the infamous 'Battle of the Beanfield'. It wasn't until June 2000 that a truce was finally made between the authorities and members of the public; 5000 people were given the privilege of entering the sacred circle.
On Thursday 5th September, one of our archaeologists, Rachel Foster, will be giving a talk on 'Stonehenge & Avebury World Heritage Sites' at the History Centre, contact the centre for further details. Alternatively, records are available to view by members of the public. We have copies of newspapers on microfilm, newspaper articles in our ephemera collection and also scrapbooks on 'The Battle of Stonehenge'. We also hold the book 'The Battle of the Beanfield', edited by Andy Worthington, published by Enabler Publications in 2005 and utilised for this article.
Article by: Anna Ervine Local Studies Assistant
Source: http://www.wshc.eu/blog/item/the-summer-solstice.html
Link: https://blog.stonehenge-stone-circle.co.uk/2013/06/01/stonehenge-summer-solstice-celebrations-2013/
Link: https://blog.stonehenge-stone-circle.co.uk/2013/06/10/summer-solstice-2013-stonehenge-managed-access/
Follow Stonehenge on Twitter for all the Solstice News: https://twitter.com/ST0NEHENGE
Tags: druids, Stonehenge Summer Solstice, visit wiltshire, World Heritage Site
Categories : Stonehenge news, stonehenge open access, Summer Solstice 2013
Inside Stonehenge – From Rubble to Riches
When dealing with prehistory (before the written word) arguments will abound as to 'who, when and why', and no more so than the famous monument on Salisbury Plain, the circle of stones known the world over as Stonehenge. 5,000 years ago, give or take a decade, work began here with an initial earth bank and ditch with some form of wooden structure within. Debate continues as to what exactly was placed within the earth circle and further debates are put forward about the various phases of constructing the stone circle, where the stones came from and the importance of the Moon and Sun in the process of worship at the site. For a lot of day trippers it's Stonehenge's iconical status that brings them here in their thousands whether they are familiar with the documentaries churned out by travel channels, read Tess of the D'Urbervilles or have watched National Lampoon's European Vacation.
Most visitors will arrive by private car, organised tour bus or public transport. In the latter case the local Wilts and Dorset bus service provides an easy link with Salisbury railway station and connections from London and other parts of Britain. Most people feel they've 'done' Stonehenge in an hour. For some, there is surprisingly little else around and the visitor centre itself seems inadequate for the amount of tourists that travel here. There is a good explanation for that – it's a sensitive site. It isn't always possible, nor often allowed, to create large permanent structures such as a restaurant and museum in an area where evidence of Neolithic and Bronze age cultures lay buried within every square foot of ground. Discussions have been under way for over a decade as to improving the site, building a visitor centre a mile east near the main road and burying that very road under a two mile tunnel. These discussions continue. [April 2010 update – a new Visitor Centre is planned, and should be open by summer 2012.] You can find out more about Stonehenge, and see important collections from the World Heritage Site, at Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes and Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum.]
For the time being visitors will have to make do with very little shelter if the weather proves inclement. Restrooms (including disabled) are available at the foot of the car park and there are others at top of the car park to the right of the entrance, before one walks down the ramp to purchase tickets. These are accessible by going down steps. Before heading down to the ticket booth, two stones are standing to the left. The smaller one is a Bluestone (Dolerite) used in first phase of stone circle building at Stonehenge and possibly from the Preselli Mountains in South Wales. The larger one is a Sarsen (Quartzite Sandstone) used in the later phase of construction. These sample stones are not taken from the circle and you are able to stand next to, touch or drape yourself across them for photographic purposes. Down at the foot of the ramp is the ticket kiosk and a small cafe. Only a somewhat limited collection of outdoor seating is provided, complete with flocks of starlings ready to swoop down on any crumb or morsel dropped by a hungry day tripper. Cheese and bacon scones, rock cakes, ice cream and hot and cold drinks are available. As the site has a captive audience sandwiches are priced higher than the average shop, ditto the plastic cups of grapes or strawberries.
The gift shop is only available to those that have paid the entrance fee and entered the site. Here you can purchase calendars, books, paperweights, fridge magnets, T-shirts and all things of a Neolithic nature.
A free audio tour for paying visitors is available but during summer weekends they can be hard to get hold of, especially if you find yourself arriving just after a couple of coach loads of day visitors from London sandwiching Stonehenge between a morning at Windsor Castle and an afternoon in Bath. Access to the inner circle is available prior to the main site opening or just after closure. Arrangements for a 'Special Access' visit can be made through English Heritage or one of London's day trip tour companies that pre-book inner circle visits on a daily basis. Other than that regular visitors are kept behind a small rope fence, which helps keep other tourists from walking in front of that all important shot.
While circumnavigating the site and listening to the audio tour one may be left wondering how many people visit this site and pay their £6 to get in. 800,000 people, rising to possibly one million by the end of the decade, make the journey to Stonehenge every year boosting the turnover of English Heritage and helping the conservation of other historically important places. One may also be left wondering, what if someone wrote down "today I'm going to build one of the best stone circles in the country" would we still be debating the purpose and timeline of this impressive site?
Full article: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g528762-d188527/Amesbury:United-Kingdom:Stonehenge.html
Tags: Beyond the fences, english heritage, Private viewing, Sightseeing Tours, Stonehenge Access
Categories : stonehenge open access, world heritage site


text:
Home Exhibition Paperworld and other Frankfurt trade fairs cancelled.
Paperworld and other Frankfurt trade fairs cancelled.
The Frankfurt-based trade fairs Paperworld, Cretativeworld, Christmasworld and Ambiente have all been cancelled.
Organiser Messe Frankfurt stated: "In view of the exponential worsening of the pandemic situation worldwide and the accompanying tightened travel and contact regulations, the consumer goods fairs Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld are cancelled for January 2022 and Ambiente for mid-February 2022. The regionally-oriented trade fair Nordstil from 15 to 17 January 2022 in Hamburg will take place at the present time.
"The easing of the pandemic situation that was still hoped for in December is no longer in sight. Instead, the situation is deteriorating worldwide with an enormous, unforeseeable dynamic. This extreme deterioration due to the spread of the Omicron virus in Europe and Germany currently makes it impossible for Messe Frankfurt, as organiser of the leading international trade fairs Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld, as well as Ambiente, to keep their dates in Frankfurt at the end of January and in mid-February 2022.
"The four events, consisting of Christmasworld with its focus on seasonal and festive decorations, Paperworld and Creativeworld with their product ranges for paper, office supplies, stationery and hobby, craft and artists' requisites and Ambiente with its cross sector range of products for the table, kitchen and housewares, furnishing and decorative accessories, home furnishing concepts, gifts and fashion accessories, are the recognised leading trade fairs in their sectors and open the trading year in their respective segments. Even in a reduced numerical form, the four trade fairs would still have been the leading events worldwide for their respective product segments.
"However, the exponential increase in the number of infections worldwide in a very short period of time and the accompanying multitude of developments and decisions that are clearly outside the organiser's sphere of influence have led to a significant deterioration in the general conditions and necessary prerequisites for holding the four leading trade fairs as major events of international relevance at the end of January and in mid-February 2022 respectively. These developments include the classification of Germany as a high-risk area and the associated travel warnings and international and intercontinental travel restrictions in countries such as India, Japan and the United States, as well as the corresponding quarantine obligations.
"Equally important are the steadily rising infection figures and the accompanying urgent appeal, among others by the Robert Koch Institute and the expert council of the German Federal Government, to continue to reduce contacts to a minimum and to cancel all major events. At present, there are even further international fears that the critical infrastructure will not be maintained due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. The majority of exhibiting and visiting companies at Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld as well as Ambiente are currently reacting to this overall situation with travel and trade fair attendance bans for reasons of duty of care towards their employees to protect them from health risks. The global willingness to travel is dropping enormously at the moment.''
Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt, said: "This decision was anything but easy for us. However, in agreement with large parts of the industries represented at the fairs, it is now our responsibility to take this difficult step. The last few months have been characterised by optimism, energy and ideas to give Christmasworld, Paperworld, Creativeworld, and Ambiente a successful new start after the compulsory break in 2021. Our thanks therefore go to all our partners from the consumer-goods sector, be they exhibitors, visitors, associations or the media, who worked with us on the trade fairs until the very end and, like us, put their heart and soul, energy and passion into staging them."
There are no plans to postpone the event. Braun added: "Since the trend-oriented order cycles of the international consumer goods industry require an annual event at the beginning of the year, a shift to the second half of the year would not meet the needs of the exhibiting companies and visitors."
Messe Frankfurt has already been actively helping retailers to help themselves since 2019 with Nextrade, the first order and data management platform for the home and living sector, and Conzoom Solutions, an information platform for the global consumer goods sector. "A second year without appropriate ordering, inspiration and networking formats poses considerable and in some cases existentially threatening challenges for retailers worldwide," Braun explained. "With our digital offers, we are specifically supporting our partners in industry and trade in this volatile situation. In addition, we will continue to put all our energy and optimism into safe and promising trade fairs. Because there is no substitute for meeting in real life." Information on the planning of the Frankfurt consumer goods fairs for 2023 will be announced at the beginning of February 2022.
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text:
Hilde Ephraim (1 April 1905 – 20 September 1940) was a German welfare worker who became a resistance activist during the Nazi years.   She was murdered because of her involvement in the Socialist Workers' Party ("Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands" / SAP) and in the Red Aid ("Rote Hilfe") workers' welfare operation.

Life
Hilde Ephraim was born in Berlin.   By 1931 she was working in Brandenburg an der Havel as a state employed social-care worker.   That was the year in which she joined the Socialist Workers' Party ("Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands" / SAPD), a newly formed breakaway party composed chiefly of former Social Democratic Party members, keen to promote closer collaboration between moderate socialists and German Communists in order to try and prevent the coming to power of a right wing populist party.   Within the SAPD she almost immediately emerged as a leader of the local Brandenburg branch.   The idea of preventing Nazi success by uniting the political left failed, however:  in January 1933 the Nazi Party took power and lost no time in transforming the country into a one-party dictatorship, which meant among other things that political activity - other than on behalf of the Nazi Party - became illegal.   Because of her Jewish provenance and her record of political activism, Ephraim lost her job.  She now relocated from Brandenburg back to Berlin where she joined the underground struggle against Naziism.

By the end of 1933 many party activists had been arrested.   There was no state financial support provided for families who had lost their bread winner as a result of these arrests, which resulted in acute hardship.   Working under the auspices of the (by now illegal) Red Aid ("Rote Hilfe") organisation, a focus of Ephraim's "political" work involved providing practical support for the affected families.   Details of her other underground political activity are hard to pin down, but she appears, formally or informally, to have undertaken important co-ordinating work for the local party leadership, working first as an assistant to Franz Huber and, subsequently, with Herbert Heerklotz (1911-1999).   The Berlin region underground SAPD comprised approximately 200 members, divided into activist cells of between 3 and 5 individuals.   Meetings between members of different cells were kept to a minimum in order to reduce the dangers associated with any spies successfully infiltrated by government authorities:  only one member in any cell was permitted to engage in such meetings.   Nevertheless, small meetings to exchange information and share experiences were necessary.  On the welfare side of things, meetings took place to identify families needing support and to organise it, both for families left behind when breadwinners were arrested and for any political prisoners released but unable, for reasons of race and / or politics, to obtain employment.  Ephraim's political activity meant that she was sometimes involved in these secret meetings.   The fact that some of those she met were, like her, of Jewish provenance made the meetings particularly dangerous because the racist polemics which had featured in Nazi propaganda before 1933 had now become integrated as underpinnings of government policy in ways which few outside the Nazi leadership had anticipated.

Hilde Ephraim herself was arrested in July 1936, and subjected to "severe mistreatment" by the Gestapo.   After the usual delays, on 25 July 1937 she faced the special People's Court which the government had set up a couple of years earlier in order to be able to deal with political prisoners outside the mainstream justice system.   She was sentenced to a four-year jail term which she served first in Lübeck and then in Amberg.   Because her time spent in pre-trial custody counted towards her sentence, by the end of June 1940 she was due for release.

Ephraim did not take well to life in prison.   She may have been subjected to further physical mistreatment.   At least once she refused to eat, becoming very weak and confused.   Elise Tiel (1915-2005) was able to visit her, for the last time, in August 1940 at a detention centre near Munich.   Tiel later reported that she had no longer been able to recognise her friend.   By this time Ephraim was so physically wasted that she was classified as "no longer fit to be transported" ("nicht mehr transportfähig").   Nevertheless, the next month she was transported, in the context of the infamous "Aktion T4" programme, to the Hartheim Killing facility (sometimes translated in English as the "Hartheim Euthanasia Centre") in Hartheim Castle near Linz.   Here she was killed on 20 September 1940.   Surviving files show that in order to conceal the precise circumstances of her death, her family were wrongly informed that she had died in far away Chelm.   Because of this, some subsequent sources, relying on official documents from the Nazi period, still give the place of her death as Chelm.

References

People from Charlottenburg
People from Brandenburg an der Havel
People from Berlin
German resistance members
Socialist Workers' Party of Germany politicians
People condemned by Nazi courts
People killed by gas chamber by Nazi Germany
Aktion T4 victims
1905 births
1940 deaths

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The journey starts in Oslo.
It's topped with a savory curry remoulade that is equally excellent on hot dogs.
Esben Holmboe Bang of Maaemo in Oslo, Norway created this simple dessert after cruising through our garden and picking flowers, fennel fronds, radish pods, and berries.
Esben Holmboe Bang of Maaemo—one of the top 50 restaurants in the world—takes us out for a night of mezcal, tacos, sheep ribs, and Norwegian folk metal.


The General Trend in Quality Measurement What Is Being Measured, for What Purpose and for Whom?
ASA Monitor 11 2012, Vol.76, 16-17.
Lee A. Fleisher; The General Trend in Quality Measurement What Is Being Measured, for What Purpose and for Whom?. ASA Monitor 2012;76(11):16-17.


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The city is served by Carrasco-General Cesareo L. Berisso International Airport. It is the country's largest airport and has been cited as one of the most efficient and traveller-friendly airports in the world. It offers round-trip connectivity to several international destinations including Buenos Aires, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago and Miami among others. The major airlines offering flights here are Gol Airlines, Copa Airlines, American Airlines, LATAM Brasil, LATAM Chile and LATAM Peru among others.
Montevideo is the capital, largest city of Uruguay and the southernmost capital city in the Americas. This stunning riverside city along the Rio de la Plata River has served Spanish, Portuguese, British and Argentinean regimes and the same trait is evident in its architecture. Montevideo's oldest part (Ciudad Vieja) is half the fun in the city because it hosts a stellar contrast between the superset of colonial buildings, national heritage sites, museums and art galleries to that of banks, administrative offices, cultural institutions and nightclubs.
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text:
Davidson now faces 12 child porn charges
Ron DeBrock, Editor
Steffan A. Davidson
EDWARDSVILLE — A Staunton man cited for 11 child pornography charges in Macoupin County now also faces a Class X felony charge for the same offense in Madison County.
Macoupin County State's Attorney Jordan J. Garrison announced Wednesday that Steffan A. Davidson, 29, of Staunton, has been charged with four Class X felonies, six Class 2 felonies and one Class 3 felonies after a monthlong investigation by the Macoupin County Sheriff's Department.
Also on Wednesday, a Madison County warrant was signed against Davidson by Judge Ronald Slemer, who set Davidson's bond at $200,000.
The charges stem from an investigation begun in Bethalto early this year when Bethalto Police received a tip from the National Center for Missing Exploited Children of possible child pornography at a Bethalto address. As the investigation continued, additional information was developed linking Davidson to a home in Staunton.
Investigators with the Bethalto Police Department contacted Macoupin County Sheriff's Officials and learned the office was also conducting a child pornography related investigation connected to the Staunton home believed to be occupied by Davidson.
On Tuesday, the Macoupin County Sheriff's Office, Bethalto Police, Staunton Police and the Illinois Attorney General's Office took part in the execution of a search warrant at the Staunton home. Davidson was taken into custody and charged that day with 11 felony offenses associated with child pornography. On Thursday he was being held in the Macoupin County Jail in lieu of a $200,000 bond.
Officials note the issuance of charges or warrants are based solely upon probable cause and are not proof of guilt.
Ron DeBrock
Ron DeBrock is a 40-year journalist who has led publications in Illinois, Arkansas and Missouri. He joined The Telegraph in Alton in 2019 as its managing editor.


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• working together on a specific topic using built-in wiki mechanisms, seminars, forums, etc.
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3. Click the install button, wait several minutes until your environment is created.
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text:
Michel Etevenon, né le  et mort le  est un ancien collaborateur de Bruno Coquatrix à l'Olympia, puis publicitaire, et sponsor de compétition à la voile. Il est le seul auteur, créateur et fondateur de la Route du Rhum

Biographie

Famille
Michel Roger Pierre Etevenon naît le  dans le  du mariage d'Émile Etevenon (1887-1965) et de Renée Goldsmith (1891-1934). Il est le frère de Micheline Dax. Avant son mariage avec Françoise Brice, naît Claude Etevenon, seconde épouse de Michel Galabru.

Il meurt à Saint-Cloud (Hauts-de-Seine) à l'âge de  le .

Sponsoring de course à voile
Dans les années 70, Michel Etevenon se lance dans le sponsoring pour la compétition à la voile.

En 1978, il crée la Route du Rhum dont il est  comme a tenu à le rappeler la société organisatrice de la Route du Rhum sur sa page Facebook le .

Liens externes

Notes et références

Publicitaire français
Naissance en décembre 1920
Décès en juillet 2001
Décès à 80 ans


Understanding evolution is one of the cornerstones of biology - evolution is, in fact, the sole explanation for life's diversity on our planet.
"That assumption, however, does not reflect reality, and it might have led to a large proportion of biased phylogenetic results being published over the last two decades or so," explains Minh Quang Bui, from the Center for Integrative Bioinformatics (CIBIV) and co-author of the study.
It was well known among experts that the popular approach might not capture the complexities of protein evolution. However, the computational cost of using more realistic models was unacceptably high. "We have now developed a fast algorithm that gives us previously unavailable insights into protein evolution - the new tool is likely to have a huge impact on a wide variety of research areas, including on the evolution of pathogens and the dispersal of agricultural pests, " adds Lars Jermiin.
The new program "ModelFinder" will allow more accurate scientific estimates of evolutionary processes. This enhanced understanding of evolution will help us come one step closer to unraveling the mysteries, which are responsible for the great diversity on our planet.


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In 1975, Tony Tan Caktiong and his family opened a Magnolia Ice Cream parlor in Cubao, Quezon City. In 1978, he and his siblings engaged the services of a management consultant, Manuel C. Lumba, who shifted the business focus from ice cream to hot dogs after his studies showed a much larger market waiting to be served. Lumba was Tan's last business and management mentor.


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text:
Михаи́л Мака́рович Черно́в (12 ноября 1921, дер. Синичино, Псковская губерния — 27 мая 1988, Великие Луки, Псковская область) — помощник командира взвода 303-го стрелкового полка, старший сержант. Герой Советского Союза.

Биография
Родился 12 ноября 1921 года в деревне Синичино. После окончания семилетки работал в колхозе.

В апреле 1941 года был призван в Красную Армию Великолукским райвоенкоматом. Участник Великой Отечественной войны с июня 1941 года. Воевать начал миномётчиком. Встретил врага на границе, в Северной Буковине. Отступал с боями со своей частью на восток, попал в окружение, был тяжело ранен. Несколько месяцев скрывался на хуторе, поправившись, ушёл на восток. Перешёл линию фронта.

В дальнейшем защищал Сталинград, где командовал отделением бронебойщиков. К началу 1944 года был уже помощником командира взвода, комсоргом стрелковой роты. При форсировании реки Западный Буг был снова ранен. Вернувшись после госпиталя на передовую, был зачислен помощником командира взвода 303-го стрелкового полка 69-й стрелковой дивизии. Особенно отличился старший сержант Чернов при форсировании реки Нарев.

5 сентября 1944 года старший сержант Чернов в составе передовой группы вброд форсировал реку Нарев в районе деревни Стшиже. Быстро преодолев минное поле, первым ворвался в расположение противника и гранатами уничтожил вражеский пулемёт с расчётом. В бою за удержание плацдарма заменил выбывшего из строя командира взвода, организовал отражение контратак противника. Был ранен, но не оставил поля боя.

Указом Президиума Верховного Совета СССР от 24 марта 1945 года за образцовое выполнение боевых заданий командования и проявленные при этом отвагу и геройство старшему сержанту Чернову Михаилу Макаровичу присвоено звание Героя Советского Союза с вручением ордена Ленина и медали «Золотая Звезда».

В 1946 году был демобилизован. Работал в органах госбезопасности. С 1957 по 1982 год работал слесарем на швейной фабрике в города Великие Луки. Скончался 27 мая 1988 года.

Награждён орденами Ленина, Красного Знамени, Отечественной войны 1-й степени, медалями.

Примечания

Литература

 Подвиги героев бессмертны. — Псков, 2005.

Ссылки

Участники Сталинградской битвы


For a more comfortable fit use the Spacer Kit's pads to fill the void between the shell and ear cups.
The Spacer Kit attaches to the exterior of the ear cup to provide a better fit to the helmet. The kit includes (2) 1/8 foam spacers and (2) 1/4 foam spacers. The spacers may be used in any combination to receive desired results.


text:
Teacher leaves sassy note on whiteboard for students after she's fired
A teacher from the US claims to have been fired after refusing to pass some of her students who failed assignments.
The school is said to have a 'no zero' policy. That means teachers were required to give all assignments at least 50 points out of a possible 100.
When Mrs Tirado, 52, assigned her eight grade class a project with a two-week deadline, several students did not turn it in. It was then that she was made aware of West Gate's grading policy, which is explained in the school handbook as 'No zeros - lowest possible grade is 50 percent'.
When Mrs Tirado asked about how to grade non-existent work, she was told to give students who didn't hand in the project a 50.
"I'm so upset because we have a nation of kids that are expecting to get paid and live their life just for showing up, and it's not real," she told TV station WPTV.
It was then that the teacher found out she was fired.
While packing up her classroom on her last day at the school, she wrote a goodbye message for her students on the whiteboard.
"Bye kids, Mrs Tirado loves you and wishes you the best in life! I have been fired for refusing to give you a 50 percent for not handing anything in," it read.
The photo was uploaded to Facebook where it has since been viewed thousands of times.
More from Sophie Bateman at Newshub.


most energetic and potentially hazardous form of radiation.
diagnostic imaging procedures, the authors said.
doses of radiation than single-slice scanners.
medicine exams increased to 18.1 million in 2006, from 6.4 million in 1980.
with cardiac studies making up most of the dose.
consultation or a personal relationship with a qualified health care provider.


Thanksgiving at your house starts with good intentions — family, friends and a bit of football. For some reason, though, it generally ends with a kitchen in disarray and foreign marks on the living room furniture. And while we're sure your little niece had no malicious intent with her yam-covered hands, that fact does little to ease your stress.
If you're looking for a way to keep your sanity while still holding on to some holiday traditions this year, check out what these high-end hotels have cooked up for November 23. Whether you're in the mood for a feast in New England or an impressive spread in the middle of the desert, these properties deliver. And the best part about these elegant meals is that you won't have to lift a finger to clean up when you're all finished.
Flee the cold this Thanksgiving for sunny climes. At Boca Raton Resort & Club, which includes Boca Beach Club, partake in the buffet's turkey and Virginia ham with all of the trimmings. After sampling the cobblers and pies, visit the Beach Club for a bonfire with s'mores, hot chocolate, apple cider, coffee and live music.
The next day, usher in the holiday season with a tree-lighting ceremony in the front courtyard. As a cappella group VoicePlay performs, sip hot chocolate or eggnog and nibble on cookies as you wait for Santa to drop by.
This Asheville institution finds reasons to celebrate throughout the year, but it really struts its feathers around Turkey Day. From November 22 to 24, the 8,000-acre estate's Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star Inn offers the Thanksgiving Package, a deal stuffed with overnight accommodations, daily breakfast, a holiday buffet, an audio guide and much more. As if that weren't filling enough, jolly ol' St. Nick will make his first appearance at the property on November 25.
Anaheim's Disneyland may not immediately come to mind when you think about Thanksgiving. But after seeing what is being prepared at the Grand Californian's signature restaurant, Napa Rose, that might change. Though Mickey and Minnie hadn't worked out exact menu details by press time, we're certain the four-course Wine Country feast will only continue chef Andrew Sutton's mission of spotlighting the best of California's local flavor.
Thanksgiving dinner is all about choices, and this Phoenix gem provides a host of tasty options: a breakfast buffet and Thanksgiving dinner at Frank & Albert's; an impressive afternoon spread in the Historic Gold Room; and a refined four-course menu at Wright's at the Biltmore.
Trust us, no one will look at you funny for requesting seconds of roasted beef tenderloin, either, because you would have earned every bite having ran the Turkey Burner 5K at the property earlier that morning.
After you watch Chicago's Thanksgiving parade tromp down State Street, retreat to this chic downtown hotel for a mouthwatering brunch buffet. Along with 20th-floor views at Baptiste & Bottle restaurant, enjoy marinated Jonah crab claws, roasted heritage turkey, black-garlic-crusted prime rib, three different varieties of mac and cheese (truffle, loaded or three cheese) and much more. And if you stay in Conrad Chicago between November 19 and 25, you'll receive two places at brunch for free.
Escape to this six-room inn for a cozy holiday in the North Fork, Long Island's underrated wine country. Sip local pours and settle in for a classic three-course Thanksgiving dinner with options like butternut squash soup with crème fraîche and pumpkin seeds, oven-roasted turkey and prime rib with Yorkshire pudding.
Stay the weekend for Jedediah Hawkins Inn Barn Gallery's November 25 opening of "Lyrical Light" by artist Max Moran. His impressionist oil paintings (which also dot the inn's public spaces) capture the North Fork landscape and reveal why this area is so special.
You will work for your Thanksgiving meal in Nantucket. Race in the annual Turkey Trot, which takes off in front of the Four-Star White Elephant at 9 a.m. Then join the hundreds of swimmers at the Children's Beach behind the hotel for the 10 a.m. Turkey Plunge.
When you emerge from the frigid waters, a buffet with a raw bar, carving stations, salads, charcuterie, cheeses, desserts and more awaits at the hotel's cheery Brant Point Grill.
Enjoy a tropical holiday when you dine at this Four-Star Kauai stunner. Indulge in a bountiful buffet with a Hawaiian twist (Thanksgiving sushi, anyone?) at the Makana Terrace or an elegant five-course family-style feast at Forbes Travel Guide Recommended Kaua'i Grill. Either way, you can't go wrong with a heaping helping of sunset views of Hanalei Bay.
If the traditional homey holiday vibe isn't your style, then book a Sin City suite for you and yours at this Five-Star boutique-hotel-within-a-hotel. Between a personal butler, private bar service, 24-hour large party entertainment menu, a Bang and Olufsen sound system and access to more than 20 dining outlets, you can keep your Vegas Thanksgiving raging into the wee hours of Black Friday.
Debuting a fresh look just in time for the holidays, Four-Star restaurant The Belvedere is showing off its new modern interior and refreshed kitchen with a family-style Thanksgiving feast. Executive chef David Codney puts an L.A. spin on classic dishes like fall harvest beets with almond-crusted goat cheese fritters and free-range turkey with pinot noir cranberry relish. Families are welcome, but only grown-ups can enjoy the free-flowing Nicolas Feuillatte champagne.
Avoid the holiday hustle and bustle of the city with a stay at this charming Four-Star spot, just 40 minutes outside of Detroit. The pet-friendly hotel ensures that the whole family can be together. Unfortunately, Fido will have to excuse himself during Thanksgiving dinner at Forbes Travel Guide Recommended The Rugby Grille, where fall favorites like pumpkin bisque with cognac, cider-brined turkey and sweet potato cheesecake will be served.
Beau MacMillan is the personal chef for hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. Since you probably won't get invited to Gretzky's holiday get-together, the talented toque is extending an invitation to join him at this Four-Star Scottsdale resort instead. Go with the more formal arrangement at Elements (butternut squash dumplings, grilled swordfish) or the traditional buffet at Views (roasted corn, organic turkey) and ensure yourself of an evening nearly as delicious as the Great One's.
There's really nowhere like New York for the holidays, and this Five-Star Manhattan monolith ensures that you and your family have a memorable one. Book the Central Park property's Ultimate NYC Thanksgiving Day package and receive Jean Georges hot chocolate topped with housemade marshmallows upon arrival, in-room breakfast on Turkey Day and a front-row seat to the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade later that morning.


Neil Sullivan has been a professional dancer for the past 15 years and is currently Damhsa's longest standing member. He has danced with some of the greatest Irish Dance Shows in the world such as Lord of the Dance, Magic of the Dance, Gaelforce, Rhythm of the Dance and others. Neil currently represents Damhsa with the 6 grammy award winning band, "The Chieftains".
These performances have included venues such as the National Concert Hall, a private performance at Áras an Uachtaráin for President Mary McAleese and for HRH The Queen at the Convention Centre Dublin for her 2011 visit to Ireland. Neil also performs at corporate events and with 'Belvedere Irish Nights'.


text:
FROM debian:jessie

# add our user and group first to make sure their IDs get assigned consistently, regardless of whatever dependencies get added
RUN \
	groupadd --gid 4000 -r mysql && \
	useradd --uid 4000 -r -g mysql mysql

# FATAL ERROR: please install the following Perl modules before executing /usr/local/mysql/scripts/mysql_install_db:
# File::Basename
# File::Copy
# Sys::Hostname
# Data::Dumper
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y perl pwgen --no-install-recommends && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# gpg: key 5072E1F5: public key "MySQL Release Engineering <mysql-build@oss.oracle.com>" imported
RUN apt-key adv --keyserver ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys A4A9406876FCBD3C456770C88C718D3B5072E1F5

ENV MYSQL_MAJOR 5.7
ENV MYSQL_VERSION 5.7.*

RUN echo "deb http://repo.mysql.com/apt/debian/ jessie mysql-${MYSQL_MAJOR}" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mysql.list

# the "/var/lib/mysql" stuff here is because the mysql-server postinst doesn't have an explicit way to disable the mysql_install_db codepath besides having a database already "configured" (ie, stuff in /var/lib/mysql/mysql)
# also, we set debconf keys to make APT a little quieter
RUN { \
		echo mysql-community-server mysql-community-server/data-dir select ''; \
		echo mysql-community-server mysql-community-server/root-pass password ''; \
		echo mysql-community-server mysql-community-server/re-root-pass password ''; \
		echo mysql-community-server mysql-community-server/remove-test-db select false; \
	} | debconf-set-selections \
	&& apt-get update && apt-get install -y mysql-server="${MYSQL_VERSION}" && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
	&& rm -rf /var/lib/mysql && mkdir -p /var/lib/mysql

# comment out a few problematic configuration values
# don't reverse lookup hostnames, they are usually another container
RUN sed -Ei 's/^(bind-address|log)/#&/' /etc/mysql/my.cnf \
	&& echo 'skip-host-cache\nskip-name-resolve' | awk '{ print } $1 == "[mysqld]" && c == 0 { c = 1; system("cat") }' /etc/mysql/my.cnf > /tmp/my.cnf \
	&& mv /tmp/my.cnf /etc/mysql/my.cnf

VOLUME /var/lib/mysql

COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]

EXPOSE 3306
CMD ["mysqld"]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Displaying items by tag: DaoYi Chow
TheChicGeek Meets Public School
Here to launch their Woolmark Prize winning men's collection at Harvey Nichols, TheChicGeek grabbed design duo, Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow of American fashion label, Public School, for a couple of minutes to talk Made in the USA, DKNY and state schools
Left - Not your average public schoolboys! Dao-Yi & Maxwell of Public School
Winners of the inaugural International Woolmark Menswear Prize, Public School has been gaining attention over the last few seasons and has been tasked with the makeover of American fashion giant DKNY. The winning Woolmark collection is in their signature black and features machine body-conscious hoodies, sweaters and leggings and is available Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge and Matchesfashion.com.
Where did the name Public School come from? "It's from the idea of New York being a melting pot. Public School is about not being an intimidating designer name: we wanted to make it something everybody could get into it," says Maxwell.
Do they realise that public school means something completely different in the UK? I suggested they renamed the label 'State School', "We need to change the labels here!" laughs Maxwell.
So, they've just taken over at DKNY, will they be doing the menswear and what can we expect?
"No, just women's. As for men's, they're exiting the business. Maybe in a couple of years it will return," says Dao.
Right - The new Woolmark Prize winning men's knitwear on display at Harvey Nichols London
How would they sum up Public School for those not familiar with the label?
"It's a men's and women's designer collection based out of New York and also the production is done in New York City. It's around this idea of convergence and mixing," Dao says.
How do they find production in the USA and doesn't it make selling in Europe prohibitively expensive?
"Production is difficult in general. But, it's easier for a company of our size, now, which is small, to keep production in the US," says Dao.
"We have to get creative. Give a retailer discount if they can buy more to off-set the difference," says Maxwell.
The Public School Woolmark Collection is available at Harvey Nichols & Matchesfashion.com - Prices - £235 - £740
Published in The Fashion Archives
TheChicGeek Meets
Maxwell Osborne
DaoYi Chow
MatchesFashioncom


text:
NDDC: Why NASS should Support, Not Antagonize Akpabio
May 12, 2020 Instant Africa
By Johnson Eze (Abuja)
Obong, Godswill Akpabio, Hon Minister of Niger Delta Affaits
The resolute effort of the Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Godswill Akpabio, duly approved by President Mohammadu Buhari to rejuvenate the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC into a mandate-driven agency, suffered a hitch last week in National Assembly NASS as both chambers of the law making body had for the umpteenth time ordered probe of the Commission. In the manner it came, many believe it is disruptive of the operations of the commission and the overseeing Ministry especially as it relates to the forensic auditing going on there.
Anybody familiar with legislative business of NASS will agree that for a single motion to be moved simultaneously in both chambers and given concerted endorsement as in this case, it is either a communication that emanates from the president or an issue of urgent national importance. But it stands, it is neither of the two rather a coordinated action of two illicit groups namely: The corrupt and selfish individuals who don't want the forensic audit and restructuring of NDDC to succeed because they are benefitting from status quo and those who want Obong Akpabio to be removed from office as minister for political reason and as vendetta for loss of appointment they suffered in having effective Interim Management Committee, IMC in place in NDDC – recent publication and actions of some persons attest to this.
While the Senate set up a 7-man ad hoc committee headed by Senator Olubunmi Adetunbi to investigate the financial transactions of the IMC in the last three months and also directed its Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, headed by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, to investigate the appropriateness of the alleged arbitrary sack of the management staff of NDDC within one month, the house of Representatives mandated its committee on NDDC to investigate all issues relating to misapplication and misappropriation of funds by the commission, in addition summoned the minister to appear and respond to the allegations. All these follow allegation of N40 billion frauds and arbitrary sack of the management staff of NDDC against the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of NDDC.
Why NASS has chosen to be pulling back the hand of the clock as it relates to this noble assignment of the minister in NDDC remains a puzzle. Though it may appear a normal legislative action to prevent issues from going bad but the colouration, timing and general nature appear to send wrong signal especially to our dear people of the Niger Delta and indeed Nigerians as a whole that NASS is not feeling the pulse of the nation.
For instance, it is a general consensus that NDDC has not lived up its mandate of driving the expected development in the Niger Delta region going by the high volume rots that are prevalent in it which need to be cleaned up. Consequently when president Buhari in October 2019 in his wisdom ordered forensic audit of the commission, it was applauded by all well-meaning individual. It is therefore shocking that NASS is now coming up with a discordant action of 'probing a probe' more so when the forensic audit is still in progress.
Furthermore, NDDC and Ministry have come out to deny spending N40 billion. One cannot but imagine the depth of malice and mischief one has endured when notable persons rely on wrong and deceitful information to make official speech especially in parliament as in this instance. A look at what transpired in NASS with regards to this motion for probe of NDDC reveals that Sen George Sekibo who moved the motion in the Senate allegedly acted on behalf of the former Acting Managing Director of NDDC in the name of Dr. Gbene Joy Nunieh who hails from river state. Similarly, Hon Peter Akpatason who moved the motion in the House did so in solidarity with Dr. Pius Odubu who was nominated and screened by the senate as Chairman NDDC but was never sworn in as both of them are from Edo state. Is this how we are supposed to be thinking? Must nepotism drive every interest?
Prior to the outplay, this syndicate who are up in arms to see that Obong Akpabio reforms in NDDC do not see the light of the day had earlier been sponsoring different groups to issue press statements calling on the Minister to be sacked using this same allegations and even worse fabrications. Online news portals and conventional newspapers are awash with all these trumped up accusation. It is therefore not surprise when it started appearing in NASS. But he who alleges must prove.
Let us not forget that the capacity and competence of Obong Akpabio to deliver entrusted responsibility have never been in doubt among those who know him. View his past as a former senator in the last session of National Assembly, a former executive governor of Akwa Ibom state or former commissioner for Petroleum, Local government and chieftaincy affairs of Akwa ibom state to mention but a few, his record remains a trajectory of diligent, dexterous and productive administrator who always leave office without blemish.
As a senator that represented Akwa Ibom East in the last session of National Assembly, Obong Akpabio stood out as a rallying point and as one whose activities gave the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party PDP visibility. On that account they had no option than give crown to whom is due and appoint him the party leader i.e. the minority leader even against the usual rule that the reserved such position for ranking senators.
His tenure as the Governor of Akwa Ibom state was another luminous example as it marked a golden moment and a nostalgic reference point in the development history of the state when the fortunes of that Niger delta state took a quantum leap to actually live out that identity as land of promise. His policies and programs reinvented and spiked the revenue generation, Infrastructural provision, human capital development and ultimately placed the state as the fastest growing in the country. Under his administration, network of rural and urban roads, bridges and flyovers were massively constructed; airport and standard hotel were also established. Education health and electricity also received the deserved attention leading to what was then known as uncommon transformation.
Therefore, given the scenario when president Muhammad Buhari was re-elected into office in 2019 he was in search of a development activist who can translate the good governance dream of his administration into Niger delta development. Like a golden fish that has no hiding place, the choice of Akpabio quickly came to mind. In fact, Obong Akpabio and the Niger Delta region is analogous to experienced ship navigator on a familiar terrain, who fully understands those key features that constitute veritable compass to successfully arrive the desired destination. He has started well-first, is getting the NDDC right on its mandates. But whether the detractors will allow him or not is another issue.
It is indeed worrisome that a reputable institution like NASS is giving flying allegations that lack substance undue attention to the extent of distracting NDDC with probes more so under diligent ministerial supervision of Obong Akpabio who is even a former senator and in fact a Principal officer.
Maybe, it is possible NASS is holding strongly to the principle that in democracy majority have their way and minority have their say. Thus, listening and perhaps conducting a probe into the INC of NDDC to the law making institution is a much more dispassionate way of proving to the world that the allegations are false and laying them to rest. Otherwise, like he rightly started with forensic audit of the Commission, the minister and IMC under his purview are epitome of transparency and accountability, as such require no probe.
Posted in Opinion
Stop impunity against Journalists, NUJ warns Ebonyi state governor
BREAKING: President Buhari Appoints New Chief Of Staff


Dean Rutila, P.E. is a Senior Principal with Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. with over 40 years' experience designing and investigating building structures and enclosures, with the past 32 years focused on enclosures of all types. He has led the SGH enclosure practice in Washington, DC and since 2015, the Houston practice. Noteworthy enclosure projects include the Polk County (FL) courthouse, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the Pentagon, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Texas Southern University and Chinese drywall.
Enclosure Engineering: What practicing structural engineers should know about building enclosures.
Mr. Rutila will describe enclosure engineering as practiced by his firm and how this practice interacts with structural engineers and others on project teams. He will use design and investigation examples to illustrate key points for project structural engineers of record and other structural engineers.