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Posts Tagged With: Thallestris
The Light of Philip Recedes
Posted on October 16, 2014 by M J Mann
Justin's Alexander
Book XII Chapters 1-4
Other posts in this series
For this post I am using this translation of Justin's Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus
For the Greeks, burying the dead was a matter of religious necessity. If they were not laid to rest in the proper fashion, their souls could never pass through 'the gates of Hades' (Iliad 23:71*) and have peace.
Justin states that Alexander lost a number of his men 'in the pursuit of Darius'. Being religiously devout, he made sure to bury them before resuming his eastward march.
But though Alexander was a pious man, he was also, as we have seen, an expert manipulator of people. Thus, he not only buried his men, but did so 'at great expense'.
This reminds me of the burial of those who died in the Battle of the Granicus River. In 11:6, Justin states that they were buried,
… sumptuously as an encouragement to the rest, honouring them also with equestrian statues, and granting privileges to their relatives.
I am sure the men deserved the special care and honour given to them. But I am equally sure that Alexander was keen to forestall any disquiet in his army occasioned by losses** so early on in the expedition. This, of course, was no longer an issue after Darius' death, but Alexander was surely keen to keep his men's morale up so that he could keep pushing east. Lavish funerals were one way to achieve that (as, no doubt, were the 13,000 talents he distributed to the survivors, afterwards).
Following the death of Darius, Justin reports that Alexander was given news of King Agis' failed revolt back in Greece, King Alexander of Epirus' failed war in italy, and the death of Zopyrion, the 'lieutenant-general' of Scythia (Thrace, according to Curtius – see Chapter One). Alexander cried for Zopyrion's loss; but, lest we get too dewy-eyed about his empathy, Justin says that the king,
…was affected with various emotions but felt more joy at learning the deaths of two rival kings, than sorrow at the loss of Zopyrion and his army.
It seems to me that here we either have proof of where Alexander's ultimate priorities lay or an attempt by Justin to blacken his character.
Staying with Justin, he clearly liked Agis as he dedicates the next paragraph of his short work to an account of the king of Sparta's fall. Agis kept fighting even as his men fled the battlefield. He wanted the world to know that if he was 'inferior to Alexander [it was] in fortune only, not in valour'. Justin was convinced. When Agis died, he did so 'overpowered by numbers… superior to all in glory.'
'Superior to all'. Even, one must assume, to Alexander the Great.
* The Iliad tr. by Stephen Mitchell (Wiedenfeld & Nicholson 2012)
** Admittedly, Justin says that only 129 Macedonians died at the Granicus River. I am presuming that this is an under-exaggeration (is that a real phrase?)
This chapter is given over to an account of Alexander of Epirus' actions and death in Italy and of Zopyrion's death.
Justin now confuses me a little. As mentioned above, he states that Alexander 'felt… joy at learning the deaths of two rival kings'. I.e. Agis and Alexander of Epirus. Now, however, he reports that,
…he [Alexander of Macedon] assumed a show of grief on account of his relationship to Alexander [of Epirus], and caused the army to mourn for three days.
By saying that Alexander 'assumed a show of grief', is he suggesting that it was not real?
Whatever the answer, Justin doesn't dwell on it. Instead, he gives us another example of Alexander the manipulator. With Darius dead, his men think they will be going home. In a general assembly, the king tells them Not so. We did not come for Darius' body but his throne. If we return west now, our victories in previous battles will count for nothing.
The barbarians of the east had to be subjected, and – perhaps more to the point for Alexander, – those who had killed Darius had to be punished. Now that Alexander was Great King, he had to avenge his predecessor.
At this point, Justin pauses long enough to tell the story of Alexander's thirteen day tryst with Thalestris (aka Thallestris), whom he also calls Minithya. Once that is over, he states that,
Alexander assumed the attire of the Persian monarchs, as well as the diadem, which was unknown to the kings of Macedonia, as if he gave himself up to the customs of those whom be had conquered.
At the same time, and in emulation of the Persian kings, he began holding extravagant feasts, games alongside them, and sleeping 'among troops of the king's concubines of eminent beauty and birth.'. To forestall criticism of this medising, Justin says that Alexander 'desired his friends also to wear the long robe of gold and purple.'
Justin himself has no time for this behaviour, and he accuses Alexander of 'being utterly unmindful that power is accustomed to be lost, not gained, by such practices'. This is the most critical Justin has been of Alexander since 11:10.
Alexander's army was equally unimpressed. According to Justin, there was,
… a general indignation that he had so degenerated from his father Philip as to abjure the very name of his country, and to adopt the manners of the Persians, whom, from the effect of such manners, he had overcome.
But Alexander was undeterred, and just as he had asked his friends to adopt Persian dress, he encouraged the rank and file to marry barbarian women. This policy had a duel purpose. Firstly, to make the Macedonians accept Alexander's behaviour, and secondly, to make the men think of home – Macedon – less often, for if their wives were here, their home would now be the camp. Thirdly, the marriages would produce sons who would grow up to succeed their fathers in the army. We can argue about the morality of Alexander's actions, but there's no denying the cleverness of this policy, one which was – Justin says – continued by the Successors.
The gathering clouds are definitely getting very dark now. It's true, we see him being pious but perhaps also fake (in his supposed grief for Alexander of Epirus) and definitely effete according to the Macedonians. Alexander's adoption of Persian dress and customs, and his attempt to draw his men into that lifestyle, is driving a wedge between him and his army.
Categories: Justin	| Tags: Alexander of Epirus, Battle of the Granicus River, Darius III, King Agis, Thallestris, Zopyrion	| 2 Comments
Sex and the Country
Posted on September 20, 2014 by M J Mann
The Nature of Curtius
Book Six Chapters 1-5
For other posts in the series click here
Sparta's Last Hurrah
The lacuna that brought Book Five to a halt covers the start of Book Six. As a result, we miss the opening of the Battle of Megalopolis*, which was fought between Antipater and Agis of Sparta in 331 B.C. In lieu of that, here is what I wrote about Diodorus' account of the battle. What remains of Curtius' account contains no topographical references.
* And, of course, any part of the narrative that Curtius may have included before it
After tarrying in an unnamed location, Alexander marched into Parthia. Where had he been before hand? The map provided with my copy of Curtius' History suggests Mardia. When he meets the Mardians in Chapter Five below, however, having 'penetrated the furthest reaches of Hyrcania' I assume Alexander has either backtracked or these Mardians are out of place.
Curtius does not give us much information about Parthia (which he calls Parthiene) other than to say that it is a 'level and fertile area… occupied by… Scythians'. Alexander made his way to the city of Hecatompylos (Diodorus' Hecatontapylus) where a rumour spread in the Macedonian camp that they were going home.
Catalogue of Victories
As the men packed up their bags, Alexander had to summon his best rhetoric in order to persuade them to follow him east. He did so by first reminding them of the people and places they had conquered* (deep breath):-
Illyrians, Triballians, Boeotia, Thrace, Sparta, Achaeans, the Peloponnese, Ionia, Aeolis, Caria, Lydia, Cappadocia, Phrygia, Paphlagonia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Cilicia, Syria, Phoenicia, Armenia, Persia, the Medes and Parthia.
Once that was done, Alexander then reminded the men that the people they had conquered had still to be broken. And the people they had not yet conquered would stab them in the back the minute they turned for home.
* Alexander's exact words are places that had been 'subdued under my direct leadership or by campaigns conducted under my orders or instructions'. Alexander himself never conquered Sparta – there was no need to as it did not pose a threat – and as far as I am aware, Antipater did not go to war against King Agis on Alexander's 'orders or instructions'. He did so because he needed to
Also, I can't help but notice that he did not include Egypt in his list. I wonder why?
A Rich Country
The rhetoric did its job and the men told Alexander 'to lead them wherever he wished'.
Close to the Parthia-Hyrcania border, Alexander set up camp. He did so near a 'dense, shady grove of tall trees'. The land was fertile here, being nourished by the streams that fell from the surrounding cliffs.
Curtius tells us of the Ziobetis River, which has its source 'at the foot of the [nearby?] mountains'. After being split in two by a rock the river runs more aggressively before diving underground for 300 stades. When it reappears, it returns to being one channel until joining another river called the Rhidagnus.
Alexander learnt from natives that if you throw something in to the hole where the Ziobetis disappears underground, it will appear again at the opening. To test this, he threw in two horses. Sure enough, their bodies duly appeared at the opening. Pooh sticks, the Alexander way.
While at the border camp, Alexander received a letter from Nabarzanes in which he declared his wish to surrender. The king accepted it. Afterwards, he began his march to Hyrcania.
At first, Alexander moved cautiously. The 'belligerent temper of the natives and the lie of the land' made it awkward territory to cross.
Curtius informs us of a valley that travels as far as the Caspian Sea, where it ends in a crescent shaped piece of land. The Caspian, he says, is 'less salty than other seas [and] has a population of huge serpents… its fish are very differently coloured from other fish'.
'To the north', he continues, the Caspian 'covers the coastal area'. Finally, Curtius notes that some people call the Caspian the Hyrcanian Sea while others say that the Palus Maeotis (the sea of Azov) 'drains into it'. Against this, other people believe that the waters which cause the aforementioned coastal area to be flooded come from India rather than the Caspian.
Passing the Caspian Sea by, Alexander took 'a virtually impassable track overhung by forest' along which 'torrents and floods' travelled. Unsurprisingly, he was unchallenged by any hostile natives and eventually came to cultivated land.
Curtius says that this land 'produces plentiful quantities of all provisions' and that the soil 'is particularly suited to viticulture'. I bet the Macedonians appreciated that. There was also an oak-like tree that had 'leaves thickly coated with a honey' which had to be collected before daybreak as the sun made the sap evaporate.
Alexander was well into his march across Hyrcania when Artabazus surrendered himself and his sons to him. Artabazus was 95 years old. Rather than embarrass the old man by walking while Artabazus rode his horse, Alexander had his own brought up and mounted it.
Sometimes, Alexander does things that you think 'that was very good of him' but you also wonder 'did he do that for an ulterior motive?'. I am thinking of his attitude to women here, especially as Plutarch outlines it. This time, however, Alexander had no need to mount his horse. He did it purely out of respect. Not only does this show that he was a respectful man but also that it is worth giving him the benefit of the doubt when the question of his motive comes up elsewhere.
In the last post, we saw how Alexander led a brief campaign against the Mardians. Now, he does so again. They were 'a culturally backward' people who 'had failed to send ambassadors' to him. In other words, they had failed to submit to him.
Alexander led a small detachment out to bring the Mardians to heel. Upon his arrival in their land, they fled to the interior of Mardia (?). Alexander pursued them but found the going tough, for the interior 'was enclosed by mountain ridges, tall forests and impassable cliffs'.
The Mardians may have been primitive but they knew how to make the country work for them. For example, they grew trees close by one other, wound their branches together and knotted them before putting them into the ground to grow again.
It's not clear to me whether the branches were broken off or still attached to the trees, but whichever it was, they grew anew and 'with even greater vigour'. This created a very simple and effective barrier that could not easily be cut down.
Alexander chased the Mardians to woods, which he then surrounded, with the intention of finding a way in to attack his enemy. Before he could do so, however, the natives took advantage of the Macedonians' ignorance of the country to carry out some successful sorties. During one, they captured not only some men but Bucephalas as well.
Curtius does not give Bucephalas' history. Instead, he says only that the horse was prized 'above all other animals' by the king. He also states that Bucephalas 'would not allow another man to sit on him' and that, when Alexander wished to mount him, 'he would of his own accord bend his knees to receive him'.
Furious at Bucephalas' loss, Alexander issued a Return Him or Else ultimatum. The thieves wisely chose the former option, with added gifts for good measure. But the king was not placated, and he ordered 'the woods to be felled and for earth to be hauled from the mountains and heaped on the flat ground'. It appears his intention was not to break through the barriers but rise above them, using the earth as a siege tower.
Seeing this, the Mardians surrendered.
Alexander moved on to Hyrcania city where he received Nabarzanes' surrender.
Alexander's last action in Hyrcania was to entertain Thalestris, the queen of the Amazons, whose territory lay on 'the plains of Themiscyra in the area of the river Thermodon' on the opposite side of the Caspian Sea. When I say 'entertain' I mean, of course, in the sexual sense as Thalestris came (no pun intended) wanting to bear his child. She promised that if it were a boy, he could have it, but that if it was a girl, it would remain with her.
Categories: Quintus Curtius Rufus	| Tags: Antipater, Artabazus, Battle of Megalopolis, Bucephalas, Caspian Sea, Hecatompylos, Hecatontapylus, Hyrcania, Hyrcanian Sea, King Agis, Mardia, Mardians, Nabarzanes, Parthia, Parthiene, Rhidagnus River, Thalestris, Thallestris, Ziobetis River	| Leave a comment
Thallestris
The Amazons march out of legend and into history – and back again
Thallestris to Alexander: I want your child
How Alexander Medised: Special Report
Today, the Amazonians are regarded as being figures of legend rather than history. The Footnotes for Chapter 77 tell me that the Alexander historians could be equally sceptical – though only that Thallestris, the Amazonian queen, met Alexander. For his part, Diodorus simply recounts the story, offering no opinion one way or another regarding its veracity. Here is what he says.
Once Bucephalus had been safely returned to him, Alexander left Mardia and made his way back to Hyrcania. There, a party of three hundred Amazon warriors entered the Macedonian camp. They were led by Thallestris who, Diodorus says, 'was remarkable for [her] beauty and… bodily strength'. The women arrived in full armour, impressing Alexander with their dignity.
Recovering himself, Alexander asked Thallestris the reason for her visit. She 'replied that it was for the purpose of getting a child'.
Any man could have done that for her; why had she chosen Alexander? Simple. 'He had shown himself the greatest of all men in his achievements, and she was superior to all women in strength and courage'. Their offspring, therefore, would surely 'surpass all other mortals in excellence'.
According to Diodorus, Alexander was 'delighted' with this request and into his bed chamber they went.
And there they remained for thirteen days until Thallestris rode home – out of history and into legend carrying Alexander's child?
In the second half of this chapter, Diodorus describes how Alexander easternised his court. He,
appointed Asian ushers
appointed 'the most distinguished persons to act as his guards'
wore the 'Persian diadem', dressed in the Great King's (?) white robe and wore the Persian sash
distributed purple bordered cloaks to his companions
'dressed the horses in Persian harness'
'added concubines to his retinue' – one for each day of the year
These measures seem very 'in-your-face' so far as the Macedonians are concerned. Diodorus does add, however, that Alexander 'employed these customs… sparingly' so as not to offend his men.
Here is what I wrote about Plutarch's reference to Thallestris' visit.
What to make of the Amazons? A matriarchal society is one thing but a society comprised of women only? That is surely another. I've never heard of it anywhere else, although I must admit I haven't looked. I might do so now. It is interesting that the sources do not dismiss the possibility of the Amazons existing outright but I wonder if that's because they tended to build their work on authority rather than challenge it like historians today do. But here, I am simply thinking and about something I know nothing about.
It is a shame that Diodorus isn't a little more critical of his sources as his straight bat leads him to say quite contrary things. For example, we are told that Alexander was careful about which Persian customs he took on, but only after we learnt that the Macedonian king allowed his concubines to parade in front of him every night so that he could choose which one to sleep with. That does not speak of a sparing attitude. I can see why Diodorus is accused of a copy-and-paste attitude.
By-the-bye, the Footnotes state that scholars today do not accept that this really happened. The fact that it is not mentioned elsewhere makes me inclined to agree with them.
Pity the poor concubine whose day was 29th February
Categories: Diodorus Siculus	| Tags: Amazons, Hyrcania, Mardia, Thallestris	| Leave a comment


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Annie Whitehead
About Annie Whitehead
Annie Whitehead graduated in history having specialised in the 'Dark Ages' and is a member of the Royal Historical Society. She's written three books about early medieval Mercia, the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the Midlands. The first, To Be a Queen, tells the story of Alfred the Great's daughter, and was long-listed for the Historical Novelist Society's Indie Book of the Year 2016, and was an IAN (Independent Author Network) Finalist in 2017, while the second, Alvar the Kingmaker, is the story of Aelfhere, Earl of Mercia in the 10th century. The third, Cometh the Hour, is the first of two volumes set in seventh-century Mercia. She was a contributor to the anthology 1066 Turned Upside Down, a collection of alternative short stories. She writes magazine articles and has had pieces printed in diverse publications, including Cumbria Magazine and This England. She has twice been a prize winner in the Mail on Sunday Novel Writing Competition, and won First Prize in the 2012 New Writer Magazine's Prose and Poetry Competition. She was a finalist in the 2015 Tom Howard Prize for nonfiction, and is also a contributor and editor for the English Historical Fiction Authors blog, as well as blogging for her own site - Casting Light upon the Shadow. In 2017 she won the inaugural HWA/Dorothy Dunnett Society Short Story Prize. Her first full-length nonfiction book, Mercia: The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom, is published by Amberley. Her latest nonfiction, Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England, is published by Pen & Sword Books.
Carol McGrath
Anne O'Brien
Octavia Randolph
Patricia Bracewell
Marc Morris
Matthew Harffy
Anna Chant
M J Porter
Sylvia Barbara Soberton
Edoardo Albert
G. Lawrence
Anne R. Bailey
Sharon Bennett Connolly
J.P. Reedman
Wendy J. Dunn
Kathryn Warner
Deborah Swift
Captivating History
Joanna Hickson
Sharon Penman
Rozsa Gaston
Matthew Gabriele
David M. Perry
Steven A. McKay
Kelly Evans
Saga Hillbom
Kathryn Le Veque
Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir
Titles By Annie Whitehead
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Betrayal: Historical Stories Nov 13, 2020
by Judith Arnopp, Cryssa Bazos, Anna Belfrage, Derek Birks, Helen Hollick, Amy Maroney, Alison Morton, Charlene Newcomb, Tony Riches, Mercedes Rochelle, Annie Whitehead, Elizabeth St.John
"Loyalty breaks as easily as a silken thread."
Misplaced trust, power hunger, emotional blackmail, and greed haunt twelve characters from post-Roman Britain to the present day. And betrayal by family, lover, comrade can be even more devastating.
Read twelve tales by twelve accomplished writers who explore these historical yet timeless challenges.
AD455—Roman leader Ambrosius is caught in a whirlpool of shifting allegiances
AD940—Alyeva and cleric Dunstan navigate the dangers of the Anglo Saxon court
1185—Knight Stephan fights for comradeship, duty, and honour. But what about love?
1330—The powerful Edmund of Kent enters a tangled web of intrigue
1403—Thomas Percy must decide whether to betray his sovereign or his family
1457—Estelle is invited to the King of Cyprus's court, but deception awaits
1483—Has Elysabeth made the right decision to bring Prince Edward to London?
1484—Margaret Beaufort contemplates the path to treason
1577—Francis Drake contends with disloyalty at sea
1650—Can James Hart, Royalist highwayman, stop a nemesis destroying his friend?
1718—Pirate Annie Bonny, her lover Calico Jack, and a pirate hunter. Who will win?
1849/present—Carina must discover her ancestor's betrayer in Italy or face ruin.
"I read this anthology from start to finish in a matter of days…. Each story is gripping."– Discovering Diamonds Reviews
1066 Turned Upside Down: Alternative fiction stories by nine authors Aug 1, 2016
by Joanna Courtney, Helen Hollick, Annie Whitehead, Anna Belfrage, Alison Morton, Carol McGrath, Eliza Redgold, GK Holloway, Richard Dee
Ever wondered what might have happened if William the Conqueror had been beaten at Hastings? Or if Harald Hardrada had won at Stamford Bridge? Or if Edward the Confessor had died with an heir ready to take his place? Then here is the perfect set of stories for you. '1066 Turned Upside Down' explores a variety of ways in which the momentous year of 1066 could have played out differently.
Written by nine well-known authors to celebrate the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, the stories will take you on a journey through the wonderful 'what ifs' of England's most famous year in history.
To Be A Queen Dec 7, 2015
by Annie Whitehead
One family, two kingdoms, one common enemy ...
This is the true story of Aethelflaed, the 'Lady of the Mercians', daughter of Alfred the Great. She was the only female leader of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom.
Born into the royal house of Wessex at the height of the Viking wars, she is sent to her aunt in Mercia as a foster-child, only to return home when the Vikings overrun Mercia. In Wessex, she witnesses another Viking attack and this compounds her fear of the enemy.
She falls in love with a Mercian lord but is heartbroken to be given as bride to the ruler of Mercia to seal the alliance between the two Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
She must learn to subjugate her feelings for her first love, overcome her indifference to her husband and win the hearts of the Mercians who despise her as a foreigner and twice make an attempt on her life.
When her husband falls ill and is incapacitated, she has to learn to rule and lead an army in his stead. Eventually she must fight to save her adopted Mercia from the Vikings and, ultimately, her own brother. To Be A Queen was Long-listed for HNSIndie Book of the Year 2016 and has been awarded an indie BRAG Gold Medallion.
Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England May 30, 2020
Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England focuses on the lives of remarkable women: women who ruled and schemed, were peace-weavers and warriors. It explores – and restores – their reputations.
Many Anglo-Saxon kings are familiar. Æthelred the Unready is one, yet less is written of his wife, who was consort of two kings and championed one of her sons over the others, or his mother who was an anointed queen and powerful regent, but was also accused of witchcraft and regicide. A royal abbess educated five bishops and was instrumental in deciding the date of Easter; another took on the might of Canterbury and Rome and was accused by the monks of fratricide. Anglo-Saxon women were prized for their bloodlines - one had such rich blood that it sparked a war - and one was appointed regent of a foreign country. Royal mothers wielded power; Eadgifu, wife of Edward the Elder, maintained a position of authority during the reigns of both her sons. Æthelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, was a queen in all but name, while few have heard of Queen Seaxburh, who ruled Wessex, or Queen Cynethryth, who issued her own coinage. She, too, was accused of murder, but was also, like many of the royal women, literate and highly-educated. From seventh-century Northumbria to eleventh-century Wessex and making extensive use of primary sources, Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England examines the lives of individual women in a way that has often been done for the Anglo-Saxon men but not for their wives, sisters, mothers and daughters. It tells their stories: those who ruled and schemed, the peace-weavers and the warrior women, the saints and the sinners. It explores, and restores, their reputations.
Cometh the Hour: Tales of the Iclingas Book 1 Sep 2, 2017
In seventh-century England, a vicious attack sets in motion a war of attrition which will last for generations. Four kings, connected by blood and marriage, vie for the mantle of overlord. Three affect to rule with divine assistance. The fourth, whose cousin and sister have been mistreated and whose friend has been slaughtered, watches, and waits. He is a pagan, he is a Mercian, and his name is Penda. By his side is a woman determined to escape her brutal past. She aids his struggle against his treacherous brother and their alliance founds a dynasty with the potential to end injustice and suppression, if only they can continue to stand together… A story that spans generations, and travels from Sutton Hoo to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and back to the buried treasure of Staffordshire, this is the first of a two-volume series of the tales of the Iclingas, the family who ruled Mercia, fighting to avenge their kin and to keep their people free.
Mercia: The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom Sep 17, 2018
Many people know about Wessex, the 'Last Kingdom' of the Anglo-Saxons to fall to the Northmen, but another kingdom, Mercia, once enjoyed supremacy over not only Wessex, but all of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. At its zenith Mercia controlled what is now Birmingham and London ‒ and the political, commercial paramountcy of the two today finds echoes in the past.
Those interested in the period will surely have heard of Penda, Offa, and Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians ‒ but remarkably there is no single book that tells their story in its entirety, the story of the great kingdom of the midlands.
Historically, the records are in two halves, pre- and post-Viking, in the way they have been preserved. Pre-Viking, virtually all the source material was written by the victims, or perceived victims, of Mercian aggression and expansion. Post-Viking, the surviving documents tend to hail from places which were not sacked or burned by the Northmen, particularly from Wessex, the traditional enemy of Mercia. The inclusion of those records here allows for the exploration of Mercia post-924.
Mercia ceased to be a kingdom when Alfred the Great came to power, but its history did not end there. Examining the roles of the great ealdormen in the anti-monastic reaction of the tenth century, through the treachery of Eadric Streona in the eleventh, and the last, brave young earls who made a stand against William the Conqueror, this book shows the important role the Mercians played in the forging of the English nation.
Alvar the Kingmaker Feb 4, 2016
10th-Century England is rocked by scandal when the young king is caught in bed with his wife - and her mother.
Nobleman Alvar knows that securing the throne for the young and worthy prince Edgar will brand him an oath-breaker. As a fighting man, he is indispensable to the new sovereign, but his success and power gain him deadly, murderous enemies: Abbot Dunstan, banished, recalled, and in no mood to forgive; Bishop Oswald, the ambitious foreigner who will let nothing stand in his way. They must not discover Alvar's secret love for the wife of his deputy, whilst Alvar must keep her safe, and serve and protect the queen, who is in love with him and who harbours a dark secret of her own…
Civil war erupts, and Alvar once again finds himself the only man capable of setting a new king upon the throne of England, an act which comes at great personal cost. His career began with a dishonourable deed to help a good king; now he must be loyal to a new king, Æthelred, whom he knows will be weak, and whose supporters have been accused of regicide. Can he bring about peace, reconcile with his enemies, and find personal happiness, whilst all the time doing his duty to his loved ones?
"Ms Whitehead knows her stuff - A must-read for anyone interested in the early Anglo-Saxon period" – Helen Hollick, author of Harold the King and The Hollow Crown
The Sins of the Father: Tales of the Iclingas Book 2 Sep 15, 2021
A father's legacy can be a blessing or a curse...
AD658: The sons of Penda of Mercia have come of age. Ethelred, the youngest, recalls little of past wars while Wulf is determined to emulate their father, whose quest to avenge his betrayed kinswomen drew him to battle three successive Northumbrian kings.
Ecgfrith of Northumbria is more hostile towards the Mercians than his father was. His sister Ositha, thwarted in her marriage plans, seeks to make her mark in other ways, but can she, when called upon, do her brother's murderous bidding?
Ethelred finds love with a woman who is not involved in the feud, but fate intervenes. Wulf's actions against Northumbria mean Ethelred must choose duty over love, until he, like his father before him, has cause to avenge the women closest to him. Battle must once more be joined, but the price of victory will be high.
Can Ethelred stay true to his father's values, end the feud, keep Mercia free, and find the path back to love?
This is the second of the two-book series, Tale of the Iclingas.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Marvel Character Database
Has Title
A-Force (2016) #6
Agent X (2002) #5
Alpha Flight (1983) #61
Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #203
Astonishing X-Men (2004) #1
Astonishing X-Men (2004) #10
Avengers (1963) #110
Avengers (1998) #1
Avengers (1998) #27
Avengers Academy (2010) #2 (2ND PRINTING VARIANT)
Avengers Assemble (Hardcover)
Avengers Assemble Vol. 3 (Hardcover)
Avengers Forever (1998) #8
Avengers Legends Vol. I: Avengers Forever (Trade Paperback)
Avengers: Galactic Storm Vol. 2 (Trade Paperback)
Avengers: Galactic Storm Vol.1 (Trade Paperback)
Avengers: The Initiative (2007) #27 (70TH FRAME VARIANT)
Avengers: The Initiative (2007) #35
Captain America (1968) #394
Chaos War One-Shots (Trade Paperback)
Classic X-Men (1986) #12
Dazzler (1981) #1
Dazzler (1981) #10
Earth X (1999) #2
Earth X (New (Trade Paperback)
Eternals (1976) #5
Eternals by Jack Kirby (Hardcover)
Excalibur (1988) #116
Excalibur (1988) #68
Fantastic Four (1961) #160
Fantastic Four (1996) #10
Fantastic Four (1996) #8
Fear Itself: Sin's Past (2011) #1
Invincible Iron Man (2008) #20
Iron Man (1968) #13
Iron Man (1968) #279
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man (2010) #18
Marvel Fanfare (1982) #2
Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Vol. 5 (Hardcover)
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. (Hardcover)
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 6 (Hardcover)
Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Vol.6 (Hardcover)
Marvel Premiere (1972) #23
Marvel Visionaries: Chris Claremont (Hardcover)
New Avengers (2004) #5
New Avengers Vol. 1: Breakout (Trade Paperback)
New Avengers: Illuminati (2006) #4
New Avengers: Illuminati (Trade Paperback)
New Mutants Classic Vol. 1 (Trade Paperback)
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #104
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #60
Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 1 (Hardcover)
Weapon X Vol. 1 (Trade Paperback)
Weapon X Vol. I (Trade Paperback)
Weapon X: The Draft - Marrow (2002) #1
Weapon X: The Draft - Sauron (2002) #1
Weapon X: The Draft - Wild Child (2002) #1
Weapon X: The Draft - Zero (2002) #1
What If? (1989) #46
Wolverine (1988) #41
X-Factor (1986) #55
X-Factor Annual (1986) #6
X-Force (1991) #29
X-Men (1991) #1
X-Men (1991) #10
X-Men Annual (1970) #12
X-Men Legends Vol. 3: Art Adams Book I (Trade Paperback)
X-Men Legends Vol. III: Arthur Adams Book I (Trade Paperback)
X-Men Vignettes Vol. 2 (Trade Paperback)
X-Men Visionaries: Jim Lee (Trade Paperback)
X-Men: Dream's End (Trade Paperback)
X-Men: Earth's Mutant Heroes (2010) #1
X-Men: Mutant Genesis (Trade Paperback)
X-Men: Prime (1995) #1
X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic Book 4 (Trade Paperback)
Evolutionary War
A-Force (2016 - Present)
Agent X (2002 - 2004)
Alpha Flight (1983 - 1994)
Amazing Adventures (1970 - 1976)
Amazing Spider-Girl Vol. 1: Whatever Happened to the Daughter of Spider-Man (2007)
Amazing Spider-Man (1963 - 1998)
Amazing Spider-Man Annual (1964 - 2009)
Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1 (2007)
Astonishing X-Men (2004 - 2013)
Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon & John Cassaday (2009 - Present)
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1 (2006)
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1: Gifted (2004)
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2: Dangerous (2005)
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 3: Torn (2007)
Astonishing X-Men Vol. 4: Unstoppable (2008)
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis (2010)
Avengers (1963 - 1996)
Avengers Academy (2010 - 2012)
Avengers Assemble (2004)
Avengers Assemble Vol. 3 (2006)
Avengers Forever (1998 - 2001)
Avengers Icons: Vision (2002 - 2003)
Avengers Legends Vol. I: Avengers Forever (2002)
Avengers Next (2006 - 2007)
Avengers Next: Rebirth (2007)
Avengers Vol. 1: World Trust (2003)
Avengers Vs. Pet Avengers (2010 - 2011)
Avengers Vs. X-Men (2012)
Avengers Vs. X-Men: Versus (2011 - 2012)
Avengers West Coast (1985 - 1994)
Avengers West Coast: Darker than Scarlet (2008)
Avengers: Galactic Storm Vol. 2 (2006)
Avengers: Galactic Storm Vol.1 (2006)
Avengers: The Children's Crusade (2010 - 2012)
Avengers: The Initiative (2007 - 2010)
Bishop: The Last X-Man (1999 - 2001)
Black Panther (1998 - 2003)
Black Widow (2010)
Cable (1993 - 2002)
Call, the Vol. 1: The Brotherhood & the Wagon (2002)
Call, the Vol. 2: The Precinct (2003)
Captain America (1968 - 1996)
Captain America Vol. I: The New Deal (2003)
Captain Marvel (2000 - 2004)
Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Nothing to Lose (2003)
Captain Marvel Vol. I (1999)
Chaos War One-Shots (2010 - Present)
Chaos War: Dead Avengers (2010 - 2011)
Chaos War: X-Men (2010)
Clandestine Classic Premiere (2008)
Classic X-Men (1986 - 1990)
Crimson Dynamo (2003 - 2004)
Daredevil (1964 - 1998)
Daredevil Visionaries: Kevin Smith (Daredevil Vol. I: Guardian Devil) (1999)
Darkstar and the Winter Guard (2010)
Dazzler (1981 - 1986)
Dazzler (2010)
Deadpool (2008 - 2012)
Earth X (1999)
Earth X (New (2006)
Emma Frost (2003 - 2004)
Emma Frost Ultimate Collection (2010 - Present)
Emma Frost Vol. 1: Higher Learning (2004)
Emma Frost Vol. 2: Mind Games (2005)
Emma Frost Vol. 3: Bloom (2005)
Essential X-Men Vol. 2 (All-New Edition) (2011 - Present)
Eternals (1976 - 1978)
Eternals by Jack Kirby (2006)
Excalibur (1988 - 1998)
Fantastic Four (1961 - 1998)
Fantastic Four Annual (1963 - 1994)
Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 1 (2007)
Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne Vol. 4 (2001 - Present)
Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson Vol. 2 (2008)
Fantastic Four/Inhumans (2007)
Fantastic Four/Spider-Man Classic (2005)
Fear Itself: Sin's Past (2011)
Gambit (2004 - 2005)
Gambit: Hath No Fury (2005)
Generation Hope (2010 - 2012)
Heroes Reborn: Avengers (2006)
Heroes Reborn: Fantastic Four (2006)
Heroes Reborn: Iron Man (2006)
Hulk Vs. Fin Fang Foom (2007)
Incredible Hulk (1962 - 1999)
Incredible Hulks (2009 - 2011)
Incredible Hulks: Planet Savage TPB (2010 - Present)
Inhumans (2000)
Invincible Iron Man (2008 - 2012)
Iron Man (1968 - 1996)
Iron Man/Thor (2010 - 2011)
Iron Man: Armor Wars (2007)
Ka-Zar (2010 - 2011)
Magneto (2010)
Magneto (2014 - Present)
Magneto Rex (1999)
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man (2010 - 2012)
Marvel Comics Presents (1988 - 1995)
Marvel Fanfare (1982 - 1992)
Marvel Masterworks: Captain America Vol. (2005)
Marvel Masterworks: Captain America Vol. 1 - 2nd Edition (2003)
Marvel Masterworks: Daredevil Vol. I - 2nd Edition (1st) (2003)
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 3 (2008)
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol.2 (2006)
Marvel Masterworks: The Incredible Hulk Vol. 4 (2007)
Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Vol. (2005)
Marvel Masterworks: The Invincible Iron Man Vol. 5 (2008 - Present)
Marvel Masterworks: The Silver Surfer Vol. 2 (2003)
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. (2005)
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 6 (2008)
Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Vol. 3 DM Variant TPB (2011 - Present)
Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Vol. 3 TPB (2011 - Present)
Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Vol. 4 (2004)
Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Vol. III - 2nd Edition (1st) (2003)
Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men Vol.6 (2006)
Marvel Mystery Comics (1939 - 1949)
Marvel Premiere (1972 - 1981)
Marvel Super-Heroes (1967 - 1982)
Marvel Team-Up (1972 - 1985)
Marvel Visionaries: Chris Claremont (2005)
Marvel Visionaries: John Romita Jr. (2005)
Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko (2005)
Marvel Weddings (2005)
Marvelous Adventures of Gus Beezer & Spider-Man (2004)
Maximum Security (2000 - 2001)
Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet (2000)
Mighty Avengers (2007 - 2010)
New Avengers (2004 - 2010)
New Avengers Vol. 1: Breakout (2006)
New Avengers: Illuminati (2006 - 2008)
New Avengers: Illuminati (2008)
New Excalibur (2005 - 2007)
New Excalibur Vol. 1: Defenders of the Realm (2006)
New Excalibur Vol. 2: Last Days of Camelot (2007)
New Mutants (1983 - 1991)
New Mutants Classic Vol. 1 (2006)
New Mutants Classic Vol. 6 (2010 - Present)
New X-Men (2006)
Paradise X (2002 - 2003)
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man (1976 - 1998)
She-Hulk (2005 - 2009)
Skaar: King of the Savage Land (2011)
Sub-Mariner Comics (1941 - 1955)
Tales of Suspense (1959 - 1968)
Uncanny X-Men (1963 - 2011)
Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 1 (2006)
Uncanny X-Men: Rise & Fall of the Shi'ar Empire (2007)
Weapon X Vol. 1 (2003)
Weapon X Vol. I (1999)
Weapon X: The Draft - Marrow (2002)
Weapon X: The Draft - Sauron (2002)
Weapon X: The Draft - Wild Child (2002)
Weapon X: The Draft - Zero (2002)
What If? (1977 - 1984)
Wolverine (1988 - 2003)
Wolverine by Claremont & Miller (2006)
Wolverine by Claremont & Miller (2009 - Present)
Wolverine Legends Vol. 6: Marc Silvestri Book I (2004)
Women of Marvel Vol. 2 (2007)
Wonder Man (1991 - 1994)
X-Factor (1986 - 1998)
X-Factor Annual (1986 - 1994)
X-Factor Visionaries: Peter David Vol. 3 (2007)
X-Force (1991 - 2004)
X-Force: Under the Gun (2011 - Present)
X-Men (1991 - 2001)
X-Men Annual (1970 - 1991)
X-MEN FIRST CLASS: THE HIGH HAND (2011)
X-Men Legends Vol. 3: Art Adams Book I (2003)
X-Men Legends Vol. III: Arthur Adams Book I (2003)
X-Men Unlimited (1993 - 1999)
X-Men Vignettes Vol. 2 (2005)
X-Men Visionaries: Jim Lee (2002)
X-Men: Dream's End (2004)
X-Men: Earth's Mutant Heroes (2010 - 2011)
X-Men: Eve of Destruction (2005)
X-Men: Mutant Genesis (2006)
X-Men: Prime (1995)
X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic Book 4 (2006)
X-Statix Vol. 4: X-Statix Vs. the Avengers (2004)
X-Treme X-Men (2001 - 2004)
X-Treme X-Men Vol. 3: Schism (2003)
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Are You Sad, Angry, or None of the Above?
Getting old means getting wrinkles, fine lines, and creases. However, as if these physical signs of aging aren't bad enough, it looks like individuals with wrinkles may have to deal with misconstrued emotions and facial expressions! Here at our Manhattan facial rejuvenation practice, some of our patients have admitted that they are often mistaken as upset or mad when in fact they aren't.
What our patients tell us is no surprise. In fact, this LiveScience article talked about the results of a study in which participants are asked to rate the faces of both younger and older adults. It turns out that the faces of older adults are perceived to be more sad and angry than the younger ones. In fact, all faces in the photographs have neutral expressions.
Such findings show that plastic surgery is more than just dealing with vanity. We understand that there are much deeper reasons why a patient may seek Botox or dermal fillers. It may be an employee who is often perceived at work as grumpy. Such misperception may even cost him a promotion.
A facelift or Botox does more than rejuvenate your face, chin, and neck. These procedures also help you to be more confident with yourself and how you interact with others as well. To schedule an initial consultation with Dr. Wallach for your questions on Manhattan plastic surgeries, call us at (210) 495-4100 or fill out this appointment request form. We look forward to your visit!


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Ethereum is an incredible cryptocurrency platform, however, if growth is too quickly, there may be some difficulties. If the platform is adopted fast, Ethereum requests could rise drastically, and at a rate that exceeds the rate with which the miners can create new coins. Under such a scenario, the whole stage of Ethereum could become destabilized due to the raising costs of running distributed applications. In turn, this could dampen interest Ethereum stage and ether. Uncertainty of demand for ether may result in an adverse change in the economical parameters of an Ethereum based company which could lead to company being unable to continue to manage or to discontinue operation.
Many people prefer to use a money deflation, particularly people who need to save. Despite the criticism and skepticism, a cryptocurrency coin may be better suited for some applications than others. Monetary privacy, for example, is amazing for political activists, but more debatable as it pertains to political campaign funding. We need a steady cryptocurrency for use in commerce; in case you are living pay check to pay check, it'd take place included in your riches, with the rest allowed for other currencies.
The physical Internet backbone that carries data between the various nodes of the network is currently the work of a number of companies called Internet service providers (ISPs), including companies offering long-distance pipelines, occasionally at the international level, regional local conduit, which ultimately links in families and businesses. The physical connection to the Internet can only occur through one of these ISPs, players like amount 3, Cogent, and IBM AT&T. Each ISP operates its own network. Internet service providers Exchange IXPs, owned or private businesses, and occasionally by Governments, make for each of these networks to be interconnected or to move messages across the network. Many ISPs have agreements with providers of physical Internet backbone providers to offer Internet service over their networks for "last mile"-consumers and businesses who need to get Internet connectivity. Internet protocols, followed by everyone in the network makes it possible for the data to stream without interruption, in the appropriate place at the right time.
While none of these organizations "owns" the Internet together these businesses decide how it operates, and established rules and standards that everyone remains. Contracts and legal framework that underlies all that's taking place to determine how things work and what happens if something goes wrong. To get a domain name, for instance, one needs permission from a Registrar, which includes a contract with ICANN. To connect to the Internet, your ISP must be physical contracts with providers of Internet backbone services, and suppliers have contracts with IXPs from the Internet backbone for connecting to and with her. Concern over security issues? A working group is formed to work on the problem and the alternative developed and deployed is in the interest of all parties. If the Internet is down, you've got someone to call to get it repaired. If the issue is from your ISP, they in turn have contracts set up and service level agreements, which govern the manner in which these issues are worked out.
The advantage of cryptocurrency is that it uses blockchain technology. The network of nodes the make up the blockchain is not governed by any focused business. No one can tell the miners to upgrade, speed up, slow down, stop or do anything. And that's something that as a committed advocate badge of honor, and is identical to the way the Internet works. But as you comprehend now, public Internet governance, normalities and rules that govern how it works present constitutional problems to the user. Blockchain technology has none of that.
For most users of cryptocurrencies it isn't essential to understand how the procedure operates in and of itself, but it is basically important to understand that there is a process of mining to create virtual currency. Unlike monies as we know them now where Authorities and banks can only choose to print endless quantities (I am not saying they're doing so, just one point), cryptocurrencies to be managed by users using a mining application, which solves the sophisticated algorithms to release blocks of monies that can enter into circulation.
Just a fraction of bitcoins issued so far can be found on the exchange markets. Bitcoin markets are competitive, this means the cost a bitcoin will rise or fall depending on supply and demand. Lots of people hoard them for long term savings and investment. This limits the amount of bitcoins that are really circulating in the exchanges. Additionally, new bitcoins will continue to be issued for decades to come. Consequently, even the most diligent buyer couldn't purchase all present bitcoins. This situation isn't to suggest that markets are not vulnerable to price exploitation, yet there's no need for large amounts of money to move market prices up or down. The slightest events on earth economy can affect the cost of Bitcoin, This can make Bitcoin and any other cryptocurrency volatile.
Cryptocurrency is freeing individuals to transact cash and do business on their terms. Each user can send and receive payments in the same way, but they also be a part of more elaborate smart contracts. Multiple signatures allow a transaction to be supported by the network, but where a certain number of a defined group of people consent to sign the deal, blockchain technology makes this possible. This permits advanced dispute arbitration services to be developed in the future. These services could allow a third party to approve or reject a transaction in the event of disagreement between the other parties without checking their cash. Unlike cash and other payment methods, the blockchain always leaves public proof a transaction occurred. This can be possibly used in an appeal against businesses with deceptive practices.
Since one of the oldest forms of earning money is in cash financing, it's a fact you could do that with cryptocurrency. Most of the lending websites now focus on Bitcoin, many of these websites you might be required fill in a captcha after a certain time period and are rewarded with a small quantity of coins for seeing them. You can visit the www.cryptofunds.co site to locate some lists of of these websites to tap into the money of your choice. Unlike forex, stocks and options, etc., altcoin marketplaces have quite different dynamics. New ones are constantly popping up which means they don't have a lot of market data and historical outlook for you to backtest against. Most altcoins have fairly inferior liquidity as well and it is hard to develop a fair investment strategy.
Anyone can become a Bitcoin miner running software with specialized hardware. Mining software listen for transmission trades on the peer-to-peer network and perform the appropriate tasks to process and confirm these trades. Bitcoin miners do this because they are able to bring in transaction fees paid by users for faster transaction processing, and new bitcoins in existence are under denominated formulas. When searching online for Affluence Network online business, there are many things to consider.
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Entrepreneurs in the cryptocurrency movement may be wise to research possibilities for making gigantic ammonts of cash with various kinds of online marketing.There could be a rich reward for anyone daring enough to endure the cryptocurrency marketplaces.Bitcoin design provides an instructive example of how one might make lots of money in the cryptocurrency marketplaces. Bitcoin is an amazing intellectual and technical achievement, and it's created an avalanche of editorial coverage and venture capital investment opportunities. But very few people understand that and lose out on very successful business models made available as a result of growing use of blockchain technology.
It's definitely possible, but it must have the ability to recognize opportunities regardless of marketplace behavior. The market moves in relation to price BTC … So even if it's in a BTC tendency down can make money by buying the altcoins which are altcoin oversold trading ratios-BTC. Sure, your purchasing power in DOLLARS may be lower, but as long as your purchasing power in BTC is still growing you will be okay.
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In the event of a fully-functioning cryptocurrency, it could even be traded as a thing. Proponents of cryptocurrencies say that this kind of digital income is not manipulated by way of a fundamental banking system and is not thus subject to the whims of its inflation. Since there are a limited amount of products, this cashis worth is founded on market forces, enabling owners to deal over cryptocurrency exchanges.
The sweetness of the cryptocurrencies is the fact that scam was proved an impossibility: as a result of dynamics of the process in which it is transacted. All purchases on the crypto-currency blockchain are irreversible. Once youare paid, you get paid. This is not something short term wherever your web visitors may challenge or need a discounts, or employ dishonest sleight of palm. In-practice, most traders could be wise to work with a fee processor, because of the irreversible dynamics of crypto-currency orders, you should make certain that protection is tricky. With any kind of crypto-currency whether it be a bitcoin, ether, litecoin, or the numerous additional altcoins, thieves and hackers could potentially access your private keys and so take your money. However, you almost certainly can never have it back. It is vitally important for you to adopt some very good secure and safe methods when working with any cryptocurrency. Doing this will guard you from most of these unfavorable functions.
Here is the coolest thing about cryptocurrencies; they do not physically exist everywhere, not even on a hard drive. When you examine a unique address for a wallet featuring a cryptocurrency, there is absolutely no digital information held in it, like in exactly the same manner that the bank could hold dollars in a bank account. It truly is nothing more than a representation of value, but there is absolutely no actual palpable sort of that value. Cryptocurrency wallets may not be seized or immobilized or audited by the banks and the law. They do not have spending limits and withdrawal constraints enforced on them. No one but the owner of the crypto wallet can determine how their riches will be managed.


NOTE: This article first appeared in the Summer 2017 issue of The Trackside Photographer.
In 1967 young people were told that plastics were the future and the future did not disappoint. Today the world is made out of plastic, carbon fibre, corrosion resistant lightweight alloys, high strength concrete and LEDs. This technology has generally converted our world from one where stuff is expensive and people are cheap, to exactly the opposite. I could go on and on about the many economic ramifications of this, but in essence "things" went from being crafted and artisan, to being so invisible that they might as well not matter. Back in the day the Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest private employer in North America with over 300,000 employees, roughly the same as WalMart. This vast army of workers was needed to polish, paint, lubricate and generally maintain all of the expensive, labor intensive technology that allowed humans to move at speeds faster than brisk walk. Replacing the materials of old was part and parcel to being able to replace the workers that cared for them, however as we charge into the middle of the 21st century some of these materials have soldiered on in the service of railroad signaling and, until their inevitable replacement, they provide a window into the pre-digital industrial age.
Steel and iron are the stereotypical railroad materials as demand for bridges, rails and locomotives practically created the modern steel industry. Of course steel wasn't just used for girders and boilers. Back in the day this was the only metal one had available for structural components of any size and before the advent of plastic or other composites, metal was one of the only materials available with an adequate strength to weight ratio. Stronger, weather proof and more durable than wood, iron and steel became the materials of choice ofr railroad signals and signal structures. This US&S style N color light signal mast shown above is almost completely made of iron and steel, right down to the base. Cast iron housing and brackets, sheet steel backing, steel pipe mast, strap iron ladder work, heck, even the signal wires are sheathed in iron.
CSX Philly Sub - MP 80 Auto Signal "Whitemarsh"
Cheap and easy to stamp, cut, forge or cast, steel was everywhere, but it's suffers from a major weakness against air and water. The scourge of rust requires care and paint, and paint requires workers to apply and remove. In the 21st century aluminum is cheap and plentiful. Lightweight and rust free, any signal made of aluminum will look as good on the day it is installed as the day it is removed perhaps decades in the future without needing so much as a man hour of skilled labour.
Also used for bridges and track structure, wood was the plastic of its day. Light and easy to shape, it also has tensile strength allowing it to span distances in a way that stone or concrete cannot. Although it was excluded from most signal structures, wood was employed in pole lines to support the signaling and telegraph wires that carried little bits of voltage from one signal location to the next. Unlike steel, stuff can be easily attached to wood with nails or screws and, somewhat surprisingly, wooden poles can also last decades after being impregnated with petrochemical tars. However modern technology found other ways to eliminate the wooden pole lines by replacing the wires they carried with fiber optics or wireless signals.
Surprisingly, cotton was an important material in railroad signaling. Before the advent of PVC sheath insulation, large signal cables were wrapped in cotton impregnated with tar to keep out the elements. Cotton insulated cables went hand in hand with the pole line concept as attempting to bury such a cable would quickly lead to its failure. Damage vulnerable to wind, snow, rain and trees, this was accepted a cost of doing business.
From the smallest telegraph wire to the thickest high voltage transmission cable, copper carried the electrons that powered the signals and sent the data. Synonymous with the term "electrical conductor" to this day, copper was generally replaced by aluminum braids in power applications and of course its role in data transmission was tied to the pole line . Ultimately railroads did all they could to get out of the power transmission business, in some cases going as far to replace copper cable with solid state solar panels.
Large ceramic insulators met the same fate as the copper wire when the business of providing signal power was turned over to the local utilities. Outsourcing is the name of the game in the 21st century. It made no sense for railroads to act as power companies, employing linemen and stocking electrical hardware such as this.
PCB's are probably the best class of material for insulating transformers being non-flammable and possessing a high dielectric coefficient. Unfortunately they also cause cancer and persist in the environment almost indefinitely. All the more motivation for railroads to stop running their own power grids.
Glass was the insulator of choice for low voltage signal and telegraph wires running along side the power supply lines on the poles. Edging out ceramic in the same use case, the sparking glass insulators made railroad poles a look a bit like Christmas trees. Replaced at first by cheap rubber and plastic models and ultimately by wireless, glass insulators became a staple of country antique shoppes and the preferred target of rural target shooters.
More expensive than its pole line cousin, optical glass collected the light from the low wattage signal bulbs and and protected it 1-2 miles down the track for approaching trains to see. Most color light signal lenses consisted of an inner colored glass filter assembly with an outer Fresnel lens that focused the beam. Today these have been replaced by high intensity LED's that often do not need a focusing lens, making do with a cheap clear plastic cover.
Compressed air was the power source of choice for many early power interlocking installations. Not only were air operated switch machines simple and cheap, it was also easy to safety control the flow of air using low voltage electrical circuits passing through an electro-machanical interlocking machine. Of course air was only cheap as long as the workers needed to keep the lines dry and leak free were also cheap. Today pneumatic switch machines are fading fast in the presence of bullet proof, high voltage electric machines.
Silver paint is typically applied to relay huts and cabinets to reflect the sun and keep internal temperatures low. In this case the need for painting has been replaced by corrosion free shiny materials and compact air conditioners.
Lead acid batteries were once provided in large quantities for when the railroad supplied power suffered some sort of outage, as was frequently the case in the pole line era. Because the batteries would vent hydrogen gas as they charged and discharged, they were stored in concrete "wells", outside the relay huts where there was no risk of explosion. Today improvements in battery technology and power reliability have made such large bulky backup power arrangements unnecessary.
Relays are constructs of copper coils moving silver plated electrical contacts to make and break electrical circuits, all sealed up in a glass envelope. Once the standard unit of electronic logic until the advent of the transistor, the function of relays was duplicated by solid state gizmos such as transistors. Relay logic was standardized across vendors and can't be hacked, but changes are costly and time consuming to implement, making software based alternatives far more attractive.
CSX Cumberland Sub MP 130 Auto Signal "Drywall"
Up through the middle of the 20th century railroads were once at the vanguard of technical innovation, leading the way in telecommunications, computing and material science. While today these technologies and materials of yesteryear can make railroads seem like an under-funded anachronism, a different view shows how well the engineering of the past has stood the test of time. While the materials of today are in many ways superior, they lack much of the spirit of what came before. A spirit created by human hands crafting, fitting and maintaining the materials of yesteryear from one century to the next.


text:
A touch of Schmilsson in the night
He sat looking at me with a neutral expression. He was in a white room with blurred corners, and I couldn't discern what he was sitting on: possibly just atmosphere. When I woke up I told my husband, "Harry Nilsson just visited me."
My husband assumed I meant that I'd had a dream about Harry, who had died a few months before, in January of 1994. But I've come to know the difference between a dream and a visitation. A dream has a plot, and dead people whom we knew when they were alive sometimes make surprise appearances in these phantasmagoric dramas; their presence can be so vivid that the dream haunts us for days.
A visit is another matter. It seems that the departed, once they've adjusted to the eternal, may take the trouble to salute the people they've loved or who were important to them, before moving on to their next job. The visitation can take place soon after they pass, or a much longer time if they weren't expecting immortality, as in my dad's case.
My father was an atheist until his death, so it must have been fairly confusing when he met his end and the lights didn't go out. Almost a year passed before I got a visit from him, and I had been waiting with some impatience. After all, he had promised me that after he woke up in the ether and realized he was wrong (as I was positive he was) he would let me know I was right (as he was positive I wasn't.)
Instead, he was a no-show. It was like sending your kid off to college and he doesn't call or write and then acts irritated when you finally get him on the phone because don't you realize how busy he is? Between orientation, classes, new friends – he's getting a life, for God's sake.
At last, just when I'd given up, Dad visited me one morning in the few seconds before I woke up. He didn't look anything like he did when I knew him. He appeared to be about eighteen, wearing knickerbockers and saddle shoes and a college sweater, young, vital and handsome with a full head of hair. He seemed impatient, too. He gave me a hurried nod; unspeaking, he delivered his message directly into my mind, to the effect of, "Okay, you've seen me, now can I get back to class?"
When spirits of recently dead friends or family come to me in those moments before waking, there is no story going on: my dreams are done for the night. The person is simply and suddenly there, in an idealized form. He appears as he did when he looked the best in his life, at the peak of vitality. And there is something else: he is lambent, suffused with an uncanny glow that enriches his colors, like the beautiful intense light that grass and trees take on just before a thunderstorm. Communication is clear but subtle. The spirit doesn't move his lips to speak. You don't hear his words; you know them.
But Harry Nilsson had nothing to say; he merely gazed at me. He was a few years younger than I'd seen him back in 1974. When we began dating, he was already puffy-faced due to drug and alcohol abuse, and expanding in the waist due to heavy cream overdose in the Brandy Alexanders he gulped in quantity. Now, post mortem, sitting on air, he was slim and radiant, lit from within, each blond hair on his head and in his beard limned with gold.
I was surprised and somewhat flattered by his visit. Our pairing had only lasted about seven months, hardly a wink in his fifty-two years of life, and we'd had no contact since. Still, there had been mutual admiration, even love on his part, so perhaps he was acknowledging that. Then again, he'd been a social creature; maybe he was running through his Rolodex to visit as many people as possible, even minor players, on his way out.
Except he came back the following night. I'd finished dreaming, rose toward consciousness, and then there he was again, seated and staring, downright lovely in the afterlife glow.
The third and last night he appeared, I was finally able to intuit his message. I woke up and told my husband, "He wants me to write about him."
I pondered what that might be. Really, the only incident that made a story worth writing was that berserk and depraved weekend I'd spent with Harry, John Lennon, and May Pang in Palm Springs. And I sure as hell wasn't going to write about that. I'd told only a few people about the details of those two days, mainly because I was ashamed of my own behavior, or what I could remember of it. Even May had blocked out the worst memories, like an attempted strangulation in a jacuzzi. These guys were two dead icons, best left preserved in public reverence. I certainly lost my awe of them in the course of those seven months. Why on earth would Harry want me to write about him, when I would inevitably be casting him and John in a bad light?
Still, if I fictionalized the account…but no, I didn't want to write it. Not at all. Harry's ghost was asking too much. Those of you who have followed this blog from the beginning will recall my musical collaborations with a dead composer, whose advice and imperatives I felt free to reject if I didn't like them. So I ignored Harry's posthumous request.
I was extremely busy, anyway. My screenwriting career was at its height. I had my pick of job offers, working for famous folks and ripe money. This streak culminated in my directing my own screenplay, a teen comedy titled The Hairy Bird. The film was an homage to my prep school days at an all-female academy, Rosemary Hall. With a cast of mostly adolescent girls, it was a weak prospect according to industry wisdom; the project took seven years to get its financing, $5 million, from the Canadian company Alliance Films. The summer of '97 saw me shooting in Toronto, with Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffman, and Lynn Redgrave in the leads: some of the most joyous months of my life.
On the set of The Hairy Bird aka Strike! aka All I Wanna Do with Lynn Redgrave and Gaby Hoffman, 1997
And then Harvey Weinstein happened. He purchased the U.S. distribution rights for his company Miramax for $3.5 million. I thought this was fantastic news. With foreign sales from other territories already in the bank, my picture was in the black before I'd even finished editing. However, my producers Ira Deutchman and Peter Newman had a different reaction: dread. They knew what I did not yet: that Harvey was likely to crunch the film between his molars and subject everyone involved to humiliation and torment.
Not many know that there is a tenth circle of hell, deeper than the deepest dungeon; go any deeper in the earth and you're at magma. And Harvey Weinstein owns it.
I had final cut, but Harvey threatened not to release the picture unless I re-edited it. He changed the title twice (which causes confusion to this day), had the film cut and re-cut and tested – all at the producers' expense. At last he announced that there was no way to market movies to teenage girls. He put his own editors on the job of re-cutting the movie for young males. The test numbers didn't budge. He demanded more cuts, when the producers finally pushed back, telling him the orgy was over.
I delivered the finished film. Harvey threw it into a Seattle theater for a week to fulfill his contractual obligations to Alliance, and then tossed it on the shelf. I waited, as the picture opened in foreign territories to good notices and decent profits, for him to get over his snit so my film could at last play to its natural audience, American girls.
Eventually, three years after I shot the film, Harvey gave permission for a New York release – if I paid for it. Emptying my savings, I was able to afford to open my movie, now titled All I Wanna Do, for one week in one theater. Nonetheless, I got some good reviews and blurbs for the VHS box, as the film went immediately to video.
During the time I was waiting for Harvey to take the film off the shelf, I looked for a writing job. This should not have been difficult. Although I'd been off the radar for more than a year, my cred had not diminished. Even so, nothing materialized. I tried harder, accepting assignments I had no interest in, only to have them fall through. I seemed to be under a curse, plus I was wallowing in ennui. I needed to write something, anything, yet my Miramax experience had cost me my confidence, and I was bereft of ideas. I thought of tackling that story of running amok in Palm Springs with wild and desperate popstars, in script form. Once again, I recoiled.
To hold the panic of unemployment at bay, I meditated daily. In my altered state, I said to the Great What-Have-You: I give up, you take over. Your will, not my will. Use me.
On a flight back to New York, after another dispiriting business trip to LA, I took a break from writing notes on a script, closing my eyes to meditate. That was when a phrase suddenly popped into my head. My eyelids flew open; I grabbed the pen and began scribbling on the script cover, my hand seeming to race ahead of the words swarming in my mind.
Lyrics. When I had not written a song in twenty years.
It appeared Harry would have his way.
Labels: afterlife, channeling, Gaby Hoffman, ghost, ghost story, Harry Nilsson, Harvey Weinstein, John Lennon, Kirsten Dunst, life after death, Lynn Redgrave, Miramax, paranormal activity, songs, spirit, spirituality
A Personal Remembrance of John Lennon
John Lennon's birthday passed recently. At readers' requests, I am re-posting a personal reminiscence I wrote five years ago for this blog. The story relates, in a woo-woo way, to the paranormal memoir I've been unfurling over time, "At Home With a Ghost," 55 chapters in all by now. (Those who are coming to this serialized memoir for the first time, you can read the complete opus to date by clicking here.)
Regular readers of this saga will remember that in 1974, when I was 27, I visited a psychic named Frank Andrews (see chapters One, Two and Three). I was being troubled by a spirit presence in my parents' house, and Frank helped me learn more about the ghost's identity.
It was in this same year that I was dating singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, off and on. John Lennon was in his "Lost Weekend" period, and also producing Harry's "Pussy Cats" album. I'd met John before, when he and Yoko moved to New York, so I already knew him. John and Harry were stoned to the eyeballs whenever I saw them. The L.A. recording sessions were reportedly a zoo with the cages open.
They both came to New York to mix the record, checking into a two-bedroom suite at the Pierre Hotel. To clear his head for the work, John was trying to get a handle on his over-indulgence, and even Harry went on a fast (which he ended after 24 hours by ordering up a double Brandy Alexander). John was also trying to get back with Yoko. He was on his best, subdued behavior when she came over to the Pierre and the four of us sat down to a room-service dinner.
John and Yoko seemed rather tentative around each other, so I tried to fill a silence by telling a story that had taken place only a few nights before. I'd been eating at a sushi bar next to an exquisite young Japanese woman by the name of Maiko who struck up a conversation with me. For some reason she confided in me that she was Mayor John Lindsay's mistress.She described their trysts at her apartment, whose high picture windows looked down on the glittering Manhattan nightscape. Lindsay would stand at the window and tap-dance, stark naked except for hat and cane, laughing with glee at the city he owned.
At one point Maiko suddenly remarked, "Sometimes I am psychic, and I have a feeling that you will be famous."
I responded: "That's funny, because a professional psychic just said the same thing to me."
"Oh yes," she said, with a weird confidence. "You mean Frank."
How could she have known that? I wondered to Harry, John, and Yoko, then continued to describe my visit to Maiko's apartment, when Yoko interrupted to demand the name of the psychic. She wanted to see him. Immediately. (She was addicted to soothsayers.)
So I put her in touch with Frank. Yoko went to see him alone; John was too afraid to go (he went later, though). The next time we all had dinner, she reported that Frank had impressed her hugely with his predictions. The one that struck her the most was a cryptic statement about John: "He sleeps in blood."
She and John had discussed the meaning of Frank's words, and both decided he was seeing something from the past, not the future: the blood referred to the miscarriages Yoko had suffered when they'd been trying in vain for a baby.
The image returned to me six years later, when I heard that John had been shot and killed. I pictured him the way Frank must have seen him: lying in his own blood, as if asleep.
'Night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
1974 RCA publicity photo with clean hair
1974 was the year RCA released House of Pain, my first album as a singer-songwriter. It was the year I loved and lost a man, so my songs poured out the sweet and the bitter in equal measure. Once I was done recording, I rolled up my sleeves to begin my new project: self-pitying wine-soaked self-destruction. I had gotten off to an impressive start when I met Harry Nilsson.
The album's title song came from the Charles Laughton horror classic Island of Lost Souls. Laughton played a mad scientist grafting men to animals in his lab, which his unfortunate victims – now "manimals" – called "the House of Pain." I spent my record advance making a weird short film to accompany the title track, including animation and clips from the horror film. This was before music videos. I urged RCA to use their newly developed video players to show the film in record stores, to see if it had any effect on my sales. They failed to see the point. However, the video did result in my meeting a long-adored idol.
I was fresh to art of songwriting, and my early efforts didn't fit any genre or show any other artist's influence. They were what they were: my insides turned out. (I had not yet begun my later collaboration with a dead composer – my grandfather – whereupon my songs took a turn towards the musical theater genre.) However, if there was any singer-songwriter I worshiped, it was Harry Nilsson. He suited me right down to the ground: his antic humor, his insouciance, his entwining of musical styles both quaint and contemporary, his impeccable taste in arrangements, brilliantly layered background vocals and, above all, his gliding golden voice.
RCA was Nilsson's longtime label. One late winter afternoon, on a visit from LA, Harry popped into the office of his product manager, who showed him my strange video. I happened to be next door with my product manager when I was told Harry wanted to meet me.
The following dawn, I remembered nothing. I had probably been out of body. Clearly my body had gone ahead and celebrated without me. My idol was standing by the hotel room window, smoking, and gazing at me sort of wistfully. He said he'd recently become enchanted with a young waitress from Ireland, who had gone back home but would rejoin him in LA in the spring. Now that he'd met me, he was feeling confused. I told him he didn't actually have a problem, because I was going home, too. (My clothes smelled like the floor behind a bar.)
I didn't expect to see Harry again, assuming that I had behaved badly as I often did during blackouts, which were common enough for me in those days of wine and bloody noses. But it was a shame to have no memories to savor of my one night with Nilsson. I hadn't even grabbed a hotel matchbook to prove to myself I'd been there. The RCA product managers knew more about what happened than I did. They were the ones to tell Harry, a few months later, that I was in LA. They gave him my number.
At 5 a.m., I was sleeping soundly on a bare mattress, the one piece of furniture in my West Hollywood sublet except for a phone, which rang. In the blue light of this second dawn, I arrived at Harry's La Cienega apartment, where I found him on the phone in hoarse conversation with his attorney. Flopped in an armchair was John Lennon. Harry was discussing the text of an apology to be delivered to someone, while John peered at him myopically because his glasses had been lost in a fistfight. Harry instructed his lawyer to send flowers with the apology, and hung up. It seems I had come on the scene right after Harry and John were thrown out of the Troubadour for brawling with the Smothers Brothers.
John repaired to the guest bedroom. Harry downed a quart of milk and a couple of repulsive hoagies from the 7/11, and then fell asleep with his foot hanging off the bed and jiggling, still animated by all the cocaine and brandy he had ingested earlier. ("Ole Coke-foot," I used to call him.) He favored Brandy Alexanders because the cream lined his stomach; thus the alcohol wasn't absorbed, allowing him to drink more double Brandy Alexanders until the dawn like this one.
Harry had introduced John to this noxious drink, which was also Ringo's favorite. Now, Harry could hold his mud. No matter how much he drank, he seemed fine, mind sharp and words unslurred, ever primed with witty banter. Essentially he had a sweet nature, with a side of sadness; but, as I was soon to learn, he was a raging alcoholic. And he was spurring John to commit brandy-kiri alongside him. John, for his part, was terrible at booze. Two drinks, and the darkness fell; you never knew what demon was going to ride out of the murk.
By now their escapades had hit the press. RCA was understandably anxious. John was supposed to produce Harry's new album Pussy Cats, with recording sessions to begin in two weeks. The word came down from the higher-ups: get out of LA, spend a weekend at a spa in Palm Springs, and dry out.
Women were allowed on board. RCA must have thought we would act as nannies. This was not my strong suit. May Pang, on the other hand, didn't mind being a minder. She was John's new love, in the wake of his split with Yoko. She and I packed our weekend bags, jumped into our hot pants, and rode down to Palm Springs with our patients.
I will not go into detail about that long and disorderly weekend. Suffice it to say, the boys took "dry out" to mean: no alcohol. Nothing wet. That left drugs. And Palm Springs was dead boring. The sun was too bright. The shades got pulled down; calls to locate a dealer went out. Some white powder was scored. Perhaps it was coke. If so, it had been stepped on so many times, trampled you might say, that it was mostly suitable for babies with diaper rash. Whatever it was, Harry became more than usually loquacious. Hoarse to begin with, he talked, and talked, and talked until he was down to a rasp. A trip to the hospital ensued. He was handed some antibiotics, and told very sternly not to smoke and to go on a complete voice rest for the remainder of the weekend.
Harry tried the pantomime thing for about four hours before he caved. Alcohol was restored to the menu. Swallowing the pills with cognac, he lit up a cigarette, and proceeded to talk. With a vengeance. He wouldn't shut up. The rasp now sounded like he was gargling blood. Yet he talked on.
And so I was present to witness the tragedy of Harry Nilsson willfully murdering that beautiful voice I loved so much. It never really came back.
I was back in New York when he and John arrived to finish Pussy Cats. I was horrified to hear Harry's vocals. There was no trace of the swooping heaven-kissed tenor he was born with. He sounded like he was being flayed alive. The album was one big drugged-out gangfuck of the ears.
Meanwhile I was pulling away, for my own preservation. I lost my nerve, recognizing I had neither the stamina nor the capacity to keep up with his tireless, unending binge. Harry scared me. His self-destruction made my own attempts look feeble.
Besides, I had my second album to record, and Harry's waitress was flying in shortly. What should he do? Harry asked. He was in love with two women. I told him he didn't actually have a problem, because I was going home.
I knew if I stayed with him, I was going to die. Instead, he died – twenty years later, in 1994. By then I was happily married (as was he, to his waitress) with one child (to his six). He hadn't been sober for most of those years, so the news of his death from heart failure, while sad, came as no surprise to me.
I hadn't loved him, though I'd tried because he was a genius and I am partial to them. Nonetheless I was still and forever in love with his music. I mourned Nilsson's death by playing his poignant "Turn On Your Radio":
I don't know where I'm goin'
Now that I am gone
I hope the wind that's blowin'
Helps me carry on
Turn on your radio, baby
Baby listen to my song
Turn on your night light baby
Baby I'm gone
I'd said goodbye to him many years before, and fate had not arranged for us to run into each other since. This time I knew for certain I'd never see him again.
But I did.
Labels: afterlife, alcohol, binge, cocaine, ghost, ghost story, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, life after death, May Pang, Palm Springs, paranormal activity, phantom, Pussy Cats, RCA, spirit, spirituality, Troubadour


text:
Cecil Ewart Griffiths
Newtown/France
Cecil Ewart Griffiths was born in 1894 in Berriew, Monmouthshire, the son of Harry and Jane of The Cottage, Pentrellivor, Berriew, and he was still living with his parents and siblings at the time of the 1911 census where he is recorded as a 'golf pro's assistant'. I assume this would be at the nearby Newtown/St Giles club where the professional was Ernest Lewis
He was called up for one year's home service with the Territorials (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) in 1914 and, when he attested, on 5 October he gave his occupation as golf professional. He may have taken over from Lewis as, despite Jackson's Register showing Lewis as professional in 1914, he had, in fact, taken up the professional's post at Aberystwyth by, at the latest, 1913. Of course, the one year's service was extended and the Territorials were also sent abroad. Cecil embarked with the South Wales Borderers for the Dardanelles at Devonport on 7 July 1915. By December of that year he was in hospital in Malta suffering from frostbitten feet and was invalided back to England.
On 13 June 1917 he was posted with the 2nd South Wales Borderers to France (his service record uses this regiment interchangeably with 2nd Monmouthshire). He was wounded in action and treated at the Canadian General Hospital in Étaples and then sent to the 5th Northern General Hospital in Leicester. The Llangollen Advertiser Denbighshire Merionethshire and North Wales Journal announced this on 31 August and added the further golfing snippet that 'Before enlistment …. Pte Griffiths was a golf professional in France'. (I am assuming this meant being an instructor in the summer months at one of the fashionable French resorts). However, by the time the paper was out Cecil Griffiths was dead, on 27 August 1915, from gunshot wounds to the face and septicaemia. He is buried in Bettws Cedewain (St Beuno) Churchyard with the headstone Headstone: 285129 Private / C.E. GRIFFITHS / Monmouthshire Regiment / 25th August 1917 age 23 / Oh blessed voice of Jesus / which comes to hearts opprest. / Tablet: Beloved son of / H. & J. GRIFFITHS, / Pentrellivior, / "At rest."
He is commemorated on the Bettws Cedenain war memorial and the Berriew one.


text:
Daytona Beach Shores officer fired for racially insensitive Snapchat post
Tony Holt
tony.holt@news-jrnl.com
Matthew Moriarty mocked Black History Month by etching what is supposed to look like afro hairstyle on his head and adding a cartoon image of a blood-dripping syringe on a selfie.
He sent the image to 15 people via Snapchat. One of them reported it to Moriarty's boss and now Moriarty, who worked for the Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety for 2½ years, is out of a job.
Public Safety Department Director Stephan Dembinsky announced the firing Wednesday.
"The actions in this case are reprehensible," Dembinsky said in a media statement. "Nobody who holds these types of racist biases can be an unbiased and effective law enforcement officer, and this type of behavior will never be tolerated or defended by this agency."
The post was brought to Dembinsky's attention in early February. He said he immediately suspended Moriarty, 24, and opened an internal affairs investigation.
Investigators said the image of Moriarty contained the afro, as well as a black beard scribbled onto his face. The photo was released by the Department of Public Safety. It also included a cartoon gun and police car in addition to the bloody syringe. Underneath the image was a text overlay stating, "This is how I celebrate Black History Month."
Moriarty, according to the investigation, never denied he sent the photo.
The policy violations sustained against Moriarty were two counts of engaging in conduct which has a tendency to destroy public respect for the employee and department and confidence in the operation of the municipal service.
Dembinsky recommended terminating Moriarty's employment after the investigation concluded. City Manager Michael Booker sustained the recommendation on Wednesday.
Moriarty's attorney referred to his client's decision to create and send the image as a 15-second "lapse of judgment." Booker agreed.
"That lapse of judgment, however brief, is of such a nature that it could reasonably result in adverse impacts to the City and its law enforcement functions," Booker wrote.
"There is no evidence that Mr. Moriarty has acted in a racist manner in the performance of his duties or has targeted racial minorities," Booker continued. "What is clear from the evidence, and as admitted by Mr. Moriarty and his legal counsel, is that Mr. Moriarty engaged in terrible judgment in an area which cannot be tolerated, condoned or explained."
Lt. Michael Fowler, an agency spokesman, said another internal affairs investigation involving Moriarty remains open. He said he would not discuss the details of the case until it is closed.
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I´m triying to make a model of Active fron end rectifier just with a DCbus regulator, no more, based in IGBTs and using the module SVM. but I there is no way, it doens work.
Do you have any model? it is enought a basic model with a DCbus regulator.


text:
Two Weeks in Focus, 13th to 26th August 2016
Posted on August 27, 2016 August 27, 2016 by Mike Alibone
A largely dry couple of weeks saw temperatures hit 30º C as the winds swung south-easterly, for a time ushering in hot air from mainland Europe. A two-week period makes a significant difference to what can be expected as migration gathers pace and we head into autumn proper. Numbers of waders, gulls and especially passerines are ramping up as September looms large in the birding calendar.
The Ruddy Shelduck remained at Pitsford Res, where it was seen on 20th, while the same locality saw the beginning of the annual autumn build-up of Red-crested Pochards with up to six there from 23rd.
Ruddy Shelduck, Pitsford Res, 15th August 2016 (Alan Francis)
Elsewhere, the drake Goldeneye remained at Stanford Res until at least 24th and a Garganey was at Daventry CP on 25th-26th and, back at Pitsford Res, another was found on 26th. The same dates saw a juvenile Shag at Stanwick GP, which was only the second record for the site, while this species is by no means annual in the county with the last being in December 2013.
Juvenile Shag, Stanwick GP, 25th August 2016 (Bob Bullock)
Raptors this in the period included a Marsh Harrier in the vicinity of Scaldwell and Walgrave Bays at Pitsford Res between 15th and 25th with perhaps the same individual visiting the nearby Brampton Valley on 23rd-24th. Single Ospreys were also at Pitsford Res on 14th and 24th-25th while others were seen at Hollowell Res on 14th and at Sywell CP on 23rd, although it is possible that just one roaming individual could account for all of these records. Peregrines appeared at Hellidon on 14th, Ditchford GP on 15th, at Summer Leys LNR on 17th and 23rd and at Hollowell Res on 25th.
Adult Peregrine, Summer Leys, 23rd August 2016 (Ricky Sinfield)
The autumn's first Golden Plover appeared at Blueberry Farm, Maidwell on 17th and Little Ringed Plovers were recorded from Daventry CP, Hollowell Res, Pitsford Res, Summer Leys and Sywell CP. Most, if not all, were single juveniles.
Juvenile Little Ringed Plover, Sywell CP, 22nd August 2016 (Alan Francis)
By contrast there were only two Ringed Plovers, which consisted of singles at Ditchford GP on 13th and Stanwick GP on 21st-22nd. A Whimbrel flew south-west at Daventry CP on 26th, while three Curlews flew west at Stanford Res on 23rd and two were at Hollowell Res two days later but, compared with the previous period, Black-tailed Godwit passage had slowed to just one at Summer Leys on 19th and two there on 21st. A juvenile Turnstone took up residence on the Visitor Centre Lake at Stanwick GP from 17th and was still present on 26th, while the first of the autumn's Ruffs appeared with singles at Summer Leys on 15th and 19th and at Hollowell Res on 16th and 21st.
Juvenile Turnstone, Stanwick GP, 21st August 2016 (Mike Alibone)
The latter locality produced three Dunlins on 25th, but numbers otherwise remained low with just singles at Summer Leys on 19th and Stanwick GP between 20th and 26th.
Juvenile Dunlin, Hollowell Res, 15th August 2016 (Martin Swannell)
Juvenile Little Stint, Summer Leys LNR, 12th August 2016 (Ricky Sinfield)
Sometimes quite elusive, a Little Stint remained at Summer Leys between 12th and 14th. Common Sandpipers continued to be seen in good numbers throughout the period, being recorded from eight localities with a maximum count of six at Daventry CP on 24th,
Juvenile Common Sandpiper, Sywell CP, 22nd August 2016 (Alan Francis)
while Green Sandpipers were recorded at six with a maximum of five at Summer Leys on 17th. A Spotted Redshank appeared briefly at Summer Leys on 25th and Greenshank numbers were surprisingly low with, apart from four at Stanwick GP on 22nd, singles at Summer Leys on 13th, Stanwick on 18th and 21st, Stanford Res on 23rd and Hollowell Res on 25th. Hollowell and Summer Leys were the only localities to host Common Snipe with the former producing singles on 13th and 21st, two on 16th and six on 25th and the latter with two on 14th and three on 21st.
Green Sandpiper, Summer Leys LNR, 21st August 2016 (Ricky Sinfield)
Green Sandpiper, Summer Leys LNR, 22nd August 2016 (Ricky Sinfield)
Along with diminishing numbers of Common Terns, the period saw a short-staying Little Tern at Stanford Res on 19th – the same date on which ten Black Terns paid an equally brief visit to Summer Leys, departing high to the west during the evening. Three Mediterranean Gulls included a juvenile at Daventry CP on 18th, a second-summer there on 24th and another juvenile at Hollowell Res the following day. Potentially hugely rarer, however, was the adult gull showing characteristics of Azorean Yellow-legged Gull at Stanwick GP's pre-roost gathering on 24th and 25th. We've been here before, of course, and with this well-marked race now officially on the British List and a previous record of a returning individual (Stanwick 2013, 2014) pending acceptance by BBRC, this bird – believed by some to be the same individual – clearly warrants further study if it lingers.
Putative adult Azorean Gull, Stanwick GP, 25th August 2016 (Bob Bullock)
Normal' Yellow-legged Gulls were recorded in smaller numbers than during the lastperiod at Stanwick, Daventry CP, Summer Leys and Pitsford Res with a maximum of eight at the latter site on 13th.
Adult Yellow-legged Gull, Summer Leys LNR, 14th August 2016 (Mike Alibone)
Caspian Gulls, represented largely by immatures, were found at Daventry CP on 13th, with two there on 15th, one on 16th and 25th, Stanwick GP, where there were two on 15th, 17th (one adult) and 23rd, one on 25th and four the next day and Clifford Hill GP, where there was an adult on 14th.
First-summer Caspian Gull, Stanwick GP, 26th August 2016 (Steve Fisher)
Again, Turtle Doves were found only at Harrington AF, where there were four to five on 21st and one on 24th. The ringing highlight of the second week was undoubtedly a Wryneck which was trapped on 26th at Stanford Res by the Stanford Ringing Group, which has an enviable track record for pulling scarce migrants from its nets.
Wryneck, Stanford Res, 26th August 2016 (Mick Townsend)
Common Redstarts came through in good numbers with records from Blueberry Farm, Borough Hill, Daventry CP, Eydon, Fawsley Park, Harrington AF, Hellidon, Hollowell Res and Walgrave, with a maximum of four at the latter site on 25th and, in addition, a first-year female was trapped and ringed at Stanford Res on 18th. Related species remained scarce, however, with reports of Whinchats limited to two at Borough Hill on 13th, two at Blueberry Farm on 17th and 23rd and one in the Brampton Valley on 24th, where there were still two Stonechats on the same date. Just three Northern Wheatears included singles at Blueberry Farm on 17th and at both Stanford Res and Harrington AF on 21st. The latter site also produced two Tree Pipits on 26th – following the autumn's first over Fineshade Wood on 14th – and a Corn Bunting on 24th.
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