title: The Murder at the Vicarage

text: It was presented again in the ITV series "Agatha Christie's Marple" by Granada Television in 2004 with Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple, Tim McInnerny as the vicar, Derek Jacobi as Colonel Protheroe, and Janet McTeer as Anne. This version eliminates the characters of Dr Stone and Gladys Cram, replacing them with the elderly French Professor Dufosse and his granddaughter Hélène. Other changes include the elimination of Miss Weatherby, the changing of Mrs Price-Ridley's first name from Martha to Marjorie, the renaming of Bill Archer to Frank Tarrent, changing the false gun shot to a shot by a double-barrelled shotgun and the addition of a plotline in which the Colonel stole 10,000 francs from the French Resistance, which led to the death of an agent. Two major departures from the book are the portrayal of Miss Marple as Anne's close friend and the addition of a series of flashbacks to December 1915, when a younger Miss Marple (played by Julie Cox) was engaged in a love affair with a married soldier.


title: The Murder at the Vicarage

text: In both versions, the vicar's role is reduced and he does not participate in the investigation since his presence as the narrator was unnecessary in a filmed version.


title: The Murder at the Vicarage

text: The novel was adapted as a 2016 episode of the French television series "Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie".


title: The Murder at the Vicarage

text: The book was adapted for radio by Michael Bakewell, with June Whitfield as Miss Marple, Francis Matthews as the Rev. Leonard Clement, Imelda Staunton as Griselda Clement, and Frances Jeater as Anne Protheroe. This adaptation was first broadcast by the BBC in 1993.


title: The Murder at the Vicarage

text: "The Murder at the Vicarage" was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on 20 May 2008, adapted and illustrated by "Norma" (Norbert Morandière) (). This was translated from the edition first published in France by in 2005 under the title of "L'Affaire Prothéroe".


title: The Murder at the Vicarage

text: The novel was first serialised in the US in the "Chicago Tribune" in fifty-five instalments from Monday, 18 August to Monday, 20 October 1930.


title: The Murder at the Vicarage

text: The subject of this dedication is Christie's daughter, Rosalind Hicks (1919–2004) who was the daughter of her first marriage to Archibald Christie (1890–1962) and Agatha Christie's only child. Rosalind was eleven years of age at the time of the publication of the book.


title: Will Kirk

text: William Kirk (born 14 May 1985) is a British furniture restorer primarily known for his work on BBC's restoration programme "The Repair Shop." He is an Ambassador of the Heritage Crafts Association.


title: Will Kirk

text: Kirk studied Graphic Design and Antique Furniture Restoration and Conservation at the University of the Arts London and London Metropolitan University. After graduating from university in 2010, Kirk went to Italy with the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers to represent the UK at the annual Salon Decorative Arts Fair.


title: Will Kirk

text: Kirk first appeared on television in 2013 on Channel 4's "The French Collection". He also appeared on the BBC's "What To Buy and Why", but he became well known when he started to appear on "The Repair Shop" in 2017.


title: Will Kirk

text: In May 2021, Kirk was paired with fellow "Repair Shop" presenter Jay Blades on a celebrity special edition of "Strike It Lucky".


title: Will Kirk

text: In August 2021, Kirk was a participant on BBC's "Celebrity MasterChef", but was the first competitor to leave, on the first day, after serving duck breast and sweet potato mash with tender stem broccoli and a red wine jus, but with raw duck, for the "Dinner Party Challenge".


title: Will Kirk

text: From 31 October 2022 Kirk presented a new series titled "The Travelling Auctioneers"', with Christina Trevanion, airing every weekday for three weeks.


title: Will Kirk

text: Kirk married Polly Snowdon, an educational psychologist, on 7 August 2021, at the Kings Head Hotel in Cirencester having had to cancel previous plans to marry in August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have a daughter, born in July 2022.


title: Shawl

text: A shawl (from "shāl",) is a simple item of clothing from Kashmir, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular or square piece of cloth, which is often folded to make a triangle, but can also be triangular in shape. Other shapes include oblong shawls.


title: Shawl

text: The words "shawl" and "pashmina" come from Kashmir, the northern region of the Indian subcontinent. Sources report cashmere crafts were introduced by Sayeed Ali Hamadani who was an Iranian scholar when he came to Kashmir in the 14th century. He found that the Ladakhi Kashmiri goats produced soft wool. He took some of this goat wool and made socks which he gave as a gift to the king of Kashmir, Sultan Qutbuddin. Afterwards, Hamadani suggested to the king that they start a shawl weaving industry in Kashmir using this wool. That is how pashmina shawls began. The United Nations agency UNESCO reported in 2014 that Ali Hamadani was one of the principal historical figures who shaped the culture of Kashmir, both architecturally and through the flourishing of arts and crafts, and hence economy, in Kashmir. The skills and knowledge that he brought to Kashmir gave rise to an entire industry.


title: Shawl

text: Kashmir was a pivotal point through which the wealth, knowledge, and products of ancient India passed to the world. Perhaps the most widely known woven textiles are the famed Kashmir shawls. The "Kanikar", for instance, has intricately woven designs that are formalized imitations of Nature. The "Chinar" leaf (plane tree leaf), "apple and cherry blossoms", the "rose and tulip", the "almond and pear", the "nightingale"—these are done in deep mellow tones of maroon, dark red, gold yellow and browns. Yet another type of Kashmir shawl is the "Jamia Vr", which is a brocaded woollen fabric sometimes in pure wool and sometimes with a little cotton added.


title: Shawl

text: The floral design appears in a heavy, close embroidery-like weave in dull silk or soft "pashmina" (Persian, meaning "woolen"), and usually comprises small or large flowers delicately sprayed and combined; some shawls have net-like patterns with floral ensemble motifs in them. Still another type of Kashmir shawl is the double-sided "Dourukha" (Persian, meaning "having two faces"), a woven shawl that is so done as to produce the same effect on both sides. This is a unique piece of craftsmanship, in which a multi-coloured schematic pattern is woven all over the surface, and after the shawl is completed, the "rafugar" (expert embroiderer) works the outlines of the motifs in darker shades to bring into relief the beauty of design. This attractive mode of craftsmanship not only produces a shawl which is reversible because of the perfect workmanship on both sides, but it combines the crafts of both weaving and embroidery and religious beliefs expressed in different shawls.


title: Shawl

text: The most expensive shawls, called shahtoosh, are made from the under-fleece of the Tibetan antelope or Chiru. These shawls are so fine that even a very tightly woven shawl can be easily pulled through a small finger ring.


title: Shawl

text: The "naksha", a Persian device like the Jacquard loom invented centuries later, enabled Indian weavers to create sinuous floral patterns and creeper designs in brocade to rival any painted by a brush. The Kashmir shawl that evolved from this expertise in its heyday had greater fame than any other Indian textile. Always a luxury commodity, the intricate, tapestry-woven, fine wool shawl had become a fashionable wrap for the ladies of the English and French elite by the 18th century. Supply fell short of demand and manufacturers pressed to produce more, created convincing embroidered versions of the woven shawls that could be produced in half the time. As early as 1803, Kashmiri needlework production was established to increase and hasten output of these shawls, which had been imitated in England since 1784 and even in France. By 1870, the advent of the "Jacquard" loom in Europe destroyed the exclusivity of the original Kashmir shawl, which began to be produced in Paisley, Scotland. Even the characteristic Kashmiri motif, the "mango-shape", began to be known simply as the "paisley".


title: Shawl

text: The paisley motif is so ubiquitous to Indian fabrics that it is hard to realize that it is only about 250 years old. It evolved from 1600s floral and tree-of-life designs that were created in expensive, tapestry-woven Mughal textiles. The design in India originated from Persian motif called "butta-jeghgha" which represents a stylized cypress tree, the symbol of Iranians. Early designs depicted single plants with large flowers and thin wavy stems, small leaves and roots. As the designs became denser over time, more flowers and leaves were compacted within the shape of the tree, or issuing from vases or a pair of leaves. By the late 18th century, the archetypal curved point at the top of an elliptical outline had evolved. The elaborate paisley created on Kashmir shawls became the vogue in Europe for over a century, and it was imitations of these shawls woven in factories at Paisley, Scotland, that gave it the name "paisley" still commonly used in the United States and Europe. In the late 18th century and 19th century, the paisley became an important motif in a wide range of Indian textiles, perhaps because it was associated with the Mughal court. It also caught the attention of poorer and non-Muslim Indians because it resembles a mango. Cashmere Shawl is an evergreen shawl in all over india and in the world. "Rural Indians called an "aam" or mango a symbol of fertility".


title: Shawl

text: Shawls were also part of the traditional male costume in Kashmir. They were woven in extremely fine woollen twill, some such as the Orenburg shawl, were even said to be as fine as the Shatoosh. They could be in one colour only, woven in different colours (called "tilikar"), ornately woven or embroidered (called "ameli").


title: Shawl

text: Kashmiri shawls were high-fashion garments in Western Europe in the early- to mid-19th century. Paisley shawls, imitation Kashmiri shawls woven in Paisley, Renfrewshire, are the origin of the name of the traditional paisley pattern. Shawls were also manufactured in the city of Norwich, Norfolk from the late 18th century (and some two decades before Paisley) until about the 1870s.


title: Shawl

text: Silk shawls with fringes, made in China, were available by the first decade of the 19th century. Ones with embroidery and fringes were available in Europe and the Americas by 1820. These were called "China crêpe shawls" or "China shawls", and in Spain "mantones de Manila" because they were shipped to Spain from China via the port of Manila. The importance of these shawls in fashionable women's wardrobes declined between 1865 and 1870 in Western culture. However, they became part of folk dress in a number of places including Germany, the Near East, various parts of Latin America, and Spain where they became a part of Romani ("gitana") dress especially in Andalusia and Madrid. These embroidered items were revived in the 1920s under the name of Spanish shawls. Their use as part of the costume of the lead in the opera "Carmen" contributed to the association of the shawls with Spain rather than China.


title: Shawl

text: Some cultures incorporate shawls of various types into their national folk dress, mainly because the relatively unstructured shawls were much more commonly used in earlier times.


title: Shawl

text: Shawls are used in order to keep warm, to complement a costume, and for symbolic reasons. One famous type of shawl is the tallit, worn by Jewish men during prayers and ceremonies. In Christianity, women have used shawls as a headcovering. In addition to these aforementioned religious uses of shawls, they are worn for added warmth (and fashion) at outdoor or indoor evening affairs, where the temperature is warm enough for men in suits, but not for women in dresses and where a jacket might be inappropriate.


title: Shawl

text: The Kashmir shawl is a type of shawl distinctive for its Kashmiri weave, and traditionally made of "shahtoosh" or "pashmina" wool. Known for its warmth, light weight and characteristic buta design, the Kashmir shawl was originally used by Mughal royalty and nobility. In the late 18th century, it arrived in Europe, where its use by Queen Victoria and Empress Joséphine popularised it as a symbol of exotic luxury and status. It became a toponym for the Kashmir region itself (as cashmere), inspiring mass-produced imitation industries in India and Europe, and popularising the buta, today known as the Paisley motif.


title: Shawl

text: "The shawls made in Kashmir occupy a pre-eminent place among textile products; and it is to them and to their imitations from Western looms that specific importance attaches. The Kashmir shawl is characterized by the elaboration of its design, in which the "cone" pattern is a prominent feature, and by the glowing harmony, brilliance, depth, and enduring qualities of its colours. The basis of these excellences is found in the very fine, soft, short, flossy under-wool, called pashm or pashmina, found on the shawl-goat, a variety of "Capra hircus" inhabiting the elevated regions of Tibet. There are several varieties of pashm, but the finest is a strict monopoly of the maharaja of Kashmir. Inferior pashm and Kerman wool — a fine soft Persian sheep's wool — are used for shawl weaving at Amritsar and other places in the Punjab, where colonies of Kashmiri weavers are established. Of shawls, apart from shape and pattern, there are only two principal classes: (1) loom-woven shawls called tiliwalla, tilikar or kani kar — sometimes woven in one piece, but more often in small segments which are sewn together with such precision that the sewing is quite imperceptible; and (2) embroidered shawls — amlikar — in which over a ground of plain pashmina is worked by needle a minute and elaborate pattern." from "Encyclopaedia Britannica", 1911


title: Shawl

text: The majority of the woollen fabrics of Kashmir, and particularly the best quality shawls, were and are still made of "Pashm" or "Pashmina", which is the wool of "Capra hircus", a species of the wild Asian mountain goat. Hence the shawls came to be called Pashmina. The fine fleece used for the shawls is that which grows under the rough, woolly, outer coat of the animal; that from the under-belly, which is shed on the approach of hot weather. Materials of an inferior grade were of the wool of the wild Himalayan mountain sheep or the Himalayan ibex. However, the best fleece wool is soft, silky and warm is of the wild goats, and painstakingly gathered from shrubs and rough rocks against which the animals rub off their fleece on the approach of summer. This was undoubtedly the soft fleece wool from which were made the famous and much coveted 'ring shawls' in Mughal times. Unfortunately very inferior and second rate wool taken from domesticated sheep and goats provide most of the wool used today on the looms of Kashmir.


title: Shawl

text: The needle-worked "Amlikar" or "Amli", made from Pashmina wool is a shawl embroidered almost all over with the needle on a plain woven ground. The colours most commonly seen on pashmina shawls are yellow, white, black, blue, green, purple, crimson and scarlet. The design motifs are usually formalised imitations of nature like the leaf, flower and tree designs mentioned above; they are always done in rich colours.


title: Shawl

text: The embroidery stitch employed is rather like the parallel darning stitch and is rarely allowed to penetrate the entire fabric.


title: Shawl

text: The outlines of the design are further touched up and emphasized with silk or woollen thread of different colours run round the finer details; the stitch used for this is at an angle overlapping darn stitch, all the stitches used are so minute and fine that individually they can be seen with the unaided eye only with difficulty. When Pashmina wool is used for the embroidery work, it is made to blend so intimately with the texture of the basic shawl material that it would be difficult to insert even a fine needle between the embroidery stitches and the basic fabric.


title: Shawl

text: The Emperor Akbar was a great admirer of the shawls of Kashmir. It was he who began the fashion of wearing them in duplicate, sewn back to back, so that the under surfaces of the shawls were never seen. During that time the most desired shawls were those worked in gold and silver thread or shawls with border ornamented with fringes of gold, silver and silk thread.


title: Shawl

text: The "Do-shala", as the name designates ("two-shawl"), are always sold in pairs, there being many varieties of them. In the "Khali-matan" the central field is quite plain and without any ornamentation. The "Char-bagan" is made up of four pieces in different colours neatly joined together; the central fluid of the shawl is embellished with a medallion of flowers. However, when the field is ornamented with flowers in the four corners we have the Kunj.


title: Shawl

text: Perhaps the most characteristic of the Kashmir shawls is the one made like patchwork. The patterns are woven on the looms in long strips, about twelve to eighteen inches in length and from one half to two inches in width. These design strips, made on very simple and primitive looms, are then cut to the required lengths and very neatly and expertly hand sewn together with almost invisible stitches and finally joined by sewing to a plain central field piece. As a variation, pieces may be separately woven, cut up in various shapes of differing sizes and expertly sewn together and then further elaborated with embroidery. But there is a difference between these two types: while the patchwork loom shawls are made up from separate narrow strips, the patchwork embroidered shawls consists of a certain number of irregularly shaped pieces joined together, each one balancing the predominant colour scheme of the shawl.


title: Shawl

text: The basic material for a "gubba" is milled blanket dyed in plain colour. Embroidery is bold and vivid in designing and done with woollen or cotton threads. Gubbas have more of a folk flavour blankets cut and patched into geometric patterns, with limited, embroidery on joining and open space. It is more like appliqué work. Colours are bright and attractive. They are cheap and used for "dewan" covering or as floor covering—"namdas".


title: Shawl

text: Triangular knit lace shawls are usually knitted from the neck down, and may or may not be shaped. In contrast, Faroese lace shawls are knitted bottom up and contain a centre back gusset. Each shawl consists of two triangular side panels, a trapezoid-shaped back gusset, an edge treatment, and usually also shoulder shaping.


title: Shawl

text: A stole is a woman's shawl, especially a formal shawl of expensive fabric, used around the shoulders over a party dress or ball gown. A stole is narrower than a typical shawl and of simpler construction than a cape; it is a length of a quality material, wrapped and carried about the shoulders or arms. Lighter materials such as silk and chiffon are simply "finished", that is, cropped, hemmed, and bound; heavier materials such as fur and brocade are often lined as well.


title: Shawl

text: A stole can also be a fur or set of furs, usually fox, worn as a stole with a suit or gown; the pelage or skin, of a single animal (head included) is generally used with street dress while for formal wear a finished length of fur using the skins of more than one animal is used; the word stole stands alone or is used in combination: "fur stole", "mink stole", the namesake of Dreamlander Mink Stole.


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: The Spearfish torpedo (formally Naval Staff Target 7525) is the heavy torpedo used by the submarines of the Royal Navy. It can be guided by wire or by autonomous active or passive sonar, and provides both anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) capability. Spearfish development began in the 1970s, with production starting in 1988, and deployment in 1992. By 2004, the new weapon had completely replaced the older Tigerfish torpedo. It is one of the most advanced torpedoes in the world.


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: The torpedo is driven by a pump-jet coupled to a Hamilton Sundstrand 21TP04 gas turbine engine using Otto fuel II and hydroxyl ammonium perchlorate as oxidiser. The addition of an oxidiser improves the specific energy of the fuel by reducing the fuel-richness of the Otto fuel. The Spearfish, which are capable of travelling at , were designed to catch high-speed, deep-diving Soviet threats such as the .


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: A microprocessor enables the torpedo to make autonomous tactical decisions during the attack. It has a powerful blast warhead, triggered by either contact detonation (against a submarine hull) or an acoustic proximity fuse (for under-keel detonation against ships). A standoff detonation under the keel enhances blast effects against surface ships through the amplification of stress resulting from the interaction of the explosion's products and the flexible structure of the ship.


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: In a typical engagement, Spearfish will run out wire-guided to the general vicinity of the target and then conduct a covert passive search. The high-capacity guide wire system, specifically designed to match the Spearfish's manoeuvre and speed envelope, provides two-way data exchange between the torpedo and launch submarine, maximising the submarine's organic sensor and combat control capabilities.


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: Once at close range the Spearfish uses active sonar to classify and home in on its target. High-power transmissions and sophisticated signal processing enable Spearfish to accurately discriminate targets from background noise and ensure high resistance to acoustic countermeasures and/or evasive manoeuvres.


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: Should Spearfish fail to hit the target on its first attack, it automatically selects an appropriate re-attack mode until it successfully concludes the engagement.


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: Tactical software has been extensively refined through real-time, hardware in the loop simulations and demonstrated in more than 500 in-water trials and exercise firings.


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: The production contract for the Spearfish Torpedo was placed with GEC-Marconi Underwater Systems Ltd (now BAE Systems) in 1983, following a development programme lasting several years. Spearfish entered full production in 1988.


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: The first Spearfish were deployed in 1992, with deliveries completed in 2003; the number ordered has not been revealed. Spearfish torpedoes are stored and serviced at Beith Ordnance Storage facility in North Ayrshire.


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: In 2009, an upgrade programme began, leading to further sophisticated advances in Spearfish's homing, warheads, tactical and fuelling systems, as well as an upgraded guidance link. This will last until 2019.


title: Spearfish torpedo

text: On 15 December 2014, the Ministry of Defence awarded BAE Systems a £270 million contract to upgrade the Spearfish torpedo. The upgrade includes a new insensitive-munition warhead from TDW, a change to the fuel system to improve safety, full digitisation of the weapon and a new fibre optic guidance link to improve performance. The upgraded 'MOD 1' torpedoes will enter service between 2020 and 2024. In February 2021 test fired 3 upgraded 'MOD 1' specification Spearfish torpedoes as part of their final testing before entry into service with the Royal Navy.


title: Badami

text: Badami, formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from CE 540 to 757. It is famous for its rock cut monuments such as the Badami cave temples, as well as the structural temples such as the Bhutanatha temples, Badami Shivalaya and Jambulingesvara Temple, Badami|Jambulingesvara temple. It is located in a ravine at the foot of a rugged, red sandstone outcrop that surrounds Agastya lake. Badami has been selected as one of the heritage cities for HRIDAY - Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of Government of India.<br>


title: Badami

text: In the local tradition, the Badami town is linked to the Agasthya legend of the epics. In the Mahabharata, sage Agastya is described in the epic as a sage with enormous powers of ingestion and digestion. To kill men, asura Vatapi used to become a goat and his brother Ilvala would cook him. Then, Vatapi would recollect in the stomach and tear himself out from the inside of the victim, killing the victim. When Agastya arrives, Ilvala offers the goat again. He kills Vatapi by digesting the meal as soon as he ate, giving Vatapi no time to self organize. Agastya thus kills the demons Vatapi and Ilvala. This legend is believed to have played out near Badami, and thus the name Vatapi or Agasthya lake.


title: Badami

text: Badami Chalukyas was founded in CE 540 by Pulakeshin I (CE 535–566), an early ruler of the Chalukyas is generally regarded as the founder of the Early Chalukya line. An inscription record of this king engraved on a boulder in Badami records the fortification of the hill above "Vatapi" in 544. Pulakeshin's choice of this location for his capital was likely dedicated by strategic considerations since Badami is protected on three sides by rugged sandstone cliffs. His sons Kirtivarman I (CE 567–598) and his brother Mangalesha (CE 598–610) constructed the cave temples. The Agastya lake (formerly Vatapi lake) is a man-made lake, a water infrastructure completed in the 7th-century, likely as a strategic source of water for the capital and around which many Hindu temples were constructed.


title: Badami

text: Kirtivarman I strengthened Vatapi and had three sons Pulakeshin II, Vishnuvardhana and Buddhavarasa, who at his death were minors. Kirtivarman I's brother Mangalesha ruled the kingdom, mentioned in the Mahakuta Pillar inscription. In 610 CE, the famous Pulakeshin II came to power and ruled between CE 610 to 642. Vatapi was the capital of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled much of Karnataka, Maharashtra, parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh between the 6th and 8th centuries.


title: Badami

text: Under the Badami Chalukyas, Badami emerged as one of the Malprabha valley region center of arts – a cradle of Hindu and Jain temple architecture schools. Both Dravida and Nagara styles of temples are found in Badami, along with those in Aihole, Pattadakal and Mahakuta. Many of the temples in Badami, such as the Eastern Bhutanatha group and the Jambulingesvara temple, were built between the 6th and 8th-century. They are key to understanding the development of temple architecture and arts, as well as the Karnata tradition of arts around the mid 1st-millennium CE. These sites also contain many increasingly sophisticated temples and arts from the Rashtrakutas and Later Chalukyas, such as the Northern Bhutanatha group of temples and the Yellamma Temple, completed through the early 13th-century. Thereafter, states George Michell, this region was ravaged and temples ruined by conquering armies of the Delhi Sultanate. Badami and other sites in the Malprabha region were fought over by the Hindu kings of the Vijayanagara Empire and the Islamic Sultans of Deccan region. The Vijayanagara kings commissioned expanded fort walls in Badami and elsewhere. Many ruins, the fort and some well preserved temples in high hillocks survive and attest to the rich heritage of Badami and nearby sites from these centuries. The Muslim rule that followed the Vijayanagara period added to the heritage. This is attested by two monuments here. One is the Markaj Jumma near the entrance of the cave temples and structural temples. It has the 18th-century tomb of Abdul Malik Aziz. The other Islamic monument is also of modern era – a "Dargah" of Sayyid Hazrat Badshah near the Upper Shivalaya.


title: Badami

text: Badami has eighteen inscriptions, with important historical information. The first Sanskrit inscription in old Kannada script, on a hillock dates back to 543 CE, from the period of Pulakeshin I (Vallabheswara), the second is the 578 CE cave inscription of Mangalesha in Kannada language and script and the third is the Kappe Arabhatta records, the earliest available Kannada poetry in "tripadi" (three line) metre. one inscription near the Bhuthanatha temple also has inscriptions dating back to the 12th century in Jain rock-cut temple dedicated to the Tirtankara Adinatha.


title: Badami

text: The Badami cave temples were likely fully painted inside by late 6th century CE. Most of these paintings are now lost, except for the mural fragments, bands and faded sections found in Cave 3 (Vaishnava, Hindu) and Cave 4 (Jain). The original murals are most clearly evidenced in Cave 3, where inside the Vishnu temple, there are paintings of secular art as well as murals that depict legends of Shiva and Parvati on the ceiling and in parts less exposed to the natural elements. These are among the earliest known paintings of Hindu legends in India that can be dated.


title: Badami

text: Badami is a predominant place where a part of the story in Tamil language historical fiction novel series Sivagamiyin Sapatham written by Kalki Krishnamurthy takes place.


title: Badami

text: It is a town in the Bagalkot District in Karnataka state, India. It is also headquarters of Badami Taluk in the district.


title: Badami

text: Badami is located at . It has an average elevation of 586 metres (1922 ft). It is located at the mouth of a ravine between two rocky hills and surrounds Agastya tirtha water reservoir on the three other sides. The total area of the town is 10.3 square kilometers.


title: Badami

text: It is located 30 kilometers from Bagalkot, 128 kilometers from Bijapur, 132 kilometers from Hubli, 46 kilometers from Aihole, another ancient town, and 589 kilometers from Bangalore, the state capital.


title: Badami

text: The temperature ranges from minimum 22 degrees to 40 degrees during summer and from 14 to 29 degrees in winter. The average rainfall of the area is around 68 cm (680 mm). Best time to visit is between low humid season from November and March.


title: Badami

text: The climate has made it a safe haven for the monkeys of south India. Tourists often flock to Badami for the opportunity to see monkeys interact in a natural environment.


title: Badami

text: As of 2011 Indian Census, Badami had a total population of 30,943, of which 15,539 were males and 15,404 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 3,877. The total number of literates in Badami was 22,093, which constituted 71.4% of the population with male literacy of 78.1% and female literacy of 64.7%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Badami was 81.6%, of which male literacy rate was 89.7% and female literacy rate was 73.6%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 4,562 and 1,833 respectively. Badami had 6214 households in 2011.


title: Badami

text: , Badami had a population of 25,851. Males constituted 51% of the population and females 49%. Badami had an average literacy rate of 64.8%, comparable to the national average of 65%; with 59% of the males and 41% of females literate. 14% of the population was under 6 years of age.


title: Badami

text: The nearest airport is Hubballi about 105 kilometers away. It is on the Hubli–Solapur rail route, and the rail station is 5 kilometers from the town. It is also connected by road to Hubli and Bijapur. Badami is reachable from Bangalore by a 12-hour bus ride, or by a direct train "Solapur Gol Gumbaz Exp (train no. 16535)" or with a combination of an overnight train journey from Bangalore to Hospet followed by a short bus ride from Hospet to Badami. Another train journey could be from Bangalore to Hubli (8–9 hours) and then a bus ride to Badami (3 hours). Badami is around 110 km from Hubli. Local transport is by auto-rickshaws, and city buses.


title: Badami

text: Badami's red sandstone cliffs are popular amongst local and international climbers. This is great location for free sport climbing and bouldering. The cliffs have horizontal crack systems, similar to Gunks. There are over 150 bolted routes and multiple routes for free climbing. Gerhard Schaar, a German Climber and Pranesh Manchaiah, a local climber from Bangalore, were instrumental in setting up the sport routes driving a project called 'Bolts for Bangalore'. National Rock Climbing center, Manager Rajendra Hasabavi in Banshankari Road by General Thimayya National Academy of Adventure, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports, Govt.of Karnataka is conducting various rock climbing and Adventure Camps for Youth and School Children.


title: Vidya Pradeep

text: Vidya Pradeep (born 13 April 1990) is an Indian actress and scientist. She is currently working as a scientist in the United States. Her films include "Saivam" (2014), "Pasanga 2" (2015), and "Thadam" (2019)


title: Vidya Pradeep

text: After completing her Master of Science degree in Biotechnology, Vidya Pradeep completed her PhD in Stem Cell Biology at an eye hospital in Chennai. She works on ocular stem cells, and her works are published in "International Journal of Cornea" and "International Journal of Cell Therapy".


title: Vidya Pradeep

text: She practiced Bharatanatyam during her childhood. While pursuing her PhD, Vidya worked as a model and appeared in several print and television advertisements. Vidya says that her break in to the world of Ads and movies were accidental. She also appeared in the music video for A. R. Rahman's "Aa Bhi Jaa" from his studio album Raunaq alongside Yami Gautam and several other models. Vidya was signed to play a role in a film by Lohithadas, but the film didn't materialise. She was subsequently signed to play a supporting role in "Aval Peyar Thamizharasi" (2010) and debuted under the name Dhyana. Her next film was "Virunthali" (2010), where she played the heroine. She was spotted by director A. L. Vijay, who cast her in his successful family drama film, "Saivam" (2014) to portray Sara Arjun's mother. For the film, she reverted to her original name and put on weight to portray a middle-aged woman. The film and the ensemble cast won positive reviews for its portrayal of a family. She then featured in the action drama, "Adhibar" (2015) as the lead actress opposite Jeevan. Pradeep then worked on Pandiraj's "Pasanga 2" (2015) portraying the mother of a small child. Critics noted that Pradeep added "solidity to the film by coming up with a credible performance" and that she did "commendably well". She worked on the psychological thriller "Onnume Puriyala" (2016), which made the headlines for becoming the first Tamil film to be remade in German, and played a cameo in "Achamindri" (2016).


title: Vidya Pradeep

text: Pradeep made her debut in Kannada with "Bangara s/o Bangarada Manushya" (2017) opposite Shivarajkumar, and the film opened to very positive reviews. Vidya was highly appreciated by the critics for her acting skills and screen presence. The New Indian Express noted that "Vidya Pradeep doesn’t stay a glam doll instead proves her talent in acting when called for", while the Deccan Herald says that it is a "fortuitous debut for Vidya Pradeep". In March 2019, she appeared in "Thadam" with Arun Vijay. "Times of India" said "Vidya's performance stands out" and "The Indian Express" stated that "Vidya Pradeep needs a special mention and manages to hold your attention undivided right through as Malar".


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to United States President Barack Obama (b. 1961) for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award on October 9, 2009, citing Obama's promotion of nuclear nonproliferation and a "new climate" in international relations fostered by Obama, especially in reaching out to the Muslim world.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: The Nobel Committee's decision drew mixed reactions from US commentators and editorial writers across the political spectrum, as well as from the rest of the world.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Obama accepted the prize in Oslo on December 10, 2009. In a 36-minute speech, he discussed the tensions between war and peace and the idea of a "just war" saying, "perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Obama is the fourth President of the United States to have won the Nobel Peace Prize (after Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter, with Carter's honor happening after leaving office).


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: The winner is selected by the Nobel Committee from nominations submitted by committee members and others. Nominations for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize closed just 11 days after Obama took office. There were 205 nominations for the 2009 award, which included Chinese and Afghan civil rights activists and African politicians. Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba, Afghanistan's Sima Samar, Chinese dissident Hu Jia and Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Morgan Tsvangirai had been speculated to be favorites for the award.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: The five members of the Nobel Committee are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament to roughly reflect the party makeup of that body. The 2009 Committee comprised two members of the Norwegian Labour Party, one from the left-wing Socialist Left Party, one from the Conservative Party of Norway and one from the right-wing Progress Party. The chairman of the committee was Thorbjørn Jagland, former Norwegian Labour Party prime minister and Secretary General of the Council of Europe since September 29, 2009. The panel met six or seven times in 2009, beginning several weeks after the February 1 nomination deadline. The winner was chosen unanimously on October 5, but was initially opposed by the Socialist Left, Conservative and Progress Party members until strongly persuaded by Jagland.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Jagland said "We have not given the prize for what may happen in the future. We are awarding Obama for what he has done in the past year. And we are hoping this may contribute a little bit for what he is trying to do," noting that he hoped the award would assist Obama's foreign policy efforts. Jagland said the committee was influenced by a speech Obama gave about Islam in Cairo in June 2009, the president's efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation and climate change, and Obama's support for using established international bodies such as the United Nations to pursue foreign policy goals. "The New York Times" reported that Jagland shrugged off the question of whether "the committee feared being labeled naïve for accepting a young politician's promises at face value", stating that "no one could deny that 'the international climate' had suddenly improved, and that Mr. Obama was the main reason... We want to embrace the message that he stands for."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Obama was the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, after Theodore Roosevelt (1906) and Woodrow Wilson (1919)—both of whom received the award during their terms—and Jimmy Carter (2002), who received the award 21 years after leaving office. In addition, then-sitting Vice President Charles Dawes was a co-winner with Austen Chamberlain (1925), and former Vice President Al Gore was a co-winner with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007)


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Obama was the first U.S. president to receive the award during his first year in office (at eight and a half months, after being nominated less than two weeks in office), although several other world leaders were awarded in the year following their election to national office, including Óscar Arias (1987) and Aung San Suu Kyi (1991).


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Obama said he was "surprised" and "deeply humbled" by the award. In remarks given at the White House Rose Garden on the day of the announcement, Obama stated, "I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: "Throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes," Obama said. "And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action — a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century." He said those common challenges included the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons (which he said might not occur in his lifetime), nuclear proliferation, climate change, tolerance "among people of different faiths and races and religions", peace between and security for Israelis and Palestinians, better social conditions for the world's poor, including "the ability to get an education and make a decent living; the security that you won't have to live in fear of disease or violence without hope for the future." The United States, he said, is "a country that's responsible for ending a war and working in another theater to confront a ruthless adversary that directly threatens the American people and our allies."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: The award, he said, "must be shared with everyone who strives for justice and dignity — for the young woman who marches silently in the streets on behalf of her right to be heard even in the face of beatings and bullets; for the leader imprisoned in her own home because she refuses to abandon her commitment to democracy [referring to Aung San Suu Kyi]; for the soldier who sacrificed through tour after tour of duty on behalf of someone half a world away; and for all those men and women across the world who sacrifice their safety and their freedom and sometime their lives for the cause of peace." He did not take questions from reporters after giving his statement.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Obama announced early that he would donate the full 10 million Swedish kronor (about US$1.4 million) monetary award to charity. The largest donations were given to the housing charity Fisher House Foundation who received $250,000, and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund which received $200,000. Eight organizations which support education also received a donation. $125,000 was donated to the College Summit, the Posse Foundation, the United Negro College Fund, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the Appalachian Leadership and Education Foundation, and the American Indian College Fund. $100,000 was donated to Africare, and the Central Asia Institute.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Obama's winning of the peace prize was largely unanticipated and called a "stunning surprise" by "The New York Times", though major oddsmaker Centrebet had in fact put him at 7–1 odds of winning, with Piedad Córdoba and Sima Samar at 6–1 and Morgan Tsvangirai at 7–1.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: In a "USA Today" / Gallup Poll conducted October 16–19, 61% of American adults polled responded that they thought Obama did not deserve to win the prize, while 34% responded that he did; when asked if they were personally glad that Obama won the award, 46% of respondents said they were and 47% said they were not glad (poll margin of error +/–3%).


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: There was widespread criticism of the Nobel Committee's decision from commentators and editorial writers across the political spectrum. "The New York Times" published a mildly-supportive editorial which said the prize was "a (barely) implicit condemnation of Mr. Bush's presidency. But countering the ill will Mr. Bush created around the world is one of Mr. Obama's great achievements in less than nine months in office. Mr. Obama's willingness to respect and work with other nations is another." It said that much remains to be done. Among those agreeing that the award was a criticism of the Bush administration were the editorial pages of the "Los Angeles Times", "The Wall Street Journal", and "The Washington Post", as well as Thomas L. Friedman of "The New York Times". Jonah Goldberg of the "National Review" said that "surely someone in Iran—or maybe the Iranian protestors generally—could have benefitted more from receiving the prize" while in "CounterPunch", political journalist Alexander Cockburn said that, in historical context of other former U.S. Presidents winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the award to Obama "represents a radical break in tradition, since he's only had slightly less than nine months to discharge his imperial duties". Peter Beinart of the "Daily Beast" called the decision a "farce", while Noam Chomsky said: "In defense of the committee, we might say that the achievement of doing nothing to advance peace places Obama on a considerably higher moral plane than some of the earlier recipients".


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Many were critical of the Nobel Committee. A "Wall Street Journal" editorial, noting Obama's comment that the world's problems "can't be met by any one leader or any one nation", opined, "What this suggests to us—and to the Norwegians—is the end of what has been called 'American exceptionalism'. This is the view that U.S. values have universal application and should be promoted without apology, and defended with military force when necessary. Put in this context, we wonder if most Americans will count this peace-of-the-future prize as a compliment." "The Washington Post" columnist Michael Gerson wrote that the committee members "have forfeited any claim to seriousness. Peace—the kind of peace that keeps people from being killed and oppressed—is an achievement, not a sentiment. ... Intending to honor Obama, the committee has actually embarrassed him." "Commentary" magazine's Peter Wehner wrote that the award, with past awards that seemed aimed at criticizing the Bush administration, showed the Nobel Committee "long ago ceased to be a serious entity; this choice merely confirms that judgment."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: According to "The Washington Post" news analyst Dan Balz, "[E]ven among his supporters there was a sense of surprise and even shock on Friday [the day of the announcement], a belief that the award was premature, a disservice and a potential liability." An editorial in "The Washington Post" began, "It's an odd Nobel Peace Prize that almost makes you embarrassed for the honoree", and compared the Nobel Committee's statement that Obama had "created a new climate in international politics" to a recent satirical skit on television. A "Los Angeles Times" editorial said the committee "didn't just embarrass Obama, it diminished the credibility of the prize itself". Thomas L. Friedman of "The New York Times" wrote, "It dismays me that the most important prize in the world has been devalued in this way". Much of the commentary across the political spectrum involved describing the award as something risible, with the humor focusing on Obama's getting the award without having accomplished much. According to an analysis in "The New York Times", "it ... [is] striking how so many people seemed to greet the Nobel news with shock followed by laughter". On the morning of the announcement, several of "The Washington Post" opinion-page columnists, posting at the newspaper's "Post Partisan" blog, characterized the award as laughable or directly satirized it, including such supportive columnists as Ruth Marcus ("ridiculous—embarrassing, even"), Richard Cohen (who satirized the award), and foreign-affairs columnist David Ignatius ("goofy" and "weird"), and Michael Kinsley (whose satirical response came the next day). Other prominent commentators who often supported Obama but responded with ridicule included Peter Beinart and Ann Althouse.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: James Taranto wrote in "The Wall Street Journal" an article summarising various opinions on the Internet, concluding how the award was embarrassing for Obama. He said the award was a "staggeringly premature honor – the equivalent of a lifetime-achievement Oscar for a child star" and that it "makes yesterday's satire into today's news". Fred Greenstein, presidential historian and author and professor of politics emeritus at Princeton University, told Fox News that giving President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is a "premature canonization" and an "embarrassment to the Nobel process". "Slate" magazine blogger Mickey Kaus, "The New York Times" columnist David Brooks and former U.N. ambassador John Bolton amongst others, called for Obama to not accept the award; pundit Michael Crowley argued that it was a "mixed blessing".


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Subsequent to the award many Americans now consider that Obama did not deserve it in the light of following events. Opponents of the award cite the expansion of the War on Terror and the large increase in the number of drone strikes carried out under Obama, specifically in Pakistan. There have been a number of calls for Obama to either return the award or to have the Nobel Committee recall it, most recently in 2013. In April 2013 a petition was begun asking the Nobel Committee to rescind the Peace Prize. The petition garnered 10,000 signatures in its first day and nearly 20,000 by the end of its first week.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Nobel laureate and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore called the award "extremely well deserved". Obama received congratulations and kind words from other elected officials, such as from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former rival, Senator John McCain, who said, "As Americans, we're proud when our president receives an award of that prestigious category". RNC chairman Michael Steele discussed his disapproval of the award in a fund-raising letter, writing, "the Democrats and their international leftist allies want America made subservient to the agenda of global redistribution and control."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: In 2015, Geir Lundestad, the non-voting Director of the Nobel Institute and secretary for the Nobel Committee at the time of the award, published a memoir, "Secretary of Peace". In it, he wrote "In hindsight, we could say that the argument of giving Obama a helping hand was only partially correct. Many of Obama's supporters believed it was a mistake." Lundestad said that Obama had been surprised by the award, and considered not going to Oslo to accept it. He also said in his memoir that Obama had since failed to live up to the Nobel Committee's expectations.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: A poll conducted by Synovate for the newspaper "Dagbladet" showed that 43% of the Norwegian population believed giving Obama the prize was right, while 38% believed it was wrong. 19% had no opinion. The poll showed a sharp divide between younger and older people; of those over 60 years of age 58% were for and only 31% against it. Of those between 18 and 29 years of age, only 25% approved of the decision, while 42% disapproved.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: The award divided opinion among politicians. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg congratulated Obama for a "well-deserved prize". Siv Jensen, leader of the opposition Progress Party, said that while Obama had taken several good initiatives the committee should have waited to see their results. Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, also said that the prize came early and increased pressure on Obama to live up to the expectation. Torstein Dahle, the leader of the far leftist party Red, called the award a scandal, citing the fact that Obama was the commander-in-chief of a country at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Several Nobel Laureates commented: Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus (co-winner 2006 prize) said the committee's award was "an endorsement of [Obama] and the direction he is taking". Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the award to Obama "anticipates an even greater contribution towards making our world a safer place for all". Mairead Corrigan (co-winner 1976) expressed her disappointment, stating, "[g]iving this award to the leader of the most militarized country in the world, which has taken the human family against its will to war, will be rightly seen by many people around the world as a reward for his country's aggression and domination." Lech Wałęsa (1983), cofounder of the Solidarity trade union and former president of Poland, said the award was premature. "He has not yet made a real input." The 14th Dalai Lama congratulated Obama.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the Nobel Committee's choice. "We are entering an era of renewed multilateralism ... President Obama embodies the new spirit of dialogue and engagement on the world's biggest problems: climate change, nuclear disarmament and a wide range of peace and security challenges."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: In Europe, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the award would reinforce Obama's determination to work for justice and peace. He added that the award "finally confirms the return of America in the hearts of all the peoples of the world". Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said the award will encourage warmer U.S.–Russian relations, and he hoped it would "serve as an additional incentive" for both governments to foster a better "climate in world politics". British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent a private message of congratulations to President Obama. Hope that the prize would assist Obama's efforts toward nuclear disarmament was also a part of congratulatory statements from Ireland's Taoiseach Brian Cowen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said the Vatican "appreciated" the nomination. Kosovar President Fatmir Sejdiu congratulated Obama by saying, "This award is testimony to your success as a leader of a free country aimed at creating a safer and more peaceful world."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: In Australia, former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said that the selection was "a political decision of gross stupidity", laying the blame on the selection committee for a "hideous display of cynical politics". Stuart Rees, director of the Sydney Peace Foundation in Australia, questioned the award. "Perhaps the Nobel organisation wants to give him a magic wand. I think the guy is full of promise, but I don't think the promise has been realised yet particularly in regards the Middle East."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: In Asia and the Middle East: Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai said that Obama was the "appropriate" person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Siamak Hirai, a spokesman for Karzai, said, "His hard work and his new vision on global relations, his will and efforts for creating friendly and good relations at global level and global peace make him the appropriate recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize". Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the decision was ridiculous, saying, "The Nobel prize for peace? Obama should have won the 'Nobel Prize for escalating violence and killing civilians'." Indonesia's Masdar Mas'udi, deputy head of the Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, praised Obama's policy towards his country as confirmation of his worthiness as a Nobel laureate. "I think it's appropriate because he is the only American president who has reached out to us in peace," he said. "On the issues of race, religion, skin colour, he has an open attitude."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Indian President Pratibha Patil, and Israeli President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres sent congratulatory messages to Obama, but Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters that "the decision was taken hastily and the award was [too] early".


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: In Latin America, former Cuban President Fidel Castro called the award "positive" and said the prize should be seen as a criticism to the "genocidal policy" carried out by past U.S. presidents. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro said the award was a surprise and perhaps premature. "As President Hugo Chávez said at the United Nations, (the Obama administration) is a government that has raised expectations and hopes in many people in the world, amid great contradictions."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: In Africa, the news of the Obama Nobel Peace Prize was positively received. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki issued a statement saying that the prize was a "recognition of the contribution [Obama is] making for the well being of humanity". In South Africa, President Jacob Zuma used "Ubuntu"—the Zulu term for "the importance of community"—in his congratulatory message, saying that the U.S. president's "leadership reflects the true spirit of Ubuntu because your approach celebrates our common humanity." Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who was touted as a possible Nobel laureate, said Obama deserved the honor.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: In 2011, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Russian Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky condemned the award, calling it hypocritical in light of US policy during the Libyan Civil War.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: After the death of Anwar al-Awlaki and his son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki by CIA predator drones in Yemen, Nasser al-Awlaki, the father and grandfather of Anwar and Abdulrahman respectively, released an audio message condemning the killings:


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace prize in person at the Oslo City Hall in Norway on December 10, 2009. In a 36-minute speech, reportedly written by Obama and then edited by Jon Favreau and Ben Rhodes, he discussed the tensions between war and peace and the idea of a "just war". The address contained elements of the ideas of Reinhold Niebuhr, someone Obama once described as one of his favorite philosophers.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: The speech was generally well received by American pundits on both ends of the political spectrum. Several noted similarities between Obama's message and the rhetoric of President George W. Bush. This was also mentioned by former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, who called it a "very American speech" and wrote that "Obama was recognizing that the great commitments and themes of American foreign policy are durably bipartisan". A number of prominent Republican politicians publicly praised the speech, including Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin. Conservative "The New York Times" columnist Ross Douthat called it an oftentimes impressive speech that was "An extended defense of using realist means in the service of liberal internationalist ends". Columnist Andrew Sullivan distinguished between the Obama and Bush messages, stating that "Obama is "far more conservative" than his predecessor" in his views on human imperfection, reality, and war; he also linked the speech back to the tragic nature of Obama's line "the audacity of hope".


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Former Jimmy Carter speechwriter Hendrik Hertzberg said that the speech "will live on for a long time as a text for peacemakers in power". A few commentators were more critical, with former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton calling it "pedestrian, turgid, and uninspired" and US Congressman Dennis Kucinich "Once we are committed to war's instrumentality in pursuit of peace, we begin the Orwellian journey to the semantic netherworld where war is peace..."


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: "The New York Times" praised the eloquence of the speech, noting that "President Obama gave the speech he needed to give, but we suspect not precisely the one the Nobel committee wanted to hear." "The Wall Street Journal" echoed this sentiment and congratulated Obama for defending the occasional necessity of war and for stating that evil exists in the world, though used the same editorial to criticize him for current disarmament talks with Russia and a lack of progress with Iran and North Korea. The "Los Angeles Times" lauded the speech as "a blockbuster even by Obama's lofty standards", and even though the ideas were not new, "Obama's special gift is to make them seem achievable by appealing to our higher nature." It was also received well by columnists in "The Washington Post".


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Abroad, British historian Simon Schama said of the speech that "in its seriousness, bravery and clarity, [it] was on a par with FDR and Churchill" and "summoned the spirit of Cicero".


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: President Obama reduced the number of United States Army soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, but expanded the use of unmanned air-strikes on these countries, as well as Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Libya and Somalia.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: Analysis by the Council on Foreign Relations suggests that the United States Army dropped 79 per cent of all 30,743 coalition bombs in 2016. Obama has been at war for longer than any other president in US history.


title: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

text: The secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Geir Lundestad, said in 2015 that awarding the prize to Obama failed to achieve what the committee hoped it would. "Even many of Obama's supporters believed that the prize was a mistake," he says. "In that sense the committee didn't achieve what it had hoped for."


title: 1978–79 European Cup

text: The 1978–79 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by English champions Nottingham Forest in the final against Swedish side Malmö FF. Forest, enjoying a great run of success under Brian Clough, had defeated defending two-time champions Liverpool in the first round.


title: Terceira Island

text: Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 53,311 inhabitants in an area of approximately . It is the location of the Azores' oldest city, Angra do Heroísmo, the historical capital of the archipelago and UNESCO World Heritage Site; the seat of the judicial system (Supreme Court); and the main Air Force base, Base Aérea nº 4 at Lajes, with a United States Air Force detachment.


title: Terceira Island

text: The island has two main sea ports, one at Angra do Heroísmo and the other at Praia da Vitória, and a commercial airport integrated with the flight operations at Base Aérea nº 4. The Portuguese bullfight is popular on the island, coming in two variations: the traditional equestrian bullfight (in the ring) and the popular "touradas à corda" that occur in the streets.


title: Terceira Island

text: In 1439, the first official discovery document appeared, attributing the discovery of the Formigas to Gonçalo Velho Cabral. There is an indication that Terceira may have been discovered by Vicente de Lagos, Velho Cabral's pilot, on 1 January 1445: the first documents after this period started appearing with a third island in the Azorean archipelago, referred to as the "Ilha de Jesus Cristo" ("Island of Jesus Christ"), and later, "Ilha de Jesus Cristo da Terceira". Gaspar Frutuoso, a chronicler and humanist, would later rationalize about the island's first name, noting that:


title: Terceira Island

text: Regardless, it was only a temporary name, as the colloquial "Terceira" (meaning "third" in Portuguese, as in "the third island" or "third to be discovered") was used more often to describe the island.


title: Terceira Island

text: The colonization of the island began by decree of Infante D. Henrique (dated 21 March 1450), and placed the island in the administrative hands of the Fleming Jácome de Bruges. Its first settler was Fernão d'Ulmo, a Fleming or Frenchman, who later abandoned his plot, for unknown reasons. Bruges, although a Flemish nobleman, continued to bring families and settlers from Flanders, and northern Portuguese adventurers (João Coelho, from Guimarães; João da Ponte, from Aveiro; João Bernardes, from Lagos; João Leonarde, from Vieira; and Gonçalo Anes da Fonseca, from Porto), as well as animals and provisions, disembarking in the area of Porto Judeu or Pesqueiro dos Meninos, near Vila de São Sebastião (depending on sources). Frutuoso also affirmed that:


title: Terceira Island

text: ...that ancient settlers of the island of Terceira, that were the first to settle in a band to the north, where they call Quatro Ribeiras, where now the parish of Santa Beatriz is located, and where the first church existed on the island, but were few settlers remained due to difficult access and bad port.


title: Terceira Island

text: The first settlement occurred in Quatro Ribeiras, in the locality of Portalegre, where a small chapel was raised for the invocation of Santa Ana. Bruges made return trips to Flanders for new settlers to his colony. On one of his trips to Madeira, he conscripted Diogo de Teive and assigned him as his lieutenant and overseer for the island of Terceira. A few years later, Bruges moved his residence to Praia, began construction on the Matriz Church in 1456, and administered the Captaincy of the island from this location (around 1460), until he mysteriously disappeared in 1474, on another of his trips between the colony and the continent. Following his disappearance, the Infanta D. Beatriz, in the name of her son the Infante D. Diogo (who inherited the islands of Terceira and Graciosa following the death D. Fernando, the adopted son of the Infante D. Henrique) divided the island of Terceira into two captaincies: Angra (which was given to João Vaz Corte Real) and Praia (which was given to Álvaro Martins Homem). Apart from the Portuguese and Flemish settlers, colonists from Madeira, many slaves from Africa, new Christians and Jews populated the island at this time, developing new commercial ventures including wheat (exported during the 15th century throughout the empire), sugar-cane, woad (for the dye industry) and woods (principally for the naval construction industries). This development would continue until the end of the 19th century, with the introduction of new products, including tea, tobacco and pineapple.


title: Terceira Island

text: During the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580, the Azores was the only portion of the Portuguese overseas empire to resist the Spanish until the summer of 1583. Philip II of Spain had offered an amnesty if the Azores surrender, but his messenger met with a very hostile reception at Angra do Heroísmo (escaping to São Miguel, which had presented its allegiance to the King of Spain). Following the Battle of Ponta Delgada, where Don Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz defeated the Anglo-French supporters of D. António (the pretender to the Portuguese throne) off the coast of São Miguel, the Marquis concentrated his forces at a less defended beach from Angra do Heroísmo. With a fleet to ninety-six ships and 9,500 men (as well as a garrison of 2,000 on Sao Miguel) the Marquis was able to defeat the forces of D. António after one day's fighting. Although French and English soldiers on the island were allowed to retire unharmed, D. Antonio and a handful of his supporters were lucky to escape with their lives.


title: Terceira Island

text: One year later, the conquest of the Azores was complete after the island of Terceira was reconciled, followed by the seizure of the island of Faial.


title: Terceira Island

text: An English expedition fleet under the Earl of Cumberland in 1589, as part of the Azores Voyage of 1589 into Angra Bay, attacked several harbouring Spanish and Portuguese ships and was able to sink or capture five.


title: Terceira Island

text: With the acclamation of John IV of Portugal, the Azores applauded the restoration of independence from the Iberian Union. This was not lost on the Spanish settlers in Angra do Heroísmo, who had become a privileged class during the Union, and which made it difficult for them to remain after 1640, when Portuguese sovereignty was restored.


title: Terceira Island

text: In 1766, the reorganization of system of Captaincies was undertaken, resulting in one Captain-General, with his seat in Angra do Heroísmo for the Azores.


title: Terceira Island

text: In 1810, a number of journalists and others considered to favor the French, including the industrialist Jácome Ratton, were exiled to the island for a period.


title: Terceira Island

text: Political tension rose in the 1820s between constitutionalists or Liberals, (supporters of the constitutional monarchy installed by King John VI of Portugal) and those who supported absolute monarchy. Having embraced the cause of constitutionalism, the local Terceirenses established a "Junta Provisória" in the name of Queen Maria II of Portugal in 1828. Hostilities broke out at the Battle of Praia da Vitória in 1829. In a decree, issued on 15 March 1830, Angra was named as Portuguese capital by the Terceirenses constitutional forces, who protected and supported exiled Liberals who supported the rights of Queen Maria II of Portugal, whose rights were usurped by the "Miguelistas" (supporters of the absolute monarchy of Miguel I). In 1832, Pedro II (former King and regent of Queen Maria) arrived in the Azores to form a government-in-opposition to the absolutionist regime in Lisbon, presided by the Marques of Palmela, and supported by Azoreans Mouzinho da Silveira and Almeida Garrett that developed many important reforms.


title: Terceira Island

text: On 24 August 2001, Terceira made the news as Air Transat Flight 236 managed to land at Lajes Field after running out of fuel in mid-air.


title: Terceira Island

text: On 16 March 2003, President of the United States George W. Bush, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar and Prime Minister of Portugal José Manuel Barroso met on Terceira to discuss the Invasion of Iraq, which began four days later, on 20 March.


title: Terceira Island

text: Terceira island is an active volcanic island, that is composed of several older extinct volcanoes. The highest point of Terceira is 1021 m, formed by the summit of the dormant Santa Barbara volcano, known as the Serra de Santa Bárbara.


title: Terceira Island

text: The island of Terceira consists of four overlapping stratovolcanoes built over a geologic structure called the Terceira Rift: a triple junction between the Eurasian, African and North American tectonic plates. These volcanic structures rise from a depth of over from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Radiocarbon dating of eruptive units, in support of geologic mapping, has improved the known chronology of Middle to Late Pleistocene and Holocene volcanic activity on the island of Terceira, Azores, defining the east-to-west progression in stratovolcano growth. These have commonly resulted in a classification of the eruptive events into the following structures:


title: Terceira Island

text: Island tectonics are highlighted by two great faults in the northeast corner (the Lajes and the Fontinhas faults), the Lajes Graben has been responsible for severe seismic events. Historically, both faults have produced earthquakes that are relatively shallow, strong and responsible for the destruction of property in the northeastern corner (specifically in 1614 and 1841). During the 1614 event, whose epicenter was located along the Lajes fault offshore, recorded magnitudes for the earthquake were between 5.8 and 6.3 on the Richter scale (Wells and Coppersmith,1994). Both the Lajes and Fontinhas faults are separated by ). A second, less-developed, graben is located on the southeast of the Santa Bárbara stratovolcano. This feature is marked by trachyte domes and crosses from the coast at Ponta do Queimado (from the historical basin of Serreta) to the cliffs, faults, basaltic lava and fissural eruptions near the center of the island.


title: Terceira Island

text: The western part of Terceira Island is more heavily forested than the eastern part, due to the prevailing westerly winds bringing increased precipitation to that side, resulting in forests of Cryptomeria ("Cryptomeria japonica"). Other geomorphological points of interest include the plains of Achada, the mounts near Santa Bárbara, the small lakes of Lagoa das Patas and Lagoa da Falca. The northern coast is an area marked by evidence of volcanic activity with several mistérios (lava fields), the swimming pools of Biscoitos, while the centre of the island is highlighted by the Algar do Carvão and Furnas do Enxofre (dormant and active volcanic forms) that are popular with tourists and geologists. Most of the island is ringed by coastal cliffs about 20 m (60 ft) high, except on the south coast near Angra do Heroísmo. Here, an eruption of basaltic lava in shallow water formed the tuff cone of Monte Brasil, which protects and shelters the harbor of the island's capital. The cone is about in diameter and rises above the western side of the harbor.


title: Terceira Island

text: Away from the coast, Terceira is a wild and hilly landscape with many walking and hiking trails. Much of the interior of the island is a nature reserve; from the heights of the Serra do Cume to the slopes of Santa Bárbara, there are several paths along the patchwork of small farms, stonewalls and forests.


title: Terceira Island

text: Much like other islands of the Azores, human settlement was dictated by the geomorphology of the terrain. The number of volcanic cones and the stratovolcanos that occupy the major part of the interior of the island, forced most communities along the coastal lowlands and river-valleys, producing a "ring" of urbanization that circles the island, usually following the Regional Road network. These communities began as agricultural enclaves, based on subsistence farming and a patchwork of hedged parcels of land. The nuclei of these communities were the religious parishes, and the churches that dot the landscape of the island.


title: Terceira Island

text: Administratively, Terceira is divided (along an irregular diagonal frontier from north-northwest to south-southeast) into two municipalities: Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória. The municipality of Angra do Heroísmo is in the southern half of the island, and includes the historical town of Angra, its suburban communities and many of the coastal resort communities (such as Porto Martins). Praia da Vitória is highly concentrated in the north-northeast corner of the island, along an axis between Cabo do Porto and Lajes. It is generally considered the industrialized center of the island, and is the location of one of the two main commercial ports, the international airport and many of the associated businesses associated with the Air Force base. Apart from the uninhabited areas at the center of the island, the northwestern and portions of the western coast are sparsely populated, apart from small agglomerations of homes along the roadways. Within the municipal framework, communities are subdivided into local civil parishes (19 in Angra do Heroismo and 11 in Praia da Vitória), and managed by the executive (that includes a President and cabinet) and the civil committee (with its chairperson and assembly) of the Junta Freguesia.


title: Terceira Island

text: Angra do Heroísmo, the historical capital of the Azores, is the oldest city in the archipelago, dating back to 1534. Owing to the importance of the historical center in the "maritime explorations of the 15th and 16th centuries", UNESCO declared the historical center as a World Heritage Site. This was, in part, due to the fact that, as a link between the New World and Europe, Vasco de Gama, in 1499, and Pedro de Alvarado, in 1536, set up Angra as an obligatory port-of-call for the fleets of equatorial Africa and of the East and West Indies. The classification by UNESCO was based on criteria 4 and 5 that governed the inclusion based on universal historical significance (based on its place in the exploration).


title: Terceira Island

text: The main economic activity on the island is raising of livestock and the production of dairy-based products. The island has two main sea ports, one at Angra do Heroísmo and the other at Praia da Vitória, and a commercial airport integrated with the flight operations at Base Aérea nº 4 (in the community of Lajes).


title: Terceira Island

text: The Portuguese bullfight is popular on the island, coming in two variations: the traditional equestrian bullfight (in the ring) and the popular "touradas à corda" that occur in the streets.


title: Terceira Island

text: Popular since the 16th century, the ""touradas à corda"" (literally "bullfights-by-rope") are held by local Terceiran villagers from April/May to late September. In these events, similar to the "Running of the Bulls", a bull is let loose from the town's square (or other open space) with a very long rope around its neck. The other end of the rope are held by eight ""pastores"", men dressed in traditional garb (white shirts, grey pants and a black hat), who control the animal from a distance (providing some sense of security). Courageous people then attempt to provoke the animal and get as close to it while avoiding being gored (resulting in the occasional injury or mayhem). Some ""touradas à corda"" also do away with the rope entirely or become semi-aquatic (when the bulls chase the participants off a dock). Following these "games" the animal is eventually retrieved and a festival will begin.


title: Terceira Island

text: In some towns, a Portuguese equestrian bullfight will take place involving a grande procession and participation of men dressed in 16th-century costume: the "pantalones" (the "horsemen"), the "bandarilheiros" (the "horsemen's squires"), the matadores and the widely popular "forcados" (eight men who challenge the bull). A horsemen, usually riding a Lusitanian breed of horse, is the centre of this event: the rider will attempt to wear out the bull, while lancing a dart onto the bull's back. The matadores, in comparison to their Spanish counterparts, play a small role, usually distracting the bull during the event. At the end of each bout/bullfight, the lead "forcado" will challenge the bull to charge, while the remainder of the team follow the leader. The team leader attempts to grab the animal by its horns then, supported by his team, they subdue the bull. Once exhausted, the animal, normally disoriented, barely reacts when the group disperses.


title: Terceira Island

text: One festivity that is celebrated at large on Terceira is Carnaval. Carnaval, or "Entrudo"as it is called on the island, is celebrated in quite a different way than other cultures around the world. The celebration starts on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, when halls around the island open their doors to the public who waits to see the performances.


title: Terceira Island

text: These performances are in the form of dance groups that travel around the island to get on stage and show the work that they put in for the people to enjoy. These dances are a way of showing bravado and magnificence in the form of popular theater. It is essentially a way of entering Lent, the idea behind "entrudo".


title: Terceira Island

text: There are different kinds of dances, and they come from the ideas of those who create these different groups. Basically, every dance brings their unique outfits, music, songs as well as a play. The celebration of Carnaval in Terceira ends on the Tuesday before Lent. The tradition is so important within this society that those who have emigrated brought the custom along with them. This can be seen in areas such as Northeastern United States, California and Canada.


title: Terceira Island

text: Carnaval in Terceira is celebrated between the Saturday and Tuesday stated above, but in reality the planning that is required for this all to occur can take all year. The clothing that groups wear have intricate designs and the songs and plays created just for this day demand much time. There is also a time before Carnaval in which the elderly of the island have their performances in a tradition called "Danças da Terceira Idade". These are essentially dances created specifically for the elderly to partake in a tradition that they had a hand in upholding.


title: Terceira Island

text: Though the Azores are generally socially conservative, of all the islands, Terceira is known for having the most open gay male community.


title: Planchette

text: A planchette ( or ), from the French for "little plank", is a small, usually heart-shaped flat piece of wood equipped with two wheeled casters and a pencil-holding aperture pointing downwards, used to facilitate automatic writing. The use of planchettes to produce mysterious written messages gave rise to the belief that the devices foster communication with spirits as a form of mediumship. The devices were popular in séances during the Victorian era, before their eventual evolution into the simpler, non-writing pointing devices for ouija boards that eclipsed the popularity of their original form. Scientists explain the motion is due to the ideomotor effect, but paranormal advocates believe the planchette is moved by the presence of spirits or some form of subtle energy.


title: Planchette

text: Planchettes took on a variety of forms during the height of their popularity. American planchettes were traditionally heart- or shield-shaped, but manufacturers produced a wide range of shapes and sizes hoping to distinguish themselves in the highly competitive and profitable market of the devices' late-1860s heyday. Manufacturers espoused the wonders and benefits of different materials (including various hardwoods, India rubber, and even glass), insulated casters, and various attachments meant to "charge" the devices or insulate the user from malevolent spirits. In Great Britain, planchettes took on the classical shapes popularized in early illustrations and newspaper depictions, with round, blunt noses and flat backs. Regardless of their shape or country of origin, almost all planchettes were equipped with brass casters and small wheels of bone or plastic, and their sometimes lavishly illustrated boxes were often packed with blank parchment, pencils, ouija-like folding letter sheets, and esoteric instructions espousing the mysterious communicative powers of the items.


title: Planchette

text: Though planchettes experienced great surges of popularity in Victorian times, in modern usage the term is most commonly associated with the heart-shaped pointers for Ouija or "talking boards." Rather than writing, these devices "dictate" messages by pointing to the board's printed letters and numbers. As writing planchettes were popularized during the beginning of the spiritualist movement of the mid-19th century, planchettes predate the popularization of talking boards by nearly four decades.


title: Planchette

text: Planchettes rose to prominence in the years following the establishment of spiritualism in America, which began with the purported spirit communications of the Fox Sisters in 1848 and the resulting popularity of supernatural-themed parlor games, séances, and experiments in mediumship and table-turning. Participants in these events would experience strange movements of tables, and communicate with spirits that indicated their messages through a series of coded negative or affirmative knocks. In other instances, sitters received more complicated messages of spelled-out words and phrases by transcribing letters indicated by the knocks or raps as the participants called out the alphabet into the empty air. Believers in these spirit communications soon began to experiment with refining and expediting various forms of communication, including pointing to letters printed on alphabet cards, automatic writing, direct channeling, and other methods.


title: Planchette

text: In the winter of 1852–53, the fervor of the Modern Spiritualism movement and spirit communications reached Europe, where the French educator and eventual founder of Spiritism, Allan Kardec recorded the invention of planchettes on 10 June 1853. That night, Kardec witnessed a séance participant propose a more expedient alternative to the laborious processes of alphabet-calling and rapped responses. He secured a pencil to a small upturned basket, allowing multiple participants to cooperatively write out messages from the attending spirits. The idea produced astonishing results, and after some refinements to construct a more sturdy wooden plank, word of the invention spread throughout Paris and into England, where a cottage industry sprang up to produce the devices.


title: Planchette

text: The use of planchettes in Europe became popular enough to attract the attention of the Bishop of Viviers, who railed against their use in a pastoral letter in 1853. Despite their respected status in the growing religion of Spiritualism, planchettes remained a specialized novelty for adherents for the next 15 years, produced only within a small cottage industry or on special request by scientific instrument manufacturers. During this period, they remained popular only among devout séance circles and enthusiastic Spiritualists, who at the time still largely relied on the services of celebrity mediums (such as the Fox Sisters and D.D. Home) to lead spirit communications, rather than using planchettes and other "do-it-yourself" devices. Mediums, seeing their monopoly threatened, often rallied against the devices and warned of the dangers of amateur experimentation.


title: Planchette

text: Planchettes came to America in 1858 when Spiritualist and social reformer Robert Dale Owen and his friend Dr. H.F. Gardner observed the devices in use at séances in Paris, and returned with several of them. Their friend, the Boston bookseller G.W. Cottrell, became the first to manufacture planchettes on a large scale the following year.


title: Planchette

text: In 1867, the British publication Once a Week published a sensational piece on planchettes. The article was reprinted in European and American newspapers, and by 1868 dozens of booksellers and toy manufacturers were producing the items to meet an insatiable demand on both sides of the Atlantic. Kirby & Co., the undisputed kings of planchette manufacturing, claimed to have sold over 200,000 in their first season alone.


title: Planchette

text: Over the years, planchette manufacturers included such established firms as Selchow & Righter, George G. Bussey, Jaques & Son, Chad Valley, and even the great magician and crystal seer Alexander.


title: Planchette

text: Following the commercial introduction of the Ouija board by Charles Kennard's Kennard Novelty Company and acquisition of the talking board patent by his partner Elijah Bond on 1 July 1890, automatic-writing planchettes took a secondary role to the suddenly popular Ouija board and the many imitators its success spawned. Though early press articles had dubbed the Ouija the "new planchette," the patentees were initially quick to differentiate their devices from classic automatic writers by pairing them with paddle-shaped, pencil-less pointers far different in shape from other planchettes of the period. The design changes and focus on the elegantly varnished boards and their clearly stenciled letters arching across their fronts seem to have had the intended effect, and the items were enthusiastically welcomed by the public in much the same way planchettes had experienced their own craze some 23 years previously. From this point on, the pencil-equipped planchettes that had facilitated often-garbled spirit writing for nearly four decades were quickly shoved aside in favor of the cleaner, faster communications of these new "talking boards." Though writing planchettes would enjoy brief revivals in subsequent years as the Ouija's popularity similarly waxed and waned, by the 1930s only British toy companies such as Glevum Games continued to produce true writing planchettes in any worthwhile numbers. By the Ouija revival that followed the Second World War, true writing planchettes were no longer being manufactured in any significant numbers anywhere, having been finally completely taken over by the more popular Ouija as they faded into obscurity.


title: Planchette

text: During the initial craze in the late 1860s, planchettes became the subject of several popular songs sold in sheet music form. In 1868, the C.Y. Fonda sheet music company of Cincinnati published the "Planchette Polka," composed by August La Motte, dedicated to Kirby & Co, which was the dominant planchette manufacturer of the day. Also in 1868, the Lee & Walker sheet music company of Philadelphia debuted the song "Planchette" with words by Elmer Ruan Coates and music by Eastburn. The song includes the chorus "Planchette, planchette, oh! Let me see/What luck you have in store for me!" In 1870, Oliver & Ditson sheet music company of Boston published "Planchette: The Celebrated Comic Song " with words by G.A. Meazie Jr, as popularized by the singer Henry Clay Barnabee. Barnabee described the song as "named after a little pseudo-psychic machine, a fad of the hour".


title: Planchette

text: The 9 July 1892 Volume 103 edition of Punch included a cartoon depicting an impish devil pushing a planchette toward a prediction of the next Derby winner, claiming the device would "put an end to all speculation."


title: Planchette

text: The 25 March 1907 edition of the Washington Post famously depicted President Teddy Roosevelt as a scribbling planchette in their satirical "Political Planchette Board" cartoon. The illustration depicts Roosevelt's struggle between Independent Democracy on one hand, and Progressive Republicans on the other. Roosevelt's planchette form is writing out "Victory" over the two factions with the planchette's pencil.


title: Planchette

text: Use of a planchette is featured in the 1948 novel No Highway by Nevil Shute, where the written message obtained by automatic writing provides the information necessary to locate of the tail plane of a crashed aircraft.


title: Planchette

text: In The Haunting of Hill House, a 1959 novel by Shirley Jackson, Mrs. Montague uses a planchette in an attempt to communicate with spirits in Hill House, while Mr. Montague and the original group disagree with her charlatanic methods.


title: Planchette

text: Artist Frederick Sands depicted the planchette in use in his watercolor "La Planchette" in the 1960s.


title: Planchette

text: Drag queen Sharon Needles wore a "Mystic Hand" planchette on her forehead as a fashion statement when she was crowned "America's Next Drag Superstar" on RuPaul's Drag Race, April 2012. Ms. Needles has confirmed on her Facebook wall that the planchette was a 1940s original, not a modern reproduction. The wooden planchette was manufactured c. 1940 by the Haskell Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago, Illinois, and was sold with a version of a Ouija board called the "Hasko Mystic Board."


title: Planchette

text: In August 2012, the Baltimore Museum of Industry hosted the first-of-its-kind retrospective ouija board exhibit. The exhibit featured two rare planchette specimens to represent the early evolution of talking boards, including a Selchow & Righter "Scientific Planchette" and a G.W. Cottrell "Boston Planchette."


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: The pink fairy armadillo ("Chlamyphorus truncatus") or pichiciego is the smallest species of armadillo (mammals of the families Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae, recognized by a bony armor shell), first described by Richard Harlan in 1825. This solitary, desert-adapted animal is endemic to central Argentina and can be found inhabiting sandy plains, dunes, and scrubby grasslands.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: Pink fairy armadillos have small eyes, silky yellowish white fur, and a flexible dorsal shell that is attached to its body solely by a thin dorsal membrane. In addition, its spatula-shaped tail protrudes from a vertical plate at the blunt rear of its shell. This creature exhibits nocturnal and solitary habits and has a diet that is mainly composed of insects, worms, snails, and various plant parts.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: The conservation status for pink fairy armadillo is still uncertain, and it is listed as Data Deficient by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The decline in population for this species has generally been attributed to farming activities and predators including domestic dogs and cats. Pink fairy armadillos are found less commonly than they were a few decades ago, and the field sightings have been rare and incidental.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: Individuals caught in the wild had a tendency to die during or a couple days after transport from their natural habitat to captive facilities. There is a sole record for the longevity of a pink fairy armadillo that was held in captivity more than four years; however, that particular case lacks scientific description.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: Armadillos' evolutionary distinctiveness, combined with their restricted geographic range, ongoing threats, and rarity, make conservation extremely urgent for these species.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: At present, fairy armadillos have the least molecular data available within the armadillo family. This genus includes only two living species of fairy armadillo: "Chlamyphorus truncatus" (pink fairy armadillo) and "Chlamyphorus retusus" (chacoan or greater fairy armadillo). These two species are morphologically similar: both have notably reduced eyes and reinforced forearms that support enlarged digging claws.They are also one of few mammals that do not have external ears visible. Both species are specialized to subterranean lifestyle which was developed in their ancestral lineage sometime between 32 and 17 Mya.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: Both species have allopatric distributions; both are strictly nocturnal but the details of their ecology and population biology remain unknown. The similarities can be explained either by the presence of a shared common ancestry, which would prove the monophyly of both species, or by the result of adaptive convergence due to extreme selective pressures induced by their lifestyle (which would suggest the diphyletic origin). In 2012 the first theory was proven. The split between these two species was estimated to have occurred around 17 ± 3 Mya, around the transition between Early and Middle Miocene.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: Both species are rare in the field and are fairly elusive, thus phylogenetic affinities of fairy armadillos have been tested only once. As a result of the research conducted in 2009, the idea of respective monophyly of the three previously identified subfamilies Dasypodinae, Euphractinae, and Tolypeutinae (which separated from each other shortly after the Eocene-Oligocene transition) was supported. The Chlamyphorinae subfamily was found to show phylogenetic affinities with the clade Tolypeutinae, which became a significant step to define the previously completely unknown phylogenetic position of this armadillo subfamily within Cingulata. Later, the separation of the fairy armadillo subfamily from their tolypeutine sister-group was estimated to have occurred 32 ± 3 Mya.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: Fairy armadillos are currently classified within the subfamily Euphractinae according to the reference taxonomy by A.L. Gardner (2005). However, there is an opinion that the antiquity and uniqueness of pink fairy armadillos would be best accounted for by retaining the subfamily Chlamyphorinae.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: Pink fairy armadillos are nocturnal burrowing mammals endemic to the xeric environment in central Argentina. They have been found south of Mendoza province as well as north of Rio Negro and south of Buenos Aires. This narrow range contains a unique and crucial habitat for the pink fairy armadillo. It lives in scrubby grasslands that display a variety of thin "Larrea" and "Portulaca" shrubs during spring and summer periods. It also resides in sandy plains and dunes.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: The Mendoza region has both warm and cold seasons, and likewise, a wet and dry season. These varying average temperatures are the subject for the armadillo to adapt to. An average high during the warm season is approximately 26.6 °C (80 °F) and the cold season might only have a high of 15.5 °C (60 °F) with an average low of 2.2 °C (36 °F).


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: The pink fairy armadillo is classified as a subterranean armadillo that is extremely sensitive to environmental changes and stress. As an example, sudden environmental changes that could affect pink fairy armadillos include temperature and soil quality. In order for them to survive and maintain stability, they must occupy undisturbed places that contain sufficient amounts of compact sand and hiding places. This also refers to possible captivity conditions for this animal due to its desert-adapted characteristics.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: The pink fairy armadillo is classified as a fossorial generalist insectivore. Ants and larvae are its main food source while underground. While those are its primary sources of food, the armadillos are known to also eat worms, snails, and various insects. If these insects and invertebrates cannot be found, plant leaves and roots make a good secondary dietary option for their underground lifestyle. In captivity, this animal was observed to be willingly accept such foods as watermelon, avocado shells with avocado flesh, and Mazuri Insectivore Diet.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: The pink fairy armadillo is long, and typically weighs about . This species is the smallest living armadillo and is among the least known.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: Its fine hair has been found to be beneficial for thermoregulation in an environment with highly variable temperatures. Night temperatures in Argentinian plains can get very low, and since the armadillo is nocturnal it needs the fur to conserve heat while it is being active outside its burrow.


title: Pink fairy armadillo

text: Armadillos are well known for leathery shells covering the majority of the dorsal side. The pink fairy armadillo has this characteristic as well, but its shell is much softer and more flexible. Though the shell is close enough to the body for blood vessels to be seen through the armor, this protective part of the animal is only attached via a thin membrane along the spinal column of the animal.