title: AMX-50

text: The hull was equipped with a torsion bar suspension designed to ensure a vehicle with good cross-country mobility. The hull and suspension recalled both the German Tiger and the Panther tanks which, having entered French service after the war, were well known and deliberately imitated. Especially the engine deck, the sprockets and the tracks are strongly reminiscent of the German design style. The nine overlapping tyred road wheels each side, were however much smaller. The French engineers had not been aware at first that the much admired German overlapping design had been motivated by a shortage of high quality rubber, necessitating large road wheels to lower tyre tension, which then were made overlapping to better distribute the load pressure. As France would have no trouble obtaining rubber of the desired quality, this feature was superfluous. Therefore the road wheels were made smaller, compared to the first design proposal, both to save weight and lower the profile of the tank, which was quite high due to a deep hull, a problem only changed in the fifth prototype. The track now had to be supported by five top rollers. The overlapping system as such was maintained in all prototypes; with smaller wheels it allowed for nine instead of the originally planned eight wheels, five forming the outer, four the inner row.


title: AMX-50

text: The engine and transmission system was in the rear of the vehicle with rear drive sprockets. The transmission was derived from the ZF of the Panther. The functions of final drive and steering were combined in a single assembly; for each gear two turning radii could be selected. The engine was the Maybach HL295 12-cylinder of 29.5 litres, using fuel injection combined with spark ignition. The project goal was to bring the engine output to 1200 hp, implying a very favourable hp/litre ratio of over forty. This proved to be unrealistically ambitious, given the level of technological development at the time; in reality not even a ratio of thirty was reliably attained. The German mission considered this an embarrassing failure, best forgotten.


title: AMX-50

text: The hull sides were vertical, as in the case of the Tiger, while the front of the hull was in the first three prototypes evenly inclined at approximately 40 degrees from the horizontal, using sloped armour similar to that of the Panther and Tiger II. The corners between the glacis and the sides were truncated. The first two prototypes had a frontal protection level equivalent to about 120 mm "line-of-sight" thickness in the horizontal plane. The type was thus not particularly heavily armoured for its time. The armour was intended to provide protection against high-velocity guns in general use at the end of the Second World War. The weight increase with the third prototype was mainly caused by the larger turret and even in its fourth "uparmoured" form, doubling the frontal armour thickness, the AMX 50 was less well protected than its American and British competitors, themselves inferior in armour to the Soviet heavy tanks they had been created to fight. The fifth prototype used a lower cast hull, with a rounded frontal section for a better weight efficiency.


title: AMX-50

text: Above the massive hull, there was the oscillating turret, smaller, lighter and more compact than that of the Tiger; the sloped face of the upper part had a thickness of 85 mm. In the turret rear back there was the commander's cupola, well equipped with optical equipment. The turret had an optical rangefinder. The first two prototypes had twin 7.5 mm Reibel machine guns placed on top of the roof as an AA-weapon, a third was coaxial. In the first design proposal for a 120 mm version, the conventional turret had a high cupola armed with both a machine gun and a 20 mm MG 151 rapid fire cannon. However the third and fourth "120 mm" oscillating turret prototypes had a single 7.5 mm AA machine gun and a second 7.5 mm coaxial machine gun. For the production vehicles it was considered to install a coaxial 20 mm gun; lighter armoured targets could then be engaged without depleting the limited ammunition stock in the turret magazines. Despite the auto-loader, the crew was four: a second man was seated in the hull, functioning as radio-operator, but mainly needed to replenish the turret magazines, holding nine rounds each, from the hull ammunition stocks.


title: AMX-50

text: The AMX 50, as originally planned, would have been a medium rather than a heavy tank, France being the first of the tank-producing nations to abandon the heavy tank class. It was supposed to be light, well armed and above all mobile. When the first two prototypes were made, low weight had already been sacrificed in favour of a high protection level, but it was still supposed to be a quite agile vehicle, in the 45 - 50 tonne weight class, with a hp/tonne ratio of over twenty. Expectations were high: as General Molinié recounted to express his irony, it was hoped to create a tank with the protection of the Panther, the firepower of the Tiger, the mobility and abundance of the T-34, the reliability of the M4 Sherman and all that weighing less than the M26 Pershing. At that time France hoped to regain its position as a Great Power; rebuilding its armaments industry served this goal. To build a powerful indigenous tank was however not merely a question of national prestige. Europe as a whole was trying to recover from the devastations caused by the war and to assert a modicum of independence towards the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR. To this end in 1948 the Treaty of Brussels was signed, which among other things was also a common defence agreement. The AMX 50, superior in armament and mobility to the existing American and British designs, was seen as the logical candidate for a common European tank, to equip the future armies of the Western European Union defence organisation. The prototypes were proudly displayed during the 1950 Bastille Day parade. The project was only an independent development in the technological sense: it was hoped that the Americans would fund such a tank, as the financial position of the European states would not allow them to rearm.


title: AMX-50

text: That same year, the situation changed suddenly and fundamentally due to the outbreak of the Korean War. Quickly the USA recommenced medium tank mass production, of the new M47 Patton. When this tank proved to be unsatisfactory, an even more advanced type was taken into production for the American forces, the M48 Patton. Thousands of superfluous M47s were leased for free to the European allies, France included. The AMX 50 was suddenly made redundant as a medium tank, despite a "100 mm" prototype being sent in 1952 to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds for testing, proving successful.


title: AMX-50

text: To save the project, a new role was found in the Soviet heavy tank threat. In the early 1950s, NATO tacticians were worried by the strong armour of the Soviet vehicles, that seemed to be immune to the guns of the existing Western types. In response Britain would develop the Conqueror and the USA the M103 heavy tank; abandoning the SOMUA SM, it was decided to let the AMX 50 evolve into a comparable type, even though other French heavy tank projects were in progress, such as the "Char de 70 tonnes", a sort of "AMX 70". Already having a large chassis, the AMX 50 could in principle easily be adapted to carry the desired 120 mm gun — a derivation by the "Atelier du Havre" of the American gun, using the same ammunition — and had the advantage of a very powerful engine. In practice there were many obstacles. Room could in fact only be found by increasing the height of the lower turret half, negating the advantages of the oscillating concept and creating a dangerous shot trap. The "uparmoured" version, with its deeper hull and flatter turret, was specially designed to counter this and make the vehicle immune in long range fire engagements, but further increased weight. In 1955 the AMX 50 was nevertheless very close to being ordered by the French government, that expected to produce the type for the reconstituted German Army also. A production was planned of a hundred for 1956. This decision had to be delayed however, due to the fact the engine problems had not been solved: reliability could only be assured if the output was limited to 850 hp, causing a mediocre hp/tonne ratio of about 13:1.


title: AMX-50

text: The delay proved fatal to the project. In the late 1950s, swift advances in hollow charge technology made heavy tanks increasingly vulnerable. Mobility thus gained a priority over protection and the very concept of a heavy tank became obsolete. As a result the project was changed again in intention, now trying to present itself as an agile main battle tank, with the same gun as the Conqueror but much lighter and more powerful. This failed as it was much too large and expensive; oscillating turrets also became unpopular as they were inherently difficult to protect against nuclear and chemical contamination. The engine problems with the Maybach were never overcome and lowering the hull to save weight, as was done for the final prototype, made it impossible to install a larger engine. Recognizing that the problem of combining excellent mobility with heavy armour was for the time being irresolvable, the AMX 50 project was terminated in 1959; the priority given to mobility demanded a new design concept, leading to the AMX 30, the lightest MBT of its time. Only in the early 1980s would France again attempt to combine heavy armour and armament in its tank designs, beginning with the later AMX 32 prototypes. The AMX 50 would for France not be a complete waste of time and effort however, as much technological knowledge had been gained from which the AMX 30 would profit. E.g. the range finder of the AMX 50 was also used by the AMX 30.


title: AMX-50

text: In the Musée des Blindés at Saumur an AMX 50 is shown, a combination of the last cast hull and the "Tourelle D".


title: Kaiser roll

text: The Kaiser roll ("Emperor roll", ), also called a Vienna roll (; as made by hand also: , ), or a hard roll, is a typically crusty round bread roll, originally from Austria. It is made from white flour, yeast, malt, water and salt, with the top side usually divided in a symmetric pattern of five segments, separated by curved superficial cuts radiating from the centre outward or folded in a series of overlapping lobes resembling a crown. The crisp is a traditional Austrian food officially approved by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.


title: Kaiser roll

text: Kaiser rolls have existed in a recognizable form since at least 1760. They are thought to have been named to honor Emperor () Franz Joseph I of Austria (born 1830, reigned 1848–1916). In the 18th century a law fixed retail prices of (bread rolls) in the Habsburg monarchy. Allegedly, the name came into general use after the bakers' guild sent a delegation in 1789 to Emperor Joseph II ( 1741, 1765–1790) and convinced him to deregulate the price of bread rolls.


title: Kaiser roll

text: With its monarchical connotation, Kaiser rolls stood out against common rolls known as ("mouth rolls") or ("cobbler's rolls"). They are traditionally found in Austria, but have also become popular in other countries of the former Austrian Habsburg Empire, such as the Galicia region in Poland and later the whole country (where it is known as ), Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia (), Hungary (), the Czech Republic (císařská žemle, císařská houska, kaiserka) and Slovakia (), as well as in Germany, the United States, and Canada. During Austrian rule in Lombardy, Italian bakers produced a hollow version known as or .


title: Kaiser roll

text: There are multiple variants of the common roll, differing in size, type of flour used, and toppings. While traditionally plain, Kaiser-style rolls are today found topped with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax, or sunflower seeds. The Kaiser roll is a main part of a typical Austrian breakfast, usually served with butter and jam. It is often used as a bun for such popular sandwiches as hamburgers in America, and with a slice of in Germany and Austria, though sliced and pickled gherkins (), or a type of () are also used. A variation called a kümmelweck (alternatively spelled "kimmelweck" or "kummelweck") is topped with kosher salt and caraway, and in the United States is an essential component of a Buffalo-area specialty, the beef on weck sandwich.


title: Kaiser roll

text: In much of eastern New York State — New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley and the Adirondacks — and throughout New Jersey and Connecticut, Kaiser rolls are known as "hard rolls" or, rolls, and are staples of delicatessen and convenience stores.


title: Kaiser roll

text: The Wisconsin variety of "hard roll", which was formed over the decades by the bakeries of Sheboygan to be paired with the local specialty of bratwurst (either in a long single bun or circular "double brat" roll), features a fluffy consistency on the inside with a crust on the crown of the bun, though most of the steps and some ingredients in the creation of Sheboygan hard rolls are proprietary, and can vary by each bakery's own recipe.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Akiva ben Yosef (Mishnaic Hebrew: "ʿĂqīvāʾ ben Yōsēf"; – 28 September 135 CE), also known as Rabbi Akiva (), was a leading Jewish scholar and sage, a "tanna" of the latter part of the first century and the beginning of the second century. Rabbi Akiva was a leading contributor to the "Mishnah" and to Midrash halakha. He is referred to in the Talmud as "Rosh la-Hakhamim" "Chief of the Sages". He was executed by the Romans in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Akiva ben Yosef (written "aqívā" in the Babylonian Talmud and "aqívāh" in the Jerusalem Talmud), born , was of humble parentage. According to some sources, he was descended from converts to Judaism.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: When Akiva married the daughter of Ben Kalba Sabua, a wealthy citizen of Jerusalem, Akiva was an uneducated shepherd employed by Ben Kalba Sabua. His wife's first name is not provided in earlier sources, but a later version of the tradition gives it as Rachel. She stood loyally by her husband during the period of his late initiation into rabbinic studies after he was 40 years of age. and in which Akiva dedicated himself to the study of Torah.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: A different tradition narrates that at the age of 40, Akiva attended the academy of his native town, Lod, presided over by Eliezer ben Hurcanus. Hurcanus was a neighbour of Yosef, the father of Akiva. The fact that Eliezer was his first teacher, and the only one whom Akiva later designates as "rabbi", is of importance in settling the date of Akiva's birth. These legends set the beginning of his years of study at about 75–80.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Besides Eliezer, Akiva studied under Joshua ben Hananiah and Nachum Ish Gamzu. He was on equal footing with Gamaliel II, whom he met later. Rabbi Tarfon was considered as one of Akiva's masters, but the pupil outranked his teacher and he became one of Akiva's greatest admirers. Akiva remained in Lod as long as Eliezer dwelt there, and then moved his own school to Beneberak. Akiva also lived for some time at Ziphron, modern Zafran near Hamath.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: According to the Talmud, Akiva was a shepherd for Ben Kalba Sabu'a when the latter's daughter noticed his modesty and fine character traits. She offered to marry him if he would agree to begin studying Torah, as at the time he was 40 years old and illiterate. When her father found out she was secretly betrothed to an unlearned man, he was furious. He drove his daughter out of his house, swearing that he would never help her while Akiva remained her husband. Akiva and his wife lived in such poverty that they used straw for their bed. The Talmud relates that once Elijah the prophet assumed the guise of a poor man and came to their door to beg some straw for a bed for his wife after she had given birth. When Akiva and his wife saw that there were people even poorer than they, Rachel said to him, "Go, and become a scholar".


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: By agreement with his wife, Akiva spent twelve years away from home, pursuing his studies. He would make a living by cutting wood from the forest, selling half for his wife's and children's wellbeing, and using the other half for keeping a fire burning at night to keep himself warm and to provide light thereby for his own studies. Returning at the end of twelve years accompanied by 12,000 disciples, on the point of entering his home he overheard his wife say to a neighbour who was critical of his long absence: "If I had my wish, he should stay another twelve years at the academy." Without crossing the threshold, Akiva went back to the academy. He returned twelve years later escorted by 24,000 disciples. When his wife went out to greet him, some of his students, not knowing who she was, sought to restrain her. But Akiva exclaimed, "Let her alone; for what is mine and yours, is hers" (she deserves the credit for our Torah study). Not knowing who he was, Ben Kalba Sabu'a also approached Akiva and asked him for help annulling his vow to disown his daughter and her husband. Akiva asked him, "Would you have made your vow if you had known that he would become a great scholar?" Ben Kalba Sabu'a replied, "Had I known that he would learn even one chapter or one single halakha, [I would not have made the vow]". Akiva said to him, "I am that man". Ben Kalba Sabu'a fell at Akiva's feet and gave him half his wealth.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: According to another source, Akiva saw that at some future time he would take in marriage the wife of Turnus Rufus (his executioner, also known as Quintus Tineius Rufus) after she converted to Judaism, for which reason he spat on the ground (for having come from a fetid drop), smiled (at her conversion) and wept (at such beauty eventually rotting in the dust after death). The motive behind this marriage is not given.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: The greatest tannaim of the middle of the second century came from Akiva's school, notably Rabbi Meir, Judah bar Ilai, Simeon bar Yochai, Jose ben Halafta, Eleazar ben Shammai, and Rabbi Nehemiah. Besides these, Akiva had many disciples whose names have not been handed down, but the "Aggadah" variously gives their number as 12,000, 24,000 and 48,000.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Akiva is reported to have had a rabbinic relationship with Rabban Gamaliel dated to before their trip to Rome. Convinced of the necessity of a central authority for Judaism, Akiva became a devoted adherent and friend of Rabban Gamaliel, who aimed at constituting the patriarch the true spiritual chief of the Jews. However, Akiva was just as firmly convinced that the power of the patriarch must be limited both by the written and the oral law, the interpretation of which lay in the hands of the learned; and he was accordingly brave enough to act in ritual matters in Rabban Gamaliel's own house contrary to the decisions of Rabban Gamaliel himself. Akiva filled the office of an overseer of the poor. Various rabbinic texts testify to his personal qualities, such as benevolence and kindness toward the sick and needy.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: In 95–96, Akiva was in Rome, and some time before 110 he was in Nehardea. During his travels, it is probable that he visited other places having important Jewish communities.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Akiva allegedly took part in the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136, but his role here cannot be historically determined. The only established fact concerning Akiva's connection with Bar Kochba is that he regarded Bar Kochba as the promised Messiah; this is the only evidence of active participation by Akiva in the revolution. Some modern scholars argue that Akiva's thousands of students died fighting for Bar Kochba, but this opinion was first formulated by Nachman Krochmal around 200 years ago and has no earlier source. A "baraita" states that Akiva suffered martyrdom on account of his transgression of Hadrian's edicts against the practice and the teaching of the Jewish religion, being sentenced to die by Turnus Rufus in Caesarea. As this story credits the execution to religious rather than political reasons, it may be evidence against Akiva's having a role in the revolt. Akiva's death occurred after several years of imprisonment, which places it at about 132, before the suppression of the Bar Kochba revolution; otherwise the delay of the Romans in executing him would be quite inexplicable. That the religious interdicts of Hadrian preceded the overthrow of Bar Kochba is shown by the Mekhilta.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Jewish sources relate that he was subjected to combing, a Roman torture in which the victim's skin was flayed with iron combs.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: The death of Akiva is usually rendered as some redacted form of three separate versions of the circumstances. Each version shares the same basic plot-points: Akiva defies the Roman prohibition on teaching Torah, the consul Turnus Rufus orders his execution, Akiva is flayed alive, and his final words are the Shema prayer.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: The most common version of Akiva's death is that the Roman government ordered him to stop teaching Torah, on pain of death, and that he refused. When Turnus Rufus, as he is called in Jewish sources, ordered Akiva's execution, Akiva is said to have recited his prayers calmly, though suffering agonies; and when Rufus asked him whether he was a sorcerer, since he felt no pain, Akiva replied, "I am no sorcerer; but I rejoice at the opportunity now given to me to love my God 'with all my life,' seeing that I have hitherto been able to love Him only 'with all my means' and 'with all my might,'" and began reciting the Shema, with the word "Echad", "[G-d is] One!", he expired.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: The version in the Babylonian Talmud tells it as a response of Akiva to his students, who asked him how he could yet offer prayers to God. He says to them, "All my life I was worried about the verse, 'with all your soul' (and the sages expounded this to signify), even if He takes away your soul. And I said to myself, when will I ever be able to fulfil this command? And now that I am finally able to fulfil it, I should not?" Then he said the Shema, he extended the final word "Echad" ("One") until his life expired with that word. A heavenly voice went out and announced: "Blessed are you, Rabbi Akiva, that your life expired with "Echad"".


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Another legend is that Elijah bore the body by night to Caesarea. The night, however, was as bright as the finest summer's day. When they arrived, Elijah and Joshua entered a cavern that contained a bed, table, chair, and lamp, and deposited Akiva's body there. No sooner had they left it than the cavern closed of its own accord, so that no one has found it since. Rebbe Akiva's modern day tomb is located in Tiberias. Annually, on the night of Lag BaOmer, Boston Chassidim and local residents gather at the tomb of Rebbe Akiva to light a bonfire, a tradition reinstated by the Bostoner Rebbe in 1983.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: A tannaitic tradition mentions that of the four who entered paradise, Akiva was the only one that returned unscathed. This serves at least to show how strong in later ages was the recollection of Akiva's philosophical speculation.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Akiva's ontology is based upon the principle that man was created בצלם, that is, not in the image of God—which would be בצלם אלהים—but after an image, after a primordial type; or, philosophically speaking, after an Idea—what Philo calls in agreement with Judean theology, "the first heavenly man" (see Adam ḳadmon). Strict monotheist that Akiva was, he protested against any comparison of God with the angels, and declared the plain interpretation of כאחד ממנו as meaning "like one of us" to be arrant blasphemy. It is quite instructive to read how a Christian of Akiva's generation, Justin Martyr, calls the literal interpretation—thus objected to by Akiva—a "Jewish heretical one". In his earnest endeavours to insist as strongly as possible upon the incomparable nature of God, Akiva indeed lowers the angels somewhat to the realms of mortals, and (alluding to Psalms 78:25) maintains that manna is the actual food of the angels. This view of Akiva's, in spite of the energetic protests of his colleague Rabbi Ishmael, became the one generally accepted by his contemporaries.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: From his views as to the relation between God and man, he deduces that a murderer is to be considered as committing the crime against the divine archetype (דמות) of man. Similarly, he recognizes as the chief and greatest principle of Judaism the command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." He does not, indeed, maintain thereby that the execution of this command is equivalent to the performance of the whole Law; and in one of his polemic interpretations of Scripture he protests strongly against a contrary opinion allegedly held by Christians, and other non-Jews since the diaspora, according to which Judaism is at best "simply morality." For, in spite of his philosophy, Akiva was an extremely strict and national Jew.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: But he is far from representing strict justice as the only attribute of God: in agreement with the ancient Israel theology of the מדת הדין, "the attribute of justice", and מדת הרחמים, "the attribute of mercy," he teaches that God combines goodness and mercy with strict justice. Hence his maxim, referred to above, "God rules the world in mercy, but according to the preponderance of good or bad in human acts."


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: As to the question concerning the frequent sufferings of the pious and the prosperity of the wicked—truly a burning one in Akiva's time—this is answered by the explanation that the pious are punished in this life for their few sins, in order that in the next they may receive only reward; while the wicked obtain in this world all the recompense for the little good they have done, and in the next world will receive only punishment for their misdeeds. Consistent as Akiva always was, his ethics and his views of justice were only the strict consequences of his philosophical system. Justice as an attribute of God must also be exemplary for man. "No mercy in [civil] justice!" is his basic principle in the doctrine concerning law, and he does not conceal his opinion that the action of the Jews in taking the spoil of the Egyptians is to be condemned.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Akiva was instrumental in drawing up the canon of the Tanakh. He protested strongly against the canonicity of certain of the Apocrypha, the Wisdom of Sirach, for instance, in which passages קורא is to be explained according to Kiddushin 49a, and חיצונים according to its Aramaic equivalent ברייתא; so that Akiva's utterance reads, "He who reads aloud in the synagogue from books not belonging to the canon as if they were canonical," etc. But he was not opposed to a private reading of the Apocrypha, as is evident from the fact that he himself makes frequent use of Sirach. Akiva stoutly defended, however, the canonicity of the Song of Songs, and Esther. Grätz's statements respecting Akiva's attitude toward the canonicity of the Song of Songs were viewed as misconceptions by I.H. Weiss.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Aquila, meanwhile, was a disciple of Akiva and, under Akiva's guidance, gave the Greek-speaking Jews a rabbinical Bible. Akiva probably also provided for a revised text of the Targums; certainly, for the essential base of the Targum Onkelos, which in matters of Halakah reflects Akiva's opinions completely.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Akiva worked in the domain of the Halakha, both in the systematization of its traditional material and in its further development. The condition of the Halakha, that is, of religious praxis, and indeed of Judaism in general, was a very precarious one at the turn of the 1st century of the common era. The lack of any systematized collection of the accumulated halachot rendered impossible any presentation of them in form suitable for practical purposes. Means for the theoretical study of the halachah were also scant; both logic and exegesis—the two props of the Halakha—being differently conceived by the various ruling tannaim, and differently taught. According to a tradition (which has historical confirmation), it was Akiva who systematized and arranged the "mishna" (the halakhic codex); the "midrash" (the exegesis of the halachah), and the "halachot" (the logical amplification of the halachah). The Mishna of Akiva, as his pupil Rabbi Meir had taken it from him, became the basis of the Six Orders of the Mishna.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: The "δευτερώσεις τοῦ καλουμένου Ραββὶ Ακιβά" ("Mishnah of the one called "Rabbi Akiva"") mentioned by Epiphanius, as well as the "great Mishnayot of Akiva", are probably not to be understood as independent Mishnayot (δευτερώσεις) existing at that time, but as the teachings and opinions of Akiva contained in the officially recognized Mishnayot and Midrashim. At the same time, it is fair to consider the Mishnah of Judah ha-Nasi (called simply "the Mishnah"), as well as the majority of all halakhic Midrashim now extant, as derived from the school of Akiva.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: According to Johanan bar Nappaḥa (199–279), "Our Mishnah comes directly from Rabbi Meir, the Tosefta from R. Nehemiah, the Sifra from R. Judah, and the Sifre from R. Simon; but they all took Akiva for a model in their works and followed him." One recognizes here the threefold division of the halakhic material that emanated from Akiva: (1) The codified halakhah (i.e. Mishnah); (2) the Tosefta, which in its original form contains a concise logical argument for the Mishnah, somewhat like the "Lebush" of Mordecai Jafe on the Shulchan Aruch; (3) the halakhic Midrash.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: The following halakhic Midrashim originating in Akiva's school: the Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon on Exodus; Sifra on Leviticus; Sifre Zuṭṭa on Numbers; and the Sifre to Deuteronomy, the halakhic portion of which belongs to Akiva's school.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Admirable as is the systematization of the Halakha by Akiva, his hermeneutics and halakhic exegesis—which form the foundation of all Talmudic learning—surpassed it.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: The enormous difference between the Halakha before and after Akiva may be briefly described as follows: The old halakha was (as its name indicates) the religious practice sanctioned as binding by tradition, to which were added extensions and (in some cases) limitations of the Torah, arrived at by strict logical deduction. The opposition offered by the Sadducees (which became especially strenuous in the first century BC) led to the development the halakhic midrash, whose purpose was to deduce these amplifications of the Law, by tradition and logic, out of the Law itself.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: It might be thought that with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem—which event made an end of Sadduceeism—the halakhic Midrash would also have disappeared, seeing that the Halakha could now dispense with the Midrash. This probably would have been the case had not Akiva created his own Midrash, by means of which he was able "to discover things that were even unknown to Moses." Akiva made the accumulated treasure of the oral law—which until his time was only a subject of knowledge, and not a science—an inexhaustible mine from which, by the means he provided, new treasures might be continually extracted.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: If the older Halakha is to be considered as the product of the internal struggle between Phariseeism and Sadduceeism, the Halacha of Akiva must be conceived as the result of an external contest between Judaism on the one hand and Hellenism and Hellenistic Christianity on the other. Akiva no doubt perceived that the intellectual bond uniting the Jews—far from being allowed to disappear with the destruction of the Jewish state—must be made to draw them closer together than before. He pondered also the nature of that bond. The Bible could never again fill the place alone; for the Christians also regarded it as a divine revelation. Still less could dogma serve the purpose, for dogmas were always repellent to rabbinical Judaism, whose very essence is development and the susceptibility to development. Mention has already been made of the fact that Akiva was the creator of a rabbinical Bible version elaborated with the aid of his pupil, Aquila (though this is traditionally debated), and designed to become the common property of all Jews.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: But this was not sufficient to obviate all threatening danger. It was to be feared that the Jews, by their facility in accommodating themselves to surrounding —even then a marked characteristic—might become entangled in the net of Grecian philosophy, and even in that of Gnosticism. The example of his colleagues and friends, Elisha ben Abuyah, Ben Azzai, and Ben Zoma strengthened him still more in his conviction of the necessity of providing some counterpoise to the intellectual influence of the non-Jewish world.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Akiva sought to apply the system of isolation followed by the Pharisees (פרושים = those who "separate" themselves) to doctrine as they did to practice, to the intellectual life as they did to that of daily discourse, and he succeeded in furnishing a firm foundation for his system. As the fundamental principle of his system, Akiva enunciates his conviction that the mode of expression used by the Torah is quite different from that of every other book. In the language of the Torah nothing is mere form; everything is essence. It has nothing superfluous; not a word, not a syllable, not even a letter. Every peculiarity of diction, every particle, every sign, is to be considered as of higher importance, as having a wider relation and as being of deeper meaning than it seems to have. Like Philo, who saw in the Hebrew construction of the infinitive with the finite form of the same verb and in certain particles (adverbs, prepositions, etc.) some deep reference to philosophical and ethical doctrines, Akiva perceived in them indications of many important ceremonial laws, legal statutes, and ethical teachings.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: He thus gave the Jewish mind not only a new field for its own employment, but, convinced both of the immutability of Holy Scripture and of the necessity for development in Judaism, he succeeded in reconciling these two apparently hopeless opposites by means of his remarkable method. The following two illustrations will serve to make this clear:


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: His hermeneutics frequently put him at odds with the letter of the law, as particularly demonstrated by his attitude toward the Samaritans. He considered friendly intercourse with these semi-Jews as desirable on political as well as on religious grounds, and he permitted—in opposition to tradition—not only eating their bread, but also eventual intermarriage. This is quite remarkable, seeing that in matrimonial legislation he went so far as to declare every forbidden union as absolutely void and the offspring as illegitimate. For similar reasons, Akiva comes near abolishing the Biblical ordinance of "Kil'ayim"; nearly every chapter in the treatise of that name contains a mitigation by Akiva.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Love for the Holy Land, which he as a genuine nationalist frequently and warmly expressed, was so powerful with him that he would have exempted agriculture from much of the rigour of the Law. These examples will suffice to justify the opinion that Akiva was the man to whom Judaism owes pre-eminently its activity and its capacity for development.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: When Moses ascended into heaven, he saw God occupied in making little crowns for the letters of the Torah. Upon his inquiry as to what these might be for, he received the answer, "There will come a man, named Akiva ben Yosef, who will deduce halakhot from every little curve and crown of the letters of the Law." Moses' request to be allowed to see this man was granted; but he became much dismayed as he listened to Akiva's teaching; for he could not understand it. However, Moses' spirit was revived when a student asked Akiva the source of a law, and Akiva replied "A law to Moses at Sinai". When Moses asks God what the pious Akiva's reward will be, he is shown the aftermath of his execution. Horrified, Moses demands God explain His actions, at which point God commands Moses to be silent and respect His judgement. This story gives a picture of Akiva's activity as the father of Talmudic Judaism.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Tinnius Rufus asked: "Which is the more beautiful—God's work or man's?" Akiva replied: "Undoubtedly man's work is the better, for while nature at God's command supplies us only with the raw material, human skill enables us to elaborate the same according to the requirements of art and good taste." Rufus had hoped to drive Akiva into a corner by his strange question; for he expected quite a different answer and intended to compel Akiva to admit the wickedness of circumcision. He then put the question, "Why has God not made man just as He wanted him to be?" Akiva had an answer ready: "For the very reason, the duty of man is to perfect himself."


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: The aggadah explains how Akiva, in the prime of life, commenced his rabbinical studies. Legendary allusion to this change in Akiva's life is made in two slightly varying forms. Likely the older of the two goes as follows: "Akiva, noticing a stone at a well that had been hollowed out by drippings from the buckets, said: If these drippings can, by continuous action, penetrate this solid stone, how much more can the persistent word of God penetrate the pliant, fleshly human heart, if that word but be presented with patient insistency."


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Akiva taught thousands of students: on one occasion, twenty-four thousand students of his died in a plague. His five main students were Judah bar Ilai, Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Eleazar ben Shammua, Jose ben Halafta and Shimon bar Yochai.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Once he was called upon to decide between a dark-skinned king and the king's wife; the wife having been accused of infidelity after bearing a white child. Akiva ascertained that the royal chamber was adorned with white marble statuary, and, based on the theory that a child is similar in nature to whatever its parents gazed upon while conceiving the child, he exonerated the queen from suspicion. It is related that, during his stay in Rome, Akiva became intimately acquainted with the Jewish proselyte Ketia bar Shalom, a very influential Roman (according to some scholars identical with Flavius Clemens, Domitian's nephew), who, before his execution for pleading the cause of the Jews, bequeathed to Akiva all his possessions.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: The Talmud enumerates six occasions in which Akiva gained wealth. In one case, his success as a teacher led his wealthy father-in-law Kalba Savua to acknowledge such a distinguished son-in-law and to support him. Another source of his wealth was said to be a large sum of money borrowed from a heathen woman, a "matrona". As bondsmen for the loan, Akiva named God and the sea, on the shore of which the matrona's house stood. Akiva, being sick, could not return the money at the time appointed; but his bondsmen did not leave him in the lurch. An imperial princess suddenly became insane, in which condition she threw a chest containing imperial treasures into the sea. It was cast upon the shore close to the house of Akiva's creditor, so that when the matrona went to the shore to demand of the sea the amount she had lent Akiva, the ebbing tide left boundless riches at her feet. Later, when Akiva arrived to discharge his indebtedness, the matrona not only refused to accept the money, but insisted upon Akiva's receiving a large share of what the sea had brought to her.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: This was not the only occasion on which Akiva was made to feel the truth of his favourite maxim ("Whatever God does, He does for the best"). Once, being unable to find any sleeping accommodation in a certain city, he was compelled to pass the night outside its walls. Without a murmur he resigned himself to this hardship; and even when a lion devoured his donkey, and a cat killed the rooster whose crowing was to herald the dawn to him, and the wind extinguished his candle, the only remark he made was, "All that God does is for the good." When morning dawned he learned how true his words were. A band of robbers had fallen upon the city and carried its inhabitants into captivity, but he had escaped because his abiding place had not been noticed in the darkness, and neither beast nor fowl had betrayed him.


title: Rabbi Akiva

text: Another legend according to which the gates of the infernal regions opened for Akiva is analogous to the more familiar tale that he entered paradise and was allowed to leave it unscathed. There exists the following tradition: Akiva once met a coal-black man carrying a heavy load of wood and running with the speed of a horse. Akiva stopped him and inquired: "My son, why do you work so hard? If you are a slave and have a harsh master, I will buy you from him. If it be out of poverty that you do this, I will take care of your needs." "It is for neither of these," the man replied; "I am dead and am compelled because of my great sins to build my funeral pyre every day. In life I was a tax-gatherer and oppressed the poor. Let me go at once, lest the demon torture me for my delay." "Is there no help for you?" asked Akiva. "Almost none," replied the deceased; "for I understand that my sufferings will end only when I have a pious son. When I died, my wife was pregnant; but I have little hope that she will give my child proper training." Akiva inquired the man's name and that of his wife and her dwelling-place. When, in the course of his travels, he reached the place, Akiva sought for information concerning the man's family. The neighbours very freely expressed their opinion that the deceased and his wife deserved to inhabit the infernal regions for all time—the latter because she had not even performed brit milah for the child. Akiva, however, was not to be turned from his purpose; he sought the son of the tax-gatherer and laboured long and assiduously in teaching him the word of God. After fasting 40 days and praying to God to bless his efforts, he heard a heavenly voice (bat kol) asking, "Why do you go to so much trouble on behalf of this person?" "Because he is just the kind to work for," was the prompt answer. Akiva persevered until his pupil was able to officiate as reader in the synagogue; and when there for the first time he recited the prayer, "Bless the Lord!" the father suddenly appeared to Akiva and overwhelmed him with thanks for his deliverance from the pains of hell through the merit of his son. This legend has been somewhat elaborately treated in Yiddish. Another version of this story exists in which Johanan ben Zakkai's name is given in place of Akiva.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima (; Angami Naga: "Kewhira" ()), is the capital of the Northeastern Indian state of Nagaland. With a resident population of almost 100,000, it is the second largest city in the state. Originally known as Kewhira, Kohima was founded in 1878 when the British Empire established its headquarters of the then Naga Hills District of Assam Province. It officially became the capital after the state of Nagaland was inaugurated in 1963. Kohima was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. The battle is often referred to as the "Stalingrad of the East". In 2013, the British National Army Museum voted the Battle of Kohima to be "Britain's Greatest Battle".


title: Kohima

text: Kohima constitutes both a district and a municipality. The municipality covers . Kohima lies on the foothills of Japfü section of the Barail Range located south of the District () and has an average elevation of 1,261 metres (4137 feet).


title: Kohima

text: Kohima was originally known as "Kewhi–ra". The name, Kohima, was officially given by the British as they could not pronounce the Angami name of (Tenyidie for "the land where the flower "‘Kewhi’" grows"). It is called after the wild flowering plant "‘Kewhi’", found in the mountains. Most local people prefer to use "‘Kewhi–ra’".


title: Kohima

text: Kohima was originally a large village named "Kewhira", which is located in the northeastern part of the present day Kohima Urban Area. The village is divided into four large clans ("thinuo"): "Tsütuonuomia", "Lhisemia", "Dapfhütsumia" and "Pfüchatsumia" (T, L, D, and P Khel respectively).


title: Kohima

text: The East India Company Administration started to expand into Kohima beginning the 1840s. The progress made by the company armies in annexing the region continued after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, although now under the auspices of the British Indian Army. Kohima was the first seat of modern administration as the Headquarters of Naga Hills District (then under Assam Province) with the appointment of Guybon Henry Damant as Political Officer in 1879.


title: Kohima

text: In 1944 during the Second World War the Battle of Kohima along with the simultaneous Battle of Imphal was the turning point in the Burma Campaign. For the first time in South-East Asia, the Japanese lost the initiative to the Allies, which the Allies then retained until the end of the war. This hand-to-hand battle and slaughter prevented the Japanese Army from gaining a base from which they might have easily gone into the plains of India.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima has a large cemetery known as the Kohima War Cemetery for the Allied war dead; it is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The cemetery lies on the slopes of Garrison Hill, in what was once the Deputy Commissioner's tennis court, which was the scene of intense fighting known as the Battle of the Tennis Court. The epitaph carved on the memorial of the 2nd British Division in the cemetery has become world-famous as the Kohima poem.


title: Kohima

text: The verse is attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds (1875–1958), and is thought to have been inspired by the epitaph written by Simonides to honour the Greek who fell at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.


title: Kohima

text: On 20 March 1986, two students Kekuojalie Sachü and Vikhozo Yhoshü were killed in indiscriminate firing by Nagaland Police when they participated in a peaceful protest called by the Naga Students' Federation (NSF) to rally against the state government's decision on the introduction of Indian Police Service (IPS) cadres and the extension of the Disturbed Area Belt from 5 to 20 km along the Indo-Myanmar (Indo-Burma) border. The event was so tumultuous that it led three Cabinet ministers and five State Ministers of Nagaland to resign.


title: Kohima

text: On 5 March 1995, when a convoy of the 16th Rashtriya Rifles of the Indian Army was traversing through Kohima, a tyre burst from one of the convoy's own vehicle led the armed troops to mistake the sound of the tyre bursting for a bomb attack. The troops reacted immediately and started firing at civilian populace. A total of 7 were killed and 36 were left injured. The incident is widely referred to as the 1995 Kohima Massacre.


title: Kohima

text: On 2 February 2017, the office building of the Kohima Municipal Council was burned down by a mob as part of the boycott of the Civic Elections. The fire significantly damaged adjoining government and private buildings. On 19 February, in response against the backdrop of widespread protests and civil unrest in the state, T. R. Zeliang announced his resignation as the Chief Minister of Nagaland.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima is located at 25°67' North, 94°10' East, in the southern part of Nagaland. It lies north of the Japfü–Barail intersection with Pulie Badze to the southwest overlooking the city. The hills on which Kohima is located has an elevation ranging from .


title: Kohima

text: The city experiences a subtropical highland climate (Köppen: "Cwb"), with greater contrast between summer and winter than in other continents due to the monsoons but mild temperatures even for latitude and altitude. The months of June to September concentrate much of the precipitation.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima has pleasant winters with little rainfall and very warm, very rainy summers. The coolest months are from December to February, when frost may occur and in the highest altitudes occasional snowfall is possible. During the height of summers, from June to August, temperatures range on average from , with heavy and frequent rainfall.


title: Kohima

text: Most Wards in Kohima experiences severe water shortages during the dry seasons. The current water resources from the reservoirs of Zarü River and the streams from the slopes of Pulie Badze do not fulfill the needs of the rapidly growing population of Kohima. With the augmentation of the Zarü River project and several other upcoming water projects to be supplied from Dzüko Valley and others. The water supply is expected to cover more wards.


title: Kohima

text: The Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) was established in 2005 under India's Constitution (Seventy-Fourth Amendment) Act, 1992. It has waste management, drainage and trade licensing and other responsibilities.


title: Kohima

text: Other departments of the state government, which sit in Kohima, also have a role in the administration of Kohima. The "City Development Plan" for the town, for example, was written by state Urban Development Department.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima is divided into nineteen sectors with a total of thirty-three administrative wards under the authority of the Kohima Municipal Council, covering an area of about . Each ward has its own council government and handles many of the functions that are handled by city governments in other jurisdictions.


title: Kohima

text: The Kohima Police of the Nagaland Police is the police force responsible for maintaining security, law and order in the Kohima Metropolitan Area. It is headed by a Superintendent of Police (SP). Kevithuto Sophie is the current SP of Kohima. The municipal area of Kohima is served by two police stations—Kohima North Police Station and Kohima South Police Station.


title: Kohima

text: In 2020, the Kohima North Police Station became the first police station and a government facility in the entire North Eastern Region of India to receive the International Standard Organization (ISO) 9001 Certification for quality management system.


title: Kohima

text: As of 2011, Kohima had a population of 99,039 of which males and females were 51,626 and 47,413 respectively. Kohima has an average literacy rate of 90.76%, higher than the national average of 79.55%.


title: Kohima

text: The city's population is composed of the 17 Ethnic Groups of Nagaland. The population of the Angamis, Aos and Lothas are the largest in present-day Kohima Urban Area.


title: Kohima

text: The major religion in Kohima is Christianity which is practised by 80.22% of the population. Other religions includes Hinduism (16.09%), Islam (3.06%) and Buddhism (0.45%).


title: Kohima

text: Kohima has numerous shopping centers ranging from traditional markets to modern shopping malls. There are many dedicated markets for local products such as traditional handlooms and handicrafts.


title: Kohima

text: Tourism plays an important role in the city's economy. The number of tourists visiting Kohima has been increasing significantly each year.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima War Cemetery is a memorial dedicated to soldiers of the 2nd British Division of the Allied Forces who died in the Second World War at Kohima in April 1944. There are 1,420 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War at this cemetery.


title: Kohima

text: Sakhrie Park is a recreational park located at Middle Tsiepfü Tsiepfhe Ward (Middle AG) located between the Asian Highway 1 and the Tsiepfü Tsiepfhe Road (AG) .


title: Kohima

text: Kohima Botanical Garden is located at New Ministers' Hill Ward and is looked after by the Nagaland Forest Department.


title: Kohima

text: The Kohima Capital Cultural Center is a cultural center which has a multipurpose hall that provides various facilities for its citizens. The Regional Centre of Excellence for Music & Performing Arts (RCEMPA) is a contemporary arts and music centre located in Jotsoma, about west of the city centre.


title: Kohima

text: The NAJ Cosfest is an "Otaku"-based cosplay festival held every year in the month of July. The annual event was started in 2013 and is organized by the Nagaland Anime Junkies. The cosfest is one of the biggest cosplay festivals in North East India.


title: Kohima

text: The Hornbill Festival is the biggest annual festival in North East India. The festival is held every year from 1 to 10 December with the purpose to promote the richness of the Naga heritage and traditions. The main venue is located at the Kisama Heritage Village, located south of the city centre.


title: Kohima

text: The inhabitants of Kohima have been historically characterized as "fashion-conscious". Numerous fashion stores are located across the city and a number of fashion related events are held annually. The southern wards starting from Main Town and beyond are the most fashionable areas of Kohima.


title: Kohima

text: The Nagaland State Museum is located in Bayavü Hill and displays a comprehensive collection of artefacts including ancient sculptures, traditional dresses, inscriptions of the Naga people.


title: Kohima

text: The Mary Help of Christians Cathedral or commonly known as the Kohima Cathedral is a prominent landmark in Kohima. The 16 feet high carved wood crucifix is one of Asia's largest crosses. It is the biggest Catholic church in Nagaland and was constructed in 1998.


title: Kohima

text: There are numerous Protestant churches in Kohima. Kohima Ao Baptist Church and Kohima Lotha Baptist Church are some of the biggest churches in Kohima.


title: Kohima

text: The most widely circulated newspapers in Kohima are "The Morung Express", "Nagaland Post", "Eastern Mirror", "Nagaland Page" and the local newspaper "Capi". The city was also home to the now defunct "Kewhira Dielie", the first modern newspaper published from Nagaland.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima is home to several television networks: Nagaland Cornerstone TV, Doordarshan Kendra Kohima which operates the DD Nagaland, etc.


title: Kohima

text: State-owned All India Radio has a local station in Kohima, which transmits various programs of mass interest like "AIR FM Tragopan", etc.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima is served by the Dimapur Airport located in Chümoukedima–Dimapur, from the city centre of Kohima. The currently under construction Kohima Chiethu Airport once completed will serve as the main airport for the Greater Kohima Metropolitan Area.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima is connected by road with NH 2 and NH 29 which pass through the city. The Dimapur–Kohima Expressway is a tolled expressway connecting Kohima with Dimapur.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima is not connected with the rail network. The nearest railway stations are the Chümoukedima Shokhuvi Railway Station and the Dimapur Railway Station. An extension of the railway line from Dimapur to Kohima was proposed and surveyed in 2009. Due to a dispute over land acquisition the track was resurveyed and an alternative alignment was proposed in 2013 and is expected to be completed by 2026. Once completed the Kohima Zubza Railway Station on the Dhansiri–Zubza Line will serve as the main railway station of Kohima.


title: Kohima

text: Regardless of its hilly terrain, cycling has become an increasingly popular way to get in and around Kohima. A bicycle-sharing system was launched in September 2020.


title: Kohima

text: Indira Gandhi Stadium, inaugurated in 2003 is the multipurpose stadium of the city. It includes a running track and a football field.


title: Kohima

text: Kohima is home to Kohima Komets, an association football club that plays in the top division Nagaland Premier League.


title: Kohima

text: The Naga wrestling enjoys widespread popularity in Kohima with people from all over Nagaland coming to witness the Naga Wrestling Championship held every two years at the Khuochiezhie Local Ground located in the heart of Kohima. The first Naga Wrestling Tournament was held in Kohima in 1971.


title: The Emotions

text: The Emotions are an American soul/R&B vocal group from Chicago. The group started out in gospel music but transitioned into R&B and disco music. The Emotions were named by VH1 as one of the 18 most influential girl groups of all time.


title: The Emotions

text: The group was originally a gospel outfit known as the Hutchinson Sunbeams who toured the gospel circuit with their father Joe Hutchinson. The Sunbeams sang on Jerry Van Dyke’s “Children’s Gospel” television show and also occasionally performed in the concert with Mahalia Jackson. They eventually became an R&B/Soul act with a popular following in their hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Soon being renamed as The Emotions, they signed with the Memphis-based Volt imprint of Stax Records in the late 1960s. Under the production of Isaac Hayes and David Porter the group issued their 1969 debut album entitled "So I Can Love You" on Stax.


title: The Emotions

text: "So I Can Love You" rose to no. 43 upon the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart. The album's title track got to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart and No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Another single entitled "The Best Part Of A Love Affair" rose to no. 27 upon the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart.


title: The Emotions

text: During 1970, The Emotions released a single entitled "Heart Association." That song reached No. 29 on the Billboard Hot Soul Songs chart. The girl group went on to release their sophomore LP entitled "Untouched" in 1972 upon Stax. A song from the album called "Show Me How" rose to No. 13 upon the Billboard Hot Soul Songs chart.


title: The Emotions

text: During 1972, the girl group also released another single called "My Honey and Me." That song reached No. 18 on the Billboard Hot Soul Songs chart.


title: The Emotions

text: The Emotions then started to work on their third studio album entitled "Songs of Innocence and Experience". This LP was due to be issued in 1973, but was eventually shelved. The girl group went on to appear in the 1973 feature film "Wattstax", performing the song "Peace Be Still." The tune went on to be added to the movie's soundtrack. "Wattstax" was also nominated for a Golden Globe in the category of Best Documentary. With Stax becoming defunct in 1975, the group then left the record label altogether.


title: The Emotions

text: The group then joined up with Columbia Records where an association with Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire brought them their greatest level of success. With White and Charles Stepney on production, The Emotions issued in 1976 their third studio album "Flowers" on Columbia Records. "Flowers" rose to No.5 upon the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 45 on the Billboard 200. The album was also certified Gold in the US by the RIAA. The LP's title track got to No. 16 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart. Another single called "I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love" rose to No. 4 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and No. 13 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart.


title: The Emotions

text: Following Charles Stepney's death in 1976, White took over producing the Emotions. During 1977 the group issued their follow up album entitled "Rejoice" The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart and No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. "Rejoice" has also been certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA.


title: The Emotions

text: With the LP came the single “Don't Ask My Neighbors" which got to the top ten on the Billboard R&B singles charts.


title: The Emotions

text: Another song called "Best of My Love" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Pop and R&B charts and won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals, as well as an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single. "Best of My Love" has also been certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA.


title: The Emotions

text: During summer 1978 The Emotions went on to issue their third Columbia album called "Sunbeam". The album rose to No. 12 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and No. 40 on the Billboard 200 chart. John Storm Roberts of High Fidelity stated ""Sunbeam" sparkles with good tracks." Glenn Clark of "The Morning Call" wrote "The best thing I can say about this LP is that I like it. The Emotions' brand of snappy and upbeat soul is good for my soul. Maurice White, guru of Earth, Wind & Fire, produced this album, and I think he has blended well the talent he has brought together."


title: The Emotions

text: "Sunbeam" has been certified Gold in the US by the RIAA. An album cut called Smile reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Soul Songs chart.


title: The Emotions

text: During 1979, Earth, Wind & Fire collaborated with The Emotions on the single "Boogie Wonderland". The song reached No. 6 and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Soul Songs charts. "Boogie Wonderland" has also been certified Gold in the US by the RIAA. Within October of that year the Emotions issued their follow up studio album again produced by White entitled "Come into Our World" upon Columbia, which rose to no. 35 upon the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart. Jon Wall of Melody Maker wrote "throughout "Come into Our World" The Emotions' superb vocal control, range and harmonic sense are displayed to maximum effect". Wall also added ""Come into Our World" is one of the most appealing albums I've heard since "Off the Wall". I can't get the album off the turntable and I don't want to". Bill Rhedon of The Baltimore Sun noted that the album has "excellent material" with "simply steady, unvarying Coming at You, Soul." A song called "What's the Name of Your Love?" also got to no. 30 upon the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart. As well Maurice White went on to be Grammy nominated in the category of Producer of the Year Non-Classical.


title: The Emotions

text: Wanda and Jeanette went on to appear on Jennifer Holliday's Grammy nominated 1983 LP "Feel My Soul". Pamela and Wanda also featured on Earth, Wind & Fire's 1983 album Electric Universe.


title: The Emotions

text: The Emotions' eighth studio album entitled "Sincerely" was issued in 1984 on Red Label Records. The album rose to No. 3 on the UK Blues & Soul Hiplist chart and No. 33 on the US Billboard Top Soul Albums chart. Dave Hillson of Blues & Soul said The Emotions "caught the mood of eighties Soul perfectly". Hugh Wyatt of the New York Daily News declared "this album is top shelf". As a single, "You're the One" reached No. 19 on the UK Blues & Soul Hiplist chart and No. 34 on the US "Billboard" Hot R&B Songs chart. Another single called "You're the Best" rose to No. 33 on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. During 1985 the group also issued their subsequent studio LP entitled "If I Only Knew" on Motown Records. The album got to No. 11 on the UK Blues & Soul Hiplist chart.


title: The Emotions

text: The Emotions went on to feature on Tyler Collins 1989 album "Girls Nite Out". A song off the LP that the girl group sang on called "Watcha Gonna Do?" rose to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.


title: The Emotions

text: Jeanette and Wanda then appeared upon EWF's 1990 album "Heritage". The Emotions also guested upon Nancy Wilson's 1990 album "A Lady with a Song" and jazz group Urban Knights's 1995 LP "Urban Knights I". They then featured on LL Cool J's 1995 LP "Mr. Smith" which has been certified Double Platinum in the US by the RIAA. The Emotions also appeared on George Duke's 1995 album "Illusions" and the Gospel Gangstaz's 1996 album Do or Die. During 1998 they featured on an episode of Motown Live with fellow girl group Divine and made a guest appearance on Smokey Robinson's 1999 Grammy nominated album "Intimate".


title: The Emotions

text: During 2000, Pamela eventually rejoined the group. A year later they were bestowed with the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. The Emotions went on to guest upon Earth, Wind & Fire's 2003 album "The Promise", which was produced by Maurice White. A song from the album featuring The Emotions called "All in the Way" rose to No. 13 on the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart and No. 25 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Songs chart. As well the group appeared on a 2004 PBS soul music special hosted by Patti LaBelle where they performed "Best Of My Love". Within September of that year, "Songs of Innocence" and "Experience" were finally released by Stax.


title: The Emotions

text: The Emotions went on to collaborate with rapper Snoop Dogg on a track called "Life" upon his 2006 album "Tha Blue Carpet Treatment". The album has been certified Gold in the US by the RIAA. The Emotions also appeared as a guest artist upon Terrace Martin's 2016 Grammy nominated album "Velvet Portraits".


title: The Emotions

text: The Emotions have been sampled by rappers such as Big Daddy Kane, Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J, Wu Tang Clan, 50 Cent, Ice Cube, Salt n Pepa, De La Soul, Kanye West, A Tribe Called Quest and Notorious BIG.


title: The Emotions

text: Artists such as Toni Braxton, 112, Mariah Carey, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Mary J Blige, Ginuwine, Keyshia Cole, Tamia and Janet Jackson have also sampled the girl group.


title: The Emotions

text: Their songs have also been covered by artists such as Phoebe Snow, Minnie Riperton, Marcia Hines, Patti La Belle, Maysa, The Temptations, Will Downing and Nancy Wilson, and Bobby Caldwell


title: The Emotions

text: The Emotions have also influenced artists such as En Vogue, Anita Baker, Shanice, Regina Belle, Lalah Hathaway, Jade, Erykah Badu, Kirk Whalum, Sheena Easton, Teena Marie and Fantasia.


title: Rasterisation

text: In computer graphics, rasterisation (British English) or rasterization (American English) is the task of taking an image described in a vector graphics format (shapes) and converting it into a raster image (a series of pixels, dots or lines, which, when displayed together, create the image which was represented via shapes). The rasterized image may then be displayed on a computer display, video display or printer, or stored in a bitmap file format. Rasterization may refer to the technique of drawing 3D models, or the conversion of 2D rendering primitives such as polygons, line segments into a rasterized format.


title: Rasterisation

text: Rasterization is one of the typical techniques of rendering 3D models. Compared with other rendering techniques such as ray tracing, rasterization is extremely fast and therefore used in most realtime 3D engines. However, rasterization is simply the process of computing the mapping from scene geometry to pixels and does not prescribe a particular way to compute the color of those pixels. The specific color of each pixel is assigned by a pixel shader (which in modern GPUs is completely programmable). Shading may take into account physical effects such as light position, their approximations or purely artistic intent.


title: Rasterisation

text: The process of rasterizing 3D models onto a 2D plane for display on a computer screen ("screen space") is often carried out by fixed function (non-programmable) hardware within the graphics pipeline. This is because there is no motivation for modifying the techniques for rasterization used at render time and a special-purpose system allows for high efficiency.


title: Rasterisation

text: A common representation of digital 3D models is polygonal. Before rasterization, individual polygons are broken down into triangles, therefore a typical problem to solve in 3D rasterization is rasterization of a triangle. Properties that are usually required from triangle rasterization algorithms are that rasterizing two adjacent triangles (i.e. those that share an edge)


title: Rasterisation

text: This leads to establishing rasterization rules to guarantee the above conditions. One set of such rules is called a top-left rule, which states that a pixel is rasterized if and only if


title: Rasterisation

text: A "top" edge is an edge that is exactly horizontal and lies above other edges, and a "left" edge is a non-horizontal edge that is on the left side of the triangle.


title: Rasterisation

text: This rule is implemented e.g. by Direct3D and many OpenGL implementations (even though the specification doesn't define it and only requires a consistent rule).


title: Rasterisation

text: The quality of rasterization can be improved by antialiasing, which creates "smooth" edges. Sub-pixel precision is a method which takes into account positions on a finer scale than the pixel grid and can produce different results even if the endpoints of a primitive fall into same pixel coordinates, producing smoother movement animations. Simple or older hardware, such as PlayStation 1, lacked sub-pixel precision in 3D rasterization.


title: Cult of Dionysus

text: The cult of Dionysus was strongly associated with satyrs, centaurs, and sileni, and its characteristic symbols were the bull, the serpent, tigers/leopards, ivy, and wine. The Dionysia and Lenaia festivals in Athens were dedicated to Dionysus, as well as the phallic processions. Initiates worshipped him in the Dionysian Mysteries, which were comparable to and linked with the Orphic Mysteries, and may have influenced Gnosticism. Orpheus was said to have invented the Mysteries of Dionysus.


title: Cult of Dionysus

text: The cult of Dionysus traces back to at least Mycenaean Greece, since his name is found on Mycenean Linear B tablets as "(di-wo-nu-so)". Dionysus is often shown riding a leopard, wearing a leopard skin, or in a chariot drawn by panthers, and is also recognized by his iconic thyrsus. Besides the grapevine and its clashing alter-ego, the poisonous ivy plant, both sacred to him, the fig was another one of his accredited symbols. Additionally, the pinecone that topped his thyrsus linked him to Cybele, an Anatolian goddess.


title: Cult of Dionysus

text: Introduced into Rome (c. 200 BC) from Magna Graecia or by way of Greek-influenced Etruria, the bacchanalia were held in secret and attended by women only, in the grove of Simila, near the Aventine Hill, on 16 and 17 March. Subsequently, admission to the rites were extended to men, and celebrations took place five times per month. The notoriety of these festivals, where many kinds of crimes and political conspiracies were supposed to be planned, led in 186 BC to a decree of the Senate—the so-called "Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus", inscribed on a bronze tablet discovered in Calabria (1640), now at Vienna—by which the Bacchanalia were prohibited throughout all Italy except in certain special cases which must be approved specifically by the Senate. In spite of the severe punishment inflicted on those found in violation of this decree, the Bacchanalia were not stamped out, at any rate in the south of Italy, for a very long time.


title: Cult of Dionysus

text: Dionysus is equated with both Bacchus and Liber (also "Liber Pater"). Liber ("the free one") was a god of fertility, wine, and growth, married to Libera. His festival was the Liberalia, celebrated on 17 March, but in some myths the festival was also held on 5 March.


title: Cult of Dionysus

text: Dionysus sometimes has the epithet Acratophorus', by which he was designated as the giver of unmixed wine, and worshipped at Phigaleia in Arcadia. In Sicyon he was worshiped by the name Acroreites. As Bacchus, he carried the Latin epithet Adoneus', "Ruler". Aegobolus, "goat killer", was the name under which he was worshiped at Potniae in Boeotia. As Aesymnetes ("ruler" or "lord") he was worshipped at Aroë and Patrae in Achaea. Another epithet was Bromios, "the thunderer" or "he of the loud shout". As Dendrites, "he of the trees", he is a powerful fertility god. Dithyrambos is sometimes used to refer to him or to solemn songs sung to him at festivals; the name refers to his premature birth. Eleutherios ("the liberator") was an epithet for both Dionysus and Eros. Other forms of the god as that of fertility include the epithet in Samos and Lesbos Enorches' ("with balls" or perhaps "in the testicles" in reference to Zeus' sewing the infant Dionysus into his thigh, i.e., his testicles). Evius is an epithet of his used prominently in Euripides' play, "The Bacchae". Iacchus (Greek: ), possibly an epithet of Dionysus, is associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries; in Eleusis, he is known as a son of Zeus and Demeter. The name "Iacchus" may come from "iacchus", a hymn sung in honor of him. With the epithet Liknites ("he of the winnowing fan"), he is a fertility god connected with the mystery religions. A winnowing fan was similar to a shovel and was used to separate the chaff from the grain. In addition, Dionysus is known as Lyaeus ("he who unties") as a god of relaxation and freedom from worry and as Oeneus, he is the god of the wine press.


title: Cult of Dionysus

text: In the Greek pantheon, Dionysus (along with Zeus) absorbs the role of Sabazios, a Phrygian deity. In the Roman pantheon, Sabazius became an alternate name for Bacchus.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: Anirban Bhattacharya (born 7 October 1986) is an Indian actor, theatre actor, singer and director. His first successful theatre production was "Debi Sarpamasta", written by Manoj Mitra, directed by Debesh Chattopadhyay. His other notable works are "Anthony Soudamini", "Nagamandala" (famous play by Girish Karnad), "Jara Agun Lagay", "Bisorjan", "FM Mahanagar", "Karu Basana", "Awdyo Shesh Rajani", "Athoi" etc. In 2017, he got the Mahindra Excellence Theatre Awards (META) as Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male) for "Awdyo Shesh Rajani". In 2015, he started his film career with the Zee Bangla telefilm "Kader Kuler Bou". He got fame for his character as Bishan Roy from the film "Eagoler Chokh". For playing this role, he was picked up as the Filmfare Awards East for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2017. In 2019, He got his first Best Actor Award for the role of "Nikhilesh Chowdhury" from the movie Ghawre Bairey Aaj which was immensely praised by critics and audiences. He made his directorial debut through the Bengali crime drama web series "Mandaar", which is inspired by William Shakespeare's Macbeth. His second direction Ballavpurer Roopkotha was released on 21 October 2022.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: Anirban Bhattacharya was born on 7 October 1986 in Midnapore, West Bengal. He did his schooling from Nirmal Hriday Ashram Catholic Church High School in Midnapore. After that, in 2004 he moved to Kolkata to study theatre from Rabindra Bharati University. He completed his Master's in drama and received the Young Artist Scholarship in 2009 from the cultural ministry of the Government of India.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: He acted in various theater productions between 2005 and 2010. In 2008, Bhattacharya acted in the workshop based theatre production "Jhunki" (The Risk), conducted by Steve Clorfiene, student of Yergi Grotowski. It was a collaboration of American Council and Rabindra Bharati University. He acted in three productions like "Raja Lear", "Debi Sarpomosta" and "Chandragupta". He resigned from Minerva Repertoire in January 2013 and started his career as a professional freelance theatre actor.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: In 2010, he formed his theatre group, "Sangharam Hatibagan". He directed "Guru", "Chowmatha", "Udorniti" (a short play translated from the play "Out At Sea" by "Slawomir Mrozek" ), "Pontu Laha 2.0" (an adaptation of the play" Mr Puntila and his Man Matti" by "Bertolt Brecht" ), and "Mondar" (an adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth"). In 2022 he directed bengali movie Ballavpurer Rupkotha which was an adaption of a play of same name, created by legendary bengali theater personality Badal Sarkar.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: Bhattacharya started his career in Bengali language films in 2015 with "Zee Bangla Cinema Originals" such as "Kader Kuler Bou", "Jodi Balo Hyan" and "Ebhabeo Phire Asa Jay". He hit the big screen in Aparna Sen's "Arshinagar" in a supporting role. In 2016, he appeared in Arindam Sil's "Eagoler Chokh" portraying a different character named "Bishan Roy" and was appreciated for his performance. He received the BFJA "Most Promising Actor Male" award and the Filmfare Awards East for the "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" for essaying Bishan Roy in that film.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: Bhattacharya was awarded with the "Best Debutant Actor "award at the International Bengali Film Award (IBFA). He played the role of a radio jockey in "Colkatay Columbus". He was awarded the "Ajeyo Samman 2017" by the newspaper "Ebela" for becoming the most praised actor in 2016.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: Anirban has worked in a non fictional television comedy show "Apur Sangsar", along with Saswata Chatterjee, which has started to air on Zee Bangla from 26 January. He has appeared in popular shows of Zee Bangla like "Didi No. 1" as guest and Dadagiri Unlimited Season 7 as celebrity contestant. The play "Awdyo Shesh Rajni" (Anirban as lead) was aired on Home Theatre of Colors Bangla. He hosted a crime show "Hushiar Bangla" on Colors Bangla.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: Anirban has now starred in a limited television series "Bhoomikanya" (approximately 200 episodes), which is produced by Arindam Sil and has started to air on Star Jalsha. In this series, Anirban has played the role of the male lead "Ankush", who is a fearless and honest forest ranger.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: Anirban works on the web series "Byomkesh", where he portrays the title character, Satyaneshi Byomkesh Bakshi, written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. This brand new web series airs on Hoichoi Originals (a web platform of Shree Venkatesh Films) from 14 October 2017. He has also played the lead role in "Laboratory", which is a Hoichoi original film, based on Rabindranath Tagore's famous short story of the same name.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: In 2018, for the first time Anirban has done a playback in his career. The versatile actor has lent his voice for the song "Kichchu Chaini Ami" from the movie "Shahjahan Regency", which is directed by Srijit Mukherjee. He has delivered sheer magic in his playback debut and the song has gained immense popularity ever since it was released. The actor who is not a professional singer was stunned and overwhelmed with the response.


title: Anirban Bhattacharya

text: He also has lent his voice for the song "Priyotoma" from the movie "Dracula Sir" in 2020. This song is also very beautiful and the audience praised his work.


title: Meunière sauce

text: Meunière (, ; ) is both a French sauce and a method of preparation, primarily for fish. The word itself means "miller's wife" in French. Thus to cook something "à la meunière" was to cook it by first dredging it in flour. A meunière sauce is a simple preparation—brown butter, chopped parsley, and lemon—and the name refers to its simple rustic nature.


title: Meunière sauce

text: There are two primary ways to prepare the fish (most popularly, sole or trout). One is by sautéing—first dredging the fish in seasoned flour (white flour or corn flour) and then cooking in a hot sauté pan with a small amount of clarified butter. The alternative method is to pan-fry or deep fry the floured fish. In pan frying, oil or a combination of oil and butter is used—up to perhaps 2 cm deep. Deep frying is done in either a large fry pot or in a stand-alone deep fryer. The floured fish is completely submerged in the hot oil. The frying techniques result in a crisper texture, but the sauce will need to be made separately. The sautéed fish will have a softer skin by comparison, but allows for the possibility of creating the sauce "à la minute" after the fish has been removed by adding fresh butter, parsley, and lemon.


title: Meunière sauce

text: Meunière sauce is a variation on a brown butter sauce. While there is general agreement on the addition of parsley and lemon, some include ingredients such as Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, or beef stock. Another common variation is to use pecans rather than almonds in an "amandine".


title: Meunière sauce

text: "Trout meunière" and its variation "Trout amandine" (speckled seatrout crusted in almonds, traditionally served with a meunière sauce) are bedrock dishes of New Orleans Creole cuisine. The abundance of seafood from the nearby Gulf of Mexico makes the simplicity of the meunière style appropriate. Galatoire's claims to sell more "Trout meunière amandine" than any other dish. Soft-shell crab and redfish are also often available "à la meunière". "Oysters en brochette" is typically served with a meuniere sauce.


title: Almagest

text: The Almagest is a 2nd-century Greek-language mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Claudius Ptolemy ( ). One of the most influential scientific texts in history, it canonized a geocentric model of the Universe that was accepted for more than 1,200 years from its origin in Hellenistic Alexandria, in the medieval Byzantine and Islamic worlds, and in Western Europe through the Middle Ages and early Renaissance until Copernicus. It is also a key source of information about ancient Greek astronomy.


title: Almagest

text: Ptolemy set up a public inscription at Canopus, Egypt, in 147 or 148. N. T. Hamilton found that the version of Ptolemy's models set out in the "Canopic Inscription" was earlier than the version in the "Almagest". Hence the "Almagest" could not have been completed before about 150, a quarter-century after Ptolemy began observing.


title: Almagest

text: The name comes from Arabic ', with ' meaning "the", and "magesti" being a corruption of Greek "" 'greatest'.


title: Almagest

text: The work was originally titled "" (') in Ancient Greek, and also called "Syntaxis Mathematica" in Latin. The treatise was later titled ' (, "The Great Treatise"; ), and the superlative form of this (, "megiste", "greatest") lies behind the Arabic name "" (), from which the English name "Almagest" derives. The Arabic name is important due to the popularity of a Latin translation known as "Almagestum" made in the 12th century from an Arabic translation, which would endure until original Greek copies resurfaced in the 15th century.


title: Almagest

text: The "Syntaxis Mathematica" consists of thirteen sections, called books. As with many medieval manuscripts that were handcopied or, particularly, printed in the early years of printing, there were considerable differences between various editions of the same text, as the process of transcription was highly personal. An example illustrating how the "Syntaxis" was organized is given below. It is a Latin edition printed in 1515 at Venice by Petrus Lichtenstein.


title: Almagest

text: Ptolemy states that the longitudes (which increase due to precession) are for the beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius (138 AD), whereas the latitudes do not change with time. (But see below, under The star catalog.) The constellations north of the zodiac and the northern zodiac constellations (Aries through Virgo) are in the table at the end of Book VII, while the rest are in the table at the beginning of Book VIII. The brightest stars were marked first magnitude ("m" = 1), while the faintest visible to the naked eye were sixth magnitude ("m" = 6). Each numerical magnitude was considered twice the brightness of the following one, which is a logarithmic scale. (The ratio was subjective as no photodetectors existed.) This system is believed to have originated with Hipparchus. The stellar positions too are of Hipparchan origin, despite Ptolemy's claim to the contrary.


title: Almagest

text: The cosmology of the "Syntaxis" includes five main points, each of which is the subject of a chapter in Book I. What follows is a close paraphrase of Ptolemy's own words from Toomer's translation.


title: Almagest

text: The layout of the catalogue has always been tabular (a Latin translation, a Greek MS). Ptolemy writes explicitly that the coordinates are given as (ecliptical) "longitudes" and "latitudes", which are given in columns, so this has probably always been the case. It is significant that Ptolemy chooses the ecliptical coordinate system because of his knowledge of precession, which distinguishes him from all his predecessors. Hipparchus' celestial globe had an ecliptic drawn in, but the coordinates were equatorial. Since Hipparchus' star catalogue has not survived in its original form, but was absorbed into the Almagest star catalogue (and heavily revised in the 265 years in between), the Almagest star catalogue is the oldest one in which complete tables of coordinates and magnitudes have come down to us.


title: Almagest

text: As mentioned, Ptolemy includes a star catalog containing 1022 stars. He says that he "observed as many stars as it was possible to perceive, even to the sixth magnitude", and that the ecliptic longitudes are for the beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius (138 AD). Ptolemy himself states that he found that the longitudes had increased by 2° 40′ since the time of Hipparchus which was 265 years earlier (Alm. VII, 2). But calculations show that his ecliptic longitudes correspond more closely to around the middle of the first century CE (+48 to +58).


title: Almagest

text: Since Tycho Brahe found this offset, astronomers and historians investigated this problem and suggested several causes:


title: Almagest

text: Subtracting the systematic error leaves other errors that cannot be explained by precession. Of these errors, about 18 to 20 are also found in Hipparchus' star catalogue (which can only be reconstructed incompletely). From this it can be concluded that a subset of star coordinates in the Almagest can indeed be traced back to Hipparchus, but not that the complete star catalogue was simply "copied". Rather, Hipparchus' major errors are no longer present in the Almagest and, on the other hand, Hipparchus' star catalogue had some stars that are entirely absent from the Almagest. It can be concluded that Hipparchus' star catalogue, while forming the basis, has been reobserved and revised.


title: Almagest

text: The figure he used is based on Hipparchus' own estimate for precession, which was 1° in 100 years, instead of the correct 1° in 72 years. Dating attempts through proper motion of the stars also appear to date the actual observation to Hipparchus' time instead of Ptolemy.


title: Almagest

text: Many of the longitudes and latitudes have been corrupted in the various manuscripts. Most of these errors can be explained by similarities in the symbols used for different numbers. For example, the Greek letters Α and Δ were used to mean 1 and 4 respectively, but because these look similar copyists sometimes wrote the wrong one. In Arabic manuscripts, there was confusion between for example 3 and 8 (ج and ح). (At least one translator also introduced errors. Gerard of Cremona, who translated an Arabic manuscript into Latin around 1175, put 300° for the latitude of several stars. He had apparently learned from Moors, who used the letter "sin" for 300 (like the Hebrew "shin"), but the manuscript he was translating came from the East, where "sin" was used for 60, like the Hebrew "samech".)


title: Almagest

text: Even without the errors introduced by copyists, and even accounting for the fact that the longitudes are more appropriate for 58 AD than for 137 AD, the latitudes and longitudes are not fully accurate, with errors as great as large fractions of a degree. Some errors may be due to atmospheric refraction causing stars that are low in the sky to appear higher than where they really are. A series of stars in Centaurus are off by a couple degrees, including the star we call Alpha Centauri. These were probably measured by a different person or persons from the others, and in an inaccurate way.


title: Almagest

text: The star catalogue contains 48 constellations, which have different surface areas and numbers of stars. In Book VIII, Chapter 3, Ptolemy writes that the constellations should be outlined on a globe, but it is unclear exactly how he means this: should surrounding polygons be drawn or should the figures be sketched or even line figures be drawn? This is not stated.


title: Almagest

text: Although no line figures have survived from antiquity, the figures can be reconstructed on the basis of the descriptions in the star catalogue: The exact celestial coordinates of the figures' heads, feet, arms, wings and other body parts are recorded. It is therefore possible to draw the stick figures in the modern sense so that they fit the description in the Almagest. These modern stick figures as a reconstruction of the historical constellations of the Almagest are available in the free planetarium software Stellarium since 2019.


title: Almagest

text: These constellations form the basis for the modern constellations that were formally adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, with official boundaries that were agreed in 1928.


title: Almagest

text: Of the stars in the catalogue, 108 (just over 10%) were classified by Ptolemy as ‘unformed’, by which he meant lying outside the recognized constellation figures. These were later absorbed into their surrounding constellations or in some cases used to form new constellations.


title: Almagest

text: Other classical writers suggested different sequences. Plato (c. 427 – c. 347 BC) placed the Sun second in order after the Moon. Martianus Capella (5th century AD) put Mercury and Venus in motion around the Sun. Ptolemy's authority was preferred by most medieval Islamic and late medieval European astronomers.


title: Almagest

text: Ptolemy inherited from his Greek predecessors a geometrical toolbox and a partial set of models for predicting where the planets would appear in the sky. Apollonius of Perga (c. 262 – c. 190 BC) had introduced the deferent and epicycle and the eccentric deferent to astronomy. Hipparchus (2nd century BC) had crafted mathematical models of the motion of the Sun and Moon. Hipparchus had some knowledge of Mesopotamian astronomy, and he felt that Greek models should match those of the Babylonians in accuracy. He was unable to create accurate models for the remaining five planets.


title: Almagest

text: The "Syntaxis" adopted Hipparchus' solar model, which consisted of a simple eccentric deferent. For the Moon, Ptolemy began with Hipparchus' epicycle-on-deferent, then added a device that historians of astronomy refer to as a "crank mechanism": He succeeded in creating models for the other planets, where Hipparchus had failed, by introducing a third device called the equant.


title: Almagest

text: Ptolemy wrote the "Syntaxis" as a textbook of mathematical astronomy. It explained geometrical models of the planets based on combinations of circles, which could be used to predict the motions of celestial objects. In a later book, the "Planetary Hypotheses", Ptolemy explained how to transform his geometrical models into three-dimensional spheres or partial spheres. In contrast to the mathematical "Syntaxis", the "Planetary Hypotheses" is sometimes described as a book of cosmology.


title: Almagest

text: Ptolemy's comprehensive treatise of mathematical astronomy superseded most older texts of Greek astronomy. Some were more specialized and thus of less interest; others simply became outdated by the newer models. As a result, the older texts ceased to be copied and were gradually lost. Much of what we know about the work of astronomers like Hipparchus comes from references in the "Syntaxis".


title: Almagest

text: The first translations into Arabic were made in the 9th century, with two separate efforts, one sponsored by the caliph Al-Ma'mun, who received a copy as a condition of peace with the Byzantine emperor. Sahl ibn Bishr is thought to be the first Arabic translator.


title: Almagest

text: No Latin translation was made in the Ancient Rome nor the Medieval West before the 12th century. Henry Aristippus made the first Latin translation directly from a Greek copy, but it was not as influential as a later translation into Latin made in Spain by Gerard of Cremona from the Arabic (finished in 1175). Gerard translated the Arabic text while working at the Toledo School of Translators, although he was unable to translate many technical terms such as the Arabic "Abrachir" for Hipparchus. In the 13th century a Spanish version was produced, which was later translated under the patronage of Alfonso X.


title: Almagest

text: In the 15th century, a Greek version appeared in Western Europe. The German astronomer Johannes Müller (known, from his birthplace of Königsberg, as Regiomontanus) made an abridged Latin version at the instigation of the Greek churchman Cardinal Bessarion. Around the same time, George of Trebizond made a full translation accompanied by a commentary that was as long as the original text. George's translation, done under the patronage of Pope Nicholas V, was intended to supplant the old translation. The new translation was a great improvement; the new commentary was not, and aroused criticism. The Pope declined the dedication of George's work, and Regiomontanus's translation had the upper hand for over 100 years.


title: Almagest

text: During the 16th century, Guillaume Postel, who had been on an embassy to the Ottoman Empire, brought back Arabic disputations of the "Almagest", such as the works of al-Kharaqī, "Muntahā al-idrāk fī taqāsīm al-aflāk" ("The Ultimate Grasp of the Divisions of Spheres", 1138/9).


title: Almagest

text: Commentaries on the "Syntaxis" were written by Theon of Alexandria (extant), Pappus of Alexandria (only fragments survive), and Ammonius Hermiae (lost).


title: Almagest

text: The "Almagest" under the Latin title "Syntaxis mathematica", was edited by J. L. Heiberg in "Claudii Ptolemaei opera quae exstant omnia", vols. 1.1 and 1.2 (1898, 1903).


title: Almagest

text: Three translations of the "Almagest" into English have been published. The first, by R. Catesby Taliaferro of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, was included in volume 16 of the "Great Books of the Western World" in 1952. The second, by G. J. Toomer, "Ptolemy's Almagest" in 1984, with a second edition in 1998. The third was a partial translation by Bruce M. Perry in "The Almagest: Introduction to the Mathematics of the Heavens" in 2014.


title: Almagest

text: A direct French translation from the Greek text was published in two volumes in 1813 and 1816 by Nicholas Halma, including detailed historical comments in a 69-page preface. It has been described as "suffer[ing] from excessive literalness, particularly where the text is difficult" by Toomer, and as "very faulty" by Serge Jodra. The scanned books are available in full at the "Gallica" French national library.


title: Malatang

text: Malatang () is a common type of Chinese street food. It originated in Sichuan, China, but it differs mainly from the Sichuanese version in that the Sichuanese version is more similar to what in northern China would be described as hot pot.


title: Malatang

text: On June 20, 2017, the Chinese General Department of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the National Standards Management Committee jointly issued a series of national standards for "English Translation and Writing Standards in Public Services." The standard name for the noun Malatang into English is "Spicy Hot Pot" officially launched on December 1, 2017, but despite this stance, the term "malatang" has entered English as a loanword.


title: Malatang

text: "Malatang" is named after its key ingredient, mala sauce, which is flavored with a combination of Sichuan pepper and dried chilli pepper. The word "málà" is composed of the Chinese characters for "numbing" (麻) and "spicy (hot)" (辣), referring to the feeling in the mouth after eating the sauce.


title: Malatang

text: "Malatang" is said to originate from the Yangtze River near Sichuan. In ancient times, boating was a big industry and many people made a living by towing boats. Working under the damp and foggy weather made boat trackers feel very sick. And when they were hungry, they cooked herbs in a pot and put Sichuan pepper and ginger into the soup to eliminate dampness. "Malatang" was created, then vendors discovered the business opportunity, and spread it throughout China.


title: Malatang

text: Unlike hot pot, which is made to order and shared only by diners at a table, "malatang" originates from street food cooked in a communal pot. Diners can quickly choose what they wish to eat, and either eat on the spot or take away.


title: Malatang

text: Typically a table with a big and flat saucepan is set up on the street, with a large number of ingredients in skewers being cooked in a mildly spicy broth. Customers sit around the table pick up whatever they want to eat. Given the large number of ingredients available, normally not all ingredients are in the saucepan at the same time, and customers may suggest what is missing and should be added.


title: Malatang

text: All skewers normally cost the same. In Beijing they cost one RMB each. Customers keep the used wooden sticks by their plates, and when a customer finishes eating, the price to pay is determined by counting the number of empty sticks.


title: Malatang

text: In the mid-2010s "malatang" shops became popular in North China, especially Beijing. In these shops the ingredients are usually displayed on shelves, and customers pick their desired ingredients into a bowl. Behind the counter the selected ingredients are cooked in a spicy broth, usually at very high temperature for 3–4 minutes. Before serving, "malatang" is typically further seasoned with much garlic, black pepper, Sichuan pepper, chili pepper, sesame paste, and crushed peanuts. The price is calculated based on the weight of the self-picked ingredients. In Beijing, half a kilogram usually costs between 15 and 20 RMB .


title: Autograph (American band)

text: Autograph is an American glam metal band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1983, best known for their hair metal anthem "Turn Up the Radio". The song is their only top-40 hit, making them a one-hit wonder.


title: Autograph (American band)

text: Autograph originally began in late 1983, as a solo project for singer, songwriter and guitarist Steve Plunkett, who had recently left the band Silver Condor. Plunkett was playing and recording his own material with a group of his musician friends, most of whom had previously played with him in other bands: