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the journey started on 12 may and finished on 4 august 2007 they were accompanied by the same key team members from long way round including cameraman and director of photography claudio von planta and cameraman jimmy simak who also oversaw music supervision and soundtrack production and producers russ malkin and david alexanian they also decided to travel with medic dai jones cameraman and security officer jim foster and various fixers local guides and interpreters they rode the bmw r1200gs adventure the successor to the r1150gs adventure bikes in long way round |
on the late show with david letterman 17 february 2010 mcgregor said he was not planning another trip because he found it difficult to be away from his family for such a long time but he also mentioned wanting to do a trip from south to north america in june 2015 mcgregor indicated that the long discussed south american trip was still at the planning stage but he expected that an excursion through baja california peninsula would take place first in march 2017 during a reddit ama ewan said there were no plans at the moment to do a third installment of the series on 6 august 2018 boorman tweeted a tease that the long way up a trip from tierra del fuego to alaska would happen if all goes well in june 2019 it was reported that boorman confirmed that the filming of a third installment would begin in a few months |
beginning as a prot g of alcide de gasperi fanfani achieved cabinet rank at a young age and occupied all the major offices of state over the course of a forty year political career in foreign policy he was one of the most vocal supporters of european integration and established closer relations with the arab world in domestic policy he was known for his cooperation with the italian socialist party which bring to an alliance which radically renewed the country thanks to numerous reforms including the nationalization of enel the extension of compulsory education and the introduction of a more progressive tax system |
fanfani served in numerous ministerial positions including minister of the interior minister of foreign affairs minister of labour minister of agriculture and minister of budget and economic planning he served also as president of the italian senate for three terms between 1968 and 1987 he was appointed senator for life in 1972 six years later after the resignation of giovanni leone he provisionally assumed the functions of president of the republic as chairman of the upper house of parliament until the election of sandro pertini however despite his long political experience and personal prestige fanfani never succeeded in being elected head of state |
in 1920 at only 12 years old fanfani joined catholic action ac of which he became a local leader after few years after attending the scientific lyceum of arezzo he graduated in political and economic sciences in 1930 at the catholic university in milan with the thesis economic repercussions and effects of the english schism he was the author of a number of important works on economic history dealing with religion and the development of capitalism in the renaissance and reformation in europe his thesis was published in italian and then in english as catholicism capitalism and protestantism in 1935 |
in milan fanfani wrote catholicism and protestantism in the historical development of capitalism in which he proposed a bold interpretation of the phenomena of capitalism with particular reference to the conditioning of the religious factors and fundamentally disagree with the thesis of max weber this work brought him to the forefront among us catholics especially was much appreciated by john f kennedy at the 1956 democratic national convention in chicago kennedy called with megaphone fanfani who was in court pointing to the audience and acknowledged that the influence of fanfani and of his words were a major cause of his entry into politics |
upon his return to italy he joined the newly founded christian democracy dc of which his friend dossetti was serving as deputy secretary he was as one of the youngest party leaders and a prot g of alcide de gasperi the undisputed leader of the party for the following decade fanfani represented a particular ideological position that of conservative catholics who favoured socio economic interventionism which was very influential in the 1950s and 1960s but which gradually lost its appeal capitalism requires such a dread of loss he once wrote such a forgetfulness of human brotherhood such a certainty that a man s neighbour is merely a customer to be gained or a rival to be overthrown and all these are inconceivable in the catholic conception there is an unbridgeable gulf between the catholic and the capitalist conception of life private economic initiative in his view was justifiable only if harnessed to the common good |
in the 1946 election he was elected to the constituent assembly for the constituency of siena arezzo grosseto which would remain his political stronghold for all his career as a constituent he was appointed in the commission that drafted the text of the new republican constitution the first article of the new constitution reflected fanfani s philosophy he proposed an article which read italy is a democratic republic founded on labor after two years in the 1948 general election he was elected to the italian chamber of deputies with more than 35 000 votes |
under de gasperi fanfani took on a succession of ministries from june 1947 until january 1950 he served as minister of labour while from july 1951 to july 1953 he was minister of agriculture and from july 1953 to january 1954 he served as minister of the interior in the caretaker government of giuseppe pella as minister of labour he developed the so called fanfani house program for government built workers homes and put 200 000 of italy s unemployed to work on a reforestation program as minister of agriculture he set in motion much of the christian democrats land reform program on 28 february 1949 fanfani launched a seven year plan for popular housing to increase the stock of economic housing by means of construction or purchase of economic accommodation the law also established a special housing fund the so called ina casa within the national institute for insurance istituto nazionale delle assicurazioni or ina |
on 12 january 1954 after only 5 months in power prime minister giuseppe pella was forced to resign after a strong confrontation with many members of dc regarding the appointment of salvatore aldisio as new minister of agriculture fanfani was then appointed by president luigi einaudi as new head of the government fanfani formed a one party government composed only by members of the christian democracy he chose among others giulio andreotti another prot g of de gasperi as minister of the interior adone zoli as minister of finance and paolo emilio taviani as minister of defence |
however his activist and sometimes authoritarian style as well as his reputation as an economic reformer ensured that the moderate and the right wingers within the dc who opposed the state s intrusion into the country s economic life regarded him with distrust his indefatigable energy and his passion for efficiency carried him far in politics but he was rarely able to exploit fully the opportunities that he created as an anonymous christian democrat bigwig once remarked fanfani has colleagues associates acquaintances and subordinates but i have never heard much about his friends |
in may 1955 einaudi s term as president of the italian republic came to an end and parliament had to choose his successor fanfani was promoting for the office the liberal cesare merzagora who was then president of the senate however the right wing of the party led by giuseppe pella and giulio andreotti organized an internal coup in order to get the christian democrat giovanni gronchi elected instead the move received the surprising support of the italian communist party pci and italian socialist party psi and also of the monarchist national party pnm and the neo fascist italian social movement msi after a bitter battle and the final crumbling of the centrist front on 29 april 1955 gronchi was elected president of the republic with 658 votes out of 883 |
the christian democracy resulted even more polarized between fanfani s leftist faction and the opposite one which urged for a rightist policy fanfani relaunched his reformist agenda advocating for a dialogue with the italian socialist party psi which had stopped its ties with the communists after the hungarian revolution however a government between dc and psi was probably too premature due to the strong opposition of dc s right wing so on 1 july 1958 fanfani sworn in as new prime minister at the head of a coalition government with the italian democratic socialist party psdi and a case by case support of the italian republican party pri |
he then decided not to resign immediately as secretary of the dc wanting to bring the party behind him at least until a new congress he started an active foreign policy along the lines of the so called neo atlantism implementing a more autonomous foreign policy from the united states presenting italy as the main regional power of the mediterranean basin trying to avoid the increase of soviet union s sphere of influence over the arab countries however he failed to leave a mark in domestic politics despite his ambitious proposal of a 10 year plan for the development of public school which was approved by the parliament but not implemented his economic policy was characterized by an increasing public spending |
the unprecedented concentration of power that he had achieved was also the main reason of his second government s decline the outrageous conservative opposition resulted in a progressive breakdown of the internal majority faction democratic initiative in january 1959 a conspicuous group of christian democrats started voting against their own government forcing fanfani to resign on 26 january 1959 after only six months in power on 16 february antonio segni sworn in as new prime minister in march 1959 fanfani resigned as party s secretary too and aldo moro became the new leader after few weeks he founded a new faction known as nuove cronache new chronicles |
when the italian liberal party pli withdrew its support to segni s government fanfani cooperated with moro attempting to establish a new centre left government with a case by case socialist support however this pact was strongly opposed by ecclesiastical hierarchies as well as the usual opposition of the dc s right wing after fanfani s failure fernando tambroni was appointed new prime minister tambroni a right wing conservative received a decisive vote of confidence by the neo fascist italian social movement msi the msi had been banned by any type of political power since its birth under the theory of the constitutional arch which stated that any government or party which had voted the italian constitution had to refuse any relationship with fascist and monarchist forces seen as anti constitutional groups strikes and revolts causing some casualties erupted through the country and tambroni had to resign within few months on 26 july 1960 fanfani returned to the premiership this time with an openly centre left program supported by the psi abstention |
on 19 january 1963 the government proposed a bill that extended the insurance against occupational diseases to artisans while general improvements to cash benefits were carried out all pensions were to be adjusted every third year to the minimum contractual wage in the respective industrial sector while earnings replacement rates were raised to correspond to contractual disability rates in february 1963 improved health benefits for agricultural workers with the introduction of free pharmaceutical assistance and the flat rate sickness indemnity replaced by an earnings related indemnity equal to 50 of minimum contractual pay in each province for a maximum of 180 days |
in his three years rule thanks to the key support of the psi fanfani approved the nationalization of enel the national electric company and the establishment of middle school the introduction of share taxation only the implementation of the ordinary statute regions and the urban reform remained uncompleted due to a strong internal opposition within the dc moreover the new international balance of power marked by the presidency of john f kennedy influenced western politics in favor of reformism as the best alternative to defeat communism during his premiership fanfani built up a good relation with president kennedy the two leaders met the first time during 1956 democratic national convention in chicago and in 1963 fanfani was invited at the white house some analysts reported that kennedy considered fanfani as an example of catholic reformism during the cuban missile crisis according to ettore bernabei it was fanfani who proposed the withdraw of medium range us missiles from apulia which than resulted in a peaceful ending of the crisis |
in march 1965 fanfani was appointed minister of foreign affairs during the second government of aldo moro in december 1965 he was forced to resign after the publication of an unauthorized interview in which he harshly criticised the government and the united states however after only two months he returned to the office in moro s third cabinet during his ministry he implemented a strong pro european politics advocating a strengthen of the european economic community eec moreover he was a vocal opponent of us bombing on civilians during the vietnam war fanfani also continued implementing his pro arab policies in the mediterranean sea and tried to built a closer relation with china from 1965 to 1966 he also served as president of the united nations general assembly becoming the only italian to have held this office |
in the 1971 presidential election fanfani was proposed as christian democracy s candidate for the presidency of the republic once again the move failed being weakened by the divisions within his own party and the candidacy of the socialist francesco de martino who received votes from pci psi and some psdi members fanfani retired after several unsuccessful ballots and at the twenty third round giovanni leone who was fanfani s rival in the 1964 election was finally elected with a centre right majority on 10 march 1972 leone appointed fanfani senator for life |
in june 1973 fanfani was elected secretary of the christian democracy for a second term replacing his former prot g arnaldo forlani who was now a supporter of centrist policies as such he led the campaign for the referendum on repealing the law allowing divorce which was approved by the parliament in 1970 those voting yes wanted to outlaw divorce as had been the case before the law came into effect and those voting no wanted to retain the law and their newly gained right to divorce the voting method caused significant confusion with many people not understanding that they had to vote no to be able to divorce or vote yes to outlaw divorce |
the dc and the neo fascist msi intensely campaigned for a yes vote to abolish the law and make divorce illegal again their main themes were the safeguarding of the traditional nuclear family model and the roman catechism while most left wing political forces including pci and psi supported the no faction fanfani thought that a no victory could have given him the control of in his own party again in fact other key figures like moro rumor emilio colombo and francesco cossiga who believed in the defeat at the referendum kept a low profile during the campaign |
despite fanfani s activism the no front was defeated by margin of 59 3 to 40 7 on a voter turnout of 87 7 thus allowing the divorce laws to remain in force the soundly defeat in the divorce referendum forced his resignation as party secretary in july 1975 the new secretary of the party was benigno zaccagnini a christian leftist who was initially supported by fanfani but after his ideas of starting a cooperation with the communist party fanfani andreotti and flaminio piccoli tried to forced zaccagnini to resignation but they failed |
on 5 july 1976 fanfani was elected president of the senate for a second term a position that he held until 1 december 1982 in that new political phase he had to significantly reduce his ambitions of holding an active political role acting like sober and low profile statesman meanwhile on 30 july 1976 moro reached an agreement with the communist leader enrico berlinguer to start a government composed only by christian democrats but with the abstention of the pci the cabinet who was led by andreotti was nicknamed government of the non no confidence |
in march 1978 the political crisis was overcome by the intervention of aldo moro who proposed a new cabinet again formed only by christian democratic politicians but with positive confidence votes from the other parties including berlinguer s pci this cabinet was formed on 16 march 1978 the day on which aldo moro was kidnapped by the left wing terrorist group known as red brigades br the dramatic situation which followed brought pci to vote for andreotti s cabinet for the sake of what was called national solidarity despite its refusal to accept several previous requests |
in november 1982 spadolini was forced to resign due to the so called godmothers quarrel a political conflict between ministers beniamino andreatta and rino formica about the separation between ministry of treasury and bank of italy fanfani who was still serving as president of the senate received the task from president sandro pertini of forming a new government and sworn in on 1 december 1982 the cabinet was composed by members of dc psi psdi and pli fanfani resigned on 29 april 1983 when after months of tense relations in the majority the central committee of the socialist party meeting on 22 april decided the withdrew its support to the government calling for new elections |
the 1983 general election resulted in a big loss for dc and its new secretary ciriaco de mita the christian democrats in fact lost more than five percentage points from the previous election while the psi gained ground on 4 august 1983 the socialist leader bettino craxi succeeded fanfani at the head of the government de mita accused fanfani for the electoral defeat and did not candidate him as president of the senate preferring francesco cossiga after this fact it was even clearer how fanfani had by then lost much of his political power and control over the party |
in april 1987 de mita decided to drop his support for craxi s government this caused the immediate fall of the cabinet and the formation of a new government led again by fanfani even though he was a close friend of craxi the socialist leader did not participate in the swearing in ceremony sending the undersecretary to the presidency of the council giuliano amato to protest against de mita s decision fanfani s sixth government composed only of dc ministers with some independent ministers did not gain the confidence in the chamber of deputies following a surreal vote it gained the confidence from psi psdi and radicals that were excluded from the government while the christian democrats abstained fanfani presented his resignation after only 11 days as head of government causing the early dissolution of the houses he would remain in office until 29 july 1987 when after a general election a new government was formed with giovanni goria at its head |
georgia was one of the original seven slave states that formed the confederate states of america in february 1861 triggering the u s civil war the state governor democrat joseph e brown wanted locally raised troops to be used only for the defence of georgia in defiance of confederate president jefferson davis who wanted to deploy them on other battlefronts when the union blockade prevented georgia from exporting its plentiful cotton in exchange for key imports brown ordered farmers to grow food instead but the breakdown of transport systems led to desperate shortages |
there was not much fighting in georgia until september 1863 when confederates under braxton bragg defeated william s rosecrans at chickamauga creek in may 1864 william t sherman started pursuing the confederates towards atlanta which he captured in september in advance of his march to the sea this six week campaign destroyed much of the civilian infrastructure of georgia decisively shortening the war when news of the march reached robert e lee s army in virginia whole georgian regiments deserted feeling they were needed at home the battle of columbus fought on the georgia alabama border on april 16 1865 is reckoned by some criteria to have been the last battle of the war |
georgia s rabun county in particular which did not declare secession from the union was highly unionist described by some as being almost a unit against secession one of the county s residents recalled in 1865 that you cannot find a people who were more averse to secession than were the people of our county stating that i canvassed the county in 1860 61 myself and i know that there were not exceeding twenty men in this county who were in favor of secession |
the dividing lines were often not as clear as they are sometimes viewed in rabun county during this period in jonathan dean sarris examines the wartime experiences of fannin and lumpkin counties within these two counties unionist and confederate leaning factions fought brutally directly within the home front between 1861 and 1865 sarris argues that there is a complex web of local regional and national loyalties that connected pre industrial mountain societies and that these loyalties are among the major factors that determine the leanings of these mountain towns the madden branch massacre in fannin county was one of several atrocities that occurred as the mountain counties divided into pro and anti confederate factions on november 29 1864 six georgians trying to enlist in the u s army thomas bell harvey brewster james t hughes james b nelson elijah robinson and samuel lovell were executed by the notorious confederate guerilla john p gatewood the long haired red bearded beast from georgia but peter parris and wyatt j parton escaped the execution |
by summer 1861 the union naval blockade virtually shut down the export of cotton and the import of manufactured items food that normally came by rail from the northern states were halted the governor and legislature pleaded with planters to grow less cotton and more food the planters refused because at first they thought the union would not or could not fight the planters then saw cotton prices in europe soared and they expected europe to soon intervene and break the blockade the legislature imposed cotton quotas and made it a crime to grow an excess but the food shortages continued to worsen especially in the towns in more than a dozen instances across the state poor white women raided stores and captured supply wagons to get such necessities as bacon corn flour and cotton yarn |
late in the war when it was suggested that the confederacy use its slaves as soldiers many confederate newspapers such as the atlanta southern confederacy in macon vehemently objected to the idea of armed black men in the confederate army saying that it was incongruous with the confederacy s goals and views regarding african americans and slavery the newspaper said that using black men as soldiers would be an embarrassment to confederates and their children saying that although african americans should be used for slave labor they should not be used as armed soldiers opining that |
in november 1864 sherman stripped his army of non essentials burned the city of atlanta and left it to the confederates he began his famous sherman s march to the sea living off the land then burning plantations wrecking railroads killing livestock and freeing slaves thousands of escaped slaves followed him as he entered savannah on december 22 after the loss of atlanta the governor withdrew the state s militia from the confederate forces to harvest crops for the state and the army the militia did not try to stop sherman |
sherman s march was devastating to both georgia and the confederacy in terms of economics and psychology sherman himself estimated that the campaign had inflicted 100 million about 1 4 billion in 2012 dollars in damages about one fifth of which inured to our advantage while the remainder is simple waste and destruction his army wrecked of railroad and numerous bridges and miles of telegraph lines it seized 5 000 horses 4 000 mules and 13 000 head of cattle it confiscated 9 5 million pounds of corn and 10 5 million pounds of fodder and destroyed uncounted cotton gins and mills |
the memory of sherman s march became iconic and central to the myth of the lost cause and neo confederates the crisis was the setting for margaret mitchell s 1936 novel gone with the wind and the subsequent 1939 film most important were many salvation stories that tell not what sherman s army destroyed but what was saved by the quick thinking and crafty women on the home front or by a union soldier s appreciation of the beauty of homes and the charm of southern women |
caliber 9 was di leo s second film to be based on the works of writer giorgio scerbanenco following naked violence 1969 according to film historian roberto curti the director saw scerbanenco s works as groundbait and believed that they shared similarly bleak disillusioned worldviews noting that the writer would have enjoyed the film s terrible yet bitterly ironic game of appearances coincidences and double crosses which moves the story to its inevitable conclusion credited as being based on scerbanenco s 1969 short story collection milano calibro 9 the script is largely an original work although it was partially influenced by three of the book s stories its depiction of an exchange of two packages between a series of couriers culminating in both packages simultaneously exploding upon reaching their final destination is taken from stazione centrale ammazzare subito while minor references are made to vietato essere felici and la vendetta il miglior perdono |
the film s working title was da luned a luned from monday to monday with the script indicating that title cards were to denote the time and day of each scene editor amedeo giomini revealed that while these title cards appeared on the film s workprint they were not used on the theatrical prints while discussing caliber 9 years after its release di leo regretted not deleting the scenes between frank wolff s right wing police commissioner and his left wing colleague fonzino mercuri played by luigi pistilli believing that their inclusion hampered the film s pacing and diverged from its focus on the criminal characters |
the club has won the division d honneur on two occasions in 1962 and 1986 in 1987 cr teil were crowned champions of the now defunct division 4 and a year later captured the division 3 title the club s best finish in the prestigious coupe de france was during the 1985 86 edition of the competition when the team reached the quarter finals for eight consecutive seasons 1999 2007 cr teil played in ligue 2 the second division of french football it returned to ligue 2 in the 2013 14 season in 2018 the club was relegated to the championnat national 2 |
association football ventured to the city of cr teil relatively late compared to other communes located in and around paris the first club to enter the fray was club sportif de cr teil however the club was considered unstable from the start and was declared unofficial as the city was attempting to replicate the passion and heart clubs such as red star 93 ca paris charenton and racing club de france displayed in nearby communes the declaration soon came to fruition following the foundation of union sportive cr teil in 1936 by a man commonly known as m hemon cr teil spent almost 30 years hovering in the lower divisions during this time the football club played its home matches at the stade desmont which seated only 800 spectators under the leadership of b hainque cr teil reached the championnat de france amateur in 1962 the team then proceeded to falter back into the promotion d honneur before reaching the division d honneur in the new decade |
cr teil were a lucky beneficiary in 1978 when the french football federation announced the creation of the division 4 the club was promoted to the new league despite its 7th place finish in the division d honneur the previous season the team s shaky form showed as they were in dead last after ten matches were contested by the end of the season cr teil were back in the division d honneur in 1983 the club moved into its new stadium the stade dominique duvauchelle after having spent almost 50 years at the stade desmont two years later under the guidance of the city s deputy mayor laurent cathala union sportive cr teil merged with the cr teil omnisports club in order to give the city a better sporting identity the club s main sports became football swimming athletics and cycling |
texas a m agrilife research is the agricultural and life sciences research agency of the u s state of texas and a part of the texas a m university system formerly named texas agricultural research service the agency s name was changed january 1 2008 as part of a rebranding of texas a m agrilife formerly texas a m agriculture the a m was formally added to the agency s name on september 1 2012 as part of a branding effort by the texas a m university system to strengthen the association between the agencies and texas a m university |
the schicksalslied song of destiny op 54 is an orchestrally accompanied choral setting of a poem written by friedrich h lderlin and is one of several major choral works written by johannes brahms brahms began the work in the summer of 1868 at wilhelmshaven but it was not completed until may 1871 the delay in completion was largely due to brahms s indecision as to how the piece should conclude hesitant to make a decision he began work on the alto rhapsody op 53 which was completed in 1869 and first performed in 1870 |
schicksalslied is considered to be one of brahms s best choral works along with ein deutsches requiem in fact josef sittard argues in his book on brahms had brahms never written anything but this one work it would alone have sufficed to rank him with the best masters the premiere performance of schicksalslied was given on 18 october 1871 in karlsruhe under the direction of hermann levi one of the shortest of brahms s major choral works a typical performance lasts around 15 to 16 minutes |
in the summer brahms again came wilhelmshaven to make a few excursions in the neighbourhood with us and the reinthalers one morning we went together to wilhelmshaven for brahms was interested in seeing the magnificent naval port on the way there our friend who was usually so lively was quiet and grave he described how early that morning he was always an early riser he had found h lderlin s poems in the bookcase and had been deeply impressed by the schicksalslied later on after spending a long time walking round and visiting all the points of interest we were sitting resting by the sea when we discovered brahms a long way off sitting by himself on the shore writing it was the first sketch for the schicksalslied which appeared fairly soon afterwards a lovely excursion which we had arranged to the urwald was never carried out he hurried back to hamburg in order to give himself up to his work |
brahms completed an initial setting of h lderlin s two verses in ternary form with the third movement being a complete restatement of the first however brahms was dissatisfied with this full restatement of the first movement to close the piece as he felt that it would nullify the grim reality depicted in the second movement this conflict remained unresolved and schicksalslied unpublished while brahms turned his attention to the alto rhapsody from 1869 70 the piece was not realized in its final form until a solution was suggested to brahms in 1871 by hermann levi who conducted the premiere of schicksalslied later that year levi proposed that in lieu of a full return of the first movement a reintroduction of only the orchestral prelude should be used to conclude the piece convinced by levi brahms composed the third movement as a copy of the orchestral prelude in the first movement with a richer instrumentation and transposed into c major while brahms was hesitant to break the desperation and ultimate futility of the second movement by bringing a blissful return to the first some see brahms s return to the orchestral prelude as a desire on the part of the composer to relieve the gloom of the concluding idea of the text by shedding a ray of light over the whole and leaving a more hopeful impression |
schicksalslied which john lawrence erb posits is perhaps the most widely loved of all of brahms s compositions and the most perfect of his smaller choral works is sometimes referred to as the little requiem as it shares many stylistic and compositional similarities with brahms s most ambitious choral composition the romantic characteristics of schicksalslied however give this piece a closer tie with the alto rhapsody than the requiem whichever piece it most closely relates to it is clear that schicksalsied was the work of a master composer working at the height of his skill john alexander fuller maitland stated that in schicksalslied brahms set the pattern of the short choral ballad to which in n nie op 82 and the gesang der parzen op 89 brahms subsequently returned likewise hadow praises the piece for its technical beauties its rounded symmetry of balance and charm of melody and its marvelous cadences where chord melts into chord like colour into colour |
the hartley oscillator is distinguished by a tank circuit consisting of two series connected coils or often a tapped coil in parallel with a capacitor with an amplifier between the relatively high impedance across the entire lc tank and the relatively low voltage high current point between the coils the original 1915 version used a triode as the amplifying device in common plate cathode follower configuration with three batteries and separate adjustable coils the simplified circuit shown to the right uses a jfet in common drain configuration an lc tank circuit here the single winding is tapped and a single battery the circuit illustrates the hartley oscillator operation |
variations on the simple circuit often include ways to automatically reduce the amplifier gain to maintain a constant output voltage at a level below overload the simple circuit above will limit the output voltage due to the gate conducting on positive peaks effectively damping oscillations but not before significant distortion spurious harmonics may result changing the tapped coil to two separate coils as in the original patent schematic still results in a working oscillator but now that the two coils are not magnetically coupled the inductance and so frequency calculation has to be modified see below and the explanation of the voltage increase mechanism is more complicated than the autotransformer scenario |
a quite different implementation using a tapped coil in an lc tank feedback arrangement is to employ a common grid or common gate or common base amplifier stage which is still non inverting but provides voltage gain instead of current gain the coil tapping is still connected to the cathode or source or emitter but this is now the low impedance input to the amplifier the split tank circuit is now dropping the impedance from the relatively high output impedance of the plate or drain or collector |
the hartley oscillator is the dual of the colpitts oscillator which uses a voltage divider made of two capacitors rather than two inductors although there is no requirement for there to be mutual coupling between the two coil segments the circuit is usually implemented using a tapped coil with the feedback taken from the tap as shown here the optimal tapping point or ratio of coil inductances depends on the amplifying device used which may be a bipolar junction transistor fet triode or amplifier of almost any type non inverting in this case although variations of the circuit with an earthed centre point and feedback from an inverting amplifier or the collector drain of a transistor are also common but a junction fet shown or triode is often employed as a good degree of amplitude stability and thus distortion reduction can be achieved with a simple grid leak resistor capacitor combination in series with the gate or grid see the scott circuit below thanks to diode conduction on signal peaks building up enough negative bias to limit amplification |
on sloping sites the open side of a cryptoporticus is often partially at ground level and supports a structure such as a forum or roman villa in which case it served as basis villae it is often vaulted and lit by openings in the vault in the letters of pliny the younger the term is used as a synonym of crypt the shade and semi excavated site of a cryptoportico provided cool and moderated temperatures useful for storage of perishables while it offered a level and slightly raised podium for the superstructure |
clarke who came to san francisco from ireland as a cabin boy in 1850 had amassed a fortune of some 200 000 by dubious means while working for the police department from 1856 to 1887 for much of that time as clerk to the chief of police and later as the department s legal advisor he bought the lot in 1890 and completed the house in 1892 for a reputed 100 000 clarke engaged in an expensive legal feud with a neighbor over water sales and soon after completing the house lost his fortune in a nationwide economic depression in 1892 he declared himself insolvent after signing his real estate holdings over to his wife and a friend in an attempt to conceal them he then brought a series of unsuccessful lawsuits against the city and his creditors and was repeatedly jailed before dying at age 69 he lost the house in 1896 when he defaulted on the mortgage his wife had declined to live in the then largely rural area preferring to remain on nob hill |
government of india constituted a common tribunal on 10 april 1969 to adjudicate the river water utilization disputes among the river basin states of krishna and godavari rivers under the provisions of interstate river water disputes act 1956 the common tribunal was headed by sri rs bachawat as its chairman with sri dm bhandari and sri dm sen as its members krishna river basin states maharashtra karnataka and old andhra pradesh insisted on the quicker verdict as it had become more expedient for the construction of irrigation projects in krishna basin so the proceedings of krishna water disputes tribunal kwdt were taken up first separately and its final verdict was submitted to goi on 27 may 1976 |
in addition to the above the states were allowed to use regeneration return flows to the extent of 25 34 and 11 tmc respectively subject to time bound usage of allocated water out of 2060 tmc total allocation as stated in clause v of the kwdt 1 final order further the tribunal has allowed the states to utilise their allocated share of water for any project as per their plans as per clauses v vii of final order of kwdt 1 a state can fully use its allocated water in any water year in case of deficit water year also by utilising the carry over storage facility a state can create carry over storage during the years when water yield in the river is in excess of 2060 tmc plus entitled return flows to use in the water year when water yield in the river is less than total entitlement nearly 2130 tmc thus kwdt 1 allocated water use from the river up to 2130 tmc at 100 success rate out of average yield in the river and not subject to water availability in a 75 dependable year the average yield in the river is assessed as 2578 tmc by recent kwdt 2 |
the tribunal in its report under scheme b has determined that the surplus water available in the river basin totalled 330 tmc it was decided that this would be divided among the riparian states of maharashtra karnataka and andhra pradesh in the ratio of 25 50 and 25 respectively scheme b also stipulates that the krishna waters shall be shared in proportion to the scheme a allotments when available water in the river is less than 2060 tmc in a water year |
kwdt 2 has allocated entire average water 2578 tmc yield in the river among states except 16 tmc which is to be let downstream of prakasam barrage near vijayawada to the sea as minimum environmental flows there is no water allocation for the purpose of salt export to the sea when rain water comes in contact with the soil it picks up some salts in dissolved form from the soil the total amount of dissolved salts contained in the river water has to reach sea without accumulating in the river basin this process is called salt export if all the water is utilised without letting adequate water to the sea the water salinity total dissolved salts tds would be so high making it unfit for human cattle and agriculture use higher sodium in comparison with calcium and magnesium elements or presence of residual sodium carbonate in irrigation water would convert the agriculture lands into fallow sodic alkaline soil the low lands of andhra pradesh would be effected by alkalinity and salinity if adequate salt export is not taking place |
the uplands of krishna river basin located in maharashtra and karnataka are situated on the deccan traps which comprises thick seems of basalt rock formations basalt rock is prone to chemical weathering contributing more tds to the river water water is not safe for drinking if the tds exceeds 500 mg l the average yearly salt export requirement is nearly 12 million tons in krishna basin area up to prakasam barrage at least 850 tmc water is required for salt export purpose to maintain water tds below 500 mg l this is including 360 tmc of krishna river water being used outside the krishna basin in ap this water used outside the basin area is also serving the salt export purpose since salts are transferred outside the basin thus another 490 tmc is to be let to the sea for salt export purpose if salt export and environmental needs are considered no further water allocation is feasible by kwdt 2 in excess of water use allocations made by kwdt 1 earlier ultimately krishna river basin would be net importer of water from the adjoining rivers such as godavari river in andhra pradesh and west flowing rivers in karnataka then the total salt load generated in krishna basin shall be discharged directly into the sea by releasing more than 850 tmc water to the downstream of prakasam barrage to maintain water salinity below 500 ppm |
unrestricted ground water usage is permitted by kwdt 1 ground water exploitation has increased many folds in last 35 years kwdt 2 has not deliberated how the ever increasing ground water use is diminishing the inflows in the river and the river water quality the water allocation by kwdt 1 itself is 83 of 2578 tmc total water availability during the decade years 1998 2007 510 tmc on an average per year was discharged into sea after utilising 1892 tmc out of 2402 tmc annual average yield page 303 of kwdt 2 in the river which is only 21 of total yield already the multi year average tds of krishna water is around 450 mg l which is close to safe maximum of 500 ppm the actual average water availability in the decade years 1998 to 2007 is less by 176 tmc to the 2578 tmc estimated average water availability by kwdt 2 if full water utilisation as permitted by kwdt 1 to the extent of 2130 tmc is achieved in future the usage would be 88 67 of 2402 tmc water availability which would increase the water salinity to unacceptable level thus there is no additional water available in the river for further allocation to the riparian states by kwdt 2 in excess of 2130 tmc on average permitted by kwdt 1 in fact the kwdt 1 water use allocations are already in excess of the sustainable water use from the river when moderate environmental flow requirements are to be taken care |
unplanned water utilisation in murray darling river basin in australia has enhanced the alkalinity and salinity of river water beyond safe limits which is affecting the long term sustainable productivity of the river basin so murray darling basin authority is established to take up remedial action plan for recovering the damage occurred to the sustainable productivity of the river basin water quality and salinity management is made part of this plan it has stipulated that water tds limit of 500 mg l 800 s cm on daily basis should not exceed 95 of the duration in a year it has altered existing water use entitlement of irrigation to enhance the environmental flows required for salt export |
another example of river water sharing taking into account the water salinity is colorado river flowing in usa and mexico the 1944 united states mexico treaty for utilization of waters of the colorado allots to mexico a guaranteed annual quantity of water from the river the treaty does not provide specifically for water quality but this did not constitute a problem until the late 1950s rapid economic development and increased agricultural water use in the united states spurred degradation of water quality received by mexico with a view to resolving the problem mexico protested and entered into bilateral negotiations with the united states in 1974 these negotiations resulted in an international agreement interpreting the 1944 treaty which guaranteed mexico water of the same quality as that being used in the united states sustainable groundwater management act is also made in the year 2014 to avert the unsustainable ground water use or ground water mining in the state of california |
already the water utilisation in krishna river basin is touching the maximum limit constricting the salt export to the sea detailed study shall be conducted by experts to decide the minimum water needed for the salt export to the sea india should learn from the bad experience of australia in over exploiting the waters of murray darling river krishna basin authority in line with murray darling basin authority shall be constituted by the indian government rejecting archaic river water allocations by the kwdt 2 krishna basin authority should be headed by a panel of experts representing environment irrigation agriculture ground water geology health ecology etc to protect the river basin area for its long term sustainable productivity and ecology hydrological transport model studies shall be conducted to find out the further possible pollution loads for alkalinity ph salinity rsc index etc |
cauvery water disputes tribunal order was notified by the goi on 20 february 2013 the tribunal has assessed 740 tmcft total water availability in a normal year from the river basin during normal years 192 tmcft is to be released by karnataka to tamil nadu on monthly basis throughout the year 192 tmcft is nearly equal to 37 of the water available from the upstream basin area in karnataka and kerala states it also provides for proportionate eligibility of the water available from the river basin during the below normal yield years similarly krishna basin waters are to be allocated to the downstream state andhra pradesh from upstream states karnataka and maharashtra on monthly basis by kwdt ii |
attracted to both benito mussolini s corporatism and the developing nazi movement of adolf hitler in germany he was troubled by his middle class roots which he saw as an obstacle in reaching out to the revolutionary milieu of spanish politics in the 1920s in 1931 ledesma ramos began publishing the periodical la conquista del estado named in tribute to curzio malaparte s italian fascist magazine la conquista dello stato one of the first publications of the spanish national syndicalism it attempted to bridge the gap between nationalism and the anarcho syndicalist of the dominant trade union the confederaci n nacional del trabajo cnt by revising syndicalism altogether |
swick dropped down to welterweight and headlined against josh burkman winning by majority decision swick next appeared at ufc 85 against marcus davis who was riding a six fight win streak in the ufc coming into the bout swick controlled the fight with disciplined striking skills en route to a unanimous decision victory he next faced jonathan goulet at swick opened up with a characteristically aggressive flurry of punches knocking goulet out on his feet swick rushed in with ground strikes before the referee stopped the fight |
swick next faced ben saunders at ufc 99 after he reversed saunders takedown attempt with a quick sprawl and takedown of his own saunders held swick in his guard for several minutes stifling any offense and prompting swick to taunt him for stalling in the second round swick s hands loosened up and he dropped saunders with a clean straight right after landing a few punches following up with a quick flurry to round off an impressive performance in the post fight interview swick pointed out his record of 9 1 in the ufc and announced his interest in a title shot |
swick replaced an injured dong hyun kim and faced dan hardy on november 14 2009 at ufc 105 the winner was to get the next shot at georges st pierre s welterweight championship in an interview prior to the event swick revealed he was pleased to have dropped back to welterweight but admitted he could not focus on georges st pierre until after his fight with hardy swick was rocked by a straight right hand from hardy early in the first round and rocked again in the second and third rounds he went on to lose the fight by unanimous decision |
mme l reports that 1 2 3 are children without fixed personalities they play together 4 is a good peaceful woman absorbed by down to earth occupations and who takes pleasure in them 5 is a young man ordinary and common in his tastes and appearance but extravagant and self centered 6 is a young man of 16 or 17 very well brought up polite gentle agreeable in appearance and with upstanding tastes average intelligence orphan 7 is a bad sort although brought up well spiritual extravagant gay likeable capable of very good actions on occasion very generous 8 is a very dignified lady who acts appropriately and who is linked with 7 and has much influence on him she is the wife of 9 9 is the husband of 8 he is self centred maniacal selfish thinks only about himself is grumpy endlessly reproaching his wife for one thing or another telling her for example that he would have been better to have married a 9 since between them they would have made 18 as opposed to only 17 with her 10 and the other remaining numerals have no personifications |
macdonald was a colourful figure in office and endorsed several large development projects for the city in 1978 he led the city council into accepting a multimillion dollar plan for an office tower and convention centre in downtown hamilton the plan which resulted in the hamilton convention centre and the ellen fairclough building above it was formally endorsed by the provincial government later in the year he also endorsed a pledge by the federal government to assist in construction of a national hockey league sized arena for the city in 1979 and argued that hamilton deserved a team in the next nhl expansion in 1980 the city approved an 80 million plan for a football stadium and arena |
in 1979 he approved a freeway construction project which eventually became known as the red hill creek expressway macdonald himself owned a house on the red hill valley where the highway corridor was slated to run he was quoted as saying i would prefer it in somebody else s backyard but i ve got a greater responsibility than that in 1980 he supported plans by the hamilton harbour commissioners to build for an industrial area on the city s beach strip he also encouraged airport expansion and upgrades to the city s transit system |
with no strong opposition candidates macdonald was easily re elected mayor in november 1978 he was unexpectedly defeated in 1980 losing to a 73 year old he was a former chairman of the regional conservation authority and a former alderman for the city of hamilton william powell who was unknown before the election the globe and mail described the result as a major upset powell won the election by promising integrity in government and by criticizing macdonald as arrogant and uncompromising describing him as a good salesman but a poor manager macdonald launched a strong bid for re election in 1982 but lost to bob morrow |
he campaigned for the house of commons of canada in the 1984 federal election running for the progressive conservative party in hamilton east the pcs did not have a strong support base in this region and he finished third with 30 5 per cent against liberal candidate sheila copps and new democrat david christopherson this loss effectively ended his career as a politician the progressive conservatives won a majority government under brian mulroney and macdonald was appointed to the federal parole board |
macdonald supported the progressive conservative government of mike harris at the provincial level although he also wrote a piece strongly critical of the government just prior to the 1999 provincial election macdonald argued that harris betrayed hamilton wentworth by refusing to impose one tier government and openly speculated about voting against the progressive conservatives for the first time in his life he was later reconciled with the government and argued that harris was the logical choice to lead a united federal conservative party |
for a time dangerfield was used as a secondary witness in the popish plot trials to supplement the evidence of titus oates and william bedloe however his character was so unsavoury even compared to that of the other informers that chief justice william scroggs who knew his record of crime thoroughly began instructing juries to disregard the evidence of so notorious a villain i shall shake all such fellows before i am done when dangerfield protested publicly that he had sincerely repented of his former crimes scroggs who did not tolerate interruptions in his court roared what do you with all the mischief that hell hath in you dare to brave it in a court of justice |
the publication of his narrative led once public opinion had turned against the informers to his trial for libel kenyon notes that he could not as the law stood be tried for perjury as no one had actually been convicted on his evidence dangerfield went into hiding in 1684 as soon as he heard about the threatened trial but when james succeeded as king on february 1685 the new government made a determined search for him and found him he was tried and speedily convicted on 20 june 1685 he received his sentence which was to stand in the pillory on two consecutive days be whipped from aldgate to newgate and two days later from newgate to tyburn |
on his way back from the first whipping on 22 june dangerfield who rather surprisingly was traveling by coach got into an argument at hatton garden with a barrister robert francis who made a jeering remark on the lines of how do you after your little race dangerfield in return spat on him and called him a son of a whore whereupon francis struck dangerfield in the eye with his cane the cane apparently entered the brain and dangerfield died shortly afterwards from the blow |
francis was tried and convicted for murder and sentenced to death despite his insistence that he never meant to kill dangerfield several witnesses testified that on the contrary he had deliberately stabbed at dangerfield s eye and there was also evidence that he had said that he would save the hangman the trouble of killing dangerfield nonetheless the verdict of murder came as a surprise to the public the general view being that the death could scarce be even called manslaughter sir john reresby wrote that he was sure that francis had had no intention of killing dangerfield for he had a sword by his side which was a more likely thing to kill him than that little cane indeed the smallest that ever i saw king james ii was solicited strongly to give francis a royal pardon on the |
crichton made his directorial debut with for those in peril 1944 in 1945 he directed painted boats and co directed a segment in dead of night crichton then directed hue and cry 1947 a film considered to be the first comedy released by ealing studios crichton later directed against the wind 1948 and dance hall 1950 crichton then directed alec guinness in the lavender hill mob 1951 this was followed by hunted 1952 starring dirk bogarde afterwards crichton directed the titfield thunderbolt 1953 later films he directed during the 1950s included the divided heart 1954 law and disorder 1958 and floods of fear 1959 he also directed peter sellers in the battle of the sexes 1959 |
crichton was the original director of birdman of alcatraz 1962 but he quit after clashing with burt lancaster crichton was then replaced by john frankenheimer crichton said of the experience had i known that burt lancaster was to be de facto producer i do not think i would have accepted the assignment as he had a reputation for quarreling with better directors than i but harold hecht the credited producer had assured me that there would be no interference from lancaster this did not prove to be the case crichton was also planning another film project with sammy davis jr but it never came to fruition due to the death of a producer involved with it |
crichton moved to directing television shows then corporate videos the latter were through john cleese s company video arts this led cleese to propose crichton returning to the crime comedy film genre beginning in 1983 cleese and crichton worked together on the story for a fish called wanda cleese wrote the screenplay when the film went into production in 1987 cleese had to act as stand by director for insurance reasons since crichton was 77 years old cleese said of working with crichton as a stand by director that was a subterfuge i knew the studio would be worried about charlie s age i don t know anything about how to direct but that doesn t stop one half of the directors i simply prayed that charlie would be on the set every morning he shoots in such a way to convey the essence of every scene he s economical he s a dear man who s terrified of showing off if he says anything shrewd or insightful he ll apologize for a minute so he won t be considered pompous |
websites and organizations have sprung up all across the nation in individual communities states and nationwide to help people to remain in their own homes for as long as possible aging in place is an initiative of partners for livable communities and the national association of area agencies on aging it was developed to help america s communities prepare for the aging of their population and to become places that are good to grow up live in and grow old they have been working directly with nine laboratory communities to assist them in advancing policies programs and services to promote aging in place a similar network is the elder villages |
georgia institute of technology has developed a smart house this house would help to address issues older adults face when living alone such as physical and mental decline as well as awareness for family members the house includes technology such as pendants which understand commands in the form of hand gestures it could open and lock doors close blinds turn on lights and more there is also an in home monitoring system that can inform family members about an older relative s daily activities health status and potential problems this would allow older adults to remain in their own home while still maintaining their independence without their families having to worry about their well being this is not the only smart house that has popped up |
in december 2011 aarp policy institute and the national conference of state legislatures released a report entitled aging in place a state survey of livability policies and practices to foster aging in place by giving state legislators examples of how laws policies and programs can support this goal in addition to such governmental initiatives livability can be optimized through the incorporation of universal design principles telecare and other assistive technologies assistive technologies include communications health and wellness monitoring home safety and security semico research published a report in july 2013 claiming the health and wellness monitoring market for aging in place will reach 30 billion by 2017 |
the program of all inclusive care for the elderly pace model was created in the early 1970s in order to meet the chronic care needs of older people through their community as an assistance program one must be at least 55 years of age certified by their state to need nursing home care are able to live safely in the community at the time of enrollment and live in a pace service area the goal of the pace program is to care for the chronic care needs of older individuals while providing them with the ability to live independently or age in place in their homes for as long as possible in order to make independent living possible for this population the pace program provides services such as physical therapy respite care prescription drugs social services nutritional counseling and much more since 2011 pace has 82 operational programs in 29 states and is continuing to expand today |
unlike other great scholars of the age he travelled little and his knowledge of geography came from his library of over one thousand books and maps from his visitors and from his vast correspondence in six languages with other scholars statesmen travellers merchants and seamen mercator s early maps were in large formats suitable for wall mounting but in the second half of his life he produced over 100 new regional maps in a smaller format suitable for binding into his atlas of 1595 this was the first appearance of the word atlas in reference to a book of maps however mercator used it as a neologism for a treatise cosmologia on the creation history and description of the universe not simply a collection of maps he chose the word as a commemoration of the titan atlas king of mauretania whom he considered to be the first great geographer |
a large part of mercator s income came from sales of his terrestrial and celestial globes for sixty years they were considered the finest in the world and were sold in such great numbers that there are many surviving examples this was a substantial enterprise involving the manufacture of the spheres printing the gores building substantial stands packing and distributing all over europe he was also renowned for his scientific instruments particularly his astrolabes and astronomical rings used to study the geometry of astronomy and astrology |
mercator wrote on geography philosophy chronology and theology all of the wall maps were engraved with copious text on the region concerned as an example the famous world map of 1569 is inscribed with over five thousand words in fifteen legends the 1595 atlas has about 120 pages of maps and illustrated title pages but a greater number of pages are devoted to his account of the creation of the universe and descriptions of all the countries portrayed his table of chronology ran to some 400 pages fixing the dates from the time of creation of earthly dynasties major political and military events volcanic eruptions earthquakes and eclipses he also wrote on the gospels and the old testament |
mercator was a devout christian born into a catholic family at a time when martin luther s protestantism was gaining ground he never declared himself as a lutheran but he was clearly sympathetic and he was accused of heresy by catholic authorities after six months in prison he was released unscathed this period of persecution is probably the major factor in his move from catholic leuven louvain to a more tolerant duisburg in the holy roman empire where he lived for the last thirty years of his life walter ghim mercator s friend and first biographer describes him as sober in his behaviour yet cheerful and witty in company and never more happy than in debate with other scholars above all he was pious and studious until his dying days |
towards the end of 1534 the twenty two year old mercator arrived back in leuven and threw himself into the study of geography mathematics and astronomy under the guidance of gemma frisius mercator was completely out of his depth but with the help and friendship of gemma who was only four years older he succeeded in mastering the elements of mathematics within two years and the university granted him permission to tutor private students gemma had designed some of the mathematical instruments used in these studies and mercator soon become adept in the skills of their manufacture practical skills of working in brass mathematical skills for calculation of scales and engraving skills to produce the finished work |
gemma and gaspar van der heyden had completed a terrestrial globe in 1529 but by 1535 they were planning a new globe embodying the latest geographical discoveries the gores were to be engraved on copper instead of wood and the text was to be in an elegant italic script instead of the heavy roman lettering of the early globes the globe was a combined effort gemma researched the content van der heyden engraved the geography and mercator engraved the text including the cartouche which exhibited his own name in public for the first time the globe was finished in 1536 and its celestial counterpart appeared one year later these widely admired globes were costly and their wide sales provided mercator an income which together with that from mathematical instruments and from teaching allowed him to marry and establish a home his marriage to barbara schellekens was in september 1536 and arnold the first of their six children was born a year later |
the arrival of mercator on the cartographic scene would have been noted by the cognoscenti who purchased gemma s globe the professors rich merchants prelates aristocrats and courtiers of the emperor charles v at nearby brussels the commissions and patronage of such wealthy individuals would provide an important source of income throughout his life his connection with this world of privilege was facilitated by his fellow student antoine perrenot soon to be appointed bishop of arras and antoine s father nicholas perrenot the chancellor of charles v |
a year later in 1538 he produced his first map of the world usually referred to as orbis imago in 1539 40 he made a map of flanders and in 1541 a terrestrial globe all four works were received with acclaim and they sold in large numbers the dedications of three of these works witness mercator s access to influential patrons the holy land was dedicated to franciscus van cranevelt who sat on the great council of mechelen the map of flanders was dedicated to the emperor himself and the globe was dedicated to nicholas perrenot the emperor s chief advisor the dedicatee of the world map was more surprising johannes drosius a fellow student who as an unorthodox priest may well have been suspected of lutheran heresy given that the symbolism of the orbis imago map also reflected a lutheran view point mercator was exposing himself to criticism by the hardline theologians of leuven |
in between these works he found time to write literarum latinarum a small instruction manual on the italic script the italic script or chancery cursive reached the low countries from italy at the beginning of the sixteenth century and it is recorded as a form of typescript in leuven in 1522 it was much favoured by humanist scholars who enjoyed its elegance and clarity as well as the rapid fluency that could be attained with practice but it was not employed for formal purposes such as globes maps and scientific instruments which typically used roman capitals or gothic script mercator first applied the italic script to the globe of gemma frisius and thereafter to all his works with ever increasing elegance the title page of this work is an illustration of the decorative style he developed |
in 1542 the thirty year old must have been feeling confident about his future prospects when he suffered two major interruptions to his life first leuven was besieged by the troops of the duke of cleves a lutheran sympathiser who with french support was set on exploiting unrest in the low countries to his own ends this was the same duke to whom mercator turned ten years later the siege was lifted but the financial losses to the town and its traders including mercator were great the second interruption was potentially deadly the inquisition called |
at no time in his life did mercator claim to be a lutheran but there are many hints that he had sympathies in that direction as a child called geert he was surrounded by adults who were possibly followers of geert groote who placed meditation contemplation and biblical study over ritual and liturgy and who also founded the school of the brethren of the common life at s hertogenbosch as an adult mercator had family connections to molanus a religious reformer who would later have to flee leuven also he was a close friend and correspondent of philip melanchthon one of the principal lutheran reformers study of the bible was something that was central to mercator s life and it was the cause of the early philosophical doubts that caused him so much trouble during his student days doubts which some of his teachers would have considered to be tantamount to heresy his visits to the free thinking franciscans in mechelen may have attracted the attention of the theologians at the university amongst whom were two senior figures of the inquisition jacobus latomus and ruard tapper the words of the latter on the death of heretics convey the atmosphere of that time |
it may well have been these inquisitors who in 1543 decided that mercator was eminent enough to be sacrificed his name appeared on a list of 52 lutheran heretics which included an architect a sculptor a former rector of the university a monk three priests and many others all were arrested except mercator who had left leuven for rupelmonde on business concerning the estate of his recently deceased uncle gisbert that made matters worse for he was now classified as a fugitive who by fleeing arrest had proved his own guilt |
mercator was apprehended in rupelmonde and imprisoned in the castle he was accused of suspicious correspondence with the franciscan friars in mechelen but no incriminating writings were uncovered in his home or at the friary in mechelen at the same time his well placed friends petitioned on his behalf but whether his friend antoine perrenot was helpful is unknown perrenot as a bishop would have to support the activities of the inquisition after seven months mercator was released for lack of evidence against him but others on the list suffered torture and execution two men were burnt at the stake another was beheaded and two women were entombed alive |
mercator never committed any of his prison experiences to paper all he would say was that he had suffered an unjust persecution for the rest of his time in leuven his religious thoughts were kept to himself and he turned back to his work his brush with the inquisition did not affect his relationship with the court and nicholas perrenot recommended him to the emperor as a maker of superb instruments the outcome was an imperial order for globes compasses astrolabe and astronomical rings they were ready in 1545 and the emperor granted the royal seal of approval to his workshop sadly they were soon destroyed in the course of the emperor s military ventures and mercator had to construct a second set now lost he also returned to his work on a large up to date and highly detailed wall map of europe which was he had already claimed on his 1538 world map very well advanced it proved to be a vast task and he perfectionist that he was seemed unable to cut short his ever expanding researches and publish as a result it was to be another ten years before the map appeared |
in 1547 mercator was visited by the young nineteen year old john dee who on completion of his undergraduate studies in cambridge 1547 went beyond the seas to speak and confer with some learned men dee and mercator were both passionately interested in the same topics and they quickly established a close rapport which lasted throughout their lives in 1548 dee returned to leuven louvain in dee s text and registered as a student for three years he was constantly in mercator s company apart from a possible short visit to duisberg in 1562 the two men did not meet but they corresponded frequently and by good fortune a number of their letters are preserved dee took maps globes and astronomical instruments back to england and in return furnished mercator with the latest english texts and new geographical knowledge arising from the english explorations of the world forty years later they were still co operating dee using mercator s maps to convince the english court to finance martin frobisher s expeditions and mercator still avidly seeking information of new territories |