Backpacking may be done on short or long trips. Sometimes, backpacking groups begin at a trail head with a parking lot and hike over a weekend until they work their way back to the vehicle. On longer trips, groups may settle in at a base camp and hike for weeks or even months if they are more experienced and prepared.
When following certain rules, backpackers have the chance to leave the outdoors better than they found them. There are certain practices such as Leave No Trace that teach backpackers and hikers to pack out all waste and help conserve nature in every way possible such as not building fires in dry areas, saving water, and protecting the environment. When backpackers use these skills, they help preserve nature while getting to explore themselves while outside the influence of the rest of the world.
Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne is a "commune" in the Marne department in the Grand Est region in northeastern France. It is the "préfecture" (capital) of the department.
Even if Châlons-en-Champagne is the capital of the department, it is only the second largest city in population after Reims. It should not be confused with Chalon-sur-Saône, a city in the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.
Formerly called Châlons-sur-Marne, the name of the city was changed to Châlons-en-Champagne in 1995 but it was rejected in 1997. But, finally, this change was accepted in 1998.
Châlons-en-Champagne is in the centre of the Marne department. The Marne river flows through the western part of the city.
It has an area of . Its average altitude is ; at the city hall, the altitude is .
The distances from Châlons-en-Champagne to other cities are:
The "commune" of Châlons-en-Champagne is surrounded by the "communes" L'Épine, Saint-Memmie, Sarry, Compertrix, Fagnières and Saint-Martin-sur-le-Pré.
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Châlons-en-Champagne is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Maritime Temperate climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".
The average temperature for the year in Châlons-en-Champagne is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month, on average is January, with an average temperature of .
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Châlons-en-Champagne is . The month with the most precipitation on average is July with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .
The inhabitants of Châlons-en-Champagne are known, in French, as "Châlonnais" (women: "Châlonnaises ").
With a population of 45,002, Châlons-en-Champagne has a population density of inhabitants/km.
Evolution of the population in Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne forms, with other 4 "communes", the urban area of Châlons-en-Champagne with a population of 57,571 inhabitants (2014) and an area of . This urban area is the centre of the metropolitan area of Châlons-en-Champagne, formed by 66 "communes", with a population of 81,486 inhabitants (2014) and an area of .
Châlons-en-Champagne is a prefecture of the Marne department since 1800. It is also the capital of the "arrondissement" of Châlons-en-Champagne and the administrative centre () of three cantons:
It is part of the intercommunality "Châlons Agglo" ().
Châlons-en-Champagne is twinned with:
Some interesting places in Mâcon are:
Nicolas Appert
Nicolas Appert (Châlons-en-Champagne 1749 - Massy 1841) was a French inventor.
Schulze method
The Schulze method is a way of voting that is used to fill a single position in an election. It was developed in 1997 by Markus Schulze. It is also known as Schwartz Sequential Dropping (SSD), Cloneproof Schwartz Sequential Dropping (CSSD), Beatpath Method, Beatpath Winner, Path Voting, and Path Winner. It is used by several organizations including Wikimedia, Debian, Gentoo, BerryTube, and the KDE.
Voters rank the candidates in the order from the one that they most want to win to the one they least want to win. The same preference (how much the voters want the candidate to win or lose) can be given to more than one candidate, and candidates can be given no number (they are interpreted as the worst).
Next, for every pair of two candidates, the two are compared: ignoring all other candidates, which of the two in the pair is preferred by most voters? How many voters agree with the majority decision is noted.
More calculations take place. Given two candidates A and K, A is said to beat K with strength "t" if "t" voters prefer A to B, "t" voters prefer B to C, and so on, and "t" voters prefer J to K. The winner W is the candidate which beats any other candidate X with strength "t", but X does not beat W with strength "t".
Markus Schulze, A new monotonic, clone-independent, reversal symmetric, and condorcet-consistent single-winner election method , Social Choice and Welfare, volume 36, number 2, page 267–303, 2011. Preliminary version in "Voting Matters", 17:9-19, 2003.
The Man from Earth
The Man from Earth is a 2007 movie written by Jerome Bixby.
The movie tells the story of John Oldman. All of the movie takes place in a small house and its porch, where Oldman tells his friends that he is a 14,000 year old Cro-Magnon caveman.
The movie begins with the protagonist John Oldman packing up his belongings onto his truck. John Oldman is getting ready to move to a different place to live. This is when his friends come over to give him a farewell party. From their conversations it becomes evident that John Oldman and his friends are all professors in a university. After a bit of conversation, the group of friends moves into John Oldman’s house. John’s friends keep asking why he decided to “run off” so quickly. John Oldman does not answer clearly at first, but gradually becomes drawn to telling his friends what is really on his mind. He begins to tell his friends about who he really is, a 14,000 year old Cro-Magnon caveman who has survived until the present. His friends aren’t convinced, but rather constantly question John Oldman in order to prove him wrong. The talk goes on as John Oldman’s friends try to prove him wrong, in biological, historical, and religious terms.
The conversations are driven by John Oldman’s claims of his past. His claims include the following:
Shaolin Monastery
The Shaolin Monastery or Shaolin Temple is a temple at Song mountain of Dengfeng, near Zhengzhou City,Henan Province, China. Now it is led by abbot Venerable abbot Shi Yǒngxìn.
It was Founded in the 5th century and became the Holy Ground of Kung Fu. Now it is the Mahayana Buddhist monastery perhaps best known to the Western world.
Egyptian vulture
The Egyptian vulture ("Neophron percnopterus") is a small Old World vulture. It is found from southwestern Europe and northern Africa to southern Asia. It is the only living member of the genus "Neophron", and there are three subspecies. In Southern Asia this species is called the scavenger vulture.
When they feed on the eggs of other birds, they break larger ones by tossing a large pebble onto them. The use of tools is rare in birds, but Egyptian vultures also use twigs to roll up wool for use in their nest.
Henan
Henan is a province of the People's Republic of China. It is in the central eastern part of China. The name Henan means "south of the Yellow River." The capital of Henan is Zhengzhou.
Its major cities are Anyang, Hebi, Jiaozuo, Kaifeng, Luohe, Luoyang, Nanyang, Pingdingshan, Puyang, Sanmenxia, Shangqiu, Xinxiang, Xinyang, Xuchang, Zhengzhou, Zhoukou and Zhumadian.
Henan is now the province of China with the most people.
The abbreviation of Henan is Yu (豫) to remember a kingdom from history yhat was in the area, and also because another province also has "He" (河) in its name, Hebei (河北).
Pulp Fiction