The Washington Navy Yard was the ceremonial gateway to the nation's capital. In 1860, the first Japanese diplomatic mission was welcomed to the United States in an impressive pageant at the Yard. The body of World War I's Unknown Soldier was received here. Charles A. Lindbergh returned to the Navy Yard in 1927 after his famous transatlantic flight. In 1939, Britain's King George VI, representing the dominion of Canada, visited the Yard during his Washington stay.
As of 2004, the Navy Yard houses a variety of activities. It is the main office of the Naval District Washington, and houses numerous support activities for the fleet and aviation communities. The Navy Museum welcomes visitors to the Navy Art Collection. Its displays of naval art and artifacts trace the Navy's history from the Revolutionary War to the present day. The Naval History and Heritage Command is housed in a complex of buildings known as the Dudley Knox Center for Naval History. Leutze Park is the scene of colorful ceremonies.
The destroyer USS "Barry" is a museum ship at the Washington Navy Yard, and is open to tourists. The "Barry" is frequently used for change of command ceremonies for naval commands in the area.
The Yard serves as a ceremonial and administrative center for the U.S. Navy, home to the Chief of Naval Operations. It is headquarters for the Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Historical Center, the Department of Naval History, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, Naval Reactors, Marine Corps Institute, the United States Navy Band, and many other naval commands.
On September 16, 2013, a shooting took place at the Yard. Shots were fired at the headquarters for the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters building #197. At least 17 people, including at least eight civilians, one D.C. police officer and one peacekeeper, were shot. Thirteen fatalities were confirmed by the United States Navy and D.C. Police. Officials said the gunman, Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old civilian contractor from Queens, New York, was killed during a gun battle with police.
Alexey Stakhanov
Alexey Grigoryevich Stakhanov (; 3 January 1906 – 5 November 1977) was a miner in the Soviet Union. In 1970, he was made a Hero of Socialist Labor. In 1936, he became a member of the CPSU. He became a celebrity in 1935 as part of a movement that was intended to increase worker productivity and demonstrate the superiority of the socialist economic system.
Stakhanov was born in Lugovaya near Oryol. In 1927, he began working in a mine called "Tsentralnaya-Irmino" in Kadievka (Donbass). In 1933, Stakhanov became a jackhammer operator. In 1935, he took a local course in mining. On 31 August 1935, it was reported that he had mined a record 102 tonnes of coal in 5 hours and 45 minutes (14 times his quota). On 19 September, Stakhanov was reported to have set a new record by mining 227 tonnes of coal in a single shift. His example was held up in newspapers and posters as a model for others to follow, and he even appeared on the cover of Time Magazine.
Between 1936 and 1941, Stakhanov was a student of the Industrial Academy in Moscow. In 1941–1942, he was appointed director of mine No. 31 in Karaganda. Between 1943 and 1957, Stakhanov worked in the Ministry of Coal Industry of the USSR. In 1957–1959, he was deputy director of the "Chistyakovantratsit" trust, and after that, assistant chief engineer at the mine management office No. 2/43 of the "Torezantratsit" trust until his retirement in 1974.
Stakhanov was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the first convocation. He was awarded two Orders of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner, and numerous medals. The last Sunday of August was designated "Coal Miner's Day", also apparently in his honor.
The town of Kadievka in eastern Ukraine where he started his work was renamed Stakhanov in his honour in 1978, after his death.
Stakhanov's records set an example throughout the country and gave birth to the Stakhanovite movement where workers who exceeded production targets could become "Stakhanovites". Orwell in Animal Farm presents Boxer as a symbolic character of the "Stakhanovites".
The validity of Stakhanov's record has since been called into question. In 1985, "The New York Times" printed a story that said Stakhanov had indeed succeeded in his feat, but that it was only because the Communist Party had pre-arranged the event. With it, the Communist party wanted to boost public morale. According to this article, many other miners helped Stakhanov beat the mining record. The "Times" quoted the chief of the Tsentralnaya-Irmino mine's branch of the Party, Konstantin G. Petrov: "I suppose Stakhanov need not have been the first... It could have been anybody else. In the final analysis it was not the individual face-worker who determined whether the attempt to break the record would succeed, but the new system of coal extraction." In 1988, Soviet newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda claimed that the widely propagandized personal achievements of Stakhanov were puffery – the paper insisted that Stakhanov had used a number of helpers on support works, while the throughput was tallied for him alone. Still, according to the newspaper, Stakhanov's approach had eventually led to the increased productivity by means of a better organization of the work, including specialization and task sequencing.
It has also been claimed that his record was beaten by Alija Sirotanović of Yugoslavia and Sergej Scemuk of Ukraine.
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was the eastern-most tip of the Ancient Greek world. It lasted between 250-125BC.
It covered Afghanistan but also bits of Turkmenistan, Iran, and Pakistan. It covered a region originally conquered by Alexander the Great.
Much of our information comes from the Roman Strabo. Much archaeology has been done in Afghanistan, especially in the cities of Aï Khanoum and Begram.
The National Museum of Afghanistan has put on a touring exhibition about this kingdom. It has been shown at the British Museum and also in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Much other archaeology is on display in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Northwestern College (Illinois)
Northwestern College (NC), formerly Northwestern Business College, is a college in Illinois. It has no affiliation with Northwestern University. Northwestern College has campuses in Bridgeview, Chicago, and Napeville.
Bosporan Kingdom
The Bosporan Kingdom (often called Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus) was an ancient empire, covering the Crimea and a lot of the north coast of the Black Sea. It is regarded as the first real 'Hellenistic' country also speaking Greek.
The Bosporan Kingdom was the longest surviving known Roman client kingdom (allied state). It was a Roman Province between 63 and 68, under Roman Emperor Nero. In the 1st century and 2nd century AD was a period of a new 'golden age' of the Bosporan Kingdom when it was famous for its jewellery. In the end of the 2nd century the King Sauromates II inflicted a critical defeat to the Scythians (a nomadic tribe) and included all the territories of the Crimea in the structure of his state.
The Bosporan Kingdom became rich from selling wheat, fish and slaves to rest of Europe. This means that there are a lot of amazing and very rich finds from the Kingdom, especially found in burial barrows (known as kurgans). Today, there are lots of architectural and sculptural remains from the Bosporan Kingdoms and many finds can be seen in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. These include gold work and vases imported from Ancient Athens and the rest of Ancient Greece.
It was finally destroyed by the Goths (barbarian tribes) at the end of the 4th century AD
Navy Yard, Washington, D.C.