In ancient Roman religion, an aedicula is a small shrine. The word aedicula is the diminutive of the Latin aedes, a temple building, can translate into English as "aedicule" or "edicule". Many aediculae were household shrines that held small statues of the Lares and Penates; the Lares were Roman deities protecting the family household gods. The Penates were patron gods of the storeroom becoming household gods guarding the entire house. Other aediculae were small shrines within larger temples set on a base, surmounted by a pediment and surrounded by columns. In Roman architecture the aedicula has this representative function in the society, they are installed in public buildings like City gate, or Thermes. The Celsus Library in Ephesus is a good example. From the 4th century Christianization of the Roman Empire onwards such shrines, or the framework enclosing them, are called by the Biblical term tabernacle, which becomes extended to any elaborated framework for a niche, window or picture; as in Classical architecture, in Gothic architecture, too, an aedicule or tabernacle frame is a structural framing device that gives importance to its contents, whether an inscribed plaque, a cult object, a bust or the like, by assuming the tectonic vocabulary of a little building that sets it apart from the wall against which it is placed.

A tabernacle frame on a wall serves similar hieratic functions as a free-standing, three-dimensional architectural baldaquin or a ciborium over an altar. In Late Gothic settings and devotional images were customarily crowned with gables and canopies supported by clustered-column piers, echoing in small the architecture of Gothic churches. Painted ædicules frame figures from sacred history in initial letters of illuminated manuscripts. Classicizing architectonic structure and decor all'antica, in the "ancient mode", became a fashionable way to frame a painted or bas-relief portrait, or protect an expensive and precious mirror during the High Renaissance. Aedicular door surrounds that are architecturally treated, with pilasters or columns flanking the doorway and an entablature with a pediment over it came into use with the 16th century. In the neo-Palladian revival in Britain, architectonic aedicular or tabernacle frames and gilded, are favourite schemes for English Palladian mirror frames of the late 1720s through the 1740s, by such designers as William Kent.

Similar small shrines, called naiskoi, are found in Greek religion, but their use was religious. Aediculae exist today in Roman cemeteries as a part of funeral architecture. Presently the most famous aedicule is situated inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in city of Jerusalem. Contemporary American architect Charles Moore uses the concept of aediculae in his work to create spaces within spaces and to evoke the spiritual significance of the home. Pilaster Portico Adkins, Lesley & Adkins, Roy A.. Dictionary of Roman Religion. Facts on File, inc. ISBN 0-8160-3005-7. Conservation glossary´

In ethics, value pluralism is the idea that there are several values which may be correct and fundamental, yet in conflict with each other. In addition, value-pluralism postulates that in many cases, such incompatible values may be incommensurable, in the sense that there is no objective ordering of them in terms of importance. Value pluralism is opposed to value monism. Value-pluralism is a theory in metaethics, rather than a theory of normative ethics, or a set of values in itself. Oxford philosopher and historian of ideas Isaiah Berlin is credited with being the first to popularize a substantial work describing the theory of objective value-pluralism, bringing it to the attention of academia; the related idea that fundamental values can and, in some cases, do conflict with each other is prominent in the thought of Max Weber, captured in his notion of "polytheism". Value-pluralism is an alternative to moral absolutism. An example of value-pluralism is the idea that the moral life of a nun is incompatible with that of a mother, yet there is no purely rational measure of, preferable.

Hence, moral decisions require radical preferences with no rational calculus to determine which alternative is to be selected. Value-pluralism differs from value-relativism in that pluralism accepts limits to differences, such as when vital human needs are violated. If values can be compared with virtues or duties reference might be made to the arguments of classical philosophy. Kant, for example, referred to "a conflict of duties" and the subject can be traced back to Plato's Statesman where he wrote that although the aim may be "to promote not a part of virtue but the whole", it is the case that the different parts of virtue "may be at war with one another". Isaiah Berlin suggested that James Fitzjames Stephen, rather than himself, deserved credit for fathering value-pluralism. Stephen had observed: "There are innumerable differences which add to the interest of life, without which it would be unendurably dull. Again, there are differences which can neither be left unsettled nor be settled without a struggle, a real one, but in regard to which the struggle is rather between inconsistent forms of good than between good and evil.

In cases of this sort no one need see an occasion for anything more than a good-tempered trial of strength and skill, except those narrow-minded fanatics whose minds are incapable of taking in more than one idea at a time, or of having a taste for more things than one, which one thing is a trifle. There is no surer mark of a poor, cowardly character than the inability to conduct disputes of this sort with fairness, humanity, goodwill to antagonists, a determination to accept a fair defeat in good part and to make the best of it." William James, influenced by Fitzjames Stephen, endorsed value-pluralism in an essay on "The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life", which he first delivered as a lecture in 1891. He wrote that none "of the measures that have been proposed has, given general satisfaction... The various ideals have no common character apart from the fact. No single abstract principle can be so used as to yield to the philosopher anything like a scientifically accurate and genuinely useful casuistic scale."

Joseph Raz and many others have done further work defending value-pluralism. For instance, political philosopher William Galston, former policy advisor to President Bill Clinton, has defended a Berlinian approach to value pluralism in books like Liberal Pluralism. Social psychologist Philip E. Tetlock and identifies with value pluralism; the philosopher Charles Blattberg, Berlin's student, has advanced an important critique of Berlin's value-pluralism. Blattberg focuses on value-pluralism's applications to Marx, the Russian intelligentsia and Berlin's early political thought, as well as Berlin's conceptions of liberty, the Enlightenment versus the Counter-Enlightenment, history. Another notable critic of value-pluralism in recent times is Ronald Dworkin, the second most-cited American legal scholar, who attempts to forge a liberal theory of equality from a monist starting-point, citing the failure of value-pluralism to adequately address the "Equality of what?" debate. Alan Brown suggests that Berlin ignores the fact that values are indeed commensurable as they can be compared by their varying contributions towards the human good.

Regarding the ends of freedom, efficiency, etc. Brown maintains that none of these are valued for their consequences. Brown concludes that Berlin has failed to show that the problem of conflicting values is insoluble in principle; the deliberative democrat Robert Talisse has published several articles criticizing the pluralism of Isaiah Berlin, William Galston, Richard Flathman, John Gray, alleging informal logic and internal epistemological contradictions. Moral skepticism Perspectivism Summum Bonum Value system Berlin, Isaiah; the Crooked Timber of Humanity. London: Fontana Press. ISBN 0-00-686221-7. Berlin, Isaiah. Four Essays on Liberty. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-500272-5. Blattberg, Charles. From Pluralist to Patriotic Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829688-6. Blattberg has criticized value pluralists for taking politics "too seriously." Dworkin, Ronald. Sovereign Virtue. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-00219-9. James, William; the Will to Believe.

New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-20291-7. Raz, Joseph; the Practice of Value. Oxfor

Athletics events at the 2012 Summer Paralympics were held in the Olympic Stadium and in The Mall in London, United Kingdom, from 31 August to 9 September 2012. Athletes were given a classification depending on the extent of their disability; the classification system allowed athletes to compete against others with a similar level of function. The athletics classifications are: 11–13: Blind and visually impaired athletes 20: Athletes with an intellectual disability 31–38: Athletes with cerebral palsy 40: Les Autres 42–46: Amputees 51–58: Athletes with a spinal cord disabilityThe class numbers were given prefixes of "T", "F" and "P" for track and pentathlon events, respectively. Visually impaired athletes classified 11 run with a guide runner. Guide runners were awarded medals alongside their athletes. Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics International Paralympic Committee - Athletics classification regulations

Koltur is an island in the Faroe Islands, located to the west of Streymoy and to the north-west of Hestur. The name'Koltur' means'colt', in contrast with the name of the larger island to the south-east,'Hestur', which means'horse'; the island has Koltur. It was abandoned in the 1980s by the sheep-farmers whose flocks grazed on the southern part of the island. Since only two people have returned. Koltur has two mountains and Fjallið which speaking is not a mountain, the name however translates directly as "The Mountain" and is considered by many as the smallest mountain in the country; the island supports 160 adult sheep. Archaeological excavations have found that barley has been cultivated on the island as far back as 800-900AD, in the early Viking age, and it has been cultivated up to near modern times, straw from Koltur was considered the best for thatching, as there are no mice in the island to diminish the quality of the straw. There have been two settlements on Heima í Húsi and Norðuri í Gerði.

There is a story that the two families who lived there couldn't agree to anything and never helped each other with anything, this went on for generations and in the end, it was forgotten what the original argument was about. Though the place-name Trætumørkin, hints at the argument being about a parcel of land. All peat for fuel, had to be cut at Syðradal and Fossdal on Streymoy or in Skopun and transported by boat back to Koltur where it was stored in houses at Gróthústanga. Heima í Húsi is the older settlement, it contains two farms, Niðri í Húsi and Uppi í Búð, it is thought it is the original settlement on the island; the buildings are remarkably well preserved, although they have had running reparations through the centuries there has been little modernization compared to the rest of the country, thus give a great insight into how people have lived in the past. Norðuri í Gerði is a younger settlement, but the old buildings here are in much worse condition, though in Jarðarbókini from 1584 it is established that this settlement is built by then.

This is the location of the only inhabited house today. In 1890 there were 42 people living on the island spread over 6 families. 1954 was the last time anyone. The cemetery lies some 600 meters to the north-east of the settlement Norðuri í Gerði, the isolation from the settlement is said to be due to it being haunted, as it could go long stretches of time before a priest came to the island to throw earth on the grave, put the dead properly to rest according to customs. 1987 - Føroya Forngripafelag, calls on the authorities to come with a plan for preserving the important locations. 1990 - The plan for conservation and continued habitation is put forward 1992 - 11 June, the authorities decide upon the future course of conservation and continued running of the farm. 1994 - The farm Norðuri í Gerði is settled. 1991 - 1996 Some buildings in the two settlements Norðuri í Gerði and Heima í Húsi are repaired. 1996 - 2000 Fornminninevndin puts forward in 1996 a suggestion to expand the conservation of the settlements, the suggestion is approved in 2000 2000 - 2012 Conservational work is done in various stages, with funding coming from various sources, most notably in 2008 Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond donates 5 million Dkk to the restoration project.

In 2012 the project is deemed complete, is now open as a museum. The aim now is to get Koltur classed as a national park, it is the only island, run as an organic farm. There is a regular helicopter connection all around the year, operated by Atlantic Airways. In summertime there is a boat connection from Gamlarætt and Tórshavn. Most of the coastline of the island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because of its significance as a breeding site for seabirds European storm petrels, Atlantic puffins and black guillemots. Personal website with 6 aerial photos of Koltur

Snow Farm is a ski area near Wanaka, New Zealand, dedicated to cross-country skiing. Snow Farm features 55 km of trails, the conference centre has accommodation for about 60 people, it is located on the Pisa range close to Cardrona, at an altitude of approx 1,600 m. The area is used for cross country skiing in the winter and during the summer months for altitude training with trails climbing out to 2000m; the proximity of Wanaka and Queenstown and the training options around these two towns makes the Snow Farm one of the best locations in the Southern Hemisphere for a live high, train low training regime. The Lodge itself is a wedding and meeting venue with seating for 150 people, a private bar and viewing deck. Private hire options are popular amongst the conference organisers along with the breakout activities onsite including: Cross Country skiing, snow shoeing, Husky dog sled tours, a snow and ice driving experience. During the summer months, mountain biking, orienteering, rock climbing and adventure racing are available.

It is the location of the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds. The series of twelve vehicle test facilities are used by car manufacturers from around the world for ice and snow testing during the northern-hemisphere summer. Snow Farm is around 55 km from Queenstown and 35 km from Wanaka; the 13 km gravel access road is used for the internationally known Race to the Sky hillclimb. An annual cross country skiing event called the Merino Muster is held in September and covers distances of 42 km/21 km/7 km and 1 km for children. Official website Lodge website Merino Muster website Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds New Zealand

Fire in the Abyss is a science fiction novel by Stuart Gordon, pen name of Richard Gordon, having as its main character the Elizabethan adventurer Humphrey Gilbert, an actual historical figure, as a time traveler. The first section of the book is set in England and spans Gilbert’s youth to his fateful voyage to North America; these chapters are well blend historical fact and fictitious events and individuals. Numerous, as well as humorous, notable individuals from 16th century England populate this section, including Nick Udall, headmaster of Eton College, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister, beheaded; the arrogant and brutal Gilbert works his way up the social ladder of England’s hierarchical society until he secures the financial and political backing to launch two expeditions to North America, both of which are ultimate failures, the a deadly disaster. The last which recorded history knows of Gilbert is that he and his ship the "Squirrel", were lost in a severe storm off Newfoundland in 1583.

Since nobody saw or heard of him or his ship again, it is assumed that the ship went down with all hands, Gilbert included. Gordon's book, assumes that Gilbert did not drown but was transported through time to the 20th century, by a secret project of the United States Navy. A similar idea about Gilbert was taken up by Philip José Farmer. In Farmer's The Gate of Time, Gilbert is not displaced forward in time but sidewise into an alternate timeline. Gilbert awakens in 1983 floating in the north Atlantic when all of a sudden a U. S. submarine plucks him from certain death. Together with some hundred other "Temporally Displaced Persons," or DTIs, the government term for those it’s kidnapped from other times, Gilbert is illegally incarcerated in a secret installation in Horsefield, New Jersey where authorities conduct experiments designed to extract historical and linguistic secrets from the past. Gilbert is forced to live a pathetic existence of living in a prison and must wear a protective suit just to prevent himself from being infected with deadly modern day viruses and bacteria.

Just when hope seems to have run dry Gilbert discovers that he and the other DTIs have developed a telepathic ring, coordinated by the Ancient Egyptian priestess Tari, a follower of the cult of Isis. In this ring they are able to share their dreams and plans for escape. Together with Tari, a Norse giant, a dancer from ancient North America and many others, Gilbert escapes from his illegal confines; this is a deadly plan as the US government is eager willing to kill, to keep the scandalous DTIs a secret from the public. Once on the outside Gilbert, Tari and a handful of others find themselves on-the-run and overwhelmed by culture shock. Dodging murderous government agents and curious laymen Gilbert wanders across the American continent, meeting up with crazed Irish nationalists, an anti-government rock group and working for a time in a San Francisco S&M parlor, indulging his homosexual desires. One by one Gilbert’s companions are killed off by accident or murder until he alone makes an escape back to England, where he again finds himself an outsider and fugitive.

The book, written in the first person, is Gilbert's diary and is intended as proof of the government misdeeds committed against DTI’s. Gilbert makes many sardonic remarks on the life and institutions of the modern world in general and present-day Britain in particular, but enjoys disabusing moderns who tend to romanticize the Elizabethan Age. Gordon is harsh in his mocking of the political paranoia that infected the United States during the Cold War. Gordon, a Scotsman, does manage to have Gilbert, an Englishman, visit the author’s home town of Buckie on the northeastern coast of Scotland. 1983, USA, New York City:Berkley Books, Pub date August 1983. 1984, UK, Arrow Books:, Pub date February 23, 1984. Andrews, Graham. Fire in the Abyss. By Stuart Gordon. Paperback Inferno Aug. 1984. Review of Fire in the Abyss at Buried.com