In Norse mythology and Embla —male and female respectively—were the first two humans, created by the gods. The pair are attested in both the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, three gods, one of whom is Odin, find Ask and Embla and bestow upon them various corporeal and spiritual gifts. A number of theories have been proposed to explain the two figures, there are occasional references to them in popular culture. Old Norse askr means "ash tree" but the etymology of embla is uncertain, two possibilities of the meaning of embla are proposed; the first meaning, "elm tree", is problematic, is reached by deriving *Elm-la from *Almilōn and subsequently to almr. The second suggestion is "vine", reached through *Ambilō, which may be related to the Greek term ἄμπελος, itself meaning "vine, liana"; the latter etymology has resulted in a number of theories. According to Benjamin Thorpe "Grimm says the word embla, signifies a busy woman, from amr, aml, assiduous labour.

In stanza 17 of the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá, the völva reciting the Poem states that Hœnir, Lóðurr and Odin once found Ask and Embla on Land. The Völva says that the two were capable of little, lacking in ørlög and says that they were given three gifts by the three gods: The meaning of these gifts has been a matter of scholarly disagreement and translations therefore vary. According to chapter 9 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, the three brothers Vili, Vé, Odin, are the creators of the first man and woman; the brothers found two trees there. They from it created the first human beings. One of the three gave them the breath of life, the second gave them movement and intelligence, the third gave them shape, speech and sight. Further, the three gods gave them clothing and names. Ask and Embla go on to become the progenitors of all humanity and were given a home within the walls of Midgard. A Proto-Indo-European basis has been theorized for the duo based on the etymology of embla meaning "vine."

In Indo-European societies, an analogy is derived from the drilling of fire and sexual intercourse. Vines were used as a flammable wood, where they were placed beneath a drill made of harder wood, resulting in fire. Further evidence of ritual making of fire in Scandinavia has been theorized from a depiction on a stone plate on a Bronze Age grave in Kivik, Sweden. Jaan Puhvel comments that "ancient myths teem with trite'first couples' of the type of Adam and his by-product Eve. In Indo-European tradition, these range from the Vedic Yama and Yamī and the Iranian Mašya and Mašyānag to the Icelandic Askr and Embla, with trees or rocks as preferred raw material, dragon's teeth or other bony substance thrown in for good measure". In his study of the comparative evidence for an origin of mankind from trees in Indo-European society, Anders Hultgård observes that "myths of the origin of mankind from trees or wood seem to be connected with ancient Europe and Indo-Europe and Indo-European-speaking peoples of Asia Minor and Iran.

By contrast the cultures of the Near East show exclusively the type of anthropogonic stories that derive man's origin from clay, earth or blood by means of a divine creation act". Two wooden figures—the Braak Bog Figures—of "more than human height" were unearthed from a peat bog at Braak in Schleswig, Germany; the figures depict a nude female. Hilda Ellis Davidson comments that these figures may represent a "Lord and Lady" of the Vanir, a group of Norse gods, that "another memory of may survive in the tradition of the creation of Ask and Embla, the man and woman who founded the human race, created by the gods from trees on the seashore". A figure named; this has resulted in a number of theories that the figures may have had an earlier basis in pre-Norse Germanic mythology. Connections have been proposed between Ask and Embla and the Vandal kings Assi and Ambri, attested in Paul the Deacon's 7th century AD work Origo Gentis Langobardorum. There, the two ask the god Godan for victory; the name Ambri, like Embla derives from *Ambilō.

A stanza preceding the account of the creation of Ask and Embla in Völuspá provides a catalog of dwarfs, stanza 10 has been considered as describing the creation of human forms from the earth. This may mean that dwarfs formed humans, that the three gods gave them life. Carolyne Larrington theorizes that humans are metaphorically designated as trees in Old Norse works due to the origin of humankind stemming from trees. Ask and Embla have been the subject of a number of artistic depictions. A sculpture depicting the two stands in the southern Swedish city of Sölvesborg, created in 1948 by Stig Blomberg. Ask and Embla are depicted on two of the sixteen wooden panels found on the Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway, by Dagfin Werenskiold. Líf and Lífþrasir Sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology

C. R. Neelakandan is an Indian environmental activist and writer. A a regular contributor to Malayalam periodicals on environmental issues, Neelakandan is the State Convener of Aam Aadmi Party Kerala since 3 January 2016. Neelakandan born to C. P Raman Namboothiri and Savithri Antharjanam on 1957 at karuvannoor in Thrissur District, Kerala, he completed his education from Christ College Irinjalakkuda and Government Engineering College, Thrissur. He was an activist of SFI at state level while studying. After his study he went on training from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Bombay, he joined Keltron in 1981 and was the Deputy General Manager of Keltron in its Aroor branch and retired in May 2015. He Began his political activism in students movement, he was arrested during The Emergency and was held in illegal custody for alleged possession of communist literature, he joined SFI, worked in the Communist Party. In 2014, he became a member of the State Executive Committee, he participates in environmental issues such as public protest against waste dumping at various places across the state such as Lalur, Panamkuttichira, Pettippalam etc, Struggles like Silent Valley, National Highway Protection Samithy, Plachimada, GAIUL Pipe Line, High Speed Rail Corridor, Many mining projects like Mineral sand mining on Arattupuzha Coast, Moolampilly displacement, Malabar Gold pollution, Periyar River Protection, Endosulfan in Kazaragod, Aranmula Airport and Pooyamkutty HEPs and many others.

Neelakandan is married to a poet and staff of the All India Radio, Kochi. The couple has two daughters and Aarcha and the family lives in Kakkanadu, in Kochi. Paristhithiyum Aagolavalkaranavum Prakrthiyude Nilavilikal Lavlin, Rekhakaliloode Aam adhmi, Sadharanakarante Party Paristhithiyute Varthamanangal Harithavarthamanangal Baba Award Mukundan C. Menon award A. Sujanapal Award First Oorja Kerala Award Evoorath Award etc. In 2016, he supported Amnesty international in the controversy against ABVP. "Aam Admi Party not to fight, set to defeat tainted". Deccan Chronicle. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2018. Mathrubhumi, News of attack Neelakantan's allegation against Nuclear establishment on YouTube

Philip Corbin was an American industrialist who founded P&F Corbin Company, a major manufacturer of decorative hardware. Corbin was born on October 1824 in Willington, Connecticut, he was the third of ten children. When Corbin was seven, the family moved to Farmington, Connecticut to West Hartford and settled in Ellington, Connecticut; when he was age 15, the family returned to their homestead known as Corbin's Corners, in West Hartford. There and his brothers worked on the family farm, were contracted to other farmers, attended district schools. Corbin attended the West Hartford Academy. At age 19, Corbin secured a position in a New Britain hardware factory. In March 1844, Philip Corbin began working for the Russell & Erwin Company. In the fall of 1844, Corbin worked for Henry Andrews, who had secured a contract to make locks for North & Stanley. At the Henry Andrews Company Corbin and learned the art of lock making, he obtained a contract for himself with North & Stanley. With the contract, Corbin's brother Frank joined him in New Britain.

Soon after, they formed the P&F Corbin Company. In June 1848, Corbin married Francina T. Whiting; the couple had three children. They adopted a daughter. At the end of 1848, the Corbin brothers sought a partner for P&F Corbin. In a small factory built by Corbin's father-in-law, the brothers, along with Edward Doen, began their first manufacturing firm; the first items produced at the factory were ox balls for the horns of steer. A year Henry Whiting bought out Doen's interests in the company and the firm became known as Corbin and Company. By 1851 the Corbin brothers had purchased Whiting's interest and the firm became the P&F Corbin Company; the company shared a building with the owners of the North & Stanley Company that owned their premises. In 1853, several North & Stanley directors, including John Butler Talcott became directors of P&F Corbin. Through the latter half of the 19th century, P&F Corbin manufactured builders’ hardware including coat and hat hooks, sash fasteners, picture nails, knobs, as well as coffin trimmings.

In early 1870, the company switched to decorative hardware. Many prominent buildings from Boston to Philadelphia, including the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford, are outfitted with Corbin decorative hardware. Corbin was the president of the P&F Corbin Company, the American Hardware Corporation, Corbin Cabinet Lock Company, the New Britain Machine Company and the Porter and Dylon Company, he was vice president of the New Britain Savings Bank, Director of the Hartford National Bank, the Mechanics National Bank in New Britain, the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company of Hartford. Corbin served as warden of the borough of New Britain before its incorporation, was a member of the city council, head of the Water Commission and was responsible for the supervision of the enlargement of the city's water supply, he was involved with the South Congregational Church in New Britain and served as the chairman of the Societies Commission. Early on, Corbin was a dedicated Whig party member.

He joined the Republican Party upon its organization. Corbin did not see himself in political life, yet he was elected to the State Legislature in 1884 and in 1888 was made a member of the State Senate. Corbin died after a long illness on November 3, 1910 at age 86. At the time of his death, Corbin's companies employed over 1,800 people and were major manufacturing centers in New Britain starting an automobile manufacturing company; the P&F Corbin Company merged with other local manufacturers and became the American Hardware Corporation. Black and Decker purchased the company in 1989. In 2010, the Stanley Works of New Britain, purchased Black and Decker, now called Stanley Black & Decker. Corbin is buried at Fairview Cemetery in New Britain. In May 1999, the Corbin Monument at the cemetery was noted to be the second tallest private family grave marker in the country; the original family homestead is now the spot of a shopping center. One of the main streets in New Britain, Corbin Avenue, is named after him.

Comstock, John B. History of the House of P. & F. Corbin. New Britain, CT: P. & F. Corbin, 1904. Lawson, Harvey M. History and Genealogy of the Descendants of Clement Corbin of Muddy River, Mass. and Woodstock, Conn. Hartford: The Case and Brainard Co. 1905. Http://www.nbim.org/

Dr. Zabdiel Boylston Adams, Jr. was a Civil War surgeon and 1853 graduate of Harvard Medical School. Adams, Jr. was the son of Sarah May Holland. His siblings included Annie Adams Fields, he had two children. Zabdiel Adams attended Harvard College, but graduated from Bowdoin in 1849, he entered Harvard Medical School and graduated with an M. D. in 1853. In May 1861, he was commissioned an Assistant Surgeon in the 7th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, he served with the 7th at the battles of Yorktown and Fair Oaks. On May 26, 1862, he was commissioned as Head Surgeon for the 32nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Adams, according to his great-grandson Mitchell L. Adams, a former member of Harvard's Board of Overseers, labored so long in surgeries at the Battle of Gettysburg — remaining on duty for two days and three nights — that he temporarily became blind with exhaustion. Although he regained his sight, he was discharged, he fought hard to get back into the surgical corps after being mustered out, to no avail.

By 1864, Adams resorted to an unusual ploy to extend his service. He gave up battlefield medicine and rejoined the army as an infantry officer, a captain, with the 56th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness, captured by Confederate forces, he was paroled and sent to the Union Hospital in Annapolis, Maryland; because of his wound, he was discharged from the army. However, he again reapplied, rejoined the 56th in February 1865, in time for the Siege of Petersburg, he was brevetted Major of the 56th, being promoted for gallantry and meritorious conduct in the assault before Petersburg, Va. on April 2, 1865. Adams took part in multiple battles, from the Peninsular Campaign to the Battle of Second Bull Run, Battle of Antietam, Chancellorsville, the Battle of the Wilderness, and, in 1865, the Siege of Petersburg, that ended the war. After the war, Adams opened a medical practice in Massachusetts. There he established the public library and invited lecturers to town including his brother-in-law James Thomas Fields.

He married Frances Kidder in 1870. Although he predeceased her, she noted in her will, "inasmuch as he has never done anything for my support and his treatment has been most upsetting and that he has tried to desert his family I have no wish to leave him anything that belongs to my estate", he died after falling over the Metropolitan Water Works dam in Southborough in 1902 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Massachusetts. There is a memorial plaque to Adams mounted on a boulder on the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Of over 2,000 memorials there, it is the only one dedicated to a physician; the text reads: Behind this group of rocks on the afternoon of July 2, 1863 Surgeon Z. Boylston Adams placed the field hospital of the 32nd Massachusetts Infantry, Second Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps Established so near the line of battle many of our wounded escaped capture or death by its timely aid. Placed by the Veterans Association of the Regiment 32nd Mass Hospital Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, FRS

Peștera Muierilor, or Peștera Muierii, is an elaborate cave system located in the Baia de Fier commune, Gorj County, Romania. It contains abundant cave bear remains, as well as a human skull; the skull is radiocarbon dated to 30,150 ± 800, indication an absolute age between 40,000 and 30,000 BP. It was uncovered in 1952. Alongside similar remains found in Cioclovina Cave, they are among the most ancient early modern humans in Romanian prehistory; the human skull is that of a woman with obvious anatomically modern human traits, including a high forehead, small jaw and small supraorbital ridges. Despite the tall cranial vault, the occipital bone forms a distinct dome, a trait associated with Neanderthals; the intact facial bones indicate a woman with "rugged traits". This mosaic of features mirrors that seen in the Peștera cu Oase find, indicating possible Neanderthal admixture or robust traits; the early date makes the find referable to the early Cro-Magnon group of finds. On the basis of radiocarbon dating and the analysis of the archaeological context, some researchers advanced the hypothesis of the association of these bones with Cro-Magnons and the Aurignacian archaeological culture.

Others mention the possibility that these findings could belong to a certain regional culture from the Southern Carpathians, from the period of the Final Middle Paleolithic and Early Upper Paleolithic. The remains of three individuals were found at the site. In a 2016 study, researchers extracted DNA from two upper molars from one of the three individuals, Peştera Muierii 1, confirmed that the individual was a modern human; as Haplogroup U6 is today common in North Africa, researchers believe that the U6 lineage in North Africa was the result of migration from Western Asian back into North Africa. Researchers extracted DNA from the temporal bone of Peştera Muierii 2; this individual comes from basal mtDNA Haplogroup U6 and was confirmed as being a female. Peștera cu Oase Prehistoric Romania Prehistoric Transylvania Prehistoric Southeastern Europe Prehistoric Europe

The Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey team represented Mercyhurst College. The Lakers played in the first season of College Hockey America and CJ Ireland was team captain. In the Lakers first CHA season, the Lakers were 25-8-1. During the regular season, the Lakers finished first in the CHA; the Lakers would proceed to win the conference's playoffs, finish the year ranked 10th in the national polls. Mercyhurst won the regular-season CHA title with a conference record of 0 losses. In the 6 conference games, the Lakers outscored its opposition by a 26-9 mark. Desi Clark started eleven games while appearing in twelve, she had two losses and one tie. Her goals against average was 1.64 and she had two shutouts. In addition, Clark was a four-time CHA Defensive Player of the Week. Captain CJ Ireland was in her senior year, she set a record for most goals scored in one season by a Lakers player. Her exploits were featured in Sport's Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd section. Ireland graduated as the career leader in goals and points.

Danielle Lansing registered twelve points. During the season, she was honoured as CHA Rookie of the Week on three separate occasions. Sara McDonald appeared in 34 games. Statiscally, she led the Lakers with 16 goals. Overall, she tied for the team lead. Samantha Shirley tied for the team lead with 26 points. Statistically, Shirley led the Lakers squad in game-winning goals. Shirley was named CHA Rookie of the Year and during the season, she was named CHA Rookie of the Week six times. Note: GP= Games played. CJ Ireland, CHA All-First Team CJ Ireland, CHA All-Academic Team. CJ Ireland, Mercyhurst College Female Student Athlete of the Year. Danielle Lansing, All-CHA Rookie Team. Sara McDonald, CHA Offensive Player of the Week Sara McDonald, CHA All-Academic Team Sara McDonald, First Team All-CHA Sara McDonald, Division I Academic All-American Tiffany Ribble, NCAA leader, 2002-03 season, Save percentage.932 Tiffany Ribble, NCAA leader, 2002-03 season, Goals Against Average.932 Samantha Shirley, All-CHA Rookie Team Samantha Shirley, CHA All-Tournament Team Samantha Shirley, CHA Rookie-of-the-Year.

Chrissy Yule, CHA Offensive Player of the Week Chrissy Yule, CHA All-Tournament Team Official Site