The Bell P-39 Airacobra was one of the principal American fighter aircraft in service when the United States entered World War II. The P-39 was used by the Soviet Air Force, enabled individual Soviet pilots to collect the highest number of kills attributed to any U. S. fighter type flown by any air force in any conflict. Other major users of the type included the Free French, the Royal Air Force, the United States Army Air Forces, the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force. Designed by Bell Aircraft, it had an innovative layout, with the engine installed in the center fuselage, behind the pilot, driving a tractor propeller with a long shaft, it was the first fighter fitted with a tricycle undercarriage. Although its mid-engine placement was innovative, the P-39 design was handicapped by the absence of an efficient turbo-supercharger, preventing it from performing high-altitude work. For this reason it was rejected by the RAF for use over western Europe but adopted by the USSR, where most air combat took place at medium and lower altitudes.

Together with the derivative P-63 Kingcobra, the P-39 was one of the most successful fixed-wing aircraft manufactured by Bell. In February 1937, Lieutenant Benjamin S. Kelsey, Project Officer for Fighters at the United States Army Air Corps, Captain Gordon P. Saville, fighter tactics instructor at the Air Corps Tactical School, issued a specification for a new fighter via Circular Proposal X-609, it was a request for a single-engine high-altitude "interceptor" having "the tactical mission of interception and attack of hostile aircraft at high altitude". Despite being called an interceptor, the proposed aircraft's role was an extension of the traditional pursuit role, using a heavier and more powerful aircraft at higher altitude. Specifications called for at least 1,000 lb of heavy armament including a cannon, a liquid-cooled Allison engine with a General Electric turbo-supercharger, tricycle landing gear, a level airspeed of at least 360 mph at altitude, a climb to 20,000 ft within 6 minutes.

This was the most demanding set of fighter specifications USAAC had presented to that date. Although Bell's limited fighter design work had resulted in the unusual Bell YFM-1 Airacuda, the Model 12 proposal adopted an original configuration with an Allison V-12 engine mounted in the middle of the fuselage, just behind the cockpit, a propeller driven by a shaft passing beneath the pilot's feet under the cockpit floor; the main purpose of this configuration was to free up space for the heavy main armament, a 37 mm Oldsmobile T9 cannon firing through the center of the propeller hub for optimum accuracy and stability. This happened because H. M. Poyer, designer for project leader Robert Woods, was impressed by the power of this weapon and pressed for its incorporation; this was unusual, because fighter design had been driven by the intended engine, not the weapon system. Although devastating when it worked, the T9 had limited ammunition, a low rate of fire, was prone to jamming. A secondary benefit of the mid-engine arrangement was that it created a smooth and streamlined nose profile.

Much was made of the fact that this resulted in a configuration "with as trim and clean a fuselage nose as the snout of a high velocity bullet". Entry to the cockpit was through side doors rather than a sliding canopy, its unusual engine location and the long drive shaft caused some concern to pilots at first, but experience showed this was no more of a hazard in a crash landing than with an engine located forward of the cockpit. There were no problems with propeller shaft failure; the XP-39 made its maiden flight on 6 April 1938. At Wright Field, achieving 390 mph at 20,000 ft, reaching this altitude in only five minutes. However, the XP-39 was found to be short on performance at altitude. Flight testing had found its top speed at 20,000 feet to be lower than the 400 mph claimed in the original proposal; as specified by Kelsey and Saville, the XP-39 had a turbo-supercharger to augment its high-altitude performance. Bell cooled the turbo with a scoop on the left side of the fuselage. Kelsey wished to shepherd the XP-39 through its early engineering teething troubles, but he was ordered to England.

The XP-39 project was handed over to others, in June 1939 the prototype was ordered by General Henry H. Arnold to be evaluated in NACA wind tunnels to find ways of increasing its speed, by reducing parasitic drag. Tests were carried out, Bell engineers followed the recommendations of NACA and the Army to reduce drag such that the top speed was increased 16%. NACA wrote, "it is imperative to enclose the supercharger within the airplane with an efficient duct system for cooling the rotor and discharging the cooling air and exhaust gases." In the tightly planned XP-39, there was no internal space left over for the turbo. Using a drag-buildup scheme, a number of potential areas of drag reduction were found. NACA concluded that a top speed of 429 mph could be realized with the aerodynamic improvements they had developed and an uprated V-1710 with only a single-stage, single-speed supercharger. At a pivotal meeting with the USAAC and NACA in August 1939, Larry Bell proposed that the production P-39 aircraft be configured without the turbocharger.

Some historians have questioned Bell's true motivation in reconfiguring the aircraft. The strongest hypothesis is that Bell's factory did not have an active production program and he was desperate for cash flow. Other historians mention that wind tunnel tests made the designers believe the turbocharger installation was so aerodynamically cluttered that it had more disadvantages than advantages; the Army ordered 12 YP-39s (with only a single-stage, sin

Athena Farrokhzad is an Iranian-Swedish poet, playwright and literary critic. Farrokhzad was born in Teheran and grew up in the Hammarkullen and Askim areas of Gothenburg, Sweden, she now lives in a suburb of Stockholm. She is an instructor in the writing program at Nordens folk high school on the island of Biskops-Arnö in Lake Mälaren. In 2013, Farrokhzad published a collection of poems titled Vitsvit with Albert Bonniers Förlag; the same year, her translation into Swedish of work by the Romanian poet Svetlana Cârstean appeared, she made her debut as a playwright with Päron, performed by the youth section of Östgötateatern, directed by Kajsa Isakson. "White Blight", Jennifer Hayashida's translation of "Vitsvit," was published by Argos Books in 2015. It was shortlisted for the 2016 National Translation Awards in Poetry, named one of Boston Globe's best poetry books of 2016, reviews appeared in Slate, the Rumpus, Kenyon Review, the Southeast Review; as of 2018, Vitsvit has been translated into 12 languages.

Vitsvit has been adapted into a theatre play on two occasions. Farrokhzad has published two poetry anthologies, Manualen with Tova Gerrge and Ett tunt underlag with the poetry group G=T=B=R=G, both in 2009, she edited the queer poetry anthology Omslag with Linn Hansén and has organized literary events such as Queerlitt and World Poetry Day. She is a literature critic for the newspaper Aftonbladet. Farrokhzad hosted the Sveriges Radio show Sommar on P1 on 21 July 2014, her show led to strong reactions from some listeners. Gunnar Axén of the Moderate Party expressed the opinion that her decision to play the Ebba Grön song Beväpna er was inappropriate and claimed to have thrown out his television so he could stop paying the license fee; the license fee, which must be paid by all households with a television, is used to fund not only television, but radio. Others reacted more positively, including Ebba Grön lead singer Joakim Thåström and some reporters and listeners; as of 25 July 2014 there had been 70 complaints to the Swedish Broadcasting Commission concerning Farrokhzad's show, the most complaints received about any host of the program.

She was not included by SVT in the line-up for the television discussion show Sommarpratarna, but the program-makers denied she was left out due the controversy surrounding her radio show. Vitsvit was nominated for the 2013 August Prize in the literature category, for the Borås Tidnings debutantpris, the Catapult Prize of the Swedish Writers' Union. Farrokhzad was joint winner of the Karin Boye Literary Prize in 2013 and in 2014 won the Stora Läsarpriset. Media related to Athena Farrokhzad at Wikimedia Commons

Haguroyama Sojō is a former sumo wrestler from Hokkaidō, Japan. As an active wrestler he was first known as Annenyama and reached a highest rank of sekiwake upon winning the top makuuchi division tournament championship in May 1957. In his career he was granted the sumo name Haguroyama, in honour of his father-in-law and stable boss, the 36th Yokozuna Haguroyama Masaji, he was runner-up in the November 1959 tournament and over the course of his top division career earned ten gold stars for defeating yokozuna. However, he lost all of 21 bouts against yokozuna Taihō Kōki. After retiring in 1965 he remained in the sumo world as an elder under the name Oitekaze, he became head coach of Tatsunami stable in 1969 upon Haguroyama Masaji's death and adopted the name Tatsunami Oyakata. He inherited a number of strong wrestlers such as future ōzeki Asahikuni, he coached Kōji Kitao to the top division in 1984, who became the 60th Yokozuna Futahaguro in 1986. However, after the two had a heated argument in December 1987 Futahaguro struck Tatsunami's wife and stormed out of the stable.

Futahaguro was forced to resign by the Japan Sumo Association and Tatsunami filled out the yokozuna's retirement papers, the first time this had been done to a wrestler with elite sekitori status. Tatsunami was punished by a salary cut and told to stay away from all Sumo Association functions for three months, he produced a number of other top division wrestlers such as Daishōhō and Daishōyama. In February 1999 he reached the mandatory retirement age and passed on control of the stable to former komusubi Asahiyutaka, who had become his son-in-law and adopted son in April 1995. After their relationship soured and Asahiyutaka was divorced, he was ordered by the Tokyo District Court in February 2003 to pay Annen 175 million yen, the sum he would have had to pay for the right to the Tatsunami elder stock had he not been married to Annen's daughter; this was the first time a price had been revealed for elder stock, as the sums are kept secret. However, the Tokyo High Court in January 2004 overturned the original verdict.

The Kyushu tournament was first held in 1957, the Nagoya tournament in 1958. List of sumo record holders List of sumo tournament top division champions Glossary of sumo terms List of past sumo wrestlers List of sekiwake Complete career results

Frederick Gordon Crosby was an English automotive illustrator. He worked for the magazine Autocar for most of his life, his illustrations and paintings reflect the excitement and glamour that surrounded the birth and early development of the automotive industry. Crosby attended Christ’s Hospital school, just outside London. Crosby had no formal training as an artist, although he did attend life classes at art school some time after the start of his professional career. In 1908 he started his career as a draughtsman in The Daimler Motor Company’s drawing office. At this time he moved into Arthur Ludlow Clayton’s home in Coventry; this was an environment full of all wildly enthusiastic about the cars of the day. Ludlow Clayton’s first job was for the Automobile Engineer, published by Iliffe, the same company that published Autocar. Clayton drew Iliffe’s attention to Crosby, subsequently commissioned to create a perspective drawing of the BTH magneto; this was to be one of the first drawings of a style, to be termed an exploded view, begun Crosby’s Autocar career.

In 1908, Crosby at the age of 23, moved from Daimler to Autocar. It was at Autocar, at Clayton’s house, that Crosby met and maintained a lifelong friendship with Sammy Davis and Monty Tombs. Crosby, as illustrator, Tombs and sometimes Davis, as writer, were responsible for producing one of Autocar’s humorous stalwarts: "Keeping up appearances". Here Crosby sketched and Tombs wrote anecdotes about the construction of cars at the time; the characters created in Keeping up Appearances made it an instant hit the first time it was published, it was produced for years afterwards. It humorously criticised the way that functionality of vehicles at the time was always put above aesthetics, much to Crosby’s disappointment. Through his years with Autocar, his talent and reputation grew. While not fond of travelling abroad, he would travel; this included Paris, where he would sketch the latest models about to be released to the public, much to the annoyance of many of the vehicle stand attendants. After some 30 years of travelling and working to press deadlines, the work began to take its toll on Crosby.

In the last few years before the Second World War, it became clear to many of his colleagues that all the enjoyment had gone out of the work. However, during the war, his spirits seemed to rally and he produced some of his best works of battles both in the air and at sea. From 1914 – 1918, Crosby was engaged in the investigation of German military aircraft, including Fighter and Zeppelin engine defaults. Crosby bridges the divide between illustrator and artist, he was an illustrator with such outstanding creative and artistic ability that he was able to raise his historic records into works of art. Crosby painted some fine Landscapes, for example the oil paintings he did in 1918-1919 of the Scottish Highlands. At least two works are known to exist. One is in a private collection; the others whereabouts are unknown. Crosby worked at a time; the cars he illustrated are today the pride of many car collections. His work reflects the excitement of this time, which lost with today’s modern cars. While some of Crosby’s paintings represent events he saw, many reflect stories told to him by eyewitnesses.

These he reproduced in his own unique style, shot through with exaggerated excitement and atmosphere. He is well known for his coverage of many of the great car races of the day, including Le Mans, the Monte Carlo Rally and Alpine Rally; the cars he best loved to illustrate were the big, pre-World War One racing cars, which feature prominently in much of his work. These cars lent themselves well to an artistic licence for slight exaggeration of their features, his touring scenes reflect the atmosphere of wealth and excess that surrounded these cars at the time. Crosby, working at one of the greatest periods in the history of the car, did an enormous amount to glamorise motoring and motorsport of his time, his artwork fetches high prices, both imitations and forgeries exist. Crosby exhibited three times at the first in 1916 with his painting of Flt. Lt. Reggie Warneford shooting down an L37 over Ghent; this was both the first German zeppelin to be shot down by British aircraft, the first aeronautical picture hung in the Royal Academy.

Crosby produced many works in gouache and oil paint, but most of his oil paintings are confined to works about wartime aircraft. His less formal works were produced in crayon; these were were created over the weekend for the Friday issue of Autocar. There are nearly 300 of these originals, his work reflects the ease with which he was able to move between different media, from pen and ink to charcoal, crayons or watercolour, as well as a variety of sizes. Some of his most vibrant works being produced at the Targa Florio in Sicily, where he and W. F. Bradley were allowed to travel around the track by car during the race. Crosby was commissioned to make several paintings by Vincenzo Florio of the race, these are still in possession of the Sicilian Automobile Club. Crosby produced a set of 30, full colour caricatures of the foremost racers of the day with their cars, worked on a number of plaques and medallions of motoring subjects commissioned as trophies. Most of these are now missing. Crosby created the Jaguar car'leaping cat' mascot.

This first appeared on Jaguar cars late in 1938. During the Second World War, Crosby produced some of his best works the'Roads of War' series, his pictures of war at sea and in the air. Crosby was commissioned

The Thief River Falls Library is a library and historic site in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, USA that dates from 1900. In 1900, a few civic leaders decided. Money was raised for a small collection of books which were housed in the first library, a storefront on 2nd Street, provided rent-free. In the spring of 1902, a small one-story annex was built for the library on the north side of the old City Fire Hall at the corner of First Street and Main Avenue. A Mr. L. G. Browning was hired at the salary of $14 a month. In 1906, the library became an official separate department of the City of Thief River Falls; when the city moved to its current location, the library moved and was located in a large room in the basement. As the library grew, it was evident. In 1914, the Carnegie Library was built in Thief River Falls and dedicated on May 12, 1915; the Carnegie Library provided the library with a children's section. Hazel Halgrim, the librarian from 1912-1913, again assumed the librarianship in 1925 and remained in the position until 1953.

During this time, she implemented county outreach library service. This became a model for the state. In 1929, Pennington County became the eleventh Minnesota County to receive library service. Halgrim became so well respected among librarians in the state, that they first elected her secretary president, of the Minnesota Library Association. Known as "Miss Library", Frances Shanahan became the TRF librarian in 1953 and served until her death in 1965. Named one of the three 1962 Outstanding Women of Thief River Falls by the Business and Professional Women's Club, Shanahan would not live to see her two dreams-a new library, regionalization of library services—come to completion, it became apparent that the Carnegie Library was crowded and the building was in need of repairs. It was in 1966, that the library moved to its present location across the street from the Carnegie Library, which still houses the library today. In 1968, Pennington and Red Lake counties banded together to form the Northwest Regional Library system and established the Thief River Falls Public Library as its headquarters library.

The regional system helped the TRF Public Library expand its resources through interlibrary loan services, savings from bulk purchases, savings from a centralized processing and administrative staff and much more. In 1991, during the library's 90th anniversary celebration week, the TRF Public Library automated its circulation system. In late 1994, Internet access was added. During the 90th anniversary celebration, the library board noted a number of other changes that had occurred: the library had gone from a start-up collection of 200 books to over 55,000 books in that time frame, it had increased the formats it offered from books only to books, magazines, audios, CDs and DVDs. The library continues to grow and develop, always keeping an eye on the original purpose of the library—to provide informational and recreational opportunities to all; the 1914 Carnegie library building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Official Website

The Mazda Premacy is a compact MPV, built by the Japanese manufacturer Mazda from 1999. The first generation Premacy was exported to Europe and Asia. A re-badged version was sold by Ford in a few Asian markets as the Ford Ixion or Ford MAV; the second generation onward is sold outside Japan as the Mazda5. Ford Lio Ho in Taiwan, which assembles Mazda5 for the local market, adapted a re-badged version as the Ford i-MAX in 2007; the first generation Premacy was a two- or three-row, five- or seven-passenger vehicle, while the second generation adds a third row of seats for up to six passengers in American form, seven passengers outside the United States. Both generations feature near-flat floors, folding or removable second row, fold-flat rear seats; the first generation Mazda Premacy was unveiled on 9 March 1999 at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show. When released in April 1999, the Mazda Premacy was one of the least expensive seven-seaters available on the market; the 1999 Premacy used Mazda's CP platform.

It was available with either front or all wheel drive and was equipped with four-speed automatic transmission. As the Premacy was based on a sedan platform, it was less modular than some of its adversaries such as the Opel Zafira and Toyota Ipsum and was therefore easy to maneuver; the second and third row seats could be removed as on many other minivans. This generation Premacy was sold in some Asian markets as the Ford Ixion; the first generation Premacy is still manufactured by China's FAW Haima Automobile where it is called the Haima Freema. It was powered by a number of engines: 1.8 L FP-DE I4, 100 PS, 152 N⋅m 1.8 L FP-DE I4, 114 PS, 161 N⋅m 2.0 L FP-DE/FS-ZE I4, 122 PS, 171 N⋅m 2.0 L diesel I4, RF-T DI I4, 90 PS, 220 N⋅m 2.0 L diesel I4, RF-T DI I4, 100 PS, 230 N⋅m The new model has been for sale since 7 February 2005 in Japan and mid 2005 in export markets. It is now sold as the Mazda5 in all markets except Japan. While classified by Mazda as a mid-sized wagon, it competes with other vehicles classed as Compact MPVs in Europe, is viewed as a mini-minivan in the United States.

It is based on Ford's global C1 platform, meaning it shares many parts with the Mazda3. The Mazda5 replaced the Mazda MPV as Mazda's minivan offering in most export markets; the Mazda5's closest relative is the European compact MPV, Ford Focus C-MAX, though the Mazda5 uses minivan-style sliding doors in the rear while the Ford has four conventional front-hinged doors. This version of the vehicle was introduced for sale in the United States, making it the first compact minivan in that market since the 1994 Mitsubishi Expo and 1995 Nissan Axxess; the Mazda5 is marginally larger than the 1984–1989 Toyota Van. Competition joined the North American MPV market in 2006 with Mercedes-Benz's B200 and in 2007 Kia Motors followed suit with the 2007 Kia Rondo. In North America, due to safety regulations, the Mazda5 fits six passengers using three rows of seats, with two seats per row. Elsewhere, it is sold as a seven-seater using Mazda's "Karakuri Seating System", which means the car has three rows of two seats, with the seventh seat a fold away jump seat in the centre of the middle row.

The Mazda5 has three-point seat belts on all seven seats. The middle row of seats recline and slide front-to-rear, fold flat; the rear row folds flat. The wheelbase is 2,750 mm with an overall length of 4,610 mm. For the Japanese domestic market it is C model/F model – 4,505 mm / S model – 4,565 mm. Engine options: 1.8 L MZR I4, 85 kW 2.0 L MZR I4, 110 kW 2.3 L MZR I4, 117 or 119 kW 2.0 L MZR-CD I4 Diesel, 89 or 105 kW Mazda was forced to recall the Mazda5 in the United States shortly after production began due to a risk of exhaust system fires. Owners that were not made aware of the manual shifting mode of the 4-speed automatic transmission would mistakenly leave the shifter in that position, resulting in high temperatures as the car would remain in second gear. Mazda's solution was to add a heat shield around the muffler and to alter the vehicle's software to not allow excessively high engine speeds beyond a short period of time when in "sport mode". Although the five-speed manual transmission equipped cars would not need to be recalled, Mazda chose to retrofit all Mazda5 versions with the new parts and software.

The company gave customers US$500 plus a loaner car while the problem was mitigated. 2,700 vehicles were affected. For the 2006 model year Mazda offered fewer Mazda5 options than in other markets; the North American version lacked the front-to-back roof rails that were included as standard in other markets. Other notable Mazda5 options not offered in North America included a back-up camera, power-assist side doors and a choice of engine. A second-row DVD entertainment system was offered as a dealer installed add-on. Mazda produced a limited number of Mazda5 units featuring all-wheel-drive but this version was not made available outside Japan for the 2006 model year; the Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid was a version of Mazda Premacy with a two-rotor Wankel engine supporting hydrogen or gasoline fuel. The hydrogen tank with 110 l at 350 bars stores up to 2.4 kg of hydrogen and is in addition to the 60 l petrol tank. The Mazda5 was named "Best New Multipurpose Family Vehicle" in the 2006 Canadian Ca