Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, several films, television programs, video games, role-playing games, other media. The character was created by writer Robert E. Howard in 1932 for a series of fantasy stories published in Weird Tales magazine. Conan the Barbarian was created by Robert E. Howard in a series of fantasy stories published in Weird Tales in 1932. For months, Howard had been in search of a new character to market to the burgeoning pulp outlets of the early 1930s. In October 1931, he submitted the short story "People of the Dark" to Clayton Publications' new magazine, Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror. "People of the Dark" is a remembrance story of "past lives", in its first-person narrative the protagonist describes one of his previous incarnations. Some Howard scholars believe this Conan to be a forerunner of the more famous character. In February 1932, Howard vacationed at a border town on the lower Rio Grande.

During this trip, he further conceived the character of Conan and wrote the poem "Cimmeria", much of which echoes specific passages in Plutarch's Lives. According to some scholars, Howard's conception of Conan and the Hyborian Age may have originated in Thomas Bulfinch's The Outline of Mythology which inspired Howard to "coalesce into a coherent whole his literary aspirations and the strong physical, autobiographical elements underlying the creation of Conan". Having digested these prior influences after he returned from his trip, Howard rewrote a rejected story, "By This Axe I Rule!", replacing his existing character Kull of Atlantis with his new hero, retitling it "The Phoenix on the Sword". Howard wrote "The Scarlet Citadel" and "The Frost-Giant's Daughter", inspired by the Greek myth of Daphne, submitted both stories to Weird Tales magazine. Although "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" was rejected, the magazine accepted "The Phoenix on the Sword" after it received the requested polishing, published it in the December 1932 issue.

"The Scarlet Citadel" was published the following month.."The Phoenix on the Sword" appeared in Weird Tales cover-dated December 1932. Editor Farnsworth Wright subsequently prompted Howard to write an 8,000-word essay for personal use detailing "the Hyborian Age", the fictional setting for Conan. Using this essay as his guideline, Howard began plotting "The Tower of the Elephant", a new Conan story, the first to integrate his new conception of the Hyborian world; the publication and success of "The Tower of the Elephant" spurred Howard to write many more Conan stories for Weird Tales. By the time of Howard's suicide in 1936, he had written 21 complete stories, 17 of, published, as well as a number of unfinished fragments. Following Howard's death, the copyright of the Conan stories passed through several hands. Under the guidance of L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, the stories were edited and sometimes rewritten. For 40 years, the original versions of Howard's Conan stories remained out of print.

In 1977, the publisher Berkley Books issued three volumes using the earliest published form of the texts from Weird Tales, but these failed to displace the edited versions. In the 1980s and 1990s, the copyright holders of the Conan franchise permitted Howard's stories to go out of print while continuing to sell Conan works by other authors. In 2000, the British publisher Gollancz Science Fiction issued a two-volume, complete edition of Howard's Conan stories as part of its Fantasy Masterworks imprint, which included several stories that had never seen print in their original form; the Gollancz edition used the versions of the stories as published in Weird Tales. The two volumes were combined and the stories resorted into chronological order as The Complete Chronicles of Conan: Centenary Edition. In 2003, another British publisher, Wandering Star Books, made an effort both to restore Howard's original manuscripts and to provide a more scholarly and historical view of the Conan stories, it published hardcover editions in England, which were republished in the United States by the Del Rey imprint of Ballantine Books.

The first book, Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One includes Howard's notes on his fictional setting, as well as letters and poems concerning the genesis of his ideas. This was followed by Conan of Cimmeria: Conan of Cimmeria: Volume Three; these three volumes combined include all of the unedited Conan stories. The various stories of Conan the Barbarian occur in the pseudo-historical "Hyborian Age", set after the destruction of Atlantis and before the rise of any known ancient civilization; this is a specific epoch in a fictional timeline created by Howard for many of the low fantasy tales of his artificial legendary. The reasons behind the invention of the Hyborian Age were commercial: Howard had an intense love for history and historical dramas. By conceiving a timeless setting—"a vanished age"—and by choosing

The 3rd Guards Volnovakha Red Banner Order of Suvorov Motor Rifle Division was a division of the Soviet Army from 1957 to around 1992. It traced its history from the decorated 3rd Guards Rifle Division of World War II. 3rd Guards Rifle Division was formed from the 153rd Rifle Division. In August 1940, by an Order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, the 153rd Rifle Division was formed in the city of Sverdlovsk; the division was renamed the 3rd Guard Rifle Volnovakha Red Banner Suvorov Division. From August 1940 through June 1941 the division was engaged in combat training in the Kamyshlovsky camps of the Ural Military District. In the first half of June 1941, by the order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, the division, as a part of the Second Strategic Echelon, was transferred to Vitebsk. By June 22, 1941—the day of the German attack on the Soviet Union—the first three echelons had arrived to Vitebsk; the full complement of the division arrived to Vitebsk only by June 27, 1941.

Upon arriving to Vitebsk, the division was manned to peacetime standards. Due to the declaration of war, the division was urgently staffed with personnel and supplied with additional weapons and materiel over the period of June 22–27; the mobilized personnel arriving to the division's camps was under-supplied, but over the course of the week the division became battle-ready. While the staffing of the division was still in progress, on June 26, 1941, parts of it assumed a defensive position on a broad front along the Gnezdilovichi–Kholm–sovkhoz Khodtsy–Moshkany–Burdeli–station of Krynki line. At the same time, the division's advance detachments reached the area of Ulla-2, Beshankovichy and Syanno. On July 5, 1941, the advance units along these lines clashed with large mechanized forces of the enemy which were breaking through to Vitebsk. On July 7, 1941, the battle reached the main division lines in the areas of Gnezdilovichi, Shchikotovshchina and sovkhoz Khodtsy. Large German motorized and tank forces, expanding their offensive, attempted to break through to the city of Vitebsk along the Beshenkovichi-Vitebsk highway, on July 7, 1941, reached the defense division line.

After the day of fierce fighting, the division stopped the enemy's advance to the city along the highway and inflicted heavy losses. The German units, waging battles with the defending divisional forces, launched another offensive towards Vitebsk both along the Polotsk–Vitebsk and the Syanno—Bogushevsk highways, thus bypassing the division from north and south. On July 8, 1941, due to the emerging threat of the entrapment by the enemy, the division re-grouped its forces, took up defensive positions at the Gnezdilovichi–Kholm–sovkhoz Khodtsy–Moshkany–Shchemilovka line; the battles were fierce. The Germans tried to break through the division's defensive line, but after having achieved no success and sustaining heavy losses in men and materiel, ceased their attempts at the head-on attack. After breaking through the defenses on the right and left, a large force of infantry and tanks began to bypass the division from the north and south. Continuing the offensive north and south of the defending division, by the end of July 10, 1941, the German forces broke through the Gorodok–Vitebsk and Polotsk–Vitebsk highways and captured the western part of Vitebsk, thus reaching the western coast of the Zapadnaya Dvina River.

The German mechanized troops pushed past the division's flanks and launched an offensive towards Smolensk. From July 11, 1941, the division was surrounded near the villages of Popovka and Krynki, located 8, 14, 22 km south-east of Vitebsk. By the morning of July 17, 1941, the division's main forces reached the area of Sleptsy and Karoli, located 17, 14 and 18 km south-west of a major inhabited locality of Liozno; until the end of August 5, 1941, the 153rd Infantry Division was trying to break out of the encirclement. By August, of its original complement of 6,000 only about 1,000 soldiers and officers remained. From August 6 to 22, 1941, the division conducted combat operations on the east bank of the Dnieper River, as well as attempted to expand its foothold on the west coast in the area of Ratchino and Golovino. From August 22 to September 6, 1941, the division conducted warfare in the area of Height 249.9 on the east bank of the Dnieper, on the west coast. From September 6 to 20, 1941, the division was in the 20th Army reserve and in the Stavka Supreme Main Command reserve while it was staffed to standard in Kalinin.

On September 18, 1941, by the Order #308 of the People's Commissar of Defense, the 153rd Rifle Division was renamed the 3rd Guards Rifle Division. From September 20 to November 9, 1941, the division led military operations as a part of the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front in the area of Mga and Sinyavino. From November 10 to 14, 1941, the division relocated to the left flank of the army, south of the city of Volkhov. From November 15 to December 28, 1941, the division conducted combat operations near Volkhov and pursued the enemy to the station of Pogostye. In summer 1942, the division added staff, was made a part of the Stavka reserve. At the end of August - September 1942, the division took part in the Sinyavino Offensive of the Volkhov Front. In early December 1942, the division was withdrawn from the Stavka reserve and transferred under the 2nd Guards Army of the Stalingrad Front. During winter 1942, the division completed a difficult forced march, passing 200 to 280 km from the discharge point to the assembly areas.

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Gregory Alexander Draper is an English-born New Zealand footballer who plays for The New Saints. Draper was born and raised in Chard, before his parents decided to emigrate to Christchurch in New Zealand when he was 12 years old. Having begun playing youth football at the age of ten, Draper joined Canterbury United shortly after moving to New Zealand. Having played for a number of clubs in Australia and New Zealand, Draper joined English non-league club Basingstoke Town in August 2010 and made his competitive debut for the club on 17 August against St. Albans. In June 2011 he joined The New Saints making his debut for the club on 18 June in a pre-season friendly against Cliftonville, his competitive debut came on 30 June against the same team in a Europa League first qualifying round match, where he was a 74th-minute substitute. He scored his first competitive goal for his new club on 3 September in a Welsh Premier League game against Llanelli where he scored the only goal of the game, his rich vein of form led to him being awarded the Welsh Premier League player of the month for February 2012.

He finished the season as the club's top scorer and was awarded the club's player of the season award. In the 2017–18 season, Draper won the Welsh Premier League golden boot for finishing as the league's top goalscorer with 22 goals, he repeated the feat the following year. In May 2019 he signed a two-year contract extension with the club, he represented New Zealand national football team in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. Draper was included in the New Zealand squad for the football tournament at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, he played in New Zealand's group matches against Belgium. His senior international debut for the All Whites came in 2008 in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Fiji, he was called up March 2012 for the 2012 Olympic qualifiers and scored his first international goal in New Zealand's second group match against Tonga. Draper scored the only goal in the final to qualify New Zealand for the 2012 Olympic Games in Great Britain, he finished the qualifying tournament with three goals in four games.

He was shortlisted for the final squad for the tournament. The New SaintsWelsh Premier League: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 Welsh Cup: 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2018–19 Welsh League Cup: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18IndividualWelsh Premier League Team of the Year: 2011–12, 2017–18 Welsh Premier League Golden Boot: 2017–18, 2018–19 Greg Draper – FIFA competition record Wellington Phoenix profile NZF – New Zealand U-20 profile

Martha Rojas Urrego is a biologist and humanitarian, gender and environmental advocate. She is French national. In August 2016 she was appointed as the Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, she was Head of Global Advocacy and Acting Deputy Secretary General at humanitarian organization CARE International. Martha Rojas Urrego has a bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Colombia, she studied at the University of Montpellier, where she obtained a Specialized Higher Studies Diploma in Ecology and Management of Natural Environment. She holds a Master of Science in Geography from the University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom; as Executive Director of the National Park Service in Colombia, she led policy development and management of the 42 protected areas of National Parks System. In 1994 she worked on the transformation of Colombia's National Institute of Renewable Natural Resources and Environment into the Ministry of Environment. In 1994 she moved to Switzerland to work as Biodiversity Policy Advisor at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

In 2002 she was named Head of IUCN's Global Policy Unit and for seven years she oversaw development of IUCN global policy strategies in biodiversity, climate change, energy and trade and financing for development. She led the Union's engagement with the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the World Trade Organization, the UN Environment Programme, the World Bank, the Global Environmental Facility and the Inter-American Development Bank, she joined a humanitarian organization, in 2009 as Head of Global Advocacy. She led local to global policy work on poverty-fighting development and humanitarian aid with a strong focus on gender equality and women's empowerment, she managed CARE's representation to the United Nations in European Union in Brussels. As Acting Deputy Secretary General she managed the governance functions of CARE International, a confederation of 14 independent member organisations working together to end poverty in more than 80 countries, which directly reached 83 million people in 2012.

In August 2016 she was appointed as the Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. She provides leadership for the further implementation of the Convention by 169 Contracting Parties. IUCN Commission of Environmental and Social Policy, Member IUCN European Union Policy Advisory Group, Co-Chair IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, Member Opinion piece, Mother Nature vs. Climate Change, by Martha Rojas Urrego, Secretary-General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2016 Advocacy, Planet, Prosperity and Partnerships, CARE International, 2015 “Martha Rojas Urrego begins her tenure as Sixth Secretary General”. Ramsar Convention. Retrieved 22 August 2016. Martha Rojas Urrego Twitter account Ramsar Convention on Wetlands official website

William Henry Bagley was an American military officer and newspaperman. He served as clerk of the North Carolina Supreme Court, having been elected January 18, 1869, holding that position until his death, a little more than 17 years thereafter, he was appointed to the post of superintendent of the United States Mint at Charlotte, but could not accept the appointment as he did not qualify for it. He served as state senator for North Carolina's First Senatorial District. Bagley was born in Perquimans County, North Carolina, on 5 July 1833, was a son of Colonel Willis Bagley. In 1852, Bagley was elected register of deeds of his native County, held that position for several years. In 1855, he removed to Elizabeth City, in the adjacent county of Pasquotank, there engaged in journalistic work as editor of the Sentinel, he studied law, was licensed to practice in 1859. In 1860, he was associated in the editorial management of another paper, the State, with James W. Hinton. Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, Bagley entered the Confederate service, was commissioned First Lieutenant of Company A, Eighth North Carolina Regiment, on May 16, 1861.

This regiment being sent to join the forces engaged in the defenses around Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, Bagley was engaged in numerous actions in that vicinity until February 8, 1862, when he was captured by Burnside's expedition against Roanoke Island, where he was stationed. Shortly after the Eighth Regiment reassembled, Bagley was promoted to the rank of captain, October 25, 1862, assigned to his former company, he did not rejoin his company as about this time he had been elected state senator from the First Senatorial District, composed of the counties of Pasquotank and Perquimans. On April 15, 1864, Bagley was commissioned Major of the Sixty-eighth Regiment, he did not remain with this regiment long, but resigned on June 11 in the same year. He again became a member of the State Senate in 1864. In July, 1865, President Andrew Johnson appointed Bagley to the post of superintendent of the United States Mint at Charlotte, but the recipient of this appointment could not qualify as he was unable to take the "iron-clad oath" alleging that he had borne no part in what was officially designated "the late Rebellion."

On December 15, 1865, Jonathan Worth became Governor of North Carolina. Bagley was appointed private secretary by Governor Worth, served in that capacity for some time. In 1866, he married Miss Adelaide Worth. One of the children born to this marriage was Ensign Worth Bagley, killed in the War with Spain, in whose honor a statue now stands in the Capitol Square at Raleigh. William Henry Bagley, second son, was engaged in newspaper work. A third son was Commander David Worth Bagley, of the Navy. One of Major Bagley's daughters was herself a patriotic welfare worker. Bagley held highest honors in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, he was initiated into this order in 1857 as a member of No. 14, of Elizabeth City. In 1865, he transferred his membership to No. 64, of Raleigh, became a member of McKee Encampment, No. 15, in the same city. He represented the Grand Lodge of North Carolina in the Grand Lodge of the United States from 1874 until 1886, was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina from May 1873 until May 1874.

Bagley's death occurred at his home in Raleigh on February 21, 1886. Funeral services were held two days at the First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh. In attendance were the officers of the State Departments, the Justices and officers of the Supreme Court, the Raleigh Bar in a body, numerous representations of Odd Fellows, among others; this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: North Carolina Bar Association's Centennial Celebration of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1819-1919, by the North Carolina Bar Association North Carolina Bar Association. Centennial Celebration of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1819–1919, by the North Carolina Bar Association. Mitchell Printing Company. P. 59

The William A. Egan Civic and Convention Center is a 45,000-square-foot convention center located in downtown Anchorage, Alaska at 555 West Fifth Avenue. Constructed in 1984 as part of a massive Anchorage-wide public works project dubbed "Project 80s", it replaced the original Z. J. Loussac Library, which opened on the same site in 1955 and was demolished in 1981; the library moved to a new building in midtown Anchorage as part of Project 80s. The building is named for William Allen Egan, it features a unique glass front that runs the entire length of the facility providing the reception area and the giant Ficus retusa trees inside with plenty of natural light. A skywalk across Fifth Avenue connects the building to the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. Egan Center Homepage Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau Anchorage Civic & Convention District