The Data General Nova is a series of 16-bit minicomputers released by the American company Data General. The Nova family was popular in the 1970s and sold tens of thousands of examples; the first model was just called the "Nova" and was released in 1969. The Nova was packaged into a single rack-mount case and had enough power to do most simple computing tasks; the Nova became popular in science laboratories around the world. It was followed the next year by the SuperNOVA. Introduced during a period of rapid progress in integrated circuit design, the line went through several upgrades over the next five years, introducing the 800 and 1200, the Nova 2, Nova 3, the Nova 4. A single-chip implementation was introduced as the microNOVA in 1977, but did not see widespread use as the market moved to new microprocessor designs. Fairchild Semiconductor introduced a microprocessor version of the Nova in 1977, the Fairchild 9440, but it saw limited use in the market; the Nova line was succeeded by the Data General Eclipse, similar in most ways but added virtual memory support and other features required by modern operating systems.

A 32-bit upgrade of the Eclipse resulted in the Eclipse MV series of the 1980s. Edson de Castro was the Product Manager of the pioneering Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8, a 12-bit computer considered by most to be the first true minicomputer, he led the design of the upgraded PDP-8/I, which used early integrated circuits in place of individual transistors. During the PDP-8/I process, de Castro had been visiting circuit board manufacturers who were making rapid strides in the complexity of the boards they could assemble. De Castro concluded that the 8/I could be produced using automated assembly on large boards, which would have been impossible only a year earlier. Others within DEC had become used to the smaller boards used in earlier machines and were concerned about tracking down problems when there were many components on a single board. For the 8/I, the decision was made to stay with small boards, using the new "flip-chip" packaging for a modest improvement in density. During the period when the PDP-8 was being developed, the introduction of ASCII and its major update in 1967 led to a new generation of designs with word lengths that were multiples of 8 bits rather than multiples of 6 bits as in most previous designs.

This led to mid-range designs working at 16-bit word lengths instead of DEC's current 12- and 18-bit lineups. de Castro was convinced that it was possible to improve upon the PDP-8 by building a 16-bit minicomputer CPU on a single 15-inch square board. In 1967, de Castro began a new design effort known as "PDP-X" which included several advanced features. Among these was a single underlying design that could be used to build 8-, 16- and 32-bit platforms; this progressed to the point of producing several detailed architecture documents. Ken Olsen was not supportive of this project, feeling it did not offer sufficient advantages over the 12-bit PDP-8 and the 18-bit PDP-9, it was canceled in the spring of 1968. Cancelation of the PDP-X prompted de Castro to consider leaving DEC to build a system on his own, he was not alone. The group included Pat Green, a divisional manager, Richard Sogge, another hardware engineer, a software engineer, Henry Burkhardt II. In contrast to the PDP-X, the new effort focussed on a single machine that could be brought to market as de Castro felt the PDP-X concept was far too ambitious for a small startup company.

Discussing it with the others at DEC, the initial concept led to an 8-bit machine which would be less costly to implement. At this time the group began talking with Herbert Richman, a salesman for Fairchild Semiconductor who knew the others through his contacts with DEC. Richman pointed out that the machine's internal word length didn't have to be the same as its external presentation; this could be cheaply implemented with a single modern IC. This approach reduced the complexity and cost of the main logic and is responsible for the Nova's low selling cost; the new design used a simple load–store architecture which would reemerge in the RISC designs in the 1980s. As the complexity of a flip-flop was being reduced as they were implemented in chips, they offset the lack of addressing modes of the load/store design by adding four general-purpose accumulators, instead of the single register that would be found in similar low-cost offerings. In keeping with the original packaging concept of the 8/I, the Nova was based on two 15 by 15 inches printed circuit boards, one for the CPU and another for various support systems.

The boards were designed so they could be connected together using a printed circuit backplane, with minimal manual wiring, allowing all the boards to be built in an automated fashion. This reduced costs over 8/I, which consisted of many smaller boards that had to be wired together at the backplane; the larger-board construction made the Nova more reliable, which made it attractive for industrial or lab settings. Fairchild Semiconductor provided the medium-scale integration chips used throughout the system. Late in 1967, Richman introduced the group to New York-based lawyer Fred Adler, who began canvassing various funding sources for seed capital. By 1968, Adler had arranged a major funding deal with a consortium of venture capital funds from the Boston area, who agreed to provide an initial $400,000 investment with a second $400,000 available for production ramp-up. De Castro and Sogge quit DE

Rosewell is a former mining village in Midlothian, east of Roslin and south-west of Bonnyrigg. The village is in the civil parish of Lasswade and was a separate ecclesiastical parish, but has its own Community Council, namely Rosewell and District; the population of the village is 1,566. The colliery village was established by Archibald Hood, mining engineer and entrepreneur, who developed the Whitehill Colliery from 1856, located on the south-western edge of the village, he began a new shaft at the colliery in 1878, built railways for the mines and erected well-designed houses for the miners, encouraged the establishment of a Co-operative Retail Society. In 1890 he amalgamated his company with the mining interests of the Marquess of Lothian to form the Lothian Coal Company; the colliery was named after Whitehill House to the east and was known as Rosewell. On 1 January 1947 the National Coal Board took over the colliery from the Lothian Coal Company, when mines in Britain were nationalised; the colliery had one surface mine.

It reached peak production in 1950, but closed in 1961. Archibald Hood lived at Rosedale in the south of the village, now a category C listed building; this is a mid 19th century two storey gabled house, used by the Lothian Coal Company as a house for its managers, in particular his son James Archibald Hood. The Rosewell Institute, in Carnethie Street, was built for the Lothian Coal Company as a miners' institute in 1917; the Institute was built on an impressive scale with finely detailed sandstone features. Rosewell was served by a railway station lying between Hawthornden; the station opened in 1855 under the name Hawthornden, but was renamed Rosewell and Hawthornden in 1928. It was served by a branch line of the Waverley Line. Services ran from Peebles to Waverley Station in Edinburgh; the station was closed in 1962 but the line remained in use for goods traffic until 1967, although the colliery had closed by then. Rosewell has namely Rosewell Primary School and St Matthew's Primary School; the village is in the catchment area for Lasswade High School, St David's Catholic High School.

Rosewell is served by Lothian Buses. Service 49 runs every 20 minutes but, as it serves Bonnyrigg and Dalkeith, it takes over an hour to get into central Edinburgh; the X31 evenings. There is a small and local private hire company. For walkers the Penicuik–Dalkeith Walkway passes close by; the village has Rosewell Parish Church and St Matthew's Roman Catholic Church. Rosewell Parish Church was built 1871-72 and opened for worship in 1874, when Rosewell became a separate ecclesiastical parish; the population of this new quoad sacra parish was recorded as 1,394 in 1881. In 2008 Rosewell Parish Church was formally re-united with Lasswade Church, forming Lasswade and Rosewell Parish Church. Situated half a mile south-east of the village, the category A-listed Whitehill House is a large Tudor-Jacobean revival house designed by David Bryce and William Burn, built 1844 as a home for Wardlaw Ramsay, proprietor of the nearby Whitehill Colliery; the house was acquired by the engineer Archibald Hood. In World War I it was used as a Red Cross hospital.

Until the late 1990s, Whitehill House was run by nuns of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul as St. Joseph's Hospital for children with learning disabilities, it was visited by Pope John Paul II when he came to Scotland in 1982. It is now owned and has a 20-hole golf course in its grounds. A number of exclusive houses have been built. Whitehill Welfare play their home matches at Rosewell, they play in the East of Scotland Premier Division. Scotland National Tourist Board entry Vision of Britain - History of Rosewell in Midlothian

Sir James Alexander Mirrlees was a Scottish economist and winner of the 1996 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was knighted in the 1997 Birthday Honours. Born in Minnigaff, Kirkcudbrightshire, Mirrlees was educated at Douglas Ewart High School at the University of Edinburgh and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a active student debater. A contemporary, Quentin Skinner, has suggested that Mirrlees was a member of the Cambridge Apostles along with fellow Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen during the period. Between 1968 and 1976, Mirrlees was a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology three times, he was a visiting professor at the University of California and Yale University. He taught at University of Cambridge. During his time at Oxford, he published papers on economic models for which he would be awarded his Nobel Prize; the papers centred on asymmetric information, which determines the extent to which they should affect the optimal rate of saving in an economy. Among other results, he demonstrated the principles of "moral hazard" and "optimal income taxation" discussed in the books of William Vickrey.

The methodology has since become the standard in the field. Mirrlees and Vickrey shared the 1996 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for their fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information". Mirrlees was co-creator, with MIT Professor Peter A. Diamond, of the Diamond–Mirrlees efficiency theorem, developed in 1971. Mirrlees was emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, he spent several months a year at the University of Australia. He was the Distinguished Professor-at-Large of the Chinese University of Hong Kong as well as University of Macau. In 2009, he was appointed Founding Master of the Morningside College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Mirrlees was a member of Scotland's Council of Economic Advisers, he led the Mirrlees Review, a review of the UK tax system by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. His Ph. D. students included eminent academics and policy makers like professor Franklin Allen, Sir Partha Dasgupta, professor Huw Dixon, professor Hyun-Song Shin, Lord Nicholas Stern, professor Anthony Venables, Sir John Vickers, professor Zhang Weiying.

He died in Cambridge, England, on 29 August 2018. Mirrlees was an atheist. Richard Blundell, Ian Preston. 25 January 2019. Principles of tax design, public policy and beyond: The ideas of James Mirrlees, 1936-2018 James A. Mirrlees Autobiography and CV at the Wayback Machine Biographic speech from The Chinese University of Hong Kong James Mirrlees interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 21 July 2009 James A. Mirrlees; the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. Library of Economics and Liberty. Liberty Fund. 2008. James Mirrlees at the Mathematics Genealogy Project

Series Eight of Britain's Got Talent, a British talent competition series, began broadcasting in the UK during 2014, from 12 April to 7 June on ITV. The series is most notable for holding auditions in Northern Ireland for the first time, instead of Scotland as had been done since the second series, as well as for the hosts Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly having to stand in for Simon Cowell, after illness forced him to be absent during a day of auditions, it was the first series in the show's history to have a buzzer used during the live final, was the first to include the "Golden Buzzer" - a format introduced to the programme, which had begun to appear within the Got Talent franchise since it was first introduced on Germany's Got Talent in 2012. The eighth series was won by boy band Collabro, with opera singer Lucy Kay finishing in second place, singing/rapping duo Bars and Melody placing third. During its broadcast, the series averaged around 9.8 million viewers. Following open auditions held the previous year between 19 October to 1 December 2013 in various cities, which included auditions held at a series of "Talent Spot tents" provided by the show's sponsor that year, at The Savoy Hotel in Blackpool and The Old Ship Hotel in Brighton, the Judges' auditions took place between January and February 2014, within Belfast, Manchester and Cardiff.

For the first time since the second series, auditions didn't take place in Scotland, as the show's producers wished to try new locations for talent, which led to them opting to hold auditions within Northern Ireland for the first time as a result. Due to illness, Simon Cowell was forced to be absent from a day of auditions in Manchester to recover, leading to hosts Ant & Dec each standing in for him, while on the final day of auditions in London, Cowell was forced to be absent for them to attend to his girlfriend Lauren Silverman, who had gone into labour that day. By the time that the public auditions for the eighth series' competition had begun, the Got Talent franchise was beginning to update its format for auditions across international editions through the inclusion of a new feature - the "Golden Buzzer". First introduced on Germany's Got Talent, the new format meant that those auditioning for a place in the live rounds of the competition for this year could earn an automatic place in the live rounds from any of the judges or the hosts, regardless of the opinions about their performance.

Although the judges and hosts had permission to use the buzzer, Stephen Mulhern was not allowed to use it, despite his involvement in overseeing auditions for Britain's Got More Talent. Of the participants that took part, forty-five made it past this stage and into the five live semi-finals- amongst these, salsa dancing duo Paddy & Nico, hip hop duo Bars & Melody, singer Christian Spridon, girl group REAformed, stand-up comedian/impressionist Toju, each received a golden buzzer during their auditions - with nine appearing in each one, eleven of these acts making it into the live final; the following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this series: Winner | Runner-up | Third place | Finalist | Semi-finalist Judges' Wildcard Finalist | Golden Buzzer Audition^1 Ages denoted in this column pertain to those of the respective participant for their final performance for this series. ^2 No information on the puppeteer for this act was disclosed by the show. Buzzed out | Judges' vote | Won the public vote Won the judges' vote | Lost the judges' vote | Eliminated Guest Performer, Results Show: Ella Henderson ^3 Jon Clegg was sent through to the final as the judges wildcard.

Guest Performer, Results Show: Ed Sheeran ^4 For health and safety reasons, Bolddog FMX Team's performance was pre-recorded outside the studio in advance. Guest Performers, Results Show: The Vamps Guest Performers, Results Show: will.i.am & Cody Wise Guest Performers, Results Show: Attraction, Richard & Adam ^5 Paddy & Nico's performance had to be modified before the semi-final, after the former was injured before its broadcast. Guest Performers, Results Show: Diversity & Little Mix, Cheryl Cole featuring Tinie Tempah Winner | Runner-up | 3rd place

Castlefest is a medieval/fantasy festival in the Netherlands, held on the first weekend of August in the gardens of Castle Keukenhof in Lisse since 2005. The festival takes part during 3 days on Friday and Sunday with an opening concert on Thursday. During the first edition 3,500 visitors attended the event, in 2007 the festival attracted 16,000 visitors and in 2011 more than 24,000 visitors entered the gates of Castlefest. In August 2015 the festival attracted a record number of 35,000 visitors. There are several folk bands performing each year at Castlefest. Castlefest is based on the Celtic feast of Lughnasadh. Saturday night is the Pagan Night. Elf Fantasy Fair Renaissance fair Tewkesbury Medieval Festival Official website Castlefest 2011 at Fok!nieuws

"Song for Athene" is a musical composition by British composer John Tavener with lyrics by Mother Thekla, an Orthodox nun, intended to be sung a cappella by a four-part choir. It is Tavener's best known work, having been performed by the Westminster Abbey Choir conducted by Martin Neary at the funeral service of Diana, Princess of Wales, on 6 September 1997 as her cortège departed from Westminster Abbey. Commissioned by the BBC, the piece was written in April 1993 by Tavener as a tribute to Athene Hariades, a young half-Greek actress, a family friend killed in a cycling accident. At the time that she died, Athene Hariades was working as a teacher of English and Drama at the Hellenic College of London. Tavener said of Hariades: "Her beauty, both outward and inner, was reflected in her love of acting, music and of the Orthodox Church." He had heard her reading Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey, after her funeral, developed the idea of composing a song which combined words from the Orthodox funeral service and Shakespeare's Hamlet.

The work was published by Chester Music in 1997. "Song for Athene", which has a performance time of about seven minutes, is an elegy consisting of the Hebrew word alleluia sung monophonically six times as an introduction to texts excerpted and modified from the funeral service of the Eastern Orthodox Church and from Shakespeare's Hamlet. The lyrics were written by Mother Thekla, an Orthodox nun who co-founded the Orthodox Monastery of the Assumption near Whitby, North Yorkshire, whom Tavener called his "spiritual mother". Tavener had come away from the funeral of Athene Hariades with the music of Song for Athene formed in his mind, he called Mother Thekla the same day, said to her: "I want words." She sent him the lyrics by post. The music reaches a climax after the sixth intonation of alleluia with the lines "Weeping at the grave creates the song: Alleluia. Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you." Alleluia is sung a seventh time as a coda. Following the example of traditional Byzantine music, a continuous ison or drone underlies the work.

The song has appeared on, among others, a number of recordings of Tavener's work by various choirs, including Ikons by the BBC Singers, Tavener: Innocence by the Westminster Abbey Choir, John Tavener: Byzantia by the Winchester Cathedral Choir, John Tavener: Song for Athene and Other Choral Works by the Choir of St John's College, The John Tavener Collection by the Choir of the Temple Church and the Holst Singers, Ikon by The Sixteen. The Westminster Abbey Choir's performance of the work at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, appears in a recording of the service released by the BBC as Diana, Princess of Wales, 1961–1997: The BBC Recording of the Funeral Service. In 2007, Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti released an album entitled Nicola Benedetti: Vaughan Williams. Hapgood, Isabel Florence, comp. "The Order for the Burial of the Dead", Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, New York, N. Y.: Association Press, pp. 368–393. Shakespeare, William. Tavener's The Beautiful Names, the programme of a concert by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus and Trinity College of Music Chamber Choir at the Birmingham Town Hall on 15 March 2008.

Tavener, Song for Athene:: For Unaccompanied Choir, SATB, London: Chester Music, ISBN 0-7119-4389-3. Ivry, Benjamin, "The cat decides: The music of John Tavener – religious music composer", Commonweal. Higgins, Charlotte, "'I had a dream vision'", The Guardian. McCleery, John Tavener, ChesterNovello, retrieved 15 March 2008. Tavener – Choral Ikons, East Sussex: Opus Arte. John Tavener: Song for Athene - Gabrieli Consort - Paul McCreesh