A fingerpost is a traditional type of sign post used in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, consisting of a post with one or more arms, known as fingers, pointing in the direction of travel to places named on the fingers. The posts have traditionally been made from cast iron or wood, with poles painted in black, white or grey and fingers with black letters on a white background including distance information in miles. In most cases, they are used to give guidance for road users, but examples exist on the canal network, for instance, they are used to mark the beginning of a footpath, bridleway, or similar public path. Legislation was enacted in England in 1697 which enabled magistrates to place direction posts at cross-highways. However, the oldest fingerpost still extant is thought to be that close to Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire, dated 1669 and pointing to Oxford, Warwick and Worcester; the Highways Act 1766 and Turnpike Roads Act 1773 made use of fingerposts on turnpike roads compulsory.

The Motor Car Act 1903 passed road sign responsibilities to the relevant highway authority within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, although no specifications were set. Guidance was given in a 1921 circular that road direction signs should have 2 1⁄2-or-3-inch-high upper case lettering on a white background and white supporting poles, it recommended that the name of the highway authority be included somewhere in the design. Mandatory standards were passed for Great Britain in 1933 which required poles to painted with black and white bands and lettering to be of a different typeface. Signposts were removed across much of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland during World War II, lest enemy forces use them for navigation, replaced in the late 1940s. Road signing was next comprehensively reviewed in the United Kingdom from 1961 by the government-appointed Worboys Committee and the 1964 Traffic Signs Regulations brought in the signing system remaining in force today.

Whilst the 1964 regulations did encourage local authorities to remove and replace traditional fingerposts with the new designs, it was not made compulsory to do so. Regulations did not, permit new fingerpost style signs to be erected until a design was permitted by the Department for the Environment in 1994. Of note was that the design did not allow for mileages of over three miles to be expressed with the use of halves and quarters, it is thus that new fingerposts have been required to round the more accurate distance measurements. Whilst the 1964 regulations did not bring about a general requirement to remove all fingerposts in Great Britain, some counties appear to have been more zealous than others in eradicating them. Fingerpost survival is highest in rural areas and away from major roads. Reacting to concern about the loss of historic fingerposts from the rural landscape, an advisory leaflet was issued by the Department for Transport and English Heritage in June 2005 which stated that "All surviving traditional fingerpost direction signs should be retained in-situ and maintained on a regular basis.

They should be repainted every five years in traditional white livery. Other colours should be used only when these are known to have been in use before 1940". In recent years several county councils have embarked on restoration and repair programmes for their fingerpost stock, including the Highway Heritage Project in the Quantock Hills of Somerset. In the Republic of Ireland, a major review of road signage was carried out in 1977. Whilst some elements of fingerpost design were prescribed during the period when their introduction became most widespread, there was plenty of scope for distinctive spread of designs which remains to today; the inclusion of the highway authority name took the form of raised or recessed lettering written down the poles or as part of a finial or roundel design, either in full or as initials. Roundel designs can include junction names or village names. County Council coats of arms feature in counties such as West Sussex; the Ministry for Transport asked the County Councils in Dorset and the West Riding of Yorkshire to experiment with the inclusion of a grid reference and these remain common in these areas.

The roundel on a 2005 replacement at West Wellow directing travellers to St Margaret's Church bears a portrait of Florence Nightingale, interred at the churchyard. Fingers can be curved or triangular-ended. Where timber was used for the fingers, place names are composed of individually affixed metal letters. Mileage is measured to the nearest quarter mile, with fractions being mounted on a separate ready-made plate, although measurements to the fifth or eighth of a mile are given in East Lothian. Due to their age, some fingerposts have'fossilised' the historic spelling of places, dominant at the time of their construction. Examples include "Portisham", rather than the modern spelling "Portesham" and the pre-decimal "6D Handley" for Sixpenny Handley in Dorset; some fingerpost arm examples include the A- or B-road number as well as the destination, although many more of these examples were removed and replaced after the 1964 regulations were introduced. It appears that the original convention was for A

The gypsy moth was introduced in 1868 into the United States by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, a French scientist living in Medford, Massachusetts. Because native silk-spinning caterpillars were susceptible to disease, Trouvelot imported the species in order to breed a more resistant hybrid species; some of the moths escaped, found suitable habitat, began breeding. The gypsy moth is now a major pest of hardwood trees in the eastern United States; the first US outbreak occurred in 1889 around the eastern coast. In 1923 attempts were made to prevent the westward spread of the moth by maintaining a barrier zone extending from Canada to Long Island of nearly 27,300 km2; this barrier however broke down by 1939. By 1987, the gypsy moth had established itself throughout the northeast US, southern Quebec, Ontario; the insect has now spread into Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Small, isolated infestations have sporadically occurred in Utah, Washington and British Columbia, but efforts have been taken to eradicate them.

Since 1980, the gypsy moth has defoliated over one million acres of forest each year. In 1981, 12.9 million acres were defoliated. In wooded suburban areas, during periods of infestation, gypsy moth larvae crawl over man-made obstacles and sometimes enter homes; when feeding, they leave behind a mixture of excrement. During outbreaks, the sound of moths chewing and dropping frass may be loud enough to sound like light to moderate rainfall. Gypsy moth populations remain low, but occasional increases to high levels can result in partial or total defoliation of host trees. According to a 2011 report, the gypsy moth is now one of the most destructive insects in the eastern United States. S. Gypsy moth larvae prefer oak trees, but may feed on many species of trees and shrubs, both hardwood and conifer. In the eastern US, the gypsy moth prefers oaks, apple, speckled alder, gray, paper birch, poplar and hawthorns, amongst other species; the gypsy moth avoids ash trees, tulip-tree, cucumber tree, American sycamore, black walnut, flowering dogwood, balsam fir, American holly, mountain laurel and rhododendron shrubs, but will feed on these in late instars when densities are high.

Older larvae feed on several species of softwood that younger larvae avoid, including cottonwood, Atlantic white cypress, pine and spruce species native to the east. The gypsy moth caterpillar has been reported to produce a poison ivy like rash when some people come into contact with the hairs of the larvae stage; the contact can be direct or indirect, if the small hairs are carried by the wind and onto the skin or clothing of a person. Gypsy moth rashes were documented in the early 1980s, during a major infestation in the Northeastern United States. In coastal Maine and Cape Cod, caterpillar-triggered rash is much more due to exposure to Browntail moth; the effects of defoliation depend on the species of tree, amount of foliage removed, the health of the tree, the number of consecutive defoliations, available soil moisture. If less than half of the crown is defoliated, most hardwood species will experience only a slight reduction in radial growth. If more than half of the crown is defoliated, most hardwoods will produce a second flush of foliage by midsummer.

Healthy trees can withstand one or two consecutive major defoliations. Trees weakened by previous defoliation or subjected to other stresses like droughts are killed after a single half-defoliation. Trees use their energy reserves during re-foliation and may become weakened and exhibit symptoms such as the death of twigs and branches in the upper crown and sprouting of old buds on the trunk and larger branches. Weakened trees experience radial growth reduction of 30 to 50 percent. Weakened trees are vulnerable to attack by disease organisms and other insects, or example, the Armillaria fungus may attack the roots, the two-lined chestnut borer may attack the trunk and branches. Affected trees will die two or three years after they are attacked by these pests. Although not preferred by the larvae and hemlocks are subject to heavy defoliation during gypsy moth outbreaks and are more to be killed than hardwoods. A complete defoliation can kill half of pine species and 90 percent of mature hemlocks because conifers do not store energy in their roots.

Natural predators play an important role during periods of low population. Predators include wasps, ground beetles, many species of spider, several species of birds such as chickadees, blue jays, nuthatches and robins and 15 species of common woodland mammals, such as the white-footed mouse, chipmunks and raccoons. Small mammals are the largest predators in low density gypsy moth populations and are critical in preventing outbreaks. Calosoma and flocking birds such as starling and red-winged blackbirds, are attracted to infested areas in high gypsy moth population years. Diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, or viruses contribute to the decline of gypsy moth populations during periods when populations are dense and are stressed by a lack of preferred foliage. Wilt disease caused by a particular nucleopolyhedrovirus, specific to the gypsy moth is its most devastating natural disease, causing a dramatic collapse of outbreak populations by killing both the larvae and pupae. Lar

Andrew Novell is an English actor, born in Redhill, who has worked in theatre and film in both the UK and the USA. A graduate of The Poor School, he attended Rose Bruford College and the University of East Anglia, he is notable for his portrayal of Richard III in the Merton Abbey Mills 1998 production of Shakespeare's Richard III, as Ariel in The Cherub Company London's touring production of The Tempest, which toured throughout the UK and Europe. His film credits include the horror film The Curiosity directed by Travis Beacham, Paul Morris's film Siamese Cop, The Creeping, in Reaper, directed by Nicholas Galligan. In his spare time he is a writer, his work includes the plays Nell and The Angel Being, the science fiction novel The Glimmering Time. Official website Andrew Novell on IMDb

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang is a science fiction novel by American writer Kate Wilhelm, published in 1976. The novel is composed of three parts, "Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang," "Shenandoah," and "At the Still Point," and is set in a post-apocalyptic era, a concept popular among authors who took part in the New Wave Science Fiction movement in the 1960s. Before the publication of Wilhelm's novel in 1976, part one of Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang was featured in the fifteenth edition of Orbit. Kate Wilhelm was a regular contributor to the Orbit anthology series, assisted Damon Knight and other contributors with the anthology's editing. In its time, Orbit was known for publishing works of SF that differed from the mainstream of science fiction being published at the time; the title of the book is a quotation from William Shakespeare's Sonnet 73. The novel takes place in Virginia, somewhere near the Shenandoah River, establishes its plot line in a post-apocalyptic era; the collapse of civilization around the world has resulted from massive environmental changes and global disease, which were attributed to large-scale pollution.

With a range of members privileged by virtue of education and monetary resources, one large family founds an isolated community in an attempt to survive the still-developing global disasters. As the death toll rises to disease and nuclear warfare, they discover that the human population left on earth is universally infertile. From cloning experiments conducted through the study of mice, the scientists in the small community theorize that the infertility might be reversed after multiple generations of cloning, the family begins cloning themselves in an effort to survive; the assumption is that after a few generations of cloning, the people will be able to revert to traditional biological reproduction. However, to the horror of the few surviving members of the original group, the clones who are coming of age reject the idea of sexual reproduction in favor of further cloning; the original members of the community, too old and outnumbered by the clones to resist, are forced to accept the new social order and the complications that arise.

The new generations are cloned in groups of four to ten individuals, due to a strong emotional and mental connection between the clones, they have a strong sense of empathy for one another. As the old generation dies out and the clones seek to expand their territory, they discover that prolonged separation from other members of their group produces irreversible psychological stress. One woman, after being separated from her clones while on an expedition to find materials in the ruins of nearby cities, regains a "human" sense of individuality, which her fellow clones believe to be dangerous to the community; as a result of this, she is exiled. Though Molly is allowed to live by herself in peace, she is not allowed contact with the other clones except the members who bring her the supplies she needs. In secret, she goes on to have a child with Ben, one of the clones who accompanied her on the journey to the surrounding cities. After a few years of successful secrecy and the child are found, although Molly and Ben are expelled from the community, the child, Mark, is allowed to stay.

The clones, though wary of his threatening individuality, hope to study him in order to learn more about non-clones. As the child becomes a man, he realizes that his uniqueness gives him individuality and the ability to live away from the community, something which the clones are now unable to do; the leaders of the community realize that the latest generations of clones are losing all sense of creativity and are unable to come up with new solutions to problems. As the only "naturally" produced human in the community, Mark seeks his own solution to the problem, by force he leads a group of fertile women and children to abandon the community and start over, leaving a trail of devastation to the clone community in the wake of his departure, he returns to the community twenty years to discover that in the wake of this disaster, the clones, unable to survive with their limited adaptability, have perished and the village has been destroyed. At novel's end, Mark returns to the community he created, where all of the children and younger generations, products of conventional reproduction, continue to thrive.

The novel makes a passing reference to global cooling caused by human pollution, a prominent depiction of the future in the 1960s and 1970s: The winters were getting colder, starting earlier, lasting longer, with more snows than he could remember from childhood. As soon as man stopped adding his megatons of filth to the atmosphere each day, he thought, the atmosphere had reverted to what it must have been long ago, moister weather summer and winter, more stars than he had seen before, more, it seemed, each night than the night before: the sky a clear, endless blue by day, velvet blue-black at night with blazing stars that modern man had never seen. A serious and dedicated scientist, David is a family member of the surviving colony of humans and a significant contributor to the creation of the first generation of clones, with which he has a tenuous relationship at best, he is in love with his distant cousin, he is a donor with a batch of clones derived from his genes. A family member in the original community, she is a small, but determined individual.

She is a passionate person who seeks to help those suffering from the increasing global catastrophes, assists with the development of sustainable farming methods in struggling countries. She is in love with David and is a gene donor for the product

Benito Soliven the Municipality of Benito Soliven, is a 4th class municipality in the province of Isabela, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 29,624 people; the town is named after the late Benito Soliven, Congressman of Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur, during the Commonwealth government. Benito Soliven is politically subdivided into 29 barangays. Andabuen Ara Binogtungan Capuseran Dagupan Danipa District II Gomez Guilingan La Salette Makindol Maluno Norte Maluno Sur Nacalma New Magsaysay District I Punit San Carlos San Francisco Santa Cruz Sevillana Sinipit Lucban Villaluz Yeban Norte Yeban Sur Santiago Placer Balliao In the 2015 census, the population of Benito Soliven was 29,624 people, with a density of 160 inhabitants per square kilometre or 410 inhabitants per square mile. Municipal Profile at the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines Benito Soliven at the Isabela Government Website Local Governance Performance Management System Philippine Standard Geographic Code Philippine Census Information Municipality of Benito Soliven

Craig H. Barratt is an Australian technology executive who serves as Chief Executive Officer at Barefoot Networks. Barratt served as the CEO of Atheros from 2003, through its IPO in 2004 until its acquisition by Qualcomm in 2011, he continued as President of Qualcomm Atheros upon the close of the acquisition in May 2011 until early 2013. Barratt served as Senior Vice President and Energy, at Google from 2012 until 2016. Barratt is the author of an open source backup system, he is the author of the original version of a LaTeX package. He has contributed to Rsync and other open source projects. Barratt holds Ph. D. and Master of Science degrees from Stanford University, as well as a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electrical engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in pure mathematics and physics from the University of Sydney in Australia. He completed high school at Barker College in 1979. Barratt is the co-author of a book on Linear Controller Design, now available online. Craig Barratt talk at The Sunrise Conference 2016 on YouTube