Kedarnath is a town in the Indian state of Uttarakhand and has gained importance because of Kedarnath Temple. It is a nagar panchayat in Rudraprayag district; the most remote of the four Chota Char Dham sites, Kedarnath is located in the Himalayas, about 3,583 m above sea level near Chorabari Glacier, the head of river Mandakini, is flanked by snow-capped peaks, most prominently Kedarnath mountain. The nearest road head is at Gaurikund; the town suffered extensive destruction during June 2013 from flash floods caused by torrential rains in Uttarakhand state. The name "Kedarnath" means "the lord of the field": it derives from the Sanskrit words kedara and natha; the text Kashi Kedara Mahatmya states that it is so called because "the crop of liberation" grows here. Kedarnath has been a pilgrimage centre since the ancient times, although it is not certain who constructed the original Kedarnath temple and when. A mythological account ascribes the temple's construction to the legendary Pandava brothers mentioned in the Mahabharata.
However, the Mahabharata does not mention any place called Kedarnath. One of the earliest references to Kedarnath occurs in the Skanda Purana, which names Kedara as the place where Shiva released the holy water from his matted hair, resulting in the formation of the Ganges river. According to the hagiographies based on Madhava's Sankshepa-shankara-vijaya, the 8th century philosopher Adi Shankara died near the Kedaranatha sanctuary; the ruins of a monument marking the purported resting place of Shankara are located at Kedarnath. Kedarnath was a prominent pilgrimage centre by the 12th century, when it is mentioned in Kritya-kalpataru written by the Gahadavala minister Bhatta Lakshmidhara. Kedarnath is located at a distance of 223 km from Rishikesh in Uttarakhand and close to the source of Mandakini river at a height of 3,583 m above sea level; the township itself cannot be called attractive, as it is built on a barren stretch of land on the shores of Mandakini river but the surrounding scenery of Himalayas and green pastures makes it a attractive place for pilgrimage and trekking.
Behind the town and Kedarnath temple, stands the majestic Kedarnath peak 6,940 m, Kedar Dome 6,831 m and other peaks of the range. As of 2001 India census, Kedarnath had a population of 479. Males constitute 98% of the population and females 2%. Kedarnath has an average literacy rate of 63%: male literacy is 63%, female literacy is 36%. In Kedarnath, none of the population is under 6 years of age; the floating population from May to October every year is more than 5000 per day. During winter due to snowfall, the Temple is closed and no one stays in Kedarnath. For six months the Palki with the utsava murti of Lord Kedarnath is transferred to a place near Guptakashi called Ukhimath. People shift their settlement too from Kedarnath to nearby villages. Around 360 families of Tirtha Purohit of 55 villages and other nearby villages are dependent on Kedarnath for livelihood. On 16 June 2013 at 7:30 p.m. a landslide occurred near Kedarnath Temple with loud thunder followed by gushing of huge amount of waters from Chorabari Tal or Gandhi Tal down Mandakini River at about 8:30 p.m. which washed away everything in its path.
On 17 June 2013 at 6:40 a.m. waters rushed down from Chorabari Tal or Gandhi Sarovar bringing along with its flow huge amount of silt and boulders. A huge boulder got stuck behind Baba Kedarnath Temple, protecting it from the ravages of the flood's fury; the flood water gushed on both sides of the temple destroying everything in its path. Thus in the middle of pilgrimage season, torrential rains, cloud bursts and resulting flash floods nearly destroyed the town of Kedarnath; the town was the worst affected area by the floods. Thousands of people were killed and thousands of others were reported missing or stranded due to landslides around Kedarnath. Although the surrounding area and compound of the Kedarnath temple were destroyed, the temple itself survived; the rescue operation resulted in more than 100,000 people being airlifted with the help of the Private Helicopter Operators who began the rescue mission voluntarily without any clear directives from the State Government or the Ministry of Defence.
The Indian Army and Indian Air Force helicopters arrived much after the Private Helicopter Operators had begun the massive air-rescue mission. Dare-devil helicopter pilots ex-Indian Air Force and Ex-Army Aviation officers flew relentlessly. Capt. Unni Krishnan from Prabhatam Aviation & Capt. Bhatnagar from Premair were few such outstanding pilots who landed at the Sh. Kedarnath Ji right-ridge at dusk hours - 1910hrs to pick-up the'last' batch of survivors for the day; the NDRF represented by another junior officer arrived at the Sh. Kedarnath Ji'right-ridge' unprepared with a malfunctioning satellite phone, they next-day, brought in more men and supplies. The first Indian Army officer to arrive at the Sh. Kedarnath Ji'right-ridge' was a Captain from the Assam Rifles regiment, he single-handedly displayed exemplary courage in rescuing many survivors by climbing up steep slopes and fractures along the Rambara ridge-line. His cool demeanor and stable poise under such intense and perilous circumstances, are proof of the impeccable training & discipline imbibed within him.
The Indian Army launched a massive rescue effort with thousands of its brave-heart men and vital equipment. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the reserve battalions of the Uttarakhand Police displayed
Prince Agha Abdul Karim Khan Ahmedzai was the younger brother of Khan of Kalat, Mir Ahmedyar Khan, the last ruler of Balochistan. After the British left Balochistan on 13 August 1947. On the night of May 16, 1948 Prince Abdul Karim Khan, in defiance of his brother, decided to lead a separatist movement against the Pakistan government, so as to preserve his life of privilege as the Khan's governor in Makran; the Prince invited the leading members of Baloch nationalist political parties—the Kalat State National Party, the Baloch League, the Baloch National Workers Party — to join him in the struggle for the creation of an independent "Greater Balochistan". Apart from his political motives, the Prince was a member of the royal family and the former governor of the Makran province. Prince Karim decided to migrate to Afghanistan in order to organise his movement, he wrote to the Khan on June 1948 explaining the causes of his migration. Some of the prominent political leaders who joined him were Mohammed Hussein Anka, Malik Saeed Dehwar, Qadir Bakhsh Nizamami, Maulwi Mohd Afzal, prominent members of the Sind-Balochistan branch of the Communist Party.
The Baloch Mujahedeen, as they called themselves, entered Afghanistan and encamped at Sarlath in the province of Kandahar. During their stay, the Baloch freedom fighters adopted the following measures to achieve their goal: Sending messages to the Baloch chiefs of Eastern and Western Balochistan, asking them to join in the armed struggle; the propaganda campaign was to be carried out on two fronts: The national cultural front The religious front The Prince issued an appeal to individuals to help with the recruitment. A person recruiting 100 men was offered the rank of major, a person recruiting 50 men was entitled to the rank of captain; the Baloch liberation army had a secret agency called Jannisar, whose duty was to provide information, destroy the communication system, watch the activities of traitors. There was a secret unit called Janbaz, whose job was to kill all traitors; the Janbaz were subordinate to the Jannisar. The headquarters of the agency was headed by Prince Karim; the total strength of the Jannisar was recorded as 30.
The Prince did not start a war because of Afghanistan's refusal and the Soviet Union's unwillingness to offer assistance. During his stay in Sarlath, Prince Karim appointed Malik Saeed and Qadir Bakhsh Nizamani as his emissaries to contact the Afghan government and approach other embassies in order to get moral and material support. According to Nizamani, the Afghan authorities refused to provide any sort of help and told them either to remain in Kandahar as political refugees or to return to Balochistan; the Afghan authorities refused to permit the rebel group to operate on Afghan soil. Nizamani informed the Iranian Embassy of the Baloch demands as well. Iranian diplomats showed their concern but did not offer any assistance, though they were willing to provide asylum to the rebel group in Iran; the last hope of the Prince's representative was the Soviet Embassy. The Soviet diplomats listened to Nizamami carefully. Though they did not give any assurances, they did promise to inform Moscow. In the 19th century, Afghan rulers like Shuja Shah and Abdur Rahman Khan wanted to occupy Balochistan.
In 1947, the Afghan government demanded the creation of Pashtunistan, a region stretching from Chitral and Gilgit to the Baloch coast in the Arabian Sea. The Afghan government called Balochistan "South Pashtunistan" in publications; the Afghan expansionist policy reflected the economic considerations of a landlocked state. At the same time, it was impossible for the Afghan government to neglect its own national interests and to support the movement of an independent Greater Balochistan, which claimed the Baloch region in Afghanistan. Joseph Stalin did not pursue Vladimir Lenin's policy in the East. Moreover, the Soviet government was unwilling to annoy the Afghans or the British, both of whom opposed the creation of an independent Balochistan. Meanwhile, a Farman Royal Order issued by the Khan on May 24, 1948 stated that the Prince and his party were to be regarded as a rebel group; the Government of Pakistan moved the army to the military posts of Punjab, Chaman Chashme, Rastri near the Afghan border, attempting to control the rebels' rations which were being sent by pro-separatist elements, to control their activities or stop any attempt at invasion.
The Pakistani authorities confirmed two clashes between the rebels. To avoid popular unrest in Balochistan, the Khan sent his maternal uncles Hajji Ibrahim Khan and Hajji Taj Mohammed from Sarlath to bring Prince Karim back to Kalat. Khan made his return conditional; the Prince and the separatist movement failed to achieve external support. Moreover, the Baloch nationalists were divided into two groups. Anqa and Malik Saeed favoured armed struggle in the form of guerilla war, while Mir Ghous Bux Bizenjo and other prominent leaders wished to resolve all issues by negotiation; the Prince was forced to return to the Kh
Karl Friedrich Rapp was a German founder and owner of the Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH in Munich. In time this company became BMW AG, he is acknowledged by BMW AG as an indirect founder of the company. Little is known of adolescent years. However, it is known that Rapp learned the engineering profession and was employed by Züst automotive company from approx. 1908 to 1911. It is believed he was active as a technical designer with Daimler Benz until 1912. Rapp left Daimler-Benz to head a branch of Flugwerk Deutschland GmbH. Flugwerk Deutschland GmbH transferred its headquarters from Gelsenkirchen-Rotthausen to Brand near Aachen; the articles of association were ratified on 15 February 1912, the entry in the Aachen Commercial Register was effected on 5 March 1912. The object of the business was the manufacture and sale of aircraft, the construction and sale of machinery and equipment in the areas of aircraft engineering and operation of airfields and aerodromes. On 20 May 1913, a branch was set up for aeroengine production at Schleissheimer Straße 288 in Munich-Milbertshofen, Karl Rapp and Joseph Wirth were given power of attorney in Munich.
Rapp, working as an engineer and operations manager for the company, engaged in the construction of several biplanes and a monoplane. Rapp designed aeroengines, one of, the FD 1416 aeroengine; the company took participation in the General Air Show in Berlin in 1912. However, the company was dissolved by a resolution of the shareholders on 16 April 1913, Joseph Wirth was appointed as sole liquidator. After the liquidation process had been brought to an end, the company was wound up on 8 August 1916. Karl Rapp and Julius Auspitzer founded Karl Rapp Motorenwerke GmbH with a capital stock of RM 200,000 on 29 April 1913 on the site of Flugwerke Deutschland. General Consul Auspitzer was the company's sole shareholder, with the operational side of the company managed by Karl Rapp; the idea was for the new company to build and sell "engines of all types, in particular internal combustion engines for aircraft and motor vehicles", in addition to building an engine for the 2nd Kaiser's Trophy Competition.
The company expanded and employed 370 coworkers by 1915. Several aircraft prototypes were designed in the Rapp Motorenwerke, but success eluded all these prototypes because of weaknesses in the design. At the beginning of the First World War, the company was one of the key Bavarian companies for the war effort, appeared to have gained a certain reputation, despite the fact that none of the designs and developments achieved any real success. Although the Prussian Army Administration rejected a delivery of Rapp engines as unsuitable, the Bavarian Army Administration and the Imperial Naval Office of the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Army Administration continued to order Rapp engines licensed through Austro-Daimler. On behalf the Austrian war Ministry, Franz Josef Popp supervised the handling of the order in Munich; the decision by the Prussian Army Administration to order 600 units of the innovative high-altitude aero-engine, originated by the designer Max Friz, entails reorganizing the legal structure of the company.
The unsuccessful managing director and shareholder Karl Rapp resigned from the company around that time, most due to ill-health. In this connection, Rapp-Motorenwerke is renamed Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH. On 4 October 1917, Franz Josef Popp is appointed Managing Director of the company; the new company takes over manufacturing facilities. Until the end of the war, aero-engines remain the company's only product; the BBE aero-engine was a big success under the designation BMW IIIa. After Rapp left the company he became chief engineer and head of the Aeroengine Department of the L. A. Riedlinger Machine Factory where he was employed until October 1923. Rapp lived in Switzerland from 1934. Karl Friedrich Rapp died in 1962 in Locarno. History of BMW BMW Group archives
Melvin Shane Sparks is a hip-hop choreographer best known for his work as a choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance and judge on America's Best Dance Crew. Melvin Shane Sparks was born on in Ohio, he is the youngest of three children born to Melvin and Wanda Sparks, both officers in the police force. Sparks spent some time in the hospital after his birth due to scoliosis, he became interested in dance at the age of eleven. His interest in teaching became apparent when he started offering dance lessons from his own backyard. Dance became important to Sparks after his sister's boyfriend was murdered, as it became a way for him to escape and feel safe. Sparks has been recognized in the industry by receiving many awards for projects such as the "Best Choreography in a Feature Film" award for "You Got Served" at the 2004 American Choreography Awards and the "2005 BET Award" for co-choreographing with Omarion on the same film. Sparks was featured as a judge in the hit MTV series America's Best Dance Crew.
Along with Shane Sparks, JC Chasez and "Lil" Mama judged the crews, Mario Lopez hosted the show. In 1993, Shane Sparks left his hometown of OH to move to Los Angeles, California. Here, Sparks began making a name for himself as a choreographer. Several projects such as the feature film "You Got Served" and Fox's hit TV show "So You Think You Can Dance" made Sparks a force to be reckoned with, his solid resume of credits and awards today reflect his deep passion for dance and people of all ages and races admire his style of dance and suave attitude. From a young age, Sparks knew his gift was dance. No more than three months after his move to Los Angeles, Sparks was offered a random chance to substitute a hip-hop class in the Millennium Dance Complex known as Moro Landis, located in the North Hollywood Arts District, he soon became an assistant at the hip-hop class. When the teacher left, he took over the whole class. Due to his ability as a teacher and dancer, his class expanded from only three people to a record high of one hundred and seventy-five people.
Shane Sparks has worked with stars including Lindsay Lohan, Aaliyah and Benji Schwimmer. In 2011, Sparks pleaded no contest to a charge that he had had sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old girl who studied at a dance studio where Sparks was employed as a teacher. In his defense, Sparks claimed that he believed she was of legal age because she worked behind the front desk at the studio, he was sentenced to serve 135 days in a "pay to stay" jail, did so over the course of two years, while continuing to work and travel internationally. Sparks is best known for being one of the judges and choreographers on the reality dance competition So You Think You Can Dance. According to TV Guide, Gaynor accepted the role; the show features a broad variety of American and international dance styles including classical, ballroom, hip-hop, club and musical theatre styles, amongst others, with many subgenres within the categories represented. Sparks was a judge on MTV's dance competition reality show America's Best Dance Crew from seasons 1–4.
He did not return to judge for the fifth season due to his arrest. Singer Omarion replaced Sparks during Season 5. Omarion left after season 5. In Season 6, D-Trix from Quest crew took over the spot as the third judge
Gunville is a small settlement on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England. It comprises housing, although there are a small number of shops, a couple of charity shops, some retail warehouses, a snooker hall, Methodist Church and a fishing lake; the settlement seems to date from some time after 1800, although the vast majority of the buildings standing in Gunville date from after 1900. The village lies south of Forest Road, it is 1.25 miles west of Newport and chiefly lies along a one mile stretch, either side of Gunville Road. It encompasses Alvington Manor View, The Bramleys, Gunville Crescent, Spring Walk, Pineview Drive, Taylor Road, Gunville West, Chapel Close, Broadwood Lane, Park Close, Forest Hills, Arthur Moody Drive, Ash Lane, Ash Close and The Hollows. In the past, the centre of the Island was made up of a number of small and distinct villages, such as Newport, Gunville, Shide, New Village, Barton's Village, Pan, Hunny-Hill and Fairlee; as time went on, Newport and Carisbrooke have engulfed and absorbed all of these villages except for Gunville, although for Gunville there have had to be concerted efforts to keep the name alive, with many people preferring to refer to it as a part of Carisbrooke.
In 2009, the Council replaced the Gunville signs with those of Carisbrooke, taking it off the map completely. However, after complaints from local residents, the Gunville signs were returned. In fact, the Newport conurbation has become so large, that there is no visible break whatsoever between, Newport and Gunville, with the only separation being the old historical boundaries. There has been some argument as to where the dividing line between Carisbrooke and Gunville lies. In 2009, a new sign was erected showing that Gunville started at the point where Priory Road becomes Gunville Road, at the junction with School Lane; this was the view held in a Newport Parish Council meeting of 2009. But, most people accept that in the past, the starting point of Gunville was the old railway bridge which allowed trains to run under the road, half a mile further to the North. However, this railway bridge and its track have long been demolished, after the railway itself closed in 1953, leaving nothing to visually separate the two villages.
But the Gunville sign has now been moved further north to the junction of Alvington Manor View and Gunville Road the spot where the old bridge used to be. No records seem to exist of how Gunville derived its name and there are many differing theories. One version is that an owner of Alvington Manor in 1640, married a man from Tarrant Gunville in Dorset and named the area in his honour. Another is that its name comes from Victorian times, when the area was used to store ammunition, that the name was derived from "Gun Village". However, in an 1884 edition of the Isle of Wight County Press, it is stated that in the early 1800s, a James Lambert owned a house, close to Forest Road; this house was occupied by officers of the nearby Parkhurst Barracks and that there were two small cannons in the grounds at the front of the house. Because of this, the house became known as'Gun Villa' and the hamlet which sprang up soon afterwards came to become known as Gunville. There are theories that the name Gunville derived from a French nobleman by the name of William de Gundeville, said to have lived in the area of Carisbrooke in 1292.
In 1979, the Medina Borough Council Public Works Committee announced that a new road on the Forest Hills Estate was to be called De Gondeville Avenue in his honour. However, this name only seems to have been used for a couple of months, with the road called Forest Hills. Another theory is that Gunville is a derivation of Gunfield, as marked on a map from the 1700s and asserted by William Tucker Stratton, a nineteenth century local historian; the owned Gunville Lake is on the west side of Gunville Road and is the oldest fishery owned by the Isle of Wight Freshwater Angling Association. This freshwater section of the Isle of Wight Angling Society was formed in 1956, although they were unable to take full control of the lake's lease until 1969. During all of this time, there was quite a fight to preserve the pond from the constant tipping of rubbish and the spoil from nearby excavations. Gunville Lake covers an area of 4.5 acres, with thirty swims fishable and has been described as one of the finest freshwater fishing spots in the south of England.
In 2001, there was a major exercise to clear the lake of unwanted vegetation and to improve land drainage. Gunville Lake is a mixed fishery, popular with carp specialists, with some fish reaching 30lb in weight; the lake contains carp, tench, common roach, perch and eel. The lake formed part of the old brickworks. In around 1933, part of the brickworks were abandoned when workmen struck an underground stream, causing it to fill with water to a depth of thirty feet in places, it is rumoured that the engine, used to pull clay to the foundry still lies at the bottom of the lake. In the years leading up to around 1946, the size and depth of the lake reduced drastically, as the site was being used as a rubbish tip by the Newport Corporation. Following the end of the Second World War, a lot of the barbed wire used ended up being dumped there; the lake might have been lost forever with the continual tipping, but the council relinquished their tipping rights in 1968. By that time, the lake had shrunk to only around 50 yards across and to only around th
The common furniture beetle or common house borer is a woodboring beetle. In the larval stage it feeds upon it. Adult Anobium punctatum measure 2.7–4.5 millimetres in length. They have brown ellipsoidal bodies with a prothorax resembling a monk's cowl. Adults do not feed; the female lays her eggs in cracks inside old exit holes, if available. The eggs hatch after some three weeks, each producing a 1 millimetre long, creamy white, C-shaped larva. For three to four years the larvae bore semi-randomly through timber and eating the starchy part of the wood grain, grow up to 7 millimetres, they come nearer to the wood surface when ready to pupate. They take up to eight weeks to pupate; the adults break through the surface, making a 1 mm to 1.5 millimetres exit hole and spilling dust, the first visible signs of an infestation. The first step in pest control is prevention. Important in this respect is to keep the timber dry - below 16% moisture content. A relative humidity within the building above 60% may lead to an infestation, timber moisture content below 12% is too dry for an infection to occur.
Anobium punctatum only attacks seasoned sapwood timber, not live or fresh wood. It does not attack heartwood timbers; this is observed from infested structures, where one piece of timber may be attacked but an adjacent one left untouched according to whether it is made from the heartwood or the sapwood part of a tree trunk. Infestations are usually a problem of old wooden houses built with untreated timbers; some building regulations state that timbers with more than 25% sapwood may not be used, so that wood borer infections can not weaken structures. Infection, past or present, is diagnosed by small round exit holes of 1 to 1.5 mm diameter. Active infections feature fine wood dust around the holes; because of the 3–4 year life cycle of Anobium punctatum, timber or timber products bought containing an A. punctatum infection may not manifest holes until years after the timber has been acquired. Infestation can be controlled by application of a residual insecticide to infected areas, by professional fumigation, or by replacing infected timber.
Simple aerosol insecticide sprays will only kill the adult borer on the wing but not the burrowing larvae, which remain protected inside infected timbers. Freezing infected timber, or heating to 50 °C for a day or more, will kill beetle larvae, but offer no residual protection. Woodworm