Li Zicheng, born Li Hongji known by the nickname, "Dashing King", was a Chinese rebel leader who overthrew the Ming dynasty in 1644 and ruled over northern China as the emperor of the short-lived Shun dynasty before his death a year later. Li Zicheng was born in 1606 as Li Hongji to an impoverished family of farmers in Li Jiqian village, Yan'an prefecture, northeast Shaanxi province. Li Zicheng had a brother, 20 years his senior and raised Li Zicheng alongside his son and Zicheng’s nephew, Li Guo. While Li Zicheng was literate, the source of his education is disputed. Over the course of his late adolescence and early adulthood, Li worked on a farm, in a wine shop, in a blacksmith's shop, as a mailman for the state courier system. According to folklore, in 1630, Li was put on public display in an iron collar and shackles for failing to repay loans to a usurious magistrate; the magistrate, a man by the name of Ai, struck a guard who tried to give Li water. A group of sympathetic peasants freed Li from his shackles, spirited him to a nearby hill, proclaimed him their leader.

Although they were only armed with wooden sticks, Li and his band managed to ambush a group of government soldiers sent to arrest them, obtained their first real weapons. By the late Ming Dynasty era, the government had been weakened financially, struggled to deal with the economic issues, environmental problems, widespread disease that afflicted peasant populations. In 1639, an epidemic that would become known as the Chongzhen Slough hit the Yangzi region and spread across the north. Famine and drought compounded the social discontent caused by the epidemic. Environmental disaster and the failure of the Chongzhen government to protect its people led to major peasant uprisings across Northern China beginning in 1628, with the Shaanxi province as an epicenter of rebellion. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong from Shaanxi province, were two of the major leaders in the peasant rebellions under the late Ming dynasty. In 1633, Li joined a rebel army led by Gao Yingxiang, nicknamed "Dashing King.” He inherited Gao's command of the rebel army after Gao's death.

Within three years, Li succeeded in rallying more than 30,000 men to form a rebel army. They attacked and killed prominent government officials such as Sun Chuanting in the Henan and Shaanxi provinces; as Li won more battles and gained more support, his army grew larger. Historians attribute this growth in numbers to Li’s reputation as a Robin Hood style figure who showed compassion to the poor and only attacked Ming officials; some battles Li fought in this period Battle of Chexiang Pass Battle of Fengyang Li advocated the slogan of "dividing land and abolishing the grain taxes payment system" which won great support from the peasants. The song of "killing cattle and sheep, preparing tasty wine and opening the city gate to welcome the Dashing King" was spread at that time; the 1642 Kaifeng flood, caused by breaches of the Yellow River dikes by both sides, ended the siege of Kaifeng and killed over 300,000 of its 378,000 residents. After the battles of Luoyang and Kaifeng, the Ming government was unable to stop Li's rebellion, as most of its military force was involved in the battle against the Manchus in the north.

Li declared himself the King of the Shun dynasty in Shaanxi. In 1642, Li captured Xiangyang and proclaimed himself "King Xinshun". Li Zicheng led one of the major peasant uprisings that the weakened Ming administration struggled to combat; when Li took over the Ming capital it marked the end of the Ming dynasty. In April 1644, Li's rebels sacked the Ming capital of Beijing, the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide. Li proclaimed himself the Emperor of the Shun dynasty. Li, as all contenders for the throne were required, claimed to have the Mandate of Heaven bestowed upon him. Firstly, Li hailed from the Shaanxi province of China, which strengthened his legitimacy to the throne versus the foreign Manchus. Li gained the support of scholar officials, important in leading over the people of China as a Confucian state; the name of the dynasty is translated to mean "Obedient to Heaven". Li's army was defeated on 27 May 1644 at the Battle of Shanhai Pass by the combined forces of the defecting Ming general Wu Sangui and Prince Dorgon leading the Manchus.

The Ming and Manchu forces captured Beijing on June 6 and Fulin ascended to the throne to establish the Shunzhi reign with the Dorgon prince as regent. When Wu Sangui and the Dorgon Prince took control of Beijing, Li fled to Xi'an in Shaanxi, it is not known how Li died and there are multiple accounts of his death which vary and some are exaggerated by folklore. Across multiple sources, the year of his death is said to be in 1645. One account states that in the summer of 1645 Li went to raid a village in search of sustenance with his remaining followers and was killed by soldiers guarding the village. Although the success of the Ming-Qing transition was attributed to the weakening of the Ming dynasty, official historiography during the Qing dynasty regarded Li as an illegitimate usurper and outlaw; this view sought to discourage and demonize notions of rebellion against the Qing government, by propagating that the Manchus put an end to Li's illegitimate rule and restore peace to the empire, thus receiving the Mandate of Heaven to rule China.

In the History of Ming, Li Zicheng was described as having high cheekbones, deep-set eyes and a jackal-like voice. Li appears as a bandit in Baifa Monü Zhuan, a wuxia novel by Liang Yusheng, where the heroine comments he is worthy of being a king. Li is featured as a character in some of the works of Hong Kong

La Verrière is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. Gare de La Verrière serves the commune. Preschools and elementary schools in La Verrière: École du Parc École régionale École du Bois de l’ÉtangPreschools: École des NoësCollège intercommunal Philippe de Champaigne in Le Mesnil-Saint-Denis serves the junior high school students of La Verrière. Area senior high schools/sixth form colleges are located in other communes: Lycée Dumont d’Urville Elancourt-Maurepas, Maurepas Lycée des Sept-Mares, Maurepas Lycée de la Plaine de Neauphle, Trappes Lycée d’Enseignement Professionnel Industriel Louis Blériot, TrappesVersailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University provides tertiary educational services. Communes of the Yvelines department INSEE Home page

Sanford is an unincorporated community in the Rural Municipality of Macdonald in Manitoba. Sanford lies 12 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital, Winnipeg. While it is considered a bedroom community with many residents commuting to Winnipeg for work, Sanford is home to many farming families and small businesses; these businesses include the grocery store, the liquor/lumber store, Family Physio Therapy, insurance, accounting and construction services are provided. Sanford is home to Meadowbrook, a United Church, a Recreation Center. Sanford is the site of the Water Treatment Plant that serves the R. M. of Macdonald. Sanford Collegiate educates 300 students. Many students are bused in from surrounding communities; the principal of the Sanford Collegiate is Ms. Jaynie Burnell. J. A. Cuddy School houses kindergarten to grade 8 students, has a daycare facility; the principal of J. A. Cuddy school is Mr. Scott Thomson. J. A. Cuddy school was named after Dr. James A. Cuddy, he was born in the Sanford area in 1892, where he received his elementary schooling.

In life, he spent more than 20 years as a member of the Manitoba School Trustees Association and was president for six years. He sat on the advisory board of education from 1946 to 1949 and was a member and vice-chairman of the Manitoba Teachers Pension Fund from 1948 to 1959, plus a member of two provincial municipal committees of the legislature for three years. In 1952, the University of Manitoba recognized his services to the province by bestowing an Honorary LL. D. on him. In 1953, he was awarded the coronation medal by Queen Elizabeth. Outside the front of the school, there is an old school bell; this bell was the original bell from the Sanford Consolidated School, built in 1914. This bell used to be rung every day, but now it sits as a symbol, in front of the school, as a reminder of the past. Due to an increased number of students, the school expanded to include four new classrooms, a new computer lab, a large new gym; the school playground includes a play structure, swing set, soccer field, baseball diamond.

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The FFVS J 22 is a Swedish single-engine fighter aircraft developed for the Swedish Air Force during World War II. At the onset of World War II, the Swedish Air Force was equipped with obsolete Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters. To augment this, Sweden ordered 120 Seversky P-35 and 144 P-66 Vanguard aircraft from the United States. However, on 18 June 1940 after the German occupation of Norway, the United States declared an embargo against exporting weapons to any nation other than Great Britain; as the result, Flygvapnet faced a shortage of modern fighters. Several other foreign alternatives were considered: the Finnish VL Myrsky and Soviet Polikarpov I-16 were unsatisfactory, while the Mitsubishi A6M Zero was available, delivery from Japan was impractical. A batch of Fiat CR.42 Falco biplanes and Reggiane Re.2000 Falco were purchased but this was an interim solution. With Flygvapnet facing a serious shortage of aircraft and Saab running at full capacity building its single-engine Saab 17 and twin-engined Saab 18 bombers, a new firm and factory were established for the new fighter — Kungliga Flygförvaltningens Flygverkstad i Stockholm under Bo Lundberg.

The aircraft, designated J 22, was a monoplane with a plywood-covered steel airframe. Wing and fuselage layout were conventional, with the narrow-track main landing gear retracting rearward within the fuselage. Power came from a Swedish copy of the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp, manufactured without a license at the time, though license fees were paid later; the J 22 first flew on 20 September 1942 from Bromma airport. It entered service in October 1943, at the F9 air wing at Gothenburg, with the last of the 198 aircraft delivered in April 1946. Sub-assemblies for the J 22 were made by over 500 different contractors; the J 22 was well possessed good manoeuvrability and responsive controls. Forward visibility on the ground left something to be desired and if the tailwheel was left unlocked and able to swivel during take-off there was the potential to ground-loop. In mock dogfights with P-51 Mustangs it was able to "hold its own" up to 5,000 metres although, above 6,000 m, without a good high altitude supercharger, it became sluggish.

J 22 pilot Ove Müller-Hansen: "This was one of the finest aircraft that I have flown. The responsiveness of the controls and overall handling was exceptionally nice, it was not a high altitude fighter but up to about 5000 m it could hold its own well. We flew mock dog fights with P-51 Mustangs and they could not catch us below 4000 m but if the fight was higher than that we had to be careful. At altitudes above 6000 m it was getting sluggish and at 9000 m it was not much power left. Stalls in turns and straight forward were not a problem. If you pulled hard in turn it would sometime flip over on its back; the first version, the 22-A, did not have much fire power, but the 22-B was better." Because of its simple systems the J 22 was easy to maintain and service. With 575 km/h from a 795 kW engine, the press called the diminutive fighter "World's fastest in relation to the engine power"; the J 22 crews promptly modified this to "World's fastest in relation to the track width", because of the narrow wheel track.

The aircraft was retired in 1952. J 22-1 or J 22A - first production version, 2x 8 mm and 2x 13.2 mm machineguns, 141 built. J 22-2 or J 22B - armed with 4x 13.2 mm machine guns, 57 built. S 22-3 or S 22 - nine J 22-1 equipped for reconnaissance in 1946, restored to fighters in 1947. Used a spaningskamera Ska4 in the tail. SwedenSwedish Air Force Three examples of the J 22 are preserved externally complete looking. Two are owned by the Swedish air force museum and one of them is on static display there with the other one being located at a nearby veteran airfield where it is able to taxi around by its own power; the third one is owned by Svedinoes bil- och flygmuseum but is in France being borrowed by a plane restoration company named Memorial flight so they can restore it to flying condition. Two more J 22 are way less complete and is for the most part just metal skeletons. One is owned by the Swedish air force museum with the other one being owned privately, they are planned to be restored to flying condition.

The aircraft in the heading photograph is in the markings of Östgöta Air Force Wing, code'L' and is displayed in the Flygvapenmuseum at Malmen near Linköping. Data from F. F. V. S. J22 Fighter AircraftGeneral characteristics Crew: 1 Length: 7.8 m Wingspan: 10 m Height: 3.6 m Wing area: 16 m2 Aspect ratio: 6.25 Airfoil: root: NACA 23015. Empty weight: 2,020 kg 2,000 kg J 22AGross weight: 2,835 kg 2,760 kg J 22APowerplant: 1 × SFA STWC3-G or Pratt & Whitney R-1830-SC3-G Twin Wasp 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 780 kW at 2700 rpm630 kW maximum continuous powerPropellers: 3-bladed SFA / Hamilton Standard VP-2M, 3.1 m diameter constant-speed propellerPerformance Maximum speed: 575 km/h at combat power at 3,500 m 560 km/h (350 mph.

Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills is one of the six Forest Lawn cemeteries in Southern California. It is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, California 90068, in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, it is on the lower north slope at the east end of the Santa Monica Mountains range that overlooks North Hollywood, Universal City, Burbank, the overall San Fernando Valley area of north view Los Angeles. Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills is a park dedicated to the preservation of American history and hosts high-profile events such as an annual Veterans Day ceremony attended by dignitaries and other VIPs. Los Angeles Magazine described it as a "theme-park necropolis", paraphrasing Jessica Mitford, indicating "Forest Lawn’s kitsch was just a sophisticated strategy for lubricating the checkbooks of the grieved." The park features such sights as: The Court of Liberty features statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and the Birth of Liberty mosaic. At 162 feet long and 28 feet high, Birth of Liberty is the largest historical mosaic in the United States.

It is composed of ten million pieces of Venetian glass and depicts twenty-five scenes from early America, from 1619–1787. The Old North Church, a precise replica of Boston's historic church, from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride"; the historical rooms have mementos of the colonial period. The Hall of Liberty American History Museum has a copy of other exhibits; the museum has a 1,200-seat auditorium. Monument to Washington, a marble and bronze tribute to America's first president, created by sculptor Thomas Ball. Four of Washington's generals are honored in the memorial; the Lincoln Terrace features a 16-foot bronze statue of the 16th president by Augustus St. Gaudens, flanked by a panoramic mosaic depicting key scenes from Lincoln's life; the Plaza of Mesoamerican Heritage has indigenous by Meliton Salas Rodriguez, of Guadalajara, Mexico. Salas used hand tools to first quarry work the native Mexican stone into scaled, detailed replicas of artwork and artifacts that are representative of the Aztec, Maya, Olmec, Toltec and Zapotec civilizations that preceded modern Mexican culture and is in contrast to the Christian and patriotic American themes which were reflective of the culture at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills and other Forest Lawn Memorial Parks since their inception by Christian American businessman Hubert L. Eaton.

A smooth Olmecan head, an intricate Aztec sun calendar and a sinuous Teotihuacan bas relief are some of the sculptural features of the Plaza that are set off by crushed stone walkways and complemented by groupings of Mesoamerican plants. This entire display has been removed and is in storage; the first Forest Lawn, in Glendale, was founded in 1906 by businessmen who hired Dr. Hubert Eaton, a firm believer in a joyous life after death, he believed that most cemeteries were "unsightly, depressing stoneyards," and pledged to create one that would reflect his optimistic beliefs and be "As Unlike Other Cemeteries As Sunshine Is Unlike Darkness." He envisioned Forest Lawn to be "A Great Park Devoid Of Misshapen Monuments And Other Signs Of Earthly Death, But Filled With Towering Trees, Sweeping Lawns, Splashing Fountains, Beautiful Statuary, Cheerful Flowers, Noble Memorial Architecture With Interiors Full Of Light And Color, And Redolent Of The World’s Best History And Romances.". Mammoth Film Plant - opens in first western movie location in the San Fernando Valley.

Bison Films Band - for Universal Program:aka Universal Ranch, Oak Crest ranch, Universal City 1912 to 1914 on the Providencia Ranch land. Many prominent people from the entertainment industry, are interred there. Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale List of cemeteries in the United States San Fernando Valley History of the San Fernando Valley Rancho Providencia – First Movie Town 1912 Nestor Film Company – Valley ranch Providencia Ranch – Oak Crest – Universal/Bison 101 Movies Universal City – Two valley ranch locations Official website Forest Lawn Memorial Park at Find a Grave Forest Lawn Map with names of sections from Findagrave.com Cultural Resources Assessment report 2009 by LSA Associates, Tribute to the founder of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks by Charles Elias Disney

Tim Christensen is a Danish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is both the singer and songwriter of the Danish band Dizzy Mizz Lizzy and a solo artist who has to date released four studio albums, two EPs and two live DVDs. Christensen makes rock music with folk influences, his biggest musical influences include The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Nick Drake, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, The Zombies, Cheap Trick, XTC, Crowded House and Elliott Smith. At the age of two or three, Christensen was fond of his father's LP records of The Beatles, he was six years old when John Lennon was murdered, many documentaries and performances of The Beatles appeared on television. Christensen was impressed by how The Beatles played, which inspired him to start playing on his father's acoustic guitar, he received his first guitar from a distant uncle. Christensen's parents were divorced, his half-sister lived up in North Denmark, his family wasn't wealthy, but when he was eight years old, his father received a one-time sum of money and gave Christensen two choices: either to build a pool in the back yard or to go on vacation to Lennon's hometown of Liverpool and to the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London.

Christensen chose the latter, recalls that this was the only time his family went on a vacation. At that age he played in a children's rock band that performed at schools and he started writing his own songs. Playing the guitar felt natural to Christensen, he did not feel like taking lessons and having to practice "stupid children's songs". However, at the recreation center in Espergærde he met Bent, a musician who practiced there and became a sort of mentor to Christensen, he arranged that Christensen was allowed to play in the basement of the recreation center and start the children's rock band Crep, which he formed with some friends in 1982. They released a three-track recording in 1985 called En aften i fredagscafeen and recorded a 4-song demo. Crep disbanded when Christensen's family moved from the village of Espergærde to the Valby district of Copenhagen in 1988, he received his first Fender Stratocaster as a gift. Dizzy Mizz Lizzy was founded in 1988 by Christensen, his classmate Martin Nielsen, whom he had become friends with on the first day of school, drummer Søren Friis, recommended to them by a friend.

Nielsen took on the bass guitar because Christensen played electric guitar. Critics would explain: "From the outset it was clear that Tim Christensen was the group's undisputed center, but the band benefited from the collective dynamics." They played glam rock but were inspired by Nirvana's music to switch to power rock. They were signed with EMI-Medley after winning Denmark's largest rock talent contest, DM i Rock, in 1993, their eponymous debut album, released in 1994, has sold over 250,000 copies in Denmark and 100,000 copies in Japan. The band toured through Denmark and Japan, they recorded the album Rotator at the Abbey Road Studios and released it in 1996, selling 100,000 copies in Denmark and Japan, followed by another extensive tour. The band decided to take a year off in 1997, during which time Christensen performed in a television show with B. B. King, helped with the start-up of Swan Lee, the band of his then-girlfriend Pernille Rosendahl. Rosendahl was a major support for him when recording Dizzy Mizz Lizzy's second album Rotator in London as the other band members did not share Christensen's enthusiasm, nor could they appreciate the unique symbolism recording in these legendary studios as much as Christensen.

This meant Christensen had no one to share his palette of emotions with, causing him to turn to Rosendahl in and out of the studio. This further added to the crisis and caused Christensen to become estranged from the band. Nielsen and Friis went as far as labeling the couple as "John and Yoko", referring to the supposed detrimental influence of Yoko Ono on John Lennon that contributed to the break-up of the Beatles. Christensen and Rosendahl had formed the band Swan Lee in 1996 with guitarist Jonas Struck and drummer Emil Jorgensen, entered the Tomorrow Never Dies soundtrack contest by writing a song of the same name; the contest was won by Sheryl Crow. It was around that time Christensen first bought and experimented with a Mellotron, which would continue to feature on many of his songs. Christensen produced Rosendahl's 1997 demo Dream Away, wrote arrangements for and played several instruments on some of Swan Lee's earlier songs; when Christensen met with his band mates from Dizzy Mizz Lizzy on 10 March 1998 at the Rosenborg Castle Gardens, they decided to split up because they were fatigued.

Because Christensen was "bitten by a mad Mellotron" and was involved with several music projects, critics speculated he would come up with something before too long. Due to the break-up of Dizzy Mizz Lizzy, Christensen became more introverted, while his girlfriend could not handle him being in a crisis. Christensen considers the time after his break-up with the band and Rosendahl to be the deepest low point in his career, which inevitably led him to step out of Swan Lee in 1999, he had not seen all this coming, as he was living in a dream: "We believed that we were still down to earth, but, unrealistic. Only afterwards did. Since day one, we had tasted success, it is unhealthy for such a young band to have so much going for them from the start." He was grateful about the way his career had evolved, but describes it as "a typical example of how you don't know what you got till it's gone." Christensen became involved in vario