1.
Prefectures of France
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There are 101 prefectures in France, one for each department. The official in charge is the prefect, the prefect represents the national government at the local level and as such exercises the powers that are constitutionally attributed to the national government. The prefect issues ordinances written for the application of law, to close a building that does not conform to safety codes. In the past, the prefect was head of the department, but since 1982, there is an exception in Paris and its three surrounding departments. These departments are administered by a prefecture for law enforcement and security purposes, called the Prefecture of Police. The power of law enforcement is usually invested in the mayor in other French communes, the departments are divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons. The chef-lieu darrondissement is the subprefecture, the official in charge is the subprefect (French, sous-préfet. Cantons have relatively few competences, the most important one being the local organisation of elections, administrative divisions of France French National Police
2.
Communes of France
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The commune is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to civil townships incorporated municipalities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany, the United Kingdom has no exact equivalent, as communes resemble districts in urban areas, but are closer to parishes in rural areas where districts are much larger. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and have received significant powers of governance to manage the populations, the communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France. A French commune may be a city of 2.2 million inhabitants like Paris, communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes, a commune is a town, city, or municipality. Use of commune in English is a habit, and one that might be corrected. There is nothing in commune in French that is different from town in English. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, as of January 2015, there were 36,681 communes in France,36,552 of them in metropolitan France and 129 of them overseas. This is a higher total than that of any other European country. The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes and this is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where unincorporated areas directly governed by a county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions, COM of Saint-Martin and it was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe région. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007, COM of Wallis and Futuna, which still is divided according to the three traditional chiefdoms. It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe region, the commune structure was abolished when Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.88 square kilometres. The median area of metropolitan Frances communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, the median area is a better measure of the area of a typical French commune. This median area is smaller than that of most European countries. In Italy, the area of communes is 22 km2, in Belgium it is 40 km2, in Spain it is 35 km2, and in Germany. Switzerland and the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia in Germany were the places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France. The communes of Frances overseas départements such as Réunion and French Guiana are large by French standards and they usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them
3.
Douze
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The Douze is the right precursor of the Midouze, in the Landes, in the southwest of France. The Douze rises in Armagnac, in the Gers département and it joins the Midou in Mont-de-Marsan to constitute the Midouze, a tributary of the Adour. Http, //www. geoportail. fr The Douze at the Sandre database
4.
Midou
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The Midou or Midour is the left precursor of the Midouze, in the Southwest of France. The Midou rises in Armagnac, in the Gers département and it joins the Douze in Mont-de-Marsan to constitute the Midouze, a tributary of the Adour. Gers, by Nogaro Landes, Villeneuve-de-Marsan, Mont-de-Marsan Riberette or Midour de Devant, midouzon, Izaute, from Termes-dArmagnac, Jurane, Estang. N. B. = right tributary, = left tributary
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
6.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
7.
Regions of France
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France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit, universities and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
8.
Departments of France
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In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
9.
Landes (department)
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Landes is a department in southwestern France. Landes is one of the original 83 departments that were created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 and it was created from parts of the provinces of Guyenne and Gascony. During the first part of the century large parts of the department were covered with poorly drained heathland which is the origin of its name. The vegetation covered rich soil and was burned off, leaving excellent pasturage for sheep. The sheep were managed by shepherds who moved around on stilts, most of the sheep departed during the second half of the nineteenth century when systematic development of large pine plantations transformed the landscape and the local economy. The Nobel Prize–winning novelist François Mauriac set his novels in the Landes, Landes is part of the current region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and is surrounded by the departments of Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, Gers, and Pyrénées-Atlantiques, as well as the Atlantic Ocean on the west. With an area stretching over more than 9000 km², Landes is, after Gironde and it is well known for the Côte dArgent beach which is Europes longest, and attracts many surfers to Mimizan and Hossegor each year. The President of the General Council is Henri Emmanuelli of the Socialist Party, in terms of agriculture, Landes is known for its large pine forests which are the raw material for a timber and resin industries in the region. The forests were planted in the nineteenth century to prevent erosion of the regions sandy soil by the sea. Cantons of the Landes department Communes of the Landes department Arrondissements of the Landes department Prefecture website Conseil Général website Landes at DMOZ
10.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
11.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
12.
Gascon language
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Gascon is a dialect of Occitan. It is mostly spoken in Gascony and Béarn in southwestern France and it has about 250,000 speakers worldwide. Aranese, a southern Gascon variety, is spoken in Catalonia and has greatly influenced recently by Catalan. Both these influences tend to differentiate it more and more from the dialects of Gascon spoken in France, since the 2006 adoption of the new statute of Catalonia, Aranese is co-official with Catalan and Spanish in Catalonia. See Occitan, Debates concerning linguistic classification, there is a proven Basque substrate in the development of Gascon. This explains some of the differences that exist between Gascon and other Occitan dialects. A typically Gascon feature that may arise from this substrate is the change from f to h, thus we have Gascon hèsta or. A similar change took place in continental Spanish, thus Latin facere gives Spanish hacer. Note that modern Basque has had influence from Gascon in words like beira, polit to mention. One way for the introduction of Gascon influence into Basque came about through language contact in bordering areas of the Northern Basque Country, acting as adstrate. A poll conducted in Béarn in 1982 indicated that 51% of the population could speak Gascon, 70% understood it, the usual term for Gascon is patois, a word designating in France a non-official and usually devaluated dialect or language, regardless of the concerned region. It is mainly in Béarn that the population uses concurrently the term Béarnais to designate its Gascon forms and this is because of the political past of Béarn, which was independent and then part of a sovereign state from 1347 to 1620. In fact, there is no unified Béarnais dialect, as the language differs considerably throughout the province, many of the differences in pronunciation can be divided into east, west, and south. For example, an a at the end of words is pronounced ah in the west, o in the east, because of Béarns specific political past, Béarnais has been distinguished from Gascon since the 16th century, not for linguistic reasons. Gascon comprises three main areas, The Garonnais Gascon used on and next to the river Garonne valley. These regions know the least specific Gascon forms, the Southern Gascon used in the south and in the south-west of the linguistic Gascon zone. The Gascon of these regions is the one with the most distinctive characteristics of Gascon, the Intermediary Gascon in an intermediary zone between the two just mentioned. Occitan conjugation Languages of France Vergonha Darrigrand, Robert
13.
French Air Force
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The French Air Force is the air force of the French Armed Forces. It was formed in 1909 as the Service Aéronautique, an arm of the French Army. The number of aircraft in service with the French Air Force varies depending on source, the French Air Force has 233 combat aircraft in service, with the majority being 125 Dassault Mirage 2000 and 108 Dassault Rafale. As of early 2016, the French Air Force employs a total of 42,607 regular personnel, the reserve element of the air force consisted of 5,187 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The Minister of Defence is responsible for execution of military policy and he is advised by the Chief of Staff of the Armies in regard to the use of forces and the control of military operations. The Chief of Staff of the French Air Force determines the air force doctrines and advises the CEMA how to deploy French air assets and he is responsible for the preparation and logistic support of the air force. The French took active interest in developing the air force from 1909 and had the first World War I fighter pilots, in the post–World War II era, the French made a successful effort to develop a domestic aircraft industry. Dassault Aviation led the way mainly with delta-wing designs, which formed the basis for the Mirage series of jet fighters. The Mirage demonstrated its abilities in the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, the Falklands War, the French Air Force participated in several protracted colonial wars in Africa and French Indochina after the Second World War, and continues to employ its air power in Africa. The Military Air Transport Command had previously formed in February 1962 from the Groupement dUnités Aériennes Spécialisées. The Dassault Mirage IV, the principal French strategic bomber, was designed to strike Soviet positions as part of the French nuclear triad, also created in 1964 was the Escadron des Fusiliers Commandos de lAir, seemingly grouping all FCA units. CFAS had two squadrons of S-3 IRBMs at the Plateau dAlbion, six squadrons of Mirage IVAs, coTAM counted 28 squadrons, of which ten were fixed-wing transport squadrons, and the remainder helicopter and liaison squadrons, at least five of which were overseas. CAFDA numbered 14 squadrons mostly flying the Mirage F. 1C, two other commands had flying units, the Air Force Schools Command, and the Air Force Transmissions Command, with four squadrons and three trials units. In 1994 the Commandement des Fusiliers Commandos de lAir was established, the French Air Force is expanding and replacing aircraft inventory. After an absence lasting several decades, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed that France will rejoin the NATO integrated command, from 2008-2010 the Air Force underwent an organisational streamlining process. This project was called Air 2010, which was the year of the deadline for all transitions, the main targets of this project were to simplify the command structure, to regroup all military and civil air force functions and to rationalise and optimise all air force units. Five major commands, were formed, instead of the former 13, CDAOA CFA CSFA DRHAA SAGF The last remaining squadron of Dassault Mirage F1s were retired in July 2014 and replaced by the Rafale. The Chief of Staff of the French Air Force determines air force doctrine and he is responsible for the preparation and logistic support of the air force
14.
Constantin Rozanoff
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Constantin Wladimir Rozanoff, also known as Kostia Rozanoff, - was a French test pilot, Colonel of the French Air Force, and one of the pioneers of jet aviation. He was chief-pilot at Dassault Aviation and he flew 201 types of planes and helicopters, and accumulated 5,000 flying hours, including 3,865 combat hours, and breaking the sound barrier 104 times. Constantin Rozanoff was born to a Russian family in Warsaw and he and his mother emigrated to France in 1917 because of the Revolution, and in 1927 obtained French citizenship. Constantin Rozanoff entered the engineering school École Centrale Paris, where he graduated in 1928. Called into military service the year, he completed his service with the 34th Aviation Regiment of observation at Le Bourget. He attended the SUPAERO National Aircraft School in 1933, and after completing studies he became a licensed pilot. In 1935 he became a pilot with the Center of Aeronautics in Vélizy-Villacoublay and took part in testing of the Morane-Saulnier MS.406, Dewoitine D.520. In October 1937, Rozanoff was almost killed when losing control of a Hanriot while testing its spin characteristics and he could not recover in time, but he bailed out safely. In February 1940 Rozanoff became second in command of Groupe de chasse GC II/4, in May 1940 he shot down two Luftwaffe fighter planes in a Curtiss P-36. After occupation in 1942 he travelled to where he participated operations with the Allies in Tunis and Algeria and he commanded GC 2/5 and GC 2/3. In December 1943 he went to Great Britain where, promoted to lieutenant colonel, attended additional test pilot courses and he flew the first RAF jet, the, then participated in flight testing the P-59 Airacomet and Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star in the USA. In December 1945 after returning from the USA as a Colonel he served at Airbase 118 in Mont-de-Marsan and he was demobilised in October 1946 and headed the Test Division of the Dassault Aviation. Colonel Rozanoff became the chief test pilot flying the MD-450 Ouragan and participated in testing military transport planes such as the Dassault MD.315 Flamant, and the fighter-bomber Mystère. Rozanoff became the first Frenchman to break the barrier in level flight, on 24 February 1954. In 1954 Constantin Rozanoff published his autobiographical- Double Bang - Ma Vie de Pilote dEssai, Colonel Rozanoff was killed in a crash of a Mystère IV B during a public low-level flight over the Melun Villaroche Aerodrome. He was buried in the Passy Cemetery and he was awarded the Air Medal and the cross of the Légion dhonneur. The Paris Air Show, A Look Back
15.
Dassault Mirage IV
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The Dassault Mirage IV was a French jet-propelled supersonic strategic bomber and deep-reconnaissance aircraft. Developed by Dassault Aviation, the entered service with the French Air Force in October 1964. For many years it was a part of the nuclear triad of the Force de Frappe. The Mirage IV was retired from the strike role in 1996. The Mirage IV was ultimately not adopted by any other operators beyond the French Air Force, thus, the development of a supersonic bomber designed to carry out the delivery mission started in 1956 as a part of the wider development of Frances independent nuclear deterrent. In May 1956, the Guy Mollet government drew up a specification for a supersonic bomber capable of carrying a 3-metric-ton,5. 2-meter-long nuclear bomb 2,000 km. According to aviation authors Bill Gunston and Peter Gilchrist, the inclusion of supersonic speed was surprising to many at the time. The final specifications, jointly defined by government authorities and Dassault staff, were approved on 20 March 1957.9, in April 1957, Dassault were informed that they had won the design competition. Dassaults resulting prototype, dubbed Mirage IV01, looked a lot like the Mirage IIIA, even though it had double the wing surface, the Mirage IV also carried three times more internal fuel than the Mirage III. The aircrafts aerodynamic features were similar to the IIIs but required an entirely new structure. This prototype was 20 metres long, had a 11 metres wingspan,62 square metres of wing area, the 01 was an experimental prototype built to explore and solve the problems stemming from prolonged supersonic flight. The sizable technological and operational uncertainties were only one part of the problem, the weapon-related issues were the other. It took 18 months to build the 01 in Dassaults Saint-Cloud plant near Paris, in late 1958, the aircraft was transferred to the Melun-Villaroche flight testing area for finishing touches and ground tests. On 17 June 1959, French General Roland Glavany, on a leave from the French Air Force since 1954. For its third flight, on 20 June 1959, the 01 was authorized to fly over the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport in front of Frances President Charles de Gaulle. On 19 September 1960, René Bigand increased the record for speed on a 1000-kilometre closed circuit to 1,822 km/h around Paris. Flight 138, on 23 September, corroborated the initial performance and pushed the record on a 500 km closed circuit to an average of 1,972 km/h, flying between Mach 2.08 and Mach 2.14. The Mirage IV01 prototype underwent minor modifications during testing in the autumn of 1959, most noticeably, the tail was enlarged.4, the Mirage IVB proposal had been instigated as a response to interest by Charles de Gaulle in ensuring that two-way strike missions could be flown
16.
Donjon Lacataye
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The Donjon Lacataye is the keep of a 14th-century castle, constructed by order of Gaston Phébus in the commune of Mont-de-Marsan in the Landes département of France. These houses belonged to the Viscounts family and were more or less abandoned starting from the 15th century, during the 16th century, their upper parts were modified and they were equipped with crenellations. The material used is coquillère, a sedimentary rock. The name Cataye comes from the Spanish verb “castar”, to supervise and it is entirely possible that these houses replaced a preceding mound structure with tower because the site is also called, “pujorin”, i. e. “pouy jorin”. In 1860, Antoine Lacaze, mayor and owner of the keep and it later became the departmental barracks until 1875, when the soldiers moved to the Bosquet barracks in the town. The keep preserved the name Caserne Lacaze for nearly a century, in spite of a succession of civil uses, boarding school for girls, gymnastics centre. In 1968, mayor Charles Lamarque-Cando inaugurated in the keep a museum of modern figurative sculpture and it has been listed since 1942 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. List of castles in France www. culture. gouv. fr Despiau-Wlérick Museum official website French Ministry of Culture listing for Donjon Lacataye
17.
Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
18.
Relative humidity
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Relative humidity is the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor to the equilibrium vapor pressure of water at a given temperature. Relative humidity depends on temperature and the pressure of the system of interest and it requires less water vapor to attain high relative humidity at low temperatures, more water vapour is required to attain high relative humidity in warm or hot air. Humans are sensitive to high humidity because the body uses evaporative cooling, enabled by perspiration. Perspiration evaporates from the more slowly under humid conditions than under arid. For example, if the air temperature is 24 °C and the humidity is zero percent. If the relative humidity is 100 percent at the air temperature. In other words, if the air is 24 °C and contains saturated water vapor, then the human body cools itself at the rate as it would if it were 27 °C. The heat index and the humidex are indices that reflect the effect of temperature. In cold climates, the temperature causes lower capacity for water vapour to flow about. Dry cracked skin can result from dry air, low humidity causes tissue lining nasal passages to dry, crack and become more susceptible to penetration of Rhinovirus cold viruses. Low humidity is a cause of nosebleeds. The use of a humidifier in homes, especially bedrooms, can help with these symptoms, indoor relative humidities should be kept above 30% to reduce the likelihood of the occupants nasal passages drying out. Humans can be comfortable within a range of humidities depending on the temperature—from thirty to seventy percent—but ideally between 50% and 60%. Very low humidity can create discomfort, respiratory problems, and aggravate allergies in some individuals, in the winter, it is advisable to maintain relative humidity at 30 percent or above. Extremely low relative humidities may also cause eye irritation, wooden furniture can shrink, causing the paint that covers these surfaces to fracture. When the temperature is low and the humidity is high. When relative humidity approaches 100 percent, condensation can occur on surfaces, leading to problems with mold, corrosion, decay, condensation can pose a safety risk as it can promote the growth of mold and wood rot as well as possibly freezing emergency exits shut. The basic principles for buildings, above, also apply to vehicles, in addition, there may be safety considerations
19.
Sunshine duration
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It is a general indicator of cloudiness of a location, and thus differs from insolation, which measures the total energy delivered by sunlight over a given period. Sunshine duration is usually expressed in hours per year, or in hours per day, the first measure indicates the general sunniness of a location compared with other places, while the latter allows for comparison of sunshine in various seasons in the same location. Another often-used measure is percentage ratio of recorded bright sunshine duration, an important use of sunshine duration data is to characterize the climate of sites, especially of health resorts. This also takes account the psychological effect of strong solar light on human well-being. It is often used to promote tourist destinations, if the Sun were to be above the horizon 50% of the time for a standard year consisting of 8,760 hours, apparent maximal daytime duration would be 4,380 hours for any point on Earth. However, there are physical and astronomical effects that change that picture, namely, atmospheric refraction allows the Sun to be still visible even when it physically sets below the horizon. For that reason, average daytime is longest in polar areas, places on the Arctic Circle have the longest total annual daytime,4,647 hours, while the North Pole receives 4,575. Because of elliptic nature of the Earths orbit, the Southern Hemisphere is not symmetrical, the Equator has a total daytime of 4,422 hours per year. Given the theoretical maximum of daytime duration for a given location, bright sunshine hours represent the total hours when the sunlight is stronger than a specified threshold, as opposed to just visible hours. Visible sunshine, for example, occurs around sunrise and sunset, measurement is performed by instruments called sunshine recorders. For the specific purpose of sunshine duration recording, Campbell–Stokes recorders are used, when the intensity exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the tape burns. The total length of the trace is proportional to the number of bright hours. Another type of recorder is the Jordan sunshine recorder, newer, electronic recorders have more stable sensitivity than that of the paper tape. In 2003, the duration was finally defined as the period during which direct solar irradiance exceeds a threshold value of 120 W/m². The sky is clear in these regions, and fair weather is virtually perpetual, the descending branch of the Hadley cell and the long-term lack of atmospheric disturbances helps to explain the seemingly endless supply of sunny, cloud-free days in the deserts. Low clouding conditions are associated with rainfall shortage, as seen in these dry regions. In the belt encompassing northern Chad and the Tibesti Mountains, northern Sudan, southern Libya, some places in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula receive 3, 600–3,800 hours of bright sunshine annually. The largest sun-baked region in the world is North Africa, the sunniest month in the world is December in Eastern Antarctica, with almost 23 hours of bright sun daily
20.
Stade Montois
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Stade Montois is a French rugby union team that currently is playing in Pro D2, the second level of the countrys professional league system. They were founded in 1908 and play in yellow and black and they are based in Mont-de-Marsan, the capital of the Landes département, in New Aquitaine, and play at the Stade Guy Boniface. Stade Montois is a club but its rugby team has always been its flagship. After winning a few regional titles between the two wars, it reached the top of French club rugby four times in 15 years. It lost its first three French championship finals to Castres Olympique in 1949, to FC Lourdes in 1953, and their finest hour came in 1963 in an all Landes-final against US Dax, won by the Yellow and Black 9-6. They had finally won one, whereas their Dax neighbours would lose all five finals they would play in and it finished in the bottom table in the first-tier Top 14 in the 2008–09 season. They had just been promoted to the Top 14 after winning the Pro D2 promotion playoffs and they remained in Pro D2 for three seasons before successfully navigating the 2012 promotion playoffs. Stade Montois players include the Boniface brothers, Thomas Castaignède, Christian Darrouy, Benoît Dauga, former Leicester Tigers and Fiji scrum-half wizard Waisale Serevi also played for them as well as other notable Fijians such as Viliame Satala and Vilimoni Delasau. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality
21.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
22.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
23.
Punk rock
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Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed in the early to mid-1970s in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in 1960s garage rock and other forms of what is now known as proto-punk music, Punk bands typically produced short or fast-paced songs, with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic, many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through informal channels, the term punk was first used in relation to rock music by some American critics in the early 1970s, to describe garage bands and their devotees. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world, for the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment, by the beginning of the 1980s, faster, more aggressive styles such as hardcore and street punk had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk. At the end of the 20th century, punk rock had been adopted by the mainstream, as pop punk and punk bands such as Green Day. The first wave of rock was aggressively modern, distancing itself from the bombast. According to Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone, In its initial form, unfortunately, what happens is that people who could not hold a candle to the likes of Hendrix started noodling away. Soon you had endless solos that went nowhere, by 1973, I knew that what was needed was some pure, stripped down, no bullshit rock n roll. In critic Robert Christgaus description, It was also a subculture that rejected the political idealism. Technical accessibility and a DIY spirit are prized in punk rock, in the early days of punk rock, this ethic stood in marked contrast to what those in the scene regarded as the ostentatious musical effects and technological demands of many mainstream rock bands. Musical virtuosity was often looked on with suspicion, according to Holmstrom, punk rock was rock and roll by people who didnt have very many skills as musicians but still felt the need to express themselves through music. In December 1976, the English fanzine Sideburns published an illustration of three chords, captioned This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. The title of a 1980 single by the New York punk band Stimulators, inscribed a catchphrase for punks basic musical approach. The previous year, when the rock revolution began in Great Britain, was to be both a musical and a cultural Year Zero. As a Clash associate describes singer Joe Strummers outlook, Punk rock is meant to be our freedom, were meant to be able to do what we want to do. Scholar Daniel S. Traber argues that attaining authenticity in the identity can be difficult, as the punk scene matured, he observes
24.
Goalkeeper (association football)
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Goalkeeper, often shortened to keeper or goalie, is one of the major positions of association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport, the goalkeepers primary role is to prevent the opposing team from successfully moving the ball over the defended goal-line. This is accomplished by the moving into the path of the ball. Within the penalty area goalkeepers are able to use their hands, goalkeepers usually perform goal kicks, and also give commands to their defence during corner kicks, direct and indirect free kicks, and marking. Goalkeepers play an important role in directing on field strategy as they have a view of the entire pitch. If an attacker on the opposing team obstructs the keeper from catching or saving the ball, for example, in a corner, it will normally be a free kick. If a goalkeeper is injured or sent off, a goalkeeper has to take their place. In order to replace a goalkeeper who is sent off, a team usually substitutes an outfield player for the backup keeper and they then play the remainder of the match with nine outfield players. Goalkeepers often have longer playing careers than players, many not retiring until their late thirties or early forties. This can be explained by noting that goalkeepers play a physically demanding position that requires significantly less running. For example, Peter Shilton played for 31 years between 1966 and 1997 before retiring at the age of 47, the squad number for a first choice goalkeeper is generally number 1. Although this is common, some goalkeepers now wear other numbers when in goal, association football, like many sports, has experienced many changes in tactics resulting in the generation and elimination of different positions. Goalkeeper is the position that is certain to have existed since the codification of the sport. The earliest account of football teams with player positions comes from Richard Mulcaster in 1581, the earliest specific reference to keeping goal comes from Cornish Hurling in 1602. One of these is appointed by lots, to the one side, there is assigned for their guard, a couple of their best stopping Hurlers. Other references to scoring goals begin in English literature in the early 16th century, for example, in John Days play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, Ill play a gole at camp-ball. Similarly, in a 1613 poem, Michael Drayton refers to when the Ball to throw, And drive it to the Gole and it seems inevitable that wherever a game has evolved goals, some form of goalkeeping must also be developed. David Wedderburn refers to what has been translated from Latin as to keep goal in 1633, initially, goalkeepers typically played between the goalposts and had limited mobility, except when trying to save opposition shots
25.
Horse racing
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Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys or driven over a set distance for competition. Horse races vary widely in format, often, countries have developed their own particular horse racing traditions. Variations include restricting races to particular breeds, running over obstacles, running over different distances, running on different track surfaces, Horse racing has a long and distinguished history and has been practised in civilisations across the world since ancient times. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in Ancient Greece, Babylon, Syria and it also plays an important part of myth and legend, such as the contest between the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman, both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC and were important in the other Panhellenic Games. This was despite the fact that racing was often dangerous to both driver and horse as they frequently suffered serious injury and even death. In the Roman Empire, chariot and mounted horse racing were major industries, fifteen to 20 riderless horses, originally imported from the Barbary Coast of North Africa, ran the length of the Via del Corso, a long, straight city street, in about 2½ minutes. In later times, Thoroughbred racing became, and remains, popular with the aristocrats and royalty of British society, historically, equestrians honed their skills through games and races. Equestrian sports provided entertainment for crowds and honed the excellent horsemanship that was needed in battle, Horse racing of all types evolved from impromptu competitions between riders or drivers. The various forms of competition, requiring demanding and specialized skills from both horse and rider, resulted in the development of specialized breeds and equipment for each sport. The popularity of sports through the centuries has resulted in the preservation of skills that would otherwise have disappeared after horses stopped being used in combat. There are many different types of racing, including, Flat racing. Jump racing, or Jumps racing, also known as Steeplechasing or, in the UK and Ireland, National Hunt racing, Harness racing, where horses trot or pace while pulling a driver in a sulky. Breeds that are used for flat racing include the Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Arabian, Paint, Jump racing breeds include the Thoroughbred and AQPS. In harness racing, Standardbreds are used in Australia, New Zealand and North America, light cold blood horses, such as Finnhorses and Scandinavian coldblood trotter are also used in harness racing within their respective geographical areas. There also are races for ponies, both flat and jump and harness racing, Flat racing is the most common form of racing seen worldwide. Track surfaces vary, with turf most common in Europe, dirt more common in North America and Asia, individual flat races are run over distances ranging from 440 yards up to two and a half miles, with distances between five and twelve furlongs being most common. Short races are referred to as sprints, while longer races are known as routes in the United States or staying races in Europe
26.
Pierre Bosquet
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Pierre François Joseph Bosquet was a French Army general. He served during the conquest of Algeria and the Crimean War, returning from Crimea he was made Marshal of France, Bosquet was born in Mont-de-Marsan, Landes, he entered the artillery in 1833 and a year later went to Algeria. Here he soon made himself remarkable not only for technical skill, becoming captain in 1839, he greatly distinguished himself at the actions of Sidi-Lakhdar and Oued-Melah. He was soon given the command of a battalion of native tirailleurs, in 1845 he became lieutenant-colonel, and in 1847 colonel of a French line regiment. In 1853 he returned to France after nineteen years absence, a general of division, Bosquet was amongst the earliest chosen to serve in the Crimean War, and at the Battle of Alma his division led the French attack. When the Anglo-French troops formed the siege of Sevastopol, Bosquets corps of two divisions protected them against interruption and his timely intervention at the Battle of Inkerman secured the victory for the allies. During 1855 Bosquets corps occupied the wing of the besieging armies opposite the Mamelon. He himself led his corps at the storming of the Mamelon, in the struggle for the Malakov he received another serious wound. At the age of forty-five Bosquet, now one of the foremost soldiers in Europe, became a senator and a Marshal of France, but he was in poor health, and he lived only a few years longer. He was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, the Grand Cross of the Légion dhonneur, Bosquet uttered the memorable line, referring to the Charge of the Light Brigade, C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre, cest de la folie. Légion dhonneur Knight Officer Commander Grand Officer Grand Cross Médaille militaire Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Crimea Medal
27.
Charles Despiau
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Charles Despiau was a French sculptor. Charles-Albert Despiau was born at Mont-de-Marsan, Landes and attended first the École des Arts Décoratifs, Rodin hired him as an assistant in 1907. Despiau worked with Rodin, as well as doing his own sculpture, until 1914, returning to sculpture after the war, his success was established with his one-man show at the Brummer Gallery in New York in late 1927. He died in Paris in 1946, Despiau was not a prolific sculptor, preferring to work for as long as it took to realize his vision. There are several surviving plaster statues which repeat a model with slight variations. The Museum of Modern Art in New York owns the bronze Assia, the largest collection is in his native Mont-de-Marsan, in a museum he shares with Robert Wlérick, established in the Donjon Lacataye. Despiau produced a total of 150 sculptures and 1,000 drawings over a fifty-year career, Despiau at www. ilovefiguresculpture. com Charles Despiau website Charles Despiau in American public collections, on the French Sculpture Census website
28.
Prime Minister of France
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The French Prime Minister in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. During the Third and Fourth Republics, the head of government position was called President of the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister proposes a list of ministers to the President of the Republic. Decrees and decisions of the Prime Minister, like almost all decisions, are subject to the oversight of the administrative court system. Few decrees are taken after advice from the Council of State, all prime ministers defend the programs of their ministry, and make budgetary choices. The extent to which those decisions lie with the Prime Minister or President depends upon whether they are of the same party, manuel Valls was appointed to lead the government in a cabinet reshuffle in March 2014, after the ruling Socialists suffered a bruising defeat in local elections. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic, the President can choose whomever they want. On the other hand, because the National Assembly does have the power to force the resignation of the government, for example, right after the legislative election of 1986, President François Mitterrand appointed Jacques Chirac prime minister. Chirac was a member of the RPR and an opponent of Mitterrand. Despite the fact that Mitterrands own Socialist Party was the largest party in the Assembly, the RPR had an alliance with the UDF, which gave them a majority. Such a situation, where the President is forced to work with a minister who is an opponent, is called a cohabitation. So far, Édith Cresson is the woman to have ever held the position of prime minister. Aristide Briand holds the record for most nomination as Prime Minister with 11 between 1909 and 1929 with some terms as short as 26 days, other members of Government are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister can engage the responsibility of his or her Government before the National Assembly and this process consists of placing a bill before the Assembly, and either the Assembly overthrows the Government, or the bill is passed automatically. In addition to ensuring that the Government still has support in the House, the Prime Minister may also submit a bill that has not been yet signed into law to the Constitutional Council. Before he is allowed to dissolve the Assembly, the President has to consult the Prime Minister, the office of the prime minister, in its current form, dates from the formation of the French Third Republic. Under the French Constitutional Laws of 1875, he was imbued with the powers as his British counterpart. In practice, however, the minister was a fairly weak figure. Most notably, the legislature had the power to force the cabinet out of office by a vote of censure
29.
Romain Larrieu
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Romain Larrieu is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Mont-de-Marsan, he has played in the Football League for Plymouth Argyle, Gillingham and he also appeared in Ligue 2 for Valence, and was last registered with semi-professional South West Peninsula League club Camelford in 2014. Larrieu started his career in his native France at Montpellier, but finding it impossible to dislodge the experienced French international Bruno Martini, Larrieu was surprisingly made first choice for the 2001–02 season but this decision proved to be a masterstroke. Plymouth became champions of Division Three with Larrieu conceding only 28 goals, keeping 27 clean-sheets and he was also named in the PFA Division Three team of the year. He was again first choice for the 2002–03 season as he became a fan favourite at Home Park, after that he was linked with a shock move to then Premiership champions Arsenal. But his 2003–04 season was cut short after 6 games after sustaining damaged knee ligaments, Argyle won promotion from Division 2 that season, and in 2004–05 he shared goalkeeping duties with Luke McCormick in the Championship. The following season Larrieu resumed duties as first choice goalkeeper playing in 45 of the 46 league fixtures again putting in impressive displays, in the 2006–07 season, he suffered with testicular cancer, and after his recovery, he was allowed to go out on loan to Gillingham. He made his debut for Gillingham in a 2–0 away defeat to Swansea City on 23 January 2007, what was originally intended to be a short term loan was extended until mid-April, because of injury to Gillingham goalkeeper Kelvin Jack. The 2007–08 season was another disappointment for Larrieu, with McCormick continuing to be the first choice goalkeeper, Larrieu was sent on loan to Yeovil Town for a month-long loan, where he made six appearances in the league for them. In recognition of his performances throughout the season, Larrieu was voted as Plymouth Argyle Player of the Year by the clubs supporters, as of the 2009–10 season he will be club captain. At the beginning of the 2013-14 season it was rumoured that Larrieu was looking for a return to playing and appeared in a number trial matches and he eventually signed for Tiverton Town to provide experienced cover, but did not make an appearance. In January 2014 Larrieu signed for South West Peninsula League club Camelford as cover for their regular keeper who was due to be unavailable for a short period, Larrieu played just one game for Camelford, a 4–0 loss to Torpoint Athletic. In September 2011, Larrieu was appointed first team player-coach to caretaker manager Carl Fletcher following the dismissal of Peter Reid on a temporary basis, the pair took over permanently in November. In May 2012, the club confirmed that Larrieu had signed a rolling 12-month contract to become the assistant manager. Larrieu served as manager for one game in January 2013 after Fletcher was sacked and continued as assistant manager when John Sheridan joined the club. He was released from his contract in May after more than 12 years of service to the club, Larrieu is now looking for offers from other clubs. As of match played on 5 May 2012, Plymouth Argyle Football League Third Division, 2001–02 Football League Second Division, 2003–04 PFA Third Division Team of the Year, 2001–02 Plymouth Argyle F. C. Player of the Year, 2008–09 Romain Larrieu at Soccerbase
30.
Louis-Anselme Longa
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Louis-Anselme Longa was a French genre artist in the Academic style. He also created numerous paintings, but is best known for his Orientalist works. He studied design in Paris with Paul Delaroche, and had his first exhibit at the Salon in 1835, originally, he appears to have been attracted to the troubador style. In 1841, he was hired by the Commission dexploration scientifique dAlgérie and employed as a painter and he went to Algiers first, but did most of his work in the region surrounding Constantine, which had recently been occupied by French troops. Eventually,138 portraits and scenes were completed and delivered to Jean-de-Dieu Soult and they are currently in the possession of the Muséum National dHistoire Naturelle. From 1843 to 1847, some of the notable paintings were presented at the Salon. His experiences and drawings were turned into a report, published by the new journal LIllustration. He returned permanently to Mont-de-Marsan in 1848 and opened a studio, much of his time was spent creating promotions and decorations for local events or visiting celebrities. In 1866, he was named a Professor of design at the newly opened Lycée Impérial de Mont-de-Marsan and remained there until his death. In addition to his work in Algeria, he painted portraits and created decorations in several churches, most notably those in his hometown, Geloux, Tartas, Maillères. Very often, however, attribution of details is difficult and some works may have been done in conjunction with his brother Louis-François. Simone Abbate, Une Vie de Peintre, Louis-Anselme Longa,2008 Media related to Louis-Anselme Longa at Wikimedia Commons
31.
Jean van de Velde (golfer)
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Jean van de Velde is a French professional golfer who is known mainly for his dramatic loss at The Open Championship in 1999. Van de Velde was born in Mont-de-Marsan, Landes, France and he turned professional in 1987 and his rookie season on the European Tour was 1989. His first European Tour win was the 1993 Roma Masters and he has twice finished in the top twenty of the Order of Merit. He played on the PGA Tour in 2000 and 2001, Van de Velde nearly achieved an upset victory at the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie, when he was the clear leader playing the closing holes. He arrived at the 18th tee needing only a double bogey six to become the first Frenchman since 1907 to win the tournament and he had played error-free golf for much of the week and birdied the 18th hole in two prior rounds. Despite a three-shot lead, Van de Velde chose to use his driver off the tee, rather than laying up and hitting the green with his third, Van de Velde decided to go for the green with his second shot. On his third shot, Van de Veldes club got tangled in the rough on his downswing, and his ball flew into the Barry Burn, a water hazard. He removed his shoes and socks and gingerly stepped through shin-deep water as he debated whether to try to hit his ball out of the Barry Burn, ultimately, he took a drop and proceeded to hit his fifth shot into the greenside bunker. Van de Velde blasted to within six feet from the hole, Lawrie would eventually triumph in the playoff. In 2006, he won his second European Tour title at the Madeira Island Open Caixa Geral de Depositos, in 2012 he was named by UNICEF France as an ambassador – only the second French sportsman, after Lilian Thuram, to achieve this. He succeeded on his third attempt. com Collapse at Carnoustie, CNNSI. com
32.
Fabien Vehlmann
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Fabien Vehlmann is a French comics writer best known for Green Manor and Seuls. Yvan Delporte dubbed him The René Goscinny of the third millennium, fabien Vehlmann, born in 1972 in Mont-de-Marsan, grew up in the Landes and the Savoie. He started writing comics in 1996, but only got to work for Spirou magazine the next year, soon, some stories of a few pages followed, with artwork by a number of different artists, including Eric Maltaite and René Follet. His first recurring series was Green Manor with Denis Bodart, with Bruno Gazzotti he created Seuls. Their first album in the series is announced for October 2009. fr
33.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
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Tudela, Navarre
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Tudela is a municipality in Spain, the second largest city of the autonomous community of Navarre and twice a former Latin bishopric. The city is sited in the Ebro valley, fast trains running on two-track electrified railways serve the city and two freeways join close to it. Tudela is the capital of the Ribera Navarra, the region of lower Navarre. The poet Al-Tutili, the 12th-century traveler Benjamin of Tudela, the 13th century writer William of Tudela, the city hosts an annual festival in honor of Santa Ana which begin on 24 July at noon and continue for approximately a week. Street music, bullfights and the running of the bulls are typical events of the festival, archeological excavations have shown that the area of Tudela has been populated since the lower paleolithic era. The town of Tudela was founded by the Romans on Celt-Iberian settlements, since then the town has been inhabited continuously. The Roman poet Marcus Valerius Martialis recalls in grateful verse the town of Tutela compared to his native Bilbilis, the city was later taken by the Arabs during the Umayyad conquest of Hispania and became the Muslim emirate of Al-Hakam I in 802 under Amrus ibn Yusuf al-Muwalad. At the beginning of the 9th century, the importance of Tudela as a site on the river Ebro was enhanced by historical and political circumstances. The town was used by Muslims as a bridge-head to fight against the expanding Kingdom of Navarre, the co-existence of different cultures is reflected in Tudelas reputation for producing important medieval writers such as Al-Tutili. In 1157 the English scholar Robert of Ketton, first translator of the Koran to a Western tongue, the Jews were banished in 1498. Muslims and Moriscos were expelled in 1516 and 1610 respectively, later Tudela became an important defensive point for the Kingdom of Navarre in battles with Castile and Aragon. At the end of the 17th century, a new square was built, called Plaza Nueva or Plaza de los Fueros. In 1783 the Diocese of Tudela was created, split off from Pamplona, on 23 November 1808, Napoleon Bonapartes Marshal Lannes won the Battle of Tudela in the Peninsular War. The train station was built in 1861, which, together with the agricultural revolution, the bishopric was merged back into Pamplona-Tudela in 1851, restored in 1889 and ultimately suppressed in 1984. The Cathedral of Our Lady of Solitude and it includes examples of Romanesque architecture, such as the Puerta del Juicio, or Door of the Judgement, some Gothic influences and Baroque additions to the building. Another traditional dessert is manjar blanco, new York, Funk & Wagnalls Company. Ayuntamiento de Tudela Medieval History of Navarre Spanish) City of Tudela GCatholic - Tudela diocese GCatholic - Tudela cathedral Town Festivals Tudela, euskomedia. org, accessed 23 November 2016
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Prefectures in France
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There are 101 prefectures in France, one for each department. The official in charge is the prefect, the prefect represents the national government at the local level and as such exercises the powers that are constitutionally attributed to the national government. The prefect issues ordinances written for the application of law, to close a building that does not conform to safety codes. In the past, the prefect was head of the department, but since 1982, there is an exception in Paris and its three surrounding departments. These departments are administered by a prefecture for law enforcement and security purposes, called the Prefecture of Police. The power of law enforcement is usually invested in the mayor in other French communes, the departments are divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons. The chef-lieu darrondissement is the subprefecture, the official in charge is the subprefect (French, sous-préfet. Cantons have relatively few competences, the most important one being the local organisation of elections, administrative divisions of France French National Police
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Bourg-en-Bresse
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Bourg-en-Bresse is a commune in eastern France, capital of the Ain department, and was capital of the ancient province of Bresse. It is located 70 km north-northeast of Lyon, the inhabitants of Bourg-en-Bresse are known as Burgiens. Bourg-en-Bresse is located at the base of the Jura mountains, on the left bank of the Reyssouze. It lies 70 kilometers northeast of Lyon and 50 kilometers south-southwest of Lons-le-Saunier, roman remains have been discovered at Bourg, but little is known of its early history. Raised to the rank of a town in 1250, it was at the beginning of the 15th century the capital of the dukes of Savoy in the province of Bresse. In February 1535 it was conquered by France during an invasion of Savoy, but was restored to Duke Philibert Emmanuel in 1559. The duke later built a citadel, which afterwards withstood a six-months siege by the soldiers of Henry IV during the Franco-Savoyard War of 1600–1601. The town was ceded to France in 1601. In 1814, the inhabitants, in spite of the condition of their town, offered resistance to the Austrians. The church of Notre-Dame has a built in the Renaissance. In the interior there are stalls of the 16th century, the other public buildings, including a handsome prefecture, are modern. The town hall contains a library and the Lorin Museum with a collection of pictures, while another museum has a collection of old costumes, among the statues in the town there is one of historian Edgar Quinet, a native of Bourg. The church of Brou, a suburb of Bourg-en-Bresse, is of artistic interest. Margaret of Bourbon, wife of Philip II of Savoy, had intended to found a monastery on the spot, the church was actually built early in the 16th century by her daughter-in-law Margaret of Austria, wife of Philibert le Beau of Savoy, in memory of her husband. The exterior, especially the façade, is ornamented, but the chief interest lies in the works of art in the interior. The most important are the three mausoleums with the effigies of Marguerite of Bourbon, Philibert le Beau, and Margaret of Austria. All three are remarkable for perfection of sculpture and richness of ornamentation, the rood loft, the oak stalls, and the reredos in the chapel of the Virgin are masterpieces in a similar style. The Gare de Bourg-en-Bresse railway station offers connections to Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon and Geneva by high-speed rail, the A39 motorway connects Bourg with Dole and Dijon, the A40 with Mâcon and Geneva
Tudela, Navarre, Spain
