The Rideau Canal known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects Canada's capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston, Ontario. It is 202 kilometres in length; the name Rideau, French for "curtain", is derived from the curtain-like appearance of the Rideau River's twin waterfalls where they join the Ottawa River. The canal system uses sections of two rivers, the Rideau and the Cataraqui, as well as several lakes; the Rideau Canal is operated by Parks Canada. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States, it remains in use today for pleasure boating, with most of its original structures intact, operated by Parks Canada. The locks on the system open for navigation in close in mid-October, it is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, in 2007 it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After the War of 1812, information was received about the United States' plans to invade the British colony of Upper Canada from upstate New York by following the St. Lawrence River.

This would have severed the major naval base at Kingston. To protect against such an attack in the future, the British began construction of a number of defenses including Citadel Hill, La Citadelle, Fort Henry. To ensure safe passage between Montreal and Kingston, a new route was planned that would proceed westward from Montreal along the St. Lawrence, north along the Ottawa River to Bytown southwest via canal to Kingston and out into Lake Ontario; the Rideau would form the last portion of this route, along with shorter canals at Grenville, Chute-à-Blondeau and Carillon to bypass rapids and other hazards along the route. The construction of the canal was supervised by Lieutenant-Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers. Private contractors such as future sugar refining entrepreneur John Redpath, Thomas McKay, Robert Drummond, Thomas Phillips, Andrew White and others were responsible for much of the construction, the majority of the actual work was done by thousands of Irish and French-Canadian labourers.

Colonel John By decided to create a slackwater canal system instead of constructing new channels. This was a better approach as it required fewer workers, was more cost effective, would have been easier to build; the canal work started in the fall of 1826, it was completed by the spring of 1832. The first full steamboat transit of the canal was done by Robert Drummond's steamboat, leaving Kingston on May 22, 1832 with Colonel By and family on board, arriving in Bytown on May 29, 1832; the final cost of the canal's construction was £822,804 by the time all the costs, including land acquisitions costs, were accounted for. Given the unexpected cost overruns, John By was recalled to London and was retired with no accolades or recognition for his tremendous accomplishment. Once the canal was constructed, no further military engagements took place between Canada and the United States. Although the Rideau never had to be used for its intended purpose, it played a pivotal role in the early development of Canada.

The canal was easier to navigate than the St. Lawrence River because of the series of rapids between Montreal and Kingston; as a result, the Rideau Canal became a busy commercial artery from Montreal to the Great Lakes. It was the main travel route for immigrants heading westward into Upper Canada, tens of thousands of immigrants from the British Isles travelled the Rideau in this period, it was a major route for heavy goods from Canada's hinterland heading east to Montreal. Hundreds of barge loads of goods were shipped each year along the Rideau; the route was not as popular as the Erie Canal, many of the loads that might have used it at Kingston instead travelled to the opposite side of the St. Lawrence at Oswego to use the Oswego Canal to join the Erie to New York. Businessmen in Kingston looked to address this issue. One concept was to build another canal to Lake Simcoe and on to Georgian Bay, thereby allowing traffic on the upper Great Lakes to avoid shipping through the entire lakes system and use canals all the way to Montreal.

This plan emerged as the Trent-Severn Waterway, itself having been surveyed as a military route but never built. A simpler plan was to route around the dangerous parts of the St. Lawrence to allow direct shipping from Kingston to Montreal, this was soon underway. By 1849, the rapids of the St. Lawrence had been tamed by a series of locks, commercial shippers were quick to switch to this more direct route. Further work improving this direct route continued and in the 1950s became today's Saint Lawrence Seaway. Remaining commercial use of the Rideau ended after the opening of the Prescott and Bytown Railway in December 1854. After the arrival of railway routes into Ottawa, most use of the canal was for pleasure craft; the introduction of the outboard motor led to an increase in small pleasure craft and increasing use of inland waterways like the Rideau and Trent-Severn. Today the Rideau forms part of the Great Loop, a major waterway route connecting a large area of the eastern United States and Canada.

As many as one thousand of the workers died during the construction of the canal. Most deaths were from disease, principally complications from malaria, endemic in Ontario within the range of the Anopheles mosquito, other diseases of the day. Accidents were rare for a project of this size. Inquests were held for each accidental death; the men and children wh

Handley Library is a historic library building located at 100 West Piccadilly Street in Winchester, United States. Completed in 1913, construction of the Beaux-Arts style building was funded by a wealthy Pennsylvania businessman; the building serves as the main branch for Winchester's library system. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Virginia Landmarks Register in 1969. Judge John Handley, an Irish-American coal magnate and lawyer from Scranton, visited Winchester several times and admired the city for its Scotch-Irish heritage. In his will, he left $250,000 for the city to erect a library "for the free use of the people of the city of Winchester" and schools for the poor. Construction of the library, designed by New York architects Barney and Chapman, was not begun until 1908; the cornerstone ceremony on May 26 was preceded by a large parade. The building's fireproof construction and facilities were considered advanced at the time of completion; the total cost of construction and furnishings was $233,230.

The library opened on August 21, 1913, featured a 300-seat lecture hall, study rooms and conference areas. C. Vernon Eddy was Handley's first librarian, serving in that position until 1960. Only white patrons were allowed to visit the library; the library was listed on the VLR on September 9, 1969, the NRHP on November 12, 1969. It is designated a contributing property to the Winchester Historic District, listed on the NRHP in 1980. Architectural firm Smithey and Boynton of Roanoke designed an addition, completed in 1979, their work resulted in a first honor award from the American Institute of Architects. Dennis Kowal Architects of Somerville, New Jersey prepared a full historic preservation plan in 1997 and oversaw the comprehensive restoration and rehabilitation in 1999. In 2001, Dennis Kowal was awarded the Lucille Lozier Award by Preservation of Historic Winchester, Inc. for the "outstanding restoration" of the Handley Regional Library. The Handley Library is "perhaps Virginia's purest expression of the regal and florid Beaux-Arts classicism."

It was designed to resemble an open book, with the dome representing the spine and the wings representing the covers. The limestone building consists of a central dome. A three-arched entrance faces the intersection of Piccadilly Streets. Two wings flank the dome and feature single-pitched roofs with dormer lights and Ionic colonnades. Heavy stone reliefs of figures and fruit flank several doors. National Register of Historic Places listings in Winchester, Virginia Official website

D-Fuse are a London-based audiovisual artist collective, who use emerging creative technologies to explore social and environmental issues. Founded in the mid 90's by Michael Faulkner, the group's diverse creative backgrounds combine in a cross-disciplinary practice, including live multi-screen audio-visual performances, experimental documentary and temporary architectural installations. Since the mid 90's, the line up has included Stuart Gill, Ian Masters, Joanna Buick, Andy Stiff, Axel Stockburger, Matthias Kispert, Barney Steel, Toby Harris. Recognised as pioneers of VJ culture, D-Fuse edited the book VJ: Audiovisual Art + VJ Culture in 2006, their current practice includes live multi-screen audio-visual performances, experimental documentary, HD shorts, the temporary architecture of installations. Now at the forefront of the emerging genre of Live Cinema, the key relationship between sound and image underpins all of D-Fuse's work. Sound Director Matthias Kispert composes soundscapes from field recordings, electromagnetic interferences and different musical cultures, building a material link between the sounds of everyday life and D-Fuse's visual work.

D-Fuse's urban investigations are inspired by psychogeography, aim to highlight some of the social and environmental conflicts that arise in living spaces shared by a large number of people, while leaving room for the personal and emotive aspects of life in the city. The video Brilliant City and the live cinema performances Latitude and Endless Cities all present different views of contemporary metropolises and the population shifts and spatial transformations that are taking place there. A collaborative ethos is central to D-Fuse's practice, has led to joint projects with musicians and artists from the electronic to the classical. Among them are Beck, Burnt Friedman and Swayzak, as well as the contemporary classical composer Steve Reich with The London Symphony Orchestra, the Italian classical ensemble Alter Ego. Whilst working as audio visual artists on self initiated projects, D-Fuse have led commercial projects for Apple, Sony, BMW, DoCoMo, including commercials and mobile content and installations.

D-Fuse work with live art institutions around the world, incl.. BFI and The V&A Museum, onedotzero festivals, Mori Arts Center, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, TriBeca Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, LA Film Festival, Barbican, ISEA, Nokia Labs, Ars Electronica, Rotterdam and Milan Film Festivals, Lisbon Biennale, Valencia Biennale, MU Gallery, Get It Louder, The Big Chill Festival, FILE, ON_OFF, German Gymnasium and Reading Music Festivals, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Live Earth, Kinetica Art Fair, CineCity, Lovebytes, MIC Toi Rerehiko, CynetArt, Cimatics Festival, International Short Film Festival, Icebox, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Lothringer Dreizehn. DVD VIDEOD-Fuse vs Nonplace Nowonmedia - Japan D-Fuse Retrospective 2000-2003 Gas - Japan D-Tonate_00 Nowonmedia - Japan D-Tonate_00 onedotzero - UK DVD AUDIO/DVD VIDEOBeck Guero - Interscope BOOKSVJ: Audiovisual Art and VJ Culture - Laurence King Endeka: Fluid onedotzero_select DVD1 onedotzero Sprawl Mix: Si-.db and Bittonic Mixmasters - Episode 4 / The Audiovisual Sessions Moonshine - US Data_Flow: L'Usine Microscope Session DVD 2.0 - New Cooperations in Sound and Visuals DS-X.org - Germany Light Turned Down: Scanner, Experimenta 01: Burnt Friedman Gas TV-05 Moving Image of London Gas - Japan Xenon: Ben Sheppee - D-Fuse remix Lightrhythm Visuals - Singles 06-10 Lightrhythmvisuals Hidden Partition Lightrhythmvisuals Data_Flow: L'Usine Reline 2 Microcinema - US www.dfuse.com Films on Vimeo Film on Dfuse A Visualist Documentary