A rocket-propelled grenade is a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon system that fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier; these warheads are affixed to a rocket motor which propels the RPG towards the target and they are stabilized in flight with fins. Some types of RPG are reloadable with new rocket-propelled grenades. RPGs, with some exceptions, are loaded from the muzzle. RPGs with high explosive anti-tank warheads are effective against armored vehicles such as armored personnel carriers; however armored vehicles from the 2010s, such as main battle tanks, are too well armored to be penetrated by an RPG, unless less armored sections of vehicle are exploited. Various warheads are capable of causing secondary damage to vulnerable systems and other unarmored targets; the term "rocket-propelled grenade" is speaking, a backronym. The static nature of trench warfare in World War I encouraged the use of shielded defenses including personal armor, that were impenetrable by standard rifle ammunition.
This led to some isolated experiments with higher caliber rifles, similar to elephant guns, using armor-piercing ammunition. The first tanks, the British Mark I, could be penetrated by these weapons under the right conditions. Mark IV tanks, had thicker armor. In response, the German rushed to create an upgraded version of these early anti-armor rifles, the Tankgewehr M1918, the first anti-tank rifle. In the inter-war years, tank armor continued to increase overall, to the point that anti-tank rifles could no longer be effective against anything but light tanks. With the first tanks, artillery officers used field guns depressed to fire directly at armored targets. However, this practice expended much valuable ammunition and was of limited effectiveness as tank armor became thicker; this led to the concept of anti-tank guns, a form of artillery designed to destroy armored fighting vehicles from static defensive positions. The first dedicated anti-tank artillery began appearing in the 1920s, by World War II was a common appearance in most armies.
In order to penetrate armor they fired specialized ammunition from proportionally longer barrels to achieve a higher muzzle velocity than field guns. Most anti-tank guns were developed in the 1930s as improvements in tanks were noted, nearly every major arms manufacturer produced one type or another. Anti-tank guns deployed during World War II were manned by specialist infantry rather than artillery crews, issued to infantry units accordingly; the anti-tank guns of the 1930s were of small caliber. As World War II progressed, the appearance of heavier tanks rendered these weapons obsolete and anti-tank guns began firing larger calibre and more effective armor-piercing shells. Although a number of large caliber guns were developed during the war that were capable of knocking out the most armored tanks, they proved slow to set up and difficult to conceal; the latter generation of low-recoil anti-tank weapons, which allowed projectiles the size of an artillery shell to be fired from a man's shoulder, was considered a far more viable option for arming infantrymen.
The RPG has its roots in the 20th century with the early development of the explosive shaped charge, in which the explosive is made with a conical hollow, which concentrates its power on the impact point. Before the adoption of the shaped charge, anti-tank guns and tank guns relied on kinetic energy of metal shells to defeat armor. Soldier-carried anti-tank rifles such as the Boys anti-tank rifle could be used against lightly-armored tankettes and light armored vehicles. However, as tank armor increased in thickness and effectiveness, the anti-tank guns needed to defeat them became heavy and expensive. During WW II, as tank armor got thicker, larger calibre anti-tank guns were developed to defeat this thicker armor. While larger anti-tank guns were more effective, the weight of these anti-tank guns meant that they were mounted on wheeled, towed platforms; this meant that if the infantry was on foot, they might not have access to these wheeled, vehicle-towed anti-tank guns. This led to situations where infantry could find themselves defenseless against tanks and unable to attack tanks.
Armies found that they needed to give infantry a human-portable weapon to defeat enemy armor when no wheeled anti-tank guns were available, since anti tank rifles were no longer effective. Initial attempts to put such weapons in the hands of the infantry resulted in weapons like the Soviet RPG-40 "blast effect" hand grenade; the RPG-43 and RPG-6 used shaped charges, the chemical energy of their explosive being used more efficiently to enable the defeat of thicker armor. What was needed was a means of delivering the shaped charge warhead from a distance. Dif
Juan Davis Bradburn, born John Davis Bradburn, was a brigadier general in the Mexican Army. His actions as commandant of the garrison at Anahuac in Mexican Texas in 1831 and 1832 led to the events known as the Anahuac Disturbances. Born and raised in the United States, Bradburn's first career was as a slave trader, he first entered Mexico in 1812 as part of the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition fighting Spanish control of Texas. When the expedition was quashed, Bradburn moved to Louisiana, where he served in the Louisiana militia during the Battle of New Orleans. After his discharge, Bradburn spent several years fighting for Mexican independence. After Spain relinquished its hold on Mexico in 1821, Bradburn became an officer in the new Mexican Army, in which he served as a courier for Mexican emperor Agustín de Iturbide. In 1830, Bradburn established Anahuac, in Texas; the local settlers resented Bradburn's efforts to withhold land titles from those who had squatted in unauthorized areas. They were further angered by his attempts to enforce customs laws, ignored.
The hard feelings escalated when Bradburn, following Mexican law, refused to return runaway slaves to their owners in the United States. After receiving a hoax letter claiming that armed men were marching on Anahuac to retrieve runaway slaves, Bradburn arrested local lawyers William B. Travis and Patrick Churchill Jack. Settlers were outraged that Travis did not receive some of the protections offered by the United States Bill of Rights though these rights were not guaranteed in Mexico. A large force of Texians marched on Anahuac to secure Travis's release; the resulting confrontation forced Bradburn's expulsion from Texas and encouraged other immigrants to take armed action against Mexican soldiers. As a result of his actions, Bradburn was "one of the most maligned men in historical accounts of" Texas in the 19th century. John Davis Bradburn was born in 1787 in Virginia, his father was William C. Bradburn, John had an elder brother named William. At some point after 1800, the family moved to Kentucky.
As a young adult, Bradburn became a merchant in Tennessee. He was once jailed in Natchez, Mississippi over a disputed slave sale, it is that Bradburn participated in the 1812 Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition, which intended to establish independent Mexican control of Spanish Texas. The rebels were successful, taking Nacogdoches and provincial capital San Antonio de Béxar. After the execution of Governor Manuel María de Salcedo, many Americans left the movement in disgust; the remaining members of the expedition were decisively defeated by royalist forces at the Battle of Medina in August 1813. By 1814, Bradburn resided in Louisiana. Rumors abounded. After the December call for volunteers to help defend the state, Bradburn enrolled in the Eighteenth Louisiana Regiment and was elected third lieutenant, his unit arrived in New Orleans on January 24, just after the Battle of New Orleans, remained until martial law ended March 11. Following his discharge from the militia, Bradburn remained in New Orleans; the Mexican War of Independence was raging, many filibusters—men planning unauthorized military expeditions—gathered in the city to plan the liberation of Texas from Spanish control.
Bradburn became a sergeant major in the movement led by Juan Pablo Henry Perry. When Perry's forces entered Texas in early 1816, Bradburn was stationed in Nacogdoches to direct recruits and supplies to the main body of the expedition. In June, Bradburn joined Perry at his headquarters, a bluff along the Trinity River which became known as Perry's Point. Little activity occurred over the next few months. In November 1816, another filibuster, Martín Javier Mina y Larrea, arrived with additional men and supplies. Mina planned to assist the revolutionary army in the Mexican interior. Bradburn allied himself with Mina, whose plan was better-developed than Perry's, was soon appointed second-in-command of the American troops, under Colonel Gilford Young; the filibusters traveled to an insurgent stronghold in Guanajuato province. Rebel supplies dwindled. Mina attempted to negotiate a surrender, but the Spanish offered safe passage only to native Mexicans; as the filibusters pondered this development, Young was killed, leaving Bradburn in sole command of the American troops.
On August 19, he ordered a retreat. Spanish cavalrymen attacked, less than one-quarter of the Americans escaped. Bradburn soon joined the forces led by Vicente Guerrero. Despite Guerrero's reputation for cruelty, the two men developed a close relationship. At least once, Bradburn countermanded Guerrero's orders, refusing to allow the execution of captured Spanish officers, his action impressed the commander of the Spanish forces fighting Guerrero. In December 1820, Bradburn left the insurgent army to join Iturbide. Most Mexican historians believe. Within a month, Bradburn had been appointed intermediary between Guerrero. Iturbide defected from the Spanish Army, intending to place himself at the head of a new independent Mexico, he recruited his forces from both the Spanish and rebel armies, offering all who joined him an equal or higher rank in his new organizat
A Common Year are an American indie rock band from Indianapolis, United States. The band has gained notoriety since the digital release of their debut album, Between Cities, in January 2010, culminating in August when their song, "Live and Learn," aired on MTV's The Real World: New Orleans, they had their song, "Distance," featured on Teen Nick's Degrassi in 2011 for the episode, "Mr. Brightside." Upon its release, Between Cities received favorable reviews, most notably on the popular music site, AbsolutePunk. The site's review praised the album for its consistency and variety, the strength of Baksa's vocals. Alter the Press deemed the album "a strong collection of straight-up, feel-good rock songs." The site chose the song "A Final Word" to be included on its fall compilation album. A Common Year released a new EP on February 7, 2012 called Where The Light Still Shines consisting of unreleased songs written after Between Cities, recorded by the band in Indianapolis. A Common Year are reputed as a do-it-yourself band, after writing, mixing and releasing Between Cities with no financial or label support.
Beyond recording, the band handles album artwork and booking. Current line-up Coleman Bright - Guitar, vocals Casey Baksa - Guitar, vocals Matthew Ritter - Bass Jake Bergman - DrumsPast Members Carl Smith - Bass Between Cities Where The Light Still Shines - EP Official website
Clive Piercy was a British-American designer and design educator, active for four decades in London and Los Angeles. He was noted for his use of typography, his color sense, his visual wit, for bringing a British sensibility to the California aesthetic. American designer Paula Scher noted Piercy’s “keen vision about L. A. I think, he taught me to see Los Angeles.”Piercy won multiple design awards, was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 2009. Piercy was born in Cheltenham, United Kingdom, to Kitty and Ray Piercy, he was the youngest of three children. As a teenager, Piercy developed two preoccupations: graphic design, America. Piercy said that realized he wanted to be designer by age 11, when he first saw the Peter Blake’s “wonderful” cover of the Beatles' album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, “which was full of American imagery.” He was impressed and inspired by the New Oxford Shakespeare series of book covers by Milton Glaser, who he described as the “greatest living American graphic designer.”
At the same time, he developed a fascination with American life and culture, with southern California: “California was so glamorous... I was enamored with Los Angeles, just looking at Billy Wilder films and Max Yavno photos, all that.”Piercy studied graphic design and illustration at Brighton School of Art and Technology, graduated with honors. From 1978-79, Piercy worked at Queen in London as an editorial designer. There he met and partnered with designer Michael Hogdson, with whom he continued a professional collaboration for several decades. In 1979, Piercy took a position in the in-house design department at the BBC in London, working on television graphics, he described his experience there as formative, teaching him standards that influenced him throughout his career: “The greatest lesson I learned there, one that I carry with me always, is that they showed me how vital it is to use all of your outside influences and interests in your work, that ideas count for much more than showy layouts, that an atmosphere of friendship and good humor must inhabit any worthwhile creative studio environment.”In 1982, Piercy emigrated to the United States with his wife, illustrator Ann Field.
They settled in California. “It was so exciting to be here in the eighties,” he said. “There was so much sky in Los Angeles, compared to where I had come from,” said Piercy. “You can’t help but be influenced by it.”As a designer at the Rod Dyer Design Group, Piercy created several well-known works and projects, including movie posters and album covers. He helped re-design Santa Monica’s Shangri-La Hotel, designed the daily newspaper supplement on the 1984 Olympics for the Los Angeles Times. With partner Michael Hodgson, Piercy founded Ph. D, a design and communications firm in Santa Monica. Clients included Nike, Herman Miller, Chronicle Books, Quiksilver, it was at Ph. D that Piercy developed his mature style, characterized by its typography, “unique and delicious” use of color, art direction of fashion photography, sense of humor. D’s work was praised for its “visual acuity, crisp thinking and penetrating wit.”In 2007, Piercy established air conditioned, a graphic design firm in Santa Monica focusing predominantly on clients from creative industries.
Los Angeles writer Jack Skelley observed that Piercy’s work in this period, no matter the context, exhibited wit and a sense of play: “Whether in advertising or art, Clive fused word and image with an arch slyness. The most straightforward layout held a layer of satire, or at least playfulness.” Piercy created and art-directed hundreds of projects for a wide range of clients, including posters, album covers, book designs, exterior graphics, exhibition designs, interior design concepts, package designs. Among Piercy’s better-known works: Album cover design, Elton John, Too Low for Zero Brand design, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Album cover design, Julian Lennon, Help Yourself Book design for Unplugged kitchen: A Return to the Simple, Authentic Joys of Cooking, by Viana LaPlace Book design for Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Book, by Larry David Book design for Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965, edited by Wendy Kaplan Book design for An Eames Primer, by Eames Demetrios Opening titles for Married in America, a television documentary directed by Michael Apted.
In addition, Piercy collaborated with John Sabel on the David Fincher movie Se7en. Piercy and Sabel designed and produced serial killer John Doe’s visual diaries, which figured prominently in the film and film titles. In 2009, Piercy was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, recognizing designers who have made a significant contribution to raising the standards of excellence in practice. Piercy received multiple recognitions for his design work, both solo and in collaboration with others: Nomination, Grammy Award for Best Recording Package, Late Night Sessions Group show, Bleak: American Beauty, Chandler Fine Art, San Francisco Nomination, James Beard Award for Restaurant Design Exhibition, 100 Years of Graphic Design, Kemistry Gallery, London In 2003, Piercy published Pretty Vacant: The Los Angeles Dingbat Observed, a book of black-and-white photographs showcasing the dingbat, a type of vernacular apartment building that
Summon Night: Twin Age is an action role-playing game in the Summon Night series for the Nintendo DS. Summon Night uses a party based system of three characters at a time and a touch-based control system; the game was published by Atlus. It was released in Japan on August 30, 2007 and in North America on June 3, 2008. Summon Night: Twin Age uses a touch-based control system. Gameplay in Summon Night is based on a top-down and slash, RPG similar to Diablo II or Ragnarok Online. Moving the main character is done by tapping the screen where the player wishes it to move. Attacking is done by tapping a target enemy onscreen with the stylus; the controlled character will attack periodically until given a different command. Skills and items are used through two pop-up windows along the sides of the screen where the player can preset abilities, they are used by tapping the desired ability and a target. Summon Night uses a party based system of three characters at a time. Two will always be the main characters and one will be a third A.
I. controlled party member of the player's choice. Control between the heroes can be done at any time. Summoned creatures can be used in battle by defeating the respective monster, obtaining its creation item, conjuring it into a flask through a menu on the world map; these flasks can be used as items to summon monsters for the player's team. Other than the controlled main character, other party members, be they humanoid or monster, will act independently and using skills, but will follow the main character's movement. Continued use of a certain party member will increase that character's "rank" improving its performance and granting access to new skills; the two main characters both gain experience from defeating enemies, gaining levels in the process, while the third party member shares a level with the "chosen" main character. Leveling up increases a character's parameters and grants the two main characters access to skill points they can spend on their skill tree to unlock/upgrade their skills.
All skills have a maximum level of seven and have both a level requirement, a skill point requirement, to unlock. The world in which Summon Night: Twin Age takes place is called Clardona. In this world there are two main races; the two races are battling, a short-lived peace began after the humans pushed the Kascuza onto a small island called Jarazi. A third group that inhabits Clardona are spirits, entities from another world, which manifest in the form of nature spirits, as creatures or humanoids known as Summon Beasts. Humans can call up creatures from another world in a process known as "Summoning" and they are researching ways to increase their summoning powers. In one of the facilities, a terrible accident happened caused by a young girl named Reiha's summoning powers getting out of control; the girl was assumed to have died along with her family in the accident, but she survived, was hidden with the Kascuza on the island of Jarazi, along with the result of the summoning, a young Summon Beast boy named Aldo.
Seven years passed. Near their coming of age ceremony the spirits of nature began to go wild, the two of them leave to discover the reason for the strange events, an under kingdom; these are the main characters of the game. The story is different depending on the character the player chooses at the beginning, but they are both controlled in combat: Reiha is a young, human girl raised among Kascuza, she is cheerful and responsible, likes gardening and cooking. In battle Reiha uses projectile attacks, is able to cast sky/wind/earth/water/fire Spirit magic, curative magic, buff/debuff magic, she has SP but low attack and hit points. Aldo is the other main character in the game, he is a Summon Beast, brought into this world. He loves Reiha's cooking, listening to the wind. Aldo uses physical attacks in battle, as well as sword/axe/spear/fist skills, buff magic, he is weak magically. He stands up for others in need; the game received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.
In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of one nine and three eights for a total of 33 out of 40. GameSpot praised the "simple, but charming gameplay and the cute presentation", but stated that "there are a few AI and targeting issues", that "exploration can get monotonous". IGN praised the game's "beautiful art, strong effect, deep customization aspects, a slick overall interface". IGN stated that "while the touch control is simple, it is varied with spells and attacks", that "the monster battle system, skill trees, item creation/upgrading, general flow of the game are all well designed". Official website Summon Night: Twin Age at MobyGames
The Jezreel Valley railway, or the Valley Train is a railroad that existed in Ottoman and British Palestine, as well as a modern railway in Israel built in the 21st century. It runs from the Mediterranean coast inland along the length of the Jezreel Valley; the historical line was a segment of the longer Haifa–Dera'a Line, itself a branch of the larger Hejaz railway. The historical Haifa–Dera'a line was built at the beginning of the 20th century and connected the Port of Haifa with the main part of the Hejaz railway, the Damascus–Medina line. Like the entire Hejaz railway, it was a 1,050 mm narrow gauge line; the last stop of the Haifa–Dera'a line within the Mandate Palestine borders was at al-Hamma, today Hamat Gader. Planning and construction took four years; the railway was inaugurated on October 15, 1905, regular services operated on it until 1948. Despite several renewal attempts, the line lay dismantled for decades until 2011 when construction started on a large-scale project to build a new 1,435 mm standard gauge railway from Haifa to Beit She'an along the same route as the historic valley railway.
Israel Railways began passenger service on the new valley railway on October 16, 2016. In the 1860s the deputy British consul in Haifa, Thomas B. Sandwit, proposed the construction of a railway from the city to Baghdad, through the Jezreel Valley, with a possible extension to Damascus. Sandwit sought to create a continuous railway link between British India and Palestine in order to increase British influence in the area, under Ottoman rule. In 1865, Dr. Charles Franz Zimfel, a German-American doctor, follower of John Wroe and Zionist, proposed the creation of a railway from Jaffa to Jerusalem, which would continue to Jericho and end in Damascus, with an extension to Haifa through the Jezreel Valley. Zimfel became one of the first railway planners in Palestine. Claude R. Conder, in his extensive Survey of Western Palestine, proposed the construction of a railway from Haifa to the Fertile Crescent, his plans constituted the basis for the actual construction years later. Sir Laurence Oliphant of Britain, who hoped to facilitate Jewish settlement in the Gilead, proposed the creation of a railway from Haifa to that region, which would branch out to Aqaba in the south, Damascus in the north.
From Aqaba, he hoped to further extend the railway to the Suez Canal. In his visit to Palestine in 1883, Oliphant changed his plans to what became the valley railway. In 1882, a group headed by the aristocratic Sursock family attained a permit for the construction of a railway in the Jezreel Valley; the family sought to build a railway there to raise land value around the line, family-owned, to enable the cheap transport of goods from the Hauran owned by the family, to the Mediterranean Sea for export. On May 16, 1883, Sir Laurence Oliphant wrote in the New York Sun that he had met with Mr. Sursock regarding the construction of a railway in the Jezreel Valley, claimed that he could see surveying work as he wrote, from his home in Daliyat al-Karmel. Oliphant founded a company along with Gottlieb Schumacher, one of the founders of the German Colony of Haifa, Georg Agger of Jaffa, which would find investors for attaining a construction permit from the Sursock family, the construction itself. On June 13, 1883, early surveying work was completed and Oliphant began to look for investors, both in Britain and Germany.
In a letter he wrote to the Duke of Sutherland, Oliphant claimed that the construction of the line was important both politically and economically, that it would serve as the connection between Asia Minor, the Fertile Crescent, Egypt, expressed fear that the line would be under sole German ownership. Oliphant and his peers advertised the line as profitable for investors, estimating the gain at 34%, promising additional permits to construct additional extensions, a modern port in Haifa or Acre, a shipping company. For that purpose, Oliphant purchased additional lands on Haifa's coast, in the Megiddo area. Despite these efforts, the plans failed—the British government, the only one interested in the project, sent the Duke of Sutherland to inspect it, who refused to help sponsor the project; the Lebanese families headed by Sursock, who wished to build the railway for their personal needs failed to raise the necessary funds. At the end of 1884, the Sursocks' permit expired, the 50,000 francs deposited by Oliphant's company to the Sultan Abdul Hamid II were lost.
On May 13, 1890, the Ottoman authorities gave a permit to build a railway line from Haifa to Damascus to the public servant Shukri Bey and a Christian Lebanese engineer and effendi named Yusuf Elias, both of whom worked for the Ottoman government. The line was meant to go from Acre to Damascus with spurs to Bosra. Elias did not have the ability to gather the funds necessary for such a project, it was agreed that he would buy out Shukri's share and sell the rights to John Robert Pilling, a British entrepreneur. Pilling founded an investment company, listed in the London Stock Exchange as the S. O. R. Ltd.—Syria Ottoman Railway Limited. The S. O. R. based its plans on the original surveying work done in the area, after a financial re-evaluation, the planned terminus was changed to Haifa, which had a modern deep-water seaport, compared to Acre's old shallow one. The planned length of the line, from Haifa to Damascus via the Golan Heights, with two extensions, was 230 km. Twenty-seven stations were planned.
On December 12, 1892, the contractor George Pauling started work on the line, a