A square dance is a dance for four couples arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances were first documented in 16th-century England but were quite common in France and throughout Europe, they came to North America with the European settlers and have undergone considerable development there. In some countries and regions, through preservation and repetition, square dances have attained the status of a folk dance; the Western American square dance may be the most known form worldwide due to its association in the 20th century with the romanticized image of the American cowboy. Square dancing is, therefore associated with the United States. Nineteen U. S. states have designated it as their official state dance. The various square dance movements are based on the steps and figures used in traditional folk dances and social dances from many countries; some of these traditional dances include English country dance and the quadrille. In most American forms of square dance, the dancers are prompted or cued through a sequence of steps by a caller to the beat of music.
In some forms of traditional square dancing, the caller may be one of the dancers or musicians, but in modern Western square dancing the caller will be on stage, giving full attention to directing the dancers. Modern Western square dances are not learned as complete routines; the American folk music revival in New York City in the 1950s was rooted in the resurgent interest in square dancing and folk dancing there in the 1940s, which gave musicians such as Pete Seeger popular exposure. Terminology: In the United States, in general, people go to square dances and call it square dancing. In England and Scotland, people go to all sorts of dances at which some of the dances will be square dances, but they don't say that they are "square dancing"; the majority of dances at such events will be in the form of longways sets, sets of four, three-couple or four-couple sets or circassian circles. Conversely, people not familiar with the various different forms of dance may ask for an evening of square dance meaning a barn dance where many different formations of dance are used.
It is possible to go to one of these "square dances" and not do a single actual square dance all evening. Traditional square dance, called "old time square dance". Traditional square dance can be subdivided into regional styles; the New England and Appalachian styles have been well documented. There are several other styles. Traditional square dance is presented in alternation with contra dances or with some form of freestyle couple dancing. One ancestor of New England style square dances is the quadrille, older New England callers refer to their squares as "quadrilles." Where traditional square dance has been revived, it encompasses a wide range of new choreography. Modern Western square dance, called "Western square dance", "contemporary Western square dance", or "modern American square dance". Modern Western square dance evolved from the Western style of traditional square dance from about 1940 to 1960. Traditional Western square dancing was promoted beginning in the 1930s by Lloyd Shaw, who solicited definitions from callers across the country in order to preserve that dance form and make it available to other teachers.
Since the 1970s modern Western square dance has been promoted and standardized by Callerlab, the "International Association of Square Dance Callers". Modern Western square dance is sometimes presented in alternation with round dances; this modern form of square dancing is taught in around thirty countries. As well as the USA and Canada, this includes the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, China and Russia. Within Europe, the majority of square dance clubs are in the United Kingdom. All teach the Callerlab syllabus; the initial stage reached by all dancers is called Mainstream. This program consists of a'core' list of about 70 moves, revised periodically; because of this standardization, it is possible for anyone with the proper training to enjoy modern Western square dancing in many countries around the world. Playford: John Playford published The English Dancing Master in 1651. Eight of the 105 dances are square dances, many exhibiting concepts that we still use today such as the Heads performing an action and the Sides repeating the same action.
Three of the dances, such as "Dull Sir John" state "A Square Dance for Eight thus". Square dances such as "Newcastle", one of those original eight, are still popular today, countless new dances have been written in the Playford style, or English country dance style as it is known in the United States. Folk Dance /Barn dance: At English folk or country dances a wide range of dances is performed, many of which are square dances: Playford style dances. D. Willock in the "Manual of Dancing".
In an electrical installation, an earthing system or grounding system connects specific parts of that installation with the Earth's conductive surface for safety and functional purposes. The point of reference is the Earth's conductive surface; the choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the installation. Regulations for earthing systems vary among countries, though most follow the recommendations of the International Electrotechnical Commission. Regulations may identify special cases for earthing in mines, in patient care areas, or in hazardous areas of industrial plants. In addition to electric power systems, other systems may require grounding for function. Tall structures may have lightning rods as part of a system to protect them from lightning strikes. Telegraph lines may use the Earth as one conductor of a circuit, saving the cost of installation of a return wire over a long circuit. Radio antennas may require particular grounding for operation, as well as to control static electricity and provide lightning protection.
An earth ground connection of the exposed conductive parts of electrical equipment helps protect from electric shock by keeping the exposed conductive surface of connected devices close to earth potential, when a failure of electrical insulation occurs. When a fault occurs, current flows from the power system to earth. To protect equipment from damage due to leakage current, residual-current sensing circuit breakers detects the leakage current and interrupt the circuit; these devices may allow more ground fault current to pass than a device intended to protect people from electric shock. Although over current protection, fuse or circuit breaker are available in circuits for complete isolation of power, their operating level is too high. To ensure the voltage on exposed surfaces is not too high, the impedance of the connection to earth must be kept low relative to the normal circuit impedance. An alternative to protective earthing of exposed surfaces is a design with "double insulation" or other precautions, such that a single failure or probable combination of failures cannot result in contact between live circuits and the surface.
For example, a hand-held power tool might have an extra system of electrical insulation between internal components and the case of the tool, so that if the insulation for the motor or switch fails, the tool case is not energized. A functional earth connection serves a purpose other than electrical safety, may carry current as part of normal operation. For example, in a single-wire earth return power distribution system, the earth forms one conductor of the circuit and carries all the load current. Other examples of devices that use functional earth connections include surge suppressors and electromagnetic interference filters. In low-voltage networks, which distribute the electric power to the widest class of end users, the main concern for design of earthing systems is safety of consumers who use the electric appliances and their protection against electric shocks; the earthing system, in combination with protective devices such as fuses and residual current devices, must ensure that a person does not come into contact with a metallic object whose potential relative to the person's potential exceeds a safe threshold set at about 50 V.
On electricity networks with a system voltage of 240 V to 1.1 kV, which are used in industrial / mining equipment / machines rather than publicly accessible networks, the earthing system design is as important from safety point of view as for domestic users. In most developed countries, 220 V, 230 V, or 240 V sockets with earthed contacts were introduced either just before or soon after World War II, though with considerable national variation in popularity. In the United States and Canada, 120 V power outlets installed before the mid-1960s did not include a ground pin. In the developing world, local wiring practice may not provide a connection to an earthing pin of an outlet. For a time, US National Electrical Code allowed certain major appliances permanently connected to the supply to use the supply neutral wire as the equipment enclosure connection to ground; this was not permitted for plug-in equipment as the neutral and energized conductor could be accidentally exchanged, creating a severe hazard.
If the neutral was interrupted, the equipment enclosure would no longer be connected to ground. Normal imbalances in a split phase distribution system could create objectionable neutral to ground voltages. Recent editions of the NEC no longer permit this practice. For these reasons, most countries have now mandated dedicated protective earth connections that are now universal. If the fault path between accidentally energized objects and the supply connection has low impedance, the fault current will be so large that the circuit overcurrent protection device will open to clear the ground fault. Where the earthing system does not provide a low-impedance metallic conductor between equipment enclosures and supply return, fault currents are smaller, will not operate the overcurrent protection device. In such case a residual current detector is installed to detect the current leaking to ground and interrupt the circuit. International standard IEC 60364 distinguishes three families of earthing arrangements, using the two-letter codes TN, TT, IT.
The first letter indicates the connection between earth and the power-supply equipment: "T" — Direct connection of a point with earth "I" — No point is connected with earth, except via a high impedance. The second letter indicate
The Strasbourg astronomical clock is located in the Cathédrale Notre-Dame of Strasbourg, France. It is the third clock on that spot and dates from the time of the first French possession of the city; the first clock had been built in the 14th century, the second in the 16th century, when Strasbourg was a Free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. The current, third clock dates from 1843, its main features, besides the automata, are a perpetual calendar, an orrery, a display of the real position of the Sun and the Moon, solar and lunar eclipses. The main attraction is the procession of the 18 inch high figures of Christ and the Apostles, which occurs every day at solar noon, while the life-size cock crows thrice; the first astronomical clock of Strasbourg cathedral was erected between 1352–1354, against the south transept. The name of its maker is not known; this clock was known as the "Three Kings clock" and had several automata. One of them was the gilded rooster reused in the second clock and which now is part of the collections of the Strasbourg Museum for Decorative Arts and is considered the oldest preserved automaton worldwide.
This bird, a symbol of Christ's passion, was made of iron and wood. At noon it spread out its feathers, it opened its beak, put out its tongue, by means of a bellows and a reed, crowed. In the top compartment at noon, to the sound of a small carillon, the Three Kings bowed before the figure of The Virgin Mary and the Christ Child; the clock most had an astrolabe dial and a calendar dial. It was standing on the wall opposite the current clock, a staircase led to its various levels. Supports for former balconies can still be seen today, suggest that the height of the clock was about 18 m, with a width of about 7.70 m at the base. At the base a painted figure of a zodiacal man showed the relationship between the signs of the zodiac and parts of the human body. There is a big circle engraved in the wall, but this circle is not a remnant of the first clock, it was added at a stage, for some unclarified reason. The entire structure was dismantled in 1572–4 when the second and more ambitious clock was mounted on the opposite wall of the south transept.
The first clock stopped a new one was started in the 16th century. It was designed by the mathematician Christian Herlin. During a first phase, the stone case and the staircase were built, around 1547, the dial and iron framework were being constructed when work halted, due to the various political problems - the cathedral became Catholic - and due to the deaths of Herlin and his associates. Construction was resumed in 1571 by a pupil of and successor to Herlin. Dasypodius enrolled the Swiss clockmakers Isaac Habrecht and Josia Habrecht, as well as the astronomer and musician David Wolckenstein, Swiss artists Tobias Stimmer and his brother Josias; the clock was completed in 1574. This clock was remarkable both for its complexity as an astronomical device and for the range and richness of its decorations and accessories; as well as the many dials and indicators - the calendar dial, the astrolabe, the indicators for planets, eclipses - the clock was well endowed with paintings, moving statues and musical entertainment in the form of a six tune carillon.
The Stimmers painted large panels that depicted the three Fates, Colossus, Nicolaus Copernicus, various sacred themes, including the Creation, the resurrection of the Dead, the last judgment, the rewards of virtue and vice. At the base of a clock there was an 86 cm diameter celestial globe, accompanied by the figure of a pelican; the globe was connected to the clock movement, set for the meridian of Strasbourg. A popular feature of the new clock was the golden cockerel, a relic of the first clock, which perched on the top of the cupola and entertained the onlookers at noon every day until 1640, when it was struck by lightning. Most of the works are still preserved in the Museum of Decorative Arts; the second clock stopped working around 1788 and stood still until 1838, when Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué started to build the current clock. He designed new mechanisms to replace the old ones. Schwilgué had wanted to work on the clock since his boyhood, but he only got the contract 50 years later. In the meantime, he had become acquainted with clockmaking and mechanics.
He spent one year preparing his 30 workers before starting construction. Construction lasted from 1838 until June 24, 1843; the clock, was inaugurated on December 31, 1842. The gold hands of the clock show mean solar time, or "temps moyen". In winter, mean solar time is 30½ minutes behind Central European Time; this clock contains the first perpetual mechanical Gregorian computus, designed by Schwilgué in 1816. In the 1970s, Frédéric Klinghammer built a reduced replica of it. In 1887, a 25-year-old Sydney watchmaker named Richard Smith built a working model of the third clock in the scale 1:5. Having never seen the original, Smith had to work from a pamphlet which described its timekeeping and astronomical functions; this model is now on show in the Powerhouse Museum, Australia. Astronomical clock Henry King: "Geared to the Stars: the evolution of planetariums and astronomical clocks", University of Toronto Press, 1978 Alfred Ungerer and Théodore Ungerer: "L'horloge astronomique de la cathédrale de Strasbourg", Strasbourg, 1922 Henri Bach, Jean-Pierre Rieb, Robert Wilhelm: "Les trois horloges astronomiques de la cathédrale de Strasbourg", 1992 Günther Oestmann
Rafael Vásquez was a 19th-century general in the Mexican Army during the Mexican rebellion against the centralist style rule of government. Vásquez was born in Mexico City in 1804, his first military endeavor was on February 20, 1827, as Captain of Patriots of the Hacienda de Ciénega de Mata, Mexico. He was appointed brevet brigadier general in 1839. Vásquez was a major figure in the suppression of the Mexican insurgents, who opposed the centralization of the Mexican government under General Antonio López de Santa Anna; the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas had advocated rebellion and sought secession from Mexico and declared a new Republic of the Rio Grande. Vásquez led a force to subdue Antonio Canales Rosillo and his Texan - Mexican troops into an ambush near Saltillo, Mexico. Assisting Canales was Colonel Samuel W. Jordan. Jordan led a group of federalist troops. However, he still managed to rout the centralists forces who fled to Saltillo. On March 5, 1842, General Vásquez occupied San Antonio, Texas.
The Texan forces were overwhelmed. After a few skirmishes, they evacuated to Seguin, Texas. Vásquez took control of San Antonio, he thus declared Mexican laws in effect. On March 7, Vásquez fled San Antonio, he returned to Mexico. The Vásquez expedition was one of the events that led to retaliations by the Texans through the Mier Expedition and Somervell Expedition. In 1851 and 1852, Vásquez was commandant general of the state of Jalisco, Mexico, he died on March 1854, in Mexico City. De la Teja, Jesus. A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguin. Austin, TX: State House Press. ISBN 0-938349-68-6
Roger Edwards is an American meteorologist and expert on severe convective storms. He is the editor-in-chief of the Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology. Edwards was born in Dallas and attended Woodrow Wilson High School, he earned a B. S. in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma in 1989 and worked as a meteorological aide at the National Severe Storms Laboratory as an undergraduate. Here he worked under the direction and mentorship of Don Burgess and participated in field research, including with the TOtable Tornado Observatory team. Edwards left graduate work at OU to accept a meteorologist position at the National Hurricane Center where he worked from 1990 to 1993, he joined the National Severe Storms Forecast Center, now the Storm Prediction Center, in 1993, where he continues to work as a lead forecaster. Edwards is an expert and is outspoken on issues of weather forecasting, on public safety regarding tornado preparedness for large event venues and other large congregations of people, on storm spotter training.
He has a research focus on tropical cyclone tornadoes. He has authored and co-authored as well as reviewed papers in American Meteorological Society journals and conferences. With his expertise and emphasis on public outreach, Edwards is interviewed by the media and is invited to speak at conferences across the country, he maintains the Online Tornado FAQ section at the SPC website. He is known for strong stances on storm chaser conduct and responsibility, he was a forecaster for Project VORTEX in 1994 and deployed mobile mesonet vehicles and in-situ probes for TWISTEX in 2008. Edwards was a contributor to Storm Track magazine and maintained the storm Storm Chase FAQ at its associated website, he co-founded with David M. Schultz and serves as editor-in-chief of the open access Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology. Edwards served for fives years as the Local Steward representing SPC for the National Weather Service Employees Organization. Edwards is married to Elke Edwards and they have two children.
Elke is a storm chaser and photographer, Roger enjoys travel, field geology, softball and fishing. List of tropical cyclone-spawned tornadoes Personal website Weather or Not: Severe Outflow by Roger Edwards Storms Observed: Roger and Elke's Chase Blog Roger Edwards on IMDb What You See Really Does Matter Not Obeying Stupid Rules
Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster known as Alexandra Exter, was a Russian Cubo-Futurist, Constructivist painter and designer of international stature who divided her life between Kiev, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Paris, she was born Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Grigorovich in Białystok, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire to a wealthy Belarusian family. Her father, Aleksandr Grigorovich, was a wealthy Belarusian businessman, her mother was Greek. Young Aleksandra received an excellent private education, studying languages, music and taking private drawing lessons. Soon her parents moved to Kyiv, Asya, as called by her friends, attended Kiev gymnasium St. Olga and Kiev Art School, where she studied with Alexander Bogomazov and Alexander Archipenko, her teachers included Mykola Pymonenko. Aleksandra graduated in painting from Kiev Art School in 1906. In 1908, Aleksandra Grigorovich married Nikolai Evgenyevich Ekster; the Eksters belonged to intellectual elite of Kiev. She spent several months with her husband in Paris, there she attended Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Montparnasse.
From 1908 to 1924 she intermittently lived in Kiev, St. Petersburg, Paris and Moscow, her painting studio in the attic at 27 Funduklievskaya Street, now Khmelnytsky Street, was a rallying stage for Kiev's intellectual elite. In the attic in her studio there worked future luminaries of world decorative art Vadim Meller, Anatole Petrytsky and P. Tchelitchew. There she was visited by poets and writers, such as Anna Akhmatova, Ilia Ehrenburg, Osip Mandelstam, dancers Bronislava Nijinska and Elsa Kruger, as well as many artists Alexander Bogomazov, Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine, students, such as Grigori Kozintsev, Sergei Yutkevich, Aleksei Kapler among many others. In 1908 she participated in an exhibition together with members of the group Zveno organized by David Burliuk, Wladimir Burliuk and others in Kiev. In Paris, Aleksandra Ekster became acquainted with Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who introduced her to Gertrude Stein, she exhibited six works at the Salon de la Section d'Or, Galerie La Boétie, October 1912, with Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Marcel Duchamp and others.
In 1914, Ekster participated in the Salon des Indépendants exhibitions in Paris, together with Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Archipenko, Vadym Meller, Sonia Delaunay-Terk and other French and Russian artists. In that same year she participated with the "Russians" Archipenko and Rozanova in the International Futurist Exhibition in Rome. In 1915 she joined the group of avant-garde artists Supremus, her friend introduced her to the poet Apollinaire. According to Moscow Chamber Theatre actress Alice Coonen, "In Parisian household there was a conspicuous peculiar combination of European culture with Ukrainian life. On the walls between Picasso and Braque paintings there was Ukrainian embroidery. Under the avant-guard umbrella, Ekster has been noted to be a suprematist and constructivist painter as well as a major influencer of the Art Deco movement. While not confined within a particular movement, Ekster was one of the most experimental women of the avant-garde. Ekster absorbed from many cultures in order to develop her own original style.
In 1915–1916 she worked in the peasant craft cooperatives in the villages Skoptsi and Verbovka along with Kazimir Malevich, Yevgenia Pribylskaya, Natalia Davidova, Nina Genke, Liubov Popova, Ivan Puni, Olga Rozanova, Nadezhda Udaltsova and others. Ekster founded a teaching and production workshop in Kiev. Vadym Meller, Anatol Petrytsky, Kliment Red'ko, Shifrin, Nikritin worked there. During this period she was one of the leading stage designers of Alexander Tairov's Chamber Theatre. In 1919 together with other avant-garde artists Kliment Red'ko and Nina Genke-Meller she decorated the streets and squares of Kiev and Odessa in abstract style for Revolution Festivities, she worked with Vadym Meller as a costume designer in a ballet studio of the dancer Bronislava Nijinska. In 1921 she became a director of the elementary course Color at the Higher Artistic-Technical Workshop in Moscow, a position she held until 1924, her work was displayed alongside that of other Constructivist artists at the 5x5=25 exhibition held in Moscow in 1921.
In line with her eclectic avant-guard-like style, Ekster's early paintings influenced her costume design as well as her book illustrations, which are scarcely noted. All of Ekster's works, no matter the medium, stick to her distinct style, her works are vibrant, playful and theatrical in composition, subject matter, color. Ekster stayed true to her composition aesthetic across all mediums. Furthermore, each medium only influenced her work in other mediums. With her assimilation of many different genres her essential futurist and cubist ideas was always in tandem with her attention to colour and rhythm. Ekster uses many elements of geometric compositions, which reinforce the core intentions of dynamism, vibrant contrasts, free brushwork. Ekster stretched the dynamic intentions of her work across all mediums. Ekster's theatrical works such as sculptures, costume design, set design, decorations for the revolutionary festivals reflect her work with geometric elements and vibrant intentions. Through her costume work she experimented with the transparency and vibrancy of fabrics.
Ekster's movement of her brushstroke