Tezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion, his main festival was the Toxcatl ceremony celebrated in the month of May. One of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, he is associated with a wide range of concepts, including the night sky, the night winds, the north, the earth, enmity, rulership, temptation, sorcery, beauty and strife, his name in the Nahuatl language is translated as "Smoking Mirror" and alludes to his connection to obsidian, the material from which mirrors were made in Mesoamerica and which were used for shamanic rituals and prophecy. Another talisman related to Tezcatlipoca was a disc worn as a chest pectoral; this talisman was carved out of abalone shell and depicted on the chest of both Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca in codex illustrations. He had many epithets which alluded to different aspects of his deity: Titlacauan, Necoc Yaotl, Tloque Nahuaque and Yohualli Èhecatl, Ome Acatl, Ilhuicahua Tlalticpaque; when depicted he was drawn with a black and a yellow stripe painted across his face.
He is shown with his right foot replaced with an obsidian mirror, bone, or a snake—an allusion to the creation myth in which he loses his foot battling with the Earth Monster. Sometimes the mirror was shown on his chest, sometimes smoke would emanate from the mirror. Tezcatlipoca's nagual, his animal counterpart, was the jaguar and his jaguar aspect was the deity Tepeyollotl. In the Aztec ritual calendar the Tonalpohualli Tezcatlipoca ruled the trecena 1 Ocelotl —he was patron of the days with the name Acatl; the Tezcatlipoca figure goes back to earlier Mesoamerican deities worshipped by the Maya. Similarities exist with the patron deity of the K'iche' Maya. A central figure of the Popol Vuh was the god Tohil whose name means "obsidian" and, associated with sacrifice; the Classic Maya god of rulership and thunder known to modern Mayanists as "God K", or the "Manikin Scepter" and to the classic Maya as K'awil was depicted with a smoking obsidian knife in his forehead and one leg replaced with a snake.
Although there are striking similarities between possible earlier imagery of Tezcatlipoca, archaeologists are split in the debate. It is possible that he is either the same god that the Olmec and Maya reference with their "jaguar deity" or that Tezcatlipoca is a latter, more expanded version of the foundations the Olmec and Maya set, as the Aztecs took inspiration from earlier cultures. There are few surviving representations of Tezcatlipoca into the present day. Due to the lack of surviving images, some have chosen to describe Tezcatlipoca as the'invisible god'. However, the fact that many images are difficult to identify as one god or another does not mean that no generalizations can be made about Tezcatlipoca's appearance; the color black is associated with Tezcatlipoca and he is portrayed as having horizontal bands across his face in black and yellow, but the many different codices vary on which two colors from site to site. There are portrayals of his body being black in certain places.
Depending on the site half of his leg, the full length of his arms, the majority of his legs, or any combination thereof can be depicted. Most he is shown with horizontal face bands, wearing a heron feather headdress, a loincloth, knotted sandals with an armband, tinker bells either around his neck or ankles. Tezcatlipoca is shown carrying a shield with balls of either feathers or cotton and holding arrows or a spear in his right hand with a fan of feathers surrounding a mirror. Many of the temples now associated with Tezcatlipoca are built facing East-West, as Olivier quotes Felipe Solis: "the sacred building of the war god was in direct relation with the movement of the sun, in the same manner of the Great Temple was, their façades being towards the West". There are several references to momoztli. Although the exact definition of the momoztli is unknown, with definitions varying from "mound", "stone seat" and "temple", there is an overall consensus that it is a general holy place to worship the gods mentioned as "his viewing place".
The priests of Tezcatlipoca wore the ornaments of the god and wore specific garments for different rituals. Common ornaments were white turkey feather headdresses, a paper loincloth, a tzanatl stick with similar feathers and paper decorations. Another common practice was to cover themselves in black soot or ground charcoal while they were involved in priestly activities at the temple or during rituals, they would cover the sick and newly appointed king in a similar manner with a black ointment to encourage an association with the god. When the ritual called for it, priests would dress up as Tezcatlipoca himself and accompany other outfitted gods or goddesses. More on the exact rituals, such as the Feast of Toxcatl will be mentioned later. Tezcatlipoca was described as a rival of another important god of the Aztecs, the culture hero, Quetzalcoatl. In one version of the Aztec creation account the myth of the Five Suns, the first creation, "The Sun of the Earth" was ruled by Tezcatlipoca but destroyed by Quetzalcoatl when he struck down Tezcatlipoca who transformed into a jaguar.
Quetzalcoatl became the ruler of the subsequent creation "Sun of Water", Tezcatlipoca destroyed the third creation "The Sun of Wind" by striking down Quetzalcoatl. In later
A quadruple-track railway is a railway line consisting of four parallel tracks, with two tracks used in each direction. Quadruple-track railways can handle large amounts of traffic, so are used on busy routes. Quadruple track can manage a larger amount of traffic with twice the capacity of double track, it is seen around large metropolis or on busy inter-city corridors. In quadruple track, faster trains can overtake slower ones, quadrupling can contribute to faster operation of trains. High-speed rail of 200 km/h average speed and commuter rail of 40 km/h average can co-exist in quadruple track without interrupting each other, it is easy to do maintenance and engineering work of tracks in quadruple line with minimum effect of train delay because double-track service is kept if the other two double tracks are halted during the work. Quadruple track costs more due to requiring increased land acquisition costs; this applies to tunneling and bridge costs. When adding tracks, land acquisition can become prohibitively expensive.
Maintenance costs are higher and more complex as there may be more switches on the track than on a two-track line. For safety, costly grade separations are always required. If needing more capacity, it can be better to add a double track along a different route, because it could improve local and regional transit much along an under-served route, reduce land acquisition cost by choosing a less built-up area. In quadruple track, trains are sorted in various ways in order to make maximum use of track capacity; these can include one or a combination of: Sorting by speedA faster express line and a stopping local line are separated, with each having a separate pair of tracks. Construction of new double tracks dedicated to high-speed rail alongside existing conventional double track used by regional and local passenger trains and freight trains is a form of quadruple track, it increases the capacity of that route and allows for significant increases in inter-city high-speed train frequency with reduced travel times.
Sorting by distanceLong distance inter-city rail and freight trains are separated from short distance commuter rail. This helps to prevent delays on one service affecting the other, is seen in metropolitan areas. Quadrupling may be necessary. Sometimes the local trains have separate technology, such as electrical system or signalling, which requires strict separation, for example in Berlin or Copenhagen. Sorting by destinationWhen a quadruple track line divides to different destinations part way along, trains need to be sorted by their destination. Sorting by passenger/ freightPassenger trains and freight trains can be separated with each different track. A variation of this can be found on the quadruple track section of the Main Northern line in New South Wales between Waratah and Maitland where one pair of tracks are used for coal trains and the other pair are used for passenger trains and general freight. A similar process, but with all intercity and commuter passenger trains on the outer tracks and thru-freight trains on the inner tracks, was done by the Pennsylvania Railroad on its New York-Washington and Philadelphia-Pittsburgh mainlines prior to the takeover of operations by Amtrak and Conrail.
This is somewhat still done to this day by NS, CSX, Conrail Shared Assets trains on Amtrak-owned trackage in the Philadelphia area. Other modesTwo double track lines along opposite sides of a river can operate as a quadruple track. Examples of this can be found in Rhone in Rhine in Germany; as it can be seen from the pictures below in the Gallery of diagrams, the four tracks can be paired either by direction or by purpose. Sometimes two of the tracks with a little distance from the two other; this is a design decision when widening a double track section, allows higher speed on the faster tracks. Several lines radiating from Brussels are quadrupled, for instance the Ghent-Ostend line as far as Essene-Lombeek. Further quadrupling has been carried out as part of the development of the Brussels Regional Express Network; the building of high-speed lines has led to quadrupling - for instance the HSL 2 high-speed line between Brussels and Cologne runs inside the local lines as far as Leuven. Meanwhile since 1934 Brussels and Antwerp have been connected by two separate pairs of double track.
Fast trains use line 25, while line 27 serves slow trains. In places they run parallel. There are two places in Denmark with four tracks: Between Klampenborg and Høje Taastrup, through Copenhagen, there are four tracks. Between Høje Taastrup and Roskilde, where the two center tracks are for InterCity, long distance commuter trains, while the outer two tracks are for commuter trains to/from Ringsted or Holbæk, it has been suggested that the S-trains should continue from Høje Taastrup to Roskilde, but this plan was abandoned. Helsinki–Riihimäki railway has four tracks between Helsinki Central Station and Kerava railway station Helsin
Fábio da Silva Bordignon is a Brazilian Paralympic athlete competing in T35-classification events. In 2019 he qualified to represent Brazil at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Japan, he represented Brazil at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and he won the silver medals in both the men's 100 metres T35 and men's 200 metres T35 events. In both events the gold and bronze medals were won by Hernan Barreto respectively. At the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships he won the bronze medal in the men's 200 metres T35 event with a time of 26.94. At the 2019 Parapan American Games he won the gold medal in the men's 100 metres T35 event and the bronze medal in the men's 200 metres T35 event. Fábio da Silva Bordignon at the International Paralympic Committee
Spain–Vanuatu relations are the bilateral and diplomatic relations between these two countries. Vanuatu does not have embassy in Spain; the Spanish Embassy in Canberra, Australia, is accredited in Vanuatu, as well as the Spanish consulate in Sydney. In addition, Spain has an Honorary Consulate in Port Vila. In 1606, the explorer Hispanic-Portuguese Pedro Fernández de Quirós became the first European to reach the islands. Spain maintains diplomatic relations with Vanuatu since April 30 of 1981. There are few but important historical links with Spain: on May 14 of 1606 sailors in the service of the Crown of Spain, Pedro Fernández de Quirós and Luis Vaez de Torres discovered the island of Espiritu Santo. Quiros and Torres anchored in the southeast of the so-called Great Bay, taking possession of those lands, which they called "Australia of the Holy Spirit." Both navigators remained there for some time. On May 14, 2006, the fourth centenary of the event was solemnly commemorated with various acts. In the presence of the Vanuate government, the Ambassador of Spain in Vanuatu delivered a bust of Quirós, located at the landing site in the aforementioned bay.
Bilateral relations, both politically and commercially, between Spain and Vanuatu are scarce within the framework of EU cooperation with Vanuatu through the programs of the Development Funds and the Economic Partnership Agreement. The country is under the jurisdiction of the Spanish Embassy in Canberra, consular affairs are addressed from the Consulate General of Spain in Sydney, reinforced by the existence of an Honorary Consulate of Spain in Port Vila
The fortifications of Bucharest are a ring of eighteen fortifications built in late 19th century that surround Bucharest, the capital of Romania. A report by the War Ministry led the celebrated Belgian military architect Henri Alexis Brialmont to draft a plan for the city's fortifications, with construction beginning in 1884; the forts, about 4 km apart, cost three times the annual army budget. The forts took over two decades to build, work was quite complex. All eighteen were linked by a railway, which today is DN100, Bucharest's ring road. Eighteen subterranean batteries were placed between the forts, the fortification ring included some 240 pieces of artillery in all. Romania, which had won its independence from the Ottoman Empire, undertook this enormous effort in keeping with the prevailing military doctrine of the day, which said the capital city should be defended at all costs. In case of invasion, Bucharest was to be the point of retreat, but the place where significant military operations would begin, spreading from the Danube to the Carpathians.
At the beginning of the 20th century and aeronautical advances rendered the forts obsolete soon after their completion. Explosives and aerial bombardment made classical fortifications useless in modern warfare. In 1914, the Battle of Liège, in which the German Army broke through fortifications designed by Brialmont with greater ease than expected, alarmed the authorities in Bucharest; the forts' artillery pieces—all top-notch Krupp cannons—were dismantled and transformed into mobile artillery. By 1916, when the German Army was approaching Bucharest, the forts had been abandoned, the city was taken without much difficulty. Today, the military has abandoned most of the forts. Stray dogs seek shelter in some of them. During the Communist era, Fort 18 in Chiajna was used as a pickled goods market. However, the military still employs some of the forts, those to the southwest of the city in particular, they serve as firing ranges and munitions deposits housing army units. The best-known fort is number 13, at Jilava—a military prison from 1907, a feared destination for political prisoners and place of execution during the Communist era, now still a penitentiary.
Cornel I. Scafeş, Ioan I. Scarfeş "Armamentul Cetăţii Bucureşti", Document 2008/4, pp. 74–79 Cornel I. Scafeş, Ioan I. Scafeş, Bucureşti. Fortificaţiile din jurul capitalei. Editura Alpha MDN, Buzău, 2008, ISBN 978-973-139-068-0
In Kansas, Border Ruffians was the name applied to pro-slavery activists from the slave state of Missouri, who from 1854 to 1860 crossed the state border into Kansas Territory to force the acceptance of slavery there. Armed Ruffians interfered in territorial elections, attacked Free-State settlements; this violence was the origin of the phrase "Bleeding Kansas". The Ruffians contributed to the growing sectional tensions, helped bring on the American Civil War; the Ruffians were driven by the rhetoric of leaders such as U. S. Senator David Rice Atchison who called Northerners "negro thieves" and "abolitionist tyrants", he encouraged Missourians to defend their institution "with the bayonet and with blood" and, if necessary, "to kill every God-damned abolitionist in the district." Notably, only a few of the Border Ruffians owned slaves. What motivated them was hatred of Yankees and abolitionists, fear of free blacks living nearby; the presence of bands of both Kansan and Missourian combatants in the area made it difficult for families on the border to remain neutral.
Kansas Territory was created by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854. The Act repealed the previous Federal prohibition on slavery in that area. Instead, the locally elected territorial legislature would decide. At this time, many of the settlers in Kansas opposed slavery. However, slavery advocates were determined to have their way regardless; when elections were held in Kansas Territory, bands of armed Ruffians seized polling places, prevented Free-State men from voting, cast votes themselves. On November 29, 1854, Border Ruffians elected a pro-slavery territorial representative to Congress. On March 30,1855, the Ruffians elected a pro-slavery legislature. Despite these measures, far more Free-State settlers moved to Kansas than pro-slavery settlers. In 1857, pro-slavery settlers in Kansas proposed the Lecompton Constitution for the future state of Kansas; the Ruffians tried to get the Lecompton Constitution adopted with additional fraud and violence, but by there were too many Free-Staters there. The Border Ruffians engaged in general violence against Free-State settlements.
They burned sometimes murdered Free-State men. Most notoriously, the Ruffians twice attacked Lawrence, the Free-State capital. On December 1, 1855, a small army of Border Ruffians laid siege to Lawrence, but were driven off. On May 21, 1856, an larger force of Border Ruffians and pro-slavery Kansans captured Lawrence, which they sacked. Free-State settlers sometimes struck back. Free-State irregulars attacked suspected Ruffian sympathizers. Most notoriously, abolitionist John Brown killed five pro-slavery men at Pottawatomie. Thomas Wentworth Higginson became a founding member of the Kansas Aid Committee in the summer of 1856. During the guerrilla war in the Kansas Territory between proslavery and antislavery settlers, the committee worked to recruit abolitionist settlers, raised funds for them to migrate to Kansas, equipped them with rifles to use against the “Border Ruffians.” During the Civil War, the violence in this area not only escalated tremendously. Many of the former Ruffians became pro-Confederate guerrillas.
They operated in western Missouri, sometimes raiding into Kansas, Union forces campaigned to suppress them. Farms were looted. Suspected guerrillas were killed. Many of the Union troops involved were Kansas Jayhawkers, had deep grudges against Missourians. Jayhawkers destroyed several towns such as Osceola; the destruction of Osceola is depicted in the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales. William T. Anderson Bleeding Kansas John Brown William Quantrill Sacking of Lawrence George M. Todd Bad Blood, the Border War that Triggered the Civil War DVD documentary. Kansas City MO: Kansas City Public Television and Wide Awake Films. 2007. ISBN 0-9777261-4-2