The Skylark of Space is a science fiction novel by American writer Edward E. "Doc" Smith, written between 1915 and 1921 while Smith was working on his doctorate. Though the original idea for the novel was Smith's, he co-wrote the first part of the novel with Lee Hawkins Garby, the wife of his college classmate and neighbor Carl Garby; the novel starts as an edisonade, but turns into a space travel adventure when the characters go into deep space. The Skylark of Space is considered to be one of the earliest novels of interstellar travel and the first example of space opera. Serialized in 1928 in the magazine Amazing Stories, it was first published in book form in 1946 by the Buffalo Book Co; the novel was followed beginning with Skylark Three. Note: This synopsis is consistent with the novel in its forms but differs in detail from the original 1928 text as transcribed at Project Gutenberg. There were significant changes between the 1928 magazine publication and the 1946 hardcover, between the early hardcovers and the late 1950s and paperback editions.
The Skylark of Space is the first book of the Skylark series and pits the idealistic protagonist, Dick Seaton, against the mercantile antagonist Marc "Blackie" DuQuesne. At the beginning of the story, Seaton accidentally discovers a workable space drive in combining pure copper with a newly discovered element "X" in solution. Having failed to re-create the effect, Seaton realizes that the missing component is a field generated by DuQuesne's particle accelerator, thereafter sets up a business with his millionaire friend, Martin Crane, to build a spaceship. DuQuesne conspires to sabotage Seaton's spaceship and build his own from Seaton's plans, which he uses to kidnap Seaton's fiancée, Dorothy Vaneman, to exchange for the "X". In the resulting fight, DuQuesne's ship is accidentally set to full acceleration on an uncontrolled trajectory, until the copper'power bar' is exhausted at a vast distance from Earth's solar system. Using an "Object Compass" that once locked on an object, always points toward that object and Crane follow DuQuesne in their own spaceship to rescue Dorothy and her fellow-hostage, Margaret "Peg" Spencer, until the Skylark discovers DuQuesne's ship derelict in orbit around a massive dead star.
Having obtained the hostages, Seaton extracts a promise from DuQuesne to "act as one of the party until they get back to Earth", in which relationship they leave orbit and travel further in search of additional fuel. On an Earthlike exoplanet, they obtain "X" from an outcrop purely of that mineral. Following an encounter with a "Disembodied Intelligence", they enter a cluster of stars nicknamed “The Green System” and locate a planet having copper sulfate oceans. On the Earth-like "Osnome", they befriend the rulers of Mardonale, one of the two factions of the Osnomian natives; when the Mardonalian ruler attempts to betray Seaton and his friends, they find allies in Prince Dunark and his consort Princess Sitar, whom they assist in destroying Mardonale. In gratitude, the Kondalians make new copper "power bars" and rebuild the Skylark as Skylark Two, with new weapons known to Kondalian science. Thereafter Seaton's marriage to Dorothy, Crane's to Margaret, are solemnized by the Kondalian monarchy, Seaton himself declared nominal "Overlord" of Kondal.
The Skylark returns to Earth, laden with jewels, radium, a plenitude of "X". Frederik Pohl says of the book: "With the exception of the works of H. G. Wells those of Jules Verne—and no other writer—it has inspired more imitators and done more to change the nature of all the science fiction written after it than any other single work." Mike Ashley called it "the seminal space opera." Despite its influence, its critical reputation is mixed. Damon Knight, praised the novel for its "fast, lean plot, an air of excitement... four characters who are comfortingly bigger than life the feeling that adventures are waiting everywhere," concluding that "In The Skylark, everything is big and simple." R. D. Mullen wrote that Smith's "great success" was "surely due first of all to the skill with which Smith mixed elements of the spy thriller and the western story... with those of the traditional cosmic voyage. Skylark DuQuesne. Hugo Award nominee. 1928 in science fiction Chalker, Jack L.. The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923–1998.
Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. pp. 125, 258, 343. Brown, Charles N.. "The Locus Index to Science Fiction". Retrieved 2008-03-13. Brown, Charles N.. "The Locus Index to Science Fiction". Retrieved 2008-03-13. Tuck, Donald H.. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. P. 398. ISBN 0-911682-22-8; the Skylark of Space title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database The Skylark of Space at Faded Page The Skylark of Space at Project Gutenberg
Rohde & Schwarz SwissQual AG is a Telecommunications company specializing in wireless network service quality benchmarking and network optimization. The company is a contributor to ITU-T standards for video quality assessment. Rohde & Schwarz SwissQual AG was founded in 2000 and was the first company to introduce specialized wireless network benchmarking equipment. In January 2006 the company was acquired by Spirent for $65m. In 2007 the company was acquired by a group of private investors. In March 2010 SwissQual announced they had carried out network quality drive testing on the world's first commercial LTE network, TeliaSonera in Sweden. In July 2012, SwissQual became a wholly independent subsidiary of Schwarz. R&S is a German testing equipment manufacturer. In July 2018, the company changed its name to Rohde & Schwarz SwissQual AG. In June 2010 SwissQual was one of three companies selected to provide the next generation high definition voice testing standard POLQA. In January 2011 SwissQual was the only company selected to provide the next generation high definition video testing standard VQuad-HD / J.341.
In 2015 SwissQual in collaboration with Deutsche Telekom T-Labs in Berlin developed the standard J.343.1 "RS-T-VModel". Official website
Thomas Bruce Borland, nicknamed "Spike", was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played portions of the 1960 and 1961 seasons for the Boston Red Sox. Borland stood 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 172 pounds. Born in Kansas, Borland graduated from high school in McAlester and attended what is now Oklahoma State University, where he was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1955 College World Series, his minor league career began in 1955 with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League, but he was declared a free agent by Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick when it was discovered that the Baltimore Orioles had violated the bonus rule of the day by signing Borland loaning him to the Oaks. Signed by the Red Sox, Borland missed two full years while serving in the United States Army. In 1959, he won 14 games, losing eight, posted a strong 2.73 earned run average for American Association champion Minneapolis, was promoted to the Red Sox in mid-May 1960. In 27 MLB appearances, including four games started, Borland posted an 0–4 record with a poor 6.75 ERA in 52 innings pitched, allowing 70 hits and 23 bases on balls.
He was credited with three saves as a relief pitcher. As a minor leaguer he had a 48–39 record and a 3.42 ERA between 1955 and 1963. He was traded to the expansion Houston Colt.45s in March 1962 in exchange for Dave Philley, but never appeared in a Major League game for them. Instead, he spent two years in his home state for Houston's Triple-A affiliate, the Oklahoma City 89ers, before leaving baseball. Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference, or Baseball Library, or Retrosheet
The Newcastle sex abuse ring were a gang of seventeen men and a woman who sexually abused adolescent girls and young women from 2010–2014 in Newcastle upon Tyne after plying them with alcohol and drugs. The men were of Albanian, Bangladeshi, Iranian, Indian, Eastern European and Pakistani heritage who were aged between 27 and 44; the woman was a 22-year-old British white woman. The victims ranged in age from 13 to 25; as in the Oxford, Derby, Telford and Peterborough prosecutions, the men pretended friendship and offered alcohol and drugs, winning the trust of their victims before initiating abusive sexual relationships. Victims told court that in some cases they were rendered unconscious by drugs and woke to find themselves undressed, having been subject to sexual assaults; the prosecution argued that the victims, whose ages ranged from 13 to 25, were chosen because they were vulnerable and seemed less both to complain to the authorities and to be believed if they did so complain. Operation Shelter, the specific police operation in Newcastle which led to the four trials, identified up to 108 potential victims, while the wider Operation Sanctuary, targeting abuse in the entire Northumbria police district, has identified up to 278 victims.
The British Labour politician Sarah Champion claimed regarding media news about this and previous trials, that there is a need to “acknowledge” that in all of the towns where similar cases have occurred “the majority of the perpetrators have been British Pakistani”. She said: "We have got now, hundreds of Pakistani men who have been convicted of this crime, why are we not commissioning research to see what is going on and how we need to change what is going on. I genuinely think that it’s because more people are afraid to be called a racist than they are afraid to be wrong about calling out child abuse.” A Northumbria Police probe into the abuse of one single girl uncovered serial abuse of teenage girls in Tyneside and resulted in the launch of "Operation Sanctuary," under which the initial arrests took place in January 2014 and had reached 67 arrests by the end of March that year. The 18 gang members were convicted of the following: Mohammed Azram, 35, of Croydon Road, convicted of conspiracy to incite prostitution, sexual assault, supplying drugs to a victim Jahangir Zaman, 43, of Hadrian Road, convicted of conspiracy to incite prostitution, supplying drugs to a victim Nashir Uddin, 35, of Joan Street, convicted of conspiracy to incite prostitution, supplying drugs to a victim Saiful Islam, 34, of Strathmore Crescent, convicted of rape.
Jailed for 10 years Mohammed Hassan Ali, 33, of Bentinck Street, convicted of sexual activity with a child, supplying drugs to a victim. Jailed for seven years Yasser Hussain, 27, of Canning Street, convicted of beating, possession of drugs. Jailed for two years Abdul Sabe, 40, of Dean House, convicted of conspiracy to incite prostitution, trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation, drugs offences Habibur Rahim, 34, of Kenilworth Road, convicted of causing or inciting prostitution, sexual assault, trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation Badrul Hussain, 37, of Drybeck Court, convicted of drug offences Mohibur Rahman, 44, of Northcote Street, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to incite prostitution, supplying drugs to a victim Abdulhamid Minoyee, 33, of Gainsborough Grove, convicted of rape, sexual assault, supply of drugs Carolann Gallon, 22, of Hareside Court, pleaded guilty to three counts of trafficking Monjour Choudhury, 33, of Phillip Place, convicted of conspiracy to incite prostitution, supplying drugs to a victim Prabhat Nelli, 33, of Sidney Grove, convicted of conspiracy to incite prostitution, supplying drugs to a victim Eisa Mousavi, 41, of Todds Nook, convicted of conspiracy to incite prostitution, supplying drugs to a victim Taherul Alam, 32, of Normanton Terrace, convicted of conspiracy to incite prostitution, supplying drugs to a victim, attempted sexual assault Nadeem Aslam, 43, of Belle Grove West, convicted of supplying drugs to victims Redwan Siddquee, 32, of West Road, pleaded guilty to supply or offering to supply a class B drug.
Jailed for 16 months
Bomma Borusa is a 1971 Indian Telugu language comedy film directed by K. Balachander, it is a remake of the Tamil film Poova Thalaiya, directed by K. Balachander himself; the film stars Chandra Mohan, S. Varalakshmi, Vennira Aadai Nirmala, Allu Ramalingaiah, Raja Babu and Ramaprabha, it was distributed by AVM Productions. The film music was composed by R. Goverdhanam and lyrics were written by Kosaraju Raghavaiah, it is an old classical family drama. Sundaram is a rich businessman and he has an younger brother Sekhar, a college going guy who loves his brother so much. Sundaram's mother-in-law Parvatham who cares for his assets, shows her dominating character on Sekhar and Sundaram, she bets with Sekhar that she would separate him from his brother and puts some conditions that he should not tell his brother about the bet to prove his strength. Parvatham's second son-in-law identifies. Soon the second son-in-law comes to the house and places a bet with Parvatham that she only should reveal that he is the son-in-law of her.
Since both of them start proving their capacity to win the bet. The film revolves around how it brings about a change in Parvathamma's beliefs. Vesukunta Chempalu Vesukunta Vesukunta Chempalu Vesukunta Bomma Borusa Pandem Veyyi Needo Naado Paicheyi Vallu Jhillan Tunnadi Sarile Pove VagaladiSoundtrack for this Telugu film was composed by R. Goverdhanam and lyrics were written by Kosaraju Raghavaiah. Bomma Borusa on IMDb Bomma Borusa at Open Movie Database Bomma Borusa at CITWF Bomma Borusa at Chak Pak Bomma Borusa at Spice Bomma Borusa at Hollywood Upclose Bomma Borusa at Film Web
The architecture of Mumbai blends Gothic, Art Deco, Indo-Saracenic and contemporary architectural styles. Many buildings and historical monuments remain from the colonial era. Mumbai, after Miami, has the second largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world. Bombay Architecture came to be present through the British in the early 19th centuries. At first it was the neoclassical style of architecture but the Victorian Gothic style came to dominate the city. Where the neoclassical has an orderly monochromatic presence, the Gothic style is expressive, disjointed with surfaces of lives colors, beautified with carved and narrative elements, consisting of flying buttresses, lancet windows and stained glass. At first, due to the immense freed space it obtained, Gothic building only served as churches, as religious buildings built by people of the 11th century. However, soon enough there came a need for public halls, parliament houses and the Gothic era was the solution. Indian architects came to analyze this style and represent it and put it into play in relation with the climate, in relation to society's plans and sensibilities.
This style, the blend of Gothic and contemporary styles, is what came to be known as "Bombay Gothic." According to writer Jan Morris, "Bombay is one of the most characteristically Victorian cities in the world, displaying all the grand effrontery of Victorian eclecticism". The British influence on buildings in the city is evident from the colonial era. However, the architectural features include a range of European influences such as German gables, Dutch roofs, Swiss timbering, Romance arches and Tudor casements inter-fused with traditional Indian features. Bombay City Hall was built by Colonel Thomas Cowper; the Fort campus of the University of Mumbai and Rajabai Tower, Saint Xavier's College, The Secretariat, Telegraph Office, Wilson College, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus are fine examples of gothic architecture in the city. Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus known by its former name Victoria Terminus, is a historic terminal train station and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai, India; the terminus was designed by British architectural engineer Frederick William Stevens in the style of Victorian Italianate Gothic Revival architecture.
Its construction began in 1878, in a location south of the old Bori Bunder railway station, was completed in 1887, the year marking 50 years of Queen Victoria's rule, the building being named, Victoria Terminus. The station's name was changed to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in March 1996 to honour Shivaji, the 17th-century founder of the Maratha Empire, whose name is preceded by Chhatrapati, a royal title. In 2017, the station was again renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, where Maharaj is a royal title. However, both the former initials "VT" and the current, "CST", are used; the terminus is the headquarters of India's Central Railway. It is one of the busiest railway stations in India, serving as a terminal for both long-distance- and suburban trains; the railway station was built to replace the Bori Bunder railway station, in the Bori Bunder area of Bombay, a prominent port and warehouse area known for its imports and exports. Since Bombay became a major port city at the time, a bigger station was built to meet its demands, was named Victoria Terminus, after the reigning Empress of India, Queen Victoria.
The station was designed by the consulting British architect Frederick William Stevens. Work began in 1878, he received ₹1,614,000 as the payment for his services. Stevens earned the commission to construct the station after a masterpiece watercolour sketch by draughtsman Axel Haig; the final design bears some resemblance to St Pancras railway station in London. GG Scott's plans for Berlin's parliament building had been published four years before, has marked similarities to the station's design; the station took ten years to complete, the longest for any building of that era in Bombay. This famous architectural landmark in a Gothic-revival style was built as the headquarters of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway; the station building is designed in the High Victorian Gothic style of architecture. The building exhibits a fusion of influences from Victorian Italianate Gothic Revival architecture and classical Indian architecture; the skyline, pointed arches, eccentric ground plan are close to classical Indian palace architecture.
The Rajabai Tower in South Mumbai is located in the confines of the Fort campus of the University of Mumbai, was constructed between 1869 and 1878. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, an English architect, was modeled on Big Ben, the clock tower of the United Kingdom's houses of Parliament in London; the tower stands at the time it was the tallest building in India. The tower fuses Gothic styles, it is built out of stained glass. The ground floor has two side rooms, each measuring 56 × 27.5 ft. The tower forms a carriage porch 2.4 m2, a spiral staircase vestibule of 2.6 m2. The Tower, over the carriage porch, has a square form up to the gallery at the top of the first level, at a height of 68 feet from the ground; the form changes from a square to an octagon and the height from this gallery to the top of the tower is 118 feet and the third stage to the top of the finial is 94 feet, thus making a total height of 280 feet. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Mandai (for