Toulouse
Toulouse is the capital of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the region of Occitanie. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, 150 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea, 230 km from the Atlantic Ocean and 680 km from Paris, it is the fourth-largest city in France, with 466,297 inhabitants as of January 2014. In France, Toulouse is called the "Pink City"; the Toulouse Metro area, with 1,312,304 inhabitants as of 2014, is France's fourth-largest metropolitan area, after Paris and Marseille, ahead of Lille and Bordeaux. Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, the Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, ATR and the Aerospace Valley, it hosts the European headquarters of Intel and CNES's Toulouse Space Centre, the largest space centre in Europe. Thales Alenia Space, ATR, SAFRAN, Liebherr-Aerospace and Astrium Satellites have a significant presence in Toulouse; the University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe and, with more than 103,000 students, it is the fourth-largest university campus in France, after the universities of Paris and Lille.
The air route between Toulouse–Blagnac and Paris Orly is the busiest in Europe, transporting 2.4 million passengers in 2014. According to the rankings of L'Express and Challenges, Toulouse is the most dynamic French city; the city was the capital of the Visigothic Kingdom in the 5th century and the capital of the province of Languedoc in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period, making it the unofficial capital of the cultural region of Occitania. It is now the capital of the second largest region in Metropolitan France. A city with unique architecture made of pinkish terracotta bricks, which earned it the nickname la Ville Rose, Toulouse counts two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Canal du Midi, the Basilica of St. Sernin, the largest remaining Romanesque building in Europe, designated in 1998 because of its significance to the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route. Toulouse is in the south of France, north of the department of Haute-Garonne, on the axis of communication between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
The city is traversed by the Canal de Brienne, the Canal du Midi and the rivers Garonne and Hers-Mort. Toulouse has a humid subtropical climate, with too much precipitation in the summer months preventing the city from being classified as a Mediterranean climate zone; the Garonne Valley was a central point for trade between the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic since at least the Iron Age. The historical name of the city, Tolosa, it is of unknown meaning or origin from Aquitanian, or from Iberian, but has been connected to the name of the Gaulish Volcae Tectosages. Tolosa enters the historical period in the 2nd century BC. After the conquest of Gaul, it was developed as a Roman city of Gallia Narbonensis. In the 5th century, Tolosa fell to the Visigothic kingdom and became one of its major cities, in the early 6th century serving as its capital, before it fell to the Franks under Clovis in 507. From this time, Toulouse was the capital of Aquitaine within the Frankish realm. In 721, Duke Odo of Aquitaine defeated an invading Umayyad Muslim army at the Battle of Toulouse.
Odo's victory was a small obstacle to Muslim expansion into Christian Europe, Muslims occupied a large territory including Poitiers. Charles Martel, a decade won the Battle of Tours called the Battle of Poitiers; the Frankish conquest of Septimania followed in the 750s, a quasi-independent County of Toulouse emerged within the Carolingian sub-kingdom of Aquitaine by the late 8th century. The Battle of Toulouse of 844, pitting Charles the Bald against Pepin II of Aquitaine, was key in the Carolingian Civil War. During the Carolingian era, the town rose in status. In the 12th century, consuls took over the running of the town and these proved to be difficult years. In particular, it was a time of religious turmoil. In Toulouse, the Cathars tried to set up a community here, but were routed by Simon de Montfort's troops; the Dominican Order was founded in Toulouse in 1215 by Saint Dominic in this context of struggle against the Cathar heresy. The subsequent arrival of the Inquisition led to a period of religious fervour during which time the Dominican Couvent des Jacobins was founded.
Governed by Raimond II and a group of city nobles, Toulouse's urban boundaries stretched beyond its walls to the north and as far south as Saint Michel. In the Treaty of Paris of 1229, Toulouse formally submitted to the crown of France; the county's sole heiress Joan was engaged to Alphonse, Count of Poitiers, a younger brother of Louis IX of France. The marriage became legal in 1241, but it remained childless so that after Joan's death the county fell to the crown of France by inheritance. In 1229, University of Toulouse was established after the Parisian model, intended as a means to dissolve the heretic movement. Various monastic orders, like the congregation of the order of frères prêcheurs, were started, they found home in Les Jacobins. In parallel, a long period of inquisition began inside the Toulouse walls; the fear of repression obliged the notabilities to convert themselves. The inquisition lasted nearly 4
McLean County Museum of History
The McLean County Museum of History is an AAM accredited institution located in Bloomington, Illinois. It is the principal asset of the McLean County Historical Society, an Illinois nonprofit organization, founded in 1892 to study local history; the museum moved into its current location in 1991. The initial purpose of the McLean County Historical Society was to meet and present papers on local history topics. Soon, people in the community began donating historical objects to the society. In 1904, the society hired a curator. Reinvigorated by a change in leadership and New Deal dollars in the 1930s, the entire collection was re-inventoried and re-cataloged. Additionally, indexes to archival and local periodical collections were developed. A fire in the museum structure in 1972 forced the society to reevaluate itself, though the fire did not damage the collections. A newly organized board made the decision to operate the museum on a professional basis. In 1979. A long-range plan was developed to achieve AAM accreditation, realized in 1984.
The museum was reaccredited in 1996 and 2008. In 1989-1991 McLean County Courthouse was converted to a museum. Further information: McLean County Courthouse and Square The museum square is the site of three previous courthouses; the first county courthouse was built in 1831 out of black walnut. In expectation of an economic boom, a new two-story Federal-style courthouse was constructed in 1836; this courthouse served other attorneys of the Eighth Judicial Circuit. It was used by religious groups and it housed the county's first newspaper. Alfred Piquenard designed the third courthouse in 1868 in the Italian Renaissance style. On June 19, 1900, a fire in downtown Bloomington destroyed four and a half square blocks and caused major damage to the structure; the Peoria, IL firm Reeves and Baile were commissioned to rebuild the courthouse. Reeves designed the new courthouse in the American Renaissance style, completed in 1903; the building served as the county courthouse until 1976 when the courts moved to an up-to-date facility.
The courthouse continued to be used for administrative purposes until 1988, was converted into a museum. In 2002, the dome and its base were restored; the original copper decorative elements were salvaged and reused, the limestone drum stone was repaired. The c. 1957 clock mechanism was replaced, in 2004 the bell, from the 1868 courthouse rung for the first time in nearly half a century. In 2005, Landmarks Illinois presented the Outstanding Restoration award to McLean County for their efforts to restore the dome; the museum's collection consists of materials that document the growth and development of McLean County from the prehistoric period through the present. The materials in the collection represent McLean County's diverse cultural history, people's relationship to their physical environment and economic activity, the history of institutions and organizations, civic culture, iconography. Exhibitions draw from the museum's own collections, which numbers 18,000 objects; the museum's permanent exhibit, Encounter on the Prairie explores the lives of the people who settled McLean County.
The exhibit is housed in four galleries. Making a Home interprets the culture of immigrants who settled McLean County; the gallery compares the unique aspects of the lives of Native American, African American, Irish, Upland Southern, Yankee settlers, featuring objects relating to religion, recreation and home life. The Politics Gallery focuses on the military history of McLean County, it outlines the founding of schools and public services. It describes prominent court cases and political campaigns, including those of Abraham Lincoln, David Davis and Adlai Stevenson II. Additionally, the gallery details the effects military conflict had on the citizens of McLean county, spanning the Black Hawk War to World War II; the Work Gallery outlines the county's economic and industrial history. Beginning with Native American trading systems, this gallery traces the economic growth the county has achieved with advancements in technology, features various occupations and local businesses of its residents.
Farming in the great Cornbelt explains the important relationship between the county's citizens and agriculture. The gallery gives a sense of life on the homestead, describing farming strategies, implement technology, animal husbandry, house building techniques; the museum houses three temporary exhibit spaces: The Dolan & Behr Gallery, the Helen Alexander Bender Gallery and the Merwin Gallery. Exhibits are mounted by museum staff and guest curators with objects and images from the museum's collection; these galleries feature short term exhibits. Past award-winning exhibits include Just Corn: The "Amaizing" Story; the museum displays the Tilbury Flash, a racing plane designed by Bloomington resident Owen Tilbury in 1932. It was the smallest plane in the world when it was built, won many aircraft racing competitions. A goal of the McLean County Museum of History is to support research in local and family history by operating a publicly accessible library and archive; the Stevenson-Ives Library and Benjamin Hoopes Family Archives contain a wide range of primary and secondary source material relating to Central Illinois history from the early 1800s to present.
Types of materials housed in the archives include correspondence, diaries and farm ledgers, maps, manuscripts and o
Bullwhip
A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip made of braided leather, designed as a tool for working with livestock. Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country. A bullwhip's length and tapered design allows it to be thrown in such a way that, toward the end of the throw, part of the whip exceeds the speed of sound—thereby creating a small sonic boom; the bullwhip was if used to strike cattle, as this could inflict damage to the animal. The origins of the bullwhip are a matter for debate and, given the perishable nature of leather, are to remain so. Difficulties in tracing its development arise from regional and national variations in nomenclature. There are claims that it was developed in South America where, like "cow-whips" during the slave trade, it was used as a weapon, or that it arrived there from Spain, but Roman mosaics and earthenware dating to around the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD show what appear to be tapered drop-lash whips, rather than the two-piece whips associated with the Romans and other ancient cultures.
Given that the same basic design appears in several primary sources, it seems that this is not a stylistic coincidence but a depiction of a design of whip in current use at the time the articles were made. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as rural economies became mechanized, demand for all types of whips diminished. By the middle of the 20th century, bullwhip making was a dying craft, with only a few craftsmen left making good quality whips. In the half of the 20th century, attempts to preserve traditional crafts, along with a resurgence of interest in Western performance arts and the release of films such as Devo's "Whip It" video and the motion pictures Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels in which the hero, Indiana Jones, uses a bullwhip as both a tool and a weapon, led to an increased interest in whip cracking as a hobby and performance art, as well as a competitive sport. Whip cracking competitions focus on the completion of complex multiple cracking routines and precise target work.
Whereas, in times past, the bullwhip was designed for one basic, main purpose, modern whip makers design their whips for different specific purposes and to suit different throwing styles. Regardless of their intended end use, all bullwhips have certain common features. A bullwhip consists of a handle section, a thong, a fall, a cracker. A wrist loop may be present, although its chief purpose is for hanging one's whip on a hook. Aesthetically, it finishes the handle; the main portion of the bullwhip's length is made up of thong. Made of many strips of leather, the number of braids or plaits is an important factor in the construction of the whip; the thong is multi-layered, having one or more "bellies" in the center. Quality whips have at least two bellies, made of braided leather like the surface of the whip, though with fewer plaits. Lower-quality whips may have no bellies at all, are sometimes stuffed with materials such as newspaper which will break down with use. Unlike in the Australian stock whip, the thong connects in line with the handle, or sometimes covers the handle.
The handle is short, being between 20 and 30 cm long. While some whips have an exposed wooden grip, others have an intricately braided leather covered handle. Leather-covered handles contain a butt foundation, held in the palm of the hand when cracking, can have a wrist loop, used for hanging the whip at the end of the day, not for putting around the wrist during use; some handles swivel, making it easier to do certain types of unsophisticated cracks but making it harder to do others, or to use the whip for any type of accurate targeting. The Australians introduced a longer handled bullwhip to the US, where the bullwhips traditionally had shorter handles; the longer handled whip, with a handle of 25–35 cm, functions like a cross between a stockwhip and a bullwhip, is referred to as a "Target Whip." Bullwhips are measured from the butt of the handle to the end of the plaiting of the thong. The thong terminates at a fall hitch—a series of half hitches that neatly tie the replaceable fall to the whip.
Whips range in length from 1 metre to long bullwhips of 6 metres with some examples being longer. A fall is a single piece of 75 cm in length, it was traditionally made to be replaceable due to the extreme stresses the end of the whip was subjected to as it was "cracked". Of course, it is much easier to replace a solid piece of leather than to re-plait the whole of the whip. In lesser quality whips the fall can be a continuation of one of the strands used in plaiting the overlay or the fall can be an extension of the core of the whip, with the strands from the overlay tied off, the core continuing on as the fall, but these types of falls do not allow for replacement and thus. Tied to the end of the flexible fall, is an more flexible piece of string or nylon cord or wire called the cracker or the popper; some sources state that the cracker is the portion of the whip that makes the loud noise known as the sonic boom, but this is misleading. A whip without a cracker will still make a sonic boom, but it will be less audible unless you are standing directly in front of it.
The cracker functions to disperse the sound. Cracking a whip causes wear to the cracker, well used whips require new crackers. Crackers can be made of horsehair, string, polypropylene, polyester or any number of materials. There are several
Diabolo
The diabolo is a juggling or circus prop consisting of an axle and two cups or discs derived from the Chinese yo-yo. This object is spun using a string attached to two hand sticks. A large variety of tricks are possible with the diabolo, including tosses, various types of interaction with the sticks and various parts of the user's body. Multiple diabolos can be spun on a single string. Like the Western yo-yo, it maintains its spinning motion through a rotating effect based on conservation of angular momentum. Chinese archaeologists theorize. In the Hemudu Excavation, wooden tops were excavated. In order to extend the spinning time of the tops, whips were used to spin the top; this released a sound, evolved into the term "Kongzhu". It was speculated that the Chinese poet Cao Zhi in the Three Kingdoms period had composed the poem "Rhapsody of Diabolos 《空竹赋》", making it the first record of Diabolo in Chinese history; the authenticity of the poem "Rhapsody of Diabolos 《空竹赋》" however required further research and evidence of proof.
By the Tang dynasty, the Chinese Diabolo became widespread as a form of toy. However the Chinese scholar Wu Shengda 吳盛達, who lived in Taiwan, argued that records of Chinese Diabolo only appeared during late Ming dynasty Wanli period, with its details well recorded in the book Dijing Jingwulue, referring to Diabolos as "Kong Zhong". Chinese yo-yos have a longer axle with discs on either end, while the diabolo has a short axle and larger, round cups on either end. Diabolos are come in different sizes and weights. There are many names in the Chinese language for the Chinese yo-yo: simplified Chinese: 扯铃; as was the sheng. This noisy rattle consists of two hollow cylinders of metal, wood, or bamboo, joined together in the middle by a cross-piece; each of the cylinders is pierced by a hole in opposite directions. The rope loops around the crossbeam. By holding this rattle in the air, moving it with speed, a rapid current of air is established in each of the portions of the cylinder, a snoring is heard, similar to that produced by the German spinning top.
The diabolo was part of a presentation of Chinese culture edited by stenographer Jean-Baptiste Joseph Breton in 1811-2. The toy's popularity waned throughout the 19th century. In 1812 the diabolo "was all the rage"; some consider the toy dangerous. The term "diabolo" was coined by French engineer Gustave Phillippart, who developed the modern diabolo in the early twentieth century, although credit has been given to Charles Burgess Fry or Fry and Phillippart; the term is derived the name from the Greek dia bolo meaning "across throw". "In Greek, the term'diaballo' means to throw across. It comes from a combination of'dia' meaning across or through, and'bolla' or originally'ballo' which means to throw..." The Greek word "diabolos", from which many modern languages' words for "devil" derive, is unrelated. The term "loriot" was used in England, as well as "rocket-ball". Confusion about the provenance of the name may have arisen from the earlier name "the devil on two sticks", although nowadays this also refers to another circus-based skill toy, the devil stick.
"In time'diabolo' was retained for the spinning version of the Chinese stick toy while the hitting version of the stick toy was rendered into English as the Devil Stick.""Phillipart claimed Diabolo to be his invention. In reality, he had improved a Napoleonic toy, which in turn had originated long ago in China." However, Charles Parker gained the U. S. license for the term diabolo in 1906, the excessive fad for the toy lasted until 1910, hurt by a glut of unsold poor quality off-brand versions, the toy was removed from the Parker Brothers catalogue, a rare occurrence. Another estimate for the fad is 1910 to 1915, while the big fad in Paris is mentioned in Nature in 1893; the Wright brothers became enamored with the toy during a lull in a trip to France they had taken to market their Wright Flyer III airplane. A diabolo is described as, "a d
Russian bar
The Russian bar is a circus act which combines the gymnastic skills of the balance beam, the rebound tempo skills of trampoline and the swing handstands skills of the uneven bars and the parallel bars. The bar itself is a flexible vaulting pole around 4 meters long made of fibreglass; this genre was first created by the Russian artist Alexander Moiseev, who brought his act twice to the International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo, winning the Gold and Silver Clown. Two porters, one at each end of the Russian bar, control the bar and the movements of the "flyer", guiding him or her into tempo swings and transitional aerial moves; the flyer will prepare for the bar's catapult. With the advancement of intricate acrobatic-aerial techniques, two to three poles can be secured together, allowing for a higher lift and resulting in more airtime. At the present heights, aerial skills such as "full-in, full-out", triple sault and "Miller" somersaults are possible; the Russian bar act requires acrobats to be skilled in tumbling and have experience with the trampoline and/or sports acrobats.
To perform, the act must collaborate on many levels. Additionally, the act requires not only physical skill, but psychological and communicative skills as well; as the flyer is flung high in the air, a good deal of clearance is necessary when performing this acrobatic act. An act featuring the Russian bar appeared on America's Got Talent and was voted to return
Risley (circus act)
A Risley or Risley act is any circus acrobalance posture where the base is lying down on their back, supporting one or more flyers with their hands, feet and/or other parts of the body. The act is named after Richard Risley Carlisle. Risleys can be separated into three general categories of skills: Skills that are based with the hands Skills that are based with the feet Other Acroyoga Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe
Static trapeze
Static trapeze known as fixed trapeze, is a type of circus art performed on the trapeze. In contrast to the other forms of trapeze, on static trapeze the bars and ropes stay in place. Most the static trapeze is about 1.5 feet wide and the bar is 2 inches in diameter. The ropes are at least two human lengths; the ropes can be made of many materials, including cotton or hemp, have a wire woven inside. It can be performed by two partners working together. A single artist will do tricks above and below the bar, the ropes playing just as important a part as the bar. A partner act will involve the partners working together — supporting each other's weight, throwing and catching each other. Self-standing trapezes can be purchased for home use. Multiple trapeze is an act entailing the use of more than one trapeze two or three. In these acts, multiple people perform simultaneously; the most common type of multiple trapeze is a "triple trapeze". A triple trapeze has one long bar, held up by a ropes three trapezes put together, with the middle trapeze sharing the ropes of the other two.
Multiple trapeze can refer to an abstract structure with trapeze like structures, inside which multiple artists may perform. An experimental cage-like structure was created by Cirque du Soleil for their show Varekai, but was scrapped in production. However, the structure did appear in the'Making of' documentary,'Fire Within.' A triple trapeze is a type of static trapeze with three trapezes on one bar. Therefore, there are four ropes connecting this trapeze to its frame, or whatever it is hanging from. Performers specialize in synchronized tricks. One example of a triple trapeze act can be seen in Cirque du Soleil's show Varekai. Static trapeze routines are choreographed from a number of standard tricks and positions, including: sitting - used to describe sitting on the bar, with your shoulders parallel to the bar, with both legs in front of the bar full beats - hanging from the bar with your hands, keeping legs straight and together, bringing feet up to level with the bar and swinging down, through vertical and back with feet returning up to the level of the bar knee beats - hanging from the knees, bringing hands up above the level of the bar straightening the body, swinging backward down through the vertical, back with hands returning above the level of the bar catcher's lock - hanging upside down, with the bar across the front of the thighs, the ropes passing inside the bent knees.
This is a strong position to catch or hold another person. Bird's nest - belly down, arched backward, tops of the feet one on each rope above the hands, with hands still on the bar mermaid - similar to bird's nest but both feet on the same rope bird's nest in ropes - belly down, arched backward with tops of the feet one on each rope, above the hands in the ropes mermaid in ropes - similar to bird's nest in the ropes but both feet on the same rope angel - similar to mermaid, except one leg is released from the ropes to allow the body to face upward gazelle - sideways on the bar, one leg straight across the bar with the ankle past the velvet, one leg bent with the rope passing between the knee and the body which hangs backward down beneath the bar coffin - lying straight and horizontal with one shoulder on one velvet, the feet on the other velvet candlestick - hanging from one knee over the bar, with the other flexed foot wrapped anticlockwise in the rope knee hang - hanging from the bar with the backs of the knees ankle hang - hanging with the bar behind both ankles and one foot in each velvet with the velvet in the instep toe hang - hanging from the bar with the tops of your feet neck hang - hanging from the bar by tilting your head backward to rest the bar on the back of your neck around the world - from sitting, one hand in the rope above the head, the other on the bar by that rope, lifting the body and rotating around the rope and returning to sit one-arm hang - hanging from one arm with a strong rather than collapsed shoulder flag - from sitting or front balance, holding a rope in one hand, the bar in vertical position in the other hand, with rope passing under that elbow Russian rolls - from front balance, tipping forward and grabbing the thighs and releasing and allowing the roll to carry you back to front balance Windmill - from a sitting position with one leg in front and one behind the bar, both hands on the bar tipping forward and rotating to return to the starting position splits under the bar - hanging inverted beneath the bar, both hands on the bar, the splits with one leg in front and one behind straddle - hanging inverted beneath the bar, both hands on the middle of the bar, with legs straddled and horizontal over the head but beneath the bar Pike - hanging inverted beneath the bar, both hands on the sides of the bar, with legs piked and horizontal over the head but beneath the bar star in the ropes - standing with one foot on each rope, one hand on each rope star on the bar - similar to back balance, but with the legs straddled to catch the ropes, head tipped downward amazon - lower arm straight downward, hand holding the bar out to one side, trapping the rope with neck and the other shoulder amazon pirouette - starting in amazon, reaching up to hold the rope with the free hand that toe reaching around backward to reach the bar belly balance - lying horizontal, with the bar across the front of your waist/hips back balance - lying horizontal, with the bar across the back of your waist one legged monkey roll - from splits below the bar, hooking on
