Act III, Signature Xvii - (1)

...in this part of the West the stars, as I had seen them in Wyoming, are big as roman candles and as lonely as the Prince of the Dharma who's lost his ancestral grove and journeys across the spaces between points in the handle of the Big Dipper, trying to find it again [Jack Kerouac, On The Road (New York: Penguin Books, 1976), p. 222]. III — xvii — What Was Just Finished Was Tremulously Ribald.

Lethean photons convert fetches of shimmering zest into fine, generic clinkers. These giant pure snows hit finth comet home, twirling into the guarded Hotspur sphere. Jasmine, in semblance to partial vision, shares the crown inter alia, and both horses nettle actors whirling under total knit troth tenets. Privily their poor heist, a gown blinding to see children, Plair is soon fired between spiritual heart throbs.

~ page 215 ~

toccata Act III, Signature xvii - (1)

Main Entry: toc£ca£ta

Pronunciation: t„-‚kä-t„

Function: noun

Etymology: Italian, from toccare to touch, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin— more at touch

Date: circa 1724 : a musical composition usually for organ or harpsichord in a free style and characterized by full chords, rapid runs, and high harmonies.

[Following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

Renaissance. The form first appeared in the late Renaissance period. It originated in northern Italy. Several publications of the 1590s include toccatas, by composers like Girolamo Diruta, Adriano Banchieri, Claudio Merulo, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, Luzzasco Luzzaschi and others. These are keyboard compositions in which one hand, and then the other, performs virtuosic runs and brilliant cascading passages against a chordal accompaniment in the other hand. Among the composers working in Venice at this time was the young Hans Leo Hassler, who studied with the Gabrielis; he brought the form back with him to Germany. It was in Germany where it underwent its highest development, culminating in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach more than a hundred years later.

Baroque. The Baroque toccata, beginning with Girolamo Frescobaldi, is more sectional and increases in length, intensity and virtuosity from the Renaissance version, reaching heights of extravagance equivalent to the overwhelming detail seen in the architecture of the period. Often it features rapid runs and arpeggios alternating with chordal or fugal parts. Sometimes there is a lack of regular tempo, and almost always an improvisational feel.

Other Baroque composers of toccatas, in the period before Bach, include Johann Pachelbel, Michelangelo Rossi, Johann Jakob Froberger, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Alessandro Scarlatti and Dieterich Buxtehude.

Bach's toccatas are among the most famous examples of the form, and his Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 is one of the most popular organ works today, although its authorship is disputed by some authorities ["BWV 565: a toccata in D minor for organ by J. S. Bach?" Early Music , Vol. 9, July 1981, pp. 330-337]. His toccatas for organ are brilliant improvisatory compositions, and are often followed by an independent fugue movement. In such cases the toccata is used in place of the usually more stable prelude. Bach's toccatas for harpsichord are multi-sectional works which include fugal writing as part of their structure. Post-baroque. Beyond the Baroque period, toccatas are found less frequently. There are a few notable examples, however. From the Romantic period Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt each wrote a piano toccata - the ambitious Schumann piece being considered one of the most technically difficult works in the repertoire and the foremost representative of the genre in the 1800s. The Liszt toccata is a very short and austere composition from his late period, and is practically a toccata only by name. From the early 20th century Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian each wrote a toccata for solo piano, as did Maurice Ravel as part of Le Tombeau de Couperin , Claude Debussy in his 'Suite: Pour le Piano' and York Bowen's Toccata Op. 155 . Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji wrote several toccatas for solo piano. The toccata form was of great importance in the French romantic organ school, something of which Jacques- Nicolas Lemmens laid the foundation with his Fanfare . Toccatas in this style usually consist of rapid chord progressions combined with a powerful tune (often played in the pedal). The most famous examples are the ending movement of Charles-Marie Widor's Symphony No. 5, and the "Finale" of Louis Vierne's Symphony No. 1 . More recently, John Rutter wrote Toccata in 7, so called because of its unusual time signature. Toccatas occasionally make appearances in works for full orchestra; a notable example is the final movement of the Eighth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams. The final movement of John Adams' Violin Concerto is also entitled "Toccare," a possible reference to the origins of the word toccata.

Literature. Robert Browning used the motif or concept of a toccata by Baldassare Galuppi to evoke thoughts of human transience in his poem "A Toccata of Galuppi's" (although Galuppi did not actually write any piece with the name 'Toccata') [Charles Van Den Borren, "Research regarding the fictional toccata by Galuppi of Browning's poem," The Musical Times , May 1, 1923, pp. 314–316].

Ground-level poison ivy in Perrot State Park, Trempealeau County, Wisconsin. Author: SWMNPoliSciProject, May 29, 2010.* uriushiol Act III, Signature xvii - (2)

Either of two North American species of white-fruited woody vinesor shrubs of the sumac, or cashew, family.

The species found in eastern North America ( Toxicodendron radicans ) is abundant; a western species, known as poison oak, is less common. Both species are sometimes classified as genus Rhus. A key identifier is leaves with three mitten-shaped leaflets. Contact with urushiol, an oil produced by the plant, can cause severe inflammation and blistering of human skin. Urushiol may be carried from the plant on clothing, shoes, tools, or soil; by animals; or by smoke from burning plants. Because urushiol is nonvolatile, a reaction may result from wearing clothing a year or more after its contact with the plant.

[*Image & caption and following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

Urushiol (pron.: /ʊʊruʊʊi.ʊl/) is an oily organic allergen found in plants of the family Anacardiaceae, especially Toxicodendron spp. (e.g., poison oak, poison ivy, poison sumac). In sensitive individuals, urushiol can cause an allergic skin rash on contact [Buck Tilton, Wilderness First Responder: How to Recognize, Treat, and Prevent Emergencies in the Backcountry (Globe Pequot, 2004)], known as urushiol-induced contact dermatitis. The name comes from the Japanese word for the tree Toxicodendron vernicifluum ( , urushi?)[ Oxford English Dictionary ]. The oxidation and polymerization of urushiol in the tree's sap in the presence of moisture allows it to form a hard lacquer, which is used to produce traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese lacquerware.

Characteristics. Urushiol is a pale-yellow liquid with specific gravity of 0.968 and a boiling point of 200 °C (392 °F). It is soluble in alcohol, ether, and benzene [ Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary , 14th Ed. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002), http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/knovel_content...]. Urushiol is a mixture of several closely related organic compounds. Each consists of a catechol substituted with an alkyl chain that has 15 or 17 carbon atoms. The alkyl group may be saturated or unsaturated. The exact composition of the mixture varies depending on the plant source. Whereas western poison oak urushiol contains chiefly catechols with C17 side-chains [C. Michael Hogan, "Western poison-oak: Toxicodendron diversilobum," Nicklas Stromberg, Ed., r GlobalTwitcher (2008), http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=82914], poison ivy and poison sumac contain mostly catechols with C15 side-chains. The likelihood and severity of allergic reaction to urushiol is dependent on the degree of unsaturation of the alkyl chain. Less than half of the general population reacts with the saturated urushiol alone, but over 90% react with urushiol containing at least two degrees of unsaturation (double bonds). Longer side chains tend to produce stronger reaction [McGovern, Tomas, Barkley, Theodore, "Review Botanical Dermatology," International Journal of Dermatology , Vol. 37 (1998), pp. 321-334]. This suggests that the allergic contact dermatitis is caused by Van der Waals forces [ibid].

Before urushiol has been absorbed by the skin it can be removed with soap and water. However, time is of great importance as 50% of urushiol can be absorbed within 10 minutes. Once urushiol has penetrated into the skin, attempting to remove with water is inefficient [ ibid ]. Once urushiol has been absorbed by the skin it is recognized by the immune system's dendritic cells called langerhans cells. These cells then migrate to lymph nodes where they present the urushiol to T-lymphocytes and thus recruit them to the skin. Once in the skin, the T-lymphocytes cause pathology by producing cytokines and cytotoxic damage to the skin [Gober, D. Michael, et al, "Human Natural Killer T Cells infiltrate into the Skin at Elicitation Sites of Allergic Contact Dermatitis," Journal of Investigative Dermatology , Vol. 128 (2008), pp. 1460-1469].

Urushiol is an oleoresin contained within the sap of poison ivy and related plants, and after injury to the plant or during late fall, the sap leaks to the surface of the plant where the urushiol becomes a blackish lacquer after contact with oxygen at a certain temperature and humidity [McGovern (1998);Robert L. Rietschel, Joseph F. Fowler, Alexander A. Fisher, Fisher's Contact Dermatitis (PMPH-USA, 2008), pp. 408–; Donald G. Barceloux, Medical Toxicology of Natural Substances: Foods, Fungi, Medicinal Herbs, Plants, and Venomous Animals (John Wiley and Sons, 2008), pp. 681–].

~ page 216 ~

Szechuan Act III, Signature xvii - (3)

Main Entry: Szech£uan

Variant: or Szech£wan \‚sech-ƒwän, ‚sesh-\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Szechwan or Szechuan (Sichuan), province in China

Date: 1956 : of, relating to, or being a style of Chinese cooking that is spicy, oily, and especially peppery.

Or Ssu-ch'uan

Conventional Szechwan. Province (pop., 2000 est.: 83,290,000), upper Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) valley, southwestern China. It is bordered by Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Hubei, Henan, Guizhou, and Yunnan provinces, Chongqing municipality, and Tibet. Second largest of China's provinces, it has an area of 210,800 sq mi (546,000 sq km) and encompasses the central depression called the Sichuan (or Red) Basin; its capital is Chengdu. It is one of China's most densely populated and ethnically diverse provinces. It was among the first areas to be settled by the Chinese in the 1st millennium BC. From the Zhou dynasty (1122–221BC) until the Song dynasty (AD 960–1279), it was administered through various political subdivisions. It was established as a province during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). During the Sino-Japanese War, it served as the seat (at Chongqing) of the Nationalist government; the Japanese never penetrated the area. It is China's leading producer of rice, corn, sweet potatoes, cattle, and pigs. The most industrialized province of southwestern China, it is a centre for coal mining, petroleum refining, and chemical production. Sichuan's spicy cuisine is renowned worldwide.

electronic bank Act III, Signature xvii - (4)

Use of computers and telecommunications to enable banking transactions to be done by telephone or computer rather than through human interaction. Its features include electronic funds transfer for retail purchases, automatic teller machines (ATMs), and automatic payroll deposits and bill payments. Some banks offer home banking, whereby a person with a personal computer can make transactions, either via a direct connection or by accessing a Web site. Electronic banking has vastly reduced the physical transfer of paper money and coinage from one place to another or even from one person to another.

[Following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

Online banking (or Internet banking or E-banking) allows customers of a financial institution to conduct financial transactions on a secure website operated by the institution, which can be a retail or virtual bank, credit union or building society.

To access a financial institution's online banking facility, a customer having personal Internet access must register with the institution for the service, and set up some password (under various names) for customer verification. The password for online banking is normally not the same as for telephone banking. Financial institutions now routinely allocate customer numbers (also under various names), whether or not customers intend to access their online banking facility. Customer numbers are normally not the same as account numbers, because a number of accounts can be linked to the one customer number. The customer will link to the customer number any of those accounts which the customer controls, which may be cheque, savings, loan, credit card and other accounts. Customer numbers will also not be the same as any debit or credit card issued by the financial institution to the customer.

To access online banking, the customer would go to the financial institution's website, and enter the online banking facility using the customer number and password. Some financial institutions have set up additional security steps for access, but there is no consistency to the approach adopted.

History. The precursor for the modern home online banking services were the distance banking services over electronic media from the early 1980s. The term online became popular in the late '80s and referred to the use of a terminal, keyboard and TV (or monitor) to access the banking system using a phone line. ‘Home banking’ can also refer to the use of a numeric keypad to send tones down a phone line with instructions to the bank. Online services started in New York in 1981 when four of the city’s major banks (Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Chemical and Manufacturers Hanover) offered home banking services [Cronin, Mary J., Banking and Finance on the Internet (John Wiley and Sons, 1997), p. 41; "The Home Banking Dilemma," http://www.atariarchives.org/deli/home_banking.php; "Computer Giants Giving a Major Boost to Increased Use of Corporate Videotex," Communications News (1984), http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CMN/is_n10_v21/ai_ 586601/pg_6?tag=artBody;col1] using the videotex system. Because of the commercial failure of videotex these banking services never became popular except in France where the use of videotex (Minitel) was subsidised by the telecom provider and the UK, where the Prestel system was used.

The UK's first home online banking services was set up by Bank of Scotland for customers of the Nottingham Building Society (NBS) in 1983. The system used was based on the UK's Prestel system and used a computer, such as the BBC Micro, or keyboard (Tandata Td1400) connected to the telephone system and television set. The system (known as 'Homelink') allowed on-line viewing of statements, bank transfers and bill payments. In order to make bank transfers and bill payments, a written instruction giving details of the intended recipient had to be sent to the NBS who set the details up on the Homelink system. Typical recipients were gas, electricity and telephone companies and accounts with other banks. Details of payments to be made were input into the NBS system by the account holder via Prestel. A cheque was then sent by NBS to the payee and an advice giving details of the payment was sent to the account holder. BACS was later used to transfer the payment directly.

Stanford Federal Credit Union was the first financial institution to offer online internet banking services to all of its members in October 1994 ["Stanford Federal Credit Union Pioneers Online Financial Services," June 21, 1995, http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Stanford+Federal+Credit+Union+Pioneers+Online+Financial+Services.- a017104850]. Today, many banks are internet only banks. Unlike their predecessors, these internet only banks do not maintain brick and mortar bank branches. Instead, they typically differentiate themselves by offering better interest rates and more extensive online banking features.

~ page 217 ~

Technicolor Act III, Signature xvii - (5)

Main Entry: Tech£ni£col£or

Pronunciation: ‚tek-ni-ƒk„-l„r

Function: trademark

— used for a process of color cinematography.

See also Act II, Signature xx - (21).

~ page 221 ~ Soldier of a German assault group with his Bergmann MP 18 and a Parabellum P08, Northern France, Spring 1918.* storm trooper Act III, Signature xvii - (10)

Main Entry: storm trooper

Function: noun

Date: 1933 1 : a member of a private Nazi army notorious for aggressiveness, violence,and brutality 2 : one that resembles a Nazi storm trooper.

*[Image & caption credit and following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

Stormtroopers (in German Sturmtruppen; the term "thrust troops," Stoßtruppen was also used) were specialist soldiers of the German Army in World War I. In the last years of the war, Stoßtruppen were trained to fight with "infiltration tactics," part of the Germans' new method of attack on enemy trenches. Men trained in these methods were known in Germany as Sturmmann (literally "storm man" but usually translated as "stormtrooper"), formed into companies of Sturmtruppen ("assault troops," more often and less exactly "storm troops"). The infiltration tactics of the stormtroopers are still in use today, in one form or another. Other armies have also used the term "assault troops," "shock troops," or fireteams for specialist soldiers who perform the infiltration tasks of stormtroopers.

Infiltration tactics were first formally proposed in the Allied armies by French Army captain Andre Laffargue [CSI Report No. 13: Tactical responses to concentrated artillery: Introduction (Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth), http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/resources/csi/csir_13/csir_13.as]. Laffargue published a pamphlet, "The attack in trench warfare," in 1915, based upon his experiences in combat that same year. He advocated that the first wave of an attack identify hard-to-defeat defenses but not attack them; subsequent waves would do this.

The French published his pamphlet "for information," but did not implement it. The British did not even translate it, but did gradually adopt the techniques, beginning with the Canadian Corps. The Germans, however, captured copies of the pamphlet in 1916, translating and issuing it to units [ ibid , Chap. 2], but by this point they already had their own, more sophisticated infiltration tactics. An experimental Pioneer assault unit founded by Major Calsow and later commanded and refined by Hauptmann Willy Rohr had been formed in the spring of 1915, over two months before Laffargue's pamphlet was published [Samuels, Martin, Doctrine and Dogma , passim; Samuels, Martin, Command or Control? Command, Training and Tactics in the British and German Armies, 1888-1918 (London: Frank Cass, 1995), pp. 100–101; Stormtroop Tactics , Appendix C and passim; Samuels (1995), p. 55]. The methods Rohr developed are the basis of all modern small-unit infantry tactics [Lt. Col. Thomas Kratman, U.S. Army, Ret., personal communication]. The Russian army first used storm tactics at a larger scale in June 1916 during the Brusilov Offensive with great success. But, due to the February Revolution in Russia, no further development of the tactics was carried out on the Russian side.

The British Army traditionally relied on superior rifle fire from its units; their men were expected to outshoot the enemy. Major N. R. McMahon, Chief Instructor at Hythe's Rifle School from 1905 to 1909 had suggested that the advent of machine guns (MGs) and automatic rifles, with vastly greater volume of fire, made these tactics obsolete. He argued this would be all the more apparent when armies were formed largely of partially trained troops, who would be unable to carry out complicated tactics or maintain high standards of marksmanship. His solution was to abandon the fire fight as a distinct phase of battle. McMahon recommended quick attack tactics by means of infiltration and rapid movement. In the existing British system, movement waited on fire. Thus, preliminary fire was usually a give-away. The enemy would recognize heavy fire as a prelude to movement, and thus be alerted.

Instead, soldiers should be trained to consider fire as a means to facilitate movement in progress. Movement would be a call for fire. McMahon advocated using combined arms in the attack, particularly light machine guns (some six light and two heavy MGs per battalion) using a decentralised fire control and tactical command system (known as Auftragstaktik in German). These methods, suggested in 1909, bore a strong resemblance to the Stoßtrupptaktik used by the Germans six years later [Samuels (1995)].

In February 1917, the British Army issued Manual SS 143, which prescribed infiltration tactics. Using them throughout 1917 the British perfected all-arms battle. The British made the platoon the basic tactical unit rather than the company as in 1916. The platoon was made up of four sections, Lewis Gun, rifle grenade, grenade and rifle. The new organisation allowed the platoon make best use of the trench fighting equipment that had arrived in adequate quantities since the beginning of the battle of the Somme. They were also supported by sophisticated artillery flash- spotting and sound-ranging, something the German Army never perfected and instead relied on the aural method with ever more accurate measuring devices. Some historians consider the British infiltration tactics more sophisticated than the German system [Griffith, Paddy, Battle Tactics of the Western Front: The British Army's Art of Attack, 1916-18 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), pp. 194–195]. The Grand Canal viewed from space in 2001 (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3? img_id=16580 ).* Grand Canal Act III, Signature xvii - (11)

Series of waterways in northern China that link Hangzhou with Beijing. Some 1,085 mi (1,747 km) in length, it is the world's longest man-made waterway. It was build to enable successive Chinese regimes to transport surplus grain from the agriculturally rich Yangtze (Chang) and Huairiver valleys to feed the capital cities and large standing armies in the north. The oldest portion, in the south, may date from the 4th century BC. Expanded over the centuries, it continues to be used today for shipping and irrigation.

*[Image & caption credit and following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

The Grand Canal (Italian: Canal Grande, Venetian: Canalasso) is a canal in Venice, Italy. It forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. Public transport is provided by water buses (Italian: vaporetti) and private water taxis, and many tourists explore the canal by gondola.

At one end, the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Lucia railway station and the other end leads into Saint Mark Basin; in between, it makes a large S-shape through the central districts (sestieri) of Venice. It is 3,800 m long, 30–90 m wide, with an average depth of five meters (16.5 ft).

The banks of the Grand Canal are lined with more than 170 buildings, most of which date from the 13th to the 18th century, and demonstrate the welfare and art created by the Republic of Venice. The noble Venetian families faced huge expenses to show off their richness in suitable palazzos; this contest reveals the citizens’ pride and the deep bond with the lagoon. Amongst the many are the Palazzi Barbaro, Ca' Rezzonico, Ca' d'Oro, Palazzo Dario, Ca' Foscari, Palazzo Barbarigo and to Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, housing the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. The churches along the canal include the basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. Centuries-old traditions, such as the Historical Regatta, are perpetuated every year along the Canal.

Because most of the city's traffic goes along the Canal rather than across it, only one bridge crossed the canal until the 19th century, the Rialto Bridge. There are currently three more bridges, the Ponte degli Scalzi, the Ponte dell'Accademia, and the recent, controversial Ponte della Costituzione, designed by Santiago Calatrava, connecting the train station to Piazzale Roma, one of the few places in Venice where buses and cars can enter. As was usual in the past, people can still take a ferry ride across the canal at several points by standing up on the deck of a simple gondola called a traghetto, although this service is less common than even a decade ago.

Most of the palaces emerge from water without pavement. Consequently, one can only tour past the fronts of the buildings on the grand canal by boat.

Zorro (/ʊzʊʊroʊ/; Spanish pronunciation: [ʊsoro] and [ʊθoro]) is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York–based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. Zorro Act III, Signature xvii - (12)

See also Zorilla, José. born Feb. 21, 1817, Valladolid, Spain

died Jan. 23, 1893, Madrid

Spanish poet and dramatist. Zorrilla first gained notice in 1837 with his recitation of an elegy at the funeral of the satirist Mariano José de Larra. The major figure of the nationalist wing of the Spanish Romantic movement, he made his name with verse leyendas (“legends”) about remote times and places, notably in Cantos del trovador (1841). His greatest success was Don Juan Tenorio (1844), the most popular play of 19th-century Spain. His works are considered quintessentially Spanish in style and tone. In 1889 he was crowned the national poet.

*[Image & caption credit and following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media. Zorro (Spanish for "fox") is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega, a Californio nobleman and master living in the Spanish colonial era. The character has undergone changes through the years, but the typical image of him is a dashing black- clad masked outlaw who defends the people of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains. Not only is he too cunning and foxlike for the bumbling authorities to catch, but he delights in publicly humiliating them.

Publishing history. Zorro debuted in McCulley's 1919 story "The Curse of Capistrano," serialized in five parts in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly [All-Story Weekly Vol. 100: 2 (August 9, 1919), 101: 2 (September 6, 1919)]. At the denouement, Zorro's true identity is revealed to all.

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, on their honeymoon, selected the story as the inaugural picture for their new studio, United Artists, beginning the character's cinematic tradition. The story was adapted as the film The Mark of Zorro (1920), which was a commercial success. McCulley's story was re-released by publisher Grosset & Dunlap under the same title, to tie in with the film.

In response to public demand fueled by the film, McCulley wrote more than 60 more Zorro stories, beginning in 1922. The last, "The Mask of Zorro" (not to be confused with the 1998 film), was published posthumously in 1959. These stories ignore Zorro's public revelation of his identity. McCulley died in 1958, just as the Disney-produced Zorro television show was becoming popular.

Inspirations. The historical figure most often associated with the Zorro character is Joaquin Murrieta, whose life was fictionalized in an 1854 dime novel by John Rollin Ridge. In the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro Murrieta's (fictional) brother succeeds Diego as Zorro. As a hero with a secret identity who taunts his foes by signing his deeds, Zorro finds a direct literary predecessor in Sir Percival Blakeney, hero of the Scarlet Pimpernel pulp series by Baroness Emmuska Orczy.

The character recalls other figures, such as Robin Hood, Reynard the Fox, Salomon Pico, Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza, and Tiburcio Vasquez. Another possible historical inspiration is William Lamport, an Irish soldier who lived in Mexico in the 17th century. His life was the subject of a fictional book by Vicente Riva Palacio; The Irish Zorro (2004) is a recent biography. Another is Estanislao, a Yokuts Indian who led a revolt against the Mission San Jose in 1827.

The 1890s penny dreadful treatment of the Spring Heeled Jack character as a masked avenger may have inspired some aspects of Zorro's heroic persona. Spring Heeled Jack was portrayed as a nobleman who created a flamboyant, masked alter ego to fight injustice, frequently demonstrated exceptional athletic and combative skills, maintained a hidden lair and was known to carve the letter "S" into walls with his rapier as a calling card.

Like Sir Percy in The Scarlet Pimpernel , Don Diego avoids suspicion by playing the role of a dandy who wears lace, writes poetry, and shuns violence. The all-black Fairbanks film costume, which with variations has remained the standard costume for the character, was likely adapted from the Arrow serial film character The Masked Rider (1919). This character was the first Mexican black-clad masked rider on a black horse to appear on the silver screen. Fairbanks's costume in The Mark of Zorro , released the following year, resembled that of the Rider with only slight differences in the mask and hat. Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), circa 1918, in New York. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.28258. * S. Prokofiev Act III, Signature xvii - (13) born April 23, 1891, Sontsovka, Ukraine, Russian Empire

died March 5, 1953, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.

Russian composer and pianist. Son of a pianist, he began writing piano pieces at age five and wrote an opera at nine. He studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (1904–14) with Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov and others. Prolific and arrogant, from 1910 he made a living by performing asa virtuoso. He played his own first concerto at his graduation recital. During World War I he wrote his Scythian Suite (1915) and First (“Classical”) Symphony (1917). His opera The Love for Three Oranges premiered in 1921 in Chicago. Paris was his base from 1922, and during the 1920s he produced three new symphonies and the operas The Fiery Angel (1927) and The Gambler (1928). In the 1930s he was drawn back to his homeland; there he wrote the score for the ballet Romeo and Juliet (1936), the symphonic children's tale Peter and the Wolf (1936), and striking national music for Sergey Eisenstein's film Alexander Nevsky (1938). World War II inspired the score to Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible (1942–45) and the opera War and Peace (1943). The government's denunciation of his work in 1948 was a harsh blow; his health failed, and he died on the same day as Joseph Stalin.

*[Image & caption credit and following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (pron.: /prəʊkʊfiʊv/; Russian: Сергей Сергеевич Прокофьев; 23 April 1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His best-known works are the five piano concertos, nine completed piano sonatas and seven symphonies. Besides many other works, Prokofiev also composed family favourites, such as the March from The Love for Three Oranges , the suite Lieutenant Kijé, the ballet Romeo and Juliet – from which "Dance of the Knights" is taken – and Peter and the Wolf .

A graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatory, Prokofiev initially made his name as an iconoclastic composer-pianist, achieving notoriety with a series of ferociously dissonant and virtuosic works for his instrument and his first two piano concertos. Prokofiev's first major success breaking out of the composer-pianist mould was with his purely orchestral Scythian Suite , compiled from music originally composed for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes; Diaghilev commissioned three further ballets from Prokofiev – Chout , Le pas d'acier and The Prodigal Son – which at the time of their original production were all highly successful. Prokofiev's greatest interest, however, was opera, and he composed several works in that genre, including The Gambler and The Fiery Angel . Prokofiev's one relative success in that genre during his lifetime was The Love for Three Oranges , composed for Chicago and subsequently performed over the following decade in Europe and Russia.

After the Revolution, Prokofiev left Russia with the official blessing of the Soviet minister Anatoly Lunacharsky, and he lived in the United States, then Germany, then Paris, during which time he married a Spanish singer, Carolina Codina, with whom he had two sons. Because of the increasing economic deprivation of Europe, Prokofiev returned to Russia in 1936. He enjoyed some success there – notably with Lieutenant Kijé , Peter and the Wolf , Romeo and Juliet , and perhaps above all with Alexander Nevsky . The Nazi invasion of the USSR spurred him to compose his most ambitious work, an operatic version of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace . In 1948 Prokofiev was criticized for "anti-democratic formalism," and with his income severely curtailed was forced to compose Stalinist works such as On Guard for Peace . However, he also enjoyed personal and artistic support from a new generation of Russian performers, notably Sviatoslav Richter and Mstislav Rostropovich and for the latter he composed his Symphony- Concerto .

Post-humous Reputation. Prokofiev may well be the most popular composer of 20th century music [Morrison, Simon, The People's Artist: Prokofiev's Soviet Years (Oxford, 2008)]. His orchestral music alone is played more frequently in the United States than that of any other composer of the last hundred years, save Richard Strauss [American Symphony Orchestra League], while his operas, ballets, chamber works, and piano music appear regularly throughout the major concert halls world-wide.

Yet he has never won the same degree of admiration from Western academics and critics currently enjoyed by Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg, composers purported to have a greater influence on a younger generation of musicians [Dorothea Redepenning, Grove Music Online (teritiary source)]. Even though his Symphony No. 1, Op. 25, "Classical" was composed some 4–5 years before such works as Stravinsky's Pulcinella , some contend that "the [neo-classical] movement started in earnest with Stravinsky [Michael Kennedy, Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music (Oxford, 2007), p. 526 (teritary source)]," or even cite the influence of Stravinsky's neo-classicism on Prokofiev [Smith, S., "Prokofiev and the Spirit of Paris," New York Times , March 20, 2009].

Nor has Prokofiev's biography captured the imagination of the public, in the way that Shostakovich appeared, for example, in sources such as Volkov's Testimony , as an impassioned dissident. Whilst Arthur Honegger proclaimed that Prokofiev would "remain for us the greatest figure of contemporary music [Nestyev, Israel, Prokofiev , Florence Jonas, trans. (Stanford University Press, 1961), p. 439]," his reputation in the West has suffered greatly as a result of cold-war antipathies [Robinson, H., "A Tale of Three Cities: Petrograd, Paris, Moscow." Lecture at Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, Lincoln Center, New York, NY, March 24, 2009].

But Prokofiev's music and his reputation stand well-positioned to benefit from the demise of cultural politics [Randel, D. M., Ed., The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Cambridge, 2003)]. His fusion of melody and modernism and his "gift, virtually unparalleled among 20th-century composers, for writing distinctively original diatonic melodies [Taruskin, R., in New Grove Dictionary of Opera , Sadie, S., Ed. (Oxford, 2004)]," have led to a reassessment of his work. Fitzgerald, F. Scott Fitzgerald, F Scott Act III, Signature xvii - (14) born Sept. 24, 1896, St. Paul, Minn., U.S.

died Dec. 21, 1940, Hollywood, Calif.

U.S. novelist and short-story writer. Fitzgerald attended Princeton University but dropped out with bad grades. In 1920 he married Zelda Sayre (1900–48), daughter of a respected Alabama judge. His works, including the early novels This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922) and the story collections Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) and All the Sad Young Men (1926), capture the Jazz Age's vulgarity and dazzling promise. His brilliant The Great Gatsby (1925; film, 1926, 1949, 1974; TV movie 2001), a story of American wealth and corruption, was eventually acclaimed one of the century's greatest novels. In 1924 Scott and Zelda became part of the expatriate community on the French Riviera, the setting of Tender Is the Night (1934; film, 1962). His fame and prosperity proved disorienting to them both, and he became seriously alcoholic. Zelda never fully recovered from a mental breakdown in 1932 and spent most of her remaining years in a sanitarium. In 1937 Scott moved to Hollywood to write film scripts; the experience inspired the unfinished The Last Tycoon (1941; film, 1976). He died of a heart attack at age 44.

[Following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. Generally considered author Fitzgerald's magnum opus and best-known work, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz Age that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream [Hoover, Bob, "' The Great Gatsby ' still challenges myth of American Dream," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , May 10, 2013, http://www.post- gazette.com/stories/ae/movies/great-gatsby-still-challenges-m yth-of-american-dream-687050/].

Fitzgerald, inspired by the parties he had attended while visiting Long Island's north shore, began planning the novel in 1923 desiring to produce, in his words, "something new — something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned." Progress was slow, however, and Fitzgerald completed his first draft following a move to the French Riviera in 1924. His editor, Maxwell Perkins, felt the book was too vague and convinced the author to revise over the next winter. Fitzgerald was ambivalent about the book's title, at various times wishing to re-title the novel Trimalchio in West Egg.

First published by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews and sold poorly; in its first year, the book only sold 20,000 copies. Fitzgerald died in 1940, believing himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. His work, spearheaded by The Great Gatsby , experienced a revival during World War II, and the novel became a part of high school curriculum in the following decades. The book has remained popular since, leading to numerous stage and film adaptations. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary classic and a contender for the title "Great American Novel." The book is consistently ranked among the greatest works of American literature and of all-time.

Gnomon situated on the wall of a building facing Tiradentes Square, Curitiba. Photo by Rodrigomorante, July 14, 2009.* gnomon Act III, Signature xvii - (15)

Main Entry: gno£mon

Pronunciation: ‚n‹-m„n, -ƒmän

Function: noun

Etymology: Latin, from Greek gn‹m‹n interpreter, pointer on a sundial, from gign ‹skein

Date: 1546 1 : an object that by the position or length of its shadow serves as an indicator especially of the hour of the day: as a : the pin of a sundial b : a column or shaft erected perpendicular to the horizon 2 : the remainder of a parallelogram after the removal of a similar parallelogram containing one of its corners.

*[Image & caption credit and following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

The gnomon is the part of a sundial that casts the shadow. Gnomon (γνώµων) is an ancient Greek word meaning "indicator," "one who discerns," or "that which reveals." It has come to be used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields.

Anaximander (610–546 BC) is credited with introducing this Babylonian instrument to the Greeks [Laertius, Diogenes, Life of Anaximander , http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes /dlanaximander.htm]. Oenopides used the phrase drawn gnomon-wise to describe a line drawn perpendicular to another [Heath, Thomas Little, A History of Greek Mathematics (Dover Publications, 1981 [1921]), pp. 78-79]. Later, the term was used for an L-shaped instrument like a steel square used to draw right angles.

In the northern hemisphere, the shadow-casting edge is normally oriented so that it points north and is parallel to the rotation axis of the Earth. That is, it is inclined to the horizontal at an angle that equals the latitude of the sundial's location. At present, such a gnomon should thus point almost precisely at Polaris, as this is within a degree of the North celestial pole.

On some sundials, the gnomon is vertical. These were usually used in former times for observing the altitude of the Sun, especially when on the meridian. The style is the part of the gnomon that casts the shadow. This can change as the sun moves. For example, the upper west edge of the gnomon might be the style in the morning and the upper east edge might be the style in the afternoon.

The art of constructing a gnomon sundial is sometimes termed gnomonics. One so skilled would be referred to as a gnomonist.

~ page 222 ~

Althaea officinalis (marshmallow, marsh mallow, or common marshmallow) is a species indigenous to Africa, which is used as a medicinal plant and ornamental plant. Author: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (1897), http://pharm1.pharmazie.uni-greifswald.de/allgemei/koehler/koeh-eng.htm.* marshmallow Act III, Signature xvii - (16)

Perennial herbaceous plant ( Althaea officinalis ) of the mallow family, native to eastern Europe and northern Africa and naturalized in North America.

Found usually in marshy areas near the sea, the marsh mallow has strongly veined, heart-shaped or oval leaves and pinkish flowersborne on stalks about 6 ft (1.8 m) tall. The root was formerly processed to make marshmallows.

*[Image & caption credit & following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

Description. The stems, which die down in the autumn, are erect, 3 to 4 ft (0.91 to 1.2 m), simple, or putting out only a few lateral branches. The leaves, shortly petioled, are roundish, ovate-cordate, 2 to 3 in (51 to 76 mm) long, and about 1¼ inch broad, entire or three to five lobed, irregularly toothed at the margin, and thick. They are soft and velvety on both sides, due to a dense covering of stellate hairs. The flowers are shaped like those of the common mallow, but are smaller and of a pale colour, and are either axillary, or in panicles, more often the latter. The stamens are united into a tube, the anthers, kidney-shaped and one-celled. The flowers are in bloom during August and September, and are followed, as in other species of this order, by the flat, round fruit which are popularly called 'cheeses.'

The common mallow is frequently called by country people 'marsh mallow,' but the true marsh mallow is distinguished from all the other mallows growing in Great Britain, by the numerous divisions of the outer calyx (six to nine cleft), by the hoary down which thickly clothes the stems and foliage, and by the numerous panicles of blush- coloured flowers, paler than the common mallow. The roots are perennial, thick, long and tapering, very tough and pliant, whitish yellow outside, white and fibrous within.

The entire plant, particularly the root, abounds with a mild mucilage, which is emollient to a much greater degree than the common mallow [citation needed]. The generic name, Althaea, is derived from the Greek "ʊλθειν" (to cure), from its healing properties. The name of the family, Malvaceae, is derived from the Greek "µαλακός" (soft; Latin "mollis"), from the special qualities of the mallows in softening and healing.

Most of the mallows have been used as food, and are mentioned by early classic writers with this connection. Mallow was an esculent (edible) vegetable among the Romans; a dish of marsh mallow was one of their delicacies. Prosper Alpinus stated in 1592 that a plant of the mallow kind was eaten by the Egyptians. Many of the poorer inhabitants of Syria subsist for weeks on herbs, of which marsh mallow is one of the most common. When boiled first and fried with onions and butter, the roots are said to form a palatable dish, and in times of scarcity consequent upon the failure of the crops, this plant, which fortunately grows there in great abundance, is collected heavily as a foodstuff.

Traditional Uses. The leaves, flowers and the root of A. officinalis (marshmallow) all have medicinal properties. These are reflected in the name of the genus, which comes from the Greek ʊλθειν (althein), meaning "to heal [Gualtiero Simonetti, in Stanley Schuler, Simon & Schuster's Guide to Herbs and Spices (Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1990)]." In traditional Chinese medicine, Althaea officinalis is known as (pinyin : yàoshǔkuí). Holistic sources attribute its ability to increase the flow of breast milk and soothe the bronchial tubes ["Marshmallow Remedies," Gaia Garden Herbals , December 11, 2008, http://www.gaiagarden.com/products/marshmallow/ ].

Marshmallow is traditionally used as a treatment for the irritation of mucous membranes, including use as a gargle for mouth and throat ulcers, and gastric ulcers [John S. Williamson & Christy M. Wyandt, Herbal Therapies: The Facts and the Fiction (1997), http://research.rmutp.ac.th/paper/cu/Herbal%20Therapy.pdf]. A study on rats concluded that an extract from the flowers has potential benefits for hyperlipidemia, gastric ulcers and platelet aggregation [Hage-Sleiman, R., Mroueh, M., Daher, C. F., "Pharmacological evaluation of aqueous extract of Althaea officinalis flower grown in Lebanon," Pharmaceutical biology 49 (3): 327–33 (2011), doi:10.3109/13880209.2010.516754. PMID 21281251, http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff /84/8416marshmallows.html]. The root has been used since the Middle Ages in the treatment of sore throat [Petkewich, Rachel, "What's that stuff? Marshmallow," Chemical & Engineering News 84 (16): 41 (2006), doi:10.1021/cen-v084n011.p041].

The root extract (halawa extract) is sometimes used as flavouring in the making of a Middle Eastern snack called halva. The flowers and young leaves can be eaten, and are often added to salads or are boiled and fried.

The later French version of the recipe, called pâte de guimauve (or "guimauve" for short), included an eggwhite meringue and was often flavored with rose water. Pâte de guimauve more closely resembles contemporary commercially available marshmallows, which no longer contain any actual marshmallow. See also Rani, S.; Khan, S. A.; Ali, M., "Phytochemical investigation of the seeds of Althea officinalis L.," Natural Product Research 24 (14): 1358–1364 (2010), doi:10.1080/14786411003650777. PMID 20803381.

Yellow Serinus hybrid. Photo by Quadell, February 25, 2005.* canaries Act III, Signature xvii - (17)

Popular cage bird ( Serinus canaria ; in the goldfinch family, Carduelidae) that owes its coloration and sustainedvocal powers to 400 years of selective breeding.

Varieties called rollers trill almost continuously; choppers have a loud trill of distinct notes. Well-known breeds include Hartz Mountain, Norwich, and Yorkshire. The average life span ofa caged canary is 10–15 years. The canary is native to the Canary, Azores, and Madeira islands. The wild form is streak-backed and mostly greenish brown.

*[Image & caption credit & following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

The Atlantic Canary ( Serinus canaria ) is known worldwide simply as wild Canary. It is also called the Island Canary, Canary or Common Canary, is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus Serinus in the finch family, Fringillidae. It is native to the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira. Wild birds are mostly yellow-green, with brownish streaking on the back. The species is common in captivity and a number of colour varieties have been bred. This bird is the natural symbol of the Canary Islands, together with the Canary Island Date Palm [Ley, de 30 de abril, de símbolos de la naturaleza para las Islas Canarias (July 1991), http://www.gobcan.es/boc/1991/061/001.html].

Description. The wild Atlantic Canary can range from 10 to 14 cm (3.9 to 5.5 in) in length, with a wingspan of 20 to 23 cm (7.9 to 9.1 in) and a weight of 8.4 to 24.3 g (0.30 to 0.86 oz), with an average of around 15 g (0.53 oz) [Snow, D. W. & Perrins, C. M., The Birds of the Western Palearctic , Concise Ed. (Oxford University Press, 1998); Clement, P., Harris, A., & and Davis, J., Finches and Sparrows (Helm, 1993); http://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php; http://birds.about.com/od/breedsofbirds/p/canaries.htm; http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org /content/16/1/2.full.pdf; John B. Dunning, Jr., Ed., CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses (CRC Press, 1992); Peter Clement, Finches and Sparrows (Princeton University Press, 1999)].

The male has a largely yellow-green head and underparts with a yellower forehead, face and supercilium [Clement, P., Harris, A., & and Davis, J., Finches and Sparrows (Helm, 1993)]. The lower belly and undertail-coverts are whitish and there are some dark streaks on the sides. The upperparts are grey-green with dark streaks and the rump is dull yellow [Tony Clarke, Chris Orgill & Tony Dudley, Field Guide to the Birds of the Atlantic Islands (London: Christopher Helm, 2006)]. The female is similar to the male but duller with a greyer head and breast and less yellow underparts. Juvenile birds are largely brown with dark streaks.

It [clarification needed] is about 10% larger, longer and less contrasted than its relative the serin, and has more grey and brown in its plumage and relatively shorter wings [Snow (1998)]. The song is a silvery twittering similar to the songs of the serin and citril finch [ ibid ; Clement (1993)]. The hybridization with White-Rumped Seedeater has been obtained by Antonio Arnaiz-Villena et al [Arnaiz-Villena, A., Ruiz, V., Rodríguez, C., "El Cantor de África y sus híbridos," Revista Pájaros 23/24: 109–112 (1995), http://chopo.pntic.mec.es/biolmol /publicaciones/CantorAfrica.pdf].

~ page 223 ~

Satellite image of the intense nor'easter responsible for the North American blizzard of 2006. Note the hurricane-like eye at the center (NOAA GOES-12 February 12, 2006).* nor'easter Act III, Signature xvii - (18) *[Image & caption credit and following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

"Nor'easter" usage and origins. The term "nor'easter" comes to American English by way of British English. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the first recorded use in the English language of the term "nore" ("north") in association with the points of the compass and wind direction is by Dekker in 1612 ("How blowes the winde Syr?" "Wynde! is Nore-Nore-West"), with similar uses occurring in 1688 ("... Nore and Nore- West ...") and in 1718 ("... Nore-west or Nore-nore-west"). These recorded uses are predated by use of the term "noreast," first recorded as used by Davis in 1594 ("Noreast by North raiseth a degree in sayling 24 leagues") and shown, for instance, on a compass card published in 1607. Thus, the manner of pronouncing from memory the 32 points of the compass, known in maritime training as "boxing the compass," is described by Ansted [Ansted, A Dictionary of Sea Terms (Glasgow: Brown Son & Ferguson, 1933)] with pronunciations "Nor'east (or west)," "Nor' Nor'-east (or west)," "Nor'east b' east (or west)," and so forth. According to the OED, the first recorded use of the term "nor'easter" occurs in 1836 in a translation of Aristophanes. The term "nor'easter" naturally developed from the historical spellings and pronunciations of the compass points and the direction of wind or sailing.

As noted in a January 2006 editorial by William Sisson, editor of Soundings magazine [http://www.soundingsonline.com], use of "nor'easter" to describe the storm system is common along the U.S. East Coast. Yet, it has been asserted by linguist Mark Liberman (see below) that "nor'easter" as a contraction for "northeaster" has no basis in regional New England dialect and is a "fake" word, which is a parochial view that neglects the little-known etymology and the historical maritime usage described above. Nineteenth century Down East mariners pronounced the compass point "north northeast" as "no'nuth-east," and so on [citation needed]. For decades, Edgar Comee, of Brunswick, Maine, waged a determined battle against use of the term "nor’Easter" by the press, which usage he considered “a pretentious and altogether lamentable affectation” and "the odious, even loathsome, practice of landlubbers who would be seen as salty as the sea itself." His efforts, which included mailing hundreds of postcards, were profiled, just before his death at the age of 88, in The New Yorker ["Talk of the Town," The New Yorker , September 5, 2005].

Despite the efforts of Comee and others, use of the term continues by the press. According to Boston Globe writer Jan Freeman, "from 1975 to 1980, journalists used the nor'easter spelling only once in five mentions of such storms; in the past year (2003), more than 80 percent of northeasters were spelled nor'easter [Jan Freeman, "The Word," The Boston Globe , December 21, 2003]."

University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor Mark Liberman has pointed out that while the OED cites examples dating back to 1837, they represent the contributions of a handful of non-New England poets and writers. Liberman posits that "nor’Easter" may have originally been a literary affectation, akin to "e'en" for "even" and "th'only" for "the only," which is an indication in spelling that two syllables count for only one position in metered verse, with no implications for actual pronunciation [Mark Liberman, "Nor'easter considered fake," Language Log , January 25, 2004].

However, despite these assertions the term can be found in the writings of New Englanders going back at least to the 19th century. Thomas Bailey Aldrich, writing in his semi-autobiographical work The Story of the Bad Boy (1870): "We had had several slight flurries of hail and snow before, but this was a regular nor'easter [Multi-Community Environmental Storm Observatory, "Nor'easters" (2006), http://www.mcwar.org/NorEasters.pdf]." In "The Gray Goth" (1869) Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward wrote "... and there was snow in the sky now, setting in for a regular nor'easter [http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a1735.pdf]." Usage existed into the 20th century in the form of current event description ("In spite of a heavy "nor'easter," the worst that has visited the New England coast in years, the hall was crowded [ Charities and the Commons: A Weekly Journal of Philanthropy and Social Advance . Publication Committee of the New York Charity Organization Society (1908)])", historical reference ("in December of 1778, the Federal Brig. General Arnold, Magee master and twelve Barnstable men among the crew, drove ashore on the Plymouth flats during a furious nor'easter, the "Magee storm" that mariners, for years after, used as a date to reckon from (1917) [Weather Channel, "Nor'easters" (2007), http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/winter/noreast.html])" and ("common contraction for northeaster (1959) [Ansted, A Dictionary of Sea Terms (Glasgow: Brown Son & Ferguson, 1933)]" & "During this battle, the dreaded, disagreeable and destructive Northeaster rages over the New England, the Middle States, and southward. No Nor'easter ever occurs except when there is a high barometer headed off and driven down upon Nova Scotia and Lower Canada (1878)[http://www.soundingsonline.com])."

~ page 224 ~ Walt Whitman, photograph by Mathew Brady.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Whitman, Walt Act III, Signature xvii - (19) born May 31, 1819, West Hills, Long Island, N.Y., U.S.

died March 26, 1892, Camden, N.J.

U.S. poet, journalist, and essayist. Whitman lived in Brooklyn as a boy and left school at age 12. He went on to hold a great variety of jobs, including writing and editing for periodicals. His revolutionary poetry dealt with extremely private experiences (including sexuality) while celebrating the collective experience of an idealized democratic American life. His Leaves of Grass (1st ed., 1855), revised and much expanded in successive editions that incorporated his subsequent poetry, was too frank and unconventional to win wide acceptance in its day, but it was hailed by figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and exerted a strong influence on American and foreign literature. Written without rhyme or traditional metre, poems such as I Sing the Body Electric and Song of Myself assert the beauty of the human body, physical health, and sexuality; later editions included Crossing Brooklyn Ferry , Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking , and the elegies on Abraham Lincoln, O Captain! My Captain! and When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd . Whitman served as a volunteer in Washington hospitals during the Civil War. The prose Democratic Vistas (1871) and Specimen Days & Collect (1882–83) drew on his wartime experiences and subsequent reflections. His powerful influence in the 20th century can be seen in the work of poets as diverse as Pablo Neruda, Fernando Pessoa, and Allen Ginsberg.

[Following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

Walter "Walt" Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse [Reynolds, David S., Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography (New York: Vintage Books, 1995), p. 314]. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass , which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.

Born on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and—in addition to publishing his poetry—was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans (1842). Whitman's major work, Leaves of Grass , was first published in 1855 with his own money. The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892. After a stroke towards the end of his life, he moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. He died at age 72 and his funeral became a public spectacle [Loving, Jerome, Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself (University of California Press, 1999), p. 480; Reynolds (1995), p. 589].

Whitman's sexuality is often discussed alongside his poetry. Though biographers continue to debate his sexuality, he is usually described as either homosexual or bisexual in his feelings and attractions. However, there is disagreement among biographers as to whether Whitman had actual sexual experiences with men [Loving (1999), p. 19]. Whitman was concerned with politics throughout his life. He supported the Wilmot Proviso and opposed the extension of slavery generally. His poetry presented an egalitarian view of the races, and at one point he called for the abolition of slavery, but later he saw the abolitionist movement as a threat to democracy ["The Walt Whitman Encyclopedia," http://www.whitmanarchive.org /criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_51.html].

Writing. Whitman's work breaks the boundaries of poetic form and is generally prose-like [Reynolds (1995), p. 314]. He also used unusual images and symbols in his poetry, including rotting leaves, tufts of straw, and debris [Kaplan, Justin, Walt Whitman: A Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979), p. 233]. He also openly wrote about death and sexuality, including prostitution [Loving (1999), p. 314]. He is often labeled as the father of free verse, though he did not invent it [Reynolds (1995), p. 314].

Poetic theory. Whitman wrote in the preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass , "The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it." He believed there was a vital, symbiotic relationship between the poet and society [Reynolds (1995), p. 5]. This connection was emphasized especially in "Song of Myself" by using an all-powerful first-person narration [Reynolds (1995), p. 324]. As an American epic, it deviated from the historic use of an elevated hero and instead assumed the identity of the common people [Miller, James E., Jr., Walt Whitman (New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1962), p. 78]. Leaves of Grass also responded to the impact that recent urbanization in the United States had on the masses [Reynolds (1995), p. 332].

Robert Frost, 1954.

Ruohomaa—Black Star Frost, Robert Act III, Signature xvii - (20) born March 26, 1874, San Francisco, Calif., U.S. died Jan. 29, 1963, Boston, Mass.

U.S. poet. Frost's family moved to New England early in his life. After stints at Dartmouth College and Harvard University and a difficult period as a teacher and farmer, he moved to England and published his first collections, A Boy's Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914). At the outbreak of war he returned to New England. He closely observed rural life and in his poetry endowed it with universal, even metaphysical, meaning, using colloquial language, familiar rhythms, and common symbols to express both its pastoral ideals and its dark complexities. His collections include New Hampshire (1923, Pulitzer Prize), Collected Poems (1930, Pulitzer Prize), A Further Range (1936, Pulitzer Prize), and A Witness Tree (1942, Pulitzer Prize). He was unique among American poets of the 20th century in simultaneously achieving wide popularity and deep critical admiration. Many of his poems, including Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening , Birches , The Death of the Hired Man , Dust of Snow , Fire and Ice , and Home Burial , are widely anthologized.

[Following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

Style and critical response. The poet/critic Randall Jarrell often praised Frost's poetry and wrote, "Robert Frost, along with Stevens and Eliot, seems to me the greatest of the American poets of this century. Frost's virtues are extraordinary. No other living poet has written so well about the actions of ordinary men; his wonderful dramatic monologues or dramatic scenes come out of a knowledge of people that few poets have had, and they are written in a verse that uses, sometimes with absolute mastery, the rhythms of actual speech." He also praised "Frost's seriousness and honesty," stating that Frost was particularly skilled at representing a wide range of human experience in his poems [Jarrell, Randall, "Fifty Years of American Poetry," No Other Book: Selected Essays (New York: HarperCollins, 1999)].

Jarrell's notable and influential essays on Frost include the essays "Robert Frost's 'Home Burial'" (1962), which consisted of an extended close reading of that particular poem, and "To The Laodiceans" (1952) in which Jarrell defended Frost against critics who had accused Frost of being too "traditional" and out of touch with Modern or Modernist poetry.

In Frost's defense, Jarrell wrote "the regular ways of looking at Frost's poetry are grotesque simplifications, distortions, falsifications--coming to know his poetry well ought to be enough, in itself, to dispel any of them, and to make plain the necessity of finding some other way of talking about his work." And Jarrell's close readings of poems like "Neither Out Too Far Nor In Too Deep" led readers and critics to perceive more of the complexities in Frost's poetry ["To The Laodiceans," in Jarrell (1999); "Robert Frost's 'Home Burial,'" in Jarrell (1999)].

In an introduction to Jarrell's book of essays, Brad Leithauser notes that, "the 'other' Frost that Jarrell discerned behind the genial, homespun New England rustic—the 'dark' Frost who was desperate, frightened, and brave—has become the Frost we've all learned to recognize, and the little-known poems Jarrell singled out as central to the Frost cannon are now to be found in most anthologies [Leithauser, Brad, "Introduction," in Jarrell (1999); Nelson, Cary, Anthology of Modern American Poetry (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 84]."

Jarrell lists a selection of the Frost poems he considers the most masterful, including "The Witch of Coös," "Home Burial," "A Servant to Servants," "Directive," "Neither Out Too Far Nor In Too Deep," "Provide, Provide," "Acquainted with the Night," "After Apple Picking," "Mending Wall," "The Most of It," "An Old Man's Winter Night," "To Earthward," "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening," "Spring Pools," "The Lovely Shall Be Choosers," "Design," [and] "Desert Places ["Fifty Years of American Poetry," in Jarrell (1999)]."

In 2003, the critic Charles McGrath noted that critical views on Frost's poetry have changed over the years (as has his public image). In an article called "The Vicissitudes of Literary Reputation," McGrath wrote, "Robert Frost... at the time of his death in 1963 was generally considered to be a New England folkie... [i]n 1977, the third volume of Lawrence Thompson's biography suggested that Frost was a much nastier piece of work than anyone had imagined; a few years later, thanks to the reappraisal of critics like William H. Pritchard and Harold Bloom and of younger poets like Joseph Brodsky, he bounced back again, this time as a bleak and unforgiving modernist [McGrath, Charles, "The Vicissitudes of Literary Reputation," The New York Times Magazine , June 15, 2003]."

In The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry , editors Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair compared and contrasted Frost's unique style to the work of the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson since they both frequently used New England settings for their poems. However, they state that Frost's poetry was "less [consciously] literary" and that this was possibly due to the influence of English and Irish writers like Thomas Hardy and W. B. Yeats. They note that Frost's poems "show a successful striving for utter colloquialism" and always try to remain down to earth, while at the same time using traditional forms despite the trend of American poetry towards free verse which Frost famously said was "'like playing tennis without a net [Ellman, Richard and Robert O'Clair, The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry , Second Edition (New York: Norton, 1988)].'"

In providing an overview of Frost's style, the Poetry Foundation makes the same point, placing Frost's work "at the crossroads of nineteenth-century American poetry [with regard to his use of traditional forms] and modernism [with his use of idiomatic language and ordinary, every day subject matter]." They also note that Frost believed that "the self-imposed restrictions of meter in form" was more helpful than harmful because he could focus on the content of his poems instead of concerning himself with creating "innovative" new verse forms [Poetry Foundation Website, "Robert Frost," http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/robert-frost].

Photograph of President Truman signing the document implementing the North Atlantic Treaty at his desk in the Oval Office, as a number of dignitaries look on (left to right): Sir Derick Boyer Millar, Charge d'Affaires, United Kingdom; Ambassador Henrik de Kauffmann of Denmark; W. D. Matthews, Charge d'Affaires, Canada; Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson; Ambassador Wilhelm Munthe de Morgenstierne of Norway; Ambassador Henri Bonnet of France; Ambassador Pedro Theotonio Pereira of Portugal; Secretary of State Dean Acheson; Jonkheer O. Reuchlin, Charge d'Affaires, the Netherlands; and Mario Lucielli, Charge d'Affaires, Italy. Date 24 August 1949.* NATO Act III, Signature xvii - (21)

in full North Atlantic Treaty Organization

International military alliance created to defend western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion. A 1948 collective-defense alliance between Britain, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg was recognized as inadequate to deter Soviet aggression, and in 1949 the U.S. and Canada agreed to join their European allies in an enlarged alliance. A centralized administrative structure was set up, and three major commands were established, focused on Europe, the Atlantic, and the English Channel (disbanded in 1994). The admission of West Germany in 1955 led to the Soviet Union's creation of the opposing Warsaw Treaty Organization, or Warsaw Pact. France withdrew from military participation in 1966. Since NATO ground forces were smaller than those of the Warsaw Pact, the balance of power was maintained by superior weaponry, including intermediate-range nuclear weapons. After the Warsaw Pact's dissolution and the end of the Cold War in 1991, NATO withdrew its nuclear weapons and attempted to transform its mission. It involved itself in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty stated that an attack on one signatory would be regarded as an attack on the rest. This article was first invoked in 2001 in response to the terrorist September 11 attacks against the U.S. Additional countries joined NATO in 1999 and 2004 to bring the number of full members to 26. *[Image & caption credit and following text courtesy of Wikipedia]: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO; pron.: /ʊneʊtoʊ/ NAY-toh; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN)), also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's "Partnership for Peace," with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending ["The SIPRI Military Expenditure Database," http://milexdata.sipri.org/].

For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two US supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down [Reynolds, David, The Origins of the Cold War in Europe: International Perspectives (Yale University Press, 1994), p. 13]." Doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasion—doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure in 1966.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the organization became drawn into the breakup of Yugoslavia, and conducted their first military interventions in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 and later Yugoslavia in 1999. Politically, the organization sought better relations with former Cold War rivals, which culminated with several former Warsaw Pact states joining the alliance in 1999 and 2004. The September 2001 attacks signalled the only occasion in NATO's history that Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty has been invoked as an attack on all NATO members [North Atlantic Treaty Organization, "Invocation of Article 5 confirmed," http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2001/1001/e1002a.htm]. After the attack, troops were deployed to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF, and the organization continues to operate in a range of roles, including sending trainers to Iraq, assisting in counter-piracy operations [North Atlantic Treaty Organization, "Counter-piracy operations," http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_48815.htm] and most recently in 2011 enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1973. The less potent Article 4, which merely invokes consultation among NATO members has been invoked three times, and only by Turkey: once in 2003 over the Second Iraq War, and twice in 2012 over the Syrian civil war after the downing of an unarmed Turkish F-4 reconnaissance jet and after a mortar was fired at Turkey from Syria [Croft, Adrian, "NATO demands halt to Syria aggression against Turkey," Reuters , October 3, 2012, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/03/us-syria-crisis- alliance-idUSBRE892 1F220121003].

Formation. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and the United Kingdom, is considered the precursor to the NATO agreement. The treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Union's Defence Organization in September 1948 [Isby, David C., Kamps Jr., Charles, Armies of NATO's Central Front (Jane's Information Group, 1985), p. 13]. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the military power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism, so talks for a new military alliance began almost immediately resulting in the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. It included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland [North Atlantic Treaty Organization, "A short history of NATO," April 2, 2012, http://www.nato.int/history/nato-history.html]. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, anti-membership riot in March 1949.

The members agreed that an armed attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. Consequently they agreed that, if an armed attack occurred, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence, would assist the member being attacked, taking such action as it deemed necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor. Although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which clearly states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily. The treaty was later clarified to include both the member's territory and their "vessels, forces or aircraft" above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France [North Atlantic Treaty Organization, "Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of Greece and Turkey," April 4, 1949, http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17245.htm].

The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, which in many cases meant European countries adopting U.S. practices. The roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved. Hence, the 7.62×51 NATO rifle cartridge was introduced in the 1950s as a standard firearm cartridge among many NATO countries. Fabrique Nationale de Herstal's FAL became the most popular 7.62 NATO rifle in Europe and served into the early 1990s [citation needed]. Also, aircraft marshalling signals were standardized, so that any NATO aircraft could land at any NATO base. Other standards such as the NATO phonetic alphabet have made their way beyond NATO into civilian use. ~ page 225 ~

Detail from Vädersolstavlan showing a 120° parhelion and an Anthelion on a Parhelic circle. Scan from a poster published by Museum of medieval Stockholm. Author Mats Halldin, May 3, 2007.* anthelion Act III, Signature xvii - (22)

*[Image & caption credit & following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

An anthelion (plural anthelia, from late Greek ανθηλιος, "opposite the sun") is a rare optical phenomenon appearing on the parhelic circle opposite to the sun as a faint white halo, not unlike a sundog. How anthelions are formed is disputed. Walter Tape, among others, has argued they are not separate haloes, but simply where various haloes caused by horizontally oriented column-shaped ice crystals coincide on the parhelic circle to create a bright spot. If this theory is correct, anthelia should only appear together with these other haloes ["Anthelion," Arbeitskreis Meteore e.V ., http://www.meteoros.de/arten/ee17e.htm].

However, anthelia occur unaccompanied by other plate crystal haloes, thus scientists have produced alternative explanations. The Dutch professor S.W. Visser proposed they form by two exterior light reflections in quadrangular prisms, while Robert Greenler has suggested two interior reflection in column-shaped crystals produces the phenomenon [ ibid ].

While the anthelion area is usually sparse on haloes, in a complex display it features various rare optic phenomena: Flanking the anthelion on the parhelic circle are two 120° parhelia (and two Liljequist parhelia) caused by plate crystals. The Tricker and diffuse arcs are produced in singly oriented column crystals and form an Ankh-like shape passing through the anthelion. Wegener arcs occasionally crosses the sky to converge in the anthelion [Les Cowley, "South Pole Halos - Anthelic View," Atmospheric Optics , http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo /spanti.htm].

erysipelas Act III, Signature xvii - (23)

Main Entry: ery£sip£e£las

Pronunciation: ƒer-„-‚si-p(„-)l„s, ƒir-

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English erisipila , from Latin erysipelas , from Greek, from erysi- (prob. akin to Greek erythros red) + - pelas (probably akin to Latin pellis skin)— more at red, fell

Date: 14th century : an acute febrile disease associated with intense edematous local inflammation of the skin and subcutaneous tissues caused by a hemolytic streptococcus.

[Following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

Erysipelas (Greek ʊρυσίπελας—red skin; also known as "Ignis sacer," "holy fire," and "St. Anthony's fire [James, William D., Berger, Timothy G., et al., Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: Clinical Dermatology (Saunders Elsevier, 2006), p. 260]" in some countries) is an acute streptococcus bacterial infection ["erysipelas," at Dorland's Medical Dictionary , http://web.archive.org/web/20090616022448/http://www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_hl_dorlands_split.jsp? pg=/ppdocs/us/common/dorlands/dorland/three/000036667.htm] of the upper dermis and superficial lymphatics.

Patients typically develop symptoms including high fevers, shaking, chills, fatigue, headaches, vomiting, and general illness within 48 hours of the initial infection. The erythematous skin lesion enlarges rapidly and has a sharply demarcated raised edge. It appears as a red, swollen, warm, hardened and painful rash, similar in consistency to an orange peel. More severe infections can result in vesicles, bullae, and petechiae, with possible skin necrosis. Lymph nodes may be swollen, and lymphedema may occur. Occasionally, a red streak extending to the lymph node can be seen. The infection may occur on any part of the skin including the face, arms, fingers, legs and toes, but it tends to favor the extremities. Fat tissue is most susceptible to infection, and facial areas typically around the eyes, ears, and cheeks. Repeated infection of the extremities can lead to chronic swelling (lymphadenitis).

Cause. Most cases of erysipelas are due to Streptococcus pyogenes (also known as beta-hemolytic group A streptococci), although non-group A streptococci can also be the causative agent. Beta-hemolytic, non-group A streptococci include Streptococcus agalactiae , also known as group B strep or GBS. Historically, the face was most affected; today the legs are affected most often. The rash is due to an exotoxin, not the Strep. bacteria itself and is found in areas where no symptoms are present - e.g. the infection may be in the nasopharynx, but the rash is found usually on the face and arms.

Erysipelas infections can enter the skin through minor trauma, insect bites, dog bites, eczema, surgical incisions and ulcers, and often originate from strep bacteria in the subject's own nasal passages. Infection sets in after a small scratch or abrasion spreads resulting in toxaemia. Erysipelas does not affect subcutaneous tissue. It does not release pus, only serum or serous fluid. Subcutaneous edema may lead the physician to misdiagnose it as cellulitis, but the style of the rash is much more well circumscribed and sharply marginated than the rash of cellulitis.

Risk factors. This disease is most common among the elderly, infants, and children. People with immune deficiency, diabetes, alcoholism, skin ulceration, fungal infections and impaired lymphatic drainage (e.g., aftermastectomy, pelvic surgery, bypass grafting) are also at increased risk. Diagnosis. This disease is diagnosed mainly by the appearance of well-demarcated rash and inflammation. Blood cultures are unreliable for diagnosis of the disease, but may be used to test for sepsis. Erysipelas must be differentiated from herpes zoster, angioedema, contact dermatitis, and diffuse inflammatory carcinoma of the breast. Erysipelas can be distinguished from cellulitis by its raised advancing edges and sharp borders. Elevation of the antistreptolysin O (ASO) titer occurs after around 10 days of illness.

Treatment. Depending on the severity, treatment involves either oral or intravenous antibiotics, using penicillins, clindamycin or erythromycin. While illness symptoms resolve in a day or two, the skin may take weeks to return to normal. Because of the risk of reinfection, prophylactic antibiotics are sometimes used after resolution of the initial condition. However, this approach does not always stop reinfection [Koster, J. B., Kullberg, B. J., van der Meer, J. W., "Recurrent erysipelas despite antibiotic prophylaxis: an analysis from case studies," The Netherlands Journal of Medicine 65 (3): 89–94 (2007), PMID 17387234, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17387234].

~ page 226 ~

Ohio Act III, Signature xvii - (24)

State (pop., 2000: 11,353,140), U.S., north-central region.

Bordered by Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, it covers 44,828 sq mi (116,104 sq km). Its capital is Columbus. Lake Erie is on its northern boundary; the Ohio River forms part of its southeastern and southern boundary. Ohio was originally inhabited by prehistoric Hopewell mound builders, who disappeared c. AD 400. The earliest European explorers found thearea occupied by Miami, Shawnee, and other Indian peoples. The region was ceded to Britain by France after the French and IndianWar. In 1803 it became the 17th state and the first state carved out of the Northwest Territory (see Northwest Ordinances). During the 19th century, it became one of the first great industrial states because of its location, transport facilities, and natural resources, including coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Although manufacturing is its most important economic activity, nearly two-thirds of the state is still farmland. It was the birthplace or residence of eight U.S. presidents—William H. Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William H. Taft, and Warren G. Harding. Its major cities include Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, and Dayton.

Green argyle leggings. Author: Kencf0618, January 1, 2011, http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencf0618/5316064637/. * argyle Act III, Signature xvii - (25)

Main Entry: ar£gyle Variant: also ar£gyll \‚är-ƒgˆ(„)l, är-‚\

Function: noun

Usage: often capitalized

Etymology: Argyle, Argyll, branch of the Scottish clan of Campbell, from whose tartan the design was adapted

Date: 1899 : a geometric knitting pattern of varicolored diamonds in solid and outline shapes on a single background color; also : a sock knit in this pattern.

*[Image & caption credit and following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

The argyle (occasionally argyll) pattern is made of diamonds or lozenges. The word is sometimes used to refer to an individual diamond in the design but more commonly refers to the overall pattern. Most argyle layouts contain layers of overlapping motifs, adding a sense of three-dimensionality, movement, and texture. Typically, there is an overlay of intercrossing diagonal lines on solid diamonds.

The argyle pattern is derived from the tartan of Clan Campbell, of Argyll in western Scotland [ Oxford English Dictionary ], used for kilts and plaids, and from the patterned socks worn by Scottish Highlanders since at least the 17th century. (See illustrations in History of the kilt) These were generally known as "tartan hose [see, for example, Provost Cochrane's letters to the Duke of Argyle in January 1746, published in Cochrane's Correspondence (1836); http://www.tartansauthority.com/highland-dress/modern/hose]."

Argyle knitwear became fashionable in England and then the USA after the first world war. Pringle of Scotland popularised the design, helped by its identification with the Duke of Windsor [Hodgkinson, Mark, "Diamonds are for heather – and all parts of a golf course now Pringle's back," The Daily Telegraph (London), July 15, 2004, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/theopen/2382963/Diamonds-are-for-heathe r-and-all-parts-of-a-golf-course- now-Pringles-back.html]. Pringle's website says that "the iconic Pringle argyle design was developed" in the 1920s [http://www.pringlescotland.com/]. The duke, like others, used this pattern for golf clothing: both for jerseys and for the long socks needed for the plus-fours trouser fashion of the day.

Payne Stewart (1957–1999), who won the U.S. Open and a PGA championship, was known and loved by fans for his bright and "flashy" dress; he wore tams, knickerbockers, and argyle socks ["Newsmakers: Stewart, Payne (1957– 1999)," Aaron J. Oppliger, Ed. (Detroit: Gale Group, 2000), http://medusa.nwacc.edu:2084/srcx /infomark.do&contentSet=GBRC&type=retrieve&t abID=T001&prodId=DC&docId=EK1618002954 &source=gale&srcprod=DISC&userGroupName =arstate&version=1.0]. As a knitting pattern, argyle is generally accomplished using the intarsia technique. Argyle patterns are occasionally woven.

Some sports teams use bright, contemporary interpretations of the argyle pattern: for example, the Garmin- Slipstream professional cycling team, nicknamed the "Argyle Armada," and the Norwegian men's curling team at the 2010 Winter Olympics [Bracken, Kassie, "The Curling Lords of Argyle," The New York Times , February 14, 2010]. On April 27, 2013 the professional soccer team Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States announced their third kit of the 2013 season featuring an argyle pattern [http://www.sportingkc.com/news/2013/04/sporting-kc-unveils-third-kit-present ed-ivy-funds].

stour Act III, Signature xvii - (26)

Main Entry: 2stour

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French estour , of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German sturm storm, battle— more at storm

Date: 14th century 1 a archaic : battle, conflict b dialect British : tumult, uproar 2 chiefly Scottish : dust, powder.

~ page 227 ~

Granuliertes Paraffin. Author: Gmhofmann, November 7, 2011.* paraffin Act III, Signature xvii - (27)

Paraffin wax, a mixture of organic compounds traditionally derived from petroleum but also obtained synthetically. It usually consists of alkane hydrocarbons (also called paraffins) and is used for coating and sealing, for candles, and in floor waxes, lubricants, waterproofing agents, and cosmetics. See also alkane.

*[Image & caption credit & following text courtesy of Wikipedia]:

Paraffin wax refers to a white or colourless soft solid that is used as a lubricant and for other applications. It is derived from petroleum and consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between twenty and forty carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and begins to melt above approximately 37 °C (99 °F) [Freund, Mihály; Mózes, Gyula; Jakab, E. (trans.), Paraffin Products: Properties, Technologies, Applications (Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier, 1982), p. 121], its boiling point is >370 deg C ["Paraffin Wax," in Chemical Book , http://www.chemicalbook.com/ProductMSDSDetailCB2854418_EN.htm]. In chemistry, paraffin is used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. The name is derived from Latin parum ("barely") + affinis, meaning "lacking affinity" or "lacking reactivity" indicating paraffin's unreactive nature ["Paraffin," Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2009)].

Properties. Paraffin wax is mostly found as a white, odorless, tasteless, waxy solid, with a typical melting point between about 46 and 68 °C (115 and 154 °F)[Nasser, William E., "Waxes, Natural and Synthetic," in McKetta, John J., Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design 67 (New York: Marcel Dekker, 1999), p. 17: "This can vary widely, even outside the quoted range, according to such factors as oil content and crystalline structure"], and having a density of around 900 kg/m3 [Kaye, George, William Clarkson, Laby, Thomas Howell, "Mechanical properties of materials," Kaye and Laby Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants (National Physical Laboratory, 1995) http://www.kayelaby.npl.co.uk/general_physics/2_2/2_2_1.html]. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in ether, benzene, and certain esters. Paraffin is unaffected by most common chemical reagents but burns readily [Seager, Spencer L., Slabaugh, Michael, "Alkane reactions," in Chemistry for Today: General, Organic, and Biochemistry (Belmont, CA: Cengage), p. 364]. Paraffin wax is an excellent electrical insulator, with an electrical resistivity of between 10 13 and 10 17 ohm metre ["Electrical insulating materials," Kaye and Laby Tables (1995), http://www.kayelaby.npl.co.uk/general_physics/2_ 6/2_6_3.html]. This is better than nearly all other materials except some plastics (notably Teflon). It is an effective neutron moderator and was used in James Chadwick's 1932 experiments to identify the neutron ["Attenuation of fast neutrons: neutron moderation and diffusion," Kaye and Laby Tables (1995), http://www.kayelaby.npl.co.uk/atomic_and_nuclear_physics/4_7/4_7_3.html; Rhodes, Richard, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986), p. 163].

Paraffin wax is an excellent material to store heat, having a specific heat capacity of 2.14–2.9 J g−1 K−1 (joule per gram kelvin) and a heat of fusion of 200–220 J g−1 ["Specific Heat Capacity," in Dirac Delta Science and Engineering Encyclopedia (Warwick, England: Dirac Delta Consultants Ltd.), http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/s/p/specific%20heat%20capacity/source.html]. This property is exploited in modified drywall for home building material: a certain type (with the right melting point) of wax is infused in the drywall during manufacture so that, when installed, it melts during the day, absorbing heat, and solidifies again at night, releasing the heat ["Micronal PCM SmartBoard," http://www.micronal.de/portal/basf/ien/dt.jsp?setCursor=1_ 290798].

Paraffin wax phase change cooling coupled with retractable radiators was used to cool the electronics of the Lunar Rover [Dean, W. G., Karu, Karu, Z. S., "Space Station thermal storage/ refrigeration system research and development," Final Report Lockheed Missiles and Space Co . (NASA) (February 1993). Bibcode:1993lock.rept.....D, http://adsabs.harvard.edu /abs/1993lock.rept.....D]. Wax expands considerably when it melts and this allows its use in wax thermostatic elementthermostats for industrial, domestic and, particularly, automobile purposes ["Wax-pellet thermostat," United States Patent 4948043, http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4948043.html; Bodén, Roger, "Paraffin Microactuator," Materials Science Sensors and Actuators (University of Uppsala), http://hermes.material.uu.se/~klas/Paraffin_lab_eng.pdf].

merbromin Act III, Signature xvii - (28)

Main Entry: mer£bro£min

Pronunciation: ƒm„r-‚br‹-m„n

Function: noun

Etymology: mercuric + brom- + fluorescein

Date: 1945 : a green crystalline mercurial compound C20H8Br2HgNa2O6 used as a topical antiseptic and germicide in the form of its red solution.