Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea (1602–1685) was a Spanish writer and poet born in Zaragoza on 19 April 1602 and died in Casbas (Huesca) around 1685.<PIC> Born into a family of noble lineage, Bolea (one of whose descendants would become the Count of Aranda), was the daughter of Martin Abarca de Bolea y Castro, a humanist, and Ana de Mur. After being baptized in the Zaragozan Parish of San Felipe, she lived from three years of age in the Real Monastery of Santa Maria de la villa in Casbas, from which she was unable to leave and where she developed a deep religious and humanistic background.
Within the enclosures of the monastery Bolea was enriched with many different readings to the point where she was able to learn classical Latin. She was professed as religious on 4 June 1624. In 1655 she was mistress of novices and came to hold the office of abbess in 1672. She corresponded with leading scholars and writers within the Aragonese literary circles, she particularly enjoyed the patronage of Vincencio Juan de Lastanosa, as well as the Count of Salinas, Juan Francisco Andrés de Uztarroz and most likely, with Gracián, who praised her and collected her poems in his Agudeza y arte de ingenio.
Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea's poetry is found within a miscellaneous book titled Vigilia y Octaverio de San Juan Bautista (Zaragoza, 1679), which also combines a short novel, or apologue (La ventura en la desdicha), and a novel (El fin bueno en mal principio).  It deals with the miscellaneous genre—very well known at the time—where in the framework of a dialogue inherited from humanism, literature of various genres are interspersed. In this case, the framework resembles that of a pastoral novel, perhaps the last Spanish pastoral novel of the time, in which a group of rich and refined pastors meet in an area of Moncayo, where a hermitage dedicated to San Juan stands to celebrate the vigil and Octave of the feast of the Saint.  Over a period of nine days, they amuse themselves with various entertainments and banquets, engaging in debates, the telling of anecdotes, and reciting romances and songs.
The themes of her poetry in large part possess a sacred and popular character. In some of them she uses the Aragonese language—in fact, her works are some of the few examples of literature with linguistic features of seventeenth-century Aragonese.  An example is the "birth Albada" which is composed of twenty Christmas-themed romantic couplets and reveals folklore customs (sung by Ginés and Pascual to the custom of their village and sound of the bagpipes).  The author's commentary--"the lyrics gave remarkable pleasure and they admired the ingenuity, and may that ancient tongue that was used in Spain be conserved"—indicates that the use of the Aragonese language was not conscious.  These poems were studied by Philologists  Manuel Alvar, Francho Nagore, M.ª Ángeles Campo, or José Manuel Blecua.  Here is an example of her "Albada de nacimiento" ("birth Albada"):
Media noche era por filos
las doce daba el reloch
cuando ha nagido en Belén
un mozardet como un sol. Obra en aragonés de Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea ((in English): Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea's work in Aragonese), in Publicazións d´o Consello d´a Fabla Aragonesa, Huesca, 1980.
Catorce vidas de Santas de la Orden del Císter ((in English): Fourteen Holy lives within the Cistercian Order), Zaragoza, Herederos de Pedro Lanaja y Lamarca, 1655.
Historia del aparecimiento y milagros de Nuestra Señora de Gloria, venerada en el Real Monasterio Cisterciense de Casbas ((in English): History of the appearance and miracles of Our Lady of Glory, venerated in the Royal Cistercian Monastery of Casbas) (manuscript).
Vida de la Gloriosa Santa Susana, Virgen y Mártir, Princesa de Hungría y Patrona de la villa de Maella, en el Reino de Aragón, lugar del Marqués de Torres, Zaragoza, Herederos de Pedro Lanaja y Lamarca ((in English): Life of the Glorious Santa Susana, Virgin and Martyr, Princess of Hungary, Patroness of the town of Maella, in the Kingdom of Aragon, in the Marquis de Torres, Zaragoza, Heirs of Pedro Lanaja y Lamarca), 1671.
Vida de San Félix Cantalicio ((in English): Life of St Felix Cantalicio) (manuscript).
Vigilia y Octavario de San Juan Bautista, Zaragoza, Pascual Bueno ((in English): Vigil and Octavario of St. John the Baptist, Zaragoza, Pascual Bueno), 1679.


Branden Oliver (born May 7, 1991) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Buffalo and signed with the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League (NFL) as an undrafted free agent in 2014. He played in the NFL for the Chargers and in the Alliance of American Football for the Salt Lake Stallions. Oliver was born in Miami, Florida, and attended Miami Southridge High School, where he played football and ran track. At Southridge, Oliver was a two-time captain and two time letter winner for head coach Rodney Hunter. As a senior, he rushed for 1,159 yards on 194 carries (6.0 ypc) and scored 15 touchdowns, and also had three catches for 61 yards and a score. He was selected to play in the North Florida vs. South Florida All-Star Classic and the Dade vs. Broward All-Star Game. Oliver has said that growing up in the competitive football environment of South Florida motivated him to perform to his full potential for fear of being overlooked. Buffalo was the only school to offer him a football scholarship out of high school.
In track & field, Oliver competed in sprinting, jumping and even throwing events. In sprints, he recorded a PR of 11.26 seconds in the 100-meter dash at the 2009 Sam Burley Hall of Fame Meet, where he placed 11th. In jumps, he cleared 13.5 meters in the triple jump. He was also a member of the 4 × 100 m (42.81s) relay squad. Oliver played college football at the University at Buffalo from 2010 to 2013. He set the school record for career rushing yards, breaking a record previously held by James Starks. Starks had predicted that Oliver would break his record in 2009 when Starks was a senior and Oliver was still in his redshirt year. He ended his career with 4,049 career rushing yards and 33 rushing touchdowns.<PIC> Oliver earned the starting running back job as a redshirt-freshman during the preseason. His season-high rushing performance came in a road loss against the Baylor Bears in September, where he had 71 rushing yards. Oliver finished his sophomore season gaining 1,395 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns on 306 carries. Oliver also caught the ball 38 times for 365 yards and no touchdowns. On October 8, the Bulls tailback gained 179 rushing yards and 43 receiving (221 total). He also scored 3 times in a 38–37 win over the Ohio Bobcats. On November 19, Oliver ran 29 times, totaling a career-high 235 yards in a 51–10 win over the Akron Zips. In the final game of the season, Buffalo lost to the Bowling Green Falcons 42–28. However, Oliver surpassed NFL running back James Starks for the Bulls single season record for most carries, rushing yards and all-purpose yards. He also became the first Bulls running back to gain at least 100 yards eight times in a season.
Prior to the 2012 season, Oliver was named to the Doak Walker Watch List, the Walter Camp Watch List, and Maxwell Award Watch List. Oliver suffered a grade-two MCL tear in a game against Kent State which caused him to miss five games and hindered him for four other games in the 2012 season. He was only able to gain 821 yards on 148 carries. Buffalo lost four of the five games he missed and ended the season with a 4–8 record. In a 56–34 win over the Morgan State Bears, Oliver rushed for 238 yards on 25 carries and 2 touchdowns. Oliver ran for 216 yards and a touchdown in a 32–3 victory over UMass. He rushed for 185 yards on 31 carries and a career-best four touchdowns in a 41–21 win over Kent State. He also rushed for 249 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead Buffalo to a 30–3 victory over the Ohio Bobcats. He finished the season with 1,535 rushing yards, 15 rushing touchdowns, while averaging 5.0 yards a carry. The Buffalo Bulls finished the year with an 8–5 record and a bowl berth to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.  After Oliver went undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft, he agreed to a three-year contract with the San Diego Chargers.
On September 21, 2014 against the Buffalo Bills, Oliver recorded his first stats, running for 11 yards on 3 carries. On October 5, 2014, he had 19 carries for 114 yards, a rushing touchdown, 4 receptions for 68 yards and a receiving touchdown against the New York Jets, who had had the number one rushing defense in the league coming into the game. For that performance, Oliver was named Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week. During that game, Donald Brown, then the starting running back for the Chargers, suffered a concussion. As a result, Oliver started in Week 6 against the Oakland Raiders. Against the Raiders, Oliver rushed again for over 100 yards and scored a last minute one-yard touchdown to help win the game. Oliver was named Pepsi Rookie of the Week for the second consecutive week. In the final game of the season, Oliver ran for 71 yards and scored a touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs. Oliver finished the season leading all in rushing yards (582), attempts (160) and touchdowns (4).
Oliver only saw 31 carries in the 2015 season. His playing time was adversely affected by the Chargers' selection of Melvin Gordon in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft as well as a foot injury which caused him to miss eight weeks of the season.
On August 30, 2016, Oliver was placed on injured reserve after injuring his Achilles tendon in a preseason game.
Set to be a restricted free agent, Oliver was not tendered a contract by the Chargers in 2017, however on March 23, 2017, Oliver re-signed with the Chargers.
Overall, in the 2017 season, Oliver finished with 35 carries for 83 rushing yards. On August 12, 2018, Oliver signed with the Indianapolis Colts. He was released on September 1, 2018. On January 12, 2019, Oliver signed with the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football, eventually making the final roster. He was placed on injured reserve on March 8, 2019. The league ceased operations in April 2019 and he was released from his contract. In 4 games played prior to injury, Oliver earned 210 yards on 54 rushes, caught 6 passes for 35 yards, and scored both a touchdown and a rushing 2-point convert. On April 13, 2020, Oliver signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. After the CFL canceled the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oliver chose to opt-out of his contract with the Tiger-Cats on August 31, 2020. He opted back in to his contract on January 12, 2021. On May 17, 2021, the Tiger-Cats announced that Oliver had retired. His parents are Edwin Oliver and Alena Lee. Though he is the cousin of former NFL wide receiver Roscoe Parrish, he has attempted to but never been able to establish contact with him. Oliver is also a fervent Miami Heat fan and devout Christian - he points to the sky after touchdowns as a gesture to God. He is commonly referred to by the nicknames "The Little Guy," "Bo," "B.O." and "BoDozer." During the 2015 spring semester, Oliver returned to Buffalo to complete his bachelor's degree in sociology.


Forward operating base (FOB) Rhino, also known as Camp Rhino, was a U.S. military base located in the Registan Desert of Afghanistan, 100 nautical miles (190 km) southwest of Kandahar. It was the first U.S. land base established in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and was in use from November 2001 to January 2002.<PIC> The area Camp Rhino was built on is a remote desert hunting camp for Arabs and their falcons. Built up over the years by migratory bird-seeking Arabs, it is an isolated airstrip in the middle of the Afghan Registan desert. It is only a few buildings, some walls, roads, and a hard surface runway. There is no water except what is brought in by air.
The site was kept under observation by United States Navy SEALs for four days prior to Operation Rhino led by the United States Army's 75th Ranger Regiment (3rd Ranger Battalion). The raid included both Airborne and Air Assault insertions. Objective Rhino was then handed off to U.S. Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU) and Charlie Company BLT 1/1 (Battalion Landing Team) and used to build up a coalition footprint to conduct leading combat operations in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
The attacking Rangers and parachutists found the facility was surrounded by a 10-foot (3 m) wall and four hardened guard towers. Within the facility there were numerous new warehouses, offices, and even a small mosque which was declared off limits to all personnel as a sign of respect.  The paint on some of the buildings was barely dry. Sealed roads ran throughout the camp, and it was also bisected by a 3-foot-deep (0.91 m) cement moat.
On November 25, 2001, TF 58 launched its initial assault. Marine helicopters and KC-130s supported by Air Force special operations personnel inserted lightly armed forces into Rhino. Within minutes personnel established the necessary lighting on the airfield to receive the first fixed-wing aircraft. The first Marine KC-130 arrived less than an hour later with more personnel, fuel and water. Over the first five nights, KC-130s would fly more than 200 sorties.
Camp Rhino was occupied from 26 November 2001 to 1 January 2002. At its peak, the camp contained about 1100 U.S. Marines, under command of Brigadier General James Mattis, as well as U.S. soldiers and U.S. Navy Seabees, Australia Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), and dozens of embedded reporters. Camp Rhino was the U.S.-led coalition's first strategic foothold in Afghanistan and made the ground war in Afghanistan possible.  While Rhino was being established, fierce battles between Taliban and Northern Alliance troops were still underway near Kandahar.  But then the Taliban, realizing that U.S. forces were now very close and were willing to operate at night, capitulated and retreated north to the mountains of Tora Bora.
A Light Armored Reconnaissance Element of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and coalition forces, supported by 26th MEU, deployed forward to capture the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar International Airport in mid-December 2001, following a three-week period of consolidation at Rhino. Kandahar International Airport then became the main coalition base in southern Afghanistan, while Bagram Air Base was established further to the north near Kabul.  The majority of forces who had initially based at Rhino had re-located to Kandahar by Christmas Day, mostly transported by fixed-wing transport aircraft.


Elephant racing, though unusual as a sporting event, is held in many parts of the world but mostly in Asia. The earliest known such racing event as a tradition is reported from Vietnam. In the 20th century this became a major event (though it generated protests) in Germany in 1920, and an organized International Elephant Race in Nepal from tourism interests in 1982.
Elephant racing, which is a more complex form of racing among animals is now a rage in Afghanistan also. A straight and long trunk is an important factor in the race for the elephants to cross the finish line. The races take a longer time than those involving horses but the animals are clearly visible to every spectator.<PIC> The Buon Don Elephant Races are held as a traditional event in the Central Highlands of the Buon Don district of Vietnam, which is well known for its elephant trainers. The skills of elephant trainers are used to perpetuate the heritage of holding elephant races every year during the third lunar month (generally in March) of the year.  The race course, in the forests of the banks of the Sevepoi River, is a mile long track wide enough to accommodate nine participating elephants. Elephants are entered into the races from many villages. Two mahouts or jockeys ride on each elephant - one to steer it and another to goad it to race fast. A musical instrument made of horns of the elephants is blown first to assemble the elephants at the starting gate, then another sound is  blown to signal the elephants to take the starting line and be set for the race, and with the third blow of the horn, the race is signaled. The elephants generally race at a speed of 25 mph with the public cheering for their favourite elephants. The first elephant crossing the winning post is given a wreath as an award, and also fed with bananas and sugar cane. After the event, the elephants celebrate by taking a swim in  the river.
A major festival is held at Wat Phou, every year in March, when elephant racing is a traditional popular sport event. In the year 2000, at the initiative of Ravindra Gujjula, an Indian born  Mayor of Altlandsberg town,  near Berlin organized an elephant race at Hoppegarten, which was very successful as more than 40,000 people witnessed the race. 14 circus elephants (equal numbers from Asia and Africa) participated and the race card consisted of six race events. The contention of the sponsors was that the elephants enjoyed the racing event. At the end of the race elephants were fed with fruits and vegetables.
The race turned into a controversial issue, particularly in India, as environmental and religious lobbies objected to this racing. It is a protected species in India, and in Hinduism it represents the elephant headed God Ganesha. Members of the Animal Peace group's protest was supported by leading personalities like Maneka Gandhi, the then Minister for Social Affairs in India, Nina Hagen, the German rock singer, and Brigitte Bardot, the French film actress.  In India only two states hold the event. In Nepal, the race started as an International Elephant Race in December 2005. The Tharu people of Nepal, who are professional tamers of wild elephants, ride the race elephants. A particular feature of this race is that riders of racing elephants are chosen by lottery and not by choice and this makes the riding difficult for the jockeys who train on their favourite particular elephants. The winning elephant is awarded a trophy. The racing track is of 900 feet (270 m) in length. Heats or elimination rounds, with six elephants in each heat, are involved before the final race is held. A video film documented by Reuters has recorded that the elephants move fast on the chosen straight route, which is flanked by spectators. The Chitwan reserve is a venue for such races, and also for elephant polo and pageants, which are also part of this tourist oriented race. Champakali is the name of the race elephant which won the race in successive years. On this occasion, a soccer match between baby elephants is also an attraction.


The fecal shield is a structure formed by the larvae of many species of beetles in the leaf beetle family, Chrysomelidae. It is composed of the frass of the insect and often its exuviae, or bits of shed exoskeleton. The beetle may carry the shield on its back or wield it upon its posterior end. The main function of the fecal shield is defense against predators. Other terms for the fecal shield noted in the literature include "larval clothing", "kotanhang" ("fecal appendage"), "faecal mask", "faecal pad", and "exuvio-faecal annex". Beetle larvae of the chrysomelid subfamilies Criocerinae and Galerucinae often wear their fecal shields in piles on their backs, regularly adding material as bits chip off. The shields of Cassidinae larvae are mobile. They are attached to the posterior end of the body and moved into position as needed, sometimes held in place above the larva like an umbrella. They may be raised and even swung to strike a predator.
When the shield is carried on the tip of the abdomen, it is secured to a double-lobed, spine-like process called the caudal furca, which is also known as the "anal fork". The larva constructs the shield by maneuvering its "muscular telescopic and highly protrusible anus", or "anal turret", which is positioned dorsally, on the back. It excretes an amount of feces, sometimes with a droplet of gluey secretion, and places it on the caudal furca using its anal turret. In the species Hemisphaerota cyanea, the larva constructs a shield which may be more descriptively called a "fecal thatch", because it is woven from narrow, coiled strands of frass. The larva begins feeding immediately upon emergence from the egg and within minutes it produces its first fecal strand. Within twelve hours, its thatch-shield is full-sized. The larva diligently repairs the shield with replacement strands when it is broken.
The fecal shield takes many forms across species. In some, it covers the entire body, while in others it is narrower. In some, it is simply a "clump". In consistency it may be hard or rather "pasty". In some species of the subfamily Chrysomelinae, the female adult coats each of her eggs with feces, and when the larva emerges, it uses this ready-made fecal casing as the base of its shield, adding to it as it grows. These casings tend to be quite hard, and have been compared to adobe. Most fecal shields are bound with exuviae, the "skins" shed from the insect when it molts. Some shields, such as that of Cassida stigmatica, are entirely frass-free, made only of exuviae.<PIC> The fecal shield is not just a physical barrier, but also a chemical one. When a larva feeds on a plant, it ingests secondary metabolites in the plant tissues, such as alkaloids, saponins, and phytol derivatives, and these are present in its feces. These chemicals can be a potent defense against predatory insects. For example, the larva of the tortoise beetle Plagiometriona clavata obtains chemical compounds from its diet of bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara), excretes them, and incorporates them into its shield, where they repel the predatory ant Formica subsericea.
The fecal shield is beneficial, but it is not without its cost to the insect. Though it is made of waste products, the larva must exert energy simply to transport its weight. A fecal shield can weigh half as much as the larva itself. This energy might otherwise go into development. The shield is also a problem for the larva when it has the opposite effect: its chemistry attracts predators instead of repelling them. Experiments with several larvae of genus Cassida that feed on volatile-rich tansy show that their shields attract the predatory ant Myrmica rubra.
Another possible function of the fecal shield may include protection of the larva from environmental conditions such as ultraviolet radiation, desiccation, wind, and rain.


Stephen Edward Blaire (December 22, 1941 – June 18, 2019) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the fifth  Bishop of Stockton from March 16, 1999, until January 23, 2018.<PIC> Stephen Edward Blaire was born in Los Angeles, California, as the twelfth of fourteen children. He attended local Catholic schools in the San Fernando Valley, and graduated from Our Lady Queen of Angels Seminary (high school) in 1959. Blaire then entered St. John's Seminary College in Camarillo. He was ordained to the priesthood by James Cardinal McIntyre on April 29, 1967, and then served as associate pastor of St. Luke's Church in Temple City until 1972.
From 1972 to 1986, Blaire worked in Catholic secondary education, initially as a teacher and administrator at Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills and later as Vice Principal at Bishop Amat High School in La Puente. He was Principal at Bishop Alemany from 1977 to 1986. He then became curial moderator and chancellor of Los Angeles Archdiocese.
On February 17, 1990, Blaire was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles and titular bishop of Lamzella by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration the following May 31 from Archbishop Roger Mahony, with Bishops John Ward and George Ziemann serving as co-consecrators. Blaire was made vicar general of Los Angeles in 1990 and assigned to Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region in 1995.
He was named the fifth Bishop of Stockton on January 18, 1999, and was installed on March 16 in the Cathedral of the Annunciation.
Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Blaire is the Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, having formerly chaired the Pastoral Practices Committee and been a member of the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. Within the California Catholic Conference he is the Chair of the Legislation and Public Policy Committee, as well as a member of the Religious Liberty Committee. He also serves on the Ad Hoc Committee on Ecumenical affairs.
Blaire was an advocate for life issues and the justice due to workers. Recent letters have praised the end of the death penalty in Maryland, supported common sense legislation to curb gun violence, and reminded legislators of the need for budget decisions to be addressed based on three criteria:
1.Whether it protects or threatens human life and dignity.
2.How it affects “the least of these” (Matthew 25): The needs of those who are hungry and homeless, without work or in poverty should come first. The shared responsibility between Government and other institutions to promote the common good of all, especially ordinary workers and families who struggle to live in dignity in difficult economic times.
In June 2012, Bishop Blaire, as Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, announced that organization's proposal to  draft a message entitled Catholic Reflections on Work, Poverty and a Broken Economy.
In 2001, Blaire learned of allegations that Oscar Pelaez, a priest of the Stockton diocese, had molested a 14-year-old boy at Sacred Heart Church in Turlock in 1997. Blaire suspended Pelaez but did not report the incident, indicating that, because the person alleging the abuse was an adult and declined to report it, responsibility for reporting it did not rest with the diocese. Blaire said his critics "made an issue about not reporting. We had no legal obligation to report."
In November 2007 Blaire was defeated in his bid to win the chairmanship of the U.S. bishops' Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People.
In May, 2013, the University of San Francisco awarded Blaire an honorary degree and he was the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony for the Graduate Students in the College of Arts and Sciences.


Cherry Grove Plantation is a historic plantation in Natchez, Mississippi.<PIC> It is located in southeast Natchez, Mississippi, in Adams County, on Second Creek. The mansion was built by Pierre Surget (1731-1796), a French planter, in 1788, over 2,500 acres of an English land grant, granted to him by the Spanish government. As such, it is one of the earliest private residences in Natchez. After his death, his widow Catharine (Hubbard) Surget expanded the grounds of the property. By 1850, the house belonged to their son James Pierre Surget, with sixteen house servants in residence. Cherry Grove has been in the continuous ownership of the same family since 1788 and has remained always a working plantation. It remains in the family of Surget descendants.
Cherry Grove Plantation is today one of the best preserved and most complete plantation complexes in the Natchez area. The original plantation residence constructed by Pierre Surget and his wife Catharine burned in the mid-nineteenth century, and the present picturesque and architecturally significant residence was constructed about 1865 by Pierre Surget's grandson James Surget, Jr. The form of the house, which consists of a residence constructed upon a fully raised basement with a central five-bay block and flanking single-bay wings, has the regionally early single-pile plan with rear "cabinet" rooms enclosing each end of a rear gallery recessed under the rear slope of the roof. Likewise, the facade of the central block features a gallery that is recessed under the front slope of the roof. These features suggest the possibility that the present house may have taken its basic form from the earlier house which burned. The original flanking wings with octagonal bays and gable-end balconies represent the concession of the builder to the popular taste of the 1860s. The collection of plantation outbuildings is exceptional and includes an unusual tenpin frame alley building with attached late-nineteenth century gymnasium, smoke house, detached kitchen building, corn crib, stables, privy, sheep stalls, and barns. Hand-hewn cypress troughs for feeding and watering the stock are rare plantation survivals, and the plantation cemetery containing the graves of Pierre and Catharine Surget and their descendants is located within sight of the main dwelling house. The plantation gains added significance from its long history of family ownership. Pierre Surget, originally a seaman by trade, was the patriarch of the Surget family in Natchez, a family that formed one of the largest planting dynasties in the entire South. Pierre's son Frank was described by one contemporary historian as the most extensive landholder and successful planter in Mississippi.
In addition to their plantations in Mississippi, Pierre Surget's sons owned vast tracts of farm land in Louisiana and Arkansas as well. After the death of Pierre Surget, Cherry Grove was efficiently managed by his wife Catherine and eventually became the property of their son James. From James Surget, Cherry Grove passed to James Surget, Jr., who was responsible for the construction of the present residence and was considered by many to have been the best thoroughbred horse breeder in the state of Mississippi. Cherry Grove is owned today by descendants of the granddaughter of James Surget, Jr., Mrs. Douglas MacNeil, philanthropist and former national president of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
In September 1861, a group of planters rounded up slaves after hearing rumors they schemed to “kill their masters”, and “ravish”, “ride” and “take the ladies for wives”.  Ten were hanged in Brighton Woods and Cherry Grove.
It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since March 31, 1983. Cherry Grove is a one-and-a-half story frame residence set upon a fully raised brick basement. A five-bay central block with gable roof and inside-end brick chimneys at each gable end is flanked by symmetrical recessed wings. Each of the flanking wings features an octagonal bay whose windows are set over molded panels and a gable-end cantilevered balcony with the entablature of the balcony roof supported by bracketed, chamfered posts linked by a railing composed of diagonal boards forming Xs, whose point of intersection is enframed by boards forming rectangles. The northwesterly facade of the five-bay central block is fronted by a gallery recessed under the front slope of the roof, and access from ground level to the gallery is provided by a pair of graceful, elliptical stairways with turned newels and rectangular- sectioned balusters that terminate in a central landing. The gallery roof fs supported by tapered, paneled, and molded box columns that are echoed on the front wall of the house by pilasters. The columns are linked by a railing of rectangular-sectioned balusters with molded handrail. The sheltered facade is finished in horizontal matched boards with molded base, and the door and window openings feature a molded architrave surround. All window openings of the house are filled with six-over-six, double-hung sash and are closed by shutter blinds, almost all of which are original. The entrance doorway consists of a single-leaf door with four fielded panels that is set beneath a hinged transom and flanked by hinged sidelights that extend to the floor. The interior of the house features a single-pile plan with two rooms on each side of a central hallway. A rear gallery, which is supported by chamfered posts linked by a railing of rectangular-sectioned balusters, is located beneath the rear slope of the roof and is enclosed at each end-by a "cabinet" room. The interior millwork is identical throughout and consists of symmetrically mol8ed door and window surrounds with corner blocks, four-paneled doors, and bases, that are molded with two fascias. The mantel pieces in the westerly two rooms feature cast-iron mantel pieces with arched openings and car- touches. The mantel pieces in the easterly two rooms are wooden and pilastered. Access to the unfinished upper half story and to the basement is provided in the recessed rear gallery by a stairway that runs along the rear wall of the house. The upper stair runs in a westerly direction in a single straight flight with the stair to the basement running below in an easterly direction. This gallery stairway features rectangular-sectioned balusters and a chamfered newel post. The basement story rooms are more plainly trimmed with batten doors, unmolded door and window surrounds, and simply beaded bases. The wooden mantel pieces vary and are either pilastered or have molded architraves.
In the 1880s, a two-story frame addition was added to the rear of the easterly end of the house. This addition is fronted by a double-tiered gallery on the westerly elevation that forms an L with the rear gallery of the main house. The interior of this wing has symmetrically molded door and window surrounds with corner blocks, and the mantel pieces are typical compositions of the 1880s period. A complete complement of outbuildings surrounds the main plantation house. The kitchen building, which was constructed in the late nineteenth century, is a one-story, single-bay building constructed of rock-faced cement blocks and topped by a pyramidal roof. The hall is a one-story, five-bay, gabled roof residential building with a recessed gallery and board-and-batten siding. The hall was constructed in the 1870s or 1880s. The smoke house is a one-story, single-bay brick building with hipped roof and brick vents. The privy is a diminutive, single-bay, frame structure with gabled roof. The corn crib and stable buildings both exhibit unusual gable on hip roofs. The tenpin alley is a narrow, one-story frame building with gable roof to which has been added a tall, one-story, single-bay building with gabled roof and board-and-batten siding. This tall addition was added to the tenpin alley in the late nineteenth century and was used by the children of the family as a gymnasium. Two, small, gabled-roof frame structures served originally as a hen house and a rabbit hutch. Two barns, both dating from the nineteenth century, and a gabled-roof sheep barn with pigeon loft complete the outbuildings. A plantation cemetery is located northwesterly and in sight of the main house.


Nicolae (Nicu) Covaci (born 19 April 1947 in Timișoara, Romania) is a Romanian guitarist, painter, and music composer. He is best known as the leader and founding member of Romanian rock and cult band Phoenix, for which he is vocalist and guitar player, with more than 50 years of activity.<PIC> Nicolae Covaci was born in Timișoara, on 19 April 1947. He took up playing guitar at the age of 15 and in 1962 he, together with Florin "Moni" Bordeianu, founded a band called Sfinții (The Saints). 1962: Nicolae Covaci founds the student band "Sfinții" (The Saints) in Timișoara. The band wins the second prize at the Bucharest Student Festival. From the very beginning the band is criticized for having a western European influence.
1963: The band's recordings of their own compositions first receive radio air play.
1965: The Saints are banned. The authorities accuse the band of spreading religious propaganda, and the band is forced to change its name. PHOENIX is born. Under their new name, the band plays three times a week at the School of Engineering cantina, and later at "Lola", the club of the Construction Industry Union in Timișoara.
1968: PHOENIX wins the Grand-Prix of the Romanian Festival in Iasi. The band receives its first recording contract and makes regular appearances on radio and TV. PHOENIX releases its first record "Vremuri"(Times), an EP with four songs.
1969: The band wins prizes for creativity and interpretation at the Romanian student festival at the School of Architecture in Bucharest. Their second four-song EP called "Floarea stincilor" (The flower of the rocks) is released. 1970: PHOENIX again wins a prize at the Romanian student festival at the School of Architecture in Bucharest- this time for originality.
1971: The band changes its style and finds its own direction, inspired by pre-Christian rites and customs of the Balkans. Their third EP "Mesterul Manole" is released with three songs. PHOENIX is invited to play at the "Bratislava Lyra" and "Sopot" festivals in Czechoslovakia and Poland-the band is a big hit.
1972: Cei ce ne-au dat nume (The Ones Who Gave us the Name), the band's first LP is released. After the release of the second LP with the metaphoric title Mugur de fluier (Flute bud) the authorities ban PHOENIX from appearing in Romania.
1973: Cantafabule is released. It is their first double LP and a milestone in Romanian music history.
1974: PHOENIX plays concerts with the ensemble "The Drummers from Brănești", a group of 25 men from a small village in the Carpathians, who play traditional rhythms on different drums.
Leaving 1976: Nicu Covaci renounces his Romanian citizenship and leaves Romania for Amsterdam. Nicu Covaci founds a new band with musicians of different nationalities.
1977: Covaci returns to Romania and helps the members of his band escape. They hide in the band's Marshall speakers and are smuggled across four borders to Germany. 1978: The band breaks up. The band members leave Covaci and try to make it on their own under the name "Madhouse".
1981: PHOENIX releases its first production in English, the LP Transsylvania Phoenix. The band disintegrates again.
1983: Nicu Covaci plays with Dzidek Marcinkiewicz as a duo.
1986: Nicu Covaci and Erlend Krauser contribute to the production of Evita in Osnabrück.
1987: "The Lark" + "Ballade for You". Nicu Covaci contributes to the production of Jesus Christ Superstar in Osnabrück.
1988: Release of the single "Tuareg" + "Mr. G's promises". 1990: PHOENIX launches a gigantic come-back in Romania. The band raffles off 5000 singles of "Ciocârlia". 1992: Nicolae Covaci produces the CD Symphoenix with the Romanian choir "Song" and the Radio Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra.
1993: The CD version of Cantafabule is released.
1994–1997: Various tours in Romania.
1997: The CD Aniversare 35 (35th Anniversary) is released. Vremuri – Anii 60 is released on CD.
1998: PHOENIX is going on big Romania-Tour with the mamut-show Cantafabule.
1999: Cei ce ne-au dat nume and Mugur de fluier are released on CD.
PHOENIX releases a new 3 song maxi-CD with Numai Una, Iovano, and Ora-Hora and performs November concerts in Germany at "Works" and "Erdbeerblau" in Osnabrück, and in the "Osterfeldhalle" in Esslingen 2000: Spring tour in Romania. For the first time in history, a free CD is given with each ticket purchased. 35,000 maxi-CDs are given as gifts.
2000: The CD In the Shadow of the Big Bear is released. It expresses Nicu Covaci's disappointment with the situation in Romania.
2000: December Germany Tour: In the Shadow of the Big Bear.
2001: The CD In the Shadow of the Big Bear sung in English by Malcolm J. Lewis is released.
Baba Novak (2005)
A new album, called Baba Novak is released. The guitarist Cristi Gram joins the band in 2004. The release of the album is followed by a tour of the band in many cities of Romania.
Break-up (2007)
Following conflicts between Nicu Covaci and Mircea Baniciu, the vocalist of the band, the latter leaves Phoenix. Soon, the bassist, Joszef "Ioji" Kappl, and the violinist, Mani Neumann, leave the band, too. While Mani continues his musical activity with his band "Farfarello", in Germany, Mircea Baniciu hooks up with Ioji Kappl and form a new folk duo.
2008 – Back to the Future
In 2008, Nicu Covaci re-built the band, and the new members include, beside Covaci, Florin "Moni" Bordeianu (the first vocalist of the band), Bogdan Bradu (vocals), Dzidek Marcinkiewicz (keyboards), Volker Vaessen (bass), Ovidiu "Țăndărică" Lipan  (drums) and Cristi Gram (guitar). The album Back to the Future is recorded, including some songs composed by Moni Bordeianu during the time he was in the USA.
2010 – SymPhoenix
The band carries out a new musical project, called Sym Phoenix, with the Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra. The show had its premiere on 28 April 2010 in Bucharest.
2015 – He performed in Bucharest's Winter Night II, at which he played Fata Verde together with the Italian band Tothem.


Edwin Clarence Riegel (June 18, 1879 – 1953), generally known as E.C. Riegel, was an American author, consumer advocate and independent scholar who campaigned against restrictions on free markets that harmed consumers and promoted an alternative monetary theory and an early private enterprise currency alternative.
Best selling libertarian author Harry Browne, in the introduction to his 1974 book You Can Profit from a Monetary Crisis described Riegel's book The New Approach to Freedom as “The best explanation of the free market I've seen." Author David Boyle, devotes a chapter of his book The Money Changers: Currency Reform from Aristotle to e-cash to E.C. Riegel. Riegel is referenced on alternative currency, commercial barter and investment strategy sites.<PIC> Riegel was born in Cannelton, Indiana and left home in 1894 at age 15 with a vision of social justice for the common person. Self-educated, without academic degrees or distinctions, when speaking for groups he labeled himself a "non-academic student of money and credit." He supported himself working intermittently in sales at upscale department stores. He was married in 1905 to Blanche Ellis Beach; the marriage lasted seven years.
Riegel associated and corresponded with libertarians, individualist anarchists, mutualists and diverse progressives such as Laurance Labadie, anarcho-capitalist Spencer Heath and libertarian and free thinker Charles T. Sprading.
Riegel established the Consumer Guild of America in 1928 to campaign against restrictive consumer credit practices. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and during the Great Depression he published articles and books exposing big business, trade associations, the Better Business Bureau and “blue sky law” manipulation of investment markets which impoverished small investors.
He began to question whether it was the government-controlled monetary system which was the problem. He prepared questions about the nature of money and sent them to a list of eighteen “world authorities” on the meaning of money he had solicited from famed economist Irving Fisher. Six replied, but shared no consensus on the subject, as he illustrated in his 1936 book Irving Fisher's World Authorities on The Meaning of Money.
Over the next few years in consultation with friends and students, Riegel constructed his own theory of money. In the 1940s he established The Valun Institute for Monetary Research to promote his monetary theories. In 1944 Harbinger press published his most successful book Private Enterprise Money.
After Riegel's death, Spencer H. MacCallum, who had met Riegel through his grandfather Spencer Heath, obtained all Riegel's papers, which now reside with the Heather Foundation, of which MacCallum was director. In 1976 the Heather Foundation edited and published Riegel's book, The New Approach to Freedom (formerly published as a pamphlet) and in 1978 his Flight from Inflation: The Monetary Alternative, augmenting both with material from his unpublished papers. Riegel's monetary theory differentiated between the "objective view of money" as an "entity having some kind of an independent existence," especially fiat money issued by government. He contrasted this with the "subjective" idea of money, that "money can spring only from trade—that trade creates money, and not vice versa." This is a similar concept to credit money.
Spencer MacCallum writes that E.C. Riegel thought "that a simple and dependable means of exchange would do more to enhance the dignity and well being of the common man than any political reform." He notes that: "Riegel conceived of money as simply number accountancy among private traders. ... Riegel came down on the side of a rigorously free-market fiat system; for a mature exchange system as he conceived it would depend on no intrinsic value at all, nor would it require or tolerate any government participation. In that sense, the fully evolved exchange system would be a natural system operating entirely as a spontaneous, free-market process with no political mandates imposed."
In the "Money Freedom Declaration” issued by Riegel and supporters of the ideas expressed in Private Enterprise Money, Riegel described "The Valun Private Enterprise Money System":
 By private initiative and without intervention of government or banks, private enterprisers (employers, employees and self-employers) in any state will organize a Valun Exchange to operate a money system of, for and by the people. Such Valun Exchange will unite with every other Valun Exchange in any other state or nation making a universal money system with a single money unit, called the valun (pronounced vallen).
 The money will spring from the mutual credit of all of the members of the Valun Exchanges in this way: It will be agreed that each member will have a credit on the Valun Exchange based upon prospective income, against which he or she can draw checks in payment of purchases from other members - in other words, will have the over-draft privilege.
 When currency bills or coins are desired the members may draw the desired cash. No notes are to be signed and no interest is to be paid. The Valun Exchange will be a nonprofit, non-stock organization. No capital will be invested and the membership fee will be nominal. The Exchange will pay its expenses out of a small charge for each check cleared. All members of Valun Exchanges will use valuns when trading with each other and will continue to use dollars when trading with non-members.
 As the valun system demonstrates its superiority, more persons and corporations will join it and thus more and more trading will be done with valuns and less with dollars, pounds, francs and the scores of other political money units. By this evolutionary process a universal money system will be established under the control of the people. Banks will not participate and governments will be empowered only to receive valuns and pay them out but not to create them.
 The valun private enterprise money system is designed to break the present money control against the people and (a) raise wages and, salaries to the highest possible level, (b) maintain constant employment, (c) maintain a steady price level and prevent inflation and deflation, (d) abolish bureaucracy and centralization of government, (e) defeat fascism and communism, (f) assure real freedom, prosperity and democracy, (g) preserve peace.
Riegel's “Money Freedom Declaration” and Private Enterprise Money were endorsed by several progressive thinkers of the time including James Peter Warbasse, an early leader of the cooperative movement in America; libertarian author Charles Sprading; civil liberties attorney Thorwald Siegfried; and Wing Anderson, author of War's End about the banking system and war.
Endorser Lawrence Labadie wrote that the book "brings out a fact that has not been seen clearly before, namely, that totalitarianism and war would be practically impossible unless the state had control of the money system." Economist John Lossing Buck, husband of Pearl Buck, stated that it explains "the meaning and function of money better than any other treatise on the subject that has come to my attention." Spencer Heath opined that it "is the best expose to date of how a political and coercive money system is bound to destroy free enterprise-to corrupt free citizens into subjects and slaves."


Yannis Markopoulos (Greek: Γιάννης Μαρκόπουλος; born 18 March 1939) is a Greek composer.<PIC>  Yannis Markopoulos was born in 1939 in Heraklion, Crete. From one of the old families of the island—his father was an attorney and later the Prefect—he spent his childhood in the seaside town of Ierapetra. The Byzantine liturgy heard regularly from the church opposite his family home, Cretan traditional music, with its rapid dances of repeated small motifs, played by local instruments at the town’s weekly festivities, but at the same time the sound of the waves, and the detonation of land-mines in the aftermath of World War II, all these formed part of the acoustic universe of the composer as a child. He took his first lessons in music theory and the violin at the local conservatory and played the clarinet in the municipal band. Meanwhile, other musical experiences of decisive importance were classical music as well as the music of the wider Eastern Mediterranean and, most important of all, that of nearby Egypt, which he heard either over the radio or from musicians and travellers passing through his hometown. Thanks to his father’s extensive private library he had the opportunity to deepen his knowledge, beyond school education, in literature, philosophy, history and the arts. He began composing music during his adolescence and two melodies of this time would later become songs that have enjoyed great popularity throughout Greece. In 1956 Markopoulos moved to Athens to further his music studies at the Athens Conservatoire under the composer Yiorgos Sklavos and the violin teacher Joseph Bustidui, while studying philosophy and sociology at the Panteion University. While a student he composed music for the theatre, for the cinema and for dance performances. When he was 24 he was awarded the Music Prize of the International Thessaloniki Film Festival for Nikos Koundouros’ film Young Aphrodites and subsequently his works Theseus (dance-drama), Hiroshima(ballet suite) and Three Dance Sketches were performed by avant-garde dance groups.
In 1967 a military dictatorship was imposed in Greece. Markopoulos left for London, where he enriched his knowledge under the English composer Elizabeth Lutyens, while his acquaintance with the composers Jani Christou and Iannis Xenakis played an important rôle in the deepening of his contact with the most pioneering musical figures.
In London he composed the secular cantata Ilios o Protos (Sun the First) on the poetry of Odysseas Elytis (Nobel Prize 1979) and completed the musical ceremony Idou o Nymphios, a work the composer still wishes to keep unreleased with the exception of one part, the song Zavara-Katra-Nemia, a vocal composition of Dionysian character, that was released in 1966 and became one of his best known pieces. Also in London he composed Chroismoi (Oracles) for symphony orchestra and the Pyrrichioi Dances A, B, C (the first three of the 24 Dances he completed in 2001) that were performed in 1968 by the London Concertante Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. During the same year he was commissioned to write the music for Shakespeare’s The Tempest performed by the National Theatre Company and directed by David Jones.
In 1969 Markopoulos returned to Athens with a musical vision that would not only change the course of music in Greece but would also lend immediate moral support to the general demand for restoration of democracy, the struggle being led primarily by university students and intellectuals. He founded a new and highly distinctive musical ensemble which included Greek local instruments. Thus the piano was combined with the lyre for the first time, while he also added instruments of his own invention, particularly among the percussion, with the intention of enriching the variety of sounds. He then selected young musicians, singers and actors, from both the city and the provinces, and collaborating with painters and poets he presented a series of performances with his musical works Ilios o Protos (Sun the First), Chroniko (Chronicle), Ithagenia (Nativeland), Thitia (Lifetime), Stratis Thalassinos Among the Agapanthi (poetry by Giorgos Seferis, Nobel Prize 1963), Oropedio (Mountain Plain) at the Lydra venue which he named music-studio.
His most fervent supporters were indeed the students and intellectuals who filled the music-studio daily, despite the constant interventions of the regime that would constantly attempt to shut it down. The composer’s vision had materialised and a new musical wave had been born which he termed “Return to the Roots”. He defined it as “a project for the future involving the process of examination, evaluation and selection of the indestructible sources of our living traditions in combination with selected contemporary art forms and elements”: the outcome was an exceptionally original sound emerging from the unique tone colours stemming from the unaccustomed blends of instruments and voices.
In 1976 he composed the popular liturgy The Free Besieged, based on the poem by Greece’s national poet Dionysios Solomos, that he conducted in the crowded Panathenean Stadium, and which was presented in London in 1979. In 1977 he composed the music for the BBC television series Who Pays the Ferryman? The musical theme was a hit in Britain and gained the composer international renown. Numerous invitations for concerts abroad followed, in Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Canada, Russia, Australia and the United States. Markopoulos continued composing music for the theatre and for the cinema, collaborating with directors such as Jules Dassin, George Cosmatos, Nikos Koundouros and Spyros Evaggelatos. Through his work Yannis Markopoulos did much to shape the musical landscape of the 1970s.
In 1980 Markopoulos married the singer Vassiliki Lavina, his long-time associate, and in 1981 their daughter Eleni was born. For a period he sought a more private life with his family while preparing for the opening of a new chapter in his music, compositions that would display melodic outbursts sustained by polytonic quality and dazzling rhythms of an inexhaustible exuberance. In 1987 he founded the Palintonos Armonia Orchestra (the name deriving from Heraclitus) with which he would give concerts in Greece and abroad and record many of his works.
The works of this period include the Concerto-Rhapsody for Lyre and Symphony Orchestra, Mitroa for string orchestra, the Healing Symphony, two oratorios, two song cycles, chamber music works, four quartets, two sonatas, and five pieces for violin and piano. In 1994 he composed one of his most important works The Liturgy of Orpheus. There followed Re-Naissance: Crete between Venice and Constantinople, a musical journey in four units that strikes a balance between the opera form and that of the oratorio, and the opera Erotokritos and Areti. In 1999 he composed Shapes in Motion, a piano concerto inspired by Pythagoras and dedicated to his daughter Eleni. Some of his latest works are Evilia Topia (Sunlit Landscapes), fantasy for solo flute; O Nomos tis Thalporis, oratorio-musical spectacle for voices, choir, wind orchestra, ballet and video projection, dedicated to the environment; and Triptych for flute, strings and harp. 1963: Theseus (Thiseas) (ballet enriched)
1969: Ilios o protos (Sun the First) (for voices, narrator, female choir and chamber orchestra)
1970: Chroniko (Chronicle) (for voices, and chamber orchestra)
1972: Ta tragoudia tou neou patera (The Songs of the New Father)
1972: Ithagenia (Nativeland) (for voices, and chamber orchestra)
1973: Anexartita (series of unrelated songs)
1973: O stratis thalassinos anamesa stous Agapanthous - ke alla tragoudia (Stratis Thalassinos Among the Agapanthi - and Other Songs) (for voices, mixed choir and chamber orchestra)
1974: Thessalikos kiklos (Thessalian cycle) (popular musical work with theatrical style performances)
1974: Metanastes (Emigrant Workers) (songs cycle)
1974: Thitia (Lifetime ) (work in nine parts, type of one-act opera)
1975: Oropedio (Mountain plain) (musical discourse)
1977: I eleftheri poliorkimeni (The Free Besieged) (for voices, female narrator, mixed choir and chamber orchestra)
1978: Periodia proti (The First Tour) (13 compositions for orchestra)
1978: Who Pays the Ferryman?  (music for the BBC TV series)
1979: Sergiani ston kosmo (songs cycle in three unities)
1980: Denekedoupoli (musical performance for children)
1980: Οrιζοntεs (Horizons) (songs cycle)
1983: Sirines (Sirens) (musical voyage in four seasons in the form of a contemporary oratorio)
1988: Music for Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco) (for Renaissance instruments ensemble)
1994: The liturgy of Orpheus (for voices,mixed choir, narrator and symphony orchestra)
1996: Brightness (Antavgies) (orchestral memories of movements and pictures)
1998: Fili pou fevgoun (Friends Who are Lost) (songs cycle)
1996: Re-naissance, Crete between Venice and Constantinople (musical performance in two acts with four parts)
2003: Erotokritos and Areti (opera in two acts)
2001: To tragoudi tou Achillea (The Song of Achilles) (for voices, mixed choir, narrator and symphony orchestra)
2004: O tahitatos Louis (for mixed choir, narrator and symphony orchestra)
2009: Shapes in motion (Piano Concerto) (for solo piano and symphony orchestra)
2009: The liturgy of Orpheus (for voices,mixed choir, narrator and symphony orchestra) 1960: Galazio peristeri
1960: Anistoro ti monaxia
1964: Pou isse afti tin anixi
1964: O pramateftis
1964: Xasteria
1964: Mouragio
1964: I kori (Mavromadilousa)
1964: Karavia
1964: Gremismena spitia
1965: Pera apo ti thalassa
1968: Zavara - Katra - Nemia
1972: Ochi den prepi
1973: I ochthri / Enemies Entered the City
1975: I ellada (Lengo) Greece 1963: Mikres Aphrodites (Young Aphrodite)
1966: Dichasmos
1967: O thanatos tou Alexandrou
1968: Epichirisis Apollon
1970: The Beloved
1971: Vortex (Das Gesicht der Medusa)
1977: Kravgi ginekon
1984: Ta chronia tis Thielas
1993: Byron
1965: The Girl with the Ribbon
1993: Lysistrata by Aristophanes
1989: Thesmophoriazouses by Aristophanes


Ruben Anton Zadkovich (born 23 May 1986) is a former Australian professional football (soccer) player, and manager of Perth Glory. He played for 6 clubs in a career that spanned between England and Australia, notably becoming a crowd favourite at Newcastle Jets FC in the A-League. Zadkovich was also capped for Australia, representing the Socceroos on 3 occasions. Born in Fairfield, Sydney, New South Wales, Zadkovich had previously played for English Football League club Notts County, scoring on his debut against Chester City, as well as Queens Park Rangers and Australian side Wollongong Wolves. He has also made several appearances for the Young Socceroos, most notably at the FIFA World Youth Championship. Following his time in England, Zadkovich returned to Australia in late 2005 and trialled for Sydney FC. He travelled with the squad to the FIFA Club World Championship and despite not making an appearance he impressed coach Littbarski, being called in as a short-term replacement for injured Ufuk Talay late in the season. After a 12-minute debut off the bench against Queensland Roar, Zadkovich impressed with his first start against Perth Glory (which included a goal), playing one game in Sydney's run to the inaugural A-League championship, earning him a two-year full-time contract. He was allowed to leave the club in March 2008. On 17 April 2008, it was revealed Zadkovich had signed a two-year deal with English club Derby County, although his registration was unable to be completed before 1 July. Zadkovich made his Derby debut as a second-half substitute against Norwich City at Pride Park in October 2008, in a match which Derby won 3–1. He struggled with injuries during his time at Derby and, after only 7 appearances for the club, cancelled his contract by mutual consent on 23 January 2010. On 6 April 2010, Zadkovich confirmed that he had penned a three-year contract with the Newcastle Jets that would see him return to play his football in Australia. Zadkovich played 97 games over four seasons with the Jets. He was appointed captain in his third season and led the team until he was recruited by Perth Glory in 2014.<PIC> On 29 May 2014, Zadkovich received an early release from Newcastle Jets and signed with Perth Glory.
On 15 November 2014, Zadkovich made his debut for Perth Glory coming on as a substitute against the Western Sydney Wanderers. Glory went on to win the game 2–1. On 22 November 2014, Zadkovich came on as a substitute against Wellington Phoenix in the 61st minute but was sent off after just 17 seconds with a two-footed tackle.
On 8 May 2016, after not playing a single match in the season due to injury, Zadkovich retired from playing football. Zadkovich made his debut at right-back in the last home game of 1st round 2010 World Cup Qualifications, against China, at ANZ Stadium on 22 June 2008. Australia lost this match 1–0.
Zadkovich took part in the 2008 Olympics as part of Australia's national team (Olyroos). He scored from close range in a 1–1 draw with Serbia, Australia's only goal in an unsuccessful campaign. He also played against Argentina in what was Australia's best performance of the tournament.  Zadkovich's first foray as a club manager arose when he was announced as the manager for Football Northern New South Wales club Broadmeadow Magic. Zadkovich was appointed manager of Hills United in September 2020. Zadkovich was appointed assistant manager of Perth Glory in October 2020. In March 2022, Zadkovich was named interim head coach of the Glory following the departure of Richard Garcia.  As of 18 May 2022   Sydney FC
A-League Championship: 2005–06 Australia U20
OFC U-20 Championship: 2005  Broadmeadow Magic
National Premier Leagues Northern NSW Championship: 2018


The desert pocket mouse (Chaetodipus penicillatus) is a North American species of heteromyid rodent found in the southwestern United States and Mexico.  True to its common name, the medium-sized desert pocket mouse prefers sandy, sparsely vegetated desert environments.<PIC> Chaetodipus penicillatus is a medium-sized pocket mouse. The total length of adults usually does not exceed 180 mm. Coloration is grayish brown to yellowish gray and may be sprinkled with black. The pelage is coarse. This species lacks rump spines but has numerous, elongate rump hairs which are darker dorsally and lighter laterally. There is no lateral line. The underparts of the body and tail are whitish. The tail is heavily crested and is longer than the head and body, with average tail length being 109 mm. The soles of the hind feet are whitish and average hind foot length is 25 mm. Chaetodipus penicillatus occurs in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The northern limit of its range is southern Nevada. It extends southwest into California and the northern Baha Peninsula and northwestern Mexico. Eastward it stretches into the southwesternmost parts of Colorado. From southern Nevada and southwestern Colorado the range of C. penicillatus proceeds southeast into Arizona, through southern New Mexico and southwestern Texas, and into northeastern Mexico.  The desert pocket mouse prefers various arid, open desert environments, usually where the vegetation is rather sparse. These may include desert wash, desert succulent shrub, desert scrub, and alkali desert scrub. It prefers soft alluvial, sandy, or silty soils along stream bottoms, desert washes, and valleys, rather than rocky terrain. These pocket mice live in soils that may be vegetated with creosote bush, palo verde, burroweed, mesquite, cholla and other cacti, and short, sparse grass, as well as in lower edges of alluvial fan with yucca, mesquite, grama, and prickly poppy.
Six subspecies are currently recognised:
C. pencillatus pencillatus - south-central Arizona
C. pencillatus angustirostris - southern California, eastern Baja California
C. pencillatus pricei - southern Arizona, Sonora
C. pencillatus seri - Tiburón Island
C. pencillatus sobrinus - southern Nevada
C. pencillatus stephensi - eastern California Chaetodipus penicillatus may be active all year round in some areas, though it is inactive in the winter in southern Arizona. This species is mainly nocturnal. It is aggressively solitary, with a home range of less than 1 acre. Pocket mice can burrow into hard-crusted soils by actually physically chewing their way through the hard portions of the soil. Their burrows, however, are usually excavated in silty, sandy, or gravelly soil and are used for refuges, seed storage, and neonatal care.  The average lifespan of C. penicillatus is around one year. Chaetodipus penicillatus forages beneath a canopy of shrubs on sandy or gravely soils. It feeds primarily on seeds of forbs, grasses, and shrubs, although green vegetation and insects may supplement the diet. Seeds of mesquite, creosote bush, and broomweed have been found in the cheek pouches of desert pocket mice. Seeds are also stored in burrows and in dispersed caches throughout their territories. Although there is no direct evidence, this species probably acquires all of the water it needs from its food. The mouse's breeding season is in the spring; adult females can give birth to one or more litters of two to five young during the spring and summer. Gestation lasts on average of 23 days. Incisors appear 9 days after birth, eyes open on day 14, and ears open no sooner than day 14. Many young females reach sexual maturity early and became pregnant while still in their juvenile pelage. Population has a turnover rate as high as 95%.


The syndrome of subjective doubles is a rare delusional misidentification syndrome in which a person experiences the delusion that they have a double or Doppelgänger with the same appearance, but usually with different character traits, that  is leading a life of its own. The syndrome is also called the syndrome of doubles of the self,  delusion of subjective doubles, or simply subjective doubles.  Sometimes, the patient is under the impression that there is more than one double.   A double may be projected onto any person, from a stranger to a family member.
This syndrome is often diagnosed during or after the onset of another mental disorder, such as schizophrenia or other disorders involving psychotic hallucinations.  There is no widely accepted method of treatment, as most patients require individualized therapy. The prevalence of this disease is relatively low, as few cases have been reported since the disease was defined in 1978 by George Nikolaos Christodoulou (b.1935), a Greek-American Psychiatrist. However, subjective doubles is not clearly defined in literature,  and therefore may be under-reported. The symptoms of the syndrome of subjective doubles are not clearly defined in medical literature; however, there are some defining features of the delusion:
The existence of the delusion, by definition, is not a widely accepted cultural belief.
The patient insists that the double he/she sees is real even when presented with contradictory evidence.
Paranoia and/or spatial visualization ability impairments are present.
Similarities to other disorders are often noted in literature. Prosopagnosia, or the inability to recognize faces, may be related to this disorder due to the similarity of symptoms. Subjective doubles syndrome is also similar to delusional autoscopy, also known as an out-of-body experience, and therefore is occasionally referred to as an autoscopic type delusion. However, subjective doubles delusion differs from an autoscopic delusion: autoscopy often occurs during times of extreme stress, and can usually be treated by relieving the said stressor.
The syndrome of subjective doubles is usually accompanied by another mental disorder or organic brain syndrome, and may appear during or after the onset of the other disorder.  Often, co-occurrence of subjective doubles with other types of delusional misidentification syndromes, especially Capgras syndrome, also occurs.
Several variations of the syndrome have been reported in literature:
The doubles may appear at different ages of oneself.
Some patients describe their double as both a physically and psychologically identical copy, rather than a purely physical copy. This is also known as clonal pluralization of the self, another type of delusional misidentification syndrome that may or may not be the same type of disorder (see #Controversy, below). In this case, depersonalization may be a symptom.
Reverse subjective doubles occurs when the patient believes his/her own self (either physical or mental) is being transformed into another person. (see the case of Mr. A in #Presentation) Taken from Kamanitz et al., 1989:
"Mrs. B. is a 50-year-old white married homemaker and the mother of five children with three previous psychiatric hospitalizations for depression and bipolar illness. [...] She firmly believed that another Mrs. B. existed who had replaced herself in her husband's affections. [...] Mrs. B. was convinced that the 'grooves in her fingers were smoother,' and that the double had taken her fingerprints. She was so concerned about the existence of another Mrs. B. that she required the constant presence of her driver's license to reassure herself that she was the real Mrs. B. In addition to her delusional belief, Mrs. B. reported that she had actually seen the other Mrs. B. She believed that the other Mrs. B. was also a patient in the unit who looked exactly like her facially but was heavier in the body. (Another, younger, patient, who was pregnant, was actually the person upon whom this illusion was superimposed.)"
The following case describes a patient who has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder along with multiple delusional misidentification syndromes (subjective doubles, Capgras delusion, intermetamorphosis):
Taken from Silva et al., 1994:
"Mr. B believed that five physical copies of himself existed. Each copy had a different mind than his own. On one occasion, he thought himself to have been Jesus Christ, but denied having undergone any bodily changes. Mr. B stated that five replicas of the city in which he lived existed as well as the existence of five different planet earths. He, however, acknowledged having lived on only one of these earths. Mr. B had a history of several arrests for attacking police officers, whom he believed were impostor replicas of real police officers."
The following case describes a patient who has been diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia and reverse subjective doubles:
Taken from Vasavada and Masand, 1992:
"Mr. A, a 40-year-old divorced white male, was hospitalized for his complaint that his identity had been changed in the last six years. He stated that he was not Mr. A but Mr. B and preferred to be called by that name. [...] When asked to describe Mr. B, he replied that the only thing he remembered was that Mr. B was an orphan and had made his fortune by working hard. He denied that Mr. B had any family members. He would get angry when addressed as Mr. A and would insist on being called Mr. B. [...] In the above case our patient believed that he had been changed both physically (face, fingerprints, etc.) and psychologically (he could recount details of his life as Mr. A but few as Mr. B)." Subjective doubles is commonly comorbid with other psychiatric illnesses, such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. The cause of the disorder is difficult to ascertain not only because of its rarity, but also due to the simultaneous presence of other disorders. While the physiological cause of the syndrome of subjective doubles has not been found, many hypotheses exist.
Some researchers believe that the syndrome of subjective doubles appears as a symptom of another disorder instead of a disorder of its own. (see #Controversy, below)
The syndrome of subjective doubles may also be related to substance dependence.
Another hypothesis states that subjective doubles is result of hyper-identification, linked to over-activity in certain areas of the brain, thereby causing the patient see familiar aspects of the self in strangers.
Some hypothesize that this delusion is a result of facial processing deficiencies, as it has seemingly similar symptoms of prosopagnosia; however, recognition of most faces is impaired in this delusion. Facial processing deficiencies also do not account for the occasion in which multiple doubles are reported.
Another hypothesis is that a "disconnection" between the right and left hemispheres may cause the delusional symptoms. This hypothesis relies heavily on the theory of lateralization of brain function, or left brain vs. right brain theory. In this hypothesis, the inability of the right hemisphere to "check" the left hemisphere causes the individual to succumb to delusions of self-awareness created by the left hemisphere.<PIC> One hypothesis is that brain dysfunction (either due to physical damage or damage from an organic disorder) in the right hemisphere, temporal lobe, and/or bi-frontal lobes causes the delusion of subjective doubles. Physical damage resulting in the subjective doubles delusion often includes, but is not limited to, brain lesions or traumatic brain injury. Suspected organic causes of brain damage that may lead to subjective doubles include disorders such as epilepsy.
Because other mental illnesses are commonly co-morbid with subjective doubles syndrome, it is unknown whether these types of brain injuries are linked to the delusion or the additional mental illness. For example, right hemisphere brain damage is associated with schizophrenia, which is commonly reported with the delusion of subjective doubles. A widely accepted treatment for the syndrome of subjective doubles has not been developed. Treatment methods for this disease sometimes include the prescription of antipsychotic drugs, however, the type of drug prescribed depends on the presence of other mental disorders. Antipsychotic drugs (also known as neuroleptics) such as risperidone, pimozide, or haloperidol may be prescribed to treat the underlying psychiatric illness.
In addition to drug therapy, interpersonal counseling has also been suggested as a method to ease relations between the patient and his/her suspected doubles. However, the relationship between the patient and his/her double is not always negative. Recovery from this syndrome is situational, as some drug therapies have been effective in some individuals but not others. Patients may live in a variety of settings, including psychiatric hospitals, depending on the success of treatment. With successful treatment, an individual may live at home. In many of the reported cases, remission of symptoms occurred during the follow-up period.
This disorder can be dangerous to the patient and others, as a patient may interrogate or attack a person they believe to be a double.  Inappropriate behavior such as stalking and physical or psychological abuse has been documented in some case studies.  Consequently, many individuals with this disorder are arrested for the resulting misconduct (see the case of Mr. B in #Presentation). This disorder was first defined in 1978 by Greek psychiatrist George N. Christodoulou, M.D., Ph.D., FRCPsych. Although the symptoms of subjective doubles have been described before 1978, the disorder was not given a name until Christodoulou called it the syndrome of subjective doubles in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The article describes an 18-year-old female with hebefreno-paranoid schizophrenia who believed that her next door neighbor had transformed her physical self into the patient's double. The syndrome of subjective doubles and its variants were not given the name delusional misidentification syndromes until 1981.
Doubles of the self have been reported in literature even before the syndrome was named by Christodoulou.
The first patient with symptoms of Capgras syndrome, another delusional misidentification syndrome, was reported in 1923 by Joseph Capgras and Jean Reboul-Lachaux. This patient, however, also experienced the delusion of subjective doubles, but the appearance of doubles of the self were not addressed until Christodoulou's article in 1978. Due to the rarity of this disorder and its similarities to other delusional misidentification syndromes, it is debated whether or not it should be classified as a unique disease. Because subjective doubles rarely appear as the only psychological symptom, it has been suggested that this syndrome is a rare presentation of symptoms of another psychological disorder. This syndrome is also not defined in the DSM-IV or ICD-10.
Additionally, some researchers use varying definitions of the syndrome. While most declare that the double is a physical copy that is psychologically independent, some refer to a definition of a double as being both physically and psychologically identical. This is also known as clonal pluralization of the self, another less common delusion that is grouped with the other delusional misidentification syndromes.


Thomas Aspinwall Davis (December 11, 1798 – November 22, 1845) was a silversmith and businessman who served as mayor of Boston for nine months in 1845.<PIC> Davis was born on December 11, 1798, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Ebenezer Davis III and Lucy Aspinwall. Both the Davis and Aspinwall families were longtime residents of Brookline. Thomas' elder brother Increase Sumner Davis became a Congregational minister. Thomas grew up on Harrison Place (now Kent Street), and began work in a jeweler's shop in Boston at age 14. By 1820, he was in partnership with Thomas N. Morong. He had his own business 1825–34, and was a partner of Julius Palmer and Josiah Bachelder from 1838. The firm was successful, after his death known as Palmer, Bachelder & Co. By 1843 he had acquired, by inheritance and purchase, farmland around his father's house, which he subdivided to create The Lindens, a prestigious suburban residential development designed by Alexander Wadsworth and John F. Edwards. Davis' own house was at the head of Linden Park, until it was moved to 29 Linden Place in 1906. In 1985 it was added to the List of Registered Historic Places in Brookline. In the runup to the 1844 election Davis was nominated for mayor at a convention chaired by the showman Moses Kimball, who was best known for exhibiting a stuffed mermaid with P.T. Barnum. At this time a candidate for mayor needed a majority to be elected, and if no candidate received a majority of the vote a new election was held.  A candidate did not have to have run in the previous round, and previous candidates did not necessarily run in subsequent elections.  In the first vote held on December 9, 1844, in addition to Davis, the candidates were Josiah Quincy Jr., who led in the first round of balloting, and Adam W. Thaxter, Jr., who placed a weak third behind Davis. Quincy received 4,457 votes, Davis 4,017 and Thaxter 2,115, with a scattering of 232 votes going to others. Because none of the candidates had received a majority of the 10,821 votes cast no one was elected mayor.  Quincy, the Whig candidate, and Thaxter, a Democrat, dropped out after the first round, with Thomas Wetmore and Charles G. Greene, the editor of the Boston Post, taking their places in the next round of balloting. Well, known Bostonians like former mayor Samuel A. Eliot entered the lists in ensuing rounds, but nothing could break the three-way deadlock. In each of the next six elections held between December 23, 1844, and February 12, 1845, there were at least three major candidates in contention for the mayoralty, and no one candidate received a majority of the vote. Davis led with a plurality on every round after the first.
In the eighth and final election held on February 21, 1845 there were only two candidates, Davis and William Parker, a Whig who had become acting mayor on January 6 when the previous mayor's term expired. In that election Davis received 4,865 votes, Parker received 4,366 and there was a scattering of 322 votes. Davis defeated Parker by 499 votes and receiving a majority of the 9,553 votes cast. It was Davis' third attempt as a candidate representing the Native American Party, which had split from the Whigs the previous year. He was sworn in on February 27, 1845. His term of office was uneventful, the main issue of the day being badly needed improvements to Boston's inadequate water supply. He tendered his resignation on October 6 owing to ill health, and he died on November 22, 1845. His resignation was not accepted, and thus he died in office. John Pierce delivered an address at his funeral in Central Church on November 25.
In records published by the city of Boston list Davis' term is cited as ending on November 22, 1845. Benson Leavitt, a Whig, took over as acting mayor until new elections could be held. He married Sarah Jackson, the niece of abolitionist Francis Jackson, on November 11, 1824 in Newton, Massachusetts.


USS Callao (IX-205), an unclassified miscellaneous vessel, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Callao, a seaport in Peru. She was built for the Kriegsmarine as the weather ship and icebreaker Externsteine. The ship was captured on 16 October 1944 by USCGC Eastwind of the Greenland Patrol and was temporarily commissioned into the United States Coast Guard as USCGC East Breeze before being turned over to the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Callao in January 1945. The ship was sold out of service in 1950, and broken up the following year. The ship was 183 feet (55.78 m) long, with a beam of 30 feet 10 inches (9.40 m) and a draught of 13 feet 11 inches (4.24 m). She had a displacement of 1,015 tons. She was powered by a 750 shp triple expansion steam engine with an exhaust turbine driving a single screw propeller, which could propel her at 10 knots (19 km/h). The ship was built in 1943–44 as yard number 570 by P. Smit, Jr. Shipyard, Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands. Originally intended to be the trawler Mannheim for the Nordsee Deutsche Hochseefischerei, Wesermünde, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine as Externsteine. She was launched in 1944, and completed in July of that year. The ship was originally named for the unusual Externsteine rock formation investigated by Heinrich Himmler for evidence of cultural significance to early Teutonic folklore and history. Externsteine had the identification number WBS 11. Her complement was nineteen crew plus eleven meteorologists. She was employed as a weather observation ship off Shannon Island on the northeast coast of Greenland to aid forecasting of storm events tactically significant to North Atlantic and European combat operations, but was captured on the night of 15 October–16 October 1944 by the American icebreaker USCGC Eastwind.
On 2 October, a Grumman J2F Duck aircraft from USCGC Eastwind spotted a trawler camouflaged in a field of unconsolidated pack ice off North Little Koldewey Island, where the Germans had set up a weather station. The camouflaged ship was visible on the aircraft's radar. Personnel from USCGC Eastwind captured the twelve crew of the weather station on 4 October. Documents captured revealed that the ship that they had spotted was the Externsteine, which was apparently escorted by a U-boat. The search for Externsteine was delayed by the weather, but on 14 October she was found trapped in ice 10 nautical miles (19 km) off Cape Borgen. At 21:00 on 15 November, USCGC Eastwind located Externsteine at a range of 7 nautical miles (13 km) of her radar, and "battle stations" was ordered. Captain Thomas decided to attack at a range of 2 nautical miles (3.7 km), USCGC Southwind was also present, and illuminated the target with her searchlight. At a range of 4,000 yards (3,700 m), the icebreaker fired three salvos from its 5"/38 guns (one short, one over and one across the bow). The shots landed around the vessel, and the Germans used their blinker light to transmit the message "We give up" in English. The reply, sent back in German, was "Do not scuttle ship". Both icebreakers approached the ship, and the surrender was formally accepted. It was discovered that scuttling charges had been placed in the ship, but these were disarmed with the assistance of Externsteine's engineering officer. Her three officers were taken back on board the vessel during the disarming as a way of guaranteeing that the ship would not be scuttled.
The captain of Externsteine later told his captors that he thought the attack was being carried out by tanks, and he was amazed that the ships could break through the ice at the speed they did. He opined that the Americans would have to scuttle his ship as it was trapped in the ice. Externsteine was renamed East Breeze by her captors. However, by using explosives on the ice, the ship was freed. A prize crew of 36 men from both icebreakers soon had the ship under way. At the time, it was the northernmost combat operation ever undertaken by United States forces. Externsteine was the only enemy surface vessel captured by United States naval forces during World War II.
The prize crew brought her into Boston, Massachusetts, by way of Reykjavík and Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland. On 30 November, she was involved in a collision with USCGC Travis. At Boston, she was commissioned into the United States Navy on 24 January 1945, with Lieutenant D. O. Newton, USNR, in command.
Between 30 January 1945 and 4 February she was outfitted at Philadelphia Navy Yard for special experimental work for the U.S Navy Bureau of Ships, and for the next five years carried out tests in the area of Cape May, New Jersey, and Cape Henlopen, Delaware. She was decommissioned on 10 May 1950, and sold 30 September 1950. The following year she was scrapped.<PIC>


Immunogold labeling or Immunogold staining (IGS) is a staining technique used in electron microscopy. This staining technique is an equivalent of the indirect immunofluorescence technique for visible light. Colloidal gold particles are most often attached to secondary antibodies which are in turn attached to primary antibodies designed to bind a specific antigen or other cell component. Gold is used for its high electron density which increases electron scatter to give high contrast 'dark spots'.
First used in 1971, immunogold labeling has been applied to both transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, as well as brightfield microscopy. The labeling technique can be adapted to distinguish multiple objects by using differently-sized gold particles.
Immunogold labeling can introduce artifacts, as the gold particles reside some distance from the labelled object and very thin sectioning is required during sample preparation. Immunogold labeling was first used in 1971 by Faulk and Taylor to identify Salmonella antigens. It was first applied in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and was especially useful in highlighting proteins found in low densities, such as some cell surface antigens. As the resolution of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) increased, so too did the need for nanoparticle-sized labels such as immunogold. In 1975, Horisberger and coworkers successfully visualised gold nanoparticles with a diameter of less than 30 nm
and this soon became an established SEM technique. First, a thin section of the sample is cut, often using a microtome. Various other stages of sample preparation may then take place.
The prepared sample is then incubated with a specific antibody designed to bind the molecule of interest. Next, a secondary antibody which has gold particles attached is added, and it binds to the primary antibody. Gold can also be attached to protein A or protein G instead of a secondary antibody, as these proteins bind mammalian IgG Fc regions in a non-specific way.
The electron-dense gold particle can now be seen under an electron microscope as a black dot, indirectly labeling the molecule of interest. Immunogold labeling can be used to visualize more than one target simultaneously. This can be achieved in electron microscopy by using two different-sized gold particles. An extension of this method used three different sized gold particles to track the localisation of regulatory peptides. A more complex method of multi-site labeling involves labeling opposite sides of an antigenic site separately, the immunogold particles attached to both sides can then be viewed simultaneously. Although immunogold labeling is typically used for transmission electron microscopy, when the gold is 'silver-enhanced' it can be seen using brightfield microscopy. The silver enhancement increases the particle size, also making scanning electron microscopy possible. In order to produce the silver-enhanced gold particles, colloidal gold particles are placed in an acidic enhancing solution containing silver ions. Gold particles then act as a nucleation site and silver is deposited onto the particle. An example of the application of silver-enhanced immunogold labeling (IGSS) was in the identification of the pathogen Erwinia amylovora.<PIC> An inherent limitation to the immunogold technique is that the gold particle is around 15-30 nm away from the site to which the primary antibody is bound (when using a primary and secondary antibodies labeling strategy). The precise location of the targeted molecule can therefore not be accurately calculated. Gold particles can be created with a diameter of 1 nm (or lower) but another limitation is then realized—at these sizes the gold label becomes hard to distinguish from tissue structure.
Thin sections are required for immunogold labeling and these can produce misleading images; a thin slice of a cell component may not give an accurate view of its three-dimensional structure. For example, a microtubule may appear as a 'spike' depending on which plane the sectioning occurred. To overcome this limitation serial sections can be taken, which can then be compiled into a three-dimensional image.
A further limitation is that antibodies and gold particles cannot penetrate the resin used to embed samples for imaging. Thus, only accessible molecules can be targeted and visualized. Labeling prior to embedding the sample can reduce the negative impact of this limitation.